Claimed by the Hunk

Chapter 6

12 o'clock. The old church bells rang out into the darkness, sending a flock of pigeons into disarray, cooing and flapping violently away from the aged building. Each slow chime echoed through the cavernous inner hall, reverberating off the ancient stone, bouncing between each red velvet lined pew and finally laying to rest upon the altar.

It was dark when she arrived; gnarled trees hung low over the baronial church, creaking ominously in the howling winds. The heavy oak doors broke open, echoing around the empty church. The moonlight shone through the heavily cracked stained-glass windows, casting an eerie glow onto the dusty alter. Thick cobwebs hung on every surface and her footsteps sounded deafening on the cold stone floor. Cassandra had never been here before in her life.

But desperate times called for desperate measures.

And this was a desperate time.

The man walked in, three day stubble and a neat pressed suit, the kind you only see on high priced lawyers and gangsters. He took in the room with a single sweep, his grey eyes settling on nothing before he left as expressionless as he entered. Then he entered again.

And came and sat beside Cassandra.

“This is not a time for a girl like you to be sitting here near the cemetery in the middle of a deserted church,” he said. His voice was gruff, the kind of which happens when you have smoked too many cigars.

“And what kind of girl would that be?” asked Cassandra as she wrapped her jacket slightly tighter around herself.

“The kind of girl who would be out of home after nine o clock and would accept the curfew imposed on her even when there is none. You are not the kind of girl who has ever done a mistake in her life and you are not what it takes to do the job,” said the man in the same gruff voice as he took out a cigar from a case in his pocket and then lit it.

“Then you would have not come back here. After you left. You would have gone and not come back to talk to me. I am guessing that you are not here just because to tell me that I am not worthy to do this kind of thing, isn’t it?” asked Cassandra. This time the ire in her voice was clearer.

“You are perceptive and you have good deduction skills. That is necessary. But I need a reason why you want to do this job. This is not something that you get in and you can get out of it with the snap of your fingers,” said the man. He was called The Boss in the segment where he ran the Office with a tight hand.

“I am pregnant. And my family has cut off ties with me. I have realized that all my life I have been doing exactly the way my mother wanted me to live my life and not what I wanted. I don’t know what it is exactly that I need to do here but I can say this for sure that I have skills which are hard to find. I need the money and my great grandmother was a prisoner in Auschwitz. She survived. She had a son and then within a year she passed away leaving her young child without mother….her blood runs in my veins…and I am the only one in the family who has the skills that she has,” said Cassandra.

“And what skill would that be?” asked the Boss.

“To decode anything and everything. It was a hobby but then it became my obsession and my mother made me stop doing it but then again I found that I still want to do it. And I have another new skill which I learnt when I was getting my business degree,” said Cassandra with a calm voice. Her insides were fluttering like the wings of a butterfly but still she kept her cool.

“Which is?” asked the man.

“I can make anyone anything,” said Cassandra and this time the man looked at her with interest.

“Is that so?” he asked and Cassandra nodded.

A few bats flew above their head flapping their wings with a loud noise and the man said,” You might of use to us yet, Ms. Lowell. But as I said, think about it again. You are not without your own baggages. You will soon have someone to look after. Have you thought of that? What if there is some kind of problem and you are not alive any longer?”

“Then he or she will be sent to her father who has no idea that he has a child yet,” said Cassandra with a steady voice. Her heart broke to even think of the fact that she might not be alive but it was a possibility in this line of work even if she would be safe.

“Fine then, Ms. Lowell. You will not be living in the state anymore for I shall require your services elsewhere. And you are going to have quite a number of identities and you will undergo extreme training before I can decide that you are worthy of the job. Don’t worry. Physical training would not be done until after you are safely a mother. Any questions?” asked the man and Cassandra nodded.

He gestured her to go ahead.

“Will my family know that I am involved in this?” she asked.

“No. They would not know. In case, God forbid that happens, something happens they will be notified of your death from the day job that you will be having that you had an unfortunate accident and that will be the end of it. But Ms. Lowell, are you certain that you want to use your skills like this?” he asked. This time his voice was soft and filled with concern.

“I might not have been born in the promised land but I wish to go there someday and tell my child of the story of how her family had fought to survive in the worst crimes done against humanity. I want to tell her that her mother had the choice of not looking back and going ahead without any guilt but this is my duty to my people and to my land to help my nation in any way I can even though I am not a warrior…” said Cassandra but she was interrupted in the middle.

“Oh you are warrior. It is not always necessary that you would be fighting in the border. The men in the border patrolling need us because they cannot do what we can do. And one more question. This is the last one,” said the boss as he smiled at her.

“Sure,” said Cassandra.

“How well do you lie?” asked the man and Cassandra gulped and looked at him and said,” I have never lied in my entire life except once. The night that I conceived my child.”

“So I can say that you are honest to the boot,” prompted the man and she nodded.

“Well then, dear girl, you are going to make the best liar of the lot. For you are honest to yourself and that is what counts the most when it comes to maintaining your identities,” said the man as he stood up and then started walking out of the church. After the man had left Cassandra waited for some more time before she rose up from the pew where she was sitting and then heard the noise of crinkling of paper in her coat pocket.

She did not even hear or feel it when he had put this inside her coat pocket. Cassandra smiled thinking that she had for the first time made a choice in her life which felt good.

Now all that mattered to her was getting selected in the office and staying alive and be useful to her country and also to her baby. She got in her car and then drove back home. It was going to be great and so she thought until she found that there was a car which was following her at a distance. Cassandra thought what would she do, because she knew how to drive but losing a tail…that was something that she had read only in books. The techniques, the making sure that no one was behind you but now it seemed like it was time for a practical experience.