*18*
The venerable Lord Acton once wrote to Bishop Creighton, "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." And it's true enough, at least when talking about ordinary forms of power - political, military, monetary. It becomes a whole new ball game when the power is of a different stripe entirely.
Say, the kind that would allow a single person to destroy an entire city with little more than a thought. No buttons to push, no bravado, nothing but the will and an ability your average Joe couldn't comprehend.
Then... then the words of John Lehman start to seem far more than just some Navy bigwig's bout of overdone machismo.
"Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat."
"Got it, Ebes, and thanks. You've saved our butts on this one." Alyx made sure her tone conveyed how serious she was about that statement. The information Eberts had tickled out in just 24 hours might very well provide the piece that would solve a puzzle that had gone unfinished for the last 15 years.
"You are quite welcome, Miss Silver. I wish you success on your endeavor," Eberts responded with a gentle pride Alyx could hear even across the intervening distance. "Good hunting."
Alyx chuckled, an oddly dangerous smile crossing her lips for an instant at the thought of a truly challenging hunt, which was something she hadn't known the pleasure of for quite some time. "You know it. Have a good day, Albert." She disconnected, placed the handset back in the base and turned to the printer that was just spitting out the last of the pages of information that had been sent to her. It was quite literally everything they would need to find Keller's family along with the multiple dummy accounts he was using to funnel money to them and into other... more interesting places.
She picked up the papers and stuffed them into the file folder she had waiting for just that purpose and idly thumbed through the information as she headed for the doorway. There she paused, looking at the men in the room before her. The battle lines had been drawn and could clearly be seen, as well as felt. Darien sprawled on the beat up sofa, claiming that territory as his own, once again reading the about the adventures of Lazarus Long in lieu of engaging in, what would surely be a forced and uncomfortable, conversation with Graywolf. Bobby was handling that quite well all on his own; talking shop and keeping the larger man a good 10 feet away from his partner. However, Bobby's good intentions did nothing to ease the simmering acrimony that lay heavy between the two men: anger, hurt, jealousy and host of other things that Alyx was unable to keep from sensing.
She allowed herself a soft sigh, rubbed her forehead with one hand and attempted, yet again, to filter out the three men before her. Bobby must have caught her movement for he turned to her, relief at no longer having to play distraction evident in every muscle of his body. "Kid, what's the word?"
Darien glanced up from the book to meet her eyes; his sullen unhappiness with the situation not lost on her.
"They're in London," she stated, walking out into the main room and tossing the file on the table as Graywolf settled down into one of the chairs. "Kids are attending The International Community School near Regent's Park. They live nearby in an upscale flat that cost half a mil. Keller set up an account that he filters money to, though Ebes did say he still needed to track down exactly where some of the funds were coming from. Keller ain't poor, but the man's showing about three times the net worth he should have according to legit sources." Alyx got all this out quickly, not wanting to have to be in their combined presence for too long. It was too much for her newly upgraded abilities to handle, and she didn't want to resort to medication to dull the incoming information unless absolutely necessary.
"Damn, living high on the hog, ain't they. Bet that school's not cheap, either," Darien observed, turning a page.
"It's not. It's one of the premiere boarding schools in Europe. Both kids attend, the girl we're after - Angel - is in the equivalent of the 9th grade and her younger brother in the 6th." Alyx paced away from the table, trying to find some locale in the room where the incoming impressions from the men was at least hitting her with equal strength even while realizing it was a fruitless task. Even the distraction of the rest of her family members muttering in the back of her mind did little ease the swiftly building headache that was pulsing merrily between her eyes.
"Then we should have enough information to resolve this situation," Graywolf observed in a bland tone. It was obvious that he wanted this over with as swiftly as possible.
"Picture?" Darien asked, with a casualness that belied the tension she could feel, even though he hadn't bothered to lift his head from the book. He wasn't fooling her, or anyone else for that matter, the turning pages meant little more than he was keeping up the pretense of reading, most likely to piss of Gray with his seeming lackadaisical approach to the work at hand.
"Pictures of what? The school? Buckingham Palace?" Gray challenged with a heavy sarcasm that was unusual for him, but was a step up as he had been unwilling to verbally acknowledge his rival's presence before now.
"Crap," Hobbes muttered. "Good point, Fawkes." Hobbes rubbed the top of his head, making the few remaining hairs stand upright momentarily as if from motion induced static, and turned to face Alyx directly. "Any chance his royal geekness sent pics of the kid? Passport, school ID, medical info, anything?"
