Until Time Runs Out

Chapter 4

"You're....a writer." He guessed again. I shook my head. "Bartender? Poet?"

"Aren't poets and writers the same thing?"

"Not really." He took a drink of his coffee. "Are you a..singer? Songwriter? Dancer?"

"There ya go." I smiled. It actually wasn't a lie. I did dance, but it was more of a hobby. Self-taught. And I had to say, I was good.

"A dancer? Are you any good?"

"I like to think so." I took a sip of my own coffee. "So what do you do? Besides being a tourist." I asked him.

"What, and you don't have to guess?" We laughed. He looked around, as if he was looking for anyone that was watching us. "I'm a top secret agent in a spy network in New Jersey." He whispered.

I felt my heart beat quicken. How can he say that? I felt my face pale slightly. If anyone had heard him he'd surely be killed. And he couldn't know by just looking around. Obviously we were trained to be subtle, to not stand out! We were shadows, never seen or heard if we chose to. And to blurt that out like that-

He burst out laughing. "Oh! You should have seen your face!" He laughed some more. I forced a few chuckles out. "You went totally pale, like you expected me to kill you." My heart beat slowed back to normal when I realized he was just messing around.

"I, actually, am a writer. I write of my adventures."

"Am I going to be in one of your books?" I smiled.

"You very well could be." He replied. His phone rang and he answered it after sending me an apology smile. He looked slightly confused at first, then held the phone away from his head. "Its...for you."

I took the phone from his hand, hands sweating. Did anyone find me? "Hello?"

"Elise! You have to come here right now!" It was Bailey.

"Bailes? How'd you get this number?"

"Someone texted your phone saying it was Tony, so I figured, since you never said anything about a Tony before, that you just met him and that you were with him. But you need to get here now!"

"Why, what's wrong?" I asked, slightly panicked by the tone of her voice. "Did someone break in? Is anything gone?"

"Elise...Ethan called you. Like, a million times." She spoke slowly, the way she always did when she broke bad news. "There was a Christian sighting a while ago. Somewhere in Russia. They chased him across countries until they got to here."

"Here?" I gasped.

"Italy." She sighed. "They took him down in Florence." She finished.

"Down?" I repeated. I felt the breath get stuck in my throat. I couldn't breathe.

"Elise," She paused. "He's dead."

"No. No. No. No." I put the phone on the table and my hands over my face. I felt the tears build up in my eyes. Why today, of all days?

I sucked in a breath and picked the phone back up. "Are you sure it was him?" I asked her with a shaky voice. Poor Tony, I was probably freaking him out.

"They're pretty sure. But you might want to get here soon. Someone sent something for you, also."

"I'll be there as soon as I can." I handed the phone back to Tony. "I'm so - so- sorry. Bad news." I ruffled my hair a bit. "I really have to get going. I'm sorry." I got out of my chair.