Agent Rogue

Chapter 14

The bartender left before we did.

            Despite our joking, we did not intend for the drinking to turn into a game, but it spiralled into one. Nor did we anticipate our competitiveness to rival one another so fiercely and yet it did.

            I did not dare glance out the window to check, but the waves must have been harsh. I rocked back and forth in my chair, watching the empty bar sway side to side where, astonishingly, nothing fell from it.

            "A-Agent," slurred Barnes. He took a step to the side and stumbled over his own feet. He gripped the edge of the bar just in time, and fell into a fit of laughter by himself. "Up for another round?"
I snorted and leaned back in my seat, grabbing the base of the chair. "You couldn't take another round." I frowned as I rocked. "Is the room spinning?"
"More like... what's it called? Rotating! That's it."
"That's the same thing you... you stupid!"
"I'm not a stupid. You're a—! Whatever you said, I can't remember."

            I forgot as well. I rested my chin in my hands, running over the words that had just let out my mouth. Barnes laughed and hit the table so hard he wobbled. He failed in steadying himself, body slapping against the ground. We both cracked up in laughter.
"Just... give me a minute," he said, still laughing. "Then another round!"

            The buzz of my phone anchored me in.

            Reading Collins's name on the screen made my stomach lurch upwards.

            I was trouble. I was in serious, serious trouble.

            I inhaled, closing my eyes to let out a long, steady exhale to scrape some sobriety from my brain. It only made me dizzy.

            I answered the call. "Rollins. No—Collins!"

            We were off to a dazzling start.

            "Collins, um..." I coughed, trying to give myself time to string together a reasonable excuse. "Sorry about that. I just had something stuck in my coat."
Throat, Amber. Throat!
"Amber Knight are you... are you drunk?"
"Me drunk? Of course not! Why would I willingly drink myself into such a state that I can't even manage one simple conversation while working with a traitor?" I bit my nails, cursing my entire existence. This was not Barnes's fault – I only had myself to blame for how I had acted. Why had I done it? I was not the impulsive type, calculating the consequences of an action before partaking in it, but I gave in so easily. All it took was a joke from Barnes and I cracked.

            Collins sighed heavily. It was not judgemental or patronising; Collins was never like that. All I could sense through that single breath over the phone was disappointment and I did not blame him one bit for feeling that.
"I won't tell Alistair."
I sighed in relief. "Collins, thank you."
"But you owe me an explanation when you get back tomorrow."
That was not due to be pleasant. "Done."
"Good," he said. "These past few days can't have been easy with the loss of Agent Williams. It must have felt different working this time, and I understand that missions such as this can be trying on their own."
I forced a meaningless laugh. It had certainly felt different to anything else I had faced. "That's a severe understatement."

            My eyes brushed over Barnes. His laugh had subsided into subtle remnants of a smile; he could hear my conversation with Collins.

            I stepped back from the table. "Did you need something?" I asked Collins.
"Oh, right! Yes." He cleared his throat. "You recall how I mentioned Alistair becoming rather vocal about the agency's powers?"
"Of course," I replied.
"Yesterday, Alistair had Gabby clear his schedule from the fifth of November onwards, after a meeting" he explained. That was odd for Alistair – the Director's schedule had been full since the day he accepted the job. "I asked him about it," he went on, "and he said we will need a lot of free time after that date, and a lot of it, because we are going to be promoted."
"Do you think they are really considering Alistair's request?"
"Request is a gentle word for it, but yes. I think they really are."
My jaw dropped. Alistair's relationship with the Government had been rocky from the day I met him. They had failed him, he had said – failed this country. After what happened to his family, I did not blame him for thinking that way. "Wow," I said. "Will the meeting be at Westminster?"
"No," he sighed. "But I don't know where it will take place. Unfortunately, agents are not allowed to attend the meeting so Alistair can have an external defence to show the agency from an unbiased perspective."
The gin I had drank tickled my courage. "Why not turn up and be a little dramatic?" I suggested, my mischievous smirk mirroring that of someone else.
"That's reckless for you, Miss Knight."
I smiled, a small laugh escaping my lips that made Barnes look up from his giggly trance. "Think that might be the drink."
"Maybe," he said. "Goodnight, Agent."
"You too," I said, then ended the call.