Genre Scribes: Friday Fiction Writing Challenge #45 — Partner

Sebastian Nichols’s knuckles were bone white. He kicked at the branches covering the entrance of the tiny cave. Keeping his temper in check was quickly becoming an impossible task. It was no wonder, especially when his traitorous former partner, Kelvin fucking Maxwell, had eluded him at every fucking turn. He forced out a breath. At least Kelvin had failed to complete his betrayal—Deniable Unit was convinced Kelvin was the mole. But that situation wouldn’t hold as long as Kelvin still had a pulse.

An almost silent sob sounded from the back of the cave. Seb pinched the bridge of his nose. “What?”

“The fucker broke Nick’s neck,” Joe said, his words choked.

Seb crouched, making his way to Joe, and Nick’s corpse. A five-year-old could tell by the unnatural angle of Nick’s head that his neck was broken. “I can see that. Tell me something that isn’t painfully obvious.”

Joe stared at him as if he couldn’t understand that nothing was more important than tracking Kelvin.

“Get out the way.” Seb pushed Joe out the way, then rolled Nick’s body, revealing a knife. A bloody knife. There were no visible wounds on the body, no blood. “Kelvin’s hurt. Finally, some good news.”

Seemingly over his… whatever… Joe piped up. “It’s probably the woman’s blood.”

The naivety of the current crop of Consortium agents was worrying. “She’s long dead. He’s smart, he’d have gotten rid of her the first chance he got.” It’s what Seb would’ve done, and he knew that Kelvin’s sudden attack of conscience didn’t extend beyond saving his own skin.

Seb pulled out his radio, punching in his code as he made his way to the cave mouth. “Anton, come in.”

Nothing.

There was no point in wasting more time. Seb checked Anton’s GPS history on his Consortium device—he’d been stationary for the last few hours.

“He killed Anton, didn’t he,” Joe said from behind him.

Seb ground his teeth. More fucking obvious observations from the brain trust. “Get Caleb and wait for me by the vehicles.”

Joe wisely said nothing. He simply nodded and waded through the ever-deepening snow up the hill away from Seb.

Of all the men on Seb’s team, Anton was one of the best. He was brutal in combat, he’d have seized upon any weakness… Kelvin may have won the fight, but he’d be in worse shape than he went in. A smile tugged at Seb’s mouth. He’d be desperate for help.

He fished his DU phone from his pocket and tapped Charlie Team leader’s number.

“You got him?” Adam Dekker asked without any preamble.

Seb hung his head, tapping into sad-sack tone they were used to hearing from him. “No. Every time I get close, I find another body.”

Adam sighed. “We can have aerial support with you in under an hour.”

Shit. “No.” Seb scrambled for a plausible reason. “No. We don’t want to spook him. Who knows what he’s capable of doing if he feels truly threatened.” He rolled his eyes. “We also have to consider the risk to civilians in the area.”

“What do you need?”

And there it was, Dekker’s bleeding heart always ripe for manipulation. “Kelvin’s hurt. Looks like he had a scuffle with a hunter and met the pointy end of his knife.” It occurred to Seb that Kelvin still hadn’t contacted anyone at DU. “He needs medical attention, and I’m guessing he didn’t call for an evac.”

Adam laughed bitterly. He was silent for a moment, the sound of his keyboard clacking as he typed. “There was a call to a local doctor from a burner phone a few hours ago.” He gave Seb the coordinates for the doctor’s place. “Bring him in alive, if you can.”

Seb ended the call and grinned. There was still time. He could contain the fallout, keep his sad-sack cover at DU, and disappear the intel Kelvin stole. But most importantly, he could retrieve the powerful technology that would give DU a leg up in its goal of destroying The Consortium.

And all Seb had to do to save himself was pay a little visit to a doctor.