Agent Jones- Book One

| Chapter Twenty-Three |

Someone was shaking me. Why was someone shaking me? And why did I feel so much pain? What is going on? I feel like I'm trying to sleep, but I'm being shaken quite urgently. Why?

I opened my eyes slowly to see Mr. Jarvis crouching down in front of me while shaking my shoulder. "Thank goodness Miss Jones!" he said, very relieved. He moved to get up and I saw Daniel was here as well. "Let's get you up then."

Mr. Jarvis held out a hand and I took it, thankful for the help, and got to a standing position. My head throbbed with every move I made, and my hand reached up to the spot where Dottie had hit me with a gun. Why had she done that? What was happening...

"Stark!" I called out, finally remembering what happened. "Where is he?" I asked. I looked around wildly, trying to see if I could spot him anywhere.

Daniel came over to me and said, "He's not here. What do you remember?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but couldn't find the words. "I-I'm not sure what happened. We were in the car, I was up against the wall, and then Dottie was smacking me in the head with her pistol instead of shooting me," I said. The other details would come at some point.

"It's okay," Daniel said with a pitying smile. "The others are on their way here, so you've got some time to get your head sorted out so we can put everything together." I nodded at him, and then moved to go sit on the back of the police car. My head still hurt like a bitch.

Mr. Jarvis came over and stood next to me. "Are you all right, Miss Jones?" he asked.

"No, my stupid head is throbbing with every move," I answered. Of course, that's not what he was referring to. He looked at me expectantly, knowing I knew what he meant by that question. Scowling, I looked to the ground and crossed my arms. "Fine. You want to know how I'm doing? I'm splendid after I failed the one task I was given. I had to keep Howard safe and what did I do? Get him kidnapped by Russians. I'm such a great agent of the SSR," I said, the last bit very sarcastic.

When I looked at Mr. Jarvis, all I got was a disapproving look. "Now listen to me Agent Jones, you are a wonderful agent. I've known you two days now and I'm already impressed by you. What happened today flew over all of our heads- none of us expected it. You are not to blame," he scolded. He was very stern with his words, but I could tell it was all coming from a not-so-angry emotion.

I smiled. "Thanks, Mr. Jarvis." We leaned against the car in silence now and waited for the others. After a few more minutes, they arrived. Jack and Peggy got out of the front while a couple other agents came from the back.

Jack immediately came over to me while Peggy went over to Daniel. Mr. Jarvis came me a side look and then left to give Jack his spot. They gave each other small nods before Jack turned his focus on me.

"When Sousa called over the radio that you were here and knocked out, I was worried and relieved at the same time," he said as he pulled me into a sudden hug. I was surprised by it, but it was a nice surprise. "You have no idea how scared I was when I heard you and Stark were taken."

We pulled away and I gave him the goofiest smile. "Aww you were worried about me," I gushed and poked him. That made Jack laugh, and he leaned on the car where Mr. Jarvis had just vacated. "So you were also relieved?" I asked, turning to him.

He looked down at me. "Well, relieved that they hadn't killed you or transported you to another location. It was good to hear that you were safe," he explained. All I could do was smile and lean on him as we sat. He moved the arm I was leaning on to be around me and rubbed my arm as we sat there.

"How's the head?" he asked at some point. I hummed lightly as my response. "I don't know what that means, Tiffany."

I shrugged. "It's okay. Throbs every now and then," I spoke quietly. We sat in silence for a bit, and I felt content to stay there and forget about everything that's happened or what was happening.

Nobody else felt the same, sadly. "Thompson!" Daniel called over, causing us both to look up and see that Daniel was standing and talking to Mr. Jarvis and Peggy. Jack knew what this meant, and sadly had to get up and go over to them.

When I started to make my move to walk over as well, he stopped me. "Tiffany, are you sure you're up for this?" he asked. It was condescending, it was concern.

I smiled lightly and nodded my head. "Yeah, I think I'm all good. However, if I start to sway, I'll just plan on you being there to catch me," I said, and walked over to the others. Jack was right behind me and I could feel his arm coming up to be right behind my back in case I really did go down.

Over with the others, it was serious mode. I stood next to Peggy and Jack as he started talking. "I've talked to every muckity-muck in the city trying to call off the VE Day celebration. They won't do it," he said. "There are already 100,000 people packed into Times Square. We won't have enough time to evacuate." I obviously missed a lot, so I won't be able to add much to the conversation. I stayed silent and listened intently instead.

"He could've stashed those canisters anywhere," Daniel said.

"The gas was designed to be deployed by air," Peggy said.

"Which is why we shut down all the airports," Jack continued.

"And every private airfield in the area," Daniel added.

It was silent while we all stood and thought about their next steps. At this point I had gathered enough information to understand some of what's going on: the Russians wanted to deploy that Midnight Oil stuff over the VE Day celebration. A disturbing outcome would be certain.

I looked up at the others only to be stopped by Mr. Jarvis' horrified expression. "What is it?" I asked him, and he looked up at me. The others looked at me to see where I was looking, and then looked to Mr. Jarvis for his answer.

"I think I know where Doctor Fennhoff is heading," he answered gravely.

Peggy looked hopeful for a second, because the slightest bit of chance we could catch them was pretty nice. "Where?" she asked.

We all looked at Mr. Jarvis as he started to explain his thoughts. "If his intention is to place blame for the attack on Mr. Stark, would it not be most effective to use one of Mr. Stark's own planes?"

Jack was quick to dismiss, saying, "He can't. We confiscated them all."

"Not... all," Mr. Jarvis said in that guilty high-pitched voice people do.

Jack stepped forward and hummed in question while the rest of us just looked at Mr. Jarvis, waiting for another explanation. "There is another vault," he finally said. "Considerably larger than the first."

I sighed and shook my head. "Oh goodness," I mumbled under my breath. "We have to move."

A/n: we're getting to the finale!