Just Another Day in the Life…sort of
Part One:
Billy normally took his coffee from the CIA lounge vending machine, supplementing it with a flourish of sugar to make it remotely palatable. It was a meager attempt at coffee at best. This particular morning, he needed something much stronger and more flavorful than what that machine could brew so he had decided to walk to the nearby coffee cafe.
As he walked by the large picture window of the cafe, he caught a glimpse of Adele and Rick sharing time and coffee together in a secluded corner. It brought a delighted smile to his face as he watched them laugh, clasp hands, and share a pastry. He entered, ordered his expresso and walked over to the couple to await it.
"Well, fancy meeting you both here," Billy greeted.
Rick looked a bit perturbed, but Adele welcomed him with a smile.
"Operative Collins, what brings you here?" She asked.
"Well, as Rick knows, I normally partake of the manufactured coffee in the CIA lounge, but I needed something stronger than its watery brew. Do you frequent this establishment often?"
"As much as we can. It gives us some priivacy," Rick said a note of irritation in his voice.
Adele glared at him for his rudeness.
"Ah, so you are keeping your romance discreet, a secret from prying eyes, aye? Well, I hate to tell ya, but I fear the secret's been out for quite a while," Billy teased.
Rick heaved an exasperated sigh.
"What were you expecting, mate? It's the CIA, after all."
Adele just smiled then looked at Rick.
"He wanted to protect me. He didn't want people to think that I was compromising the agency for him, playing favorites. He didn't want to undermine my authority."
Billy smiled, not surprised and filled with pride.
"Aye, I believe that. Our Rick here is a chivalrous lad indeed," Billy said as he patted Rick on the back. "But you needn't fear, Deputy Director, you have already proven your mettle as a capable Higgins substitute, dare I hope, his eventual replacement, and have garnered respect for your staunch handling of recent missions in his absence. There is no question in my mind that you possess the leadership qualities and necessary cunning to succeed Higgins."
Adele blushed and appreciated Billy's comments. She knew he had a talent for false charm, but she felt the sincerity in his words.
"Thank you," she said with a smile.
She noted Rick's frustration and couldn't help enjoying the spark of jealousy.
"I better get back," Rick said feeling a flush of embarrassment and irritation. "You coming?"
"Right behind ya, after I get my coffee."
Rick pecked Adele on the cheek and walked out. Billy watched as she finished her drink.
"We're -"
"You're going in separately. I understand," Billy smiled.
Adele smiled back.
"I know it's not necessary, but he -"
"Wants to protect ya. I get that. He's a lucky man," Billy said with a soft smile.
"I'm the lucky one," she smiled shyly.
Billy's heart warmed at the budding romance between the two.
"Expresso," the barrista called out.
"That's me," he said.
Billy walked over, got his drink and went back to Adele's table.
"I'm pleased to see you two making a go at a relationship. It's not easy given the nature of the business, secrecy and deceit so much a part of the job. I've encouraged Rick not to squander his good fortune."
Adele continued to smile.
"He must be heeding your advice. I can't take credit for it. Rick honestly believes we can make it work."
"And I see his belief has been borne out."
Adele smiled again, but it faded a bit.
"It's not the secrecy and deceit that worries me..."
Billy saw the uncertainty on her face.
"What then?" He sincerely asked.
"I'm his boss and I worry that I'll send him, send all of you to your deaths."
Billy observed the genuine concern on her face and found himself touched by her concern.
"Aye, the rigors and weight of responsibility of command is daunting, but you carry it with grace. Your compassion is more evidence to me that loyalty towards your command is well-placed and if it eases your mind at all, I will do my utmost to make sure that Rick remains safe in my protection."
Adele listened with awe and Billy's words were a comfort to her. He had an amazing way of giving an unshakeable reassurance that she knew she could count on unequivocally.
"I appreciate that and your words of support."
"You're most welcome," Billy said.
Out of the corner of his vision, Billy noted something suspicious. Three men wearing dark sunglasses and bulky coats walked in scanning purposefully the environs of the cafe. One man stood by the entrance clearly standing sentry to prevent people from coming in and more ominously to potentially prevent anyone from leaving. His gaze followed another heading towards the back behind the counter, disappearing into a back room. The last man just loitered at the center of the cafe, trying to look inconspicuous, but not escaping Billy's notice, his well-honed paranoia and instincts sending warning signals that something was about to happen and it wasn't good.
"Adele, I want you to trust me, all right?
"Of course, but what's wrong?" Adele asked, her voice calm with measured concern. Billy was impressed at her control.
