Sidney's Story

A Story by Tikaani Sgaan

Chapter 1

Sidney woke up and thought it was going to be a typical Wednesday. The sun was shining, and the birds were singing the happy song they sing every morning. She got up rubbed her eyes, got out of bed, and walked into the bathroom. Sidney felt like something was off though. She slowly looked into the mirror and she thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye, but she shook it off and continued about her morning business. She undressed and turned the water on in the shower. She felt that same weird feeling, like someone or something was watching her. She turned around and thought she saw something move in her room. She wrapped a towel around herself and slowly walked into the bedroom. She definitely saw something move. She grabbed a hard back off her bookshelf that was next to her in-suite wall and slowly moved closer to what she thought was moving on her bed. She slowly crept up behind the moving sheet. Sidney quickly swept up the sheet and saw her puppy, Wes, playing with his new toy under the blanket.

Sidney let out a sigh of relief. She walked back to the bathroom, dropped her towel, and got into the hot shower. As she was washing her body and hair, she was thinking to herself how weird it was for her to feel so paranoid this morning. She heard a loud clatter from the other room and she jumped. She got out of the shower and quickly threw on some clothes. Sidney ran over to her bedside and went in her dresser drawer and grabbed the knife she kept there in case of emergencies. She slowly walked down the stairs. When she got to the bottom of the stairs, she went into the kitchen and saw that the window was open. The drapes were gently blowing in the breeze. She didn't remember opening the window last night. As she closed the window she heard a sound coming from the living room. She gripped the knife tighter in her hand as she slowly walked around the corner to the living room. The television was on. Sidney knew she didn't turn the T.V. on yesterday.

She turned it off and she went back to her room. She checked on her puppy and started getting ready for work. She got dressed and put her make-up on. She took Wes and headed towards her mom's house to drop her puppy off so her mother, Meredith McKnight, could puppy-sit while Sidney was at work. Wes was Meredith's' grandpup after all. After she dropped Wes off, she headed to work on her normal route. She quickly noticed that someone was following her. She took a detour and the car behind her left. She felt a little bit better. Sidney kept going to work. When she arrived, she got out of her car started heading into her building. She grabbed a cup of coffee from the break room and took a deep breath. Tony, her best friend, childhood crush, and co-worker, came up behind her to give her a hug. Sidney jumped and spilled her coffee. "Woah Sid, you're really jumpy today. Are you okay?" Tony asked. Sidney slowly shook her head yes. She didn't understand why she was so paranoid.

She went through her day like normal and then she walked outside. Then she saw the car that was following her on the highway to work, parked outside. Sidney went back inside and waited for Tony to come outside with her. She saw Tony from the other end of the hallway and she ran up to him and told him about everything that had been going on that day. "If you would like, I'll follow you home and stay for the night." Tony stated. Sidney agreed. The two of them got in their cars and they went to Sidney's moms' house first.

She picked up Wes and went home, only to find that the front door was unlocked. Tony walked in first and checked out the house. As he went into the bathroom, he saw words written in lipstick on the mirror. It read "I'M WATCHING YOU SIDNEY". Tony flew down the stairs and said to Sidney "Do NOT move from my side. Pack everything up that you will need. We're going to my house tonight." Sidney asked why, and he showed her what he saw. She quickly gathered up her important belongings and packed up her car and went to Tony's apartment for the night.

When Sidney woke up the next morning Tony was missing. In his place was a note that read, "GOOD TRY SIDNEY. DONT BOTHER LOOKING FOR TONY, HES GONE NOW". Sidney screamed at the top of her lungs and tried to call 911 but the home line was dead. Sidney panicked and looked around for Wes. His cage was empty with a note attached saying, "WHAT A CUTE PUPPY. POOR THING WAS DEFENCELESS". Sidney cried and screamed in anger. Then suddenly her cell phone rang from an unknown number. The Voice on the phone said "Hi Sidney. If you don't do what I say, your friend and the puppy both die. Understand?". Sidney replied, saying she understood. The Voice replied, "Here is what you will need to do......". As the voice was telling Sidney what to do and what he would do, in detail, if she didn't comply, her face flushed quickly. She then heard her puppy scream in the background. "You have twenty-four hours to complete your task." said the voice. Sidney rushed to the bank to withdraw all her savings and went to the meeting spot.

