John ordered the drinks and carried one over to Anna before taking his seat across from her to get a better look at the light crowds milling around the streets on the chill winter day. Anna shivered, keeping her head down to block the cold and keep her face obscured, before sipping at her drink. "This is warm."
"Hot chocolate, the best in town." John winked at her, pulling a long sip from his. "But this isn't a static location."
"A what?"
"We're not staying here long. This is…" John took another drink, biting on his tongue when he burnt it slightly. "This is more like an observation post. We watch from here until he arrives. Then we circle the vicinity to make sure he wasn't followed and he didn't bring anyone with him."
"Are we afraid of that?"
"No, not if we do our jobs correctly."
"And then what?" Anna took another sip, "After we've made sure he didn't bring any undesired friends what do we do?"
"We shadow him to the actual site where we'll meet."
"This is exhausting."
"Very." John agreed, taking another sip before setting his drink to the side. "But you've done very well with it."
"It's all the practice." Anna grinned into her drink, "Between other activities."
"Minx."
"Incubus." Anna snuck a long drink from her cup. "Is that what you're watching for over my shoulder?"
"For Incubi?"
"For people watching us you prat." Anna grinned at him as John nodded.
"Yes, for people watching us, and you're providing the perfect cover for it."
"Because I make it look as if you're talking to me and we're having an engaging conversation while you're keeping tabs on every Tom, Dick, and Harry that passes us by every moment we sit in this weather that's worse than frigid?"
"You don't have to look like you're having a conversation if you're actually having one and that's what you're helping me to do."
"Doesn't mean we couldn't do this somewhere a little warmer."
"It's brass monkeys, that's for sure." Anna laughed and John frowned, "What? Something wrong with saying 'brass monkeys'?"
"I was expecting something more like 'freeze your balls off cold' but I forgot that I'm speaking to…" Anna paused, biting at her lip and John urged her on.
"Speaking to what? An old man?"
"To a gentleman and not a university student." Anna took another drink. "I'm so used to people being more crass than you."
"You don't think I can be crass?"
"I don't think you'd know how to not be a gentleman, John." Anna sighed, finishing her cup. "That's one of the things I think I love about you."
John opened his mouth to respond but something caught his eye and he sat straighter in his chair. "He's here."
"Time to move?"
"Yep." John finished his drink and took Anna's finished cup to the bin before extending a hand to her. "Care to take a stroll with me?"
"I'd be honored." Anna slipped her arm through his and matched step as they tracked a gray-haired man from the central obelisk in the center of the square. "Although the question comes down to how obvious of a pair we make."
"Why would we be obvious?"
"Because I don't know if you've noticed, but you're tall enough to brush the sky with that head of yours and I'm just taller than a diminutive fairy."
"And?"
"And, as we've already discussed, it's freezing out and we're walking around like we're just strolling George Square without a care in the world."
"You think we're a little too obvious in our wanderings?" John tugged Anna a little closer to him, keeping her under his arm as a means to keep her warmer.
"We might be." Anna snuggled closer. "But I'm a little more worried about our target spotting and recognizing us."
"He knows both of us so that's a risk." John paused, holding them back at a corner as the man walked ahead of them. "But there's another risk we need to consider, while we're on the topic."
"What risk is that?"
"The one where you might have to play a bigger part in Green's demise." John took a breath. "It'll put you in danger because-"
"If it hasn't escaped your notice, there's a woman impersonating me at Oxford and I'm here with you in Glasgow because my life's already in danger so I'm not sure how it'll be different."
"It'll be a little more involved. You'll not be on the sidelines but in possible contact, direct contact, with what lies ahead of us."
"Are you that nervous about what's going to happen once you meet with Inspector Crawley?" Anna held John back as the gray-haired man paused to investigate a shop window.
"I'm nervous about everything regarding you and this entire operation." John kept his eyes ahead but his fingers tightened as they interlaced with hers. "And it doesn't exactly settle my stomach when I realize that you might have to go back into the fray to help pull this off."
"Trust that I'm not as brittle as I look." Anna patted his arm, "I've not seen anyone following us."
"Me either." John tugged Anna to follow him. "But we've still got a final sweep as he's getting in his seat and then we'll make our entrance."
"It's all very cloak and dagger." Anna shivered and John kept her close as they passed the café where the man chose his seat. "Almost makes you think that there's a camera following us and we're actually in a movie."
