An Unholy Alliance by InSilva

Disclaimer: do not own, do not own, do not own.

Chapter Nine: Toothbrush


It's late and he's still not asleep. Actually, forget late: it's early enough to be Friday. A week since Saul has gone missing and everything they've found out has just made the need to find him that much more urgent.

It's also been two days in Bryn's company. Two days. That's all. It feels like a lifetime. And the effect of Bryn hasn't lessened, not over the years, not over the two days. He is still…Bryn. And what he's just done to Danny…he can't help but think about the horror of it, the taste of Bryn, the feel of Bryn and it is killing.

He chokes back a sob and Danny stirs in his arms.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"You not asleep?"

"You neither."

"No." Pause. "What?"

Rusty shakes his head and even though it's dark, Danny seems to see it.

"Tell me, Rus."

"It's my fault," Rusty says at last. "It's my fault."

"What have you gone and done now? If you're taking the blame for Wham! splitting up again..."

Rusty isn't playing.

"If Bryn met you in the street, he would walk on by. He wouldn't even look at you twice."

"You know how to wound."

"If he met me…if he met me, he'd probably be interested. He'd try."

"You are just redefining modesty, you know that?"

"Danny…" A hint of annoyance.

"Rusty." Patient. "I get your point."

"Good."

"But it's a stupid point."

"Huh."

"Because when we met each other, we stopped doing the separate thing, didn't we? That all went out the window. All the things we've done and all the things we've been through… We experienced all that as us. And that includes Bryn. You ask me whether I'd rather have a life without Bryn in it or a life with you? You know the answer."

He does.

"Why?" Danny says curiously, sitting up. "You're not thinking-"

"If you hadn't met me, last night wouldn't have happened." Of course, I'm thinking.

"I am going to pretend I didn't hear that," Danny says fiercely. "Now stop the angst. We're together, we're here and we've got a job to do."

He settles down into the bed again and feels Rusty's head lay up against his shoulder by way of apology. He turns and presses his lips briefly to Rusty's forehead.

"Now I know what it feels like," Rusty says quietly.

Danny runs his tongue over his lip. "So do I."


There are many things that can wake Rusty up. Sounds and smells and touch. On one occasion, Danny has delicately dropped snow into Rusty's open mouth to see if that would work. It did.

But at this moment, at this very moment, it isn't one of his usual senses that is screaming at him. It is something intuitive and deep-rooted and he comes to and squints and registers several things at once. He is still lying close to Danny, his arm loosely over Danny and there is half-light and he feels Danny jolt awake a half-second after he himself has done and still there's no excuse for neither of them to have heard the locked door being opened. Because the sound of that might have been the trigger but the danger signal is due to the presence at the foot of the bed.

"Touching."

Bryn. Dressed and ready for the day. Hands in pockets and staring down at the pair of them with a fair imitation of a guileless smile.

They spring up in bed and Rusty feels the fury flooding through him at the trespass and even more so at the sight of Bryn after what Bryn has done to Danny.

"Having a lie-in, fellas? It's six o'clock, you know."

"What are you?" Rusty snarls. "Our wake-up call?"

Bryn chuckles. He looks over at Danny.

"You're awfully quiet, Danny. How's the lip?"

The rage builds towards the incandescent inside Rusty but he feels Danny's hand grip his tightly under the sheets, unseen, and it holds him in check.

"Still a little sore, Bryn, thank you for asking. I told Rusty what happened. With the whisky glass."

Bryn's eyes narrow a fraction and they flick to Rusty as Danny continues.

"Mind you, I don't think he believes it was an accident."

Rusty does his best to stare at Bryn with distrust and accusation. It is not difficult to do.

"You just don't know your own strength, Danny-boy," Bryn says finally with a grin.

"Why are you here?" Rusty spits at him and cannot help the sharp inhalation as Bryn's gaze travels over his exposed shoulders and chest.

Danny's grip tightens but Rusty knows this has shifted from restraint to protectiveness.

"Bryn," Danny prompts, his tone unfriendly.

"I've got a little field trip planned. Need to check something out I heard about last night after my company left me." His eyes drop on Danny and Rusty sees and hates the look. "Didn't want you fretting when you realised I was gone."

Saul. The fear rushes through them.

"We'll come with you," Danny begins but Bryn shakes his head dismissively.

