John frowned at Anna as Caroline's face continually broke into a satisfied smile. "And this is why I didn't want her to know."
"I'm sorry." Caroline squealed slightly, "I'm just so excited for you two."
"How about you catch us up and then we can all be excited about something here." John sighed, checking his phone. "Robert's expecting an update by the end of the day and we need to get something to Green or he'll come down here and-"
"Slow your roll old man." Caroline put out a hand, "I'm a professional here and I do know all the deadlines involved."
"Then perhaps you can tell us how it's all been here." Anna put her hand on John's arm, stopping him responding.
"Your students are… students. Their work is fine and your teaching assistants are very capable. As far as your work goes, it's all been perfectly adequate."
"What about the other angle of your mission here?" John raised an eyebrow and Caroline ignored it.
"I've noted there's a static watcher on Dr. Smith's apartment, but only for the first few weeks." Caroline shrugged, "I identified a total of three distinct people following me around but they've mostly left off after Dr. Smith started your consistent updates to her research. I've got a feeling they were just supposed to keep me on task if I got distracted or tried to get away from the area."
"Any signs of Green?"
Caroline shook her head, "Far as I can tell, no."
"Even after Scotland?"
"It's almost as if he didn't even notice those two goons missing. And maybe he didn't. Even if he did I doubt he'd care."
"But no changes here?"
Caroline shook her head again. "I've got the sneaking suspicion that whomever was up in Glasgow was there for you, not for Dr. Smith."
"Any news on Green at all?" Anna intercepted and John held back to allow her curiosity to be satisfied.
"None. And I've been keeping tabs on his social calendar so I know he's left the watching of his target to others. His people are good, I admit, but they're not impervious to spotting."
"Overall they've kept their distance?"
"Very 'look don't touch' policy, yes." Caroline sighed, "Other than your spot of trouble in Glasgow I've had rather an easy go of it here."
"Your accent's slipping a little there."
"What do you expect? I spent a month pretending to be from the North." Caroline sighed, "Everywhere's got a North, why do the English have to act like they're the only ones with one?"
"We think we're better than anyone else." Anna shrugged, "Any news from Mary or Henry about the other researchers?"
"Far as I know they're also under strict 'no touch' surveillance." Caroline snorted, "Who would've thought that research on some plants would cause so many problems for someone."
"You've heard of marijuana haven't you?"
"I'm American so of course I have." Caroline pursed her lips, "Smoked it once too. Not what I was expecting so that was disappointing."
"I had an okay time with it." Anna shrugged when they both looked at her. "Uni is an interesting place."
"Uni now or when you were getting your degree?" John pressed but Anna waved him off to turn to Caroline.
"John's said something about your copious notes."
"Yes." Caroline handed over a bag. "They're color coded and I explained the system on the first page. I've also, because I got bored, diagnosed a few of your students with some psychological issues. Some others I've set up on dates so please let me know how that turned out."
Anna blinked at Caroline before digging into the bag and trying to understand the notes as John drew Caroline's attention. "Anything for my side that's not trying to arrange people's relationships?"
"I've sent Talbot the information on the regular three keeping tabs on me. And some interesting emails that he's already combed through as being fishers into Dr. Smith's systems." Caroline made a face, "I let Talbot handle that and, since I've done here I'll just send you the bill and you'll work that out with Mr. Crawley."
She stood, grabbing her bag. "And I hope you enjoy the rest of the present I left you Dr. Smith."
"About those," Anna held up a finger, already perusing through the papers before her. "I think you might've sized them a little small."
"Oh no, I sized them just right." Caroline gave a bubbly smile. "I'm very good at sizing people. I'm never wrong."
"They were tight."
"Then…" Caroline eyed Anna a moment before reaching into her pocket and handing over a note. "You might not want to miss this appointment."
"Appointment?" Anna took the note and before John could see what was on it that raised her eyebrows, she tucked it away. "I'll not miss that."
"Don't. It took more than a little… Convincing, to get it scheduled."
"I'll not waste your efforts." Anna patted the stack of notes. "Or these. It… Explains quite a bit, actually."
"Wonderful." Caroline extended a hand to Anna, shaking it firmly before giving the same hand to John. "I'll see you the next time we've got a job that only needs my help."
"You planning a holiday or something?"