"If this were a movie then we'd have already been shot at… At least once, if not twice, and we'd be dealing with-"
"With what we're already dealing with?" Anna snorted, rounding the corner with John as they continued to surveil the area. "My, my whatever will we do if we have to continue fighting for our lives and hiding ourselves away?"
"Kid all you want but the reality is, we're in a dangerous situation."
"I'm well aware of that given we're still pacing around the building looking for G-Men or Suits or whatever other sunglasses-wearing individuals are waiting to take us to derelict warehouses where they tie us up and then beat us until we tell them everything we know, that we're in a dangerous situation." Anna pulled John to a halt. "But whatever is waiting for us, we're doing this together."
"I'll trust in your hope until mine's good enough then." John took another survey of the street. "But I think we've determined he's alone and we're in the clear."
"Then let's go meet our gracious host." Anna led them back to the café but John insisted on entering first, as a final precaution.
They took their seats at the table with the gray-haired man who scrolled through his phone as the lines deepened on his forehead. "I was expecting you ten minutes ago, since you followed me through the square." He lowered the phone, tucking it into his pocket. "It's good to see you John. And you, Anna… Despite the unfortunate circumstances that've brought us together."
"It's good to see you too." Anna turned to the waitress as John addressed the other man.
"You watched us, Robert?"
"I taught you how to surveil, John, so of course I do." Robert adjusted in his chair, giving John a small smile. "It's something that, at my age, you do on instinct. It drives Cora absolutely mad but she's learned to accept it's part of who I am."
"Too many years working with the Met and Interpol."
"So she says." Robert crossed one leg over the other and accepted his order from the waitress. "But we're here to talk about your potential for retirement, not mine, and time's of the essence."
"Truly." John coughed and shrugged his shoulders to try and find comfort in the wire chair. "We've… We've been friends a long time, Robert, so I want us to be straight with one another."
"Of course." Robert nodded toward Anna. "We met in Ireland, he and I. He was working as part of the Garda there and I was on temporary assignment to learn from them. Then we both decided to take our chances abroad and when John was wounded in Bosnia… I felt more than a bit responsible."
"Don't be getting all sentimental on me now, Inspector Crawley." Anna took her cup from the waitress, "We've very little time for our personal sob stories."
"She's obviously the smart one in your duo." Robert gave a chuckle, sipping at his tea. "Never enough lemon."
"I'll wait, if you want more." John sighed but Robert waved him on.
"I'll manage." He took another sip before making a show of putting the cup down and giving John his total focus. "What've you got to offer me and mine?"
"Twenty percent."
Robert blinked, "Twenty percent?"
John nodded. "Twenty percent of everything I've taken thus far and proof the charitable donations. The kind of thing that settles my taxes with the government of our fair nation and allows me to disappear, quietly, and live in peace."
"You want us to just let you slink away into the night?"
"It seems fair, once I've settled my debt to society."
Robert pursed his lips before shrugging. "At the end of the day I can't make that decision but I can recommend it as the best offer Interpol'll get in this case."
"There's more, to sweeten the deal, as it were."
"You're giving us more?" Robert gave a laugh, "With a lead-in like that I'd expect you to hand over everything."
"I'll not be giving everything away." John signaled the waitress, "I'm definitely not that altruistic."
"Then what'll you give us?"
"Green. Or, the Greens, technically speaking. Since there are two of them and you want them both."
"We do, very much." Robert tapped the table with a finger before starting a steady cadence. "I'll assume that your earlier stipulations are part of this, yes?"
"It's one and done for me and my team, yes. We all go scot-free, keep what we're owed, and then disappear."
"I like that plan, personally, but as a friend…" Robert flexed his jaw, "What are you even planning on doing with the money you're taking?"
"That's my business."
"I'm curious."
"I can tell."
Robert pouted at him, "Humor a man with no retirement plan except the inevitable pull of a Floridian retirement community with all those horrible American accents plaguing me day and night?"
"Doesn't sound so bad."
"You mean spending all day having someone ask if I like golf or know the Queen or when I'll take my tea and crumpets?" Robert shuddered, "You'll not give a man with that depressing future a break?"
