Witch Showdown in Westerham

Chapter 1

Istared at Will, my heart a heavy bass beat vibrating in my ears. He stood at the hotel-room door and looked out of the peephole. Ma’am was out in the hall, using her talent to persuade the two non-witch Russian guards of the room opposite to help her with directions. Once they were suitably distracted, Ma’am was going to taser them. We couldn’t use magic because the witch double agent in the room they were guarding would notice and slip away, and the job we’d been sent to do for MI6 would fail.

I licked my lips. Waiting. Argh. It was the worst.

Crackling came from the hallway. Will ripped the door open, and we ran into the corridor.

Ma’am stood over both men, a Taser in each of her hands. The two men in black suits writhed on the ground. Also, why did bad guys and agents always wear black suits? Was it because the blood didn’t show up? I shook my head to rid it of the thought invader that would surely derail what I was supposed to be doing.

I opened the river to my magic as Will put a keycard against the hotel door. He shoved the door open, and we ran inside.

Two men sat facing each other in plush silvery-blue armchairs. The one facing us jumped to his feet as soon as he saw us. The one with his back to us jerked his head around. His wide eyes took a moment to register we were witches drawing magic, but before he could draw magic of his own, I caught him with a freeze spell. Will sprinted to him and slapped anti-magic cuffs on his wrists. I dropped my spell.

The other man’s lips pinched. His gruff voice made his Russian accent even more fear-inducing. Vot is meaning of zis? His hand strayed to his hip. We were warned he would be carrying guns. Yep, not one gun, but possibly several. As per my instructions from Ma’am, I threw a freeze spell on Vladimir Petrov. He wasn’t a witch, so Ma’am was going to have to mind wipe him when MI6 were done with him.

One of the MI6 agents who knew about my talents strode into the room. Cyril Adams, like Will and me, was wearing a black suit and white shirt. I guessed if any of us got sick of the agent life, we could transition easily into waiting tables. The tall, Black man stopped in front of the MI6 double agent. He shoved Agent Barry Smythe back into the chair. Agent Adams folded his arms and peered down at Smythe. You’re doing this the wrong way around. Disgust curled his lip. He shook his head, then turned and grabbed a hard plastic foolscap binder folder off the table and a memory stick. He turned to me. Please ensure you get all the photos we need. I want to make sure this is it.

Of course.

Ma’am walked in and surveyed the scene. She turned to Agent Adams. Your men have locked those guards in the other suite. She flicked her gaze to the frozen Russian on the couch. He mightn’t be able to move, but he could hear everything. You can question him in here, but make sure you get all the information ASAP. The less I have to mind wipe, the better. I’m also going to have to implant some memories. Her magic prickled my scalp. A plastic binder and memory stick that looked identical to what Agent Adams held appeared in her hands. She put them on the table. When I’m done, as far as he’ll remember, he’ll have the information he needs. After that, Barry is going to disappear. She gave Barry a stern look. I was glad I wasn’t Barry. Ma’am’s death stares could strike fear into the hardest of hearts. God knew I’d suffered my share.

The Russian guy wasn’t as hard to hold a freeze spell on compared to a witch, so I could afford to wait until someone told me to let up.

Barry’s worried gaze found the door, and he jumped up. I opened my mouth to warn everyone, but Will was on top of it. He threw his own freeze spell on the man and addressed both Ma’am and Cyril. I’m going to take him to MI6 headquarters. I’ll see you there later.

Good-o. Ma’am’s chin rose in dismissal. She turned to Cyril. We’ll stay for the interview process. Lily can do her thing, and you do yours. I want this wrapped up in two hours. Would you like a truth spell on him? That was usually illegal, but when you were working with MI6, legality was a formality apparently. I couldn’t help smiling at my little rhyme. Angelica gazed at me, one eyebrow raised. Her look said she didn’t want to know. I bit my lip and did my best serious face, which was pretty rubbish since one corner of my mouth was still quirked up.

Cyril grinned, missing our interaction. Does an Englishman love his football? Yes, please. He cuffed the Russian and stood over him while Ma’am cast her spell. With that done, she gave me a curt nod, and I dropped my freeze spell.

While Ma’am and Cyril got to work interrogating the Russian spy, I did my photo thing. Excitement and fear built in my belly. Once this was done, we’d have given Ma’am’s boyfriend, Phillip, and MI6 their favour, and it would be time for them to reciprocate.

We were going to neutralise the directors and their criminal associates once and for all.

