Category: Prose

This wasn’t Timothy’s first rodeo, but the corruption went deeper than he suspected. The interrogations after the fall of Headquarters led to the whereabouts of additional missing people, mostly children, more than he had anticipated.

“Do you think we’ve found all of them?” Helen asked.

Helen first met Timothy when she was investigating the kidnapping of his own daughter a decade earlier. She remembered him telling her during their month-long search that his prayers left him convinced that his daughter had always been in stronger arms than his own even before they found the body.

As to whether they located all of the victims, Timothy said, “I hope there will never be any more.”

Denise offers the prompt word “rodeo” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Story. This story continues from Kaleidoscope – Six Sentence Story.

Helen laughed when she heard Headquarters claimed Bill was killed in the raid. “They don’t even know who Bill is,” she said. “The agents we arrested in that kaleidoscope of tunnels made plea bargains before Headquarters heard anything of it.”

“I wonder when the rats will start running.” Timothy added, “I hope they think it’s safe to implement the spider protocol.”

An hour later Helen smiled, “We got them!”

Denise offers the word “kaleidoscope” for this week’s Six Sentence Story. This story continues from Plow – Six Sentence Story. The next part is Rodeo – Six Sentence Story.

Back in freezing Chicago as snow plows uncovered a buried street, Timothy learned at Headquarters that the raid in Miami killed his partner Bill. He delivered the zip file and reported the compromised safe house.

Timothy hoped Bill’s raid was successful, but he knew that any intel he’d receive should be viewed as psyops. Still, scraps of it might be true. From his back door to their communication system he identified and then disabled the assassin they hoped would take him out once he left the building.

Walking down the street with fresh snow falling Timothy smiled to think that those whiz kids at Headquarters wouldn’t believe how few bits he had to flip in that zip file to plow away their covers and expose them.

Denise offers the prompt word “plow” for this week’s Six Sentence Story. This story continues from Mark- Six Sentence Story. Next is Kaleidoscope – Six Sentence Story.

From two used phones Timothy constructed one that could not be traced but could connect through the command center’s back door. He entered the passcode TheHappySpiderIsWatchingYOU.

Given the compromised safehouse, he got right to the point, “What was that all about?”

“You have the zip file, don’t you?”

Since he knew it would annoy them, Timothy said, “I also have the spider’s mark.”

Timothy waited until they blinked, “You wouldn’t dare.”

Denise offers the prompt word “mark” for this week’s Six Sentence Stories. This story continues from Ocean – Six Sentence Story.

Through his earpiece Timothy was instructed to meet at the “six gates” safehouse in two hours.

He could walk there in fifteen minutes giving him enough time to see if the location was compromised. The approaching storm over the Atlantic Ocean would offer some cover if it was. He hid his earpiece, phone and a small surprise under the mulch behind the building where no one should go and he went to the boardwalk to watch.

Through his binoculars Timothy smiled when he recognized the two men who shouldn’t have found his phone, find it. His only regret was he kind of liked that earpiece.

Denise offers the prompt word “ocean” for this week’s six sentence story. This story continues from Marvel – Six Sentence Story. The next chapter is Mark – Six Sentence Story.

Timothy saw a spider rest at the center of its web. What a marvel of patience!

Looking through his binoculars he noticed smiles on the faces of the agents as they left his abandoned apartment. He heard in his earpiece, “The white hats have the laptop”, but he suspected it could be mere psyops.

Regardless all he needed to do was wait. Either they wandered into the web or they didn’t.

Denise offers the prompt word “marvel” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Story. This story continues from Filter – Six Sentence Story. The next chapter is Ocean – Six Sentence Story.

Timothy realized that his most trusted operatives were deceiving him. Did the white hats secure that missing laptop after the blackout? Could he cross the border or would they be waiting for him?

It’s not easy to filter truth from disinformation. Too many were going out of their way to advise him that he was not the target.

He knew better.

Denise offers the word “filter” for this week’s Six Sentence Story. This story continues from Zip – Six Sentence Story. The next chapter is Marvel – Six Sentence Story.