Right Place At The Right Time

Right Place At The Right Time

Author’s Note

This chapter gives us a little more insight into Sarah’s new life inside the safe house, including her growing relationship with Natalie and the training they begin doing together. Sarah is also becoming more comfortable with the FBI training material, discovering that she may have a natural ability for things she never expected.

But while Sarah is adjusting to her new surroundings, her thoughts keep returning to Chuck. She still doesn’t know what he’s doing, whether he’s safe, or if she’ll have any chance to speak with him again.

Sometimes, though, the answers we’re looking for have a way of finding us when we least expect them.

Chapter 21

The Message

Yawning, Saturday morning began like any other morning for Sarah. Life inside the safe house had settled into a predictable routine, and she was beginning to recognize its rhythm, even if it was nothing like a normal Saturday. Soft rays of sunlight filtered through the curtains, telling her dawn had only just arrived. Sarah had always been an early riser, although her body often protested the idea.

The house was quiet, but years of training with her mother and father had sharpened her awareness. Even without seeing anyone, she could tell when someone was awake and moving through the house. Every faint creak of the floorboards, every subtle sound drifting from another room, registered in the back of her mind without conscious effort.

Still dressed in a pair of pajama bottoms and an oversized T-shirt, Sarah stretched as she stepped out of her bedroom and wandered into the main living area. She expected to find only Natalie awake this early, and she was right.

Natalie was already dressed in her workout clothes, looking as though she had been awake for quite some time. A glass of water rested in her hand, although Sarah had a feeling she would have preferred a steaming cup of coffee. Apparently, caffeine would have to wait until after their morning routine. Her attention was focused on the tablet she was reading, her expression calm and thoughtful as she scrolled through whatever information had captured her interest.

A moment later, Natalie sensed Sarah’s presence and looked up from the screen. A warm smile spread across her face as she saw Sarah standing at the end of the hallway, still waking up but ready to begin another day.

“Well, sleepyhead,” Natalie said without looking up. “You’ve got five minutes, then we’re heading downstairs for our workout. Come on, chop chop. Time doesn’t wait for anybody.”

Sarah answered with a long stretch and an even bigger yawn, silently wondering if the woman ever slowed down. Doesn’t she realize what time it is? she thought to herself with a tired smile.

Without complaining, she walked over to the sink, filled a glass with water, and drank it in one long swallow before turning back toward Natalie.

Give me two minutes.”

Sarah set her glass down on the counter, turned, and headed back to her room to change.

“Two minutes,” Natalie replied with a grin.

The discovery she had made the previous evening returned to the front of Sarah’s mind the moment she woke. As much as she tried to focus on the day ahead, she had something far more important occupying her thoughts.

Before going to sleep the night before, she had spent several hours working through the training material the FBI had provided her. It hadn’t taken long to realize exactly what she was reading. These weren’t ordinary reference documents. They were training manuals prepared for FBI recruits, covering investigative procedures, interview techniques, evidence handling, surveillance, and countless other subjects. The level of detail left little room for doubt.

Sarah had begun reading them out of simple curiosity, but that curiosity quickly turned into fascination. Page after page, she absorbed the information almost effortlessly. Every new concept seemed to fit naturally into place, and before long she found herself wishing there was even more material to study. More than anything, she wished she had a way to put what she was learning into practice instead of simply reading about it.

Nearly an hour had passed before exhaustion finally caught up with her.

Already sitting against the headboard of her bed, she didn’t have far to go. She stretched her arms high above her head, feeling the soreness from the day’s workout slowly begin to ease as her muscles relaxed. Letting out a quiet sigh, she reached for the laptop, ready to close it for the night.

That was when something caught her eye.

A tiny icon sat near the bottom corner of the screen on the taskbar.

Sarah froze.

She was certain it hadn’t been there before.

Her eyes narrowed as she leaned closer to the display, studying the unfamiliar symbol. A dozen possibilities flashed through her mind.

Is someone watching me?

Her heartbeat quickened as she instinctively glanced around the room before looking back at the screen. Years of growing up around confidence schemes had taught her that if something appeared unexpectedly, there was usually a reason for it.

Carefully, and more out of curiosity than fear, she moved the cursor toward the tiny icon, wondering whether clicking it would reveal who had placed it there… or who might be on the other end watching her.

This was exactly how it worked, or at least how she imagined it worked. They made you feel comfortable, earned your trust, and then found some way to install a program on your computer that quietly watched everything you did. Her first instinct was to slam the laptop shut and throw it away. A feeling of betrayal washed over her. The trust that had slowly begun to develop between her and the FBI suddenly felt as though it were about to shatter.

