0 comments/ 4828 views/ 3 favorites The Store Ch. 02 By: Starscream_UK The Store: Baggage Saturday, 2:30 pm Tim found himself in the office area, scanning through the delivery schedules for the following week. At the same time, Moz was downstairs dealing with the customers they had in the store. They were mostly "regulars" - patrons who frequented the store most weeks. As he scanned through the schedule Tim almost missed it the first time around. He went back and checked it again. There, nestled amongst the lists of comics that had been issued to the Oblivion Comic Store there was an item that looked completely out of place. Tim lifted the piece of paper closer to his eyes - in between issues of Spider-Man, Astonishing X-Men, Invincible and Batman there sat an order for a copy of InStyle magazine - complete with it's Comag reference code. Tim looked at it over and over again, until he was certain he was sure what the item referred to. **** Moz stood at the till and scanned the comic books through. He then picked up the box of Star Wars miniatures and waved them in front of the blinking red laser on the till. Moz placed them in the same carrier bag as the comics and rang up the total. "Fifteen fifty please Mike." Moz said. Mike - a slightly overweight and balding man in his mid-thirties - handed him a credit card. Moz placed it inside the reader and then pressed the key on the till marked credit/debit card. After a few seconds the till made a ping noise. "Just enter your PIN number please mate...thanks." he took the card out of the reader and handed it back to Mike. "Thanks Moz - see you next week." Mike said as he headed out of the door. Tim came down the stairs carrying the order schedule. "Did you order a copy of InStyle magazine this month?" he asked. Moz suddenly looked sheepish. "Err, yeah," he said, looking around to check that there was no one within earshot. "Max wanted one." "Oh, that's okay - I thought that Comag were trying to rip us off." Tim said. There were a sudden series of squeals of protest from the back of the store. Tim shook his head and walked over to where the sound originated. As he approached the group of lads hunched over a four feet square table he saw what was causing the consternation. "For the last time Vernon, you can't use a level twenty Plague bearer demon in this game – it's unfair to the other players." Tim said as he desperately tried to control the four teenagers standing around the gaming table at the rear of the store. He reached over and swiped the large lead miniature from the table. He looked at it for a moment – it resembled an obese, decaying fat man being carried on a throne by smaller, rat-like creatures. Vernon – a small youth of about fourteen years old with round glasses and dark hair – frowned at him as Tim placed the model at the side of the table, away from the playing area. "You can have it back when you're done." "Oh, come on – Dean's got three level ten Dark Elf champions as well as two units of archers and infantrymen. How am I supposed to counter that?" he said in disgust. Tim shrugged his shoulders. "You outnumber him seven to one with your Skaven rat-horde; just overwhelm the buggers with weight of numbers." Tim replied. "Have you never seen the film Zulu?" "Yes," Vernon muttered. "And the Zulu's lost." "Well, best of luck with that tactic." Tim said as he moved away from the table. He wandered through the various groups of kids milling around the shop. The half-term holidays and weekends always brought them in; it was like the place was an unofficial crèche. That thought floated around his mind for a minute as he began to contemplate charging the parents who just abandoned their kids there for the day. Then he recalled the fact that those same kids had a tendency to persuade their parents to get their credit cards out at the end of the day, so Tim felt that it would be awhile before there would be a membership fee attached to the store. The door opened and a now-familiar figure entered. She had wavy brown hair and was bundled up in a woolly bobble hat, scarf, gloves and a coat that looked three sizes too big for her. She looked around the shop, nodded to Moz and made her way over to Tim. "Hey there, you okay?" Tim asked as Kelly approached him. There was a sudden chorus of "Hi Kelly!" from the five lads at the gaming table, which prompted her to smile slightly. Tim turned around to look at them, and they immediately resumed what they were doing. Despite the fact she had only been working at the shop for five days she'd already made an impression on them. "I need a favour." She asked as she walked across to him. "Okay..." Tim replied. He paused for a moment. "Shoot." Kelly looked at him and tilted her head as she took in his words. "My car is still being fixed after my little, er, accident," she said. "I need to borrow your van to get some of stuff from my old apartment." "When do you want to go and get it?" Tim replied. Kelly shrugged her shoulders. "Tomorrow?" Tim nodded. "No problem – I'll drive you." He said as he turned