Evenfall (15 page)

They fell into mutual silence and Boyd continued to half pay attention to Sin even as he absently navigated through the city. His mind turned toward the mission ahead of them and he realized they hadn't finished discussing it. Since Sin had been interacting on some level, Boyd thought it may not be a bad idea to attempt to bring it up again.

"Regarding the mission, we don't have blueprints of the building so the layout will have to be determined upon arrival," Boyd continued as if the incident with the heater hadn't broken up the conversation.

"Number of hostiles expected?" Sin didn't sound particularly interested in the information. His face remained turned, eyes likely focused on the shattered city that Boyd was navigating through.

Although ground zero of the main attack had missed the city center, portable explosive devices had erupted inside not too long after. Even now, decades later, only certain districts had been fully restored. Other areas had turned into havens of crime, poverty and were policed vehemently by the authorities.

"Twenty," Boyd replied.

He started to slow at another red light when he noticed Sin leaning in toward the passenger window, opening his mouth and breathing on it so fog curled against the glass. Despite the fact that it was April, the ever present cloud coverage prevented any rays of sun from warming the Earth. It may as well have been January.

It was such a child-like thing for Sin to do that it distracted Boyd and he looked over. He never would have expected to see the man known as an psychopathic assassin do something a ten year old would do. The impression only grew when Sin reached up with one long finger and started drawing on the window.

Boyd automatically looked at the lines to see what Sin would even draw. He couldn't make anything out immediately so he started to respond. "It's expec--"

He cut himself off when through the lines Sin was drawing he saw the sign on the building near them.

First Bank.

Boyd hit the brakes harder than he'd intended, rocking the car faintly as they came to an abrupt halt at the light. His eyes widened and his face turned ashen, making his pale skin look even more washed out next to his blond hair.

His gaze automatically darted around. The street sign on the corner, proclaiming Dauphin Street. The half broken buildings. The alleyway and the relative obscurity of the place--

The sickening spray of blood, hot against his face. Screams that choked off with a gurgle and pavement grinding against his skin. Heaviness on his back and that desperate, clawing terror--

His breath hissed out of him and he looked away from the bank, from that terrible moment caught in time. It was so much more vivid than it had been for
a while
. It hit him hard; so intense that he could almost feel the stickiness of dripping blood--

He was taken completely off guard. For a moment he was overtaken by the strength of it all. Briefly, so very briefly, he forgot where he was; who he was with. He felt breathless. How had he gotten here? How could he have driven this way--

"And suddenly you look quite taken aback," Sin's voice noted when the moment stretched. He had looked at Boyd after the abrupt stop and his oddly colored eyes continued to watch his trial partner as he spoke.

"What?" Boyd's voice sounded distant even to him.

Boyd didn't look over, wouldn't look anywhere near that building again, but he didn't know where else to look. Nowhere was safe on this street. His mind hadn't quite caught up to the moment. His face was still pale and his fingers were tighter on the steering wheel than necessary.

"Oh look, the light is green again."

Boyd looked up, grasping at some sense of normalcy. He was relieved to see the green light shining down at him. He eased off the brake and started driving again, making sure not to look anywhere other than straight ahead. As the car moved inexorably further from that street, he realized his heart had been pounding and only now was starting to slow.

He felt confused and off-balanced. As soon as that sign was gone, as soon as the building was no longer there as a monolithic reminder, he could feel the weight of it leaving him and the fuzziness starting to slide back in to take its place. The shakiness of his scattered thoughts were given the chance to start to realign. Any bits of curiosity he'd felt before had blown away in the face of that innocuous sign.

"What would your mother say?" Sin wondered out loud, his voice full of fake scandal. "Bringing attention to our fancy Agency issue car in the middle of one of the most rundown parts of the city. Of course if a police officer did stop us they'd turn back around as soon as they saw the plates which take us so far out of their jurisdiction that they wouldn't know who to contact. But even so, screeching to a halt wasn't exactly full of discretion."

Boyd barely heard most of what Sin said. His mind was sidelined by the offhanded,
what would your mother say?
His fingers tightened on the steering wheel and his eyes narrowed, his expression doggedly turning neutral again although the color had not fully returned to his face.

He pointedly did everything he could to not think about what she might do. He forced every errant thought down where it wouldn't bother him anymore.

"Maybe you're having a panic attack," Sin wondered aloud. "We can always turn back, you know. They'll understand."

"No," Boyd said sharply before he could stop himself. His eyes narrowed and his expression closed off completely. Any vestigial emotions that had been there disappeared as if they'd never existed.

He hadn't intended it to sound so forceful, yet the very idea of turning back, of standing in front of his mother and telling her he'd never actually made it to their destination because he'd ended up on Dauphin Street along the way... His back was tight with tension at the thought.

"It may be for the best. I just can't be certain of your mental or physical state with such sudden attacks occurring at random."

The bland commentary was starting to vex Boyd, who was still trying to return to the safe equilibrium of an unfeeling mind. He let out a low breath to calm his nerves and looked at Sin with a firm, even stare. A look that was meant to assure Sin that he was fully in control again. "It won't happen again."

"Maybe." Once again, Sin's expression was difficult to read. On one hand he looked amused by the situation but on the other hand, it could be that the amusement was a front for something far more devious and manipulative. "How could I be sure unless you tell me what the problem is?"

Boyd's expression didn't shift, although his eyes narrowed faintly. "The reason is unimportant and does not concern you. They did a full evaluation of me during training. They would not have sent me off as your trial partner if I could conceivably pose any type of threat to you."

