One hundred and twenty-four: Showing up the professionals (2)

I turned to the next person.

"Blockhead," I said without thinking much after I'd taken a good look at him. That sent the entire room, excluding the muscled block headed man himself, into floor rolling peals of laughter.

"All right, all right," he waved his arms at us all, not at all affronted. "Joke's over. Let the lady get on with it, before she falls asleep and falls off her chair. She's left hospital a few days early and had a big day, so she should be going to bed real soon."

The merriment died down and Alistair nudged me to talk.

"At the shopping centre. He was having an avid discussion with some other gym junkies about the merits of burpees, I think it was. The way he looked around the mall while talking to the guys in front of him gave him away. I've only ever seen trained guards look around like that. You even looked at me once," I said.

"Didn't notice you at all," the man admitted. "I'm Jason."

We shook hands.

"Second last," said Alistair, pointing at a woman who was leaning against the kitchen bench.

"Priscilla Lakely," I stood up to give the awkward woman a hug. "Long time no see."

"Hi," she said in a quiet voice and looked away. "So you spotted me. When did you know?"

"From the day you joined us at work before the Invasion. You must have been a new recruit who had just finished training then," I said. "No offence."

"None taken. I was very green," Priscilla replied. "And earlier today?"

"You were walking by the bus station and looking in shop windows on the other side of the road. I recognised you from the way you move more than anything else."

"Oh," Priscilla sighed. "I didn't notice you at all."

"You've matured a lot," I said. "Besides, I owe you one. After Invasion Day, you came looking for me and bought me dinner. Remember? I still owe you a meal. You saved my life that day."

"I did?" Priscilla asked. "You were just staring into a shop."

"I was looking at the reflections behind me and watching Boskies closing in to kidnap me and take me away to kill me. They thought I was going to sell Kiran out. Your timely arrival prevented that."

"Oh. I've always wondered why you were so happy to see me that time," Priscilla shrugged.

"I can't shout you a meal, but maybe we can have dinner in here one day and I'll cook?"

"Sure," Priscilla's relatively straight face broke into a genuine smile. "I'd like that."

"And last, but not least," Alistair said.

The last agent and I looked into each other's eyes for a long time. The rest of the room became very still and quiet, while we just stared at each other. Finally, I sighed.

"Iain," I said in a quiet voice. "Long time no see. I thought I'd seen you earlier, but I wasn't sure. I thought I was just being jumpy. You saw me, didn't you?"

"Jean," said the tall and quiet man of few words with a nod of greeting. "No."

"Should I ask the question I really want to ask?" I asked him.

"Better not," my old guardsman replied. "It might raise more questions than it ought."

"May I know the answer to my question?"

"No," came a short reply.

The rest of the team watched and listened to our cryptic conversation. Only Alistair seemed to have a real glimmer of understanding as to what was going on.

"What's your real name then?"

"Iain," he replied.

"Sure," I said in the same tone of voice. "How is everyone?"

"I haven't seen most of them for years," he said.

"I saw a few of them today," I replied.

"Really?"

That caught both his and Alistair's attention. The rest of the team still didn't have much idea what was going on and didn't bother trying to pry. They just listened quietly as I rattled off names and descriptions, as well as the whens and wheres.

"And none of them recognised you," Alistair sat down on a chair and laughed and laughed and laughed. "This is the best joke I've heard all year. Won't Kiran be mad when he discovers you walked out right under the noses of some of his best agents?"

"He won't begrudge you," I told him. "He might blame me though. I'm tired. May I go to bed?"

"Go," Alistair said, leaning over to give me a hug. "Don't worry. He's mostly on our side. I think," he whispered in my ear. "Or your side. Whatever." Out loud he said, "Good night."

I nodded goodnight to the other agents and Gracey helped me clean up. Then she helped my wobbling legs into my bed. When I fell asleep, she was taking all the clothes I had worn today to the laundry to wash. Outside, I heard all the agents' murmuring, but couldn't make out what they said.