Sorry for the evil cliffhanger. I wish I could say it was a deliberate
plot device and not the realisation that I was supposed to have been in
work five minutes ago....
It's my birthday today. As a present to myself I allowed myself to indulge in some ATAK related drabble – to be posted on my LJ soon. As soon as I work out the ending.
You can find my LJ user name in my profile.
I'll edit this as soon as its up.
Nearing the end now. Poor Alec and Ashleigh. Poor James. What am I going to do with them all?
Chapter 41
For the past few weeks, Marco Piancetta had watched as the scarred man, Janus, had drank himself steadily into a stupor every night. He would stumble against Piancetta, sometimes muttering, sometimes just laughing manically.
He understood that the man had once been the ultimate power in Russia. Now he was nothing. Nothing but a double crossing spy. Piancetta despised him, and longed for the day when he would receive the order to dispose of him. That day had come at long last.
This Janus spoke with a clear, cold English accent, and had shadowed green eyes. The right side of his face was criss-crossed with scars that crept down his jaw, and beneath the collar of his shirt. He was strong, there was no denying that, and Piancetta suspected that he could move with some speed if it was needed.
Of course, that would be if he didn't have such a dependence on the iced vodka he drank most nights. His reactions would be slow, his mind addled with alcohol.
It would be easy. Almost too easy.
It was this thought that reverberated through Piancetta's head as he watched the door open a crack.
He threw his weight against it and it exploded inwards.
To his left, he saw a sudden movement and swung out with a huge arm. He felt it connect, and heard the thud of a body hitting the floor.
He stopped short.
The man he called Janus, Alec Trevelyan stood tall and straight before him. His body was turned to one side, but cold green, sober eyes stared at him, with death in their depths. This was a man in control, and with a sudden rush of realisation, Piancetta knew that he had been deceived. This was no drunk, but a ruthless, powerful man.
The hand that held the gun was steady. Piancetta stared down the cold, still barrel of the gun.
He could hear struggling behind him. He wanted to turn, but instead he faced his death.
The door had opened so suddenly, Ashleigh barely had had time to move back. Piancetta had stormed in, with such an evil look on his face that for a moment Ashleigh had frozen with fear.
Close up, the man was huge. He was at least a foot taller than she was, and twice as wide. His suit was well made, but strained over his bulk; his dark hair was cropped close to his head emphasising the brutality of his face.
Alec had said he would take him out. But the opportunity was there for Ashleigh to take.
She had seen the dark skin of his short neck exposed above the overly tight collar of his shirt, and she had known that he hadn't seen her. He was focused on Alec, and she knew that he would kill him if she didn't do something and soon. She had thrown herself forward in a huge leap, the hypodermic needle in her hand, brandished like a dagger.
Precision hadn't been necessary.
His fist and lower arm had connected with the side of her face, snapping her head back, and throwing her to the ground. The pain exploded through her skull. Dazed she lay sprawled on the floor waiting for the next blow.
Her left eye was watering; she could feel the tender tissues beginning to swell, effectively sealing her eye up. She gasped as her fingers found the bruising and her vision blurred as her right eye began to well up from the pain. She tried to brush the tears away.
The second man entered the room, having not seen the gun yet. He stepped casually over the woman lying on the floor, then froze as he saw Piancetta's predicament. It didn't take long for him to realise that he was in a desperately bad situation. The pair of the might be heavier and stronger than Janus, but unless they could find some way to draw their weapons, they were definitely at a disadvantage.
His foot was inches away from Ashleigh's head. She was still holding the syringe, and with a cry of rage, she slammed it into the man's leg, her thumb clumsily forcing the entire syringe worth of the drug into his body.
She scrambled away; huddling against the nearest wall as the man grabbed his leg. He was swarthy and dark like Piancetta, and his face darkened as more blood rushed to his face.
Whatever was in the sedative worked quickly, and with a gargled moan, the man collapsed forward and hit the ground like a ton of bricks.
