Thanks for all your reviews. Reading them has become addictive!
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
The sharp tang in his mouth that accompanied the buzz of an approaching immortal broke through his sleep, and Methos scrambled for his sword under the bed, colliding with a startled Highlander who had also awoken with a start on the floor. With a howl, Methos nursed his nose as he continued to feel around under the bed with his left hand.
"It's probably just Amanda, you know," Duncan pointed out as the pounding in his head began to abate.
"Never hurts to be cautious," came the short reply as Methos curled his hand around the pommel of his sword.
BANG, BANG, BANG.
Duncan groaned as the din echoed through his still-tender noggin.
"Methos! Methos, I know you're in there, I could feel you from down the hall!"
"For crying out loud, doesn't that woman understand the concept of a secret identity? I'm surprised she doesn't just post my name on the net," Methos grumbled as he stumbled over Duncan to get to door.
"You know she only does it because it guarantees you'll answer the door. That paranoia of yours is way too easy to play upon."
Glaring down at the smug Highlander, Methos wrenched open the door and found himself with an armful of Amanda.
"Oh, Methos," she sobbed into his shoulder. "Thank God you're here, you've got to save him!"
A small smile tugged at the corners of Methos's mouth; nothing like a millennia of practice to perfect the little-girl-lost routine.
"Relax, Amanda. As it happens, no cajoling is required on this occasion."
"It isn't?" Amanda exclaimed disbelievingly as she raised her head to look at him.
"One Highlander coming up!" He announced as he pushed the door fully ajar to reveal the grinning Scot.
"DUNCAN!"
With a squeal, Amanda abandoned Methos and threw herself at Duncan, hurtling them both onto the bed.
"I see that Amanda has arrived then."
Methos put his head out the door and discovered a hastily-clad Joe coming out of his room.
"Come on in, Joe, join the party," he said wryly as he retreated to the dresser and propped himself against it.
"Joe, darling!" Amanda exclaimed, extricating herself from Duncan as she rose from the bed and held out her arms to greet him.
With a grin, the watcher obliged her with a big bear hug.
"Hey!" Duncan pouted, sitting up on the mattress in protest.
"Hey yourself," Joe retorted, "Surely you wouldn't deny an old man a hug?"
"Heaven forbid," came the sly reply from the dresser.
"Oh honey, are you feeling all neglected? There, there, let Amanda make it all better," She purred, waltzing back to the bed and patting the put-out Highlander on the cheek as she perched on the bed beside him.
"Aww, how touching." Came the cynical observation from a grouchy Methos.
"Feeling old and bitter today, are we, darling" Amanda fired back.
"That's me every day, d-a-r-l-i-n-g," the elder immortal drawled.
"Okay, kiddies, let's play nice, shall we? We've enough on our plates as it is," sighed Joe as he plopped himself on the chair.
"Right, the Methuselah stone," declared Amanda, her mood transforming in front of their eyes as her attitude became all business. Methos had been right in gauging her reaction to the news that the watchers had their hands on it.
"Do you want the bad news first, or the worse news?" asked Duncan as he rose from the bed.
"I want the entire story," came the reply as she shrugged off her coat and settled on the bed. "Don't spare the details."
For the third time in twenty-four hours, Methos found himself recounting what had occurred the last few days, Amanda listening raptly as he described all the twists and turns.
"And you still don't remember how you ended up the clearing?" she asked, leaning back on her elbows.
"Not a glimmer," Methos admitted.
"This isn't the first time that this has happened to you, is it?" Amanda shrewdly guessed.
"I'm afraid not," was the sheepish reply.
"It's not?" Joe asked, as he turned and looked enquiringly at the Highlander, who just shrugged in reply.
"It's the first he's heard about it too, Joe," an exasperated Methos retorted as he watched the exchange.
"Speaking of first times to hear about it..." Duncan prompted, raising his eyebrows meaningfully and gesturing towards Joe.
With a sinking heart, Methos realised that Duncan wanted him to spill the beans about Valmont; he really wasn't looking forward to this.
