Lost Memories

Chapter 23 - Annie

Annie's POV

Sade and I were hiding around the side of a building, sitting on the concrete floor, trying to be inconspicuous, but we were failing completely. As pedestrians walked passed, they gave us these looks that just told us they were judging us to no end.

"I think we should move, we're trying to blend in, but I'm afraid we're sticking out like a saw thumb!" I suggested in a whisper, gesturing to the people on the streets who were casting us looks.

"I think you might be right." Sade agreed, before standing up and brushing himself off. He stretched out a hand for me and I reached, our fingers grasping together as he pulled me to my feet.

"Where shall we go? We need to stay close by because of the entrance, but we need to be hidden from curious eyes." I said. Sade looked around, trying to spot a place for us to go.

"What about there?" He pointed at a small shop that looked like a bakery, with its lights illuminating all the pastries that looked so appetizing on the window display. By the other window, on the outside of the building, sat a couple of chairs and tables that had seem to have been abandoned if they weren't sitting by the shop door.

We slowly made our way over, keeping our heads down. I made sure to keep the hat over my face, tugging it down further every so often, just to reassure myself that no one would recognise me.

"Stop it, you'll draw attention to yourself." Sade scolded slightly, removing my hands from the rim of the hat and clasped it roughly in his own. He tugged me faster with him towards the seats and told me to sit down, while he went in and got us both a drink. I kept my eyes trained on the entrance to the Archives. The building itself was quite magnificent, with panel upon panel of one-way glass, allowing those on the inside to see us, but not allowing us to see them. The glass curved up and around, making the building into a sort of dome shape. Covering a lot of panels of glass was a type of metal that must have reinforced it to make it more impenetrable than it probably already was. The metal crisscrossed its way to the top of the building in random directions, improving the aesthetic of the building and made it stand out against all the others that surrounded it.

The chair beside my own pulled out and Sade sat down, placing a glass of water in front of me.

"No change?" He inquired, quietly.

"Nothing." I responded. Throughout the past hour or so of watching, nothing and no one hand come in or out from the entrance. The street that ran beside the entrance was a side street that split off from the main road, so it was quite busy, with people walking to get away from the centre of the city to their homes towards the out regions. It must have been rush hour by this point, because the streets were overcrowded with people and vehicles. On occasion, a honk of a horn sounded from the main road, but we never took our eyes away from the entrance. I took a sip of my water, my gaze wandering briefly to the window of the bakery and I froze. All the blood drained from my face and my eyes widened. There in the window of the shop, was a picture of me. My eyes were wide and my hair was tangled. The poster read: 'WANTED: Annabelle Croft'.

"Annie, are you okay?" Sade asked, looking worried. I pointed at the poster, unable to say a word. Sade tensed up when he saw it. "Don't worry, no one has recognised you, stay calm and keep your head down; everything will be okay." Sade rubbed a hand down my arm, trying top help me calm my erratic breaths and heart rate.

"It's okay, lets just keep watching the Archives." I muttered, turning back to the glass fortress in front of us. I put the photo of myself to the back of my mind and watched all the people that passed the door. The street had begun to empty, with less people walking passed, which made me relax more.

"Annie, look." Sade muttered, pointing a little towards the building. A large vehicle had pulled up next to the door and some smart looking men and women were getting out of it. They were wearing navy suits, all with a little rectangular badge attached to the pocket of the blazer. One of the people, a tall buff looking guy, leant over a scanner. A small red laser shot out of the scanner and slowly passed over the badge, before a green light flashed and a click sounded. The door got pulled open and there was a rush to pile in through the entrance. Two of them bumped into each other in haste to get in and then apologised to one another. The walked into the building and closed the door, heavily behind them.

Sade got up and I followed, walking slowly behind him with my head down. We checked over the door as discretely as we could, looking around every so often to check if anyone was watching us. It was then that I spotted something, lying face down on the ground.

"Hey, Sade, look at this." I picked it up and turned it over. In my hand was a badge with a picture of someone called 'Kiera Anthony'. Behind the name, picture, security number and bar code, was a watermark of a shield with some unknown language, slogan thing atthe bottom of the shield and had some type of bird on one side, probably an owland a big cat on the other, like some sort of leopard. Itwas coloured a light blue, which stood out against the white background, butnot so much against bold black writing used to display the securityinformation.

"I think you just found our way in, Annie." Sade stated, with his eyebrows knitted together.

"Well, lets get back to tell the others then." I said, and we began walking back to the saboteur buildings. Thiswas going to make tomorrow a lot easier.