Yassen pulled back almost instantly, his heart hammering painfully against his ribs and his breath coming in short, ragged gasps. He looked down at Kerryn who was smiling at him. His heart beat faster still, wanting more, but his mind was screaming at him to get away from Kerryn NOW!
She was watching him curiously now, her brow slightly creased. She looked like she knew what was going through Yassen's head.
Finally he sighed and dropped his hand from where it rested on her cheek. His mind had won. He turned away slowly, keeping his eyes fixed on Kerryn's face, trying to explain with his eyes why he was doing this. He started up the stairs to his flat.
Kerryn spoke, saying his name softly, just once. He swayed, almost turning, but gripped the banister tightly and forced himself to keep going up. He stumbled through the door of his flat, realising for the first time that he was trembling. Why had he done that? It was beyond stupid, she was a spy for God's sake! And yet… he knew that she wasn't like any girl he'd ever met. He was an assassin, he couldn't fall for her, he didn't do that sort of thing. He sighed again, who was he kidding?
He sat down, only to stand up a few seconds later and start pacing up and down. It was too dangerous; SCORPIA forbade any and all relationships between their agents. And if they found out she was a spy, he'd be under suspicion too if anyone thought they were more than just colleagues or friends. He swore, realising for the first time in the four years he had been working for them, exactly how much he had given up to become SCORPIA's top assassin.
He paused, hearing a soft knock on the door. He knew it was Kerryn. Yassen hesitated for a few seconds before walking over and opening the door a crack.
"Can I come in?" she asked quietly. He nodded and stood aside for her to pass. She walked straight past him and into the sitting room. Yassen shut the door and followed. "What's going on? You kiss me, and then practically run off! What's going on?" she said. Her voice was calm and quiet, Yassen knew that she knew why he'd done it, but wanted to hear him say it.
"I…I, uh…I made a mistake. I shouldn't have kissed you; it's too dangerous for both of us and you're…" His voice tailed off, he didn't want to say the words that were lining up to jump out of his mouth.
"The enemy. I'm the enemy, right?" she snapped, her voice trembling a little with emotion. Yassen half-shrugged, he hadn't meant that. He glanced at her, and then looked away quickly, not wanting to meet her stony gaze.
"What do we do now then?" Kerryn asked quietly. Yassen winced slightly at the tremble in her voice; he had put that there.
"I don't know." He said, shrugging again. He still didn't look at her, couldn't bring himself to look into eyes that he knew would be filled with tears. Kerryn remained silent and, eventually, he couldn't stand it any longer. "It's just too dangerous!" he burst out, looking her in the eye. "You of all people should know that. It's not that I don't want… if we got caught they'd find out about you, and kill you, and then they'd kill me, just because I was with you." Kerryn nodded, understanding in her eyes. Somehow that made it worse and Yassen had to look away again.
"So, are we still going to be working with each other?" she asked. Yassen hesitated and she continued. "It'll be better if we don't act like anything's wrong, otherwise they'll get suspicious." Yassen nodded and she gave him a small smile. They didn't speak again and Kerryn left a few minutes later.
Yassen watched her go, and then resumed his pacing. The talk hadn't made him feel any better, and now his mind was wandering and he found himself reliving the kiss over and over. He tried to block it out, to forget how soft her mouth had been against his, how she had tasted slightly of apples, how his heart had leapt. He swore, it was like trying to hold back a tsunami using a pebble: totally impossible.
He continued pacing as the sky outside darkened, until eventually exhaustion forced him into bed, though it was several hours before he slept. He slept lightly, for about five hours. He woke just as the sky was paling and dressed quickly. He left the flat and went for a walk in the semi-darkness. He didn't pay any attention to where he was going but somehow ended up at the compound. He considered going in, there were lights on in many of the rooms, but decided against it and turned away, walking back to his flat.
He stopped outside the building; Kerryn was walking down, looking out into the sunrise. He waited for her, and she gave him a small, hesitant smile as she saw him there. He smiled back and the silence dropped a couple of notches of tension. They walked slowly to the compound, not talking.
Daniel and Nikolai were standing outside the bunker, comparing diagrams and arguing in whispers. They fell silent as the two of them approached and watched as Yassen unlocked the door. He guided Kerryn through the maze of shelves to the planning room where they instantly started work.
Yassen continued looking at the large maps on the wall, measuring and writing notes. He started a little, dropping his hand to the gun in the holster at his hip. But it was only Kerryn, peering curiously over his shoulder.
"So what's the plan so far then?" she asked, moving around to stand next to him. He was uncomfortably aware of the closeness of her body and took a small step to the side, moving his arm away from hers.
"There are a few holes in the fence at the back, no one really goes there and it's been repaired badly. Air Force One will be there overnight so we go through at night and attach the stuff. Air Force One takes off the next morning, Daniel activates whatever he's making and we go home." Yassen saw a flicker of shock and revulsion cross Kerryn's face, to be replaced with a sort of hopeful thoughtfulness.
"It's always under guard, the plane I mean, we won't be able to get close without being seen, and I doubt that the American army would just sit there while we put whatever we're going to put on the plane, on the plane." Yassen smiled a little and raised an eyebrow. Kerryn sighed.
"American army uniforms, we have hundreds of them. We can just dress up and pretend to be the relief for the guards, no hitches. It's simple." Yassen could see annoyance in Kerryn's eyes. The simplicity of the plan would make it harder to ruin, that's why he'd made it so simple.
"You've thought of everything." She said bitterly and he grinned.
"I try." He said with sarcastic grace. She shot him a warning, but wary look and went back to the table. Yassen turned back, only to be interrupted a few seconds later by Nikolai and Daniel entering the room, each carrying rolls of paper under each arm.
"What have you got?" he asked, turning to the table and pulling out a chair. His heart beat a little faster, though any excitement he was feeling didn't show on his face. The two other men shared a nervous glance, they were relatively low ranking and weren't used to working with assassins. They took a simultaneous breath and began.
"The device is simple," Daniel said hesitantly. "It's put inside the bodywork and wings of the plane, there have to be lots of them so we get maximum area coverage. Then they're carried out through the metal so they can be seen and activated once they're outside." Yassen nodded thoughtfully.
"It sounds like it'll work. But won't they be found?" Nikolai stepped forward.
"No, they'll be in the struts, they'll be almost invisible. Plus we'll make the openings along the joins that are already there, they won't notice anything different unless they go over the whole plane with a fine tooth comb." Yassen sat back in his chair, satisfied. He gave a small smile and the two men seemed to slump with relief at the acceptance of their idea.
"It sounds good. We'll report to Julia tomorrow, she's still not back, and see what she thinks of it." Yassen stood up and quickly outlined his side of the plan. They decided that they'd done all they could for that day and left each other, going their own ways.