Argylle - The last chance

Chapter VI

Another ten minutes later they arrived at her house again.
Tamara had been thinking about a story that she could tell her parents all the way and she still hadn't come up with one that she thought was good enough. But since it was the early evening, she had some time left before her parents would return, so she could come up with something better.
"What do your foster parents do for a living?" Aidan suddenly asked as she opened the front door of the house.
"They have a restaurant some streets north from here. And usually I am working there, too."
"Why not today?"
She rolled her eyes, "Because someone needed to be picked up from the airport, genius."
"Oh..." he said and entered the house behind her.
Tamara's foster family was not rich – they were living in a small house on an even smaller street, and it was no expensive life. They were a five people household; Tamara was the oldest sister, then she had a younger sister that was also a foster child and the youngest, the only boy, was the couple's only biological child.
"You don't have cats living here, do you?" he asked as she led him into the living room.
"Yes, three. Astra, Cesarino and Nicoletta," she answered, "Are you still allergic to cats?"
"Yes, and far worse than ten years ago," he said and sneezed.
"Well, if you prefer staying somewhere else, I won't stop you. And it's probably better for your health anyway."
"Don't act as if you suddenly cared for my health," he grumbled, "I will stay here. My girlfriend is a cat-lady too. I can handle some cats."
She shrugged her shoulders, "Whatever you like... Nicoletta, vieni qui!" She called the cat, and it only took a few seconds for the little grey cat to run to her. "Guarda, Nicoletta, abbiamo una visita." (Look, Nicoletta, we have a visitor.)
"Yeah, no. Thanks," he mumbled.
She lifted the animal and carried it to the scratching post. She set her down on the highest nest and turned back to her brother.
"I need to do the laundry, if you don't mind."
"No, please. Do whatever you'd do if I wasn't there," he said and sat down on the sofa. For a moment Tamara looked at him thoughtfully, then she sighed. Although she had been raised by several people, all of them had raised her to be a polite and kind person, so she couldn't just ignore him.
"Do you want something to drink and a package of tissues?"
"A water would be kind," he said, thought for a second and then added, "And the tissues, too..."
She nodded and brought the water and the tissues to him, before she actually started to do the laundry.
"Can I help you?" he suddenly asked, but she shook her head and continued folding the laundry in silence. She heard him sneeze once or twice but didn't react to it at all. It was his decision to stay here and suffer from his allergy, he could leave if he wanted to.
But because she felt a little uncomfortable with this man sitting in her living room, looking at her, and doing nothing else, she got her headphones and listened to music. It wasn't less awkward now, but she cared less.
After a while she noticed that he was patting Astra's head while being on the phone with someone.
"Alfie asks if you're okay," he suddenly said.
"Oh, shoot. I forgot to call him back," she uttered, "I'll call him now," she decided and was about to leave the room, when she added, "The cat you're petting is Astra, by the way. She's the oldest of our cats."
Then she left the room and went into her bedroom. There she called Alfie and even before she could say 'hello' he started to rage about how irresponsible she was, how stupid it had been to walk around alone and if she really didn't care that she was in the greatest danger she had ever been in. For a couple of minutes, she only listened to him screaming and scolding, before saying her first words in the conversation.
"Hello Alfie, I'm glad to hear from you, too. I am sorry, that I forgot to call you, that was my bad. But everything was a little exhausting and stressful."
"Nah, kid, don't act like that now!" he fumed, "You could've died, if Aidan hadn't been near!"
"It wouldn't even have happened if he had stayed where he was! Because then I would've been in the restaurant with other people and not alone in the streets!"
"And you really think that would have prevented these fuckers from ambushing you at some other time to kidnap you?"
"Maybe!"
"Wake up, Tamara! You're in danger, your family is in danger and Aidan is currently the only and the best help you can get!"
"I already said that he could stay at my house until tomorrow, and that I would come with him! You don't have to keep trying to convince me! I am not as stupid as you think. And not life-weary either."
For a moment he didn't answer, and she thought that she had accidentally hung up the phone. But as she looked on the screen, the call was still on.
"You did?" he asked.
"Yes. I am not too happy about it, especially because I am in my last year of school and I don't think this will be over next week so I will miss a lot of my lessons, but yes. I decided that it would be better to cooperate with you guys."
"Good decision," he remarked, "And don't worry about school, I can get you a certificate that you're being needed somewhere else."
"How would you do that?" she asked, doubtfully.
"Oh, I got my contacts."
She could hear his devilish smile through the phone.
"If you say so, Signor former CIA headmaster, or whatever was your official title."
"Great, that's what I wanted to hear!" he said, "Do you already have a story you'll tell your parents?"
"No... I am still thinking about it."
"Okay, but whatever you come up with, let me know so that I can get you the certificates and stuff that will prove your story right."
"Yeah..."
"But Tam," he suddenly sounded serious again, "Do me a favour and don't let your hate for Aidan get you both killed. He's the present of the spy world, and you are the future. So, it would be a shame if you'd die because of an organisation that is officially destroyed."