Deceit [h.s]

Nineteen

Harry:

"We've got a location." Zayn spoke with excitement. In that moment, all my lack of sleep and the anxiety I felt paid off. We finally knew where Elizabeth was.

"Fucking finally." I muttered under my breath and took long strides towards him. I hadn't slept in a very long time, and I fought constantly against my tiredness while waiting for any new information.

"She's in Kensington, Chelsea." With curious eyes, I watched a flash of recognition flying across Margaret's eyes. Clearly the location meant something to her, and if she was not willing to share the information with everyone, I would ask her in private.

"Can you look around? See the surroundings, the location and if we will be able to pass by unnoticed." I asked him, while Zayn just nodded absentmindedly.

"Yeah, it's pretty isolated and it shouldn't be too hard to get there." He showed me a map and I nodded along, already plotting our approach.

"See if you can get a picture of the house, I don't know, anything to help us with the type of approach we should have." I asked him, feeling the heaviness of my eyelids each time I blinked, but the image of Elizabeth kept me awake and alert.

"That won't be necessary. I think I can get you details on that house." Her mum spoke, making me look at her in expectation.

"Do you know anything about this place?"

"Yes, I do. It's an old MI6 safe house. I lived there for almost a year during the Cold War." Her new information made us all curious, but I knew better than to expect Margaret's explanation.

"I'll pull some strings inside the agency and I'll give you the detailed plan of the house." I nodded curtly, incredibly thankful that she was being cooperative. The last thing I needed was antagonising with someone, not when I was so sleepy.

"This will take a couple hours and I will have to be highly discreet, so I suggest you take a nap, Harry. Kate's already fast asleep and you should follow her example." Margaret's concern for my well being was strange but welcome at the same time. Everyone inside that room was silently pressuring me to do what she had suggested, and despite my stubbornness I had to admit that the lack of sleep was slowly interfering in my ability to function properly.

"Okay. Two hours and nothing more. We can't waste any unnecessary time." They all nodded along, determination filling the entire room. We were a team, perfectly functioning together despite the impossibilities of the situation.

"I promise we'll have more substantial leads in a while." Louis spoke, trying to reassure me. They all needed sleep as much as I did, but despite that, no one complained because they knew what Elizabeth represented to me.

"I'll see you in a bit." I spoke, already making my way towards the small staircase. My brain seemed detached from my body, because even though I wanted to stay awake and rescue Elizabeth as soon as possible, I simply didn't have the strength to do it.

My bed was still unmade and the room seemed like a mess, but I ignored all those things while I removed my clothes, only my boxers remaining. I closed the door and laid down, smelling the faint scent of Jasmine. The delicate smell reminded me of Elizabeth and her shampoo, and even though I wanted to stay awake and enjoy the small trace of her presence on my bed, I simply couldn't fight against my heavy eyelids and exhausted body.

Snuggling the pillow she had slept in, I closed my eyes and succumbed to darkness in less than a minute, dreaming about a girl with full lips and hazel eyes.

...

I woke up with a jolt, Elizabeth's absence beside me a very real thing. The house was silent, and with quick movements I decided to take a small shower, discarding my underwear and stepping inside the steamy water.