Cleo Hart: Intelligence by Default

Jason

"Jason? Are you serious?" I spluttered, still trying to see clearly.

"Yep, Alice called me." He came into sight with a knife and cut the ropes holding my arms and ankles off, then walked slightly tensely to Luke. "You okay buddy?" He lifted Luke's head, but it flopped back down again when he let go.

I slowly began moving and stretching my sore, weak muscles.

"Can you bring that First Aid Kit down?" Jason yelled, I snapped my head up towards the stairs, where Alice was stood with a small green bag. She gave me a meek smile and tiptoed in, looking slightly dizzy when she saw the body on the floor. I frowned. What had happened to Peter?

Jason switched on a small light switch in the corner of the room and then jogged back to Luke, taking the first aid kit from Alice on the way.

There was blood trickling from Peter's temple through to the other side of his head. I spun my head around, to find a small bullet wedged into the wall.

Jason had a silent pistol casually tucked into his waistband, and I was slightly disgusted to find what I thought was slobber trailing down my neck had actually been Peter's blood. I frowned, the ISS had some pretty nifty guns.

I attempted to stand up, only to collapse on the ground, sickeningly close to the dead corpse of a pervert I was far too close to ten minutes before. The ground blurred as Alice sprinted to my side, helping me to shift onto all fours.

She yelled for Jason, while I tried to stop my head from thumping so hard.

"Shit, look at the size of that gash on her head."

The voices were fading in and out.

"...Stitches...Alice...adrenaline...car...okay...hear me?..."

I groaned, slowly slumping back on the ground.

"...Adrenaline...Sharp..."

I gasped as energy suddenly rushed through me. Pushing myself onto all fours, I looked over to Alice, who held an empty adrenaline shot in her hand.

"Cleo, we gave you stitches, you're running on adrenaline, drink this okay?"
Jason had his hand under my arms, helping me to sit.

He handed me a small glass of water, which I took small sips of, trying not to gulp it down.

I looked to Luke, who's torso was covered in bandages and stitches. His body lay lifeless.

"Right, time to get real. Alice. Cleo and Luke will answer any questions you have when we're safe." He handed her a pistol. "I hope you don't have to use this, but incase."

She nodded gravely.

"Cleo, you're alot stronger than Alice is, I need your help to get Luke upstairs and outside in the van alright? He's responding slightly, so he's conscious enough to help us, but not enough for me to do it on my own."

"Isn't there a back up team ready? Surely..."

Jason shook his head gravely, looking guiltily at the ground.

"They... they didn't come. Said it would be a miracle if it wasn't a trap, and even if it wasn't you'd both be dead."

"We're collateral damage." I breathed, running my hand through my matted hair in disbelief. "Not worth the effort."

He shook his head. "Don't look at it like that. Now come on, here's a gun, help me get Luke up."

Luke was practically a dead weight, even when we managed to stir him enough to grunt vaguely at us, he could hardly hold a quatre of his weight. We dragged him through the dark, smelly room, Alice leading the way with a gun in her hand. I smiled, trying to convince myself I wasn't dreaming.

"Up we go." Jason grunted, lifting most of Luke up one step at a time. I was mainly holding him up for balance purposes, and had my doubts as to whether Jason wasn't just giving me a job that required concentration in order to keep me conscious. Luke's arm was around my neck, warm and still damp from the hosing Peter gave us. I shook his name from my head and carried on with Jason up the stone stairs.

We stood behind the door, adjusting the weight. Jason glanced at me.
"We got most of 'em, but keep a look out."

I nodded, stepping into the open. It appeared to be dusk outside, with dim lights lit in various rooms of the suburban home. Jason handed me a chocolate bar and some bottled water.

"Pocket the water, eat the food."

I hungrily stuffed a few pieces into my mouth, wondering when I last ate, and shoved the rest into my waistband.

We carried Luke through a dark corridor and into a kitchen, where a man in a blue suit lay dead, his eyes glassy and open with his head against the table. I tried not to meet his lifeless gaze as Jason clicked open the back door, gesturing for Alice.

"If there are people out there they wont shoot you on sight, find cover as quickly as possible, and tell me how many there are."

She nodded confidently and walked out, looking around, before casually strolling behind a large fire pit. She held up two fingers and pointed in the direction of the men. Jason nodded, slowly setting Luke down on the floor. We were in a sunroom, and if it werent for the darkness of the room and the sofa we were crouching behind, we'd be completely exposed.

"Stay here with Luke. I'll be back."

He gestured something to Alice and sprung out, rolling behind an expensive looking sculpture before the men noticed him.

"Water."

It was Luke, I felt my chest lift slightly, and handed him my bottle, unscrewing the lid in the process. He could just about hold it, but almost dropped it twice just trying to lift it up to his cracked lips. I carefully took it back, cupping my hand under his chin and gently pouring sips from the clear bottle into his mouth, leaving him time to swallow.

I could here shots from outside flying into the walls next to the sunroom, mainly from silenced weapons, which unless highly expensive and rare, still made enough noise to make a person flinch.

"What's going on?" Luke whispered, after drinking half of the bottle.

"We're getting out of here." I smiled, taking the cheap chocolate bar from my side and snapping of pieces, hand feeding them to him.

He laughed, "Are you sure this is really happening?"

His euphoric expression warped into worry, flickering from my face to behind me. I spun around and shot instinctively, sending a rough looking guy with a moustache to the floor, my first shot had gone through his stomach, so I shot again through the head.

"Ruthless." Luke attempted a smirk.

I looked back to him, slightly numb.

"All clear." Jason panted, stopping when he saw Luke. "Nice to see you alive bro. Now lets get our special little lovebirds out of this shit hole, shall we?"