Alex Eames rubbed her eyes wearily. She could swear she had grit in them. As she hauled herself through immigration and waited impatiently to snag her suitcase from the baggage carousel, she thought of all the things she would rather be doing than being stuck in rainy, dark London in the week before Christmas, away from her family and friends, helping out an investigation into events which, if she was entirely honest, she would have been just as happy to forget.
Duty calls, she reminded herself sternly, touching her gold shield where it rested securely in her coat's inside pocket. As she dragged the suitcase off the carousel, she forced herself to focus.
It was not that she didn't want to help out their fellow police officers in the Metropolitan Police. Nor that she didn't want to do whatever she could to help the ongoing fight against terrorism.
She just wished she didn't have to do it right now.
Not to mention the fact that Sienna's psycho ex-boyfriend escaped from prison only recently…
She'd spent the flight over pondering whether Sienna was right, that the timing was a little too pat for this to be a coincidence – that they had been called over to London at precisely the same time that John Durham was the subject of a manhunt by the UK police and security services – or whether the younger woman was just being paranoid. She still wasn't sure. Yes, it was a hell of a coincidence, but were MI5 really that manipulative?
Her thoughts were interrupted by someone calling her name loudly. "Alex! Over here!"
She turned her head and saw Sienna and Bobby waiting for her on the other side of the barrier. They were waving enthusiastically… no, not enthusiastically, she realised. Frantically was closer to it, she realised as she got nearer.
"Alex, you're here, that's great," Sienna murmured, practically snatching the suitcase out of her hands. "We need to go, our car is waiting."
"Uh… what?" She resisted the urge to rub her eyes again and yawn.
"We need to get going, now."
"What's the hurry?" She'd been keeping herself going throughout the last interminable hour on the plane with visions of a hotel room, a meal that hadn't come out of a foil tray, a shower, fresh clothes, a comfortable bed to stretch out on and, if she were very lucky, enjoy a brief nap on.
"Sorry, Eames," Bobby murmured from beside her. "We really need to go. Really." He suddenly seemed to remember what he was holding. "Uh… I got you this." He held out the most welcome sight she had seen in hours; a large white cardboard cup with a familiar green logo. She took a brief second to inhale the welcome scent, took a dainty sip, and nearly spat it out. She looked up at her partner accusingly.
"Bobby, this coffee has at least two sugars and double cream."
"I thought you liked it that way." He frowned.
"Yes, but you think it's terrible and call it 'cake in a cup', and you usually only ever buy it for me when you want to apologise or ask me for something really big…"
"Can we focus, please!" Sienna's voice was sharp, and Alex resisted the urge to glare.
"Sienna, I just got off the plane."
"Yes, well, a lot of things happened whilst you were on the plane. Things that you need to know about, so can we please just get in the car?" Sienna was practically dancing on the spot, Eames noticed uneasily. What the hell had got her so rattled?
"Okay, yeah," she said, hoping her irritation wasn't too obvious, and followed the two of them towards a waiting black SUV with a man she didn't recognise behind the wheel. Had she been in the States, she'd have instantly thought FBI. Since she wasn't, she wondered why they were being picked up by an MI5 agent. She could be wrong, but there was just something about him that shouted "domestic security".
"What's the situation?" she asked, once they were all seated in the rear of the SUV.
Sienna and Bobby looked at each other and apparently communicated without words, since Bobby spoke first and Sienna stayed silent.
"Eames…" He paused, then began again. "I was… contacted… by John Durham less than an hour ago."
For a split second she just stared at him. "What? Wait a second… we're talking about the same man here? Your…"
"Yes, Alex, my ex-boyfriend," Sienna replied sharply. "Let's get that out of the way now."
What the hell is wrong with her? Eames thought, but her thoughts were interrupted as her partner continued.
"He claims that he's innocent," Bobby continued. "He says that-"
He didn't get to complete his thought, as the car pulled swiftly in to the side of the road. The driver turned round and said, "Did you say you'd been contacted by John Durham?"
"Bobby, you haven't told the police here?" Eames didn't- quite- shout, but her voice was nearly twice as loud as usual.
"Before I did anything else, I wanted to see with my own eyes that you were both safe," he replied calmly and quietly.
"You haven't reported this?" the driver continued.