around to hear more noises from the table behind him. "Where are we going then?" "Norton Canes – north Staffordshire." Kelly said. "Look, I can go on my own..." "Nope, no one drives the van except me." Tim said. He picked up a heavy bound book from the bookcase and handed it to her. Kelly looked at the cover – the words The Walking Dead screamed out at her in thick, red letters. "Now, next phase in your education – the works of Robert Kirkman." He turned back towards the table as he heard outcry from the participants. "Vernon, are you using loaded dice again?" **** The shop was quiet as Tim said good night to Moz before locking the door behind him. Kelly plodded down the stairs from the office with three large volumes in her hands. "I can't believe you want me to read all these by next weekend." She said. "I haven't done this much homework since...well, ever!" "Hey – remember what I said to you – you need to get up to speed with things in here so you don't look out of place. They'll only buy the fact that you're new for so long." Tim replied as he looked at his watch. "Look, do you want to get something to eat?" Kelly stopped in her tracks. "Yeah – I'd like that. Can I just drop these off upstairs and freshen up?" She asked as she indicated towards the comic books. "No problem – I need to get my wallet and get changed so I'll see you down here in twenty minutes?" **** The food was Italian, and the restaurant a secluded one located in a quiet back street. Kelly was impressed with Tim's familiarity with both the venue and the owner. The two men talked like old friends before they ate and the meal was impeccable. The wine that had been served with the meal was also perfect, something that Kelly found herself almost uncomfortable with. "So, whereabouts in Norton are we heading tomorrow?" Tim asked. "Er, it's just off the High Street – it's a flat in a new build." Kelly replied. "Do you know the area or something?" Tim nodded. "Yeah – born in Burntwood just down the road," he replied as he took another sip of his wine. "So Norton Canes is pretty familiar to me. It'll probably take about an hour to get there." Kelly nodded. Tim studied her features for a moment. "Okay, spit it out." "What?" "Whatever that question is that you have burning behind those eyes of yours." Tim had a big smile on his face as he challenged her. "What is it with you?" Kelly rose to the question. "You know, when I was scouting you out there's a twelve year black hole in your life. You graduate from university, join the Ministry of Defence and you just disappear until a year ago when you surface in a comic book shop." "I'm sure you're aware of the concept of National Security." Tim replied with a smile. "After all, you don't want details of our research projects to be out there for everyone to read..." "Bullshit," Kelly interrupted him. "If you dig around enough you can find out things about people, regardless of their level of security clearance within the government." "Really?" The smile was starting to break into a toothy grin on Tim's face. "Yes, really." Kelly said, struggling to contain a smile on her own face as she ran her finger around the rim of her wine glass. "So just whom did you work for?" Tim took a deep breath. "To begin with, I had a couple of years attached to the United Nations as part of the Nuclear Technology Inspection Program and spent some time in Pakistan and Iraq. So the other night wasn't the first night that I'd had a gun pointed in my face." Tim said. Kelly nodded as she noted this, resolving to ask him more about it later. "Then I worked as part of the UN First Contact program as it was known as." "First Contact?" Kelly asked. "With what?" "Extra-terrestrial intelligence." Tim replied. Kelly looked at him. For a second she was going to challenge what he'd said to her, then images of the other night flooded back into her mind. "Is that how you found out about your sample thing?" "No, that came after." Tim said. "To be honest it was just a think tank, responsible for drawing up plans and suggestions on what should be done should we ever come into contact with something from another world. It was all pretty boring stuff really," he took a sip from his glass. "Then I came back home and joined the team working on the Genesis rock." "The Genesis rock?" Kelly sounded surprised. "That's such a...lame name." "I know," Tim replied. "Blame the Yanks – they came up with it," He paused for a moment. "It was a sample that they bought back from the Apollo 15 mission – they carbon dated the rock to be about four billion years old. When we were analysing it we found what we came to call sample two six one." "The Play Dough from Mars." Kelly said. "And you took that with you when you left." "Not exactly – I left Portland Down as part of a larger cost cutting move across the department when they shut down the lab. All the samples were put into remote storage. I'd set up the corporation to buy the Westbridge building a few years beforehand and the money I was offered to leave sealed the deal." Tim explained. "A