Swimming in the Dark

The orange cat sat on the windowsill, watching me with the same judgment in its green eyes that Sarah had worn when she walked out three days ago. I'd never liked cats—too independent, too reminiscent of the people I used to be before this job swallowed me whole.

The monitors flickered around me, six screens displaying the interior of an office building two miles away. Corporate espionage, they called it. I called it swimming through other people's dirty laundry, paid by the hour.

"Anything yet?" Marcus's voice crackled through my earpiece.

"Patience," I adjusted the camera zoom. "The target's still at dinner."

My phone buzzed—Sarah. Again. The third time today. I'd stopped answering, but I hadn't blocked her. Some masochistic part of me needed to know she was still out there, swimming through the same city, breathing the same air.

The cat jumped from the windowsill, landing softly on my desk. It sniffed the half-eaten orange peel I'd left there, then turned its back on me.

"Smart animal," I muttered.

"Did you say something?"

"Thinking out loud. Target's moving." A woman in a grey suit entered the frame, carrying documents. She connected a cable to her computer, transferring files I'd been hired to steal. "Got it."

"Excellent. Payment's wired."

"Marcus. I'm done."

"What? This is the biggest payday of the—"

"I said I'm done." I pulled the earpiece out and threw it across the room. The cat watched it arc through the air, then returned to grooming itself, completely unimpressed by my dramatic gesture.

Sarah picked up on the third ring.

"I was hoping you'd call," she said.

"I quit."

"Your job?"

"Everything. The spying, the watching, the pretending I don't care about anyone." I stood up, stretching muscles that had grown stiff from sitting in this chair too long. "Can I come over?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

The cat meowed as I reached for my keys—approval, finally. I stepped out into the orange glow of the streetlights, feeling like I'd been swimming underwater for months and was finally coming up for air.