understand. This was different, I know it was. Why are you doing this?”
He had to make sure she wouldn’t return and more importantly, he had to allow her to leave empowered. She deserved that much.
“Please don’t beg it’s so very uncomfortable when you women grovel.” He put on his haughtiest stare, looking pointedly at her hand where it still remained, until she let go. “You’re all the same. I promised nothing and yet you all think you’re special. That you will be the one to make me settle down.” He laughed once again checking his watch. He knew he had to put the final nail in, so with lead in his stomach he did, “There is some money waiting for you on the bedside table. Must go I’m late.” He watched as her cheeks reddened with suppressed rage before he left. His heart, his hope, his future, gone in one fell swoop and the thought of carrying on as before made him wonder, what was the point of living.
Stacy stood dumbfounded and seething in equal measures, watching as Horatius walked away from her. Turning on her heels she ran blindly to their bedroom and, sure enough, found the money by the bed. Pain and outrage boiled over. Her muscles gripped and tore at the clothes in the wardrobe as she stuffed them into her case, calling herself all kinds of stupid.
Absently she picked up the phone to stop its wailing ring. Grunting down the receiver a male voice talked instantly, reciting case codes and numbers that meant nothing to her before summarizing.
Stacy’s hand started to shake as she listened to the datas meaning. She knew she should hang up or admit that the caller was not speaking to Horatius, but she couldn’t.
Her discovery was too ghastly. Like a car wreck she could only stand and stare. Looking into the images, the words and materials in front of her, it was too much to absorb. Stacy kept thinking the same thought as she set the hand set back down slowly.
“Horatius.” She whispers the thought out loud.
She left the house and the money without looking back. Fear and confusion propelling her forward.
Her flat was cold and quiet in the afternoon sun. She had practically slammed the door off its hinges in her haste to shut out the outside world. What should she do. Her mental processes couldn’t grasp the enormity of what she had discovered.
Not only had Horatius’s team caught her would be abductors. They had discovered the source of all the life threatening attacks and it was too big. They were too big to beat, too important to fail. No prosecutor could win and there was no direct person to arrest. Saudi Haramco were untouchable. And they were trying to stop Horatius and his revolutionary fuel concept.
Lost, Stacy started to flip through her comics. She pulled out her DVDs throwing them aside until she found something. What was she looking for? Would she look to fiction to solve her problems? What did she think she would find? This was real life. There were no happy endings, no heros. Dejected, she slumped among the disarray.
Through the glossy, shiny paper and reflecting plastic an image popped up and spoke to her. It was her frame. Her only picture frame. In her haste she must have tossed it among the melee. Lifting it, she stared at the picture of her parents. The only photo she had of all three of them together. Usually her father or mother where taking the photo but her dad had grabbed a passing officer for that one. She wasn’t even sure what station it was taken at and realised her memories were fading. Repaired tears marred the image but couldn’t distort the love shining though.
Her memory played back, flashing like a living
He had to make sure she wouldn’t return and more importantly, he had to allow her to leave empowered. She deserved that much.
“Please don’t beg it’s so very uncomfortable when you women grovel.” He put on his haughtiest stare, looking pointedly at her hand where it still remained, until she let go. “You’re all the same. I promised nothing and yet you all think you’re special. That you will be the one to make me settle down.” He laughed once again checking his watch. He knew he had to put the final nail in, so with lead in his stomach he did, “There is some money waiting for you on the bedside table. Must go I’m late.” He watched as her cheeks reddened with suppressed rage before he left. His heart, his hope, his future, gone in one fell swoop and the thought of carrying on as before made him wonder, what was the point of living.
Stacy stood dumbfounded and seething in equal measures, watching as Horatius walked away from her. Turning on her heels she ran blindly to their bedroom and, sure enough, found the money by the bed. Pain and outrage boiled over. Her muscles gripped and tore at the clothes in the wardrobe as she stuffed them into her case, calling herself all kinds of stupid.
Absently she picked up the phone to stop its wailing ring. Grunting down the receiver a male voice talked instantly, reciting case codes and numbers that meant nothing to her before summarizing.
Stacy’s hand started to shake as she listened to the datas meaning. She knew she should hang up or admit that the caller was not speaking to Horatius, but she couldn’t.
Her discovery was too ghastly. Like a car wreck she could only stand and stare. Looking into the images, the words and materials in front of her, it was too much to absorb. Stacy kept thinking the same thought as she set the hand set back down slowly.
“Horatius.” She whispers the thought out loud.
She left the house and the money without looking back. Fear and confusion propelling her forward.
Her flat was cold and quiet in the afternoon sun. She had practically slammed the door off its hinges in her haste to shut out the outside world. What should she do. Her mental processes couldn’t grasp the enormity of what she had discovered.
Not only had Horatius’s team caught her would be abductors. They had discovered the source of all the life threatening attacks and it was too big. They were too big to beat, too important to fail. No prosecutor could win and there was no direct person to arrest. Saudi Haramco were untouchable. And they were trying to stop Horatius and his revolutionary fuel concept.
Lost, Stacy started to flip through her comics. She pulled out her DVDs throwing them aside until she found something. What was she looking for? Would she look to fiction to solve her problems? What did she think she would find? This was real life. There were no happy endings, no heros. Dejected, she slumped among the disarray.
Through the glossy, shiny paper and reflecting plastic an image popped up and spoke to her. It was her frame. Her only picture frame. In her haste she must have tossed it among the melee. Lifting it, she stared at the picture of her parents. The only photo she had of all three of them together. Usually her father or mother where taking the photo but her dad had grabbed a passing officer for that one. She wasn’t even sure what station it was taken at and realised her memories were fading. Repaired tears marred the image but couldn’t distort the love shining though.
Her memory played back, flashing like a living
Similar Books
