Sutton, Surrey, November 25th
“Sophie?” Caerys sat up, staring at the brief silhouette that disappeared as the door eased quietly shut. “Sophie, what’s wrong?” The whispered reply was too quiet to hear. “What? Soph?”
“Nothing, Caerys.” She whispered, a little louder. “Nothing’s wrong.”
“Then… uh…” The light flicked on as Caerys reached over to the bedside lamp.
“Why am I here?” Sophie finished, holding her robe around herself.
“Yes.” Caerys sat up, reaching down to pull the sheet around herself a little more, self-consciously.
“I… I’m not sure.” Sophie admitted, moving forward a step at a time, before perching on the edge of the bed. “I don’t know.”
“I’m sorry, Soph, I didn’t mean… earlier. I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s just… I’ve been looked at like that all my life. I didn’t want to do it to you.”
“Thank you.” Sophie smiled, gently, moving a little further onto the bed, but still not turning to face her. “It’s not….” her voice dropped to a whisper.
“It’s not just that… I don’t want to be alone, tonight, but…”
“You can’t help but feel that all this that’s going on is affecting you and you don’t want to do anything stupid that you can’t take back later?” Sophie looked round at that, fear mingling with tears in her eyes.
“I shouldn’t have come.”
“Hey.” Caerys reached out and grabbed a hand before she could get up. “Listen, I’m not going to judge you, certainly for that. This might be the last chance you get, you know, people are chasing us, trying to kill us, but… I don’t want you to do anything you’ll regret, but…if you need a friend, tonight, that’s fine.”
“Really?”
“Really.” Caerys nodded, with a gentle smile. “I can’t promise I won’t think anything, but I won’t do anything.” Sophie paused, and Caerys frowned, slapping herself on the forehead. “Fuck… I didn’t mean anything by that, Soph… that’s the sort of humour I grew up with. The good end of it.”
“That wasn’t funny.”
“I know…”
“You’re nervous, too?”
“Nobody’s ever asked before, Sophie.” Caerys pointed out, her jaw quivering gently. “That… that means more than anything that might happen afterwards. You asked.”
“And you’re not going to do anything to spoil that, are you?” Caerys just shook her head, not trusting herself to speak, and Sophie stood up, slipping the robe off to the floor to reveal a floor-length ivory nightgown.
“Now you’re just putting me to shame.” Caerys mumbled, with a grin through the slight mist of tears, throwing back the covers to reveal a set of pink gingham pyjamas. “Come on.”
“Thank you, Caerys.” Sophie paused on the edge of the bed to smile at her, gently, lifting her nightgown ahead of her as she tentatively slipped in.
“Which side do you normally sleep?” Caerys asked.
“It’s been so long… here will be fine.” She settled down, turning slowly away and snuggling backwards as Caerys reached and turned the light off again. Lying back down, Caerys eased herself up against Sophie’s back, one hand sliding under the pillow, and the other draping gently over her side to rest on her stomach.
“You know…” she whispered, quietly, “if you just wanted to be with someone, Gavin’s out there. I don’t think he’d try anything, either.”
“I don’t think he’d say yes.” Sophie replied, after a moment’s thought.
“You… you thought of him first?”
“Not until you mentioned it.” Sophie smiled in the darkness as Caerys relaxed a little. “And before you mention Christophe, he doesn’t hold me like this.”
“I suppose not.”
“And he wriggles.”
Sutton, Surrey, November 26th
Caerys woke up with a start, blinking in the unfamiliar surroundings for a moment, trying to pick out what had woken her. A second, louder burst of muffled music crept through to her, and she relaxed a little, easing back into the sheets and the warm, soft body behind her.
“Bon matin.” Sophie mumbled, still half-asleep, rolling a little away on the narrow bed, and slipping back into her dreams. Caerys smiled, a relaxed, peaceful, contented smile, and rolled gently out of the bed, trying not let any of the slightly chilly air in under the blankets as he padded out of the room.
“Morning.” Gavin managed, from his chair in the middle of the room, after an uncomfortable few seconds of watching her.
“Something I can do for you?” she asked, with a grin.
“No. You seem happier this morning.”
“I…” she smiled again, a deeper, broader smile. “I am.”
“OK. Good.”
“Why?” Sophie stepped out of the same room, wrapped up in her robe again, giving a slightly shy smile to them both as she walked past.
“Why? Why not?”
“Fair enough.” Gavin turned back to his reading, and Sophie headed off to the kitchen with Caerys in tow.
“You know what he’ll think, now.” Sophie stared across the counter as Caerys sat down.