"See for yourself." Alyx waved at the file, and Bobby picked it up to glance through as she answered. "Nothing like that. Not even descrips of the kids. Ebes followed the money trail, so, while I can recite a baker's dozen of account numbers, I can't give you what we really need to put paid to this little supposition."
"So, no way to confirm Angel is Lee's daughter and not Keller's with the intel we have," Darien stated, closing the book and setting it down on the cushion beside him. "Aside from the oddly coincidental name, that is."
"It's enough," Gray argued. "We take what we do have to Cavanaugh and go from there."
Hobbes dropped the file back onto the scarred surface of the table and began to pace the perimeter of the room, wandering around and between the various obstacles with an ease that showed he'd memorized their locations. "From where? We've got maybes and best guesses. Nothin' concrete."
"'Cept bruises," Darien added, causing Alyx to chuckle softly.
"Except bruises," Hobbes agreed with a nod and hint of a grin.
"It'll be enough for Cavanaugh," Xavier asserted as he reached for the file. Plainly wanting to find something inside it to drive his point home. His frown of disappointment gave Alyx some faint hope that he might be willing to listen to what Darien and Bobby were saying. At least until Darien chose to speak.
"Will it be enough for anyone else?" Darien's question, while obviously rhetorical to her, was still more than enough to cause Gray's face to flush with anger and Alyx's headache to crank up yet another notch.
In an attempt to forestall what would surely be an inflamed response from her partner Alyx said, "No, it won't." She scrubbed a hand across her face, the pain being inflicted upon her by their continuing animosity causing her cheeks to go numb in reaction. On top of that she was once again experiencing that buzz in the back of her skull that boded ill for any chance of escaping this without medication. She was so sensitive now that excess emotions from others was enough to cause a build up of power that she could in no way block or prevent, and controlling it, keeping it from playing havoc with the house systems would cause a minor backlash with its own attendant headache. She couldn't win for losing today.
Darien cleared his throat, dragging Gray's glare away from Alyx. "Okay, so we head to London, snap some pics of the kid for proof and then get ourselves some bangers and mash before heading back to DC."
His suggestion actually wasn't all that bad, and might very well garner the last piece they needed to prove out their theory. Unless, of course, Angel had ended up taking after her blonde and blue-eyed mother, which would prove nothing, as the woman Keller had married conveniently had both those features herself.
Graywolf, in what to Alyx was a continued fit of pique, just had to argue the opposite. "That'll take at least 24 hours. We can be in DC in two and confront Keller directly."
"Oh yeah, that's real smart," Darien snarked. "Let's make it easy for his black ops goons to finish the job."
"Fawkes," Hobbes tried to warn, his previous enforced truce no longer being adhered to by either man. Darien had the good grace to grimace slightly, probably realizing he'd pushed the envelope too far that time with his response, but also quite unrepentant and with no intention of apologizing for saying what was on his mind.
Graywolf did far more than warn. With a dangerously controlled voice he stated, "Maybe if they had this case would be closed by now."
Alyx's eyes widened at the pure vitriol in her partner's voice, and for an instant he registered as nothing more than a total stranger to her senses. Her shock over that prevented her from verbally chastising him over the comment, and allowed Bobby to get in a shot instead.
"Hey," Bobby snapped, moving to get right into the far larger man's face, which also had the effect of putting himself between Graywolf and Darien. "You forgettin' he saved your ass that day?"
Alyx could hear Gray's teeth grinding from where she was standing, and her headache went from simmer to roiling boil instantly. Instead of stepping away to find a chair to collapse upon, she simply rolled her shoulders and prepared for the storm she knew was going to break upon her senses any second.
Darien, much to her surprise, didn't let Xavier's remarks or Bobby's defense phase him and proceeded to respond calmly. "Then let's get the proof we need and get this over with." The voice of reason coming from the one person who typically did everything to egg the situation on should have been a warning to all involved, but even Alyx was at a complete loss over this seeming role reversal that was taking place. Nothing was making a whole lot of sense at the moment, and the pounding, buzzing, thrumming pain in her head was doing little to help her untangle what was happening before her eyes.
"It's a waste of time," Xavier snarled as he got to his feet to glare at Darien over the top of Bobby's head. Gray's stubborn refusal to listen to anything Darien said was not missed by either of the other observers.