Sienna leaned forward and fixed him with a glare. "No, Adams, we have not, and every minute you're not driving us to Thames House is another minute we're not reporting it, so get moving."
He shook his head. "I have to call this in." He reached for a radio handset beside the parking brake.
Sienna reached forward and placed her own hand over the handset, locking eyes with the driver. "No. You do not. We are going to report this in person to Ann Langford, and you need to get us to Thames House so that we can do that."
"Get your hand off," the man replied. "Every second counts, and I need to call this in now."
Sienna shook her head. "No, you don't. John will be long gone by now." She looked across at Bobby, who nodded. "You won't catch him, even if you get a squad car to where he was last seen immediately. I need to report this to Ann Langford first: it impacts directly upon MI5's operations, and if you have any sense of loyalty to-"
"I'm loyal to my job and my country." He reached for Sienna's small hand with his own large black-gloved hand, and her face went icy in a way Eames had never seen before. Her tone of voice, when she spoke, was almost cruel, one that Eames had never heard her use before.
"Well, you're certainly not loyal to your wife."
The man's face went an unpleasant shade of grey as he stared at her, goggle-eyed. Sienna continued in a softer tone. "Sorry, Adams. I really didn't want to say that. But you know, and I know, that you haven't been working late over the past few months."
"You've got no proof."
"Just because I don't live in this country any more, doesn't mean I don't have sources. Nor that I don't have the telephone number for several of your colleagues, who'll no doubt be delighted to hear what use you and the department secretary have been making of the back seats of these cars. Can you get fired for that? You certainly would if you worked for my organisation…"
"You bitch," he replied softly.
She sighed. "I'm afraid so. Now put your foot on the gas pedal, and get us to Thames House. Now. And if you like having your job, you aren't going to hear any of what we say in the next ten minutes, and you certainly aren't going to repeat it."
The man gave her a look of deep loathing, and pulled out into the traffic. Sienna released her grip on the radio handset, and settled back onto the leather seats, as Eames and Goren stared at her.
"You've done the same sort of thing yourself," Sienna said in reply to their expressions. "Now, can we focus on John? Bobby, what did you think?" Her expression was almost hungry, in a way that Eames found somehow deeply worrying.
"Think about what?" she asked.
Her partner exhaled sharply. "He claims he's innocent. He claims that he was working undercover without authorisation to get intelligence on the gang he was supposedly on the take from, and that's why MI5 thought he was corrupt… he wants his job back."
"He wants Bobby and me to go to MI5 and persuade them to trust him," Sienna added in a tight voice. "He's in contact with the gang he was supposedly working for, the Barayev branch of the Russian mafia."
"What he wants is… Both MI5 and the Barayev gang expect him to try to… get to… Sienna. Kidnap her, take revenge on her. His plan is that he goes along with that, but lets MI5 in on when and where it's supposed to happen…"
"…when it all goes according to how John describes it, that's proof that he's telling the truth. He comes back to a hero's welcome, tells us everything he knows about the Barayev organisation, and with luck and good timing, we can make a surgical strike that should close down at least half of their operations in London in one go," Sienna finished.
Eames stared for a few seconds, and sincerely wished she'd gotten more sleep on the flight. "How do you know he's telling the truth?" she asked finally.
"We don't," Sienna said simply.
"He didn't harm me, Eames," Bobby replied. "He could have, easily – he knocked me out – but all he wanted to do was talk."
"That doesn't prove anything," she pointed out.
"No, but there's at least the possibility that he's telling the truth," Sienna added. "And if he is… then this is an opportunity we can't pass up." Her eyes were hungry, a look Eames knew very well, the eagerness of the law enforcement professional when the opportunity to catch their prey suddenly appeared. "That's why I want to speak to Langford first."
"It's a pretty far-out story," Eames commented. "Undercover without permission? There aren't many people crazy enough to do that."
"Crazy, or determined, Alex," Sienna replied. "Do you know what John's nickname was? He got it after his team brought down someone they used to call the Invisible Man. He was an arms trader to the mafia, a major player. You name it, he could supply it, but he never left a paper trail. Everyone else had given up trying to catch him, but John just kept going. He wouldn't stop. After they succeeded in catching him, people started calling John "the Machine", because he never, ever, stopped, just kept going until he got what he was after."