“Maybe… depends on whether he sat there and listened all night.” Sophie blushed, deeply, and stared back.
“I…” Sophie tried to say, but clammed up again.
“Soph, nothing happened.”
“I know.”
“But?”
“But… what if had? What… what if it does?” the flush deepened, and Caerys felt the little smile she couldn’t get rid of grow a little further.
“I’d put off that decision for a while.” Gavin strolled across the room easily to the fridge, bending to drag out food for breakfast. “Did you both want anything?”
“Just toast.” Caerys muttered, suddenly quiet.
“I… why?” Sophie turned to face Gavin as he stood up, blushing still but standing firm.
“You’re both under a lot of stress at the moment, circumstances are throwing you together and you aren’t able to react to the situation normally. That isn’t the time to make significant life decisions like that.”
“That’s… that’s probably true.” Sophie admitted, reluctantly.
“Is that why you keep yourself stuck in these permanent life-threatening situations?” Caerys asked, archly, staring over at Gavin. “So that you don’t have to deal with real life at all?”
“I’ll leave you to your discussion.” Gavin avoided the issue, putting the food down on the counter and heading for the door. “I’ll be in the gym.”
“Avoiding, much?” Caerys asked, as he disappeared out the door, and Sophie sat down opposite her.
“He does have a point.”
“Probably.” Caerys admitted, still smiling gently.
“You don’t seem too upset about that.”
“Hey, I don’t need to rush anything. I… for the first time in my life I woke up beside someone this morning. I’ve gone to bed with people before, but never had the opportunity to wake up with them. I always had to go back to my own room before that.”
“I…that… I don’t know what to say?”
“You don’t need to say anything.” Caerys reached out and covered her hand, gently. “You were still there this morning. I didn’t even have to ask for that, I’m not going to ask for anything else.”
“I’m… even before Gavin said anything I wasn’t sure about this.”
“Don’t rush. Just… I don’t know. It’s nice like this. Even having him around.”
“Really? I didn’t think you liked him.”
“Like? I don’t know him well enough, but… I trust him. He dragged me naked from that warehouse, he knows he could do what he wanted, and he hasn’t even thought about it.”
“Most people are like that.”
“No, most people wouldn’t assume they can do what they want, but they don’t have the ability to make it happen anyway. He does, but he doesn’t use it.”
“That makes a difference?”
“It doesn’t take much character not to do things you’re incapable of doing, does it?”
“No. No, I suppose it doesn’t.”
Sutton, Surrey, November 26th
Gavin stopped, briefly, at the control panel for the air-conditioning system, turning the temperature down a degree or so. With four people in the place it seemed to be a little warmer, he decided, and then stepped into the gym to begin his workout. He struggled more than he’d expected to on the bike for his warm-up, fully seven minutes behind his usual time, but shrugged it off as the effects of the injuries.
Moving to the floor he ran through his stretches, feeling the tug below his ribs where he’d been stitched, but ignoring it as he forced himself through the routine, and then stood to move onto the weights, wondering if he might not have to turn down the air-conditioning a little more.
The floor tilted underneath him, and he grasped at the nearest machine for balance, missing completely and stumbling across the room to lean against the wall for support.
“Come on.” He growled to himself as the door opened, and he stared at the short intruder that burst through, rounding on him. It babbled something incomprehensible at him, and he dropped into a defensive stance, wondering how anyone had snuck into the bunker without him knowing.
“Who are you?” he demanded, reaching over his shoulder for the sword that wasn’t there, and taking a step to the right to clear some space from the machines.
“Christophe.” Came the quiet, confused response, and Gavin tripped over the legs of the cross-trainer, sprawling inelegantly over the matting. “Are you alright?” the boy asked, as Gavin’s inert form twitched and vomited over the matting.
“Maman!” Christophe yelled, backing out of the room, his voice rising as he went. “Caerys!”
“What is it, Christophe?” Caerys leant out of the kitchen with a gentle smile that slipped as she saw his face.
“Monsieur Gavin…. He’s… sick?”
“Again?” Caerys got up, moving past him to look into the gym. “Get your mother, Christophe, she’s in the bedroom.”
“I didn’t do it.” He whispered, following her as she crossed over to where Gavin lay. “I just looked to see what he was doing.”
“It’s OK, Christophe… just get your mother. Go on.” She rolled him over, gagging at the bile-rich smell and checked his pulse and breathing as Sophie arrived. “He feels really warm, Soph.” She noted. “He’s breathing and he has a pulse…”
“It’s quick, though.” Sophie pointed out, pressing his neck gently. “Feels weaker than yesterday.”
