For a moment Mycroft's grip tightened protectively on Seren's hand as she lay sleeping against his shoulder before he gently released her and dug out his smartphone. He let out a sub vocal growl that Greg felt in the pit of his stomach and an instinctively savage smile briefly crossed Greg's angry face at the thought of the fate of the stupid bastards who had unwittingly or not made two dangerous bonded Alphas think there was a threat to their mate and child. It never ceased to amaze him that the idiot criminal or dubious classes never saw exactly how dangerous both he and his mate were.
"Yours or Mine Mycroft?" he asked softly so as not to disturb the sleeping child. "Yours to stop the vehicle and mine to deal with it I think Gregory darling," Mycroft purred with menace, as his fingers flew over the phone's integral keyboard,"Take the next exit, our security car is right behind them. They have notified the local police force and there will be a roadblock waiting for us. You can drop me off and then take Seren out of the danger zone, whilst I coordinate the res…"
He was interrupted with an angry growl from the front of the car and a very sharp "No"
Mycroft took his attention away from the texts he was receiving and raised his head to meet the furious brown eyes of his mate glaring at him in the mirror.
A slight tightening of the muscles in Mycroft's forehead was the only indicator of his confusion "Gregory" he began soothingly, and trying to tread lightly on eggshells that he hadn't bargained for.
"No Mycroft, I am not stopping the damn car, you are not getting out to deal with this. The bonding process is for all of us, you will trust your people if not mine, to deal with those bastards behind us. You don't employ idiots remember" The reprimand was delivered in Greg's alpha voice demanding obedience and daring Mycroft to argue with him,
There was a stunned silence after Greg's vehement but quiet outburst and Mycroft observed the signs of tension in the man in front of him, his hands were white knuckled on the leather steering wheel, his jaw was clenched tight and if his mate didn't relax his shoulders soon, Mycroft would need to spend hours massaging him to get rid of the knots in his muscles. Which wouldn't exactly be a hardship, touching, stroking and kneading the luscious skin on that delectable body but that wasn't the point, he could see exactly how anxious and worried his mate was.
He took a moment to look back down at the sleeping child resting against him. A small, very small, almost unnoticeable twitch of his lips later and he responded in his meekest voice "As you wish Gregory" knowing full well that his adorable romantic movie geek of a mate would get the allusion, especially since he had forced Mycroft to watch the damn thing on their first anniversary.
The car swerved slightly and then resumed its way, the slight change in the engine tone almost portraying its offended dignity until it went back to its perfect purr.
Seren huffed her annoyance at the jerky manoeuvre in her sleep, and nuzzled closer to Mycroft with a little whine. His hand had already found its way to her hair to instinctively soothe her perceived distress before his brain had caught up, and when it did, he regarded his hand as if it didn't belong to him for a second, and filed the incident away for further consideration after they had dealt with the current little problem. His attention was once more upon his rather vocal opinionated mate and the twitch of his lips grew more noticeable as he watched the tension slowly seep out of his body.
"You are such a git Myc" came the irritated response but a part of Mycroft was relieved to hear that he was back to that awful abbreviation of his name, the one that only Gregory was allowed to use, the one that had Sherlock banned from the morgue from St Bart's for a fortnight and only allowed to work on cold cases for Inspector Arthur Doyle, a man nearing retirement and with more imagination than was good for him (The man's last case had finally convinced his superiors that he was more suited to a desk job as he had sent his men chasing deadly snakes at the Speckled Band Pub when it was simply a matter of food poisoning by the incompetent chef Grimesby).
There were only three occasions upon which Gregory used his full given birth name; in professional situations; when he was in an especially provocative mood in a sexual situation, or when he was so angry he bit the name out between his teeth as if it pained him to actually utter the word.
Mycroft smiled outright at his disgruntled mate but his tone was serious as he spoke
"We need to know what this is about Gregory, and if there is any danger to Seren" the "and you" was silent and unuttered but Greg heard it clearly.
"I never said it wasn't important love, I just said you weren't getting out of the car and leaving us. You know damn well you will be updated by the security team on site, you don't need to be at the front line, and for the love of God I am as desperate to know what's going on as you are but right now the bonding takes priority, for all of us"
Greg's voice had gone from weary amusement to absolute certainty at the last part..
There was no response from the back seat and when Greg took a quick look in the mirror to see his mate's face, it was impassive, but his eyes were warm when they met his.
Relief flooded Greg's body, thank God that Mycroft was seeing sense. He had been quite prepared to basically kidnap his mate, and barrel his way past every roadblock and security vehicle to ensure Myc stayed in the damn car and they got to this blasted cottage as a family unit of three. Then he would deal with the fallout from his furious mate later by either snogging him into a better mood or he would just have kept Seren awake and in between the pair of them until Myc had cooled down. There was no way they could have one of their legendary stand up knock down Alpha dominance fights which normally ended in the most amazing sex, in front of their daughter.
