"And there is the false trail laid." John took the thumb drive from the laptop and twiddled it in front of Anna as he stepped away from her desk. "In a second we'll do appropriate but controlled damage to your office and then it'll be all bridges burned for me."

"Then I make a few distressed calls, send a couple emails, and act visibly distressed for a few days while you lay low." Anna sighed, "Not very romantic. Me calling the police to report on you and all."

"No, not romantic at all but necessary for our continued survival." John weighed the thumb drive in his hand. "It's so light. To think that twenty years ago, this kind of information would be on a stack of CDs or floppy disks that'd have to be inserted in careful order to achieve the same result."

"Now, now, Professor," John pivoted, gripping his cane tightly as one of Green's mountains covered the distance between them in two strides. Less than a second later, far less time than John even had to think about raising his cane in defense, the man's meaty hand landed on John's shoulder with enough force to almost buckle his knees. Barely catching himself from a face-plant onto the rug in Anna's office, John saw Green leaning causing on the office door. "Don't date yourself, it's rather gauche."

"So is entering without permission. Or knocking, for that matter." Anna stood at her desk, ignoring the presence of the other massive bodyguard next to her. "What do you think you're doing barging in here without an invitation?"

"How foolish of me." Green put a hand to his head with all the dramatic seriousness he could muster. "Where are my manners? My father would be appalled at this display."

"I doubt that very much." Anna folded her arms over her chest. "What are you doing here Mr. Green?"

"Firstly, I distinctly remember asking you to address me as 'Alex', Anna, at the last function we attended together." Green crossed the office and John barely thought about moving to stop him before the hand on his shoulder squeezed just tight enough to test the tension in John's shoulder blade. "Puts us on equal footing if we're not using our famous names."

"I remember asking that you address me as 'Doctor Smith', since I'm a professional. And, especially now that you're in my office on my campus, I insist on it." Anna stared Green down. "And just to make sure you heard me, since I still have serious concerns about your listening skills, what are you doing here Mister Green?"

"I'm here to get what I paid for."

"You've not paid me yet." John tried to move again but the grip on his shoulder forced him sideways into a chair, landing lopsided before he corrected his position, and he struggled to keep his cane at the ready. "And I was on my way with exactly what you requested when-"

"When I interrupted your plot to have you give me whatever fake you two plotted together to provide? I'm very aware." Green took one of the chairs in front of Anna's desk, looking up at her as she still stood. "Distractions occur. Goals realign. It's what happens when you're carrying the child of the man I hired to rob you."

John swallowed and forced himself not to return the look Anna darted in his direction. Green waved his hand, "It's no secret. Nothing is with the right amount of money and people in desperate situations."

"I'm sure you've the utmost sympathy for desperate people." Anna took her seat again, her eyes on Green as John tried to move out from under the grip of the behemoth that kept him solidly in his seat. "Your most loyal subjects, as it were."

"Hardly."

"And yet you somehow coerced my doctor to tell you I'm pregnant?"

"Of course." Green shrugged, as if the revelation was nothing but everyday news, "That's what I do."

"Then how do you know it's his?" Again, John restrained himself from looking toward the duo testing the waters with their words across Anna's desk. "I'm not exactly taken by anyone."

"Because his job was to get information from you and, by his own admission, that meant a form of seduction." Green sighed, "People are so untrustworthy when they're risking the physical. It's like overusing an electrical outlet. One day you'll find that it won't be what you were expecting. Wattage changes and the output tends to deteriorate with time."

"Excuse me?"

Green ignored Anna and turned to John, "Did you get tired of her in the last two months or was it just that you're simply so old you're fine with banging the same woman every night?"

"You-" John's next attempt to move left him with a vague cracking sound in his shoulder and he stopped moving when he temporarily lost feeling in his arm.

"Samson there's going to break your arm if you try to move before I tell him otherwise." Green leaned over his chair toward John, "I mean, did she get to you before me and convince you by the power of her vagina to do her bidding over mine or were you always going to betray me for the little snatch you could get?"

John almost broke his jaw clenching his teeth to keep from biting at the hand holding him in place so he could swing his cane wide into the side of Green's head. But the moment was lost as Green nodded to Samson. Only a second later a thumb half the width of John's wrist pressed on a tendon there to open John's fingers and reveal the thumb drive. The weight on John's shoulder lifted for the microsecond it took for the sausages to pluck the thumb drive free and toss it to Green. He caught it just as the Samson's hand returned to the divot he formed in John's shoulder.