Still, she needed to know what the icon was.

Taking a slow breath, Sarah placed her finger on the touchpad and carefully moved the cursor toward the tiny symbol. She hesitated for only a moment before double tapping it.

A small message appeared on the screen.

She stared at it for several long seconds before realizing it didn’t make any sense.

What pastry was in the bag?

That was it. Nothing else. Her eyebrows drew together in confusion.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” she muttered under her breath.

What pastry was in the bag?

She repeated the question several times, quietly mouthing the words as though hearing them aloud might somehow unlock their meaning. At first, nothing came to her. It seemed completely random. Then another thought crossed her mind.

Who would send her a message like that?

Her eyes widened ever so slightly.

“Chuck,” she whispered. “Is that you?”

The possibility sent her heart racing. She read the question again.

What pastry was in the bag?

This time, she wasn’t trying to understand the words. She was trying to remember. Somewhere in the last few days, she and Chuck had shared a moment involving a bag and a pastry. If this message had really come from him, then it wasn’t random at all.

It was something only the two of them would understand.

A way of proving that whoever answered the question was exactly who they claimed to be.

What pastry was in the bag?

Sarah closed her eyes for a moment, letting the question settle in her mind.

Then it came to her.

Her thoughts drifted back to the very first day she had met Chuck in the food court. She remembered the paper bag he had handed her and the warm smile that had gone with it.

A chocolate croissant.

Her heart immediately began beating faster.

Is that it? Is that the answer?

She stared at the reply box, her fingers hovering over the keyboard. If she typed the wrong answer, whoever was on the other end would know it wasn’t her. If it really was Chuck, then this was the only way to let him know she was the one reading the message.

There was only one way to find out.

She slowly typed the words.

Chocolate croissant.

Taking one last breath, she pressed Enter.

Almost instantly, another message appeared on the screen.

If you’re receiving this message, I just want you to know how much I miss you. I can’t stop thinking about you, but I don’t have time for any of that right now. I hope you’re doing well. I hope you’re safe.

Please don’t panic about what you’re seeing. This is one of the things I know how to do.

I need to talk to you. I need to find a way to contact you. I’m going to ask you to choose a time tomorrow morning when you can be somewhere private. If you can, wear headphones. I don’t want anyone else hearing my voice.

I noticed you’ve been working on your training material. I’m really proud of you, Sarah. I knew you’d throw yourself into it.

But I don’t want to lose track of why I’m contacting you.

Tomorrow morning you’ll find another icon in this same spot on your laptop. Click it and answer the same question. This time, if everything goes according to plan, you’ll see me instead of this message.

I’ve listed four different times below. Put a “Y” beside the one that works best for you, and I’ll contact you then.

Sarah didn’t hesitate.

She immediately placed a Y beside the very first time.

10:00 a.m.

The remaining times were spaced thirty minutes apart, but there was no reason for her to wait. If she could talk to Chuck sooner, that was exactly what she wanted.

A final message appeared on the screen.

If this works, Sarah… I’ll see you tomorrow morning.

I hope you haven’t forgotten about me.

I know I haven’t forgotten about you.

Bye for now.

Sarah sat motionless, staring at the screen long after the message had disappeared. A smile slowly spread across her face as tears welled in her eyes.

Tomorrow morning couldn’t come soon enough.

After several seconds, the words on the screen began to scramble. The letters twisted and rearranged themselves until they seemed to melt, slowly running down the display like raindrops sliding across a windowpane. Within moments, every trace of the message had disappeared, and the laptop returned to exactly the way it had been before.

Sarah stared at the screen in amazement.

She couldn’t believe what she had just witnessed.

It felt like something straight out of a spy movie, and she thought it was one of the coolest things she had ever seen.

“How the hell did he do that?” she whispered to herself.

The realization only deepened her curiosity.

There’s so much more to Chuck than I know.

And I want to know all of it.

She continued staring at the laptop for another minute, half hoping Chuck would somehow reappear on the screen. Of course, nothing happened. The computer sat there silently, revealing none of its secrets.

With a contented smile, Sarah gently closed the lid, hugged the laptop against her chest, and climbed beneath the blankets. Only a few minutes earlier she had been convinced she would never fall asleep with everything racing through her mind, yet now she felt completely at peace. Within minutes she was fast asleep, dreaming of a curly-haired nerd with a warm, gentle smile who somehow kept finding impossible ways to make her heart race.

