Flames (A Special Agent Novel Book 3)

by C. P. Mandara

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to do that?” Adie passed the marker pen to me and sat down on a padded wingback chair on the other side of the room. “James is probably feeling a little worse for wear after having been shot.”

  Adie's carefully timed remark immediately made Lois feel guilty, and she rose up off the bed to face me before I pushed her straight back down again.

  "This isn't the first time I've cut someone open while I've had a bullet inside me, and I doubt it'll be the last. However, if you want Adie to take over, you just have to say the word." Lois wriggled underneath my hand for a minute, as she considered her options. I knew she would feel more comfortable with me than Adie, but her concern for my welfare would probably outrank her need for safety and security. As per usual, Lois tackled her problem in a unique and unusual way.

  “How many bullets or tracking devices have you had to pull out of people before, Adie?” Her head turned to the side as she regarded him through lowered lashes.

  “Um, well, none, but you’ve seen how good I am with knives. If you’re looking for precision and accuracy, look no further.” He waggled his fingers at me and smiled. “I’m the better choice. These hands are as steady as rocks.”

  “James, how many bullets have you had to pull out of people?” She flipped her head the other way to look at me now.

  "Too many to count," I whispered gently, and my eyes went a little flat at the words. Still, that was another time and another place entirely. It wasn't wise to dwell on the past. Grabbing the marker that Adie had passed me, I went over Lois's left ass once more with the detector and put a dot on where the device was located. I'd already taken my combat knife out of my pocket and was sterilising the blade with a careful sweep of a lighted match. Grabbing a couple of sterile wipes from the first aid kit, I used one to clean my hands, and the other to clean the area around the dot. Snapping on a pair of latex gloves, just to be on the safe side, I then said, "Sure you don't want to change your mind?" Before she had a chance to answer the question, my blade was cutting through her flesh.

  Lois didn’t make a sound. There was a noticeable tightening of her body as I cut through several layers of skin, but it seemed that Carte Blanche had taught her something, and it was nothing good. I couldn’t help but wonder what hell Adie had put her through on her last few days there, and if I was honest with myself, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. Focus. When the incision was wide enough, I burrowed my index finger inside the hole and felt around. Sure enough, there was a hard little capsule buried inside her. Drawing my finger back slowly, I rooted through the first aid kit for a pair of tweezers.

  “I’ve found it, Lois. I’ve just got to pull it out. Hang in there, and I’ll have you stitched up in no time. Rooting around the first aid kit again, my fingers closed around a sealed pair of tweezers. Ripping open the packet, I ran a naked flame down them just to make certain they were sterile. After that, I plunged straight in. Thankfully, I got the little beast out on the first try, and I tossed it over to Adie for safekeeping.

  “Yuck. That is seriously gross, man. If you think…” Adie was obviously not happy at receiving my present, but there was a method in my madness.

  “Keep a hold of that. When we get moving again, we’ll need to throw it out of the window somewhere.” My tone was firm.

  "Can I least give it a wash? Seriously, my pay grade doesn't cover this kind of shit." Adie didn't wait for my permission, he just walked across to the small bathroom, and the sound of a tap running could be heard. He'd better be bloody careful with that thing. I wasn't worried about water damaging it. If it had been buried in Lois's body for the better part of several days, it was most certainly waterproof. If the thing went down the plughole, though, the Travelodge where we were currently residing was going to get a whole load of very unpleasant visitors, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

  "Be careful with that, Adie. If you lose it, I'll leave you here to deal with the consequences," I growled. Those consequences were basically almost certain death, and I meant what I said. His response was mostly unrepeatable. It was strange how the man had been knee deep in blood down at Carte Blanche for the last few days, and yet couldn't bear the sight of the stuff this morning. Ignoring him for the time being, I pulled a suture kit out of my pack, extremely thankful the needle was already threaded. Lois's wound was relatively small, and it would only need four or five stitches to close, but it was a job you needed a steady hand for. That alone would take all of my concentration at the moment.