"Alright." John snuck a look at Anna before addressing Robert. "I plan to buy myself a little cottage right on the cliffs in Ireland. A place removed from the world where I can live by the light of the sun and the seasons and forget clocks exist."
"Are you serious?"
John nodded, "As the grave. I want a lovely view of the water where the crash of waves on rocks can send me to sleep at night and no one can bother me."
"Sounds like the beginnings of a villain's lair from James Bond."
"No, it sounds like a place where I can be away from the world." John caught Anna's eye and smiled. "And who knows, maybe I'd find someone willing to share it with me. Someone who'd want that life too."
"If you happen on someone like that, you'll have to meet them the old-fashioned way because no one using any dating app wants to give up the internet." Robert took a few sips of his tea before setting it back down. "And I can't help you with that little dream but I can present your offer to my bosses."
"Do you think they'll take it?" Anna entered the conversation, earning her a startled blink from Robert. "Would it be good enough for them?"
"I honestly don't know." Robert flexed his jaw, "They all have it out for the Greens, make no mistake, but the risk of losing someone with John's skill and letting go of the chance to try and take back his money… It'll need soothing. And a way to make it all work because, at the moment, we've not got-"
"What?" John waited but Robert refused to commit to a facial expression. "You've not got what?"
"An exit strategy for you." Robert shrugged, "My bosses, when they hired you, did what all upper-management does and designed this whole thing to be an eternally perpetuating cycle. One where you're supposed to live forever and do this until they get all the bad guys they want."
"Like the Greens?" Robert nodded and John sighed, running his hand through his hair. "So they've got no plans as to how to fulfill my requirements for service?"
"None at all." Robert opened his hands as if to placate John. "The difficulty that they're aiming at now, as a way to… divert from the issue, is that they've no easy way to get you into the Green's circumference."
"I'm already in their circumference."
"They need something to nail them. Not just that they're insidious or horrible or…" Robert paused, "Killing their own people in the Tube."
John blinked, "You know about that?"
Robert nodded, "They took a lot of effort to keep it quiet but it's not enough to get the Greens. They need something more."
"If you're looking for a way in," Both Robert and John turned to Anna, as she held up her hand. "Look no further than right here."
"Excuse me?" Robert looked between John and Anna before moving back to Anna. "What do you mean?"
"I mean," Anna sat straighter, "I'm the key to making it all work and I'm in this all the way."
"All the way?"
"To the end." Anna's eyes narrowed as Robert's expression flicked continuously to confusion and worry. "I'm interested in seeing this to the end."
"Anna…" Robert looked to John, who only shook his head and watched the flustered frustration on Robert's face. "You're not trained for this and you're playing at a level that… Well it makes ME nervous and uncomfortable and gives me the night sweats and I've lived this job longer than you've been alive."
"It doesn't mean I've not got adequate skin in the game."
"But you're-"
"Not a child and not going to be sidelined." Anna sat back, "They killed a dear friend and collaborator of mine and threatened my life. I'll not be idle in this."
"I…" Robert's chest practically caved as he looked for help from John. "Aren't you going to try and dissuade her?"
"That would be ridiculous since I'm the one who's been trying to get her better prepared to deal with this world." John looked at Anna. "It's her decision."
Robert struggled to form words until he finally huffed and finished his tea. "If you're both so determined to get yourselves killed then the best I can do is try and get you the help you need."
"Or maybe the way to get out of it at the end of it?" John suggested, spreading his hands as he smiled back at Robert's frown. "That would be the most helpful part of this particular endeavor."
"I don't want to think that you're poking fun at me but, if you are, I'll just let you know that I've done a lot to keep you out of trouble."
"Then let me save you the trouble of having to keep me out of trouble in the future." John tapped the table, "After we give you the Greens, on whatever kind of platter you'd like, you get me out of this. You end my contract, let me keep what I've got, and leave me alone."
Robert let out a short snort before turning to Anna. "And you? What could I possibly manage to get for you?"
"You could get me a tea and," Anna dug into her pocket and passed over a piece of paper. "And everything on that list. I need to finish my research and that requires a little… Help."
"Help?" Robert checked over the list and almost choked. "A little help? This… This is military grade material for-"
"I know what it's for and yes, it's necessary." Anna gave John a look that he only shook his head through. "Someone built an impenetrable fortress and I've got to get through it somehow to communicate with the other members of my team."
