Evenfall (122 page)

He flipped the phone closed, keeping it in his hand as he dropped his arm back onto the mattress. He stared at the ceiling, too tired to want to move but knowing he couldn't go back to sleep, and tried to decide how long he could stay at the apartment. He fell in and out of a restless doze while he worked on formulating plan B.

He was half asleep when he suddenly felt his hand shake.

His eyes snapped open and he brought the cell up so he could see it. The phone vibrated to signal a call but he didn't recognize the number displayed on the screen. He hesitated.
No one should know the number except Sin and very few people from the Agency. That definitely wasn't Sin's cell number on the screen, but then again that didn't mean Sin couldn't be calling from another phone. Or it could be a trap. He ran through a few options in his head quickly but ultimately decided that if this was some sort of trap from Janus or the Mexican authorities, he could turn off the phone and flee the apartment before they could pinpoint him.

Pushing himself up and bringing his bag closer so he could grab it quickly to run if he needed to, he narrowed his eyes and flipped the phone open. He didn't say anything; just waited to see what the person on the other line would do.

There was a pause. Nothing could be heard in the background other than a faint whirring sound that was hard to distinguish. After
a while
a man's voice could be heard asking, "Is Mr. Grey available?"

Boyd didn't recognize the voice but that was definitely Agency code. "Yes, this is Terrence speaking."

There was another pause before the man spoke again. "Is your position secure, Agent?"

"Yes."

"Then perhaps you can explain why Agent Vega is deceased."

The question was so unexpected that Boyd blinked, thinking he couldn't have heard that correctly. There was a pause as he ran the sentence over in his mind again, but it was still the same words and still didn't make any sense.
"What...?"

"Deceased, Agent. As in dead. No longer with us. Departed from this Earth. How did he come to be that way?" The voice was calm, flat, and although it did not seem like the man was necessarily trying to be cruel it did seem like he was running low on patience.

"He's not-- What?" Boyd said again, feeling a mixture of anxiety and irritation build.
He didn't know who the hell this person was but they weren't making any sense. Sin wasn't dead; Boyd had just seen him the other week and there was no way he didn't make it out of the building alright. Sin would probably survive the apocalypse.
"We aren't supposed to meet for three days."

"I see." A pause. "As of November 12th at approximately 0300 the chip in Agent Vega's throat, the one which monitored his vitals, flat-lined before it stopped responding entirely," the man said in a matter-of-fact tone.

The words moved through Boyd's mind as he stared at empty space. That would have been three in the morning, several hours after the explosions. How could that be? If Sin had escaped, he should have been fine. Unless he was hurt in the explosion? But Sin was the one pressing the detonator; he never would have hit the button while he was still in harm's way. Even with Jessica, Sin should have been able to escape notice.
The entire situation made no sense
.
This  couldn't be right.

Not knowing what to say, he stayed silent.

The man continued in the same tone after a brief pause, "A team has been dispatched to search Agent Vega's last known position as well as to recover you, Agent. We have your coordinates and should arrive in approximately five hours. It would be in your best interest to remain where you are until that time."

The connection ended abruptly.

The room seemed entirely too silent and it took Boyd several seconds to even think to drop his hand into his lap. He stared at the cell phone as if it would make any of this be more understandable. The part of him that was not struck dumb by the call absently noted that he still had a few bars left on the battery and that it should last long enough until the team arrived.
The team.
At least that meant he was being recovered. He had a way out of Monterrey...

Flat-lined?
The words echoed in his mind, interrupting any other flow of thought;
flat-lined, stopped responding, dead.

The very concept seemed so impossible that he couldn't comprehend it. Maybe their equipment failed. Sin could have gone somewhere that the GPS couldn't track him. He probably went very deep underground, or... But there wasn't a place like that in Monterrey, Boyd knew that, he'd been all over... But he could have missed something.

He held the phone in front of him, his thumb resting on the numbers, and for a moment he almost called Sin's cell phone just to clear this up quickly. He could call and Sin would answer, pissed that he'd left him at JKS like that. And Boyd would say of course he did, Sin was being stupid...

He drew in a slow breath that somehow was a little shaky and let it out, staring at his thumb. It would be so easy. Just a few numbers...

But the man who called him would also have Sin's phone number. Surely they had checked that first. Maybe Sin just lost the phone. He couldn't be bothered to have so much shit with him all the time, right? He may not have thought to have a bag like Boyd did. It was entirely possible it had fallen out at the convention center, maybe even when he was helping Jessica.
Or else someone found him. Someone took his cell phone away and...

Boyd flipped his phone shut suddenly and dropped it to the mattress next to him, turning his attention to his wristwatch. He stared at it for a long moment, his fingers hovering near the button on the side to activate the GPS, to let him track the earring he'd given Sin as a precaution. But he stopped himself.

Five hours. The battery would last around twelve. If Sin was... If he was...

Boyd narrowed his eyes, staring intently at his watch.
If Sin was... not moving for some reason then he would be wasting the battery. He just had to wait a few hours and then he could show the man who called him that he was being an idiot. They could go straight to Sin, find him just hanging around somewhere, and they could all go back a few days early.
It was fine like this. It meant they were able to go home.

Home.
As if it was a friendly place for Sin, who preferred it here. As if they wouldn't just start using him again for anything they wanted and if Sin really was hurt would they try to make him work immediately? What if... What if he'd lost a lot of blood? What if shrapnel had hit him as he ran and because he had Jessica with him he couldn't get away?

