Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Connor blinked, then hesitantly began to make his way towards Spanner and Mariko. Mariko gave him a small smile as he walked past, making her own way towards Stephen and Nick. Connor quickly flicked his gaze in the direction of the last shred of hope he had, walking slowly away with Mariko. He turned to look back at Spanner, who was watching him thoughtfully.

"That ship has sailed and sunk and is rusting like the Titanic, mate," Spanner patted his shoulder awkwardly, "She don't look at anyone that isn't Ianto anymore."

"What? Oh… oh no… I wasn't… I don't even like…" Connor's eyes widened and he clamped his mouth shut.

Spanner tilted her head, nodding slowly, "Ah… so… protecting Nick and/or Stephen is more than just 'let's all make it back alive', am I right?"

Connor tried and failed to glare her into silence, "Yeah."

"Which one?"

Connor stayed quiet.

"Is it Nick? The whole older man thing? Or the accent?"

Connor twitched slightly, but stayed silent.

"Is it Stephen then? He is incredibly pretty. And you could eat off that chest."

Connor's mouth thinned into a hard line.

"Oh…" Spanner nodded, "I understand."

Connor looked at her through his hair.

"First magazine in the chamber, boy. We're going shooting."

"Shooting what?" Connor looked at her suspiciously.

"Range targets," Spanner looked at him like he was the slightly mad one, "What did you think we were shooting?"

Connor just snorted and followed her. Spanner led the way, whistling what Connor was disturbingly sure was the pygmy song from the old 'Merrie Melodies' cartoons. He raised an incredulous eyebrow at her back and shook his head, Lee-Enfield MK2 still clutched to his chest. Spanner stopped suddenly, canting one hip and holding up a hand. She turned to Connor and gestured to the rifle in his hand.

"What?" Connor looked at her, absently pulling the rifle closer to his chest.

"Give it," Spanner tugged the rifle out of his hands, "You get to play with shinier toys than the other boys do."

She tucked the Lee-Enfield MK2 over one shoulder and walked away again, leaving Connor feeling strangely bereft and still utterly disturbed as she began humming the pygmy song once more. Spanner carried on walking, Connor following behind, until she got to the makeshift range. Spanner stopped, crouching down and pulling out two boxes. One, she put the MK2 in. The other, she flipped open, stood up and stepped back, gesturing to Connor.

"That's yours now," she said, pointing to the gun in the box.

Connor looked at it, then at her, "Okay…"

Spanner waited, obviously expecting more of an answer, before sighing and continuing, "Dragunov Sniper Rifle. Purpose-built, military precision, marksman's rifle. Sexy beast of a thing."

Connor took it out of the box, holding it awkwardly in his hands, hefting it up into the crook of his arm as it grew heavy. He sighed, trying hard to listen and understand as Spanner described the intricacies of the rifle and how to use it. He fumbled the magazine she handed him, swearing under his breath as it took him four tries before he finally slid the damn thing home.

He sighed, looking through his hair at Spanner, "I'm never gonna get this."

But war makes for a harsh teacher. And Connor came to the abrupt realisation that if he didn't learn quickly, chances were, he was going to die quickly. And so was Nick, so was Stephen. So Connor trained, as much as it pained him to, listening and learning, sliding magazine after magazine home into the Dragunov before raising it to his shoulder and firing it into the target.

Connor lay down on his stomach on the muddy ground, one knee pulled up to his side. Mariko and Spanner watched from the sidelines. Nick and Stephen watched from behind the two women. His Lee-Enfield MK2 was held steady at the target. He sighted down the barrel of the gun, staring through the scope. Connor's heart thumped in his chest, even though he tried to calm it. He took deep, steadying breaths.

"Fire when ready," Spanner called, in the calmest voice Nick and Stephen had ever heard her use.

Connor didn't respond, didn't move. He simply stayed where he was. He flicked off the safety and slowly curled his finger around the trigger. Nick frowned a little as he saw Connor's lips start to move silently.

Fire, fire, fire…

Nick was watching Connor's mouth so intently that he almost leapt out of his skin when the gun went off. He blinked, still staring at Connor's mouth. Connor himself remained perfectly still, but his lips kept moving silently.

Hit. Fire, fire, fire…

Spanner held a pair of binoculars up to her eyes. A grin blossomed underneath them. She passed them off to Mariko. Mariko held the binoculars up to her own eyes. Her mouth screwed up. She passed them back to Spanner with a sigh and a frown.

"Alright," she said, "You win. The boy's a sniper."

Spanner let out a slightly manic laugh, "Hell yes, motherfucker! Dessert is mine!"

