3

The moment she got home, Selena instantly began packing her things. Her heart raced and her hands shook, enough for her to miss a grab for a small notebook.

'Okay, okay, calm down.'

She took a deep breath, forcing her pounding heart to quiet down.

'I can't just pack up and go now or else it'll raise suspicion. But if I take too long, they might track me down before I get a chance to flee. And if I do flee, where do I go? I can't leave the city because there's nowhere for me to go and who knows what contacts the group behind Seliug has. That risk….I can't take it.'

Selena got up, turned, and began to pace around the room.

Step

'What can I do?'

Step

'Where else can I go within the city?'

Step

'I could go back there.'

Step

'But-

Step

'No…'

Step

'So then what if I holed myself up-'

Step

'Somewhere where no one can find me?'

Step

She paused.

'That's it.'

'I'll just hide myself somewhere within the city where I can stay for a couple months or so. I'll have to quit my job and change a couple other things but it should be manageable!'

Selena rushed over to her home computer and pulled open a new spreadsheet.

'Okay so the minimum time I should stay there is 8 months. Let's see what I need to buy in terms of food and other things…'

Mumbling to herself, her fingers flew over the keyboard as she typed in the various items she'd need.

'Done! Okay, so if I add everything in this column up it'd be…this much. Okay, I should have enough in my account since I checked two days ago and-'

Selena paused.

'Wait.'

The events of yesterday suddenly came back.

~

"Then how much do you want?"

"500 grand"

…

…

"I'll pay."

~

"Piece of sh*t", she cursed through her teeth.

Because of yesterday's expense, her account was unbelievably low. She couldn't afford to go into hiding without risking death through starvation or something.

"But…what other choice is there?"

Then another memory resurfaced, albeit a more foul one.

~

"What's option B?"

"Move onto our area. And take commissions from us. You work for that company after all."

~

That man's smile set a cold shiver down her spine. Selena could feel her goosebumps rising all across her skin.

But there wasn't a better choice.

She could either risk going into hiding with insufficient supplies or make a deal with that green-eyed man.

"Fine", she retorted to no one in particular. Her voice echoed through her apartment's hallway as if reaffirming her decision.

But how to contact him? She had chucked the card he'd given her straight into the trashcan before leaving the room.. The only thing was the card with that bank account number-

"Oh!"

Rushing back to her computer, Selena searched through her bag for the crumbled sticky note.

'Okay, I can use this bank account to trace it back to one of the banks used around here…and if I use this login key…'

Switching quickly between the data she had pulled up and a self-built data classifier, she found her target in no time.

'Bingo.'

On her screen appeared all the data she needed.

'Account holder, Christian Anderson?'

She chuckled to herself and muttered, "Damn, that's a pretty nice name. Too bad it's fake."

'Account ID….Account number…..Phone number'

"Perfect!"

Scribbling it down on the back of the sticky note, she headed to her bedroom. Once inside, she reached under her bed until she felt a plastic container. Selena reached inside and grabbed one of the many burner phones stored in the container.

Then, she dialed that number.

…

...

*click*

Someone had picked up. 

Selena held the phone away from her, not wanting the mic to pick up her breathing.

"Hello? This is Christian. Can I help you?", came a soft male voice from the phone.

Selena fought the urge to laugh, knowing that, of course, the man would at least have the 'owner' of the account be a somewhat average person. But still, wasn't this voice a little too soft?

"Yo.", Selena replied back, lowering her voice and adding an accent. After all, wasn't replying to a fake voice with another fake voice the correct thing to do?

"I'd 'ike to have uh talk with yur boss man."

"Um, excuse me?"

"Ah, don' try foolin' me, Christian, this is da, quote, miss, unquote, from earlier."

"Uh, I think you have the wrong number, miss Selena."

"Suit yur self then, kiddo. Ey, tell dat boss man of yur's ta call me back if its urgent, aight?"

"You have the wrong-"

"Talk later. Hangin' up now. Also, ya' slipped. I nevah tol' ya m'name."

The moment she hung up, Selena clicked the transfer button on her screen. After waiting a couple seconds, the transfer was affirmed. The 500 grand she had transferred over yesterday was now hers again, albeit her programs would shift it around a couple of accounts before dropping it off in one belonging to a 'Carrie Myers' hundreds of miles away.

"Alright, let's see how long it takes them to figure it out", she muttered to herself as she cracked open the burner phone and pulled out its battery before tossing the now useless device into a trashcan. Getting up, Selena grabbed a hat, jacket, her keys, a sticky note, and a pen before walking out of the house. She went down the stairs a couple floors to another room, stopping before number 312. Selena unlocked the door and stepped inside, letting the door shut softly behind her as she pulled out the sticky note and pen.

Later that evening…

A night breeze blew through her open window, ruffling some of the papers on her desk. Selena turned to glance at the clock beside her before turning back to her computer screen. Her fingers typed evenly yet the loud sound of the keyboard gave away her anxiousness.

'Why aren't they here yet?'

Unable to bear with the anxiety in her heart anymore, Selena got up from her chair and turned to the window, about to close it and call it a night when a soft buzz reached her ears.

'That sound…higher end cars. Finally.'

Looking out slightly to the left, she saw the telltale line of black cars arriving at her apartment and parking arrogantly in front of her building. A handful of people poured out of the cars, each one dressed in the same all-black gear and clothes except for one person. Unlike last time, this person was dressed dark blue and would've been indistinguishable from the rest had they not worn a hat as well.

"Huh, to think he'd show up personally…" 

Selena smiled, slightly amused, as the man sauntered into the building with the same gait she remembered. Turning from the window, she laid down on her room's hard floor and listened to the numerous steps of people climbing up the stairs.

And then the steps stopped.

Bang. 

She smiled to herself slightly after hearing the wood door of what was most likely room 312 being forcibly opened by the same people she had seen earlier.

'Well, the wolves fell for the trap. Time to go see their reaction.'