She stood, one hand clutching her face. Piancetta risked a glance in her direction.
'Puttana,' he growled at her.
Whore. A common enough insult, and hardly original enough to hurt. Her face hurt though, from her temple to her chin, the entire left side of her face ached.
She scowled painfully at him. Reaching out, she took the second syringe from where Alec had left it on the desk. 'Keep him still.' The coldness of her tone told of her intent.
Anywhere would do.
'Leave him,' Alec snarled, a trace of worry in his voice.
'No.' The neck would have done for the first time, it would do now. She stared the Italian down. 'Touch me, and he'll kill you.'
Piancetta glanced nervously at Alec who smiled coldly, and adjusted his grip on the gun.
A united front was needed.
It was a huge bluff to make. With Ashleigh so close to Piancetta, Alec wouldn't get a clear shot for risk of hitting her instead.
Piancetta knew it.
He moved quickly, but he hadn't expected her to fight back. He had thought her to be a mere woman, the scarred man's mistress. Now she was a she-devil who writhed and scratched in his grip. He moved to grab her head, but she didn't hesitate, the next moment she had sank her teeth into his hand.
His shout of pain would have woken the dead, she thought, as he threw her bodily away from him. She staggered, found her balance and moved quickly, trying to dodge his grip, trying to duck around him, and just inject him. He saw the needle in her hand, had seen the effect it had had on his partner, and decided that he wasn't going to suffer the same fate.
She struggled, trying to hold her own, but he seriously outweighed her, and she couldn't stop him. Moving with a speed that surprised her he stretched for her hands, trapping them, grabbing both of her wrists, and with a textbook move, he hooked a leg around her ankle and with a sharp kick, sent both of them crashing to the floor.
The air was forced from her lungs as he crashed onto her chest, pinning her, it was like being crushed, he was heavy, so heavy, and so intent on hurting her. She tried to struggle but his legs pinned her, his body was a dead weight on hers, she couldn't breathe...
It was the move that Alec had been waiting for. Unable to open fire, he had watched helplessly. The moment he saw Piancetta's heavy bulk crash down onto Ashleigh's slim form he had sprinted forward. He could see her trying to struggle and knew she could never break free by herself.
The syringe fell from her grasp. Surreptitiously he scooped it up, concealing it in his jacket.
The blow he struck to the back of Piancetta's thick neck would have felled a normal sized man, but Piancetta only grunted in surprise. He caught a glimpse of Ashleigh's brown eyes, one half closed and already bruising up, and knew that she was ready to fight as soon as the moment came.
He grabbed the back of the man's shoulders, and gave a mighty heave, at the same time Ashleigh pushed up, hitting out with both her hands and legs and the combined effort threw Piancetta backwards.
'No!' Ashleigh screamed, but it was too late, as Piancetta hit the ground, Alec turned, gun at the ready and with lightening precision took aim, and fired.
The shot echoed through the building.
The bullet embedded itself straight into the centre of Piancetta's forehead as he lay sprawled on the ground. He crashed to the ground, his head hitting the floor with a meaty thud, his body shuddered once, twice, and then there was nothing but his eyes staring unseeing at the ceiling.
'Oh god,' Ashleigh moaned, as she stared at the body. She was crouched on the floor, and she felt nausea swamp her. It was too reminiscent of Deronda's lifeless body, the same blackened hole in the middle of otherwise smooth skin, but this time blood poured from it to pool in his hair, to trickle down the side of the olive skin. 'Oh god, oh god.'
She buried her head in her arms. She had seen him kill before, but that time he had shot a man that moments before had been prepared to beat her to death.
There was a cold brutality to Alec, a cruelty in him that she found frightening. He had killed without remorse, for a second time in front of her. She trembled.
She felt him touch her, felt the warmth of his hands on the bare skin of her arms.
'Don't!' she howled, pushing him away violently. 'Just don't!'
'Ash,' he whispered, trying to pull her towards him.
'You didn't have to kill him!' she raged, trying to stop herself from lashing out at him. Trying to move away from him, to get away from him.
