Andrea snuck
along the second floor corridor keeping her eyes peeled for anyone else that
was up there that afternoon. Of course
she knew it was more likely that she would be spotted by one of the soldiers in
the monitoring room than someone in person, hoping they would think nothing of
her being there if they did. It felt
faintly wrong to be contemplating what she was, but even as a police officer
she’d been required to do a few things that weren’t quite above board, as long
as she got the right result in the end.
Even Inspector MacKenzie had known that and even indulged in a few
nefarious activities himself if it meant the right villain ended up behind
bars. And that was Andrea’s aim today –
to get the right result.
She’d had enough
of Chadwick thinking he could get away with his attempts to sabotage the base,
especially after his actions when they’d got back from Afghanistan. The way he was so willing to try and land
Kate in trouble smacked of cowardice, even more shameful considering she had
saved his life.
Of course
Chadwick hadn’t been successful in this instance, he being the one who came out
of the whole incident looking an idiot while Kate’s reputation was intact. Though that pleased Andrea, she also
recognised it could make Chadwick even more dangerous. He could turn to more of his underhand
tactics given that his overt ones had failed.
Therefore, Andrea
had resolved it was time for her to be more proactive too. Having thought of the idea a couple of days
before, she had been unable to resist the temptation to come and have a snoop
round Chadwick’s quarters. Maybe she
couldn’t do anything in terms of investigating the warehouse accident for the
time being, but this was something she did have the power to affect.
Before making her
way to his quarters, Andrea had made sure the Lieutenant was otherwise
occupied, picking the afternoon for her clandestine task since most other
people would also be busy with their duties and less likely to spot her
breaking in. It didn’t take much to
open the lock, using a technique Tom had demonstrated to her. The Lieutenant’s quarters followed the same
basic layout as all the others she had seen on the base, though she noted that
Chadwick had even fewer personal touches to his living space than she herself
did. Andrea carefully started poking
through the drawers and cupboards, making sure she left everything as it had
been before she touched it.
Carrying out the
search was a strange reminder of her former police life back in London. However, where once it would have made her
hanker to return there, now it just served as a piece of nostalgia for a time
that was gone. She was halfway round
the room when she came to the desk, sliding out each of the drawers in
turn. A quick rifle through their
contents didn’t yield anything of particular interest, apart from a stash of
pornographic magazines in the bottom drawer.
She was about to continue on with the other rooms when something made
her stop. Sliding out the top drawer
again she pulled it right the way off its runners, putting it down atop the
desk.
Andrea knelt down
to look into the gap left by it, immediately seeing something that shouldn’t be
there. She stuck her hand under the
desk, searching out the corners of the tape that held the object in place. Once she had removed it and taken it out of
its casing she didn’t immediately recognise it. It was only as she wracked her brains trying to place where she
had seen it before that realisation dawned and along with it a swelling sense
of triumph. That was quickly pricked by
the sound of the door being opened.
Andrea shot back to her feet, squaring up to the astonished looking
Chadwick.
“What the hell
are you doing in my quarters?” he demanded angrily, striding towards her.
Andrea held up
the circuit board in her hand. “Finding
very interesting pieces of equipment,” she declared.
Chadwick
instantly stopped in his tracks, the paleness coming over his face further
confirming Andrea’s initial suspicions as to the source of the object in her
hands.
“This is what I
think it is, isn’t it?” she carried on confidently, already knowing full well
the answer to her question.
“That’s breaking
and entering,” Chadwick attempted, avoiding the question, though his
nervousness was evident in his tone.
“I’m sure no
one’s going to be too bothered how I got this, not when they realise what it
is.”
Chadwick appeared
at a loss for words for once, his eyes shifting uneasily around the room. Andrea knew she had him bang to rights. The object she had found was the part of
Doc’s medical equipment that Patterson had supposedly tampered with, causing
the accident when Andrea herself was injured.
The one in her hand was obviously the original as opposed to whatever it
was they’d found in Patterson’s possession.
Even with the circuit board it might have been a bit difficult proving
anything, if it weren’t for Chadwick’s obvious guilty reaction.
“How did you get
Patterson to take the rap for you?” pressed Andrea. “Did you pay him off,
threaten him, or did you just set him up?”
Chadwick remained
silent, his eyes still searching the room as if looking for something.
“Fine, keep quiet
if you want,” continued Andrea, “I’m off to tell the Major and then you can
speak to her.”
“Wait!” said
Chadwick suddenly as she was halfway to the door, “Can’t we talk about this?”
Andrea paused,
wondering what he was playing at. He
had perched himself on the edge of his desk now in what she supposed was meant
to be a non-threatening pose, his hands behind his back.
“Now you want to
talk? Face it, Chadwick, you’re
finished when the Major hears about this,” she remarked scathingly.
“You don’t have
any proper evidence, that doesn’t prove anything.”
“Maybe, maybe
not,” allowed Andrea, “But who do you really think the Major’s going to believe
out of the two of us? I’m sure when we
start digging some more we’ll find all the evidence we need.”
Suddenly Chadwick
was up off the desk, getting imposingly close to Andrea, his dark eyes
narrowing menacingly. Andrea made sure
she kept her left arm and her power regulator away from him.
“Running to your
girlfriend are you?” he remarked with a sneer, “Using your perverted influence
over her to get me in trouble.”
“You got yourself
in trouble, Chadwick,” stated Andrea, bristling at his disparaging tones,
“You’re the one that’s been sabotaging things, not me! Why did you do it? What did you hope to gain?”
“My rightful
place!”
Andrea looked at
him in confusion. “What?”
“I should be
running this base,” he declared emphatically, “I used to be a Major too, you
know. I only got demoted because of
some minor indiscretion. But I’m far
more qualified than Major Jarvis to run this place. She only got the job because she’s Parson’s pet. Oh, and not forgetting the fact that it
turns out she’s also a closet mutie freak!”
That was more
than enough for Andrea. “You’re a
wanker, Chadwick,” she said turning to go, “A soon to be in jail wanker.”
Chadwick’s hand
darted out, grabbing onto her right arm to try and stall her.