"Not this time, amateurs. But I'll be back tonight. I'll see you in the morning."

"No!" Rusty says firmly.

Bryn's eyes glint. "Now I already told you what I think of that word."

"You don't go anywhere!" Rusty snaps.

"What you gonna do? Tackle me to the ground? Please." He moves to the door. "Have a nice day, boys. Go and look at some more trains. I'll see you tomorrow."

The door closes behind him and Rusty falls back on the bed, his mouth moving with anger and disgust and not bothering to hide it. Danny drops back down to the bed beside him and his hand is still on Rusty's.

"It might be for the best," Danny says and Rusty shoots him a look of disbelief. "Not the going alone. The seeing. Last night, I told him about us."

And that could mean many things but Rusty knows exactly what Danny's talking about.

"He was…he was…" Danny's mouth screws up at what Bryn had been saying. "And I needed to."

"He won't understand."

"He didn't."

Bryn wouldn't - couldn't – understand. But Danny had still needed to tell him. A counter to the foulness pouring out of Bryn. A definite need to defend and protect. A desire to highlight what Bryn will never have.

"The point is that he thinks we're-"

"He does."

"He does. And seeing us…it's not going to change his perception."

"No…"

"We can use it. Just like this," Danny indicates his lip and Rusty winces. "It gives him places to go that we don't care about. He can't be busy in two places at once."

"I guess," Rusty sighs. He looks unconvinced. "He's having a damn good try."


He is hot. He is cold. He has no idea where he is. The world washes up and down. Someone is talking. He doesn't understand the language. His mouth is dry and he can't ask for water but blessedly, someone presses a wet cloth to his lips. He is cold. He is hot. And he doesn't know where he is. He doesn't know. He doesn't know. He doesn't…he can feel consciousness slipping and he's not sure he should be fighting to stay awake…he's…he…


They are dressed and having coffee and cake in a little shop down from the hotel. Danny has called Matsui who thinks he may have some news.

"Later, Danny. I will call by your hotel later. I am waiting for someone to return. I promise I will have something for you."

Now, Danny and Rusty are busy comparing notes.

"So, Cussons, Bossuet, Dubois…the diamonds…the set-up…" Rusty takes a sip of coffee and puts the cup down. "Gerard…the set-up…"

Danny sees Rusty's fingers rubbing across his bottom lip and keeps his face carefully neutral. Even after all this time, it hurts. Even after all this time, the pain is fresh. Especially at the moment.

"See," and Danny is glad that Rusty is so caught up in his own thought process that he hasn't seen the reaction below the surface. "See, here's what I don't understand. Dubois trusts no one."

"Yeah."

"So he has the diamond with the microdot made."

"Very "Man from UNCLE."

I thought so.

"And…what…everyone knows about it?"

"Bryn…Michael…" Danny nods slowly seeing where this is going.

"And Cussons and Bossuet…" Rusty says. "They all know about it."

"It's a set-up in itself," Danny can see. "It's a trap."

"Dubois dangles this out in the open and sees who'll bite."

"Not Cussons. Not Bossuet."

"They're too smart."

"They don't need it."

"Someone else…"

"Someone not so smart…"

"Someone inside…"

"He's trying to flush out a rat."

Rusty finishes his cake and licks his fingers.

"We need to find out who works for Dubois."

"We need to have lunch with Michael."


Michael accepts the invitation and meets up with them in a bar close to his apartment block.

The first thing he sees is Danny's lip.

"What happened?" he frowns and Danny shrugs.

"Whisky glass broke on me."

"Whisky glass. Right." And the sceptical look on Michael's face leads them both to believe that he has come up with a hundred similar lines courtesy of Bryn.

"Michael," Rusty says gently, "Danny knows about the microdot and the diamonds. We were wondering if you could tell us a little more about M Dubois and his operations."

"The men who work for him."

Michael looks from one to the other and shrugs. "He changes the men around him regularly. He doesn't-"

"-trust anyone," Danny finishes. "So we understand."

"He doesn't like anyone to get close," Michael emphasises. "But some people he has to rely on."

"People like you," Rusty says and there is a shy smile from Michael.

"He has a couple of men who are closer than most. Hobbs and Jamieson. Both been around for a while longer than most."

"Are they close enough to be in his confidence?" Danny wants to know.

"I'm not certain," Michael confesses. "Part way at least. All the way…? Only M Dubois knows."

