Black ties and bullets
Chapter 1
Connor tugged at the tie around his neck as he waited for Abby to pick him up, wishing for the thousandth time that he could leave it behind. That, unfortunately, would make Lester mad. Earlier that week when he had handed out the invitations, they had been informed in no uncertain terms of what would happen to them should anything go wrong.
"If any of you embarrass me in any way, I will personally see to it that you are dropped through the nearest anomaly and the door closed behind you," he'd said.
Connor believed him.
The invitation had come from the highest level, a thank you for their discreet and speedy removal of a pterodactyl from the Houses of Parliament the previous month. It was a black-tie function- Connor wasn't sure he could rightfully call this a party. The list of do's and don't's was endless, the dress code anything but comfortable, but none-the-less he was actually looking forward to it. It wasn't every day you got invited to rub shoulders with the rich and famous. Exactly which famous people, he wasn't sure, since it may have been wishful thinking on Abby and Sarah's part.
The invitations had been handed to himself, Abby, Danny and Sarah only, along with their 'plus one' should they wish to take one. It was the plus one part that was making him nervous. No one knew who he was taking and it was likely to be a bit of a surprise when they saw. Well, no one except Abby. And Lester, of course; they'd had to ask Lester to get Becker the night off, and he'd also authorised any guests.
"Relax," Abby told him as he got into the car. They had only one more stop to make on the way and then on to the hotel where the dinner was being held.
As Abby pulled up at the curb, she nudged Connor. She watched from the car as he ran up to the house. The door opened and Abby smiled.
"Nice," she murmured to herself, glad that Connor wasn't there to see her ogling his boyfriend.
Connor was having much the same reaction. He stared, mouth open.
"Oh wow; I'm dating James Bond."
OK, time to turn on the in-head censors before he opened his mouth the next time, he thought, blushing slightly. It was just that the sight of Becker in a tuxedo managed to wipe away any coherent thought. Damn, but the man looked fantastic.
"Connor, don't forget to breathe," Becker's lightly teasing voice told him.
Connor blinked a couple of times and looked up into Becker's chocolate brown eyes to see the amusement there. He grinned and, uncaring of what the neighbours might think, pulled Becker down for a kiss.
"You look pretty good yourself," Becker told him, looking him up and down. As Abby honked the car horn, he said, "Come on or we'll be late."
The hotel was huge, with its own separate building used for high profile functions set a short distance away from the rest. Inside, it was ornately and expensively decorated, first class in every way, right down to the butler on the door who was escorting people inside after the doormen had checked invitations.
"Abby!"
They all turned to see Sarah beckoning them over to where she and Danny had already been seated at their table, along with Lester. They had both forgone the plus one part of the invite, as had Abby.
"Connor, you clean up nicely," Sarah teased. Her gaze then fell to Becker, looking him up and down with a mixture of happiness and confusion on her face.
"Becker, looking good," she said. "Not that I'm not glad to see you but I didn't think you were coming tonight."
He smiled. "Plus one," he told her, showing her his invitation.
"Oh?" Sarah's gaze flicked to Abby in question but Abby just shook her head.
This was the moment Connor had been dreading and anticipating in equal measures. It was time to tell them but what if it didn't go as he hoped? What if the others were negative or uncomfortable with it?
"He's with me." Danny and Sarah both turned in their seats to look at him and he edged closer to Becker, feeling Becker's fingers brush his reassuringly. "He's my, um, date."
Danny raised an eyebrow and grinned up at Becker. "His date?"
"Yes."
"You and Connor? Really?"
Connor frowned. "Hey, I'm standing right here," he said, slightly offended.
"I think he's just jealous," Becker whispered, slipping an arm around Connor's waist. He caught Lester's glare and removed it, remembering rule 3- No public displays.
Danny stood up, coming around the table to Connor. "You know I don't mean it," he said. For a moment, Connor thought that the older man was going to hug him but Danny opted for a manlier slap on the back instead.
"So this isn't going to be a problem?" Becker asked.
Danny shook his head. "No, it isn't. Honestly, if you two are happy then that's all that matters."
Connor glanced at Sarah, fearing that she wouldn't be quite as easygoing. She had made no secret of the fact that she was interested in Becker- would it be awkward now that she knew why he hadn't returned her advances? She must have seen his doubt because she hugged him and then Becker, telling him that she was happy for them.
The next few hours flew by in a blur of delicious gourmet food and Champagne, followed by the obligatory introductions once the tables had been cleared and the serving staff had left for the night. The bar had been opened and waiters still ferried drinks about on silver trays.
Lester had given them all another warning look before leaving the table to go and speak to some of his acquaintances from parliament.
