'What?' said the voice from the phone. She didn’t sound amused. That one syllable was sharp and impatient with the t sound practically spat at Alex.

'I’m just checking that everything is ok. No one giving you trouble getting the files you need?' said Alex.

Six winced. How could someone as bright as Alex be so bad at reading people? He could tell from just the one word he’d heard that this was the wrong approach to take.

'She lies,' said Six.

'Shut up,' said Alex.

'Just give me the phone,' said Six.

'I do not take orders from you,' said Alex.

'Give him the phone,' said the voice from the phone. She sounded angry.

'I don’t take orders from you either,' said Alex.

'I’m asking to speak to a Blank and I’m asking as the Historian of Secrets,' said the voice.

Alex turned the phone screen to face Six.

The woman on the screen looked deeply unimpressed. 'You were saying?'

'She lies. She’s not calling you to check up on you. She’s calling you because she’s dying of curiosity. She’s spent the last two days complaining about not being able to look at the files and telling me how it’s her own damn fault for not having promoted you to the job years ago,' said Six.

Alex covered her face with her hand.

'Has she now?' Cutty did not sound convinced.

'Reading between the lines she seems to think that you would have spent more time reading and less time flirting,' said Six.

'It would be hard to spend more time flirting than Alex does.' Cutty was trying to frown but Six could hear the smile in her voice. 'Give her the phone back.'

Alex uncovered her face and took the phone back. 'So?' said Alex, clearly trying not to give too much away by her expression.

'A couple of things,' said Cutty. 'Firstly, if you want to know something specific, just send a text or write a memo or something. Otherwise just wait and you’ll get my report as soon as I have something to report. All the digital files are already available to you if you can’t wait for my report.'

'Thanks,' said Alex.

'And secondly, you guys do know that this is a video call, right? You’re not wearing your dress. He’s not wearing anything. That’s a pillow behind your head. I’m just dying to find out why you decided to call me mid-foreplay. I mean, I assume it’s foreplay. If I find out that you’ve started screaming my name during sex I will be telling everyone. Seriously. I’ll put that on a t-shirt.'

'I had my phone in my bra…' said Alex.

'And the phone unlocked because it was touching your skin and he accidentally hit redial. Why didn’t you just say that? I’m not going to judge you for a little fun on the job. Everyone knows how you and Jude are. You want me to sequester the cameras in the room for the next hour or so?'

'Don’t worry about it,' said Alex.

'Hmmm,' said Cutty. 'Let me speak to the spy again.'

Alex turned the phone around again. Cutty was grinning but it was the kind of grin that suggested that someone was in trouble.

'Can you do everyone in the Archive a favour and tire her out?' said Cutty.

Six had not expected that but she seemed serious. 'I’ll do my best.'

'Excellent. This job is a lot easier when you’re not being micromanaged. Bye for now.' Cutty waved and the screen went blank.

Six handed the phone back and Alex put it down on her chair.

'That went well,' said Six.

'You are never to speak to one of my subordinates on my behalf again,' said Alex.

'Fine, but you need to take a course in how to talk to people.'

'Cutty is not… I mean she’s a lot harder to talk to than I’m used to.'

'That woman has absolutely no side to her. Just be honest. You could have solved this at any time with a text or an email that just explained what happened.'

'All that from a two minute conversation?'

'A two minute conversation in which I got exactly what I wanted.'

'That was a fluke,' said Alex.

'Half my job is knowing how to get what I want out of someone. You’re too used to the kind of brittle, status obsessed arsehole who never says what they mean. She sees no reason to ever pretend to be something that she’s not. That’s why you drive each other mad. Conversationally you’re playing poker and she’s playing cribbage,' said Six.

'It can’t possibly be that easy,' said Alex.

'Simple is not the same as easy. If honesty were easy I’d be out of a job.' Six leaned in closer. 'Are you going to let me tire you out then?'

'If you think you can,' said Alex.

'There’s only one way to find out,' he said. He kissed the hollow of her throat.

'Don’t push yourself,' said Alex. 'You’re not well. It’s…' she stopped trying to speak because Six had his tongue in her mouth. When he stopped kissing her she spoke again, 'It’s a bad idea.'

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'It’s a terrible idea but I have nothing better to do today. You?' He moved her loosened bra out of the way and bent his head to her breasts. He was gentle at first, stroking and kissing with increasing ardour until his teeth brushed her nipple and he heard that distinctive sharp intake of breath that meant he’d hit the sweet spot. That place where pleasure and pain are the same thing.

Her hands were in his hair but he could feel that tension in them again. What to do about that? Her exaggerated fear of injuring him was a distraction. He could pin her hands with his and continue with his tongue but he’d been planning on scouting ahead with his fingers. Also if he relied on his tongue alone to tire her out he was bound to hurt his neck.

He looked up and saw inspiration. He took her hands and slipped them into the restraints hanging from the top of the bed. They weren’t tight enough to prevent her from moving but that wasn’t the point.

'The safe world is Churchill,' he said, 'or just tell me to stop.'

'For me to tell you to stop you’d have to actually do something,' said Alex.

'Patience is a virtue,' he said. He returned to her breasts. Kissing, teasing, nibbling as his hand walked down her body and crept into her knickers.

He thought back to the time that Number Two had given him a crash course in how to make love like a lesbian because he had to be a convincing lesbian for an op and it was just possible it might come up.

Step one was don’t stampede the clitoris. Make sure she’s aroused and then let her tell you when it’s ready. That wasn’t going to be a problem here because the moment his fingers got close she started angling her hips trying to guide them straight to it.

Step two was to find out how this clitoris liked to be touched. As a lesbian it was assumed that you already knew how to find it. Alex’s clitoris liked a firm touch. He circled it with his thumb and she ground against his hand, demanding rougher treatment.

