May 31, 2005

Ava Harlow burst into the office and found her boss, neck snapped on the dirty floor, cold and dead. Terror was still plastered on Stephan Rock’s lifeless face. Justin, the corpse’s brother and business partner, whimpered with paranoid shock in the corner. 

“Where is it?” Ava, their assistant, glanced around the room.

“It’s not…,” Justin wheezed, “it’s not in the locked safe.”

“Are there any other copies?” Ava fretted.

“No, none!” 

“Did he move it?”

“No, no, no,” the man stammered like a child. “Stephan always kept it here!” 

Wailing screams of escaping employees barely covered up the brutal grunts of combatants fighting near the company’s lobby. Ava desperately hoped Daniel would stay alive. The loud crash of a heavy body thrown against the break room wall made Ava jump and Justin clutch his thumping chest. 

“In the closet!” Ava pulled her surviving boss into the storage chamber and locked the door from inside. 

“Stay quiet,” Ava whispered in the darkness. “We can’t let you die, too.” 

The office windows shattered as more intruders swung into the room from the dark night outside. Broken glass crunched beneath heavy combat boots. The cruel intruders saw the corpse of the company’s CEO and laughed.

“Find the formula. Now!” A deep voice snapped the snickering minions to attention.

The six thieves knocked over file cabinets, rifled through documents, and broke open locked drawers. They were so rambunctious Ava could no longer strain to listen for Daniel’s voice. As the burglars tore apart the office, they found nothing but useless paperwork.

“They lied to us,” the captain called out as the men paused their frenzied search. “It’s not here.”

One of the crooks fiddled with the doorknob of the locked closet where Ava and her boss were hiding. Justin struggled to muffle his fearful breaths. Ava knew they were losing options. 

“This door is jammed!” the brute told the others. “It could be in here! Help me break off the knob!” 

Ava huffed as Justin squeaked in fear behind her. Rules be damned. If she didn't act now, those killers would ruin everything. She had no choice. 

“Mr. Rock?” Ava whispered as she turned around. “I’m so sorry….”

“Huh?” Justin Rock mumbled in scared confusion. 

Ava placed her thumb on her boss’s forehead. The frightened man immediately fell into a mystic trance and his eyes glowed a cloudy white. Ava wiped her thumb across his skin from left to right. Her boss crumbled to the floor, lying motionless next to dusty shoes and cardboard boxes. Ava cursed silently. Where was Jerome? Where was Daryl? 

The terrifying men pounded on the closet’s handle with a hefty metal object. Ava had seconds before they killed her too. If these assassins got the best of Daniel, she would never forgive herself. She couldn’t fail, not now. 

Ava kicked open the closet door so forcefully that it broke off its hinges and slammed against her attackers. They were blown back like debris and fell near the corpse they mocked. 

Stepping into the light of the ransacked office, Ava looked over the minions and stared down the thieves’ menacing leader.

“Who do you work for?” Ava demanded as she squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. The men on the ground all turned to look up at the short, brown, slender secretary in surprise. They scoffed as they rose to their feet. 

“Out of the way, sweetheart. We just need the formula,” the militant captain ordered without a second thought. “Leave now, before you get hurt.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Ava objected, raising her voice. “Who are you and who do you work for? Don’t make me ask again!” 

“Your primitive mind couldn’t grasp it,” the captain snarled. 

“I doubt that, old man,” Ava retorted in contempt. 

Ava reached under the back of her shirt with both hands and unsheathed two graphite-colored dowels. She slammed her two fists together, interlocking both ends to form a single staff over five feet long. Ava was so fueled with purpose, she and her moldable staff began to radiate a wistful aura of emerald-green. The glowing energy swelled so bright, the men were forced to cover their eyes. 

“Leave!” Ava Harlow stood her ground. “Before you get hurt.”

The joking smiles vanished off the faces of the assailants. 

“She’s an agent.” The captain’s eyes went wide. “Get her!”