II


"Is there anything else you can remember?"

"No, the last thing I saw before losing consciousness was the attacker coming at me with a knife. They both had brown eyes, height was hard to determine because they both remained crouched," Bond said, eyes closed as he leaned back on the couch in Q's office, ice pack balanced on the back of his head and Missy delicately perched on him, her gentle purrs reverberating through her body against his chest.

M sighed as R continued trying to locate Q's embedded tracker. "Clearly they were expecting resistance of some kind, which indicates that the two of you were under observation for some time, especially since his flat was located," he said, glancing at R. "Which could also mean that we may need to start looking for him through other means."

"Why wait until James was home? If they were observing him long enough, they would have known that James periodically leaves London," Eve pointed out, glancing between M and Bond.

"It could be they were on a timetable," Bond said, wincing when he felt Missy's claws flex as she began to knead his chest. "Missy, you've got the wrong human," he said, trying not to wrinkle his nose in annoyance as she dug her claws into his shirt. He grimaced when he saw a rusty-brown color underneath her claws. "I can see why Q's mother named you 'Missy', seeing that you've gotten yourself into something nasty again," he grumbled, reaching for her scruff to try pulling her off him.

Eve grinned. "So she could say, 'What did you do this time, missy?'" she guessed as Missy hissed at Bond, who wisely let her continue kneading his chest uninterrupted.

"Probably. If I'm lucky, there's probably a dead mouse somewhere in the flat that can still be identified by the remains as such," Bond said, catching one of the paws near him and gently massaging the claws out. "If not, I feel sorry for the poor sod that got caught," he said, examining the dried blood.

"Didn't you say that one of the men was bleeding?" R asked, suddenly looking up from his computer screen.

Bond looked at Missy, who tugged her paw free before resting her chin on his shoulder. "You want to take her down to forensics for DNA analysis?" he asked, spreading his hands to give R unfettered access.

R turned slightly pale, but Eve sighed impatiently before reaching for the calico. "I'll take her down, she knows me," she said, gently picking up Missy around the middle despite the low growling. Bond winced when his shirt went with Missy's claws, Eve tugging a bit before there were a few tiny pops and numerous holes appeared in the fabric. Eve cooed and cradled Missy against her shoulder. "It's okay, girl, we're going to meet someone who isn't the vet," she soothed as she carried Missy out of the office, the cat's growling barely audible before the door shut behind her.

"Since you still remembered what time they took Q, we're hopefully not too far behind the kidnappers. Q's only been gone for ten hours, you were out for eight," M said, glancing at R, who had gone back to his screens. "Did they make any demands before leaving?"

"No, just knocked Q out before they knocked me out. No idea of what they wanted," Bond said, tilting his head to catch the ice pack and set it aside. "There's no telling what they want until they make demands, if at all."

"All double-ohs still on home soil have been notified, and I might send one or two with you once we know where to start looking," M said, as he pulled out his phone to pull up the roster of inactive agents. "Double-ohs six and nine are available, if you are interested."

"I need a place to start first," Bond said as his mobile began ringing. "Excuse me,," he said, reaching for the phone and only frowning briefly at the unfamiliar number. "Bond," he said as he pressed the 'Talk' button.

"James?"

Ice shot through his veins at Q's soft, panicked voice. "Q? Q, where are you?" he demanded quietly, standing and catching R's attention. "Q, are you all right?" he asked, pulling the phone away long enough to switch to speakerphone. "Q?"

"Shhh, I'm fine, just sore, tired and with a fucking headache," Q whispered, voice shaking slightly as Bond heard squeaking on his end. "I have no idea where I am, none of us do—there's five of us total." Bond heard a sharp yet faint female voice on the other end, and then Q murmured, "Sorry, I just fucking woke up…James? Apparently I'm in Virginia, one of my cellmates said she was bound and gagged, but never knocked out. She lives in Virginia, and was in the car boot for about twenty minutes."

"That's a bit exact," Bond said, gesturing for R to pull up Virginia and attempt to locate the signal and trace it back to the source.

"Well, this is her mobile I'm using, our captors were too afraid to frisk her and she'd checked her kitchen clock seconds before they ambushed her. James, they're CIA, the two men, they're CIA I don't know what the fuck they want but they went as far as to kidnap one—no, three of their own, the fourth person is from Liverpool and was apparently kidnapped the night before me," Q whispered quickly as M leaned forward and began taking down notes.

"Q, what do they want?" Bond asked, trying to keep his voice level.

"I don't know, they didn't tell us. The mobile owner, she's an ex-administrator from some department in the CIA, she thinks she knows what they want us for, but won't say in case she's wrong," Q whispered, his voice breaking when there was another female voice in the background. "James…James they're coming back."

"Q, don't tell them anything," Bond said firmly. "We're coming to get you, all right? Don't tell them a damn thing."

"I won't…I'm sorry—I love you!" Q whispered before there was more shuffling and a beep to indicate the broken connection.

Bond hung up and tossed his mobile back to R. "First, get three tickets to Washington DC as soon as you can. Then identify the owner of the number, and give me an address," he said before turning to M. "I'm going to call Felix on this one, see if he can start a discreet investigation through the CIA until I get to the States."

"That depends, can you trust him since apparently Q's captors are from the CIA?" M asked as Bond left the office.

"Sir, he had a chance to sell me out in Bolivia to Dominic Greene. He didn't while his superior did. I trust him," Bond said before leaving the office, heading straight for the parking garage. He'd borrow the security guard's mobile to call Tess and Alec, warn them, before preparing for travel.

Time wasn't on his side.