Prologue
11 February 2005. 00:00:00
Abhay spoke into his mouthpiece urgently. "Blade. Agent Blade, are you receiving me? I need backup, right here!"
"Yes, Steel," came the quiet, girlish voice of Blade. "Hold it out for 120 seconds."
Abhay cursed in his head. What had their boss been thinking, partnering him with a namby-pamby boy who barely spoke, and when he did, he sounded almost like a girl.Abhay had seen Blade in the common rooms at times, and he was always hooded, and spoke little, except directly to the boss. The youngster was just a year or two old in training, compared to Abhay's six- what cruel test was this? He'd never needed a partner, and now he'd been saddled with one who couldn't even come when he needed.
A hail of bullets peppered the wall directly behind him, inches behind his head.
Calling Blade every black word he knew, he took off at a run, the soft soles of his shoes making next to no noise in the dark corridor.
And then a dark shape came hurtling out of the darkness, raising it's gun : a shot exploded in the corridor, and by the curse that followed there Abhay knew that he'd missed seeing the enemy stalking him. "Blade," he said in a low growl. "Steel," the figure replied, taking his arm and pulling him. They ran together, Abhay trying to figure out if Blade really knew this place or they were being led into a trap.
Then Blade stopped. "Steel," he said, "we need to-"
There was a crash behind them, making them blocked. Blade stepped backwards hastily- right into Abhay.
He muttered a curse and moved away, but Abhay had felt something strange in those few moments... He grabbed Blade's arm and twisted him to face him. The lad looked back at him, but in the darkness he could not see his expression.
But the crash had brought people with them. A dozen pairs of footsteps pounded up the concrete. It would take less than a minute, thought Abhay, less than a minute, and they were blocked.
Blade exhaled, then took out a small pen drive from his pocket, and pressed it into Abhay's palm. "Get out of here," was all he said. "I'll distract them-"
His brows met. What crazy plan was the kid going to make?
But Blade was already running ahead, clearly illuminated by the torches now, pulling off a wig from his head. Abhay stook frozen in silence.
Long black hair tumbled down, and even as he watched, Blade shrugged out of the heavy jacket everyone knew he always wore, and then it was clear.
Blade was very definitely a female.
This realization was followed by several others : one, the boss had most definitely played him, two, he needed to get a grip if a girl had fooled him- for two days- , and three, his partner had just blown her cover to save him- and the information.
Oh, he was so not going to get out of there. What did she think she was, giving him orders?
He watched as Blade ran up to them, taking them completely by surprise. "Where the hell do you think you're going, woman?"
"A-Angelo," he heard her say, and he knew that this was her natural voice. "He - he wanted me- to come to him- please let me go-"
"Search her, idiot," snapped a voice. "She could be one of them-"
"They don't allow women to enroll, " said another. "She looks like Tasha. Let her go. if Angelo finds out-"
All right, so Blade wasn't as thick as he'd thought. Quite clever.
"All the same, better escort her," snapped the voice who had told them to search her.
And then they were marching her ahead.
Abhay let them take a lead, then followed slowly behind. Blade let them take her to Angelo's quarters, where the men rapped on the door, then stepped off down the corridor.
Abhay watched Blade glance around before going in.
He closed his eyes. Blade had just blown their mission. She would be killed, and then his boss would take him to task, and more sleepless nights would follow...
Making up his mind, he pushed the door open...
And found the head of the mafia on the ground, a hole in his head, blood dripping on the ground, while Blade frantically rifled through his desk.
"Blade!" he hissed. She looked up, and he could swear anger crossed her face. "Get out," she told him. "I told you to go!"
"You're going with me," he said firmly. "Now."
She stared at him, then finally nodded. "Fine. Let me scan them."
Ten minutes later
"Have you got a spare?" she yelled over the commotion. "Mine's finished!"