“Get your hands
off me!” she said angrily shaking it off.
She only just
caught sight of his other hand heading towards her, realising at the last moment
that his latching onto her had been a diversion tactic. The scratch on her neck was barely
perceptable. Andrea’s hand shot up to
where she had felt the tiny nick, bringing it away to look for evidence of
damage.
“What was that”
she demanded, rounding on Chadwick who had taken a couple of wary steps back
towards his kitchen.
Andrea started
towards him. “I said what…”
The wave of
nausea was sudden and intense. Andrea
stumbled, having to grab quickly for the kitchen counter to stop herself
falling. Her head was swimming, the
room spinning in a dizzying haze.
“What the fuck?”
she managed, glancing to Chadwick, trying to focus on his face which was
blurring worryingly before her eyes.
She could just make out that he was sneering back at her.
Slowly he brought
up a small needle. “Just a little
something to counter those powers of yours,” he explained, “I hear it has some
rather unpleasant side effects too.”
Unpleasant was
putting it mildly, thought Andrea. She
felt like the contents of her stomach was about to take an express route out
via her mouth any second, while her legs didn’t seem to be co-operating in the
moving stakes at all, trembling weakly below her. Lucky for her Chadwick was standing foolishly close. She lunged for him, intending to punch his
smug face, only he easily caught her right fist in his own.
Andrea stared in
stupefaction as she actually felt the pain of his tight grip – it seemed her
powers really had deserted her.
Undetered she tried the other fist, but he let go of her right hand and
grabbed her flailing left arm. Jamming
it roughly behind her back, Chadwick swung her round and smashed her head
straight into one of the kitchen cupboards.
The pain flared
instantly in Andrea’s temple, a cry escaping her lips. As Chadwick released her she staggered
unsteadily away, bumbling into the counter top and sending the plates on it
flying. The noise as they tumbled to
the tiles was a discordant crashing in her brain, causing her to wince at its
harshness. She continued stumbling
away, trying to distance herself from Chadwick, feeling the warm trickling that
was now starting down her left cheek.
She reached up, seeing her hand coming away coated in red when she wiped
ineffectually at it.
My
communicator, she thought
dazedly, Call for help.
She fumbled for
it, but she was finding it difficult to think or focus now, the combination of
whatever drug Chadwick had given her and the blow to the head clouding her
thoughts.
“Uh-uh,” cried
Chadwick, snatching it from her hand just as she’d finally got hold of it, “We
don’t want any more uninvited guests.”
“Give it back,”
demanded Andrea, alarmed when her voice came out in a mumbling slur. It was almost like she was drunk.
She tried to
reach for the communicator, but it was hopeless, she could barely move her arms
let alone control the direction they were heading. Suddenly more pain shot through her jaw, Andrea dazedly
registering that Chadwick had back-handed her across the face. She hadn’t even seen the blow coming. Her legs finally gave out, sending her
tumbling to the floor. There was a wet,
metal taste from the blood in her mouth as she crouched on the floor, trying
desperately to gather herself.
She had to fight
back, do something! And quickly, before
she was consumed by the drug or Chadwick killed her.
Another movement
out of the corner of her eye only just forewarned her before Chadwick’s boot
cracked forcefully into her ribs.
Andrea let out a gasping cry at the darting pain, flopping listlessly to
the carpetted floor. It was getting
harder and harder to concentrate, her surroundings seeming to fade into a
confusing jumble. Then Chadwick was on
her, pushing down on her chest as she lay on her back, pinning her arms to the
floor. She tried to struggle but he was
far too strong given her weakened state.
“You always
thought you were better than me didn’t you?” he snarled, “But who’s on top
now?”
“Fuck you!”
gasped Andrea defiantly, grimly noting the spray of blood she sent over
Chadwick’s face.
He wiped it
slowly and deliberately out of his eyes.
“You bloody muties are everywhere.
Even the sodding Major’s one!
And to think I actually fancied her for a while, it makes my skin
crawl. And not only are you a mutie
freak,” he continued, “But you’re a fucking dyke too! And you seem to have infected the Major with
that too, you make me sick!”
“The feeling’s
mutual,” retorted Andrea, receiving another swift slap across the face for the
remark. The stinging pain brought tears
to her eyes, but she determinedly held them back.
“I bet you just
never had a decent man,” noted Chadwick, leaning ever closer, so close that
Andrea could smell his sour breath, hot on her face.
She attempted to
twist from his grasp again, realising with agonising clarity exactly what his
intentions were. It was no good though,
the drug having taken its toll on her body.
Chadwick grasped both her wrists in one hand, forcing them above her
head. His free hand slid slowly across
her chest, Andrea having to fight down the urge to recoil in disgust at the
unwanted touch – she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of getting any
sort of reaction from her. She didn’t
have much else she could do to fight back, so she would cling onto that one
small thing.
“I think it’s
time I got a taste of what the Major’s been getting,” said Chadwick, his
fingers worming their way lower down her body.
The sound of the
door chime made them both jump.
Andrea opened her
mouth to call out, but Chadwick quickly jabbed his hand over it. His palm was sweaty as it pressed against
her lips, the stale smell wafting up Andrea’s nose, causing her to gag in
disgust. Still she tried to shout, but
her words were muffled, incoherent against his fingers.
The chime sounded
again.
Please! begged Andrea internally, Whoever you
are, just open the door!
Chadwick’s eyes
remained on it, as the agonising moments stretched on. Eventually, when there was no further chime,
he turned back to Andrea.
“Now, where were
we?”
Andrea screamed
against his hand, a scream of indignation and fury. She desperately tried to wriggle from his grasp once more, but he
held her tightly still. The sudden
click of the door lock being released caused them both to freeze.
……………
As she opened the
door it took a moment for the scene before her to register fully in Kate’s
brain. What the hell was Chadwick
doing?
He was crouched
on the floor. No, she realised, he was pinning someone to the floor, his hand
over their mouth. There was a lot of
blood coming from a gash on the other person’s temple, covering most of the
left side of their face, matting their blond hair.
Then a pair of
pleading blue eyes swung to her.
