Cleo Hart: Intelligence by Default

Stand Off

I sprang out of the living room and sprinted up the stairs, knifing a panicky, unsuspecting guard on the way.

"Cleo, stay downstairs."

I ignored him, running down the hallways with my heart in my throat and my head pounding.

"Cleo for fucks sake, stay downstairs." He growled, trying to be quiet and yell at the same time.

Another guard ran around the corner, speaking hurriedly into his walkie talkie. I pulled the trigger, aiming at his head, and carried on running.
"Where are you?" I panted, turning a corner.

"Fuck off and go downstairs."
It was the reply I'd expected. I followed the trail of dead bodies lining the corridors, slumped in ungraceful piles, until I reached a dead end with a door on either side of me.

"Left or right?" I whispered.

"Left." He said reluctantly. I opened the door to find him pale and sweating, slumped against the bath and clutching his side. "Christ it hurts." It was more of a gurgle than a comment. I crashed down next to him, taking off my jacket and tying it around his wound as well as I could.

"Are you going to be okay?" I whimpered, stroking his forehead.

He groaned, coughing a little.

"Jason, I need back up." I blurted through the microphone, clicking closed the bathroom door and turning the lock. 

I moved Luke's hair out of his eyes and helped to prop him up more comfortably by the bath, watching terrified as blood seeped through his t-shirt into the jacket wrapped around him.

I frowned nervously, realising that Jason hadn't replied. 

"Jason?"

Nothing.

"Shit, Jason reply."

I felt my stomach drop as I realised I hadn't heard from him since I got upstairs. 

There was a tiny window above the bath in the bathroom which looked out onto the garden. I stood tiptoed on the corner of the tub and gazed out into the garden, glancing back to Luke who was staring up at me with pain and fear in his eyes.

I looked through the trees as well as I could, and tried to see over the fountain and ornaments, but Jason was nowhere in the garden, that I could see anyway. I shook my head at Luke, sitting down next to him. 

"He's my best friend." He murmured, a tear falling from his eye.

"He'll be fine." I nodded firmly, realising that somehow I was in the best state here. "He's smart, and trained. He's fine. I'll find him. I'm going to find him."

Luke nodded, but he didn't look hopeful.

"Look, give me your phone, I'll call for help." 

He frowned at me, as if he didn't expect anyone to come, but winced. "It's in my pocket, it hurts to much to move you'll have to get it."

I reached into his pocket and took the phone, my body working on autopilot. 

"Alec, it's Cleo Harper. Listen, Luke's been shot and Jason isn't replying. There are three of us and at least twenty of them. We need back up, or medics, or anything. This is a suicide mission, please, we need help."

There was silence at the end, before a muffled click when the line went dead. I grit my teeth, willing myself not to cry. I looked to Luke hopelessly, before turning around.

I opened the door and crept out, scanning the hall. It was empty, so I ran past the second staircase and back the way I came. An eery silence filled the deserted corridors. I bit my lip and stopped dead in my tracks. A creeping sensation crawled up my spine as I swerved around, only to find a Guard with a gun pointed at my head. 

"Let's go see the boss shall we?" He smirked, pressing the gun into the back of my skull and pushing me forwards. "One wrong move and I will shoot you."

He marched me down the stairs, my blood stained trainers having no affect on the red carpets. I was walked into the living room, where Linda stood over an unconscious Jason, who's face was all bruise, and was slumped over. Mick sat in the corner rubbing his wrists and looking royally pissed off.

"Honestly," Linda grinned as if she had won a big game, an ugly smile that didn't suit her porcelain face, "Why are you people so intent on hiding the truth? You could avoid so much pain. All I got from Jason here was a bruised knuckle. You've really outdone yourselves here, that is if pissing me off was your intention. Infiltrating my home, trying to kill me and then kidnapping my daughter. A recipe for disaster in the end wouldn't you say?"

I ignored her, looking to Jason, who's ear was a mess of blood and flesh. She nodded to a guard and my weapons were snatched from me, before I was shoved to my knees, two guards pushing down on my shoulders to hold me in place.

'Who are you?" She asked, her voice snide and cocky. I said nothing, thinking back to Rome with Luke, and getting stoned in the bedroom of our apartment, trying to conjure any happiness I could remember. The guard in front of me belted me round the face, before retreating obediently as Linda walked forwards. 

"I have ways of making you tell me." Her lip curled into an ugly expression that I couldn't read. I looked at the intricate pattern of the carpet, trying to escape my situation mentally. I heard a pained cry and my head snapped up. Luke was dragged into the room by his shirt, and dropped in front of me. I reached out to him, only to have my arms grabbed by two men.

"Tell me who you are, and I won't hurt him."

 Luke looked up at me from the carpet, his eyes begging me not to tell her anything. I stared back at him evenly, before looking back up to Linda.

Desperation was sinking in. Failing to think of any other options, I tried to distract her. "Why are you doing this?"
It earned Luke a sharp kick in the back, His face warping almost inhumanly, a muffled gargle escaping him.

"I'm asking the questions." She snapped. I willed all of my hatred to show in my eyes, as I mustered up my courage to glare at her defiantly. Seemingly calm and collected, she held eye contact with me and knelt beside Luke, giving him a mockingly pitiful pat on the back, before gesturing to the man standing next to her. He handed her a gun, which she took without hesitation, plunging the barrel into the bullet wound in Luke's stomach.
Luke sobbed, writhing desperately on the floor, Linda's face was expressionless. 

I thrashed from the guards' grip, launching myself over Luke protectively, and yanking the gun from Linda's grip. She smirked, but stepped back a little.

"What, you and your one gun, against me and eight of my men?"

I nodded, moving into a crouch, and then standing slowly, my gun trained to her head. She gestured to all of the men in the room, who lifted their gun's to me, Luke and Jason equally.

"If any of you move, I will shoot her."

 I chewed my lip and glanced to Jason, unconscious and beaten in his seat, and then at Luke, not seeing clearly, his breath raspy and crackling. His eyes rolled so he was almost looking on me, and I swear I saw his lips move. 'Do it' they said.

I cocked the gun and looked up to Linda, preparing myself. The men looked around confused and conflicted.

Taking a shaky breath, I counted down mentally.

3

2

1