3
Around the 5th or maybe the 6th punch Cassandra spits blood.
“You know, when I am going to get free of these...” she moves her tied wrists to make her point, “I am going to punch your teeth so down your throat, you will need help to brush them.”
Her huge captor doesn’t show any sign of fear, he looks at her like she is nothing more than an annoyance. Or a mosquito.
He hasn’t said a word, so she can’t even tell if he is Russian or American.
Then she sees the door opening, and two people come in: one of them is a man, as big as the one she has had to deal with until now, they look basically the same, probably related, twins even.
Yet the worst thing is that Zhan Tiri herself is the other one.
Cassandra looks awful. Her lip has split open at least three punches ago, her left eye is black, and the right one probably is doing any better, a rivulet of blood is streaming down her temple. She has every intention to repay every single bruise the moment she gets free.
“How is our honorable guest?” Zhan Tiri’s tone is smooth and vicious, she doesn’t even pretend to hide her satisfaction.
Cassandra grits her teeth. “I was starting to think you forgot about me.”
“My dear, I could never. You are most valuable to me.”
Lucky me.
Then the woman’s attention shifts again to the first man. “Did you get the Moonstone?”
Cassandra’s thoughts run to Elsa, and relief and concern wash over her at the same time.
She is glad she told her to stay behind, leaving the Moonstone to her when she went to meet Zhan Tiri. She feels less guilty right now because of it, less naïve. Not seeing coming Zhan Tiri’s betrayal, being blindsided by her are already a tug of shame. But at least she doesn’t have the Moonstone. It’s a small victory, but a victory all the same.
She really should have known better, been more careful.
If she hadn’t given the Moonstone to Elsa, then Zhan Tiri wouldn’t have simply turned her in to the Russians and the Americans to do as they pleased, she would have turned her and the Moonstone.
Even worse, Elsa could be here too.
The diplomat soon will realize something is wrong and find a way to get out of there, even without her. She is clever, and she knows the drill: fulfilling the mission comes before everything. The Moonstone is the priority.
It’s better this way.
Cassandra knows it too, it doesn’t make it less painful to accept it though. Even when you know from the start that there is a possibility you could get left behind, all the awareness in the world can’t make it any easier.
Her consolation is that the MI6 will get the Moonstone, F will know what to do, and above all, Elsa will be safe. She will get back to her life as if she had woken up from a bad dream, but at least she will be alright.
One of Cassandra’s regrets is that she won’t get to see her again.
“Does it hurt?”
Elsa traces with her fingers the bruise on Cassandra’s temple, they are slightly cold but it’s not an unpleasant feeling, even if Cassandra flinches. But it’s not exclusively related to the pain.
She should pull away, but she doesn’t find in herself the strength to do it, or the will.
“It’s superficial, no big deal.” She tries to dismiss it, but Elsa doesn’t seem convinced, instead standing to go look for something in her drawer, coming back a moment later with a first aid kit. She adjusts herself on the bed.
“There is no need.” Cassandra shakes her head, but the sudden movement makes her feel dizzy and she hopes in vain that the blonde won’t notice. But obviously she does, she never misses a thing.
“We can’t let it get infected.”
Cassandra should know by now that it’s futile to argue with her.
Elsa pours a few drops of disinfectant on a gauze and slowly approaches the wound, but the moment she touches it, Cassandra can’t help but hiss.
“Stay still.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“I’ll be quick. Try to grab something… to take your mind off it.”
If that’s even possible, it hurts even more the second time around, and Cassandra doesn’t think, and grips the first think she finds: Elsa’s wrist. But the woman doesn’t push her away, letting her hold on to her. Even when she gets squeezed a few times too forcefully, she doesn’t complain once, and Cassandra is silently grateful for it.
She feels a little like a child in this moment, she has rarely had someone to take care of her, and she can’t deny that a part of her enjoys it and savors it. The fact that is Elsa doing it, it’s an entirely different matter.
“I’m almost done.” She reassures her, in response Cassandra hums closing her eyes.
Elsa faintly strokes her hand. “You didn’t strike me as a fusser when it comes to pain.”
