She unlocks the phone and reads the message. She smiles. It’s someone she knows. She messages the person back while being cautious of her surroundings as she makes sure none of her class is attentive to her text messaging. She hits send and looks back out of the window. She notices the figure on the bench in the distance reach into his jacket and pull out a phone. She smiles again.

The figure on the bench is wearing casual clothes. He is sporting charcoal washed blue denim jeans and a brown leather jacket. He fiddles in a text and hits send on his flashy phone. Mrs Gardener’s phone vibrates again. She reads the new message and laughs.

The student’s attention goes from their work to her. She immediately puts the phone back in her jeans pocket and carries on marking her papers.

She looks out of the window again and notices that the figure on the bench is now gone. She sighs in contempt as she reaches into her pocket and quickly glances at the new message on the phone.

“I’ll see you tonight at yours. Wear something revealing, ideally nothing. Kiss.” It read

She smiled once again, her heart beating hard in her chest at the thought of her being with another man consumed her. She looked at the name above the message and glee filled her like air fills lungs. She knew who it was anyway, but enjoyed seeing his name. It meant that this was real. The relationship was real and her feelings were real. He made her feel like she was worth more than money and dates. She felt as if she was worth time its self. She glanced at her class room and noticed that nobody was looking at her. She took the opportunity to take one last look at the name above the phone.

“617-338-7786.

JASON BORDELLO”

Fifty Two

Nathan is sat down on an oil drum in a store room. He looks up at an opening in the ceiling, a man made one. He looks at his watch impatiently as if he is waiting for something to happen. He gets up to straighten out his legs and looks at his watch again.

‘Fuck sake, Hurry up!’ He says to himself

At that moment some ash drops on his shoulders. Nathan brushes them off and looks up at the hole in the ventilation system. Fredrick has his head poking out of the hole and a smile on his face.

‘Come on star, it’s all safe up here.’ Says Fredrick

‘Yeah I’d appreciate it if you don’t drop cigar ash on me thanks’ Says Nathan still brushing his shoulders off.

Fredrick holds his arm out so Nathan can grab it. Nathan hoists himself up onto the oil drum below the gaping hole. He balances himself, trying not to take a fall. He steadies himself and reaches for Fredrick’s arm that’s still extended just above him. Nathan grabs his arm while Fredrick pulls him into the ventilation system. The vent is a lot darker then the store room, which only shared one characteristic. It’s very confined. Nathan turns around to Fredrick who has begun crawling.

‘Where the hell are we going?’ Asks Nathan

Fredrick turns around slightly

‘We are going to get out of here’ whispers Fredrick

‘Yeah I know that, but where does this lead to?’

‘It will take us right through the 1 floor of the M.I.T building. Straight through the hornet’s nest right out to the wastes my breda’

‘Hornet’s nest, are you mad?’

‘No it’s the only available route. They have destroyed the entrance foyer; no one can get through there. Not to mention they have got plenty of guards walking patrols man, so if we get caught we will die, I’m sure you don’t want that to happen now do you.’

‘Course not, but how did you get into the building?’

‘The same way we walking out star, through the ventilation ducts’

Nathan grabs Fredrick’s arm

‘This better be safe’

Fredrick pulls his arm away from Nathan

‘Course it’s safe; I never put myself in danger. Why you grab me like that? I’m no batty boy star!’

‘Batty boy?...’

There is nothing but complete silence in the duct

‘Never mind, let’s get going’ says Nathan

‘Fine by me star’

‘Lead the way “Star”’ Says Nathan Sarcastically

‘Ah my man likes the word star now, that gwan’ be good hear you say that’

‘Yeah whatever let’s get going, we need to get the hell out of here Fredrick. Let’s leave the playing around shit for the outside. I’ll make you a deal, you get me out of here and I’ll tattoo the dam word on my ass for you’

‘I would settle for a beer Breda, no need to get your ass all bruised. Come, let’s go’

Fifty Three

Chief Shaw is sat on a chair staring at the big screen in the incident room. His mind is racing as he gazes at the blue screen flickering in the now quiet room. He looks around and notices officers sitting at desks motionless trying to get a grip on the day’s events. He looks at his watch and sighs. Seven more hours till the FBI will take the case over. Shaw finally snaps out of his solitude and gets up. He starts to pace the immediate area like a man with a plan. It is all part of his job. Look concerned, act in control. In reality he feels everything around him slipping. The phone rings. Everyone in the room gasps as they all look over to the phone planted on the big oak desk a few meters away from Shaw. He sighs as he walks over to the ringing phone, taking a few steps to consolidate his thoughts. He stops dead and reaches for the shiny black phone, his hand visible in the reflection of the matt style plastic that cases the handle. He knows that particular phone line is dedicated to one thing only, communicating with Connor Chase.

‘Chief Shaw speaking’

A clicking sound pops into Chief Shaw’s ear as he speaks; the recording equipment is doing its job.

‘Hello Mr Shaw. It’s Connor Chase here. I’d like to speak to your esteemed Detective, Mr Frank McKenzie if possible.’

Shaw begins pacing once more, this time slow and methodical as if the way he walks helps him stand his ground. By now the incident room is full again with officers taking seats around desks. They are all wearing head phones and listening into the phone call. Standard procedure when it comes to terrorism. Chief Shaw starts to bite his nails as he continues to talk to Chase.

‘I’m sorry Connor, that won’t be possible.’

There is a long silence, the only audible sounds in the whole room is the deep breathing coming from the other end of the phone.

‘Why won’t my request to speak with Frank be possible?’

‘The thing is we fired him after coming to know about some of his questionable decisions’

‘Oh, what sort of bad decisions did he make Chief, was it anything to do with the fact that he behaved unprofessionally and slept with a so called key witness or did he, I don’t know, just shoot up a down town storage facility?’

The room bursts into sinister chatter as officers start dialling in calls.

‘What are you talking about?’ Asks Shaw

The line goes dead.

‘Shit, he’s gone sir’ says a technician from across the analysis desk.

‘I can see that!’ Shouts the Chief in frustration

He turns around to face his men.

‘Okay, you all heard what Chase had to say, and for those of you that did not hear what he said, I’ll make that clear right now. Chase just told me that Frank was down town in some storage area shooting the place up. Obviously we don’t know if that’s true but unfortunately giving the situation, we need to find McKenzie and bring him in. I have a feeling that this cock sucker chase is going to ride this out for as long as possible so we need to get Frank in just in case he demands to speak with him and use him as another reason to kill more civilians. I need people to look into all the storage facilities in down town Boston and make sure we find the building and Frank. I’m going to send out a combing party of officers to surround the area and sweep it for McKenzie. When we find him, I need him arrested and taken back to custody, right here. Is that understood?’