Thread: In Cold Blood [Mach & Merc]

Are you sure you want to do this? whispered the familiar and caring voice across the table. The words hung in the air like storm clouds. Another body had been found. An undercover agent who had been attempting to do the same thing she was about to. He had been mutilated to the point where he had been identified by a scar on his hairline only after his body had been washed of the blood. Green eyes continued to study the files before her and reacquaint herself with the familiar face distorted with the effects of age. It had been almost twelve years since shed last laid eyes on the face in the photograph. Would he recognize her? Would she recognize him ? Memories swirled just behind the lenses of her eyes, threatening to drag her away to places shed rather not go. The smallest smirk tugged at the corners of her lips threateningly an unwelcome sense of pride emerging from a darkness that shed shoved down long ago. A darkness with a different name. A hand touched over the back of her own, and green eyes flashed up to collide with blue. Allison? Are you sure? Its not too late to change your mind. No one at the Bureau will blame you. His fingers curled in with her own and she exhaled slowly, feeling the urge to drop her gaze back down at the face on the photograph again, but she kept her gaze in his own anchoring herself to the present. Her fingers moved to slide out from his own as she frowned. Im not going to change my mind, she stated firmly biting back the comment on her name not being Allison before it could escape. Iris Hannigan had been going by Allison Paige for just over a decade. Ever since her father had turned over incriminating evidence to try and gut the very crime ring she was about to infiltrate, her identity had been constructed for her. Allison Paige had moved to Loveland, Colorado when she was only eleven years old with absolutely nothing of her own. She had hated the endless fields of empty grassland and the small town folks with their small town minds. Her father had worked hard to erase the memories of growing up in a mansion in upstate New York. Of visiting the city with her uncle and playing with her toys in the corner while he conducted business. She had loved it. She had hated her father. Eventually life fell into an easy rhythm. She took an interest in criminal psychology, and when it came time to graduate high school Allison already had several college credits under her belt. Her fortitude landed her on the fast track to become an agent. Although she looked nothing like the soft-spoken, princess-obsessed little girl she had been when she was younger, now covered in tattoos with a sharp haircut and an even sharper tongue, she was familiar enough that she would never be able to be a field agent. Not in New York City. Until her real identity was the very reason she needed to be in the field. Very well, another voice sounded on the far side of the room. Allison looked up and over to her boss, pulling her hands down from the table in front of her to rest on her lap as he came over with a fabricated mug shot and criminal history. As you know, Agent, you will be arrested for grand larceny, possession of stolen property, and possession of narcotics with an intent to distribute under your identity Hayley Sherwood. While awaiting sentencing, you will be placed in the same bunk as Taylor Baby Shaw, daughter of one of the men your father put away. It is your job to make sure she recognizes you. You will be released on a technicality. A rookie will mishandle and lose many key pieces of evidence in your case, and your state-appointed lawyer will get you released. Allison looked over the pictures of the people in front of her. They were familiar names, and nearly familiar faces, but time away had blurred many of her memories of them. She lifted her hand up to touch the mug shot of Baby studying how the years had changed the once soft face. You will be on your own, Agent. There will not be anyone with you to protect you as you make your way to your target. You will be exposed, your true identity revealed, and there will be a price on your head. This is a deep undercover operation. You will contact your handler only once you are integrated into the syndicate and are certain your cover will not be blown. Do you understand? Yes. Four Months Later She could taste the copper in her mouth from where shed bit her cheek. Her ears were still ringing though the pitch was lessening as time went on. Sitting in the metal chair in the middle of the spartan room, Iris rubbed at her neck as she waited. Shed been bagged and tossed in the back of a van while making her way through China Town. A few rough hands later, and she was here. She didnt recognize where she went, though she tried to count the time and track the turns, but after a while she had to give up. When theyd arrived to their destination, the men who had taken her had kept the sack over her head as she was lead to this room. They had her hands bound behind her back with zip ties and another around her neck to keep the bag in place. Theyd stripped her down to her underwear and tank top, though their hands didnt linger. A few whistles and half-handed remarks were mostly centered around her tattoos which covered the majority of her body. She wondered if they'd been given orders not to touch her. Though she couldn't see them, she could feel them keeping their distance from her as if afraid of the consequences. Iris had been admittedly terrified. Being kidnapped, bound and then exposed was not how she wanted this day to go. But it had been hours. They had long ago removed the zip ties and the bag, leaving her to explore her empty basement-like room and wait. It gave her plenty of time to get lost in her own head. Pacing the room, raking her hands through her hair, chewing on her lips and nails as her memories came and went unbidden. A show of uncertain fear, undoubtedly, for the person on the other side of the camera mounted in the corner of the room where wall met ceiling. About the time that her nerves had begun to settle, the door opened. The sound went through her like a jolt of electricity, and Iris had to coach herself to calm down. She exhaled slowly, counting to three in her head as she turned her cheek to look over her shoulder and meet the eyes of the man who entered.