A Sinful Crime.

Chapter Thirteen

Sarah made it back to her flat, her heart thumping in her chest all the way, it wasn't until she walked through the door and locked it behind her, that she finally felt she was able relax.  Even then she drew the bolt across and put the chain on then walked over to each window in turn drawing the blinds, before finally dropping onto the sofa.  She sat there in darkness for several minutes, just listening to the sounds of people going about their lives outside, the cars driving down the street, the odd pedestrian walking past, the party revellers on their way to the pub.  She reached over to the lamp beside the sofa and turned it on, a soft glow illuminated the sofa and table where she sat.  Sarah took the flash drive from her bag and placed it on the table in front of her, then she just sat there, staring at it.

After sitting there for longer than she could remember, Sarah stood and went to her bedroom, she looked around the room before locating her laptop on the dresser in the corner of her room.  Sitting back down on the sofa, Sarah switched on the laptop now on the table and once booted up, placed the flash drive into a USB port.  She copied the files across to her laptop and then removed the flash drive, replacing it with her own, she then copyied the files again.  Once done Sarah deleted all files on her laptop, as well as the recycle bin and switched it off.  Sarah then found an envelope, placed her flash drive  inside and sealled it, on the outside she just wrote 'Felix, keep safe, S.'

The next day Sarah woke from a broken sleep, she'd had nightmares, nightmares in which she had been taken away by masked men, taken to some secret dark labratory.  Once there she would be strapped to a table, a bright operating light shinning in her face obscurring her view but just around the edges she could make out the blurry figures of several people in gowns.  Then one of them would approach, a syringe in their hand and the everything would fade to black.  She looked around her bedroom, taking in the familliar surroundings before deciding, that was indeed where she was and slowly slid her legs out of bed and standing up. She made her way to the shower and stood in there far longer than usual, trying to wash away the memories of last night.  She dried herself off and got dressed in casual clothes, jeans and T-shirt, since she was not working today, then made her way to the kitchen.  Passing the table in the living room she saw the envolope for Felix and the Flash drive, she walked past them, into the kitchen and proceeded to make herself some coffee.  Sarah leaned against the work top in the kitchen, her hands wrapped around the cup of coffee, she slowly drank the beverage, wanting to prolong returning to the living room for as long as possible.

Sarah would have been forgiven for thinking that all was well, that obtaining the files the previous night had gone without a hitch, with the exception of almost getting caught by George.  However the next morning a man of no significance was making his way to the server room, as he did every morning.  It was his daily routine to monitor and check the equipment in the room and other rooms for that matter.  This morning though he was going about his routine, checking power and health status of the various servers and switches when he noticed something out of the ordinary.  Most servers screens would be at the login prompt but this one particular screen was not, it was in fact displaying various files, he made a mental note to check with his supervisor once he returned to his department.  The man spent the rest of the morning checking other rooms and other equipement and by the time he had returned to his office he had forgotton all about the files on the main server.  Sarah would have been safe at this instance, if it wasn't for the fact that a few hours later, someone of significance, went to log onto the main server.  Upon seeing the open files, he acted immediately.

Within a matter of minutes there was a flurry of activity at the Spirella building, increased security at all external doors and  increased securtiy at each level of the building.  Not that the staff working there would have noticed at first, for these weren't the usual security, like George the night watchman, these were far more proffessional and dedicated to the cause.  To the casual observer they looked no different from anyone else, except they were all smartly dressed in black suits and white shirts and on the lapel off each of their suits was a small silver cross.  They were the 'Clergymen' and although had extensive education in Religeous studies, they also had other, more specialist training.  The Clergymen specialised in the apprehension, detention and re-education of sinners and there were rumors that it didn't stop there.  It was perhaps fortunate that Sarah was not at work today but that was as about as fortunate as she was going to get.  After the server logs had been checked it didn't take long for her identity to be discovered and a quick talk to George just confirmed it.  It was indeed fortunate that Sarah wasn't at work as smartly dressed men in suits went through her desk and computer, while puzzled co-workers looked on.

In fact the only unfortunate thing was, that Sarah had no idea at all, she was still at home in her flat, stood there now holding an empty cup in her hands when her phone rang.

"Miss White, you have the files?"

Sarah paused for a while, as she made her way to the living room and glanced at the table.

"I do."

"Good, then bring them to this address..."

Sarah took note of the address on the back of her hand.

"Oh, and Sarah...  You better hurry, they know!"

With those final words the phone went dead, Sarah stood with the phone still to her ear, frozen to the spot, two words continually go through her mind 'they know!'  A knock on a door brought Sarah round, her heart jumping out of her chest, she struggled to breath for a minute as she turned and stared at her door.  Then she heard another knock and reslised it wasn't her door at all, she let out a sigh and with all the strengh she could muster snatched up the envolope and flash drive from the table and placed them in her bag before leaving her appartment.