Darien flowed to his feet, looking for all the world like a huge cat stretching out to his full length, and met Gray's glare with a sleepy gaze that was misleading to anyone who didn't know him very well. He might look calm or bored, but in reality he was dangerously angry and spoiling for a fight, be it verbal or physical. While no expert, Darien was more than capable of whaling the tar out of someone with a combination of good old fashioned down and dirty street fighting and martial arts picked up over the last few years at the Agency.
"And without more info we ain't got zilch," Darien declared flatly, and Alyx knew, due the combination of tightly reined in rage and frustration, that he was fully aware his words would fall upon deaf ears.
"That's why we must return to DC. We have enough to..." Gray began only to be interrupted Bobby.
"To what?" Bobby challenged. "Prove to Keller and his cronies that we're even more dangerous than they thought?" He grabbed the file from the wrong side, causing the papers to slide across the table, some spilling onto the floor. "Cavanaugh can't make a move unless we have everything, and you know it."
"We can get it in DC," Gray insisted, still focused on Darien instead of meeting the eyes of the man currently arguing with him.
"No, we can't," Darien disagreed in a comparatively soft voice. Based on what Alyx was picking up, he knew that yelling was the expected response, and that Xavier would be totally thrown by the continued non-combative reply. However, what Darien couldn't know and that she was forced to be aware of was that instead of allowing the near-explosive rage an outlet by matching shout for shout, the methodology turned Gray's hot tempered anger icy cold.
"Franklin will block us," Hobbes added; unaware that the situation had changed from a disagreement over method to an all out war. "You can't go to your contacts in DC without sending up red flags all over the place." He looked to Alyx for assistance from his position between the two taller men, a human line in the sand.
Xavier huffed in indignation. "Cavanaugh..."
"Cavanaugh sent you to find the proof," Darien reminded Gray and earned a black look for it. "If it were in DC don't you think she'd already have it?"
"You know nothing ab..."
Graywolf's icily spoken response faded from Alyx's hearing as the headache built to a crescendo; the surging pain blocking out everything around her - sight and sound. She wanted to raise a hand to her head, wanted to stagger back, wanted to whimper in utter and complete misery, but never got the chance. With a brilliant flare, like a flashbulb going off in her mind, the pain vanished to be replaced with...
"Enough," she hissed, making certain that everyone was very much aware of her displeasure.
All three men froze in place for a long instant before swinging their focus to Alyx. All of them looked as if they'd been hit by bricks wrapped with precisely sliced lemon wedges, but she didn't bother to notice, she was simply thankful their obnoxious and juvenile bickering had ended... finally. Once positive she had their full attention she straightened, shifting her head minutely until her neck popped loud enough for the others to hear. "Here's what will happen. Graywolf and I will go to London and get what we need on the girl." Her eyes alit upon each man in turn and knew they dared not turn away, that they were focused on her and her voice alone. "Fawkes and Hobbes will return to DC. We will meet you there in no more than 36 hours."
"Uh kid..." Hobbes requested her attention tentatively, and she noted his poor attempt to control a flinch of reaction as her gaze fell heavily upon him.
"Yes?"
"What're me an' Fawkes supposed to do in DC?" he asked, his voice wavering between bold and subservient, as if unsure where he stood with her at the moment. He was right to wonder.
"Find Lee," Alyx told him as if it should have been obvious. "Keep him from moving against Keller until we arrive. Try to convince him we're on his side and want to help." She paused, looking from Hobbes to Darien, who eyed her warily from where he still stood across the room.
"Get him to talk," Darien suggested with the utmost caution.
"That too," Alyx agreed with a tip of her head. "Take the Hummer, Keller's people will probably be watching the airports for you." She got a small nod of agreement from Hobbes, which she didn't bother to acknowledge. There was little chance she was wrong. "You will leave in an hour," she decreed, making it quite plain she was in charge of the situation right now.
"An hour? Kid..."
Alyx's eyes narrowed and Hobbes' mouth shut with an audible snap. Whatever argument he'd been about to deliver, forgotten.
"Alyx, you okay?" Darien questioned, and she turned to face him. His confusion at her sudden alteration in attitude coming through loud and clear, but now was not the time to placate him or ease his needless concerns.
"Fine. Now, get moving." She shifted her attention to Graywolf. "Pack, I'll make flight arrangements." Without another word she returned to her office, closing the door against their shocked stares and moved directly to her computer to get to work.