“Andrea!”
There were no
more thoughts for Kate then, just a primal urge to leap to Andrea’s aid.
And to hurt
Chadwick.
Instinctively she
raised her hands as she dashed across the room, sending out a concussion wave
that cannoned into the burly lieutenant.
He was flung straight off Andrea, spiralling across the floor. But Kate didn’t stop there. She kept coming, hitting him with blast after
blast, knocking him back across the room until he was pinned to the wall. She was dimly aware of his words begging her
to stop, but she ignored them, only able to recall the sight of him atop the
battered Andrea, the vision driving her on in a avenging rage.
It was another
sound that finally made her lower her hands, a small plaintive cry.
“Kate…”
The simple call
sent a dagger of fear into her heart, and Kate hurried back over to where
Andrea still lay, knowing the Lieutenant wouldn’t be going anywhere in a
hurry. Kneeling down, she had to fight
hard to control the fresh wave of anger that shot through her when she saw
Andrea’s bruised and bloodied face. She
gently took Andrea in her arms, the other woman seeming incredibly small for
once as she cradled her trembling body to her.
“It’s all right,
I’m here now,” said Kate soothingly, stroking Andrea’s cheek as softly as she
could, frightened of hurting her.
Andrea clung
tightly to her, her hands gripping the material on the back of Kate’s uniform
shirt. Kate merely held Andrea to her,
pulling her close, not wanting to ever let go.
She didn’t say or ask anything, thinking there would be plenty of time
for questions later. For now all she
wanted to do was keep Andrea close and safe.
………………..
Kate jolted awake
in bed, instinctively reaching out to the space next to her only to find that
it was empty. As her hand brushed over
the sheets she could feel the residual warmth on them. Glancing over to the bedside table, the
clock told her it was 4am, and she sighed to herself as she swung her legs out
of bed. Grabbing her robe, she padded
out into the lounge, finding Andrea in her usual position – standing, staring
out the window into the blackness of the night sky.
“Nightmares
again?”
Andrea’s head
nodded minutely, her eyes still fixed on the window.
“The warehouse or
Chadwick?” asked Kate gently.
“A bit of both.”
Kate merely
nodded in understanding not wanting to rush Andrea. She was willing to go at whatever pace the other woman wanted,
just as long as she could be there for her.
She wanted Andrea to feel safe with her, able to be vulnerable and not
have to worry that Kate felt any the less of her. She resolutely ignored the other thoughts at the back of her mind
telling her that she could hardly expect Andrea to trust her when she was still
lying to her about the warehouse accident.
Now was hardly the time to lay that one on her too, she maintained.
“It’s all right,
take your time,” said Kate softly. She
drew Andrea over to the sofa, sitting her down and maintaining a gentle grip on
her hands the whole time.
They sat there in
silence for a while, Andrea simply staring distractedly off at the wall. Kate was happy to wait, ocassionally
stroking her thumb across the back of Andrea’s hand to let her know she was
there. If she had to she would sit
there in silence all night, if that’s what Andrea wanted.
She suspected
that wouldn’t be the case though, since they had already talked about what had
happened with Chadwick many times over the past few days, Kate feeling freshly
sickened by her subordinate’s actions each time Andrea described it. Thankfully he wasn’t a danger to anyone at
present, being incarcerated in the brig, having spent a couple of days in the
medical bay after her attack on him.
He was just lucky
she hadn’t known about his other actions at the time, ot it could have been a
lot worse. Andrea had confessed that
there had been another incident months ago when Chadwick had assaulted her, and
Kate had felt a fresh wave of hatred towards the man when Andrea outlined his
callous disregard of her painful seizure.
Kate also felt like a fool considering she had been defending him to
Andrea all that time.
Yet however
uncomfortable it made her feel, she knew it was good for Andrea to try and
express openly her emotions surrounding both incidents. That was hard for Andrea, and as they had
talked it quickly became apparent that one of her biggest anxieties concerned
her feelings of powerlessness, a subject she came back to now, as she finally
spoke.
“I just can’t get
over how easily he subdued me,” she began quietly, focussing on their entwined
hands. “I wanted to fight back, but I
couldn’t do anything, I was helpless.” Andrea’s
words were soft, almost mumbled. “I’ve
finally gotten used to having these powers, accepted that they were part of me
and now…now…I find that when I don’t have them I’m just weak.”
“You’re not
weak,” Kate insisted, “Chadwick had drugged you, no one could have done
anything to resist that. That drug was
specifically designed to temporarily attack your mutants cells – it would have
had the same effect on any of us.”
Andrea didn’t
look entirely convinced, nervously biting the corner of her lip.
“And anyway,”
continued Kate, trying a different tack, “Strength isn’t always about physical
strength. Strength comes from within
too – strength of character, strength of will, the strength to know and do
what’s right. I know you’ve got plenty
of those qualities and certainly more than a loser like Chadwick. You just need to find them again.”
Andrea looked
mournfully up to her, Kate holding the gaze as she spoke. “You’ll get through this. We’ll get through this.”
“I suppose,”
agreed Andrea hesitantly. “I think I
kind of started to take my powers for granted, perhaps got a bit
overconfident. If you hadn’t turned
up…”
“But I did,”
stated Kate forcefully, “I would never let anyone hurt you if it was in my
power to stop them.”
“You certainly
stopped Chadwick,” noted Andrea appreciatevely.
Kate glanced
guiltily away.
“What is it?”
asked Andrea, seeing the sudden change in mood.
“It’s nothing,”
said Kate dismissively, “We’re meant to be talking about you.”
“I know, but
you’re important too, at least to me. I
want to know if something’s on your mind too.”
Kate swallowed
for a moment, supposing it would probably do Andrea good to hear that she
herself had doubts and insecurities.
“It was just how I reacted when I saw Chadwick…on top of you…” she
began, trying desperately not to bring the mental image to mind, “…I wanted to
kill him. That’s not just a figure of
speech, I mean I literally wanted to kill him.”
“That’s
understandable,” allowed Andrea, seemingly less perturbed by it than Kate,
“It’s only a natural human reaction to want to defend the ones we love.”