The memory stayed with her the following morning.

As she tied the laces on her running shoes, Sarah found herself smiling again. True to her word, she returned to the main room only a couple of minutes later wearing the new workout clothes the FBI had purchased for her. Natalie looked up from her tablet, gave her an approving smile, and stood.

“Ready?”

Sarah nodded and followed her toward the front door. It wasn’t until they stepped outside that she realized where they were going. She slowed slightly, glancing up and down the street with a mixture of surprise and nervousness. She hadn’t expected to leave the safe house at all.

“Natalie, what are we doing outside?” she asked. “I thought we were going to work out in the gym.”

“I thought we’d do a little running around the neighborhood first, just to get you warmed up,” Natalie explained. “Get you out of the house for a while and let you breathe some fresh air. I know it’s been a long time since you’ve seen the sky without looking through a window.”

Sarah gave her a small, uncertain smile.

“You’re not wrong.”

Natalie didn’t push her. They spent several minutes doing some light stretching before Natalie led her into an easy jog. She kept the pace deliberately slow, watching Sarah’s breathing and stride as they moved down the quiet residential street. This was Sarah’s first day of physical training, and Natalie had no intention of exhausting her. Twelve minutes was more than enough to start with.

They made their way around the first corner before Natalie slowed near a brown sedan parked along the curb. Two men sat inside, casually eating what appeared to be fast food while keeping a discreet watch on the street.

Natalie left Sarah near the curb and approached the vehicle. She leaned toward the open window and quietly explained the plan. Their supervisor wanted Sarah spending more time outside the house, gradually increasing her exposure in the hope that anyone watching the safe house might eventually reveal themselves.

Agent Barrett immediately frowned.

“You’re putting her outside on purpose?”

“That’s the idea,” Natalie replied.

“That’s reckless.”

Agent Garrison, sitting behind the wheel, glanced toward Sarah before looking back at them.

“I don’t like it either,” he admitted. “There’s too much exposure. But the director wants to know if anyone is watching the house, and we’re not going to find that out by keeping her behind four walls.”

Barrett shook his head.

“And if someone is watching?”

“Then we find out how close they are,” Garrison replied. “Just don’t stay out too long.”

He looked toward Natalie.

“Ten more minutes. Keep her close to the house, and make sure she remains in sight of the car at all times.”

Natalie nodded.

“Understood.”

She returned to Sarah, and they resumed their jog, staying on the same side of the street and never moving far from the safe house. Natalie kept her attention divided between Sarah and their surroundings, casually checking parked vehicles, windows, intersections, and anyone who happened to be nearby.

A black SUV appeared at the far end of the street.

Natalie noticed it immediately.

Without breaking stride, she gently guided Sarah toward the sidewalk and moved them farther away from the roadway. The vehicle passed without slowing, the driver showing no apparent interest in them.

Natalie watched it disappear around the next corner before relaxing slightly.

“Keep going,” she said.

Sarah nodded, and they continued.

Ten minutes later, they were back at the safe house. Both women were breathing heavily as they stepped through the door. Natalie reached for two bottles of water and handed one to Sarah.

“Not bad for your first day.”

Sarah took a long drink.

“I think I’m going to be sore tomorrow.”

Natalie smiled.

“You probably are.”

They headed downstairs together toward the fitness room. The short run had been easy by design, but it had accomplished what Natalie wanted. Sarah had gotten outside, started moving again, and, more importantly, had been exposed to the world beyond the safe house.

Whether anyone had noticed her was another question entirely.

Natalie closed the door behind them as they entered the fitness room.

“Ready?”

Sarah set her water down and nodded.

“Let’s see what you’ve got.”

The heavy punching bag Sarah had asked about still hadn’t been installed. Natalie explained that they had decided to wait until they knew what was going to happen once Sarah returned to Los Angeles. If another relocation became necessary, there was no sense installing equipment they might have to leave behind. The explanation made perfect sense, and Sarah accepted it without another question.

Natalie didn’t waste time teaching Sarah the fundamentals. After their sparring match the previous day, she already knew Sarah could fight. What interested her now was figuring out exactly how Sarah had learned to move the way she did.

They started slowly, working through combinations and defensive movements, each woman paying close attention to the other. Natalie demonstrated a technique, then watched as Sarah adapted it to her own style. Sarah would counter with something Natalie hadn’t seen from her before, forcing Natalie to adjust and respond. Neither woman was really teaching the other. They were studying each other, borrowing what worked and challenging what didn’t.