“A little gratitude would be appreciated, miss Arnaldr.” She responds to the teasing, opening an eye. “I got into a fight to defend your honor after all.”
“My honor was fine, you intervened because otherwise we would have been caught.” Her mouth curves pensively. “And I had the impression you enjoyed it a little.”
Cassandra’s eyebrow shoots up, causing another surge of pain through her temple. “Are you questioning my professionalism?”
“Am I wrong assuming that CIA agent was some sort of archenemy of yours?”
“… more like a personal annoyance.”
“This just proves my point.”
“Look, Adira and I go way back. Have we butted heads before? Yes. Has she tormented me endlessly and kicked my ass more times than I could count? Absolutely. Did I take advantage of the situation tonight to give her a well-deserved lesson that I have been waiting to give her for years? Maybe.” Cassandra mutters through her teeth bitterly. “If I am the one who made her bite the dust this time, it’s not payback, it’s karma.”
A chuckle escapes from Elsa. “Now that’s more likely.” She puts the gauze on the bed. “She sounds like she gave you a really hard time in the past.”
“You don’t know the half of it.” Cassandra huffs moving a lock of hair from her face. “But you are no better than me. You tripped her, miss diplomat. I didn’t think you had it in you…” she points a finger at her, making a circle in the air. “I guess you can do more with those heels than walking and looking down on people.”
“The only thing I did was giving her… a little nudge. My sister is the woman of action between us, once she knocked her ex-boyfriend out with a single punch.” There is fondness in her tone. She must love her very much if simply mentioning her makes her almost beaming.
Cassandra wonders how it must feel to have a sister, or a family, it’s not like she knows much about it. It has always been just her and her father against the world. But it has been enough for her. Besides, she has her friends, they are kind of family for her too.
“It was a little clumsy, but effective. And you bought me time to react, so I am not going to complain...” she clears her throat. “Thanks by the way, for that. I had the situation under control but… thanks.”
“I am just glad I could help. And it’s my fault if we ended up in this situation in the first place… if you got hurt.” Elsa starts gently touching Cassandra’s face examining her work, her expression turns into a grimace. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t mention it. Yeah, the plan had a few setbacks. But this...” Cassandra vaguely waves at her temple, “this is all part of the job. It would be weird not to have bruises after a mission.”
Elsa is almost afraid to look directly into her eyes. “I thought you would be angrier that I… took the initiative.”
Cassandra snorts. “Oh I was, I still am. Because risking like that was terribly stupid, and you shamelessly ignored every single one of my warnings. Perhaps I should have dragged you back by force. You clearly listen to no one but yourself.”
At least Elsa has the decency not to object and appears slightly guilty.
“But I am also kinda impressed, because you were actually good at that. Now I am truly convinced you could make anyone do anything for you… you might even be a good spy with little training.”
Cassandra shrugs and tilts her head, reflecting further. “Maybe if Adira hadn’t been so enamored to follow you, we could have gotten away with it more easily, but sometimes accidents happen. And we handled ours.” She stops, thinking carefully on her next words. “Still, it was rash, and careless. You can’t blame for being worried.”
Elsa’s brow furrows. “There was no need. I wasn’t going to blow up our cover.”
“It was a matter of safety” she gently moves Elsa’s hand away from her face and lets it rest on the bed, lingering a little before letting it go, “your safety too.”
Elsa flickers her eyes at her. “I already told you, you don’t have to worry about me.”
“You… are so weird, and pretty reckless for a diplomat.”
“I apologize for that, but if it helps my case… I did succeed.”
Cassandra wants to say something back, but she finds herself at loss of words. They are so close, Cassandra is completely engulfed in Elsa’s scent. She doesn’t know how or why, but she feels a strong pull towards her, getting stronger by the minute.
Elsa falls quiet, and for a moment Cassandra believes she sees something in her, but it’s too quick to catch. She is too good at hiding how she feels.
She would really make a great spy.
“I guess it could have gone worse...” Cassandra dares to look back, once again she finds her unwavering, “you are not what I was expecting.”
