The Spy Who Came In From the Cold
By
Mystical Witch
Chapter 10: "Is London Burning?"
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any characters from the Harry Potter Series. They are owned by J.K. Rowlings, Scholastic Publishing, Warner Bros, et al... If you find elements in this story that is similar to other peoples' stories, that is a coincidence.
This story is dedicated to all those men and women who serve their countries in the cause of freedom by using the ancient art of espionage and secrecy.
Kudos to everyone who can spot the Monty Python references. For there will be many.
There is nothing unusual for a man, a woman, and a dog to check into a hotel. Even if the dog was acting a bit strange, even if the man was in reality a werewolf, even if the woman was one of America's top agents. There is nothing unusual. Thus Kate Cross, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black (in disguise as a big black dog) checked into The Imperial Hotel.
The Imperial Hotel, located in the West End, is a small, family run hotel. Catering to those people who are on a very tight budget, they normally get a variety of visitors. These run the gambit from the business traveler to newlyweds. With this knowledge, Kate hoped that the trio would just blend in. The room that they were shown to was very lovely. A pair of twin beds, a night stand between them with a lamp and phone on the top, a dresser, desk, and a small table with two chairs next to the window. A bathroom was adjourning the room with a toilet, sink and shower stall. There was a small, American style closet and upon the dresser was a television. The furnishings were typical English Middle Class, just a bit of typical hotel fixtures like the painting and mirror. All in all, it was a nice room. Comfortable and clean.
"It's not a bad room." Kate commented after the desk clerk had left. "Clean, well lit, it even has two beds."
"I can see one problem." Sirius said as he changed form.
"That is?"
"Where am I to sleep?" he asked with a large grin on his face.
Kate regarded him, walked up to him and started poking him in the chest. "Let's get one thing clear Black. I'm only gonna say this once. I don't date or sleep with anyone who I work with on a mission! Never! And I'm not gonna change that one rule I have. So just get it out of your mind. Right here now." She pointed to one of the beds. "I'm sure that you and Remus can share a bed together."
Remus chuckled. Sirius just looked at her. "Have you ever shared a bed with him? I have. He is impossible to sleep with!"
"Just deal with it!" she said as she started to gather some things together. "I'm going out for a while, want to join me?"
"Sure where to?" Remus answered, remembering to put his wallet into his jacket.
"I'm gonna see if a friend of mine made those clasps. Then give them to another friend to have the tracking device placed in them." Kate explained. "I'll take the stuff in the briefcase with us, so the bugs can be placed in them also."
"How long is this gonna take?" Sirius asked while glancing at the TV program schedule. "Some of these shows look interesting?"
"A while. And you're coming too." Kate ordered. "There is no way that I'm gonna allow you to become a couch potato."
"A couch what?" Sirius said as he changed into Snuffles.
"A couch potato, someone who watches TV all the time, never exercises, eats only snack foods." Kate clarified as she slipped the choke collar and leash around Snuffles neck. "I want you to stay in dog shape."
"Why?" Snuffles asked her.
"For one, we did walk in with a dog. It would look very odd if two men walked out instead of a man and a dog. Plus I want you to meet these people in dog form. Too many humans with me will raise suspicion." Kate said as she straightened up, The trio headed out the door, down a flight of stairs and out into London.
Once they were outside, they walked around London as a couple of tourists would. They resembled a couple of entrepreneurs, taking in the sights and sounds of London before settling down to business. The only thing that ruined the look was the black dog. But even that could be explained away. After a while they entered what looked like a small, run down jewelry store. Kate headed straight for the back to talk with what looked like the owner. "Is my order ready?" she asked a small, balding man.
The man smiled and handed her a box. "I think these will do. They are quite like the original and very few people could tell them apart." he told her.
Kate examined each one, looking over them with a jeweler's glass and handed the man her credit card. "You know that you do nice work, Aaron. You are a true artist."
The man beamed as he handed her back the card and a receipt. "You are a woman who really understands the beauty of my work. If I can be of any service..."
Kate smiled as she left the store, she had placed the box of clasps in her briefcase and the trio headed down the street. "He's not what he seems." she said.
"Oh?" Remus remarked. "What's wrong with him?"
