Dangerous Deception

Ch. 10: A Tumour

            We left the club. Ava drove to the apartment the agency had rented for the mission.

            "Hey what did Scar tell you back there," she asked. I turned to the window.

            "He doesn't trust us," I said. I heard a faint 'oh' as she pulled over to the apartment.

            We walked towards the elevator, carrying our bags as we spotted a man standing beside it. He's an agent, judging from the leather jacket he wore. It was given out to all agents in the agency by some company. He gave us the keys and went to a car I didn't notice was there before. Ava and I stepped in the elevator, she pressed the button.

            I threw my bag on the couch as soon as we entered the place. It's been one hell of a day. I flopped on the couch. Ava headed to the fridge in the open kitchen, taking out a water bottle and drinking it's contents. The apartment was nice, there were two rooms, one at the end of the living room and the other upstairs. The kitchen was close to the living room, were I was. I went and checked the two rooms. Each room had a bathroom and a bath tub. They already brought in our stuffs, just a few things. I didn't have much, considering my last apartment was burnt down. I took my bag and went to my room, which was close to the living room.  I sat down on the bed.

It's now or never.

           I took off my bloodied top leaving me in my sports bra, my right shoulder burning at the sensation it brought. I groaned a little as I carefully unwrapped the bandages of last night. Then I heard a knock on the door.

           "It's open," I said.

           Ava slowly opened the door. "Hey...um, do you need help with that?" I nodded. "Okay, just a sec,"
          
            She left and came back few seconds later with a first aid box. I scooted a little so she sat down beside me, placing the box on the nightstand. She looked at me, asking for permission. I nodded and looked away as she poured iodine on it. I hissed sharply. Fuck, that hurts like hell. She gave me a piece of cloth to bite on while she continued.

            "Okay, I'm done," she said a few minutes later. I watched her as she packed the rest back to the box. I removed the cloth in my mouth.

            "What about you?" I asked, referring to the injury on her temples.

            "I'm fine," she said, as she closed the box and was about to stand up. I held her arm, stopping her. She glanced at my hand, before returning her gaze to me. I didn't budge, instead I took the box from her.

            "I'm fine, really," she said. I didn't even listen to her as I opened the box and took out the iodine and a piece of cloth. She watched me as I poured some on the cloth. Then I looked at her.

            "Look at me," I demanded. She raised her eyes, locking it with mine. I held her chin with my fingers, my thumb beneath her lower lip, as I dabbed the cloth on her temples for a few minutes. Then I covered it with a plaster and switched to her lips. She let out a soft gasp. I paused, searching her face. She smiled a little and nodded. I continued.

            "There, all done," I said, dropping the cloth. It was then I noticed how close we were. My fingers were still on her jaw as I looked at her eyes which had gone dark. From this close, I could see how wrong I was about her eye colour. They were hazel, not green. Then I saw her eyes flickering to my lips, which snapped me out of the little trance I was in. I turned my face away from her, picking up the cloth and the iodine. She seemed to regain her self as she helped me pack the rest into the box.

            "I should...um, I should probably go to bed," she said as she stood up and left, taking the first aid box with her. I sighed and fell back on the bed. I need to call Mark. And I did.

            "Sup," he answered on the second ring.

            "Hey Mark, are you alone right now?" I asked.

            "Um, just gimme a sec," then I heard shufflings, and the background noise fading. "Okay, I'm alone. What is it,"

            "I had another episode," I told him. He sighed.

            "How bad was this one?"

            "Well Ava got a little injured, but she's fine," I said.

            "That shows your getting better," he joked.

            "It wasn't about Cassie," I said. He grew silent, knowing exactly what I was talking about. "Mark, I think it's happening again,"

            "Do you still have your serum?" He asked calmly. I checked my bag.

            "Yeah, but not enough," I said.

            "Okay, I'll set up a meeting with Doctor O'Neill, we'll figure something out. In the meantime, keep taking those serum, and your pills if it gets worse," he instructed.

            "You were right Mark. I shouldn't have gone on this mission. My presence here will only compromise things," I said, "especially now that I'm unstable," I whispered softly.

            "Hey hey hey no, you're not unstable...,"

            "But I am," I interrupted. I scoffed as tears threatened to spill, "Mark I don't even know what triggered it this time,"

            "Just calm down," he said.

            "I think I'm dying," I said slowly.

            "Kayla...," his voice broke, "No you're not. Remember what doctor O'Neill said? You have 70% chance of living,"

            "If I don't exert too much stress on my brain. We both know that didn't happen," I said as I ran my fingers through my hair.

            Two years ago, I was diagnosed with a brain tumour. I kept having migraines similar to the one of today, so Cassie took me to the hospital. The doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with me so they concluded it was a brain tumour. Since they were not sure, they couldn't perform any surgery yet. That was when I met Doctor O'Neill. She confirmed what the other doctors said was likely to be true. But unlike them she gave me serums, to stop the headaches. She also predicted I had 70% chance of living, if I don't stress my brain, and that it would only get worse if I do. And when it does, I would die.

            So Cassie and Mark did everything in their power to not make me feel stressed. And I didn't, for a year at least. Until she died and I couldn't deal with it. I completely forgot about my condition, for almost a year. There were times I had those migraines but I didn't think much of it. But today's headache was much worse than I ever felt.

            "Kayla I think you should withdraw from this mission," he said.

            "You know I can't do that Mark. There's a guy here that already suspects us, if I leave now they'll trace me back to the agency and Ava could get killed," I looked at the door, wondering if she's asleep yet, "and I can't let another partner of mine die again,"

            "Then the both of you should leave, I don't care if they find out. I'm not losing you Kayla,"

            "And then tell the FBI what? That I'm mentally unstable? They'll kick me out of the force before I even utter another word,"

            "Then let them, at least you'd be safe," he said.

            I sighed, "you know I can't do that Mark,"

            He groaned, "Fine! You're really stubborn you know," I smiled, "I'll get the drugs tonight. Meet me tomorrow at 6am, they won't be spying on you then."

            "Thank you Mark," I said.

            "I just don't wanna see you die on me," he said. I chuckled and hung up.