Keeping Thyme (Thyme Trilogy) (22 page)

“Flossy?
” I call her and scoop my little friend up and nuzzle into her fur. “I have been the worst pet owner.” I plead for forgiveness.

Simon gets up and puts his hand on my shoulder. “Mia. I have some bad news,” he says gently.

“What? What’s wrong?” I can see he’s visibly upset. His face looks pale and his eyes don’t have their usual spark. “What’s happened, Simon?”

I reach out and he hugs me tight.

“It’s Mum.” I hear him sniff.

He doesn’t need to say anymore. I know already that my mum is dead.

It’s
strange;
even
with Simon as upset as he is, I don’t shed a single tear. To me, my mum died years ago. But Simon was a lot closer with her than I was. I just found it too hard to forgive her when she blew everything our father worked hard for on booze, and through her selfishness, I eventually went into a downwards spiral that ended in prostitution.

My brother never knew a lot of the things I later learnt about my mother. My father found her in bed with someone, and this stranger wasn’t her only affair. She ruined marriages and had affairs with her friend’s husbands, who all kept her drinking habit afloat with their money.

Simon finally speaks. “It was horrible, Mi. We had to go to her place to ID her body. I can’t believe the way she lived. If I had known she was living like that all this time, I would’ve done something about it! The complex she lived in stank of stale piss and was full of drug dealers and junkies. It was putrid.” He clenches his fists in frustration. “Her tiny dump of a place with filthy. There were cockroaches all over her mattress on the floor, and it stank. There were dishes piled up in a kitchen that looked like it hadn’t been used for years.

“She messed herself just before she died. Her
boyfriend
, who was some toothless junkie, said she kept getting up to go to the toilet all night until he found her dead, in a pile of her own shit. Mia, our beautiful mum! We abandoned her.”

“No Simon.
She
abandoned us. We did everything we could to help her. I have sent her money, I know you sent her money, and we both know how much of Dad’s money she went through. She had a problem, Simon. She always did. Money only made things worse for her. I’m sorry, Brother, but she died a long time ago.”

I gather Flossy’s things and start putting them in her basket to take back to Tench’s.

“Before you go, Mia, there’s some new intel in on Tench. We intercepted a conversation between Toni and Miss Stephanie. That shipment of girls left Russia the day before we did.”

“But Tench told me he had abandoned all further dealings in Russia?” I’m confused.

“He’s Joe Tench, Mia. Don’t tell me you actually believed his act? Come on, sis, I thought you were smarter than that?” My brother scoffs at me.

Yes
, I did fall for his act, and fell in love with him. How could I be so stupid? Maybe Tench is freeing the girls when they get here?
No! That’s definitely blind love talking. I shake my head and shake the feelings I have for Tench, who has never been honest with me. Did I really fall in love with him, or the idea of being happy?

“One last thing while I’m on such a roll with bad news. I don’t think you should be taking Flossy over to Tench’s.”

I frown. “What’s wrong?” I know there’s something wrong.

“She’s too old, sis. She just won’t handle the move. The vet got called up here twice when we were away. She had two seizures. They think there’s a clot somewhere in her brain. They don’t know how long she’s got.”

This last piece of bad news is the showstopper and I finally succumb to sadness and fall to my knees and sob. Flossy, as faithful as always, comes to rub around my legs. I pick her up and cry into her soft grey fur. This morning everything was perfect; my life felt happy again. Now my mum’s dead, my cat’s dying and my fiancé is still the evil criminal that he always was. Now I’m nothing but a fool.

“Mia.” Liz comes to put her hand on my shoulder, “We’ve got to get down to the wharf. The shipment is coming in this afternoon. You’ve come this far; it’s time to finish the job. This is your opportunity to take Tench down.”

I look up at Liz. How can I do that now when I’m so broken inside?

“You were trained to do this
Mi. Your moment has come. Tench is bringing young Russian girls into your country and selling them as sex slaves. You can’t stand by and just watch this happen? It goes against everything you’ve believed in. I know who you are Mia, and a life with Tench is not you.” Simon gives a triumphant speech.

Liz weighs in on Simon’s persuasion
. “You can do this, Mia.”

I nod back. Yes I can do this.

“Let’s go do this, then I can come back to Flossy. Where I should’ve been all along.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

I’m dressed in
a black flight suit, just like Simon and Liz. Mrs Oktar was right; this is the colour of mourning, and today I am in all kinds of grieving. We sit in the back of a van facing each other in two rows. The rest of the agency’s tactical intercept team is assisting us, and led by my brother.

The van rocks and rattles as we wind our way down to the water’s edge.
A rifle rests on my lap, but I’d rather be using a pistol.

My
pistol is strapped to my leg. It’s not my old pistol; that’s in Russia somewhere. But this one should do the job. The Kevlar vest around my torso feels restrictive and heavy, and the webbing with spare magazines around my waist feels uncomfortable. I pull my gloves on and eye my empty ring finger as it disappears inside.

Simon
looks deep in thought as he goes over all the notes for the job. I feel nothing inside me anymore. There’s nothing. It’s all just a big, black hole.

The trip out to the wharf feels like its in slow motion until we finally come to a stop.
Show time.

Everything I’ve done
in the past year has led to this point. The hours spent with Tench were all to reach this outcome, and now I’m here I don’t know how to feel about it. Liz switches on the monitor, showing varying viewpoints around the wharf. She turns the sound up and zooms in on Tench and Toni walking across to Miss Stephanie, her bodyguard Ben, and another man who I recognise, but can’t recall how I know him.

