Argylle - The last chance

Chapter I

The door of the subway opened in front of her, and she stepped outside, feeling the eyes of a man following her.
Nervously, Tamara walked through the station beneath the Rome-Fiumicino International Airport. Without looking in anyone's eyes she walked towards the stairs that brought her into the airport's hall. She took off her sunglasses, hung them in her neckline and continued on her way through the airport.
"Alfie, you owe me something," she mumbled as she squeezed through a bunch of tourists.
It was a Saturday afternoon and usually the seventeen-year-old would have been in her foster father's restaurant to earn a bit of money for herself. But not today. Not since an old acquaintance of hers had called her half an hour ago, telling her that she should go to the airport to pick up someone. He didn't say who and that made her a little suspicious. But so far, the former CIA deputy director had never done anything to make her distrust him.
As she passed a jewellery store Tamara suddenly noticed a man who had been following her ever since she had left the subway. Just to test if she was being paranoid or if the man really was following her, she stopped in the entrance of a shop that sold accessories, showing great interest in one of the many sunglasses on a stand next to her.
She took an ugly pair of sunglasses, put them on her nose and looked in the mirror, seeing the man standing next to a flowerpot. He seemed to be on the phone with someone and for a moment she thought that she really was getting paranoid, but then he looked to her, and their eyes met in the mirror.
"Oh, for fuck's sake," she sighed and put the sunglasses back to where she had taken them from. Then she hurried away, hoping to lose the man in the crowded airport. Just for a moment she thought of getting back down to the subway, go back home and help her foster family in the restaurant. But then she thought of Alfie again, and how he had asked her to get that spy.
"He is one of my best men. We left the 'Division' together as soon as we figured that they had switched sides. And now I need him in Rome, but he needs help. Your help. He speaks no Italian, he's an American spy – people would detect him from miles away. I don't want you to get involved in the case, it's dangerous as hell, but he needs help."
That's what Alfie had said to her on the phone. And because the man, who was currently living in France, had always been there for her and had always done his best to help her, she thought that it would do no harm if she helped one of his spies. She, herself, was also officially a trained spy, but of course, since she was underage, no one would dare to give her a mission or deliberately put her in danger. Once she would turn eighteen, next year, she would finally be old enough to help Alfie take down the 'Division' and go on missions, too.
She went round the corner and stopped, to take out her phone and check the message Alfie had sent her.
"Gate 7, flight arriving at four o'clock," she mumbled to herself and took a look on her watch. 15:58. She would need to hurry in order to arrive at the gate in time. So, she put her phone back into the pocket of her jacket and started to run.
It was early February, so it was only a little warmer than ten degrees Celsius, which is why Tamara was wearing a warm coat. Her foster family was not rich, they were three kids in total, so no one had expensive clothes, but this coat was self-bought from her own money that she had earned.
She was not sure whether Alfie had told his agent who was waiting for him. He had just said that they would find each other. And so, she trusted the CIA guy that she would recognize the unknown man when she saw him.
Arriving as close as possible to gate 7 with only two minutes delay, she was way earlier than the plane was. She looked outside the window and saw the machine descending the runway. She felt a little wave of excitement rolling down her spine but forced herself to keep calm. She was not supposed to do some kind of mission, her only job was to translate for the agent and guide him through the capital of Italy.
While she was waiting for the people to get off the plane, Tamara sat down on one of the benches at the gate and looked out for the man from the subway. Since she had left the accessories shop, she hadn't seen him anymore, which could either mean that she really had lost him or that she was simply too inattentive.
When the first couple stepped out of the jetway she started to scan every person for a face that she might recognize. But there was one unknown person after another passing by without showing the slightest bit of interest for the young woman.
But then, when she already thought that she was waiting at the wrong gate, her gaze fell on a middle-aged man who looked strangely familiar to her.
"No" she said, shaking her head in disbelief and stood up to get a better view. "No, this can't be true."
In that moment, their eyes met and something in the man's face softened. He walked towards her, and all Tamara wanted to do was run. She felt anger growing in her chest, and hatred for the man she had last seen ten years ago. He brought back memories and emotions that she had locked away and promised to never think of again.
"Hello, little one," he said, as he stopped in front of her.
"No" she said and shook her head. "You leave. Now."