My Spy

Escape

I've finally managed to drag myself to the end of the hallway. I pull the ceiling tile slightly up so I can peek into the hallway below me and I notice my fingers are covered in grime and blood. Never in my life did I think I would be sludging through air vents, trying to escape some drug lord maniac, but here I am.

I hear two more shots fire at the opposite end of the building and my heartbeat pulses loudly in my ears. I try and silence my heavy panicked breathing long enough to hear if anyone is in the hallway below me. I slide the tile slightly further back and my stomach squeezes when I hear Austin's voice.

"The back stairwell is clear, keep moving forward. She has to be here somewhere." I pull the tile back completely and I watch Austin direct Ryan down the hallway.

"Austin!" I whisper and both Ryan and Austin flip around toward my voice. Just the sight of them almost makes me burst into tears. They can hear me but they can't see me.

"I'm above the elevator!" I say slightly louder and they turn around and sprint down the hallway with their guns stretched out in front of them. Ryan continuously checks behind him every few calculated steps he takes. When they make it to the end of the hall, I put my non-bleeding hand out of the small square opening and they both stop under me.

"Thank you Jesus hallelujah!" Austin mummers when they see that I'm fine. I should be jilted seeing Austin with a gun in his hands but he carries it naturally out in front of him.

"Are you okay?" Ryan nervously asks me and I nod my head. Both Ryan and Austin check to see if the coast is clear and I suddenly see Ryan's eyes double back behind him. I hear a gunshot from the other side of the hallway and Austin and Ryan scurry out of view behind the wall that leads to the staircase. Ryan stretches his arm out again and blindly shoots two more shots down the hallway. I cover the small opening I created and my heavy breathing is back. I won't be able to handle it if anything happens to Ryan or my brother.

I try and think quickly, Ryan and Austin are at a dead-end, hiding between a narrow wall and a door that leads to a stairwell that I have no access to from up here. I hear voices coming from the other end of the hall, confirming that Austin and Ryan are stuck at the other end. I scramble back down to the other end of the hall as quickly as I can move in the small space, to see if I can find out who is coming toward my brother. I hear Simon's voice immediately and he is asking someone else if they have located me yet.

"No sir, she's not on the second floor and no one has spotted her on the first floor."

"She just can't disappear!" Simon shrieks and his shrill startles me, "She is our leverage! Find her!"

As I am on my hands and knees crawling back to the other side of the hallway, I notice my small silver thumb ring on my hand. I quickly pry it off my sweaty finger and launch it so it hits with a ping on the other side of the hallway, right above Simon's head. I hear muffled noises where Simon stands and they finally figure out that I am in the ceiling. I watch a piece of drywall come blasting upward from a bullet and they must not need me alive. I watch a second and a third blast of tile but it's on the opposite side of where I am crouched down. I try and think of anything else I can toss to throw them off Austin and Ryan, but I have nothing on me.

I pull the tile back again and ask Austin to throw me something I can use. He looks confused for a second so I snap, "Check your damn pockets!" He tosses me up a quarter he's pulled from his jean's pocket and I thankfully catch it on the first attempt. I scoot down the small space again and toss the quarter as hard as I can above the classroom air conditioning vent. A loud pang shoots off in the direction they think I am and I hope my distraction works. I quickly pull the tile above Ryan and Austin away and I swing both of my feet out into the opening. Ryan tucks his gun into his waistband before helping me lower myself from the ceiling.