Moment of Truth

by Emrys Apollo

  “You don’t know shit.” Desmond bit, shrugging Jody off him.

  “Desmond-”

  “I didn’t tell you how to feel.” Desmond glared, his eyes swimming with tears he didn’t think he could ever stop. Jody’s heart broke to see him like this. “You don’t know anything. You don’t know shit about what I’m feeling.”

  “Desmond-”

  “No. Alright. No one does. No one gets to tell me what I can and can’t do. No one gets to tell me what I should or shouldn’t feel. The man I fucking loved for seven years, the man I was going to spend my life with, the man I planned my future with, and everything he ever told me was a lie.” Desmond glared. “I don’t even know if Antony is his fucking name. So don’t you come in here and tell me to stop.” Turning away from Jody, Desmond opened up the security footage again. How had he not seen any of these signs? It was his job to be able to detect deceit, so how had he missed it from right under his nose?

  “You’re not doing yourself any good sitting in here, doing this.” Jody huffed, trying again to get Desmond away from the computer. Desmond swatted his attempts away. “You’ll drive yourself mad!” Desmond’s eyes stayed with Antony as he moved from behind the kitchen door frame and into view, the grid that had been tight on his gun lacking a little as he returned to his frightened act. His jaw locked as the monitor went black.

  “This is ridiculous, you're doing yourself and no one else any good sitting in here watching this.” Jody said, removing his finger from the power button of the monitor. “Listen, I’ve got Nathan upstairs with a coffee and a decent lunch. Just go and have a chat with him, I’m sure it would-”

  “Help?” Desmond bit, making Jody recoil from him a little. “You think a fucking ham and cheese and a cup of tea is going to make this all better?”

  “No, that’s not what I-”

  “How about you stay out of my business.” Desmond shot, pushing up from the chair and storming out of the room. Jody was hot on his toes.

  “You’ve been through a lot, just sitting down and talking to someone who can help you process this-”

  “And assess my psychological state whilst we’re at it?” Desmond accused. Jody fell into step beside him.

  “That’s not what this is about.”

  “Isn’t it.” Desmond sneered sarcastically. Jody grabbed his arm, spinning his so he stopped walking.

  “I care about you. I want to make sure you’re okay and dealing with this in an appropriate way.”

  “Oh don’t worry.” Desmond said, knocking Jody’s hand off him and continuing on his path. “I’m dealing with it perfectly.” Not really knowing what Desmond meant by that, Jody continued to follow him through the Storming offices. Desmond didn’t care whether Jody stayed with him or not, it wasn’t going to change what he was planning on doing.

  He didn’t break stride as he burst into the observation room. Stuart flinched in his seat, but shocked by Desmond’s abrupt appearance he didn’t make any move to stop him as he headed for the adjoining door. Hot rage pushed Desmond forwards, the feelings of hurt, anger, betrayal pulsing the blood in his ears and giving him a sense of none of this being real. But it was. As was the fear in Antony’s eyes as he approached, the way the man crumpled beneath him as his right fist connected with the side of his face.

  “Desmond!” Jody hollered, rushing forwards to try and restrain Desmond as he moved for another blow. Antony tried to cower away, but with Jody holding back his arms he swung out his foot, making satisfying contact with Antony’s ribcage.

  “Seven years and this is what you think I deserve?” Desmond screamed, trying to shake Jody off him. He’d lost the pulse of adrenaline and Jody was starting to successfully overpower him. Stuart had moved between Antony and him, meaning another swing at Antony could land on the German instead. “I trusted you, I loved you and it meant nothing to you!”

  “Let me… Explain…” Antony wheezed, clutching at his stomach from Desmond’s assault.

  “Why should I give you anything more? Why shouldn’t I kill you right now?”

  “This isn’t helping anything!” Stuart pressed as Jody’s grip on Desmond seemed to loosen a touch. His blue eyes were filled with disdain as he looked down at Antony and Stuart wasn’t confident that Jody would stop Desmond following through on his threat.