Chapter 2

There, standing in the shadowed corner, was ‘The Voice’ of the man threatening her friends and family. He asked in a deep voice if she had done what he asked. She nodded and quietly spoke the word yes. Sidney heard Wes and Tony rustling in the background. Sidney took the bag which she had put the money in and tossed it to the mysterious voice. As the man stepped closer to make the trade, Sidney pulled the knife she had in her pocket and stabbed the man violently. There was a lot of noise and clatter as the man was trying to fight back. Then all was silent except a faint sound of sirens coming closer in the distance. Sidney untied her friend, Tony, and got Wes free. Then a police officer came over and asked what had happened. Sidney told the officer what had happened for the past few days and all about the phone call. Then the man that Sidney had just stabbed pulled a gun. He was barely alive. The officer disarmed the man and the ambulance showed up, but the man had died on the way to the hospital. Sidney was then told by the officer that she wasn’t the only one that had this happen to her by this man and he had killed many of his victims. Sidney had feeling of pride knowing that she had help catch a man at the top of the wanted list, but she still felt like something was wrong, like this was just the tip of the iceberg and more was to come.

Little did anyone know that all this was being watched by man creating all the chaos and that The Voice was just a puppet. Sidney was thanked by the city and by all the families of the fallen victims. Sidney went back to Tony’s that night and felt a little bit better. A few weeks had passed, and Sidney was known as the town hero. Everything seemed fine and dandy.

About seven months after all the madness, Sidney got another call. This one sounded like just the mysterious man but more aggressive. He said “You might have killed my main man, but there’s more I want from you. Call the cops and all your secrets spill and everyone you know and love, dies... I’m watching you.” Then the line went dead.

Sidney broke into a cold sweat. She had no idea what to do at this point. If she were to tell any living soul about what was going on, all of her friends and family would die. She couldn’t let that happen. She just had to do what this new voice was telling her to do and no one would get hurt, or so she thought... The next morning Sidney received another call from a different number. She knew she had to pick up or someone might get hurt. She picked it up and it was an automated message about some credit card. As she hung up the phone, she let out a sigh of relief.

She started getting ready for her day, she went to work and came back home. It had been a long day. She needed to calm her nerves. She drew a hot bath and put some salts in the tub as well. She started undressing as the water was reaching the top of the tub. She turned the water off and slowly slid into the steaming hot water. All of her troubles and worries slowly melted away. Sidney started to prune up, so she decided to get out of the tub. She wrapped a towel around her and walked into her bedroom. She got dressed into her pajamas and as soon as she buttoned her last button, she heard a knock at the door. Wes started barking, so Sidney went downstairs to see who it was. As she looked out her peep-hole, she saw two men standing there dressed in black suits and wearing dark sunglasses. She ran into the kitchen and grabbed a knife. She went back to her front door and slowly opened it. One of the men started talking to her. He said, “Are you miss Sidney Alexandra McKnight?”

Sidney slowly nodded her head. The other man then started speaking, “Miss McKnight, we’re going to need you to come with us. This is a code red alert. That means you are in serious danger. We are part a protection program. I am Agent Lubiton and this is Agent Manly. We need to get you to safety. Now.” Sidney stood there in the doorway, stunned. She asked if she could see their badges and then grabbed some of her things. She was given five minutes to get everything she would need. Sidney packed as fast as she could. After she was all packed up she grabbed Wes and started heading out the door. As she got in their van they gave her more details. They confiscated her phone and told her that they had already talked to her boss and that after all this blows over she would still have her job. Sidney wondered how they convinced her boss of letting her keep her job, but she kept quiet.