Hobbs and Jamieson, they learn, have been there for a long, long time. If Dubois doesn't trust them now, he never will. But trust doesn't always mean access to the inner circle and it's possible they don't understand the purpose of what Dubois has set up. It's possible they see it at face value like everyone else. And if that's the case…maybe they have sat and watched the diamond with the hidden secret out on display, sat and watched it and thought to themselves that that information might be put to better use in another's hands.


It's late afternoon by the time they reach their room at the Excelsior.

"I'm gonna freshen up," Rusty says and disappears into the bathroom.

Danny's phone rings as he hears the shower running.

"It's Matsui," he calls through. "He's downstairs."

"OK," Rusty shouts back. "You want me with?"

"It's fine. I won't be long."


Rusty finishes up in the shower and knots a towel round his waist. He looks in the mirror and runs a hand through his wet hair then heads out to the bedroom.

Bryn is sitting in the easy chair.

Drawing on the experience of so many years in the con, he manages to keep the shock off his face and to resist the urge to grab something to wrap round himself because Bryn's eyes are enjoying the view.

"Second time today you've been here uninvited."

"Got back early. Found out some mutually interesting information. Thought you both might like to hear about it over dinner. Say, 7.30? Restaurant downstairs?"

"I'll tell Danny. We'll let you know."

Bryn makes no move to leave.

"You want me to help pick out something nice for you to wear?"

"Nope. Just want you to shut the door on your way out."

Bryn chuckles and stands up.

"I'll see you later."


Danny returns to find Rusty dressed and searching for something.

"How did you get on with Matsui?"

"Yeah. He's got some…what is it?"

"It's stupid," Rusty admits, disappearing into the bathroom. "I can't find my toothbrush. Matsui?"

"Right. He spoke to the people he knows who work the trains. The train Saul boarded had to slow down when it was travelling through Poland. Engineering works or something."

"Poland?"

"Yeah." Danny looks round the bed, trying to find the missing toothbrush.

"He jumped off the train." Rusty emerges from the bathroom and digs around their holdalls.

"He jumped," Danny agrees. And then, "Ah."

He reaches down and pulls the toothbrush out from the side of the chair.

"Here it is." He holds it up.

Rusty stares at it. "But that means…ohh…"

What?

"Bryn was here," Rusty says reluctantly.

"What?" And this has so much more wrapped up in it.

"He was here. In this room. I came out of the shower-"

Danny's face shows all shades of horror and Rusty shakes his head.

Start at the beginning.

"I came out of the shower-

In a-

"In a towel," Rusty reassures. "And Bryn was sitting in that chair."

"Oh, fuck." Danny can see it. He wishes he can't.

"He didn't do anything. He got back early and wanted to set up a dinner date."

"He did enough. And if your toothbrush is here…"

"He was in the bathroom. He was…" Rusty sits down on the edge of the bed and closes his eyes. "Oh, fuck."

And they both know Bryn didn't have his eyes shut. Rusty looks up at Danny with a mixture of disgust and bewilderment in his face.

"Not to- you know- but why didn't he…?"

"Because, Rus, this," Danny holds up the toothbrush, "is how he works."

Mindfuck.

Complete mindfuck.

Rusty is silent for a moment and then, "I feel so fucking unclean."

Danny smiles sadly. "I rather think that's the point."


Bryn sits down in the bar and smiles to himself. He's getting bolder, invading their territory and he loves that they have no comeback.

He has watched Danny disappear and he gives it a few seconds then slowly opens the door. He hears the shower running and for a moment, opportunity rules.

He slides into the bathroom and stares at the frosted glass. The glass masks the figure behind it, but he can still see the hands placed flat up against the tiles, facing away from the door, weight on one foot, head bent, letting the water run over his head and shoulders and down his back…

Rusty will never know the willpower it takes to push instinct and appetite away. He turns his head away and his gaze lights on the toothbrush. He smiles.

He sits waiting, sucking on the toothbrush and knowing he has fuel enough for fantasy tonight. Yes. He can wait. He can wait. The quick and easy isn't ever as gratifying as the drawn out and the agonising.

It is the most intense game he can remember experiencing in a long time. Ever, maybe. He likes his prey to know what's coming. He likes his prey to struggle futilely against the unavoidable. It makes the endgame so much more satisfying.