  “I love y-” Antony was cut off as Desmond broke from Jody’s grip and threw himself at the man.

  “Stop lying.” Desmond yelled through his punches as Stuart tried to hold him back. He looked desperately towards Jody.

  “Let him have him.” Jody shrugged, crossing his arms. With a lot of effort, Stuart managed to pull Desmond off Antony, half convinced it was because Desmond was tiring, and get him pressed against the wall. Both men were panting hard as Antony lay on the ground, gasping for breath.

  “You hurt me.” Desmond shot, his voice breaking on the small sentence. Antony tried, but he couldn’t keep Desmond’s eye contact. The pain was too raw there; Desmond wasn’t hiding anything. “How can you say you love me when you’ve done this to me?”

  “Wanted… Me to…. Kill you…” Antony breathed, his voice only just audible.

  “And that’s what this whole charade was, was it? A lure to get me out of the way just to plant one in my brain?” Antony shook his head, causing Desmond to scoff. He strained to hear the muffled words Antony responded with, but with his face pressed on the floor he couldn’t be heard.

  “What?” Desmond snarled, feeling Stuart’s grip on his tighten as the anger reared inside the other man. Antony took a deep breath, pushing himself to a sitting position and looking deep into Desmond’s eyes.

  “Wanted me to kill you… Seven years ago.”

  - - -

  Seven Years earlier…

  Antony took a deep breath. He knew exactly what he needed to do. He’d been prepped for this for weeks; he’d managed to get access to sensitive files from the opposition. He knew exactly who he was after. And his alibi was all in place.

  He took a sip of his drink, barely letting the liquid pass his lips. Even the hint of the taste made him internally wince. His target had appeared to be knocking back champagne flute after champagne flute, so hopefully he was far enough gone to make this easy. Antony took another deep breath as he spun the ice around his glass. This was the one mission his entire career had been working towards. He’d completed missions before in the past, but this one was his most important. It was a simple job, and one he knew he could execute to perfection. But unlike all the times before this wasn’t a one shot job. This one had to last.

  “There is action from them. They look on the move.” Michelle’s calm voice sounded in his ear. Antony’s eyes locked on his target as a blonde man and a brunette woman in a blue dress twirled passed him. Antony had eyes for no one but the target.

  “We need to make sure they’re intercepted. Remember we have cover for this.” Danic pressed gently. There was no sense of rush from the ground. Antony caught sight of Franz disappearing through a door on his left, but it was the last thing he let himself be distracted by.

  “Do not let him leave.” The instructions were clear from Michelle and clearly just for him. Antony didn’t hesitate for a split second before he moved forwards, making sure to stumble around the girl in the Olive short dress and forwards into the tall brunette in the tuxedo who was looking to be leaving.

  “Oh!”

  “God, I am so sorry!” Antony toned up the flustered act, patting his hands pointlessly across the soaking white shirt of his target. He was trying to make the issue worse, trying to make it so his shirt was even more wet so he had a real reason to join Antony back in his room for a ‘clean shirt’.

  “It’s alright.”

  “It’s too crowded.” Antony huffed, grabbing some napkins and pressing the shirt closer to the man’s chest to make sure his skin was also damp. He couldn’t help but be a little aroused by the toned muscles he felt under the shirt. If he was going to be stuck with this guy for
a while he could at least make it worth his while.

  “It’s fine, easy mistake.”

  “No, are soaked! Please… You come with me, will get you a clean shirt.”

  “Really, it’s…” It was something he had regularly been praised about, his eyes. Apparently they had some sort of dreamy, get-lot-in-them quality. That’s how the team psychologist had described it to him. That was why he had been chosen for this specific mission above all the others that were just as qualified. Antony made sure to make his eyes as wide and open as possible, having been trained that this ‘adorable’ look activated a part of the brain that made everyone instantly feel appealed to. “Okay…” The blush that hit the guy’s cheeks let Antony knew his effect was working. Antony nodded internally; at least the guy was attractive.