“What do you think it is?”
“Disease, maybe. Infection is likely, given the holes he’d had him…” she frowned, and Caerys laid an arm across her shoulders.
“If you hadn’t sewn him up who knows what would have happened? Don’t blame yourself.”
“Do you know what everyone’s thinking?” Sophie whispered, stripping off Gavin’s shirt again.
“No…” Caerys admitted. “You can see that in your eyes… guilt. I got used to seeing that expression.”
“Your family don’t sound the sort of people to feel guilty.” Sophie pointed out as she moved down to check the lurid red swollen area above his hip.
“Not on them…” Caerys admitted. “In the mirror.” Sophie looked up, briefly, and back down.
“I have to deal with this.” She pointed. “We can talk later, but… you shouldn’t have been made to feel guilty.”
“I know.” Caerys nodded. “I shouldn’t have been made to do a lot of things… Deal with this, I’ll go dampen some cloths for you to cool him down.”
“Thank you.” Sophie clutched her hand as she pulled away. “We will talk about this, I promise.” Caerys smiled, gently, and set on her way as Sophie leant over Gavin.
“Gavin?” she shook his shoulder, gently. “Can you hear me?”
“Giselle?” he half-whispered, eyes flicking open but not focussing on anything.
“No, Gavin, it’s Sophie.”
Portsmouth, Hampshire, August 14th, eight years previous
“Giselle?” he stepped aside as she walked gracefully into the room. “My father isn’t here, today.”
“I know.” She smiled, gently, leaning against the door as she pushed it closed. He swallowed, gently, forcing himself to keep his eyes on hers as his temptation was to step back and look at the considerable charms she was displaying in the short, summery dress. “And I know that the staff have the day off, too.”
“Then…”he forced himself to concentrate on the conversation. “Did you need to get into the office? I’m afraid I don’t have a key.”
“I know that, too.” She admitted. “I do, but I don’t have it with me.”
“Then… um….”
“What am I here for?” she smiled, giggling gently as his frown deepened a little further. “You just hate a puzzle you can’t work out, don’t you?”
“Is that such a bad thing?” he asked. “Why don’t you just tell me, and then you can get back to whatever it was you were doing today.”
“Don’t get irritable.” She caught his arm, gently as he made to move away, guiding her into the house. “It’s obvious, if you think about it.”
“Really?” He stared at her, patently disbelieving. She just nodded, gesturing for him to carry on. “Very well. You’re my father’s secretary, but he doesn’t need you here today. If you had anything you needed from his office you’d have brought your key for it. You can’t co-ordinate anything with the staff… have you forgotten to take something home with you?”
“Well… I think it’s a little early for that.” She laughed, and he felt himself smile with her infectious humour.
“Then I’m out of alternatives. There’s nothing else here.”
“There’s you, isn’t there?” she pointed out.
“Well, yes, obviously, but… did you need me for something?”
“See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“Well… come on through to the kitchen then.” He gestured. “Not that… my father doesn’t speak about his business much with me, you know.”
“Why should this be about business?” she smiled, and he drew up short, turning back to face her.
“Excuse me?”
“Oh, Gabriel, come on.” She stepped up beside him, a little closer than he was entirely comfortable with. “I’ve been round here every day this summer, whether your father was here or not. How often do I have to sit on your table before you’ll ask me out somewhere?”
“Me?”
“Yes, you, you bloody idiot.” She giggled, shuffling a little closer and placing a surprisingly warm hand on his chest. “Please?”
“I… but…”
“Yes?”
“Wow.”
“Better." she laughed. "Keep going.”
“Me?”
“Oh dear. And you were doing so well, too.”
“Uh, look… are you sure?”
“Have I ever struck you as indecisive before?” she asked, and he was forced to shake his head. “I have to say, you’re normally much more intelligible than this.” He shook his head, a little confused, but looked down and smiled gently.
“Giselle, someone I know suggested you might like to go out for a walk this afternoon.”
“Really?” she feigned amazement. “You are just full of surprises today, aren’t you? First you reveal you actually have a friend, then you finally pick up on all of my incredibly subtle hints…”
“Subtlety isn’t one of my strong points.” He pointed out. “I have been watching you, for what it’s worth.”
“I know… you nearly burnt a hole in the back of the blue skirt I was wearing on Thursday, you were that subtle.”
“Well, it did show off your… uh… that is…” Her throaty cackle made him swallow harder.
“Did you like what you saw?” she asked, suddenly quiet and slightly nervous.
“Oh yes.” He assured, her, stepping a little closer.