“Careful agent Knight, or I might start thinking you are changing your mind about politicians.” Elsa responds almost playful. She probably doesn’t expect a real answer, but there is clearly a deeper meaning behind her words. Like everything she usually says.
Yet Cassandra has never been anything but blunt. “Never… but maybe not all of them are bad.”
When she lifts her head, she finds a pair of piercing blue staring at her, and under those watchful eyes she has never felt more naked.
“It’s not on her. She must have hidden it, or already delivered it. I have been trying to get its location out of her, but she is not talking.”
“There are no other agents from MI6 in Montecarlo, the drive must be still here.”
She hears steps coming towards her, but her ears struggle to hear properly, and her sight is still foggy.
A face gets extremely close to hers. “I like you Cassandra, I like your spirit, and I always thought you were wasted in the MI6. You could have done so much more if only you had worked for me.”
Cassandra scoffs, glaring at Zhan Tiri. “I appreciate the offer, but I am not really looking for employment.”
“A pity, really.” She tucks her hands behind her back. “You are stubborn, I know that. But you are not stupid. You know you have lost, so don’t drag this more than necessary. Give me what I want.”
“Not going to happen. Actually, I’d rather talk about something else.” She narrows her eyes. “Like why? Who do you work for? You have been in the MI6 for years, they must have offered you a lot to make you betray your own country. Your own people.”
“When you have done this job for as many years as I have, you find that countries, loyalties, don’t really matter...”
“Neither does starting a war?”
“If I had, why would I have made that drive in the first place?”
Cassandra’s eyes widen and she raises her head with a snap. “It was you?”
“Clever right? Exploiting the idiotic rivalry between two countries, the quickest to fire, and I won’t even need to push them to do anything, they will mark their own destruction. And of course, so will the UK.
The MI6 would never pass the chance to be ahead of their counterparts, it will be dragged into this mess without a chance to escape. Maybe it’s time for a lesson for all of them.”
“But why? Why are you doing this?”
“Because I can.” She clenches her fist. “You think everything you do will be rewarded in the end? That all your efforts will mean anything? You are nothing but a pawn in a much bigger game, always destined to run against the current. What’s the point? Why should I be the one taking orders, when I can be the one giving them? This way I won’t be invisible anymore.”
“Right, so this is about power, actually no, this is about you being a sociopath with a need of attention. And here I thought, our job was supposed to be about making the world safer.”
“You are a child. You think anything you do will make the world safer? There will always be something, or someone who would lead the world to the edge of chaos, destruction. Men are not capable of keeping peace.”
Zhan Tiri laughs, it’s chilling, it makes Cassandra cringe.
“I hate the stupid idealism they keep feeding us in that place… and one of the things that usually gets more of us killed every day. How much of your soul they have been repeatedly asking you to sacrifice for the sake of your belovedcountry?”
“I will not debate with a crazy ego maniac about doing the right thing. Just kill me already and be done with it. Because mark my words, I won’t give you the Moonstone.”
In the corner of her eye, Cassandra notices a white shadow walking past the doorframe. It seems she is not the only one awake at this hour.
She should mind her own business, stick to the reports in her hands, even if with Elsa they are slightly more civil, it doesn’t mean they are friends. Seriously, she should just keep to herself.
Yet the more she tries to focus, the more she finds herself rereading the same sentence without catching its meaning. Her attention has shifted for tonight, and she can’t do much about it now, and it’s pretty late too.
She puts the file to the side and slides down from the bed.
When she goes into the sitting room, Elsa is on the armchair in the corner. Cassandra clears her throat to make her presence known. “It’s late. What are you doing up?”
Not even remotely startled, she turns to look at her and shrugs. “I… tend to overthink. Sometimes I don’t sleep well, sometimes I don’t even sleep at all.” She tucks her knees to her chest. She looks younger like this, almost childlike, her finger keeps tapping on the glass as her gaze gets lost into nothing. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”
Cassandra doesn’t know why she has come, but restlessness is something she can relate to, and normally, she wouldn’t hesitate to break off any sort of sentimentalism or closeness, but deep down maybe she doesn’t want to be alone tonight.
“You didn’t, I was already awake.”