"Does he think we're going to get pissed and dance on the tables or something?" Danny asked the others.
Abby laughed loudly at the image that popped into her head, causing the rather prim woman at the next table to cast a disapproving glance at them and make a low comment to the man seated beside her. As they all got up to mingle, Becker grabbed Connor's hand.
"Come on," he said, tugging Connor in the direction of the door.
Curious, and just a little excited by the mischievous gleam in Becker's eye, Connor let himself be led out of the room. He glanced around to make sure that Lester wasn't about to tell them off for leaving, even temporarily, but he had his back to them.
"Where are we going?" he asked.
Becker stopped suddenly, ducked around the corner, and pulled Connor against him. Connor slid his arms around Becker's neck, sighing happily as Becker kissed him.
"Have I told you just how damn sexy you look in that tux?" Becker asked. "I have been trying to keep my hands off you all night."
Connor grinned. "Well, don't try too hard on my account," he quipped.
Caught up as they were in the heated kiss that followed, neither of them noticed that the noise from the party had stopped as the doors were closed. What they did notice was the loud bang a few moments later, followed by screams. Connor jerked back, looking around for the source of the noise.
"Tell me I'm being stupid, please, but that sounded…" he paused.
"Like a gunshot," Becker finished, looking just as worried as Connor felt.
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Abby held tightly to Danny's hand as they were herded together into the corner of the function room. It had all been so quick; one moment they had been serving drinks and the next, the waiters and bar staff had ripped off the uniform jackets and traded trays for pistols.
She saw Sarah nearby and reached out a hand to pull her to them, just as Lester edged through the people in their direction.
"Who are they?" Danny asked quietly, not wanting to draw attention to them. He frowned, looking around. "Anyone seen Connor and Becker?"
"Oh, God; I didn't see them," Sarah said, scanning the crowd. Her eyes fell on the nearest gunman. "What if they've got caught up in whatever this is?"
Abby shook her head, squeezing the woman's hand to make her listen. "They weren't here. I saw them sneak out a while ago."
Before anyone had the chance to say any more, however, a shot was fired into the air. There were a couple of screams and then the crowd fell silent.
"We'll make this as simple as possible," one of the gunmen, formerly the bartender, announced. "The following people will be coming with me. No heroics and no one gets hurt."
"Sir James Lester."
Lester looked shaken but he covered it quickly, hiding behind his usual mask of indifference.
"What do they want with you?" Sarah asked in a panicky voice. "Don't go. I don't like this; we should stick together. We'll tell them that you left already."
Lester shook his head. "They've been waiting on us all night so I assume that they already know what I look like."
"But…"
"Abby Maitland. Connor Temple. I know that you are here tonight and that you checked in at the door," their captor announced, warning, "Do not make me come and get you."
"He's only asking for people connected with the ARC," Lester observed.
"Well if it's about the ARC then…" Sarah didn't want to finish the thought but her mind filled in the blanks anyway. If it's about the ARC then we could be next.
"I told you, no heroics!" The gunman's voice sounded loud in the almost silent room. "Now, people!"
Lester steeled himself before easing through the people to emerge near to the speaker, Abby at his side and Danny following a pace behind, unwilling to let them go on their own. "We're here."
"No, not all of you." The man glared at Danny. "You, get back with the others. Now where is Connor Temple?"
Danny reluctantly backed off as a gun was waved in his direction.
"Connor isn't here," Abby said, fighting to keep her voice from trembling as she spoke.
"He checked his invitation," the man said. "If you are lying…"
Abby shook her head frantically. "We're not lying! Connor was here but he left about half an hour ago with his date. We haven't seen him since; his car has gone from the car park." She really hoped that she was a good liar, not only to keep Connor out of this but also to save her own neck if he realised she had lied.
"It's true," Danny added.
The man turned to the Danny again, eyeing his curiously. "Who are you?"
"Abby's boyfriend," he said smoothly, the lie rolling off his tongue effortlessly. "The invite was for her and a guest."
Almost immediately the man lost interest in him, just as he had hoped, turning his attention back to Abby and Lester.
"What do you want with us?" Lester asked, sounding more irritated than afraid.
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Chapter 2.
Becker crept to the end of the corridor, peering cautiously around the corner and ducking back quickly. He returned to the office where he and Connor had hidden, fearing the worst.
"There's one man on the door- looks like one of the waiters from earlier," Becker said as soon as the door was closed. "He's got a semi-automatic but I can't see any other weapons. I assume that the outer doors are guarded as well."
Connor thought that sounded probable. "I tried the phone but the lines have been cut," he said. "Internet is down as well so we can't even email anyone."