"What's going on here?" demanded Amanda as she noticed the rising tension between her two immortal companions. "Come on, guys, give."
"Well... there seems to be an added complication," admitted Methos.
"I knew it, I knew it!" Joe cried triumphantly as he stomped his cane on the floor.
"Why don't you fill them in while I clean up," Duncan suggested as he disappeared into the bathroom.
Muttering mild expletives as he stared daggers at Duncan's back, Methos shrunk back against the desk and faced the other two.
"Any time today will do, Methos," prodded Joe impatiently.
"It's about an Immortal called Valmont, apparently he's involved in this whole mess."
"How, exactly?" Amanda asked curiously.
"Well, that's the sixty million dollar question, isn't it?" was the flip reply.
"The name doesn't ring a bell, I don't think this guy is very active in the game," Joe mused.
"You aren't wrong," Methos agreed. "Valmont is approaching his first millennia and he still can count all his challenges with his fingers."
"Now that's what I call a low profile," approved Amanda.
"Tell me about it. Frankly, I'm envious," the elder immortal replied. "I've never been able to keep that low under the radar, and it isn't from want of trying."
Joe leaned back in his chair and perused his two companions.
"So why should such a peaceable guy suddenly get involved in the kidnapping of such a high profile immortal such as Mac? I mean, I know about the Methuselah stone and everything, but that doesn't make sense either. If he's done his research, he must know that he has some pretty stiff competition for the crystal, mortal and immortal alike. Why would such a guy take the risk when so many thing could go wrong?"
"Maybe he isn't really that peaceable," suggested Amanda. "It could all be a subterfuge, pretending to be Mr. Nice Guy whilst all the time secretly plotting world domination!"
"A millennia is a very long time to pretend to be something you're not, Amanda."
"You seem to have managed it," she retorted as she slumped back on the bed.
"Could be a dark quickening," came the quiet suggestion from the bathroom door.
Methos turned and looked at the Highlander's troubled face.
"It's unlikely, Mac," he answered gently. "An immortal's response to a dark quickening isn't usually so controlled. He'd most likely be on a killing spree, not quietly plotting with a bunch of watchers."
Duncan nodded at Methos's assessment and disappeared back into the bathroom.
"I could have a chat with his watcher," Joe interjected. "Get some inside info. Maybe he's noticed something that hasn't made it into his chronicles."
"I think I could pretty much guarantee that, Joe," replied Methos darkly. "His name is Rene, and I'm afraid he is one of the renegade watchers."
"Jeeze, is there anything else that you've failed to mention?"
"Well, that depends. Does the name Tribeau mean anything to you?" Methos asked.
"There's an Alain Tribeau in research…" Joe suggested.
"Doesn't ring a bell," Methos said. "Is he new?"
"Not exactly, he was stationed in Istanbul during the time you were with us. I guess your paths just didn't cross."
"And there goes that uneasy feeling again," Methos muttered to himself.
"Care to spread that unease about?" asked Amanda sarcastically.
"I second that," a newly shaved Duncan added as he returned to the room and joined Amanda on the bed.
For a moment, Methos felt his temper rise to the fore but he suppressed it before it could show through the nonchalant façade that he was finding harder and harder to hold onto as the hours went by. How could he explain the terror of not remembering what you had eaten for breakfast the previous day, never mind whether or not you had killed someone? He now had a name for the boy whose head he had found; it didn't make him feel any better. Funny how he didn't feel anything for the seven men he'd killed last night, but the thought of Jackson's head made him cringe with guilt. It was the not knowing that was killing him. Looking at the expectant faces around him, he took a deep breath and waded in.
"It could be nothing…"
"Or it could be something. Come on, spill," Joe encouraged.
"It's just that... well... I can't help but remember that Valmont met his first death in Constantinople and wonder if there is a connection. Is there any way we could find out what Tribeau was researching there?"
"I could call a few favours in, see if I can discreetly get a peek at his work," Joe agreed.
