[Write the Story] The Phone Rings at 3 A.M.
Prompt: The Phone Rings at 3 A.M.
Words: guerilla, emerald, careless, traffic, liberate, adolescence, punch, wave, environment, oval
Story
Robert Earl Keen has a song where the chorus line is The road goes on forever and the party never ends. That’s how I feel every day. Except it’s not a party. It’s my job.
Ring. I answer as I always do. “Emerald ocean sunset†is today’s code response. I don’t know who comes up with this stuff. “Go ahead, Agent Chase.â€
“The guerillas are about to liberate the capital. They’re moving through town like a wave of drunken kids in adolescence.â€
“You couldn’t have just said teenagers?†I said. “It’s 3 a.m. here. How bad is it?â€
“It’s a punch-drunk environment.†Chase sounded a bit sloshed himself.
“Don’t’ get careless, Chase.†I was already out of bed and pulling up computers to get intel and satellite imagery.
“Crap. They’re almost to the traffic oval.†I could hear crowd and weapons noise behind him. The visuals I could pull up were…bleak. “I need an exit strategy now.â€
My fingers flew over keys, but as I pushed the buttons and sent the codes, Chase’s messages grew more frantic and more garbled and then abruptly stopped. I stopped typing and listened to the chaos for a moment as I shut down my system.
I always told these guys, if you call me at 3 a.m., someone better be dead.
Word Count: 217
Written: 8/30/19