"Come now, Murdoch. Surely you haven't forgotten our little ritual. I surprise you with my presence, and you utter my name in such an endearing manner. I do enjoy our tradition, Detective. I'd hate to see it retired," he drawled in his unmistakable cadence, pausing to take a long pull from his cigar. "I've known you long enough to know when you're awake and when you're unconscious. I've seen you in both states plenty of times," he added as took another draw from his cigar for effect.
At this comment, the spy saw his quarry roll over and off his bunk to approach. William Murdoch was not his usual well-dressed self, sporting a scruffy red beard and bloodshot, sunken eyes that hadn't seen proper sleep in too long. He was dressed in a battered dark brown split-cowhide coat, riding at odds over what had once been proper trousers and heavily-scuffed shoes. All traces of a gentleman's bearing were erased as well. If he needed further confirmation that all was not well with Murdoch, the man hadn't bothered to hide his distress and the tear marks on his face were quite evident.
William offered a blank stare. "As you see, Meyers, I'm afraid I won't be of much use to you now or ever again. So, if you'll excuse me," he replied as he returned to go back to his bunk.
"That's where you're wrong, Murdoch. Not only have you saved Canada on multiple occasions, you have also saved me. This is where I return the favor. Quid pro quo, if you will."
Meyers offered a bared-tooth smile at the detective's stunned expression as he stepped back from the bars to readjust his black top hat. "Don't act so surprised, Murdoch. Isn't that what friends are for?"
"I…," William began and faltered as he thought for a moment. The blow to his head seemed to make his thinking slower than before. Friend? Did this repellant man say friend?
"Does your boss, Commissioner Mr. Sherwood, know you are here, Meyers? And how do you know I didn't do it?" he finally asked, looking down at the ground.
"Oh, I know everything, Murdoch; I know what you were investigating, I know who the key players are, and yes, I admit I have an interest in seeing their downfall as well," he explained, nervous about Murdoch's insights. His masters, after all, counted on him to know everything and assume the worst. What he did not explain was his grave concern that something even blacker than usual was afoot, something beyond even his own reach of information and his own powers of bleak imagination. That he might be in the dark, unawares of some deeper malice, was unnerving in the extreme.
"Then why not handle the matter yourself, Meyers, with all the resources and authority of the country and your vast spy network?" William's suspicion was aroused, his voice full of sarcasm.
Meyers winced internally, careful not to betray the sting of the accusation, so he fell back on his stock answer, just as the detective would expect. "I can't- National Security. Not without damaging my information sources anyway, and exposing other details that I don't care to. But you can, Detective. Once the truth comes out you will once again be above reproach," he lied, wondering if Murdoch knew a promise like that was beyond anyone's making.
William narrowed his eyes. "I am wanted for murder. I have lost both my official authority and any, shall we say, moral authority I might have had. Moreover, I am being directly threatened and targeted. I am hardly the champion you make me out to be." He crossed his arms, challenging. "I have no power."
"Your enemies disagree, Murdoch. That's precisely why you're so dangerous, and why they're trying to discredit you and destroy all that you hold dear. You are a powerful enemy in your own right, Detective. Even the Prime Minister immediately figured something was rotten about this whole matter, such is your reputation with him and his Majesty's government."
"Enough of your insincere courtesies, Meyers," William said quietly. "I'm not the man I once was. My wife, my men…" he trailed off, his anger evaporating as quickly as it came.
"I don't know about your constables, I didn't have time to get the most recent intelligence on them after they were taken to hospital. If you agree to come with me, I'll get you out of here and into hiding. I'll provide you with a safe house for you to lie low outside of town. I'll give you money, supplies, false identities, guns and any assistance I can. If she's alive, I'll also ensure your wife is brought to you, so that the two of you will destroy Williams and Graham. Canada's interests are not served with either one of them," Meyers proposed as he stood back to appraise the man as he took in his offer.
"Do you think you can find Julia?" William asked. It was the only thing that mattered to him at the moment.
"I'm quite certain of it," Meyers retorted with a cryptic move of his mouth. The one thing he knew about men, Murdoch included, was that they are easy enough to manipulate if you had the right motivation. Murdoch's motivations were always the same: the truth at all costs and Julia Ogden. Meyers only hoped he could deliver on the other end of the bluff now that he had laid out the cards for the detective to bid on.
