Chapter Eight
My first workday started with me and Rafe waiting for Charlie. Today was talking about the basics, Charlie would be asking the questions and he was feeding it back to the other head honchos. I was happy that today wouldn’t be digging in too deep, after last night I wasn’t sure how I would handle it getting too personal.
Charlie arrived and shook my hand; he was just as warm with me as when we first met. We went through the niceties first, how was I settling into my apartment, how was therapy going and how well was I settling in general.
‘Let’s get down to it shall we?’ he cleared his throat ‘when did the virus break out?’
That’s easy, ‘I was there for about two months before it started. When it did, it was about three days from the first case to things getting out of control'. The memory of my parents turning flashed briefly, I stuffed it down.
‘Where was the first case reported?’
‘The first case was in Washington, but it was also reported in three other countries at the same time. The news showed clips of an incident in Milan and in London’.
‘What were the clips of?’
‘Police firing bullets at the dead and it just kept running at them. There was a new case every few minutes’
Charlie asked me questions for hours. They were all to work out where it started, based on my recollection they are considering it was a plane full of people that were introduced to it and when they got home they succumbed to the illness and became a Z. The same equation would apply to a boat or another mode of transport, but it might have been something else entirely. A dodgy batch of cookies for all I know. Once he worked out where it began, he moved on to how quickly the virus overpowered the armies of the world. Where were the safe zones, how did they protect them? It went on and on.
Charlie was pleased with the information that I had given him. He said he had thousands of questions. Once they had a plan, he wanted to run it by me to see if any of the ideas triggered any memories. What worked and what didn’t. I could feel his worry, this would happen again in the world and soon. All agencies were working together to stop it. They had to put procedures in place to stop it as soon as it started. Then a backup procedure if it started to spread.
‘How was that, are you okay?’ Rafe asked when Charlie left the room.
‘I’m not about to lose my shit, don’t worry' I smiled. ‘What time is it? We’ve been in here for hours’
‘Just gone seven’ he got up to leave and I followed behind. I never got too close to him here. For one, this is his place of work and I don’t want to make things awkward. Two, they might decide to allocate him elsewhere if we get too close.
Ever the gentlemen, Rafe slowed until I walked in line with him.
‘So, I’m hungry and I’ll bet you are too. Do you want to go on a date with me now?’ he sounded nervous, he hid it well, but it was there.
‘You know, sleeping with me first was a fantastic icebreaker’ he pretended to be insulted but then his lips twitched.
He leaned over to murmur into my ear ‘I never said I was a saint; I have no self-restraint with you’.
‘Back at you Deveraux’ I winked.
Outside the air was warm, we walked back to the car and Rafe slipped his hand into mine. I haven’t been on a date in years, I was starting to feel nervous. It was a feeling far removed from what I was used to. Nervousness for the last few years means I’m in a potentially life-threatening situation and I’m freaking out on the inside. Now, the feeling makes me feel happy.
‘What’s the plan? Do I need to change?’ I had no idea what I would choose to wear for a date in my limited wardrobe. In fact, I wouldn’t know in general what to wear.
‘He looked me over, no you look damn fine’ he squeezed my hand before he opened the passenger door for me.
We drove for twenty minutes, I didn’t say much, I was enjoying the nerves. He pulled into an underground garage and parked up. It was a date, so I waited for him to walk around and open my door.
‘You are exquisite Peyton' he kissed my hand and led me to the stairs. We walked up four flights and on the last landing he pulled me in close and slow danced with me. He hummed a song in my ear that I had never heard and it was beautiful. Rafes hand rested at the small of my back and the other clasped my hand in his; which he held to his chest.
It was one of the best experiences in my life, for those ten minutes I felt loved. I kissed him, trying to pour all my emotions into it. Neither of us wanted to stop but Rafe pulled away eventually, he led me inside his apartment.
Its layout was like my apparent but about six times the size and furnished in a cool Industrial way. It looked exceptionally cool, like it came out of a magazine but somehow felt homey.