“You know… about…. About Catholics, right?” she gnawed gently on her lip, not looking up at him.
“Hey,” he eased her chin up to look at him. “I’ve been looking and not speaking for the whole of summer.” He pointed out. “I think I can handle look and don’t touch…”
“Well… maybe touch a little.” She offered, after a moment’s thought, stepping in close to him, and wrapping a hand around his neck to pull him down and kiss him deeply. “Maybe more than a little…”
“Giselle… I’m only here for a few weeks, then I have to report for basic training.”
“I know.” She admitted. “That’s why I couldn’t wait for you to work it out for yourself.” She laughed, leaning on his chest. “It’s… I don’t understand why you’re doing this, you know. You’ve got two good degrees under your belt, there are any number of companies trying to get your services.”
“It’s… it’s a family tradition, military service.”
“Dying’s a family tradition, if you look at it hard enough, Gabriel. Enough of that, though… where are you going to take me this afternoon?”
“I… hadn’t thought about it, yet.” He admitted. “We could take a walk along the hill?”
“I think I’d like that.” She admitted, with a smile, stepping in to kiss him again, moaning gently as he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in tight against him.
“Oh, wow.” She smiled at his little outburst, when they finally parted, and he lifted her gently off her feet.
“I’ve been waiting for this for two years, you know.” She observed, resting her head on his shoulder, and he put her gently down. “Gabriel? Can you hear me?” she waved a hand in front of his face, laughing at his stunned expression. “Can you hear me?”
Sutton, Surrey, November 26th
“Two years?” Gavin muttered, thrashing around on the already soaked bed.
“Two years?” Caerys echoed him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t know.” Sophie admitted. “It’s probably nothing relevant. The temperature he’s got he’s not rational.”
“That’s nothing new.” Caerys muttered, and Sophie gave her a level look. “Alright, he’s always rational, in his way.” She admitted. “It’s definitely his way, though.”
“He’s… we don’t know much about him.” Sophie pointed out, with a shrug. “Your outlook isn’t what a lot of people would call normal, and that’s probably to do with your childhood… maybe his was the same.”
“Maybe.” Caerys nodded, reluctantly. “Maybe there’s something here about him.” She pointed around at the bunker in general, and Sophie frowned.
“That’s… an invading of privacy.”
“Invasion.” Caerys corrected. “Invasion of privacy.”
“Right, yes.”
“So does that mean you aren’t going to help me, then?”
“I….” Sophie wrestled with her conscience for a moment.
“Come on, you know you want to know as much as I do.”
“I do, but… it feels wrong.”
“Right… why is you haven’t given him any antibiotics for this infection yet?” she pointed out the obvious swelling on Gavin’s hip.
“I don’t know if he allergic to them.” She admitted.
“Well, you can look up his medical history, then.” Caerys smiled. “I’ll help.”
“This…” Sophie frowned. “I don’t know.”
“Well, let me put it this way.” Caerys leant on the bed. “I’m going to look. Now you can come and help keep me under control, or you can wait here and see if I come up with anything.”
“Alright.” Sophie nodded, reluctantly. “I’ll come.”
“What about him?” Caerys gestured towards Gavin.
“At the moment he seems to be fighting it. His temperature’s high but stable, the IV is keeping his fluids stable. If it lasts more than a few more hours he might be in trouble…”
“Come on, then.” Caerys practically dragged her out into the main room. “Where do we start?”
“Well, the computer.” Sophie suggested.
“I doubt it. His security’s going to be tight, remember, he’s a computer programmer.”
“Oh, yes…” Caerys began opening the drawers around the room as Sophie stood and wondered.
“Charisma?” she called out, feeling a little odd to be talking to into the ether.
“Yes, Sophie.” Came the reply, and she jumped a little.
“Um… what… what can you tell me about Gavin?”
“What would you like to know?”
“What’s his real name? Where was he born, how old is he? Where’s he from… medical history, mainly. Allergies.”
“Gavin is allergic to penicillin and grapefruit, and has suffered childhood hayfever.”
“And… the other questions?”
“Those are questions of a private nature that I do not believe Gavin would wish to have revealed to you.”
“I see. Thank you.” Sophie turned away, and Caerys looked up at her.
“Does that mean you can treat him?”
“Yes, he has a few vials in that chest that would work.”
“Makes sense, if you think about it.” Caerys noted, pulling another drawer out. “He wouldn’t keep stuff in that he couldn’t use on himself, would he. It’s not like he has regular visitors.” Sophie moved into the other room, delving into the chest to get another syringe and the vial she wanted.