On the way to their designated location Sidney was informed that her family and Tony were going to be with her. She perked up a little bit seeing as she and Tony were engaged now. It had been a wonderful seven months of being in the best relationship of her life. She had always liked Tony but never had the guts to ask him out. But after she had almost lost him forever, that sparked a flame between them. Tony always knew what to say to calm her down so being with him make her relax a bit. They were a little more than half way to their location when all of a sudden, the van hit a huge bump. Sidney and Wes flew up in the air. All of a sudden there was a loud sound like gunshots. Agent Lubiton told Sidney to put the vest on that was next to her and to sit on the floor and strap on the floor seatbelt. They sped off and a voice tuned into the radio. “This is General Howard, we have a new location for the drop-off seeing as you are under attack. Go south for about four miles, turn a sharp left, go down the road about six miles. There will be a cave. Drive into the cave and don’t stop. We’ll shut the metal door behind you. Good luck agents. Oh, and Sidney, listen to what these men say. They’re trained agents and they know what they’re doing. Just stay calm, relax the best you can, and don’t forget to breathe.” Agent Manly then turned around in his chair and told Sidney to hang on tight. She grabbed Wes and held on for dear life. The van took a sharp turn, barely missing a bullet. The people behind the agents’ van kept shooting at them. A bullet hit the back windshield and Sidney screamed as the agents pulled into the cave.

Sidney heard the metal doors shut behind them. She felt a bit safer now. The agents kept driving until they met the people they were switching off with. Sidney saw Tony getting out of one of the vans. She ran into his arms and started crying. Wes followed her and started jumping up on Tony making sure that they were both okay. Sidney’s mom was also standing there. Sidney ran into her mom’s arms, overjoyed that she was okay as well. The agents told all three of them to get into a van that none of them had been in, so no one could identify them. After all their stuff was packed away in the van they took off to their new safe point. They drove about an hour to the safe point. It seemed like a lifetime. The new agents told the three of them to stay in the van and to check out the area. The agents checked in and a mile or two around the cabin, making sure that no one followed them and that no one was waiting there for the incoming victims. Sidney started panicking when she thought she heard a gunshot some ways from the van. Wes jumped up on her lap and Tony held Ms. McKnight and Sidney’s hands tightly. Then suddenly there was a knock on the window and the door opened.

Chapter 3

Everyone was relieved to have seen that it was the agents that opened the door. They exited the van with all of their luggage with Wes on their heels. They walked into what seemed to be a huge cabin. After setting down their things, they were told to go and sit at the table and wait for instructions. As they were waiting, they were talking quietly with each other while Wes was playing with a leaf that had been drug into the cabin. All of a sudden, the door opened, and all of the agents and a new man walked in. They all sat around the table. Everything was quiet for what seemed to be an eternity. The new guy started talking he introduced himself as Agent Classified. Sidney thought that was a strange name.

“Tell me everything that the people on the phone said to you starting seven months ago. I need to know why they are targeting you.” Since the guy that bagged your husband and your dog, we have been watching you as well. We think that it’s strange that they are trying to hunt down someone who is so......... normal.” Said Classified. Normal. It almost burned Sidney’s ears. She didn’t think that she was normal at all. She looked over to Tony who was semi blushing, but he also looked kind of irritated. He knew Sidney was special, but he couldn’t figure out why besides he had an ever-burning passion for his fiancé. No one corrected the fact that the agent called them husband and wife even though they weren’t yet.

So, Sidney started telling Classified everything that had happened from the start. From the first phone call to pulling out the money from the bank to stabbing. She started getting really anxious and started panicking due to the flashbacks. Tony helped calm her down and got her some water. After she settled down a bit, she continued. She told of another man who called her and threatened to kill her and everyone else. “Well since we have your phone, we are going to try to trace the call and find out who is calling you and why. Do you have any idea on why anyone would do this to you?” Even though the agent had only asked two questions, it seemed like a million to the anxious Sidney. She answered by shaking her head no. The only thing she could think of would be if someone knew that she had a large bank account from saving over the years. There was no way that anyone knew what she had done all those years ago. She never told anyone, and all evidence was destroyed. No one could know. It was a dark secret of her past.