"Can't we just hack into the watcher database again?" Amanda suggested, "I mean, it isn't exactly difficult, is it? The firewalls have more holes in it than Swiss cheese."
"And how would you know, Amanda?" demanded Joe. "And what exactly do you mean by 'we'?"
"Did I say that? Must be a slip of the tongue," a guilty-looking Amanda replied as she studiously examined her hands.
Joe glared around the room and noticed the blushing Highlander looking at an overly innocent looking Methos.
"I don't believe it! You've all been at it, haven't you? We aren't a public library, you know!"
Looking for all the world like three scolded children who've been caught with their hands in the cookie jar, the three immortals gazed at their shoes in response.
"And don't think that I'm going to fall for this 'I'm so contrite' act, either. What age are you guys anyway? I've read your chronicles but I'm beginning to think that they might have erred about your birth dates," exploded Joe.
"I've only done it in emergencies," protested Amanda.
"Oh yeah, and what kind of emergency is that, Amanda? Having problems avoiding all the immortals you've robbed over the years?"
"Calm down, Joe, we have enough on our plates as it is, remember?" Methos said soothingly.
Joe glared at Methos for a moment before slumping back into his seat and nodding his head in agreement.
"Okay, then," Duncan said carefully. "Getting back to Tribeau."
"The database doesn't cover research material," explained Methos. "Only the basic details of the still-active immortals; otherwise, the system could get too unwieldy."
"So, what do we do?" Amanda ventured.
"Well, I was thinking that a little overnight trip would do us good," Methos joked. "I've heard that Turkey is lovely this time of year."
"But what about the stone?" Duncan protested.
"What about it? The stone's useless until they get Amanda's piece. Let the watchers keep it nice and snug in the woods until we get back," replied Methos smugly.
"Man without a passport, here," Duncan reminded him.
"We'll report it missing in Sofia and get one reissued at the British embassy. You still carry a British passport, don't you?"
Duncan nodded in answer and stretched out on the bed.
"Well, I'll go get packed," Joe announced as he stood up. "We'll want to make a move before it gets dark."
"I'll be back in half an hour," said Amanda as she grabbed her coat. "I think poor Duncan needs something to wear that hasn't been worn for four days straight!"
"I'll go with you Amanda," Methos declared. "We don't want any renegade watchers to get their hands on you."
"I can take care of myself," Amanda protested.
"So can Mac, but it didn't prevent them from bundling him into the back of a van!"
"That reminds me… how did they get you, Mac?" Joe asked.
"Sniper rifle," Duncan answered shortly.
"Gets you every time," Methos commented wryly as he reached for his anorak.
"Leave your credit card here," Duncan asked Methos. "I'll take care of the reservations while you're gone."
Two hours later, they were on their way to Sofia. Methos travelled with Joe in the jeep while Duncan accompanied Amanda in her rented convertible. They arrived in Sofia just after 1 a.m. and made their way to the hotel at which Duncan had reserved rooms earlier.
"This is more like it," Amanda sighed as she entered the suite Duncan had reserved for her.
"You didn't exactly skimp with my credit card, did you?" Methos observed dryly from the doorway.
"Think of it as a reciprocal payment for all those times you've crashed on my couch," grinned the Highlander as he threw himself on the bed.
"I'd prefer to think of it as an advance payment for all those times to come," replied Methos mischievously as he disappeared from the doorway to the sound of Amanda's laughter.
The next morning was a flurry of activity as Duncan went to the embassy armed with the story he had concocted with Methos over the breakfast table. Methos spent most of the morning on the phone making some discreet enquiries of his own through his academic contacts about Tribeau.
Amanda had decided she needed to check out the local designer stores and dragged Joe along with her for "protection"-- one shopping trip with Methos was enough, as far as she was concerned. Five thousand years, and he still had no dress sense; she wouldn't be surprised if he dressed from a catalogue.
Duncan returned triumphantly at midday, his new passport safely stashed in his inside pocket. Methos confirmed their flight reservations for that evening and they both went downstairs to wait for Amanda and Joe in the restaurant. They had just picked up the menus when Amanda breezed into the room amidst a sea of bags with a very harassed-looking Joe in tow.
