After my husband and I went to eat, he decided that we should stay at a motel. It was quiet, and no one said a word. I could tell he wanted to talk to me, but I was still upset with him a bit. Still, I wanted to speak with him and figure out a plan. My husband, the one who had swept me off my feet, was a spy. I still couldn’t believe it, but I hated seeing him like this, so I broke the silence.
“I won’t judge you, but I want you to just talk to me,” I said.
James looked at me and smiled softly, happy that I gave him a second to talk.
He sat down. “Like I told you, back in the agency, my parents trained me from a young age to be a spy, but it’s not like we had a choice. We were really short on money, and they were falling behind on bills. One day, when I was about two years old, my dad came home and told us to pack our bags and get in the car. My mom had no idea what was going on, but my father insisted. We packed up and my dad took us to the agency. He said that we wouldn’t have to worry about money anymore. We would get food, water, and a place to sleep; all we had to do was work as spies.
“My mom wasn’t so sure though. It was dangerous – we probably wouldn’t be able to see our families ever again. But my dad said something that convinced my mom’s mind: ‘My job is to give you two everything that you need in life, I don’t know what I would do if one of us got sick and we couldn’t afford to buy medicine or whatever we needed. If I didn’t think we could do this, I would’ve never taken the job. This family is my everything, and I will do anything for it.’ With that, my mom decided to give this job a chance. So, we tried it, and it worked out, so we stayed. Since we stayed, I grew up there. But if I was going to be in the agency, I couldn’t be useless. At the age of five I started to train, and I was becoming great at it.
“That day on the plane when we met… it wasn’t supposed to happen. You see, I was going on a mission, but the plane that the spies take was full, so I had to go on a regular plane. It was not going to take me to the exact location I had to go, which is why I was so upset. But I finished my mission pretty quickly, so I went to the party and saw you again; that’s how we became close. When we got married, I was warned about what could happen if you found out about my secret, but I thought that I could hide it from you. But… I failed. And now you’re in trouble, and you hate me.”
I grabbed his hands and looked at him.
“James, look, I’m furious for sure, but I could never ever hate you… Is this insane? Yes, but I know that you didn’t mean for this to happen.” He looked at me with sorrowful eyes and hugged me and then I hugged him back. He looked at me, then took off his badge.
“You’re right, I never wanted this to happen.”
He grabbed my hands and said, “I’m not going to let the agency control my life anymore. It won’t be easy to get them off my back, but I want a life with you not with the agency.” He slammed the badge on the table next to the bed and opened the window. I looked at him confused.
“James, what are you doing?” I asked.
“They’re coming. It’s too risky to go out the front door, so we’re going out the window,” he answered. James grabbed some sheets and towels and tied them together to make a rope. He looked at me. “Okay, I’m going to need you to climb down this rope now. Got it?” Even though I was terrified, I grabbed the rope and climbed down, then James came down after me.
Then, we ran off.