  "You ready for this?" I held the needle just above the wound and put a knee on either side of her body. If she thought about squirming, at least she wouldn't go far.

  "What, you're going to ask for permission this time?" Her voice was a little tight, but I thought she was holding up admirably. I'd just have to hope that I'd manage to keep it together when someone was digging out my bullet. Sliding the needle through her flesh, I heard her gasp out loud before her jaw snapped shut with an audible click. Making short work of stitch one, I decided to move fast.

  “Nah, I’m just distracting you. Is it working?” Stitch two was in, and stitch three wouldn’t be far behind it. Meanwhile, Lois buried her face in a mound of fluffy white duvet and screamed into the bed sheets. The screaming continued until I’d finished and stuck a gauze pad over the thing.

  “Stop all that wailing woman. We’re done here.” I tapped her ass, just in case she couldn’t hear me through all the racket she was making. It stopped instantly.

  “Oh thank God for that,” she said, immediately getting to her feet and pulling her jeans back over her legs. I frowned.

  “Were you actually in pain?” I said suspiciously, narrowing my eyes.

  Lois looked over at me from where she was shimmying into her jeans and winked. "I figured if I were screaming, you'd work faster. Was I convincing enough?" Smiling, her face as bright as a button for someone who'd recently come off crack, I resisted the urge to murder her. Seriously, I had no idea which child was worse in this room. Both of them needed babysitting.

  “My eardrums still aren’t fully functioning from earlier, so I have no idea, and you’d better hope those stitches hold young lady because I’m not patching you up again.” Shaking my head, I vowed never to work with women ever again. Seriously, what was wrong with that girl? Sighing, I placed all the medical supplies carefully back in their box, before turning to Adie and saying, “You need a shower? If you want one, go now. If not, we’ll get one at the safe house in an hour or so.”

  “I’m good. I can wait. Let’s get the hell out of here and put this baby somewhere safe.” He held the little chip between his thumb and forefinger and looked at it quizzically. I had no such interest in the technology. All I wanted to do was get rid of the thing as quickly as possible. “Lois, do you need a shower?” The last thing she needed to do was get water on her stitches right now, but I could put a waterproof dressing over that if need be.

  “I can wait, too. Just gimme two mins because I need to use the bathroom.” She sauntered off with barely a wince. Damn the woman. Adie must have really done a number on her.

  When she came out again, she closed the bathroom door softly and turned to me. “Do you need someone to look at that arm? It’s starting to ooze.”

  Swearing, I turned to look at my makeshift bandage that was now soaked crimson with blood. Shit. On the plus side, it would just about hold until I got to the car - if we were lucky.

  Shaking my head, I said, “No. We don’t have time to mess around with that now. You or Adie can sort me out when we get to our next stop. Everyone ready?” They nodded, so I tossed Adie the car keys. My arm was already throbbing like a bastard, and driving would be more pain than I could handle. I’d let Adie do the honours for the time being. Besides, it was my turn to snuggle in the back with Lois.

  "Throw that tracker out of the window somewhere very interesting at the start of our journey, okay?" Adie nodded. The bastard had better not forget. I didn't think I could cope with
being on the run again in the space of twenty-four hours. My arm felt like someone had sliced it open, and the sensation was not a pleasant one. I knew lines of pain were starting to form around my eyes, and the strain would be there for all to see. Although I hated displaying weakness of any kind, there were some things you couldn't hide.

  "Feeling bad?" Adie raised his eyebrows at me questioningly, but there was a twinkle in his eye. It seemed the man was enjoying watching me suffer. His time would come. I just hoped he could take it as well as he could dish it out. Giving him a cheerful wink as we settled down in the car, I propped Lois's head on my shoulder carefully and said, "Nothing I can't handle." That gave the bastard a reason to scowl. He was probably going to hit every pothole alive, but at least I'd got the last word in. It was a small victory, but a sweet one.

  Two minutes later, the engine started with a roar, and we were on our way.

