Flames (A Special Agent Novel Book 3)

by C. P. Mandara

  Adie sighed. “Fine, just don’t expect me to cook.”

  Holding back my shudder of horror, I walked from the room without saying another word.

  When I went back to Lois’s room, she was still sound asleep, so I took my pew beside her bed and let myself relax. As I knew we hadn’t been tailed back here, there was little chance of Geraud’s goons finding us just yet. I had no doubt they’d catch up with us eventually, but we were safe for a day or two. Old habits die hard, though, and I still had my gun holstered at the back of my jeans. For the time being, I wasn’t going anywhere without it. By trusting no one and nothing, I’d kept myself alive this far, and I wasn’t about to change my habits for anyone. The job was far too damn dangerous.

  Letting my gaze settle on Lois for a moment, my facial expression softened. She looked so peaceful and innocent in sleep. To look at her now, you'd never be able to tell she was a killer – and a damn good one at that. I wondered how she'd gotten into the profession. She didn't seem the type that was motivated by money – which was the usual reason for taking on the role – but I might have been wrong. It was also possible that she'd been actively recruited because her killer combination of looks and intelligence would be a perfect fit for any role in our business. No man would be able to resist her, and if she'd gotten under my skin, she could get under anyones. Having seen her chameleon abilities first hand, if she could pass muster as a trained sex slave, there was little she wouldn't be able to do with the right training.

  Hearing her whimper, my eyes opened, to watch her face crease in anxiety before she tossed and turned for a bit. That was the after-effects of the drugs talking. I didn't envy her the dreams she was about to experience. I'd had my fair share of substance abuse in the past, and I knew from experience that what she was about to go through was not pleasant. Hopefully, the withdrawal symptoms would be short-lived. The three of us had unfinished business, unfortunately, and she was being reassigned as soon as she was fit enough to travel. There was no way she'd be ready or physically fit for another operation quite this soon, but that wasn't my call to make, unfortunately. I just followed orders along with everyone else.

  When the whimpers got louder, and I couldn't bear the sound of her suffering anymore, I got into bed alongside her. Spooning myself around her, I wrapped my arms over hers to stop them from flying about. This seemed to settle her, and for a time, her breathing went back to normal. My hands were careful not to touch the dressings I'd applied to her stomach and breasts. She was bruised and battered enough as it was, without me adding to her woes. This was another reason I'd protested at her being assigned another op so quickly – she was going to be sore for a good week or two, but even that hadn't swayed the powers that be. There were more important things hanging in the balance, or so I'd been told. Wheels within wheels – that's what this job was all about. Sometimes you figured out the mechanics by a process of elimination, other times you remained clueless. Some agents preferred that. You didn't have to worry about all those annoying little niggles that pulled at your conscience – not that I had any trouble with those. I'd laid my morals to rest years ago. When you get in bed with the devil, you need to know how to lie – and convincingly so. I wondered which type of agent Lois was. I suspected she still had a conscience. It would probably get her into trouble, but she seemed to thrive on the stuff.

  When she'd finally settled into a deep sleep, and her breathing had become a lot softer, I slowly snuck back out of the covers. She'd be okay on her own for an hour or two, and I was starving. That reminded me that I had to get her to eat tomorrow, although I suspected it would be a tall order. Hopefully, I'd manage to get something down her. We needed to speed up the healing process as much as possible, and food would help with that. Heroin would have deadened her appetite in the last few days, so she wouldn't have eaten much. I'd need to ask Adie if he'd fed her.

  There was no one in the kitchen when I reached it. There was a lamp on in the lounge and the faint hum of the television, so at least Adie was keeping himself amused. A quick check of the fridge told me there wasn’t much to get excited about, but I managed to put together a chicken and mayo sandwich, before grabbing a large glass of water. I’d rather have another beer, but I was technically still on assignment, and though the risk here was low, it was better to be safe than sorry.

  Walking into the lounge, I noticed that Adie had dozed off as his head was now resting on his chest. I grinned. Slamming my plate and glass on the table, I watched as Adie shot up ten feet in the air and reached around for the gun that was no longer there.