“Gavin?” she said, quietly, knowing that he was slipping in and out of consciousness.
“Giselle?”
“No, Gavin, it’s Sophie.”
“Where am I, Giselle?”
“You’re home, Gavin, in the bunker.” She swiped his arm, gently, with an alcohol rub.
“Home… I don’t have a home, any more. Home is where the heart is.”
“Where’s your heart, Gavin?” she asked, keeping up the conversation automatically as she jabbed the needle into his arm.
“Ann’s Hill Cemetery.” He whispered, his whole body suddenly relaxed, settled. “With you.”
“Relax, Gavin…” she whispered, frowning, looking through the open door to where Caerys was leafing through a folder. “Dormez vous.”
Sutton, Surrey, November 26th
“You aren’t helping much.” Caerys pointed out, with a little grin, as Sophie leant back in the big black chair.
“Pardon?”
“I said you aren’t helping much.” She pointed out. “Some of this is… interesting.”
“What is it?”
“It’s… it’s like a case history, I think. ‘Mission Report’ it says at the top.”
“How many are there?”
“Dozens. This one, five years ago he went to Bulgaria. Killed nineteen people working in a disused rail-depot who were taking money from girls to ferry them to the west, and then forcing them into prostitution in Holland and Denmark… where’s Denmark?”
“Between Holland and Scandinavia.”
“Right… where’s Scandinavia?”
“Sweden, Norway, Finland… northern Europe.”
“Oh, right. And Holland?”
“Wouldn’t it be easier to get an atlas?”
“I don’t think he’s got one.” Caerys pointed out.
“You studied ancient civilisations, didn’t you ever wonder where they were?”
“I know where they were. I just don’t know what’s there now.”
“Charisma, could you display a world map on the screen?”
“Certainly.” Came the swift reply, and the big main screen came to life with a display.
“And now just Europe.” The map zoomed in. “And then Denmark.”
“Cool.” Caerys nodded, and turned back to her work. “Anyway, he went in to this rail yard, killed nineteen men – oh, no, eighteen men and a woman – then set up a foundation for four of the kids to see them through university in… Copenhagen?”
“Capital of Denmark.”
“Right… yeah, there… Copenhagen because their families denied any knowledge of them rather than risk being implicated.”
“What is it that’s got you so excited about that?”
“He’s… I didn’t want him to just be a soldier.” Caerys admitted. “He’s not, he’s a good man underneath it all.”
“Really?” Sophie shrugged. “A really good man would have told the Police.”
“Well, two of the men he killed were policemen, and one of the others was with the local military.” Sophie shrugged a little.
“Alright, but… killing people? Did he try to talk to them?”
“It doesn’t say… do you think they’d have listened?”
“Probably not.” Sophie admitted. “I just don’t like it… it’s not that he kills people, it’s that he does it so well, so easily. It doesn’t trouble him at all.”
“Like he said, it’s what he was brought up for. He’s never had anyone tell him it was wrong.”
“Did you have anyone tell you what was being done to you was wrong?” Sophie snapped, and Caerys paled, but didn’t flinch away.
“Yes. Repeatedly.” She started off harshly, arguing, but slowly tailed away into an almost whisper. “From before the first time I was told. So that I’d fight against it. So that when I gave up fighting for a while they could make me feel worse about it. So they’d be able rub my nose in it and call me a whore and tell me that I enjoyed it really and ask me how I could sleep at night knowing what I was…”
Sophie slipped out the chair half-way through, and had wrapped her up in a hug before she finished. Caerys didn’t welcome it, but didn’t fight either.
“I’m sorry, Caerys, I… I shouldn’t have said that. It’s… it’s difficult for me to understand. It’s so far out of what I’m used to.”
“I know.” Caerys nodded, lifting her own arms, and pulling her tight. “I’m struggling too, in different ways. But he’s a good man, I felt it before, and I see it here.”
“It’s important to you, isn’t it?”
“I’ve known three good women in my life – my mother, Eileen, and you. I’ve never met a man before that I’d trust to keep himself to himself for longer than it took me to look away… until him.”
“There’s more of them out there.” Sophie explained, suddenly feeling afraid, though she couldn’t say why.
“It’s one thing to have someone say it, it’s something else to see it.” Caerys pointed out. “And now I see it for sure. I’m not saying that he’s perfect, he’s got his own problems sure, but… underneath it all, he’s a good guy.”
“I suppose he is.” Sophie acknowledged, after a reflective pause.
“How is he?”
“Last I looked his temperature was coming down. He’s due another dose in about an hour.”