  Chapter Fourteen - Lois

  I fell asleep for most of the journey to the safe house, my head cradled against James's shoulder. I felt slightly guilty to be leaning against him because I knew he must be in pain, but when I tried to move away, a firm hand on my head discouraged me. Perhaps he was cold due to blood loss. That might have been it. Either that or he was feeling sorry for me. In any case, five minutes later, he had a dead weight lolling against him. I was so exhausted, I could probably have fallen asleep standing up, and keeping my eyes open was more effort than I was capable of. As it was, when we came to a stop an hour or so later, James had to shake me quite hard before there was any chance of me opening my eyes.

  "Lois, we're here." ‘Here,' happened to be a country cottage miles away from just about anything. A quick glance around revealed there were no other houses in sight and no discernable inhabitants.

  “How long is the driveway we’ve just driven down?” It stretched as far as the eye could see, and a row of meandering elm trees flocked it on either side.

  “A couple of miles, at a guess. Put it this way: we’ll have plenty of warning if any unexpected visitors decide to pop in.” James smiled at me and held the car door open. I stumbled out into bright sunshine and shielded my eyes. The scent of spring was all around me with numerous delphiniums, freesias, and snapdragons surrounding the front wall of the house. It smelt divine.

  “How are you?” Looking James in the eye, I could tell that the bullet needed to come out sooner rather than later. He wasn’t looking so good.

  Pulling a set of keys out of his pocket and motioning for me to follow him, he said, “Well, I’ve been better, but I’ve also been a whole lot worse, so I guess I’ll live, but the bullet needs to come out.”

  “I’ll do it.” Adie volunteered his services rather cheerfully, and I had to hide a smile behind my arm. What was it with these two? They were always trying to get one over on the other.

  "I think I'll take my chances with Lois if she's up to it. Women have a more delicate touch, you understand." James stared at me, his gaze full of heat, and I felt my insides liquefy.

  "You're fucking kidding, right? Her hands are shaking so badly she'll probably sever an artery while she's at it." Adie looked horrified. Looking down at my hands, I held one up in front of my face to inspect it. When nothing happened, I tilted my head to the side to examine it a little closer. After a few seconds, I detected a tiny tremor but nothing more. Perhaps the nap had helped.

  "Looks like I'm feeling better," I said, and I meant it, too. My stomach was still churning, my skin was very itchy, and the nausea hadn’t subsided, but on the whole, I didn't feel too bad.

  “James, for God’s sake tell me there is no way you’re going to let her near you. You are certifiably insane.” Adie threw his hands up in the air as if the whole world was against him.

  "Lois, how many bullets have you pulled out of people in the past?" My head snapped around at the comment. Were we really going to play this game again? Judging by James's serious expression, it appeared we were. Stopping to think for a moment as I considered his question, I tried to tot up all the nastiness I had seen over the years – well, those which involved bullets, anyway.

  "More than ten, less than twenty, I think. You can add another three which I've had to pull out of myself, too." James blinked. His expression was surprised, so obviously he thought most of my time was spent behind a desk. If only. They didn't take it easy on female operatives over at Cellular Operations. The company was a firm believer in equality if nothing else.

  "Lois wins. I'll take experience and a slightly shaky hand over an amateur any day," James said. I rolled my eyes heavenwards. He was doing his best to wind Adie up, and sure enough, Adie's lips flattened into an unbecoming pout – if there was such a thing on Adie. Now James was a handsome man, but Adie could almost be called beautiful. He has that dark Latin look that girls everywhere would kill for, and there weren't many women alive who wouldn't leap at the chance to jump into bed with him. Most of those women probably hadn't been tortured by him, though.

  "I'm starting to think this is a conspiracy." Adie gave me a dark look, and I grinned.

  "You just need to get out more," I said. "Why don't you have that shower while we play doctors and nurses down here?" It would be nice to get Adie out of the way for a while, and it would also lessen the toxic hormone balance floating around in this room.