***
"Fawkes, you've been brooding for the last three hours. Now, I gotta admit there are days I'd be more'n happy to staple your trap shut, but this ain't one a'em." Hobbes glanced away from the rear of the sedan that was a precise six car-lengths in front of the Hummer. The driver had to have the cruise control on, given his speed hadn't altered even half a mile per hour since Hobbes had pulled in behind him after the last rest stop. "Spill, did the kid change her mind about gettin' hitched?"
That garnered a response, though not quite the one Bobby was expecting. Darien's head turned from its current position of staring vacantly out the window to lock eyes with Bobby. "Wha... What?" Then the question must have sunk all the way in. "Hell no. Rose would tar and feather her."
Bobby chuckled at the image that conjured up and returned to watching the trunk of the sedan as a semi blew past both of them doing a good 15 miles over the speed limit. "Nice feeling, ain't it? Knowing the kids want you around as much as Alyx does."
"Yeah, it is," Darien replied, and Hobbes could hear the smile that cracked the dour look his partner had been sporting since climbing into the vehicle back in Newport.
"So why the gloomy Gus routine?" Hobbes asked as he finally got tired of playing second car to the sedan train that had sprouted up behind them. A Hummer in a line of Sundaydrivermobiles was just wrong.
He caught Fawkes rubbing the back of his head out of the corner of his eye; a sure sign he had something bugging the hell out of him. Since the gland and its evil twin rendition had been shut off that habit of Fawkes' had been fading out of use and generally only made a reappearance when he was in a mood to be serious. Hobbes would just have to wait Fawkes out, as it was a fair bet any prompting would cause him to clam right back up.
"Did Alyx seem... off to you?" Darien finally asked after a few more miles of silent watching of the panoramic views of bare trees and melting snow that flew past.
"Define 'off'," Bobby requested with what he hoped was just the right touch of humor. In truth, he knew exactly what Darien was talking about. "Before or after the mental thunder she set off this morning?"
Bobby felt as much as heard the soft gasp Darien let escape even as he stiffened in the seat in surprise. "Damn. I thought I was the only one who felt that."
"Nope. In fact, Mike mentioned all the kids had headaches from it." Hobbes pulled his eyes from the road in time to see the frown that creased his partner's features. "Fawkes, the kid needs some time to adjust to the mental upgrade. She probably didn't even realize she'd done it. 'Specially considering how ticked off she was at the time."
Darien snorted. "Ticked off is an understatement." He sighed deeply. "I swear I tried to not antagonize Graywolf, but he just..."
"Man, there was nothin' you coulda done. He was spoiling for a fight and gonna do his best to force you into one," Hobbes explained, knowing it was the nothing less than the truth. The fact that Darien had done his best to avoid it had impressed Bobby to no end.
"Yeah, I got that feeling. Damn it," Darien growled. "Like she don't got enough to worry about."
"You mean this ain't a normal week for her?" Bobby asked sarcastically.
"Hobbes, this ain't a normal week for us." Darien chuckled dryly. "I'm not sure I've been anywhere near normal in years."
"You and me both, my friend." Hobbes knew there was nothing he could say to ease Darien's concern, so he did the next best thing and tried to distract him. "Grab that file the kid put together for us, and lets see if we can plan our next move."
Darien seemed to take the topic switch in stride, until he opened his mouth again. "What if something went wrong and even she doesn't know it?" he asked as he reached for the portfolio containing all the info they had to date, and which had been tossed on the backseat along with their bags.
Hobbes squeezed and released the steering wheel several times before answering, a preferable option to throttling his partner while driving. "Darien, there is nothing we can do about Michele right now." He neatly slid the Hummer back into the right lane, made sure the road was clear for some distance and turned to look at his partner. "What we can do is try to connect with Lee, just like she told us to."
"'Told us'," Darien snarked. "You mean ordered, right?"
Bobby knew better than to show his own concern at that sudden change of tactic by Alyx, which, while not completely out of character, was still unusual. "It shut you and Gray up, didn't it? 'Sides she is lead on this, whether or not you like it."
"Crap, it's not that and you know it. I just... It usually takes a hell of a lot more than some petty bickering to set her off like that, y'know?" Darien sounded thrown for a total loss and Hobbes couldn't help but admit, if only to himself, that his friend had a definite point. However, as had already been mentioned, there was nothing to be done about it right now.