"So I guess we're on our own then."
Oh, no. He did not just hear that correctly. "What's all this 'we' business?" Connor asked. "I intend to stay safely locked in here until the blokes with the guns go away."
Becker sighed. "Fine, stay here. Keep the door locked and do not draw any attention to yourself."
As Becker turned to the door again, Connor grabbed his arm. "You're just going to leave me?" he asked incredulously.
Connor watched the other man's expression, knowing that no matter what, Becker was going to go and try to help. It was what he did; he had been a soldier, and now his primary job was to keep Connor and the team alive whilst they investigated the anomalies. With three members of that team and his boss still inside the room presently under armed occupation, Becker was acting on instinct to protect them.
"Fine," he relented. "But you owe me big time for this."
Becker smiled and dragged him close for a quick kiss before reaching out to the door handle.
"Keep near to the wall; less chance of being seen," he said. "If I tell you, you run, OK? Come back here and lock the door."
Connor shook his head. "No, we stick together if I come with you." He paused a second before muttering, "Let's get this over with."
They moved silently to the end of the corridor, Becker signalling for Connor to stay back as he leaned out a little way to see if the coast was clear. The waiter-turned-terrorist was still standing by the door, his back to them, the pistol held loosely in his hand. It was clear that he didn't expect to have to defend his post at all, the amount of attention he was paying to his surroundings.
Now, Becker mouthed. He edged around the corner, walking on the balls of his feet, making no noise at all; the man in the doorway never saw him coming until Becker's arm was around his neck, slowly cutting off his air supply. At his nod, Connor ran forward and grabbed the hand holding the gun, wrenching it back until the weapon dropped to the ground. Connor quickly picked it up.
Moments later, the struggling stopped and their terrorist dropped to the ground in an undignified, unconscious heap.
"Quick, get his feet," Becker said, hoisting the man up by his arms.
Remembering the mandatory weapons training that they had all been given whilst working at the ARC, Connor made sure that the gun's safety was on before stuffing it into his pocket. He picked the man's legs up and helped Becker move him to the office.
"Well, there goes that hiding place," he commented once they were inside. No way was he hiding out in the same room as one of the terrorists, even if he was unconscious.
As he watched Becker quickly tape the man's wrists behind his back, then his ankles, Connor realised that the desire to hide until the bad guys went away had passed. Helping to disarm the guard had actually been kind of exciting and, he had to admit it, seeing Becker go into action man mode was downright sexy. Once they had the man secure, Becker propped him up against the filing cabinet and began waking him up. It took a few minutes but eventually his eyes opened.
"Don't try shouting for help, don't try to escape, just answer my questions," Becker told him calmly. "How many of you are there in the building?"
The man scowled and turned his face away. Becker hooked a finger under his chin and forced him to meet his eyes again.
"How many?" he repeated. He held out his hand to Connor, taking the gun from him and making a show of checking the magazine and then clicking the safety off. "I can be incredibly persuasive if I put my mind to it."
Five minutes later, Connor and Becker emerged from the office, locking the door behind them. Their prisoner was bound and gagged so tightly that if he could get free from his bindings, Connor thought that he deserved to escape.
"Would you actually have shot him if he didn't talk?" Connor asked, not sure that he really wanted to know the answer.
Becker stopped and looked at him. "You know me, Connor. Do you really think that I would have?" Connor shook his head, feeling stupid for asking. "A little threat goes a long way," he said.
And it had. Their prisoner had been grudgingly helpful, answering most of their questions. What he didn't know, however, was what the man who had orchestrated this entire thing actually wanted. He was here for specific people but he had been evasive about the reasons why.
Becker led the way back to the door into the function rooms. According to the information they had been given, there were six men inside the room including the leader, all armed; one by each exit and then four guarding the hostages. There were still three men outside the room, too; one guard on the other door and two doing a sweep of the building to make sure that there were no stray guests wandering about.
"Do you think they know we're out here?" Connor asked.
"Honestly, I don't know," Becker said. "Come on- we need to find and take out the patrol."
It took only a couple of minutes searching before they heard the sound of footsteps heading their way.
"Two," he whispered to Connor. "Get them to the ground and keep them there. Remember what I showed you- play dirty."
As Becker took a more refined approach, taking one man with skilled precision, Connor took his advice to heart and used every dirty trick he knew. Wrenching the man's arm up behind his back, Connor hung on for all he was worth. The man was about his height but heavier in build and more used to fighting than Connor was. Aiming a couple of hard kicks to the back of the man's knee, Connor remembered what Becker had said. Get them to the ground. He hooked a foot around the man's ankle and, with his already shaky balance due to an injured knee and Connor hanging onto him, the man stumbled, falling.