Mariko rolled her eyes and turned to look at Connor, who'd stopped firing and rolled onto his side to look at them, "Good shooting," she said grudgingly, "Spanner's a decent teacher."

Connor grinned up at her, "Thanks."

Mariko turned to walk away, "And get up from the damn floor," she threw over her shoulder, "You look like a spread from a kink magazine."

Spanner gave Connor a once-over, "I dunno," she called to Mariko's retreating back, "I'd hit that."

Mariko snorted, turning back to look at Spanner, "You'd be a cradle robber if you did," she waved a hand at Connor, who was blushing to the roots of his hair, "He can't be a day over twenty-five."

Spanner shrugged and grinned lustily, "Then I'd definitely rob that cradle."

Connor founding himself musing on that, his training, Spanner, and the person he used to be as he lay flat on his belly, one knee pulled up to the side, much as he had done that day on the range. Still musing, he worked quickly to fit together the pieces of his Dragunov. Then he pulled the gun up to his shoulder, placed his eye at the scope, tapped his earpiece to start it working and waited.

"Do we need to go over the plan once more?" Ianto's voice crackled over Connor's earpiece.

"For the love of Christ, no!" Connor smirked as Spanner hurled back her answer.

"I'm inclined to agree, Ianto, we know this plan inside out and upside down," Nick's accented tones cut through next.

"Alright then. You know your jobs. Get to it. Mariko, you're up."

Connor lay flat and still against the rooftop, resisting the urge to use his scope to follow Mariko's progress through the backstreets. She knew her job. He knew his. He kept his breathing as steady as he could, even though he was nervous. Connor slowly moved his rifle across the rooftop, scanning through the scope for his target, a security guard that would impede Stephen's progress after Mariko had completed the first phase.

"Target acquired," Spanner's all-business tone came over his earpiece.

"Standby," Ianto's followed it.

There…

Connor sighted the man. He loosened up his shoulders and held himself with an almost unnatural stillness. The security guard remained in his position. As he should. He breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth, curling one finger lightly around the trigger.

"Target acquired," he said into his mike.

"Standby," Ianto replied again.

Connor waited, hearing Mariko's voice over his earpiece, "Phase one, complete."

Ianto replied with, "Stephen, you're up."

Connor tensed a little at that, before forcing himself to relax. Tense shoulders meant wild shots. Wild shots meant taking more than one to eliminate a target. He blinked slowly, eyes never leaving the scope. One shot was enough.

"Spanner?" he heard Ianto's slightly questioning tone.

"Target acquired," she repeated, "Standing by."

"Coming up on your target, Spanner," Stephen's slightly breathless voice and pounding footsteps echoed in his ear.

"Spanner, you're up."

There was a soft click, then the sliding sound of the casing being ejected from the chamber, "Target eliminated."

"Good to go, Stephen," Ianto's voice was next.

"Gotcha. On Connor's target in less than a minute."

"Connor?" Ianto's calm voice spoke to him now.

The same as Spanner, he replied, "Target acquired. Standing by."

"You're up."

Connor kept his voice to barely above a whisper so it wouldn't disturb any other broadcasts, "Fire, fire, fire," he squeezed the trigger, "Hit," he raised his voice, "Target eliminated."

"Good to go, Stephen," Ianto said again.

"Right," Stephen sounded saddened.

That was followed almost a minute later by, "Phase two, complete."

"Nick?"

"Ready and waitin'."

Ianto's voice came back again, hope colouring his tone, "Bring it home, everyone."

Connor inched back from the edge of the roof, rolling onto his back, then onto his feet. He scooped up his rifle and the empty shell casing, tucking the casing into his pocket and slinging his rifle across his back. Moving quickly, he left the roof, darting through the abandoned building. He stopped at the door, pulling the Beretta Spanner had pressed into his hand out of its holster.

He slid through the streets, gun coming up, but quickly dropping down again as Mariko moved up beside him. Mariko raised an eyebrow at his back as he jogged a few steps ahead of her, stopping so she could catch up, and nodding at the SUV Nick had ready and idling. Mariko nodded back, holding up three fingers. She dropped them one by one. As the last one fell, they both dashed for the car, flinging themselves across seats and bodies.

Nick floored it, making Spanner squawk in protest as the car squealed, "Good Christ! Are you insane?! My poor baby!"

"Shut up and let the man drive, Spanner! People will be trying to kill us soon!" Ianto yelled back, head down and eyes scrunched shut as Nick swerved through Cardiff.

