Swimming Out of Circles

The chlorine always made her think of him.

Maria had been swimming laps in the hotel pool when she saw the signal: a fedora on a poolside chair. Her target was here.

She'd been a corporate spy for seven years, the job hollowing her out piece by piece. The pool was empty except for her, though the decorative goldfish pond shimmered nearby - tiny orange prisoners circling their glass confines.

Thomas sat at the umbrellaed table. Her Thomas, from three lifetimes ago, before the blackmail file, before she learned that loving someone and destroying them could coexist in the same heart.

She pulled herself from the pool. The hat - his hat, from when they'd played at being normal people - sat waiting.

"You're wearing my fedora," he said as she approached.

Maria placed it on her head. "You left it."

The goldfish broke the surface, gulping air. Maria wondered if they felt stupid, swimming the same circles forever.

"The encryption key," she said, her voice flat. "The prototype schematics. Tonight."

Finally, he met her eyes. "You sound like you're reading from a script."

"I am."

"The same people holding your divorce settlement over my head?"

Thomas laughed, dark humor curdling in the humid night. "You can compartmentalize anything - including us."

Maria adjusted the hat, shadowing her face. "There is no 'us.'"

"That's not what the surveillance says."

"You're spying on me?"

"I hired someone to spy on the spy." He swirled his drink. "I know about the debts. The file they're holding over you. I know you're planning to disappear."

The goldfish pond rippled. Something cracked inside Maria.

"I can fix this," he said. "But you have to choose."

"Choose what?"

"Swimming in circles with them." He gestured at the goldfish. "Or learning to breathe."

Her fingers tightened on the hat brim. This was the job. Complete the mission. Walk away.

Maria stood and dropped the hat on the table.

"The data is already in your account," she said, turning toward the hotel entrance. "I encrypted it three years ago. Before they found something to blackmail me with."

She didn't look back. Some secrets were worth keeping. Some betrayals were actually acts of love.

The chlorine on her skin would wash off eventually.