Evenfall (16 page)

Boyd waited again, searching for any less telltale signs that someone was watching, and he only moved forward when he was satisfied no one was. He moved quickly and silently to the back door and ducked down behind a garbage dumpster, waiting again to ensure he hadn't been seen.

After a few moments he slipped out from the hiding spot and moved to the door, peeking in the windows. No one was inside within view. He tried the door and was unsurprised to find it locked. He pulled out a lock-picking set and he set to work on the lock. It didn't take long before he heard the faint click of the tumblers shifting. He paused again, patiently waiting for any signs of discovery, and moved forward when he didn't hear anything.

The door opened with only the faintest squeal which, after another long pause, he determined hadn't attracted anyone's attention. He shut the door quietly behind him and looked around. He was in a small area that in a house would have likely been termed a mudroom. There was nothing in it but at one point it had probably held storage of some sort. Off the room was a back hallway that hadn't been maintained in years. The floor was uneven and the walls had water damage trailing down what had probably once been white paint.

There were a few doors within view; two on each side and one at the end that he presumed opened up to a larger space in the front of the building. There also looked to be another hallway that intersected this one at the end.
He moved along the wall, keeping an eye in front and behind him for anyone. A few of the doors were partially open and he headed to the first one on the right. He didn't hear anyone inside and peeked in. The room was empty; literally. There was nothing inside at all, not even a single chair. Obviously the information wasn't there so he went to the next room across the hall. That one housed a partially broken old desk. He searched through the room quickly and didn't see anything of use.

He moved on to the next room with little result and was just about to head toward the fourth when he heard movement on the other side of the main door that he presumed went to some sort of lobby. He'd been half paying attention to his comm unit for any updates or warnings from Sin. He hadn't heard anything at all, which he'd assumed meant Sin had not run into any problems yet. If Sin had gone in the front like planned, he should have run into people which would have made noise, and may have alerted Boyd to the situation up there.

Since he hadn't heard anything, he wasn't prepared when the door abruptly opened and four faction 53 hostiles walked in. Boyd ducked back into the room immediately but he wasn't quite fast enough to avoid being seen. He heard them call out in surprise and within seconds the staccato burst of gunfire ripped into the open doorway. Boyd kicked over the dilapidated desk and crouched behind it but he knew it was going to be little help in the long run.

He heard the door to the main room bang open and more people flow in, and when he tried to peek over the desk he had to duck down right away when bullets shot by his head. He was only able to get the briefest glance which told him he was surrounded. There were hostiles to the left and right of the door and at least one who looked like he was setting up in the room across the hall. It was only going to be a manner of minutes if not seconds until they realized no one was shooting back and they moved in to execute him.

His heart was thumping despite himself and he could feel adrenaline start to sing through his system. With the showering of gunfire, he wondered how long he could stay here before even the meager cover he'd managed to find would no longer be enough. His eyes narrowed as he realized that he should have brought the gun after all.

"South hallway," Boyd said into the comm unit. "I need backup."

He didn't hear a response but he wasn't expecting one. He had to crouch down as more bullets zipped past him. He could feel the impacts of the bullets against the desk and knew it was only a matter of time before they weakened the structure enough to start shooting through it.

There weren't a lot of hostiles but there were more than enough for Boyd to be unable to handle them on his own, especially without a gun.

When there weren't any immediate signs of Sin showing up and when Boyd heard the hostiles moving closer, his eyes narrowed and he tried to get as far away from their aim as possible.
He heard the door open and a new voice enter the fray, barking orders above the gunfire for an update. It sounded like a man in charge had arrived. When Boyd heard one of the hostiles say that so far they'd only seen one intruder and there hadn't appeared to be return gunfire yet, and that the intruder was caught in the room, Boyd felt fairly certain that Sin wasn't coming.
Still, he hissed into his comm unit just to be sure, "Where are you? They have me cornered."

There was no answer and he knew there wouldn't be one. Sin wasn't in the building. He had probably never left the car. Boyd couldn't even be sure the man had bothered to turn on his comm unit, given his lackadaisical 'sure' earlier.

On some level, it made him angry. What gave Sin the right to lecture him about protocol and being reliable for the mission when he didn't bother doing anything himself?

The man in charge said loudly, "Cease fire! Stop wasting ammo!"

The gunfire stopped and Boyd knew he was too outnumbered to successfully complete the mission. He could take on one or two people but not a whole group, even if they weren't shooting at him.
Without any backup, he was forced to retreat. He had a flash-bang grenade with him that he'd brought in case he needed a diversion. He pulled the pin and threw the grenade around the desk. He immediately squeezed his eyes shut, turning away and plugging his ears. A cacophony of light and sound crashed through the small room and startled sounds of pain chorused around him. He didn't wait for them to recover.
While their senses were still reeling, he ran to the old window and broke the glass with his elbow. The small, jagged pieces left on the windowsill dug into his hands as he hauled himself up and threw himself out the window. He hit the ground hard, falling into a roll to distribute some of the impact. He'd barely stood when gunfire erupted from the second floor. The lookout saw him.

His eyes narrowed as he dodged and weaved between obstacles that he used as cover, and managed to run back the way he'd come. He knew it would only be so long until the men inside recovered and came after him so he ran as fast as he could.

The Agency car was still there. Sin was turned away, and didn't bother to even look over his shoulder at the sound of Boyd's running footsteps. It caused a renewal of Boyd's frustrated anger. He could have been killed in there, and the mission had failed, and Sin couldn't even be bothered to act as though he'd noticed.

