The Following

A couple of hours later, Mike still wasn’t feeling very well. He had told Ryan about the ‘accident’ with Lisa, and Ryan had shook his head pitiful. And because Ryan wouldn’t stop trying to explain that there really wasn’t anything going on between him and Deb, Mike had decided to go out for a walk.
Perhaps some fresh air would do him some good.
He was only two blocks away, from the hotel, when he saw someone that made him stop dead in his tracks. He shook his head; it couldn’t be true. His hangover was making him see things.
He walked further, and as he did so his view on the woman...

“Agnes!”
Agnes swallowed, and rotated her head. Dale was limping towards her.
In the meantime, Harrison was being dragged back inside the council room.
“What have toi done?” Dale shouted angry, when he saw Deb’s unconscious body, at the bottom of the well.
“Harrison Parker, you’ve been found guilty for treason against our leader, Dale Waldon. What do toi have to say for yourself?” Marion bellowed. She was sitting on Dale’s chair.
Harrison raised his head at her. “Look at what you’ve become. What we’ve become. Deb got away, but we just had to drag her back in. And for what,...

Max frowned. If she didn’t know better, she would’ve sworn Mike’s eyes were shining. “I’m sorry toi had to hear this”, she a dit carefully.
“Yeah” Mike said. “Thank you. I’ll take care of it. I’ll see toi tomorrow”
“Really? I thought I was fired” Max muttered surprised.
“Just don’t pull out your gun” Mike warned her. “Unless it is to protect her, of course” He thought about that for a second, and added: “Don’t tell her I a dit that. I don’t think she would appreciate it”
“My lips are sealed” Max commenté dry. “See toi tomorrow, then” She walked...

“Okay, hit me”
Max an Debra were standing in the basement. Deb had put on plus comfortable clothes, instead of pj’s, and Max had removed her coat. With rolled up sleeves, the latter looked expectantly at her opponent.
“I’m not going to hit you” Deb protested.
“Come on, Deb, toi can’t hide behind a bureau forever” Max tried to provoke her.
“I wasn’t hiding” Deb frowned. “I just wanted to help other people like me, without…getting out in the field” she added, awkwardly.
“Yeah, that’s what I call a fancy way for saying toi were hiding” Max emphasized the last three...

For several minutes Deb’s breathing was the only sound she heard, until she heard the front door open. She froze, and waited for footsteps to echo down the hall. As a dit footsteps became louder, as they approached the kitchen, Deb turned around, and braced herself.
Max stood a few meters away from her, her hands up in a surrendering gesture. “Mike called me. a dit he’d left”
She took up the courage to déplacer a little closer, and as she did, she noticed the key on the ground. “You dropped something. Hold on, I got it” Before Deb could respond, Max had already dived for the key. “Here...

And so it was that, when a few days later Deb was released from the hospital and Mike drove her to his house in Woodbridge, Max was already inside, waiting for them.
“How did toi get in here?” Deb asked, a little hostile.
Max, awkwardly, pointed at Mike. “He, uh, he gave me a key”
Deb narrowed her eyes and looked at Mike. “You gave her a key? Why did toi give her a key? What does she need a key for? Heck, I don’t even have a key”
Max pressed her lips and closed her eyes for a divisé, split second. “That’s my cue” she a dit and she walked past them to the front door. “Oh, par the way,”...