A/N: Reposted due to glaring omission of plot device.  Beginning to think I have far too much to remember for this story.  Also, why do I always remember at 3am in the morning?

*

'It is ridiculous that we are expected to cooperate with a known traitor!'

The fist that crashed down onto the desk caused the thick wood to shudder. M stared at it for a moment and then raised an eyebrow at Bond. 'Ridiculous perhaps, but necessary.'

'Necessary? As far as I am concerned, it is a risk to national security that we cooperate with Janus.' Bond's anger was plain to see, enough to make him forget that he was at least supposed to show respect to his superior. Thankfully M was prepared to overlook it this one time. She supposed it was rather a shock for him.

'Then we should all be grateful that it is not your concern. 007 may I remind you that we are fighting one of the biggest threats this world has seen. If you are willing to put 98% of the population's lives at risk because you have a personal grudge against Alec Trevelyan, then there are other 00 agents that I can assign to the case.'

'This isn't a personal grudge, sir,' Bond bristled at the suggestion, too stubborn to admit what was blatantly true. 'I'm merely concerned that Janus's previous megalomania may interfere with a successful outcome of this mission.'

M sighed. 'We are all concerned about that aspect of Alec Trevelyan's personality, we would be fools not to be. However, Trevelyan has provided us with several leads that could well provide us with a successful outcome to this mission. Which I am sure that we all ultimately desire.'

'And his price for this information?'

'Continued immunity. Nothing more.' M's eyes narrowed, Bond was moving onto territory that she was not willing to discuss.

'Why was I never informed of Janus's survival?' Bond's anger burst forth.

'Because it was my decision not to tell you. I do not need to explain my actions to you 007.'

'But if he survived, there was a risk that he would seek domination once more.'

'Trevelyan was essentially immobile for over a year. The injuries he received after Goldeneye left him unable to walk, unable to move for at least six months. The man is practically held together by metal pins. He was hardly in a position to seek revenge even if he wished to. When I met Alec a year ago, he was willing to discuss the possibility of immunity in return for information, much as he is doing now. It's been a very successful relationship, and I have no intention of ending it due to your personal feelings towards him 007. He's shown no desire for world domination, and has kept his nose clean, until his involvement in this mission.'

'These passes onto Deronda's warship that you instructed he gives me. How can you be sure that this isn't a trap? That this isn't an elaborate revenge plot designed to terminate me?' It was the closest M had ever seen Bond to raving.

'The probability of that is unlikely.' M picked up a file, intending to signal the end of the conversation.

'And what about Ashleigh?' Bond said softly.

M paused, and then removed her glasses, placing them on top of the file. 'Are you suggesting that Trevelyan is in some way targeting Agent Kain?'

'He's manipulated her into some kind of truce. She has been involved in a car crash that I believe was of his orchestrating, he throttled her, his men have attacked her, and yet she now believes she is somehow indebted to him. He's possessed her, manipulated her, and forced her into his bed with this damned truce!'

'Forced her? Are you implying that Trevelyan forced himself on Kain?' M was eagle eyed, and she saw the flush rise in Bond's cheeks.

'No sir. I believe though that he has manipulated her into a sexual relationship.'

'James,' M used the first name uncomfortably, hoping it might help him to see the madness of his words.  'I've know Ashleigh as long as you have, since her birth. Do you really think she could be forced into doing something she was reluctant to do?'

Bond remained silent.

'I didn't think you did. However I will agree with you that it is dangerous that Ashleigh believes she owes Alec something. God knows what he could persuade her to do in his name.'

'Sir...'

'This discussion is over 007. You are dismissed.' M slipped her glasses on once more and picked up the file.

Bond walked to the door, still frustrated, still angry, and still lacking in answers. As he reached the door to M's makeshift office he heard her call him softly. He turned.

'I will deal with him, 007. I have orders for him, and I shall make sure he follows them.'

Bond nodded and left the room.

*

They had been taken to what appeared to be a temporary HQ for MI6 in St. Petersburg, an underground bunker inland away from the city. By some minor miracle Ashleigh had managed to stay awake for most of the journey, and upon their arrival had been immediately taken to a cordoned off area of the bunker. A doctor had been with her for a good half hour, taking blood, questioning her, and she was now awaiting the results. From where she lay on a make shift bed, she could just see into the operational area, and her eye was immediately drawn to the tall blond man that hovered on the edge of everything. She watched him as he moved, checking maps, occasionally throwing a question at someone, she was fascinated by him. Alec was limping more than usual, and he relied on the cane for any amount of distance, but apart from that, she couldn't see how his injuries had affected him. His entire demeanour was confident, as if he belonged here as much as anyone else. She wanted to talk to him, to be able to just ask if he was alright, to hold him, to take away any pain he was feeling. She sat up. For weeks now Alec Trevelyan had been in the forefront of her mind, haunting her as she slept at night, her mind played cruel tricks on her, sending her dreams where she was with him, touching him, his lips upon hers, his warm embrace wrapped around her. In the daylight she had been plagued by thoughts of him, of sudden memories of their time together, and she would blush as they hit her, shocking her with their clarity. But most of all she had been surprised how her body had craved him, that she had missed him, and her loneliness had swamped her. So many times she had caught her hand creeping towards the phone he had given her, wondering if she called, would he answer? Would he want her? Sheer stubbornness had won that battle, and the phone had remained untouched. The medical examiner had given her a bottle of water, and she sipped it now, willing herself to look anywhere but at him. She hadn't meant to kiss him in the facility but her sheer relief at seeing him had driven her into his arms. She glanced around the room.