Nodding, William guessed that he had an idea on how to find her through his collection of sources that he didn't want to divulge. That was fine with him, he didn't want to know how Meyers could find Julia and frankly, he didn't care what the man might do to bring her safely back to him.
"All right. You want me to take out Williams and Graham because you can't without exposing your own clandestine activities? Very well, I will do so, but leave my wife out of it. If you find her, tell her I am well, but please arrange for her safety elsewhere, if I am truly going to do what you need me to do," William opened a negotiation.
"No, Detective, if she's alive, you need her. You should know better- that you work best with her; that she makes you better. In the spy game, I've learned that you never underestimate anyone —particularly a woman, and you know better than to devalue her because of her sex either. So don't shelter her," Meyers advised. "Besides, she would kill me if I knew where you were and refused to tell her. So if I find her and you won't help me, don't think I won't go straight to her and get her to do it, because she is formidable in her own right,"
Buoyed at the man's words and offer as well as the prospect of holding Julia again, William Murdoch abandoned his defeated persona and attempted to resume a more competent self. Both Meyers and Watts were right. What other options did he have? Laughing bitterly, he shook his head.
"Very well, Meyers. I will assist you. But are you really going to just take me out through the front door?" William asked.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, that's exactly what I'm going to do," Meyers drawled. "Constable?" Meyers called.
In walked a man William did not recognize yet he wore Station 4 insignia. He must be one of Chief Davis' henchmen, William thought. "Yes, sir?" the man asked.
"On order of the Prime Minister, you are going to release this man into my custody. Not only is he wanted for murder, he's also wanted for crimes against Canada herself," he stated, handing the officer a warrant signed by the Prime Minister.
While the constable in charge was clearly reluctant to release Murdoch, a phone call from Wilfred Laurier's office in addition to the paperwork persuaded him otherwise.
With William handcuffed and literally walked out the front door of the station and loaded into a black carriage, they sped off.
As soon as they were out of sight of the station, Meyers apologized for the pretense.
"Apologies for the handcuffs, Murdoch, but they're for show. I'm going to unlock them and give you the key. You may take them off inside the carriage, but each time you step outside, you'll need to put them back on. In a few minutes, we're going to meet another carriage and my men, Andrews and Stanton will be escorting you to another rendezvous point. There, you will take another carriage to another point and you will board yet another carriage. Once they are satisfied that you are not being followed by Williams, Graham or their henchmen, you will be escorted to a cottage in an undisclosed location. In the meantime, I will go and find your wife. I'm assuming that you have a predetermined location that you two have agreed to use as a meeting point should anything ever happen to either of you. What is it?" Meyers asked.
William was surprised at Meyers' guess and merely nodded. "In the alley behind the Queen's Hotel. If I am there, I write the element shorthand for sodium "Na" with a piece of chalk. If she sees it, she writes "H20" or the chemical symbol for water along with a number that signifies a time," William explained, feeling guilty that he was divulging their secret plan to another.
Meyers' brow furrowed as he attempted to deduce the significance of those two symbols. "Sodium burns in water, how is that…" he began to ask as realization dawned on him and William scowled at the man's correct deduction. "I see. You are the benign element – sodium – that burns in her water. Quite titillating, Detective," he commented, laughing at the man's obvious discomfort.
"Very well, Murdoch. However, if we locate her, I'd rather not take her against her will again, so is there something else that only the two of you would know. An intimate detail - something you've never uttered to another soul."
A detail immediately came to mind and William coloured automatically; even the thought was mortifying. But, it was something that only he and Julia knew as he had certainly never whispered it to another person. In for a penny, in for a pound.
"Absinthe. A science experiment among a grove of trees in our favorite spot in the park," William quietly stated though his telltale blush hinted at the scandalous nature of his "proof."
Meyers laughed again as they pulled up to a waiting carriage outside town. "Well, well, Murdoch. I don't suppose you care to elaborate further?" he wryly asked as Murdoch shot him a withering glance.
"Very well, then. It's good to see you returning to your old self, Murdoch. You know both Andrews and Stanton as you've worked with them before. As for me, I'll be behind you with your wife. I assure your safety," he promised. "You're both far too valuable to me to do otherwise."