The trap is set, now Sophie must catch Blazer before he slips through the net.
This is Episode 15 in the Diary of a Detectress series. For previous episodes, please follow these links:
Episide 2 – Student record not found
Episide 3 – First steps towards success
Episode 7 – The explanation of a lifetime
Episode 8 – Tracking down a hacker
Episode 9 – What happens when you mess with the future
Episode 13 – Life, death and disablement
Episode 14 – The photogenic vampire
Dear Diary,
If this were a normal outing, I would be watching closely, trying to get into the spirit of the match. But instead, I’m looking at the crowd, searching through the faces for that telltale grey cap. Blazer doesn’t know he was spotted, so he’s probably still wearing it.
I remember Ethan’s earlier comment about not being able to see behind me and immediately I’m convinced that Blazer must be among the people seated in the stands above my seat. Why did Shane get us tickets close to the front! The spot between my shoulder blades prickles and I try to think of a feasible excuse to look back.
I’m concentrating so hard that I don’t see Layla waving at me until Ethan nudges me and points to her. She’s standing on the sidelines, beckoning to me. I leave my seat, squeeze along the aisle and run down the steps to the barrier. Layla’s grinning, so it must be good news.
Sure enough, she holds out the camera to show me. “I found him.” She’s captured a perfect shot of Blazer, sitting hunched into his hoodie with his cap pulled down. “He doesn’t look like he’s enjoying the match very much.”
The photo is taken from an angle that incorprates the ‘BuzzDrive’ sign that Blazer is sitting close to. I lift my head and casually scan the stadium, easily finding the sign itself, with a blob of grey next to it to signify Blazer’s cap. It’s directly opposite where I’m sitting. So much for the he’s-behind-me theory.
Note to self: do not trust itchy shoulder blades again.
Having identified Blazer, I continue looking around the stadium for a couple of seconds, so it doesn’t look like I was staring at him. Oh yeah, I'm such a pro at this.
Then I turn back to Layla. “This is perfect. Now Jade and I just have to get over there to catch him during the half time break. Sorry to keep giving you tasks, but do you think you could lurk there and let me know if he leaves at all before the break?”
“No problem,” she takes the camera back. “This is almost like being a secret agent.” Winking at me, she turns and goes back to taking pictures of the crowd.
Back in my seat, I find that Jade has briefly disappeared to visit the toilet. When she gets back, I explain that I’ve fixed everything for the interview with my ‘expert’.
“Amazing!” She’s so relieved. “I’ve got the camera crew waiting outside, we’ll go out a few minutes before the break so that we can be ready when the time slot comes.”
I’m on edge for the rest of the first half, hardly noticing when a goal is scored and the crowd around me erupts into cheers. Shane claps me on the back and I do my best to smile at him but my throat is dry and palms are sweating. “Get a grip, Sophie,” I tell myself firmly. “This will probably be the easiest mission you ever have.”
Oddly enough, the thought calms me, and I manage to get a bit more involved in watching the game.
35 minutes into the first half, Jade taps me on the shoulder and gestures that we should leave. I dart a look over the other side of the stadium and see that the grey blob is still in place.
Outside, Jade and I find two guys waiting with TV recording equipment, Jade greets them hurriedly, and then we start off around the stadium to the opposite side. I’m trying to lead as confidently as I can, stifling my qualms over whether Blazer will have slipped away before we make it around there.
On the way my phone beeps. It’s a message from Layla. I open it to find a photo showing Blazer heading towards the exit. He must have seen me leave. I quicken my pace and hope that we can still catch him.
Sure enough, as we turn the corner, reaching the other side of the stadium, a figure in a grey cap emerges from an exit half-way down. He glances once in our direction, then hunches his shoulders and starts heading off the other way. We’re going to lose him!
Without thinking, I break into a run. My feet pound the concrete as I shoot towards the receding figure. I lengthen my stride, tying to run silently, but Blazer obviously hears the footsteps, because he turns around just before I reach him.
