On the Run

5 - CII

Orabella stood in the security room, her arms folded as she watched the agents do their job at finding the root of the security breach. Her eyes darted back and forth nervously, the worry of even more people finding out what she was up to had her on edge. She could feel beads of sweat gathering at the sides of her forehead, so she kept on top of wiping them away. She didn't want to give another set of agents a reason to distrust her and go rogue.

Her phone pinged, signifying that she had a text message. She walked to the back of the room and opened the text, her eyes reading over it with an ever-growing heavy heart.

Hello, il mio amore. Will you be visiting your father with me for his birthday?

The text was from her mother and she felt a whirlwind of emotions flood over her, specifically regret, sadness and anger. Anger at herself and at the vicious men who took the purity of her childhood away from her for many years.

She could still remember her last moments with her father, regretting each second that she had pushed him away. She wished she could turn back time and just let him be there for her after the traumatic years she was forced to endure, away from her loving parents.

Orabella longed to be OK and to have healed from it all and to have moved on, but after she was taken from her home, it forever scarred her. And those scars would never heal. And now the only thing she had was the determination to make her country a safer place.

Her eyes glazed over the text once more, not knowing exactly how to reply. Before she could think about a moment longer, a tap on the shoulder sucked her back into reality.

A man with a large build and big, broad shoulders stood before her; he was stood straight, his burly face tilted almost upwards, showing off a large scar running up his cheek and over past his eyebrow. Orabella instantly recognised the man as Jovanni, the leader of the Special Defence Unit. He was a man of duty and authority and had much experience after serving two tours with the Italian military.

"Jovanni," Orabella greeted, staring at him with intrigued eyes, "is everything alright?"

"Me and my unit found the reason behind the security breach, ma'am," he said. His voice was deep and masculine.

Orabella closed in on him, her eyes growing wide. "Who?"

"It was Mia Di Marco, ma'am," Jovanni revealed to her. Orabella almost felt herself stumbling backwards in shock. She had the small suspicion that Mia knew more than she was letting on, but given their history, she never thought it would've been Mia conspiring against her.

"And that's not all. There was another woman with her. We ran her face on the computer, but nothing came up. This woman is a ghost."

A heavy breath escaped Orabella's lips, her face scrunching up in hurt and anger. "Bring her in. And find this ghost. Now."

Jovanni nodded and stormed out of the room, signalling from his still recovering team to follow him as they trooped down the corridor.

Orabella leaned against the door frame, covering her mouth with her palm as she breathed. She was doing this for the good of their country and she never intended on things getting messy. Especially involving someone she thought she could trust. But after Mia's stunt, this really changed everything for Orabella. She blew out of the dim security room and started pulling together ideas on how best to deal with the hand she was dealt.

*

The blonde-haired mysterious woman pulled her car up in the back alley of Mia's neighbourhood, coming to a stop when she reached Mia's back garden. She shut the engine off, not bothering to pull the keys out. She didn't waste time in opening the door and walking straight for Mia's home.