'Yes, I did.' Reaching down, he pulled her to her feet, wrapping her in a tight embrace. She was shaking, but she let him. 'He'd have done the same to me, or to you. I had no choice.'
He did have a choice, of course, he knew that, it was just sometimes it was easier to remove a target before they removed you. But if the thought calmed her...
He was warm, and strong, and she found herself breathing in the cool scent of his cologne, warmed by his skin, and softened as the hours had passed. How many times had she thought of this moment over the weeks? How much had she wanted this? Her body, traitorous to the end, melted against his. She relented, wrapping her arms around him, and he pulled her even tighter, his chin brushing the top of her head. He must be wearing a watch, she thought dazed as his arms tightened round her she felt a scratch on her arm.
It had happened so quickly. Death had come so quickly; one minute he had been alive, the next dead, the sound of the shot still ringing in her ears...
She jerked in his arms, pushing him away, panicking, and she tried to ignore the cooling body on the floor.
'Why the hell couldn't you have used a silencer?' she hissed, slamming her hands against his chest, remembering the loudness of the shot as it had fired.
He blanched as he realised his mistake. For once the cool demeanour dropped, and he shot a glance at the crumpled body. The entire hotel would have heard the shot. 'We have to leave. Now.'
She glanced at the clock on the wall. It was 0:53am. Seven minutes to go. She nodded. 'The roof.'
He stepped over the unconscious body of the second man, kicking him out of the way so he could open the door. Outside it was clear.
'He was unarmed,' Ashleigh muttered. 'I mean, he had a weapon, but he didn't pull it. Why?'
Alec paused. 'He thought I was an easy target. Thought I would be so drunk that I wouldn't put up much of a fight. It's so easy to mistake water for vodka, and your American friend did a very good job of helping me keep up that charade tonight.'
She swallowed. Piancetta would have killed Alec without a second thought; Alec had simply killed him first. She tried to find comfort in that rationalisation. It was difficult. 'We had better go.'
They ran from the room, turning left. 'There's a service elevator and staircase at the end of the next corridor,' Alec gestured. 'From there we can make it to the roof.'
They were half down the corridor, and so far unnoticed when she suddenly cried 'Wait!'
She turned, meaning to head back to the room they had come from, but he was too quick, grabbing her arm, and pulling her viciously back.
'Let me go!' she snapped, trying to prise his fingers away. 'I have to go back.'
'If you want a bullet in your head like our dear friend back there, then I will do it myself and save them the effort. They'll be looking for us, and they won't hesitate to kill you. Do you understand that? Do you want them to kill you?'
His voice was raising with every word, and with a sudden, quick gesture he twisted his wrist back and pressed the barrel of the gun to her temple, emphasising his point. She flinched, knowing how easily he could do it, but stood her ground. 'Do you want them to know where we are going? Do you want them to know how we found out? You left the disc behind!'
He cursed, realising she was right. 'Go, but be quick.'
She fumbled with the door, and shot inside. She appeared moments later, tucking the disc into her bag.
'They're coming,' he hissed, hearing the sound of shouting voices from the floor below. He glanced up and down as if expecting them to burst in at any moment.
'One more thing...' she muttered, and reaching down she slipped the heeled shoes from her feet. 'I'll be able to run faster without them.' She threw them back down the corridor, and in her bare feet sprinted forward.
They crashed through the door of the service stairwell just as the main door to the floor opened.
She glanced up seeing flight upon flight of stairs above her. She was slowing, tiring; she felt his hand on the base of her back.
'Keep moving,' he ordered, not unkindly.
'I am!' she protested, but each step was slower, harder to take.
Her arm was stinging and she remembered the scratch from earlier; brushing her fingers against it she saw a small smear of blood. 'Strange,' she murmured. 'I'm bleeding.'
He gave her an undignified push forward. 'It will wait, Ash, we're nearly there, look.'
She did, and she saw a door ahead. He helped her forward, pushing her through and into the chill of the night. 'There!'
