Mirrored Exile (HS)

one

chapter one - hope is dangerous for a woman like me to have - but I have it

Lucy Caddel

"I can't believe they brought Harry Edwards back into the FBI campaign at The Capitol." My coworker spoke quietly as I eavesdropped.

"His brother was enough trouble, why would he be any different." The other lady spoke.

We're on our lunch break, discussing the recent conference showing on the TV. It shows the president and the CEO of some industry. I couldn't see their badge well enough this far away.

Behind them were two guards, one being the Harry Edwards that my coworkers talked about. His hair was brown and curly. It sat perfectly around his face with a sharp jawline, soft pink lips and green eyes narrowing as the president talked in front of him. He has his arms folded and biceps practically looking you in the eyes. He was in a suit, almost. He had a white shirt on with a tie. The shirt had FBI in black, bold writing just above his left pec. It's like he forgot the black blazer to wear because the other guy had one.

"I can see your drool, Luc," My coworker and best friend, Diarra sat next to me.

"I'm not drooling," I palm my face before I get a whiff of her food. It smelt so good it was unreal. "What's for lunch today?"

"Kenyan curry chicken my nana made." She says, opening the container. "So anyways, nice change of the subject. Let's talk about Agent Edwards," She nudges me. "Such a shame that thing happened with his brother."

According to old news, his brother caused several issues working as a double agent in the FBI. He was in a scandal a few years ago and ended up charged with the murder of three people. Everyone's just assuming that his brother, Harry, is the same. Which is quite stupid, to be honest.

I stand up and throw away the plastic container my lunch was in. "Alright, I'm going back to my office."

Diarra waved to me before I left the room and went down the hall. I was a CEO here at my company. I work in cybersecurity and technology. Being quite young, many people use that against me. Many ageist comments, others saying I used someone to get it. All that stupid gossip you thought you left in high school but really, it follows you into the real world. It's already bad enough I work Saturdays now.

I reach my office which is sectioned off and in some dark corner that is quite dreary. It's dim-lit in here and I hate it. I feel like I'm in a prison cell. I sit at my desk and return to what I was working on before. Looking into a case I had an anonymous client send to me. It was all so vague so there wasn't a lot to work with.

A pop-up comes on my computer, I never get pop-ups so the curiosity in me opens it. Several files come up, named with dates and numbers. I open the first one which is a date from 4 years ago. This was August 2013. It was now October 2017. The file had pictures and programmed schedules and sequences. My heart sank when I opened the picture. It had 4 different coloured wires. Red lights that flashed. And a countdown. It was a bomb.

The countdown still had 10 minutes but the other files contained sequences the bomb was programmed into. I exit the file, my heart is racing and squeezing in its place. I look up the date on Google and all I see is news articles about a threat. A bomb threat that never occurred but it was found 10 minutes before it was let off. I fiddle with a blonde strand of hair in stress. I definitely was not meant to receive this.