"Did we have fun?" Methos drawled as he looked up from his menu.
"Yes, thank you," came the prim reply as Amanda sat in the chair that Duncan pulled out for her.
Methos noted with humour Joe's silence as he joined them at the table and looked at the menu. The watcher belonged to the school of thought that 'if you had nothing nice to say, say nothing at all'. Tact really wasn't his forte; it probably had something to do with his inability to lie convincingly.
"How's it going there, Joe, pick up any bargains?" he asked as he beckoned the waiter.
"Oh, Joe wasn't in the mood for bargain hunting but I found a few things for him," Amanda interjected contentedly, "I even found something for Amy, a sweet little cocktail dress that will look absolutely divine on her."
Methos inwardly wondered if Amy would ever have the occasion to wear such a dress; watcher circles weren't exactly known for their opulent dinner parties.
"I fully intend to drag her out when I next come to Paris, that poor girl doesn't get out enough. All that lurking in the shadows can't be good for her social life," Amanda added. Sometimes Methos wondered if she were a mind reader.
"You may not realise this, Amanda, but you don't exactly have the greatest of reputations among the watchers. They might have something to say about Amy consorting with you," Methos snorted.
"Whatever do you mean, Adam?" Amanda replied, batting her eyes innocently.
"I mean that they are a bit nervous about letting you get your claws in another watcher. Yours seem to have a habit of ending up behind bars!"
"They do?" enquired Duncan, his face a picture of amusement.
Joe rolled his eyes and resumed looking at his menu.
"Besides," Methos continued, "Amy is my watcher and I'm quite fond of her, so hands off."
"If you're so fond of her then why are you ditching her at every opportunity," Amanda sulked.
"Just doing my part to keep her on her toes," he answered glibly. "Wouldn't want her to get sloppy, would we?"
"Well, your watcher is busy cooling her heels in Paris at this very moment, and she is not amused," Joe commented from behind his menu.
"You've been talking to her?" Methos asked.
"I phoned her yesterday morning, I didn't want her to worry."
"You didn't tell her what we were up to, did you?"
"And have her flying down here like a bat out of hell? No, thank you, I've got enough on my plate," Joe snorted.
"Oh, I almost forgot. This is for you, Duncan," Amanda pronounced as she produced a long, slim case. "I thought you might have needed a replacement until you retrieve your Katana."
With a surprised smile, Duncan accepted the gift. "That was really thoughtful, Amanda, thank you."
The conversation came to a close as the waitress arrived at the table to take their orders. The next hour passed pleasantly as they lingered over their meal and chatted, carefully avoiding the subject of their current predicament. It was nice, Methos thought, to talk about mundane things for a while. Reluctantly, they finished their coffees and retired to their rooms to pack for their flight.
The flight to Istanbul was uneventful and they arrived at their hotel at 8 p.m. without incident. Methos noted sourly that Duncan had managed to charge another suite to his credit card; he was really going to have to nip this in the bud. They met in the bar after dropping their luggage in their rooms and went over their options.
"I say we try a little bit of breaking and entering and see what we come up with," Amanda suggested. "The motherhouse's security shouldn't be a problem for me, we could be in and out within half an hour."
"There's that word again," Joe snickered. "Tell me whom, exactly, do you mean when you say 'we'.""
"Well, I was thinking Adam and I would do the actual breaking and entering, and you and Duncan would keep the engine going in the getaway car, easy peasy!"
Duncan rolled his eyes as Methos and Amanda grinned at each other; those two were having way too much fun, as far as he was concerned!
"Right, then," Joe said briskly. "Time to get a move on. We'll take my car, I believe it's my turn to drive."
Without further ado, they collected their things and made their way down to Joe's car. The drive took them about an hour as they trawled around the edges of the ancient city until they eventually found what they sought.
"The Istanbul branch isn't exactly short of funds, are they," Methos observed as he surveyed the sprawling villa with its beautifully tended gardens from the hill above.
