Fragmented Soul

4. Reflection

Joshua rolled back and forth. His head was spinning and his vision was blurred. He came to realise that he was lying in a bed. The room was bright. The wall to the side of the bed was entirely glass, not much privacy. On the wall above the bed was a picture of a human brain. He got up, grabbed the towel from the end of the bed, and walked to the shower. “Great he thought. They’ve brought me to this nuthouse. Again.” The bathroom was opposite the king size bed which he had somehow ended up in. It too was bright and immaculate. The radiator boasted an array of pristine folded white towels all with the word “Cogito” embroidered in the corner in a blood red colour. Josh twisted the tap and the shower hissed into life. A jet of hot water burst from its nozzle.

After his shower Josh went back into the room with his towel around his waist. A set of clothes and toiletries lay on his bed. Steam rose from his broad shoulders and he grabbed the wash bag and walked back into the bathroom. Josh brushed his teeth and ran a hand through his thick blonde hair. He looked in the mirror. A boy stood opposite him, tall and well built, not invincible, he had bruises and cuts all over his torso. He re-emerged feeling clean and refreshed. Joshua pulled on his boxers and jeans. Then stood up and addressed the door. “You don’t need to stay out there waiting for me to finish.” He laughed. The door was pushed open and a pair of slender tanned legs stepped in, the legs were owned by an equally beautiful girl. Her hair was jet black and tied up in a loose bun, a single lock hung down over her right eye. Her eyes were a vivid green and contained a glint of something that Josh had never seen in a girl before. He never saw many girls though, they usually never came onto the sites, and this site obviously wasn’t a normal one. She wore a mini skirt and a green polo shirt. “Not really weather for an outfit like that.” grinned Joshua.

“I’ll dress how I like thank you very much.” She was British and had that tone of voice that screamed “I’m independent!” but her look said something different. “You are wanted in the debriefing office.” Joshua stepped towards the door. She placed a hand on his muscular chest. It felt as though someone had sent a pulse of electricity through him, not a bad feeling, a good one. Her hand was soft and cold, her skin perfect and unblemished. “You’ll need to put a shirt on unfortunately.” She smiled, revealing a row of gleaming white teeth. Josh blushed and grabbed his shirt from the bed and followed the legs out of the room and down the corridor to the briefing office.

                They arrived at a double door. It was made of wood and looked very solid, these rooms were supposed to be sound-proof. A gold plaque hung in the centre of the door. The words engraved on it read Reflection & Perfection. They glared at Josh as he pushed the door open. It shut quietly behind him. The room was bright just like everything at this place. It was very long and at the end of it was a pine desk with a woman sitting behind it. Josh walked towards her. She seemed to be sorting some files, or searching for something.  He sat in the chair opposite the desk. The woman glanced up at him then sat back and folded her arms. She was smiling.

“So this is Joshua Oliver Richards.” She beamed. “I have heard so much about you.”

“I somewhat doubt that.” muttered Joshua.

“Tell me, how did a minor operation go pear shaped in such a short time with two trainees getting killed?” Josh looked at her straight in the eyes. She was still smiling. “I’m still waiting.”

“We were caught off guard. The new boy couldn’t pull the trigger on the old git.” Richards said emotionlessly.

“Yet three survive, kill the hostage and take out the surprise attackers. Not a complete failure.” Josh stared at her.

“We failed. No-one should have died, except our target.”

“The boys Craig and Samuel were meant to die.” said the woman in a happy voice. Josh looked puzzled. “The head of the mission sent Sam on it at the last minute right?” Josh nodded, staying silent. He was just beginning to understand. “So when our department got the go. We sent a squad to take out your team.” Josh looked shocked and jumped to his feet outraged. “Sit down please.” said the woman raising her voice slightly. “Three escaped alive, you and the twins Alistair and Fraser. The location of your rendezvous point was known to us as well as the arranged time of the killing. We sent an undercover agent to the lock up to sell some pills, to whoever was interested.”

“The twins.” Joshua guessed.

“Exactly, they were found with a pair of young girls at a night club. They had broken the rules so were removed from service.” Another two bite the dust thought Joshua. The song played through his mind. He felt no sorrow for the killed agents on his team, they were merely parts in the running machine of the job, once rusty or out dated they were replaced, hardly human but life goes on.

“You hadn’t taken the pills, hadn’t been found or killed so we knew that you are the right one for this job.” That was the final piece of the jigsaw. It was all a test. A cruel test which cost four people their lives, but he passed. He got to live another day. But for how long? Josh paused and gazed at specks of dust gliding through the room, being transformed into golden shavings as they passed through shafts of sunlight. The door opened at that point and the girl stepped in. She walked gracefully and sat in the spare chair next to Josh. She didn’t smile, or look at him for that matter. Josh knew why, relationships were forbidden. Her hand did, however, touch his leg either on accident or on purpose, but Josh got the same electric pulse through his body. The male members were not to have any emotions, they got beaten out of you in your training and by the end of it you were a cold hearted trained killer. Her smell waved around him, making him feel all soft and happy inside, like a warm breeze on a clear summer’s evening. Josh felt weird, he never spoke to girls unless ordered to or looked at them noticing tiny details such as their eye colour or hair or lips. This girl was different, something had clicked it was as if her touch had sparked something inside him. Josh wrestled the thought to the back of his mind and focused on the task at hand.

“Joshua this is Emma she will be working with you on your next assignment.” Emma didn’t look at him. “You will both travel to Bristol in twenty-four hours.” The briefing went on for another thirty minutes, Josh caught the gist of it but the rest just washed over him like a wave of gibberish. One single word bounced around his mind though as they sat there, the girl’s name. Emma. The briefing ended and Josh’s dream bubble was popped and he hurtled back to reality. He stood up and walked out. He turned right and headed down the corridor. The walls were white and had no decoration, just white with lights every two metres. He got back to his room and closed the door and collapsed onto his bed. His mind was spinning, had he just fallen in love? The girl’s face kept appearing in his mind. He opened his eyes and was staring straight into Emma’s face, she was smiling. Her red lips parted and she leaned over him. The two kissed. Her lips tasted like sugar. Passion coursed through their bodies and the two felt an immediate connection, each touch and kiss sending a fresh wave of adrenalin and lust into them both. Between the kisses Emma managed to introduce herself properly and recommended getting some background work done on the mission. It sounded ok to Josh if this was an introduction and background information. It was going to be great. After a few minutes of intensity, the two rolled apart and Josh stood up. The room was silent except for their panting. He was being unprofessional. He didn’t have these feelings. It felt good but not right. He hadn’t been trained to do that, it just exploded out of him, uncontrollably.

 Emma lay on the bed she bit her lip, “What’s wrong?” she grinned. “You’re not bad for an empty kid.” Josh stared at her, she was stunning. The strand of hair that hung down over her right eye was twirled around her index finger. Josh couldn’t tear his gaze away from her. She made everything else in the room seem dark. Her lips were glistening in the sunlight. He managed to get the words out of his mouth that he had been choking on for the past five minutes. “We need to pack for the mission. Go and get your stuff ready.” That sounded harsher than Josh wanted but he needed to keep himself under control. If anyone saw what had just happened Josh would be sleeping with the worms before you could say oops. Emma bit her lip and smiled. “I’ve already packed both our bags.”