"Fawkes, if you can't focus in the job at hand, let me know right now so's I can drop you someplace and figure out how to pull this off alone." His tone was harsh, but not overly so. After all this time he knew just the strings to pull to get Fawkes to fall into line.
It took a few minutes, but Darien finally muttered, "Job first," just loud enough to be heard over the rumble of tires across the asphalt. He opened the portfolio, slid out the most recently acquired file and opened it up. He took his time reading the information, and it was a solid 15 minutes before he had obviously absorbed enough to relay what they had to Bobby.
"All right, Keller's holed up at his home today, and, based on the rough floor plan and security schematics, getting in won't be easy - even for me."
Hobbes grunted in acknowledgement, trusting Fawkes to have a reasonably good handle on what he could or couldn't break into. "Why am I not surprised? Any other options? Think from Lee's perspective. If he's wanting to confront Keller, he's gonna need privacy and security he can bypass without too much trouble."
"Maybe. Keller's schedule tomorrow has him at his office in the morning..."
"That won't work. Security'll be tighter than pair of Christina Aguilera's hot pants," Hobbes pointed out, and was mildly surprised when Darien made no comment as to his choice of metaphor. He added, "Getting in through the front door won't be easy for us, and it's not likely Lee and his friends would stand a chance in hell."
"Ah, but tomorrow afternoon Keller is attending a luncheon at the Tudor House to schmooze with some visiting Chinese trade reps. All nice and private and out of the way." Darien tapped one of the pages in the folder that lay open in his lap, Hobbes gave it a quick once over, noting it was another rough floor plan, before dragging his eyes back to the windshield and the sudden plethora of idiot drivers. "Since it's not a government building it hasn't received the same high security upgrades. In fact, they run daily tours."
That got Bobby's attention. "Tours? Do they run 'em on Sunday?"
The two men locked eyes for an instant and grinned. "Let's find out." Darien had his cell phone out and was dialing information in record time.
Hobbes watched the road and drove while Darien made arrangements for them to be part of the last tour of the day. It would mean bending a few laws and a bit of creative driving to get there in time, but he was certain they could do it. Thankfully it was Sunday and the traffic would be comparably dead. When Darien snapped the phone shut, Hobbes cleared his throat.
"It won't always be 'job first,' my friend."
Darien shook his head. "Yeah, it will. So long as we are what we are, work will always be first. We don't have any choice, not really."
Hobbes wanted to offer up something to counter Fawkes' disheartening statement, but couldn't think of a damn thing that his cynical friend would believe. Not that Darien seemed to expect any sort of comment based on his swift continuation of the previous subject.
"So we check out the Tudor House today and stake it out tomorrow?"
"Sounds like a plan to me," Hobbes agreed and pushed the gas pedal down another inch and watched the speedometer needle crawl up towards 70.
***
Xavier leaned back against the pillows stuffed between his back and the headboard of the larger of the two beds in the Deluxe room at the Landmark of London, a five star hotel not far from the location of the school or the girl's home. Not his choice by any stretch of the imagination, as he would have picked someplace far less ostentatious and far less pricey. But Sil had made all the arrangements and signed for the room without batting an eye. The fact that absolutely nothing had bothered her, including what should have been a very uncomfortable plane flight given, by his best guess, she should be more sensitive to the disconnection she felt when in the air and not less, caused him to be both confused and concerned. Even worse in some ways was the fact that she didn't seem to notice, or perhaps care, about how he was feeling at the moment, and he was quite certain she was picking up at least all his surface thoughts and emotions.
Thankfully, her very potent anger had burned off swiftly once Fawkes and his partner had left for DC. She had, however, remained cool and distant to him. Had been oddly cold to her children in the time before they too had taken their leave to head to the airport so as to make the flight she had secured seats on. She had been willing to discuss, and that curtly, little more than a basic plan of attack for the next day.
Currently she was typing away at the computer, though he wasn't entirely certain to what end. "Sil, need any help?"
"Not unless you're any good at forgery," she responded, sounding far friendlier than she had in days.
"Forgery? Why?" Xavier asked, wondering if Fawkes' influence had taken Sil over to the dark side completely.
"If we hadn't been quite so rushed I'd've had SIS ranks and badges made up for us." She turned about in her chair and gave him the once over, which astonishingly included a slight smile. "Well, me anyway. Ain't no way you'd ever pass for Brit even if you had the accent nailed. However, I could've proclaimed you 'my American counterpart' or the like."
"You think we'll need that?" He shifted forward, one hand absently fingering the beaded necklace at his throat.