‘I wanted to take you to the street vendors and explore the city, but then I remembered your distinct lack of patience for the general public’ that’s an understatement but well said. ‘Then I thought, hey I’m a fantastic cook.’, he pulled me close ‘and that way I get you all to myself’ he kissed my neck while he poured me a glass of wine.
We talked while he cooked and he wasn’t bragging, the guy can cook. It was an unspoken rule to avoid all shop talk and so for a whole evening I was Peyton. Not a victim of a fallen society, just Peyton. We ate together at the island and polished off a bottle of wine. It was perfect. Rafe washed the dishes and I dried, that simple act was heart-warming. We exchanged small smiles the whole time. We were a normal couple. It has been a long time since I called myself normal.
Rafes expression turned serious and he took my hands in his ‘I have to go away for a couple of days, I leave tomorrow. I have a lead that I need to follow up. Tell me that you’ll be okay’ he held his hand up to stop me interrupting ‘what happened last night, does that happen a lot?’.
My mood plummeted ‘semi-regularly, I can look after myself Rafe’.
‘I know you can’ he ran his hand through his hair, a nervous gesture of his ‘but that doesn’t mean that I’m happy to leave you to deal with it on your own. I’m falling for you Peyton’ he said the last part so quietly that I almost didn’t hear it. It made my heart stop; I was falling for him too. Anxiety was building, what if I lost him? Sure, I’ll deal with it, but what would be left of me?
Lost for words, I went onto my toes and kissed him tenderly. I poured all my emotions for him into that one kiss. He felt it, I’m sure. He led me to his bedroom and kissed me at the foot of the bed. Ever so slowly he undressed me, the dress went first and then he removed my stockings. His fingers touched every inch of me, always carefully and always slowly. I reciprocated in kind and removed his clothes, savoring every inch of him. With my naked body pressed against his he walked me backward until the backs of my legs hit the bed, then he held me as he laid us down on the bed.
His hands moved to my nipples and then down to the apex of my thighs, he looked into my eyes the whole time. My hands were slowly teasing him and trying to entice out the little groans that he makes. Then we made love and there is no other word to describe it. We moved together excruciatingly slowly; our hands entwined. We climaxed together and lay there looking into each other’s eyes.
In the morning Rafe dropped me off at work. He stopped by my apartment so I could change, for which I was eternally grateful. No walk of shame for me.
He kissed me long and hard ‘please get out the car Peyton, otherwise, you’ll leave me with no choice but to drag you with me’ he breathlessly whispered into my ear.
I saluted him ‘yes sir’, as I got out of the car, I turned to look through the passenger window.
‘Be safe, please. I’m falling for you too and it would suck if something happened to you’ I saw his sharp inhale and with that bombshell I walked away and into the building.
I was instructed to go to the same conference room as yesterday. Much to my amazement, I was the first there. Looking at the clock I realized that I was forty minutes early. So, I decided to go for an explore. I walked back to the lobby and
noticed a map on the wall. Studying it, I saw that there was a gym. Once I had the route straight in my head, I took off.
I could hear it before I saw it. I heard loud thumps, as if someone was being slammed to the ground. It wouldn’t be me if I turned away from a little fight, so I walked right inside. It was a large room, almost totally covered in foam matting. The room was busy with about twenty pairs of people sparring. I looked around at each pair, they have work to do. I would hate to burst my bubble but I’m pretty sure I’m better.
Turning to leave, a voice stopped me in my tracks. I know that voice and for a moment I couldn’t place it. Scanning the room, I saw him. My breathing stopped entirely. I never considered bumping into one of my old friends, I completely neglected to think about that. On the other side of the room was a very old friend of mine, the one that gave me the scar on my head. My training buddy! Evan!
Without thinking I started to walk over to Evan, he was berating two agents for not using his technique correctly. A crowd had started to gather, listening to his angry advice. He wasn’t one to pussy foot around it, he would hammer at you until you were an A student.
