Sorrow fought to control her face. It didn’t seem appropriate to be grinning like this. Sending Five and Six away was a grave matter.

'Rein it in,' said Alex, scowling at her.

'I’m trying,' said Sorrow.

'You’re doing fine.' It was Cepha, moving towards them through the dispersing crowd. She’d left Number Seven behind by the wall where he stood with his back to them typing on one of his phones.

'You can’t send her back out into the field while she’s riding a high like this,' said Alex.

'I’ll be ok,' said Sorrow.

'Oh the times I’ve said that right before making a fool of myself,' said Alex.

'Don’t rush back to your spy,' said Cepha. 'Take a few minutes.' She turned to look at Seven’s back. 'Give him a chance to process this. It’s rare that he comes across something he’s never seen before.'

Cepha continued to stare at Seven’s back.

'Is there something wrong?' said Sorrow.

'Mm?' said Cepha.

'You’re staring at him as if there’s something wrong,' said Sorrow.

'And you don’t usually stare at people unless you have something to say,' said Alex.

'He has the look of a man in the midst of making a mistake,' said Cepha.

'Really?' said Alex. She stared at Number Seven. 'Now you come to mention it…'

Sorrow looked from Alex, to Cepha, to Number Seven. She wanted to say that they were wrong but she recognised the way his shoulders were slumped as he hunched over his phone. She’d seen her father’s shoulders like that right before the argument with her step mother that led to him sleeping in the shed for three days.

Those were the shoulders of a man winding up to do something or say something that he regarded as necessary but unpleasant. That was the posture of a man who was sure he was right but who disliked what he was right about.

Sorrow thought back to the terrible row and what her father had said about it in the days afterwards and repeated at every wedding anniversary since. 'There are some mistakes that you have to make if only to get them out of the way,' she said.

'Whatever this mistake is you’ll be the one to deal with the fall out,' said Cepha. 'Unless you want me to pull you. We can replace you with Jude. Let him deal with it.'

'No,' said Sorrow. 'I’m sticking with the job until the end.'

Number Seven finished whatever he was doing on his phone. He turned, saw her staring at him, and smiled one of his cold, but somehow dazzling, smiles. He started towards her but his phone rang in his hand and he stopped to answer it.

'When things go wrong around SIS they go wrong badly and quickly,' said Cepha. 'Do not hang around waiting for the other shoe to drop, just get out at the first opportunity.'

Number Seven put his phone away and hurried towards Sorrow. Cepha and Alex melted into the departing crowd as he approached.

'My Boss has something for us,' said Seven. 'We have to go to HQ.'

***

Number Seven was on edge as they entered HQ. Something was off. The building felt strangely hostile. The receptionist gave him a pitying look and sent them not to the Boss’s office but to the conference room on the floor above.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

He gave Sorrow a sidelong glance as they climbed the stairs. Did she feel it too? That tension? She showed no sign. Her face wore the same smooth brow and half smile as usual. The opposite of resting bitch face.

The door of the conference room swung shut behind them and Seven heard it lock. Sorrow must have heard it too but she didn’t react.

The room was unusually bare. Normally it was full of tables, either pushed together to form a single big table or arranged in a ring and surrounded by chairs. Now there were only three tables spread out across the room between them and the single chair where the Boss sat. She wasn’t alone.

The Boss was flanked by two of the largest men currently on active service. One was a junior. Head of the shortlist to replace Number Three. If this was his field test then someone had done the poor man a horrible disservice.

'I have one question for you, Major Sorrow. Where is Number Four?' said the Boss. Her voice was tight. There was an edge there that made Number Seven’s heart sink.

Sorrow shrugged. 'If we knew, you’d know.'

'It’s over. We’ve had one of your feathers tested. We know that you killed Number One. We know that you have access to our poisons. We know you can bypass locks and control birds. You put the feathers in both safe houses. It’s been you all along. The only question now is where is Number Four?'

'And I have a question for you,' said Sorrow. 'Why would I do a damn fool thing like that? And why so slowly?'

'You worship a Goddess of vengeance. We’ve done a lot of things that need avenging. I’m sure you have plenty of reasons.'

'I don’t worship anyone. I am a Goddess and now you have my full attention.' Sorrow’s hair stood up, her skin grew paler. Her eyes took on a yellow glow. Everything about her said that she was ready to unleash her wrath but she was also backing towards the window.

Seven understood now why they were in the conference room. There was no balcony and the windows were blast proof and didn’t open. They had trapped her, and now her only way out was through them.

The two large men guarding the Boss revealed the pistols they’d been concealing and the larger one shot Sorrow in the kneecap. Or rather, tried to. By the time the bullet got to where her kneecap had been she was standing on the table and kicking him in the face. His head snapped back with a crunching sound that was probably his spine.

Sorrow reached under the back of her jacket and pulled out a kukri. She leapt at the other man. She grabbed his gun hand and at the same time elbowed him in the face hard enough that Seven could hear the bone crack from five feet away. There was a terrible pause as she stared at his arm as if visualising the bones inside. Then she brought the kukri down right through his wrist and severed his hand.

She threw the hand at the boss, 'I’d get that on ice if I were you. Might save the cost of the prosthesis. You should call a medic for the other one. If they can get him stabilised quickly enough he might walk again.' She looked at Seven with rage in her eyes and he realised that his own pistol was in his hand.

'Is there a plan here?' said Seven.

'Of course,' said the Boss.

Seven heard the tiny sound of the murder holes being opened. There were dozens of peepholes that looked into the room and he knew that behind each one was a gun and a killer holding it.

Sorrow backed towards the window.

This was all wrong. Sorrow was holding back. She could have killed both men, and the boss, and him if she wanted to. She could have kicked her way through the locked door, hacked her way to the roof and escaped. She had done just enough damage to those men to ensure that everyone knew to stay away.

Seven moved to the centre of the room. He knew he was blocking many lines of fire but not all of them. He raised his gun.

Sorrow removed her coat and Seven fancied that he could see the light glinting off her wings. Like seeing the iridescence of a hummingbird's feathers but not the feathers themselves.

'I’m so sorry,' he said and fired.

The window behind Sorrow crackled as the bullet hit, but it held. He winked at Sorrow and she threw herself to the left. He fired again at the space where she’d been standing and more cracks appeared in the glass. She dived right and he fired. Another hole in the glass and more cracks. She spun on the spot and punched the crazed area of glass. Anyone else would have broken every bone in their hand but she was able to hack a ragged hole in the glass.

She squeezed through the hole and dropped out of sight. Seven dared not take the time to consider his actions. He dived after her screaming her name. Out of the hole in the glass and into the cold air. Falling. Screaming, 'SORROW!' and thinking that this was easily the stupidest thing that he had ever done.

He felt his heart rate climb and time slow. He could hear Sorrow screaming something. It sounded like, 'You dick,' only much slower.

For a moment he was sure he was dead. Then Sorrow crashed into him from behind and above and grabbed him under the arms. But they kept falling.

'You massive twat,' she said between panting breaths, 'these wings are not big enough for two.' They were headed for the river but it wasn’t flight so much as an angled fall.

'You said they were metaphorical wings,' he said.

'Shut up unless you want to swallow half the river.'