Spy no more

Chapter 2

"There she at!"

Someone had made it known to everyone who was chasing after me that I was hiding under the stairs. Great. A young, skinny man in a suit grabbed my arm. I quickly snatched it away and punched his nose. As he stumbled backward, I placed my foot behind his making him fall to the floor. Another man ran towards me and I immediately dodged his jump at me. He quickly reclaimed his poise and stood up to catch me. By then, I had already reached the main door – which I presumed was the main one for the stairs led straight to it. I quickly opened it to find a gun aimed straight at me forehead. I froze. A smirk appeared on the guy's face.

"Where you headed, lady?" He asked in a raspy, disgustingly cracked voice.

I knew what to do in such situations. I needed to trust my gut. There was no time whatsoever. The men behind me would be here anytime. I quickly bent down and deftly tangled my leg with his, making him fall. Then I kicked his groin before snatching the gun from his hands. At this point, I stood right on top of his pained body that was lying below. The men behind me quickly caught on and appeared at the front porch. I pointed the gun at them, switching between them and the pained guy. "Now, one step here and I'm not afraid to shoot any one of you." They looked at each other uneasily and raised their hands hesitantly. "Move in." I looked at the door. "Move away from me."

They followed my command and slowly moved away. As did I. The evening breeze tangled my tresses and fell on my face. Pointing the gun at these men, I walked backwards, away from this ragged building where I had been stored. When I felt the distance had grown enough, I turned and sprinted in the opposite direction. I could hear them shout and run after me. I quickly followed a dark road that snaked its way into a dingy alley. On reaching it, I covered my nose and jumped into a dumpster. In a few minutes, I could hear quick feet scurrying across the streets. They didn't take this turn. Typical.

A few minutes later, I jumped out and coughed. This had to be the worst day of my career. I slowly walked towards the area that was well lit and breathed in some fresh air. A little girl, walking hand in hand with her parents was headed towards the west, with a huge smile plastered on her face. It seemed that her father had stated something funny, for both the mother and daughter threw their heads back for a belly laugh. I sighed.

My life had never been this simple. I could only ever wish for a moment like this with my parents. My mother and father could never carve out enough time for me. They were so dedicated and laser focused on their duties as intelligence agents in SATO that they even ushered me into the field when I was five. I was trained by specialists in terms of techniques in fighting, spying, directing missions etc. Eventually, I championed as one of the best spies that SATO had ever seen.

But it had made me cold hearted, ruthless, callous and brutal. I forgot what emotions like love, faith and trust felt like. When the family did ever get time for a normal dinner, there was talk of missions, bad guys, and international conflicts. But there was no emotion. My life was drained of any, as were my parents. How could they, if so emotion –laden, provide me with what this little girl enjoyed?

Tears formed in my eyes but I instantly bit my lip and sucked in the pain. The couple and their child happened to look in my direction. Seeing my disheveled state, pungent smell that I adorned from the dumpster and the gun that I held in a strong grip, they quickly walked away. They were scared of me.

This was the moment of epiphany for me as I realized that my time as a spy was over, not because I couldn't handle its requirements as well but because I was done.

I was absolutely done.