Detective Story : Another Chance
Short Story, By Prabir Rai Chaudhuri . All Copyright Reserved 2020
The darkness was pitch black, and the air was heavy. The humidity was sky-high, the terrain was rough. Was it possible that he always had to be in trouble? William ran a hand through his hair. He had to act. Now. His eyes were having a hard time adjusting, and he had absolutely no idea where that damn cave led, if it had led anywhere. Damn it! And damn Shadow and Mallhoy! He stopped dead in his tracks. Wrong move. He knew it, but he had to gather his thoughts. He took a breath. Swearing was no use, but it came easy to him, especially since he wasn't alone in this matter. And how!
He looked around, if that was the right word, and couldn’t see a damn thing. Damn! Trying to move slowly, he approached the girl with him. Talking was dangerous. Voices traveled fast, deep. And they were being chased. Perfect. He took the girl’s hand, and put a finger to his mouth. They had to be quiet and careful. Turning on any lights was out of the question. He had just been reinstated, and he couldn’t make any mistakes this time. Damn. Now he wasn’t just answering to Shadow, now he would answer to Mallhoy, too. He was furious. And thinking back to when he’d been called to Shadow’s office made his blood boil.
His boss stood stiffly, his gaze angry. Sitting at his desk, coldly affable, sat another man, older than Shadow, but no less fearsome: Mallhoy.
<<Good. The two weeks of punishment are up. But he can't return to duty.>>
<<No?>>He had asked.
<<He will have to be retrained. From today his role will be different.>> Shadow had explained further
And then everything fell apart, he thought, remembering Mallhoy's words.
<<He will have to act as a shadow, but he will act as an operative.>>
At first it had seemed almost too good to be true, he hadn't been fired and his work had evolved.
That morning he had understood how things stood. He had been summoned in a hurry, and had found Shadow and Mallhoy before him, tense as violin strings.
<<He has to go on a mission, now. >>Shadow barked.
<<Sure, but…>> He had tried to ask. The two men had shaken their heads. Mallhoy had handed him a dossier.
<<If you study it. This isn’t work for a shadow. And we can’t risk an operative.>> He had gritted his teeth at Shadow’s words.
<<I understand.>> He said, turning on his heels, rather nervous. He had just put a hand on the handle, when Mallhoy's voice reached him from behind, cold and precise, like a stab in the back, in its icy courtesy.
<<S1X don't waste your second chance.>> He had said.
He rolled his eyes. He had to act. He put his hand on the wall, hoping that he would find a path, a way. It wasn't a good method at all, but he had no better ideas. He had to move quickly, but he was slowed down by the girl's presence. He glanced at her, it was too dark now, to make out her face, but, he had had the chance to do so before: little more than a spoiled brat. And now he had to look after her! Damn! If he failed this time, not only Sahdow, would demand his skin, but Mallhoy, would demand it too, and he had no illusions, behind the affable air, the man was more than happy to flay him alive and eat him for breakfast! He could have sworn to it. He squeezed the girl's hand tighter, and began to move, he had entered two corridors at random, and although he knew for sure, that they were being chased, he hoped, at least to have disoriented them. Damn! For all he knew, those men might have been perfect speleologists, unlike him, who could barely recognize a cave when he saw one. Damn!
He took a deep breath and tried to find a solution, he had three corridors in front of him. Was he going to count them? The girl was shaking, he could feel it in her hand. He had to stay lucid, that was the true virtue of a spy, especially if it was an agent of his type. Continuing to feel the wall, he took the closest corridor. It was quite wide, but he didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. The wall was damp, and sometimes he felt that it was more sticky, resin or moss? He didn't feel any air movement, and that wasn't a good sign, but he had a strange sensation, like a shiver down his spine. Someone or something was approaching. He felt it, what to do? He quickened his pace, pulling the young woman with a tug. He knew that in the girl's eyes he must have appeared like a monster, but he couldn't act more gently. He was desolate. His brain was processing information at an incredible speed. He heard footsteps. Now he was sure that someone was reaching them. And that was bad. He turned to the girl, trying to smile reassuringly, but in the darkness it was more of a dream. The next moment he had her off the ground, and hoisted her onto some sort of ledge in the rock. He hoisted himself up. It wasn't much of a hiding place, in fact. It was too low and narrow to be enough to hide them, but he hoped that at least it would give him a better vantage point. If only it hadn't been so dark, but his eyes were starting to adjust now. The girl was shaking. Her face was still too dark to see her expression, but from the way she moved jerkily, he knew for sure that she was going to scream. And he couldn't let that happen. Lightning approached her, taking her by the shoulders, as he bent his head to kiss her. He felt like a bastard, and Shadow would probably kill him. But his boss wasn't there, and he... there was no point in making excuses. He was out of ideas and tense as ever. She was warm and soft against him, and that was damn dangerous. But he couldn't stop. Damn! Where the hell was his control? She was yielding, maybe too much. Damn! She had been kidnapped, and that alone must have been a shock, then he had torn her away from the kidnappers, without being able to explain. As much as he could. New rule: she had to deny even the existence of some agency. With difficulty, he broke the kiss. And he moved away, remaining beside her. Below them, the figure of a man was becoming clearer. With a leap he leapt down, landing on the man. It was madness, but also an opportunity. He didn't know how many men were following them, and one less man was always an advantage.
