Argylle - The last chance

Chapter II

"Oh, is that how you welcome your half-brother?"
The man looked at her with a soft smile on his lips and Tamara wanted nothing more than punching it off his face.
"No, that is how I welcome the traitor who left me ten years ago!" she hissed and turned around.
"Hey, Tammy! Wait!" he shouted and hearing her old nickname being said by the only person who was ever allowed to say it hurt her more than she could've expected. Most people called her Tam or by her actual name, Tamara. But Aidan had always been the only one to call her Tammy.
"You were sent to pick me up here, weren't you?"
She stopped and slowly turned to him again. He looked at her, his green eyes being filled with hope and self-confidence. Oh, how much she hated those eyes.
"I was sent to pick up a stranger. And as much as I'd love to say so, but you are no stranger."
There was a moment of silence, before he said, "But... where am I supposed to go then? I was told, a young woman would pick me up and take me to a place where I could stay for the time of my investigation."
"I don't care," she said. "It's not my fault if you can't organize yourself."
His jaw dropped. "Why are you so mean? What have I done to you?"
"You have done nothing, Aidan. And that is exactly the problem," she looked at him and her eyes told the story of all the pain she had to suffer the last ten years.
"But-"
"No" she interrupted him, "There's nothing you can say. So just shut it."
Now his eyes hardened, too. "Okay, fine then. But Alfie sent you to pick me up, so that's what you should do, little one."
In the blink of an eye, she rushed towards him, grabbed him by the collar of is colourful shirt and pulled him down to her eye level.
"Don't you ever call me 'little one' again, you understand?" she hissed angrily. "You lost your sister ten years ago when you decided to leave her all alone."
She let go of him and took a step back. He looked at her both shocked and impressed and nodded softly.
"Okay" he said, and all the self-confidence left his gaze. "Tamara it is, then. I apologize. But I am afraid I can't let you go alone. I need to talk to you. It's important. Alfie didn't send me here for a heartwarming family reunion. He is worried about your safety."
She chuckled a little in disbelief. "Of course he is," she said. "Because in difference to other people, he actually cares for me."
"No, Tamara, you don't understand," he tried to explain. "He is concerned about your life. You can still hate me after I explained everything to you."
She crossed her arms. "Go on then. Explain."
"Not here. It's top secret. Has anyone been following you lately?"
She thought of the man from the subway and all the times she had had the feeling that someone was watching her. But she would never admit that to Aidan, so she just shook her head.
"No. Why would anyone follow me?"
He nodded, "Good. Then I would ask you to bring me somewhere where we can talk safely. I promise to leave you as soon as possible and as soon as you know what is going on."
"I'll take your word for it," she snapped. "Not that it's worth a lot."
"You can trust me."
"I doubt it," she smiled sarcastically. "Follow me."
She led her older half brother through the airport and down to the subway. Even though she didn't really want to, but her plan was to take him to her foster family's house. Because her parents were working and her siblings were in the restaurant, too, nobody would be at home so nobody would ask questions if she brought home an unknown man.
"How long are you living in Rome?" he suddenly asked, as they were waiting for the subway.
"Three years," she answered, without looking at him.
"And before that?"
"Three years in Germany."
"And before that?"
"Three years in the United Kingdom."
"And before that?"
"Eight years in the United States."
He didn't continue asking questions and Tamara was relieved. She thought that if she had to keep hearing his voice, she might just smack him after all.
"Why did you move so often?" he suddenly continued to ask, but she didn't answer. "Hey, I am trying to have a conversation here. But without you answering it doesn't really make any sense."
"No answer is an answer too," she mumbled.
"Okay, I get it. You-"
All of a sudden, there were three men standing in front of the half siblings. Tamara recognized one of them as the man from the subway and thought that he really had been following her and that she should have been way more attentive.
But before either of the siblings could react, two of the men rushed towards Aidan and the third, the subway man, attacked Tamara. The first man reached for Aidan's head, but he ducked away and before the second could land a punch, Tamara grabbed his shirt and pulled him against the subway man. The two of them crashed together, falling to the ground, leaving only one assaulter for Aidan. While he finished him off, Tamara jumped up and knocked one of the men on the ground out, by kicking his head.
Suddenly and with a loud noise the subway pulled into the station, causing Tamara to look up. The subway man, who was still laying on the floor, took his chance and pulled her leg, so that she stumbled and almost tripped, if Aidan hadn't grabbed her by the shoulder in the very last second.
"Keep your fingers to yourself, buddy," Aidan said, pulling his sister away from the man, just to kick his head the exact same way she had done it seconds before with the other man.
"Aidan, the subway," she turned his attention to the train in front of them.
"Ours?" he asked. She nodded and as the doors opened, the two of them entered. "Where are we heading to?"
"We're on the way to 'Termini' and there we switch to the blue line and drive to 'Rebibbia'."
They sat down and Tamara noticed that Aidan only had one backpack of luggage. The moment she opened her mouth to ask, she closed it again without having said a word. But she didn't want to make him feel as if she cared. Because she didn't.
They didn't speak for a long time. Tamara was still trying to reflect on what had happened. She was sure that the attacker that had grabbed her leg was the man from the subway. But this meant that he actually had been following her.
"You know," Aidan suddenly said, "These were no reflexes. That was training."
She looked at him with a look of confusion.
"Pulling the man away from me. That was a trained move."
She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, sure. Just because you don't want to be saved by an amateur," she scoffed.
"I asked to be here, Alfie didn't want me to go in the first place. I'm trying to help you, Tam. But that's difficult if you keep hating and ignoring me."
"It's not my fault if you suddenly decide to care half as much as a brother should do. You got to deal with the consequences, it was your choice."
He didn't answer and the two of them continued in silence. Neither did they speak when they got off the train, nor when they walked through the central train station. Only when they sat in the next train Aidan started to talk again.
"Thank you," he said, "Even if it was luck - it wasn't, and I'm convinced - you did a big part to our success."
For a moment the siblings looked at each other and it could've been the moment when Tamara would forgive him. But it wasn't and she still hated him.