All the agents but one left. They all got ready for bed. According to Agent Classified, at least one of their top agents was to stand guard at all times for their protection. After night fell across the cabin, there was a rustling in the bush right outside their window. Sidney tensed up and woke Tony. They both walked into the dining room to find the agent asleep on the couch. As Sidney tried to wake him up, Tony noticed that the living room was messier than when they went to bed. Sidney couldn’t wake up the agent. She started panicking. Knowing that she had to stay semi quiet, she went into her mom’s room to wake her up. There was blood on the floor. As Tony came into the room, Meredith woke up. Relived, Sidney ran over to her mom. There was blood everywhere. Sidney pointed that out to Ms. McKnight and terror filled everyone’s eyes. Sidney told her mom that she tried to wake the agent up, but he wouldn’t budge. Being a mother of a heavy sleeper, she stepped around the blood and grabbed a wash cloth and soaked it in cold water. As she walked over to where the agent was, she rung the cloth out over his face and out of nowhere the agent woke up from a dead sleep. “Nobody move! What happened?!” asked Agent Lubiton. Sidney told the agent that there was blood all over everywhere. The agent told everyone to stay where they were as he inspected the cabin. Sidney panicked that Wes wasn’t by her feet. The agent came out to Meredith’s bedroom and he had clearly found the source of the blood. Sidney was in a panic when she asked Agent Lubiton where Wes was. The Agent looked Sidney directly in the eyes.

Agent Lubiton said, “I’m sorry Ms. Sidney.” Before Lubiton was able to say anything else, Sidney broke into an even bigger panic and tears started streaming down her face even harder and faster. She couldn’t bear the thought that someone or something killed her dog that she saw as her baby. Sidney was about to run into Meredith’s room, but before she did everyone held her back and forced her sit on the couch. Tony got her a glass of water to calm her down. After Sidney had calmed down, Lubiton was able to finish what he was saying. He began again. “I’m sorry that I got you in a panic Ms. Sidney. I don’t know where Wes is. I’ll alert the other agents to keep an eye out for him though.” That put Sidney a bit more at ease. She asked what the source of the blood was then. Lubiton spoke. “I’m not sure you want the answer to that Ms. McKnight. I’m about to contact the other agents. Pack up all of your things. We have to get all of you out of here now. Someone knows where we are.”

Meredith had a scared look in her eyes. She didn’t want anything to happen to her daughter or her future son-in-law. She had to talk directly to Agent Classified. There was something that she wasn’t telling the agents. She couldn’t let Sidney know this dark secret of hers. She had kept it from Sidney for so long.

Just as they were packing to leave, they heard a whine and a quiet scratching on the door. Lubiton went to the front door with his gun locked and loaded. As he walked to the door the sounds got louder. Lubiton slowly opened the door. There standing at the front of the door was Wes. There was a note attached to his collar. The agent then said, “No one touch the letter. We are going to take it back to the lab and see if we can get any fingerprints. They picked up Wes and agent Lubiton put on a pair of gloves and took the note off of the puppy. It read, “I KNOW WHERE YOU ARE. STOP HIDING. GO TO TIME SQUARE IN NEW YORK CITY, ON AUGUST 24TH, AT 1537 HOURS. NO SOONER, NO LATER. YOU KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF YOU DON’T. REMEMBER, NO COPS OR AGENTS. SEE YOU THEN. -YWN”

Chapter 4

The Agency sent Sidney and a handful of agents The Big Apple on a private jet. When they had landed safely they were getting their things from the overhead bin when all of a sudden there were gun shots. All the agents were telling Sidney to get down. Sidney dropped so fast and screamed so loudly that all the agents thought that she had been shot. For about another minute, there was steady gunfire and then more gun shots and screaming in the background. There was blood on the airplane floor. Most of it looked like it was coming from Sidney.

After about twenty seconds of silence one of the agents crawled over to Sidney to make sure she was okay. Turns out she had been hit. Twice. She was bleeding very badly from her left shoulder just above her heart and her right hand was grazed by a bullet as well. Sidney was losing blood fast. She was so in shock that she couldn’t say a thing. One of the agents in the plane looked out the window to see if anyone else was outside. Just then, there was a knock on the door and then it opened. Standing in the doorway was Agent Classified. In a panic he called in a chopper and he rushed Sidney to the closest ER which was the Metropolitan Hospital. The doctors cleaned her wounds and removed the bullet from her and patched up her wounds. The doctor pulled Classified to the side. He said, “She was lucky to get here alive. Sidney has lost a lot of blood and it will take about a week for her to recover.” Then Classified had a panicked look in his eyes. When the doctor asked what was wrong, Classified just asked if there was any way to speed up the healing process. “Unfortunately,” the doctor said, “There’s not. She needs to rest up. I will ask you again Mr. “Classified”, what’s wrong?” The agent glared at the doctor. “It’s Agent Classified, Mr. ....” The doctor quickly cut off the sassy agent and told him his name was Doctor Falcon. Classified chuckled under his breath. “Doctor Falcon, the reason why we need quick healing is none of your business. If you have a faster remedy you need to tell me right now. This is very important that you listen to what I say. I’m going to ask you one more time, Doctor Falcon. Is there a faster way to heal Sidney?” The doctor thought and pondered for a bit. “I’ll talk to my fellow doctors and see what they think. Give us a few minutes.” Then, not letting the agent reply, Doctor Falcon walked away.

