Chapter Nine
Gazing out between the gaps in my office blinds, I watched as fellow agents strode past. No one spared me a second glance and that’s exactly how I wanted it. I tugged the pullcord, the thin slats of the blinds tilting and blocking my view of the corridor.
I turned on my heel, returning to my desk.
My laptop was open and ready, and I sat carefully in my chair before scooting it in closer.
The gentle tapping of my fingers against the keys was loud in the stillness of the room, and I hurriedly input my login details.
Those same fingers drummed as I waited for the system to boot up.
I knew exactly what I was looking for. I glanced between my screen and the folder I had spread open beside me, carefully copying the case ID into the search engine.
My middle finger hit the return key with perhaps a little more force than was necessary and I leant back into my chair as I watched the system loading.
No results found.
I jerked forward, staring at the screen with wide eyes. No. That couldn’t be right. I snatched the folder, holding it up as I cross-referenced the case ID printed upon the paper with the one I had typed in. I hadn’t made a mistake. The numbers matched.
“What the fuck?” I muttered beneath my breath, flipping the page over. I tapped a second case ID in and a moment later, the same result was returned.
No results found.
I threw the folder down forcefully and dragged my hand through my hair, uncaring when I disturbed its meticulous style.
These cold cases, the ones I had been looking into for months, all the unexplained disappearances…
They were gone. A cold shiver danced down my spine as realisation hit me and I scrubbed the hand in my hair down my face.
I was close – closer than I’d even realised. That was the only explanation, though it certainly put a cramp on my ideas to share my findings with the higher ups. Shit. Who else knew I was looking into this? I froze.
“Look, I get it, you’re a rookie and you want to make a name for yourself, but I don’t think chasing down some mysterious bogey man is the way to go.
Y’know, the people we investigate are really shitty.
Sometimes shitty people make enemies in the wrong places and someone just as shitty as them takes the trash out before we get a chance.
MI6 is full of unresolved mysteries, Dixon.
You had better get used to that. It’s a rarity that things get tied up in a pretty, neat little bow at the end. ”
Agent Roberts. Charlotte. She… No. That was crazy.
She was my superior, sure, but she wasn’t nearly high enough up the food chain to be able to cover up shit like this.
This was way above our paygrade. It was the reason I had been so excited to uncover all the details I had.
This promised to be a huge breakthrough, I only needed a little hard evidence…
“Fuck!” I growled between gritted teeth, slamming my laptop shut with enough force to make my desk drawers rattle. Now I had nothing. No proof. The cases had been erased, as if they’d never existed. Who the fuck had the sort of clearance to do that and how did Charlotte know about all of this?
A knock rang out at the door, making me jump. I cleared my throat, staring at the blurry shape of someone behind the privacy glass.
“Yes?” I called out and the door swung open.
“Ah, there you are.”
Charlotte and I locked eyes, an all too familiar sultry expression crossing her face. I didn’t feel any of my usual bashfulness, just a frosty suspicion.
“Do you need something?” I asked, crossing my arms across my chest.
Charlotte faltered, clearly taken aback. “Well, aren’t you sunny today,” she muttered, letting herself inside my office.
She parked her behind on my desk and I clenched my jaw, forcing myself to hold eye contact.
“What’s wrong? Is someone feeling a little pent up?” Despite her usual flirtatious nature, something lingered in her eyes – a hardness I’d never seen before. “You know, it’s not good for your health not to have an outlet for your… frustrations.”
“My ‘frustrations’ have nothing to do with it. Now, I am rather busy so just get to the point, if you would.” I snapped.
“I see. Alright, down to business. Have you got the kingpin dossier?”
I sucked in a breath. The kingpin mission. Ian Keller. Why was she asking for it now? I had been nagging her for months about it and she had never shown even an iota of interest. My brows furrowed with suspicion.
“Of course I do. What do you need it for?”
“Tsk, don’t question me,” Charlotte huffed, a smirk playing on her lips. “Who’s the boss around here, hm?”
“I don’t know,” I replied, my tone frosty as I stared at her. “Who is the boss?”
Charlotte’s face remained unmoved for a moment before she seemingly snapped out of her trance.
Quick as a flash, she leant over me and I grew flustered and tense in an entirely different way.
It had not escaped my notice how… generous Agent Roberts’s assets were, though I fought to be gentlemanly and not stare.
