About “Write the Story”
This story originated in my Write the Story journal, purchased surprisingly intact at my local McKay’s. Each day provides a theme and ten key words that must be included in the post. For these writings, I do no major planning aside from jotting teensy notes by the keywords, suggesting uses for them. Despite these stories being rather unpolished, I’ve had so much fun writing them and wanted to share them here with you. To avoid any copyright issues, I won’t include the themes or keywords here.
The telephone trilled three times before Jaycie answered. “Hello? This is King.”
“They found her, Jaycie. It’s over.”
Jaycie dropped her head into her hands and peered at the stain on her left shoe through splayed fingers. Her breath escaped in a rush. “How?”
Funny the way one word could pause the world with its inflection.
Markus sighed, the tone of it tinged with stress and sleepless nights. “The international task force Hawkins built found her inside a lab, hidden in the Philippines. She’d been posing as the head of a research group focused on the Mariana Trench.”
And now the terrorists moniker would make sense. “The Microbiologist.” Jaycie whispered.
“Yep, but the real kicker was the way they found her.”
Jaycie sat up so fast, she smacked her head on the bottom of the desk. “Was she . . .” her voice trailed off.
Markus cleared his throat. “Death by research, it seems. She became her own first victim. But—” he paused. “—they found her head of security still very much alive.”
“Did you persuade him to talk?”
Markus scoffed. “Eh. He’s claiming she was an innocent bystander. That he is too. Made it sound like someone else was calling the shots.”
“Did he give a name?”
Silence greeted her, and her heart raced. “No. Just started singing some off-key tune about the heights of his love for someone woman.”
Jaycie smiled. Their plan had worked. The woman took the fall. Ric’s freedom was a loss for sure, but his coded words ensured her that their purpose would continue. Because the Microbiologist wasn’t just one person—it was all of them. Now, it was her turn to be the one who called the shots. And Jaycie couldn’t wait.
There are ten keywords in this story. How many can you identify?
my cozy book nook 
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