With a Pull of a Trigger

Chapter Five

Gil chuckled. “And you thought that I would just leave evidence scattered behind, did you?”

“Well you did. A book that says Gilbert Baxendale—senior agent, The Alliance is in one of your bookshelves.”

Gil nodded slowly, tapping a finger under his chin. “I should have known you were going to go here.”

“That’s not the point. The point is that we’re here to confirm some data of yours, and well, we’ve achieved that along with getting caught. Happy?” said Reini bitterly. They were going to be so dead once they went back to headquarters and Amrie was someone everyone wanted happy.

“Not quite,” said Gil, putting his arms on the armrests and leaning back, utterly relaxed. “Why exactly are you confirming my data?”

Eena looked at Reini for a moment before looking back at Gil. She took a deep breath, as if to both calm and prepare herself, then clasped her hands and put them on her lap. “Because the end is coming and we need your help. We all know that the CIA will bring The Alliance down soon. We just know that we’re going to need help. Your help is one thing we wanted to be able to rely on, and we just want to know inside info on The Alliance. It’s not every day that an agent of The Alliance just manages to walk away, safe and alive,” said Eena.

“You want my help,” said Gil, taking his glass of scotch, “to bring down The Alliance? What makes you think that I would help you?”

Reini looked at him, her brown eyes calculating. “There’s a reason you quit The Alliance, Mister Baxendale.”

Gil raised an eyebrow and sipped his scotch. After a few moments, he put the glass back on the coffee table and leaned back, putting his arms on the armrests and clasping his hands, resting them on his stomach. “I seem to have had told you an incomplete statement. What I meant was that, what makes you think that I would help you after you went to restricted areas of my home and broke into my office?”

“Well, you seemed so calm that I thought you might not be angry at us but now I should have known that that judgment would come bite us in the ass,” snapped Reini.

Gil smirked. “One thing you should learn, Miss Saunders, is that you should never judge an agent. We are not books for you to open and peruse on a whim. We are not crystal balls to gaze upon and learn of the truth. We are complex. We are gentle, yet strong. We are the opposite of ourselves. To be an agent, you should know that. To be a great agent, you should apply that. To judge us is to underestimate us. Agents are one of the most complex things on this planet, agents. We might be cute, kind kittens one minute, a ferocious lion, the next.”

Eena glowered at Gil. “By giving us lectures, you’re basically implying that we’re not good agents. You’re underestimating us, Mister Baxendale, and I believe that makes you a hypocrite.”

“Ah, but there’s a difference, Miss Acker, and you know it. By saying that I must be calm all the time because of a conversation is judging a book by its cover. By giving you lessons you will need later in life because I have seen numerous evidence of you needing more lessons, is merely being generous and giving advice to others,” said Gil. He looked at Eena and Reini for a few seconds before standing up. “I suggest you leave my office now. You two are more than welcome to stay for the remainder of the party, but do remember to tell your superiors that I am not going to help you. I wish you good luck; I hear Miss Chase is someone you wouldn’t like angry,” said Gil crisply.

Reini stood up quickly, frustrated. She heard Eena stand up behind her and they walked to the door in strides.

“Don’t worry about the guards. I’ll tell them about you,” said Gil. He put on his wristwatch and looked up abruptly. “Oh, and I almost forgot, Miss Saunders? Talk to Samuel; it might do you some good.”

Reini opened the door and exited the room, slamming it behind Eena. Her heart was beating wildly and blood was rushing in her ears. Frustration and anger was written all over her face, but really, she didn’t know who she was angrier at; Gil or herself.

She was angry at Gil for underestimating her skills as an agent and for advising her to talk to Samuel.

She was angry at herself for allowing themselves to get caught and for lying to Samuel.

Inside though, she knew Gil was right. She had to talk to Samuel.

She wasn’t going to tell Gil he was right, though. Ego was something he had in spades.

“Are you really going to talk to Samuel?” asked Eena, looking at Reini concernedly.

“I need to,” replied Reini before striding in the direction of the grand staircase. “I have to.”

And Eena left it at that, knowing that Reini was not supposed to be disturbed.

She had a lot to think about.