Sixty Seconds

Chapter Seventeen

Jessica

I was barely aware of the tears pouring down my cheeks, dripping onto the cold snow below. The slow motion made it painful to breathe, made it hard to comprehend what I saw. Carter lay unmoving feet away, my legs constricted and I couldn't move, my mouth drying as the tear drops dripped delicately out of my eyes.

“Carter” I whispered again and again. As if the faintest wish could bring him back. The faintest hope could change what I had just seen. If only miracles existed.

I tripped and fell to my knees sobbing silently. Alex's arms wrapped round me from behind and he whispered to me. “He's fine, Jessica, I swear he's fine”

“He's dead” I croaked, leaning back in Alex's grasp, his warmth heated my shivering body. I wanted to believe him but I couldn't, no matter how hard I tried.

“Jessica, listen to me, He's alive, I swear he is” Alex continued, I could barely hear his desperate attempts to calm me. The sight of Carter lying motionless in front of me made me dizzy and I leant on Alex for support as I cried.

“He's not moving” I choked on my own tears. They were flowing freely down my cheek each tear running into the first as they dripped off. My breathing was shallow and the dizziness increased.

“He hit his head when he fell, He's fine Jessica, Believe me, please” A desperate note attached to his plea. I turned to him and burrowed my head in his jacket. “He's wearing a bullet proof vest, He's fine.”

I looked up at Alex, who stared worriedly down at me. I turned back to Carter, the snow around him was still white, untouched by the blood. There was a small gap in his shirt, I could see something under it, and then my eyes landed on the bullet, oil black in contrast to the snow around it. My breathing stopped for a second as my heart went silent as I processed what he'd said.

Carter groaned, pushing himself up off the ground, his back covered in snow as he shivered.. He had barely opened his eyes when I nearly crushed him.

“Ow” He said, looking at me. Seeing my hysterical looking face all complaint stopped. “You look like you've seen a ghost.” He informed me, knowing fine well I was hysterical and upset.

Three thoughts crossed my mind at the same time. The first was that I wanted to hit him, the second was I wanted to kiss him and the third, I wanted to hit him harder.

Instead I stared at him incredulously. “I thought you were dead” I choked slightly on my words.

“I was wearing a bullet proof vest, you idiot” He told me, looking half way annoyed and halfway amused.

“You didn't think of mentioning that to me?” I demanded hysterically.

“I was unconscious, what was I supposed to do, write you a letter?”

The urge to hit him was becoming increasingly stronger, to stop myself killing him I stood up. Carter did the same. My eyes came to his chest, the hole in the fabric in his shirt nearly made me break down again. The speed of the world turned to normal as relief set in.

“So you're the head of MI6 security then?” Alex asked from behind us. Carter turned to him then back to me, a look of fury etched on his face. That probably wasn't the best thing to hear when you'd just been shot.

***

“I can't believe you just did that!” Carter shouted the second we had closed the door. The chill from the night lingered in the kitchen, building a barrier between me and Carter.

“Maybe I wanted someone to know what I did” I shouted back, furious at him.

“If he tells the wrong people our whole operation could be put at risk!”

“He won't” I shouted, the barrier increasing, the wall we had slowly been demolishing between each other was quickly being rebuilt.

“How the hell do you know that?” Carter shouted again, looking as mad as I felt. The temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees as we both stared at each other.

“I just do!”

“You're putting everyone's life at risk because of this!” He told me, toning down ever so slightly, he held his chest were he had been shot, a bruise would form before the morning came.

“He saved both our lives!”

“Yeah? Well maybe if you were dead this would never have happened, maybe I shouldn't have bothered coming. Maybe it would be better if you were dead!” He stopped and what he said sunk in. his eyes widened and his gaze softened, he looked ashamed at what he had just said. “Jessica, I-”

“Maybe it would be better if I was dead, you'd love that, I've done nothing but piss you off since I arrived have I? I'm obstructing your mission, I'm stopping you doing your job. Maybe if I was dead, A proper soldier could do the job, just like you wanted!” I shouted, My eyes began to water but I refused to cry.

“Jessica, I didn't mean-”

“Save it, Carter. You know what? I don't even know your first name, and what's more, I no longer care.” I turned and stormed out of the room. I couldn't look at him any more or I'd burst into tears.

I lay in bed and stared at the ceiling, a sinking hole began to appear in my heart as it thought about what I had done, the hole that was slowly eating my heart wasn't there because I had told Alex it was because there was now a barrier between me and Carter, a barrier which had just been taken down over a month had been rebuilt in minutes and it hurt.

AN: Well, I could hardly kill off my jerk faced boss now could I? He makes the story interesting! Anyways, Vomment!! Much appreciated ^_^