“Maybe, but most
human’s don’t have the power to carry that desire out with a mere flick of the
hand.”
“You’re worried
about losing control again?” Andrea deduced.
“Yes,” admitted
Kate. “Since Iraq I’ve had my powers
under such tight rein, but that afternoon…it was scary how easily I could have
tipped over the edge.”
“But you didn’t,”
Andrea reminded her, now the comforter in the conversation, “When it came down
to it, you still had enough control to pull back when you really needed to.”
“I’m not sure,”
said Kate, shaking her head, “If it had just been me and him in the room at
that point…”
“Would it make
you feel any better to know that it makes me feel good in a way, knowing that
you would be willing to do that for me?” asked Andrea. “Not that I’m condoning killing people,
though god knows someone like Chadwick deserves it, more like…it’s the feelings
behind it that count. Am I making any
sense?”
Kate nodded
solemnly. “I think I understand what
you mean. You know you can rely on
me. It’s all right for you to feel weak
and vulnerable sometimes and that you just need me. You don’t have to have a reason - I’ll always be here for you, no
matter what.”
Andrea looked
plaintively at Kate with wide, tear-rimmed eyes. “Will you? Do you
promise?”
Kate reached out
to brush her fingers across Andrea’s face, gently tracing the small scar that
now marred the skin above her left eyebrow, a stark reminder of Chadwick’s
attack. “I promise,” replied Kate, her
own eyes suddenly moist.
……..
Andrea lay on her
stomach reading the words of her book, though in fact she had read the same
ones at least five times as her mind continued to wander. At least her talk with Kate a couple of days
ago had cleared the air to some degree and she was starting to feel better
about things, more like her old self.
Andrea was determined to put Callum Chadwick behind her and concentrate
on her future, safe in the knowledge that whatever happened Kate was there
looking out for her, supporting her. To
know she had that stability to fall back should she need it was immensely
comforting.
The shadow
creeping across Andrea’s book led her eyes up from the printed words. She pulled down her sunglasses slightly so
she could peer over the top in annoyance at the figure looming over her.
“You’re standing
in my sun.”
Offering her a
quick flashing smile, Tom looked unrepentant as he crouched down in the sand to
push back the cover of her book. He
completely ignored Andrea’s continued attempts to give him a withering look.
“You actually
like reading this science shit?” he asked, a frown creasing his brow below his
own mirrored glasses.
“Yes I do,”
stated Andrea, closing it for a moment on her towel. “Did you want something?”
“We were
wondering if you’d like to come and join our rounders game?” asked the man, his
fair hair shining brightly in the rays of the sun.
“No, thank you,
I’m happy with my book,” replied Andrea, turning back to it.
“Oh, come on,
you’ve been over here on your own all afternoon. No need to be in a sulk just because your girlfriend has to
work.”
Andrea’s eyes
shot up, her hand pushing her sunglasses up onto her head so she could give him
a stern look.
“What?” he said
with a shrug, “There’s no one else to hear,” he reasoned, gesturing around the
wide open spaces of the beach.
Andrea followed
the hand, supposing he had a point. The
only other people visible along the whole golden stretch were Harry, Bel, Doc
and Lister who were engaged in the game Tom was trying to persuade her into. Andrea could just make out the sound of
Bel’s raised voice floating up the sand on the warm breeze as she disputed some
point of the game. Meanwhile the three
men were starting to back away as she waved the bat around wildly. All of them were in shorts and t-shirts,
enjoying the hot day since they had been given a break from training and duties
for once. Unfortunately for Andrea, as
Tom had already pointed out, Kate still had work to do so couldn’t join them.
“Come on,” tried
Tom again, “Just for five minutes, before Bel kills them all.”
Andrea sighed,
rolling over on her towel. “All right!”
she said, grabbing her own shorts and slipping them over her bikini
bottoms. She pulled on her sandals too,
since the sand was scorching but didn’t bother with a top, thinking her bikini one
was good enough.
“Christ, are you
trying to win by giving everyone a coronary?” pondered Tom, looking over at her
as they walked across the sand.
Andrea raised her
eyebrows, unsure of the reference. What
he meant became obvious as he dipped his head to her chest area. “That bikini top doesn’t leave much to the
imagination,” he added.
“You shouldn’t be looking.”
“Sorry is that
privelege reserved only for high-ranking officers?”
Andrea offered
him an indignant pout, just as they reached the others in time to catch the
tail end of the disagreement, which it appeared Bel had won. They had determined to play in teams of two,
with all four of the non-batting players fielding when not batting. Andrea was dispatched out into the field,
which consisted of wandering up the beach and watching the ball sail off to
other parts of the playing area as Bel and Tom batted. Well, this was so much more gripping than
reading, Andrea thought, stiffling a yawn.
She wondered how long she would be required to participate before she
could excuse herself.
She knew she
should have found somewhere else to read once the others had turned up on the
beach too. Unfortunately the golden
snads along the western side of the island made up the only beach on it, the
rest of the coastline being bounded by rocks or cliffs. Aside from moving as far up one end as she
could, there wasn’t much Andrea could do to get away from them if she wanted to
lie on the sand, and she was reluctuant to give up her spot since she had been
there first.
“Andrea! Your
team is in!”
Andrea started,
realising she had been daydreaming, sauntering back over to join her teammate,
Doc. He went first, managing to be
caught straight away by a whooping Harry.
Doc handed the bat to her apologetically so she could take up a stance
in front of the bowler, Tom. He was
eyeing her up like they were playing a test match at Lord’s [17]
rather a supposedly friendly run around on a beach. As he launched the ball, she couldn’t resist the temptation to
put one over him. Swinging with all her
might she clubbed the ball back over his head, the small white object
disappearing way off into the distance and plopping down somewhere in the sand
dunes that stretched out behind the beach.
“Hey!” cried Tom,
“No fair! You used your powers!”
“You didn’t say I
couldn’t,” said Andrea with a shrug.
“Well, you can
bloody use them and go and find it then!”