Inspecting the thumb drive, Green hummed for a moment before pulling out his phone. It barely rang before he put it on speaker, positioning it on Anna's desk, and spoke three words before hanging up. "Send him up."

"Another bruiser to go with Samson and Goliath here?" John nodded toward the man keeping him hostage.

"No." Green snorted, "These came as a match set and I couldn't possibly break up the symmetry with a third."

"Yes, how could you possibly manage to find another 'roid monster the size of the Rock?" Anna ground her teeth. "But I guess there's always a chance to make a change in your security."

"I'm sure you don't give two shits about my security."

"I do if they have to stop a bullet for you and I don't have the heart to say anything but that I hope whatever sniper tries to take you out happens to find the sliver of space between these tree trunks to get you in the head."

"Too bad both the Reaper and the Ghost are dead then. Since they were, arguably, the only ones who could manage the shot without trouble." Green sighed, "What a sad day that was."

"You're despicable." Anna made a noise, "Talking about death like it's an event on the stock market."

"I'm a practical businessman, Doctor Smith, and that is what put me on this side of your desk."

"Not your overlarge ego?"

"It didn't hurt." Green pursed his lips. "Imagine what you could've accomplished working for me."

"I'd rather keep my dignity intact." Anna nodded toward the thumb drive Green held. "If you've already got what you came here for then why are you still taking up space in my office?"

"I've got to verify it."

"Can't you do that somewhere else?"

"I could but then I might have to track you down and that'll waste all of our time." Green leaned over the back of his chair when the door opened. "Took you long enough. Did you stop for noodles on the way?"

"Doctor Xu?" Anna stood up, "This isn't possible. Your wife-"

"Was paid a great deal of money to make a very convincing phone call." Green stood and patted the man on the back before forcing him into the seat. "As was Doctor Xu here."

"You sold out our research?" Anna stared at the man. "You sold us out for a payday from this man?"

"I'm sure whatever moral issue you have with Doctor Xu can be resolved on your own time." Green clapped his hands to stop Anna speaking. "Right now I need Doctor Xu to verify the thumb drive you tried to give your boyfriend… Or your bed buddy, I don't care which he is to you really. What I care about is making sure this thumb drive is the real thing."

"And when you're done?"

"I'll either walk out of here with your life's work or I'll be leaving with a few more problems that need solving." Green turned to the man standing sentinel at Anna's desk. "Did you bring the laptop?"

The man dug into his jacket pocket and produced a regular sized laptop to hand to Green. "Thank you, Goliath."

"That's his real name?" John put his face in his hand before retracting at the grip of Samson on his shoulder. "Are you brothers or did they grow you in the same test tube at one of Green's labs?"

The man did not respond as Doctor Xu took the laptop and inserted the thumb drive. Within a few minutes he pushed himself back from the desk and shook his head. "This isn't it."

"You're sure?"

"I know the research."

"You would, traitor." Anna turned to Green, ignoring Doctor Xu's attempts at a response. "But it seems that since I still hold a bit of an upper hand here, I can offer you my research for less than you paid Doctor Xu here to sell us out."

"He's already been paid for getting me about eighty percent of the way." Green rubbed his hand over the back of his hair. "It would've been all the way but you changed all the passwords. Which is why I brought in the Professor here."

"I'm glad you recognized I'm still in the room." John snorted and Green faced him, leaning with a hand on Anna's desk.

"Be glad I let you stay while the grownups had their meeting."

"If you're all finished talking," Anna interrupted, tapping her laptop. "You've missed the opportunity to take me up on my offer."

"The other twenty percent?" Green put his hands in his pocket, turning to Doctor Xu. "What are your chances of actually doing it on your own?"

"I could manage it in-"

"If he gives any time less than a year, he's lying through his teeth." Anna glared at Doctor Xu. "This was a group project for a reason and for as brilliant as this ass is, he couldn't manage without the rest of the team to help him. A team who, unsurprisingly, all still believe he's dead."

"It'd take you a year to get the other twenty percent of the paper that's almost done?" Green pursed his lips and shook his head at Doctor Xu's slow nod of affirmation. "Goliath, can you take out the rubbish?"

"Here or somewhere else sir?"

Green examined the space, "Here I think. Good object lesson for our guests."

Without a word Goliath drew a silenced pistol and fired directly at Doctor Xu's forehead. Anna shrieked and John jumped as his face splattered with blood. The silence in the aftermath allowed only the heavy breathing of Anna and John to permeate as Green massaged the bridge of his nose and Goliath stowed his pistol.