“What’s your excuse if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I don’t have one, I was just reviewing something.” She points at her own room, the door is open, and her bed filled with papers sticks out.
Elsa pierces her lips tilting her head. “I can’t tell if you are a workaholic or a perfectionist.”
“You are the one to talk, little miss perfect.”
Their banter is easy, familiar, but Cassandra knows something is up, she is waiting for her to say why she is really here, but if she waits for her, she will probably wait forever. Elsa often calls her out on her own reluctance, but she is as much as reserved as she is, and truth is, she is mildly curious.
“Do you need anything?”
Elsa grips the glass of water in her hand and shakes her head. “When I have nights like this, I usually go to my sister, she’s the only one who seems to have this power to calm me down. But now… I obviously can’t.”
There is an uneasiness in her, a faint tremor of her hands, something that makes her jittery. Cassandra leans against the wall, opting to keep her talking as a distraction. “How is she like? Your sister? You mentioned her before.”
Her question has an even better effect than she planned, she sees Elsa visibly loosen up, her face opening into a fond smile. “She is… the person I love the most in the world. We are opposites in every way, but I couldn’t imagine my life without her. She is such a force of nature, so vibrant, that sometimes her cheerfulness can be quite overbearing. Especially if you are like me and appreciate some peace and quiet from time to time… but she loves deeply, unconditionally. Being on the other side of that love can be something extraordinary.”
Weirdly Cassandra understands perfectly what she is saying, it’s how she feels about her best friend Rapunzel, and judging by the way Elsa describes her sister, they are not really that different, maybe they could even get along if they met. The trouble would be double.
“She seems wonderful.”
“She is, I think that Anna could charm everyone she meets.”
“It must run in the family then.”
After she says it, her eyes widen.
She doesn’t know what the hell was that. What possessed her to even say it out loud. She blames the sleep-deprivation, or the stress, that must be the reason.
It must have caught off guard Elsa too, because she blinks a couple of times before resuming her talking, but thankfully for Cassandra’s sanity, she moves forward as nothing has happened.
“So… do you? Have someone like that?”
“Kinda? I mean, does a best friend count?” Cassandra sighs a breath of relief, gladly jumping at the chance to deflect. “She is literally a true sunshine. I don’t think I have ever met someone like her, who isable to break any sort of walls or barriers she encounters.”
“She sounds great.”
“I hated her at first.” Cassandra crosses her arms, letting herself feel the missing of her friend, she keeps talking without realizing it. “All that positive attitude was insufferable. But… she makes people feel understood, always worthy of love and appreciation. I don’t know how she does that, she got to me too.”
“That really sounds miraculous.”
“You think you are so funny, Arnaldr.”
“I am a bit.”
“I’ll let you know, I am not such a menace to bear.I’m a bit blunt… but some people find it fascinating. Some might say it’s part of my charm.”
“Perhaps people who are lured to sharpness… like the ones who enjoy diving lessons with sharks.”
Cassandra can’t stop the surprised choking sound that comes out of her throat, but she recovers quickly. “This thing you do, seriously, it’s exhausting. I can never tell if you are insulting me or praising me.”
“Maybe it’s part of my charm…” she leans over to put her glass on the piece of furniture near her, there is a little smirk on her face, still evident despite the dark.
The spy snorts, shaking her head a bit. The banter is one thing, but in those rare moments it happens, the teasing is unexpected. And not entirely unwelcomed.
“I can’t believe everyone sees you as this cold unapproachable being… when in reality you are just an insufferable smartass.”
Now it’s her turn to gasp: “Did you just call me a smartass?”
“I did. Because you are not this posed controlled woman you want other people to think you are.”
Elsa waits a couple of beats before shooting back. “And you are not even remotely unattached as you like to pretend to be.”
Without even realizing it, Cassandra kinda got played by her, allowing herself to relax and make fun of each other. Letting something slip.
Elsa even smiles like a child, proud of herself, Cassandra shouldn’t find it adorable, yet she secretly does.
There are too many things she is starting to notice, to like in her, she should stop, but she apparently can’t seem to. Maybe she doesn’t even want to.