Chapter 2

Six months ago, if you’d asked me where I’d be right now, I would never have said a windowless room beneath the MI6 building in London. But here we were—Ma’am, Will, Imani, Beren, James, Millicent, Mum, Liv, Lavender, Sarah, and me. We sat around a large, black, round table, which reminded me of an American disaster movie, when the government and their advisors powwowed how they were going to stop the asteroid from hitting the earth. Angelica’s beau, Phillip, as well as Agent Reece Prentice who ran the joint, and Agent Amy Plover rounded out our group.

Phillip looked at me from across the table, where he sat in the middle of his two associates. Angelica sat next to Reece, a tall, broad-shouldered blond man who could pass for a James Bond. Well, we were in an English spy agency. I assumed he was in his late thirties. His intense blue eyes seemed to see through everyone, but the crinkles at their corners suggested he might like to laugh. We’d only met him a few times, and each time, he hadn’t said much. Maybe Phillip was the mouth and Reece was the eyes and ears of this operation?

Phillip smiled. Before we start, I just wanted to thank you again, Lily, for your incredible photos. We’re saving them as evidence if we ever need it.

Huh? I chewed my bottom lip. Um, no one else is supposed to know about my talent.

He chuckled. Ah, yes, but no one will know. If we ever need them, it will be for a trial run by non-witches, and since they could never believe something like that is an option, they’ll buy that one of our talented covert agents managed to get them. We are a spy agency, after all.

Angelica looked at me. Don’t worry, dear. I’ve wiped off your magic signatures, and mine will fade within another couple of days. You have nothing to worry about. I gave her a grateful yet strained smile. If those photos did happen to fall into the wrong hands, no one would know it was me. Still, I couldn’t help worrying about it. I’d had to be super secretive and protective of my talent for a long time. This just felt wrong.

I looked at Phillip. Ah, thanks for… the thanks. Argh, how awkward.

Phillip chuckled again, and Agent Prentice’s mouth curled up slightly on one corner. I was sure he was laughing at me, not with me. The lady agent just stared at me. She couldn’t have been older than thirty, but her unimpressed stare rivalled Angelica’s. She had straight red hair pulled into a tight ponytail. Freckles smattered her face, but instead of making her look cute—which she might look out of uniform and with a cocktail in her hand—it made her look like more of the angry redhead cliché. To be fair, I’d met a few redheads in my life, and none of them had bad tempers. Maybe she was going to be the first?

Phillip finally had mercy on me and passed his gaze over everyone else at the table. So, now that you’ve done what we asked, it’s time for us to pay back the favour. As you all know, I help oversee things here, but I’m more of an overall manager. He turned his head and looked at Agent Prentice. This man here will be running the show, as he does with all our other operations. All our senior agents report to him. I’ll now hand things over to Agent Prentice.

I automatically brought my hands up and started clapping. Everyone stared at me. Imani pressed her lips together, but I saw her glistening eyeballs as she tried not to laugh. At least Liv looked sympathetic.

Um, there was a mosquito… or a fly… or something. Or an idiot with two hands. I sighed. It had taken so long to acclimatise to the PIB, and just when I had that sorted, we had to join a new agency. Now I felt ridiculous and out of my depth all over again.

Agent Prentice, thankfully, peered around at everyone else and started talking. I’d like to reiterate what Phillip said—thank you for helping us catch a traitor. He’s been giving us grief for over a year, that we know of. He was good at what he was doing, so it was hard to prove, let alone catch him in the act. Your assistance made all the difference. He looked at Angelica and smiled. You’ve got a great team.

She returned the smile. Indeed I do. They’re the best group I’ve ever had. As serious as everyone was trying to be, we all had small smiles. Angelica was stingy on the praise, and when she deigned to give it, it meant so much.

Which brings me to why we’re here. He ran a hand down his black lapel. We’re merging the PIB into MI6, although you might also be needed by MI5. We share information and resources from time to time, depending on what we’re working on. But that’s all you need to know about that. He picked up an A4 document-book thing that had been sitting on his table. It was about an inch thick and had a pale-blue cover. This document has been signed by the relevant ministers. He grinned. Congratulations, PIB team. You’re now part of MI6, and the original directors are all fired. There’ll be no more directors of the PIB.

I sucked in a breath, and I wasn’t the only one. We knew this day was coming, but living it was altogether different. No. More. Directors. I smiled.