Sitting on the man to hold him down- even though he was out cold after hitting his head on the wall as he fell- after relieving him of his pistol, Connor glanced up in time to see Becker go down. He had backed up and tripped on the foot of Connor's opponent. With his gun kicked across the corridor, the second man had found a different weapon, a knife. He rushed at Becker and Connor felt his heart leap to his throat. There was no way that Becker could get out of the way in time, and so he raised the gun in his hand and fired.
"Oh God! I shot him! I've never shot anyone before."
Becker carefully took the weapon from Connor's hand before kneeling to check the man's pulse.
"He's fine," Becker reported back to a hugely relieved Connor. "You hit him in the upper thigh, missing the artery and I don't think you hit the bone."
"Oh," Connor told him, still sounding dazed. "I was aiming for his chest."
Becker checked him over quickly, making sure he hadn't been injured, before taking Connor into a tight embrace. He could feel the younger man shaking slightly but it was slowly easing.
"Conn? He'll be fine. You did what you had to, that's all."
Connor nodded, visibly pulling himself together, and Becker watched him with a new respect. He was a history student, a scientist, not a soldier but he was handling this with more guts than most people would have.
"Right, we should put these two in the office with the other guy," Connor said.
When Becker handed him the gun once more, Connor took it, again checking the safety was on before slipping it into his pocket. Between them, they lugged the two men to the office, making sure they were secure.
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Abby and Lester sat on the floor, away from the others, the man with the gun crouched in front of them.
"It's all your fault," he told them. "You ruined my life and you don't even know who I am, do you?"
Abby shook her head. "I'm sorry but I don't. Look, why don't you tell us?"
"My name is Andy, Andrew Mackintosh. Before you people, I had a job, a life. A fiancé," he added quietly, then looked up sharply. "I know what I saw. They were dinosaurs. They wouldn't tell me what it was, or where it had come from; some woman, Miss Lewis, told me it was nothing to concern me. Just an escaped animal from the safari park but I know it wasn't. I saw you there. You," he pointed the gun in Abby's direction, "and Connor Temple and Nick Cutter. Oh, yes, I know who you all are. It took me a while but I found you. I even tried to talk to him once," he said, this time indicating to Lester, "but he just had me thrown out of the building. Just dismissed me like I was worthless."
Abby could actually sympathise. "It wasn't personal," she said. "He does that to us all."
Lester glared at her.
"Why did you want to find us?"
"Because I want the truth. I want to hear you say it; what the ARC is, what that thing was that attacked me. I want you to tell them that I am not crazy like they all believe."
"There is nothing to tell," Lester told him. "The ARC is a scientific research company. Nothing more. Whatever else you think is going on is entirely in your imagination."
Andy jumped to his feet, waving the gun at them.
"I am not crazy! Don't ever call me that."
Abby could have strangled Lester; he couldn't help but piss people off. She could probably have talked their way out of this but he just couldn't keep his mouth shut.
"Get up, both of you. You're going to get me my proof."
Hauling Abby to her feet, he pressed the gun to her temple. "No more stalling," he told Lester, "or I pull the trigger."
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Across the room, Sarah and Danny watched in disbelief as the door opened and Becker and Connor burst through. Becker eliminated three of the terrorists with the gun in his hands, Connor managing to subdue a fourth. With the odds now much more in their favour, Danny and a group of the hostages rushed the final two.
With the threat in the room gone and people dispatched to take care of the remaining couple of terrorists in the building, Danny and Sarah rushed to Becker and Connor.
"I am so glad to see you," she said, looking over the sight of the usually placid Connor with a gun in one hand. He looked as though he knew what he was doing, too, she thought, wondering just what had happened to the two of them before they had come through that door.
"Is everyone alright?" Becker asked. He looked around. "Where are Abby and Lester?"
"He took them," Sarah said. "I heard them talking; he was going on about 'telling them the truth'. He said Lester had to or…"
"Or what?"
"Or he'd shoot Abby," Sarah finished reluctant to even say it.
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Andy walked them out of the building, the gun firmly pressed to Abby's back. Lester walked just ahead of them, under Andy's watchful eye.
"Where are we going?" Abby asked, only to be jabbed with the gun barrel again. "Look, I'm not going to run away or anything. You don't have to do this."
"Shut up. When we get there, and you tell her the truth and make her see that I wasn't making it all up, then I'll believe you."
He made them walk across the hotel car park, to the hotel lobby. "Don't try anything," he warned as they walked to the lifts. "Third floor. Room 30."