“I really miss my sister, I feel lost without her...” then with a huff, she stands up, “I’m sorry, I bothered you enough. I should go, and you really should get some sleep.”
Cassandra parts from the wall almost bouncing. “Oh yeah, sure…”
“Goodnight, agent Knight. And thank you… for distracting me.”
She’s almost at the door when something clicks in Cassandra’s brain, she doesn’t know what comes over her, but she still blurts it out. “You can call me Cassandra, or Cass, if you want.”
She waves her hand in the air, to fight this strange sense of awkwardness that seems to be creeping on her. “I mean… not we are not in the open, you can’t call me by my name, for safety precaution. But you can, when we are alone… we are stuck with each other, it’s pointless for you to call me agent all the time.”
Wonder of wonders, she smiles, it’s bashful, but it might be the warmest smile she has ever given her, Cassandra gets a bit starstruck by it. “You called me Elsa before.”
“Oh, sorry, it slipped, I didn’t mean-”
“It’s okay.” She cuts her off gently. “You can keep calling me that… when we are alone of course.”
“Right.”
“Right.”
“Well, goodnight Cassandra.”
“Goodnight Elsa.”
When Cassandra gets back to her room, she realizes how much she came close to tell her she didn’t bother her, that actually, it felt nice talking to her, awfully easy, but she thanks whatever god there is out there, who kept her from saying something idiotic like that and embarrassing herself further.
This really is a weird night.
“The reports painted someone more cynical actually, not so… deluded by such wishful thinking.”
Zhan Tiri has been toying with her for so long, Cassandra is starting to think her plan must be to break her by driving her crazy. “I never would have taken you for an optimist. What happened to the young promise of the MI6? Their cold and calculated pupil, the perfect soldier?”
Cassandra lets her head hang, squeezing her eyes to make the headache pass, with no use. “It’s the bullshit. Hearing so much all at once does that to people.”
It’s so fast, if Cassandra hadn’t been so worn out, she would have fought back, but unfortunately, she can’t do much, Zhan Tiri grabs her by the chin, forcing her to look at her. “Now you are just testing my patience… I am getting tired of this game, agent Knight. Where is the Moonstone?”
“Like I’ve already told you a thousand times… I don’t have it. And I have no idea where it is.”
“You have interfered with my plans long enough.”
“I live to be an annoyance for people like you.”
“This brings me no joy, I warned you.” She makes a gesture to her two men, who until now had kept on their own, making them raise at once. They start moving towards Cassandra with a very much clear intention.
“Whatever. Do your worst, it doesn’t matter. The Moonstone is probably already on its way to the MI6 as we speak. Very far from you.”
One of the twins comes at her, cracking his knuckles, and she instinctively slouches back against her seating. When he closes his fist to charge it, Cassandra mentally prepares for another blow.
“Wait.” Zhan Tiri’s strangely agitated voice makes him stop midair, and as Cassandra carefully opens her eyes she is met by the woman’s grin. It’s so disturbing, it makes her skin crawl.
“I almost forgot.”
Cassandra is really tired of this stalling and she just spats. “What now.”
Zhan Tiri tilts her head, giving her a look worthy of a mother who has just caught her child doing something naughty. “You surprise me again, agent Knight.”
Cassandra’s brow furrows, now she is perplexed, because she genuinely doesn’t know what she is referring to, it’s difficult to keep up with her train of thoughts. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Don’t you? I took for granted you would want to keep things under control in person, that your need to overdo would be your downfall. After all, everyone knows how much you prefer to do everything by yourself…” she rubs her forehead still smiling to herself, as if she is amused by her own joke, “but this time you weren’t sent to this mission by yourself, were you?”
That awakes something in Cassandra. She stiffens before she could stop herself, her mouth running dry.
“You actually did trust someone this time. You gave it to her. How foolish of me.”
Cassandra begins pulling at her ties more frantically this time, even if she knows nothing has changed from before, and they won’t be easily slackened. “Zhan Tiri…”
But she is not listening anymore, she turns to one of the henchmen and flatly gives him the order. “Find her. Find me the diplomat.”