book
“I certainly hope you dance as well as you dress.” Wanda Maximoff’s voice came from behind her.
Agnes slowly spun around, making sure to look her in the eyes. “Only one way to find out.” Agnes pulled Wanda onto the floor and they danced. As they twirled and swayed, Agnes kept an eye on her surroundings. She surveyed the bar, scanning the walls, the crowd, and the drinks.
They held each other close, the electric music filling their ears. Then Wanda tugged Agnes closer, whispering in her ear. “Don’t you know who I am?”
“No.” Agnes tilted her head. “But I’d like to find out.”
Wanda beckoned for Agnes to come closer, placing a hand on the back of her head. Her hot breath against her ear made Agnes shiver. “How I wish you were here to capture my heart, not simply to capture me, Agent O’Connor.”
Before Agnes could say anything, Wanda snapped, and the music stopped. Guns cocking replaced the steady rhythm, and suddenly everyone in the room had a gun pointed at her head.
Including Wanda. Agnes sighed as the woman gestured for her to hand over her gun with her other arm, reluctantly dropping it into Wanda’s waiting hand with a dull clunk. Wanda stepped away as the crowd’s steely gaze bore into Agnes’s soul.
“Any last words?” One of the men spat.
Agnes heaved an exaggerated sigh. “A little help here, Alice?”
“Who the fuck is Alice?” The man’s fingers hovered over the trigger.
A voice boomed from the speakers. “The girl who gave up being the next Tony Stark to save her sorry ass.”
Smoke suddenly bloomed from the ceiling, clouding the small underground room. Shots fired left and right as Agnes quickly made her escape, pushing open a set of double doors and breathing in fresh air. An orange jeep skidded to a halt in front of her. “Need a lift?”
“Maximoff made me. She knew exactly who I was.”
“Then let’s get the hell out of he–” Alice paused as gunfire rang out from in front of them.
Bullets pierced the windshield as Agnes ducked next to the jeep, using the open car door as a shield. She looked up at Wanda Maximoff, perched on a motorcycle, lowering her gun. She winked at Agnes before peeling off, the tires squealing as she sped down the roads of Greece.
Agnes snapped out of her trance as she got up and glanced inside the Jeep. Alice was sprawled out on the seat, blood seeping from her chest. “Alice!” Agnes rushed to stop the bleeding with her handkerchief.
“Stay on target, O’Connor. You need to get Maximoff.” A sound came from her earpiece.
“No, I can save her.” Agnes insisted.
“Let paramedics do their job. You do yours.” The director’s words were cold and calculated.
Agnes groaned as she copped a nearby bike and sped after Wanda. She cut through alleyways and parks, fixating on the figure on the scarlet bike. Turn after turn, she grew closer and closer to the woman. The distance between them decreased little by little as she leaned forward. Just as she was about to grab at her, Wanda took a sharp left turn, leaving Agatha speeding toward a brick building. She crashed into the wall, her motorcycle taking most of the impact. Ringing filled her ears, and her vision blurred temporarily as she scrambled up.
As soon as she gained her bearings, she contacted William. “What’s your status?”
William raised a cup of coffee to his lips. “Enjoying coffee.”
“Well, I suggest you hurry up, ‘cause she’s inbound to your position.”
“I’ve got it.”
***
Agnes arrived while William was questioning Wanda. He had gotten her to unlock her phone and was swiping through the contents of it as Agnes took a seat next to her and stared her down. She stayed completely still, attempting to intimidate Wanda, but Wanda simply had a smile on her face. She was mocking her. Agnes clenched her jaw, about to say something when William hurriedly showed her what was on the screen.
The message thread on the screen seemed normal at first glance, but as Agnes read it line by line, she put the pieces together. “Be alert, Maximoff. O’Connor is a tough one.” She looked at the user who sent it. Director Hayward.
The director was working against them. They’d been double-crossed.
Agnes glanced at Wanda with confusion, hoping to find an answer in her eyes. Wanda just tilted her head and quietly said, “It seems we serve the same person.” Agnes watched in horror, frozen, as Wanda siphoned a few drops of some gold-ish water from her locket and swallowed.
Thirty seconds later, her body was limp, slumped against the table. William checked her pulse. Nothing.
Agnes’s eyes widened. Hayward’s voice came through their comms. “Agents. Think clearly. Use your head. Stay alert and don’t believe a word she sa–” William yanked his earpiece out and dropped it in his coffee.
Agnes sat there, listening to Hayward’s fake concern before she ripped hers out too, watching it sink to the bottom of her coffee. William and Agnes sat in shocked silence.
“We’re on our own now.” She spoke when she’d regained her voice. “We have to go fully off the grid. All we trust is each other now. It’s a whole new ball game now.” She warned.
***
She read the last few sentences on the page slower for extra effect. “For Agnes knew there was no turning back. That nothing would ever be the same again.” She shut the book's back cover with a quiet thud, stunned silence filling the room. It took a few seconds before the crowd applauded, whoops and cheers coming at her from the packed room in front of her.
“Agatha Harkness, ladies and gentlemen!” The crowd moderator’s voice cut through the cheering, amplified by the microphone. “Now let’s take some time for questions.”
The crowd moderator gestured to a young woman with shoulder-length, straight blonde hair. “Hi, Agatha. I’m actually an aspiring, uh, writer, but I can never seem to find the time. Do you have any advice?”
“Oh my goodness, I know how hard that can be.” Agatha placed an open hand over her chest. “For me, when I was a waitress, I was juggling so many shifts. I never really had time to write until the, uh, skating accident. Which I’ve obviously spoken about.” Agatha clenched her fist in her lap, trying to shut out the memories of the cold, quiet hospital room. “And I think when something like that happens to you, it makes you realize that tomorrow isn’t promised. You make the time for what you love. And once I did that, all the characters and stories that I had trapped in my head for so long finally spilled out onto the page.” Agatha concluded, smiling at the girl in the audience.
“Alright, let’s take another one.” The crowd moderator boomed. He called on a tall, gruff man.
“Hello.” The man stood up.
“Hi,” Agatha smiled back.
“It’s no secret that you are the spy novelist actual spies read.” The man had an interesting accent. “You have even predicted real-life geopolitical events. So, what’s the deal? Are you a real spy, too?” Agatha let out a surprised laugh. “How do you do it?” The man sat down, clutching his copy of the book.
“Gosh, I wish. I wish. That would make everything so much easier, but no. As boring as it may seem, the secret is research, research, research.” Agatha smiled at the man, who seemed to be analyzing her words. “Although that is what I would say if I was a spy…” The crowd laughed as she trailed off. She gave them a comically exaggerated wink.
The crowd moderator then called on another young girl. “When are we gonna get book five?”
Agatha raised her eyebrows. “Sooner than you think.” She replied, laughing when the room gasped and started whispering amongst themselves.
The crowd moderator called on a man in a gray hoodie with a deep-ish voice. “Sorry if this is too straightforward, but I don’t know if I’ll ever get to ask. Do you have any plans tonight?”
Agatha gave him a gentle smile. “Aw, that’s very flattering.” She tilted her head at him, almost feeling bad for him when he gave her a hopeful smile. “But tonight, I do actually have a hot date.”
As the book launch continued, Agatha stared out the nearby window at the rolling Colorado hills, desperate to get home.