‘Can anyone in this fucking room manage to block a fucking hit!’ he yelled.
‘I could’, it was only when about twenty people turned to stare at me that I realized I had said the words out loud.
‘You?!’ he shouted incredulously.
‘Yes me’ I stood tall and stared him out.
Slipping off my jacket and heels I walked onto the mat.
‘Scared of a woman, are we?’ I was goading him. He was always sloppy when angry.
‘If I hit you, I’ll break you. Go back…’
I interrupted ‘If you can hit me that is’.
Bored of our verbal sparring match, I walked over and pretended to jab him in the face, then dropped low and kicked his legs out from under him. Shouts and cheers erupted around the room, they abruptly stopped when Evan glared at them.
‘I won’t take it easy on you’ he spat.
‘Wouldn’t expect anything less’ I grinned.
I ducked countless swings and successfully blocked all his hits. I threw in a few showoff moves, back flipping over him and pulling him down to the ground and landing squarely on my feet. He caught me in the ribs with a jab and I reciprocated with one to the stomach. The noise around us was deafening as a huge crowd had gathered. Each of the viewing windows above was full of spectators.
‘Who taught you’ he asked between jabs, that I successfully blocked I’ll have you know.
‘Only the best’ I winked.
We ended up in a pile on the floor, both pinning each other down.
‘It appears we have a stalemate’ he ground out.
‘Release?’ he gave me a nod.
‘Three, two, one’ I counted down, then we let go simultaneously.
I was helped up by one of the spectators, who shook my hand.
‘That was brilliant, I have never seen anyone take on Evan like you just did’ she said.
Not sure how to respond, I smiled at her. Then held onto her shoulder while I slipped my heels back on. I’m not as fit as I used to be apparently, my legs were a bit wobbly.
I felt his stare, I looked up to the viewing windows and Rafe was staring down at me. He didn’t look happy. I raised my eyebrow and gave him a defiant stare, slowly he shook his head, but I saw the reluctant smile.
Evan walked over to me and shook my hand ‘you don’t belong in an office, you’re a fighter for sure. You’ll have to give me the name of your trainer. The bastard has stolen my fucking moves!’ and he stormed off.
I laughed to myself as I left. Evan is alive and kicking, he proved that enough today.
Rafe appeared by my side ‘mighty show you put on there.’ His look was priceless, a mixture of pride and exasperation.
‘I leave you for half an hour and you’re fighting’ his voice was incredulous.
‘I bumped into an old friend of mine, not that he knew it. Aren’t you supposed to be on a work trip right now, hmm?’
‘I left something behind and caught your show. I had no idea you could fight like that; Evan is a hard one to take down. You made it look effortless’ he spoke in awe.
‘Wait’, he pulled us to a stop, ‘Evan was your trainer’ his face turned to stone ‘he gave you that scar’, he touched the healed wound on my head lightly.
‘No, that Evan is dead, this Evan just had a light sparring match with me’, I can hear the irritation in my voice, so could Rafe.
He just stared back at me, unwilling to back down. I’m the stubborn one in this duo, I crossed my arms, cocked my head at him and prepared myself to wait it out.
His stare slowly turned into a smirk ‘you are so frustrating’ he blew out a laugh.
Not sure how to take that I maintained my expression.
‘Have a good day, I’ll miss you’ he started to walk off ‘come on give me a smile?’, no, I’ve committed now.
Just before he disappeared around the corner ‘it might have been light sparring with Evan, but you couldn’t beat me could you’ he flashed a smile and disappeared.
However, the same couldn’t be said for his laughter; which echoed down the corridor. Bastard.
Chapter Nine
I’m back in the conference room and this time everyone was waiting for me. My bad. I sat at the table with confidence, not looking at anyone at all. Charlie began to talk; he spoke in detail about the conclusions he had drawn from yesterdays meeting. He also spoke about the steps that they had begun to take. He had a team looking into a suspicious delivery to a lab, now I know what Rafes doing. A pang of fear went through me, if it was the virus and he became infected I’ll shot him myself for leaving me.
