Chapter 12: Ending an argument.

Jordan kept a hand on Mandi's arm out of instinct as he shielded her from the others in the room. The lesson 009 had taught him the first time they met in the locker room had apparently sunk deeply into his subconscious. The three hackers that were currently trying to verbally eviscerate each other obviously had a history. Jordan had been busy pandering to Pasco, the woman who had come in just before Q had taken Whidden out of the room, when the other two had arrived together. The snarked "what are you doing here?" was indication enough that the two at the door had a falling out with the woman. 0010 had guided him to poke around in there, see if it would set something off. Jordan had hesitated, it was completely against his nature to try to set people up against one another. 0010 however simply guided him through the conversation, sometimes literally telling him word for word what he had to say. In the end it required very little to set off the former friends.

"This is not how I imagined the day to go." Mandi whispered behind him.

"Reassure her, Jordan." 0010 advised. "She's here to enjoy her day after all. Q already gave her the all clear. So, you can reveal things to her." Jordan turned to face her.

"Neither did I." He answered. "But don't worry, GH0ST won't be like them." Mandi frowned.

"How do you know that." She asked. Jordan winked at her, not daring to say anything out loud because of the other people in the room.

"Show her to the door, Jordan. Q will pick her up there." Came over his microphone.

"Come on." Jordan said to Mandi. "I'll show you." And with a hand on her back, he started to guide her to the door.

"But weren't we supposed to stay here?" Mandi protested weakly.

"Nah, trust me." Jordan said. "It'll be fine."

Mandi kept looking at him very sceptically but didn't resist as he opened the door. Q was just coming out of the door behind them.

"Thank you, Jordan. I'll take it from here. I want you to assist 0010 when he explains our offer to the other two after MI5 has taken Mrs. Pasco." Jordan saw two unfamiliar agents coming down the corridor. Mandi looked utterly bewildered at what was going on.

"Sure thing, Q." Jordan answered before turning to the young girl. "Mandi this is Q, my boss. Don't worry, you're in good hands. Let him show you around and I'll see you later." He winked at her again for good measure before turning and heading back into the room. The shouting seemed to have eased, but the accusations were no less heavy.

"I still can't believe you almost dragged us with you." Willis was standing beside Steinberg, both men looked completely disappointed with Pasco. The woman in turn looked at the two men like they were insane.

"Well, I was willing to share the wealth, boys. But you were stupid enough to turn down that money. That's on you, not on me." Pasco scoffed.

"That was not what we agreed on. What we set out to do." Steinberg shot back. "You swore, just like we did to uphold the law. We even signed a contract on it. And yet you accepted that job, and lied to us about it. You said it was legal. I trusted you." Steinberg's voice was icy.

"Yeah well, we pulled it off and were paid rather handsomely. And it was legal."

"Borderline." Willis said. "And that next job they asked us to do certainly wasn't."

"When we quit, I just wanted to walk away. I didn't want to press charges, to rat you out to the cops. I just wanted to never to see you again. But now that I have, I will give you this warning. In 24 hours, I will go to the police and tell them what I know. I will help them hunt you down and put you away." Steinberg said menacingly.

"You wouldn't dare." Pasco hissed.

"He doesn't have to." 0010's voice came from just behind him. Jordan turned slightly, not having heard him come in. He had kept from jumping though which he cheered for internally. He turned slightly to see the three agents standing behind him.

"Jolie Pasco, Agent Foster and this is Agent Patrelli, MI5, you are under arrest for illegal hacking and aiding in fraudulent affairs as well as other charges that will added at a later date." The MI5 agents stepped forward and grabbed the startled woman. She screamed at the men to keep their hands off her, but they ignored her in favour of handcuffing her and reading her her rights. Steinberg and Willis looked on grimly as she was taken away, still throwing insults to everyone she laid her eyes on.

0010 stepped forward. "Gentlemen." He said gesturing to the couch. "I'm sure you have questions. Have a seat and we'll answer them."

The two looked at each other before sitting down. Jordan joined the double-0 on the other couch. 0010 leaned forward a little and opened the two files he had been carrying on coffee table that was sitting before them. The files were obviously about the two men before them. The two leaned forward slightly and paled as they saw the information.

"You have a distinguished career, gentlemen. And I'm not talking about your day jobs." 0010 started the conversation.

"All our work was legal and contracted. We've done nothing wrong." Steinberg defended the both of them. "You have no right to keep us here."

"We are not keeping you from leaving." Jordan said seriously. "You've done nothing wrong and we are not detaining you. If you want to leave there is the door." The two hackers looked at one another and began to rise. "However." Jordan continued just as the men were turning towards the door. "You won't meet GH0ST. Wasn't that your purpose for coming here?"

The two froze and turned back to him.

"Who says GH0ST is even in the building? For all we know it was just a trick to get us to expose ourselves. To be able to arrest some hackers." Willis asked accusingly.

"True. We did just arrest your lady friend." The double-0 cut in smoothly and the faces of the other two darkened at the thought of her. "However, I can assure you GH0ST is in this building. He just walked away with that lovely young woman Jordan was talking with. I'm sure he'll be willing to talk to you. After you've listened to our very lucrative job proposal." He gestured to the couch again. "Or you can continue on out the door."

"Who are you people?" Steinberg asked defensively.

"Sit down and find out." 0010 answered with a slightly seductive tone. Steinberg and Willis looked at each other, silently deciding what they wanted to do. Willis decided for them, sitting down again and gesturing for Steinberg to do the same. Steinberg's eyes narrowed.

"You are government employees?" He asked. "This is a government facility?"

"Sit and find out." 0010 said again.

"Zachary." Willis hissed. Steinberg looked at his friend and after a while he seemed to think 'oh hell why not' because he sighed and sat down.

"Right, step one. We need you to sign the forms you'll find in your files. Take your time reading them carefully. You can still walk away without signing them but you won't get any information." 0010 gestured to the files on the table. Slightly hesitant Willis leaned forward and picked up his. Steinberg didn't move.

As Willis read his eyes got bigger and bigger.

"This is the official secrets act." He whispered. Steinberg's eyes got big and he snatched his file off the table and leafed quickly to the appropriate page. He read it through carefully looking for any indication that this wasn't the official document. He even held it to the light to see the watermark in the document. Willis, having seen that, did the same. The home office logo was clearly displayed.

Willis let out the breath he was holding and held out his hand for a pen. He signed at the appropriate mark before handing over the pen to Steinberg. Steinberg appeared to still be reading the document as he signed it, as if he didn't believe that this was real.

"Welcome to MI6, gentlemen." 0010 simply said.