From:  Missed Deadline  (Now, the established title of my novel)  

That’s when I saw her, running from a side door, hoping to get away without being detected.  I sprinted out from behind a parked car.  Marie was running down the sidewalk, and I intersected her at a full run, grabbing her arm and swinging her into a dark recess between two buildings.  She began to scream, but I covered her mouth with my hand.  She responded by biting down hard on my palm.  I did, indeed scream, and she nearly freed herself from my grip. 

“Marie?  Marie… Please.  Stop.”  I begged her. 

She stopped struggling.  I turned her around to face her, my hands still solidly on her small shoulders.  

“You?  Is that you?  It cannot….” 

“Marie, it’s me.”

“Oh, my goodness!  It is you,” She hugged tightly, and then faced me again.  “It’s really you.  I thought you were…gone.  How did you…  Where did you come from?” 

“From hell, sweetheart.  You’re boyfriend put me there.  Now, do you want to come with me?  Or am I going to have to tie you up and kidnap you?  Tie you up.  Now, that sounds like an idea,” I said a little too loudly, and a little too harshly.

“Shh,” she said, looking around.  “You are one of them.  I knew it.  Listen, you are in grave danger.  If they see you with me, you’re cooked.  You don’t have time to…”

“I think you overrate their chances,” I answered back.

“No.  No, I’m not.  Listen, Milian runs everything here now.  Every aspect of operations here he knows about.  And it’s not just this level of reality, he runs several other realms too.  He’s even making a play for earth, our home.  And he won’t stop until he gets it.”

“Well, can’t you see that’s why we’re doing this, to prevent him from doing just that.”

“You might think you’re running a revolution, but all you’re doing is playing right into his hands.  He wants you to commit to death and destruction.  That is how he gets his power.  You’re making his case for him.  The only way for you and your friends to succeed is to either escape or join him, and look for a way to hold him off…”

“Is that why you joined him then, Mata Hari?”  I played my trump card.

She stopped, and started trembling, “Why… why did you call me that name?” 

“That’s who you were, once.  Wasn’t it?  Or should I say Salome?  How many other women have you been?  Perhaps, the original Eve?”

“Oh, don’t be stupid.  Of course not.  You have no idea what being a progressive woman in those days was like.  Nothing like when you departed earth…”

I waved her off, “Whatever.  We don’t have time to debate social studies right now, like you said.  You have a chance now.  Come away with me.  Join us, and we’ll work out the details later.”

“Oh, my sweet man.  I so wish I could.  I cannot.  I’m damned.  Doomed for all eternity, as you well know.” 

“But, you were also the warrior queen on that boat.  You faced the sky of fire like a true hero.  Like Milian said, I should have stayed there with you to the end.” 

“I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about, but I can tell you that I was never a queen, nor on a boat.  And never listen to anything he says.  He’s the king of liars.” 

Suddenly, a whole lot of explosions and gunfire announced the arrival of the pro-Milian forces firing back against our small forces.  We both heard the tanks coming up the street and then aircraft coming up fast. 

“See?  You have to get out of here.  You have to do it now, before he completely takes over everything, even to the very rafters of heaven itself.” 

“Oh?  And what about God?” 

“You said yourself you don’t believe in God.”

“Well, maybe I’m warming up to the idea.  Besides, there is no way out of here.  You’ve told me that yourself.”

“Listen, you don’t have much time.  But I think there is a way to get out.  It’s one of the things Milian is trying to keep secret, the escape hatch in the sky.”

“What?”

“Several years ago, a guy in a self-made hot air balloon made his way into the sky and disappeared.  A few years after that, some people made gliders that were atop the taller buildings.  It was rumored they all went to a higher, better level.”

“So, they head into the sky?  Nah, they’ll just crash back down to the ground, probably in little pieces.  You know the old saying, ‘what goes up must come down’.  I don’t buy it.” 

She said, “It’s true.  You have to look for the crack in the sky.  Aim towards the blue and the yellow.  Now, look.  You have to go now.  He always knows where I’m at, and he’ll be here any second.”   

“Yeah, I know.  He keeps track of his properties.  So, before I go - what about you?  What about us?  Was all that just a ploy?  Just a joke at my expense?”

“No of course not.  You may not believe this, but I was no spy.  Never.  I was not a spy in the war.  Did I do some things that were bad?  Yes.  Did they warrant my eternal damnation?  I didn’t think so.  I swear to you – it felt like the real thing with you.  I knew it was futile from the start, but I just couldn’t help myself.  I felt so safe and so…myself.”

“Then, come with me.  Please.  We can find this exit together then, I swear.”  Cars starting pulling up to the streets and I knew it had to be Milian. 

She pushed me back into the shadows, and said, “Go.  Get out of here now.  I mean it, or I’ll sick the boys on you.”

I smiled in the darkness, in spite of myself.  I whispered to her, “I’ll be back sweetheart.  One way or another.  I’m coming to take you back to where you belong.  Satan, Milian or God help me.”

She kissed me then.  She tasted like a hot wire and salt, which only reminded me what we had one night.  I pulled my newsboy cap over my head and ran like a thief through the back alleyway to the safe area beyond the central blocks, and just over the footings of the great wall.