The sneering senior chair, Montgomery Black, was his usual sanctimonious self, his large nose flopping from a dreary face that had been working alongside the Otherside for over half a century.
Mopped with a dusty grey comb-over, he constantly looked at Bermuda over his spectacles, as if disciplining a naughty school child.
The other three members took their turns, sniping at Bermuda with well-placed misconduct charges and cheap shots at his character defects. When Marion Wiggins, a field agent for thirty years before she retired to a life of BTCO bureaucracy, questioned why he felt it appropriate to punch a fellow agent in the face, she wasn't best pleased with Bermuda's response of 'because he's an arsehole.'
Bermuda put his case forward when given the chance. The constant provocation of Hugo for the past three years. The jealousy of his French victim, who himself was a fine agent, was bordering on obsessive, and Bermuda felt that Hugo initiated the confrontation knowing full well Bermuda had recently been attacked.
When the Committee questioned Argyle's performance Bermuda took a stand, refusing to allow his partner's reputation or commitment be questioned.
'We wouldn't be the first,' Wiggins retorted, much to Bermuda's agitated confusion.
After all of the deliberation, Bermuda was sent out of the room for the final judgement to be decided. He slowly lowered himself onto the wooden bench opposite the grand double doors to the Committee's chambers, sighing heavily. His ribs ached and he longed to be back beside Sophie.
'Not exactly the group you would invite to a party, huh?'
Bermuda offered a smile as Ottoway lowered his slightly large frame onto the bench, his three-piece suit immaculate, as always.
'I don't know. I'm pretty sure Wiggins fancies me.'
The two men chuckled and then sat for a moment in silence. After what seemed like an eternity, Ottoway spoke.
'Do you want to know why they are coming down so hard on you?
'Because I don't play nice with others?'
'No. Look, you and I both know Hugo can be a pain in the backside. But you can't just punch people because you don't like them.'
Bermuda rattled a few Tic Tacs around before popping them into his mouth.
'I don't know, seems like a pretty good reason to me.'
He offered the mints to his superior, who politely waved them away.
'They come down hard on you so they can come down hard on me.'
Bermuda turned, his eyebrows raised in confusion.
'I don't follow.'
'You have spent the last three years working for the BTCO, Jones. Sometimes even with distinction. However, do not think we do not realise you hate what your life has become. You see your gifts as the bane of your life.'
'What life?' Bermuda spoke, his voice rising in volume and anger. 'Whatever is wrong with me, whatever part of my DNA decided to fuck up, it has ruined every part of my life. So don't try and dress it up as a gift.'
'You are more than an agent, Jones.'
'I'm a pain in the arse.'
'No, you are the balance.'
Bermuda turned once more. Embarrassed, Ottoway straightened his tie, coughing slightly and trying to break the tension.
'What the hell do you mean?' Bermuda's question was laced with venom.
Ottoway slowly rose to his feet. 'Do you think this job is easy? Do you believe the Otherside is happy with living in our shadows? Slowly, the truce is snapping under the weight of expectation and realisation. They outnumber us three to one. There are more cases of Others with latch stones in the past two years than there had been in the previous twenty.
'The Committee wants to bend over, let more of them in. However, I have opposed them at every turn. You want to know why?'
Bermuda looked up, shrugging his shoulders and craving a cigarette.
'Because this is OUR world, Jones. We are the thin line that divides our world from theirs, and believe me, that line is getting thinner by the day.'
'So wait—they are pissed at me because of you?'
'No. They are pissed at me because I brought you in. You are the one that can walk in both worlds. That is power that has never been seen before, and while it sits on our side, the balance is maintained.'
Bermuda nodded slowly, his eyes widening as realisation grabbed him.
'Wait. Walk in both worlds. That's what Barnaby said. It's why he wants to Converge.'
'Eliminate the balance and the scales tip.' Ottoway stared at Bermuda, his eyes pleading for him to understand.
