RUN!

Warning: this chapter contains scenes of violence that might be triggering or disturbing for some people.

The door opened with a loud bang and four men broke into the apartment, their guns drawn, ready to fire. As they spotted Riley by the sofa, they slowed down with evident surprise on their faces that caused their initial hesitation, but then halted entirely as Alice turned and recognition kicked in.

"That's Cooper's girlfriend," one man had the chance to mutter before time suddenly stopped and everything happened in slow motion.

Alice discarded her phone and without hesitation started towards the pointed guns with confident strides, taking all men by surprise, Riley included.

As she approached the closest intruder, her face a mask of disgust, she grabbed his wrist and twisted it in an unnatural direction that caused a deaf snapping sound, and forced the man to let go of his gun as he fell to the floor with a loud cry.

That's when the first shot went off, bringing time back to its natural speed.

The bullet whistled past Alice and lodged into the wall behind her, causing the woman to charge against the shooter with angry determination.

Riley instinctively jumped on the discarded gun and, dodging a second bullet, aimed at one of the men now coming for him and fired with precision. The man halted on the spot as the bullet hit the middle of his forehead and he fell forward against the sofa, which immediately became saturated with crimson blood.

"You fucker!" Alice's voice came from the other end of the living room where she was hanging from one of the man's back, her thumbs pressed into his eyes.

"Alice!" Riley called out. But he had just the time to start to her aid before the grip of a gun hit him in the ribs. A deaf cry escaped his lips as the pain hitched his breath in his throat; Riley instinctively held his side and rage exploded inside him. He swung back to find his attacker pointing his gun at him but the man seemed reluctant to press the trigger; and that's when Riley realised that the men's orders were to get them alive.

Not on my watch.

Riley pointed his gun at the man's forehead and shot, his eyes momentarily drawn to the spot where the bullet had created a perfect circular entry point. Then the body went down with a hushed sound and that's when Riley heard the silence.

With a dreadful heart, he turned around, afraid of what he might see and ready to jump to Alice's aid.

But he didn't have to.

Alice was kneeling next to her attacker, who had his hands around a knife firmly planted at the base of his neck, his mouth open, gasping for air; his eyes were on Alice in a silent plea for help in his last moments of life.

And Alice was staring back. A look of genuine fascination was on her face as her dark orbs gleamed in trepidation, her quivering lips curved in a Mona Lisa smile; her only focus was on the man's face, slowly drained of its lively colour.

The man reached out and placed a shaky, bloody hand on her shoulder and Alice leaned forward as if she was about to hold him in her arms for his last breath. But Alice grabbed the knife instead, and in one sharp movement she tugged it free from the man's flesh, causing blood to flood out of the wound and crimson streaks to stain her white suit.

The man's eyes widened in pain and surprise as his mouth filled with blood that immediately formed a scarlet pool around him.

Alice smiled kindly at the dying man in front of her and with a sweet voice she said, "Goodnight."

And the man stopped breathing.

"Alice," Riley called after her as softly as possible, his deep voice resonating in the quiet room.

The woman turned around, her eyes still veiled like a shark that had just attacked its prey; she wiped a drop of blood from her lip with her stained thumb, but that only caused her flesh to turn a darker red.

Riley kept his eyes on her, confused by what he'd just witnessed, but also worried some of the blood could be Alice's.

"Are you OK?" he asked, moving towards her.

At his words, Alice blinked and stood, gaping around her as if to look for the answer somewhere on the floor, the bloody knife still in her hand.

"I'm unharmed," she replied eventually. "And you?" she asked, scanning the man's body for any injuries.

"Yes, I'm fine," Riley confirmed and Alice nodded in response, satisfied with his answer; then she turned to the first man she'd hit, still lying on the floor, holding his wrist against his chest.

"This one's still alive," she declared and kneeled next to the man evidently terrorised by her; his body now shaking and his eyes averting hers.

Alice slid the bloody knife against his jaw and leaned closer. "Did my fiance send you?" she asked.

The man nodded.

"Does he know who I am?"

The man shook his head per no.