Andrea rolled her
eyes, but took off anyway, flying over to the sand dunes and landing down
amongst them. The island was actually
quite beautiful in secluded places like this, especially when it wasn’t
raining. Not that it was exactly a
Caribbean island or anything, mulled Andrea, it was still Scotland after all -
the high twenties being about as warm as it got. The sea certainly wasn’t anywhere near as inviting, unless a case
of frostbite was your cup of tea.
Andrea noted that
she wasn’t visible to the others anymore and considered that she could pretend
to look for the ball for a bit before returning empty handed. She made a cursory glance amongst the grass
and sand, not sure why she was bothering since they couldn’t see her anyway.
“Looking for
this?”
Andrea spun round
in surprise to see Kate standing on the sand behind her, wearing just a plain
white vest top and navy shorts, her eyes obscured by a pair of dark glasses as
she held out the ball. The top was
teasingly see through in the bright light, Andrea able to make out the lines of
the bra underneath. As she traced them
with her eyes, she found her mind straying to what lay beneath that.
Shaking herself,
she forced her eyes up. “I thought you
were working?” she remarked, moving to take the ball Kate was offering up.
As her fingers
were about to close over it, Kate whipped her hand away, wrapping her other one
around Andrea and pulling her close. “I
got out early,” she said huskily.
Andrea grinned as
she looked down at the smaller woman, whose hair caught the sun, a million
stands of brilliant red in the rays of light.
“Lucky me.”
The heat from
Kate’s lips as they met hers was much more intense than anything falling on
Andrea’s near-bare back from the sun.
Since the incident with Chadwick a little over a week ago, Kate seemed
to have been uncertain around her, almost as much as Andrea herself had been
out of sorts to begin with. Today was
the first time when there didn’t seem to be any holding back in the kiss, and
Andrea eagerly deepened it, probing lustfully in Kate’s mouth with her tongue.
The sound of
someone clearing their throat nearby caused them to dart apart.
“I see you found
the ball then?” noted Tom. His lips
were thin like he was desperately trying to hold back a smile.
“How long have
you been perving there?” asked Andrea, able to see Kate looking slightly
embarassed next to her out of the corner of her eye.
“Long enough,” he
replied cheekily, stumbling down the dune towards them in a cascade of
sand. “Do you want me to say you went
back up to the base?” he asked Andrea, casting a sideways look at Kate, “That
you had an urgent…erm…meeting with the Major,” he added suggestively.
“Thank you, Mr
Parsons,” interjected Kate quickly, “I was just on my way to the beach
actually, when I found your ball.”
“That’s not all
you…ow!”
He was stopped by
Andrea swiftly punching him in the arm.
He rubbed it indignantly as Kate thrust the ball in his hand.
“I presume I can
trust you to be discrete,” she said, keeping hold of his hand for a moment,
fixing her eyes sternly on him.
“Bloody hell, you
two are a pair! Like anyone gives a
flying frig what you two are up to!” he cried, “But yes, I won’t say I saw you
snogging the face off one another.”
He zipped away at
super speed this time before Andrea could lay another blow on him.
“I suppose we
ought to go and join them before he starts embelishing his story,” Andrea noted
ruefully.
Kate’s half smile
suggested she had other ideas. “I’m
sure we can wait a couple of minutes”
Andrea’s own
smile naturally crept across her face as she slid closer to Kate. “Just a couple?” she queried, taking Kate’s
hand and bringing it to her lips.
Kate watched
intently as Andrea slipped one of her fingers into her mouth, swirling her
tongue around it. “Possibly ten…” conceded Kate, her tone suddenly more
ragged.
Andrea closed the
final gap between them, leaning to place her lips upon Kate’s hot neck,
flicking her tongue slowly up it.
“Maybe fifteen…” allowed Kate between gasping breaths.
Andrea continued
on her upward path. “Or thirty…”
whispered Kate just before Andrea reached her lips, covering them in a
passionate kiss.
………………..
The weather five
days later couldn’t have been more of a contrast to that glorious day on the
beach, the rain lashing down across the island, driven on by a gale force wind
whipping in off the Atlantic. Andrea
supposed the contrast was typical of the British weather really - it was August
but given the weather it was more like the depths of winter. Luckily for her what she had planned didn’t
require any trips outside the main complex.
In fact, if all went to plan, it wouldn’t involve a trip beyond the
confines of Kate’s bedroom.
Utilising the
lock-opening trick Tom had taught her again, Andrea snuck into Kate’s quarters,
knowing the other woman was busy in her office. She’d come up with her little surprise on a whim, but thought it
was another good way to show Kate that she was feeling better. She knew Kate was still concerned about her
after what had happened with Chadwick nearly two weeks ago but a successful
mission since then had gone a long way to restoring her confidence in her powers
and herself. Anyway, Chadwick was long
gone now, dispatched off to military prison in Colchester, so she didn’t have
to worry that she was ever going to see him again. As Andrea had supposed, once they started investigating his
conduct more thoroughly, the evidence against him soon mounted up. It was certainly enough to make sure that,
once his prolonged stay in jail was over, he wouldn’t be going anywhere near an
army base again.
Andrea crept
around Kate’s quarters, feeling a little like a naughty schoolgirl poking round
the headteacher’s office. She
maintained to herself that she wasn’t going to actually root through anything,
she would just do what she had come to do and not disturb any of Kate’s belongings.
However, as
Andrea’s eyes drifted over to the antique desk, she spotted the folder Kate
kept the notes about her novel in. It
lay invitingly on the surface, just waiting for Andrea to go and take a
look. Kate was always so cagey about it
that the young woman couldn’t resist the opportunity now presented to her. What harm would one quick peek do? As if seeking to make her invasion seem more
acceptable she quickly opened the folder and closed it again, only catching a
few random words off one of the pages.
A few more attempts at this gave her at least a vague indication as to
what the novel was about.
It appeared Kate
was mixing her love of the stars with her own military background by writing
about a female starship captain and her trials and tribulations. It all sounded very Star Trek. Thinking it best not to delve further into
it, though she was sorely tempted, Andrea re-arranged the folder so it was in
the same position as when she came in and made her way over to the bedroom. She laid out the underwear she had brought
to change into and was just about to start taking off her clothes when the
sound of the main door opening filtered through to her.