"Three men have entered who are acting quite suspicously. One is at the entrance, one has made his way to a back room and the third is loitering at the center of the cafe. I haven't ascertained their intentions, but I fear they are up to nothing good."
Adele's gaze honed in on each man Billy identified with the exception of the man who had disappeared to the back room. She examined each carefully, applying her training in her appraisal.
"I agree with your assessment. Robbery?"
"Perhaps, but they are acting much too deliberate for it to be as simple as that. Clearly the fellow who went to the back is the leader."
Billy analyzed the situation and with innocents in the establishment, any rash movements would cause unnecesary casualties. There was also the inherent risk of revealing both he and Adele as CIA agents.
Since it seemed that the men weren't trying to draw blatant attention to themselves, figuring that coffee drinking patrons would be too distracted to notice them, not counting on two CIA agents who were attuned to such behavior to be there, Billy decided that he needed to gauge how close he could get to the ones watching at the front. He started to rise.
"What are you going to do?" Adele asked in a hushed tone.
"To test the waters," Billy said as he walked over to the man loitering at the center of the cafe.
Adele became concerned and watched him carefully.
Billy casually walked by the man and slightly bumped him.
"Sorry there, mate," Billy said as he deftly reached for some sugar packets on a service table.
The man barely acknowledged Billy as he walked back towards Adele. He sat back down.
"He's packing a weapon, could be two, can't be sure," Billy said in a whisper as he bent towards her ear, appearing to flirt with her to anyone watching.
"How can you be sure?" Adele said with a girlish smile, knowing to follow Billy's lead.
"I felt the butt of a pistol and also he hasn't removed either hand from his pockets. A man doesn't walk into a coffee shop without the intent of purchasing a beverage and he hasn't moved to do that. Neither has the man at the door."
"So, we're facing a hostage situation at best," Adele had surmised.
"Possibly. The unknown is the man who went into the back room. We don't know his intentions. The way things stand at this moment any action we take will compromise lives. Likely that was the intent, a populated cafe means the ability to have contingencies such as hostages."
"So we wait," she said.
Billy watched carefully and noticed that the man at the door was allowing people to enter and leave likely to keep suspicion at bay.
"I want you to walk out of here. They are allowing people to come and go to avoid suspicion."
"What about you?" She asked concerned about him.
"I can't leave a potential hostage situation. One of us has to get help."
Adele admired Billy's courage. Beyond the training, he was principled and wouldn't walk away from a situation where lives might be at stake.
"Agreed," Adele said reluctantly.
Billy heard the concern in Adele's voice and was moved by it.
"I'll be fine really," he said as he squeezed her hand and gave her a smile as much to comfort as to maintain the ruse in front of the potential robbers.
Adele rose from her chair as Billy rose with her. Billy pecked her on the cheek to maintain appearances then whispered, "Don't worry," as she started to make her way towards the door.
The calm resolve that Billy possessed and his ability to transfer his confidence to her amazed her.
He led her in the direction of the door, positioning himself near the man he had bumped. He then let her go and she couldn't help but feel an ache at leaving him behind. She needed to do something. As she reached the door, now within reach of the other potential robber guarding it, she turned her head to take one last glimpse and Billy gave her a quick wink.
Suddenly a shot rang out from the back room causing enough of a panic and distraction for Billy to make his move. He thrust his heel swiftly and smoothly into the kneecap of his assailant, causing him to yell in pain. He tried to pull his hand out of his pocket. Billy quickly grabbed it, confirming that it gripped a gun. He wrenched it free from the man's hand, taking possession. He finally laid an authoritative left cross to the man, sending him unconscious to the floor. Gun in hand Billy turned his attention to Adele.
Adele also used the distraction to turn towards the guard at the door and plunged her four-inch heel into his foot then threw the heel of her hand into his chin. Blindsided, he tried to pull his gun out of his pocket. She anticpated it and grabbed his hand, but the immediate burst of strength from him thwarted her attempt to disarm him and he managed to pull it out.
Billy, his assailant subdued, watched Adele battle the guard, impressed by her abilities, but realized her struggle with the gun. He ran over to assist while telling everyone in the cafe to run. He grabbed the guard's gun hand and twisted it to force him to drop the weapon. Adele moved away so to not impede Billy subduing him.
In the melee of the patrons running out of the cafe and the firefights of Billy and Adele, the third gunman came out from the back room armed. Realizing his other cohorts had been subdued and that his only way out was the front entrance, he decided to shoot his way out.