"I think we can manage without it. Provided I can get what I need from the school's servers. Some days I just love modern technology." She rubbed her hands in what seemed to be barely contained glee, then rotated the chair and began typing quickly. Within minutes she gave a small sound of approval.
Xavier slipped off the bed and moved to stand behind her. She had successfully accessed the system, but was being blocked by an insistent request for a password. He was about to offer a suggestion or two to bypass it, when she began singing under her breath, "Hi-ho a derry-o, a'hacking we will go." The images on the screen began to shift faster than his eyes could track, informing him that she'd gotten in her way and that she'd have all the data they wanted and more in no time at all. He watched as the occasional page would freeze on the screen, as Sil would examine it in more detail and either save it to the hard drive or continue on.
After about 15 minutes she swam back up out of the depths of cyberspace and shivered lightly as she reconnected with the world about her. "Whoa," she muttered in surprise. "That took about a third the time I was expecting. Cool."
"What do you have?" Xavier grabbed a nearby chair and sat down, finally. He'd been concerned about breaking her concentration once she'd gone in.
"Pretty much everything, including pictures for us." She called one of the images up on the screen, and it was quite obvious Angel had taken after her real father, though the oriental look had been softened somewhat. Long black hair, a slightly darker skin tone than the typical Caucasian, the epicanthic folds about the eyes were nearly nonexistent, and a pair of bright blue eyes that had plainly been inherited from her mother Angela.
"Good work. I'll see about booking a flight for first thing," Xavier said and proceeded to do so.
"Gray, electronic copies won't do us a bit of good. Especially with me involved. They'll all accuse that they're fakes - that I created them just to prove I was right. And you know it." Sil didn't seem the least upset about the statement, knew it was to be expected given the situation, and he placed the handset back in its cradle.
"So, are we going to steal the hardcopies? We'd risk the same accusations even if the Queen Mum signed the papers herself," Xavier pointed out, hating the fact that they had been forced to wander down this particular back road, even as he fully realized it was true. Whatever information they brought back would have to be above board and unimpeachable to pass muster with Keller and his in-pocket cronies.
"Hard copies? Oh, of a sort." She laughed lightly, but instead of lighting up, her eyes took on a dangerous hue reminiscent of the one he'd seen this morning in at her house. "Xavier, I never planned on going back with anything less than the girl."
While he was still trying to absorb that surprise twist in the plan, Sil picked up her cell phone and pressed a single button. There was a short silence and then, "Hey, Dare, how goes things at your end?"
Xavier growled softly to himself as he stood and returned the chair to its original location. The room may have been spacious, but that didn't mean he was able to find a place where he could no longer hear Sil's half of the conversation, at least not without blatantly hiding in the bathroom or in the hallway. So he headed back to the bed and sat down on the end with a frown on his face at how happy she sounded talking to Fawkes. When she laughed aloud, the downward curve only deepened, and his resolve to try to patch things up between them, to forget Fawkes and the engagement while in London crumbled and he had to force himself not to complain loud and bitterly to the world at large and her in particular.
Alyx covered the mouthpiece with one hand and turned to face him. "They're casing the Tudor House," she told him, and Fawkes apparently heard this and made some commentary that caused her to laugh again.
It took a moment for the significance of the location to register with Graywolf, but once it did the move by the Agency men made perfect sense. The historic site was normally closed to the public on Mondays and was comparatively private, given how close it was to the hustle and bustle of DC proper. It was most certainly not the first time the location had been used for meetings that were slightly more clandestine in nature, and even with all the extra security supplementing Keller's own, Fawkes, with his unique talents, should be able to get in with ease. If Lee were to make an attempt on Keller, the Tudor House would be a prime choice for it.
Gray refocused on Sil; half expecting to hear sweet nothings being whispered to her affianced, but it was all business; spoken with the same ease that she'd used with him just minutes before. He sighed softly. She wasn't doing anything but being herself and here he was letting his stubbornly held onto anger sour his mood instead of taking advantage of the opportunity presented to him. To take this time to remind Alyx why they had become partners, to smooth the ruffled feathers and back-brushed fur and maybe, just maybe, turn the situation, which had been swiftly becoming untenable, around.
A new tactic might just be what was needed right now.
