Maia looked up from her camera, giving a fleeting glance toward the man walking up to her. She barely gave him any notice, but still took in his hassled appearance. He was wearing a business suit and carried a manila folder in his sweaty palms. Peering over his shoulders multiple times, he adjusted his monocle as he jogged over. She looked back to her camera and then to the object she wanted to capture in her photography, but it was gone. Cursing her bad luck and her distraction, she made her way over to the jeep she borrowed from her friend. The man hesitantly approached her and cleared his throat.
"Ahem, um, uh hello there. Maia, is it?" he stuttered.
"Yes, that's me." she responded quizzically.
"Well, I have heard about your skills as a leader, as well as your intelligence and willingness to take risks. So, uh, I was wondering if you could help me with my case. I'm John Crowe, and I am the head of our local CIA office. We have been given an interesting case that we cannot solve. Could you help us?"
"You're asking me to help you? Well, okay, sure. Why not?"
John Crowe explained the case to her, emphasizing every detail he could find. Maia was confused. They seemed to have a lot of information, but why were they asking her to solve it? She couldn't help but notice the officer's rugged outfit. He seemed nervous and fidgety all the time. His clothes were haphazardly piled onto him, overall lacking the prim neatness of an important personnel. He constantly pulled his coat and kept one hand above one of his pockets. The man hastily pulled out a wallet with trembling hands, handing over his business card to her.
Before she could ask him about his peculiar behavior, he told her, "Well, thank you for helping us. I will have our team contact you soon," and handed her the manila folder before running back to his dusty jeep.
Shrugging off the man's habits, Maia realized what had happened. She had a case to solve! And, she was in college studying to become a lawyer, not a detective. Nevertheless, she was never one to step down from a challenge. She opened the folder and read through the files. Placing her bag and camera beside her, she climbed into her jeep and drove back to her apartment as the sun set.
The next morning, Maia waited for her call. It never came. She waited another day. It never came. She waited another and another. Finally, after two weeks of frustrated patience, she dug the business card out of her bag and read the number. Yet, before that, something caught her eye. The name said Joshua Crowe, but if she remembered correctly, the man said his name was John Crowe. The title of CIA agent was followed by an address, but the address looked different and out of place on the card. Dismissing her doubts to be paranoia, Maia dialed the number on the card, but it went to voice mail. Trying again, she grabbed her keys and walked out her door. If they're not going to answer, I'm going to them, she thought with a fiery glint in her eyes.
Typing the address into her phone, she set off to discover the secret of the case. Expecting to see a modern glass building, she nearly missed the address on the card. Frowning at the sight before her, she checked her card again.
"This is a run-down car garage." she said aloud. "I probably shouldn't be here."
Trusting her instincts, she started to leave, but thought again. I know I'm being stupid, but I really want to know why that man gave me the wrong address. Maybe there's a hidden message! Maia strolled over to the side of the building, but abruptly stopped when a memory flashed in her mind. The man. He had kept trying to cover his front pocket. But, for a moment, when he was distracted, she had seen an ID. Now that she thought about it, it had a name a little longer than John on it. Could it have been Joshua? And then, when he was leaving, a shiny sparkle reached her eye. There had been a knife in his back pocket.
Suddenly, being here seemed like a bad idea. Maia turned around to walk back to her car when she heard the crack of a twig behind her.
Two hands clamped her mouth from behind, while someone else seemingly grabbed something.
She felt a searing pain in her head.
And everything went black.
No comments:
Post a Comment