  “Why do you blush? Should be me who is embarrassed for falling on you.” Antony smiled cutely. As soon as he saw the mirrored reaction on his target he knew that at least a base-line subconscious attraction had been forged. That was exactly what Antony needed to exploit. This was turning into one of the easiest missions he had ever been part of.

  “You can fall on me anytime…” There was no stopping the natural reaction of pleasure shooting through him at the target’s words. Antony was only human at the end of the day and the hint in the target’s tone really made him want more. “Sorry…” The smile fell off Antony’s face as the target pulled away from him. He was leaving: Antony was losing him.

  “Antony.” Michelle warned lightly.

  “Antony.” He mimicked, thrusting his hand out towards the target. Once again, the target fell privy to his subconscious instincts as his base-line attraction showed when he began mirroring Antony’s every move. Antony’s smile brightened a little as the target took his hand.

  “Desmond.” Antony chewed on the name a moment. It could, of course, be a false name, but the idea of surprise and ambush was supposed to leave ‘Desmond’s’ brain too dazzled to remember any cover stories. Antony hoped that Desmond was his real name; it suited him.

  “Desmond; is nice to meet you.” Antony couldn’t believe how easy this was appearing as Desmond’s posture melted a little in front of him. “I’m so sorry about your shirt. Please let me go and get you a new one.”

  “It’s no trouble.” Antony allowed himself a victorious smirk with his head turned away from Desmond. The other man was holding his hand tighter, not letting him move away. Antony had him right where he wanted him. “No trouble at all…” It changed as Antony turned back and Desmond suddenly dropped his hand, his eyes focused on something above his head. Antony moved to turn to see what Desmond was looking at but his words stopped him.

  “Actually, I was just leaving.” Antony frowned. “I… Yeah.”

  “Antony he cannot leave. They are trying to intercept the meeting.” Michelle said, his voice a little colder. Antony fixed his most natural pained expression onto his face.

  “Wait!” Antony dashed after Desmond, pushing through people with a desperation that would make an Oscar-winning actor jealous. He could see the turmoil in Desmond that the man wanted to stop. Antony just had to make him decide that was the best cause of action. “Please do not run off, I feel bad enough for soaking you as it is.”

  Antony heard Desmond mutter something as he got a hand on his arm. He could have sworn he muttered code six. Antony was certainly hoping he muttered code six; that would mean he had Desmond all to himself for the evening and whatever interception the opposition were trying now had one less player.

  “Code six from the target. It’s mine.” Antony reported to Michelle before using Desmond’s distracted nature to hook his bug out of his ear and drop it in a nearby vase. A nod from across the room let him know Horace would tend to that. He put it out of his mind as he turned back to Desmond. When he saw Desmond’s hand goes to his ear then drop to his blazer pocket he knew he’d won. He knew Desmond had just ditched his earpiece as he did. They were alone, now it was just the two of them.

  “You come, we get you a dry shirt.” Antony said assertively, taking Desmond’s hand in his. He led the other man out of the ballroom and towards the elevators with meaning. He knew how the rest of the evening panned out. They would have sex (hopefully good, though looking at Desmond Antony was certain it would be good), they would wake up the next morning and split ways, but not without Antony telling him that he’d never felt like this about anyone before and that he really wanted to see Desmond again. Flattery would get him everywhere, especially if he held off on certain sexual acts. Just to make sure Desmond had a reason to want to come back. Then he would slowly build on a foundation of that one night-stand turning into a solid relationship.

  And then he would kill him.

  - - -

  Michelle had been the waiter to bring up the drinks to their room; the drinks that already had one spiked. Desmond would think they just fell asleep curled together watching a film but in actuality Desmond lasted about five minutes into the film before his passed out. It gave Antony the chance to scour the room.

  It hadn’t taken him long to find the suitcase under the bed. Pants and socks his ass. Antony rolled his eyes at how careless Desmond had been before dragging the suitcase from under the bed and extracting Desmond’s mission files. It made Antony happy to know that the plan had worked and Desmond’s brain had been too dazed to remember his cover story. Tony Harrison certainly didn’t suit the tall man.