  “What and miss all the screaming? Unlikely.” Adie crossed his arms over his chest and looked thoroughly entertained. If I’d have been thinking clearly, I’d have used reverse psychology on him. Ten-to-one, if I’d have said, why don’t you take a seat and enjoy the fun and games, the man would have scarpered. Oh well. Lesson learned.

  James saved the day. "Why don't you pull up a chair, Adie? Hopefully, you'll learn something." His angelic smile fooled no one. There were three alphas in the room, and everyone seemed to be competing against each other. It was ridiculous, but there it was.

  Adie was not to be outdone, of course.

  “One hundred pounds says you’ll be screaming in twenty minutes without meds.” What was it with the aversion to medication in this room? The only reason I hadn’t taken any was because I was detoxing. Normally, if someone was plunging a knife into me, I’d be the first to jump at the chance of some anaesthetic.

  "I'll take that bet, Sunshine," said James, and I knew by the look on his face that the wager was a done deal. He hadn't made a murmur of complaint in the last few hours about his arm, not even when he'd got shot, and if I wasn't much mistaken, this wasn't the first time he'd had lead inside him. I'd put money on the fact that James was a very experienced operative, and that his pain tolerance was considerably higher than mine. Adie really should pick his fights more carefully.

  Grabbing a magazine off the coffee table, I watched as Adie plonked himself in the middle of a floral, double-seated sofa, and kicked his legs up. He wasted no time in making himself comfortable.

  Sidling up to James, I said softly, “Shall we do this in the kitchen?”

  “Let’s,” he said conspiratorially. It was inevitable that Adie would follow us sooner or later, but at least he’d have to get off his butt to do so.

  Entering the kitchen, which was a small affair with a four-hob stove, a compact fridge-freezer, and a basin, we took a seat at the breakfast bar. The stools were high, but on the plus side, there were only two of them. James slung his backpack on the top of the counter, and I picked it up, nearly sagging under its weight. "What the hell do you keep in here?"

  "Oh, you know, this and that," he waved his hand in the air dismissing my question, which was fine because I was about to root through its contents anyway.

  The bag contained, along with with a pretty comprehensive first aid kit: several grenades, a couple of pistols, two knives, a large block of C4 and a toilet bag. That explained it. Leaning over to drag out the kit, I said dryly, "Were you a boy scout by any chance?"

  James grinned. “Actually, no. In my childhood, I had problems with authority.”

  "Has anything changed?" Pulling out the sam
e knife James had used on me, I retrieved a bottle of anti-bac from the kit and smothered it liberally over the blade and my hands, before putting on a pair of latex gloves. We were all about health and safety around these parts.

  “Not really,” he admitted, “although I did do a spell in the military, where I was forced to toe the line for a while.”

  It was my turn to smile. I couldn’t imagine James in the military. It was hard to believe the man could take orders from anyone, although I didn’t doubt he was capable of serving. In fact, I hazarded a guess he was probably too good at his job, and that wasn’t something I’d come across often in my line of work.

  "Why did you leave?" Pulling out the tweezers, I disinfected them as well, leaving them on a sterile wipe with the knife in the centre of the table. I wanted everything ready before I began. I wasn't nearly as confident as James when it came to surgical procedures.

  “I think we covered that in an earlier sentence.”

  Looking up from my hunt for a needle and thread, I blinked. James looked smug. The penny finally dropped. "Oh right, the authority thing." Finding the needle, I made sure it was also sterile before threading it. All I needed now was a dish in which to place the bullet, should I be lucky enough to retrieve it. I just hoped my hand would stay steady. The near proximity to James was already doing funny things to my equilibrium, and my heartbeat was thrumming heavily through my chest. I wondered if James would be able to tell I was nervous. Most people couldn't, but James wasn't most people.

  “Nervous?” Well, that answered that question. He then put his hand on mine, sending my blood pressure rocketing, while he stroked my skin gently.

  “A little,” I admitted reluctantly. “Sure you don’t want Adie to do this?”

  He shook his head. “Why would I want to stare deep into Adie’s eyes when I can look at yours?” James looked aghast that I could even think such a thing.