About 15 minutes later, a group of about three doctors walked over to the agent and they looked really nervous. They were still whispering among themselves. The agent raised his eyebrow in curiosity. Classified stood and the doctors stopped talking. The doctor from before letting out a deep sigh then spoke. “Agent Classified, we have an issue. Ms. Sidney isn’t doing as well as we hoped she would be doing. She keeps losing blood. We need to do some tests on her. This is critical that you tell us why she is so important and why she was under attack. Also, to do any tests on her we need to know if there is any immediate family. Any parents or a husband? We did notice that there was a ring on her finger.” Classified chuckled at their observation and how obvious it was. “She’s engaged. Is it really that bad that we need to call the Mr.?” The doctors looked at Classified like he was a bloody idiot. “Yes, Agent Classified. You do. You should have done that right after you called her in.” Classified rolled his eyes and whipped out his phone. He dialed up Mr. Tony Tucker. He held the phone a few inches away from his face, ready for there to be yelling and screaming. “Mr. Tucker? This is Agent Classified. I regret to inform you that when Sidney’s’ plane landed a group of people had fired at her plane and she was shot twice: once in the chest and another bullet grazed her hand. As soon as it happened, I called a chopper and had her delivered to Metropolitan Hospital. The doctors are telling me that she’s not doing as well as they thought she would.” The other side of the phone was silent. “Mr. Tucker? Are you there? Tony?” The other end was still silent.

Tony was in shock. He thought that Sidney would have been in good hands being with the agents. He had fought them in the thoughts that he should have gone with her from the start. He hated the fact that they wouldn’t let him. “I demand a plane ticket right now. How DARE YOU let MY Sidney get hurt?! I thought you said she would be in good and safe hands with your best agents. You assured me that she wouldn’t get hurt! That’s why I didn’t come. How did this happen? How did YOU let this happen?!” The agent had been wise to hold the phone away from his ear. If he hadn’t he would have gone deaf. “We’ll get you up here ASAP but like I was saying I don’t think that Sidney will be better in time for whatever this psychopath wants from Miss Knight. Our only option is to wait and see if they send us another note or message.” Tony listened nervously while still being super angry since Classified didn’t answer any of his rage-filled questions. “What do you want me to do?” Tony asked nervously, “I can’t let Sidney get hurt even more. I would die if something...” Tony stopped mid-sentence. There was a knock on the door. Ms. Knight was about to get up to answer the door, but an agent held her back. “Get in the closet and hide. Both of you. If we need you, we’ll call for you. Put your bullet proof vests on as well. This isn’t me asking you. I’m telling you if anything would happen to the two of you, Sidney and Agent Classified would kill us.” Ms. McKnight and Tony ran into the closet and put the vests on. Agent Manly answered the door. There stood a strangely dressed man at the door. The man at the door asked for the man of the house. “This is he,” lied the agent. The man at the door gave the agent a note, thanked him, and left. As soon as the agent had shut the door, the strange man turned around and shot two bullets through the door, hitting Agent Manly in the stomach and the heart. The strange man then sprinted to his car and took off down the street.

