Chapter 21: Confrontation in Lock-up

John sighed as he once again looked to the locked door of his cell. He thought he'd finally beaten it. Finally gotten rid of that nasty habit of getting into scrapes. That need for adventure. He was happy with his life as it was now. Mary had been wonderful, a godsent. She had been going through a rough patch herself when she started working at the clinic. They had picked each other up, helped each other get through the bad days. And along the way they had fallen in love. And then two weeks ago, even though they had only been dating for a few months, she had moved in. And he'd promised himself that that was it. From then on, he'd be a family man with a steady job. No more running after criminals or getting into scrapes. The only exception would be helping the network once a week and that wasn't really dangerous. He'd even grown a moustache as a way to remind himself of his promise when he looked in the mirror. And now, only two weeks later, he had screwed it all up. All because of that guy.

The guy had set him on edge the moment he walked in. When you served in the military you learned to recognize certain types of guys. And this type he'd always been wary of whenever they entered a pub. Bored and over trained. It never made for a good combo. In the special forces he'd worked a lot with these types of men. The ones you had to keep busy. If you didn't, they became unfocussed, their skins started to crawl and they found other ways to occupy themselves. That usually meant drinking, sex or fighting and often a combination of the three. And that's exactly what this guy had done. He'd drunk a couple of whiskey's and then proceeded to chat Molly up when he had gone to get drinks. He'd been good at it too. Polite and friendly. But after falling for Moriarty's honeypot and her pining after Sherlock, John just couldn't see Molly hurt again. It made him forget the promise he'd made to himself.

All the thoughts of the family man he wanted to be had fallen away as he stepped into the zone. He'd welcomed the adrenaline that came with it as a welcome friend. It felt like he'd come home to the war again. Thinking back, it made him feel sick that he'd missed the feeling that much. But at the time it didn't matter. He put himself between the two and forcefully asked the guy to leave. Things had escalated from there. The guy had gotten a few licks in but he was sloppy and hadn't done much damage. Not like he had done. He'd incapacitated the guy, like he'd done in the past when he'd confronted such idiots. Automatically keeping from damaging arms and legs in case the idiot needed to deploy soon. A broken nose and some bruised ribs were fine, he'd be in pain but still able to function. His commanding officer had always thanked him for dealing with the idiots in such a manner. But this wasn't the army and being charged with assault was a very likely possibility.

His thoughts returned to Mary. She had come in to pick Molly up after she'd turned up at the pub after her shift and heard what had happened. He'd been allowed to see her briefly. She didn't seem too upset thankfully, though she did call him an idiot in that exasperated voice that showed just how much she cared. God, he loved that voice. No, the upset would come when he would be charged. He'd be lucky if he'd escape with a fine or community service. God, she'd be so mad.

The door opened and Greg appeared. He looked exhausted and John winced at having caused him so much trouble. He was grinning though.

"I'm letting you out. No charges will be filed." John looked at Greg in surprise. No charges? He wondered why? But he wasn't going to look a gifted horse in the mouth. He got to his feet and headed to the door.

"Ta, mate." He said, as he walked out the door and turned towards him.

"Don't thank me. I didn't do anything. This is Ormond Greaves, Universal exports. He's the one you should be thanking." John's face whipped around to the other people in the hallway. He could smack himself. The relief of being able to go home to Mary had made him sloppy. He hadn't looked at the other people, just assumed they were there to escort him to processing. Now he saw they were far from that. Two were obviously guards to the third, who looked like an officer in civilian clothing.

Then the introduction registered. Ormond Greaves. Universal exports. He knew both those names. He gulped at the implications. He'd had dealings with MI6 several times in his career. It all made sense now. As for Ormond Greaves. He'd treated someone with that name 2 weeks ago. He had been guarded by someone who'd looked familiar, and now he knew why. That bloody cave in Afghanistan that they had a surprisingly easy time getting through because commander Bond had thinned the herd considerably. He studied the officer. The face was different, as was the hair but John could swear this was the same man. He was relieved to see he looked a lot better. But that was a matter for later.

"Sir." He said coming to attention, catching Greg by surprise.

"At ease, Captain. I'm not part of any military structure. No need to stand at attention." Greaves reassured him chuckling. It was obvious the man knew exactly who he was and had read his service record. And the guards indicated that he was high in the ranks. But he wasn't going to waste his time puzzling on things he didn't have the clearance to know. He relaxed his posture but remained alert. You never knew with MI6. Spies were always tricky to deal with.

"I want to apologize on behalf of my man, Captain Watson. He got bored. You know how it is. And please pass those apologies on to your friend. I'm sorry he spooked her." John nodded his head in surprise. This wasn't how he had expected this to go at all. But now that he thought about it. MI6 probably wanted this whole incident to go away.

"Can you tell me the damage, Captain? They haven't been able to send a medic in with him yet." Greaves asked and John winced. No, he suspected not. The man had probably worked himself up into a frenzy at being locked up. The Yarders should be lucky he hadn't tried to escape yet.

"Broken nose and bruised ribs should be the worst of it." He answered with a grin. "I made sure he'd be sore but could function in case he needed to deploy. If I'd known who he was I would've left his face clean. Sorry bout that." Greaves chuckled again.

"No sweat. I appreciate leaving his arms and legs intact. Would you mind taking a look at him, after I've reamed him out and calmed him down?" Well, better him then the yards medic. That guy wouldn't stand a chance if the agent tried anything.

"No problem, Sir." He answered and he turned back to Greg who'd looked upon the whole interaction in a daze.

"Greg?" He said

"What? Oh right." Greg shook himself out of it and led the way to another cell that was far more heavily fortified and was usually reserved for the violent drunks and druggies. The flap of the door was down and the agent could be seen pacing angrily in the cell beyond.

Greaves wanted to step forward but was stopped by one of his guards. The woman looked worriedly through the flap where the man surprisingly had calmed down and was now waiting patiently for the door to open. But instead of the woman relaxing at seeing that, she tensed up even more.

"Sir, I need you all to move away. I want at least a fortified door between you and him." She said, sounding completely serious. 'What the hell,' John thought, 'The guy calmed down. What the hell did she think he was going to do?" But then the man looked at the door and John saw his eyes. There was steel there he'd only seen once. He'd been called in from the special forces part of the camp to treat a soldier. The man had been captured for over a month and had just shown up at the gate after fighting his way out. They had been unable to treat him however as the guy became violent as soon as anyone came close. 2 doctors and three nurses were already out for the count. It had taken more than an hour of continuous talking and three separate assaults before John had finally been able to sedate him and treat his many wounds, especially around the anus area. A penny dropped. He closed his eyes in agony for the man.

"God, I pinned him. Sat on him when I set his nose. And then they held him down until he could be put in here." The woman sighed and for a flash he saw a deep weariness before, surreally, she too relaxed and a dazzling smile settled on her face.

Greaves looked at her his expression so serious it seemed like ice had formed over them.

"Can you take him?" He asked. "Or do we need to call in the others." There was no accent in his voice now.

"That's not an option." She replied in a melodic voice. "You are still my principle." She sounded totally unconcerned but John also noticed that she hadn't answered the first question. It made him make a decision. Once more into the breach.

"I have some experience in this area. I'm offering assistance should you wish to have it." He said. The woman looked at him with an expression that was pure sex, but the eyes were scanning him.

"Take it." Greaves said. "We'll be in the control room. I'll open the door on your mark. Captain, she has the clearance to know about your skill set. Come on, Lestrade." He grabbed the other guard by the arm and dragged him out of the hallway leaving him alone with the female guard.