2

The hours lolled along as Tony stood guard; only the sound of the young man’s shifting weight broke the stillness. He spared a glance at a watch that he kept in a hidden pocket that his wife-to-be had sewn inside of his uniform jacket, and saw that he had only fifteen more minutes to wait until he would be relieved of his position.

When his replacement arrived, the two men engaged in the changing of the guard ceremony to an audience of none before parting ways. Tony exhaled deeply, feeling the weight of the day’s events perched upon his shoulders; he was looking forward to heading home.

He moved at a steady clip through the labyrinthine corridors of the government office complex on his way to the consulate building. At the end of the final hallway, he punched in a...

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