This is the finale folks. Thanks for your reviews and support. If you have not already done so, my story The Heart of Magic follows this (or rather this prequels it... You know what I mean!). Planning has begun on series two, current working title "And the Quest", but I'll be taking a two week break after April Fools goes up on Wednesday. I'll be visiting Culzean Castle again though, so don't be surprised to see an episode set there, since I'll undoubtedly be planning and note taking and researching, maybe even writing, while I'm away.
P.S. If anyone would like a look at the original plan synopsis for this, let me know and I'll add it as an afterword.
So somebody somewhere on here at some time mentioned that they would like to see Stone get jealous...
Chapter 7
Cassandra came round first. She blinked, but no light came to the aid of her eyes. She could feel the rubble all around her, propped up on support beams that had collided just enough to save her. To save them. There were arms around her and someone beside her. Familiar arms. She reached up and traced the outline of Jake's face. Amidst the dust and dirt from the explosion, there was blood winding its way down his forehead. She felt panic rise.
"Don't be dead," she whispered. "Please don't be dead!"
"I'm not dead," groaned the reply. "I don't think I'd be hurting this much if I was!"
"Why the blazes did you come back for me?" Cassandra hissed at him. "You could have been killed!"
"You would have been if I hadn't!"
"And now we're both trapped! Do you have any idea how little oxygen there is in a space this small?"
"Don't tell me," he groaned. "Please!"
"At least Colonel Baird and Ezekiel got out," she sighed, letting her head fall forward onto his chest. "They'll get us out."
"Here's hoping," he murmured.
XXXX
It took half an hour of solid digging before the first glimmer of light shone through the rubble. Another half hour later and they were on their way to the hospital to be checked out. Two hours later and they were on their way back to the hotel in Ben Cohen's car, with a dressing on Stone's forehead and both of them in sore need of a change of clothes.
"We're not done," Baird told them as Ben drove. "To stop Ben from making any more golems to fight the one he'd made for Lazslo, Laszlo took the book Ben used. It was written by the Maharal himself. We need to get it and keep it from falling into the wrong hands again."
"How do we do that?" Stone asked, removing the wound dressing.
"He has a secret hideout," commented Jones. "Where he keeps all his ill gotten gains."
"Do we know where?" Cassandra asked.
"Wouldn't be very secret if we did," shrugged Jones.
"We know, from what Ben has told us, that the only people he takes there are his trusted henchmen, people who are not usually heard of again, and women he's trying to impress."
"He has a weakness," nodded Stone. "So you're going to try and be one of those women, then get the book and get out?"
"Actually I can't," Baird admitted, looking over at Cassandra apologetically. "I've run into Laszlo before, on NATO business. He knows my face."
"No!" Stone shook his head, then winced. "You cannot seriously be suggesting we use Cassandra as bait! She's just out of the hospital!"
"Where the only one of us with any damage was you," Cassandra reminded him. She looked back to Baird. "We need to get that book. What do I have to do?"
XXXX
"I don't like this," grumbled Stone into Baird's ear. The noise in the club was typically loud. That was bad enough. Nobody in the building looked the kind of person he would happily have a drink with back home. That was worse. The worst thing, however, was the small group of men he had been watching for the past hour before Baird joined him. There were at least four bodyguards surrounding Laszlo, that he could see. Jones was supposed to be helping, but Jones was nowhere to be found.
"She'll be fine," Baird reassured him, leaning on the bannister of the club's upper floor and looking down into the crowd below. "Look there she is."
"Where?" Stone followed Baird's gaze. Walking down the spiral stairs on the opposite side of the club was Cassandra, wearing a completely different kind of dress and not much of that. A dig in the ribs told him he'd been staring. "Where the heck did you find that outfit!"
"We're girls, Stone: shopping is one of our superpowers," she looked round again. "You're still staring."
"It would be easy to lose her in this crowd, we should really keep our eyes on her all the time."
"That much I grant you, just try and stop catching flies while you watch her."