It was one thing to be aware and quite another to have them thrust into my face.
She was so close, I could feel the heat of her, could smell the faint notes of her shampoo…
My lizard brain took over before I could stop it, eyes darting to gaze at the hint of cleavage that popped over the buttons of her blouse.
I floundered for words, but before I could grapple myself under control, Charlotte was backing away. She wasn’t looking at me, her eyes fixed on the mission dossier she had snatched off my desk and my face burst into flame. Fuck. How did she manage to wrongfoot me like that so easily?!
Still sitting on my desk, she crossed one leg over the other and began leafing through the docket, eyes skimming over the pages. I sagged back in my chair, heart thundering, and focused on keeping my breath steady.
“This really is great work,” she murmured. I stared at her mouth as she licked her fingers, flipping the page. “I’m impressed. You’ve done a good job, Agent Dixon.”
“Thank you.” I averted my gaze, looking everywhere but back at her.
“Have there been any updates whilst I’ve been out of the office?”
I cleared my throat, forcing my mind back onto the task at hand. “Nothing. Intelligence is still scouring every last lead we have, but Ian Keller is like a ghost.”
“What about the connection we had in Colombia?” Charlotte asked. “Was that a dead end?”
“You know how the Colombians are. We’re working on it, but they’re less than amiable. It’s way outside of our jurisdiction, so until we get clearance from the CIA, we’re stuck twiddling our thumbs for now. I’ve pinged an email to Agent Evans just this morning to ask for an update.”
“I see,” Charlotte hummed. “Well, keep at it. They can’t keep us out forever. Ian Keller is close. I can smell it. We can’t let the slippery bastard get away from us again.”
Some of my earlier suspicions faded. What had I been thinking?
This was Agent Roberts. Sure, she was a massive pain in the arse and played rather too fast and loose with the rules for my liking, but she was a fellow MI6 agent.
There was no way she was a part of this.
I really needed to stop watching so many spy films…
I pinched the bridge of my nose. If it wasn’t Agent Roberts, then who was it?
Someone had erased that data, had sensed I was getting too close, but who?
Thoughts of shadow organisations and Bond-esque special agents whirled in my mind.
I was so distracted I didn’t hear Charlotte speaking to me until it was too late.
A finger flicked my nose and I flinched, pushing my desk chair backwards with surprise. I glared up at Charlotte, irritated by her smirk.
“What was that?!”
“Earth to Agent Dixon. I asked if you’d had any more breakthroughs on that little side project you brought to me last week.”
I blinked. “No. You told me to drop it, so I did.”
Not strictly true, but I wasn’t about to admit that someone had beaten me to the punch, forcing me off the trail.
Agent Roberts’s brows rose. “I know I said that, but I didn’t expect you to actually listen to me.”
“Like I said, I am rather busy with this kingpin case. My senior agent told me to leave it, and I didn’t have time to waste on a dead end.” I shrugged, pinning her with my gaze. “Why do you ask? You were quick enough to shoot me down about it.”
“Call it professional curiosity. What you said has been playing on my mind and I wondered if I had been a bit hasty dismissing you like I did.”
I faltered. She… She wanted to help me? I rubbed my neck, but before I could feel guilty for having suspected her, a fresh set of suspicions prickled at the back of my mind.
Why this sudden change of heart? Was Charlotte really interested in this case she had insisted was a complete waste of time…
Or was she keen to check it was dead in the water?
“Look,” I groaned, playing it as casually as I could. “There’s not much to say about it. In fact, I was just about to shred the file.”
I grabbed the docket and wheeled myself across the office to my shredder.
The mechanism whirred loudly as I fed the whole file through its teeth.
It wasn’t like it was of any use to me now.
Everything that I had gathered information about had vanished off the face of the earth.
I kept my eyes on the shredder, but all of my senses were trained on Charlotte, looking for even the slightest shift in her demeanour.
“Oh. Well, that settles that then,” she said, her tone flat. “I was going to offer to cast my eyes over it again for you, but—”
“No need. Is that all?” I got to my feet.
Charlotte blinked. “I suppose so. At ease, Dixon.”
I cast her a disapproving glance that made her laugh, but she obediently slid down from my desk and headed back out of the office door, leaving me in peace at last. I released a heavy sigh.
“That woman…”