Charlie also spoke about his first draft plan. As soon as the virus starts, he wants it broadcast how to take down the dead. The public will be instrumental to our survival. That is when the arguing begun. It was a concern of theirs to ask the public to shoot the dead, they could shoot anyone and claim that they were already dead. The pandemonium will be unimaginable; which is precisely where I stepped in.
‘Hey!’ I yelled and the room quietened, ‘I lived through the dead taking over the world and destroying society as we know it. Do you want to know how many agents, soldiers or goddam marines that I came across? One, and that is an anomaly. You have the few protecting the many and all that managed to achieve was create enough noise to draw in the dead and gave them a fucking mega buffet to eat. In a situation like that you’ll have a hundred or even a thousand dead walking around within an hour or two. You need to divide and conquer. Yes, you’ll probably have some gun crime, but that will be nothing in comparison than the alternative. I’d rather die of a gun shot than be torn apart I’ll tell you that now’.
Silence. I was hoping for a standing ovation, but I was getting a mixture of glares and surprised looks.
‘Who do you think you are to talk to me like that?’ a menacing voice spoke across the table.
It was another voice I recognized and this time I knew exactly who it was. I stood up and glared at him down the table, I suppressed any fear that bubbled to the surface.
I spoke in a low venomous tone ‘I am your worst fucking nightmare’.
He started to yell, ‘I am the director…’
I yelled over him ‘I know exactly who you fucking are! We’ve met’ I started to hum his favorite song, he used to sing it while he attacked me.
‘Stop it, now!’ he shouted.
I hummed louder and added words.
Charlie, stood ‘what the hell is going on?’
I looked over to him ‘if you employ sickos like this one’ I pointed at the evil son-of-a-bitch, ‘then everyone is fucking doomed’ I looked at the man in the generals uniform ‘while your soldiers were dying, he was kidnapping and torturing women. He said he was glad the world had ended, that way he didn’t have to waste any more time covering his tracks’.
The evil mother fuckers’ eyes wide
ned for a split second. He’s the same person here as he was in the last world.
One idiot that I hadn’t noticed chimed in ‘you can’t just make accusations like that! If you have a complaint you need to take the necessary, route. This is not the time or the place’.
My anger spiked and I lost control, ‘I do apologize you absolute prick, you see, I find it hard to be in the same fucking room as a goddam rapist!’ I ignored the gasps around the room and continued ‘if you want any proof, go to his fucking house and find the hidden door in his closest. Perhaps if you ask him to take you, he’ll give you a little preview of what he has put countless others through!’, the evil mother fucker was backed into a corner, his eyes wild. ‘Do you want to know what he did with all the bodies? He put them in his lake, what was is you said? Ah yes, you liked to go out and swim in your successes’.
Charlie slammed his fist down on the table, ‘everyone leave the room now!’, I stayed where I was ‘including you Miss Harris, he said in a slightly gentler tone’.
I stormed out and slammed the door behind me and waited outside. No way was I letting that bastard go. The idiot stood there glaring at me, I needed some back up. I shoved past him and walked to the secretary.
‘Can you call agent Daniels for me’ I hoped he hadn’t gone with Rafe.
Just a second miss. She looked at me kindly and shot a look over to the idiot. She must have heard my tirade.
Two phone calls later and she nodded at me ‘he’s on his way dear’.
I moved back to my waiting spot and waited. I could hear Charlie and the evil son of a bitch yelling in the room. I counted to one hundred in French in my head, then counted backwards, desperate to hold it together. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of falling apart. It didn’t take long before a presence appeared on the seat next to me. A look out of the corner of my eye told me Daniels had arrived.
He spoke quietly ‘would you like to tell me why Charlie is yelling and all the guys out here are looking like they just sat on spikes?’.
Taking a deep breath, I spoke on the exhale ‘my attacker, was sat at the table’.
Wildfire (Book 1): Leap of Faith Page 6