couple of months after I'd opened the shop I walked in to find the sample in the middle of the floor." "No one asked you about it? No one came looking for it?" The obvious question rolled off Kelly's lips. Tim shook his head. "Nope, my guess is that the authorities don't even know it's gone." Tim mused. "However I suspect that one of the other people who worked with me now works for Biotech – hence their desire to get hold of it." "What do you mean?" Tim leaned a little closer to her over the table. "There were only four of us who worked on sample two six one," he finished his wine. "Sally Howarth, Ed Weatherall, David Mitchell and myself." "So where are the others?" "Not sure – Sally still keeps in touch every now and then – she got some post at a University down south somewhere." He leaned back in his chair. "But the other two could be anywhere for all I know." "I could find out for you." Kelly said. Tim nodded. "I bet you could," he said. "However I'm not too fussed at the minute. I've got a better understanding of it now – certainly more than I ever had while it was in the lab." "But they will keep coming after you." Kelly emphasised her point through her tone. "I still think moving is the best idea." "Is that what you do? Run?" Tim's question threw Kelly. She was visibly flustered. "Me? No...I..." "I'm sorry," Tim said, seeing Kelly's reaction. "I shouldn't have asked..." "No, it's not that, it's just that..." "You don't trust me? Right?" Kelly was surprised that he'd guessed correctly. She nodded. "Yeah, something like that." Kelly said. "It's...it's not that I don't trust you – I don't trust anyone." "Okay, I'm cool with that for now," Tim said as he drained the remainder of the wine between their glasses. "So what time do you want to head out tomorrow?" "I was thinking early, after all, they might be watching the place." Kelly replied, trying to focus on tomorrows task. "There isn't much to get. Just a suitcase of clothes and a couple of boxes." "That's fine." Tim said. He glanced at his watch. "Look, what do you say to getting out of here and hitting the cinema? There's a multiplex nearby that shows Indy movies on a Saturday night." Kelly thought about it for a moment. "That sounds fun – let's go." She said. Tim swiped the bill away from her before she could grab it. "Hey..." "Sorry, call me a chauvinist, but I'm paying." Sunday, 6:45 am Tim wiped the sleep from his eyes as he sat in the driver's seat of the black transit van before running his hand through his short brown hair. When she said early, she meant early he thought to himself. He tried to stifle a yawn as the passenger door opened. Kelly jumped in. As she got herself comfortable she opened up the glove compartment and placed her Beretta pistol inside. "Is that necessary?" Tim asked. Kelly shrugged her shoulders. "It's like a condom; I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it." Her response reminded him of her background. "Okay – but if things look like they are about to get hairy I'm turning this thing around and high-tailing us out of there." Tim said as he fired the van up. He pulled it out of the underground car park and into the early morning light. As he switched on his sidelights another thought crossed his mind. "Interesting safe sex slogan by the way – you should copyright that." "Thanks." Kelly said. "I think I heard it in a movie once." "Mmm, maybe." Tim acknowledged. "So what do you need to get from your old place then?" "Just a few things," Kelly mused. "Look, I haven't had chance to say thank you properly...last night was...really nice." "No need to thank me – I haven't had the opportunity to do anything like that for months." Tim countered. "Besides, I thought we could both do with a nice, normal night out." "So..." Kelly considered her next words carefully. "Where's the girlfriend?" "What?" Tim laughed. "The girlfriend? Where is she?" "Haven't you noticed – I'm a nerd, I haven't got one." He said as the van turned onto the dual carriageway. "So there's no Mrs Smith lurking in the background that I haven't met yet?" Kelly asked. Tim shook his head. "Oh no, not these days," he said. "There used to be, but it was a long time ago." He glanced across at her and could see the words forming in her mind. "And it's a subject that's off limits right now, okay?" "Oh, okay." Kelly found herself feeling slightly upset by his dismissal of the subject. "So, what are your plans for breakfast?" "Not sure," Tim said. "You have anything in mind?" "Well, I know this isn't particularly good for us, but I've got a serious craving for McDonalds." "Fast food rubbish it is then," He replied. "And I know just the place." Norton Canes, 8:32 am Sterile – that's how he would describe it. As Tim walked around the first floor apartment the minimalist décor struck him as fitting in with Kelly's nomadic lifestyle. He was struck by the low level of gadgetry in the living space – a simple television set, nothing more than a basic stereo and a kitchen that looked like it was twenty years out of date when it was installed