Finely tuned instincts had Billy maintaining surveillance of the surroundings even while going hand-to-hand with Adele's assailant. Seeing the last gunman emerge from the back, he noticed that he was readily armed and pointing his gun towards Adele, she not realizing that she was in harm's way. In a moment of concern, he abandoned the battle he was engaged in and called out to her.
"ADELE! Look out!" He yelled out as he headed towards her, gun in hand.
She, startled, looked around her to locate the danger. Instead, she spied Billy rushing in front of her, gun poised and pointed. The gunman began shooting and caught Billy in the chest before he could get shots off.
"Get out, Adele!" Billy yelled, his voice laced with pain, but before falling, he pumped well-placed shots into the assailant, killing him.
Billy crumpled down to one knee, his hands bracing him to the floor, keeping him from collapsing completely. Pain radiated from his chest as each intake of air sent searing fire into his lungs.
Shrieks and gasps filtered through the remaining patrons as they watched the scene in shock while trying to run out of the cafe. Adele also watched in horror.
"BILLY!" She screamed as she went towards him.
She bent down to him and grasped his shoulders. Billy groaned, shaking his head.
"You have to...get out of here. Take this," Billy shakily handed her his gun.
"I can't leave you like this."
"Afraid you must...I...c...can't..." Billy uttered weakly.
He lowered himself down to the floor, his strength seeping away with the blood flowing from his chest wound unable to hold himself up any longer.
Adele took the gun then helped ease Billy down, supporting him as best as she could, by leaning him against her. She couldn't bear the idea of leaving Billy behind to surely bleed to death when she suddenly felt the barrel of a gun at the back of her head. She stiffened.
"Give me the gun. Slowly or I'll kill you both," the guard said menacingly.
Billy grimaced with pain, but also with disappointment that Adele had been captured with him. He had to find some way to minimize the risk to her. He hated that his hasty actions had placed her in peril.
Adele handed the gun to the guard then gave Billy a knowing look that told him she wouldn't change her actions. It was appreciated by Billy, but of shallow comfort to him. He was resolved that he would get her out of this alive before he succumbed to his injuries.
"Let her go...She's of no use to you..."
"I beg to differ with you. Who exactly are you anyway? Police?"
Billy then realized a way to make him worth more than just the average hostage or at least make these men think he was valuable enough.
"I'm a CIA operative."
Both the guard as well as Adele gave Billy a surprised expression. She couldn't believe or imagine that breaking cover could help either of them. The guard, however, looked as if his interest had been piqued. Billy noted it with inner satisfaction. Maybe he could still manipulate the situation to Adele's favor.
"So Hamid was right. This is a CIA cover operation."
Once again Billy gave Adele a knowing look that she picked up on as a "go along with me" signal. She trusted him and would do anything she could to assist him in getting help.
"Yes, your man was right. Adele here is the fiancée of the Deputy Director. If you want to gain any advantage in the negotiations, best to let her go as a show of good faith," Billy said, not wanting to expose her as the Deputy Director, fearing it would make her that much more valuable as a hostage. Adele gave him a look that told him she had understood.
The guard gave Billy a look that worried him.
"Hamid was my brother and you killed him," he said coldly, but there was barely anger in his voice, more like the kind of anger that came from frustration.
Billy caught it.
He swallowed back and trembled with pain. Adele held onto him to comfort.
"Only to protect her from harm...Surely you can understand that motivation. You would have done...the same for your brother. If you must punish me then I accept that, but she is your best chance to escape this."
"Who says I want to now?" He said absently, almost with resignation.
Billy worried that for all the arguments he could present, by killing the man's brother, he may have sealed his and Adele's fates. Still, if his instincts were right, he heard something in the man's voice, in his reaction over his brother's death. Yes, there was anger maybe even the need for revenge, but more than that there was loss and failure.
Billy clenched and stiffened. He didn't know if he had time to play out a convincing debate to reach the ambivalence he clearly heard in the guard's voice.
Adele knew that Billy needed help and soon. He had rushed in to save her and though it was something any operative would have done, Billy was incomparable in the Agency. Rick had innumerable respect for him and if he lost Billy, he would be lost himself. She had to save him.
"He needs help. He could die. Please let us go. I know you're not a killer, if you were, you'd have killed us already. Whatever your reason for doing this, you haven't hurt anyone yet. Please let him go," Adele pleaded.
The guard looked at the two of them.
"You care about him," he observed.
"We work together and I know people, myself included, who need him."