“Then let’s get back to work.” Easing Sophie away, she dried her eyes gently, and eased closed the folder, reaching for another one.
“What are you looking for, then?” Sophie asked, a moment later.
“I’m not sure.”
“Are you looking for anything in particular?”
“I want to understand why he does what he does.” Caerys explained, laying the folder in her lap for a moment. “He… he’s got no hobbies down here that I can see. No decorations, no keepsakes, no momentoes, and yet this must be as close to a home as he has.”
“Home, he says, is in a cemetery.”
“What?”
“While he was muttering, in there, he said something about ‘Home is where the heart is, Ann’s Hill cemetery.”
“Why didn’t you say?” Caerys smiled, looking up to the ceiling. “Charisma, what do you have on Ann’s Hill Cemetery.” There was a noticeable pause before finally Charisma came back with a response.
“Why do you ask?” Gosport, Hampshire, February 23rd, Six years previously
The crowd, despite the surprisingly mild winter weather, was small. Neither of them had had a particularly large circle of friends, and most of those were still in shock from the morning’s news. Gabriel’s father had explained it all quietly to them in the small chapel in the high street, ignoring the muffled sounds of shoppers passing by outside.
The shocked group made their way slowly out through the small peninsula town, into the over-populated housing districts, along the narrow terraces of early 20th century dwellings, and into the unassuming, incongruous neatness of the well-tended little cemetery. Nestled amongst the trees against the low, north wall by the cycle path, Gabriel rested on his haunches watching the tears and the farewells, knowing he had no tears left.
He didn’t even have Gabriel left, after the events of the morning. It had been hard, but he couldn’t bring the shame down on his father. The previous evening he’d secured the diving equipment beneath the dockyard jetty, and in plain view this morning had leapt to his apparent doom, leaving an explanatory note behind.
His father moved slowly amongst the crowd, a pillar of strength as ever, calm and reserved, acknowledging the commiserations and commentaries. His own funeral, Gabriel knew, would be even more sparsely attended than this – the condolences weren’t just for the son he’d lost, but for the secretary – almost a daughter in law – too.
The secretary that was being buried. The short row of guests made their way past the grave, muttering their quiet goodbyes, and then they were gone: a bright, burning life cut short. He closed his eyes, controlling the quiver in his breath that threatened to cut loose, and then crossed the frozen ground to look down in the solitude.
“I’ll find them, Giselle.” He promised her, quietly. “I miss you already, you know. I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you needed me. Goodbye.”
The drive out of the quiet little town was as frustrating as ever, nose-to-tail cars on the one road off the peninsula, but it didn’t bother him. It didn’t matter, now. It gave him time to review his plan, time to go over the details in his mind, to plan out the approach, the possibilities, the contingencies.
The way out.
The way out was important. There were three more missions after this. Darkness fell before he’d reached the end of the road, but that was expected. Wanted. This needed to be done in the dark. Parking the car in the railway station car-park at the top of the hill he slid his father’s sword over his back and then put the long jacket over the top of it, and headed down the hill.
Past the traffic lights, up the hill again, and left into the small blocks of flats there, he scanned the windows for movement before springing up and grasping the balcony of the first floor. Three more balconies and he slipped over the edge to stand on the top floor flat, and wait for silence to descend. Two hours passed, the traffic noise died away, the last of the homecoming pub-goers drunkenly slammed their doors, finished kicking their dogs and passed out into the oblivion of night. Then he moved. The sliding door was locked, but the balcony wasn’t considered much of a risk, and he just lifted the door off the rail to bypass it, and moved into the house.
Slipping easily through the living room he moved down the hallway, bypassing the child’s bedroom, and into the master bedroom where the target lay with whichever woman he was with – he’d not checked to see if he were married. Pressing a cloth over the woman’s face he felt her twitch, once, and then lie still again, as the soporific took effect.
Then he was free to act. Lifting his hands, he linked his hands together and drove them downwards into the sleeping man’s stomach, driving the air out of him as he came awake, and then slammed his elbow into the nose to disorient him as he clamped hands down on his throat to prevent him shouting.
“Do you remember Giselle d’Antonio?” he whispered, and had to ask three times before he got a response. “Do you remember?”
“Never fucking heard of her.” Came the whispered, and obviously false, reply.
“I see.” Hurling him across the room by the throat Gabriel heard a bone snap as he landed, heard the muffled cry of pain, and drew his sword with a hiss of steel, silencing the scream before it started. “If you make any noise, I’ll kill you.”
“What the fuck do you want?” came the hissed reply.
