Nowhere to Run ✓

three | ❝she's with me.❞

❝I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees.❞

☀︎︎

ANNA STOLE ONE last glance at the glass doors, half expecting the man to follow her. She quickly banished the thought from her mind. She didn't even understand why that particular thought even popped up. She didn't have time for wishful thinking; it only made you weak. Looking away from the door, she turned her attention to the road.

The sun shone dimly overhead but not unlike a December morning. The sky was covered with soft cottony clouds which looked like an irregular blanket placed overhead. She placed her head against the cold pane of the window and shivered slightly.

"Shall I turn down the air conditioning, ma'am?" A deep and controlled yet mocking voice spoke up. She lifted her head, noticing the driver for the first time.  He had dark brown hair the colour of caramel mixed with chocolate. His dazzling raven eyes caught her warm and soft hazel ones, the colour of slightly burnt wood, in the rearview mirror and he smiled a little.

"A little lost today, are we?" He laughed. His eyes went back to being fixed on the road. 

Anna sat up a little straighter and sighed, "Just the Monday blues, Zach. I really, really need a vacation now."

"What? The France, Amsterdam, and Tokyo kind or the sit at home in pajamas with nachos and ice cream kind? Word of advice though, the first one is impossible because you are broke."

He grinned, his pearly white teeth shining, "And the second one is inadvisable because you are- um- extremely unfit- as it is."

"Hey! Broke and extremely unfit is the last thing I am right now," Anna said, a tinge of annoyance in her otherwise playful tone. "I just need sleep. So many criminals, so little time," she said dramatically.

Zach's deep laughter rung through the air, breaking the silence of the car, and immediately Anna felt okay. Since the time she had joined the agency, she was always overworked. Being a fast learner, she had topped most of her training sessions, sometimes being second only to Zach.

Zachary Davis. Zach, her best friend, confidante, workplace buddy, sleepover buddy and assignment partner, all rolled in one. He'd been her biggest competitor. They'd butt heads all the time and she couldn't stand his shadow, let alone his presence.

But when tragedy struck, leaving her mother paralyzed from the waist down and her father traumatized, Zach had been there. Those countless days at the hospital, he would regularly bring her her morning coffee, he would sit with her for hours at a stretch, and wouldn't leave until she caved in and went home too.

Looking back, everything felt ages ago. It had been a little over two years now and while her family matters were far from improving, her bond with Zach only grew. Suddenly, she felt a quick, sudden movement in front of her eyes. Her training instincts took over and she grabbed the thing that caused the disturbance, twisting it over.

"Yaaouch! Fuck dude, who the hell made you an agent, crazy bastard-" Zach said, yanking his arm away from Anna. She had just realized that it was just Zach clicking his fingers in front of her and had gone pink all over her face.

"I am so sorry- How- Can I help? Shall I drive? Maybe we could stop-" Anna rushed through the words, unable to string her thoughts.

"You want to help?" Zach asked, raising an eyebrow and exercising his arm while driving with his free hand. The corner of his lips twisted in a suppressed smile as he saw Anna, her dark amber eyes shining, eager to help. She looked not a day older than fifteen when she looked at him like that.

"Yes," she said, her voice earnest and sincere. "I am sorry, I didn't realize." Her hands immediately wrapped around the bracelet on her wrist, quite absentmindedly. He smiled; she always flicked her bracelet when she was nervous or deep in thought.

"Okay. If you are sure you want to help, why not start by telling me what's bothering you so much?" Zach swerved towards the side of the road, killed the engine, and turned to face her. He put his chin on folded arms and Anna couldn't help but notice the strong lines of his arms underneath the full-sleeved maroon shirt he wore.

"What? No, nothing's bothering me," she began protesting when Zach interrupted her. "Ann, I know you enough to know when you lie. Your eyebrows crease and your nose starts flaring like a frustrated dragon's."

Her subdued eyes now flew open with shock and amusement. She smacked the top of his head and stopped for a second or two to ruffle it up again. She'd grown too close to him to lie to him, she ascertained. In all honesty, Anna thought, it wasn't anything that was particularly troubling her mind. It was a combination of work stress, her mother, and surprisingly, the guy from the elevator.

She jerked away in surprise, her mind reeling. Of all the people in the world, why'd she think about him?

Zach watched, as clouds of confusion covered the brightness of her eyes and the smile dropped from his face. What was up with her?

'But darling, just kiss me slow,
Your heart is all I own,
And in your eyes, you're holding mine,
Baby, I'm dancing in the dark with y-'

He had just reached out to pat her shoulder when suddenly Ed Sheeran's Perfect started bellowing from Zach's backpack. Abandoning other thoughts, his cheeks flushed a bright red as he turned back to fish the phone out of his bag. Initially, shaken by the interruption, Anna now doubled over with laughter, tears streaking down her face.

Pissed, Zach spoke up before Anna could, "Shut up." His eyes went back to his phone as a name flashed on the screen. His brows furrowed over. Anna stopped laughing as he spoke, his voice lined with confusion.

"Damien?" He said, respect and confusion mixing together subtly. "Yes, she's with me. We are on our way back. We just completed our assignments, if that's what you are worried about?"

Damien Cullen, their supervisor, training chief, and head of the criminal cases department, was talking in a faint flurry of words, impossible for Anna to catch. She waited as Zach nodded his head to everything Damien said, only interrupting to say 'yes' or 'that's right'. Finally, he hung up and ran a hand through his smooth hair, a sign he was tensed.

"Florian. He's back."

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