Sweeping through the night she saw a single helicopter making its way towards them. The bright lights were harsh on her bruised eye, and she blinked painfully.
'Over here!' a voice cried, and they saw Gina, the pretty blonde American making her way towards them. She was still in her waiting uniform, bent double as the helicopter swept closer and the gusts from the blades surrounded them. 'Quickly!'
'What the hell happened to you?' she asked as she ran up to them. She took in the rapidly blackening eye, and the bruised cheek bone.
'Hit,' Ashleigh muttered, as she swayed on her feet. She wanted to say more, but the words wouldn't form, she couldn't think straight.
Her arm, Alec was clutching her arm, she had been bleeding. She glanced down. On her left arm there was a smear of blood. She wiped it away and saw the needle mark there, the scratch where it had caught her.
'What?' she frowned. She glanced up at Alec, and saw a flicker of guilt in his eyes before he looked away.
'Unfair, Alec,' she murmured, before tilting back into his waiting arms.
'She's gone?' Gina clicked her fingers in front of Ashleigh's face. 'Good, it was about time.'
'It was more difficult than I thought.' Alec struggled to get Ashleigh into a position from which he could lift her. 'Help me.'
Gina grabbed Ashleigh's feet as the door to the helicopter slid open. Together they lifted her in, and Alec climbed up after her.
'You know what, its times like this I'm glad I'm American,' Gina shouted above the roar of the blades, as she glanced at Ashleigh's unconscious form.
'Why do you say that?'
'Well, at least I know I'm only in danger from my enemies,' she grinned, 'and not my own superiors! Take care of her!'
With that she helped to slide the door shut.
It was awkward work strapping Ashleigh into the seat, she murmured in her sleep, and tried to bat his hands away, but finally she was secure.
He settled back into his seat, feeling her comforting weight leaning against him. Her hair brushed against the side of his neck as she shifted in her sleep.
She was going to be upset when she woke up, but there was nothing he could really do about that.
She had had her orders.
He had had his.
And he had followed them to the letter.
It's my birthday today. As a present to myself I allowed myself to indulge in some ATAK related drabble – to be posted on my LJ soon. As soon as I work out the ending.
You can find my LJ user name in my profile.
I'll edit this as soon as its up.
Nearing the end now. Poor Alec and Ashleigh. Poor James. What am I going to do with them all?
Chapter 41
For the past few weeks, Marco Piancetta had watched as the scarred man, Janus, had drank himself steadily into a stupor every night. He would stumble against Piancetta, sometimes muttering, sometimes just laughing manically.
He understood that the man had once been the ultimate power in Russia. Now he was nothing. Nothing but a double crossing spy. Piancetta despised him, and longed for the day when he would receive the order to dispose of him. That day had come at long last.
This Janus spoke with a clear, cold English accent, and had shadowed green eyes. The right side of his face was criss-crossed with scars that crept down his jaw, and beneath the collar of his shirt. He was strong, there was no denying that, and Piancetta suspected that he could move with some speed if it was needed.
Of course, that would be if he didn't have such a dependence on the iced vodka he drank most nights. His reactions would be slow, his mind addled with alcohol.
It would be easy. Almost too easy.
It was this thought that reverberated through Piancetta's head as he watched the door open a crack.
He threw his weight against it and it exploded inwards.
To his left, he saw a sudden movement and swung out with a huge arm. He felt it connect, and heard the thud of a body hitting the floor.
He stopped short.
The man he called Janus, Alec Trevelyan stood tall and straight before him. His body was turned to one side, but cold green, sober eyes stared at him, with death in their depths. This was a man in control, and with a sudden rush of realisation, Piancetta knew that he had been deceived. This was no drunk, but a ruthless, powerful man.
The hand that held the gun was steady. Piancetta stared down the cold, still barrel of the gun.
He could hear struggling behind him. He wanted to turn, but instead he faced his death.
