by Emery Hale
‘Your brother, is he dead?’
Jessica let out a shaky breath, nodding her head, but there was hesitation – almost a determination that the answer would never escape her lips.
‘Even though the drugs scrambled everything, I can still remember the look on his face, the blood, the second the building collapsed.’
Tears sprung in her eyes but she didn’t let them fall. Instead she focused above my head, through the opening in the curtains where the newly emerging stars twinkled in the night sky.
I stood up, ran around the table and pulled her into the tightest hug I could manage, no longer caring about what Jessica should have done, or should be. Her whole body was rigid and cold like an iceberg but then, after a moment, her hold melted into mine. Small warm droplets landed on my skin as her fingers gripped my arms.
I couldn’t see or hear her but I knew she trusted me enough to let her guard down. Everyone here had doubts about Jessica’s credibility, even me. It must have felt as if James was the only person she could talk to, but now he was gone.
‘I’m here,’ I told her. ‘I’m here.’
We sat there for a moment before she pulled away, wiping tears away with her sleeve.
‘I didn’t kill Charlie,’ she said, and my heart sunk.
‘Jess, I jumped to conclusions.’
She shook her head. ‘Don’t,’ she sniffled, ‘you’re not the first person to think it. Charlie was killed by Trojan; they made sure I would be found with the murder weapon in my hand. I’d just started training with the Pyramid Delegates and people assumed.’
‘Jess, I’m so sorry.’
All of her life was one trauma after another, trauma that she couldn’t have talked to the team about – because if they’d known, they would have supported her, not rallied against her.
‘I lead a dangerous life, it’s all I’ve ever known. I can’t change who I am, it’s in my nature.’
‘It’s in your nature to love.’
‘No, it’s not.’ She shook her head. ‘There’s something wrong with me, I don’t know what.’
I squeezed her hand.
‘You love Chris, you’re capable of it.’
‘I don’t even know what it is,’ Jessica said with a bitter laugh.
‘Does anyone?’ I asked. ‘Call him.’
‘Why?’ she asked, almost confused.
‘To say hello.’
‘Then what?’
‘I don’t know, whatever you two talk about, the weather, TV shows, Taylor
Swift.’
‘. . . Taylor Swift.’
I smacked her on the arm and she let out a watery laugh, standing up with me and giving me one last hug, before she left the room.
With everything she’d done I wondered if I ever could love my friend the same way, which in hindsight was a stupid question. Jessica-Grace Winters was the same person – but now, I knew her story.
CHAPTER 35
Habromania
Delusions of happiness.
NAOMI JADE
18 June 2016, 16:55
Scotland, The Reign Academy, Training Room
Punch, punch, dodge.
Punch, punch, dodge.
Punch, punch, dodge.
Punch, Punch, dodge.
Punch – BLOCK – Ow! Seriously?
‘Now that was the most adorable block ever,’ Kayson’s voice drawled down.
I groaned, rolling onto my side, the cool mat my only comfort as the harsh floodlights blinded my vision.
‘Shut up.’
‘You’re getting better at combinations, you just need to work on the puppy face.’
‘The puppy face?’ I was afraid to ask, as Kayson grabbed my hand, hauling me up.
‘Yeah, the one you make when my fist comes flying towards you.’
The only answer to that was a roll of the eyes, what was he on about? When the impending cracking of bone on face occurs, didn’t everyone look a little scared?
Kayson decided he’d mocked me enough for the time being and grabbed his water bottle from the side, his grey hoodie tight against his form. He hadn’t broken a sweat, whereas I felt as if I’d just crawled out of a swimming pool.
Now that things had changed I was able to train out in the open rather than being crammed in the living room, although the carpet there was softer than this stupid mat. We were on the first floor in a room that resembled an extremely posh gym hall, light beaming through the small slits for windows above while blue mats were dotted all around. Instead of sweat it smelled freshly clean and, thankfully, there wasn’t any blood on the walls.
There were a couple other students in here, younger than us but they kept their distance – well, I hoped they did, no one needed to see how terrible I was at hand to hand combat.
It had been a little more than a month since Harkness fled. Duke had followed suit a couple days after, and now Thompson ran the joint, with Nicola’s supervision of course. The Academy had undergone a complete facelift: the drugs distribution had stopped, Lennox and Helen had been fired, torture was prohibited and Thompson’s influence over the media simply stopped. Quinn told us he’d resigned from the newspaper so he could focus on reshaping the school. That shocked us all, especially when other members of the faculty like Ames wanted to pitch in too. Within the space of a month they’d rewritten the whole curriculum, focusing on espionage and, more importantly, freedom of speech. Dr McKay, who’d only been slightly injured in the gun fight, was at the forefront of the whole thing, acting as Nicola’s confidant.
There were rumours floating about that the Government was going to force everyone here to sign the Official Secrets Act, but that didn’t seem likely – no one here would agree to it. I knew for a fact Nicola was on my side about getting the evidence out; all we had to do was wait for Lily’s sister to come back from America to represent us. Even though they didn’t talk much, apparently her sister was all for it. With her and Nicola at our side, there was no way this corruption could be buried. The news had reported the dead bodies from the harbour and they’d been classed as a Trojan attack. Every one of them given proper burials and compensation sent to their families. The world was now seeing it wasn’t safe; new protocols and tracking numbers when in the city had been issued to everyone. The politicians were in it up to their ears.