"He's Mossad, Israeli Intelligence." she explained. "Now I suppose we will have some agents of theirs following us for a while. They normally do when he does a job for me."
"Then why do you use him?" Remus asked.
"Because he's one of the best in the business. That's why." Kate said as the trio entered what looked like a run-down computer repair shop. There were a couple of men in their 30's waiting upon a few customers. There were a few customers shopping so she waited until they had been served and left.
Finally she was able to get to the counter and place the briefcase upon it. One of the men locked the door behind Remus and Snuffles and went next to his partner behind the counter. "What can we do for you, Kate?" The first man asked her.
Kate motioned for Remus to come next to her, then she opened the briefcase. "I need a bit of your expertise. Some of these items will be a challenge and they need to be done fast."
"Who's the man?" The younger man asked wearily.
"Name'sWerewolf, British Intelligence." Kate said.
Remus smiled at the man. "The dog's Snuffles." Snuffles went behind the counter and glanced at the area there.
As she placed each item on the counter she explained what she wanted them to add to it. Either a tracking, or an audio unit, or an audio/video unit. For the box of clasps, she wanted them to add a tracking device that was specifically programmed for each one.
"Is that it?" The first man asked.
"I'll also need an assortment of the tracking apparatus, video and audio equipment, and a good selection of both laptop and desktop computers. And I will want them yesterday."
"Are we going back in time?" Remus whispered into her ear. "I don't think..."
"I'll explain later." She whispered back.
"Yesterday?" The first man laughed. "I can get back to you on this no later than Monday next."
"Friday." she ordered.
"Sunday." The first man said. "I'm sorry about that, but it is the earliest."
Kate handed him a card. "This is where I'll be. Call if there is any problem." With that the other man ran to the door, unlocked it, and the trio walked out.
"Was there any reason that you introduced me as Werewolf?" Remus asked her as they walked down the street.
"You are a werewolf, right?" she answered as she looked around her.
"Well yes."
"They won't know the truth and it is a good code name." Kate said as she grabbed him into an alley. A couple of large men walked passed them, then doubled back. "Get ready for trouble. We're being followed." Kate reached down and removed Snuffles' leash.
The men were the usual beefy gangster-type. All brawn and no brains. They entered the small alley and were confronted by a woman, a large, angry black dog, and a man holding a small stick in his hand. "Just look at this Charley. Two pidgins and their dog." One of the men said to the other. "Just hand over the wallets and the bag lady, nobody will get 'urt."
Remus just stood back as he watched Kate Cross swing the chain leash of Snuffles. The chain was a blur as she brought it down on the hand of one man while spinning around and kicking the other man. The first man was shaking his hurt hand and looking around for something he must have dropped when Kate spun around again and kicked him in the head. Down he went. The second one started to run but was stopped by Remus and a Jelly-Legs spell. Down he went. Kate looked at Remus, "That was fun." She bent down to Snuffles and reattached his leash. "Some security dog. All you did was sit there and lick yourself."
Snuffles whispered, "And spoil your fun?"
Kate ignored him as she rifled through their clothes. "Just what I suspected. A couple of muggers. For a moment I thought maybe they would be a couple of your people."
"What do you mean your people." Remus asked. "I am not a Death Eater."
"Point taken. Now what shall we do with them?" Kate said.
Remus raised his wand, said a few words in Latin and started to walk out of the alley. "I used a memory charm on them. They won't remember a thing. The spell that I did on the one man will wear off in a few hours."
"Those spells can come in handy if you ever wanted to rob a bank." Kate smiled as they started back to their hotel.
Kate Cross isn't a heavy sleeper. Actually the opposite is true. She is a very light sleeper. But the events of the day before, coupled with the accumulated jet lag, made her nearly pass out just as her head hit the pillow. If she hadn't been so dead tired she would have felt the movement of the covers and the body joining the bed next to her. As she started to waken she felt the arm around her and reached under her pillow for her gun. It wasn't there. "Shit!" she exclaimed as she bolted out of bed. "What the fuck is your problem!"
Sirius just smiled at her as he stretched and yawned. "Wasn't it good for you last night? I enjoyed myself."
"What part of me not sleeping with you did you not understand? The sleeping or the not?"