sometime around the mid-eighties. "So, this is your place?" Tim asked as Kelly flitted from room to room. "Well, it's more like a crash pad." She said in a matter of fact tone. "I tend to come back here when I'm not...employed because of its relative obscurity." "Mmm...obscure is certainly one way to describe Norton Canes." Tim muttered. "Its just that I don't much of a sense of you in here, I don't know – it just doesn't seem..." "Right?" Kelly finished his thought for him. "Yeah, well I figured that I'd only got a few more years in this line of work where I could still be productive. What money I have got saved away will be used for buying something more...me." "Interesting..." Tim said as Kelly approached him with a small box in her hands. "What's in the box?" She smiled as she opened it and pulled out what appeared to be two small black hearing aids. "These are short wave radio transmitters, especially designed for you to put into your ear so they are almost unnoticeable. They've got a small microphone built into them." She looked at them for a moment before handing one to Tim. "What? For me?" he asked. Kelly nodded. "You never know when you might need it." She replied. "Like a condom?" Tim quipped. Kelly allowed herself to smile. "Yeah, something like that." "Right, what else do we need to load up?" Tim asked as he put the earpiece into his jacket pocket. "Just a couple of suitcases and that's it – we've got all the heavy stuff in the van." Kelly said. "I've put them in the hallway." "So we're not taking any furniture then?" Kelly shook her head in response. "No – it all came with the flat." She said. "Look, I don't want to sound melodramatic, but do you mind if...would it be okay..." the words didn't seem to flow easily. "Do you want a moment?" Tim said. Kelly nodded. "I'll get those cases packed up into the van and when you're ready I'll be waiting for you." Tim said as he picked up the suitcases and made his way out of the apartment 9:41 am The guttural sound of the van echoed along the narrow country lanes. Tim navigated his way around them like it was second nature to him. Kelly sat looking out of the window, lost in her thoughts. "Penny for them?" "What?" His question dragged her back to the moment. "Oh, I was just thinking about that thing of yours in your cellar – you know, the alien suit thingy." "What about it?" "How did you know that it would...combine with you the way it did?" Kelly asked. Tim shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't – it was a guess." He let the words sink in for a minute. "It's got seventeen of the same base pairs of DNA as we do, so I figured it could combine, as you call it, with me relatively safely, but the amino acid and protein strings at a cellular level are radically different to anything I've ever seen before. I had no idea what it would do after that." He paused for another moment. "Actually, it could have eaten me from the inside out for all I knew, but you never learn anything playing safe." "You know what," Kelly said. "I understood about half of that. You'll have to explain it to me in plain English." "Right, well in humans about eighty percent of our DNA is non-functional; it's what they used to call junk DNA," Tim said. "However the suit utilises that junk DNA to achieve its symbiosis with a human host..." he twisted the steering wheel of the van to enable it to turn a corner. Tim's mind registered the sight in front of him a fraction of a second before his foot slammed onto the brake pedal. "Shit!" Kelly screamed as the van skidded to a halt. Neither of them spoke for a second as they took in the sight before them. In front of them, blocking the narrow country road was a single decker bus that had tipped up onto its side. It seemed to be wedged almost uncomfortably under the narrow railway bridge that crossed over the thin strip of asphalt. "Are you okay?" He asked. Kelly nodded. Once he was certain that she was fine he unclipped his seat belt and opened the van door. "Where the hell are you going?" Kelly asked, momentarily unclipping her seat belt to get out. "I'm going to see if I can help." He said as he jogged across to the stricken vehicle. Kelly watched him for a moment then shook her head. As she opened the door on her side of the vehicle she popped open the glove compartment. Once she had removed the Berretta she stowed it down the rear of her jeans. **** The Store Ch. 02 Tim stared at the over-turned bus for a moment. "Can you smell petrol?" His question made Kelly stand still for a moment. "Yeah," she replied. "Probably a ruptured fuel line or something like that." She continued to scan the horizon. "You hear that?" he asked her. Kelly found herself straining to hear anything above the engine. Then it cut through a momentary gap in the monotonous mechanical noise – the sound of someone, possibly a child, screaming. Kelly found herself looking into Tim's eyes and his intentions were crystal clear to her. "Call the emergency services." "If you want to be a hero then I suggest you hurry up – we're in the open