Lakhimpur, India – Present Day

Ignoring any of the curious eyes that flicked in his direction, John hustled the woman toward his tent. He tried to shorten his stride, especially since his hand wrapped around her upper arm kept her close enough to almost trip over his feet. The ground offered them no easy walk and the flurry of activity to pack up the camp around them only made their interactions an almost dance around others to finally reach John's tent. Even then the eyes followed them and John hustled the woman inside and hurried to tie the flaps shut so no one could see them.

"Okay." John pivoted back to face her, "This is going to be-"

Whatever it was going to be, John did not speak quickly enough. Despite her bound hands, the woman managed to bawl her fists together and catch John alongside the jaw. The blow landed hard enough to send his eyes watering and pain immediately bloomed toward his ear and along his cheekbone. But sparing a hand to try and soothe the spot was out of the question as she attempted to dart around him and untie the tent flaps.

It became a race as John lunged forward and caught her around the waist. She kicked back, almost turning John's motion into a tackle but he recovered enough to make it a standing wrestling match. A match that, beyond all of John's assumptions, proved more even than her small stature would suggest. But her scrappy nature, and willingness to use any motion or movement she could manage, was enough to leave John dodging flaying elbows and catching one hard enough on his collarbone to land him on his knees.

Keeping a hold on her, John rolled on his knees to pivot onto his shoulder as he brought her to the wooden deck of his tent's floor. He fought against her adrenaline-fueled flight mode as his forearms rose to block the leg she kicked at him and catch her thrown arms when she went for another strike with her hands. Each motion kept him from regaining his footing until she overextended on a kick and he knocked her back hard enough to send her rolling away from him.

Seizing the half-second, John ducked another wild swing and landed an elbow in her midriff. The throw knocked some of air out of her lungs and she stumbled back. John quickly lurched, missing a wild swing of her bound hands, and brought her back to the floor. He wheezed when her fists beat at his breastbone but managed to straddle her waist.

The moment of stillness she gave him should have been a warning. Instead he took it as a peace offering and leaned down. A move he immediately regretted when one of her elbows knocked into his chin.

Stars danced around before his eyes and his teeth rang from the blow but John kept himself upright. Another elbow landed in his solar plexus, adding blinking black dots to his star-studded vision, and John blindly reached for her hands. Snagging the bindings around her wrists, he stretched her arms above her head. The move dragged his body over hers but John held himself over her with his other hand to the wooden floor.

"Listen. You need-"

Her knee landed at the back of his thigh, almost unsettling his position. But with his dominant position all John had to do was slide back to lock his feet around her knees. The move forced her legs to straighten out as John spread his legs just enough to dig his knees into the floorboards for leverage while keeping her immobile on the floor. But even with his body holding hers to the ground, she continued attempting to kick and flail until she huffed and growled against the gag.

"Stop fighting me." John hissed, still blinking stars from his eyes as her efforts slowed in their intensity. "This'll only be harder if you try to make a run for it."

Her nostrils flared and her eyes widened, throwing her hips in an attempt to dislodge him. John frowned, fighting her attempt, but paused when he noticed her expression. Shaking his head quickly, John tried to explain, "Not like that. You're… You're not in any danger from me. I'm not going to hurt you."

The eyebrow raise and the snort from behind her gag had John offering a conciliatory nod. "I'm… I'm not trying to hurt you. I know it doesn't look like it but I'm trying to help you." If her eyebrow could have risen further toward her hairline in disbelief it would have. "I am. I promise I am. It's why I stopped Green and…"

He sighed and shifted his weight up and back so he sat on his knees and freed her legs.. "Sign of trust, okay?" She stayed still but John clocked the calculation in her eyes. "Please don't try to get me in the balls or we're back to square one."

She eyed him, her blue eyes narrowing before she relaxed in his hold. John released her hands and held his up, as if in surrender, before shuffling back to leave distance between them. With a few moves she sat back, still eyeing him, and waited. After a moment John nodded toward her gag. "I can remove that, if you're willing to listen and not try to bite my fingers."

Her cheeks sucked in, as if she was trying to purse her lips, but then she relaxed. John went for the knot but stopped short, his face close to hers, "And please don't scream."

The quirk of her eyebrow had him hurrying to explain, "No one else here'll help you. We're also a long way from anyone who might even care about trying to help you so it'd be a waste of time."

Her body slumped, as if sighing in defeat, and John removed the gag. Dragging the material away, he noted how her jaw moved and shifted, as if she wanted to resettle the set of her jaw. John reached back for his canteen and held it up as an offering. She nodded and he pressed it to her lips to pour slowly into her mouth. He paused for her swallow before offering her another bout. She shook off an offer for more after that and John sat back.

