Missing Agent
"How the hell can someone just disappear? How could Tom just disappear?"
Mary was beside herself, practically shouting at Matthew as he held what used to be Tom's shoes and his shirt and trousers.
It had been seven hours since her old partner was taken by that horrid con-woman. Seven hours since she and Matthew had heard him speaking to Sybil before they heard nothing. At first, Mary and Matthew had been tailing Tom—or at least what they thought was Tom—until they found his watch stuck to the bumper of a car driving through west London. And then they'd located most of his clothes in a bin in Hyde Park, along with his ear piece, but no Tom.
"Mary, calm down," Matthew said as they walked into the office. "You've been awake for over 24 hours, you need sleep."
He set Tom's clothes on a nearby desk and she rounded on him.
"No. No, I do not need sleep I need to find Tom! What if she's killed him and his body is floating down the Thames?" she asked, feeling more hysterical by the second, prompting a few nearby analysts to glare at her over their morning coffees.
Matthew sighed, stepping forward to place a tentative hand on Mary's shoulder. "The Colonel has his best people on it, Mary. They will find Tom, I assure you. And Sybil Browne doesn't kill people, you know that."
She exhaled slowly, her tension only heightened by Matthew's touch. She swallowed, looking at his hand. "Well, there's a first time for everything," she whispered, not wholly referring to the con-woman anymore.
He frowned, as though considering her words. "Is there?" he asked, licking his lips, a habit of his Mary found horribly distracting.
"You're right. I need sleep," she said, heading for her office.
"Why don't you go home?" Matthew asked, following after her.
"Why don't you wake me if anything happens?" Mary retorted as she slipped into her office. She shut the door in his face and heard Matthew laughing as he walked away, presumably to his own office to sleep or to find some coffee.
Even though Tom was missing, she couldn't help but smile over the fact that Matthew had indulged her search for her old partner for so long. They'd never gone so long without getting in an argument before.