by Emery Hale
Staying quiet and low I leaned back on my heels, making sure to keep clear of the crate – until Kayson got on board there was no way I was moving. There were only small shuffles and grunts over the comms, but when Harkness called out, everyone fell silent.
‘Gabriel,’ he started, ‘long time coming, this.’
His voice came from the left but the crack of shoes came from the right.
‘I would shake your hand, but these are more agents than we agreed. They’re protection, aren’t they?’ The snake-like voice of Gabriel slithered across. ‘Quite a rude gesture.’
‘It’s nothing personal; I just prefer to feel secure,’ Harkness replied. ‘Is it on the boat?’
‘Of course. I actually hold up my end of the deals.’
Shit, were they going to come aboard to look at the bomb I was currently staring at? I bloody well hoped not.
‘Carrier One, stay in place, no sudden movements.’
No sudden movements – Jess, I wasn’t that bloody stupid.
I couldn’t take my eyes off of the bomb just sitting in front of me. My mother wouldn’t like this one bit – probably shouldn’t mention it when I get home.
‘Is it set for the right destination?’
‘Daniel, you forget my diligence when it comes to matters such as this.’
‘Well the bank was quite a spectacle, blew someone’s tits off.’
Gabriel laughed deeply.
‘We had to start causing some panic – the seed of doubt within the public over their own security was planted then. Everything’s led up to this. Now give me the agents and you can take that ridiculous boat.’
This was a trade-off, the bomb in exchange for more agents. We had to stop this – if they’d destroyed Estonia and planned to blow up our parliament, there was no telling what they’d do next. Was it world domination? Did they crave a new world order? One of chaos?
‘We can’t let them make the exchange,’ I whispered.
‘Carrier One, stay in position,’ Jessica ordered, but there was no way I was shutting up now.
‘Don’t you see? More agents means that tomorrow Edinburgh might be the next Estonia’
‘Lilith, they’re moving.’
That’s when I heard it, the unified thudding on the concrete ground, all moving towards Gabriel.
There were moments throughout this past year when I’d wanted to run, hide, leave the world to its own problems. Spend the rest of my life doing something mundane, wasting away the time I had left. That’s all humans were; fragments of time. Each second ticking by senselessly until the clock breaks.
That’s why I was going to do what I’d been scared to do for a long time. It might be idiotic, but there was no way anyone else was becoming collateral in these terrorists’ games. No one else was going to lose a brother, a sister, a daughter or son. It was time to stop all of this. It was time for action.
Sucking in a deep breath I hurled myself out of the boat, my feet flying across the ground.
‘Stop! You can’t do this!’
‘What the fuck are you doing?’ Jessica nearly screamed.
Just like I’d expected, everyone stopped; Harkness and Gabriel seeming more stunned than anything.
‘Who’s this?’ Gabriel asked, surprisingly casual.
Harkness looked me up and down, then marched a couple of steps towards me, his breath coming out like a dragon’s.
‘You’re that idiot from MI6.’
‘No,’ I corrected him, standing tall and raising my chin. ‘I’m not. I never belonged to an agency, just pretended.’
‘Naomi, stop talking,’ Jessica said harshly.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement but there was no need to look, I knew Jessica and the team were already in motion.
That was when I heard the click of a gun from behind and my throat ran dry. It was like we were in Brora, my body too terrified to move.
Suddenly, a body slammed into me, strong arms hooking mine, the warmth I’d grown to miss now standing firmly at my back.
‘Another move, Gabriel, and I’ll blow your fucking head off,’ Kayson spat.
Then Harkness did something I didn’t expect – he started to laugh.
I wasn’t armed with anything so as he sauntered towards me. My hand reached back for Kayson’s, fear almost consuming me. I wanted to shut my eyes, wanted to make him disappear, but then the voice of my favourite bird spoke.
‘Don’t touch her,’ Lily said coming from the side, a knife in one hand and gun in the other.
‘What is this?’ Gabriel yelled, nerves creeping into his voice.
‘Put that down, girl,’ Harkness warned, but Lily didn’t waver.