“I know what you did to Giselle d’Antonio.” Gabriel explained, icily calm. “Kidnapping her was wrong.” His foot lashed out, snapping the sitting man’s leg across the shin as the sword rested against his throat. “Quiet, now.”
“I didn’t…”
“Shut up! I know what you did. Raping her was evil – for that you should die.”
“Wasn’t me!” Another kick snapped the other leg, this time the cry was audible, and Gabriel paused briefly waiting a response. None came.
“I said shut up. Erasing the evidence with bleach was sickening beyond belief.” The final limb was snapped as Gabriel dropped the hilt of the sword in a sharp chopping motion across his wrist.
“What do you want? Tell the fucking police.” the crumpled figure whimpered.
“I would.” Gabriel assured him. “But all they can do is charge you. You might not even go to prison. I want to make sure that you pay for what you’ve done.”
“What are you going to do?”
“First, I’m going to cut off your hands and feet.” The deep, fearful eyes grew even wider with fear, glimmering in the slightly orange light of the streetlamps shining through the window. “Then I’m going to remove your tongue and eyes.” Gabriel bent down next to him. “And then, with the same hot iron I use to cauterise the wounds, I’m going to brand your forehead so that everyone knows what you’ve done. And then I’m going to leave you with the pretence of a life that you’ve left me.”
“You can’t do that…” it was a horrified whisper that could see in Gabriel’s eyes the truth of the situation. Then he breathed in the cloth that was pushed across his face, and it wasn’t until he awoke three days later that he found out Gabriel was more than capable.
Sutton, Surrey, November 26th
“Does it matter?” Caerys and Sophie shared a look, and the red-head continued. “How many Ann’s Hill Cemeteries are there?”
“Just one.” Came the computer’s response.
“Where is it?”
“Gosport, Hampshire.”
“That’s in England, right?”
“Yes.”
“Is…. How many people named Giselle are buried there?” Sophie asked.
“There is no information available to be sure of that answer.”
“Do you know of any people called Giselle buried there?” Caerys rephrased the question slightly.
“Why do you ask?”
“Charisma,” Sophie took over again, “you’re trying to keep us from information about Gavin, we understand that. We aren’t trying to hurt him.”
“I don’t believe that you are.” Charisma replied, with an enviable lack of concern.
“Then why won’t you tell us?” Caerys asked.
“I do not believe Gavin wishes you to know these things.”
“Does he know that you know them?” Sophie asked.
“Were he to think of it, he would probably assume I could find out, yes.”
“What would it take to get you to tell us.” Caerys asked, with a shrug.
“There would have to be a pressing need for you to know.”
“I believe it could help Gavin’s condition.” Sophie pointed out.
“Gavin’s condition is most likely a product of recent injuries.” Charisma noted, calling up a list. “These are the comments you made during treatment, none of which indicate any psychological or long-term medical problems.”
“There are more problems with Gavin than just his current injuries.” Sophie sat up, leaning forward, focussing on the screen. “He’s a hermit, hiding away from everyday life and avoiding human contact. If you were to check any reliable reference text this would be seen as behaviour indicative of a dissociation. I need to see how long this has been continuing to know whether this requires treatment.”
The silence drew out, Caerys chewing nervously at the inside of her mouth as they waited, and suddenly Charisma spoke.
“Giselle d’Antonio was buried in Ann’s Hill Cemetery February 23rd, six years ago.” A second, smaller screen sprang to life showing a diminutive woman with Mediterranean features and a slight smile. On second glance she wasn’t as small as it appeared, filling out the short top and hip-hugger jeans well, but she was short compared to the tall man that could be half-seen beside her. “That morning her fiancé, 2nd Lieutenant Gabriel Wilson committed suicide.” The picture pulled out, and they both recognised Gavin immediately.
“How did she die?” Sophie broke the silence with a quiet whisper.
“She was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and dumped in a car-park behind a public house in Fareham. Despite being found she died of internal injuries the next day.”
“So… what happened to Gavin – Gabriel – after that.”
“Having hunted down three of the four men responsible – the fourth handed himself in to the authorities – he spent some time chasing down their associates. One of the three claimed they’d been under the influence of drugs at the time, and Gabriel tried to close that drug network down until the police became interested in his activities. Then he organised himself and began to work on more people who were operating large-scale activities apparently beyond the law.
“And he’s been on his own ever since then?” Caerys leant forward.
“Apart from me.” Charisma noted. “Two brief stints working for legitimate business to generate serious income, but even then he worked remotely and only met up with people for the minimum required periods – signing contracts and the like.”