  “Evening,” I said cheerfully, picking up my dinner and placing it on my lap. “Lois got you good, back there, didn’t she?”

  Adie bit his bottom lip, probably wondering how much he should reveal. He might as well save his lies. I already knew she'd got his gun because otherwise, he'd still have it on him.

  "She's quite an efficient operative, yes," he said tightly. My grin widened. "Good job she's on our side then, huh?" Putting my feet up, I gestured for him to continue. "Come on, Sunshine. Spill. I've got an hour or two, and I could use some entertainment.

  “And what if I don’t particularly want to talk to you this evening?” he said, chewing on the corner of his lip as he looked at me in distaste.

  “Then I’ll pull rank,” I said, “and trust me when I say you don’t want me to do that.”

  Pulling the gun out of the back of my jeans, I laid it out on the table in front of me." Watching Adie's face take a turn for the worse, I took another bite of my sandwich and waited patiently for the long and sorry tale to begin.

  When Adie and I had discussed how to get Lois out of Carte Blanche, initially, I'd thought we'd have to pretend to kill her, by slowing her heart rate enough so that Geraud would be convinced of her death. It was Adie who told me that option wasn't going to wash – as Geraud had a habit of putting bullet holes in people's heads, just to make sure. Apparently, he'd had an instance of someone narrowly escaping death before, and he didn't think much of it.

  Adie had then asked me if he gave Lois enough rope to hang herself with (figuratively speaking) would she take the bait? My answer had been yes, and the woman had done an admirable job with what little tools she'd had available. Grabbing Adie's gun had been a nice touch, I thought. The stupid ass hadn't afforded her the respect she'd deserved, and he’d paid for the mistake. That was his problem. I'd warned him that she was good. If he chose to ignore my advice, it was his funeral. I was still a little surprised that she hadn't killed him. It had been a close run thing, but if my suspicions were correct, there was some kind of current running between them. That could make things difficult in a few days time when the real fun and games began, but hopefully, they'd figure something out. They'd better, else they'd be taking me down with them, and that wasn't going to happen.

  After all the pertinent details had been ironed out sufficiently in my brain, I had a newfound respect for Lois. Although I’d known she’d go through hell, I hadn’t been aware of the finer details at the time, and the boys at Carte Blanche had certainly had some fun with her.

  "Do you think she'll be able to continue this with us? More specifically, with you?" I asked as we finished our debrief.

  “That won’t be a problem. Lois didn’t hate everything I did to her, and I think she’s got a taste for this D/s business now.”

  I already suspected as much, though it pained me to hear it. I desperately hoped Lois wouldn’t sink before she could swim. There was only so much she would be able to handle, and she seemed to be actively seeking her destruction these days.

  "One thing before I leave you in peace. Did she ask you to kill her?" He hadn't mentioned it, which I thought was strange, and I was pretty sure that she would have.

  “Of course she did. That’s the name of the game. I’m good at what I do, James. They all want a quick way out.” At least Adie didn’t lie about it.

  "And do you think she's fit to continue this operation?" I knew the an
swer to that question but just wanted Adie to confirm it.

  “No, but I don’t think we have a choice. No one else is going to replace her, are they?”

  Standing up, I put my gun back in my jeans, grabbed my plate and glass, and sighed. “Great. We’ll just royally fuck her over then.” It wouldn’t be the first time I’d done it to an operative, and it sure as hell wouldn’t be the last.

  “It’s what we do,” Adie said quietly, as I strode from the room.

  Chapter Ten - James

  When morning dawned, it was clear just by looking at Lois that she’d had a rough time of it.

  “Have you been here all night?” she asked me groggily, as her eyes blinked against the bright glare of daylight. There was a sheen of sweet on her forehead, and I grabbed the cold flannel that I had in my hand and passed it to her. Her hands shook as she closed her fingers around it.

  “All night,” I confirmed, “and you snore like a beast.”