Skittish footsteps rattled behind the boat and just as I turned, Grace and Jessica appeared behind Gabriel. Before anyone knew it, Grace had a fishing wire secured around his neck, strangling him. As he thrashed to get free, Jessica walked towards us, her eyes fixed solely on Harkness.
‘You’re a manipulative bastard who deserves to die,’ she said. ‘You murdered one of our team because her own father told you to. She was seventeen.’
‘Everyone bangs on about age,’ Harkness snarked. ‘Doesn’t mean anything. She was a task. Just like yours was to kill that sixteen year old, what was her name? She had rich parents, first year.’
Could that be Jackie? I knew we’d gone over the possibility, but hearing him say it made my blood run cold. Jessica didn’t even flinch.
‘I was brainwashed, drugged. I didn’t know what I was doing.’
‘You know, I know, and your teammates know, you’re nothing but an engineered killer.’ Harkness’ words were laced with poison as he ranted like a madman. ‘Chan won’t kill me, not without your orders, Ashford won’t kill Gabriel. It all comes down to you.’ He threw his arms out; his visibly bandaged shoulder didn’t appear to hinder him. ‘Prove it, to everyone. You don’t need drugs, Winters, you’ll follow orders like a dog. Admit it.’
‘Admit what?’
‘You enjoyed it.’
Jessica remained motionless, void and silent. The only sound was the crisp wind as it blew through her hair.
‘No more killing!’ I exclaimed, and Harkness turned to me, tilting his head.
‘Where did you pick this stray up?’ he asked. ‘She’s pretty.’
‘Don’t look at her.’
‘What are you going to do about it?’ Harkness grinned. ‘A couple of months in I bet she’d crack, I can promise I’ll make her beg, I’ll make her scream.’
Jessica sprinted forward, grabbing Harkness by the neck, jutting her knee into his ribcage before throwing her elbow into his cheek. Not once did he fight back, falling to the ground laughing hysterically, even after Jessica broke his nose with a sickening crack.
‘Stop!’ I tried, but she didn’t listen, throwing punch after punch. ‘Jessica you don’t have to kill him, don’t prove him right!’
That was when Jessica stopped dead, her head held high as she slowly turned back to me.
‘Prove?’ Harkness asked harshly. ‘There’s nothing to prove.’
Jessica leaned down, grabbing him by the shirt, but I wouldn’t let this happen, she wasn’t a killer. I ran, grabbing her arm, pulling her away.
‘We won’t let you do this.’
‘Take a look around,’ Jessica said.
Grace had reduced the once-mighty Gabriel to an insect on his knees, face turning purple. Kayson’s gun was pointed at Harkness, as was Lily’s.
‘Who’s going to stop me?’
All this time I kept telling myself I knew the woman standing in front of me, but I didn’t. The waters of time and memory used to flow through her but not anymore, now there was only ice – and ice never forgives.
Jessica didn’t need a weapon, she was born and raised into one. I’d made up the truth, the one that I needed to believe, but I couldn’t deny the evidence in front of me. Some people were past saving.
Harkness took advantage of our silence, standing
tall before looking over to the thirty students.
‘Kill them,’ he said motioning to us. ‘Kill them all.’
What?
Kayson’s arm hauled me around the front, pressing a gun into my hand, and then touched a shaky yet tender kiss to my forehead, warmth radiating from his lips. He – what?
‘Run.’ He shoved me towards Grace and turned towards the onslaught of assassins.
No . . .
I’d lost sight of Jessica and Harkness, then Lily and Kayson, all of them disappearing into the sea of black and faceless bodies. My feet stumbled back but I couldn’t turn, my ears bursting with cascading shells on concrete. The gun rattled in my hand, I barely knew how to fire it, could I even use it?
Then a girl, maybe three years older, ran towards me, her face void and eyes empty. My breathing hitched as my mind started to catch up with the situation. Shit!
BANG
This time I was close enough to hear the bullet tear through her skin and see the shiny metal break through her forehead. Then she fell down, like a wooden doll, her head bouncing off the ground.