"And to what kind of underground bunker do I drive to so I can deliver this list to you?" Robert read over it again before folding it away into his pocket.
"I'll let John work that out with you." Anna turned to John, "I'm sure you've got some kind of drop process for this."
"I do." John smiled and opened his mouth to speak again but paused, his eyes flicking toward the window. "But I think I'll have to give you those instructions at a later date and time."
"Because I can just manage to get myself back up to Scotland as easily as getting on a train and taking-"
"However you manage it is fine with us." John nodded toward the window. "Because we need to separate as soon as possible."
Robert glanced toward the window and nodded. "I've got someone around the corner so I'll get out of here first and you and fend for yourself."
"Thank you for the support, Robert."
"Always here to help." Robert checked his cup before leaving the money on the table as he stood. "Good luck to you both and I hope you survive long enough to help me with all of this."
John almost responded back but just sighed and watched Robert leave the café. Anna scooted closer to him and John nodded toward the street. A hand on her arm stopped her fully turning to look.
"Just glance out of the corner of your eye." John kept his hand on her arm while managing his voice so his face made no expression. "You'll see there are two men tailing Robert."
"Should we-" Anna turned fully towards John, putting a smile on her face as John gave the slightest shake of his head. "Why not?"
"He'll manage that. Our job now is to pretend we don't see the other four people out there."
"Five." John blinked and Anna winked at him, "They've had someone in the café for the last five minutes and he's looked at us no less than three times."
"Very good."
"I had an excellent teacher." Anna patted his hand and slid her chair back slightly. "Now what?"
"Now we leave as if we don't notice them and test out our first of the three possible exit routes."
"How'll we tell if we can't take one and need to switch?"
"The easy way?" John pushed his chair back and made a show of checking his coat and things as he waited for Anna to join him. "If there's someone there we move on and take another."
"Like that car scene from Man from U.N.C.L.E.?"
"Exactly like that except I'm not Henry Cavill and I don't think you'll pull off an Alicia Vilkander for this."
"We don't have a car." Anna tucked herself into her coat, shivering as they stepped out in the brisk wind that picked up enough to force the four men outside to shuffle out of character.
"No, we don't." John pulled out his phone and shot off a quick text before pointing down the street. "First thing's first."
"You never mentioned what the hard way was." Anna kept close to John, matching his steps as the cane in his hand set the tempo for their progress.
"What?"
"The hard way… If we can't just switch directions seamlessly."
John let out a breath and guided Anna onto the square. "Then we'll have to fight our way out of it."
"I'll assume you're armed then."
"After a fashion, yes." John tightened his grip on Anna's hand. "But that's thinking like a defeatist. Think positively and it'll usually happen."
"Usually?"
"It's not failed me before." John led them down an alley, loosening his hand slightly in hers. "We'll have to move a little quickly."
"I doubt it'll be a problem for me but…" Anna nodded toward him and John shrugged. "Just stating the obvious."
"Your concern is noted." John tightened his other hand on the head of his cane. "I can manage."
"Of course you can." Anna chewed the inside of her cheek as they continued down another street. "Just tell me when-"
Someone grabbed John's lapels and jerked him forward at the same time another set of hands yanked Anna back. John's hand scrabbled over Anna's coat sleeve but he failed to catch anything but the decorative cuff. He held for a moment before his back hit the wall and the breath left his lungs in a rush. Even when he tried to move something sharp pressed against his throat.
"You've made a big mistake trying to avoid us." John blinked at the man before flicking out his cane. It caught the man in the shin and he grunted before planting a fist in John's side hard enough to send him wheezing. "You made a mistake with that move you-"
The force left his throat and John held the wall behind him as the man formerly holding a knife to his skin hit the wall on the other side of the street hard enough to crack his skull. John swallowed at the sight of the man's blood on the wall before looking for Anna. She stood close to him, rubbing at her wrists, and gaped at the sight of a woman with a face similar to hers but standing a few inches taller.
"Who is…" Anna started as the other woman brushed her hair back and examined the terrain of the alley. "How'd you…"
"Secrets of the trade." She extended her hand to Anna. "Caroline Forbes, your temporary doppelgänger."
"You're the one…" Anna's hand almost hung limply in Caroline's stronger grip but Caroline barely noticed as she turned to John and shook his hand too. "You're the one John hired to imitate me?"