"Aren't you itching to stop this car and do your job Gregory?" Mycroft challenged softly, and Greg sighed ruefully at the temptation.
"You know damn well that I am. I want those bastards in my cuffs and I want to escort them personally to the cells" he growled "but some things are more important than that, damn it, she is more important than that, this family is more important than that, when we have people who can more than competently deal with it themselves and keep us informed"
"As long as you haven't gone soft on me darling" Mycroft drawled with such obvious innuendo that the beautiful Rapide once again swerved, a little more wildly than the first time.
"Mycroft" his aggravated mate hissed in disbelief as he listened to the low sexy laughter drift towards him and then heard Seren's sleepy mumbling "Wha's matta?"
"Now look what you've done" Greg muttered unfairly which had another of those sexy laughs leave Mycroft's lips and tighten the screws on Greg's libido. He was so thankful he was bloody driving the car right now, not seated beside his sleepy daughter.
He heard Mycroft sooth the girl back to sleep as he tried to avoid wriggling in his tight trousers. They definitely did not want her to be awake for what was going to be happening in the next twenty minutes.
There was a subdued beeping sound from the car phone and as Greg flicked the button on the steering wheel to respond, the concerned voice of a member of the following security team asked "Is everything okay Sir? The car has been moving er a bit erratically" the man's voice was rather diffident about mentioning the bad driving but determined to check.
Greg ignored Mycroft's mocking smirk and even though he was embarrassed muttered something that obviously relieved the concern of the following security team.
Something about that voice though struck Greg as familiar. "Is that you Sammy?" he asked bluntly "Er yes Sir" was the startled response.
The Inspector wasn't following the normal security protocol, but then again they all knew that both Detective Inspector Lestrade and Mr Holmes could be as unpredictable as a force of nature when they wanted to be. Sam Morgan was just grateful that the two of them were on the side of justice and truth (well maybe not so much truth but Justice definitely even if Mr Holmes sometimes didn't get the link between the law and justice much to the Inspector's dismay). If those two ever turned to the dark side (bite him he was a sci fi and comic geek), Lieutenant Sam Morgan was going to take his family and run, find the most deserted desert island (with access to the sci fi channel of course) he could find and just let those two dangerous Alphas get on with it. He so did not have a man crush on the pair of them, despite the teasing of his team mates. He just respected their sterling Alpha badass qualities.
"Right well just you be careful when we pull off, you hear me?" Lestrade scolded the Lieutenant as if he was his younger brother. He had become rather fond of the younger Alpha since that enlightening episode with the children's horsey, and his barefaced cheek in defying Mycroft over little Jenny.
He heard the kid splutter "Sir" but Sammy didn't have a chance to continue his protest over the sound of the muffled laughter from the rest of his team, and the voice of one of Greg's own, who was part of the "official" liaison team for New Scotland Yard on the Child trafficking case, Inspector Ian Dimmock blandly reminding them all
"Next exit Lestrade, the road block will close behind you and Security team Beta will be waiting to follow you from there to the destination. Teams Gamma and Delta are already on site and have been monitoring the area and building for the last two days. It's secure. The Epsilon transporter team are on their way and will take custody of the suspects once we have finished the interrogation. The Local force have been very accommodating and will leave us once the mobile interrogation unit arrives"
"You are not taking them to the local nick Ian?" Greg asked suddenly disturbed as he saw the unnervingly satisfied glint in Mycroft's eyes. "Negative Sir, apparently the less public exposure on this the better" and there was a wealth of meaning behind the words from one experienced Copper to another.
"Don't ask questions you really don't want to know the answer to Gregory" Mycroft's voice was hard and uncompromising as he spoke before Greg could even open his mouth, and this time it was Greg's turn to back down "Fair enough" he agreed simply "But Dimmock leads the interrogation" he added grimly, left unspoken was what would happen if Inspector Dimmock did not get results. Mycroft made no demur but raised his voice slightly, still not enough to wake Seren from her sleep, but loud enough to be picked up by the car phone and heard by the security team.
"As soon as you know what they are up to, I want an update. Then they can be put into cold storage until I am free to deal with them". Sam Morgan barely restrained himself from wincing. Damn that man didn't even have to try to sound like the most menacing Alpha on the planet. He hadn't even raised his voice. The relaxed amused atmosphere in the security vehicle changed instantly to professional focus. There was an almost unanimous chorus of "Yes Sir" from the following security team as they reacted instinctively to the unequivocal order of their acknowledged superior and Alpha.