Step three was to keep doing whatever the clitoris wanted with optional added digital penetration. Number Two had given him a twenty minute lecture on the subject of how penetration of any kind was just one dish in the banquet of female sexual pleasure and it was a dish that not every woman enjoyed.

He slid two fingers inside her and they seemed welcome enough. He kept the pressure on with his thumb as his fingers pushed deeper, searching for the right spot. He knew when he’d found it because suddenly he was able to make her back arch and her hips lift right off the bed with just two fingers and a thumb.

He’d forgotten how much fun this was. Alex wasn’t the most vocal bed partner he’d ever had but the noises she did make were adorable. He lifted her higher and wriggled down the bed until he could just reach her clitoris with his tongue. He pushed a third finger inside, then a fourth.

Her body quivered as his tongue circled her clitoris. He could feel her on the edge of orgasm, desperate for him to keep going. He ignored the messages from his own body demanding that he stop faffing about with his fingers and put something else inside her.

He needed to keep doing exactly what he was doing until he triggered a cascade of orgasms that would eventually result in her falling asleep so that he could steal her ID and break out.

She was arching her back, pushing against him, forcing his fingers deeper and grinding against his tongue. He sucked, hard, and knew that he’d done it. He could feel the waves of it crashing through her body. Now she was panting, whispering, saying the same thing over and over again. At first he couldn’t quite catch it but repetition revealed what she was saying.'

'Fuck me,' she said.

'I am,' he said.

She made a sound like a growl in the back of her throat and said, 'With your penis,' as if she was appalled that she had to clarify it.

Her words made it hard to continue to ignore the demands of his own body and he wasn’t about to deny an explicit command like that. He wriggled out of his boxers and stripped her knickers from her.

One hand to guide him in and the other gripping the top of the bed. He felt her hands, still in the restraints, gripping his wrist. Her lips on his throat as he thrust into her.

It was good. Too good. Two thrusts and he’d forgotten why he was doing what he was doing. He was lost in the sensation. Finding the rhythm, finding the angle.

Alex caught him with her gaze and he fell into her eyes. She had freed her hands and they seemed to be everywhere, on his hips pulling him deeper, on his chest, on his face. She was speaking again. Muttering. Words he could hear but not understand. Words that almost didn’t seem to be words.

She kissed him right as he began to climax, and touched him in the centre of his forehead. Suddenly everything was bright as if the room was filled with light. It was almost blinding but he could see Alex, the source of the light, surrounded by a glowing aura.

His orgasm ended. His mind emptied. His eyes closed and he slumped on top of Alex.

He was dimly aware of her moving. She slipped the restraints over his wrists and used them to hold him in place while she wriggled out from under him and adjusted his position. She laid a sheet over him, collected her clothes and he heard her head for the bathroom.

A minute later he sensed someone sit down in Alex’s seat. He could still hear running water in the bathroom so it couldn’t be Alex.

'If it’s any consolation,' said the familiar voice, 'this happens to Lucky way more than he lets on.'

'Five? What are you doing here? Lucky said you were dying?'

'I am dying. And I’m not exactly here,' said Five.

Six forced his eyes open and looked at his friend. What there was of him. He was hardly there at all. Six could see the chair through him.

'How can I see you… mostly see you?' said Six.

'There’s a reason the French call it la petite mort,' said Five. 'Also I think your girlfriend did something tricky to your third eye. Which apparently is a thing. I’m here to say goodbye. I need to do a job. They’re sending me somewhere to steal the cure to the poison. They’re calling the place Avalon but I don’t think that’s its only name and I know there’s stuff they don’t say out loud about it.' Five looked away. 'I don’t know if I can do it.'

'You’re the best thief in the world. Of course you can.'

'But I’ve got nothing to work with. No information, no plan, no back up,' said Five.

'If you can get me out of here I’ll be your back up,' said Six.

'Tell your new girlfriend. Of course you’ll have to wake the fuck up first,' said Five.

***

Number Seven sat in the coffee shop in the Foyer of St Thomas’ and wondered why he hadn’t just walked out of the building already. What was he doing waiting here for some potentially untrustworthy minder to come and tell him what he was allowed to do next? He should just leave. He could head to HQ and find out what they’d got from Sorrow’s feather.

'A penny for them?' said Sorrow, dropping into the seat across the table.

'I was just wondering how Six is getting on,' he lied.

'What have you done?' said Sorrow.

'He’s desperate to get out of here. I might have suggested using my methods,' he said.

'Your methods? Did you tell him to shag his way out because that’s not going to work.'

'Seems unlikely. Particularly since I primed Alex to seduce him.'

'So they’re each trying to seduce the other? That’s terrible. I love it,' said Sorrow.

'Can we leave?' said Seven.

'You don’t want to wait and see if your boy makes it out of the lifts?'

'I’ll be surprised if he makes it out of the bed.'

'That’s a terrible thing to say about a friend,' said Sorrow.

'I don’t really have friends. Just colleagues who are not currently trying to kill me,' said Seven.

'Well aren’t you a tragic figure? I bet all the girls love a bit of brooding man pain.'

'Can we go?'

'Not yet,' said Sorrow. 'They’ve decided to send Number Five to steal the antidote for the poison.'

'He’s in a coma,' said Seven.

'We’re sending him to Avalon. It’s not real in the usual sense so he doesn’t need to be conscious to go. They do need me to send him though.' Her yPhone chirped and she glanced at the screen, 'What the fuck did you do?' She turned the phone to face him.

On the screen was a text from Alex. It said, ‘Six is talking in his sleep. He’s demanding to go to Avalon with Five. What the hell is going on?’

'That is not what I had in mind,' said Seven.