Steel, still shooting, threw a magazine to her ; she loaded her gun and aimed for the one who was behind Steel, going to aim at him- One soft pop, and he dropped dead. Steel glanced at her, then grabbed her arm and they ran for it, Steel shooting back after every ten steps, shouting at her to hurry-
And then they were out of the building, and running to the bike, and there was a shot.
She turned , as if in slow motion, and saw Steel put his body between her and the bullet, as it buried itself in his back.
Rage spiked through her, but before she could do anything, Steel turned and shot- and boy, the legends were true. Steel could shoot moving targets like nobody's business.
"Get on!"he yelled, she obeyed him, climbing up and starting the engine; a second later, he was behind her and they were hurtling down the alley at seventy miles an hour.
She could almost feel him shooting back at their pursuers, till they eventually fell back. His hand gripped her shoulder. "You did well, Blade," he said, almost comfortingly."For someone on their first mission-" "Fifth," she snapped , suddenly irritated.
"This is my fifth mission. And I didn't do well, I blew my cover,not just to you but I might lose my job now. Just because you know I'm a woman now doesn't mean you can start coddling, thank you very much."
He didn't reply.
They were on the highway now, fields and trees shooting by, wind hitting her face, making her hair wave around annoyingly around her face.
"Do you think you could stop?" gritted a voice in her ear. "I don't know about you, but there's a bullet lodged here."
Her eyes widened as guilt and shame coursed through her : he'd taken a bullet for her. Of course they would have to-
She spotted a shack near the edge of the road, falling to pieces. It would have to do.
She slammed the brakes, bringing them to a halt. "This okay for you?" she said, feeling slightly nervous. "I'm not used to this."
He nodded, grimly, but said nothing.
They went inside, the morning rays illuminating the one room inside through two middle sized windows. There was barely any furniture : just a chair, which looked as though it was rotting. She could smell bats.
"The floor it is, then," said Steel, lowering himself onto the ground, then pulling off his gloves, jacket and shirt.
He held out a knife to her. "Think you can dig it out, Blade?"
She nodded, taking it from him. Her fingers remained steady, and with a clink, the bullet fell to the ground.
She dove inside a pouch at her belt, pulling out bandages, dressing up the wound as best as she could. "I'm sorry, " she muttered, "I know I've been a horrible partner and I'm not exactly used to digging out bullets-"
"After four missions? You're telling me you never got shot?" There was frank disbelief in his voice.
He got to his feet, pulling on his shirt and jacket ; she handed over the knife to him. "No," she said, fighting to hold back a smile. "I don't get shot." He raised an eyebrow. "Ever?"
"Not so far, anyway," she amended.
He nodded, looking at her with something like respect. "You're not a horrible partner. On the contrary. You're resourceful, you're willing to sacrifice yourself for the goal, that's the best thing."
"Why did you do that?" she said, her eyebrows furrowed. "Why would you do that?"
"Do what?" Now Steel looked confused.
"Take a bullet for me."she clarified.
He shrugged. "I couldn't let you die. Not after how you risked your life to save mine."
She shook her head. "I had a choice. Both of us killed, or one of us. And your actions were different-"
"I couldn't let you get hurt, Blade."
Piya ducked away , blinking back sudden tears."Piya," she said finally. "I'm Piya."
Abhay stared at her, turning her to face him. "Sorry, I might have said something wrong- what?"
"Piya?" she repeated. "That's my name."
He was flabbergasted. "But we're not supposed to-"
She smiled. "I know. I trust you."
"Because I saved your life?" Steel sounded incredulous.
She grinned back. "You don't have a high opinion of a life, do you?" She turned and began walking out.
He caught up with her. "I'm Abhay. Pleased to meet you. I hope we get partnered again, and don't worry. I'll put in a good word for you to the boss.I'm sure killing Angelo counts as a major bonus point, mate. Now come on."
She was reeling from the shock of his sudden smile when she got up behind him. Something in her heart fluttered.
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