[color=indigo][/color]

Brant S. walked purposefully down the dark hallway toward the office of his boss, anticipating his new assignment. He hadn’t been told that’s what the call from the Boss was, but he knew.

He had been expecting it.

As he neared the heavy wooden door, a feeling of nervousness threatened to pass through him.

He mentally slapped himself. His job did not allow such emotions; hate and bitterness were the only feelings allowed. Fear, nervousness, and the dangerous one, love was not at all allowed in this line of work.

He knocked, a quick, businesslike sound.

A deep, in-charge voice responded by saying, “Enter.”

Brant entered, “You wanted to see me.”

“I did,” Boss nodded briskly and continued. “I have an assignment for you.”

He merely nodded; after all, he had been expecting it.

“Simon Luce, CEO of S.”

“S-Simon?” Brant repeated. Had he heard right?

“Yes, is that a problem?” Boss asked in a sardonic tone.

“Not at all. But is that possible? His location is unknown and he had more bodyguards than the President.”

Boss glared at Brant. “Did I hear you right? You are the best on the force and you’re asking me if it’s possible?”

Brant felt a pang of embarrassment. Had he just said that?

“Well, if you must know, I have his present location and his upcoming locations all typed out on sheet. But I thought you would find him on your own with your expertise.”

“The sheet would be helpful, Sir.”

Boss looked annoyed, but he reached for the sheet next to his laptop and practically threw it at Brant.

“Thanks,” said Brant with a frown.

“Now go.” Boss said with finality.

Brant knew without thinking the meeting was over.

**********************************************************************

“Simon, what’s on the agenda for today?” Aradella Beth Rivers, the most beautiful bachelorette alive (so people thought), asked as she grinned a Simon.

“Nothing yet, El, why?” Simon Luce, CEO of S. said, never looking up from his paper.

“I get so bored sitting in this drab underground room all the time.”

“El, you know it’s for…”

“I know, we must stay under cover in a top-secret lair for safety measures…blah…blah…blah…I’m not an underground forever kind of girl, though, you have to understand. I prefer filling my days with activities.”

Simon chuckled and looked up from his paper. “I know this is hard on you, El, but we wouldn’t want all that beauty go to waste…” He grinned, then leaned over and kissed her.

She pulled away, and continued, rolling her eyes. “Oh, but I’m wasting away in this middle-of-nowhere cavern.”

Simon looked back down, frowning. “I know; I wish we didn’t have to hide. I can tell I’m losing you,” he said regretfully.

El furrowed her beautifully shaped brows, “Simon, you’re not losing me. I am not myself. We’ve been here forever and I just…”

Simon nodded grimly. “Sometimes I wish I wasn’t the CEO of this company. It’s nice to have unlimited money sometimes, but not when it takes your life away in exchange.”

“I agree. I never grew up with much, so this wealth treatment is just a welcome extra, not something I can’t live without.”

“But I can’t resign now, Andrew is counting on my leadership.”

“And I wouldn’t want you to. It’s just so hard sometimes.”

Simon nodded in agreement.

“And plus, we’ve had no suspicious people for a whole 6 months now. I don’t understand why we must stay down here.”

“Because until the FBI finds out if the rumor is true and arrests the suspect, we’re not safe anywhere.”

“Why would they want to kill you anyway?”

“I told you El; it’s confidential information.”

“Simon, I can’t be with someone whose life is a secret! If I have to stay down here for half my life doing absolutely nothing, I want to know why!”

“You can’t be allowed to know why,” Simon’s voice was calm, but she could tell he was afraid to make her too angry.

Too late. She already was.

“Simon, when are you going to open up? The key element in relationships is that there are no secrets. You trust. You trust your wife of husband with whatever is troubling you.”

“Wife?” He squeaked.

“Yes, especially in marriage does that come in effect, don’t…”

“We’re not married. El, it was just bad timing. If we’d met 5 years ago, everything would have been fine.”

“I know, Simon, but where is this going? We’re just wasting our emotional energy for nothing. That is the next step, Simon; you find someone you can spend the rest of your life with and you make the commitment. Don’t you know?”

“Ummm…” Simon looked utterly helpless.

“Simon, I can’t deal with this right now! I’m leaving.”

“El!”

But it was too late; she had already run off in the direction of her room at the back of the ornately decorated hall.

*************************************************************