All the agents in the house ran over to Manly to make sure he was okay. Ms. McKnight and Tony ran out of the closet. The agents were already circling Manly. The shot agent was breathing at an uneven pace. He started taking off his shirt only to reveal his bullet proof vest and two 45 caliber bullets. Ms. McKnight was in a panic. Agent Bell had to hold her back. Manly was taking off his vest. The moment of truth if he had gotten shot or not. He took off his vest to reveal the two tips of the bullets had barely grazed his skin. Ms. McKnight had calmed down and grabbed some gauze and wrapped Agent Manly’s wounds. They put some gloves on, as to not get their fingerprints all over the note for the lab, and they opened the letter. It read, “SO SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR DEAR SIDNEY GETTING SHOT. IM SURE SHE WONT BE ABLE TO ATTEND THE MEETING SO TONY, COME TO TIME SQUARE ON AUGUST 25TH, AT 1537. UNLESS YOU WANT WHAT HAPPENED TO SIDNEY, COME ALONE. FLY ON A PUBLIC PLANE THIS TIME MR. TUCKER. SEE YOU THEN. -YWN” Everyone looked over to Tony. They knew what they had to do. Tony started packing while the agents got Tony a first-class ticket to NYC.

Chapter 5

Tony was on the plane on the way to NYC. A regular plane ride with regular people. He had a window seat. Tony was on edge and looking out the window. He was very paranoid. He thought he saw something coming towards the plane. He looked closer. Tony rubbed his eyes and looked again. He thought he saw a shark. Not possible. Sharknado was one of his and Sidney’s favorite movies to get a good laugh out of and they had the handbook on how to survive a sharknado, but a real sharknado could never happen in real life. He took another glance, and everything was fine. He got up and went to the bathroom and splashed some water on his face and went back to his seat. He looked out the window and everything was still normal. Tony relaxed a bit. The pilot announced that the plane was going to be landing soon. About fifteen minutes later the plane landed safely. He softly chuckled to himself. Sidney would laugh so hard knowing he thought there were sharks in the sky. He got his bag and hailed a cab. He told the driver where he wanted to go and got there in about 36 minutes. He rushed into the hospital and told the desk clerk that his fiancée, was Sidney Alexandra McKnight. They lead him to Sidney’s’ room and he ran over to her bedside. “Are you okay, baby? What happened?” Tony asked very panicked. Sidney told Tony she was fine and that when they landed they were all attacked. “They have asked me to go in your place. I’ve brought the knife and the agents have a small handgun for me just in case. Baby, if you know what they want, please tell me.” Sidney said that the only thing she could think of was something that had happened about six years ago. She had been short on cash and had applied the for a position at a strip club and had then become the number one stripper at the club Hot Shots and then became manager and for a while was a porn star under her stripper name Ruby Red. That was all she could think of. She had to tell Tony the truth about her dark past. Sidney took a deep breath and told Tony everything. “That’s what you think these a******s are blackmailing you for?” Tony asked curiously. That was the only thing that Sidney could think of. She didn’t have any enemies or rivals.

Tony accepted the fact that all this was happening and what he was up against. He took a cab to Times Square and stood in the middle of the shopping complex. A beautiful woman gently tugged on Tony’s’ shirt sleeve. She whispered “YWN. My name is Krystal. Act as if we’re a happy married couple.” In his ear. Tony remembered that the agents said to do whatever he was told. He gave her a hug and put his arm out for her to put her arm through and lead him to the meeting place. They went into a restaurant and sat down. Their waitress came up to them and gave them menus. “How ya’ll doin’ this afternoon?” the waitress smiled and said sweetly. “We’re doing fine.” Said the terrorist lady. Tony nodded and smiled. “My name is Luna and I’m going to be your waitress this wonderful afternoon. Can I get ya’ll anythin’ to drink?” she asked happily. “If you have hot tea, I’ll have one of those and he’ll have a water.” “Sure thing!” Luna walked off to get their drinks. “I’m going to get right into this, why are you all attacking my Sidney?” Tony asked angerly. The maniacal Krystal softly chuckled.

Chapter 6

Back at the hospital, the doctors were looking closely after Sidney. She was still losing blood and her heart rate was not steady. The pain medication was having a negative effect on Sidney and she was having panic attacks and would start screaming when she would wake up from sleeping. With her blood pressure rising and dropping so unexpectedly they had to keep a nurse in Sidney’s room at all times. When she woke up, they made her answer what seemed to be a million questions of what she remembered. All she remembered was the agents yelling for her, to get down and her feeling bursts of pain and blood on the ground. She also remembered Tony coming to check on her but that was it. Sidney was so afraid for her love that she couldn’t contain herself. She decided when she had to get up to go to the bathroom, she would make an escape. So, she got dressed and went to the bathroom.

