Fortunately for Penelope, Gordon was quite sober and had been taking careful note of all those in the club as soon as he had arrived. He might not be a spy or able to pull of an undercover disguise, but he could play himself to a tee. He'd been doing it in public for year after all, and, more recently, he'd been using Uber-Gordon (as he called it) to either cheer up or rile up his brothers after a rescue. Whichever one would put a smile on their face or get them to release the pent-up emotion that came with a high stakes' occupation. It was alright for both himself and Scott; their time in the military meant they were used to long hours under heavy strain. But for the other three it was sometimes telling that they were holding on for the ride rather than learning to enjoy it. When that happened, a well-timed prank could be beneficial to everyone. Though he did steer away from John after the last time. His revenge was creative and a little overboard – it also took a month and a half in coming so Gordon hadn't stood a chance of avoiding it. People thought Virgil had the patience in the family but when John wanted to he could out wait anyone. The more Gordon thought about it the more he was glad he was never truly on John's bad side.

He was pulled from his thoughts as another of Evan's friends bumped him from the side.

"So, Goldie, not that I'm not glad to have met you n'all" the man said, not quite slurring but not quite normal either. "But what're you doing in a place like this?"

"Now, now" Gordon raised his eyebrows "that's one of my best lines."

"Is it?" said the man giving him a pointed look. Gordon returned it taking in the man properly this time. He was well built with hair the colour of barley. The look in his eye said he knew Gordon's reputation for a more openminded way of life. From the corner of his eye, however, he saw Oracle come through the backstage door.

"I think another round of drinks is in order" he said leaning forwards. His barley haired new friend grinned at him.

As he moved away from the group he tracked Oracle as she made a bee line for a man leaning against the bar. Before he could meander over a hand on his arm stopped him.

"Tom will be up for you and the waitress, just so you know" Evan said. Gordon couldn't help but raise his eyebrows at that one. In any other situation that was be an evening worth pursuing. He nodded in acknowledgement and went back to the bar. The problem was he now had the idea of Penny in bed as he found all the best ways to get her to stop making such barbed comments at him.

He stumbled his way to the bar and picked up the cocktail menu, pretending to read it and catch the barman's attention. He hoped he'd made it look natural enough that the two wouldn't notice him listening in as well.

"I've got nothing for you" the man said. He wore a battered leather jacket that was clearly a size or two too big for him and had the biggest nose Gordon had ever seen.

"It's got to be tonight or tomorrow, Nick" she replied.

"There's nothing, luv, no more partners till the weekend."

"Fine then give me 200 and I'm down for whatever on the weekend."

Nick let out an unamused laugh.

"And you'll do what I tell you?"

Oracle smiled a smile that didn't reach her eyes and looked the exact opposite of happy.

"Don't I always?"

"What can I get you?" The barman appeared in front of Gordon. He picked half a dozen different things off the menu at random just so it would take longer for the drinks to be ready. He'd missed the next part of the conversation though.

"You should do it dressed like that; we could charge more."

"You don't get to choose how I do things" she shot back flatly.

"Come see me after the show, I'll sort you out."

Oracle nodded at him and left clearly going right back to the staff section of the club.

"You don't have to wait, man. I'll get the girl to bring them over" the barman called. Gordon acknowledged him before executing a perfect drunken turn and moved back to his group. He meandered back the long way looking for Penny as he did. He finally spotted her coming out of the same backstage door and decided, for once that a little directness couldn't hurt.

Still in his guise of slightly tipsy he managed to knock against her and she automatically put out a hand to steady him. He pulled her into his personal space then said quietly and very clearly;

"I need to speak to you."

She searched his face before taking him by the arm and steering him towards the door.

"He's fine, Ivan" she waved to the doorman. Nothing a little fresh air won't fix." She pretended not to hear his mumbled comment of "I'll bet" and she steered a tipsy Gordon outside.

"I can't believe you" she fumed as she pulled him far enough from the club that they could talk. "One job, Gordon, you had one job. All you had to do was keep an eye on her and instead you're too busy getting drunk with your friends!"

"Hey! I am not drunk" he said straightening up and pulling his arm from her. When she caught his gaze there was a fire there she wouldn't have thought possible. "I know what you think of me Lady Penelope but I know how to do my job and I'm damn good at it. Now, would you like to insult me further or do you want to hear what I know so you can prove just how clever you are by working out what we should do next?"

There was a beat before Penelope managed,

"Well. Go on then."

Gordon shook his head. He should have known better than for any sign of apology from her. He recounted the overheard conversation then waited for a reaction. Penelope for her part looked thoughtful.

