Not again. A shiver ran through her, and her legs started to give out as he drew her against his tall, hard form. Her body melted into his. The scream gave way to a sigh.
What just happened?
“Hush,” said a familiar voice she couldn’t place. “I know they were watching you in there. I’m not sure if they were able to keep up with you when you left quickly. Lucky that.”
Her heart sped up, and she had a desire to turn around and kiss the man who was holding her.
“Shhh.” Mr. Black’s breath tickled her ear, and she shivered.
“What is going on?” Her words came out in a whisper.
“Nod once if you promise not to try to scream or run, and I’ll let you go.”
Julie nodded, and he hesitantly removed his hand. She edged away from him.
The moment she was away, she instantly felt she could stand on her own again instead of wanting to melt into him. She liked the feeling of being apart from him, her feet firmly on the ground.
He leaned over her, his breath tickling her neck. She shuddered and reminded herself she liked the feeling of being away from him.
“What? Why?” Julie couldn’t think of any other words at the moment. All she could think about was how close he was.
“Look over there.” He pointed down the hall the way she had come.
She peered out the darkened crack in the doorway. Two men wearing dark clothes walked slowly towards them. They stopped a few feet away. One reached to his side, picked up a radio, and spoke into it.
“We believe she went into the bathroom alone. Do we attempt extraction from there or wait for backup?” The radio crackled for a moment as the man waited for a response.
“This is a possible asset. It would be better not to scare her when we take her in.”
“Understood.” The man shrugged and looked at his partner. “We wait out here.”
“What is the deal with this girl anyway?” The other man asked. “We’ve had surveillance on her and her family now for a couple of weeks. She doesn’t seem like anything different from a normal teenager, besides always dancing.”
The first man snorted. “Who knows? You know the boss is weird sometimes about the people we follow. We watch them and their families for a week or so and then move on half the time.”
These people had been watching her. They had been watching her for weeks, and she didn’t notice.
“Why now?” the second man asked. Julie leaned as far into the hall as possible without actually putting her head out to listen. “Why not grab her from her dance studio earlier this week? It would have been easier.”
“Oh, he recognized Black hanging around her too. He’s with another agency. The boss wants to be the first to bring in someone with proven abilities. The fact that Black is hanging around makes him think this may the real deal, but he wants to make sure.”
“That pretty boy at the school is Black?”
“Yes,” the man said. “Don’t underestimate him—he’s dangerous. Why else do you think the boss is so desperate to have an agent like him? He’s been looking for years.”
Julie turned her head and looked up at Mr. Black—Agent Black? He smirked back at her.
She edged a little further away. He took a step closer to her, staring in her eyes entreatingly. He reached out to grab her again, and she opened her mouth.
Quickly, he pulled back, waving his hands frantically in front of her and put his finger to his lips. She crossed her arms and watched him with narrowed eyes. She didn’t know who to trust, but the fact that she wanted to desperately trust him made her wary.
The light from the hall illuminated his sincere blue eyes and ruffled blond curls. The darkness behind him made him stand out like a beacon.
She shouldn’t trust him. Her eyes flickered to the doorway. She shouldn’t trust them either.
High pitched laughs echoed down the hall. A group of girls in evening gowns entered the hall from the bathroom. Julie recognized them from her school, even though she didn’t know them well.
The two men stepped back toward the doorway to get out of their way. The one with the walky-talky pushed back into the door to make room for the three girls. The girls didn’t even glance at them, probably believing that they were just security.
Mr. Black took advantage of the moment and pulled her back into the shadows behind the door, pushing her face into his hard chest.
Julie let out a gasp. Her knees went weak as she smelled his clean scent of…pine trees? He tightened his hold on her waist in warning.
She didn’t think the two men had heard her. They stayed still as all of them waited for the chatting girls to pass. She held her breath, not daring to breathe.
The girls’ laughter faded. The music from the dance grew loud as the door opened down the hall and cut off again as it closed. The two men stood still in the door, staying silent. Julie risked taking a small breath.
But the air was knocked out of her as Mr. Black threw her to the side and tried to shove the door closed. A foot and arm caught in the door.
“I thought I heard something in there! Julie, come out now, and we promise we won’t hurt you.”
She crawled away from the door and further into the dark room. She passed by the door’s crack and caught the eye of the man as she did. He was holding a gun. She screamed and started crawling faster. Her heart thudded painfully in her chest.
“Who’s in there with you?” He pushed harder at the door.
Julie turned back to look. Mr. Black reached around the door and grabbed the bare skin of the man’s arm with his hand. The man’s eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he collapsed in a heap in the doorway. Mr. Black kicked him, trying to get him out of the door.
What the hell had he done?
The other man now pulled the gun from his side and aimed it right at her. She screamed again. She was frozen in place, chest tightening and unable to move as he took aim at her.
She heard the dance music again as the door opened down the hall. The man hesitated and looked down the hallway. Once he broke eye contact, feeling came back to her limbs. Julie crawled under one of the round tables dotting the room, but there was no tablecloth to hide her.
“Is that someone screaming?” someone asked and then cried, “Oh my god, is that a gun?”
Screams started coming from the other end of the hall and grew muted as the door to the dance shut again.
Mr. Black finally pushed the man out, shut the door, and turned the lock. He spun around faster than she could believe, almost like a dancer. Her eyes met his from under the table. “Get out. We have to go.”
She shrank back as he tried to grab at her. He caught a hold of her dress and pulled. The thin fabric ripped, and he dragged her out. She hugged one of the table legs and screamed again.
***
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