Every few minutes, Natalie would stop and demonstrate a different movement, not because she thought Sarah needed to learn it, but because she wanted to see how Sarah would react. Sarah responded in much the same way, occasionally showing Natalie a variation of a technique that changed the angle or timing just enough to make it more effective.

Before long, the lesson had become something neither of them had expected. It wasn’t about one woman being better than the other. It was about two highly trained women discovering how much they could learn from each other.

Natalie found herself watching Sarah more than she was watching her own movements. There were little things Sarah did that caught her attention, subtle shifts in balance, changes in timing, the way she seemed to anticipate where a strike was going before it was fully committed. Some of it reminded Natalie of techniques she had seen before, while other parts seemed uniquely Sarah.

Sarah was doing the same thing. She watched Natalie carefully, picking up on her rhythm, her footwork, and the small movements that preceded each attack. Every exchange gave her something new to consider.

By the time they had been working together for a while, neither woman was thinking about who had won their sparring match the day before.

They were too busy trying to figure out what the other woman could teach them.

They continued working through the routines for more than an hour. Just when Sarah thought the session was finally over, Natalie smiled and shook her head.

“Not even close.”

She led Sarah through a series of strength and conditioning exercises that lasted another forty minutes. Push-ups, squats, planks, lunges, and core exercises followed one after another, leaving Sarah’s muscles burning in ways she had never experienced before.

By the time they finished, it was nearly eight-thirty. Sarah’s stomach was growling loudly enough to remind her that she hadn’t eaten since the night before.

She finally leaned both hands against the wall, breathing hard as she tried to catch her breath. Sweat covered both women, and although they looked exhausted, they were also smiling.

Natalie let out a small laugh as they paused, both of them catching their breath. “You really are something, Sarah. I knew you could fight after yesterday, but working with you up close is different. There’s a lot more going on in the way you move than I expected.”

She studied Sarah carefully. “Your timing is excellent, your balance is natural, and you seem to anticipate what I’m going to do before I actually commit to it. Where did you learn all of that?”

Sarah wiped the sweat from her forehead and took a drink of water. “I had formal training.”

Natalie nodded. “How much?”

“Almost two years.”

“That explains a lot.” Natalie smiled. “But there are still things you do that I wouldn’t expect from someone with only two years of training.”

Sarah shrugged. “I guess I picked things up along the way.”

Natalie watched her for another moment. “And your parents? Did they teach you any of this?”

Sarah shook her head. “No. They taught me something completely different. They taught me how to protect myself by avoiding trouble. If something felt dangerous, I was supposed to get away from it, not stand there and fight.”

Natalie smiled. “Run?”

“Run,” Sarah confirmed. “My father always said that if you could walk away from a fight, you should. If you couldn’t walk away, you should run. And if you couldn’t run…” She paused, remembering. “Then you did whatever you had to do to survive.”

Natalie nodded slowly. “And yet here you are.”

Sarah glanced toward the mat. “Here I am.”

Natalie stepped back into position and raised her hands. “Then let’s see what almost two years of formal training can really do.”

Sarah smiled faintly and raised her own hands. “You ready?”

“Always.”

They moved toward each other again, neither woman trying to teach the other the basics anymore. They were learning something far more useful, studying each other’s techniques, timing, habits, and instincts with every exchange.

She paused to catch another breath before adding, “I’m just a quick learner.”

Natalie chuckled and shook her head.

“You can say that again.”

Pushing herself away from the wall, Sarah climbed the short flight of stairs leading back to the apartment, eager for the one thing she wanted more than anything else at that moment.

Breakfast.

Natalie followed Sarah upstairs, and together they walked into the kitchen to prepare a healthy breakfast. As they worked side by side, Natalie explained the importance of proper nutrition if Sarah wanted her body to recover from training and continue performing at its best. She talked about balancing protein, healthy carbohydrates, and plenty of water, emphasizing that physical conditioning didn’t end when the workout was over.

Sarah nodded along, listening carefully and agreeing with everything Natalie said, but her mind was somewhere else entirely.

They sat down to eat, yet Sarah barely noticed the food in front of her. Every thought seemed to drift back to Chuck. She wondered what he was doing, whether he was safe, and if he was thinking about her the way she was thinking about him. The emptiness she had managed to keep buried during their workout slowly returned, settling heavily in her chest.

Natalie recognized the distant look almost immediately.

“I’m sure he’s fine, Sarah,” she said gently. “I’ll speak with the director today and see if it’s possible for you to reach out to him. I can’t promise anything, but I’ll do my best.”

