On Her Majesty's Secret Service ~ H.S.

Chapter 23

No one talks when we get back to base. Not even the other groups. As I survey their faces as I change in the dormitory, they all resemble Harry slightly. Sarah and Mac's faces are pale and expressionless as they both look into the distance, unable to concentrate on any one thing at a time. Victoria's face is contorted into a frown for the better part of two hours, and I don't catch a glimpse of Adam the whole night. I'm not sure where he could be, but judging from the other 3 in the room, I can infer that he's not having a nice night either.

The evening and dinner progresses alarmingly slow. Harry barely has the energy to mumble out a few words here or there. Although I didn't undergo the same kind of terror as him, I'm still reeling from the inescapable feeling of that odd 'embassy'.

When it's finally time for bed, I'm relieved. I hope that a good night's sleep might help Harry to feel better, and wipe the awful memories from my own mind. The other's don't say a word as they slip into their individual cots.

Thanks to Harry's surprisingly welcome gesture last night, I don't feel as nervous about sleeping in the dorm anymore. I had the realization that while Harry's with me, nothing can truly happen. He slides into bed without a word and faces the opposite direction. There's no reason for me to think him rude right now. He just underwent possibly the worst experience that he's capable of having. At least since the first incident occurred when he was a child.

I sigh quietly and get into our shared bed. Attempting to keep my distance so as not to disturb Harry. It would help to be touching him, as I now know, but I won't push my limits. I'm scared I'll set him off accidentally while he's in such a state, and I don't need a fight between us at a time like this.

The mission tonight was not like the others in the slightest. First of all, I'm completely sure that building I attempted to investigate was not an embassy. Out in the middle of the woods, gigantic, concrete and with absolutely no sense to the inside, the building seemed more suited for a game of hide and seek.

The question that remains is what was the building if not an embassy? I can't comprehend why Sanders would lie to us, but after witnessing his shady phone calls and meetings in buildings that were just as confusing, I can't help but doubt him. He certainly put us into the building on purpose, but why?

Then there's the guard who was standing ready to abduct Harry as soon as he entered. How the hell could he have known that we were coming at all, where we were entering through, and when we'd arrive? Harry never had a chance from the start, and since I didn't have my ear piece, I had no idea.

Upon further reflection, I remember Sanders specifically telling Harry to enter through the back entrance instead of through the front with me. The back entrance where the masked man was waiting. And how in the world could the abductor possibly know Harry's worst fear in the entire world? If it was some random guard working for the german embassy, none of this would have been possible.

We were set up, and that's a fact I'm certain of. Right now, the only perpetrator for this set up is Sanders himself. He's supposed to be training us. Why in the world would he ever do this to us?

My brain starts to run off in a million different directions, but I'm brought back to reality by a loud sound beside me. I open my eyes and turn. Harry is breathing heavily and harshly, his chest rising up and down erratically. I know without asking that he's thinking about his experience earlier this evening.

What am I supposed to do? I feel partly responsible for letting this happen to him in the first place, so I want him to feel better. If I had met him downstairs after half an hour like I was supposed to, I would've realized he wasn't there and started looking for him way before time was up. I'm extremely lucky to have happened upon him by chance, and I shudder at the thought of what would have happened if I hadn't seen him.