Lily stood behind her, gun raised. She barely had the chance to look my way before an agent grabbed her shoulder, throwing a punch through her cheek.
Then, I ran.
Spinning around I took off in the direction of Grace who had her hand outstretched to me. Reaching her within a matter of seconds I jumped over the unconscious body of Gabriel and grabbed it.
Grace pulled me forward and before I knew it we were running, the sound of carnage still deafening, a sound I knew would never leave me.
‘Wait!’ Quinn screamed, her voice deeper than I’d ever heard it. ‘Call them off or I’ll blow it!’
The pair of us stopped in our tracks, whipping round to see Quinn’s small figure standing in the middle of the docks, holding something in her hand. It was only then that I saw three people on top of Kayson, Lily struggling to get off her knees as attacks came from all around, Jessica fighting as hard alongside her.
‘Quinn . . .’ Grace trailed off, seeming to know what her plan was.
The scuttling behind the boat earlier, that must have been Quinn, and now she was holding – a bomb detonator.
‘She’s right,’ Quinn said. ‘We can’t keep fighting, there’s only so much a person can take. Even you, Harkness.’ Her thumb hovered over the device. ‘Call your agents off or I blow us all to hell.’
Harkness sneered. ‘What are you talking about, you pathetic girl?’
‘Don’t play dumb, we know that bomb is going to the Scottish Parliament, we’re not going to let you destroy the country.’
The fighting continued but Harkness eyed the device, and his eyes flickered around the harbour. Then he let out a yell.
‘Stop!’
I knew then that he was a man of self-preservation; he’d never be willing to die for the cause. As if someone had flipped a switch, every agent simply stopped, and stood to attention. Kayson, Jessica and Lily now like lone figures in the crowd, although the mad man wasn’t finished.
‘Look how they obey me. Your little team won’t stop our plans, you’re a child.’
‘A child with her finger on the detonator.’
Suddenly, tyres screeched from the entrance of the harbour, a black car sitting there like a jaguar stalking its prey.
As everyone else turned, I saw Harkness raise his gun and aim it at Quinn.
‘Quinn!’ I ran forward as fast as I could, adrenaline pumping through my veins. Quinn herself saw the gun and started to run but it was too late; a bullet clipped her leg sending her to the ground, crying out as the detonator rolled away.
‘Rendezvous Two!’ Harkness ordered, before he and every other agent scattered.
‘Don’t let them get away!’ Jessica snapped in another round of ammo and the gunfire raged on.
As the agents ran, one after another dropped down dead. Kayson took the left, Lily the right and Jessica the centre.
Grace and I ran over to Quinn skidding to a stop.
‘It’s just a flesh wound,’ Grace said, taking out a torch from her bag and shoving it in her mouth, pulling out bandages and packing material. ‘You’re gonna be OK. Naomi, press your hand against it.’
I didn’t think, I just did as I was told, my shivering hands pressing against the warm squelch of blood seeping from Quinn’s leg. Her whole body was shaking, hands curled into fists, but I grabbed one and squeezed it. She was going to make it through this.
‘You’re crazy,’ I said trying to lighten the mood. ‘I’d never have thought that was going to happen in a million years.’
‘Had to get them somehow,’ Quinn trembled.
‘By threatening to blow us all to kingdom come?’ I asked, laughing a little.
‘Willow always said go big or go home,’ her eyes glazed over as she stared up at the cloudy sky, wincing every few seconds.
Then I heard the click of a car door and saw Harkness standing there, watching us from above, his slimy tongue licking his lips, before he got in the back and the car sped away. Of course he was free: in fairy tales the bad guy always lost, but this wasn’t a fairy tale.
I couldn’t help but look over to Gabriel whose body hadn’t risen, his face still a sickly purple – was it bad to wish he would get up? The man had to pay for his crimes, he had to stand trial, then he’d get the sentence he deserved. A long life in prison.
‘We got a lot but a few of them managed to get away.’ Lily reported, running over, holstering the gun at her side.
‘Lily!’ Quinn cried, holding a hand out to her.
