‘History will fancy me a hero,’she said to herself.  She closed her laptop and placed it carefully in read leather bag.  She couldn’t resist running her fingers over the leather one last time.

Her husband had bought her the bag as a gift, to celebrate her new promotion at work.  She had told him not to make a big deal about it.  (The pay was only a couple hundred bucks more per month.)  But he insisted on at least dinner. And when they got back in the car, the bag was sitting in her seat.

That seemed like eons ago, but it hadn’t even been an entire year yet.

And now, here she was in the middle of a bookstore chain, selling classified information to an unknown entity.  She knew that it was probably just a matter of hours before some men in black suits whisked her away and tossed her in a dungeon for the rest of her life.

She picked up her cellphone and made one last call.  No answer.  She waited for the voicemail.

‘Hey, babe.   It’s me. Just called to wish you a good morning.  Love you and looking forward to seeing you this evening.”  She lied.

She fully expected to be locked up by the time he ever heard that message.

Molly(not her real name), had a barely above entry level job in local government.  She was just a cog in the machine.

Until that fateful day, when she decided to tear the machine down.

The phone in her hand started to ring.  The phone number was unfamiliar, but the first few digits she recognized immediately.  It was work.

Molly thought about ignoring the call, but her contact had told her not to do anything out of the ordinary.  So she answered.

“This is Molly Woods.”

“Ms. Woods, I know you are not scheduled to come in until noon, but there is an emergency meeting.  We need you to come in as soon as possible. How soon can you get here?

Molly mulled it over.  She wasn’t sure who was on the other end of the call.  She wasn’t sure the authorities would not be waiting for her at the door.  She wasn’t sure  they were not lurking around in the book store, dressed as customers, or the new guy stocking shelves.

” I can be there in about an hour.”

The voice in the phone hesitated.  We’ll be in room 1204.  The meeting starts in 20 minutes.  Please come as soon as you can.”

The line disconnected.

Molly grabbed her laptop bag and headed toward the door.  She dropped her coffee and the cell phone in the garbage bin by the door.

Mama Radford

Stay tuned for more on Molly Woods