here." Tim nodded as Kelly pulled out her cell phone. He stepped forward to examine the vehicle before glancing back at her. It was at that point that he saw the ominous shape of her Beretta now in her right hand as she began to dial. He made a mental note to discard the question he was about to ask her. "Right." He muttered as he began to climb up the underside of the vehicle. Avoiding the spinning drive shaft, Tim clambered up onto what would ordinarily be the driver's side of the bus. It rocked slightly under his weight, causing him to rapidly throw his arms out to balance himself. "There's no bloody signal out here," Kelly cursed. "What can you see?" Kelly found herself shouting to compensate for the noise of the increasingly ragged engine. "Carnage." Tim said as his eyes took in the sight before him. Many of the windows were shattered, mostly through the impact of the bus flipping, but some of them were the result of the unmistakeable presence of a bullet passing through them. "Someone really went to town on this thing." Tim called out as he carefully edged along the structure. As he made his way he saw the bodies inside. Tim counted about twelve, maybe thirteen people in there – none of them showing any signs of life. There was a distinctive groaning sound underneath him, coupled with a sensation of the thin metal starting to buckle under his weight, thus forcing him to kneel down before continuing his progress in a somewhat prone position. "Shit..." Kelly muttered as she glanced down at her watch. "Tim, we really need to get out of here now!" "Hang on," he said. Tim strained his eyes. Between the twisted shards of metal he could see the source of the noise he had heard – it was a young girl. Her face was obscured and her screaming had become a more subdued moaning now. "I can see her – she's at the back." He inched along until he reached the emergency exit. Gripping the handle in his hand he wrenched it open. "I really don't like this Tim..." Kelly said. Tim ignored her as he climbed down inside the bus. The smell of the blood mixed with the increasing volume of exhaust fumes inside the passenger compartment made him fell nauseous, to the point where he was struggling to contain the contents of his stomach. Around him he saw several bodies – neat little bullet wounds and blood stained clothing a common link between them all. Taking a few steps forward he reached her. She was no more than four or five years old. Curly blond hair framed her now blood and tear stained face. Small, stubby fingers clutched a brown misshapen teddy bear as her eyes locked onto Tim as he reached down to grab her. As he lifted her into his arms, he prised her away from the lifeless body of the young woman she had been clinging on to. The girl seemed to be unharmed – something he found remarkable as he realised she appeared to be the sole survivor of this massacre. She suddenly began to shake. "It's okay; I'm here to get you out of here..." he said in his best soothing voice possible, which was a feat in itself with the fumes building up in his lungs. "Ssshh...it's alright..." Then the world exploded. Bullets raked through the passenger compartment of the bus, tearing holes in the thin metal covering that had once been the roof. Tim tried to shield the girl from the deadly metal rain as it pinged around the passenger compartment. Kelly's reaction was more instinctive, diving for the nearest available cover that she could find – which happened to be the narrow ditch that ran alongside the old road. She waited for a moment's respite in the hail of bullets to sneak a peak from her prone location. Another staccato burst of gunfire, this time it seemed to be directed at the road in her general direction. Taking this as her cue she crawled along the gravel filled soil beneath her, trying to keep her profile below the horizon. More bullets churned up the aged asphalt near her as she managed to make it parallel with the van. She took a deep breath before firing four shots from her pistol into the air. Taking advantage of the momentary respite her decoy shots had given her she scrambled out of the gully to the relative safety of the back of the van. She tried to open the rear door handle only to find it locked. Silently she cursed the fact that the keys were probably in Tim's pocket. Inside the overturned bus Tim tried to see who had opened fire on him. His view was obscured but he could hear footsteps on the other side of the roof, walking around the bus. He pulled the young girl closer to him as he felt something vibrate in his jacket pocket. A few moments later, after managing to extricate his hand and still keep the child close to him, he found the article that was buzzing – it was the earpiece Kelly had given him. "...Have the keys?" he only caught the end of the question as he secured the lump of black plastic inside his ear. "Yeah," his tone was hushed, conscious of the unknown movement on the opposite side of the vehicle. "Why?" "I was trying to get into the van." Kelly responded, her voice equally