Chapter Fourteen #2
“I’ve already begun the process of accessing any CCTV in the area. I’ll keep digging, see if I can hack into a system inside the building,” Freddie replied.
“Okay, great. Keep me posted.” I winced, pain splintering up my back. “One more thing…”
“Sure, whatever you need.”
“Can you book us a hotel room nearby? We need to regroup somewhere safe.”
“Give me five. I’ll pass the details across as soon as I have them.”
I sighed with relief. What a fucking mess, but at least I could always depend on Freddie having my back. I couldn’t do any of this without him, that was for sure.
As soon as we were a safe distance from the Tren de Cobra building, I found a spot to park the bike up. As soon as I killed the engine, Dixon relaxed his hold on me and I sat up, my breath catching as my injuries protested. Agent Dixon was first to remove his helmet.
“I’m guessing there’s a good reason for us not following Keller? You saw his car, right?”
“Of course I did,” I snapped, tugging my own helmet off. “That building he’s hiding inside is the Tren de Cobra headquarters.”
“Fuck.” Dixon’s eyes widened. He knew as well as I did what a threat they posed. Just as I had dealt with members through my work with The Guild, I had also come across their influence during my day job. MI6 had a whole department allocated to tracking them and their operation.
“Exactly,” I replied. “So we can’t just go running in there without a plan. It’s late. I’m”—I winced—“injured. We need to find somewhere safe to hole up whilst we decide on our next move.”
“You’re injured? You should have said. I could have—”
“You don’t remember?” I scowled. “It’s thanks to you, after all.”
Dixon’s brows furrowed. “Well, excuse me for doing my job. I didn’t know it was you under all this.” He flicked his finger against one of the Kevlar panels.
“Oh, I’m sorry – I didn’t realise MI6 operated on a ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ policy. Honestly, I should—”
Freddie cleared his throat. “Sorry to interrupt. I’ve pinged the details of your hotel room to your Infolink.”
I turned my attention to the screen, pulling up the information, scrolling through it as Dixon muttered at my back about talking to himself.
“Thanks, Relay. I’ll check in once we’re inside.” I flicked the kickstand with the toe of my boot, turning back to Dixon. “Get off. We’re leaving her here for now.”
He did as I asked and I cautiously leant the bike over, locking it up and stuffing the keys into my vest pocket. Taking a moment to familiarise myself with the directions Freddie had sent me, I strode ahead.
“Come on. This way.”
“Where are we going?” Dixon asked, hurrying behind me. “Am I permitted to know that, at least?”
“Somewhere safe.”
“Are you being deliberately fucking vague? Who even are you, Roberts? What is going on—”
I spun on my heel so suddenly that Dixon nearly ploughed into me. He faltered, managing to stop himself just in time. We scowled at one another.
“I cannot deal with your endless questions right now. I’m pissed about losing Keller, in agony from being literally shot in the back by my own subordinate—”
“I told you, I didn’t—”
“—And now I’m stuck babysitting you whilst I try to save my skin and that of everyone who works with me. So, please, just shut the fuck up? Just for a little bit?”
Dixon’s expression was venomous, but he held his tongue.
“Good boy. Now, come on. It’s this way.”
Contrary to what I had expected, Dixon remained silent for the rest of the short trip to the hotel Relay had booked for us. Even when I shoved inside, handing over the booking details to the lady behind the desk, he didn’t comment, just followed behind me.
We found our room and bustled inside, the lights flickering to life. Finally safe – for now at least – exhaustion took over me. I couldn’t wait to collapse into bed. Perhaps I would wake up in the morning, and this would have all been a terrible nightmare…
My eyes widened as I took in the hotel room. “What the fuck? Relay? What’s the meaning of—”
“Sorry, they didn’t have many vacancies. I booked what I could get.”
One bed. One double bed. Not even a king size. My day just kept getting better and better. I pinched the bridge of my nose.
“I thought you said Agent Dixon was attractive? It’s no hardship to have to bunk up with him, right?” Relay teased. I knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to keep me positive, to stop me spiralling about our very imminent execution if we didn’t wrap this mission up… Damn him.
“Well, yeah, but he’s not exactly in my good books right now.”
“You know, it’s rude to talk about someone right in front of them when they’re not included in the conversation,” Dixon muttered tersely, sitting at the edge of the bed.
“Whatever,” I sighed heavily. “I’m too exhausted to argue. Keep me posted on any updates, Relay. Remember, if Keller so much as puts a whisker out of place, I want to hear about it.”
“No problem. Rest now. Who knows when you’re going to get another chance?”
That was true enough. I heard a faint bleep as Freddie muted the comms channel between us. If either of us needed to reopen it, we could at any time, but it at least kept us from disturbing one another unnecessarily in the meantime.
I began to unfasten my chest piece, crying out in pain as it jostled my injuries. Dixon was up on his feet in an instant.
“These injuries you spoke of, how bad are we talking? I don’t think I managed to land a shot, right? The Kevlar—”
“No, you didn’t but fuck it hurts all the same,” I gasped, gesturing him forward. “Give me a hand getting out of this. There’s a first aid kit in the deep pockets at the side, but I can’t—”
Dixon helped me slip out of my heavy Kevlar vest, leaving me clad in a thin underlayer. I sat on the bed, trying to catch my breath without disturbing the pain in my back whilst he dug around in the pockets of my jacket for the first aid kit.
“Ah, here it is,” he muttered, placing it down beside me and unzipping it.
Whilst I was still furious that Dixon was here, I had to admit he was at least going to be useful.
MI6 agents were well versed in administering first aid, trained to be cool, calm and collected even in an emergency.
Not only that, but Agent Dixon was also ex-military, and I knew he was used to far worse than this.
Undoubtedly, Dixon’s mind was running a million miles an hour like my own, but just as I had, he had compartmentalised it.
We could deal with everything else later; the health of our teammates came first. You could leave the military, but the mindset never left you. I knew that firsthand.
“Alright, let’s check you out,” he murmured, easing my undershirt up.
I didn’t even have the presence of mind to make an innuendo, pained sweat beading on my brow. A low whistle came in response as Dixon assessed the damage.
“The shots have broken the skin and they’re going to be seriously bruised, but it’s nothing life threatening.”
“Just fucking agonising,” I gasped. “I’m sure I’ve splintered a rib. Clean the wounds and then—”
“—Wrap you up to stabilise the break.” Dixon held eye contact. “Not my first rodeo, Roberts. You’re not the boss of me here, you know.”
I huffed with a smirk. “Fine, sorry. Old habits die hard.”
“Sit still and let me clean you up,” he instructed.
I did as he asked. Sitting in comfortable silence, I began to run through the events of the evening, my mind finally catching up. I watched the man before me curiously.
“What are you doing here, Aaron?”
Agent Dixon flinched, his hands faltering and dropping the roll of bandage. He took his time retrieving it before meeting my eye.
“I was right, wasn’t I? That conspiracy you ridiculed me about. It’s true. There is a shadow organisation assassinating targets of interest of MI6.”
I didn’t answer him, just held his gaze.
“I found out that Alroy Garcia disappeared, our only lead to finding Keller, so I went to his house in Colombia and found a business card for The Coconut Club. It took some digging, but I eventually traced the property back to Ian Keller and have been staking out the place ever since, hoping to run into him and tail him,” he said, slowly unwinding the bandages.
His hands were warm, rough against my skin. Dixon held me steady as he began to wrap up my ribcage. It hurt like hell, but I masked my discomfort. There was a moment of silence as he worked, before his gaze met with my own once again.
“What are you doing here, Charlotte?”