Patrick Sullivan kicked the door in, then slammed it shut. Outside, he could hear the soldiers. They were searching for him.
He looked around the darkened room and found a light switch. After turning it on, the ceiling light bulb sparked and went out. But the brief spark of light gave him an idea of where he was. From the look of it, it seemed that he was in an abandoned house. But, of course, a lot of houses in this town were abandoned. With the constant threat of the military, no one wanted to stick around and Sullivan couldn't blame them.
After entering another room, he tried another light switch. This one worked, but the light bulb seemed to flicker, as if it was on the brink of going out.
He sat down on the debris-filled and dusty floor and opened his pack. He pulled out the item that he stole from the military. He didn't know why it was so valuable. To him, it just looked like an ordinary stone. But his employer wanted it so badly that he was willing to pay almost anything for it. And his employer was very rich.
Sullivan paused and looked up, hearing soldiers' voices getting closer to the house. Although he wasn't fluent in their language (which he thought might have been Bulgarian ... he was in that part of the world right now), he got the gist of what they were saying. They were searching for him and they were devoted to finding him. Or more specifically, what he stole.
He looked back down at the stone. He was specifically told not to touch it. But what was the harm? It was just an old stone.
His attention was diverted again, as he heard a door being kicked open. They were here. They were in the house. And since the light was on in this room, they knew exactly where to find him.