"I've got business back in America. There's a birthday I can't afford to miss in Virginia." Caroline waved at them, "See you."
She left Anna's office and John turned to Anna. "What appointment?"
"Personal." Anna gave John a quick smile. "It's nothing big. Just her looking out for me after she spent a month in my shoes."
"And your flat and your clothes." John stood from the chair, walking around Anna's desk. "If she's got the identities of the three men keeping a watch over your flat then I might need to make contact with Green. Just to see how it's going."
"To make sure he's not aware that you're double crossing him?"
"That would be for the best." John pointed at the pile in front of Anna. "And you've got your homework."
"I thought this was a group project."
"It is and I've got to go handle my part of it." John paused, "I wish it didn't have to be this way."
"But it is." Anna put her hands on the stack, smiling up at John from the other side of her desk. "Don't worry about it Mr. Bates. I'm very good at what I do for a living and discerning Ms. Forbes's notes will help me slink back into my life without anyone noticing I was even gone."
"But you were gone." John took his seat again. "This isn't something you can just skim over and hope it's fine."
"I'm dealing with the fact there's a… What's the academic equivalent of a 'hit'?" Anna did not wait for John to answer. "Anyway, I'm already dealing with the reality of that and I've not stopped to bemoan my fate about that at all."
"Maybe you should." John offered but Anna shook her head.
"I've not got the time to feel sorry for myself John, no matter how justified I might feel about it. Because what'll it get me but distracted and completely unable to handle the reality of the situation."
"And what is that reality?"
"That I snubbed an entitled asshole at a party long enough ago that I barely remember it but he's still got a bee in his bonnet about it. Worse still, I decided to live a dream where I research possibly life-saving techniques he wants to use for his personal machinations and that'll get you killed if you don't steal them from me." Anna covered John's hand on the desk with hers. "I know the stakes here John and I've already accepted that they are difficult and demanding but I'll not sink under the weight of them. I promise."
"Then you're a stronger person than me." John squeezed her hand a moment before standing. "I'll go and contact Henry. See what he's got for me about this."
"And Green?"
"I'll probably have to drop him a line. Something weightier than an email saying that you're working on your research and you're almost ready to release it to the world." John bit the inside of his cheek, "Are you almost ready?"
"It's under final review with the rest of my team and then we'll make some announcements on our forums about being ready for outside reviews." Anna shifted through some of the notes. "That'll get whomever's working with him piqued."
"So if I was going to steal this from you…" John winced, "How would I do that in a believable way?"
"Probably just hack the access to the shared document my research partners and I are using." Anna smiled, "Which your friend Henry'll help you get ahold of."
"I feel like you're doing this job so well you might as well just sell this stuff to Green yourself and we end the argument right here."
"I'd rather not sell myself out like that." Anna snorted a laugh, "I much prefer to make this an exciting adventure."
"Exciting adventure?" John walked to the door and locked it before returning to Anna's desk. "Since I denied you the car in broad daylight, is this you asking for another kind of adventure?"
"We've already done it in my office."
"True." John retook his seat. "But that was a different situation. I'm offering myself to use as you will."
"Oh?" Anna pushed the notes aside for a second, tapping her fingers in a sequence before pushing her chair back to round the desk toward him. "Like you're a student looking for extra credit or something?"
"Sure." John grinned at her as Anna took a seat on the edge of her desk. "I'm here for whatever you'd like."
"Is this placation?"
"If it keeps you safe then yes."
Anna put her foot on the chair between John's legs. "Is this about placating you? I wasn't worried about placating me."
John nodded, "While your frustration might've circled jealousy, mine is… Different. It's not worries that you'll find someone new or that you'd have friendships with other men or whatever insecure people get worried about."
"Okay." Anna nodded, "Then what are you worried about John?"
"You." John let out a breath, "I watched someone I cared about, more than anything in the world, fall to her death once. I had nightmares about it so horrible that they're what kept me up at night, not any PTSD from an explosion that ripped my leg apart."
"And you're worried I'll fall?"
"I saw Green's man shove someone that worked for him in the way of a moving train." John's fingers tightened on the arms of the chair. "What's to say he doesn't have similar plans when he'd finished with you?"
"Not when he's finished with you?"