Sarah’s face brightened instantly. The sadness melted away, replaced by hope and excitement. Without thinking, she leaned across the table, wrapped her arms around Natalie’s neck, and gave her a grateful hug.

“Thank you,” she said warmly. “Please let me know as soon as you talk to the director.”

Natalie smiled and gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

“I will.”

As Sarah sat back down, she tried to keep her expectations under control, but inside her mind only one thought repeated itself over and over.

Please… please… please let them let me talk to Chuck.

Even though she already had another possible way of seeing Chuck on her computer at ten o’clock that morning, she knew she had to give Natalie a believable performance. She couldn’t let on that the director’s decision no longer mattered quite as much as it had only a few minutes earlier. If Natalie suspected she already had another way to contact Chuck, it would raise questions Sarah wasn’t prepared to answer.

Fortunately, there was one thing her parents had taught her exceptionally well while she was growing up.

How to act.

How to sell a lie so convincingly that no one ever questioned it.

As she thanked Natalie and smiled hopefully, Sarah found herself wondering if she had been convincing enough. She had lied to plenty of people over the years as part of her parents’ confidence schemes, but she had never lied to an FBI agent before. Even so, beneath the performance, her thoughts kept returning to the same place.

In less than an hour, if everything went according to plan, she would be talking face to face with Chuck.

Natalie noticed the dreamy expression that settled across Sarah’s face and smiled to herself. She assumed Sarah was simply excited by the possibility that the director might approve a phone call to her boyfriend. She never imagined that Sarah already had another, far more extraordinary, way of reaching him.

Sarah finished her breakfast and helped Natalie clean up the dishes, straighten the kitchen, and put a few things back in order around the main room. Once everything was taken care of, she turned toward Natalie.

“I’m going to take a shower and do some studying in my room for a little while. I think I need some quiet time.”

Natalie nodded, understanding immediately.

“That’s not a problem,” she replied. “Just don’t take too long in that shower. I need to wash this sweat off too before the director calls later.”

Sarah smiled.

“I’ll hurry, I promise. Thanks so much for the workout today, Natalie.”

“I enjoyed it myself,” Natalie said with a smile. “You’re actually a fun person to work out with. And thank you, Sarah, for trusting me. That means a lot to me.”

Sarah looked at her warmly.

“I appreciate that.”

Natalie gave her a small nod before adding, “And don’t forget, when I speak to the director, I’ll ask him about letting you talk to your boyfriend, Chuck.”

Sarah couldn’t stop the small smile that appeared on her face.

“Okay. I’ll hurry.”

She turned and walked back toward her room to grab a change of clothes before heading into the bathroom. A few minutes later, warm water poured over her shoulders as she stood beneath the shower head.

For a moment, she closed her eyes and let herself enjoy the quiet.

Then her thoughts returned to him.

Chuck.

Her heart began racing again as she imagined seeing him on the screen later that morning. After everything they had been through, after being separated and not knowing if he was safe, the possibility of seeing his face again felt almost impossible.

She tried to calm herself, reminding herself that she needed to be careful and patient.

But a small part of her couldn’t help counting down the minutes.

Soon, she would see him again.

She had never felt so nervous in her life. The butterflies in her stomach refused to settle, and she couldn’t help smiling at herself for how ridiculous she was being. In just a few days she would be turning eighteen, yet here she was acting like a little kid waiting to unwrap a brand-new toy on Christmas morning.

So what? she thought with a silent grin. I can feel as young as I want.

The thought made her laugh softly as she finished her shower.

By the time she dried off, got dressed, and finished brushing her hair, it was already close to 9:30 a.m. She stepped into the hallway and called toward the bathroom.

“It’s all yours, Natalie! I’ll be in my room.”

As she started walking away, another thought crossed her mind.

“Hey, Natalie, do you happen to have a pair of headphones or AirPods I could use? I think the language training would be a lot easier if I had them.”

Natalie’s voice carried down the hall.

“There should be a pair with all the training material they sent you.”

Sarah stopped in her tracks and turned around.

She walked back to the stack of books and manuals sitting on the dining room table and began sorting through them. Beside the books was the small bag that had arrived with the rest of her training supplies. She opened it and looked inside.

Sure enough, nestled at the bottom was a small white box containing a brand-new pair of AirPods.

A smile spread across her face.

Sometimes I have the best luck.

Clutching the box, she hurried back to her bedroom, her excitement growing with every step. If everything went according to plan, today was about to become the best day she had experienced in over a week.