Greetings! And here's another installment of the Write Anything blog's weekly challenge – [Fiction] Friday. We're supposed to write about…
A Stolen Conversation
Her heart hammered in her chest. She ducked around a corner, into an alley, trying to catch her breath and stay out of sight while she agonized over her escape route. She couldn't believe she'd gotten herself into this situation!
I'm not cut out for this espionage crap!
As exciting as the idea sounded at first, now that she was in the middle of it, it was more than she could handle. But they DID make it sound pretty simple, focusing more on achieving the goal and less about how life-threatening it would be.
But that was the point. If I die, no sweat off their backs and their asses are covered. I'm the one that's in deep shit now!
Her breathing down to a manageable level, she peered around the corner only to jump back at the bullet that ricocheted off the brick wall.
Fuck!
She followed the wall in the opposite direction, clutching the digital recorder in her pocket. At the end of the alley the chain-link fence seemed to mock her, freedom just on the other side of that barrier.
I'm fucking forty-eight years old! How the hell am I going to scale that thing?
A silver sedan pulled up at the entrance of the alley blocking her only escape and four men stepped out looking none too happy and all about putting her in the hospital…or worse.
It's do or die, baby!
She turned to face the insurmountable chain-link fence to see a black sedan pull up on the freedom side, again blocking her way. But a sigh of relief gushed out of her when she recognized the government officials who had given her this damned assignment. The men in the silver sedan grudgingly disappeared into their vehicle and sped away.
“Did you get it?” Agent Sommers asked, his sunglasses firmly in place and hiding his eyes. Though she had wondered once before, she couldn't care less if she ever saw what color they were. She wanted out of this.
“Yes, I got it.” She closed her eyes and put her hand into her pocket, touching the digital recorder again, holding the stolen conversation she'd captured. This was the key to her freedom, the final part of her end of the deal. It was over. When she opened her eyes, her stomach churned in fear at the smile on his face. She wasn't going to live through this after all, was she?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oops!!! That's all five minutes allowed me! Sorry I couldn't finish it! If you enjoyed this Fiction Friday installment, please CLICK TO TWEET &/or SHARE ON FACEBOOK.
Thank you!!
Arial 😉
Ha! A literally stolen conversation. Love it! But what happens next???
Arial replied…
I don’t know!! LOL…I just did this for the exercise. Perhaps one day it will transform into a story. Thanks for your comments! 😉
Is this an old character or one made up for the exersize? It’s all tightly written and well paced, nice job!
Arial replied…
Thanks for your comments, Lenore! This was a character made up for the exercise. 😉
What happened? I was hooked on her that I thought of a bunch of reasons why he was smiling at the end. Great job!
Arial replied…
Not sure what happened. I was just writing what came to my mind for the exercise. Thanks for the comments!
Arial 😉
Hi – Sorry it’s taken so long to getting around to my reading this week. So – you know how much I enjoy the differences between what we write about – even when considering the same topic. . . I have two guys sitting church blabbering and you have a woman getting shot up (and at) in an alley. Lenore wrote about the pacing – and she’s right – this is really well paced. This concept is one that’s ripe for expanding upon – The character is strong, really strongly written and (should I put this in CAPS) I want to know what’s on that recorder and I really, really want to know what she did to get it. Well done. See you next week.
Arial replied…
Thanks, Koe!! As always, your opinion means a lot to me…I appreciate your input. I hate to disappoint, but I don’t think I’ll be able to expand upon this one for quite some time. I am in the middle of massive edits – I have a “Revise and Resubmit” offer for my first novel – so I’m quite occupied. I would venture to say the character is strong because it’s me and I just put myself in that situation. As for what’s on the recorder…I really don’t know! At least not yet. Perhaps one day I’ll create a story out of this. When I do, you’ll be one of the first to know!
Arial 😉