Friday

---------((0))

"Christine – I'm so happy you came." Christine hugged Katie. Katie was shaking. "I-I haven't exactly been telling the whole truth." Katie set her coffee down. "I knew Erik. I know his tricks. My father was an American journalist in Iran while I was growing up. He often left me alone in the waiting area at his workplace for long spaces of time while he finished something up. One day, a dark shadow seemed to creep into the building. I saw it and screamed. The shadow cursed and grabbed me. He held me captive for a week, during which I got into a few too many of his private files. He probably still has them all. I doubt he even trusts the landfill with some of that information. Anyways, I learned a lot about the man. He is guilty of every crime I can name. He has murdered, blackmailed, committed treason many times over to many different countries. He answers to no power other than himself." Katie looked over at the park and the budding daffodils.

"I am afraid for you. I'm afraid he'll hurt you beyond redemption. He loves you. You are the objective, and the blackmail provided, his mission. He may have become a doctor, but he is still an agent at heart."

Katie looked Christine in the eye. "I wish I could help you. I can't, and you know that." She hugged Christine. "Whatever choice you make – it is only as you wish it. Happiness is relative, if you choose to be happy where you are, you will be happy." Katie teared up.

"I'll miss you either way. Hannah and I are moving to a place where we're more accepted. Hannah got fired the other day because of us. I wish things were different, but we are where we are, and we just have to live with it."

"I'll miss you too, Katie. Tell Hannah I said 'hi.'"

"Goodbye, Christine."

"Bye." Christine stared at the retreating back of her last friend.

---------((0))

Raoul shivered. The cold seeped slowly into his bones, stabbing through every cell of his body. He shivered. And shivered more. His sides ached and his eyes watered. He just wanted it to end. He rubbed his feet trying to get feeling back into them, knowing it was futile. He was going to die. He knew it. Why couldn't Erik just kill him?

---------((0))

Only a few more left.

Raven Sharpe