“That’s…. incredible.” Caerys breathed. “Even I’ve always had someone I could talk to…” she shuddered to a halt as she remembered Eileen’s inert form laid out in the box at the airfield.
“No wonder he’s under a strain now.” Sophie pointed out, thinking carefully. “He’s not used to having anyone around. He comes back, trains up, and throws himself into the next mission without having to deal with any of the fallout from what he’s already done.
And now here we are filling up his house.”
“Should we leave?”
“I don’t think we can, at the moment.” Sophie pointed out. “We still need to get free of the people that are chasing us.”
“So, we get him healthy, then let him kick their asses for us, right?”
“We can’t use someone like that, Caerys.”
“Use him? Sophie, he’s using us for his little war against returning to the real world.”
“Everyone does what makes them feel good, remember.” They both turned at the sound of Gavin’s rasping voice from the doorway as he held himself up against the metal surround. “You feel good by being free, I feel good from ridding the world of a few more pieces of detritus. Everyone’s a winner.”
“You get to keep from returning to the pain of the real world and having to deal with losing Giselle, you mean, don’t you Gabriel?” Sophie asked, quietly, and Caerys winced.
“How did you find out?” Gavin’s face paled, but he held his ground.
“Charisma told us.” Caerys pointed out, and he shook his head gently.
“I… Dr Barthez, this wound is seeping, would you look at it.”
“Of course, Gabriel.” She nodded, voice quiet and polite.
“It’s Gavin.” He failed to control the snap in his voice.
“Was that what Giselle called you?”
“Giselle was a long time ago, now.” He pointed out, turning away, back towards the bed. “So is Gabriel.”
Sutton, Surrey, November 27th
Caerys came out of the bathroom, revelling in the soft towelling robe wrapped about herself, and settled onto the couch in the sitting room. Folding her feet beneath her, she began gently towelling her hair dry, watching Gavin stood at the door, staring into the gym.
For perhaps fifteen minutes she watched, on and off, combing her hair through, then popping away to get dressed. When she returned, Sophie had taken her place on the couch.
“He’s been there about twenty minutes, now,” she pointed out, leaning on the back of the sofa, easing Sophie’s hair aside to kiss gently at her neck. She tensed, slightly, but relaxed just as quickly.
“More than that. He was there when I got up – that was about three hours ago. He was just back from his exercises.” Sophie shook her head a little, amazed that he’d been able to work at all, let alone put in the efforts that he had.
“Three hours? What’s he doing.”
“Watching Christophe play on the exercise bike.”
“Is it that interesting?”
“I don’t know… maybe. I don’t think he’s ever really known innocence. The sort of unbridled enjoyment children can get from the simplest of things is a mystery to him.”
“It’s just a kid playing, though.”
“And last night, we were just two people sleeping, but you cried when you woke up this morning.”
“I’ve never been just held like that before.”
“You’ve never really been loved at all.” Sophie pointed out, and Caerys eased back a little; Sophie hadn’t mentioned love before.
“If you’re going to get graphic, ladies, I think I’ll take my shower now.” Both of them jumped as Gavin cut in from the doorway.
“There’s nothing wrong with what we’re doing!” Caerys snapped back, leaving Gavin a little shocked.
“No-one said there was.”
“There is, Gavin, I’m sorry.” Sophie offered, laying a calming hand on Caerys’ wrist. “Not what we do or don’t do in private, what we’re doing now. This is Gavin’s house, we should respect his privacy – he’s not used to having people around, nor is he used to dealing with this sort of relationship.” Gavin nodded his appreciation, and headed off for the shower, but not quickly enough to avoid hearing Caerys.
“He’s not used to any sort of bloody relationship.”
“And you are?” he turned, snapping. “You’ve known her all of what, six days?”
“How long does it take to have a relationship, Gavin?” Sophie asked, sipping at her drink. “How close it is changes, but you don’t have anything with anyone, like you can pretend relationships happen to other people.”
“Relationships don’t happen to people, people happen to each other. I’ve tried to avoid that.”
“Because it hurts?” Caerys asked, quietly.
“Generally, yes. People die, people leave, people betray you, people turn out not to be what you think. I’ve seen it all, I don’t want any part of it.”
“Do you think we’re like that?”
“I don’t know.” He admitted. “I don’t want to know. I just want to get this out the way, and let you get back to your lives and I can get back to mine.”
“What if we don’t want to leave?” Caerys smiled, gently. “What if we’re impressed with you.”
“What makes you think you’ll have a choice?”
“I can find you, Gavin.” She tapped her fingers on the table. “Wherever you go, whatever name you take, I can find you.”
“Good luck”