"Backstage she offered up her wages to another dancer. The poor woman couldn't get any insulin for her child, it seems her brother stole the medicine to sell for drugs. Oracle mentioned a second job but I can't imagine anyone offering themselves in that way for money for someone else."

"Don't you Brits have a health care system that covers medicines for free?" Gordon asked.

"The NHS is quite wonderful, darling, but you do have to be British to use it. Angelique is from the Congo and it seems likely that her son was born there too." She crossed her arms in front of herself and came to a decision. "Well, there's nothing for it. You'll just have to arrange to be her partner for the evening."

Gordon gaped at her, for once completely lost for words.

"It makes perfect sense; you can tell this Nick you overheard their conversation and you can prove you're good for the money. If you can get him to take a transfer then I'm sure John can keep an eye on things should we need any leverage. Besides, no one knows where she lives. When she leaves this evening we won't find her again. This way we have a guaranteed way of knowing where she'll be and have a chance to talk to her privately."

"Did you just ask me to book a prostitute!?" Gordon finally managed. "I can't do that, Penny. You might be here undercover but I'm here as me! The damage that could do to if that got out." Another thought occurred to him and, much to Penny's surprised he actually paled. "Imagine what grandma would do if she found out."

"Gordon there were dozens of men and women in those cages and this is the only chance we're likely to get to find out what happened to them" she said sharply. "Besides, Oracle is going to be a lot safer with you than with whoever this Nick fellow sets her up with, isn't she?" Gordon sighed and nodded begrudgingly. "Places like this run off of anonymity" she placated. "You can do this Gordon."

"Right, yeah, sure" he ran a hand through his hair. Then he barked out a short laugh. "Well, you trump me in any case, asking me to do this."

"How?" she said warily.

"I was setting us up for a threesome with Evan's mate Tom" and with that Gordon winked at her and strode back towards the club.

Penelope closed her mouth with a snap and took a moment to do some breathing exercises to calm her anger. Once she was sure she had hold of herself she slipped back into the guise of Peony and went back to work. For the remainder of the shift though her mind wandered back to the fierce look in Gordon eye when he was actually angry with her. She did wish she hadn't decided that Peony found such things very attractive indeed.

Gordon decided to get things over with. After a quick visit to the gents he went back to the bar where Nick was still leaning and playing on his comm.

"I heard Oracle is looking for a dance partner" he said without preamble resting both forearms on the bar so he could pretend to be once again looking at the cocktail menu.

"That's something you're interested in, is it?" Nick said, sounding sceptical. Gordon wasn't surprised. The money and star power in his group had probably aided the club in being as full as it was. Ordinarily paying wouldn't occur to Gordon and it was clear that Nick thought so too.

"Very much so" Gordon replied, putting as much conviction into his voice as possible.

"It'll cost you a grand. Now."

Gordon finally turned to him, knowing full well that Oracle wouldn't see seeing a quarter of that. For a moment he wanted to say something but he mentally shook himself. He wasn't here to argue for better wages for sex workers.

"That's fine" he shrugged as though it was change to him. Which it was but still, the point stood. Nick offered over his comm and Gordon typed in the necessary codes to transfer the money. He used one of the petty cash accounts, specifically the one he knew would flag directly to John. He'd love to say having that in place was his idea but, in reality, John had this all planned long before he'd gotten involved.

Once the transfer was through Nick handed him a pass card.

"You know the Burgess and Herald?" he asked.

"I can find it."

"2am, you'll need that to get in the door. I'll meet you there and show you where to go."

Unable to bring himself to thank the man, Gordon nodded and pocketed the card. He felt very unclean having bought someone like that, even if it was only for a short time.

"It'll give the second half a whole new meaning for ya" Nick said gesturing back towards the stage where Oracle and the troupe had reappeared. "knowing how much closer you can get to that later, I mean."

Gordon walked back to his friends. For once he actually wanted one of the drinks Peony was passing round but he couldn't bring himself to drink it. Technically he was still at work. He suddenly understood one of the reasons his dad had forbidden them to get involved. This wasn't his life, he belonged in the water saving people, not renting girls in the hopes of getting information from them. For now, though it was back to the show. He put on his brightest smile and whooped and hollered with the rest of the boys at the girls on stage. He flirted with Peony whenever she came to the table and brought another round for the party. During the course of the second half he'd managed to get her alone and passed on details of his meeting later, though he wasn't sure how she was going to get in without a card. Penny assured him it was a problem whilst Peony brushed her fingers down his arm and blinked shyly up at him through her lashes.

Gordon had never wanted a night to be over so much in his entire life.