Envelope Challenge

Chapter 29 - The Escape

It's finally here! The drama!

Enjoy!

The sun shining through the window alighted upon Nathaniel, who woke with a groan. His body ached in the way bodies did after an illness, but his mind woke refreshed. He lifted up the covers before swinging his feet over and standing up. A glance at the clock confirmed it was half past seven, two hours after he normally woke up. He let it slide due to his fever and cracked his neck, standing up.

The operation was taking place in eleven hours.

The thought popped into his head and, instantly, his body hummed with excited adrenaline. Unease curled in his stomach, adrenaline pumped through his body, but his mind was eager, eager to get this over with and get Polly back. It was far past her time to return.

He hopped into the shower before changing into comfortable clothes, clothes he could – and would – spend all day in. After some quick exercises, he ended up glancing at a mirror to his left. His hair was becoming long, falling into his eyes and obscuring his vision. Messing with the strand, he decided to cut it and grabbed a pair of scissors. He quickly sliced off the ends as he always did before tossing the strands into his fireplace and watching them burn up without a trace.

"Come on, beauty queen," Maria grumbled from behind him. He whirled around in alert confusion. She wasn't anywhere in the room. "The computer, idiot."

He zoned in on his laptop that was open and pointed towards him from where he'd been working on it earlier. When he unlocked it, he found that it somehow turned on over the night and Skype showed him Maria's face.

"How did you get on my computer?" he demanded.

"You asked me to hack into you-know-what," she replied with a roll of her eyes. "Did you really think I couldn't hack into your computer? You had a nice firewall, but I got through it like an hour ago. You should do some more sit-ups; you're getting a little bit of fat around your midsection."

His gaze immediately travelled down to his four-pack – it had been reduced from a six-pack during the adventure – and pulled on his discarded shirt.

"You're a creep," he informed her. She rolled her eyes with a small chuckle. "Is there a reason you're on my computer and destroyed my firewall or are you just here to be a creepy little pest?"

"I was told to contact you. We're doing the pre-mission preparations and they want you here. I don't know why, but they said you knew these guys and could help them out. I'm just curious about how you know these guys."

"None of your business," he growled. "I take it they want me there now? Why didn't you tell me this before you spent the last hour ogling me while I worked out?"

"Trust me, buddy, your body is the least impressive of a lot I've seen." Unconsciously, he looked down at his now-covered body and stood up straighter. "Yeah, yeah, hotshot. Just get down here. Apparently we can't start until you're here and stuff, something about a contract. I don't know and don't care." She shrugged uncaringly. "Long story short, get over here so we can get her back."

"I'll be there in twenty minutes," he promised.

"Don't break too many traffic laws," she ordered before the screen went black and her face disappeared.

He broke many traffic laws.

He only reduced his speed at every stop sign, took turns too fast, drove at least ten miles over the limit at all times and went into the HOV lane a couple time. The only thing he didn't do was blow through red lights, not wanting to hurt anyone else with his reckless driving. He ended up stopped at four red lights for a grand total of ninety-seven seconds. Ninety-seven seconds of torture.