The Spies Who Loved - Elams (with E_musician)

Chapter 18

No time to waste. I grab other equipment and start looking outside. This could be fatal if it takes too long but who could’ve done it?

I check my phone and see an alert from work. This might be worse than I thought. I open the alert and panic.
Caution: Stephen Pasquale has escaped. Stay safe and call us if you have questions or know anything about his whereabouts.

 Of course. This is him getting back at me for earlier, isn't it. If he went back to his ‘secret base’ aka his basement it should be a quick rescue mission. 

I grab my keys and speed off to his house, calling for back up. I need to make sure Eliza doesn't get hurt because I made a mistake and aggravated him. Unless he's been plotting this. Then it's not my fault at all.

 I quickly arrive at the house so does the backup. We work quickly to get inside. Every second counts in this. The pressure is high and the stakes are even higher. 

"Open up!" I shout and kick the door so it opens. I rush to the basement to find it… empty? I panic more. Where are they if they aren't here? How smart is Steven actually???

 This is bad. This is really bad. So much time was wasted in going here. I don’t know if Eliza even has her phone on her. Wait- electronics. Stephen has to have one. We can track the IP address.

I get into one of my coworkers cars and start searching for Stephen's phone. "... the hospital-" I mumble. My coworker speeds there as I panic. Is he going to hurt Alex too?

 This is awful. This is absolutely awful. I quickly park the car and run into the hospital. My mind is racing, both of them better be here and be here safe.

A nurse stops me before I can get into Alex's room. "Excuse me, visiting hours are over." He says. I flash my badge before going in. Alex is tied up and I hear muffled "help's" from him and from the bathroom. I quickly untie Alex then open the bathroom door.

 There’s Eliza. I help her out of the bathroom quickly and bring her over to the chair near Alex’s bed. ”Can you explain to me what happened?”, I quietly ask her.

Eliza nods and holds my hand tightly. "I was just trying to finish eating when the window behind me broke- I screamed then something was put over my mouth, probably a cloth with chloroform. Next thing I knew, I was tied up in the bathroom-" she explained.

 I decide against telling her it was Stephen that might freak her out even more. ”It’s probably best we stick together tonight”, I say. Eliza and Alex nod in agreement. Safety in numbers as they say.

"How did the kidnapper escape? I never saw him leave the room." Alex asks. I shrug. "I only saw a nurse leave the room- oh frick." I mumble and call security. Maybe he's still in the building.

 I quickly run out to find Stephen. He’s not getting away with this! He needs to be locked back up where he belongs. 

I alert the security team. They block the exists and make sure that no one who left in the past 3 minutes is getting able to leave. I check security footage to see where he went.

 Luckily he’s still inside hiding in the gift shop. I call a few other recruits and we head down to capture him. Once we get there Stephen looks at me and says, “I bet you regret that decision now Laurens.”

"Eliza and Alex are safe now. You really think you're smarter than me? We just caught you on the cameras." I laugh but he gives me an evil smirk. "You know, someone like you who is so focused on one thing, misses the big picture. You think I just wanted to hurt them physically and get caught again but no. I will cause them so much mental stress, you won't even know if they're still the same people!" 

“No because I will spend everyday of my life fighting against you. They’ve been through enough as it is and no matter what you do I will never stop fighting you Stephen!”, I practically yell.

He sticks his tongue out at me like a child while the other spies take him back to prison. A maximum security prison this time. I don't know why he wasn't put in one before but oh well. What can you do?

 I take a deep breath and walk back up to the hospital. Both Alex and Eliza are wide awake waiting to hear what happened. “We did it- he’s been arrested and in a maximum security prison this time”, I say.

Eliza smiles weakly, Alex doing the same. They both look stressed and tired. "Is there room for 1 more? You need John hugs." I joke but they actually make room for me. I squeeze in and very carefully cuddle the both of them.

 They both ease up a bit knowing Stephen is caught and they don’t need to worry as much. And you know what at this point I don’t care if I get sick because then they can’t tell me to get out and leave. Perhaps I am a bit worried he’ll come back.