Reece turned to Angelica. You, Ma’am, are to head up our PIB division. He handed her the document. We can make a copy right now, and you can keep it. This one will be filed somewhere safe.

Thank you, Agent Prentice. Angelica’s magic tingled my scalp, and an identical-looking document appeared on the table. She handed the original back.

As much as Agent Prentice was supposedly experienced and versed in witches and magic, his eyes widened slightly at the copy that appeared out of seemingly nowhere. I’m sure an amateur would’ve looked more surprised, but the fact that he showed any reaction was telling. Thank you. He put the original on the table in front of himself.

Will, who’d been sitting quietly next to me the whole time, cleared his throat. Can we be more specific about what’s happening with the former directors? Excellent question.

The directors were fired, supposedly, but did they know? If they caught wind of this before we jumped on them, they’d likely disappear, which was far from ideal.

Good question, Agent Blakesley. They haven’t been informed. We didn’t want to tip them off, but this starts the ball rolling in a legal sense. The rest is up to us. He glanced at Angelica. Ma’am and I have had time to flesh it out. He looked back at Will. She’ll have an office here, at MI6, and we’re always happy to host secure meetings for your group. But for now, we want you back at PIB headquarters to arrest the traitor witches and clean the place out. Once that facility is secure, I don’t see why you can’t continue to operate from there. But, and I’ve spoken at length with Ma’am, we don’t want the directors getting wind of anything until you’re ready to strike at their insider agents. I understand you have proof linking some of them to the directors’ activities.

Angelica watched him, her poker face intact. Had she told him about the three agents we had in the living room at her country house? They’d been there when we’d left for work this morning. We at least had proof that they were guilty of being traitors. Would they be gone when we returned home? I put up my hand.

Yes, Miss Bianchi?

What will happen to those agents once we hand them over to you?

We’ll be getting you to hold them in the PIB cells, as you’re more equipped to handle a large number of captives, and you have the court system set up. If, for any reason, you can’t handle the number of prisoners, we’ll take the overflow. They all stand to receive life in prison. But, because of the nature of the criminals, it will all be hush-hush.

Angelica looked at me, her poker face slipping slightly as she flashed me a warning glare. When she spoke, her face had settled into its usual mask of nothingness. In other words, dear, we go about this quietly as per usual. Understood?

Yes, Ma’am. Whether I understood or not, there was no other answer I was game to give. Looked like other than handing over the PIB, MI6 wasn’t actually helping us with anything yet. Okay, so they’d legally given Angelica the right to call all the shots, and we didn’t have to beg for funding, but were they going to offer us some extra agents to help fill the void while we trained new witch agents? Fighting the directors and rounding up their minions wasn’t going to be easy or safe.

People with everything to lose were not going to go quietly.

Angelica moved her focus from me to James. We start our clean out of the bureau tomorrow. MI6 is giving us two of their witch agents—Agents Adams and Dupont. We’ll convene in the PIB conference room tomorrow at nine. What the hell? That was quick. Liv and I shared a worried look. Why were we going there of all places? Angelica must’ve seen my face. She raised a brow. Anything to add, Agent Bianchi? They were calling me an agent now because I was contracted to MI6 for the year for any special services. I’d had to sign an NDA, so I couldn’t talk about anything I took photos of to anyone, not even Angelica or Will. I had a higher security clearance around here than they did, which was bloody ridiculous.

Um, no, Ma’am. Okay, so I wasn’t going to ask any questions here, but I’d bombard her when we got back to her place.

Good. She looked at Phillip. Back to you.

He smiled at her, the affection in his gaze clear for everyone to see. I had to give it to him—it was a brave man who loved Angelica because if you ever did her wrong, there were so many ways she could make you pay. Thank you, Agent DuPree. He stood. I want to thank you all for your help and reiterate that we’ll be there to help you when the time comes to clear out the vermin hiding in the shadows. My guys are doing some background work as we speak, which will hopefully make our job easier when it comes time to flush them all out. If you have any concerns, please pass them onto me via Agent DuPree. And now, I have another meeting to attend. I’ll see you all later.

Angelica stood, so we all followed suit. As much as this was a non-witch facility, they’d seen fit to magic it so that witches couldn’t just come and go as they pleased. We had to go to a special room unless given express permission by Agent Prentice or Phillip. They had both a witch reception room and an exit room, both heavily secured, just as the normal entries and exits were. Not all MI6 agents knew we existed, and only a few were witches. That’s why our group