Story

ELA

February 20

We sat around the massive mahogany table that was draped in fine silk while sipping on French
champagne.It was hard. I had to constantly remind myself that this wasn't real. We were just
pretending. Looking at Liam who sat across from me, mingling with some of England's richest
CEOs I knew that he was thinking about it too. We were on a mission. This was just a world of
make-believe.
We belonged in secret lairs and streets, not ballrooms with diamonds and caviar. We were spies
and they were millionaires. Our lives were filled with guns while there's were filled with jewels.
Keeping that in mind, I focused on my surroundings as the chandeliers dimmed and a
presentation was proiected on the colossal screens in front of us.
I scanned the room, but I couldn't spot anything out of the ordinary - just rows of ostentatious
hats, but something was bound to happen. I knew it. A criminal had to be lurking around the
ballroom, after all we were in a room with not only hundreds of millionaires, but also a few of the
most exorbitant diamonds in the world. Fifteen years on the job assured me that this event
wouldn't be mundane and I was certain that Liam wasn't thinking any different either.
A booming bang. then silence…and a roaring bang again, this one reverberating around the room,
shattering countless numbers of champagne glasses. A few people looked alarmed while others
were successfully masking their fear, but it shouldn't have been challenging for people like them.
Another resonating bang and all the screens went black. For a few minutes there was utter
silence. Then all hell broke loose. People ran in different directions screaming desperately,
knowing that there were no inadvertent power cuts in events like this.
Liam and I shared a look, before sprinting up the stairs leading to the backroom, advancing
through the now pitch-black ballroom while ignoring frantic screams. We didn't have the time to
comfort distressed billionaires.
"You go and secure the diamonds while I take care of the criminal!" barked Liam.
I didn't even have time to agree for a bullet whizzed past me, missing my head only by a few
inches, but a thud behind me indicated that whoever stood behind me wasn't that lucky.
I didn't look back. I ran. This was what I was trained for.
This was what was drilled into my head. I was only supposed to complete the mission, not feel or
care about others. It took me what felt like hours to reach the backroom, but what I saw in front of
me left me frozen in place, devastated.
The huge diamond that was displayed in the dim lit room before, illuminating it, was missing. That
was our mission. Soon revelation dawned on me and I realised what had happened. Liam couldn't
catch the thief.
The thud I heard before must have been Liam.
My selfless partner who stood by my side during every single mission for the past fifteen years.
I raced back to where I heard the thud and there he was. Lying on the marble floor was Liam,
looking lifeless as blood gushed out of his chest. I fell onto the ground clutching onto Liam as
knives of pain stabbed my chest and the distant wail of sirens filled my ears.
I followed protocol, but it might have cost me my partners life.
Mihini Kodikara
32nd batch