Chapter 10

Head of Mirrors

"No heroics." Ros said in mock indignation as she pocketed her phone, "As if either of us would do anything of the sort."

Lucas smirked, as Ros made to input the address into the on-board GPS before realising that Lucas had already changed direction, "You recognise the address?" she asked, surprised, she had no idea where Salko was hiding.

"Yes, it's an abandoned industrial plant on the outskirts of London, we should be there in about ten minutes." He replied casually.

"And you know this how?"

"I remember seeing it on a map once, years ago when it was still in use." He shrugged, "It came up during an operation; the company went under, no-one bought over the land, it's been empty for years now." He explained matter-of-factly.

"I'd kill for your memory." Ros muttered, impressed against her will. All of the Spooks had better than average memories but Lucas' bordered on photographic.

"Not if you knew what else I remembered." He muttered darkly, pulling gratefully out of the oppressive city onto barren, empty roads.

They drove in companionable silence for almost ten minutes until Lucas broke it, "That's it, he's in there somewhere." He said grimly, nodding towards an enormous black stone building that was gazing down upon them, its melancholy windows looking like eyes that ravens had made a meal of.

"So that's what Hogwarts would have looked like if it had been set in Russia." Ros said tartly staring out at the oppressive maze of walls before them.

Lucas laughed softly before saying "Suits him, doesn't it."

"Easy Lucas." She cautioned as they pulled up outside, "Interrogations tend to work best when the other person is alive."

"Don't worry...His death would disappoint me, there are worse fates in this life than dying." He replied darkly, the effect of his words ruined as he loaded the gun in the glove box and stowed it securely at his hip.

They made their way into the building, drawing their weapons as a window smashed above them. Despite the fact it turned out to be a careless crow, dislodging loose panes of glass, neither of them put their guns away as they advanced on the abandoned warehouses. They cautiously made their way into the depths of the warehouse, Lucas shivering slightly as they were engulfed in the belly of the beast. As they reached its heart both of them jumped and swore, though in different languages, as the comms shrieked in the ears and they wrenched them out.

"Flying blind." Ros muttered, glancing at Lucas, "Do take care not to die on me now won't you."

"Well I wasn't too concerned about it before but if you insist." He smirked.

Eventually they reached the end of the interminable, black corridor where it split into two equally long corridors ending in large warehouses.

"I think they come together eventually." Lucas said, doubtfully squinting down to the left, trying to remember the plans of the building, it had never featured that heavily in the original operation they had considered it but had only skimmed briefly over the schematics at the time.

"Let's find out, scream if you run into bother." She said, striding purposefully off to the left down the corridor Lucas had been squinting at, leaving him to go right.

"No need, it's walking away from me." He grinned before setting off.

He continued down the long, narrow tunnel, the deserted building had developed the unsettling habit of amplifying even the smallest of sounds, there was no need for radios, a shout or scream would carry all over the plant.

As he entered the large storage room at the end, the atmosphere of the building changed considerably. The air was thick with dust, and lay upon him like a blanket, his breathing was not helped by the dense plastic sheets that had been strung from the ceiling, presenting him with a plastic wall before him, with only small pockets of respite between the sheets.

Swearing softly under his breath and cursing the claustrophobia that had plagued him since prison he forced his way into the room, pushing aside the first sheet and feeling his chest tighten as he realised he would be trapped within the suffocating maze for longer than he had originally anticipated. Stubbornly refusing to allow his head to get the better of him, he unwisely plunged into its depths.

Sound and light were both muffled and intensified in the enclosed plastic forest. The plastic sheets absorbed and deadened the soft sounds of his footsteps, however his brain overcompensated and transformed the most innocent noises and shapes into sinister shadows, enemies that crept up on him between the strangling sheets

...

Ros moved quietly away from Lucas, still grinning at his cheek. To say that the old building was eerie was like saying that Harry didn't mind the odd glass of Scotch. Ros had a reputation for being the Ice Queen of The Grid, and for good reason, it took a lot to unsettle her, but this place sent involuntary shivers up her spine. Lucas was right; it suited Salko like hookers suited Vegas.

She turned a corner and jumped as she found herself staring at her twin. A large mirror had been placed precariously against the wall opposite the entrance, forcing whoever came through it to confront their own reflection.

The room was on two levels with a thin, twisting set of iron stairs behind her leading the upper floor, both levels were filled with dusty mirrors, some covered in old, filthy sheets that may have began life as white but were not any longer. However there were more than enough that were uncovered to bounce the little light that managed to penetrate the grimy windows around her, magnifying it and making her feel faintly dizzy. She felt as though someone had locked her inside a giant glitter ball and it was not something she would have thanked them for.

She was about to move deeper into the room when a flash of movement was reflected in the top left hand corner of the mirror she was staring into. She turned and instinctively hit the floor, immediately ignoring the dark silhouette ahead of her in favour of avoiding the bullet that fractured the mirror behind her. She hissed as the razor-like shards rained down upon her, slicing at her exposed flesh with the ease of tiny scalpel blades.

...

Lucas started as he heard the unmistakeable bang of a gunshot off to his left. Ros. He had been dragging himself through the room under sufferance and regretting his pride, he was drenched in a cold sweat and was visibly trembling. Now however he ignored his own discomfort as he threw himself into the dense pit of sheets that began clawing at him, whipped into a frenzy around him as he desperately tried to escape their clutches.

