Between Shadow and Soul
By Mamatots
Chapter 2
LONDON
Somewhere on the Thames River
Eve
"VILLANELLE!"
Eve felt herself pulled back by Pam.
"Stop, Eve," Pam insisted.
Villanelle was lying flat, covered in a heavy blanket too. Eve could only see the vague outline of her body.
"Is she alive?" Eve's throat hurt as she spoke, but she needed to know.
The young man pulled the blanket up, tucking it around Villanelle's neck, confirming, "She's breathing."
"Oh thank god," Eve felt hot tears rolling down her face, a stark contrast to the night air blowing heavily against her.
Pam pulled Eve's blanket up around her shoulders, saying, "Villanelle is strong."
The boat started slowing. "Here," the driver said into a cell phone.
A light flashed on the nearby shore.
"We're here," he yelled over his shoulder.
"Where?" Eve asked.
"Eve - she needs A & E," Pam explained, "These guys are going to help get her there."
"You can't be serious," Eve called out as the driver tossed the boat's rope to a tall man on a dock. "They'll immediately call police."
"I can't help her this time," Pam replied, "She has several wounds."
It had only been a week since Pam pulled an arrow from Villanelle's shoulder, treating her in a motel room. Fortunately, that ended up being more or less a flesh wound, but Pam was realizing that injuries were an ongoing peril of being a trained assassin.
The two men on shore swiftly helped the two men on the boat lift Villanelle, moving her to the back of a small truck.
"Keep her flat," Pam instructed.
"Where are they taking her?" Eve called out, being helped to shore.
"There's hospital nearby," the driver of the boat answered, "with trauma care."
"No! No, you can't take her there," Eve insisted, following after Villanelle, "They'll find her. They'll kill her!"
"If she doesn't go right now," Pam clarified harshly, pulling Eve back, "She'll bleed out."
Pam walked them to a nearby car. She opened the back door and gently pushed Eve in, handing her the blanket and her wet shoes. She climbed in beside her and closed the door. The younger man from the boat drove the car as they followed the truck along a gravel pathway until it turned left onto a main road. The car's driver turned right.
"Where are you going," Eve shouted, her voice gaining volume, "Follow them!"
SOME ROAD IN LONDON
Anish
"Eve, this is my cousin, Anish," Pam told her, "He's going to get us dry clothes. We need to regroup and figure out what we do next."
"We make sure Villanelle is safe," Eve insisted, losing self-control, "Take me there…Now!"
"We need to make sure you're safe too," Pam replied.
"I can't leave her alone," Eve explained, stammering, "She…she…needs me with her."
"You can't help her right now," Pam interjected, "We need to hide you."
"I can't HIDE!" Eve shouted, her eyes wide, "Not from The Twelve. Don't you see that?!"
"Eve – this was not The Twelve," Pam said calmly, "This was MI6."
Eve sat back in the seat, her head swirling. She did not understand what happened tonight. How had tonight gone so wrong?
"You and Villanelle were set up," Pam disclosed to Eve.
Eve's head was throbbing now as clarity set in, and her heart sank into the pit of her stomach.
"Carolyn?"
Pam nodded confirmation.
Eve dropped her head into her lap and sobbed.
They rode silently for what seemed like eternity to Eve before she felt the car slow.
Anish drove into a brightly lit car park, rounding it up several levels before pulling into a parking space. Doors to the car opened, and all three stepped out.
"Come this way," Anish directed them toward a lift.
They stepped inside, standing mutely until it stopped on level 6 and the door reopened.
"This way."
Pam and Eve followed the young man into a small but tidy flat. Once inside the lit interior, Pam sat with Eve on the couch.
"I'll be right back." Anish went to a nearby bedroom, returning with two joggers, two jumpers, and two socks. He told the women, pointing, "The lav is there."
Until that moment, Eve had not realized Pam was wet too.
"You can go first," Pam said with a kind smile.
She watched Eve close the door to the toilet before asking her cousin, "Would you make some tea?"
"Yeah," Anish replied. He busied himself in his kitchenette, and before long, the kettle whistled with steam.
Pam scrolled through her mobile. She still had the one her trainer gave her to contact him. He was dead now; killed by her. She was fortunate Anish answered the unknown mobile number when she rang him earlier in the evening with one request: locate a boat.
Pam wasn't sure who to trust with the information she received from Carolyn earlier in the day, but she did know she could not do nothing. Villanelle and Eve deserved better than such a deep betrayal.
She and Anish nearly made it to The Dixie Queen before snipers forced the women into the Thames. At least, they were there to pull them out of the water.
"Tea's ready," he told her.
Pam added a small bit of milk then took a sip of the warm liquid. It felt good going down her throat, instantly warming her belly.
"I'm going to change in your room." She wanted out of the wet clothes that were starting to dry but sticking to her.
She returned a few minutes later as Anish opened his front door to the two men from the truck.
"Tea, mates?" Anish asked as he walked back to the small kitchen. He set two more cups on the waist-high countertop.
"Thanks," the shorter one, Raj, said, stirring his with a spoon. Raj was Anish's younger brother and was the only other person Anish knew to involve. Raj's flat mate, Colum Burke, was the taller man who knew a man with a boat.
Within two hours, the group had pulled together an improvised escape plan that rapidly turned into a rescue mission.
Pam took her tea mug back to the couch, asking, "What was said when you arrived?"
"We didn't speak to anyone inside," Colum said.
"You told us to not to be seen," Raj reminded Pam.
"Did you make sure she was being treated," Anish asked. He was the one who pulled Villanelle into the small boat. He had limited light, but he could see how pale she was. She wasn't breathing on her own at first, but Pam was able to revive her. Her body was ice cold from the water's temperature which, Anish knew from his biology classes at university, ultimately aided in keeping her alive, giving them time to get her to casualty care.
"Medics were standing outside. They took over," Raj explained, "So we slipped away."
"There will be CCTV," a voice said from behind them. Eve entered the living room where everyone was gathered. "It's just a matter of time before this makes it up the chain."
"We did the best we could," Raj assured the group.
"I need to know how she is," she stated matter-of-factly, "Please take me back there."
"Eve, no," Pam insisted, standing up and guiding her toward the couch, "Come sit down. You're probably still in shock."
"Have some tea," Anish handed a cup to Pam who sat next to Eve.
"Here, this will warm you," Pam coaxed.
Eve looked at the cup of tea then up at Anish. "Got anything stronger?"
"Umm…sure," he replied, going back to his kitchen.
"Let's see if there's any report yet," Raj powered on the television, turning to a channel with city news.
"What are you expecting to hear?" Eve said jeeringly, "Gunshot victim dropped off by two men driving silver truck?"
Anish returned with a clear glass with brown liquid, hesitantly handing it to Eve. "Are you sure you aren't hurt?" he asked timidly, as one does when speaking to an increasingly unhinged person.
"I'm fine," she dismissed, taking a gulp of whiskey.
The small group watched the news channel for several minutes before Eve downed the rest of the liquid and abruptly stood up.
"I can't sit here any longer. I need information. I need to do something."
"Like what?" Pam asked.
"Anything!" Eve's volume heightened. She looked around, rubbing her forehead, "Who has a phone?"
Colum pulled his out of his pants pocket, trying to clarify, "Who are you calling?"
"Hospital," she stated, instructing the young man, "Look up the number to reception and dial it. Ask for the morgue."
The tall blond stared at her.
"Do it!" she screamed.