But Sin was strong. He could throw Boyd around easily. Sin had carried Warren and Boyd out of a building filled with rebels, had killed dozens of people even with them slung over his shoulders like dead weight. He'd run into a building filled with people shooting straight at them and he'd protected Boyd as well as himself. Sin would be fine; he always was.
These people didn't know who the hell they were talking about.

But if what the man said was true-- If Sin really was in trouble, if he was hurt that much, if he'd... Boyd crossed his arms at his stomach and stared intently at the floor.

The last thing Boyd had told him was that he deserved it if he got caught.

Ever since they'd at least started treating each other as partners, Sin had always come for him. Even when they'd been angry with each other, he'd saved Boyd. And what had Boyd done in return?

Sin had told him so much over the past months he'd never told anyone else. He even slept around Boyd-- something he'd hardly done back home, as Boyd had seen when watching the live feed. In their studio he'd been relaxed even with Boyd right next to him.

Because he trusted him.

Sin trusted him and Boyd had left him at JKS.
It didn't matter that Sin had made a tactical error by going after Jessica or that it could have compromised Boyd's safety for him to return. Sin was his partner and he should have been there to help him. No matter what the truth ended up being-- he still couldn't deny that he had abandoned Sin.

There was a long moment of silence even in his mind; a stillness that came from the acknowledgment that he'd run when he had the chance to help someone he cared about. He'd let his anger and jealousy dictate his decision and then justified it with logic, but that didn't change the facts. After years of regretting standing there watching his best friend be murdered and doing nothing about it, was it any better to have run away like a fucking coward when someone else he cared about as strongly needed his help?

He felt sick.

He laid back down on the mattress but he knew he wouldn't sleep. His body was tense and his mind raced, alternating between all the reasons the man had to be lying or misinformed by faulty equipment and worrying with a sickening knot in his stomach that the man had sounded so certain...

Time stretched, the seconds going agonizingly slowly. He couldn't help wishing at once that the team would get there faster so they could find Sin, and wishing they never got there at all.

===

It was almost exactly five hours later when Boyd heard a knock on the door. The short, staccato rap somehow fit the personality of the man he'd heard on the phone.
He silently approached the door, being certain to stay to the sides for further protection in case anyone shot through it. He had already moved the table aside in anticipation of their arrival.
There was a crack on the side of the door that worked more or less like an eye-hole and Boyd used that to look out into the hallway. He counted five people standing in the hall; they wore civilian clothing but each of them had at least one large duffel bag that Boyd recognized from the Agency.

Even so, he enacted the Agency protocol for this type of situation. "Who are you looking for?"

"Terrence Grey," came the short reply.

Boyd flipped on the light and opened the door, stepping to the side so they could enter.

The five agents filed into the room and subsequently spread out as if they were checking it for strengths, weaknesses and overall security. No one spoke at first or even so much as glanced at Boyd as they continued to search the room. Only when the tallest man locked the door did anyone actually focus on him.
The tall man appeared to be in his early thirties and around 6'2". His fit, muscular build was well defined by the thin t-shirt he wore. He had dark blond hair that he wore short in military style and blue eyes that seemed to peer straight into Boyd's soul and didn't care for what he saw.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Agent Beaulieu," the man said calmly although it seemed to be more of a formality than anything else. Boyd recognized his voice from the phone. "I've heard much about you although I've never been able to officially make your acquaintance."

Boyd looked at the other four briefly before settling his attention on the man. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well, but you'll have to excuse me if I'm not certain who you are."

The man nodded and let his duffel bag drop the floor at his boots. "I'm Senior Agent Kassian Trovosky and this is my team."

Boyd kept his expression impassive, hiding the surprise he felt at the knowledge.
Kassian? Somehow he'd expected him to look different. He supposed it made sense to send the other rank 10 in for something related to Sin, but it seemed strange. He thought Kassian was on an extended undercover mission.

He glanced at the others quickly, silently wondering who they were.

Kassian nodded towards the other people in the room although he continued to watch Boyd. "The two gentlemen to your left are Rank 9 Field Agents Casey Archer and Jonathan Jones." Both men were Caucasian although Casey had light hair and was muscular while Jones was dark haired and had a leaner, more average build. Kassian gestured towards the only female in the room; a tall, athletic-looking black woman who had the striking features of a model even if her expression was anything but pleasant.

"The lady is Rank 9 Field Agent Harriet Stevens and the gentleman to your right is Rank 9 Field Agent Michael Alvarado." The last man was the shortest in the room and appeared to be the youngest. He was thin and seemed to be Latino. "In cases like this, I'm allowed to hand pick a team to accompany me. We've all worked together on high priority missions for years."

"I see," Boyd said after a moment. He tried to be polite and respectful considering these were his superiors but he was finding it difficult to reconcile his worry for Sin with the casual, albeit professional, way everyone else was acting. He felt like they should be more urgent.

"Thank you for the introductions. I'm assuming none are needed for me."

"No, we know all about you, Agent Beaulieu," Harriet said coolly, brown eyes trained on him critically. Kassian's gaze snapped to her and his eyes narrowed slightly. She caught the stare and said nothing more, although her expression didn't change.

"Before we go any further it is imperative that you give us any pertinent information to the assignment that you and Agent Vega were on. I am not here to debrief you as I do not have the specifics of the assignment, however it is imperative that we know precisely when and how you became separated before we continue." Kassian stared at him expectantly.