subdued. "Can you see anything?" "No – but I can hear someone walking around the outside of the bus." Tim said. "Look – lie down and try and stay out of view." The words sounded like an order. Something in her voice made Tim do precisely what she suggested. The broken glass of the window pushed into the back of his jacket as he did as he was told. From behind the van Kelly carefully peered out, taking no more than a few seconds to look around from its protective cover and alternating sides and positions. Then she heard the sound of a firing pin being ratcheted back into position – moments before another staccato burst of gunfire slammed into the passenger side of the van. Kelly ducked down and the voice in her ear startled her. "The van is bullet proof." Tim whispered. Kelly shook her head. "Why do you have...? You know what, if we get out of this you have some serious explaining to do!" Kelly spat back at him. She moved across to the driver side and tried to get a clear view of their assailant. As Kelly managed to get a clear view through the glass she felt the world stop. "Jesus Kelly, you really do hook up with some losers." The voice struck a chord deep within Kelly's soul as she saw the figure standing in front of the bus. Dressed in black combat fatigues, an MP5 cradled in her gloved hands and with her blonde hair blowing casually in the wind stood Emily. "I mean, you broke a contract for this guy? I have to tell you, I just don't get it." "Emily?" Kelly called out, careful not to break her cover. "What do you want?" "Oh, you know," Emily replied. "A nice house in the country, a new Rolex, a decent national health service, good school for my kids if I ever decide to settle down – not much really." Kelly ducked back behind the van as a burst of rounds from the MP5 impacted into the van. "And the three hundred grand that's up for grabs for the geek inside the bus there." "Emily," Kelly said as she rolled under the van and fired twice, both shots evaded by Emily at the last minute. "You don't have to do this." "Oh yes I do, you see, I'm not in the habit of breaking contracts – unlike some people I could mention." Another burst of gunfire – this time one of the tires ruptured. "Besides, I think it will be quite cathartic killing you – after all, you did leave me to rot in that hell hole in Islamabad." Kelly fired blind again, this time one of her shots almost winged Emily as the bullet impacted onto the underside of the bus. Her last second duck tore through a sizeable strand of her blonde hair. "Bitch..." Emily muttered as she unleashed another volley of rounds from her MP5. "I didn't abandon you there – you went psycho and caused too much collateral damaged," Kelly sniped back. "If we had done things my way..." "Then we would both have been stuck in that prison...and I, as usual, would have had to haul your pathetic arse...back to the civilised world." Emily spat at her between short bursts of gunfire. Kelly shook her head. "Tim, can you get out of that bus?" she said as quietly as possible under the circumstances. "Oh, thanks for remembering us in here – in a word, no I can't." he replied. "You know, sarcasm doesn't help this situation." Kelly's rebuke flew back as she fired twice more at Emily. "I'm running out of ammunition and there's fuel spewing all over the place from that bus." "How was your birthday yesterday? Did you actually do anything this time or just sit around in your apartment like some adolescent school kid?" Emily made it clear from the tone of her voice that she was mocking Kelly. She punctuated this with another three round burst of gunfire. "Yesterday was your birthday?" Tim asked down the earpiece. "This is not the time..." Kelly began to say. "Look – if you get a chance, take the shot – don't worry about me." It was his turn to give out an order as he cut her off mid-sentence. "But, you're in the bus..." Kelly's protesting fell on deaf ears. "Just trust me and take the shot." He said. Suddenly the earpiece went dead, like the signal had just been cut off. More bullets bounced off the van and there was the distinctive sound of glass smashing. "You know Kelly, I think I'll screw this one before I kill him," Emily taunted her counterpart. "Just like I did with Thomas..." "That's it." Kelly gritted her teeth as anger began to well up inside her stomach. She pulled herself up and broke cover, running towards the dirt gully. As she did so she felt bullets fly through the air past her. Twisting as gracefully as she could, she squeezed the trigger of her pistol twice. As the bullets whizzed past her, Emily made a mental note to deride Kelly's poor aim. However, the thought never made it past her lips as the combination of supersonic bullets merging with petrol produced an explosive fireball that consumed her body. The blast wave from the conflagration hurled catapulted her into the air and unceremoniously deposited her in the field. Kelly stood up and brushed herself off. She looked at the wreckage of the bus – her heart was pounding and she was short of breath. Her eyes