"I don't take no very well. Actually not at all. So get used to it." He said as he pulled the covers back to reveal his body. "And since we're gonna spend a lot of time together..."
"Don't even go there." She asserted while she gathered up some clothing and headed for the bathroom.
Sirius grinned as he watched her go into the bathroom. Nothing happened between them, but he gave her the impression that something did. "Sooner or later she's gonna beg me to sleep with her. I just have to wear her down." He said to a sleepy Remus.
"I don't know, Sirius. I watched her in action yesterday. She's not like other women. She'll find a way to get even with you." Remus rose from his bed and reached for his wand. "It's not like she's without resources."
Kate returned from her quick shower fully dressed. "My gun?"
Sirus just looked at the ceiling and whistled.
"I'm not joking Black. Where is my gun?" she ordered. "Listen if I have to tear this room apart looking for it, I'll start with your head." Her voice was as cold and exacting as Snape's could be.
Sirius shrugged reached into the night stand drawer and pulled out her gun. "Say please." he said pointing it at her.
Kate reached out, grabbed his hand and bent it all the way back behind him with one hand while taking the gun out of the hand with the other. She let go of him and started to check her clip. "The bullets."
Sirus nursed his injured, but not broken arm and pointed to a drawer in the desk. She loaded the gun fast, then placed it in her holster. "I'll meet you and Snuffles downstairs." And she left the room.
"Beg you to sleep with her?" Remus laughed. "If she doesn't kill you first." he headed into the shower. Sirius just glared at him.
Remus and Snuffles entered the dining room to join Kate in a traditional English breakfast. She was sipping coffee and reading the paper, but knew everything that was happening in the room. She had the unnerving habit of sitting with her back to a wall and insisted on a table next to a wall. She looked up at Remus as he sat down opposite her. "Did you sleep well?"
"I did until you and Sirius started in this morning." he replied as he raised his teacup to his lips. "What's the topic for today. More spy gadgets?"
"Nope just some Muggle ones, and a special treat for Snuffles." Kate said with a malicious grin on her face. "So eat up. We've got some places to go to."
"She's up to something." Remus whispered to Snuffles as he gave him a sausage. "And I don't think you'll like it."
The first part of the morning passed rather pleasantly. Kate led the duo into a few stationary supply shops picking up various articles of stationary supplies that she had previously ordered. Then into a cellular phone shop where she ordered what she called company phones. About 30 of them to be exact. Then a light lunch of sandwiches that she picked up somewhere and eaten outside. Finally they stopped at a specialty pet store. Remus held open the door as she and Snuffles walked in.
"Can I help you?" A young woman behind a counter asked her.
"I have an appointment for my dog Snuffles. I want him to have the works." Kate said.
"Miss Cross?" The young woman asked after she looked at her appointment book. Kate nodded. "It will be a few minutes."
"That's fine." Kate said then bent down to pet Snuffles. "This is really for your own good." she whispered.
"Is he fixed?" The girl asked.
"No. What exactly do they do? Is it like men and they only snip the tubes, or is it other?" Kate asked innocently.
"Oh no. The Doctor removes the testicles. Nothing would be left." The woman explained. "They really don't notice that they are gone." A woman walked out of a back room and nodded to the woman behind the counter. "They are ready for Snuffles now."
Kate handed Snuffles leash to the woman who dragged him into the back room. "This should cure him of his problem."
Remus stared at her as if she really was a monster. "You're not going to..." he couldn't finish with the words.
"No. He's just getting a bath and grooming. But he doesn't know that." Kate grinned.
A short while later a prolonged, sorrowful howl came from the back room that sent Remus and Kate rushing in. Snuffles was sprawled upon a cleansing table covered with lather and passed out. "All I did was reach under him to wash him." A woman said. Kate and Remus howled with laughter.
"Don't worry." Kate assured her. "He'll come around soon. He hates baths."
"I can see that. We had to drag him in here."
The duo left the room holding on to each other in laughter. "If this doesn't explain that I don't want him," Kate whispered to Remus. "I'll just have to have him fixed. And that will."
"Do you know that you have one mean streak!" Remus howled and wondered if Sirius would get the message.
Author's Notes:
A special thanks to Lady Margot, Emily, Cissy, DreamRiderau, Ophiite68 for their reviews.
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