The Purse and Park

A light drizzle was falling as Alister left his home, grabbing his umbrella as he went through the door, nearly slipping on the black ice that had formed on his step when a scream could be heard. He looked around when a suspicious figure was running from the park entrance and Alister began his chase and stopped when he heard a faint call for help in the darkness. Turning around, he entered the park where he noticed someone lying on the ground and rushed over to the victim's side. He grabbed his phone and began to dial the police when a small hand reached up and grabbed his sleeve, looking down he looked into the blue tear streaked eyes of a young lady that had just been assaulted. Her jacket had been torn, and she gripped the remainder of the strapped that used to be her purse. He reached down and asked if she was feeling okay and offered to help her up and asked if she needed help to get to the police station when her eyes went wide with fear and he just looked at her and asked if she knew who it was and she said she didn't. Alister then looked around when he noticed a small scrap of paper on the ground next to where the girl had been laying then picking it up he noticed part of an address on it and asked the girl if she knew it and she said she didn't. He then helped the young girl back to his apartment when he asked her what she was doing in the park at this hour and she said she was meeting someone there that her friend set up for her and thought she was safe there, when he asked her if she knew the name of the person she was suppose to meet and she said she didn't when he handed her his phone her and asked her to call her.

With trembling fingers she dialed her friend's number and when she answered she was surprised to hear from her friend and asked why she was calling, but before she had a chance to finish explaining, the line went dead and the young girl looked towards Alister.

"The line went dead," she said as she handed the phone back to him and he jumped up and went to check the other phone and it was dead. Well, this is strange, he thought to himself. The weather is not bad enough to break the lines when he heard a commotion at the back of the apartment and when he looked, he thought he seen someone running out the back gate and that is when he noticed that someone had cut the phone lines. He then returned to the livingroom where the young girl was waiting and he finally asked her name. Alison Swenson she told him and he was shocked that she was there alone since she was the daughter of the most powerful man in the city.

"What were you doing by yourself in the park? I know your father would not let you travel by yourself," he said, and she just looked at him.

"You know my father? He didn't know I was there, he thinks that I am at my friends for the night and she said she knew this great guy and I should meet him, so she set up," she replied. "She did not give you his name or what he looked like?" he asked, and she just nodded. "And you agreed to meet in a dark park that you don't know?" when she nodded again. Alister then got up and left the room, returning with a pot of tea and a briefcase with the Swenson family logo on it, setting it down on the coffee table in front of Alison. She looked up at him, "Where did you get that? It belongs to my family." she asked. "I work for your father my dear, earlier this evening I got a call from your father letting me know you were staying at your friends, and lucky for you I was on my way over to your friends house to check on you when I heard you scream, You see Alison, I'm the newest and youngest member of your father security team and I mostly work away from the main office and now my main concern is you and your safety. We can not phone anyone because the line have been cut and there is no cell service on this side of the town, so I just sent a message to my superior explaining the situation," he explained. He then handed Alison a hot cup of tea, "Now can you describe the person that attacked you and we will send someone to your friend's house and bring her here? This is my home, and it is well secured and you will be safe," he assured her.

Alison tried to remember what her attacker looked like and after a short time, Alister left the building to look around the area. Alison paced nervously around the room, waiting for Alister to return, when a knock came on the door.

"Who is it?" she asked, but no response came but a louder banging. "Go away, leave me alone," she screamed as she huddled in the corner. Yet the banging continued until it stopped suddenly and a scuffle could be heard outside. Alison was too scared to move when the door handle started to turn and keys could be heard entering the lock and when the door opened, Alison screamed and passed out.

She awoke a short time later laying on the couch with her best friend Penny sitting next to her.

"How are you feeling?" Alister asked as he walked in the room and place a cool cloth on her forehead.

"What happened?" You were gone for so long, then there was someone pounding on the door trying to get in. I screamed and told them to go away and they tried to break in. Then I heard a scuffle outside, when it went quiet and the door was starting to open and I screamed. That's what I recall, but how did you arrive and what took place?” she asked.

Penny looked at Alison, “I wrote the address down on a piece of paper and put it in your bag when I told you about it yesterday.” she said when Alister handed her the piece that he found in the park. “This is not the address I wrote down, that is the address for the park across the street. I knew something was wrong when Josh phoned me and said you never showed up and then when you called and we got cut off. Not long after, some of your father’s security team showed up and brought me here and that is all I know,” she finished. Alister then went over and sat next to Alison,

“What were you doing today before you went to the park?” he asked. Alison thought for a minute,

“I was going to visit father when the strap on my purse got caught in the door to his building and one of the new interns working there said he could fix the strap while I visited and then I came to the park and did not see anyone. I then retrieved the address that Penny gave me and was about to look at it when this guy showed up and grabbed the paper when it ripped, then grabbed my purse and shoved me, that is when the strap broke and shortly after you showed up,” she explained. Alister sat there thinking about what she had just said and asked her if she still had the strap with her. and she gave it to him and he examined it. At the spot where it originally torn, it was only put back together with a couple stitches as it was meant to break again while the other end looked like it had been cut with a razor blade so it would break easily. Alister then pulled the strap through his fingers when it brought up on something and when he pushed it through the strap, as USB drive fell to the floor.

“Now what to we have here!” Alister said as he picked it up and retrieved his laptop from the briefcase and inserted the USB drive. “Looks like someone from in the company is trying to steal the plans for your father's new project, but I have a plan,” he said with a grin on his face and then told his plan to the girls.

Alister tossed out the trash as he escorted the girl back to Alison’s father's building and when they arrived, Alister went to the security office and asked if all the employees had signed in, all were except one of the interns. Alister then got the address of the intern and rushed back to his house to find garbage all over the driveway and the strap missing. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a little device that tracked a small tracer he put in a USB in the strap and was led right to the missing intern's residence. Alister stopped outside the door and patiently waited, screaming and cursing could be heard from inside the room as the intern could not access the drive and the next thing he heard was the monitor crashing through the window. Alister then pulled his side-arm from his waist and entered the room. The intern was huddled on the couch shaking say why, time after time and then they are gonna kill me. Alister watched as the police led the intern towards the squad car and wondered who really was behind it?