Three Makes a Set

It was working. Slowly. Mycroft didn’t show a lot of emotion but I was getting to him; annoying him with my picky requests. Like this morning, I wouldn’t eat bacon from the store that he had Anthea pick up. It had to be local pig meat only. Then like now, where I was having a screening for one of his watch dogs to be my bodyguard or in reality, my babysitter.
“We have been here for more than two hours, Karissa. If you do not pick one, I will take your privilege to run outside,” Mycroft said. He looked at his watch, like he was late for something.
Good. Let him be late.
“I go for long runs. I have to know if he’ll be able to keep up,” I answered, shrugging my shoulders. I had the remaining three choices running around the house. Mycroft has offered a good sum of money for “entertaining” my insane testing.
Of course, I already knew which one of them I’d choose. Joseph had way too much muscle. I’d never get away from him when I made my escape. Charles would have been my choice, but he talked way too much. I would just pull out all of my hair if I had to spend every waking minute with him beside me.
That left me with Benjamin, which also happened to be Mycroft’s suggested one as well. He wasn’t quite as old as the other two. I think he was around twenty-nine. He had dark brown hair and green eyes; over six feet tall. Plus, he was on the leaner side of the muscle scale. Not that it really mattered.
What did matter was that he could be clumsy and distracted sometimes. I’d had my eye on him as my way of escape since he knocked over that ridiculous suit of armor Mycroft had in his foyer. Benjamin would be my way out.
“Karissa,” Mycroft nudged me with his umbrella.
Completely out of breath, the three men had stopped running. Huh. My timer was beeping. I didn’t realize that it had been that long. They were waiting for me to say something.
“Alright. I guess I’ll take Benjamin.” I looked down at my phone to seem disinterested.
Joseph and Charles seemed relieved when Mycroft told them they could return to their regular duties. Both of them muttered about being glad I didn’t choose them. They left, going inside. Mycroft told Benjamin to watch out for me before following after them.
“Looks like it’s just me and you, Karissa,” Benjamin said. He pulled his sweaty tank top over his head.
“Right. You should go shower or something,” I replied, wrinkling my nose up.
“Your test.” Benjamin grinned but didn’t move.
Oh. He’s waiting for me. I stuck my phone into my pocket and took off running around the side of the house. I’d taken him by surprise. One. Two. Three. I rounded the corner and stopped. Four. Five. Six. Seven.
Benjamin almost ran into me when he came around the corner. He huffed and grabbed my arm. “What were you… oh, another test.”
“If you plan on keeping me safe, I suggest you run faster.” I jerked loose and jogged up the stairs to the front door. “I don’t want to be killed because my bodyguard is slow.”
“You’re trying to get me to quit. You think you can run me off? Literally.” Benjamin followed, out of breath.
“I’d be lying if I said I was happy to have you around,” I said. I headed up the big staircase to the second floor. “If that isn’t working, I can try bribery or seduction.”
I started to go left which is where my room was but Benjamin promptly redirected me. I rolled my eyes and said, “Oh my god. You’re living here.”
“Better be a damn good bribery. You only get one try. Seduction is off the table. You aren’t my type.” Benjamin winked and held the door open to his room.
“What is your type?” I asked, taking in his room. It didn’t have a lot in it. Nothing to identify any family. No personal items. Weird.
“Anyone not you. Plus, you’re a child. Smart beyond your years,” he added when I glared at him. “You’d be better off working on the bribery. I’ll let you in on a secret. Mycroft pays exceptionally well.”
“Not a money bribe. Got it.” I sat on his bed and watched him kick off his shoes. He put them in his closet. It was practically empty too. A few suits and some polo shirts.
Benjamin held out his hand to me. Confused, I slowly reached out.
“Sorry about this.” He snapped a cuff around my wrist and attached it to the bed frame at the foot of the bed.
“What the hell?!” I half screamed. I jerked on it until he did it again to my other wrist.
“I won’t be long, I promise,” he said.
“I’ll be telling my brother about this,” I snapped and jerked some more.
“Oh, he’s the one who suggested it.” He continued after he let that sink in. “I’ll turn on the telly.”
He flipped on the cooking channel and went into the bathroom, almost running into the door. I rolled my eyes. Idiot. I can’t... actually I can believe that Mycroft would do this. He’s trying to anger me.
Once he finished showering, he came out with a towel wrapped around his waist. He uncuffed me before grabbing some clothes. “Don’t try running, okay?”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“Mycroft seems to disagree,” Benjamin kept the bathroom door cracked. “Why do you want to leave anyways?”
“Do I need to say? You work for Mycroft. He’s an ass. And he’s controlling.” I rubbed my wrists.
“A little.”
“He hunted me down and drugged me. He put a tracking device in me,” I said, feeling angrier by the second. Maybe I don’t like Benjamin after all.
“Calm down. We’re going to be stuck together. I just wanted to get to know you.” Benjamin had on a suit when he came out. He straightened out his shirt.
“Like what my favorite color is? Or what I dream about being when I grow up?” I mocked and rolled my eyes again. We were stuck together for a while. I should probably be civil.
Probably.
Over the next few weeks, Benjamin started to trust me. I opened up to him a little. Just enough to gain that sense of trust. I would need it if I wanted to escape, which I did. That would be his mistake.
I waited a full month and a half before I started to implement my plan of escape. I played the good sister, I went everywhere Mycroft told me to go with plenty of resistance and disdain. I always acted like I hated every minute of it.
Benjamin wasn’t so bad to have around. He was kind of funny except for his clumsiness. It got on my nerves sometimes. He went running with me every morning and didn’t try to keep up conversation.
The running trails changed every few days. I’d mapped out most of them. Mycroft thought of everything… almost. I’d found my out. I simply had seven seconds to get to my hiding spot once I rounded the corner of the trail.
First step to dropping off the grid: lose Benjamin.