Lost in Purgatory

Chapter 10

Felicity's walk towards the field, which, in her head, was in slow motion and had stirring music in the background, was interrupted when Oliver pulled her back towards him. She looked up, opening her mouth to ask him what was wrong, when he shocked her with a deep, long, and passionate kiss. When he finally let her breathe again, she managed to gasp out a query.

"What about the workers? Conklin?" Really, she just wanted to kick herself. Who cared about those guys? Just kiss me again, she thought.

His face was flushed, and his eyes were closed as he leaned his forehead against hers.

"They can't see us yet." Oliver was speaking absent-mindedly, his hands tangled in her ponytail. "I'm finding it hard to let you go."

"Yep," she answered. "I noticed."

He tried to suppress a smile and failed. Then he glanced around, making sure no-one was looking their way. He passed her the gun and she put it in the small of her back, hooking it into the waistband of her cargoes.

"I thought-"

"Better now, when no-one can see us," he hissed. "The safety's on. Just make sure you take it off before you try use it."

Oliver cupped her face in his hands and stared deep into her eyes, like he was trying to memorize her face.

"Hey, lover boy!" Conklin's hated voice interrupted whatever Oliver was going to say next.

His hands dropped to her shoulders, squeezing for a few seconds, almost as if he wanted the imprint of his fingers to stay there after he was gone. Conklin stared at them with his usual smirk.

"Reiter needs to see you."

Felicity turned on her heel and walked carefully back to the field, conscious of the heavy gun in her waistband, and the two men staring as she walked away. She wasn't really worried, she told herself. Oliver would go to speak to Reiter and then he'd come to watch her work until the sun went down.

For the rest of the afternoon, the guards in the field strolled up and down, trying to look busy. As Felicity worked on sorting the product from the weeds, she still tried to convince herself she wasn't worried about Oliver, but this time it didn't work. How long was this meeting with Reiter, anyway?

When Tatiana lifted her head and pointed at the horizon, Felicity thought Oliver was coming, at first. Which was ridiculous, in retrospect – it wasn't like Tatiana cared about Oliver, at all.

This was something else. It was like a scene from a Vietnam movie, Felicity thought – first one helicopter, then another, and another. She stood there, stunned that it was actually happening. The helicopters buzzed their camp, and the sense of unreality kept her frozen in place for a couple of seconds. The first gunshots woke her out of the daze, and she grabbed Tatiana's arm.

"Come on! We have to get to our hut!"

Tatiana followed her, the same expression of stunned surprise on her face that Felicity knew she must have had, a few seconds ago. Then she froze.

"No, wait! I must find Vlad!"

Felicity didn't let go of her arm.

"He'll be fine, Tatiana! But we won't – especially if the guards think we'll make good hostages!"

She'd heard what Oliver hadn't been saying when he told her about these ARGUS people – anyone who tried the old 'let us go or we shoot these women' tactic with them would probably get a shrug, and 'go ahead' in response.

It was kind of a miracle, if she believed in that sort of thing, that they met no-one who tried to stop them as they raced towards their hut. All the guards seemed to have urgent business elsewhere, and all the gunfire seemed to be coming from the command part of the camp. When they stumbled through the doorway, Felicity wasn't sure what she was supposed to be doing. Should they keep their heads down, wait for rescue, what? Would anyone even find them here?