She knelt down, tucking an arm under the girl’s legs just as Grace pulled away, lifting her bridal-style.
‘I’ve got you, darling,’ Lily told her quietly.
Grace stood with me as Kayson and Jessica ran over.
‘We’ve got to get out of here, police will be on their way,’ Kayson said, pointing at the small alley to the left, our exit route.
But the sight ahead dampened the hope in my heart: at least eighteen people splayed out like dead animals on the concrete, small pools of blood beside their heads, chests and legs. This was what the Academy created: mindless soldiers. Any one of this team could be in their place right now. Those agents didn’t know what they were doing – couldn’t there have been another way?
Tonight when the news broke, what would happen? How would Thompson cover this one up? How could anyone? There were too many things wrong with this picture, one you couldn’t wash away with pretty words.
‘Come on,’ Jessica said harshly, and it was then I realised we were the only two left on the harbour, everyone else scurrying to the back alley.
‘Jess, you’re not a killer,’ I tried, the last shred of hope glimmering, it was the only thing I could think to say. ‘You didn’t take the shot, you –’
‘– just killed twelve people,’ she interrupted, firing my own logic back.
It was like a stab in the heart: even though she’d done this I knew there hadn’t been another choice. Sometimes violence was necessary, I just wished it wasn’t.
I let her lead, following behind through the different twists and turns of the alley, heading towards the train station. The cover we’d discussed earlier was in full swing with some minor changes: Quinn was a drunk girl and we were the group of friends carrying her home.
Where was home? The Academy, my parents’ house, or were we truly on our own?
CHAPTER 34
Apricity
The warmth of sun in winter.
Naomi Jade
2 May 2016, 23:15
Scotland, The Reign Academy, Dorm House
Driving through the Academy’s tall gates and walking into the dorm house without the worry of Harkness enforcing the law brought relief to everyone. Sure, Duke was still around, but apparently he was like a lapdog, lost without his master. I was against coming back here, but it seemed we’d be safe until we could figure out a better plan.
There was somethi
ng almost soothing, like the stillness of waves after a storm. Lily was constantly checking out of the window, but to every other student this was a normal night. Presumably no one apart from our team knew what had gone down at the harbour or what was planned. Harkness seemed like the kind of man to keep things to himself.
Quinn was in the hospital wing which to me seemed like a safe haven, although whether or not Dr McKay was still there would remain a mystery. Was he dead? I hoped not, he was a good man to have on your side. On the way back from the harbour Grace assured me Quinn’s injury wasn’t serious, but said she’d stay by her side the whole night to give us some peace of mind.
I fiddled with my fingers as images of the night ran through my head: the truth that I’d been avoiding for so long now. Jessica was trained from a young age to kill people, her family drowning in government secrets – she wasn’t the good guy, but she wasn’t the bad guy either. That was something I’d have to get used to – even if I didn’t approve, she was still my friend. The promise I’d made long ago still stood and now Harkness had run, it was a little closer to coming true.
The gun Kayson had given me sat on the coffee table. I’d completely forgotten I had it: even at the harbour I’d never felt the need to use it. Guns just weren’t my thing.
The living room door opened with a creak, the fiery embers of hair trickling down Jess’s shoulder like a waterfall as she made her way over, sitting opposite, hands clasped but head held high.
‘Kayson managed to get in touch with Nicola. After hearing that Harkness fled she sent a team of people she trusts to dispose of the bomb.’
‘Good,’ I responded.
‘I’m sorry.’ Her remark caught me off guard. ‘I’m sorry I’m not the person you want me to be.’
Something that I’d come to accept was that Jessica, despite every little detail I thought I knew, wasn’t the same person I’d grown to appreciate and love all those years ago.
For so long I’d wondered why she kept contact with me. There was no need to – like Grace said, I wasn’t of any use. There must have still been some remnant of the young girl she was. She’d fought to survive, to make it to tomorrow, been brainwashed, drugged, and then, after everything, she’d lost her brother. The smile I witnessed at the coffee shop last year was long gone.