Chapter Thirteen #2
“Bingo,” I muttered, tucking my gun into the back of my jeans.
I yanked at the bar and though it shunted back and forth, it held fast. I scowled, glancing around for something I could use to leverage it.
The undergrowth was thick and it was dark.
My chances of finding something were slim, to say the least. I gritted my teeth. Brute force was my only option.
I took a step backwards, steadying myself before kicking the heel of my boot at the bar. It clunked but remained in place. Still, I kept kicking at it and slowly but surely each strike left the bar rattling a little more than the last.
After a good fifteen minutes of booting the shit out of the fence, and with one last valiant kick, the weld of the bar cracked and the iron rod fell free. I was drenched with sweat, my chest heaving breathlessly.
“Fuck me,” I hissed, fighting for breath and gazing up into the star-studded sky above.
I lifted the hem of my t-shirt, swiping the salt from my eyes.
I really had let my cardio get away from me since I’d taken up a desk job at MI6.
I made a resolute promise to get back into the gym once I was back in London.
Once I had gathered myself together, I squeezed between the bars.
It was no easy feat, but I just about managed it, sending myself sprawling across the grass, already wet with dew.
I snatched my gun from the back of my jeans, and creeping between the foliage, made my way closer to the house.
All I needed was some proof, something indisputable that this was Ian Keller…
I wasn’t sure what drew my attention across the dark garden, but something tingled at the back of my consciousness, that sixth sense that screamed at me whenever I was in danger, the one that had saved my life more times than I could count…
A figure, small and lithe, sprinted across the lawn in the distance.
It had only been a split second, but I had seen it.
Someone else was creeping around out here in the dark.
In a rush, the side-project that Agent Roberts had ridiculed me for came to the forefront of my mind.
What if I had been right all along? Someone else, some other organisation, was chasing Ian Keller too, that I was sure of.
They had been slinking around in the shadows, poaching people of interest off our lists and making them disappear.
So far, they had been one step ahead of me the entire way, but perhaps I had finally caught up.
No. They wouldn’t succeed, not this time. I wouldn’t just find Ian Keller; I would also unearth this conspiracy once and for all… But I had to move, and fast. My hands tightened around my pistol, and I crept around the building.
The ground level was draped in darkness, though the noise of faint voices drifted through an open window overhead.
The house was occupied. How many men had accompanied Keller here?
Their car couldn’t have carried more than five, but how many had remained back at the house, keeping guard whilst the master was out?
I had no idea what I was getting myself into and despite how my sensible side roared at me, I pushed onwards.
As I came around to the side of the house, I faltered.
A window. It was wide open. Either Keller was very lax with security, or that person I had spotted across the gardens had slipped inside.
I shook my head. What the fuck? How had they gotten here so quickly?
This wasn’t how things were supposed to play out.
Not only was I on alert for Keller and his men, but now I also had this eerily silent shadow figure to contend with, that seemingly was some sort of fucking ninja. Great.
I clambered up onto the windowsill, slipping as quietly as I could through the window and into the house.
This room appeared to be some sort of study, one wall covered in books, with a desk and a laptop against the other.
I crept towards the half-open door that led into the rest of the house, standing to the side and listening for a moment with gun in hand.
I wasn’t left pondering my next move for long.
The distinct sound of gunfire exploded above my head, men’s voices shouting and yelling before another rain of gunfire.
There was no doubt about it – whoever had shot first was using a silencer.
A prickle ran down my spine, and I leapt from my hiding spot.
No! No, I couldn’t let whoever this was get away with this again. Keller was mine.
I took the stairs two at a time, running headlong into a bloodbath.
One of the men I had seen at The Coconut Club lay slumped against the wall, his blood splattered all over the paintwork behind him.
I didn’t need to pause to check if he was alive.
There was one bullet hole in his head, and another two in his chest. Whoever had shot him wasn’t interested in taking hostages and was an extremely good shot. Fuck.
I followed the trail of carnage to another door, open only a crack, at the end of the long corridor.
Without a moment of hesitation, I kicked through it and raised my gun.
Time slowed down. Ian Keller, there was no doubt about it, but someone was already here.
The dark figure, dressed head to toe in tactical gear, their gun trained right at him. Without thinking, I fired.
Moving quicker than I had ever seen a human move, the mysterious attacker took my bullet to one of the thick armoured panels of their suit – Kevlar?
Just who was this?! – without complaint and rolled from my view, using Keller’s bed for cover.
The man himself was frozen with shock, eyes bulging as he looked between us.
I would deal with him soon, but first I had to neutralise the very real threat to my life.
I dove across the room just in time as a series of bullet holes exploded in the plaster of the walls where I had been standing.
Just as I had suspected, they were using a silencer.
Keller saw his opportunity and took it. He sprinted from the room and an enraged roar exploded from my assailant.
Forgetting me in an instant, they leapt to their feet and tore past me.
This was my chance. I darted from my hiding spot and opened fire, landing three more shots into their back.
One glancing shot may have been easy enough for them to shake off, but three direct hits?
Kevlar or not, that had to hurt. This time they crumpled to their knees with an agonised yell.
I leapt over the top of them, nearly tripping down the stairs in my haste as I made after Keller.
Just as I barrelled out through the front door, wheels screeched and in a cloud of dust, I watched his car making off down the long sweeping drive.
I opened fire, but without a clear line of sight, it was hopeless. Keller’s car disappeared into the dark.
“Fuck!” I yelled into the night sky, turning just in time to feel the barrel of a pistol, hot from firing off rounds, pressing against my forehead.
“Do you mind telling me what the fuck you are doing here, Agent Dixon?!”
My face fell, eyes wide. No, it couldn’t be…