Chapter 18: Let's play a little game...

'Hopefully tonight will be as quiet as the last,' Stephen thought as he walked towards Q branch. He had spent the night before leaning against the barrier looking into the IT department. The minions inside had only glanced up at him when he arrived before returning to work, the man in front hadn't even noticed him until he'd been there for about 5 minutes and then had been too chicken to come out and ask what he was there for. He seemed a bit stuffy, not at all fitting in with the rest of the nerds in the room. The others seemed to barely tolerate him in their midst. It was a recipe for disaster in emergency situations so 006 would be glad when Q was back to be able to take charge when the flames hit the pan. Until then he would stand guard.

He had spotted 001 and 009 coming towards him when he walked towards his perch for another night on watch. The two seemed intent on intercepting him, but he just motioned them to follow him. They fell in behind him without complaint and silently they stalked towards the IT-department. He looked in and immediately spotted it was busier today than it had been the night before. He checked his watch and noticed there was a shift change on. Again, all the minions just glanced towards them before resuming their discussions. The guy up front, a different one from the night before, spotted them immediately and seemed confused as to why they were there but didn't approach them. This one was more relaxed and at ease with his situation than the other one was, but the minions seemed to be just as weary of him.

"Amazing." 9 mumbled beside him. "They don't seem to care at all. They obviously know who we are but the only difference is they are slightly more alert. Even the fact that there are three of us doesn't seem to spook them."

"I really want to meet this Q. It's bound to be brilliant if this is the effect he has." 1 said. At his look she explained. "I got a student, Jordan Bruskin. 7 gave him to me. He and his friend Iris Mclaughlin have been bragging about their general. Said he was the reason they were no longer afraid of us and that you could tell us more."

"Oh, he definitely can." He heard behind him, and he saw 7 come up to them.

"How is he?"

"See for yourself." 7 answered as he joined them where they were leaning against the balustrade. "Let's play a little game, shall we?" He mumbled. "It's called find the quartermaster." Stephen looked at him bemused before he turned to the room again, really searching now for the familiar figure of the quartermaster.

"Fuck me." He said when at first glance he couldn't spot him. If he couldn't spot the man whom he'd been tailing for two weeks and then guarding for 2 weeks more than their mole definitely wouldn't be able to. "You don't know what he looks like either?" He asked.

"No, I left when he started getting ready to make sure everything was in place here." 7 answered as he searched the room beyond.

"You mean to tell me the Quartermaster is in there?" 9 asked. "Among his own minions? And they don't know?"

"Well, Jordan knows." 7 said. "He's the one who guided him in."

"Did he now?" 1 said and stared with interest at her student, willing him to give the game away. But Jordan was interacting with the other minions like there was nothing going on. "Damn it, he's not giving it up." 7 sniggered.

"He's on home turf, surrounded by people he trusts. This is the perfect way for him to practice now, before you take him into unfamiliar surroundings." He said before grinning. "Found him."

"Damn it." Stephen mumbled. He'd hoped to spot the man first. He looked through the room again but still couldn't spot what could be the man they were talking about. 7 however had spotted something because he straightened up.

"I've been summoned." He said with a smirk and entered the room.

The minions tensed a little when he entered but otherwise didn't react. Only Jordan made eye contact and for a second let his mask drop to show worry on his face before it was back up again and his focus was again on the group. James stored that away in the back of his mind.

As he walked towards the front of the room, he just couldn't resist scaring the only person that was still unnerved by his mere presence. He walked up to the main desk up front just enjoying watching the man almost pee his pants before veering off to the right and the new desk that had been placed in the back.

"Mr. Greaves." He said as he approached knowing they had an audience. Ormond looked up but didn't stop typing. "My name is Bond. James Bond. 007. I heard you are working on a project for us. I thought I'd come introduce myself seeing as I'm your primary contact."

"Good to meet you, 007." Ormond said in his Birmingham accent before gazing at his screen again. Oh, James hated it when Q did that. Fortunately, it seemed Ormond just needed to finish what he was doing as he sat back and refocussed his attention fully on James.