Adele looked into his eyes then at Billy who was panting. It seemed that he hadn't heard her, too occupied trying to gain control of the pain or at least hadn't heard the emotion in her voice at the confession that she, also, needed him to stay alive. It wasn't love as she felt it with Rick, but there was a deep abiding respect for a man who was a mentor to someone she loved and who had sacrificed his body and possibly his life to save her.
"S...she's right...y...you know. Y…you can...end this...in your favor…let her help you…" Billy said as he closed his eyes in pain.
The guard looked over at his dead brother then back at the two of them. He placed his gun onto the nearby table and sat down in defeat.
"My brother...this was his idea. He believed the owner was CIA, thought he could ransom information about agents."
"Your brother made a mistake and I'm sorry he had to die, but you're making the right choice," Adele said softly, feeling sympathetic towards the man, believing that he had been misguided. "I promise to speak on your behalf, but you have to let me get help for Billy. If he should die, I'm afraid it will be out of my hands."
The man remained just silent.
Billy observed with respect and admiration Adele's compassion and negotiating skills. He felt his energies dwindling away and his field of vision was darkening so he had hoped that he would survive the situation to compliment her, but the way he was feeling, it felt doubtful.
The man nodded.
Adele gently laid Billy down to the floor, his head in her lap. She then reached into her pocket, pulled out her phone and called the office. She invoked emergency assistance for a downed operative then called Rick. The panic in his voice pained her. She could practically hear him running during their conversation. When she hung up, she heard Billy struggle to take in breaths. It frightened her.
"Billy? Billy?" She called out to him softly.
The spreading bloodstain across his chest and the pooling blood beneath him gave her an ache and a chill.
A groan came from Billy then a gagging laugh.
"N...n...never underestimate the power of a w...woman is what I always say," he said as he moaned.
Adele couldn't help but smile.
"Stay with me, Billy. Help is on the way."
"Rick's a lucky man..." Billy said as he lost consciousness.
ChaosChaosChaos
Adele couldn't wake him. Billy's breathing was ragged, but at least it was there. He was still alive, but she didn't know for how long. Inexplicably, she found herself crying, scared that Billy would die on her watch, under her command. The very fear she had expressed to him, come to fruition and though he had pledged to protect Rick, knowing that a part of that fear resided with losing him, sending him on some mission in the middle of nowhere to possibly get killed, Billy hadn't realized that her fear was as much about sending anyone to their death, especially him because of how much Rick depended on him. Seeing him, cradled in her lap, possibly dying from saving her, it gave her physical pain. Still, she had a job to do and the best thing she could do for Billy now was to make sure help got to him as quickly as possible. The rest would be up to him.
She looked down at him and placed her palm on his cold and clammy face.
"You promised to protect Rick for me. You have to live to do that," she said softly. "Live, Billy."
As EMS and CIA personnel converged to the coffee shop, she gathered herself together and barked orders from the floor where she held Billy. She couldn't bring herself to leave him lying there alone, even though he was unconscious and comfort as well as company wasn't an issue anymore. He had saved her life and deserved better than to be left prostrate on the floor. Once EMS arrived, it was only then that she relinquished her "protection".
Rick had gotten there shortly after EMS had arrived and had started working on Billy along with him were Michael and Casey. The chaos of the scene shook Rick as he ran over to Adele and held her. He took a quick glance at Billy, his features pallid and slack as EMS worked to stabilize him. It gave him a pain to his chest.
"Are you okay?" He asked, his gaze pointing towards her bloodstained skirt.
She hadn't noticed it at all.
"I'm fine. Billy…he saved my life. I'm worried about him," she said, her voice no longer containing the authoritative tenor she had used to get things quickly accomplished.
The adrenaline left her as soon as she was in Rick's embrace, but her gaze still strayed towards the EMS personnel surrounding Billy's body, the pool of blood oozing from beneath their feet and she worried about how much he had lost and how he could lose so much and still be alive.
The screech of the heart monitor shattered their reunion with blood curdling shock. Adele jerked, startled by the piercing sound. They both turned and could only stare dazedly at what was happening. Michael and Casey joined them. There was a palpable singularity in that moment, of them watching the EMS people work, of seeing Billy's body go rigid one minute then slack the next, of hearing the continual scream of the monitor as opposed to the comforting blips of a steadied heart rhythm as well as the hurried commands being yelled back and forth by the rescuers. A single file of people, their faces transfixed to a horrific scene, helpless to intervene, caring expressions in varying degrees of disquiet, could only stand riveted to their spots, speechless. And the silence was grueling.
TBC Thank you for reading. Hope you'll like the next part.