The man, however, broke free of his grip, knocking him down. He jumped up and threw a kick. The first blow missed, the second did not. A flurry of punches and blows followed, which he tried to avoid as best he could, it was difficult to fight in the dark, but the month of training with Mallhoy had paid off, he told himself. With difficulty, he managed to find a rhythm and knock his opponent out with a series of well-placed blows.
He approached the girl and helped her down. Now they had to move. He took her hand, and started running, always following the wall of the cave. Was this the right way? That question was torturing him. She was following him.
He stopped dead. He was about to put a foot wrong. Damn. There was nothing there beneath them. She wasn't as quick as he was, and she slipped, screaming. For a moment he felt frozen, as her weight carried him forward, but he was quick to grab her other hand, to pull her up. For a moment he thought he couldn't do it, then they fell backwards, to the ground. And once again, in the darkness he could feel the softness of her curves, against his own blow. But he couldn't afford to indulge in such fantasies. If they were still being followed, the girl's scream had given them a clue as to where they were, and so they had to disappear, now. But how? He stood up quickly, pulling himself against the girl, and to prevent her from screaming again, he kissed her.
<<Be quiet and follow me.>> He whispered. He took her in his hand, trying to go back. His brain was trying to quickly come up with a plan. He was afraid that someone would cut him off. The path he had taken was not long, and yet, there was something strange. Had he taken the wrong path? He took a deep breath and took the tunnel on the left. He had not noticed it before. He held the girl's hand tighter. Obviously, on the way back, he must have taken the wrong path. The corridor was narrow, but quite high. And he hoped with all his heart that it would lead somewhere. Dying in that cave did not seem like a good idea at all. He had a mission to accomplish. Yes, but what to do now? As a shadow agent, he should have reported to Shadow, for an hour now, he thought, as an operative, he should have kept in touch with Mallhoy, not directly, but through the ET627 section. Neither one nor the other was feasible. If someone was still looking for them, which he had no doubt, stopping to report or look for some contact was tantamount to suicide. They walked a few meters. The corridor was dark, but the rock seemed thinner, and less damp. So they were far from the underground streams. He moved forward, and without wanting to, he hit a rock. He saw it roll, down. So they had continued uphill.
<<Where are we?>> The girl whispered. Excellent, question, where the hell were they?
<<We are going uphill, and soon we will come out of the tunnel, but now, be quiet.>> He didn't care to sound brusque, his nerves were on edge, and he had no idea where, or if, they would actually come out. The further they advanced, however, the more he could hear the wind, and the sounds, coming from outside. It was a good thing, he told himself.
No. He had spoken too soon. The tunnel was over now and they had emerged into some kind of room, but in front of them, there was a rock wall. A dead end, but a tiny source of light, coming from the lower right corner. Maybe? He had a small charge of dynamite with him. Maybe it would be enough. He wasted no time, inserted it into the opening, and activated it. Now they had a minute, before it exploded.
<<Found out!>> They had company, two men, they were behind them. He jumped up.
<<Stay back.>> He ordered the girl. Of course, his luck was really great!
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, the two men were just silhouettes. He couldn't focus on them. No big deal. He told himself, with more optimism than he actually felt. He tried to hit them, but two of his shots missed and he fell, back on the ground. Precious seconds, wasted. A figure was approaching him. He pushed it away with his legs, then rolled to the side, and got back to his feet. He moved agilely, looking for every good moment to strike, never lowering his guard, as he had been taught. But it was one thing to train in a gym, under the agency headquarters, it was another, to fight against two thugs, inside a cave. He fell a couple of times. But even though he was dazed, he managed to get up, and knock out one of the two men. The other seemed indestructible. Damn. He only had a few seconds left. With all the strength he had and a good dose of desperation, he kicked, hitting his opponent in the abdomen, and as he collapsed, he slid to the side, and with his hands, clenched into fists, he hit him in the back of the head. With a thud he fell to the ground. The very moment the wall exploded. He grabbed the girl, and pushed her to the side, towards the gap. Those two could have come to, and there was no time. He took a look, and felt frozen. They were on a cliff. There was his luck... and it's fine that they say she's blind, but she didn't have any eyes at all!
