FicWad

[Delilah]

Delilah's head hurt. No, that was an understatement. It felt like someone had run over her noggin with a semi-truck. Repeatedly. What had happened?

J.B.

A dam opened in Delilah's mind and a cascade of memories came flooding back to her. Letters ... Julius ... room ... murder ... lamp ... Lamp? Right, when Delilah had tried to escape, by throwing things - Julius' things - at the mysterious stalker, he had subdued her by whacking her upside the head with a lamp.

A very hard lamp, too.

Delilah tried to feel if she had a bump on her head, but found her arms tied behind her back. It was also then that she became aware that she was blindfolded. By feeling around with her back, she determined she was being held in some kind of cage. Or cell.

"Good, you're awake," came the deep baritone voice of the man Delilah only knew as J.B. "I was afraid I'd hurt you."

"Afraid you'd hurt me?" Delilah screamed, outraged. "You idiot, you hit me with a lamp and you've kidnapped me! No, you haven't hurt me at all."

J.B. paused, unsure of what to say. "Uh, my name's James. James Boowme, but you can call me Jim."

"All right, /Jim/, where am I?"

Boowme snorted. "Yeah, like I'll tell you, Delilah Devonshire. You think I don't know about you? You and that Julius Chevalier guy are like the best spies in the world. If I tell you, you'll find some way to alert all those guys and the Academy. I'm not telling you anything."

Delilah didn't know whether to be impressed or terrified. This guy had hacked into Government files, World Federation files. Those things had dozens of firewalls and passwords. Delilah wasn't dealing with some-wet-behind-the-ears rookie. She was dealing with an expert.

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[Julius]

Julius and Al had been up half the night, trying to get a fix on Delilah's signal. So far, they had nothing. J.B. - James Boowme, Julius thought - had somehow deactivated or found a way to cloak Delilah's tracking watch. Al was so frustrated, that when an advertisement for lawn mowers popped up on the computer screen, he snapped.

"AW MAN!!" he bellowed. "I HATE THESE STUPID COMMERCIALS! NOT EVEN MY COMPUTER IS SAFE FROM THEM! IT'S LIKE YOU CAN'T ESCAPE FROM ADVERTISEMENTS, WHERE EVER YOU GO!"

Julius had a hard time trying not to burst into laughter. "So, Al, what can we do?"

Al caressed his eyelids. "I'm afraid there isn't much we can do, Julius. This guy's the real deal, man. We have to sit tight and hope some leads come up."

Holding back an angry outburst, Julius walked out of Al's office. He had read the letter Delilah had given Al and come to a conclusion: it was his fault. Delilah had walked straight in to a trap, all because Boowme had tried to take out Julius. If anything happened to her ... Julius would never forgive himself.

All of a sudden, Al shouted for him to come. Someone was trying to communicate with them, though the connection was fuzzy. It was coming from an agent's watch.

"Hello? Is - there?"

Julius recognized the voice. "Delilah! Where are you? Are you all right?"

"- don't know - blindfolded. I'm - right, Julius. - you need to - here quick. Boowme is - expert. - don't know what - wants with me."

That sent chills down Julius' spine. Al clapped his hands together. "I've got a lock on her location! She's in Calgary."

"Alberta?" /Delilah asked. "But - that possible?/

"You've been gone for hours, Dee," Julius explained. "He could have taken you to Hong Kong for all I care, but now we know where you are."

Delilah let out a gasp. "Gotta go - he's here!

And the connection was broken.

But it didn't matter. Al and Julius were on their way to Calgary, Alberta.