Shit!
Andrea let out
the silent curse, presuming Kate must be back early. That was highly unusual – she never finished work early. Andrea glanced from the lacy underwear to
the t-shirt and jeans she still wore, resigning herself to the fact that she
would have to save the surprise for another time. She was about to go out to the other room when Kate’s voice rang
out. Andrea jumped before realising
that Kate was talking on her communicator rather than to her.
“Are we on a
secure line?” came another voice, immediately recognisable to Andrea as that of
Colonel Parsons. Andrea deduced Kate
must be talking to him on screen for her to be able to hear his part of the
conversation.
“Yes, I’m in my
quarters,” came Kate’s response.
Andrea knew she
should declare herself, yet something held her back and she pressed up against
the bedroom wall, listening in. It felt
faintly seedy to be eavesdropping like she was, but Andrea shook the sensation
away as they continued.
“I’m afraid I’ve
got some bad news regarding Lieutenant Chadwick,” said the Colonel, “He managed
to escape en route to Colchester.”
“What?” cried
Kate incredulously, Andrea sharing her disbelief but just holding back her own exclamation. “How the hell did he manage that?”
“We think he had
outside help, from Adam Dixon.”
Andrea took a
sharp breath, quickly clamping her hand over her mouth and praying Kate hadn’t
heard it in the other room.
“I might have
known those two were connected,” stated Kate ruefully.
Penetrating
through Andrea’s shock at hearing the name of Kate’s former lover, was the
slowly dawning realisation that Kate herself didn’t seem surprised in the slightest.
“It appears that
way,” agreed the Colonel.
Wasn’t Dixon
supposed to be off in prison somewhere? Wondered
Andrea. So why were Kate and the
Colonel talking about him?
Kate’s voice was
next to ring out. “Talking of which is
there any news on him?”
Andrea’s
confusion was deepening. What
exactly did Kate know about Dixon?
She’d certainly never said anything before about having any residual
connection to him.
“No,” replied the
Colonel, “There’s nothing futher from the warehouse investigation as far as I
know.”
Andrea felt the
sickness sweeping through her at the mention of the warehouse. What did
Dixon and Chadwick have to do with the warehouse accident or Cowley? And more importantly why hadn’t Kate
mentioned any of this? Andrea’s
heart was thumping wildly in her chest now, the young woman sure its pounding
must be audible out in the living area.
“Are you sure
Kaminski’s not hiding anything?” Kate asked the Colonel.
“I don’t think
so, though who knows with that woman, she’s harder to read than a doctor’s
prescription. I presume you haven’t
told anyone about this?”
“No, I haven’t,”
replied Kate quickly.
“Not even Miss
Hallstrom?”
Andrea’s heart
leapt again at the mention of her own name.
She was holding her breath now as she leant against the wall.
“No.”
“Good. Maybe we can still keep a lid on it
somehow. No one is to know about that
accident and certainly not that Adam Dixon and Cowley are one in the same.”
The Colonel’s
final words caused a painful stabbing sensation in Andrea’s chest, her hand
reflexively shooting up to clutch it.
Her thoughts raced uncontrollably and she actually felt dizzy for a
moment having to lean heavily on the wall to hold herself up.
Cowley was Dixon,
Dixon was Cowley.
Dixon had killed
her friends.
And Kate knew
about all of it.
Andrea stumbled
out into the other room in a daze, unable to comprehend the depth of the
betrayal. She had trusted Kate,
believed in her and now it seemed that was all a pretence. She had given Kate everything, given her
heart completely, but now it appeared Kate had been holding back the whole
time, keeping secrets and who knew what else from her. If she hadn’t have heard it with her own
ears she would never have believed it, but unfortunately it was all too real,
as was the intense, gnawing pain in her heart.
As Andrea
wandered into the room, Kate sensed her presence immediately, looking up in
shock from her desk. “Andrea?”
Andrea couldn’t
say anything back, holding Kate’s gaze in a look of numb, questioning
despair. ‘How could you do it?’ was
the silent question Andrea was unable to force past her trembling lips. Confusion was obvious in Kate’s blue eyes
for a moment before realisation dawned, realisation that Andrea had heard every
word of her conversation.
“Oh my god, Andrea…”
she began, swiftly pushing back her seat to stand up.
The bang of the
chair on the wall snapped Andrea her out of her daze. Suddenly she was assaulted by a barrage of painful and
conflicting thoughts and emotions, all vying for attention - anger warring with
self pity battling with gut-wrenching heartache. Andrea was unable to control the deluge, her mind reeling as she
staggered backwards, away from Kate.
She couldn’t handle this, it was too much.
“Please…” came
Kate’s voice.
Kate was coming
forwards. Andrea had to get out.
“Let me explain…”
“No!”
Andrea darted straight for the window, crashing through the glass, not caring about the damage, only wanting to get out as fast as she could. She flew straight up, high up over the island into the low clouds, before turning for the mainland. The rain lashed at her face as she soared up through the leaden grey skies. She ignored the pain of the ice-cold droplets buffeting her skin as she ploughed on and on, not really knowing where she was going, just that she needed to go, to fly free, free from all the hurt. She just wanted to forget, but even now, as she pushed herself to the physical limit, images crowded in on her mind forcing their way into her thoughts.
Suddenly she took a ninety-degree turn, heading straight down towards the ground instead. As she flew from the base of the storm clouds the peaks of the mountains loomed large on the horizon against the fading light of the day. She continued hurtling downwards, towards the deep murky waters of the loch below.
Faster…faster…faster…
The wind was whistling past as she plummeted down, raw against her face, bringing tears to her pale blue eyes.
Faster…faster…faster…
Just as she was about to crash straight into the choppy waves she dramatically pulled up, skimming her fingers in the icy waters as she flew parallel to the surface. As she got to the edge of the water she flew up the steep rock face and landed on an outcrop overlooking the dark, foreboding loch.