"Tell me about it," Joe agreed from the behind the wheel.
"We'll enter through the patio door," announced Amanda as she pulled on her small backpack.
"Whatever you say, Maestro," said Methos as he crawled out of the back seat.
"Good luck!" Duncan called out softly as they descended the hill and approached the grounds.
Creeping across the gardens, Amanda and Methos eventually came to the patio doors and Amanda produced some tinfoil and a set of lock picks.
"You know, these guys should really update their security systems. These circuit breaker triggers are child's play to circumvent," she whispered as she applied the tinfoil to the circuit pads and inserted the first lock pick, "I mean, look at this, no movement sensors, no video surveillance. Hell, there isn't even a deadbolt in this door."
"Sssh, don't complain. All the better for us, remember?" Methos whispered from his lookout point.
"I'm just saying, that's all," she muttered as the door opened.
Quietly, they slipped inside and looked around the quietened room. From the scattered couches and coffee tables, they surmised that they were in some kind of communal sitting room.
"Well, I guess we now know where the living quarters are," Methos commented as he eyed the room. "We'll have to be quiet until we get to the other side of the building, there are usually a couple of people living in-house in the smaller motherhouses."
Amanda nodded and peeked into the hallway, "All clear," she whispered as she crept out the door.
Making their way through the winding hallways, they eventually found the double doors that led to the library. Amanda checked for sensors and, finding none, tried the handle. The door opened smoothly. Amana arched her eyebrow at Methos who shrugged in response.
"Guess they weren't expecting to be burgled by a couple of pissed-off immortals," Methos suggested.
"You think?" Amanda replied archly.
The room was pitch black, the curtains closely drawn against the outside. The two immortals glanced at each other and produced their torch pens.
"So, where do we start?" Amanda asked as she swept the room with the torch."
"The office," Methos supplied as he made his way to the other end of the room, Amanda in tow.
The office door was also unlocked and Methos made a beeline towards the computer. "Check under 'T'," he ordered Amanda as he gestured at the file cabinets. "I'm going to have a look around in this computer."
"Got something," she exclaimed as she pulled out a file, "They look like permission slips for books he wanted to study, at least ten of them."
"Must be rare if he needed to have a permission slip signed, do they give the book titles?"
"I think they do, but don't ask me to pronounce them, These titles look like something you'd find on Rebecca's shelf and this looks like its been scratched by a chicken," Amanda says as she waved the slip under his nose.
"It's cuneiform," an intrigued Methos replied as he grabbed the slip from Amanda's hand.
"You mean, like ancient Babylonian?"
"That's exactly what I mean."
"What does it say?"
"A rough translation would be 'The Pool of Lights'," Methos answered.
"So what you're telling me is that we came here to find out about a stone, and what we've found is a reference to water," Amanda stated.
"Pretty much."
"So what do we do now?"
"Give me a look at the other permission slips," said Methos, holding out his hand.
Amanda handed them over and waited patiently as Methos surveyed them.
"Okay, this is what we'll do," he eventually said as he handed them back to Amanda, "None of these texts will be in the main library, they'll most likely be locked away in a vault in the cellar. I want you to go find them and bring them back here. I warn you, though, some of these pieces will be fragile and the cuneiform text as well as the ancient Egyptian one will most probably be on clay tablets. Think you can manage that?"
"Blindfolded," was the confident reply. "What are you going to be up to?"
"I'm going to try to hack into this computer," Methos answered.
Ten minutes later, he was cursing at the computer screen in frustration. Apparently the watchers didn't know how to secure a database but they did know how to password protect a library file.
"Come on, come on, it can't be that hard..."
Closing his eyes, he tried to think of a solution. Nothing came. He was still glaring at the screen when Amanda arrived back from her foraging trip toting a very full-looking backpack.
"How's it going, are you in yet?" she enquired as she lay the heavy backpack on the table.
"Nope," came the short reply.
Amanda craned her neck around the monitor.
"You're having problems with the password?"