"Believe me, sweetheart, I feel anything but threatened." Sin stared at him, hawk-like gaze taking in every minute detail of Boyd. "But how could such a seemingly innocuous area produce such a strong reaction in a boy who appears to pride himself on showing nothing? There wasn't a soul in the street except for the usual beggars. Would you like me to describe the extent of your reaction?"

Boyd's eyebrows ticked down and he looked away, staring out the windshield with a studiously blank expression. He wished Sin would leave the topic alone. "That won't be necessary."

"Are you sure? It was quite visceral. If any other agent were here they would likely be concerned about taking a trial recruit into a red zone who was obviously having some kind of emotional issue."

"Leave it alone," Boyd said with a stronger edge, looking over at Sin with a warning in his eyes. He was getting frustrated by the conversation and the fact that Sin wouldn't let it go. Frustrated that he couldn't cope the way it had always worked best for him: by pushing it to the side and ignoring it.

"There is no 'emotional issue,'" he continued firmly. "If you would stop focusing on unimportant minutiae, we could prepare ourselves better for the mission. At this rate, you're more distracted by any of this than I am."

Sin scoffed at that. "Actually, having a half-trained newbie freak out before a mission and refuse to explain why warrants me calling in an early abort. They prefer that to a mission failed."

Boyd shook his head, his jaw set while he leveled a sharp-eyed stare that bordered on a glare at the road. "Do what you must but if the mission is aborted, it should not be on my account. I am perfectly capable of doing my part. Whether or not you feel entitled to information that is none of your business is not my concern. I assure you that none of this will affect the mission. That should be all that matters."

"Oh, but it would be held on your account and even if you won't deign to fill your partner in on your sudden stricken attacks of fear, you would have to fill in mother dearest." Sin raised his eyebrows and leaned back against his seat. "She can figure out why her little boy feels that he doesn't have to answer to his senior agent. If I were someone who actually gave a shit about this mission, well, or any mission, you'd have trouble."

Boyd's heart thumped at the thought of his mother finding out; of answering to her. He looked out the driver's side window so Sin wouldn't have a chance to see any vestiges of alarm that may make it to his eyes, but he couldn't stop the tension in his shoulders and back. He was afraid of her finding out. If he let himself really think about it, he was terrified. He didn't want to lose whatever tenuous chance he had at being worthy in her eyes, but more than that he didn't want to see what she would do if she became displeased.

He didn't know what to say to Sin.

He didn't want to have to keep talking about First Bank, forcing him to continually dance around why the place had upset him in the first place. He wanted it all to disappear back into the fog he'd fought so hard to gain over the years. The deadened emptiness that had made it possible for him to be in that house, that bedroom, without terrible or longing memories suffocating him.

In the silence that dragged, it became obvious that he didn't plan to answer. He instead focused solely on where he was headed. There weren't really any other places in the city that would be as devastating to inadvertently pass as Dauphin Street, although at the moment he had to admit to himself he didn't want to go anywhere near Crater Lake, either.

He worked on reorienting himself to their position. He saw the old Miller building up ahead and realized with frustration that he'd let Sin engage him in a conversation he didn't even want to have, to the point that he hadn't realized how close they were to the destination. They had less than five minutes before they would arrive and they hadn't even discussed the plan yet.

"It would behoove us to have a plan prior to entering," he said without looking away from the road. "And we're nearly at our destination."

Sin didn't bother to respond, seeming to have already lost interest in Boyd.

"We don't know exactly where the information and the hostiles are within the building. However, if the building is like many of the others in the area it is likely to have two main exits, one in front and one off the alley. Given that many of the buildings in this area used to be for commercial use, it is also likely to have a number of rooms in back which once functioned as offices while there would be a larger showroom or lobby in front."

Boyd's expression was as impassive as his voice as he slowed the car at the last intersection before he had to turn onto the street that would take them by their target. He stopped at a stop sign and since the street was abandoned and they were still a few blocks away from the target building, he turned to face Sin fully.

"Obviously this information will not be known until we enter. However, to speed the completion of the mission I suggest we split up, one entering in each entrance. If you have a preference for alley or street side entrance, you're welcome to it. We'll keep our comm units active and whoever is able to obtain the information first will alert the other. We can then both retreat and meet at the car."

Sin flicked his gaze over to Boyd, nodding. His full mouth stretched into a mockery of a smile and he inclined his head to Boyd as if in deference to his plan.

Satisfied that there didn't have to be a prolonged discussion about this, at least, Boyd nodded. He drove them until they were a block away from the building and around the corner out of sight. He parked the car and then looked at Sin. "Is your comm on?"

"Sure."

Boyd shook his head at the noncommittal answer and quietly opened the door. "I'll see you back here," he said calmly. Sin didn't respond, which was unsurprising. Boyd shut the door and moved toward the alley without looking back.

He approached the building slowly from the side, making sure to keep an eye out for cameras or lookouts. It wasn't the type of building that would have had cameras installed back when this area had been successful, prior to the war, and it appeared that the hostiles hadn't installed their own system. He did see someone in the second floor with a shotgun, leaning against the window and peering down. It looked to be a light-skinned man in his mid-30's but that was all Boyd could tell.

He paused at the entrance to the alley and waited, watching the man. It seemed as though with so few people in the building, there weren't enough people to fully man all the positions. Or so he assumed when he saw the hostile yawn tiredly and, after another scrutinizing look into the alley, walk away. Boyd could see his figure faintly appearing and disappearing in the windows along the second floor as he headed toward the front.