To her surprise, he was watching her. Half leant over one of the desks; he had looked up and saw her. Their eyes met, and she froze. His stormy grey eyes were fixed on her, and they were unreadable. But she couldn't tear her gaze away from him.

'Agent Kain?'

She heard the voice from some distance away, but it was only when he repeated her name a second time, did she manage to tear her eyes away from Alec. The medical examiner had returned.

'All clear.' He announced. She nodded, listening. A mild sedative, only traces left of it in her system, enough had been injected to leave her woozy and vulnerable.

'I've informed M, you're fit to carry on in active service.'

Ashleigh nodded mutely.

'You're free to go,' the M.E hinted.

'Oh. Thank you,' she managed to find the words before she left.  It was time to pull herself together, she had orders to fulfil.

*

Alec had been subjected to a similar fate upon his arrival. The M.E that had examined him had been horrified to discover the strapping on his broken ribs.

'What kind of moronic, inept doctor would resort to this...' he muttered as he untangled Alec from it.

'I somehow doubt he was a legal practitioner,' Alec winced as his ribs were freed, but instantly he was able to catch his breath better. 'Have you heard anything about Agent Kain?'

The M.E shrugged. 'Running blood tests. Shouldn't be too serious though, she would have been reacting badly if they really wanted to harm her. My guess at her symptoms would be a sedative.' He glanced at Alec, 'Any reason you wanted to know?'

'Just concerned.' Alec said. Thankfully it appeared that that would be the extent of his physical, and he carefully dressed again. He knew that M would seek him out eventually, it was a case of overseeing the planning of the next few days events.

His decision to contact M hadn't been an easy one. But in the end there had been no other choice. One way or another Hermes had to be destroyed before the opportunity arose to use it. And the more that Alec learnt about the virus, the more he was convinced that its release was imminent. His time at Lucinda's base had been eye opening. So convinced of his loyalty, she had left him to his own devices, her arrogance had been staggering. Alec had scorned her for this, well aware of the face that his own over confidence had brought about his downfall last time. Lucinda however took arrogance to a new level. Left alone and unguarded, freed from the influence of the drugs administrated to him, he had chosen the earliest opportunity to remove himself from her grasp. It would have been easy to just flee, but his instincts had told him that Lucinda's office warranted a thorough investigation. With nothing but clean minimalist lines it seemed impossible to hide anything, but as his fingers had explored the inside of a drawer, they had brushed upon a tiny discreet switch. With a gentle sigh a small compartment had revealed itself, and inside a single disc. It would be a huge risk to take it, but as he had stared at the tiny metallic circle, he knew that this was it. Without a backwards glance he had taken it, and escaped. Was Lucinda none the wiser? He had no idea, but he had fought with himself, caught in the decision that had faced him. His conscience had won. He had contacted M. As he had told James, this was bigger than everything. Only M and himself had seen the contents of the disc so far. This would be a 'need to know' mission, and Alec knew the minimal amount of detail would be revealed. Time was running out, and so Alec was here, about to brief 007 about his mission. A grim smile touched Alec's lips; he could well appreciate the irony of the situation. As for Bond, Alec had saved his life in freeing him from the research facility. One day, it would be a pleasure to call in that debt.

He glanced up from the screen he was staring at, unable to focus anymore on the tiny pinpoints of light that made up the satellite image in front of him, and saw her. He was struck once more by her resemblance to her father, the same shaped nose, the same eyes, and the same thick dark hair. He knew that he was getting far too deeply involved with her, but he couldn't help himself. He had to get her alone, to warn her, to tell her the danger she was in, that Kristov was just the tip of the iceberg, he wondered if this was his opportunity.

Too late, the blasted M.E had returned. Alec returned back to staring at the map, but saw nothing. Time was indeed running out, for him, for Ashleigh, for the world.

*

They gathered around him. He refused to greet them, simply launching into his explanation of the plans.

'Deronda's warship is based in the White Sea to the North East of St. Petersburg. You will fly to the Macona airbase, where you will be transported to the ship. Deronda has chosen his location carefully, at the mouth where the Arctic Ocean flows into the sea, close to Arkhangelsk.' If the name of the city brought back uncomfortable memories for Alec or his present company, it didn't show. He tapped on the map at the point he was referring to, 'If Deronda or Elliot choose to escape, they have a vast amount of ocean to hide in from this point, it would be extremely difficult to attempt to trap them here, which is why I've recommended the Navy keep their distance. Hem them in, and there is no knowing what they might be insane enough to do.'