As she was walking down the hall she heard some voices. It sounded like Classified and Agent Lubiton. She stood in the hall and listened. She heard that Tony was in Time Square and he was talking with the enemy. Sidney made her way back to her room, quickly grabbed her clothes and her phone, and managed to get around all the doctors and agents. She hailed a cab and quickly arrived in Time Square. She went around and looked for her love. She quickly found him as she was looking through windows and asking around. She saw him eating a fine lunch with a beautiful lady and holding her hand across the table. She couldn’t believe her eyes. She ran off and hailed a cab back to the hospital. She walked in and Classified was standing at the door. Sidney came in crying and the agent started talking to put her mind at ease a bit. “Where did you go and are you okay? You shouldn’t have left the hospital at all. How did you get out anyways?” She started telling the agent what had happened and everything she saw, and she started crying even more. “I’m sorry to hear that miss Sidney but I’m sure...” Sidney fainted. The hospital got her back to her room and put her back on her bed. They now kept an agent and a nurse by her at all times. When Sidney woke back up, Classified was in the room. He stood up and started talking again. “Miss McKnight, we sent Tony out on a mission. I’m sure anything you thought you saw was all fake. Remember Tony loves you. There is absolutely no reason why he would try to replace you. He absolutely loves you and you know it. Don’t question it. It’s clear as day and everyone around him can tell that you’re his one and only.” With that said, Classified left the room. Sidney sat in her bed, still disgusted, shocked, and in awe at what she had seen. She blacked out again.

Chapter 7

Tony gave Krystal a look that felt like it was melting her soul. She shivered and took a deep breath. Krystal looked Tony in the eyes and said “YWN is not after Sidney necessarily, but what she knows about-“, Luna came up with their drinks and said, “Do we need more time with the menu or do we know what we want?” Tony looked at the menu sitting in front of him and ordered for both him and Krystal. Luna then happily took the menus and walked away. “Where was I? Oh yes, we’re after the information she has.” Krystal muttered. “Then why did your goons shoot at her plane? Why have all of you been scaring her and all of us? Why are you making all of our lives a living hell?!” Tony was starting to draw attention to them. Krystal was starting to panic a bit. “Keep your voice down Mr. Tucker.” She paused for a second. “Did you say shoot at her plane?” Tony looked confused for a second. “Yes. My love is in the hospital right now.” Krystal threw down about fifty dollars on the table right as Luna came up with their plates of food. “I’m so sorry Luna. You’ve been a fantastic waitress, but we have an emergency and have to leave. Could you be a dear and put that in a box for us and we’ll come back for it later? If we don’t come back, could you give it to someone who is in need of food, please? You would make their day.” Krystal said. Without giving Luna a chance to answer, Krystal was pulling Tony out the door. Krystal was trying to hail a cab and was angrily mumbling under her breath.

Once they got a cab and told the driver where to go she started asking all sorts of questions. “Our organization doesn’t even allow guns. How could this be approved?” Tony looked at Krystal in confusion. “What do you mean you don’t allow guns? Isn’t the ‘YWN’ a terrorist origination?” Krystal looked be wildered. “Not that I know of… I work part of the lottery called Your Winning Number, or YWN for short. No one has ever won my game due to loop holes and rules and regulations. Somehow Sidney figured it out and I was sent to figure out how. I hardly see how that cou… oh my gosh. We need to get Sidney out of that hospital right now. Is anyone with her?” Krystal asked with the highest urgency. “I’m on it.” Tony said as he dialed Agent Classified.

Sidney was still sitting in her hospital bed in shock when a nurse came in that Sidney hadn’t seen before. “I’m nurse Joy, it’s time for our shift change and I’ll be your nurse for the evening.” Sidney wasn’t really paying attention to the nurse. She was still deep in thought. Nurse Joy started talking to Sidney again, “I have to refill your water IV. I’ll be right back. Okay?” She smiled as she walked out of the room. Two seconds later a doctor walked into Sidney’s’ room. “I’m Doctor… ummm… uh…. Slaying…. I’m going to be the one changing out your IV.” He said in almost an evil tone. Sidney hesitated and said that nurse Joy said that she was going to change it out. “She just told me that she had to go check on another patient and asked me to do it really quickly for her.” Said the doctor. Sidney shrugged and asked the doctor what was in the IV. “Just a watered-down medicine mix. Just relax. It might hurt a bit, I have to put a new needle in.” Said the doctor.