"I'm not a hero, by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm not worried about me falling to my death. Those aren't the nightmares that I tried to lose in sensory deprivation tanks." John's fingers flexed until Anna put her hand over his. "I worry that I got you into something that'll leave me with new memories of failing I care about. Losing someone who means more to me than anything else."
"I'm not falling to my death, John."
"You're taking this analogy very literally."
"How else would you have me take it?" Anna slid her hand off his. "You're the one who remembers a falling girl."
"I don't want to replace that memory with you in any kind of macabre situation that'll haunt me until I die." John closed his eyes, heaving a sigh as he shook his head. "Maybe I'm just deluding myself."
"Maybe." Anna shrugged before leaving her desk to sit sideways on John's lap so most of her weight rested on his left leg. "But it means an awful lot to me."
"Because I care?"
"Because you're honest." Anna took his hand, pulling it to her lap. "Despite telling me everything about the operation and, when I forced you, bringing me in on it, I don't think we've been completely honest with one another about how we feel."
"If we're being honest, we barely know one another."
"And that's fair. But I think we want to know another better. And in the face of a psychotically entitled rich boy coming after us, I think that means something."
"Me too." John kissed Anna's hand. "I may not know what happens to us next but I know I don't want to lose you."
"I don't want to lose you either." Anna pursed her lips a moment before she broke into a small smile. "Does that mean your office of an office tryst is still on the table? Or the chair, if you're being a pedant, because I-"
John's hand already left hers to run up her leg to the line of her knickers. "You, Doctor, are what's known as a tease."
"Very much so." Anna writhed against him, spreading her legs enough to force John's fingers further down her knickers. "But I kind of like the reaction it elicits in you."
"So you're manipulating me?"
"Can't you tell?" Anna put her arms around John's neck and rolled her hips, rubbing intentionally along the beginnings of a tent in John's trousers. "I'd hardly just toy with your emotions. I want something from you."
"And what's that?"
"Release." Anna paused, "For the both of us."
"I can try to give you that."
Unlike their actions in her bathroom or the shower or even their first encounter in Anna's office so many weeks ago, this one held different weight. The kind of weight they wanted to keep between them instead of shedding. A weight that signaled a significant change, a burden taken on together and willingly, instead of a shackle keeping one imprisoned in the past or by horrible memories.
So as they removed only the necessary clothing, adjusted for positions of wood chair arms or injured legs, and finally touched skin to skin under the drape of clothing, they invited and enticed instead of taunted. John's fingers over Anna's skin, to move her knickers to the side or to leave her open to his explorations, followed her cues and triggers before helping her find the release the clench of her nails in his arms begged for. Or Anna's encouraging whispers before she ran the wet remains of her finish over John's burgeoning erection only brought them to the moment of joining together.
Neither left the other behind. With each step they waited or encouraged, raced ahead only to leave a trail for the other to follow. Each touch, each murmur, and their finishes came almost at the same moment. Until they were left to settle together as their heartbeats and breaths mixed and matched as they rested.
"I should go." John's fingers trailed through Anna's hair, fully freeing it and noting the touch of damp from their earlier shower.
"And I should get back to work." Anna maneuvered carefully off John, offering him tissues so they could clean up as much as possible to restore their publicly appropriate appearance. "You weren't lying about what Ms. Forbes would leave behind. Her notes are… Extensive."
"And hence why we'd never date." John checked himself over before gathering his coat. "Just to be safe, because they've not seen 'you' around with me lately, I'll track out the surveillance team for the next day or so. Give you the distance to sink back into your life before I come barging into it."
"The deceptions continue." Anna laughed a little, shaking her head. "I do have a question then, if we're going into dark mode."
"What?"
"Could we still arrange a romantic rendezvous in a car in a deserted alley way?" Anna shrugged, "I'm intrigued by the idea of sneaking around."
"You don't think what we're already doing is dangerous enough?"
"They're plenty dangerous but I'd like to still see you."
"If it's all clear, I'll send you a message for tomorrow night then." John took his cane. "Until then, I'll keep a bit of distance."
"If you can." Anna retook her seat, "I know that I'm irresistible."
"That was never in question." John kissed her cheek, "I'll let you know."
He left the office and circled the floor of the building before taking a back set of stairs. As he rounded into a corridor, John pulled out his phone and tucked himself into an alcove where he could see the window to Anna's office the courtyard outside her building. Pulling up the collar, he texted Henry and waited.