M interrupted, 'The Navy are situated close to Murmansk, ready to offer assistance should the need arise. If the mission is successful they will be dispatched to collect you.'

'Only if the mission is a success, of course,' Alec sneered. He knew Bond was close by, could feel his glare burning into his shoulder blades.

'I see no reason why it shouldn't be,' M intervened before Bond could react.

Alec shrugged, and brought up another screen, this time a blueprint for Deronda's warship. 'The ship is fully operational with a skeleton crew. Once on board the 'conference' will take place here, at the helm of the ship. This is Deronda's brainchild, he is desperate to prove to all that his power is absolute. We need to locate the operation centre, the files that will give us access to Hermes, and disable them. Once disabled, Hermes is ours for the taking,' The words said so simply, yet summed up every single desire for power he had, whoever held Hermes, held the world, and it could be his to take...he realised that they were waiting for him to speak once more, and he forced himself back on track. 'We've identified possible locations here, here and here,' he pointed out three areas on the plan. The image duplicated on every large screen in the area was easily visible to all, yet he sensed someone step behind him.

He tensed, immediately on guard at their close proximity, and then he smelt her perfume, faint, but still instantly recognisable to him, the cool scent warmed by her skin, and he couldn't help but breath it in. It was her smell, but this time mixed with others, coppery and salty, he realised how close she was, he could smell the dried blood in her hair, and the faint smell of dried sweat, caused by her earlier fear and activity. Ashleigh. Immediately the tension left him, and he felt her small hand rest upon his shoulder as she leant in to see the plans that he was gazing at.

'Is the ship armed?' she asked, pointing at the torpedo shafts that were detailed on the blueprint.

'We've yet to ascertain that.' She showed no signs of wanting to move away from him, 'We can only presume that it is and act accordingly.'

He felt her nod, and she continued to stare at the map, as if committing it to memory. David Kain had had a photographic memory, he wondered if Ashleigh had inherited it from him. Slowly he tilted his head, bringing his mouth close to her ear. 'Lucinda,' he whispered, his lips barely moving. She had heard him, he felt her tense, 'Be aware of her,' he didn't know why he was warning her now, but he knew she had to know. She gave a barely noticeable nod of her head.

He had to take a risk, but their bodies were so close together, he felt they were shielded enough to get away with it.  He slid his hand over to hers, she jumped a little at the brush of his skin against hers, but he pressed the disc into her hand, she glanced at it, then palmed it, and was gone.

He could hardly remember what he said next in the briefing, his words automatically forming themselves into sentences. All the time he was aware of Ashleigh's presence behind him, the memory of her touch upon his shoulder, and the brush of her skin against his.

*

The briefing had gone well, M decided. She had been surprised when Alec had willingly accepted her offer to talk through the plans, but as only he and herself had seen them, it was a logical decision. Her conversation with Bond had disturbed her, but she had made the decision to trust Alec, and giving the increasingly limited amount of choices left open to her, she would follow this one through to the end. If Alec had his own reasons for choosing to cooperate with MI6, then so be it. The information he had given her, had been quite frankly far more in-depth than she could have hoped for, but the implications were terrifying. M had seen these enemies come and go, but here was one who for the first time, M could see carrying out their threat. And so allies were made in the strangest of places. 007 would just have to work with them, personal issues or no issues.

Personal issues. This mission had been plagued by them from the moment she had decided to pair 007 up with Kain. She had hoped that they could have worked together successfully, the connection between them forming into a successful working relationship that brought results. For once the usually cautious M had made a gamble, and she would like to think it would have worked, had not a rogue element worked its way into the equation. She could see, from a female point of view, why Ashleigh would become infatuated with Alec, he was still a handsome man, with more than enough magnetism to turn a young woman's head. But there was more than that. Any fool could have seen that today, even Bond, though she had seen him look away as Ashleigh had touched Alec. Bond had accused Alec of manipulation, because it was easier for him to explain their relationship in that way. M shook her head. Ashleigh was a willing partner in this situation, and Alec trusted her. There was no way she could have approached him in that manner if he didn't. And if Alec was doing this for her, then MI6 would reap the benefits.

She had seen the little exchange between the lovers. And she was furious. She had specifically ordered Alec not to attempt to warn Ashleigh in any way. To give her that knowledge was to place her in considerably more danger, and M had no doubt that Ashleigh would seek out Lucinda. She gritted her teeth, and hoped that the agents would return from this mission.

If they didn't... M refused to think about it. There was no way this mission could fail.

*

After the briefing Ashleigh had been shown to a small room, and told to rest. Fully dressed she threw herself onto the small canvas camp bed, without even bothering to pull the heavy blanket over herself. She fell asleep.

She woke moments before the knock on the door. They had come for her. Her eyes flew open, she was instantly awake, and ready.

It was the beginning of the end.