"Do you have time now, Mr. Bond? I would like to go over what I need your input on. If you have business to finish with your colleagues first, Jordan can assist me in the meantime. Though I suggest not taking too long. Jordan mentioned he had training tonight." Ormond was indicating to his screen as he said it. James walked around the desk and looked at it. Q was working on three screens at the moment. One was filled with code, while the other two were set-up as a security station. It showed logs, communications going in and out and different camera's in the building including the one pointing directly at his colleagues who were comparing in how many countries they were wanted in. He winced at not having spotted the camera when they took up their position.

"We do actually need to talk about some things but we can do that while we help 001 set up the gym while we talk. It won't take long." James said knowing it was probably the most secure place to talk. Ormond turned to his screens and started typing, pulling up the surveillance cameras in the gym before blanking them out.

"Then I'll see you in about half an hour, 007." Ormond said and resumed his work.

Stephen watched eagerly as 7 walked through the room towards the main desk, the man behind it shuffling nervously with his feet as he watched the agent approach.

"It's not the man up front." 9 mumbled. "The minions barely tolerate him."

Just before the desk, clearly enjoying unnerving the man behind it, 7 veering off to the right.

"Oh, fuck me." Stephen groaned as he spotted the figure in the far corner. "Guys, meet Mr. invisible: Ormond Greaves."

"And he is scarier than us? He looks like a leaf can blow him over." 9 scoffed.

"Yep and that's so fucking tricky about him. Looks can be deceiving and in this case you ain't seen nothing yet. Let me ask you this. How many countries are you wanted in?" He asked.

"11." 9 answered proudly.

"14. Including China." 1 said proud that she'd trumped him.

"Yeah, well I looked him up." Stephen said a little chagrined because he was only wanted in about 7. "Take a fucking guess. I'll give you a hint. It's more than you."

"No fucking way is he wanted in more than 15 countries." 9 said like he was being ridiculous.

"Wait he's a hacker, isn't he? So, depending on what he's hit, he could be wanted anywhere without even leaving his seat. If he's as good as Jordan says he is, I'll give him twenty." 1 said clearly thinking this over. Stephen snorted.

"39 fucking countries. Including China, Russia and the United states of Fucking America, most of Europe and, here comes the biggest joke of all, the United Kingdom." He said.

"And he hasn't been arrested yet, because?" 9 growled.

"Because the people who do the arresting know better." 7 said coming out through the glass door. "And we're moving this to a place not covered in camera's and easy to overhear." Stephen glanced around with a frown. He hadn't seen any camera's but 7 glanced to a corner. Still not seeing anything but certainly believing it was there he followed 7 without complaint, the other two trailing behind them. The agent led them into their gym, locking the doors behind them.

"Right, give them the short story, 6, because if you're going to milk their reactions, we'll be here all night. Q's blanked out the camera's in here and given us half an hour because Jordan needs to get some training in before he heads home." 1 smiled at this. Stephen noticed it wasn't her normal smile either. It had a little something extra. He wondered what was going on there for a moment before he refocussed.

"First, how is he really? Because I'm not buying the shit he's selling." He asked.

"Worse than he's pretending to be, I'm sure. But better than yesterday. It's just low blood pressure, the doc said. It takes time and rest, and we'll just have to make sure he takes it." 7 said. Stephen groaned.

"And how the fuck are we going to do that." He asked. "If push comes to shove, how are we going to make him listen. Because it was only yesterday someone finally got through to R and Q is a hell of a lot more stubborn than she is."

"Q is also a lot more reasonable. He will listen to our arguments to an extent." 7 said and then a smirk appeared on his face. "And if that fails, we sic April on him."

"Wait? April? As in the Assistant. The Director's Assistant. That April?" 1 asked. Stephen's eyebrows rose. The assistant didn't just handle any job. She had staff she could delegate to. If she was personally on Q's case, Q was higher up in that organisation then he'd previously thought. It seemed this was also news to 7 who's eyes widened slightly before they gained a pensive gleam.

"She wasn't introduced to me as such but I'm not surprised." 7 said. "Q is connected to the Director after all. Also, April goes by Faith when she's playing the watcher the oversight committee wanted on Q, so keep that in mind. She's the one in charge of Q's security outside of MI6, or the director is through her." 7 was pensive a moment longer before he seemed to shake it off. "Now 6, would you please do the introduction. We're running out of time."

"Right. Q. Original name unknown, though his last name is known to M. The only person in the history of MI6 to successfully infiltrate our organisation under a false name…" And Stephen proceeded to give the other two double-0's the eye opener of a lifetime.