Second Incursion part 3

Before the two were several men. They wore expensive black suits, five arms strapped at their sides. All seven turned their attention to the new comers and bared several identical smiles.
“Oh man. This is not fair!” Eileen said aloud. “This is not freakin’ fair!”
They were overpowered in a blink of an eye.
“Mr Alexander Rybak, you have an appointment with Dr. Dmitri Pretov.” The leader said; his grip on Alex’s bicep was painfully tight.
“Miss Hutton, we have no use for you.” Another said, dragging her to her knees. He looked up, gestured for the others to take her. “Dispose of Miss Hutton quickly.”
“No! Don’t touch her!” Alex yelled as five hand guns were trained to the 16 year old girl’s head. “Don’t hurt her!”
The leader nodded and give guns were fired at once. Alex watched in horror as blood splattered the ground, bits of splintered white bone rolled across the floor; the thump of bodies was sickening. The leader stared wordlessly at the impossible sight before him. Alex’s heart was pounding hard in his chest.
Eileen looked up from where she knelt and smiled; a hand on the frame of her glasses. She didn’t stay inert for long to let her actions sink in. She launched herself from where she knelt and crash tackled the leader to the ground. Because her weight did not match his, she was already at a disadvantage as the leading man used her motion against her. He flung his leg out, his foot connecting to her ribs. There was a sickening crack, but the young agent never stopped moving. She gripped his ankle and dragged it forwards, knocking him off his balance. He fell.
Eileen pinned him to the ground, at the same time, undoing his belt. There was a series of short mechanical sounds as the cold metal of the gun barrel was pressed to the side of her head.
“Let him go.” The second in charge’s voice was straining to sound clam.
“Pull that trigger and you’ll end up like all of your buddies here with your brains splattered against the windows.” Eileen warned. She saw the man’s eyes flicker over to the left over of his team.
The moment’s distraction was all she needed and before he could fix his eyes on her, Eileen had kicked the gun away from him, pinning his neck against the window with the sole of her shoe. She turned her attention quickly to the leader. She used his belt to tie his hands and legs behind back. He grunted and tried to escape but her knee was pressed against the centre of his back. She took the wrist mike and stamped on it; listening to the satisfying crunch of plastic and cheap metal. Eileen was smiling as she turned to the second in command. There was no fear in his eyes and he sneered.
“Why are you after Mr. Rybak?” She demanded; her forearm replaced her shoes at his neck. He spat in her face and she calmly wiped it away with his hand. She repeated the question. When he didn’t answer, she grinned wickedly. Alex watched in uncomfortable fascination as Eileen somehow, proceeded to tie the man’s legs and hand up onto the holding rail above her head. She secured his awkward position with some rope from her belt.
Eileen turned to Alex and smiled. “Let’s go to the next carriage.” She said and when she saw his reluctant expression, she smiled apologetically.
“The guns, they exploded in their faces.” Alex said finally, realising the dangerous potential of the girl that stood before him.
“Ah...well I have these...sound frequency sequences stored in my glasses. When I press the button, all guns jam themselves. Nothing will happen if you pull the trigger once. But if you attempt to pull it more than three times, then the gun simply explodes backwards.” She explained, leading them to the next carriage. “The SFS gives out this high pitched sound that only weapon holders can hear. It’s like a warning, but I guess they weren’t listening.”
“What about them?” Alex gestured to the two surviving men.
“That one...” She point to the leader. “...will have his muscles aching for probably a week. “And this one here; his body will be paralysed for just 12 hours.”
Alex frowned. “It was a punishment I received while I was still at training camp.” She shrugged, ushering him into the next carriage, locking the door behind them. “It’s pretty harmless.”
“You know, now I’m pretty scared of you.” Alex said truthfully.
“Everyone’s scared of me; I’m full of surprises, no one knows what to expect, that’s why AIA hired me and that why everyone else stays away from me. I’m used to it now.” She replied. Alex wouldn’t look at her. “And...thanks...for before.” Eileen said quickly.
Alex looked up finally to study the expression on her face, but she had already turned away.
