54

You lose your nerve. “This man is not going to fall for any deception.” You turn around and make a run for it.

The man yells, his voice loud and clear in the hallway. Just ahead of you, for an office door opens and the big man from the rig appears, his bulky figure blocking half the corridor. You are too fast and cannot stop in time. It feels like you lost the battle with a cement truck. He hardly budge while you are on your backside, stunned.

Two security guards appear further down the corridor. The fat man plucks you up, you swaying on unsteady legs. One of the guards handcuffs you. They lead you down a few flights of stairs and into a dank basement. The far wall is filled with empty cells, each illuminated by the harsh light of an exposed lightbulb hanging from the ceiling.

The guards throw you into one of the cells and lock it behind you. You shout after them as they leave but neither pays you any attention. After a few minutes, Emily appears.

“I’m OK!” is all she can say to you before the guards tell her to keep quiet, she is put into a cell next to you. A guard takes a seat at a desk and keeps himself busy with a magazine, eventually falling asleep.

A few hours later, two menacing men, dressed in black suits descend the stairs. One of them carries a large leather bag. He drops it on the desk of the guard. Metal objects clang inside, waking the guard from his nap. The suited man who dropped the bag barks some orders at the guard, who jumps up and unlocks your cell. He then runs up the stairs, seemingly wanting to be anywhere else but in the basement.

They start interrogating you and you cannot keep the story from them.

You and Emily are flown out of the country and are “guests” of the foreign government for a long time.

Kate and the professor escapes. However, his technology is forever in the hands of a hostile foreign power.

The end.