After a moment Green faced Anna again. "Alright, you said you had an offer Doctor and I'm in the mood for some good news."

"You… In my office… He's-"

"Dead, yes, keep up." Green snapped his fingers in Anna's face to get her attention on him. "Stay sharp and we might actually get through this."

Anna blinked at him and tried to regain her breath as Green sighed. "If you still want to sell out your co-workers then I'll guess you planned this little charade to try and get yourself some sympathy points, hoist me on my petard, and save your baby daddy, yes?" Green did not wait for her to answer. "I don't care about the reasons but I do care about the research. So I'll be generous and say that if you're willing to give it to me I'll pay you as much as I paid Doctor Xu's widow and the Professor gets to keep his paycheck as well. Share them if you like and live on the tiny fortune you'll make from this deal."

Green waited but Anna could not stop herself staring at Doctor Xu before vomiting into her rubbish bin. He groaned and walked over to John. "You seem like you're a little more together after all that so I hope you're willing to make the deal for your… Catatonic girlfriend."

"You shot a man in front of her."

"And?"

"And?" John breathed slowly, trying to get over the smell of the blood on him and the waft of sick from Anna's desk. "Did you expect something else to happen when you left her ex-colleague's brains splattered all over the floor?"

"I was hoping she'd keep it together."

"I guess you don't know people as well as you think you do."

Green eyed John a moment before letting out a laugh. "I like you. Not in a friendly way but in a 'you surprise me' kind of way and, for now, that's entertaining. So I'll ask again, is there a deal or no?"

"That's her choice to make."

"She's not really in a position to make it, is she?" Green snuck a look over his shoulder at where Anna barely recovered to breathe normally. "This isn't really her scene and I think it's getting to her."

"You don't think it's getting to me?"

"I had someone pushed in front of an oncoming train with you watching and yet you kept it together so no, I don't think it's getting to you." Green shrugged, "If it is then I don't give a single, soggy shit about it because I just want my damned answers so I can leave."

"I forgot the question."

"Do you want this new deal or would you like to be part of the rubbish Samson and Goliath'll take out for me?"

John glanced at Anna, her face pale and a line of sweat beading at her collar, and nodded. "Deal."

"Excellent. Finally, some rationality here." Green turned to Goliath. "Get the cleaner for the… well, not the 'good doctor' but the doctor. And we'll leave them to sort through this themselves."

Samson finally released his grip on John's shoulder and slowly blood flow returned enough for John to move his fingers again. As he tested his grip, John watched as Green walked to the door, already engrossed in his phone. When he reached the lintel, however, Green turned on his heel to address the room while Goliath muttered over the phone in the corner. "And remember, you've only got a day now. So much time wasted."

"A day?"

"That's right." Green clapped his hands together, "Chop, chop."

Goliath leaned down to whisper something in Green's ear and he nodded. "Right. And I'd make yourselves scarce for a bit. We've got a cleaner coming and he's… He's got performance issues. Doesn't like the audience."

The second the shadows of the trio left the room, John was at Anna's side. He went to take her hands but snatched for tissues to try and wipe the blood off his skin before he touched her. When his fingers rested lightly on her hands, Anna jumped and screamed a little at the sight of John.

Ignoring it, John gathered Anna's things and hustled them from the office. They ducked into the nearest bathroom and John barred the door before checking himself in the mirror. It took a moment or two before he was presentable and then he turned to Anna.

She trembled like a leaf but John checked her over for injuries or any signs of what happened in her office on her. But her skin and clothing were mercifully clear. Taking another moment, and helping Anna into one of the stalls as she started retching again, John pulled out his phone.

"Mrs. Crawley."

"Mary, it's John."

"Why are you calling me? We agreed that-"

"Doctor Xu is dead."

The pause on the other end of the line gave John a moment to check on Anna before offering her the water bottle from the bag he grabbed before they left the office. She swigged some water before spitting it into the toilet bowl. Mary's voice on the other end of the phone drew John's attention back to the call.

"What?"

"I said, we already knew he was dead. He died two months ago."

"No, it was faked. He sold out Anna and her research team to Green."

"Then what's he doing still coming after Anna?"

"Xu only had access to eighty percent of it and…" John massaged the spot between his eyes. "It doesn't matter. All that matters is Green's got a cleaner getting Xu's brains out of the rug in Anna's office."

"Excuse me?"

"Doctor Xu's-" John paused, listening for a moment as Anna vomited into the toilet again. "He's dead in Anna's office. One of Green's monstrosities shot him dead in front of us as a warning."