  “I do not,” she hotly denied, but at least I managed to get a smile out of her.

  "How do you feel?" Leaning forwards, I gave her the once over. Her eyes were a little sunken inside her head, her skin looked sallow, and the tell-tale tremors of her hands were sure signs that all was not well in Lois's world. It was clear from the bags under her eyes that she had not slept well, although I already knew that. Last night I had been a fly on the wall to each and every nightmare that she'd had. Torn between waking her up and letting her sleep, eventually I'd settled on letting her work her way through them. At the moment, healing rest of any kind was more important than talking through her troubles – not that she'd talk to me anyway.

  “Like I’ve been run over by a train.”

  “That good, huh?”

  "I hadn't finished," she growled. "Where was I? Ah yes, like I've been run over by a train with around fifty carriages before the driver's decided he's gone the wrong way and needs to back it up in reverse."

  “Good to see you haven’t lost your sense of humour, Lois,” I remarked dryly. I’d put money on the fact that she would before the day was out, though. “Right. You need to eat something today.” I watched as she began to shake her head. “I know you don’t want to, but we’re on a timescale here, and we need you up to speed ASAP. That means you have to eat. The good news is that you have a cordon bleu trained chef at your disposal who can cook you anything you want within reason.” The within reason part was mostly due to the contents of the refrigerator, rather than my culinary skills.

  “I really don’t want to eat, James,” she whispered miserably. My heart went out to her, but I didn’t back down.

  "Lois," I said firmly, "you will eat. That's an order. Now, what do you want?" She pulled a face at me and shook her head again. "Fine. We'll go for Marmite on toast and if I have to force feed you, I will." I'd probably enjoy it, too, in some sick and twisted kind of way.

  "No way. I loathe Marmite. I'll retch after just smelling the stuff." Lois was now wearing her rebellious look, and I could feel a headache coming along.

  "Lois, either give me a viable alternative or I will bend you over my knee right now and spank the hell out of you." When she tried to butt in, I stopped her. "It's not a threat young lady. I meant every word I said, and I don't give a damn about your injuries." My voice was now whisper quiet, so Lois knew I meant business.

  She thought about defying me, and I could see the cogs turning, but finally, the woman saw sense and backed down. "Fine. Just toast," she managed to get out, but there was fury lurking between her eyes. I needed to be careful when I came back, but then, that was my middle name.

  "Okay, Lois. Just toast. Sit tight, and I'll be back in ten minutes."

  I was as good as my word. When I returned a short while later, Lois was sitting up in bed, looking greener than an unripe tomato. Placing the tray in front of her with two slices of buttered toast and a glass of water, I knew I was asking a lot, but if she only managed a bite or two, that would be something.

  Lois looked at the plate with barely concealed loathing. "You didn't mean what you said about the spanking, did you?" Looking up at me, I could see the pleading in her eyes as she begged me to reconsider her morning meal. Nothing doing.

  “Feel free to test the theory and find out,” I said, stretching out the fingers of my right hand.

  Her eyes narrowed. "James Leveritt, you are a complete and utter bastard," she said, taking a tiny bite of the toast in front of her. Grimacing as soon as she began chewing, the shade of green she was wearing turned a hue darker in colour. Sitting down beside her, I watched her battle through her meal with unconcealed revulsion. By the look on her face, you'd have thought I was trying to feed her a pile of locusts. At the moment, food held no sway for her whatsoever, but her appetite would come back. When it did, I intended to unleash my full cooking potential on her to make up for all the calories she'd lost at Carte Blanche.

  “Are you enjoying yourself,” she croaked, about half an hour later, when the first slice of toast was nearly half-finished.

  "As much as I enjoy watching a woman suffer, this isn't my idea of fun, Lois. If I'd had my way you'd have never gone there in the first place, so take your medicine, and stop moaning." Lois shot daggers at me and took another sullen bite. Things were going to come to a head in a minute, where we worked out who was in charge in this room. Unfortunately for Lois, she wasn't going to come out on top. Still, I'd warned her of the consequences. If she chose to ignore them, it was her funeral.