The door had opened so suddenly, Ashleigh barely had had time to move back. Piancetta had stormed in, with such an evil look on his face that for a moment Ashleigh had frozen with fear.
Close up, the man was huge. He was at least a foot taller than she was, and twice as wide. His suit was well made, but strained over his bulk; his dark hair was cropped close to his head emphasising the brutality of his face.
Alec had said he would take him out. But the opportunity was there for Ashleigh to take.
She had seen the dark skin of his short neck exposed above the overly tight collar of his shirt, and she had known that he hadn't seen her. He was focused on Alec, and she knew that he would kill him if she didn't do something and soon. She had thrown herself forward in a huge leap, the hypodermic needle in her hand, brandished like a dagger.
Precision hadn't been necessary.
His fist and lower arm had connected with the side of her face, snapping her head back, and throwing her to the ground. The pain exploded through her skull. Dazed she lay sprawled on the floor waiting for the next blow.
Her left eye was watering; she could feel the tender tissues beginning to swell, effectively sealing her eye up. She gasped as her fingers found the bruising and her vision blurred as her right eye began to well up from the pain. She tried to brush the tears away.
The second man entered the room, having not seen the gun yet. He stepped casually over the woman lying on the floor, then froze as he saw Piancetta's predicament. It didn't take long for him to realise that he was in a desperately bad situation. The pair of the might be heavier and stronger than Janus, but unless they could find some way to draw their weapons, they were definitely at a disadvantage.
His foot was inches away from Ashleigh's head. She was still holding the syringe, and with a cry of rage, she slammed it into the man's leg, her thumb clumsily forcing the entire syringe worth of the drug into his body.
She scrambled away; huddling against the nearest wall as the man grabbed his leg. He was swarthy and dark like Piancetta, and his face darkened as more blood rushed to his face.
Whatever was in the sedative worked quickly, and with a gargled moan, the man collapsed forward and hit the ground like a ton of bricks.
She stood, one hand clutching her face. Piancetta risked a glance in her direction.
'Puttana,' he growled at her.
Whore. A common enough insult, and hardly original enough to hurt. Her face hurt though, from her temple to her chin, the entire left side of her face ached.
She scowled painfully at him. Reaching out, she took the second syringe from where Alec had left it on the desk. 'Keep him still.' The coldness of her tone told of her intent.
Anywhere would do.
'Leave him,' Alec snarled, a trace of worry in his voice.
'No.' The neck would have done for the first time, it would do now. She stared the Italian down. 'Touch me, and he'll kill you.'
Piancetta glanced nervously at Alec who smiled coldly, and adjusted his grip on the gun.
A united front was needed.
It was a huge bluff to make. With Ashleigh so close to Piancetta, Alec wouldn't get a clear shot for risk of hitting her instead.
Piancetta knew it.
He moved quickly, but he hadn't expected her to fight back. He had thought her to be a mere woman, the scarred man's mistress. Now she was a she-devil who writhed and scratched in his grip. He moved to grab her head, but she didn't hesitate, the next moment she had sank her teeth into his hand.
His shout of pain would have woken the dead, she thought, as he threw her bodily away from him. She staggered, found her balance and moved quickly, trying to dodge his grip, trying to duck around him, and just inject him. He saw the needle in her hand, had seen the effect it had had on his partner, and decided that he wasn't going to suffer the same fate.
She struggled, trying to hold her own, but he seriously outweighed her, and she couldn't stop him. Moving with a speed that surprised her he stretched for her hands, trapping them, grabbing both of her wrists, and with a textbook move, he hooked a leg around her ankle and with a sharp kick, sent both of them crashing to the floor.
The air was forced from her lungs as he crashed onto her chest, pinning her, it was like being crushed, he was heavy, so heavy, and so intent on hurting her. She tried to struggle but his legs pinned her, his body was a dead weight on hers, she couldn't breathe...
It was the move that Alec had been waiting for. Unable to open fire, he had watched helplessly. The moment he saw Piancetta's heavy bulk crash down onto Ashleigh's slim form he had sprinted forward. He could see her trying to struggle and knew she could never break free by herself.
