Chapter 10
"Come on, guys," Joe sighed, approaching Will and Druitt where they stood arguing in the hallway. "Patients trying to sleep. What are you even doing down here at this hour?" he added, eying them.
Druitt was dressed in his usual black slacks and leather coat, Will in a loosely-belted terrycloth bathrobe. The older man looked vaguely annoyed, the younger downright furious, almost like he was spoiling for a fight.
"What's going on?" Joe asked, ready to step between them if it became necessary. Which was scary to consider when one of them was Jack the freaking Ripper.
"Druitt and Clara know where Ashley's being kept," Will answered, lowering his voice again. "We're just discussing tactics."
"Tactics?" he repeated, frowning.
"William insists upon the use of nonlethal force only. I'm inclined to operate with marginally more prejudice."
"No one dies, Druitt," Will said firmly, shaking his head. "That's not how the Sanctuary operates."
"Uh, I know I'm the new guy and everything but I've got to agree with Will on that one. Legality and ethics aside, the more of their people you hurt, the more of a threat they're going to perceive you as being. They'll have more reason to escalate."
Druitt scoffed. "With all due respect to your professional assessment, Joe, they've hardly needed an excuse to make war on abnormals in the past. Don't make the mistake of assuming they're rational creatures."
"That much I have to agree with," Will conceded with a shrug. "But that doesn't mean anything. You agree to do this without unnecessary casualties or you don't participate."
"Good luck covertly infiltrating a facility on the other side of the planet without me, my boy," he answered, shaking his head. "Face it, William. You're not likely to retrieve my daughter without my active participation."
Will let out an annoyed breath. "Don't play games with me, Druitt. I'm all about rescuing Ashley but not at the possible expense of putting Magnus in more pain than she's already feeling. You fuck with me on this point and an EM-shielded holding cell is going to be the least of your problems."
Joe raised an eyebrow. He didn't think he'd ever heard Will issue an actual threat before. For that matter, the word 'fuck' seldom passed his lips outside of a context involving intense and unexpected pain. Even more striking was that Druitt, although his expression remained mildly contemptuous, obviously took the threat seriously.
"Fair enough, my boy. But don't blame me when things go horribly wrong."
"That won't happen," Will answered, expression tight and determined. "Now go wake Henry and help him start assembling supplies."
"You need help?" Joe offered. At their stares, he shrugged. "Already broken the law for you guys a couple of times. I don't see once more making a difference. Ashley seems like a sweet kid. I want to help."
Druitt looked more than a little leery of the offer but Will nodded immediately.
"Every extra set of hands helps. Thanks, Joe. Look, you guys get Henry and get ready. Magnus and I will meet you in the armory as soon as I brief her."
"You're going to bring the girl's mother along?" Joe asked, staring. "Will, no way is she going to be able to maintain objective."
Druitt chuckled. "I take it your friend doesn't know Helen well, William?"
"Not yet, but he'll learn," Will answered, giving Joe a smack on the arm and heading off.
"Let's gear up," the Detective suggested. Then he shook himself. "God, I can't believe I'm about to raid the secret lair of the real world's equivalent of SPECRTE with a werewolf, an immortal, and Jack the Ripper…"
Druitt's chuckles turned to full-blown laughter. Shaking his head, he rested a hand on Joe's back and steered him down the hall.
"Now you know how poor William feels every single day," he laughed as they walked.
Joe had to laugh, too.
"Now then, to put it in terms my daughter might employ, let us go kick ass, take names, and look good doing so."
"Jesus. You people are a bunch of psychos."
"Yes," Druitt agreed easily. "But well-intentioned psychos." Smile widening, he added, "Hell, sometimes we're even lovable psychos. Wouldn't you agree?"
Joe blinked, resisting the urge to put a few feet between himself and the other man. "I'm going to pretend you weren't leering at me when you said that, okay?"
"By all means, old boy, but it's your loss."
0101010
"Magnus, wake up," Will's voice murmured as he gave her shoulder a shake. "Come on. Wake up."
"Mmm?" she mumbled, not rolling over. "Will?"
"Yeah. Sorry to wake you."
"What time is it?"
"Almost four, but I need you to wake up for me. They saw her."
She rolled over then, sitting up and squinting at him through the darkness of the bedroom.
"Are you sure?" she demanded breathlessly.
He nodded.
"Will!" she gasped, leaning forward and grabbing his shoulder. "Is she all right? Is she hurt?"
