Story Wormholes: My Sister the Spy, Part 8
Desperate times call for desperate measures, so I steal myself for the task of breaking into the embassy.
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Join us as we help Mitchell save his sister, Olivia, from the dreaded Tejuristan embassy. She might be the spy, but this barber is going to have to step up and save the day. Mitchell has found himself back in Olivia’s apartment for the first time. He has made the desperate decision to break into the embassy - will he succeed? Need to catch up? Find your part here.
It’s just too dangerous for Olivia – she might really be in trouble. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so I steal myself for the task of breaking into the embassy. I try to ignore the fact that I have literally no idea how to do that. I’m a smart guy, I’m sure I’ll figure something out, right?
I figure I should probably leave Olivia a note in case she comes back (then, she’ll know where to start looking when she needs to save me). I start rifling through her desk looking for a pen. When I get to the bottom drawer, still pen-less, I realize that the drawer has a false bottom. It should be at least two inches deeper than it is. I quickly pull all the stuff out of the drawer, looking for the latch to open the compartment. I slide my fingers around the bottom edge and feel a small lever, the same color as the drawer itself. I gently pull the lever and am rewarded with a soft click that frees the false bottom.
I pause, wondering if I should be snooping in my sister’s stuff. I mean, if I had done this when we were kids, she would probably have tackled me to the floor. She’s always been small but surprisingly strong. Then again, I’m about to go break into the embassy of a country that is famous for torturing people, so I figure I might as well take my chances.
Pulling up the bottom panel reveals a neatly organized compartment underneath. Nearly everything seems perfectly ordinary – a pair of chopsticks, a tube of lipstick, a comb, some incredibly tiny earbuds. The only thing even mildly suspicious is a velvet pouch of lock picks. This can’t be normal stuff, though, right? It has to be some super secret spy gadgets that knock out the bad guys and confuse guard dogs. Why else would they be hidden like this?
Gearing up for this mission seems like a good idea, so the lock picks are an obvious choice. Not that I know how to use them, mind you. That’s what YouTube is for, right? I consider the rest of the options. Chopsticks seem like they would be a bit conspicuous, and the lipstick would definitely raise some eyebrows.
The earbuds seem like they might be a good option. Other than being exceedingly small, they look perfectly normal. Carefully, I put one in my ear. Nothing really happens...maybe if I put in the other one? Still nothing. I try to take them back out, but with a sudden panic I realize that I can’t. They have lodged themselves too deeply in my ear canal. It occurs to me that this is probably a feature, not a bug: nobody could possibly see them now. Still, I wish I knew how to turn them on.
I pick up the comb, wondering what secret powers it might hold. Even with close examination, it just looks like a regular comb. I run my fingers over the handle, hoping to find a button but no luck. When I run my fingers along the teeth, however, a small dart the size of a pea shoots out the end of the handle, missing my leg my inches. I just about tranquilized myself – cool!
I pocket my tools, put Olivia’s desk back together, and finally locate a pen to write her a note. Feeling decidedly unprepared for this mission, I head back down the stairs. I consider going home to get my car, but I want to be able to make a sneak away quickly if I have to. I decide instead to walk the couple of blocks over to the Tejuristan embassy. It has started to drizzle since I left the restaurant, so I gratefully pull up my hood, hiding my face. The turn in the weather also means that the sidewalks are significantly emptier out than they were earlier. Good, fewer witnesses that might call the cops on me.
As I turn the corner towards the embassy, panic starts to rise like a nasty ball of tar, threatening to engulf me. What am I doing? I’m going to get caught, I just know it! I keep walking, trying to take slow, deep breaths to calm back down. I see the building coming up on my right – an imposing concrete structure frowning down on the otherwise lovely street.
I steel my nerves as I walk past the front doors, trying to keep my pace steady. Glancing momentarily through the windows, I see two guards hunched over a nearby table. The front door looks like it could probably keep out a dragon, so breaking the windows would probably be my only option. Perhaps some kind of distraction could help?
I glance through the windows again, hoping for some glimmer of hope. I see at the back of building’s foyer a door leading into the back. Maybe I could go around to the alley and get in through some back door.
I wonder what I should do. Should I risk trying to break a window right in front of a couple of guards? Or should I try to get in through a back door?
What should I do?