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Connor turned back from the window. "They went into the hotel," he said. "I saw them!"
He hurried to the door on Becker's heels. The other man turned to him.
"Maybe you should stay here…"
"No. Abby is my best friend," Connor said firmly. "I'm going. I can't believe you would even try to leave me behind."
Becker nodded. "Sorry. I can't help it if I want to keep you out of danger," he said. "OK, let's go."
"I'm coming with you," Danny announced, joining them. He gave Becker a look that said 'don't even bother to argue'.
They raced across the car park and to the main lobby, where Sarah used the phone on the reception desk to call the police. The receptionist also remembered seeing the others come into the lobby a few moments ago, or rather, she remembered Abby's dress.
"I wanted to ask where she got it but we aren't supposed to ask the guests personal questions," she admitted. "They got into the lift- it stopped at the third floor."
Sarah thanked her, telling the others to go whilst she waited for the police, and Becker, Danny and Connor piled into the lift.
"Which room?" Connor asked desperately as they emerged into the empty hotel corridor. "How are we supposed to know where they are?"
Danny walked silently along the corridor, listening, on the off chance that they would find some clue of which room they needed. The lift chimed and the doors opened, causing Danny to freeze. He looked back at Becker and Connor, his eyes flicking to the man and woman who had just stepped out.
Connor frowned. "What's he doing?" he asked Becker, who shrugged his shoulders.
They saw Danny roll his eyes at them and then dart forward and punch the man in the face. Hard.
"Danny! What the hell?"
"He's one of them," Danny told them, hitting the man again. As he did, a pistol flew out of the man's hand and skated across the floor.
The woman ran forward and grabbed it, holding it tightly and aiming it at the man she had come in with.
"Miss, put that down," Becker told her.
She shook her head. "He kidnapped me. He dragged me out of my house and brought me here," she said. "He said that Andy had something to show me but I told him to get lost. That's when he grabbed me."
"Andy Mackintosh?" When she nodded, Danny asked, "I don't suppose he mentioned which room you were meant to meet him in?"
"Yes, 30."
As they approached, Connor quickly filled her in on the situation.
"I knew he was unstable but I never thought he'd do anything like this," she said. "He was lovely, before, but then something changed. He started acting really weird; it was like he was a different person. I left and I hadn't had any contact with him until that moron turned up at my door."
Becker told her to stay outside as the three of them made their way to the room. Danny knocked, hoping, quite correctly, that the nutcase inside with Lester and Abby would assume that it was his colleague returning with the girl.
When he saw who it really was, his eyes widened. He had relaxed his hold on Abby whilst they waited, lowering the gun and his guard, and she now turned on him. Although the long dress hampered her efforts, she still landed a couple of decent blows on him, followed by a kick to the groin that made the other men wince in sympathy. Becker wrenched the pistol from his grip so hard that she heard a bone crack before Andy yelped in pain.
"Julia?"
The blonde woman stood in the doorway, staring at him in unconcealed disgust.
"Julia, I did it to show you that I was telling the truth! Ask them; they're involved. Julia?"
"You kidnapped two people just to prove that you aren't crazy?" she asked in disbelief. "If you come near me again, or even send another rent-a-thug to my house, I will have you arrested." Turning, she walked out of the room without a backward glance.
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The police arrived and took custody of the hijackers, the one Connor had shot being loaded into an ambulance. Contact information was taken from them all, the interviews and statements having been postponed upon Lester's intervention. He had pulled rank on the detective, making him agree to let his people leave for the night on the condition that they go to the police station first thing tomorrow morning to make the statements.
"Can we go home now, please?" Abby asked.
Becker smiled, taking Connor's hand. "Definitely. Abby, do you want me to drive?"
She shook her head and climbed into her car, waiting for Connor and Becker to get in. The others were already in their cars and pulling out of the car park, eager to get away from this place and forget about the past few hours.
As she dropped her passengers off outside Becker's home, Abby turned to the two men. "I never said it back there," she began, "but thank you for coming after us."
Connor hugged her goodnight and followed Becker inside. Abby had refused the offer to stay with them tonight, insisting that she would be alright at home. Connor tossed his jacket on a chair and followed Becker toward the lounge, dropping down on the sofa beside his boyfriend. Becker draped an arm around him and he cuddled in close. They sat like that for a while, feet propped on the coffee table, just enjoying the peace.
"Connor?"
"Yes?"
"Despite what happened, I'm glad that I went with you tonight, that we told them about us."
Connor smiled, tipping his face upwards for a kiss. "Me too."
"However," Becker continued, "next time, can we just rent a movie and stay in instead?"
"Definitely," Connor agreed.
End.