"If you need it," He placed it to the side and retook his position, moving to a cross-legged seat that she matched. "It's right there. It's just water, by the way, so don't worry about that."

"To be fair," She croaked, swallowing again before speaking. "It would've been nice to know it was water before you poured it down my throat."

"Sorry."

She shrugged, "It's probably also the least of my worries, all things considered in this shitshow."

"Good point" John chewed at his lower lip and shook his head. "This is… This is pretty buggered."

"I'm so glad you agree." She frowned, "Wait…"

"What?"

"Why do you think it's buggered?"

"Because…" John thrust a hand through his hair, wiping it on his trousers when his sweat-damp hair left his palm wet. "Because I wasn't expecting to have to rescue anyone from… All this."

"So you're going to rescue me?"

"That was my plan." John opened his hand to her, not missing the snorting skepticism in her voice. "Unless you've got another plan for how you're getting out of here and back to wherever you came from."

"I haven't happened on one yet."

"Then let me ask you this," John brought up a leg, folding it toward himself so he could throw his arm around it and support a change in his position on the floor. "Why are you tramping around the Indian jungle?"

She shut her mouth. John snorted, "You're seriously going to keep that to yourself?"

"You don't need to know."

He pointed to his jaw. "I'd say the bruise I can feel forming here, that you gave me, by the way, says that I deserve to know why you're here to try and drive my teeth back into my skull."

"At least I didn't bite you."

"True but you still didn't answer my question."

"I don't trust you enough to answer your question." She snapped back and held up her hands. "And, if you're determined to rescue me, you might consider untying my hands. I'll be more effective that way."

"You would but neither of us are in a position for you to be effective." John checked his watch, "Six hours."

"Until you're going to kill me?"

"I'm not going to kill you."

"Someone's going to kill me in six hours."

"I'm hoping you can give me some kind of information before that time so you don't end up dead." John shrugged at her scoff. "It'll give me time to make a plan while Vera gets this place torn down. I'll get you out in the commotion and no one's the wiser."

She narrowed her eyes at him, drawing in on herself, as if trying to defend against an idea. "Why would you do that?"

"Because, like I said, I'm hoping to rescue you."

"Out of the goodness of your heart?"

"Isn't that enough?"

"No." She shook her head. "It's not enough."

"Why do you think I'm trying to rescue you?"

"I think you're hedging your bets."

John snorted, "Hedging my bets?"

"Yes."

"With you?"

"Yes."

"How?"

""Because one good turn deserves another and you know you'll probably get nailed with everyone else here on drug charges when they catch you."

"Drug…" John's eyes narrowed, "What do you know about drug charges?"

She froze, biting at her lip before closing her mouth. "I shouldn't have said that. Forget I said anything."

"No, no, no, no." John shook his head, "You're not just going to walk that back. Not now."

"I'm going to try."

"Try and walk it back."

"Try and not get myself into trouble so you turn me over to Vera."

"Are you…" John pursed his lips, biting at his tongue a moment before his eyes widened. "Were you looking for this place? Are you looking for Vera?"

"That's not-"

"Firebringer." Her eyes widened at that and John repeated it. "Firebringer. That's your code name isn't it?"

"How do you know that name?"

"Because I'm Desert Eagle." John ran another hand through his hair and groaned at himself before wiping it on his trousers. "Now we're officially buggered."

"Excuse me?"

"I said we're officially-"

"I heard what you said. I'm wondering why you said it."

"Because you being here has royally cocked this up.

She spluttered, "Like I wanted to be here?"

"I'm sorry," John looked right in her eyes, "I know it's not your fault. It's just… If I try to get you out of here, it'll blow the entire operation."

"I wasn't planning on ending up here, you know." She scooted back, pouting slightly. "I didn't ask to get grabbed."

"But you were wandering out in the jungle and just happened to run into someone who works with Vera Sadler."

"That's not what happened."

"Sure." John gave a scoff of his own. "No matter how it happened, you're going to blow my cover to hell Firebringer."

"That's not my name."

"It's your code name."

"Doesn't mean I want you calling me that when we're in person." She shook her head, "And I hate it as a code name."

"They're not permanent."

"I still hate it."

"It's just a moniker. It's nothing to get upset about."

"I'm not..." She took a breath, "What's your name?"

"Why?"

"So you don't call me 'Firebringer' and so I don't have to call you 'Desert Eagle' and officially blow your cover."

"I don't think we need-"

"What's your name or I make this difficult."

She waited and John finally sighed and shrugged, "John."

"Anna." She took a breath and held up her hands to him, "Feel like untying me now or do you still think I'm going to make a break for it?"

"At this point maybe we both should." John untied Anna's hands and moved from the floor onto his cot, surreptitiously rubbing at his sore ass. "How'd Green get you anyway?"