"No, no." He shook his head, sitting on the edge of the bed and resting his hands on her shoulders. "Just relax, Helen."
She raised her eyebrow at his use of her given name, but let the psychologist/negotiator tactic slide. Right now, she needed the rapport he was offering, needed to be able to trust him. It wasn't as artificial as it would have been in a professional context. This was Will and the mutual trust was already there, the conviction that, together, they could make things right. He was just reminding her.
"Tell me everything," she directed.
"She's at the Gobi facility, like we thought. Clara says she looks completely unharmed, healthy if not happy."
"There's more, isn't there?" She searched his eyes with hers. "Tell me the rest, Will."
He hesitated, not meeting her eyes. He spoke quietly, quickly, like a doctor trying to get the delivery of a grim prognosis over with. "She's got free run of the place, isn't being followed or watched. She's not being treated like any kind of prisoner."
"Will, look at me," she directed. When he had reluctantly met her eye, she informed him, "That was in no way unexpected. Whatever force compelled her to leave and take the Source with her is obviously still at work in her. I have every faith that we can undo this damage. Now tell me the rest."
He cleared his throat. "People are taking orders from her. She's teaching them Sanctuary tactics and procedures. They have a prisoner, only one as far as Clara could make out, and Ashley appears responsible for his interrogation."
"This prisoner? Did Clara hear a name?"
"She said it sounded like they were saying 'bitter' or 'batter' or something." He shook his head. "Not everyone there even speaks English and the ones who do have pretty thick accents often as not. Clara couldn't make out a lot of specifics."
"Bataar Tam," she sighed. "No one's seen him since before this started. I'd hoped he'd merely had the sense to make himself scarce."
"What's his deal?"
"He helps people when they need to disappear."
"So every reason to assume he decided to lay low until things cooled down with the Cabal," Will murmured, nodding. "And every reason for the Cabal to want to know what he knows. How many people does he stand to expose if they break him?"
"Several hundred," she sighed. "More than a few capable of causing substantial damage under Cabal control."
"Then we rescue him when we snag Ashley?"
"Even if he weren't so dangerous to us in their hands. He's always been extremely faithful to the Sanctuary. We owe him our loyalty."
"Of course," he agreed a little belatedly. "Joe Kavanaugh wants to join us during the retrieval."
"Absolutely not," she answered, slipping out of bed and walking to her wardrobe. "He isn't a member of this organization and, even if he were, he has no experience in this sort of situation."
"He's raided his share of drug houses and gang hangouts in his career," Will told her. "He knows a thing or two about urban combat."
She pulled down the hanger with her leathers, turning to face him again. "What's your assessment of his value to us in this situation?"
As she searched her dresser for underwear and a tank top, Will told her, "He's guilty of Witness Intimidation at this point. Guy like Joe doesn't break the law for just anyone and, once he has, there's no going back. He's committed to us now whether he likes it or not. If he comes, he'll have our sixes."
"Then he comes," she decided, stripping off her nightgown.
Will's eyes widened but, to his credit, he acted like she stripped in front of him all the time.
"You won't regret including him," he told her as she dressed. "He's good people. Plus, you know, honestly, the more thoroughly he gets compromised legally and ethically, the more likely he becomes to not turn on us ever no matter what happens."
She frowned at him over her shoulder as she pulled her leather pants on. He had a point but it wasn't a sentiment she'd ever wanted to hear from him. She preferred him wide-eyed and optimistic. He'd always been a pragmatist, of course, but that attitude from Will was far too manipulative for her taste.
"Go join the others," she directed, reaching for her jacket. "I'll be down directly."
"Magnus," he sighed, approaching and grasping her shoulder. "Are you sure you want to do this to yourself?"
"No," she admitted, giving him a weak smile. "But I don't think I have a choice. I knew when I made the decision to carry her to term that she'd break my heart some day. That was foregone and I never minded it. But that doesn't change a thing. She's in this position because of my actions and decisions. I have a responsibility to her and I will live up to it."
He hesitated. "I won't tell you that you don't have to do this; we both know that you do." He gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Just remember that you aren't alone," he directed, locking gazes with her.
His eyes were wide and a little frantic as they had been for days now, but there was no denying the warmth and support in his expression as he regarded her, either. She smiled and nodded once, biting back tears of affection and gratitude.
"Thank you, Will," she murmured. "Now let's bring my daughter home."