Ever since that final night a constant thought ran through my head: money. If Trojan really was behind building the school and finding the teachers, where did they get the money from in the first place? There must be more to the story because this one had too many loose ends. But for now, it left my mind. If I’d thought of it, then someone else had to have done too. There were people more qualified than me to deal with this.
For once in this whole ordeal, things seemed to be looking up. Jessica had been spending more time with Chris so she came down the stairs practically gleaming every morning, and seemed to have found some closure since the funeral of her brother. Grace was able to focus on her studies, and our relationship grew stronger because I brought her coffee whenever I visited. Quinn finally flew out to see her mother at the safe house, spending a couple of weeks there, and when she came back, was happier and more adorable than ever. Lily had found her passion for sport once again, and she spent more time at the gym and going on runs. Convinced me to go once, and I will never forget the pain in my legs the next day.
‘Same again, come on, let’s go.’ Kayson’s voice dragged me out of my thoughts.
I’d been coming and going from the Academy for the past couple of weeks now, and even though the biggest adventure of my life was over, I didn’t plan to stop. There was part of me that needed to keep going, keep bettering myself. In the field my mind had gone blank and I’d relied on others to get me out of hostile situations. Not anymore, I was done being helpless.
‘Why isn’t Lily here?’ I asked, rolling up my sleeves. ‘Since, ya know, you’re not on Jessica’s team anymore.’
Kayson let out a long sigh.
‘We
ll, you know Jessica’s left to help MI6 with an op, so Grace has to cover her briefings and stuff. Which leaves Lily to pick up the rest, although I hope she’s not working on the ward, wouldn’t trust her with a scalpel.’ I laughed at the thought. ‘So you’re stuck with me.’
‘Won’t your team miss you?’ I asked. ‘I mean, surely you have briefings and other spy stuff to do.’
‘Well, Luca goes to those and then gives us the rundown when he gets back. I’m a free man until seven o’clock. Think they’re going to shoot us down to London to try and finds leads on Harkness or Duke. Doubt we’ll find any, though.’
The way Harkness looked at me before he left still sent shivers down my spine. I would see him again, men like that had a tendency to come back.
‘Hey, listen,’ Kayson started, and this time his voice was serious. ‘About before, the whole thing with the doorstep and the date, then me being a grade A asshole . . .’
‘Yes?’ I asked, confused where he was going with this.
‘Could we be friends?’ Kayson slowly made his way over to me. ‘For a civilian, and your complete faith in spy movies being realistic . . . you’re not half bad.’
Not half bad? I’ll take that as a compliment.
The evening in the hospital he called me beautiful, the night at the harbour he kissed my forehead.
‘Friends.’ I said with a firm nod.
Even though the man in front of me was utterly gorgeous, after everything, I’d decided there was only so much that I wanted to know about him. Like, his favourite colour, music tastes and if he had any pets. The boring questions. Also, if he was meant to be a mathematics whiz I wanted to see him solve some algebra or find the dot on an imaginary line. At the shootout on the ward he’d called me beautiful, at the night of the harbour he’d kissed my forehead. I wanted to hold onto him, there was no way I was letting this man go.
Then there was the emotional side that I’d only caught sight of once, and I craved to understand him. There was so much more to Kayson Ashford that was uncharted territory and being friends was a great way to uncover some of those hidden treasures.
‘Good.’ Kayson blew out a sigh of relief before smacking his hands together. ‘Right, combinations. Let’s go.’
‘We’ve been doing this for hours.’ I threw my head back, every muscle in my upper body aching as the pain in my cheek calmed to a dull throbbing.
‘Then we’ll do it for one more,’ he sassed. ‘Now come on, hands up.’
Just as I was about to raise my fists the door to the training room swung open, slamming against the wall, and Lily barged through, worry creasing her brow.
‘Code three, it’s Jess.’
The playful grin dropped from Kayson’s face, his arms falling limp at his sides, then he sprinted from the room for dear life, leaving me alone on the mat.
Even the students around me looked over worriedly – what the fuck was code three?
CHAPTER 36
Solivagant
Wandering alone.
NAOMI JADE
18 June 2016, 17:01
Scotland, The Reign Academy, Control Room
I don’t think I’d ever run so fast in my life, my feet on fire as I darted round corners and pushed my way through students, not bothering to apologise. I’d never seen such a look of dread on Kayson’s face before and truthfully, I preferred his anger.
Through the different corridors I managed to follow the backs of Lily and Kayson as they ran into the main command room. Just as the door closed my hand grasped the handle and I ran inside. It took me a moment to realise what I was looking at on the monitor – all there was for as far as the eye could see was an overgrown forest – but there was a voice I recognised, a small whimper. Jessica’s.
‘What’s going on?’ I asked frantically.
