Watchlist [H.S]

01

"What's wrong with being confident?"

~~~

Lexi Maybank

Danger.

The exposure to injury, pain, harm or loss.

Danger surrounds us, it is everywhere, whether we choose to ignore it or not. It's unavoidable, it's not something you can hide from, but eventually you become unbothered by the danger unravelling around you.

We all respond to danger differently, whether you go into fight or flight mode, completely freeze, frantically try to find a solution.

Personally, I do all four - that's what is expected of me. I freeze, take a second to go to my quiet place and see if there is a solution. If not, there are two other options fight or flight.

In most scenarios I'll fight, get my job done and make sure I'm safe, but most importantly others. In other scenarios it's better to choose flight, to just make a run for it because it's the safest option.

Everyone is unique and not one method of responding to danger is necessarily 'right', although this job, we have to be prepared for anything we encounter.

There are always plot twists being thrown at you and you have to learn how to adapt and work around them. Sometimes it's not the easiest thing and you may have some doubt but it's important to never go against your gut.

Those 'plot twists' aren't always significant things - like trip wires, some are mild inconveniences that you have to persevere through.

This moment is one of those mild inconveniences.

"Should we have a backup plan?" She asks yet another question while I'm trying to stay focused.

"No, we won't need one." I answer bluntly, keeping my eyes forward and waiting for our signal.

"But what if something goes wrong?" Genevieve whispers, sounding slightly panicked - which I don't blame her, this is a little stressful.

"Nothing will go wrong." I reassure, being slightly more sympathetic than before.

This is her first mission as a fielder, she's only ever stayed at headquarters and filed paperwork so this would be terrifying.

Even though she has asked me about 20 questions in the past five minutes and as irritating as that is... I get it. She's nervous and trying to collect as much reassurance as possible.

I can't say I was the same when I first started out in the more physically side of things, I was quiet. I followed my partner; I did what I needed to and no matter how many questions I had or how much reassurance I wanted I stayed silent - deciding maybe I didn't want answers.

"I don't think my earpiece is working." She mumbles while frantically tapping it - if it wasn't working before, I doubt it's working now.

"It's fine, Niall hasn't said anything yet." I respond quietly with a balance of empathy and bluntness in my tone.

We are sitting in a parked car, across from a financial office - exactly where we need to be. It's midday and perfectly sunny, not the best circumstances if things do go wrong.

Being out in broad daylight and committing a crime without masks is a recipe for disaster. I'm not worried about myself - I've done this plenty of times before, I'm worried about Genevieve.

She has little to no experience in the field and she seems nervous, so let's hope she doesn't let her thoughts take over her actions. She has to trust her gut but telling by her frantic state she isn't doing that.