Free Pandora's Box by K C Blake

cell phone played the familiar rock song.   He moved away from her door and glanced at the caller ID.   Brett.   The only one who called him at the most inconvenient of times.   Groaning, he answered the phone.
    “What’s up?” Tyler asked.
    “I’m in town, so I decided to look you up.   Can we meet for a drink?   You can fill me in on the secret project you’re working on.”
    Tyler stepped into the elevator.   He leaned against the back wall and stared at Madison ’s door as the metal box closed around him.   The thought of DeMarco’s hands on her was almost more than he could stand.   He made a fist around the cell phone.   “Can’t.   Maybe tomorrow.”
    “I’m sorry,” Brett said with a laugh.   “Did I interrupt something?   Are you with a lady friend?”
    “No.”
    “But there is a woman involved in this somehow, right?”
    More laughter from Brett set Tyler ’s teeth on edge.  
    “What are you doing in town anyway?” Tyler asked.   “It was my understanding the Navy was sending you on a top secret mission somewhere down in South America .   Did you finish already?”
    Silence.   Then, “Actually they pulled me out early, so I’m totally free now.”
    The elevator door opened and Tyler left the building, cell phone on his ear.   He frowned, more confused than ever at Brett’s sudden appearance in town.   The Navy hadn’t ever pulled him out early before.   Something didn’t feel right about Brett’s story.
    “Is there something you need to tell me?   Are you in some sort of trouble?”
    Brett denied it and Tyler knew better than to push him, so he told Brett to call back later.   They would meet for dinner—or a drink.   
    After hanging up, Tyler ’s thoughts returned to Madison .   He felt like a giant hypocrite.   He’d laid in to Madison about keeping something from him when he was keeping a whopping secret from her.   He wondered if she’d ever forgive him once she found out the truth.

    ******

    Getting rid of DeMarco had proved too easy after he’d seen her kissing the man he saw as his rival.   He hadn’t even stuck around for breakfast.   At that point she hadn’t had much of an appetite herself, so she’d thrown the food away, wasting it, which wasn’t like her.   Then she’d taken a bus downtown to the bank, ready to see her plan through to the end.
    An hour later she shoved the bank’s glass door hard and stepped out into the cold winter day.   She stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, unconcerned for the pedestrians in a hurry.   Raising the empty manila envelope she’d taken from the safe deposit box high into the air, she made a show of examining it in the light.   If DeMarco had betrayed her, if he’d informed someone she was looking into her father’s safe deposit box, she would know soon enough.
    Ten minutes ago the envelope had held her mother’s heart-shaped locket, but now that necklace hung around Madison neck.   The feel of the heart between her breasts gave her a warm sense of peace like nothing could hurt her.
    Madison slid sunglasses up her nose and turned for the closest bus stop.   She felt eyes on her, watching her every move.   It took every ounce of self-control she had to not look around for those eyes.   She decided to take a detour.   Whipping around the corner of an old brick building, she headed into an alley.
    She purposely dropped the manila envelope on the ground.
    Madison jumped high, grabbed the bottom of a metal ladder dangling from the lowest apartment’s fire escape.   She flipped upside-down, hooked her knees over the bottom rung and pulled herself up.   In silence, she waited for the intruder to catch up with her.
    She didn’t have to wait for long.
    A man entered the alley without hesitation.   He stopped, looked around.   Hands on hips, he didn’t seem to know what to think about her disappearance.   For a moment he stood just below her.   She waited for him to take three steps