Right as he finished his sentence, nurse Joy walked back in the room with a fresh IV sack. She called in one of the agents who were guarding her room and then she cleared her throat loudly. “Excuse me doctor, can I ask you a question before you change her IV out please?” The doctor looked a bit nervous and said, “This will only take a second.” Nurse Joy gave him the dirtiest look anyone had ever seen, so he stopped what he was doing and agreed to answering her question. They stepped outside the room and nurse Joy said in almost a sassy tone, “I’ve never seen you here Doctor… what did you say your name was? Slaying?” she said, raising an eyebrow as she was reading the name on his scrubs. “No offence to you, but that sounds a bit suspicious. What’s in that IV bag that you were going to give Miss McKnight, if you don’t mind me asking.” Two of the agents stood up and another one went into Sidney’s’ room.

The ‘doctor’ started to panic a bit and tried to run down the hall but one of the agents tasered and then handcuffed him. They called the police and put the ‘doctor’ in the squad car and charged him with attempted murder and impersonating a medical doctor. They sent the IV back to the lab and found enough iocane powder in the IV to kill three elephants. Just as all the drama of the fake doctor ended, Agent Classified got a phone call from Tony about Sidney being in danger.

Chapter 8

As Tony and Kristal were arriving, they saw the "doctor" in handcuffs being pushed out by a police officer. Tony quickly looked over at Kristal and slid by everyone in the way of the reception desk. Tony frantically said, "I'm here to see Sidney again. I'm her husband." The lady at the desk rolled her eyes, smacked her gum, and scoffed, "You know we're on lockdown, right? I'm going to need to check your IDs." Tony frantically searched for his wallet. He finally found it in his jacket and showed it to the clerk. She popped her gum and told him to go ahead. Kristal showed hers and was told to move along too. When they reached Sidney's room, Agent Classified was standing at the door, arms crossed.

"Where were you?" Classified said angrily. "You told me to go to this meeting! That's the whole reason I'm here remember?" Tony said crossly. Sidney had turned over and was silently sobbing. She was still, understandably, upset about what she had seen in Times Square. Classified was starting to leave the room when Krystal came in. "Pardon me." Classified said in a bit of a harsh manor. He grabbed Krystal by the arm, quite forcefully, and pulled her out of the room she had just entered, leaving Tony and Sidney alone.

Tony walked over to Sidney's bedside and sat at the edge of her bed. He put his hand on her and she pulled away. "What's wrong sweetheart? You know I love you and I only want the best for you. I'd do anything in the whole world for you. You're the love of my life." Tony exclaimed. Sidney sobbed even more and muttered out a few words Tony couldn't quite understand. "I'm sorry sweetheart. I couldn't understand you. Could you please say that again for me my love? Tony softly said. Sidney sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes and told Tony everything that she saw. "Sweetheart. I swear on my life and on my love for you that what you saw was me trying to get information on the enemy. I would never hurt you or see someone else in a million trillion years. You're the only one for me." Tony said as he started to break into tears. Sidney started crying again and saying how sorry she was that she didn't trust him enough. "It's okay baby. I love you. I understand how this could be confusing and how bad it probably looked. I love you. It's okay." Tony spoke lovingly. There was a glimmer in his eye as he spoke and gave his to-be wife a loving and reassuring hug. Agent Classified stepped in the room with Krystal in handcuffs. "We need to take her down to the police station and integrate her. We're going to leave Agent Lubiton and Agent Manly here for your protection. We'll be back in a bit and let you know if any of our intelligence updates." Classified sternly said. Tony nodded his head and gave Sidney another comforting hug.

TO BE CONTINUED

© 2018 Tikaani Sgaan

Author's Note

What do you think of the dialogue? What do you think of the characters? What would you like to see happen? What do you think of the engaged couples relationship?