Evenfall (167 page)

When they were partially up the stairs and mostly out of earshot, Sin looked at Boyd again. "Don't get killed or I'll be very annoyed with you."

Boyd gave him a brief ghost of a smile, amused by the wording and pleased that Sin was concerned for him. At the same time, he couldn't deny he felt the same in return; they'd barely managed to escape Janus already that night and they'd at least had an idea of what to expect going into there. Here, they not only had no idea who exactly the enemy was but also had no idea what the enemy was truly capable of. Sin would be heading straight for the tower which seemed like it could be a focal point of the enemy's attack.

Ever since he'd realized how mortal Sin actually was, Boyd couldn't help but feel a sense of paranoia and fear each time they parted or headed toward
danger. The
same to you."

They exchanged another lingering look and Sin turned to go, intending to sprint up the stairs and after his team but before he could take even one step, he turned back and gave Boyd a curious narrow-eyed look. "There's been something I've been meaning to ask you since Monterrey-- I may as well do it now before I might potentially get killed and never get a real answer."

"Alright," Boyd said slowly, taken aback by the sudden change in topic, and looked at Sin almost warily. "What is it?"

There was another pause as Sin studied his partner but then he raised his eyebrows. "That night at Lunar when you told Estella I gave you a 'vibe'... what exactly did you mean?"

The question was so random that for a moment Boyd just stared at him; he'd been expecting something serious and alarming and instead he was asking about vibes? He looked at Sin in confusion, not knowing for a moment what he was even talking about, but then he remembered the conversation.

He glanced around, noting that no one was nearby but stepped closer to Sin just in case. "I saw you the night before," he said so quietly that only Sin could possibly hear him. "You had my shirt and moaned my name." He quirked an eyebrow, meeting Sin's eyes. "Aside from the fact that it made it incredibly obvious, it was also very... stimulating."

Sin stared at him blankly for a stretch before shaking his head slowly. "You're such a--"

The echo of someone's voice calling down to him interrupted the sentence and he grimaced slightly. "
Never mind
. We'll talk about this later." He jabbed a finger at Boyd for emphasis, "Be safe, voyeur."

With that being said, he turned around and sprinted up the stairs, disappearing into the darkness.

===

Sin could hear the faint sound of Boyd's quiet laughter drifting behind him and although a slight grin touched his lips, it quickly disappeared as he made his way up to the surface. As his legs moved automatically, he pulled his thoughts back in order and began to think more about the situation they were in.

He'd said on more than one occasion that he didn't respect his superiors and he'd told Boyd flat-out that he wished he could have stayed in Mexico under his assumed name but... But for some reason knowing the compound was being attacked unsettled him in a way he couldn't possibly understand. The Agency housed the people who had made his life hell for the past fifteen years, who had driven him to the brink of insanity and dragged him back just so they could control him again-- but it also was the place where Carhart lived, where Ryan lived. It was the place that tied him to Boyd. It made him wonder if he did have some sense of loyalty for it after all, even if he didn't feel the same sentiment for specific individuals that worked there.

The whole thing irked him for a number of reasons and while he was confident in his abilities and knew that the other agents were more than competent as well, the whole thing just seemed terribly odd. Who were these people? How did they know about the tunnels? Yes, they were unsecured and generally unwatched, but the only people who should even know of their existence worked for the Agency. And how would they know to specifically bomb residential buildings that were mainly occupied by field agents?

Was it just coincidence or was it an inside job? Was there a mole on the compound? Someone who knew where everything was so specifically; someone who had a detailed map of the compound and of the location of the backup generators and tunnels? Someone with ties to Janus? And if that was the case, why weren't they launching a full scale attack? Why hadn't they done as he'd suggested earlier and just used the mole to plant a number of remote detonated bombs to wipe them out? Why were they sneaking in and playing distraction games? What was their real goal?

There were too many questions, too many unknown variables, and it made him wary.

When he caught up to his team, they jogged up the stairs silently, no one speaking until they finally reached the outer blast door. Archer raised his arm to unlock the door manually but before he could do it, Sin grabbed his arm. "Wait."

Archer stopped and looked at him, though he didn't say anything.

Sin glanced at the other three agents in the team before raising an eyebrow at Archer. "How about we make a deal." He said it as more of a statement than a question.

Archer narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "What kind of deal?"

A sly smirk crossed Sin's face and Agents Green and Williams looked at each other, unsure of what the notorious man was up to. "I'm not very good at this whole team player, team leader business so... how about I just let you take over that role and in return, you don't give me shit if I wander off on my own once we're in the tower."

Raising an eyebrow, Archer studied Sin for a long moment, appearing to consider the proposal very seriously. It was too hard to read what he was thinking but he didn't seem to dislike the idea. Finally, he nodded curtly. "Deal."

Sin inclined his head slightly, pleased, and released Archer's arm so that he could open the door. They moved out quickly, ducking for cover in the expectation that they would be fired at, but nothing happened. Sin wondered if that meant that the hunters had become the hunted now that their agents were finally on the move. Whatever the case was, they headed towards the Infirmary with caution and although they heard the faint sound of sporadic gunfire deeper in the compound, they didn't encounter anyone until they moved closer to their destination.

"I wish the sun would rise already," Agent Banks muttered quietly, pushing unruly strands of red hair out of her eyes as she tightened her grip on her gun. Her dark eyes flicked through the shadows in paranoia as they jogged towards the tall building to meet up with the other team.

"We still have another hour for that," Williams replied quietly. "And even then, the light won't be strong enough to break through the smog until after seven. We'll have to make
do
with the night vision for now," He said, touching his goggles absently.

Before Banks could reply, Archer looked at them briefly, a silent order to cut the conversation and the two agents once again fell into silence.