  Antony photographed the mission files before sending them to Michelle and placing everything back near enough where he had found it. With the haphazard mess that Desmond had left the case in he was confident that even if he’d placed everything in the wrong place Desmond would never know. Moving to Desmond’s blazer he extracted the earpiece from inside, pressing it into his ear and listening for any sounds of the mission still unfolding.

  “He’s already gone in the helicopter!” Someone raged. Antony didn’t know the voice. “Had we have got that room number earlier!”

  “Hey! I worked as fast as I could! She was reluctant to hand them over! This is why Desmond had the prior arrangement!” A female retorted. Antony looked over at the sleeping man on the bed behind him. He couldn’t help but smile; not only had he gotten his mission kick-started but he’d also managed to sabotage the interception without even meaning too.

  “He’s not angry at you, Cassandra, you know that.” Another voice said. Antony moved over to the desk, grabbing the complimentary notepad and pen that the hotel had provided. Scribbling quickly, Antony jotted down that the woman was called Cassandra. He chewed on the end of the pen, hoping for some more information on this apparent elite group.

  “Alright,” A defeated voice sighed. “Everyone stand down. Nothing more to be done tonight.”

  “We’ve got a room number,” the second male voice started. “Surely a stake out can’t hurt?”

  “Suppose not…” Whoever was leading the team was clearly taking this quite badly. Antony jotted more notes down. “Ok, Carnegie and May go set up the stake. Walker and Barnett stand down for the night.”

  “I can do something.” The first male voice gritted. Antony assumed it was Barnett.

  “If you want to do something go and kick Desmond’s teeth in.” The boss spat. Antony froze at the notion. When nothing else sounded, Antony pulled the bug from his ear. He put it back in Desmond’s blazer pocket before tearing off the sheet of paper he had written notes on and stuffing it in his trouser pocket. In fear that this Barnett would come in Desmond’s room, Antony dove onto the bed and wriggled under Desmond’s arm, just where he had been when Desmond fell asleep.

  When half an hour passed and no one appeared in the room, Antony sat up, knocking Desmond’s arm off his and pulling out his phone. Taking a picture of the notes he made, he sent the information off to Michelle with a message that read: Stake out on room.

  Antony settled back down on the bed, flicking aimlessly through the television channels. He could never sleep when his mind was so hard wired int
o a mission. His senses were too awake to shut down enough for sleep. He gave up and climbed into the shower, knowing that Desmond was dead to the World for a while and no amount of noise would wake him up. Returning to the bed with just a towel around his waist, Antony settled beside Desmond, looking down at the man whose life he was going to take in six months.

  The mission was simple: gain Desmond’s trust, get into his house, and discover everything he could about their team. Then in six months time he would take him away, torture any more information out of him, and then make his death look like an accident. Hopefully, then he could repeat it with some other agents and bring down their team in the process. With his alibi having been sent up years in advance there was no way anyone could discover he was not actually the monster trucker.

  Antony brushed his fingers through Desmond’s hair. Poor, gullible Desmond who had no idea what he’d walked into. Antony gripped his fingers tightly into Desmond’s hair, pulling his neck at an awkward angle. The thought of what he was going to do to this man, to gain his trust, only to break it in the most outrageous way. He was never going to see it coming. Desmond would never be able to predict what Antony was going to do. It made it that much more enticing to Antony, his adrenaline flowing just thinking about it.

  Dragging himself away from Desmond, Antony pulled the suitcase back out from under the bed, shifting through it to try and find something to sleep in. He knew he’d be awake before Desmond so he’d have plenty of time to put everything back where it was supposed to be. He settled on the sofa, trying to get comfortable enough to sleep. Antony was a little bumped that they hadn’t managed to have sex but at least it left that enticing opportunity on the table, left something for Desmond to want to come back for.

  - - -

  Rubbing his eyes, Antony sat up, instantly checking Desmond was still where he had left him. Checking his watch, he had about half an hour before Desmond was going to start coming around. Half an hour to straighten out the room and make it look like they had both been asleep curled together for the entire night.