'What do you need?' Bermuda asked, pushing himself from the bench and approaching his boss. A new respect hung between them, threatening their usual repertoire.
'I need you to go in there and say sorry, agree to the punishment, find Argyle, and then do what it is that you do best.'
'Drink and look good doing it?' Bermuda broke the seriousness, hoping to lower the tension. Ottoway smiled politely.
'Finding people.' He patted Bermuda on the back firmly before pulling out his pocket watch. He nodded his appreciation to his agent before slowly walking down the corridor. Bermuda took a few moments, allowing the speech from Ottoway to resonate in his mind a little longer. Just before his boss was rounding the corner, he spoke up.
'What if I can't stop him?'
Ottoway turned at the question.
'What if I fail?'
Ottoway snapped shut his pocket watch. 'Then the balance shifts to the point that it can't shift back.'
The words echoed through the empty corridor, surrounding Bermuda like an angry swarm. Ottoway disappeared, his backing of Bermuda coming as a welcome shock.
His hatred for his curse had caused him to despise a world that knew no different. The families and relationships that passed him by in the streets, oblivious to the reality of the world and taking themselves for granted.
All the things he longed for and craved that existed in the world hung on him being him.
Being an agent of BTCO.
Being Bermuda Jones.
Suddenly the large lock unlatched with a clang and the massive door slowly opened. The secretary, sat in the corner of the Committee chambers, that had spent the afternoon scribing, poked her thick-matted-hair-covered head through the gap.
'Mr Jones, please come back in.'
The door sounded like thunder as it slammed behind him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
HUGO LAPONE GREW UP in Paris, France in a life of luxury. His parents, Yohan and Amelia, were both highly acclaimed doctors, working in Paris General Hospital and forging careers as two of the best medical professionals in the country.
A charmed life as an only child, Hugo believed for many years that his visions were just imagination, his need for companionship manifesting in all of its childish exuberance. Slowly, throughout his teenage years, he began to understand the severity of his visions.
We were not alone in the world, yet he was alone in seeing it.
As he approached his late twenties, Hugo began to communicate with the Otherside, as an Other took up residence in the alleyway behind his bachelor pad. Ever the ladies’ man, Hugo never settled down into married life.
His handsomeness only outweighed by his arrogance.
As his friendship began to grow with the Other, so did his interest. The next few years were filled with research and solitude, with Hugo working like a man possessed to prove that he was not crazy.
That another world existed.
But eventually, he kicked one beehive too many and was brutally savaged by an 'Alpha', a large Other with a penchant for violence. Just before he could land the killer blow, the Alpha was tackled by a thin reptilian Other who would recruit Hugo to the BTCO.
Marco.
Eight years later, they were the standout agents in their sector. With the BTCO performing with minimal staff and under the radar, their sectors were vast and few. Hugo could be assigned a case anywhere in Europe, having been sent to investigate disturbances in small village in Hungary to having Marco b
attle an Other outside the Coliseum in Rome.
Eight years, he was the one held in the highest regard.
Then Bermuda was recruited.
Never one to admit jealousy, Hugo took an instant dislike to the man. He was quick-witted and handsome, an immediate threat to what Hugo had prided himself on. He was confident without being cocky and genuinely seemed to despise his gift.
Yet for some reason he was bestowed with what Hugo had always dreamt of.
The ability to walk in both worlds.
When the rumours began to circle, that a man had been to the Otherside and returned, Hugo refused to believe it. When that man, Franklyn Jones, was promoted instantly to an agent, he almost knocked Ottoway's door down in protest.
The man was untrained, and more importantly, unprepared for what to expect—yet Ottoway kept saying it was being overlooked due to the benefit.
The man was a ticking time bomb, and about as subtle as one, to boot.
Whilst Bermuda slowly began to forge a reputation as a man who gets results yet completely ignores the rules, Hugo began being ignored, only being handed the cases that either involved hours of travel or mind-numbing paperwork. Soon, all of the back slaps seemed to head Bermuda's way.
