The Shadows of Diplomacy

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

When Keller entered the safehouse, he found Arya sitting on the sofa with her knees to her chest, her gaze fixed on her ringing phone on the coffee table in front of her. He walked over to see Alexei's caller ID. Arya's eyes were distant, haunted by the recent events, they hesitated to meet Keller, and once they did she became overwhelmed and her eyes flooded with tears. Keller rushed over and pulled her into a tight embrace.

"I didn't mean to... I didn't want any of this," she whispered, her voice cracking with emotion.
Keller's expression was filled with regret. "Arya, you have to understand, it was self-defence. He would have killed you. You didn't have a choice." He peered over Arya's shoulder at her illuminated phone screen; Alexei had tried to call her fifteen times. Keller was uneasy, unsure of whether Arya's cover had been blown. "He would have killed you, or he would have outed you to Alexei, and then Alexei would have killed you." Keller continued.
Arya pulled away from him. "What if he told someone? What if they tell Alexei?"
"What if he was the only person who knew?" Keller challenged. "Then, you would've saved this entire operation... You know, a dead man tells no tales."
Arya looked pensive. Keller placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, his guilt weighing heavily on him. He couldn't help but feel responsible for involving Arya in this perilous journey.
"Arya, pull yourself together, your life was on the line. Your life is still on the line," Keller affirmed.

The shrill of the phone ringing once more distracted them.

"He'll be suspicious," Arya said flatly. "What will I say to him?" It was Alexei's caller ID.

"Tell him you left your phone at home or... I don't know, we'll think of something, but your car is at HQ, I'll take you to pick it up before it gets any later." Keller stood up. "Let's go."

As Keller sped toward the headquarters, the tires screeching on the moist pavement, both he and Arya were lost in their thoughts. The shrill of Arya's phone ringing distracted them once more, but before she could answer, a car suddenly swerved out of a side street, breaking a red light, while Keller was going too fast to properly react. He swerved the car sharply to the left, but it was too late. The car had brutally collided with Arya's side, the reflexive honkings were deafening, the airbags had deployed, and both of them were thrown sideways in their seats.

As Keller came to, he slowly turned to check on Arya, his pulse pounding in his ears. The glow of the car's overhead light revealed her unconscious form, her head was tilted backward and to the side seemingly unnaturally, and a trickle of blood was seeping from a cut on her forehead. Light flickered off of shards of glass in her hair. The sight sent a shiver of dread down his spine, his thoughts raced with fear.

His voice quivered as he called out to her, "Arya?" But there was no response, only the unnerving stillness of her unconscious body. Panic gripped his chest, and he gently touched her shoulder, desperately trying to rouse her. The world around him seemed to blur as he realised the gravity of the situation, knowing that Arya's life hung in the balance.

"Fuck. Arya!"

Keller's throat tightened, as a lump of disbelief and fear formed in his throat, while he repeatedly uttered, "No." With trembling hands, he frantically searched for his phone. The urgency of the situation gripped him, and as he anxiously relayed the details of the accident to the emergency operator, he couldn't help but feel a crushing weight of responsibility for what had just transpired.

Within minutes ambulances were on the scene, and emergency personnel skillfully removed Arya from the vehicle and suggested that Keller travel in another to receive medical attention himself, however, he insisted on staying by Arya's side. When they arrived at the hospital, the nurses urgently whisked Arya away, immediately following which Keller collapsed on the floor. He was picked up by other nurses and taken to screening.