‘Jess has been separated from the team, there’s a sniper.’ Grace’s voice floated from the back of the room, and as I locked eyes with hers I saw the blood dripping down her scrubs.
Whose blood was that?
That was when I spotted Nicola standing at the back talking in a hushed voice on the phone – someone must have said something because she slammed the phone back on the hook.
Kayson’s brutal voice barked orders down a phone at the other end of the room, Nicola stood stoically in the corner biting her lip, Lily gripped one of the desks, her nails scratching into the wood, while Grace started to pace back and forth. However Quinn, who stood in the centre of the room, remained silent.
I knew Jessica was helping MI6 with a mission, but how did she end up in a situation like this? The sound of her feet pounding faster and her breath quickening made my lungs feel like iron.
‘Is it Trojan?’ I dared to ask.
‘The team were following a lead on Harkness, the bastard, he must have known they were coming. Jess is isolated so the team won’t go back for her. I ordered them to go back –’
‘Nicola, what the fuck?’ I asked, spinning around. ‘She buried her brother not long ago and you’re sending her on a mission like that?’
‘She volunteered to go!’
‘So did James and look where that got him!’
I didn’t care that she was a superior, she was wrong. James had been her fiancé, she still wore the ring – did she not see how messed up this was? I got that Jessica was an agent, but there was no need to send her on a mission so close to home.
‘I brought over the live feed from her camera pin but the comms have been sabotaged,’ Nicola told me. ‘She’s on her own.’
That was when all the phones in the room started to ring, but no one made a move to answer: all of us were glued to the large monitor. We were mere spectators. For once, everyone in the room looked like they hadn’t the faintest clue what to do next. This wasn’t an Academy mission, we had no idea of the plans or routes, and no way to contact her.
‘She needs an evac team now!’ Kayson roared, some of his hair falling in front of his face, then he raised his head. ‘They won’t get there for another half hour, she’s too deep in.’
‘Is there any way we can contact her?’ Grace asked.
‘No, the comms have been wiped out,’ Kayson replied.
‘How did that happen?’
‘Wait, give me a minute . . . oh that’s right, I don’t know because I’m not a fuckin mind reader!’
This couldn’t be happening, it couldn’t. We’d sent Harkness running, we’d changed the school and were only months from exposing the years of government corruption. She was going to see this through, Jessica would see justice for her suffering. She was going to stand by my side and watch as Harkness, Duke and all the other pathetic agents rotted in prison.
‘You’re really not helping!’
‘Could you not tear each other’s throats out for one minute?’
‘She’ll be OK, it’s not like it hasn’t happened before.’
‘Shut up!’ Grace yelled. ‘She’s trying to say something!’
‘I need evac now.’ Desperation screamed through Jessica’s voice. ‘I can’t shake this guy!’
If I didn’t know what this room was I’d have guessed it was a cinema, and from where I stood, it gave me the perfect view.
BANG
Even though the camera jolted, even though Jessica screamed, even though I saw her fall, there was no way I could believe what was happening. Like the thick raw blades of grass slicing through the camera’s vision, it felt as if glass were piercing mine, burrowing deep inside, trying to blur the sight in front of me. How could I watch this? Was this what had happened to James?
Through my distorted vision I saw Quinn sit bolt upright, mumbling under her breath, watching the screen in anticipation.
‘God, no.’ Nicola pleaded, her hands falling by her side as she walked closer. ‘God, please no.’
I glanced back at Grace, ready to take orders, but there were none. Instead her hands were clasped by her lips, praying.
I marched over to her, hoping she had some sor
t of answer for me. If she was the second shouldn’t she know what to do in a crisis? She was training to be a doctor for crying out loud!
‘Grace, what do we do?’ I asked but the girl’s eyes were fixated ahead, damn her. I ripped her hands apart, getting right in her face. ‘Talk to me, what do we do?’
She stuttered.
‘I don’t know, the team should have gone back for her.’
‘Why didn’t they?’ I shot out, now looking to Nicola.
The woman hesitated, but before I could ask again she spoke.
‘Because she’s a Reign student, they don’t trust her.’
Bollocks. If she was put in a team then they should work together. No matter their history. What happened to the motto of never leave a man behind?
‘Lilith, come in,’ Lily demanded, a finger pressed to the comm unit in her ear. ‘Team Leader, come in.’
Then we waited.
‘This happens, this always happens, it only ends one way in this kind of work.’ Jessica had told me that after James’ funeral – apparently it had been a running theme in the family. She’d worn blue that day instead of black, saying it was his favourite colour. There were countless people there, many in uniform. I’d made sure to stay by Jessica’s side at all times, holding her hand if she needed, a tissue pushed up my sleeve just in case, even though I knew she’d never cry in public. Christopher was there in uniform but he kept a little distance, which must have been a prearranged thing. He spoke to me though.
‘Stay with her, she needs you.’
Even as the coffin was laid in the ground, not once did I see Charlotte. Their own mother hadn’t shown up to the funeral. Through it all however, Jessica kept coming back to me, holding my hand and pulling me into her cold embrace.
Then afterwards, when everyone had left, we talked and one thing stuck in my head.