Gregory cut the connection and forced his attention back on the road, his clever policeman's brain running through all the risks in the operation before he concentrated on the most important one.
"She'll stay asleep while this goes down Myc?" he asked suddenly desperate for reassurance from his mate. He couldn't bare it if the kid saw any of this happening. She was just starting to relax and accept that she did have a family. He would have no compunction in ripping those bastards to shreds if their actions made her return to the terrified anxious timid state she had been in when she first came to live with them.
"Of course she will Love, just keep driving and don't stop" Mycroft's voice was back to that of his loving calm mate and Greg just gave a nod in acknowledgement before the adrenaline hit as he saw the signs for the exit coming up.
"Ready Myc?" he murmured "As ever Gregory" was the calm certain response.
Ian Dimmock sat in the security car, as he watched Sam Morgan and his team surround the car when it had squealed to a stop in front of the police road block. Lestrade had taken that beautiful Aston Martin through the road block like a professional and hadn't stopped, although Dimmock could have sworn he had seen Mycroft Holmes turn to watch the events taking place behind them as they sped away, before his view was blocked by the next security vehicle waiting to escort them to their destination.
Dimmock thought the practised actions of the armed and so dangerous team were poetry in motion. He was glad to see that the whole thing was being filmed by one of Mycroft Holmes minions as they had the suspects exit the Mercedes, remove their clothes until they were standing there in their bare feet and underwear because the security team had to be certain that the suspects weren't carrying weapons or even possibly bombs, and then forced the two suspects to drop to the ground, face first in the dirt with their hands behind their heads and legs spread. He rather thought that the humiliation, fear and cold would soften up the two Betas currently face first on the asphalt. But what did he know, he was just an old fashioned copper, this as the security team's area of expertise. So he was just going to sit back and let them do their jobs until it was time for him to do him. And he was damn good at interviewing suspects, even when he didn't have the benefits of working with the resources of the most dangerous man in the Government. His eyes went back to the two passengers from the car who were now spread-eagled within the circle of the scary security team
The red haired female who had been squawking about the freedom of the press, police brutality and big brother states had finally shut up and now had her work cut out for her trying not to get a mouthful of dirt whilst having her hair plastered to her skull by the pouring rain and the black haired pale faced male who after a few token complaints had kept surprisingly quiet but studied everything and everyone with an unnerving intensity that made Dimmock uneasy until the man's vision had been restricted to road and the boots of the Security team.
When Lieutenant Morgan asked if he wanted them restrained and put into the back of the police car, so that they were all out of the pissing rain, Inspector Dimmock, himself a Beta, smiled kindly at the young Alpha, and merely pointed out that he thought that in order to mitigate any potential threat, it was his assessment of the situation that the suspects should remain where they were until the interrogation unit arrived. But of course he was happy to bow to the Lieutenant's expertise in the matter.
Dimmock might not have been at the actual site when they had found the children but he had been to the briefings, seen the pictures and had three children under the age of ten. He would ensure everyone followed the rules, because there wasn't going to be any cock ups with due process but he was damned if he was going to offer anyone suspected of involvement in this obscene crime anything more than the bare minimum that was needed. So the two fuckers on the ground in the pouring rain were staying there. And he might even decide to recommend that they stayed there for a while after the vehicle turned up, they did have to prepare the unit properly after all.
Sam Morgan looked at the two suspects and then looked back at the Police Inspector with professional indifference but there was wicked satisfied amusement and respect in his eyes.
"I believe I concur with your assessment of the situation Inspector Dimmock, best to be safe rather than sorry"
The Inspector was distracted by the arrival of another of the security team who had been tasked with searching the car and the clothes of the suspects. He had mobile phones and IDs in plastic bags.
"Got names for them yet son?" he asked.
"The woman is a freelance journalist Sir, name of Kitty Reilly, seems to be working with the guy on the ground next to her, his name is Brooks, Richard Brooks. We will have more once our people have gone through their homes but from a very quick look the information on her tablet, they are searching for his missing daughter."
Inspector Ian Dimmock was a careful man, a prudent man, a man who rarely swore or allowed anything to disturb the dignity of his professional position. The viciously uttered "Fucking hell no, not now," was spat out as if the man did nothing else but utter profanities and Sam Morgan stared at him in astonishment until the Lieutenant paled with comprehension as he swung round to glare with frustrated rage at the two prone bodies on the ground. "I could just shoot the bastards now?" he offered plaintively and Detective Inspector Dimmock was not sure he was joking. He replied seriously and resentfully under his breath. "Too bloody late now kid"
AN: Don't hate me, I am doing enough of that myself now. See this is why I can't have nice things...
No infringement intended.
Next chapter being drafted now. The noun "nick" is slang for police station and the verb "to nick" means to arrest someone.
Don't hate me xx