“Oh man! This is really not fair at all!” Eileen screamed and Alex, following her line of sight, saw why.
They had just walked into a death trap. Every inch of the last train carriage was occupied with blocks of C4 explosives; each consisted of a wire that led back into a timer at the centre of the ground before them. It was counting down from thirty seconds.
“I don’t suppose you know how to disarm a bomb do you?” Alex swallowed the mounting panic he felt.
“Oh man.” Eileen groaned and turned back to the third carriage behind them, only it wasn’t there. She realised that Dmitri’s men had escaped and they had loosened the metal clasps that held the carriages together. They door was locked on both ends and there was no way of escape. Eileen swore and knelt by the bomb, peeling off its cover to inspect the wires.
“Do you know what you’re doing?” Alex asked nervously.
Eileen shook her head and counted the wires. There were three. The timer was no counting down from ten seconds.
“Alex what colour do you like?” She asked, drawing the K-bar knife strapped on her thigh.
“Ummm...what does that have to do with the bomb?” Alex half shouted.
7 seconds.
“What is your favourite colour?” She demanded fighting the rising panic, trying to hold her shaking hand steady.
6 seconds became 5 seconds.
“Do you know what you’re doing?” Alex asked.
4 seconds.
“What’s your favourite colour?” Eileen asked as calmly as she could.
3 seconds.
“What if I’m wrong?” Alex demanded.
Two seconds. One second.
Zero.
Alex shut his eyes and waited for the explosion, his heart had stopped beating, his mind was screaming for him to run.
Nothing. No pain, no explosion and the last train carriage remained silent. Alex opened his eyes. Eileen was holding onto her K-bar in one hand, the other held a frayed wire.
“My favourite colour is red.” She said faintly, sounding relieved.
“Oh thank god!” Alex collapsed to the ground beside her, breathing hard. They were quiet for a while.
“Just curious; what is your favourite colour?” She asked finally.
“Blue.” Alex replied and they both fell back laughing.
“Lucky.” She sighed. “So...we still need to get to the embassy.”
“I suppose so.” Alex replied. It was all awkward conversation from then onwards.
In the end, because Eileen couldn’t think of another way to get to the embassy, they hopped off the lone carriage and walked along the rail tracks.
“There’ll be delays and investigations for at least four hours.” Eileen has assured Alex when he raised the question. So they walked. It might’ve taken them four hours because by the time they climbed off the tracks and onto the platform, it was already 6 o’clock in the evening and it was dark.
They sighed in relief as they reached the Norwegian Embassy, out of breath. The guard at the gate took one look at them and refused to let them enter.
Eileen held out their ID tags and identification papers. “I’m here to escort Mr Alexander Rybak to safely.”
The guard nodded once, faxed the papers to some office and told them to wait. Five minutes later, a Norwegian Representative Official appeared and they followed him to his office. He asked Alex to explain the recent events and so Alex did. Eileen sat back, eyes closed, listening to them converse in Norwegian. She sighed in relief. Eileen had successfully completed the mission.
Explaining took four hours as Alex had to stop to explain who Eileen was. The Norwegian Representative Official did not believe them and had Eileen called Professor Weaver just to prove her identity. More phone calls were made, papers were signed and after four hours, the two were led to their rooms, exhausted.
Eileen hit the showers straight away, peeling off her blood soaked clothes and dumping them into the bin. She would ask Professor Weaver to send her new clothes by tomorrow morning. Eileen scrubbed the blood stains off her skin, examining the bullet wound on her arm. The blood had caked around the hole and the skin around it was bright red and swollen. She sighed and quickly washed her hair, enjoying the steaming hot water against her skin, she did not worry about her cracked ribs; they had stopped aching a while ago.
Eileen pulled on the silk pyjamas that had been left for her, on. As usual, the maids had given her one that was two sizes too big, but she didn’t mind. She found morphine and a needle in the medicine cabinet and injected her arm with an eighth of the morphine vial. Then she lay down on the bed, waiting for the pain to go away. She texted Professor Weaver with the request of new clothes and he replied thirty seconds later with his agreement.
