Pandora's Box

Chapter 7

Autumn, 2013
Willis Tower, CIASF Main Office
Midnight

It was probably the safest, most fortified tower in the whole of Chicago. On top of it being one of Chicago's tourist spots, the tower which was formerly known as Sears Tower, the tower currently was host to the transmitters for many broadcasting stations, as well as hosting the office to many numerous big time firms which hold the crux of Chicago's economy together. As a result, the security was top notch, a fact that was obvious to Pandora when she hurried back through the main entrance close to midnight. The tower lobby was dimly lit, and her access card's beep echoed throughout the empty space as she stepped through the glass doors and into the elevator, swiping it once more. The floor itself had no button, but one only had to swipe their card, and the elevator would bring them directly up.

Her sneakers squeaked on the well polished floors when the doors to the elevator swung open to the familiar sight of her office. Pandora took awhile to feel for the switch which would turn on the lights. The dark had never bothered her, but she would rather not fall over chairs in her attempt to reach her desk.

What she didn't expect however, was to see a glow of a computer as her fingers felt for the switch. Just at that second, her fingers flicked it up, and her eyes widened when she saw the figure and Asian-tinged features of her team leader, who chose that moment to look up and meet his honeyed eyes with her blue ones.

"What are you still doing here?" the blonde couldn't help but ask in a wide eyed look of surprise.

"I could very well ask the same to you. I thought all of you headed off early together?" he returned the query, not moving from his position hunched in front of his desktop.

"We did." she paused, and figured she had to explain herself. "I was having dinner with my best friend before I realized I forgot my iPad." Her sneakers made no sound as she walked across the hallway to her desk, easily spotting the orange cover of her iPad. She picked it up, waving it to Rhys's cautious eyes as an explanation, before asking, "Do you stay here this late all the time?"

Rhys gave her a wry look, and much to her surprise, Pandora heard a chuckle from her straitlaced and uptight boss for the first time. "This isn't considered late by my standards."

"You mean you've had later nights?" she responded, surprise evident in her tone.

Rhys leaned back, observing the blonde through his gaze. What was it about this slight sized female which actually made him feel like talking? Through the one month she had been with them, her laughter came as easily as a bird's song in the morning. While Rhys had been suspicious at first on how hardy and efficient someone like Pandora's background could be, she had managed to blow his expectations one by one. Already after their sparring session where she had managed to earn his respect, he was already looking at her with new eyes.

He could clearly remember her last apprehension which involved a very reluctant cabinet member  who would've given Pandora  a black eye had her reflexes not been quick enough. The cabinet member had been obese and very violent, but Rhys didn't have to do much more then watch as she subdued him as discreet as one could be in a mall, paralysing him through a combination of karate and kickboxing to get him in an alley where the rest of the CIA officers were waiting to do the rest.

Pandora Talbott is turning into an anomaly that I never expected, Rhys found himself thinking often these days. He couldn't help but look up whenever he heard her laughter in the office, and he found himself hoping that he was her accompanying officer every time she was sent on apprehensions. 

And right now, in the dim lighting with only half the fluorescent lights turned on, and with the rest of Chicago simmering down for the night just beyond the windows he sat with his back against, Rhys found that he couldn't tear his eyes away from her as she walked towards him. With every step she took, he caught a new facet of her that he's just now noticing. Had her lips always looked delectable when she pursed them in confusion? Or was it just because her black loose top and skinny denim jeans made her look particularly tiny? He remembered how her eyes turned a stormy gray when he sparred with her on her first day. Did they change to that enticing gray-blue when she was excited too?