Maria groaned and I shook my head, as I stepped back and swung the door shut. I had started away when she came to the bars, "Chantry told me something about you."
I looked back into the vast depths of her intriguing black eyes, "Oh, what?"
"He said you saved the world once."
"Chantry's been known to exaggerate too."
"I've never known a man that exaggerates less than Chantry does. He tells it just like it is. Tell me how does doing what you did make you feel?"
"What's important Maria is not what you feel upon accomplishing something truly noteworthy, but rather remaining the same character driven person that you were to do the deed is what is important. That way you can do something noteworthy again, if life calls upon it. To live in just the moment of one accomplishment is to reach a peak, where you'll never be as good, as you were before."
She smiled, as if to herself, "Maybe someday I'll learn to be humble so I can save the world like you did."
"Be careful about what you wish for Maria." I said knowingly.
She smirked slightly, "Learning to be humble or saving the world?"
"Both." I responded with before heading off down the corridor of cells. She would learn.
I stood beside Deshavi, as they checked back her things to her. The woman behind the counter set down a ring on the counter and gave a soft whistle.
Deshavi stared at the ring in shock and turned to me, "But my ring was taken before I was sent to Siberia!"
I picked the pretty diamond ring up and slid it onto her finger, which had mended well from being broken, "Fancy that, I guess someone wanted you to have it back."
She stared at the ring for a moment and then about knocked me over with her forceful hug. "Thank you grandpa for everything!"
The woman behind the counter smiled at me broadly.
"Come on don't you want to get out of here?"
"Yes!"
As the last barred door opened and closed behind us and the long sidewalk of freedom opened up she saw the blue Mustang and the solitary man standing beside it with what looked like flowers in his hand. I watched Deshavi's breath quicken, as well as her gait, but she curbed it back to match my slower walk.
"You know I'm really glad it worked out this way, otherwise it could have gotten messy and you'd be living the rest of your life on the run from the law."
Deshavi looked up at me questioningly, "Trent came up with not one, but three escape plans for busting you out of here. I'll be able to sleep at night now not having to fear he's scaling barbed wire walls in a desperate attempt to rescue you."