Agent Rogue: Espionage

Chapter 3

We traipsed through the corridors. Even with the cold, my feet burned, and the cut on my head grew sore. I had gathered snow for the bump on Scotty's, but the mark turned purple after only ten more minutes of walking. He fumed when he glanced at the reflection in his phone, and whined constantly about his 'good looks fading, only calming down when I suggested it made him look remotely tough – a lie, of course – and soon started posing his face in the camera.

          Finally, we reached a door. Not a sheet of plastic, but an actual door; completely metal and eight feet tall.

          "Thank god," Derek sighed. He ran ahead and pushed, his groans audible from where Scotty and I stood. Sweat beaded on his forehead and his feet skidded along the icy floor.

          He turned over and wielded all the force in his back, moving it only an inch.

          Scotty checked a watch he wasn't wearing.
"Any time today," I said.
"It... won't... budge."
"You know—" I cocked my head. "—if you just, maybe, asked for help, you might benefit."

          He kicked his feet, determined to do it alone, until he fell back into the door, muttering something under his breath.
"What was that?"
"Please can you both help me?"
"It would be our pleasure," Scotty teased.

          It took all three of us heaving and panting to push open the door, letting in the freezing wind of the blizzard outside.

          A figure standing outside shocked us to the core.

          We raised our weapons.

          "Wait!"

          The red coat, the goggles, the climbing axe on his back and the broken rope hooked to his waist.
I blinked. "Tyler."
Derek's eyes widened. "We've been looking for you."
Tyler took off his goggles, visibly confused. "Really?"
"Yes."

          He grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the door.
"Now I can kill you."
"Swat him, Barnes!" Scotty cheered.
I sighed and lazily pointed a silencing finger at Scotty. "Derek."
"He could have killed you, Amber, he—"
"Will pay for it, I'm sure. He's a coward. But hurting him isn't going to do anyone any favours. Including us." Even if my fingers ached while resisting balling them into fists, I had to stop this. For Derek – not Tyler.

          With a disapproving grumble, Derek let go and Tyler's feet met the ground once more.
"Thank you, Agent Knight. Thank you so—"
"Don't thank me before you read your reference. That promotion you wanted? Gone."

          Scotty reached for my sleeve, urging me to look behind us. "Lads. We have a small issue."

          Shadows shifted down the left corridor... and the right.

          Marcus's removal team was catching up to us. The only exit was into the blizzard.

          I gently encouraged Scotty to move. "Go. Now."

          The shots started before we could heave the door shut.
Derek dragged me away. "Leave it. Come on!"

          The land before us stretched into a vast sheet of ice. Bullets sprayed against the surface, barely missing our pounding feet, until it began to crack.

          Bubbles bobbed beneath us, icy waters moaning, waiting to burst from the surface.

           "Mind your step!" I yelled. I stumbled to the left as a shot skimmed my leg, almost slipping.
"Zig-zag running," Scotty panted. "Zig-zag running!"