searched for some sign of life, and there it was. A perfectly formed black ball around five feet in diameter. As she watched it shimmered and shifted, flames reflecting off its surface. It twitched before her eyes and folded inward – revealing the crouched figure of Tim with the young girl in his arms. "Tim! You're okay!" Kelly said as he carried the girl out of the burning wreckage of the bus. He smiled at her and then threw a small matchbox to her. She caught it and opened it – the crack revealed a familiar inky blue-grey substance inside it. "I thought I might need some sort of insurance." He said. "Any joy with the emergency services?" "No – I couldn't get a signal." She replied. "There's a phone box back up the road." "Right – where's your friend?" Kelly found the question uncomfortable. "She's not my friend," Kelly replied. "She used to be my partner." "Nice – with friends like that..." Tim could feel the girl shaking against his body. "I need to get her some help. Are you going to be okay here for a few minutes?" Kelly nodded. "Okay." **** As Tim turned the van around and drove up the road, Kelly found herself walking in the field towards the charred body of Emily. As Kelly stood over her she could see that most of her body had sustained severe burns, most of her clothes were seared to the flesh underneath. Inwardly Kelly winced at the severity of the wounds. A wheezing cough brought blood to Emily's lips. "...Your aim...is...still shit...bitch..." Emily spluttered. Kelly lifted her pistol and took aim. "Takes one to know one." Kelly replied as the last bullet in the Beretta spat out and collided with Emily's head. The sound of approaching sirens filled her ears as she walked away from the body of her former partner. 2:34 pm Tim brought the van to a halt in the underground garage of the Westbridge building. He turned the lights off and opened the door to get out. Neither of them had said much since they had left the "accident" scene – with Tim explaining to the authorities what had happened and surprising Kelly with his assertive nature under the circumstances. As he unbuckled his seatbelt he felt a hand on his arm. "I...we need to talk." Kelly said. Tim nodded. "Sure – if you feel like it." He replied. "Do you want unpack the van now or later?" "Later." Kelly said as she got out of the van. They made their way upstairs to Tim's apartment. He made two cups of tea and handed one to Kelly. She took it from him and drank some immediately, despite it's almost scalding temperature. "You said she was your partner?" He asked. "Former partner." Kelly replied. "We worked together for ten years – ever since I got into this business. Three years ago we were in Islamabad – Emily lost control and blew up a bus of civilians for no reason other than because she could. That's when I realised just how unstable Emily had become." She paused for a minute. "So I bailed, got my gear together once I got back to England and disappeared." "And she blamed you for that? For leaving her behind?" Kelly nodded. "So, who was Thomas?" "Five years ago I met a guy – I was ready to give it all up for him...then he was murdered." She took another drink. "I didn't know who killed him until about two years ago. Somehow Emily had gotten out of the prison, found my cell phone number and left me a message telling me that she'd done it and was looking forward to doing the same to me." "Jesus – and she's been looking for you all this time?" Tim muttered. "Talk about bearing a grudge." "Tim – I'm going to be brutally honest with you." Kelly put the mug down. "Since I met you three weeks ago, I've felt things that I haven't felt for along time," She walked up to him, standing close as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "And I want to do something about it." She pulled him down and kissed him passionately. Moments later she broke the kiss and looked into his eyes. "Kelly, look, are you sure about this?" Tim asked. She nodded. "I need to start trusting you." She said in a matter of fact tone before a smile swept her face. "Now, what was I saying about needing a condom early today?" **** He held her in his arms as she woke. The sky outside the window was filled with an orange hue as the sun was setting. Kelly smiled as she looked at it. "You did that for me?" she whispered. "It's beautiful." "Well, I agree on that count, but I'm afraid I can't take all the credit for it." Tim spoke in a hushed tone. Kelly shifted slightly, pulling herself closer to him. "Is this going to affect our working relationship?" she asked. "I'm still your boss, so I can still fire you if you don't perform." He joked. She dug her elbow into his ribs. "And there's those performance reports every night..." he said as he kissed her on the lips. He could feel her smile as their lips touched. "You know, if I find out there really is a Mrs Smith, I'll kill you." She warned him, however Tim couldn't help but laugh out loud. "I have absolutely no doubt in my mind about that my dear." He said. "Now, how about we go and get something to eat?"