It did not take long for three high-resolution images to appear on John's phone. The faces of the three-person team keeping a rotating watch on 'Anna Smith' all had the look of ex-military of ex-police on them. Those trained to keep people in their sights for long periods of time without losing focus or getting distracted. The appearance John immediately noticed as one of them took up a position matching his with a slightly better vantage point.
John spent the rest of his day shadowing the shadowers. All three of them took rotating shifts of four hours on, eight off, to make sure they stayed sharp and rested without losing coverage of their target. A professional outfit if ever he saw one and a better group than most he followed in his experience.
Putting the earbud in his ear, John dialed Henry's number and followed the man who left his post to trade with the woman who took over watching Anna from her flat as the lights inside turned off. With the streets as quiet as they were, John took to typing out his comments to Henry while the other man spoke back to him through the earpiece. A process that left John listening to the slightly digital rendering of his voice that hit the uncanny valley of sound.
Is that really what you've made me sound like?
"Says the man who refuses to use the same technology." Henry sighed on his end. "But I'll bet you're following Number Two."
Number Two?
"That's what I've taken to calling them. All three, both men and the woman, are scrubbed. There's no trace of them in any military records anywhere. Nothing government or mercenary. Whomever Green got he cleaned out so they are information shells if they're ever caught or killed."
Smart.
"Unfortunate for us." Henry gave another sigh on his end and John imagined he could hear the shake of the man's head. "But based on their builds, clothing, and general choice of weapons when… Well, when Ms. Forbes convinced various chavs and would-be attackers to take them on instead-"
How does she do that?
"I've no idea and I've not got the balls to ask her so I'll let her work whatever magic she's got and she'll let us know that one of them favors Krav Maga. That makes him either ex-CIA or Israeli. When he spoke in a bar, which I got using very illegal listening programing, he's not American so I'd say ex-Mossad. His choice of weapon seems to confirm it."
Which weapon?
"Jericho 941 that I doubt he's cleared to carry in country so he's probably working off-book on this. More of a moonlighting gig while on assignment for his country." John heard typing in the background. "His combat knife is also a dead give-away of his cultural heritage."
So Number Two is Israeli?
"My guess, yes." More clacking of keys. "Number One, the other man, is German. The haircut, bearing, and his clothing choices revealed that before he used a variety of fighting techniques that speak to international experience."
And the woman?
"She's Chinese military. Probably a hard-won position she left after something went wrong."
What makes you think something went wrong?
"Because the only way you get out of China is in a body bag and she's still alive. So someone got her out without a bag to do it. That speaks to a cover-up or a very touchy subject. One she'll not want to return to."
And they've done nothing but shadow?
"As far as Ms. Forbes reported, yes. They've watched and waited. Probably there to keep anyone else from getting in the way if it proved necessary."
Not inspiring.
"Maybe not but I don't think they mean her harm."
No?
"No. They left Ms. Forbes alone for almost two months. No approach and no interaction. The only time they broke a very rigid protocol was when Ms. Forbes got her… Cronies, or whatever, to instigate. Otherwise they stayed away."
Then we're in the clear?
"I wouldn't ever say something as stupid as that but I would suggest that they're not the main attraction. They're back-up dancers."
Thanks Henry.
John ended the chat and rolled his earphones up, letting Number Two get away from him to head toward a pub instead. But as he rounded a corner, John's cane slipped out from under him. His hand slipped on the bonnet of the car and he barely sidestepped to keep himself from landing on the pavement. Barely recovering, and retrieving his cane from the ground, John turned to find the source of the incident.
Expecting a divot in the road or a slightly broken piece of asphalt, John's identification of the cause became immediately apparent. Instead of a stray cat or a chip in the pavement or even one of the other shadows, John stood face-to-face with Green. His hulking bodyguards stood just behind him and John used them as a reference as he recovered his cane and posture.
"Not kind, to trip a cripple."
"It's why I wonder what she sees in an old cripple like you." Green scoffed, "There's no way you can keep her happy."
"I wasn't aware that was part of the requirements for this job."
"It wasn't but your emails've been… Evasive, is that the word for it?" Green slapped the back of his hand playfully against John's shoulder. "Come on, Professor, isn't that what you're supposed to know?"