The syringe fell from her grasp. Surreptitiously he scooped it up, concealing it in his jacket.
The blow he struck to the back of Piancetta's thick neck would have felled a normal sized man, but Piancetta only grunted in surprise. He caught a glimpse of Ashleigh's brown eyes, one half closed and already bruising up, and knew that she was ready to fight as soon as the moment came.
He grabbed the back of the man's shoulders, and gave a mighty heave, at the same time Ashleigh pushed up, hitting out with both her hands and legs and the combined effort threw Piancetta backwards.
'No!' Ashleigh screamed, but it was too late, as Piancetta hit the ground, Alec turned, gun at the ready and with lightening precision took aim, and fired.
The shot echoed through the building.
The bullet embedded itself straight into the centre of Piancetta's forehead as he lay sprawled on the ground. He crashed to the ground, his head hitting the floor with a meaty thud, his body shuddered once, twice, and then there was nothing but his eyes staring unseeing at the ceiling.
'Oh god,' Ashleigh moaned, as she stared at the body. She was crouched on the floor, and she felt nausea swamp her. It was too reminiscent of Deronda's lifeless body, the same blackened hole in the middle of otherwise smooth skin, but this time blood poured from it to pool in his hair, to trickle down the side of the olive skin. 'Oh god, oh god.'
She buried her head in her arms. She had seen him kill before, but that time he had shot a man that moments before had been prepared to beat her to death.
There was a cold brutality to Alec, a cruelty in him that she found frightening. He had killed without remorse, for a second time in front of her. She trembled.
She felt him touch her, felt the warmth of his hands on the bare skin of her arms.
'Don't!' she howled, pushing him away violently. 'Just don't!'
'Ash,' he whispered, trying to pull her towards him.
'You didn't have to kill him!' she raged, trying to stop herself from lashing out at him. Trying to move away from him, to get away from him.
'Yes, I did.' Reaching down, he pulled her to her feet, wrapping her in a tight embrace. She was shaking, but she let him. 'He'd have done the same to me, or to you. I had no choice.'
He did have a choice, of course, he knew that, it was just sometimes it was easier to remove a target before they removed you. But if the thought calmed her...
He was warm, and strong, and she found herself breathing in the cool scent of his cologne, warmed by his skin, and softened as the hours had passed. How many times had she thought of this moment over the weeks? How much had she wanted this? Her body, traitorous to the end, melted against his. She relented, wrapping her arms around him, and he pulled her even tighter, his chin brushing the top of her head. He must be wearing a watch, she thought dazed as his arms tightened round her she felt a scratch on her arm.
It had happened so quickly. Death had come so quickly; one minute he had been alive, the next dead, the sound of the shot still ringing in her ears...
She jerked in his arms, pushing him away, panicking, and she tried to ignore the cooling body on the floor.
'Why the hell couldn't you have used a silencer?' she hissed, slamming her hands against his chest, remembering the loudness of the shot as it had fired.
He blanched as he realised his mistake. For once the cool demeanour dropped, and he shot a glance at the crumpled body. The entire hotel would have heard the shot. 'We have to leave. Now.'
She glanced at the clock on the wall. It was 0:53am. Seven minutes to go. She nodded. 'The roof.'
He stepped over the unconscious body of the second man, kicking him out of the way so he could open the door. Outside it was clear.
'He was unarmed,' Ashleigh muttered. 'I mean, he had a weapon, but he didn't pull it. Why?'
Alec paused. 'He thought I was an easy target. Thought I would be so drunk that I wouldn't put up much of a fight. It's so easy to mistake water for vodka, and your American friend did a very good job of helping me keep up that charade tonight.'
She swallowed. Piancetta would have killed Alec without a second thought; Alec had simply killed him first. She tried to find comfort in that rationalisation. It was difficult. 'We had better go.'
