Chapter 276: Spy

Mina had been walking beside a group of high school students using their height to mask her presence. She had run away from Dom, who just tried to shoot her, and she knew the man was probably still looking for her.

Mina had cash with her, so all she needed to do was get to a bus station, buy a ticket to the next stop, and keep buying tickets to random locations until her trail went in a circle and her pursuers would get suspicious.

Mina thought that none of the happily chatting boys would notice her, but she was wrong. One of the boys, who she had met before not only noticed her, but he pointed her out. It was her rude teenage neighbor.

"That's the girl I was telling you about," he said to his friend while pointing at Mina. She tried to pretend not to hear them and kept walking, but the boys increased their pace to keep up with her.

"Are you a gamer too?" One of the boys asked.

"No, I just know a little about computers." She was not sure why she was whispering, but it seemed to fit the occasion.

"You look so familiar," said one of the boys. He moved closer to Mina while squinting. He studied Mina's face as she tried to speed up, and then he stopped walking completely. He grabbed another boy's arm in an exaggerated manner before he spoke. "Guys, that is contact girl," he said, causing Mina to stiffen.

"Sh*t! That is her," said Mina's neighbor.

"Isn't she some sort of spy?" another boy asked.

"Nah, that's dark web nonsense," replied another.

"I don't know, she looks pretty shady to me."

"Let's just ask her," said the lone girl in the group. "Are you a spy?" The girl asked. Mina could tell the girl was annoyed that Mina had hijacked her position as leading lady, so she said the first thing to come to mind.

"Yes, and right now the bad guy is after me." The teenage girl blanched at Mina's response. She obviously believed it.

"How can we help?" Asked Mina's neighbor.

"You can't,'' Mina replied. "Just walk with me to the bus stop and I will take it from there." The teens nodded reverently.

Mina could tell the teens were thrilled and she blamed their undeveloped prefrontal cortex's. When she thought about it, she could also blame her own for what she had done, as she had not reached the age of twenty-five, and her brain was technically still in development.

"This is so cool," said one of the boys, and Mina's heart sank from guilt.

"It's not cool. You don't want to know what it feels like to be starved for weeks and tortured for months." Her crass reply made the boy look down in shame.

When they finally reached the bus terminal, Mina waived to the teens and disappeared into the station, but not before exchanging jackets with the girl, and taking a hat and backpack from one of the boys. She looked like a proper female student, who opted for slacks instead of a skirt.

Mina purchased a ticket from one of the kiosks and waited for the next bus, which she had chosen based on its arrival time. It took less than a minute for the bus to pull into the station and less than two minutes for Mina to board. She rode the bus for two stops, then disembarked. She immediately purchased another ticket and repeated the process until the sun began to set in the sky.

Exhausted, Mina connected to the Wi-fi in the bus station and looked up a local hotel, but she did not have any identifying documents on her, and the only places that accepted cash were too sketchy.

After reviewing the map, Mina knew exactly where she was. She stepped out, hailed a taxi, and went to the place she had long ago left behind.

----

When Mina knocked at her ex-landlady's door, she did not expect the woman to pull her in for a hug so tight it hurt.

"There were men here, they packed all your things, but they didn't tell me why," the woman said. "Then I saw you on the TV, and I thought you were okay, but then my son told me that everything related to you online disappeared."

"I'm okay aunty," Mina said. She addressed the older woman as such because the woman was old enough to be her mother. "I just need a place to stay for a few hours," Mina continued. The old woman did not question anything, she flung open her door and Mina slithered inside.

True to her word, Mina left after two hours, she hailed a taxi and made her way into a twenty-four-hour clinic. She flashed her phone to a nurse, signaling to the woman that she had made an appointment online. The woman gave Mina a questionnaire to fill out and Mina took a seat in the near empty waiting room.

"M. H." Someone called, and Mina got up. She followed the nurse into a back room.

Another nurse took various samples from Mina and sent them for testing. She sent Mina into an observation room, where she waited for her results. Only minutes had passed when an elderly doctor walked into the room and eyed Mina up and down with pure judgement in his expression.

"Your results are in, but by law, I am required to counsel you for a minimum of five minutes before I can read them to you." Mina nodded at the doctor who pulled out the questionnaire she filled out. After reading the paper, the doctor looked up at Mina in annoyance. "If people don't tell the truth on these forms. I cannot give them accurate advice," he said.

"Everything I wrote is true. I just want to know because I don't trust the person I was with." The doctor frowned.

"Then why be with the person?"

"I didn't have a choice," Mina quipped.

"Have you filed a report?"

"It would be useless," Mina replied. The doctor's frown deepened. Mina was not the only woman he had heard such things from. He decided to skip the counseling, he was not the professional a woman like Mina needed.

"Your results were all negative. Stay home at night, travel in pairs, and stay away from areas where men gather, especially when alcohol is involved." Mina nodded in understanding. Both she and the doctor left the room.

----

Mina was trying to hail a taxi when someone spoke directly into her ear.

"I'm going to kick your ass," said an awfully familiar voice. Mina spun around and stared at the man.

"You were going to shoot me," she half whispered.

"I warned you before," Dom replied in the same hushed tone. "It's dangerous to sneak up on people like me."

"Don't lie," Mina said. "You were looking right at me."

"Whatever, just know that the sh*t you pulled got us all in trouble." Mina stiffened.

"All?" She asked.

"You gave five elites the slip. President Lee is livid." Mina's eyebrows were raised.

"Are you in trouble?" She asked, genuinely concerned.

"Probably, this is my second strike."

"What was the first?" Mina asked.

"You!" Dom said and he tapped his knuckles on Mina's forehead. Mina rubbed the spot. Dom was not gentle at all.