"What if he's lying?" Eames pointed out, again.
Sienna shrugged impatiently. "We'll discuss that when we get to Thames House." MI5's headquarters, Eames reminded herself. "We're nearly there now." She pulled out her cellphone and placed a call. "Yes? This is Sienna Tovitz, Interpol Serious and Organised Crime, New York office. I need to speak to Ann Langford immediately. Yes, immediately."
Eames exchanged glances with her partner. For the first time in years, she felt awkward with Bobby. Sienna's presence was a sharp reminder that there was now an important part of his life that didn't involve her in any way, shape or form. It was not a comfortable feeling.
It was not that she wanted Bobby for herself. He was an attractive man, she would have been the first to agree, but he was her friend and partner, and she would never risk that. That did not, however, prevent her feeling just a little… displaced. She was not the only female with whom Bobby Goren had a relationship now, and she was still getting used to the knowledge.
She was still considering her options when the car swept into the basement of Thames House, passing through endless security checks before they reached their destination, an elevator in the basement.
Five minutes later, they were waiting in a large office for Ann Langford, the Operations Chief of MI5's Serious and Organised Crime Unit, to return from a meeting that had been hastily cut short once Sienna passed on the news about John Durham. Suddenly, the door opened, and Langford herself entered the room. A tall, heavily-built woman, she wore a navy blue trouser suit with low heels. Her greying blond hair was clipped back by a steel-grey barrette, revealing a face with one of the hardest expressions Eames had ever seen on anyone's face, including several major criminals.
Imagine seeing that face every day, she thought. It's no wonder Davenport turned out like…
"Detectives, Ms Tovitz," Langford said perfunctorily. "Thank you for reporting this to me first. Detective Goren, I need to speak with you first. Alone," she said, without bothering to face Sienna.
"We-"
"-will discuss this together, once I have the facts." Langford's tone was final, as her office assistant opened the door to a nearby small room with one table and two chairs visible, and gestured at Goren to enter. He exchanged a brief glance with Sienna, then rose steadily to his feet and joined Langford in the interrogation – no, it wasn't an interrogation room, it just looked like one, Eames thought uncomfortably as the door closed. She stared at the door for a few seconds, then turned to Sienna.
"Sienna…" She paused, then selected one of the many questions she wanted to ask. "Do you think Durham is telling the truth?"
Sienna looked at her with an expression composed of equal parts hope, fear, and exhaustion. "I think he is, Alex. I hope he is."
"You hope he is?"
Sienna closed her eyes briefly. "Yes. I'd like something good to come out of this whole sorry mess. I'd like to think that I wasn't completely mistaken about John."
"Sienna, you've said to me in the past that part of you always sensed that Durham was keeping something back from you. That when you heard he was corrupt – part of you wasn't surprised."
"Well, he was keeping something back from me, Alex. If he was undercover without permission, that's a hell of a risk to take."
"Assuming he's telling the truth about that. He could be lying, Sienna. In which case-"
"In which case my life is in danger, Alex, yes, thank you, I know. I've known since I got the message that John was on the loose, though really, I've known for the past year, since John started his sentence, and I got to live my life in the happy knowledge that, sooner or later, his sentence would end and he'd be in 'protective custody'." She practically spat the words. "That's a joke. I thought I'd be safe in New York with Bobby, but I should have known… how else did John know where to find Bobby? I thought we were being watched at JFK airport, and I must have been right. He had someone watching me there, Alex. Watching for me, and watching for Bobby, and for you, so that he'd know when we left and he could wait for us here. That's the sort of man John is, Alex. He doesn't stop. Ever. And I'm not going to, either. I want this resolved so that we can live our lives, all of us."
"All of us?"
Sienna looked at her impatiently. "Yes. All of us. Do you know how worried I've been, thinking about Jack and Tanya, over here in the same country as John, with a baby on the way? But if John's telling the truth – if he really is innocent,' the hope showed on her face for just a few seconds, like sunlight through clouds, "then all that goes away, and we can just get on with our lives."
Eames sighed. She was not a woman to back away from saying uncomfortable truths, but this was one of those rare occasions that she really didn't want to say what she was about to. However, someone had to.