"And you called me to do what, exactly?"

"Get the others out. Warn them that we're giving Green all of it in-" John checked his watch. "Less than twenty-four hours. Our other plan is well and thoroughly FUBAR so we're giving it all to him."

"We're not ready for that John."

"We're going to have to be." John checked Anna again. "I have to go. Get Henry informed so he can scrub the tapes around us and keep the evidence. I'll get Anna to her flat and handle this."

"John-"

"This is our bed Mary and, for better or worse, we've got to lie in it." John hung up the phone and went back to Anna's side. "We need to leave."

"What about the cleaners?" Anna stared at John with almost dead eyes. "I've got things in my office and I can't-"

"We can hold off on that for now." John helped Anna to stand, grimacing as it pulled at his still slightly numb shoulder and put weight on his leg. "We've got to get you home and… better."

"After that?"

"After all of this."

John got Anna home, surprised at the ease with which she moved given the shock-induced lethargy. But once at her flat he helped her into the shower, rinsing himself quickly behind her, and took their clothing to shove into a rubbish bag. That he tossed into the hall's rubbish chute before returning to the sofa where Anna curled up in a fluffy robe.

Putting his hand through still-wet hair, John sat at the other end of the sofa. Anna barely moved, her elbow propped on the back of the sofa to support her chin in her hand as she stared at nothing in particular. When John put his hand on her ankle she twitched slightly and turned to notice him.

"What now?"

"Mary and Henry are, hopefully, enacting an evacuation protocol that'll keep the rest of your team safe." John shrugged, "I can't say anything for Mrs. Xu but I doubt you care much for her at the moment."

"I'm sure whatever island she ran off to has enough alcohol to help her numb the pain when Green tells her what happened." Anna took a breath, "I meant more about us. What happens now for us?"

"We give Green what he wants."

"That's my life's work, John."

"I know. And I know what it'll mean for you to give it up to Green but…" John shook his head. "We've been played into a corner and we've not got any other choice. This is the game and these are the cards we've been dealt."

"I think we played our hand too early." Anna let her arms drop to her lap. "And we're paying for getting too cocky."

"Our mistake." John put his hand over hers. "Give me the thumb drive and I'll meet Green tomorrow."

"Alone?"

"He just needs the thumb drive and the research. He doesn't need you there and I won't put you in danger like that again."

"So you'll leave me here, expecting me to sit idly by while you put your life in danger?" Anna gripped John's hands. "If you die I won't even know."

"Anna-"

"No, I'm being serious." Anna shifted on the sofa to get closer to John. "If you get killed finishing this then you'll die without any next of kin. I won't be kept informed, despite the fact I'm carrying your child, and whatever else happens I'll as far removed from it as any sod watching the news."

"I'm not going to die, Anna."

"And I thought we'd not have to give him my research but here we are." Anna interlaced her fingers with his. "I won't risk that. I won't risk this."

"Then what'll you do about it?"

"We'll get married tomorrow."

"We've got to-"

"I don't care how we'll manage it but you've got a friend who's good with computers and I've got Mary so between them we'll be married tomorrow morning. After that…" Anna swallowed, "After that let the chips fall where they may."

"You're sure?"

"If you're going into the lion's den, I'll not be left behind to wring my hands and hope God delivers you like He did David." Anna put a hand to John's cheek, forcing him to look at her. "We've not many angels left to look out for us."

"Alright." John kissed into Anna's palm. "If that's what you want."

"It is." Anna sighed, "I wish we could just run away from it. Like we did to Glasgow. Just let it all go away."

"You know we can't." John covered Anna's hand with his, taking it from his cheek. "And I've got to finish this."

"I know." Anna nodded and tugged John's hand to her, kissing his knuckles. "And when you leave tomorrow, I'll go to Glasgow. I'll drive the way you taught me, get into the house, and stay there until I know it's done."

"Good." John stared at her for another moment. "Good."

It was almost like in her office. One second John thought he had control of the situation and the next moment Anna had him pushed back against the sofa and her hands ran over him like he was too hot to touch. But any moment John tried to stop her, tried to gain control of the situation, Anna silenced him with a kiss. He finally had to grab her hands and separate their mouths by force.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm…" Anna shook her head. "I'm not alright."

"Then let's talk about it or-"

"No!" John almost jumped at Anna's volume and the shake of her hands on his chest as she wrestled herself free. "I don't want to talk about it or think about it or dwell on it or… I don't want any of that. I just want to feel you and me and be just you and me."

