‘“Are you sure there’s no one in there? I thought I heard the TV,” someone shouted from outside the room.

Gabe stuck his head deeper into his arms and tried to mask the sound of his breathing. His heart was beating so loud he prayed for a sudden cardiac arrest. He heard more muffled footsteps outside as the members of law enforcement drew closer. He wasn’t sure what his punishment would be, but from the sound of it, the men outside were pretty big. There was little chance he would escape today alive.

“I’m sure no one’s in there,” a high-pitched voice said.

“Let me in there first.” It was the same voice from earlier.

The door handle raddled and Gabe shot up. His hands moved to grip his knees so that he could at least try to make a run for it. Even as a kid, he had always been able to get away before a fight began. It was not that he was especially fast, it was just that as soon as he was out of people’s lines of sight, they seemed to forget about him quickly.

He guessed that he had that effect on everyone in the office yesterday.

Gabe heard two kicks at the door and braced himself for entry. He heard the swish of the officer’s pants and the third kick almost simultaneously. The door swung open to the inside and Gabe dashed behind the open door, hoping to buy himself some time. Unfortunately, the officer caught the movement from the corner of his eye and yelled to his companions for backup.

“I TOLD you guys. Give me back-up.”

His voice was much louder when liberated from behind the door. Gabe went over his options quickly. He stared at the broken coffee mug from earlier and saw himself in its reflection.

“I’ll go, okay!” Gabe spoke from behind the door, barely loud enough for anyone to hear. The man that was speaking and two women, almost his equal in size, came through the door. Gabe threw up his hands and started talking, as fast as his mouth would let him. What resulted was a garbled mess that prompted the man to point his gun at Gabe’s head.

“You have two minutes to explain yourself.”

Gabe continued talking but his words made no coherent sense. Suddenly, the woman to his right stepped up and placed her hand on his gun, moving it away from Gabe. On the verge of tears, Gabe dropped to the floor in shock and started dry heaving.

“What’s a civilian doing here?” the guy in front asked. Gabe assumed he was the one in charge until the woman to his right stepped in front of him to walk towards Gabe.

“Maybe he heard about us somehow?”

The woman reached out and touched Gabe’s shoulder as he was slowly coming out of his state of shock. Gabe was surprised to see her shock of curly, bleached hair from underneath her officer helmet. He had never seen a woman in uniform up close before, but her hair was definitely not to code.

“Why aren’t you wearing a wig?” Gabe asked.

The woman leaned back and sat on the ground while chuckling. Her laughter quickly escalated and cut the tension in the room. Gabe started to nervously laugh with her as he looked towards her companions for guidance. They refused to move a muscle.

“Selima,” the man finally said, “we can’t compromise today.”

“I know, but I’m not sure what to do with him.”

While they started talking, Gabe was furiously trying to figure out where the people in front of him came from. He doubted they were enforcement, especially that woman since she seemed to be the head of operations. Gabe started to realize that something much worse than the government may have stumbled upon him. He started backing away from the group, positioning himself closer to the open door.

Gabe was confident he could escape the women but the large man in the middle did not seem like he would hesitate to shoot. Maybe if he grabbed Selima, he thought, he would buy some time to bargain.

Gabe sensed a pause in the conversation and reached his arm towards Selima, who was now standing in front of Jace. He tried to grab her shoulder but as soon as he did, he found himself on his side with Selima’s knee digging into his ribs. Unphased, she continued her conversation with her companions.

“See, he’s hopeless. Jace, you’re just going to have to escort him back to headquarters.”

“I’m staying here with you,” Jace, the large man, said.

Gabe began coughing violently and Selima lifted the force from his side. Gabe rolled over to his back and looked up to see Jace hovering over him with a gun. In that moment, he decided that there was no getting out of the day alive.

“Just shoot me!” Gabe’s sudden outburst sent Selima into another fit of laughter and Jace rolled his eyes. The woman next to them remained eerily quiet.

“I fell asleep at my desk last night, of all days. I’ve been writing for days to get the program out to the hospitals before the end of the month.”

Selima looked like she was contemplating something and was in complete ignorance of Gabe’s deteriorating mental state. She pulled out her phone, which was decorated with nothing but small, pink cat ears. A few moments after she sent a text, the silent woman’s watch started beeping. Selima snapped her head up and nodded at the woman.

“Jace, you’re taking him. Meg, come with me.”

The two women exited the room swiftly and Jace remained silent until the sound of their footsteps disappeared completely. Gabe looked up at Jace from the floor, where he had remained since Selima decked him. He gave Jace a sheepish smile and tried to stand up.

“Uh, so my name’s Gabe,” he said as he reached out his hand to Jace. Jace grunted and turned the back of his gun towards Gabe’s head.

“Fine.”