"And Murphy?"

Another head shake.

"Was it just the four of you?" Riley asked, crouching down next to Alice.

The man didn't reply this time so Alice removed the blade from his skin and grabbed his cheeks, yanking his head towards his dead colleague, her face only inches from the man's.

"You see that?" she asked calmly. "That's nothing compared to what's gonna be of you if you don't talk. And I'll make sure you stay alive to enjoy every single second of it."

As she pulled back, the man started to cry.

"Please don't cry." She rolled her eyes. "Tears make me uncomfortable."

But Riley's eyes were still on the man when he noticed his lips twitch to the side; he quickly stood and made for the window.

"Alice, I think we've got company," he said, peeking through the curtains where two more men were striding towards the flat from the other end of the road.

In a second Alice's attention was entirely on Riley, her eyes focused and purpose-filled.

"Toss all my clothes and the sheets in the living room," she ordered, then her knife cut effortlessly through the neck of the man lying in front of her and she stood, disappearing in the kitchen.

Riley obeyed and grabbed as much as he could from the wardrobe in the bedroom, piling it up in the living room.

"They're crossing the street," he informed Alice, who was now pouring isopropyl alcohol all over the living area and the bodies.

"Grab the laptop and get out of here," the woman ordered as she splashed the last of the liquid on the curtains.

Riley obeyed and, collecting one of the guns from the floor, he stood guard on the landing, his eyes focused to the bottom of the stairwell.

"They're in the building," he informed Alice as two men started up the stairs.

Alice strolled across the living room and grabbed her bag and Riley's jacket on the way. She removed his lighter and let it fall behind her, causing the alcohol to ignite immediately.

"This way," she said, unlocking flat number seven with her eye scan and walking inside. "Let's go," she urged to Riley's hesitation.

Riley glanced between her and the stairwell. "Wait here," he ordered eventually. He passed her the computer and walked to the furthest end of the landing, hiding behind the lift wall where he crouched into position, drawing his gun. A moment later, the two men came into view and Riley fired two quick and precise rounds that had the intruders collapse to the floor.

Maintaining his aim, Riley carefully walked to the two men and ensured they were both dead; satisfied with his discovery, he secured the gun in the waist of his jeans and walked back into the flat.

"For good measure," he said to Alice, who had already slid one of the big bookshelves in the room and was now standing next to it.

"After you." She smiled.

Riley hesitated, surprised by the revelation of the secret escape route, but a small explosion coming from the other flat dragged him back to reality.

He opened the metal door to reveal a set of concrete stairs leading into the darkness; he stepped inside and Alice followed. The door closed behind them and darkness surrounded them.

After a few tentative steps, a light came on, illuminating the stairs white. They kept descending in silence until two doors appeared in front of them. Alice opened the one to the left to reveal yet another dark tunnel that came alive with yellow lights as the heavy door closed behind them.

"Where are we going?" Riley asked, finally breaking the silence.

"To see a friend," Alice replied, still leading the way.

"What the fuck just happened there?" Riley wondered out loud, but Alice shook her head.

"Someone gave us up," she said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, that much is clear," Riley retorted bluntly. Now that the adrenaline rush was wearing off, anger and frustration were growing stronger.

"Aidan's asset must have come through," Alice offered.

Riley stopped walking and took her hand to get her attention; Alice looked up at him and in the dim light her eyes looked fiendish.

"What about Smith?" he asked, forcing the words out of his throat.

"I'll try to call him again later," Alice said.

"Alice, that's not what—"

"I know what you meant," she cut him off, then her eyes wandered into the darkness, her eyebrows furrowed, her look pensive. "Those men didn't know our identities," she said eventually.

"That's true," Riley agreed. "Still, maybe it's best if we don't get in touch right away, it's possible they have him."

Alice kept her eyes on him for a moment, then resumed walking. "This place stinks." Was her reply.

"I need to get in touch with Aidan," Riley said after another long silence.

"We need to make sure our covers are not blown first," Alice explained.

"We can't trust anyone right now. How are we going to do that?" Riley queried.