Eileen smiled; relaxed, lay back again and tried to go to sleep; but she couldn’t. Eileen turned the T.V on and surfed through the channels, hoping that it would make her sleepy, but instead, the voices made her feel agitated. Finally, she gave up, slipped into her socks and took a walk.
The hall way was lit with dim lights and it was quiet. Eileen roamed the corridors, trying not to get lost. She came upon a familiar door. Alex’s room. Eileen stood there for a while, debating with herself. She raised a clenched fist to knock but stopped short of the wooden door as she changed her mind, feeling embarrassed. She turned away just as the door opened.
“Eileen?” Alex sounded confused. “What are you doing here?”
Eileen turned to him and shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep.” She said truthfully.
“Oh, you want to come in?” He asked, stepping aside. Eileen shrugged and stepped through the doorway. “I was feeling hungry.” Alex explained.
Eileen laughed. “Then I shall make you my famous scrambled eggs!” She said.
“Oh, so now you’re a chef as well as a spy.” Alex commented and they both laughed.
Alex and Eileen sat opposite each other on his bed, eating the scrambled eggs that she had made.
“What you did today...was pretty cool.” Alex said after a while. “You’re so quick; I didn’t even see you move when you trapped that guy.”
Eileen shrugged. “It’s nothing to be proud of.”
“So, will I see you again after this?” Alex asked suddenly.
“Probably not. You’ll go back to Norway, and I’ll go back to Australia and life goes on.” She replied, trying to hide her disappointment behind a smile.
“Ah.” Alex said. “Well thank you.”
Their hands were inches apart and Alex took her hand in his. She shivered at his touch and begged herself not to say anything or do anything stupid.
“I finished the song.” He said suddenly. “Want to hear it?”
Eileen smiled. “Yeah, sure.” She was trying to act cool, but inside, her heart was pounding hard against her chest. She caught him looking at her and smiled before looking away again, listening to Alex’s voice, listening to the bittersweet melody on his violin.
“I wrote it for you.” He said when the song ended.
Her heart did an uncomfortable flutter. “Oh, it’s getting late now. I should go to sleep. I have to write another report tomorrow.” She said standing up.
“Oh. “Alex said blankly. He walked her to the door. “Well goodnight.”
Eileen tried to smile. “Goodnight. I’ll see you in the morning to say goodbye before I go.” Her heart skipped a beat as the found herself in his arms.
“Thank you.” He said again.
Eileen ran back to her room, her cheeks were bright red. She slammed the door behind her, slid down against the smooth wood and hugged her knees.
“Oh god.” She whispered to no one in particular.

Eileen woke to urgent rapping on her door. Sleepily, she opened it and received a parcel from the same Norwegian Representative from last night.
“A parcel for you.” He said unnecessarily. Eileen nodded, took the parcel and closed the door.
She tore the brown paper and read the note first.
Eileen!
Congratulations on this mission. I’ve asked my niece and she assures me that these are the latest in fashion.
Charlie

Eileen smiled and examined the clothes. Professor Charles (Charlie) Weaver had sent her a plaid green shirt that was long enough to be a dress, a white waist belt, black stockings and black heels. She put everything on except the shoes, choosing to wear her own converse instead; finally, she armed herself with the weapons that she had left. Then, after brushing her teeth and washing her face, she left to find Alex.
“Mr Rybak left for the airport early this morning.” The cleaning maid said. “It was insisted that he leave here as soon as possible.”
“Oh. Thank you.” Eileen said feeling a tad disappointed. She took one last look at his room, imagining him sitting where he had sat opposite her last night. Then Eileen collected her stuff and left. She hadn’t even got the chance to say goodbye.
Only after Eileen left the gates of the Norwegian Embassy did she realise that something was wrong. She turned around to go back in but was stopped by the security guard.
“I think I forgot something.” She lied.
He shook his head. “No you haven’t. We’ve checked your room. There is nothing there except the clothes that you discarded last night.” He said.
Eileen mentally swore and turned around, heading back to the train station.
“Joe.” She said into her mobile.
“Mission a success?” He asked on the other end.
“Sort of, but there’s something not quite right.” Eileen said; her voice was tight with panic and fear.