He shut his mouth and leant against the bannister beside her. His eyes followed Cassandra's red hair through the crowd to the bar. She found the group he'd been watching easily. They'd taken over that end of the bar and there was a clear area around them. She picked her way into the empty part of the bar and somehow got the barman's attention. She got the group's attention too, and Jake watched their target brush his bodyguards away to go to Cassandra's side. When the barman returned with her drink, he said something to him and the man went away without asking for any payment.
The uneasy feeling in Jake's stomach grew as he watched them talking. She was seated on a bar stool now, another drink in hand, laughing at what he assumed were Laszlo's jokes. A hand went out to brush a red curl back into place and he felt his own hands tighten on the bannister.
"Easy," said Baird, looking over at his white knuckles. "She'll be fine."
"If they move, we'll lose them before we get downstairs," he replied. "If anything happens to her..."
"If you hadn't been so busy watching Cassandra, you'd see Jones talking to that brunette about four feet away. He won't lose her."
"Oh, yeah, 'cause he'll be so much use against that lot!"
"He can follow them without being spotted. You can't. They already know me."
"What if they do spot him?"
"He just needs to follow them to wherever the book is. We catch up with him and get Cassandra out, creating the distraction he needs to get the book," Baird replied, reiterating the plan for what, by now, felt like the hundredth time.
"I still don't like..." Stone's voice trailed off as he froze, his eyes no longer on Cassandra.
"What?" Baird straightened and followed his gaze.
"I swear that guy just put something in her drink."
"Okay, that's not good."
"I'm getting her out of there."
"I should..."
"Like you said: he knows you," said Stone, raising a hand to stop her. "You keep an eye on them from up here and let me know if they move."
"No bar brawls!" Baird called after him.
"For once I have a better idea!"
It took him longer than he'd have liked to descend the stairs and make his way across the dance floor to the bar. When he reached the group huddled around their boss and Cassandra she was already halfway through the spiked drink.
"Hey, darlin', time to go!" Stone yelled over the noise of the club, pushing through the knot of bodyguards.
"I haven't finished my drink," she pointed out.
"You've had plenty!" Stone lifted the glass out of her hand and slid it across the bar. It toppled over the edge and hit the ground with a faint smash. "Now it's time I got you home."
"Who," asked the immaculately suited man by her side with a sneer, "are you?"
"Get out of my way, friend," he warned. "This is between me and my drunk wife."
"Your..."
Before he could finish his thought, Stone had reached out and grabbed Cassandra's wrist, dragging her towards him. A hand shot out from one of Laszlo's bodyguards to grab her back and he caught it in his own.
"Touch her and I'll break every bone in your hand," he growled, tightening his grip on the offending article. With some difficulty, the hand receded.
He pulled her towards him again and she collided with him on shaky legs. Automatically wrapping an arm around her waist, they exchanged a look. What's going on? Go with it. Start a fight. "You're coming with me," he said loudly. "And don't even think about ordering another drink! Look at you! You can barely stand! You're bad enough sober right now without adding another reason to fall over!" That did the trick. She slapped him.
"I don't have to go anywhere with you!" Cassandra yelled, attempting to push herself away from him.
"Like hell you don't!" Stone yelled back. "One argument and you take your ring off, go spend a ton of money on a dress you'll never wear again and start getting drunk and picking up strangers in bars! If it was just you, I'd say fine, but that's my money you're spending and nobody in you're condition should be getting that drunk!"
"Just because I'm carrying your child doesn't mean you own me!"
Stone blinked. That wasn't the condition he'd meant, but never mind. "You're my wife and I love you. Isn't that enough?"
All at once, her arms were round his neck and her lips were on his. If he hadn't already had his arms around her to stop her falling over, he wasn't entirely sure he wouldn't have given the game away by flailing about like an idiot. He pulled her closer and tried to remember it was all an act. Her teeth tugged on his lower lip and he pulled away.
"Honey, we have an audience," he reminded her, glancing over at the group of men behind her. They had already backed off.