He weighed his options. Few, too few, but he had to act. Below him, there was sand and sea, but the water was too far away for a dive. The wall they were on was quite uneven, and offered several handholds, but it was also very steep. Good. Hoping that the gorillas wouldn't wake up any time soon, he took a small harpoon from his belt buckle and carefully attached it to a handhold. He only hoped that the length of the rope was sufficient, in any case it was a risk he had to take. He told the girl to hold on to his shoulders, and when he was sure that she was secure, he began to lower himself.
It was worse than he thought. He tried to clear the fog from his thoughts. His face was a marble mask. He tried to swing away from the wall, then move closer to a new hold. He was sweating. The double weight made his movements less fluid and more uncertain. Damn! If he had come out of that feat alive, he would have a few things to say to his beloved leaders. Really. He looked for a hold, but the rock collapsed. Damn. He found himself going down, without any holds, for a few meters. The girl had started screaming. And he couldn't make her stop. Then, he saw a ledge in the rock, which provided a space large enough to stop, to catch his breath. He tried to get back toward the wall, and began to move horizontally, as fast as he could. He felt that the rope was about to give way. That day would remain in his nightmares, he thought darkly. Wake up at dawn, morning, reconnaissance, and then the action. First, in the late morning pretending to be an intermediary, he had made contact with the kidnappers. And giving a quick look at the places. Then, without being seen, he had followed them, to their hiding place. He had gone away, and had returned in the afternoon. He had made a brief reconnaissance and then, taking advantage of a brief distraction, he had freed the girl of the kidnappers, but something had gone wrong, and he had found the kidnappers on his tail. The escape into the cave, and now, this. He clenched his fists. They had descended a lot, but the beach was still far away. He looked around. It was madness. He quickly rewound the cable of his belt. And took it off. He had seen, a rock, very large, and quite high, on the beach. But still very far away. In any case he had to try, they could not stay there forever. And if he failed... he did not want to think about it. He pulled out the hook and attached it to the wall behind them. Very carefully. He ran all the rope contained in the belt, and with the belt, he made a kind of lasso. He aimed at the ledge he could see. He hit the mark. He tested the rope a couple of times. It was taut, and on a slope. A slope of about 10 m. He sighed. And he looked around. He needed something, to get down, but what? Then he remembered the case of the micro-bombs. It was very resistant and flexible. He emptied it. And grabbing it, firmly, he passed it over the rope.
<<Hold on to me, don't look down and trust me.>> He said brusquely to the girl. They had to hurry. She hesitated for a moment, then did what she told him. One death was as good as another. That's what she must have thought, she told herself, because if what she had in mind didn't work it was suicide. With a deep breath he took a run-up, and then threw himself into the void. When they were almost to the ground, he let go, and they both rolled on the sand. They were on the ground. He could feel his bones hurting, dog, and she couldn't be any better either. It was evening now. And the darkness would cover them a bit. Trying to smile, he took the girl's hand and started running. But not before cutting the rope, better not to give their pursuers any advantages. Even if it was unlikely that they would follow them again.
He took a breath. His mission was complete.
They had managed to reach the road, and from there, a service station. With the excuse of going to the bathroom he had called the ET627 section, telling them where they were, and what he had discovered about the kidnappers and the instigators, during his inspections.
And then they waited for the car, which the agency would provide them. A boy from a rental company had delivered it. He was used to the procedure, but the girl had asked him a lot of questions, which he had silenced with a kiss. And then he had taken her home. Even when saying goodbye, he had kissed her, and he would have wanted more, but it was just a dream, a utopia. He had his job to think about. Nothing else.
With a little courage he entered the room. Shadow, was standing, as usual, his face, was a hard mask. Mallhoy was at the desk.
"This time he didn't fail." He said dryly. He rolled his eyes. But he didn't expect more.
<<You did a good job, S1X. Your next mission.>> Mallhoy said, more affably, yet he couldn't trust him. He took the dossier that was handed to him, looking at it as if it were a rattlesnake.
<<Thank you.>> He simply said, before quickly retreating. He didn't like the atmosphere in the room, and even less, he liked thinking about the next mission. With a sigh he left the agency, at a great speed.