On an impulse, I open my arms and go barrelling into him, catching him in a hug. “Hey you!” I cry, trying to get as much pleased surprise into my voice as I can. “You were going the wrong way.”
I keep my arms firmly around him as Jade and the camera crew catch up with us, Jade’s heels clicking on the concrete in time with her hurried steps. “Here he is!” I call to them. “He got confused about the direction, didn’t you?” I smile up at him.
Blazer is staring at me with an expression that’s half fear, half confusion and doesn’t respond to my question. Thankfully doesn’t make any attempt to get away either. Now that I’m so close, I can see he’s skinny and pale, like Ethan. He’s probably more at home behind the keyboard than in the field. I might be able to swing this if I can stay in control of the situation.
Jade steps forward holding out her hand, “I’m Jade, pleased to meet you,” she exclaims, grabbing his limp hand. “We’re really honoured that you agreed to do this interview. I’ll be shown on the LNX network live, but you can of course watch it later on the LNX website or on Youtube.”
“Youtube?” Blazer echoes faintly.
“And we’ll be live in 10…9…8…” the cameraman does a count down, signalling the last few numbers on his fingers.
When the light on the camera goes red, Blazer stiffens, but I’ve got a really good grip on him and he’d have to make a huge scene to get away from me, so he just shifts nervously. Thank goodness for that touchy-feely TV culture that makes it seem normal for me to interview him like this.
I put on a huge smile. “HEY there football fans, thank you for joining us at the university ground. It’s been a super exciting match so far. Here we have a very special football expert who will share his insight into what’s been going on. Well, sir, I know you’ve been following the match very carefully, what’s your opinion on it?”
I hold out the mic to Blazer, but as I expected, he doesn’t have a response ready and just makes a noise like a strangled bird.
I quickly move on to the next question. “The home team are really on fire, they’ve been BLAZING their way through the first half, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Err..”
“I know that you recently attended the university gala dinner. Would you say that the home team would fit in at an event like that? They would stand out a lot, wouldn’t they? People would be watching their every move?”
“I, uh…”
“And how do you think this moment will go down in history? Imagine that people from THE FUTURE are watching this right now. What do you think they’d say about the situation?”
By now, Blazer has picked up on my hints and is looking at me with terror in his eyes. I drop the smile for a moment and gaze directly into his eyes. “People from The Future are watching you right now, Blazer, how do you think they feel?”
The mention of his secret organisation is obviously the last straw. With a moan, he struggles violently and I finally release my grip, letting him go. He sprints away from the stadium like a terrified animal. The cameraman swings his camera to watch Blazer run, before remembering that he’s live on TV and quickly focusing back on me. By now the first half of the match has finished and people are starting to exit the stadium, so we've got some onlookers gathered around.
“Well, folks," I try to smooth over Blazer's abrupt exit. "He warned us that he’d have to make a quick exit. Something about being late for his next secret agent job, haha!”
Jade looks like she might be going to kill someone. I’m relieved to see that Shane has appeared and is standing a short way off. I beckon him over. “And now for someone with real opinions on the match, let’s talk to Shane! Student and football addict extraordinaire!”
Shane looks surprised, but Jade pushes him over in front of the camera. He straightens his glasses as I ask him what he thought of the match.
“Yes, well, started slow. I’d say our boys were a bit intimidated by the reputation of the guests today, but fair play to them, really got behind the ball…”
He obviously knows what he’s talking about and is enthusiastic to boot. Shane talks for the remaining time left in the slot, needing only a couple of prompts from me to keep him on topic. As I originally envisioned, he’s the perfect person to interview.
By the end of it, Jade’s looking ecstatic and jumps into Shane’s arms as soon as the cameraman has signalled the end of the live slot.
Hopefully by the time they’ve finished kissing, she’ll have forgotten what a disaster my first ‘interviewee’ was.
I look in the direction that Blazer ran, but there’s no sign of him. Time to go and celebrate with my friends!
This is an original piece, written for Steemit by @Victoria-Kelly. Thanks for reading!
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