He looked down at himself, the sheet covered him, but beneath it was the bandage, and beneath that, the still weeping wound. It throbbed with the remnants of fire, and he winced.

“Rory?”

The concern in her tone made him want to cry, and he blinked back the sting in his eyes. “Me, I’m fine.”

“I’m not buying it…”

He laughed lightly. “No, I mean it, I’m fine. How are you?”

“You sure?”

“Yep, what are you doing later?”

“Danny’s taking me out, first time for months, he’s finally remembered I exist.”

“Well, he is a gear head.” Rory snorted.

“Hey, I’ve accepted I’m second best to his car. No matter how much I hate it, it came before me. It’s his first love.”

“When I’m done with this, I’ll scratch it up for you, puncture the tires.”

“Don’t!”

“I’m joking, I’m joking.”

“Don’t let him catch you saying that, he’ll go crazy. You should’ve seen him having a go at the pigeon.”

“Pigeon?”

“Makes art on the roof of his car nearly every morning—he loses sleep over it. One morning, he started yelling at the trees like a madman, freaked out the neighbors.”

Rory pressed his lips together to stop his laugh. “Can you do something for me?”

“What?”

“Flick yogurt on his car, then film his reaction on your phone.”

“Rory!”

“Come on, for your little brother. The thought of it will keep me going.”

“No way, I’m hanging up now…”

“It’ll be funny.”

“It bloody wouldn’t, I’ve got to live with him.”

Hamish tapped on the window, then gestured to his watch.

“Hey Eric, I’ve—”

“Erica.”

Rory smiled. “Erica, I’ve got to go.”

“So soon?”

“The 007 wannabe is needed.”

“When will you next be able to call?”

“I’m not sure…”

Erica hummed. “There’s that tone again.”

“What tone?”

“The sad one.”

“I don’t have a sad tone.”

“Yeah, you do, you spoke in that tone for months after dad died. Detached, distant, it awakens my protective big sister side, makes me wanna hug you and not let go.”

Rory bit his lip. “I promise I’m fine.”

“He’d be proud of you.”

“No, he wouldn’t.”

“Yeah, he would—”

“I’m—I’m not who you think I am.”

“You’re my baby brother. You tried and tried to get into the police force, kept getting knocked back, but you got there eventually.”

Rory gritted his teeth. He remembered the constant rejection, over and over for years, and that was before he got a chance to take the entry test. He had three failures to his name, then Hamish stepped in and helped him.

“You never gave up, and now you’re a spy.”

“I’m not a spy, I’m spying on someone.”

“Small difference.”

“Big one.”

Morris forcefully cleared her throat, then lifted her eyebrow.