Agent Rogue: Renegade

Chapter 18

Amber Knight

There were sirens in the distance, the drumming of engines and screeching of tyres on the road. All distant, all so far away. As I took a breath, I inhaled something sharp -- metallic -- and coughed. I was facing old tarmac that scratched the raw skin of my hands and cheeks and I was... cold. So, so cold. Where are you, Amber? Think of a location.

There were no cars but the white parallel lines I spotted to the left told me I was waking up in a multi-storey car park -- at a high level judging from the chill that swept in from over the balcony behind me.

I rubbed my head as I sat up, closing my eyes as I tried to block out the throbbing pain in my skull. Whatever Rose had given me was leaving some after-effects, creating a similar feeling to how I had woken up with a hangover months earlier; likely her doing. I shuddered.

As I attempted to push myself up, something hard pressed against the back of my head. I leaned back on my knees and slowly raised my hands. Looking over my shoulder, I was surprised to not see Rose, but a tall, lean male. Not many other features were identifiable; he wore all black with his hood pulled up, covering his hair and forehead, and a mask covered the bottom half of his face He tapped me with his rifle and I scowled.

"Enough, boy. She can stand if she so wishes."

My eyes darted around the car park as I raised to my feet. I looked over my shoulder and turned as the voice started to chuckle.

"You have grown."

The hiss. That hiss brought back memories I wanted to repress, that I had tried for so long to bury. I turned again, looking for the source. I could hear it everywhere, from every angle and every corner. The hiss...

"It is so amazing what a change of accent..." 

There was a step.  

"...The passage of time..." he chuckled, "even a beard..."

He was towards the edge of the car park, emerging from a pillar as he rounded a corner. I watched him step into the light like a shadow's exposure, a brown trench coat covering his round stomach; a sharp grin spread across his viperish features. His smile widened as he eyed up the ebony cane before tossing it to the side. "...And a cane can do."

Shallow breaths was all I could manage. Wide eyes and shallow breaths as memories weaved together in one large ironic insult that slapped me in the face. No words, no actions. For years I had planned what I would do when I came face to face with Doctor Arnold again. Arrest him? Kill him? Do to him what he had done to so many innocents? But years of planning could not have prepared me to realise I had seen him in so many places, hidden in plain sight: the casino, Collins's party, the damned cruise ship I met Derek on! I thought I was always ready to face him, yet, because I was never looking for him at the time, I never saw him; only his facade. I felt tied, bound to strings I was not pulling and now I was strangling in them.

"What's wrong, child? You seem very quiet."

Child. I dared him to call me it again, scowl deepening as I racked my brain for words. I tore my eyes away to look around the car park. No-one but the doctor and the stranger were present. Rose was nowhere to be seen.