“Hello, Miss Stephanie. It’s always a pleasure seeing you. Denza, have you checked over the cargo?”

That’s how I know him. It’s the brothel owner who Sally was last with the night she was murdered.

Denza nods. “There aren’t any dead ones this time.”

Miss Stephanie smiles at this news. “Good. We can’t afford to lose any like last time. My clients are paying top dollar for these girls; they expect them to arrive with a heartbeat.”

Tench looks around him in alarm. “Can you keep this talk to a minimum, thanks?”

“I thought you said you got rid of the informant within your organisation.” Miss Stephanie sounds unimpressed.

“Yes, I have. That person is no longer an issue. But I don’t want you to get complacent.”

The informant? Liz looks up just when I realise that he was talking about me. He knows about me? How? Why didn’t he kill me if he knew I was a spy?

The five people on the monitor walk between the rows and rows of shipping containers stacked three high. As they move between
tall structures, we lose them off the screen.

“Okay, it’s time to move in,” Simon orders.

At once we pull the black ski-masks over our heads and fit the helmets down. I slide the ski goggles over my eyes and make sure my earpiece is in my ear properly, then reach around to the back of my vest and turn on my radio. Simon speaks into his mic.

“Team Alpha. You’ll move to the western exit. Team Bravo, we’re blocking off the northern end. The dogs will be waiting
behind us if there are any runners. We need to capture the POIs without any rounds. All rounds shot in this will be classified as an unauthorised discharge. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.” All the voices in the van respond.

Simon pulls his mask down and covers the mic for a moment.

“Mia. The boss is monitoring everything, so don’t do anything stupid, okay?”

I roll my eyes at him and shake my head.

“Voices to a minimum. Hand signals only. Alpha, move into position.”

A group of five agents move out of the van. Simon looks back at us and nods once. We follow him around to the northern end of the site and crouch down. Simon points to me, and the agent beside me, then points to the small gap in between two of the containers. I nod and we both move into position.

We wait for his signal. I can see Tench from here. My heart pounds inside my ears. Fury courses through my veins. I raise my rifle up that little bit higher and put Tench in my sights. I could easily take a shot and kill him from here.
Looking at him makes me furious. How many girls has he bought into the country, and I was oblivious to it all. Sally would’ve hated the idea. Sally! She knew about this and wanted to warn me. I want him dead for every inch of pain I have felt because of him, but that would be too easy for him. I want him to rot with a beating heart, so I lower my firearm again. The boss’s voice comes through the earpiece.

“I want Bravo to move in once the container is opened. Alpha take position once the POIs are in custody.”

I crouch down and watch Tench. Denza unlocks the four padlocks on the doors and lifts the bolt up. I close my eyes and take a breath. I am trained to do this. I can do it. I hear the high-pitched screech of the doors swinging open and I open my eyes and take off towards Tench. My brother comes up on my flank and yells, “GET ON THE GROUND NOW.”

Toni’s eyeing my brother and I see him reaching into his jacket. I fire a round straight into his chest and he flies backwards. Ben is the next to react and he also reaches into his jacket. I fire another shot, and I see a bright flash come from my brother’s direction. Three left. None of them move. Tench stares straight at me.

“I know that’s you, Miranda,” he says in a low tone.

My breathing intensifies and the sweat builds up, trying to cool my body that just wants to burst into flames.

Miss Stephanie’s eyes widen and her mouth drops. I hold my gun up and line them both up. I point it at Miss Stephanie first.

“Miranda, what have you done?” Her voice trembles, but still manages to sound defiant. “You stupid, stupid girl.” She shakes her head.

“Shut up, bitch,” I scream.

“Mia, don’t do it,” my brother calls out to the right of me.

I unclip my helmet and throw it to the ground, and rip the ski-mask off.

“I want you to see the person you have both shaped me to become. You have done this. Now I want to watch as you’re both extinguished from my existence forever.” I raise my gun up again and hold Tench in my sights.

Tench smiles, just like his cousin Dima did.

“MIA!” I hear Simon yell.

I inhale and hold my breath as I squeeze the trigger.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

I slide between
the covers of my bed and cradle Flossy in my arms. Tears silently fall down my cheeks. There is nowhere else I’d rather be. Flossy softly purrs, but I can feel her humming is not the strength that it used to be. I know I’m losing my friend.

“Thank you for waiting until I came home,” I sob into her.

How can I lose so much in one day?

I feel her breathing quicken. She looks up at me with her sharp green eyes. She stares into me and I can feel her talking to me, telling me she loves me.

“It’s okay now,” I whisper as she snuggles back into my chest.

We both drift into a welcomed sleep.

The morning light
shines through my bedroom window. Flossy is still wrapped up in my arms. She feels warm, but she’s gone. I look down at my faithful friend and kiss her furry head.

“Thank you for rescuing me,” I whisper.

I didn’t rescue her all those years ago … she rescued me. She gave me a reason to love, and was always someone to come home to. Now I have no one.

“Mia?”
My brother lightly taps on my bedroom door before he comes in.

He insisted on staying overnight to make sure I was okay. The moment he sees me, he knows what’s happened.
He stops still and his shoulders drop, his eyes soften and he sighs.

“She’s gone,” I whimper.

He nods and comes over to the bed. He leans over and pats her head gently.

“Goodbye, Flossy, old mate.” He smiles, “You’re gonna be okay, Mia … It’s all over now.”

“Am I? Am I going to be okay?”

“Sure you are. You have a full debriefing at the agency in an hour. Here, let me take Flossy.”

I close my eyes and let Simon take Flossy away. I don’t want to know where she’s going.