The wind whipped harshly across the exposed ground, sending damp blond strands of hair into Andrea’s face as the rain continued to hammer down around her. She bent over and rested her hands on her knees, breathing heavily. Her clothes were soaked already, her thin t-shirt clinging tight to her body, her jeans heavy against her legs.
As she hunched over, still the thoughts were there, unwilling to give her any peace. Andrea balled her hands into fists digging her nails into the palms, wanting the pain that invoked. Spinning round she drove her fist into the nearest boulder. She looked on in grim satisfaction as the rock shattered into a million pieces under the force of her blow, the fragments being scattered out across the loch by the fierce wind. She looked around at the other boulders on the outcrop as the rain cascaded down her face, across her high cheekbones to drip from her chin. A wicked smile curved the corners of her mouth as she sized them up and approached the nearest one.
The boulder flew apart as she cracked it with a fearsome blow.
“Fuck you, Chadwick!”
Another boulder was pummelled into a pile of rubble, littered haphazardly across the ground. She slowly walked up to the last boulder with a menacing look on her face. This one towered over her and she let all her rage and anger consume her as she set upon it.
Crash!
“…fucking…”
Smack!
“…Kate…”
Crack!
“…fucking…”
Wham!
“…Jarvis!”
The rock finally exploded in a shower of shards under the relentless assault. Spent, Andrea sank to her knees and bowed her head as the rain mercilessly pounded down on her. She took a few shuddering breaths as the anger subsided and gazed down at her hands which now lay limp in her lap, not a mark on them. A deep rumble of thunder echoed round the mountains as the storm continued to rage pitilessly about her. Another closer sound made her swing her head round. Through the driving rain, her eyes were met by the steely blue-grey ones of the main object of her ire.
“So, have you quite finished?”
Andrea leapt to her feet. “What the fuck are you doing here?” she demanded furiously.
“I just wanted to speak to you, explain things…”
“Explain how you lied to me you mean – again!”
“I was trying to protect you…”
“How did you figure that one out?” spat Andrea furiously, “You knew how desperate I was to find out the truth about the accident - all those nightmares, all that uncertainty, all that guilt and anguish! And all the time you knew! You bloody knew and you didn’t tell me?”
“It’s not as simple as that,” Kate tried, hands outstretched in supplication. The torrential rain ran quickly down her fingers to plop on the ground. “I only found out recently and part of me wanted to tell you but I was ordered not to…”
“Oh I see!” jumped in Andrea, “And orders always come first! How could I forget!”
“No, that’s not true…”
“True?” cried Andrea incredulously, “You wouldn’t know the truth if it fell on your head!”
“I was still going to disobey orders for you,” insisted Kate, trying to come closer to Andrea who backed away, “But in the end the Colonel convinced me it was better for you not to know until we knew something more concrete.”
“Beyond who was responsible? How much more fucking concrete do you want?” exclaimed Andrea disbelievingly. She stared angrily at Kate, other irrational, insidious thoughts creeping into her mind prompted by her fury. “I think you just wanted to protect your old flame,” she suggested, “Scared what I might do to him were you?”
Kate shook her head, sending a fresh cascade of raindrops tumbling from her drenched hair. “No, of course not.”
“Still hold a bit of a torch for him do you?” pressed Andrea, allowing her jealousy to build along with all her other negative emotions, “Obviously I’m not ‘man’ enough for you. I guess you just like bastards who treat you badly. Well, I can be nasty too!”
Andrea picked up one of the larger pieces of boulder still left and hurled it straight in Kate’s direction, the other woman just managing to hop out of the way in time before it crashed to the ground behind her.
“Andrea, please, we can sort this out,” tried Kate again, but Andrea already had another piece of heavy rock in her hands.
“You really think so?” challenged Andrea. “Jesus Christ! You were scared that I might betray you like Dixon and in the end it was you who did the same to me.”
She loosed the second rock, again narrowly missing Kate who frantically sidestepped it.
“I’m sorry,” Kate said, full of contrition, “I didn’t like keeping this from you, I didn’t want to keep it from you.”
“Then why did you?”
“I told you, I wanted to get more information first,” Kate said, trying to keep her voice calm, “I was scared how you might react, worried that you’d run off half-cocked. Adam’s a dangerous man…”
“So you took the choice out of my hands and made the decision for me?” Andrea quickly snapped, “You don’t trust me at all do you?”
“I do!”
“Liar!”
Andrea flung another barrage of rocks at Kate who had trouble dodging all of them, tripping over and narrowly avoiding being crushed by the final one, only rolling out the way at the last second.
“I can’t believe anything you say!” shouted Andrea across the mountainside, “God knows what else you’ve been keeping from me under the guise of orders.”
Kate clambered to her feet. “There’s nothing else, I swear,” she said pleadingly.
“Like you swore the last time?” scoffed Andrea, “What was it you said then? ‘No more secrets’. That was just another lie though, wasn’t it?”
“Please, Andrea, can’t we just talk about this sensibly?”
“I don’t want to be fucking sensible about it!” screamed Andrea, her anger coursing unstoppably through her now, “What you’ve done isn’t sensible – it hurts! Don’t you understand, it fucking hurts! I trusted you and you taken that trust and ripped it to shreds.”
As she threw another boulder, Kate got her hands up, using her own power to blow the stone apart. Andrea just saw that as a challenge though, each fresh rock she threw having an extra bit of venom in it as Kate vaporised one after the other.
“Andrea…”
Andrea ignored the plea, continuing on with furious intent. She wasn’t thinking now, acting only on pure rage.
“Please…”
Rather than Kate frantically dodging and blasting her rocks, all Andrea saw was someone who had lied to her, hurt her, betrayed her. Someone she wanted to hurt in return. The sound of the crashing boulders echoed round the mountains, the spray of dust from the ones pulverised by Kate heavy in the wet air. Andrea was hurling them so thick and fast now that Kate was having trouble keeping up and deflecting them all. None of that registered in Andrea’s mind, the fury within her surging up to blot out the more painful emotions and any rational thought. All she knew was the need to lash out in anger.