Methos closed his eyes in response.
"Have you checked the desk drawers?"
Methos's eyes flew open. "They wouldn't be that stupid."
"Hmmm, Watchers, remember? Not so great on the follow through!"
Their eyes met over the monitor and with a curse Methos ripped open the top drawer. There, neatly taped on the side, was a list of passwords complete with their corresponding files.
"It's times like this, Amanda, when I could kiss you."
"You mean you don't want to kiss me all the time?"
"Don't ask questions you already know the answer to, m'dear!"
Crossing her legs as she perched on the desk beside him, she pulled a moue at Methos's rejoinder. Glancing at the screen disinterestedly, she noted the long list of titles he had pulled up on the screen.
"And we are interested in these because…" she prodded.
"…Because these are all the in-house dissertations written in the last ten years," he finished for her as he stole a floppy from the desk and inserted it into the drive.
"Did you find Tribeau's yet?"
"Still looking," he replied absently as he scrolled down the list.
Tapping her nails against the edge of the desk, Amanda let her eyes rove over the room as Methos continued searching.
"Duncan and Joe will be getting worried by now," she pointed out as her eyes came back to the computer screen.
"They'll live," Methos grunted as a title caught his eye. Double-clicking on the icon beside it, he gave a low whistle of appreciation as the page filled up with text.
"And we have a winner," he said triumphantly as he saved it to the floppy and pulled it from the drive. "We better make a move".
Quickly they slid through the house as quietly as they could and left the way they came in. Amanda took out her lock picks to close up behind them but Methos waved her off.
"Amanda, we've just helped ourselves to some of their oldest and most precious documents. I think they're going to figure out someone was here no matter what we do, so we might as well not bother."
"But it's sloppy," Amanda protested as he made to go, "Besides, if we lock up after ourselves it might take them a bit longer to realise they've been burgled."
Methos paused and reluctantly stopped.
"Make it snappy then," he relented as he eyed the gardens nervously, "I really don't want to hang around here longer than I have to."
Amanda nimbly relocked the doors and returned the sensors to their original state.
"There, that wasn't too long was it?" Amanda said cheekily as she danced past Methos and flitted across the lawn.
Rolling his eyes to the heavens, Methos ran after her, catching up as she reached the hedging.
"It isn't a race, you know," he said with some aspiration.
"You told me to make it snappy," she smirked, clambering over the foliage before he could think of a comeback.
"That woman spent way too much time with Rebecca," he grumbled as he followed her over the hedge and up the hill.
Together they trotted to the car, jumping into the back seat as Joe hit the gas.
"Did you get anything?" Duncan asked eagerly as they sped towards the city centre.
"We got his dissertation and some of his more esoteric source material, but we didn't pause to make sense of it all while we were there," Methos explained. "Anyone up for some in-depth reading and research tonight?"
A collective groan filled the car as Methos raised an eyebrow and smirked at his companions.
"My, my, we are an enthusiastic lot, aren't we?" Methos said, savouring their discomfort as he slouched back in his seat: one had to get one's guilty pleasures somewhere, after all. Personally, he was rather looking forward to it; anything that might help to fill in the gaps in his memory was a good thing, as far as he was concerned.
With cheerful indifference, he started to whistle under his breath as he watched the city roll by. Before long, they were pulling into the hotel parking lot and making their way upstairs to their rooms.
"Let's meet up in Duncan's suite in half an hour and make a start on this shall we," Methos said as he disappeared into his room to clean up.
"Hey! Why does our room get elected?" Duncan protested.
"Rooms Mac, you're the only one with a suite – remember?" Methos retorted as he popped his head out of the door.
"Like a dog with a bone," Duncan muttered to himself as he shook his head in defeat.
"Don't mind him," Amanda advised as she wrapped her arms around his waist. "Come and help me 'freshen up.'"
With a smirk, Duncan backed her into their suite and shut the door behind him, leaving Joe alone in the hallway.
"Just another day of breaking and entering, I suppose," he sighed to himself as he entered his room.
TBC…