When Boyd came up beside him he grabbed Sin's shoulder roughly, already demanding, "What the hell were--"

Before he could process what was happening, his arm was wrenched violently and he was spun around and pinned against the side of the car. For the second time since they'd met, he found himself face to face with Sin as the other man locked his long fingers around Boyd's throat.

Green eyes narrowed as Sin looked at him darkly. His fingers flexed slightly, briefly cutting off air as the senior agent leaned in closer. For a breath they were nearly nose to nose as those intense eyes bore into Boyd. But then the grip relaxed and Sin released him, allowing him to crumple against the side of the car.

"Do not put your hands on me."

Boyd caught himself before he could fall. He glared at Sin, feeling more spurned by the reaction than afraid. He could hear the sounds of pursuit closing in on them, echoing faintly in the alley but growing louder. With a tightened jaw, he turned his back on Sin and stalked around the car, opening the door with more force than necessary. He barely waited for Sin to get in the car too before he sped off down the street, the tires squealing in protest.

The high-pitched whip of bullets ricocheted off the pavement around them and he heard the dull thud of one of the shots catching the back of the car. They turned the corner and Boyd twisted the steering wheel to immediately catch the next turn. In the rear view mirror he saw the hostiles swarming around the corner as they ran.

Cold frustration continued to stain Boyd's thoughts even after they'd made it another two blocks and it seemed evident that no one was planning to pursue them in a vehicle. He turned a sidelong, hard stare onto Sin.

"Don't put your hands on me like that, either," he said flatly.

Sin didn't bother to reply, once again looking completely disinterested in his existence.

Boyd wasn't ready to let this go, however. "What the hell were you doing back there? Didn't you have your comm unit on?"

"What do you think?"

Boyd turned his narrowed eyes back to the road. He could feel tension settling into his shoulders as they grew closer to the Agency. "Why didn't you even try? The mission failed and we'll both be held accountable. Doesn't that bother you?"

Sin raised his dark eyebrows slightly. "The mission didn't need two people. Perhaps you should have brought a gun."

"What difference would that have made against so many armed hostiles?" Boyd retorted. He didn't feel like acknowledging that Sin was right in any way when he was so irritated with him. "It may have helped but it wouldn't have fixed everything."

At that, Sin turned and actually looked at him directly. "My, my," he drawled slowly, shaking his head. "Who exactly was it that trained you, out of curiosity? They should put termination down on their day
calendar
if you are their final rank 9 product."

Boyd's glare turned icy and shifted back to the road. "Not all of us were born superhuman," he said coldly. "It's my first mission and I expected my partner to be where he said he would be. Apparently that was a mistake."

"Relying on anyone is a mistake. If you weren't taught that, you are more misinformed and ridiculous than I thought. This mission was a joke. If you aren't even capable of performing adequately on it, you won't last much longer whether it's me who snaps your neck or not."

"Is that what you want? Another failed attempt at a partner to stain your record?"

Sin scoffed at that, green eyes moving over him scornfully before sliding away. "Don't speak as though you know anything about me. And this partnership will fail regardless, judging from what I've seen today. You have the amazing ability to be both arrogant and completely stupid simultaneously."

"How am I stupid?" Boyd asked with an edge.

"When have you shown intelligence?" was the flat retort. "No gun. The bizarre notion that you have superior knowledge on how to approach a mission. The assumption that withholding information from your partner and senior agent is acceptable. The even more ridiculous assumption that if anyone else was here, they would have allowed any of this to go on. If someone were here who actually gave a fuck about these missions, I assure you, they would have handed you your ass before calling in an abort and writing up a detailed report of your ineptitude."

Boyd's fingers dug into the steering wheel. He couldn't fully discount Sin's points and that annoyed him even more, along with the reminder of what had happened on Dauphin Street.

"And you plan not to?" he challenged. "So far you've spent your time mocking me, ignoring me, or threatening to kill me. If you have such a problem with me I'd think you'd love the chance to tell your superiors."

"You'll die regardless. What's the point."

Boyd looked at him sidelong. Without anything to respond, he let the moment fall into silence.

The rest of the ride felt at once too long and too short. When they returned, Sin walked away without a word and Boyd went in and wrote the mission report alone. There wasn't a good way to word that he'd failed on his first mission so he was unsurprised when he was called up to his mother's office within the hour after the report was submitted.

Ann announced his presence and let him into Vivienne's room, shutting the door behind him. He stood back by the door, his back straight and face expressionless, although he felt a worm of doubt inside him at the ice cold stare she leveled at him. It felt like she could see through him, right down to the depth of his soul, and she didn't see anything worthwhile in the process.

"Sit down." Her words were clipped.

Boyd obeyed immediately. He walked further into the room and silently sat in the chair across the desk from her.

Her lips were thin and eyes narrowed. She sat forward, her fingers interwoven and clenched as they rested on the desk. "I had low expectations of you yet even I did not anticipate such a resounding failure."

There was the briefest lull that told Boyd he was supposed to respond. He felt the doubt expand into uncertainty. "Mother, I--"

"Inspector," she corrected him shortly, her stare narrowing into a glare.

"Inspector," he amended. "The situation was such that it required two people. I did request backup but I didn't receive it."

"A convenient explanation," Vivienne said dismissively with a faint hint of disgust. She leaned back and turned ice blue eyes on her laptop, typing a few short, quick keys with one hand and briefly glancing at whatever came up on screen. "You did not bring a gun on the mission."

Boyd hesitated the briefest moment before he agreed. "No."

"Were you not advised to bring one prior to the mission?"