As they approached Hart Place, the tension in the air picked up considerably and Archer gestured for everyone to spread out. Sin ducked down slightly and crouched behind a low stone wall across the street from the building, eyes scanning the perimeter as he quickly located the position of the other team, the team that would remain at the first entrance as they made their way down the tunnel and to the second. He spied Agent Jared, the team leader, at the northeast corner of Hart Place and started to make eye contact with Archer to signal the man's location before he realized that Jared was crouched next to a prone figure.

Shaking his head in disbelief that they'd already lost a man, Sin crouched behind the wall again and made his way quickly to where Archer had ducked behind a tree. "They already have a man down," he muttered softly. "They're laying low so it's probably another sniper."

Archer leaned farther to the left and allowed his gaze to skim briefly over the area. "Make your way to Agent Jared. You'll possibly draw out the location of the shooter."

Sin shrugged and stood up entirely; he didn't mind being bait. He stepped out into the open and not even a second later, the crack of a gunshot exploded in the otherwise eerie silence and he dodged out of the way just in time, barely missing a direct shot to the head. Just as soon as he escaped the first bullet, another one whizzed over his shoulder as he
zigzagged
across the road, making his body a small and constantly moving target as the shooter attempted to take him out.

Sin could hear Banks and Green hissing at him to take cover but he ignored them and continued to take a meandering route over to Jared until the direction of the shots became obvious. The moment he realized the shooter was on the roof of a small residential building across the street, he rolled out of the way of another bullet and ducked behind a lamp post as he finally made eye contact with Archer. But it seemed Archer was already on it and Sin watched as the older man crouched behind the wall and positioned his rifle, aiming it at the sniper before firing two quick shots. There was a clattering sound in the distance and their assailant tumbled over the side of the building lifelessly.

Waiting a moment before moving again, Sin jogged over to Jared and recognized the prone individual as a lower ranked agent who'd just been promoted from being a guard. His skin was pale and a considerable amount of blood was spread across his torso, but for the moment he appeared to be alive. Jared looked at Sin warily, moving almost protectively closer to the downed agent and seemed almost defensive as he said, "There were two of them. We managed to take out the other but Agent Shield was wounded before we located the position of the second."

Sin shrugged, not really sure why the man was explaining this to him. "I didn't say anything."

Archer and the other three agents approached quickly, although they stayed relatively spread out across the area. "Where's the rest of your men? Didn't you have three others on your team?" Archer asked, eyes searching the area for signs of them.

"I have two," Jared said as he glanced down at Shield. "They'd made it into the Infirmary just before Shield was taken out and as I didn't have a good vantage point to find the shooter, I ordered them to move ahead while I wait for back-up."

Archer nodded briefly at the logic of that order and continued to scour the area but ultimately he didn't seen any sign of enemy movement or any other agents. He finally looked down to study Shield, gaze tracking the way his blood was spreading through Jared's clothing as well. Sin knew as well as Archer did that Shield stood little chance of surviving even if they got him help immediately. He'd already lost a lot of blood and judging from the location it seemed to be flowing from, the bullet had likely struck a vital organ. It was incredibly unlikely he would live past the next few hours.

Even so, Archer jerked his head toward the Infirmary. "Bring him," he ordered to Jared, who looked relieved by the fact Archer wasn't telling him to leave Shield behind. "Carry him alone; we can't afford to lose another gun."

Jared nodded and struggled to half carry, half drag Shield along with them. Banks and Williams spread to the sides while Green covered their backs and Archer and Sin led the way. The Infirmary was not far away and it was likely that there would still be medic staff inside, even if they were hiding.

The door opened silently to the building and Archer silently motioned Sin and Banks to accompany him as they moved quickly inside and secured the area. The main room was empty and didn't appear to have been disturbed by the fighting outside; the glass windows were unbroken, the tables and chairs were upright, and everything was in its place. Archer's hawk-like stare scrutinized the room quickly and efficiently; he seemed to come to a satisfactory conclusion because he motioned the others inside. Once the door was quietly closed, the muffled silence of the building seemed almost eerie compared to the bursts of noise from outside.

They moved quickly through the building, making their way toward the back where the entrance to the basement would be found. They didn't encounter anyone along the way, neither enemies nor hidden allies, and the only sound they made was the occasional scrape of Shield's boots along the ground as Jared dragged him along. They almost reached the back hallway when Archer suddenly raised a hand to stop them. He was staring into a room through his goggles with narrowed eyes and it wasn't until he moved closer that Sin saw what had caused Archer to pause.

One of the larger staff offices was found inside and although the entire room was in disarray, as if the people inside had rushed out in a panic, the main thing of note were the two bodies sprawled on the floor. Sin nudged one of the bodies over with the toe of his boot and he saw that it was indeed a member of the staff, his white jacket stained irreversibly with blood as he stared up at them lifelessly. However it didn't seem that the intruders had simply murdered the man in cold blood; closer inspection showed that both dead employees were armed and had their weapons in hand. It didn't bode well for what had come of the rest of Jared's team, especially considering there were no signs of them at all so far and the intruders seemed to quickly take out anyone who could potentially pose a threat.

Not taking much time to examine the area, they continued on their way to the very back of the building. The infirmary was typically active at all hours of the day and night just like any hospital would be, but the complete lack of staff members indicated that they'd either been able to flee the building and were allowed to do so because they were non-threatening to the enemy or were being held somewhere upstairs with the in-patients. It was obvious that Shield would likely not survive even with help and the extra time it would take to send one of their small team to find a doctor would only put the rest of them in danger. Sin didn't bother to voice these opinions out loud though, he assumed Archer had come to the same conclusions and he seemed rational enough to do the most logical thing in the situation.