Her eyes finally met his and John wanted to kiss away every tear from her cheeks. "Just let it be you and me for the moment. Please?"

There was nothing else to do or say but exactly as she wanted. So John only interfered to slow Anna when she rushed. Or to guide her to a better form when her anxiety took over. But between the two of them, John's clothes soon draped over the back of the sofa and Anna's robe formed an odd shield around her waist. Otherwise they touched skin to skin and John held lightly at Anna's hips as she rolled and rocked against him.

Her arm wrapped the back of John's neck and she buried her head in his shoulder as her gasps brushed hot against his skin. A cool sensation ran over John's cheek and it took all he had not to turn or stop as Anna's pace did not relent. Not when the tears puddled and dripped from his collarbone as they fell off her cheek. Or even when she tightened every muscle in her body as if to wring him dry before she came. All John did was respond to Anna's desires and fulfill them as she wanted.

They lay together, draped haphazardly over the sofa, for a time afterward. The eventual shuffle to Anna's bed peppered with locking doors, clearing surfaces, and furious arrangements for the coming day until a Post-It with all the necessary times and locations rested on the kitchen counter next to an innocuous looking thumb drive. One neither allowed themselves to study as John led Anna to bed.

At first they just lay together, close but barely touching as they breathed in the darkness. Then Anna shifted closer and they both turned sideways to gaze at one another. Soft touches and gentle caresses memorized and studied expressions and movements until they kissed briefly. But for as brief as they thought it would be, once their lips touched it was as if the judge's gun went off and they raced to the finish together, neither wanting to be left behind.

John's hands sculpted Anna's body, tracing every curve as he committed himself to keeping her forefront in his memory. And when he went to move or turn or twist, Anna forced him to continue facing her. It finally took her leg thrown over his hip to keep him immobile as their hands touched and teased, tasted and taunted, tantalized and tormented by their mere existence.

Kisses covered skin and John's mouth took his time with Anna's breasts as her back arched to shove herself closer to him. But her hand proved deft enough when she squeezed and massaged him to full hardness. The leg over his hip proved her help as Anna lifted her hips to slide along the length of him. Slide until John had no choice but to jerk his hips forward and join them.

The position offered little depth but it gave them equal control. It gave Anna less reason to claw over his back, but she did so anyway. It gave John fewer excuses to suck red marks into Anna's skin, but he did so anyway. It offered them peace together and they tried to find it despite the risk of losing it all the same.

And when they came again, trying to come together but staggering it, they fell asleep anyway.

The next morning offered them little comfort. They went about their individual tasks before meeting at the door. John patted his pocket with the thumb drive and Anna held up the Post-It. It gave them a little smile before they left the flat hand-in-hand.

True to Anna's word, between Henry and Mary's combined efforts, John and Anna arrived at the Registrar's Office with rings and shared accounts. The ceremony itself was nothing much to speak about, simple and civil, but it was theirs. And it kept them together as they placed the rings on their fingers.

Rings that clinked together when they used a vacant office. Rings that aligned and bit into skin when John interlaced their fingers as his forehead pressed into Anna's shoulder. Rings that caught the light out of the corner of his eye when John sagged against Anna while pressing kisses to her skin and blouse alike.

Anna turned her head to meet John's, kissing him as they separated and he sought for tissues. Her back was still to him as John tried to tidy them up as much as possible before they left the office. But as he took her back to the flat, helped her pack, and got her into the first in a series of taxis and decoy cars, John could only think about them.

Her position against the door when she dragged him into the vacant office and let the heel of her shoe almost dig into his calf kept him going as he started his walk toward the campus. The way she pressed her ass against him, meeting his thrusts as her fingers dug into the wood of the door frame, almost distracted John from finding Anna's building. And her cry, bit into his hand when he tried to cover her mouth, rang in his ears as John followed the corridor to Anna's office.

The indentation of her teeth rippled over his skin and John kept his focus there as he twisted the new ring on his finger. It gave him a small smile as he pushed into Anna's office before that smile dropped in shock. Shock at the pristine appearance of a room burned into his memory as bathed in blood… no matter the absurd level of hyperbole to the thought.

Shock faded into grim focus as John crossed the room to where Green waited by the window and handed him the thumb drive. As both his shoulders bore the steel, unforgiving grip of Green's bodyguards, John thought of Anna. Wrapped around him. Wrapped with him. Wrapped safely away from him.

It was almost no surprise when the files worked and Green pushed back triumphantly from his desk. And no surprise still when he nodded to the bodyguards. The shot that rang out next was simply the roar of the lion in the den.