"So take me home, lover," she replied, and he was sure nobody would have heard her but himself.
Lifting her into his arms, he carried her out of the club and into a taxi at the rank outside. Once they were safely on their way, and a text sent to Jones and Baird to say so, he turned to Cassandra.
"We ever have to pull a stunt like that again, please don't do that!"
"Do what?" Cassandra giggled. "You started it!"
"You know exactly what! You really are drunk! What the heck were you drinking in there? You know he spiked it at least once?"
"No I didn't," she sobered a little, but not much. "It was vodka and tonic. I thought it would, I don't know, blend in. I know I was drinking a little too fast but..."
"A little? He probably had the barman putting extra shots in your drink too!"
"I'm okay," she assured him.
"You can barely stand," he reminded her.
"Well, pardon me, I'm not exactly used to seducing gangsters in foreign bars."
"He's a loan shark, not a gangster, and you..."
"What?" Cassandra looked round at him. "And I what?"
"Never mind," he said, with a wave of his hand. "Ancient history now."
They reached the hotel and he had to help her out of the car and into the lobby. Her footing was still incoherent and her balance shot. "Come here," he sighed. "You are never gonna make it up those stairs like that."
When they reached the small corridor their rooms inhabited, he put her down again, propping her up against the wall while he opened her door.
"How do women find anything in these damn tiny purses?" Stone muttered, retrieving the key and shepherding her inside. "Right, you. In there, get changed, go to bed. I will be next door if you need me."
"I think I'll just get changed in the morning," slurred Cassandra, sitting down on the bed and kicking off her heels. She dragged the blanket over her and fell back onto the pillows, asleep already.
"Really?" Stone sighed. He went and found the bucket and put it at her side of the bed. With a murmured apology, he rolled her over onto her side, near the edge of the bed where the bucket lay. She rolled back. He rolled her onto her side again and put a pillow at her back. She tried to roll back, found the pillow, grabbed it and threw it away.
"Dammit, woman!" Stone muttered when she threw away a second, then a third pillow. "You cannot sleep on your back with God knows what in your system!" He sighed and ran a hand over his forehead. "To hell with it!" He kicked his shoes off and climbed up onto the bed beside her, rolling her away from him, back onto her side facing the bucket. "Try throwing me away, I dare ya."
"You're really sexy when you're jealous," she muttered, and he could swear he heard a grin in her voice.
"And you are really, really drunk. Go to sleep," he ordered, trying hard to keep the grin out of his.
XXXX
The next morning, Stone woke early with his arms still wrapped around a sleeping Cassandra. He checked her pulse. It was normal. Well, normal for her anyway. He kissed her head and headed back through to his own room. There was a message on his phone from Baird to say they got the book and everything went without a hitch. He left the dividing door ajar and went to bed properly for another few hours. He was woken by the sound of his phone.
"Hey," he mumbled. "I saw you got the book."
"Jones has it," replied Baird. "We're downstairs demolishing the breakfast buffet again. Care to join us?"
"I'll be right down."
"How's Cassandra?"
"She's sleeping it off, or she was when I left her. She'll be fine."
"You're sure?"
"I'm sure. I stayed with her until the danger had passed."
"I think I'll take first shift on the driving today then."
"Driving?"
"Slovakia, remember?"
"Right, yeah, of course."
"So get down here and get a good breakfast before Jones finishes it."
He put the phone down and headed for the en suite. When he was dressed, he knocked on the dividing door and stuck his head through.
"You alive in there?"
"My head hurts!"
He walked through and knelt down by the bed.
"How much do you remember about last night?" Stone asked.
"Enough to know I should remember more," Cassandra groaned. "What happened?"
"They drugged you. I brought you home. Baird and Jones went after Laszlo and got the book."
"I didn't say or do anything..."
"You were under the influence of alcohol and something definitely not alcohol, I think we can safely say you did and said a lot of things, none of which matter in the slightest."
"Such as?"