  Sure enough, after she’d taken another bite, she then looked down at her plate and shook her head. “I can’t eat any more.”

  "Lois, if you can withstand Adie's knife play for several hours at a time, eating one slice of toast should be a walk in the park. You don't have to eat them both. Just finish the one you started." That would only be a mere one-hundred-and-fifty calories, but I'd take it. She should have gone to a hospital, but we couldn't risk it without breaking cover, and too many questions would be asked, regardless.

  “No.”

  "Lois," I said warningly, "if I were a betting man, I'd say you were actively seeking a spanking. Please tell me I'm wrong." My voice was clipped. If she wanted to make an issue out of this, I would follow through with my threat, but not in the way she wanted me to.

  “You eat it,” she yelled at me. The next thing I knew, a china plate came whistling past my head at a rate of knots, and I ducked just in time to hear it shatter against the wall. Meanwhile, the remaining slice of toast, butter-side down, landed on my jeans. It was just my fucking luck.

  Standing up slowly, I walked towards the wall and gathered the remains of the plate that were now littered across the floor. Then without a word, I opened the door and shut it behind me with a soft click.

  When I re-entered the kitchen, I found Adie there, hovering against the breakfast bar. He looked at the remains of the plate I was holding and grinned.

  “You’re no longer flavour of the month, huh?”

  "I'd wipe that grin off your face if I were you." It was my turn to smile.

  Adie looked at me suspiciously. “Why?”

  “Because you’re about to take care of her in a minute.” He wrinkled his mouth in distaste but didn’t contradict me, which was just as well. Considering the crap night’s sleep I’d just had, I was all for a little punching session with pretty boy. It wouldn’t make me feel any better, but it might help me let off a bit of steam.

  "How is she?" Adie handed me a mug of tea before taking a slug of his own.

  Pulling a chair out, I sank into it heavily. "She's falling apart," I sighed. "Another day or so and she'll glue herself back together, though. Right now she's testing boundaries, and she won't eat. I threatened to spank her if she didn't finish her toast, and her response was the mess that just went in the bin. I'm in no mood to give her that spanking, so you can go in there and finish the job. Just make sure it's memorable. We need to be out of here in three days, and for that to happen, she needs to eat – one way or another."


  Adie sucked in his cheeks as he looked at me. “Are we pushing her too hard?”

  “We don’t have a choice. If she doesn’t eat, she won’t be able to cope with what’s about to be thrown at her next.”

  Adie didn’t look happy, but he nodded.

  “You need to take it to the tears stage, okay? This is a punishment. You can do what you like to her after she’s finished the next slice of toast I’m about to give her, but not until then.”

  "Fine. Just answer me one question. Why don't you want to do it?" Adie appeared very interested in my answer, although he tried his best to hide his smile behind his mug. Fuck you, I thought. We're not best pals, and we hadn't been for a long time.

  "She's had enough of me for the time being. Besides, I need to get some things prepped for the next stage. Meanwhile, you're here twiddling your thumbs, so I thought…" I waved my hand in the direction of Lois's room and left the unspoken words hanging in the air.

  "Fine. I'll try not to enjoy myself too much." Adie gave me a wink that had my fist itching to slam itself into his face, but my expression didn't betray a thing. He then strode from the room, and as soon as he was out of earshot, I bent over the kitchen counter with an elbow either side of my head as I sucked in a big breath of air. Fuck. I was getting too close to Lois, and there was no option to step back. The only reason I hadn't delivered the spanking I'd threatened was because she wanted me to give it to her, and that wasn't how it worked. She'd learn soon enough.

  Chapter Eleven – Adie

  “What are you doing in here?” The miserable stare Lois gave me when I came to stand in front of her bed said it all. She’d had enough of the cards she’d been dealt recently and was lashing out. You could hardly blame her. Feeling like shit would make me irritable as hell, and Lois certainly looked it. I wondered how many days it would be before we could get her out of here. If we wanted to stay alive, we needed to keep moving.