"They've been inconclusive since she's been cagey." John rolled his shoulders back. "Seduction's a tricky situation and trying to seduce someone to reveal their life-changing research is a bit more than quickie in a pub toilet."
"So you're long term strategy is… What? Marry her and break into her laptop when you share a study and two children?" Green gagged, "I've not got time for you to pussy-foot around this. I've got a schedule to keep and you've got the other side of your bargain on this job."
"I'm doing the job I was commissioned to do." John shrugged, "She's getting close and I've got someone working on breaking the encryption she set up on the shared documents her research group uses. The kind of encryption that'll give us access to all of her research."
"I'm sure you thought that sounded like progress but it's not." Green closed the distance between he and John. "I gave you a week almost two months ago. Whatever's given you cause to delay, I do hope it's not because you're trying to screw me on this deal."
"I watched you push a man into the path of an oncoming train." John shuddered, gripping his cane a little tighter. "I'm not an idiot."
"I was beginning to wonder."
"I'm sure you were." John half-muttered and then stood straight when Green's nose practically brushed his.
"Don't make me step into this personally, Professor. I've got no desire to clean up a mess because I tend to choose very nuclear options." Green only drew back an inch. "The kind of options that leave nothing but a smoking crater where there used to be life."
"I'm familiar with what a nuclear option is, thank you." John twisted the bottom of his cane on the pavement a moment before eyeing Green's bodyguards. "But I do have to wonder, why are you here?"
"There was a little hitch in the surveillance of Doctor Smith."
"You're surveilling her?"
"I've got people making sure she's not… bothered, by anyone else."
John's eyes narrowed. "Like who?"
"That's my business."
"And mine if they decide that I'm in the way." John shrugged, "The you've not got your in and suddenly you're fending off some foreign government agents or something while she's taken into custody."
"Know your way around how this works do you?"
"I'm a thief. We plan for any eventuality that might possibly get us killed." John shook his head, "We're the kind of people who know all the exits because we're not fighters."
"I could see that." Green's foot tapped John's cane but it did not shift this time. "You'd not be much of a contender with this, would you?"
"I don't know." John leaned on the cane, adjusting his weight with it. "It's got it's uses and potential."
"It's the tool of a cripple."
"Maybe it is. But," John drew closer to Green and noted how the motion put the other man off for a step. "Did you know that force is mass times acceleration?"
"What?"
"The Physics equation." John smiled, "My favorite of the science subjects, if I'm being honest. It gives us the equation that force equals mass times acceleration."
"And?"
"And if you try to interfere with this again, making my job difficult, I can promise you that I'll use considerable force to your mass so it accelerates into the tree-trunks you call bodyguards." John stepped back, firming his hold on his cane. "It's your choice."
"Are you threatening me?"
"I'm educating you." John tried to shrug it off like a compliment. "I am a professor and that's what I'm supposed to do, you know."
Green snorted and turned on his heel. "I expect something more than platitudes before the end of the week, Professor, or you'll find yourself studying the Physics of nuclear fallout."
John let out a breath as the mountains and their charge left him alone on the street. It took a few hours sleep in the pub's rentable rooms and more research of his own the next day before John finally texted Anna a time and location. One that had both of them leaving an hour before their intended meet to make sure Anna lost Numbers One through Three and John kept himself clear of any lackeys attached after his run-in with Green.
But when they found their private alley, Anna waiting next to the old car John arranged with Henry, both of them forgot their worries for half-a-second. The half-a-second that stretched to their slice of eternity as they kissed one another in the backseat of a car. The backseat that offered them a chance to relive the excitement and anticipation of being teenagers trying for the first time but with far more experience and enjoyment.
They kept the car dark, forgoing whatever lights probably did not work in the clunker, to keep themselves secret. And their motions were far more careful and calculated, given their lack of space, before John rose above Anna. This time no clothing remained, most of it used to cover the seat under her in an attempt to soften what might have been popping springs in the dark, and when John lifted Anna's hips so her legs hooked over his shoulders, he set his mouth to her.
Anna writhed, her arms flailing slightly until one of them wrapped the driver's seat and the other gripped at the headrest above her. It proved just enough for her to hold in place as her hips twisted and rolled against John's tongue and fingers. And despite the threatening throb in his knee, John continued to lap and lick at Anna until the crook of his fingers inside her brought Anna shrieking to an end.