All because he could interact.
Hugo spent hours praying and wishing for the ability. For it to be stripped of such a reluctant host and given to an agent worthy of such power. All he wanted was to be seen as what he truly was.
Better than Bermuda.
Now that chance had come. Whilst he stood for the returning Committee members, Hugo glanced to his right. Bermuda also stood, surprisingly scrubbing up well in his suit. If only he had made such an effort to be a decent agent, he wouldn't be here.
The Committee had seen the evidence, heard the eye witnesses, and were forced to do the right thing. The plasters strapped across Hugo's obliterated nose held the bones in place. Both of his eyes wore a dark shade of purple.
There were no excuses and no Ottoway to protect him.
As the Committee took their seats and asked the two agents to be seated, Hugo could barely contain his excitement.
Bermuda would be gone.
'Mr Jones, please stand.' Montgomery Black spoke, not looking up from his papers.
Bermuda begrudgingly obliged.
'The Committee has reached a final decision in regards to your punishment, regarding the breach of conduct. In light of your assault on Agent LaPone, you are hereby sentenced to suspension, pending further investigation.'
'But sir...' Bermuda tried to speak.
'DO NOT INTERUPT ME!' His words were oozing venom. 'This has taken into account your recent careless defacing of public property and the cost of damages to London landmarks. You are hereby instructed to issue a formal apology to Agent LaPone and then hand over your badge and any weaponry the BTCO has been foolish enough to bestow upon you.'
Hugo smirked, fist pumping privately as he watched his nemesis ostracized by those who knew best. The Committee waited and Bermuda took a few moments. Slowly, he pushed his chair back and looked at them all.
'Ladies and gentlemen, may I say a few words?'
A few quiet murmurs.
'You have the floor.' Wiggins waved him to the space between their elevated desk and the tables that the two agents sat at. Bermuda slowly walked before them, looking them all in the eye.
'Look at me,' Bermuda urged. 'Take a good look.'
The Committee members mumbled in confusion, theirs drawn to the battered state of Bermuda's face. His eye, still slightly swollen, was framed by bruising and a thick scar.
'I didn't ask to be an agent. In fact, I never asked for any of this. All I ever wanted was to see the world the way everyone else does. To be able to work a nine-to-five and go home to a house full of love and happiness. To be able to at least hold my daughter and tell her I love her. But I can't.
'I can't because this world isn't the only world out there. We all know this, but we can't share it. We manage it. We keep an eye on it so the people who have the lives we crave get to have them. Their perfect world surrounded by a more dangerous one they don't know exists.'
'Get to the point, Jones.' Black spoke, agitated at the gall of the young man before him.
'You need me.'
Bermuda stared at the members before him, feeling the words of Ottoway resonating within him.
'Excuse me?' Black responded, veins straining against his temples with rage.
'You need me. It's okay, because I'm starting to realise that I need you, too. I need a purpose. This curse, or whatever the hell it is, has ruined my life, but I won't let it be for nothing.'
'You're saying it is your destiny?' Wiggins chipped in, Bermuda sensing that she was slightly warming to him.
'No.'
'Then what?' Black demanded, his thick grey eyebrows scrunched into a frown.
'Right now, Barnaby is out there, and he's stealing people. He's bringing this convergence to its end. He's already stronger than me, and when his connection with our world is complete, then we are screwed. I don't know when or where that will be, but right now I'm the best chance you got.'
An awkward silence sat in the room as Bermuda looked around the room.
'Now I am an arsehole, I know that. But there are still a few things left in this world worth fighting for. So let me for fight them. Let me find Barnaby and try and stop him. If I do, I will walk back in here, give you my badge, and take whatever punishment you want.'
'And if you don't stop him?' a cynical Black asked, his arms folded in disappointment at the sense Bermuda's words relayed.
