“Dead people receive more flowers than living ones because…” #002
The hotel door clicked shut behind the two girls. The room itself was gorgeous, elegant and minimal. It reflected its namesake. The dark polished floorboards were accentuated with white fur rugs, a white chez lounge sat in front of the large bay window. The bed was enormous and freshly made with crisp grey and white linen. The sheets were grey silk. To the left the open suite became a bathroom, complete with sunken bathtub and a small steamroom. The walls and curtains were white giving the impression of light and space.
Augusta skipped forward and dived onto the bed with glee. Rosa felt different, keeping her back to the wall she scanned the whole suite while her partner bounced on the bed, when she felt secure that the room was empty she dropped her rucksack, and glared at her friend who was giggling.
“Augusta! What. The. Fuck!” She uttered harshly and the smile dropped from the other girl's face. She looked momentarily ashamed, her expression transitioning through a childish bratiness and into a hard anger, mirroring her friend. “I got the call an hour ago. Juliette called me. She was with them.”
“Jesus fucking Christ.” Rosa laced her fingers into her hair. “Doi, did they get Doi!?” Augusta shook her head. “Then how many!?”
“Seventeen.”
“Jesus...Fuck.” Rosa's knees went from under her, the world seemed to be spinning, and Augusta was so calm. The younger girl sat cross legged on the bed, she had a blank look about her. Rosa got up and shed the winter coat and looked at her watch, setting a mental note. She took a deep breath through her teeth. “The woman on the desk...”
“-Doesnt know we're here.” The younger girl cut in, in a sharp, different voice. “If anyone asks this suite is occupied by newlyweds Mr and Mrs Eades” Rosa nodded. “And you didnt need to check the room, two of the housekeeping staff here have markers. They relay information to the front of house about anyone in and out of this room.” Rosa raised her eyebrows. She knew she shouldn't have been surprised really. Suddenly she remembered something and pulled open the front part of her back pack her fingers grasped the blister pack and for a second she nearly made the mistake of pulling it out, but she didnt. She popped the pill out into her hand and passed it to her friend on the bed who took it, put it in her mouth and threw back her head, swallowing it without question. She gave an exasperated sigh at her friend. “Would you take a breath? You're freaking me out?”
“You should be freaked out!”
“I dont see how that would be useful.”
Rosa sighed again, and moved across the room, pulling the curtains shut and turning on a lamp that stood in the corner. “Do you understand what's happened Augusta? What's going to happen?”
The girl with the dark hair nodded. “Well?” Rosa pressed. “They will dispatch every loyal operative in country, maybe a few from abroad. They will expunge the Umbrae Somnia programme probably...They will try to find and kill us all.” She said, as if her friend had enquired on her opinion about the weather. Rosa looked warily at her friend. They had gone through training together, they knew each other better than anyone. She had seen this dead calm before, but in this circumstance she was unprepared for it.
“They wont find us.” The dark haired girl asserted.
Rosa gave a desperate laugh. “What makes you so sure Gus?”
“I'm better than all of them. I'll keep you safe.”
The older Shadow smiled thinly. It sounded so naïve, so sweet. But she did not patronise her friend by denying it, she had earned better than that. She ran her fingers through her hair again. “Where are they now? Juliette and the others?” Augusta shrugged. “She didnt tell me, I didnt ask.” Rosa nodded. “That's good. We need to be as clear of this shit heap as we can be. I never wanted any of this...Fuck!” Rosa kicked the coffee table over. The blue ceramic vase slipped off it and broke into three pieces. Augusta watched quietly, her friend was crying, her own face seemed strangely impassive. At length she extended her arms toward the older girl who fell into them and they curled closely togther on the bed. The younger calmly clasping the older as she wept.
“I didnt want any of this Gus.” Rosa whispered. “I dont want to die.”
“You wont die. I told you. You wont die.”
“How can you be so sure?” Rosa breathed weakly, feeling stupid. She could feel Augusta smile against her cheek. “I just know.” She said. As simple an explanation as it was, it heartened both of them. But they lay that way for what seemed like a long while, but was actually only twenty minutes or so.
At length Rosa got up and began rifling in her bag, she pulled out two large folded paper maps, righted the coffee table and began spreading them out. Augusta sat up and watched her friend as she got up and snatched the pencil from the desk, she was tracing routes.
“Not that way.” Gus uttered after a minute. Rosa looked up. “No? Where then?”
“You’re going toward Dover.”
“Yeah, we need to get to the port, head for...”
“France? No way. That’s where it happened. Somewhere in Europe, other than the UK anyway.”
“I thought you said you didn’t ask?”
“I didn’t...I did do some minor forensic work on the call however. I couldn’t get it any more specific than that though.”
Rosa sighed and bit her lip, thinking. “We might have no choice. We could cross over to France or Spain; once we’re out of the country we might stand a better chance at an airport. From there we could fly to Australia.” Rosa gave herself a withered expression. “...Slightly better chance.”
“You know we can’t use airports. That would be suicide.” Augusta uttered matter of factly.
“Then what do you suggest Gus?” Rosa snapped.
“We stay here.” Rosa gawped at her friend. “In the UK? We wouldn’t stand a chance!”
Augusta tilted her head and gave a soft, reproachful smile. “You remember what happened in Morocco?” How could she forget? It had been their first assignment together. Things had not gone to plan, to say the least. But Augusta had got them out of it. Rosa gave a resigned nod.
Augusta reached under the bed and pulled out a pack that was easily the same size as her. Rosa smiled. “When did you plant that there?”
“About a week ago, I’d been staying here and I just had a feeling, y’know?”
Rosa could only smile. Augusta unzipped the largest pocket and reached inside. “We should head north, get into the Peak District as quick as possible. It’ll be harder for them to find us there.” Rosa considered this. “Go on foot? That’ll be slow...”
“We’ll drive. Well we’ll be on a ‘family holiday roadtrip’ of course.” This idea amused the young shadow and she gave a titter of laughter as she checked the handgun she had just pulled out of her pack was fully loaded. “Do you even know how to use that thing.” Rosa gave a gentle jibe. Augusta shook her head gladly. “Nope, but you do.” She tucked the gun away...Only to pull out several parts of a highly powered rifle. Rosa’s brow furrowed with amazement and concern. “Christ Gus...Why do you have that?” Augusta went about checking and assembling the rifle.
“We’re not going to be able to talk our way out of everything.” She screwed the barrel into place and checked the sights. Rosa shook her head slightly, puzzled.
“You cant shoot to save your life.”
“You can.”
This statement was true. But it stopped Rosa dead for a moment, mouth open. She figured it out. “I...I don’t want to kill anyone.” It was a stupid statement given the circumstances, and Rosa knew it. Augusta shot her a cool look, as if she did not understand what her friend had said.
“Do you think they’re really going to give us a chance to influence them out of putting a bullet in each of our heads when they’re within scent distance?
Rosa had no answer for that. She chewed her lip. “No.” She answered quietly. Augusta gave a nod and went about dissembling the gun. “I told you I would keep you safe. This is part of it.” She gave an innocent smile. “We take care of each other.” Rosa nodded, and the eleven remaining pills burned a hole in the side of her pack.