But despite Ianto's dire predictions, they made it back to the pub unharmed, with no one on their tail. They all piled out of the SUV, everyone but Nick looking as though they wanted to kiss the ground in relief. Mariko headed straight for the doors to the pub, Ianto quickly catching up to her and holding the door open for her. Spanner stood next to the SUV, running a hand over its hood and patting the grille, as though soothing it after the hellish ride Nick had put it through.

Connor, Nick and Stephen walked together towards the pub, arguing about Nick's driving capabilities. Or, as Connor and Stephen were trying to point out, rather loudly, considerable lack thereof.

"I'm serious, Nick, I thought I was going to end up with the console up my arse for a while there!" Stephen gestured rather graphically to this effect.

Connor laughed and added, "I know! I started off in Spanner's lap. Then ended up on Ianto's feet. Then on Spanner's feet. Then on Ianto's lap. Then Mariko ended up on my lap."

"Bloody hell! It's called evasive driving!" Nick shot back good naturedly.

"Evading what?" Connor shot back, "It isn't like there was anyone shooting at us from bloody rooftops…" his voice trailed off.

Nick's smiling retort was cut very short as Connor abruptly paled, turning ghost-white in bare seconds. He stopped dead, halfway through a step. Stephen stepped in front of him, reaching a hand out to touch a shoulder. Connor's breath hitched once, twice.

"Connor?" Nick questioned, worry and fear colouring his voice and his eyes.

"Oh my God…" Connor's eyes stared, utterly horrified, into the distance.

"Connor?" Stephen took a turn, gently touching his shoulder.

"Oh my God. Oh… Oh God. Oh my God…" Connor shoved past them both and ran.

He had disappeared around the side of the pub before Nick and Stephen got their act into gear and raced after him. Before the two had even made it three steps, the sounds of retching and someone being violently sick could be heard. Nick and Stephen dashed around the back of the pub, leaving Spanner alone by the SUV. All alone, no-one saw her shoulders start to shake silently, nor the small amount of tears that fell onto the SUV's hood.

When Stephen and Nick skidded around the corner to find Connor, what they saw shocked them beyond belief. Connor was hunched over, shuddering almost painfully as dry heaves still racked his body. His chest heaved as he cried, tears rolling down his face, coughing and choking on the gut-wrenching sobs that spilled up and out of him. Stephen and Nick dropped to their knees next to him, placing hands on his shoulders and back.

"Connor…"

"Murderer…" was returned harshly.

Nick and Stephen both recoiled, "What?" they asked as one.

"'m a murderer."

"Connor, no…" Stephen tried to curl an arm around the younger man, only have him recoil.

"You aren't a murderer," Nick said, trying to touch his other shoulder.

"But… I killed him."

"May I?" Spanner cut in, voice slightly subdued.

She didn't wait for a response before worming her way between Stephen and Connor, sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of him. Stephen blinked at the back of her head for a moment, before shifting away, shaking his head. Nick shook his own head, not letting go of Connor's knee.

Connor raised his eyes to meet hers, "I killed him," he whispered hoarsely.

"Yeah, sweetheart," Spanner said with a sad sigh, "You did."

A broken sob forced its way out of Connor, "'m a murderer…"

"Conn… Connor," Spanner stroked his hair, showing a softer personality than any of them had ever seen before, "Is your Stephen, here, a murderer?" she waited for a slow headshake, "He's shot people."

"But…"

"He's killed people, sweetheart, same as I have," Spanner gestured around her, "Look at what we're dealing with. It sounds trite, I know, but this is war, Connor. It is quite literally, them or us."

"But…"

"No, Connor… No," Spanner raised her head, letting Connor see the desperation in her eyes, "If I give up on you and say 'yeah, Conn, you're a murderer' for that one mission then I'll have to turn around and look at all the stuff I've done," she shook her head, "I… I can't do that, Connor."

Stephen and Nick watched, stunned, as something in Connor's face shifted. The hiccupping breaths that had accompanied his sobs slowed, finally stopping. A shaking hand placed itself on Spanner's knee. No words were said, none were needed. But they were all changed now. A harsh new hardness had bloomed like shattered glass in Connor's dark eyes. A deep, dark vulnerability had been unearthed in Spanner's. And a profound sadness could now be found in Nick and Stephen's eyes, for the innocence lost in them all.

Standing away from them all, Ianto looked down at Mariko, sighing sadly and nodding towards the three men as Spanner got to her feet, "Five days," he said cryptically.

Mariko looked up at him, a little confused until she saw the look in his eyes, then she too sighed sadly, "I'm not sure it'll even take that long."