"What do you think Davenport is going to think about all this?"
Sienna's face transformed itself into a mask of rage. It was an unpleasant sight, and Eames was glad that her partner was not in the room.
"I could not care less what Drew does, or does not think, Alex. He got me shot, and, if John's right, it was for nothing."
Wow, that's a change from "he did try to make it up to me, he was my friend", Eames thought in slightly stunned silence. What the hell happened? Something had clearly changed in Sienna's feelings, but what had caused it?
She tried again. "Sienna… regardless of your personal feelings – listen to me! – regardless of your feelings about Davenport, he's an MI5 officer. He must have thought there was good reason to think Durham was corrupt. Surely, he should be involved." And I cannot believe I am having this argument.
Still, someone had to say it. Regardless of whether she liked Davenport as a person, or what she thought of his ethics, she had seen his intelligence and devotion to his job at first hand. She did not want them to lose out on the knowledge of the one person who knew the case against Durham better than anyone else because of Sienna's emotions, regardless of how justified they might be. Particularly not when the stakes might be as high as their lives.
"Alex, just because you saved Drew's life, don't start thinking he's a good person. I know you must want to…"
"This has got nothing to do with my feelings, Sienna." Eames fixed the younger woman with her best "cop" expression, hard-faced and authoritative.
Sienna sighed very wearily, and Eames felt a surge of compassion briefly temper her increasing frustration at the younger woman's stubbornness. "Jesus, Alex, would it kill you to be on my side?"
"I am on your side, Sienna. But it's not my job to be a cheerleader. I don't hesitate to speak out when I think Bobby isn't seeing the full picture, and I'm not going to hesitate to do the same to you."
"Oh, you don't think I'm seeing the full picture?" Sienna's glare was back in full force. Suddenly, she sprang off the couch and her hands flew to her belt buckle. As Eames and the office assistant (hiding behind her desk) gaped at her, she unbuckled the belt, undid her pants fastening and pulled them midway down her thighs.
Her suit jacket hid her panties, but it did not hide the puckered, messy scar on her left thigh. Some surgeon or other had tried to tidy it up, but there had been only so much he or she had been able to do, and even though it had largely faded from red to silver, it was still an unpleasant sight. Eames winced, imagining the pain, the burning sensation as the bullet tore through the skin and muscle, the shock as the blood loss started to kick in. (She tried hard not to think about what it must be like for Bobby, being reminded of one of the most painful incidents in Sienna's past every time the two of them were intimate.)
"This is the full picture, Alex!" Sienna's eyes locked with hers.
Eames took a deep breath. As the other woman angrily pulled her clothes back up, she replied as calmly as she could. "No. Sienna, I'm saying this as your friend as well as a detective with over fifteen years' experience. You know as well as I do that you're not thinking rationally…"
"Oh, I am thinking quite rationally, Alex," Sienna replied, more calmly than Eames had expected. "Let me tell you what I think. I think that if John is innocent, he deserves this chance. I think that if he's not innocent, then we should still do this, because it's our best chance of drawing him out, and I really, really don't want to go through the rest of my life expecting John to appear round the corner with a gun any moment. I want this over with."
"So, why not involve Davenport? Give yourself the best chance of…"
"Because Drew and John hated each other. They were only ever in the same room once, when we had a meeting when I first got there, about setting up the new taskforce. But I could feel it, Alex. They were polite, but they hated each other, it was instinctive. Drew won't listen to any of this, he'll just want to take John down, and to hell with anyone else."
"You're not giving him a chance, Sienna," Eames said, very gently. Truth be told, she was less concerned about Davenport's well-being than Sienna's. Aside from the fact that Davenport might well be privy to information they didn't have, she knew very well that, once the situation was resolved, Sienna would make herself miserable over not having given her friend an chance to defend himself-
"Drew lost any right he ever had to have me consider his feelings or his well-being when he lied to me for two years, Alex." Sienna's words were utterly cold.
-or maybe not. Eames sighed. What the hell is going on, here? There's a part of this puzzle I'm missing.
But she had no more time to think about that, as the door opened, and Langford and Goren emerged, looking grim but resolute.
Though she kept her professional face in place, she couldn't help thinking the worst.
This has the potential to end very, very badly.