They ran from the room, turning left. 'There's a service elevator and staircase at the end of the next corridor,' Alec gestured. 'From there we can make it to the roof.'
They were half down the corridor, and so far unnoticed when she suddenly cried 'Wait!'
She turned, meaning to head back to the room they had come from, but he was too quick, grabbing her arm, and pulling her viciously back.
'Let me go!' she snapped, trying to prise his fingers away. 'I have to go back.'
'If you want a bullet in your head like our dear friend back there, then I will do it myself and save them the effort. They'll be looking for us, and they won't hesitate to kill you. Do you understand that? Do you want them to kill you?'
His voice was raising with every word, and with a sudden, quick gesture he twisted his wrist back and pressed the barrel of the gun to her temple, emphasising his point. She flinched, knowing how easily he could do it, but stood her ground. 'Do you want them to know where we are going? Do you want them to know how we found out? You left the disc behind!'
He cursed, realising she was right. 'Go, but be quick.'
She fumbled with the door, and shot inside. She appeared moments later, tucking the disc into her bag.
'They're coming,' he hissed, hearing the sound of shouting voices from the floor below. He glanced up and down as if expecting them to burst in at any moment.
'One more thing...' she muttered, and reaching down she slipped the heeled shoes from her feet. 'I'll be able to run faster without them.' She threw them back down the corridor, and in her bare feet sprinted forward.
They crashed through the door of the service stairwell just as the main door to the floor opened.
She glanced up seeing flight upon flight of stairs above her. She was slowing, tiring; she felt his hand on the base of her back.
'Keep moving,' he ordered, not unkindly.
'I am!' she protested, but each step was slower, harder to take.
Her arm was stinging and she remembered the scratch from earlier; brushing her fingers against it she saw a small smear of blood. 'Strange,' she murmured. 'I'm bleeding.'
He gave her an undignified push forward. 'It will wait, Ash, we're nearly there, look.'
She did, and she saw a door ahead. He helped her forward, pushing her through and into the chill of the night. 'There!'
Sweeping through the night she saw a single helicopter making its way towards them. The bright lights were harsh on her bruised eye, and she blinked painfully.
'Over here!' a voice cried, and they saw Gina, the pretty blonde American making her way towards them. She was still in her waiting uniform, bent double as the helicopter swept closer and the gusts from the blades surrounded them. 'Quickly!'
'What the hell happened to you?' she asked as she ran up to them. She took in the rapidly blackening eye, and the bruised cheek bone.
'Hit,' Ashleigh muttered, as she swayed on her feet. She wanted to say more, but the words wouldn't form, she couldn't think straight.
Her arm, Alec was clutching her arm, she had been bleeding. She glanced down. On her left arm there was a smear of blood. She wiped it away and saw the needle mark there, the scratch where it had caught her.
'What?' she frowned. She glanced up at Alec, and saw a flicker of guilt in his eyes before he looked away.
'Unfair, Alec,' she murmured, before tilting back into his waiting arms.
'She's gone?' Gina clicked her fingers in front of Ashleigh's face. 'Good, it was about time.'
'It was more difficult than I thought.' Alec struggled to get Ashleigh into a position from which he could lift her. 'Help me.'
Gina grabbed Ashleigh's feet as the door to the helicopter slid open. Together they lifted her in, and Alec climbed up after her.
'You know what, its times like this I'm glad I'm American,' Gina shouted above the roar of the blades, as she glanced at Ashleigh's unconscious form.
'Why do you say that?'
'Well, at least I know I'm only in danger from my enemies,' she grinned, 'and not my own superiors! Take care of her!'
With that she helped to slide the door shut.
It was awkward work strapping Ashleigh into the seat, she murmured in her sleep, and tried to bat his hands away, but finally she was secure.
He settled back into his seat, feeling her comforting weight leaning against him. Her hair brushed against the side of his neck as she shifted in her sleep.
She was going to be upset when she woke up, but there was nothing he could really do about that.
She had had her orders.
He had had his.
And he had followed them to the letter.