"It wasn't because I was tramping around in the jungle."

John rolled his eyes, "Sorry if I offended you with that assumption."

"You're not sorry."

"Would you just-"

"The old-fashioned way." Anna cut off his response as she took the stool, giving a sigh when she could stretch out slightly. "He caught my satellite signal when I was doing a check-in and followed me."

"Blonde like you this far out in the bush is pretty distinct." John clicked his teeth for a moment. "This is bad."

"You're telling me. That signal was supposed to be scrambled so no one could track it." Anna shook her head, "Now we know for sure there's a mole in my office."

"You were on a mole hunt?"

"It was supposed to be the added benefit of taking down a drug ring." Anna motioned about them. "But now we're out of the frying pan and into the fire."

"Not yet." John rubbed the back of his neck and almost immediately wiped his hand on his trouser leg. "It does put five years of undercover work at risk."

"Sorry."

John waved off her apology, "It's… It's not your fault."

"I wasn't suggesting it was."

"I just mean…" John sighed, "We're not really keeping in step with one another at all, are we?"

"No, we're not." Anna gave a little snort. "Maybe that's what comes of being literally thrown together."

"Maybe." John rubbed the back of his neck and wiped his hand on his trousers. "If we-"

"Why'd you keep doing that?"

He stopped, frowning. "Doing what?"

"You keep touching your hair or your neck and then wiping your hand on your trousers." Anna pointed and mimed as she spoke. "Why?"

"It's… It's a nervous habit." John's hand almost touched his hair again, as if on automatic reflex, but stopped short. His fingers curled into his palm. "I forget that it's a lot more humid here and my skin's sticky all the time so…"

"Mine's been a bit of a nightmare too." Anna plucked at her shirt. "I keep wiping my face on this but I never get the sweaty, oily feel off my skin."

"I don't think we were made for this climate."

"I can agree with that." Anna drew her legs close to her body, balancing precariously on the stool, and wrapped her arms around them. "What now?"

"I don't know." John shrugged. "I didn't have an exit strategy planned for this early in the operation."

"But if you had to make one?"

"It's… Rough." John clicked his teeth together. "I can't get you out this moment, given all the eyes already on us. And if they catch us then we're both dead. Either immediately or after they torture us, it's all the same."

"The time they'd take to torture us would say differently."

John paused, pursing his lips before swallowing. "You've not been in the field before, have you?"

"No, I haven't." She shrugged, "I wasn't supposed to be in this field but unlucky me got the assignment."

"Why'd they choose you if you've got no field experience?"

"Because I speak and read Hindi, which no one else in my office can do. As well as Nepali, Urdu, and a smattering of the local dialects." Anna shook her head, "I was a linguistics major at University."

"And now you're a kidnapping victim." John chewed the inside of his cheek. "I guess trial by fire's the best way to learn in these situations anyway."

"It'll have to be a fast course since you've got less than six hours to get me all trained up." Anna spread her hands and lowered one of her legs to the floor. "I'm a quick learner, if that's something to offer."

"It's a start." John shifted his jaw, as if chewing quickly, and finally nodded. "First thing, you've got to be demure."

"Demure?"

"Yes." John held up a hand to stop Anna as her eyebrows furrowed and she opened her mouth to speak. "I don't care what you think about what people'll think of you. If you try to kick and scream at them, they'll just shoot you and leave you on the side of the road."

"You'd let them do that?"

"There wouldn't be anything I could do to stop it." John grimaced, "And I've got to weight the value of your life in contrast to this assignment."

"Which one wins?"

"Penny's still in the air." John sighed, "But if you behave, follow orders, and act like I… I don't know, got you to submit or whatever, I could make an argument to bring you along with us."

"You want me along?"

"No, I don't. But if I can't get you out now there might be a chance later and I'll take the chances I can get." John motioned about them. "This job's about taking the chances you get. They don't come often and you've got to be ready for them."

"So I'm to be quiet and quick on my feet?"

"It's a start." John thought for another moment. "And, if I could get you a spot with us, even if for a few days, I could get out a signal to have someone come and get you so I'm not just dropping your ass in the jungle and hoping you'll survive."

"The PM'll be happy if I survive."

John stopped, "You're here for the PM?"

"More or less." Anna see-sawed her shoulders. "It's more of a special assignment from his office but I did meet with him so…"

"So he's the one buggering this?"

"Someone in his office might be." Anna leaned forward, "Like I said before, my signal being tracked means that there's a mole in the office."

"But why does the PM's office give two shits about this potential drug operation in Northern India?"

"Because he's made a big thing of being against drugs and…" Anna cringed, "And because he's convinced he's got a mole in his office passing all sorts of information, not just about this operation."

