Double Agent

Driven

Doc was an aged man, a little brusque, and detached, but gentle. Setting up in a room off the foyer, he cleaned each of us up in turn, tending to the wounded crowd without question, leaving me curious as to just how often he'd been called in for something like this, and where they found him.

"You won't need stitches." He assured me, cleaning the leaking blood from the wound to my arm. "Luckily." He added as an afterthought, turning to retrieve some bandaging from his kit.

"I think we're all pretty lucky." I replied, mentally noting the only loss of life being on the attacker's side.

He gave a non committal grunt and began to wrap the dressing firmly around my arm, his wise green eyes flicking back to my face.

"You're new around here."

I nodded, feeling suddenly like a small insect under a magnifying glass as his eyes narrowed, and I got the distinct impression that he was attempting to suss me out. I wriggled uncomfortably, diverting my eyes to a loose thread on a nearby throw pillow so as to escape the unnerving sensation that my true identity was somehow tattooed on me.

He doesn't know anything... He can't know anything. I told myself on repeat, assuring myself that it was my guilty conscience that was making me feel so paranoid.

"Perhaps that's a good thing." He announced after a while, catching me off guard.

"How's that?" I asked, watching him take off the gloves he was wearing and drop them into the waste paper basket at his feet.

He let out a soft sigh, and when he faced me once more, I saw the lines of struggle etched into his face.

"Because there's still time for you to get out."

The hopeful undertone to his words tugged at my heart, I could feel just how much he meant it, how much he wanted me to say that I'd leave now. And in that second, I wanted to say that I would, just so that I wouldn't have to watch his face fall with disappointment, as it did a second later.

"But you won't leave, will you." He muttered, directing his gaze to the ground, and exhaling sharply.

"I'm sorry, I can't."

He continued to gather his things together, clearing up the mess from the various others that had been treated before me. He didn't speak another word as he moved around the room, the silence growing with tension all the while.

"If you don't agree with their lifestyle, then why are you here? Why are you helping?" I finally asked, unable to stop myself.

"Because, aside from the oath I took as a doctor, Dash and Luke, and even the others, they need me." He explained, continuing to tidy. "They aren't bad people, they didn't choose this life, and I won't stand by and watch it kill any of them, as long as I have the power to help keep them alive, I will use it."

I was confused. I'd read their files, I'd read everything that we had on the Calaway firm, and even what British Intelligence and the Metropolitan Police had on them. Through all of it, it appeared to be a classic inheritance game. Their family organisation being handed down through the generations. I couldn't understand why he would think that they didn't choose it, or weren't bad people.

"You look surprised." He commented thoughtfully, pulling me from my own spinning mind.

"I am a bit." I admitted, "I don't know anyone rushing to the defence of people in this line of work that often."

"They don't know those boys, or Sage," He shrugged, before adding with a slight chuckle: "And even Daya on the right day."

"You have a lot of faith in them."

"The way I see it, we all have our stories, we all have something that drives us." He began, "It's the strength of that reasoning that shows someone's true character."

The logic of his words struck a chord somewhere deep inside me, his knowledge of them clearly surpassing my own.

"What's driving them?" I asked, hearing the words before I knew I'd even said them.

"That's something that you'd have to take up with them." He answered simply. "I'm more curious as to what's driving you."

My heart sped up and I questioned how I could possibly have given myself away, my mind descending rapidly as I wondered how to cover it up.

"You're running with a team that you don't know. A team you clearly don't trust, and yet, you laid your life on the line, and refused to walk away." He locked his case, and stared at me with great interest. "It's an intriguing combination, one that in my opinion warrants either great respect, or great distrust."

I was caught between shock and fear as he made for the door, panic rising within me as fear took hold. He could blow everything apart, destroy my chance at fulfilling my assignment, maybe even cost me my life, and yet words to remedy the situation completely failed me.

"Doc?" I called out hurriedly, rushing behind him.

"Relax." He said calmly. "I'm not looking to start trouble. They are grown ups, they can handle themselves." The corner of his mouth twitched upwards the tiniest bit, giving him a momentary smile, "Besides, you saved their lives today, you've earned a little time."

"Time for what?"

"To see who they are, and to decide who you want to be."

With a curt nod, he left the room and I watched as he was shown out, feeling more confused than I'd possibly been in my entire life.

"There you are."

I spun on the spot, Luke's voice making me jump.

"Yeah, I was with the Doc."

He nodded, directing himself toward the staircase and inclining his head for me to walk with him.

"How is everyone? How are you?" I asked, ascending the stairs, and gesturing at his side.

"We're all okay, nothing major."

"Good, I'm glad." I said softly, realising that I felt genuine relief flooding through me at his assurance. "Where are we going?"

He smiled as we reached the landing, a note of his usual cockiness appearing on his face.

"Dash is awake. He wants to see you."