'Then it doesn't really matter, does it?' Bermuda shrugged. 'We will all be erased.'
A look of panic was shared by the senior members. Bermuda stepped forward, experiencing a feeling of acceptance for the first time.
'Let me be the balance.'
The Committee members huddled together, their scattered whispers inaudible to Bermuda or his adversary. Hugo angrily watched on in disbelief.
Black cleared his throat. 'Very well.'
'Thank you. All of you.'
Bermuda turned to leave as Hugo slammed his fists angrily on the table.
'What the hell?' His French accent more prominent with rage. 'This is an outrage.'
'Oh, and on the grounds of apologising to my fellow agent, Hugo,' Bermuda interrupted, looking his sneering colleague up and down. 'I'd rather have intimate first-hand knowledge of Osama Bin Laden's ball-bag.'
Wiggins sniggered as Black just shook his head.
'Dismissed.'
HUGO SLAMMED THROUGH the doors, marching angrily down the corridor and turning the air a shade of French blue. Before the doors could rock back on their hinges, Bermuda emerged, a look of determination on his face which quickly turned to surprise.
'I assume it didn't go Hugo's way?' Vincent mused, a wry smile across his ancient face.
'He'll be fine.' Bermuda shook a couple of mints into his hand. 'He just needs to be less of a dick.'
'Quite.'
'What can I do for you, Vincent?'
'I've been looking for you.'
'You and everyone else, it seems,' Bermuda joked, crunching the Tic Tacs between his teeth.
'I have been doing some research in regards to your condition.'
Bermuda reached out, grabbing Vincent by the arm and leading him to a quiet nook just off of the main corridor. Vincent, taken slightly aback by Bermuda's ability to manhandle him, shook him off.
'Let's not broadcast that, eh?'
'Unhand me.'
'Sorry.' Bermuda held his hands up in apology, looking around to ensure they were alone. 'What have you found?'
'Well, it would seem that Barnaby's actions with regards to his convergence had caused an anomaly in the existence with your world and that of my own.'
'Meaning?'
'Meaning his plan to merge with this world is nearly at fruition. Hence why he was able to hurl you through that wall.'
'No, he had a latch stone. I saw it hanging around his neck.' Bermuda responded, shaking his head in disagreement.
'Well, it would seem that would soon be rendered useless. With the results of my tests, I would conclude he need only steal one more person for a convergence before his dream becomes reality.'
'And our reality becomes a nightmare.'
'Exactly.' Vincent's grey skin looked even paler. 'He needs to be stopped.'
Bermuda nodded, patting the senior Neither on the shoulder before turning to head towards the exit and sweet release of a cigarette.
'The convergence will reach out to you too,' Vincent called out, causing Bermuda to stop in his tracks.
He turned, eyebrow raised and a flurry of questions racing through his mind. He strode back across the corridor, footsteps echoing.
'What the hell does that mean?' Bermuda asked, trying hard to mask the fear in his voice.
'Like you said, the Otherside is trying to claim you. Pull you back.'
Bermuda reluctantly agreed.
'Well with the anomalies disrupting the link between the worlds, that pull could be considerably stronger.'
'So basically, anything Otherside is a no-no?'
'That is correct.'
Bermuda drew a sharp breath through gritted teeth, weighing up the new information.
'I guess I'll just have to take my chances.' He reached out to pat Vincent on the shoulder before stopping a few inches away and then retracting. He flashed the Neither a grin before marching towards the elevator to return him above ground and back to the real world.
As the doors opened, Vincent spoke.
'What are you going to do?'
Bermuda looked up at him, for once truly accepting the size of the task and the responsibility that rested with him.
He thought of kissing Sophie one more time.
He imagined being able to hold his daughter once again.
The doors began to slide shut.
'I'm going to save the world.'
They closed, the elevator whizzing back towards civilization as Vincent stared at the steel doors before him.
Doorways Page 19