"Then you're the bait?"

Anna went to speak but stopped herself. Her face twitched through a myriad of half-formed emotions before she nodded. "I guess I am."

"Welcome to the snark hunt." John shook his head, "What a bastard."

"I'm sure this wasn't his intention."

"It never is." John almost spat, "Politicians and their good-hearted intentions blowing up in the faces of people like you and I."

"It's not his fault."

"Right now, I don't much care if it's fault or if he ever intended for something like this to happened. It happened and it's partly his fault." John batted his hand at Anna's attempt to argue. "I get it. You're here on his orders and he wouldn't know about any of this but-"

"That's not what I was about to say, if you'd let me speak for a moment." Anna huffed past her teeth. "Are you always this much of an asshole?"

"Today's a good day."

"Then I repeat, asshole." Anna waited, the corner of her mouth twitching toward a smile when John laughed at the moniker. "But the point is, I'm here now and I'd like to survive."

"I'd like you to survive too so you'll have to play pretty dumb."

"I'm already blonde so half that battle's won for me."

"You said it, not me." John took a breath, "But you'll have to be an idiot."

"How so?"

"Vera's… She's paranoid. You have to be in this business." John shrugged, "Keeps the evil people alive so they tend to lean into that."

"So I need to not trip her radar in any way?"

"You already have but if we convince her you're a false positive then…" John hissed, "If you're funny, forgettable, and dumb then she won't see you as an enemy. You'll be a hindrance but not something she'd handle personally."

"And if she's not the one to pull the trigger on me?"

"Then she might let me do and then we get you out." John twitched, "I'd rather not have your death on my conscience, all things considered."

"I'd rather not be dead, all things considered." Anna ticked off on her fingers, "So I keep quiet, I stay on my toes, I act dumb, I make myself forgettable, and then wait for you cue?"

"Yeah."

"Sounds simple enough." Anna dropped her hands and held to the side of her stool as her other leg went to the floor so she rocked slightly in place. "What are the odds you can pull off your end of this?"

"Like the actual percentage?"

"I'll take something a little less clinical but…"

John winced, "Depends on the side of me you're alright with me using."

"What does that mean?"

"I've…" John shifted on his cot. "I've got a reputation here. I've worked hard to put distance between myself and everyone else here. I'm prickly and I've been brusque with everyone to the point where they're all stepping a little lightly around me. It's… It's given me a rough reputation."

"And it works?"

"It's been enough to make it so people give me a wide berth." John pointed at Anna, "If you're 'mine' in that context then no one'll touch you."

"Not even that Green guy?"

John winced, "He might try it. He's… I think he thinks I'm trying to steal his spot as Vera's right-hand man."

"Are you?"

"Yes." John bit the inside of his cheek. "Vera's the only other one who'll think there's anything fishy if I act differently so I'll need to play this one very carefully."

"How's that?"

"I can't change too much but I need to practice a heavier hand." John leaned forward, "It might mean that I'll have to say, or do, things that'll have you questioning me."

"Violent things?"

"Possibly."

Anna looked down at her feet and then back at him. "Violent things to me?"

"No." John shook his head, "If I can help it then you'll be out of the line of fire but I may have to exercise some of that shitty alpha-male crap to make sure no one else tries to challenge me."

"Where does that leave me?"

"Trusting me when it may be hard to buy into what I'm going to try and sell so we both get out of this alive." John extended a hand to her. "Do you trust me?"

Anna narrowed her eyes at him, glanced down at his hand, and then shook it. "Enough that I think you're my best chance for survival."

"That's good enough for me." John took his hand back, "But I warn you, if we cock this up we're both dead. End of story."

"So don't cock it up."

"Very funny." John stood, "We'll need some kind of code word. A signal for when we're safe to speak freely."

"And when we're not?"

"Then you have to pretend you're nothing but a dumbass."

Anna thought a moment, "We'll say 'bananas'."

"Bananas?"

"What, want another fruit?"

"No, that one's fine." John took a breath and pointed at the tent flap, "No matter what I say or do out there, it's an act. An act they need to believe."

"I know." Anna stood as well. "But how much of it's a lie?"

"Enough to keep the important truths hidden but not enough that it's unbelievable." John jerked up a shoulder. "The most important part of the work I'm doing is learning how to wrap lies in truths so it all feels real to everyone else."

"But not to you?"

"If I forget who I am then what's the point?"

"I guess that's the question isn't it?" Anna dragged the toe of her shoe over the wooden floor. "But I've trusted the information you've given me for months, and that was before I knew your name and before you rescued me from that man so…"

"So?"

"So I've no reason to doubt you now." Anna crossed her arms over her chest. "How do we start?"