They waited through the aftershocks of her climax, and the dying down of her cries, before John entered her. The confines of the car did John's leg no favors but they persisted as John twisted and rocked into the tightness of Anna's vaginal walls. It did not take long, especially with her nails raking down his back and sides, for John to join her in the second orgasm his efforts wrought. Despite their restrictions, they settled together to hold one another in the dark.
"What'd you find out?" John lifted his head from her shoulder and almost displaced Anna's fingers where she stroked his hair. "In your mini investigation, what did you find?"
"We've got a week." John kissed at Anna's shoulder before rising slightly above her, keeping himself on his left side. "Green's threatening a nuclear option if I don't deliver on something."
"It'll be ready by then and I'll even help you get Henry to set up a brute-force attack on the site." Anna dragged her finger down John's nose before kissing at his forehead. "Don't act so surprised, I've learned a bit in this whole event."
"I can tell." John let his fingers catch Anna's, playing with them in the half light of the alley. "But he's getting nervous. He's got those three shadowing you because he's convinced some other government or organization might get you before he can take what he wants from you."
"How very spy novel." Anna stopped John's fingers, interlacing hers to bring their palms together. "But it's a little bit different now."
"How'd you mean?"
"That appointment, the one Ms. Forbes arranged for me, was a doctor's appointment." Anna took a breath, "For my OBGYN."
"Why?"
"Normal checkup, I think, because Ms. Forbes knew we were having sex."
"Henry's never arranged one of those for me."
"Women are a little different, John." Anna let out a breath, "And there are consequences to… Liberal sexual practices."
"Are you talking about pregnancy?"
"Well if it were STDs I wouldn't have shagged you in the back of this car." Anna turned onto her side. "I'm pregnant, John."
John's head almost hit the roof of the car as he adjusted his position to sit up. "You're… We've… You're pregnant?"
"It's the natural reaction when you have sex that's not overly protected."
"I never meant-"
"John." Anna put her hand over John's mouth, the other holding the back of his neck. "I'm not blaming you. It takes two to tango and, frankly, I like tangoing with you so this is as much on me as it is on you."
"But," John peeled Anna's hand away. "You're the one who's pregnant."
"Yes. And, in case you were wondering, I plan on staying that way." Anna took a breath, "If you're not up for that then-"
"Then what?"
Anna blinked at him, "I won't force you to be a part of it. I'm making the decision to keep the baby and if it's not what you signed up for then-"
"If you're worried about me going anywhere," John caught Anna's hands. "Don't. This… This is as much mine as yours and if you're in then so am I."
"After all our talk of jealousy, PTSD, the oddness of our arrangement, and the fact we're still a little better than strangers you want to help me raise a baby?"
"Our baby and yes, I'm in for it." John smiled, kissing at Anna's hands. "This… This is a miracle I never thought I'd get to have."
"We don't have it yet."
"We do." John put his hand over Anna's abdomen. "It's right here and it's ours. And whatever else happens, I won't let anything happen to you."
"I never thought you would." Anna put her hand over John's. "It'll be a big change for you won't it?"
"How so?"
"An end to your pretend life of crime."
"I don't mind it." John maneuvered them so he lay back against the seat and Anna straddled him. "I needed a new adventure anyway."
"Oh?" Anna rolled against John, leaning down to kiss over his neck and chest. "And what kind of adventure were you thinking of?"
"Chasing a gorgeous professor. You know, the kind of woman who'll never look twice at you because you're not nearly as smart as her, but you're charming. Then I was going to woo her to marry me so we'd move into a little cottage somewhere and maybe start a family if it doesn't get in the way of her professional aspirations or anything."
"She sounds like a terrible drag." Anna trailed her kisses down toward John's hips. "I hope she's willing to do something like this."
John took his turn digging his nails into the seat cushions as Anna took him in her mouth. With her tongue tracing him and the suction of her hollowed cheeks almost bringing John to the edge right there, it took all the indignity of he could spare to beg her to let him finish inside her. And when Anna mounted him, setting a slow pace, she trailed her fingers over his skin until John was sure he could burst from it at just her word.
They came together, rocking the car around them, and then rested in the darkness with John's fingers tracing the faintest of false hints of life growing between them.