"By visiting my friend," Alice spat.

Riley kept silent for a moment, but the idea of being kept in the dark rubbed him the wrong way. In a crisis communication was paramount and he was used to sharing as much information as possible with his men. Alice needed to learn about teamwork and people skills.

"Who's your friend?" he blurted. "And where are we, by the way?" he asked again, now incapable of hiding his frustration.

At that, Alice snapped and in a quick movement, she pushed him against the brick wall, her forearm to his neck and her lips in a thin line. "My friend is an old colleague and we're near the Victoria line," she hissed, then took a deep breath. "Now stop complaining and take off your shirt," she ordered.

But Riley grabbed her arms and pushed her against the opposite wall. "I'm not complaining," he bellowed, annoyed that was how Alice perceived his requests. "But I need to know what the plan is. That's how you lead people," he retorted. "And what do you want with my shirt?" he asked, as Alice's unusual request eventually registered with him.

Alice tugged her arms from Riley's loose grip and moved away from the wall.

"You have bloodstains all over it and I'm gonna need your jacket to cover my suit," she explained, pointing at her blood-soaked clothes.

Riley silently started to unbutton his shirt, his skin reacting to the cold and forming goosebumps on his arms as he stood in his cotton t-shirt.

"We're getting the tube," Alice started as she zipped Riley's padded Levi's jacket that fortunately covered her down to her mid-thigh, concealing most of the blood. Small crimson splatters stained her trousers, but they would have appeared as a fashion statement to a passing eye.

"Follow me from a distance and get on a different carriage. Our stop is Vauxhall," she explained. "There, I'll wait outside the station and I'll take you to meet my friend."

"Yes, sir," Riley replied, now more satisfied with her briefing.

He took the gun from behind his back and passed it to Alice. The last thing he wanted was for a commuter to spot the weapon tucked in his jeans and cause a commotion.

Alice took the gun and let it fall in her bag with the laptop. She then leaned forward and placed a kiss on the man's lips before starting towards the exit. But Riley grabbed her wrist and pulled her back; he reached over and stroked her bottom lip with his thumb, wiping away the blood that had just started to dry.

They walked silently to the end of the tunnel and when the door opened, a bright light hit Riley, causing him to squint as he adjusted to it. Nobody was around as they exited the tunnel, concealed as an electric cupboard in a remote part of Green Park station.

As instructed, Alice walked first, taking a right and joining the crowd down the escalator. Riley strolled behind her, keeping a good distance between them.

When they stepped into the southbound platform, Riley busied himself with his phone for a good minute, then casually looked around and spotted Alice chatting and chuckling away with an old lady.

So much for not attracting attention.

The train eventually approached and Riley made sure to board the carriage next to Alice so that he could keep an eye on her through the window. He watched her as she offered the old lady the last available seat and kept chatting to her until the woman left the train at Pimlico.

Then their eyes met through the window and Alice smiled at him, a shy, kind smile that two strangers could shared down the street.

Those were the things that made Alice scary.

When the train stopped at Vauxhall, Riley left the carriage and followed Alice to the far end of the platform towards the exit and outside into the now freezing air. When he exited the glass doors, he spotted Alice just outside the train station; he walked towards her until she noticed him and motioned him to follow her.

As Alice started to move North, Riley thought she was heading for the MI6 headquarters. But after a couple of minutes, she took a right and halted at a bus stop so Riley did the same, again busying himself with his phone that showed no calls or messages from Aidan yet.

They boarded the bus, still keeping their distance, and rode five stops until they exited in front of a large council estate building of beige bricks with a long black gate running along the perimeter.

Once across the street, Alice stopped to wait for Riley and confidently pushed the entrance gate open. They walked across the communal garden and up a set of stairs to the fourth and last floor where they exited into the landing that also functioned as a balcony overlooking the railways, busy with the morning commuting traffic. Doors of polished cobalt blue dotted the wall and Riley followed Alice to number eighteen, where she rang the bell.

A few seconds later the door opened, and a man appeared behind it. Alice's face relaxed in relief and with a sudden jump she was in his arms.