"Yes and it's been a nightmare because you're the smartest one I've ever had to stand-in for." Caroline shuddered, "I'm on the top of my game with this job and Mr. Bates's really isn't paying me enough for this."
"I'm truly not." John pointed at the man. "Is he-"
"He's…" Caroline cringed, "He's definitely not fine but he'll not be an issue for you anymore so that's that."
She clapped her hands together, "You two should find somewhere relatively crowded to escape to, temporarily, and then get back to your hotel or whatever you managed to snag for yourself here."
"Hotel." John turned to Anna, "You?"
"Air BnB actually." Caroline shrugged, "It's cute but it was only for a night since I've got to be back at Oxford to continue pretending to be Dr. Smith here."
"You're pretending to be me?" Anna shook her head, "You've hired an Amazon to pretend to be me?"
"I'm flattered but I feel the comparison's a little exaggerated." Caroline examined the street again before looking at John and Anna. "I'm serious though, you'd better get out of here."
"Right." John extended a hand to Anna and nodded toward Caroline. "As always, a pleasure Ms. Forbes."
"The same to you Mr. Bates." Caroline waved at Anna, a wide smile taking over her face. "Lovely to meet you Dr. Smith."
"And you, Ms. Forbes." Anna took John's hand and they left the street to move back into the square and lose themselves in a crowd shuffling from one building to another as they tried to escape the biting cold.
John guided Anna through the streets and toward the large Ferris Wheel. They managed to snake into the small line and grabbed a booth for themselves before settling back into the turning of the wheel. They rose over the city and finally breathed their sighs of relief.
"She's cute."
"What?" John frowned, turning to Anna as she made a face. "Who's cute?"
"Caroline Forbes." Anna worked herself closer to John's side. "She's very cute and very…"
"Sweet?"
"American." John snorted and Anna nodded against him. "It's like if I had a cousin who grew up in America. It's… Very disturbing."
"Hence why I chose her. She looks enough like you to throw anyone off and…" John bit at his lip. "Obviously good at her job."
"What'll she do with those men's bodies?"
"I don't ask and she doesn't tell."
"Smart." Anna sighed and held up a hand, the tremor catching John's eye. "I think the adrenaline's still moving through my system."
"Fear and nerves do that." John grabbed for Anna's hand and massaged over it, pulling it close to his chest. "It'll settle in a bit."
"I don't know if I want it to settle." Anna's hand twisted in his, gripping it tightly enough to bring John's attention to her face. "I want to use it."
"To do what?" John gestured around them. "We're at least a hundred feet off the ground."
"Then we're too high for anyone to stop us." Anna moved to straddle John, immediately flaring his flagging adrenaline. "I've never had the courage to do something like this before."
"It could be argued that it's stupidity."
"Whatever it is," Anna's hands framed John's face, "I'd like to make a very special memory on the Big Wheel."
"It's called the George Square Big Wheel and-"
Anna's kiss silenced John and he sank into it, the energy thrumming through their bodies feeding into a perpetual loop that had them fumbling through their lack of dexterity to open their clothes enough to touch skin. Cold fingers had them hissing into more desperate kisses and forced the moment of clarity that kept the majority of their clothing on for warmth more than modesty. But they still managed to expose enough skin between kisses to give way to moans and sighs as they found delicate nerves fizzing with the desire for more concentrated touches.
John surrendered to Anna. To the weight of her fears, her adrenaline, her nerves, her worries, and even the tiniest hint of jealousy at the woman acting as her doppelgänger. Each moment of surrender emboldened her until John almost whimpered when she took him in hand.
But she proved more generous than he expected and they moved together in the tight confines of the box as they turned slowly in a circuit around the wheel. Every rotation brought them dangerously close to an awkward moment of forced disembarkation but as they avoided it time and again the brush with public embarrassment only fueled their desire. Fueled it until they burned out together, sinking into one another for the few moments they could spare before their time to leave finally came.
"I'll never top that." John put a hand through his hair, wiping the damp of sweat away quickly before it could freeze his hand as they worked back to their hotel. "Not if I lived another fifty years."
"Can't say I've ever done anything like that." Anna tucked herself closer to John as they avoided others on the pavement. "All of it, actually."
"Here's to hoping you'll never have to again." John kissed her, grinning slightly. "At least the undesirable parts."