He knew better than to shout for Ros, Salko may not know that there were two of them which gave them a distinct advantage, even if he did, he had no reason to give away his position when Salko could presume he was with Ros. While he was not prepared to start up a game of Marco Polo with her, he could not refrain from swearing continuously as he fought through the maze of sheets, venomously condemning the bad timing of his particularly vivid and brutal flashbacks that were taking pleasure in reminding him exactly why he was claustrophobic, in as vile a manner as possible.

Finally bursting free of the suffocating mass of sheets, hanging like the entrails of some foul demon behinf him, he stepped into the open, high ceiling, empty room before him, taking huge, grateful lungfulls of air, as though afraid he would never taste it again as he stumbled on, head swimming as he recovered from the flashbacks.

Normally he would have taken a moment to compose himself but this was not normal, as a second gunshot and the sound of breaking glass chose that particular opportunity to remind him.

Cursing his own weakness and blurred vision, he staggered towards the sounds. Hall of Mirrors. He thought with a jolt, being forcibly reminded of the old carnival attraction as he gasped its way through its likeness.

...

Ros was still crouched in the same position she had fallen, Salko was on the platform above her and she did not dare move until she knew where he was and therefore how much of the bottom level he could see from his vantage point. As far as she was concerned she was not injured, meaning that she had not been shot. The mirrors exploding around her had done some damage though, several cuts were now peppered over her exposed skin, some of which she knew, were deep.

Deciding that she could not sit here forever, she took a cautious step forwards. Her ears were ringing from the gunshots, magnified by the echoing expanse of empty space before them, and her eyes were feeling similarly thanks to the damned mirrors.

The gunshots had silenced themselves however, she thought that Salko could no longer see her and, for whatever reason, was choosing not to shoot out the mirrors, that was until someone grabbed her from behind, the barrel of a gun pressing into the small of her back as they expertly pinned her arms to her sides while covering her mouth.

Instinct took over and she began to struggle violently, like a fish pulled from the river, as she tried to position her gun at an angle that would hit the bastard, when he flipped her, deftly round to face him and pressed a finger to his lips.

Lucas.

Now sure that she was not either going to scream, or shoot him, he cautiously released her and slid down the cool wall behind them to the floor, gently guiding her with one hand on her arm, she slowly sunk down and joined him on the frozen concrete beneath them.

It took her a second to notice that the grip on her upper arm was far tighter than it needed to be, but also that it was causing her to shake violently. She followed it up to his face and saw that his intense, deep blue eyes, that were usually blank and calm, were filled with a terror that she had rarely seen in them. His face was drawn, and chalk white, intensifying the dark, tormented horror of his eyes further.

If she did not know better she would presume that he had joined her in the warehouse from Russia, he looked like a shadow of the man she knew and that terrified her more than she would ever willingly admit.

He was the constant on The Grid for her. The one that, despite the John Bateman saga, she trusted the most. She knew that, no matter what, he would have her back and would follow any order she gave, without question. More than that though, she trusted his instincts, in a way he did not need her to tell him what she wanted him to do, they could read each other to the point that less cynical people would claim that they were psychically linked. Put bluntly, she needed him to get his shit together, fast.

"You OK?" she asked roughly, concerned.

He nodded without speaking, confirming her fears.

"Lucas what-" she began.

"Nothing." He said sharply, "I'm fine."

"Bullshit."

"Yes it is, but I'll deal with it." He snarled.

"What?" she began, but he cut her off, gripping her arm again, his hand a rock solid now, steadied by the sudden shot if adrenaline he had received as he pointed to the shadowy figure reflected in the mirror.

Immediately switching gear, she signalled for him to create a distraction she slid behind him and began moving around the figure, and began stealthily creeping up the stairs towards him, while Lucas kept him occupied from below.

Smirking and knowing what she had in mind, Lucas carefully began shooting out the mirrors causing the silver shards to rain down upon them like rough diamonds. In order to confuse Salko, Lucas was forced to shoot out mirrors dangerously close to Ros to make it difficult for him to tell where exactly she was.

Ignoring the shards of silver that were piercing her skin, Ros moved through the maze of mirrors towards Salko who was standing pressed against the railing that separated the two platforms.

She cautiously began to creep towards him, like a cheetah stalking an unsuspecting gazelle, under cover of the exploding mirrors that shattered around them. She paused a few feet from him, crouched behind a large mirror, watching. She could not simply run at him and hope for the best, the risk of one or both of them being shot was too great. Hindsight was a wonderful thing, as she discovered a second later, wishing that she had not hesitated, as he fired a shot at the ground below.

Lucas had stood and quickly darted out into the open to change his position, having run out of mirrors to hit at the angle he had been at and Salko had been more than ready from him.

Ros' heart thumped painfully in time with the shot that collided with something that sounded fair more like human flesh than a mirror or a wall. She heard the soft, unmistakeable sound of a body hitting the floor and then nothing the mirror's attacker having been silenced by Salko's gunshot.

Conveiniently forgetting about Harry's previous warning about heroics, she ran at Salko, hitting him across the back of the head with the gun in her hand, the satisfaction she got from hearing the sickening crunch of metal impacting skull, was the only thing that stopped her doing more damage. He crumpled to the ground at her feet, leaving her an unimpeded view from the balcony.

She hastily stepped over him, panting as she peered over the edge of the platform she could see Lucas' limp form lying almost peacefully amidst the carpet of broken glass that surrounded him.

"Lucas!"

The only answer was that of her own voice, reverberating around the walls as the cavernous room mockingly echoed her own, terrified cry, back at her.

A/N: Hopefully this came across as tense and suspenseful because if it didn't do that then this chapter probably didn't do much :) Thank you all for your reviews so far, if you have a minute, I would love to hear your thoughts on this.