Eye Contact *ON HOLD*

Interest

Maggie followed dutifully behind John for a few blocks, wondering exactly when he was going to call a cab, like he had apparently planned. 

“John?” she asked.

He stopped. “I, I’m thinking. About what that lady back there said. I think best when I walk, so if you want to get a cab…” he trailed off.

“When will you be back at the flat?”

“I… I don’t know. But I will be. Tonight or tomorrow morning.”

Maggie nodded, trusting his judgment.

“Will you be at the flat?” John asked her.

She frowned. “I don’t know.”

He watched her for a moment before nodding. He turned and continued down the street, leaving her behind. She cut through a nearby alleyway and turned left onto the street. She noticed a taxi coming her way and called for it, but it didn’t stop. She continued on. As she passed it, a phone in a public telephone box to her right started ringing. Maggie looked at it, but kept going without stopping. The phone stopped ringing. But as she kept going, a payphone in a nearby restaurant began to ring as well. She saw a man reach for it, but the sound suddenly stopped and he walked away. She reached the street at the end of the block and waited for the traffic to slow so she could cross when the telephone box next to her began ringing. She looked at it for a moment. Someone was obviously trying to contact her. It stopped ringing. Then it began again as she stood there. 

Slowly, Maggie pulled open the door and closed it behind her as she entered the phone box.  She lifted the phone off its hook and paused for a moment before lifting it to her ear.

“Hello?” she asked warily.

A man’s voice came through the speaker, talking calmly. “There is a security camera on the building to your left,” it said. “Do you see it?”

She frowned deeply. “Who’s speaking?” she asked.

The man sighed. “Do you see the camera, Miss Archer?”

She started looking around, locating the camera. “How did you know my name?”

“That is unimportant. Do you see it or not?”

“Yeah, I see it.”

She could hear the smirk in the man’s voice as he said, “Watch.”

She stared at it. Where it had been pointing directly at the phone box, it now swiveled around, pointing the opposite direction. The voice continued.

“There is another camera on the building opposite,” it said. “Do you see it?”

She turned her head to see the other. “Yes,” she murmured. No sooner had she spoken than that camera also swiveled away.

“And, finally, at the top of the building to your right.”

She turned, wide-eyed as that camera too turned from her.

“How are you doing this?” she whispered.

The voice ignored her. “Get into the car, Ms. Archer.”

A black car pulled up to the curb nearby, and its driver, a tall, burly man in a suit, exited the front seat and opened the door closest to her, never speaking or looking her direction. Maggie stared in shock as the voice began again,

“I would make some sort of threat, but I’m sure your situation is quite clear to you.” There was a click as whoever was on the other side of the line hung up.