Exit to nowhere

Chapter IV. Much ado about nothing.

In the distant horizon the sun was descending , the last rays forming a perfect picture before nightfall. Erica stared at it in wonder. How could something so beautiful, be so depressing? With a little shake of her head, she turned her gaze down in the sand, looking ever so morose.

Caspar rubbed his jaw slowly as in pondering and did nothing to hide the deep sigh that the moment after escaped him. It really did not matter how much he regretted taking this job . . . he HAD taken it, and now he felt like the biggest asshole on the planet. He raised his brows just a fraction and cleard his throat.

"To be honest, that's something you should ask Soran."

Erica blinked back a tear that threatened to spill, and she chewed on her lower lip nervously. She was scared, really scared, that she could not deny. What would they do to her? And did she really have to talk to that Soran guy? She had no desire to.

"Do I have to?" she whispered again and looked at Soran from the corner of her eye, she could see him rummage through a backpack looking for something, then she quickly turned her gaze back at Caspar, "I'd rather ask you."

"Oh," he said, a small twitch in the corner of his lips, "Well, then we have a problem."

Erica gave him a frown. "How come?" She wasn't sure, but she thought she heard a tone of amusement in his voice, and she had no idea if she disliked it or not. How confusing.

"Soran is the one with all the details. I'm just a hired mercenary, " Caspar made sure he emphasized that last word as much as he could.

But instead of reacting the way Caspar had predicted, Erica more or less gave him a 'duh' stare.

"Seriously? Mercenary? Here?" she made a sweeping gesture across the sandy shore and on the dark forrest behind them."And for little ol' me. What in the world is it that you want from me? And don't say nothing, because I know it has to be something, or else I wouldn't be here. And where the hell is HERE anyway?"

Before Caspar could reply, Soran stood up and looked at her with dark eyes. "We want the damn blueprints and schematics, okay. And you are going to give it to us. NOW!"

His words were hard and the look on his face told Erica that he was dead serious. So lying to him was out of the question. She gulped.

"Its in my bag, in the big envelope." she turned her head and looked around in the dark, "By the way, where IS my bag?"

She got her answer right away as Soran threw her bag in the sand in front of her where she sat. It landed with a sorrowful thud at her feet. "Already checked. It's not in there."

"But . . ." Erica tried.

"The paper is blank!" Soran spat back at her.

"WHAT?" she exclaimed and made huge eyes."BLANK? It can't be." She tore her bag open, yanked the envelope out and opened it with shaky fingers. She could not believe her eyes. She stared in shock at the blank piece of paper she held in her hand. "Holy shit!" 

Caspar tried to stifle a chuckle. "That's one way of putting it." He wasn't surprised to see that she was genuinely alarmed by the revelation. Of course her boss had been more careful than Soran expected. The man wasn't stupid. The blueprints were elsewhere.

"So, where are they?" Soran prodded and drilled his eyes into hers."You better tell me."

Erica looked like she was down for the count and threw her arms out dejected.

"I swear to God that I saw him put the damn paper in that envelope. It sure as hell wasn't blank when he did it."

"Well, it is now." Soran said sourly. He walked back to his backpack and took out a contraption of some kind. Erica could not discern what it was, so she turned to Caspar with a questioning look. He just gave her a roll of his eyes.