"Well, you get really giggly when you're drunk."
"That's not all is it?" Cassandra's eyes narrowed. "What did I do?" She focussed past him and spotted the pillows on the floor. "Why...?"
Stone looked round and saw what she was looking at. "Oh those. You don't like sleeping on your side, apparently."
"Then how come I'm..." She stopped, her eyes flitting back to his face, now no longer meeting her gaze. "You stayed, didn't you."
"If I was out of line in doing so, I apologise," he replied, looking up, "but I couldn't see any other way of keeping you safe."
Cassandra's eyes seemed to search his own for a moment, then she sat up, swinging her legs down off the bed.
"I ought to get changed," she said. "What time is it?"
"Just after eight," he replied, standing up and offering her a hand to do the same. She ignored it. "Baird called. She and Jones are downstairs."
"I'll be fine. You can go join them," murmured Cassandra, getting up unaided and walking over to the wardrobe.
"Are you sure?"
"I don't need my own personal bodyguard, Stone!" Cassandra snapped. "You don't have to keep rescuing me!"
"If you are in trouble I am always going to keep rescuing you!" Jake retorted. "We're part of a team, Cassie. That's what people in a team do: they look out for each other. That's what friends do!"
"We are hardly that!" Cassandra sighed, not quite quietly enough that he didn't hear her.
"Since when?" Stone demanded. "We spend almost all our time together. We work together. We socialise together. We understand each other, or at least I thought we did!"
"We don't trust each other, though, do we?" Cassandra shot back. "How can you really be someone's friend if you don't trust them, Jacob? I get how you can be that way with family. I have family issues of my own. I just don't understand how you think you're my friend when you keep proving you don't trust my judgement!"
"I've never said..."
"You don't have to!"
He walked over to the wardrobe and turned her to face him. "If I have concerns about you, about how you live your life, it's because I care! Jones drags you into his mad ploys. Baird has her hands full dealing with him. Somebody has to be responsible for looking after you."
This time the slap was very definitely real.
"Don't you DARE play that card again!" Cassandra raged, pushing him away. "I should have slapped that pretentious, self-righteous, arrogant smirk off your face the first time, way back in that labyrinth. You think you're the only person capable of being responsible? I worked as a janitor just to pay the rent on my apartment back in New York. I worked there for years. I took care of myself. I didn't have to answer to you, or my parents, or Baird, or anyone but myself and I did fine! I do not need looking after!"
"I didn't mean..."
"Get out! I want to get changed."
He backed away, hands raised, and closed the door behind him. There was a click as the bolt shot back into place and the door was locked.
Breakfast was nearly over when Cassandra joined the other three in the hotel restaurant. She ate quickly and quietly, answering Baird's inquiries after her health with the age old misnomer "I'm fine". The manager had arranged a picnic basket for them for their journey, at Baird's request, and had arranged for a hire car to get them as far as the Slovakian border. They would have to change cars there, but he knew somewhere they could do that, and apparently the two companies were used to working together in similar circumstances. They would drop off the hire car at the Czech company's offices in Uhersky Brod. A driver would take them as far as the Slovakian border. They would meet another driver from the Slovakian company who would then take them to Trencin to pick up a new hire car from their offices.
When the time came to leave, Baird met Stone and Cassandra in the lobby with her bag. Jones was still making his way down the stairs. She looked from one to the other of them, noting the sullen silence.
"Let's get these bags in the car," she murmured thoughtfully. "You two seem awfully quiet. Everything okay?"
"We're good." They chorused.
"Hmm," she picked up the extra bag with the maps and headed out the door.
"We're not good," Cassandra said quietly as the door swung closed behind the Colonel.
"No, we're not," agreed Stone. "And we won't be for a while."
"I'll be sure to let you know when that is," she holding the door open for him.
"That ain't a one way thing," he told her. "We're both angry here."
"Then maybe you'll consider letting me know when you've climbed down from that high horse of yours!"
"Maybe I will!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