Suddenly a forceful blast cannoned into Andrea’s chest, flinging her back off the precipice and tumbling down into the icy loch below. The sharp cold jolt bit into her, the icy water quickly permeating though her clothes. She thrashed about a couple of times before gaining her bearings and shooting upwards to break the choppy surface.
As soon as she did she came face to face with Kate who was hovering just above, looking anxiously at the water.
“There you are,” she said with obvious relief, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you.”
“Really,” noted Andrea sarcastically, “Or is that another lie?”
“I would never deliberately hurt you,” said Kate in consternation.
“But you have!” cried Andrea desperately, shivering momentarily as the wind bit through her thin and soaked clothes, “Don’t you see, you already have!”
Kate tried to reach out to her across the open space. “Andrea…”
“No!” yelled Andrea, snatching her arm away from the attempted touch.
Andrea immediately darted up into the skies, wanting to just get away from the pain seeing Kate induced. The wind whistled past her face, cold and harsh in a mocking reflection of what the other woman had done to her. There were tears in her eyes, Andrea not knowing if they were from the wind or the fact that her heart was broken.
“Andrea, please, stop!”
Andrea’s head swung round, her blond hair whipping in her eyes as she caught sight of Kate flying after her in close pursuit. The other woman’s trail through the sky was clearly visible as her concussion waves parted the streaming rain in her wake.
“Go away! Leave me alone!” shouted Andrea over the wind. She strained to push herself on faster, her muscles starting to ache from the rapid flow of energy through them.
“I can’t do that!” Kate yelled back, still getting closer despite Andrea’s efforts.
“Why, because you can’t lose another of your operatives?”
“No, because I love you!”
Kate’s heartfelt words fell on deaf ears. “Don’t make me laugh! If you loved me you would never have done this to me!”
Kate had drawn close enough to latch onto Andrea’s arm now in an effort to slow her. The sudden displacement caused Andrea to veer dramatically, the young woman furiously wriggling under the grasp. “Get off!” she screamed, her flight path becoming more and more erratic as she fought to shake the other woman.
Kate stubbornly clung on though, even when they started plummeting directly for the ground.
“Andrea!” she yelled frantically, “We’re going to crash!” She grabbed onto both of Andrea’s arms, trying to wrestle her into a more stable course.
“Then let go!” shot back Andrea.
The ground was zooming up perilously fast now as they spiralled towards it, but Kate remained defiantly holding on. “No!” she yelled, “I’m not letting you go!”
Andrea stared balefully back at the Kate, knowing that an impact at that speed would most likely kill the other woman. Andrea quickly twisted in the air at the last second so she was beneath Kate, Andrea’s body smacking forcefully into the turf as they hit the ground. Whatever she felt, Andrea’s level of fury didn’t quite extend to committing murder.
The impact jarred through her body, rattling her thankfully dense bones, the pair of them bouncing up off the ground a couple of times before they skidded along the wet surface of the grassy hillside. They remained locked together as they tumbled over and over in a jumble of limbs before they finally came to a halt, the merciless rain still pounding down on their battered bodies.
Amazingly Andrea was first on her feet, ready to leap straight back into the air. However, something held her back. Despite everything she couldn’t help taking a quick glance behind her, pausing when she saw Kate still lying on the ground, breathing raggedly as she hauled herself to her knees in the mud. A part of Andrea wanted to reach down to Kate, help her, but she quickly squashed those thoughts as soon as they surfaced. Instead she concentrated on the numbing sense of betrayal that chilled her to the core.
“Andrea, please, wait…” came Kate’s voice, barely audible over the raging wind.
Andrea paused again, fighting hard to keep the compassionate feelings from working their way up again at the sound of Kate’s pleading voice.
“Come back with me,” begged Kate, “We can find Dixon together. Just don’t leave like this.”
“Right, you’re really going to help me aren’t you,” said Andrea sceptically, “More likely you want to keep an eye on me, stop me finding out anything I shouldn’t, just as you have been.” As she thought about it, some of Kate’s words and actions over the past few weeks fell into place. “Jesus Christ, no wonder you wanted me to leave the investigation alone, you were scared I was going to find out your part in it.”
“No that wasn’t it at all…”
“Just save it!” Andrea yelled, cutting her off. She didn’t want to hear any of Kate’s pathetic excuses. “You promised me that you would be here for me, no matter what,” Andrea reminded her bitterly, the pain all encompassing in her heart, “But that was all lies wasn’t it. In the end I just came second to the army.”
“That’s not true,” Kate insisted, “Please just come back with me, I can help you…”
“I don’t need your help!” screamed Andrea the pain and anguish evident in her breaking voice, “I don’t need anything from you! It’s over Kate! Do you hear me – over! I never want to see you again!”
Kate looked like Andrea had physical hit her, her face drained of all colour. “You don’t mean that. I’m sorry for what I did, but please just give me another chance.”
“It’s too late!” cried Andrea, “I already gave you another chance and you just fucked me over a second time!”
“You can’t leave like this…”
“Just watch me!”
Andrea was about to spring into the air when something else occurred to her. She turned back to Kate who had finally managed to get to her feet, though she still looked shaken, cradling her left arm close to her body. Seeing Andrea delaying a small hopeful look came across her face but Andrea merely sneered disdainfully back.
“Just so you don’t get any ideas about following me again, I think I have something that belongs to you.”
Gritting her teeth, Andrea dug her fingernails sharply into the flesh of her own right arm. Her skin was clammy and cold, the blood that pumped out of the self-inflicted wound hot in comparison. The pain was intense but Andrea ignored it, actually savouring it in a perverse way. She pushed her fingers deeper, seeking out the small metal object she knew lay beneath the surface of her skin. With a final grunt she ripped it from her arm, flinging it down at Kate’s feet. Kate looked down at the tracker in shock, the rain already starting to wash off the blood from its metal surface. Her eyes slowly came up to Andrea’s in a silent plea, but Andrea’s heart was cold, impervious to the beseeching stare.
“Don’t come after me,” she said in a low, menacing voice.
Then she was off, soaring up into the air, not looking back
at Kate who was left staring numbly up at the grey skies.