Chapter XXIII December

“You done yet?” Cooper asked.

“This is not easy,” Al said her hands working quickly behind her back.  She was working a piece of wire sewn into her sleeve out.  They had anticipated being bound in some fashion and she was relieved when her hands were bound together.  It made the task of escaping much easier than if her hands would have been tied separately to a chair. It was a gamble, but they had figured – and hoped – their captors would choose hands together in handcuffs. Which, to the benefit of Al and Cooper, they did.

Chapter XXII A few years ago

Al sat in the surveillance van waiting for her partner to return.  A fresh graduate of the academy, she wanted to do a good job.  People had invested time and effort in her to complete her training and she didn’t want to let anyone down.  For the first time in her life, she felt the pull of other people guiding her life.  She had never known that feeling of people depending on her before.  Never in a million years would she have guessed the current path her life was on but now that it was on that path, she was going to make the most of it.  Maybe now she would find a place she belonged.  Maybe even a home, if such things existed for girls like her.  But first things first, this was her first assignment and she was not going to fail. She absolutely would not allow herself to fail.