Sil and Fawkes talked for a few more minutes, with the man at the far end of the phone system roughing out the plans he and his partner had made and which she relayed to Graywolf. He noted, however, that she did not reciprocate with her - their - plans; never mentioned nor hinted at what they intended to do to gain the information needed in London. Gray could have told Sil to fill them in that they were planning on, somehow, retrieving the girl and bringing her back to the US, but found himself enjoying the fact she was keeping things from them, that they would be working together and alone on this. Which, as far as he was concerned, was the way it should be. He settled himself further back on the bed, lacing his fingers behind his head as he lay back on the pillows and just watched her through heavy lidded eyes.
Xavier had to admit he much preferred seeing her smile, really smile. Seeing her happy and relaxed and laughing lightly with simple pleasure. Sil had tipped the chair back on its rear legs and set her booted feet on the corner of the desk near her laptop. As he watched, she reached a hand back and freed her hair from the clip that had confined the unruly curls since before leaving her house in Newport. The hair fell loose and, after tossing the clip on the desktop, she ran her fingers through it, separating the entangled strands into individual coils; the light of the table lamp picking up the highlights and making them glitter with a golden hue.
He didn't bother to try to stifle the rush of lust that washed across him. Sil turned her head, her gaze falling heavily upon him. The look was one he hadn't seen before, at least not aimed at him. His heart skipped a beat at the... desire that seemed to be buried in the depths of those molten pools. Desire that he had a hard time believing was meant for him.
Hard. That was not necessarily the best choice of terms given the sudden... rise of certain portions of his anatomy. He could only be thankful he was still wearing the loose-fitting khakis, which made his current condition less than easily discernable. Or so he hoped.
She blinked slowly; not looking away for even a heartbeat as a slow, knowing smile curved her lips upwards. "Try not to steal too many pretties, Dare, they might not let you back in." She chuckled in distracted amusement at whatever was said in response, but her eyes remained locked with Xavier's, much to his surprise. "We'll contact you tomorrow with our progress." She folded the phone and tossed it carelessly next to the computer. She swung her feet off the desk to hit the rug the same time as the front legs of the chair made contact with the semi-solid surface. She smoothly stood and... prowled was the only word he could think of to describe it, across the room to come to rest at the foot of the bed.
Xavier somehow kept his composure even with his blood singing through his veins. "Sil, is everything all right... with Fawkes and Hobbes?" His voice didn't waver the least little amount even when saying his name.
Alyx chuckled softly and shook her head in apparent dismay. "Are the boys really what you want to discuss?" Her words were no more than a throaty purr that caused Gray to swallow with a mouth gone suddenly dry.
He attempted to generate enough saliva to form a coherent argument, but was prevented by her raising a perfectly manicured finger to wag at him. "Denial is futile. I know exactly what you're thinking."
'Shit,' Gray mentally swore, wondering how he'd completely forgotten that with her increased abilities it wouldn't matter how careful he was, she'd know. He almost wished she hadn't become aware of his feelings for her, thought that he was still nothing more than her partner, and still... invisible to her senses. He felt his cheeks begin burn with embarrassment as the reality of the situation sank in, that she'd probably picked up on every fantasy-related thought that had gone skipping through his mind in the last 15 minutes.
"How sweet," Alyx declared with a smile. "You have no reason to feel embarrassed." She shifted, her hands coming to clasp in front of her.
Gray sat up straighter, his hands dropping to his sides, not quite sure he was interpreting her words correctly, and he in no way wanted to make a mistake on this very delicate subject. "Sil, I thought..."
"Oh yes," she interrupted, "you've thought quite a bit and quite creatively. Don't you think it's about time you acted?"
He blinked. There could be no mistake about what she was saying now, but instead of acting he froze. Most of him, anyway, one part went from wavering interest to rigid attention at her words and the tone with which they were spoken. He swallowed several times, his bobbing Adam's apple surely a visible sign of his near lack of composure. When he did finally manage to speak, his voice cracked on the words as if he was no older than a just verging on pubescence boy. "Alyx, I'm not sure I can..."
"Xavier, I seriously doubt you've forgotten how." She waved a hand at his obvious arousal with a knowing smirk on her lips. "What was it you wanted to do in Lincoln? Take me from behind right there on the bed, injured or not?" Gray's shocked stare did nothing to phase her; in fact, she seemed to find it amusing. "Hmmm, perhaps a bit more persuasion... so you know I'm serious." In one smooth motion she grasped the hem of her shirt and lifted it up and over her head and released it to fall to the floor by her feet, revealing the cream-colored satin brassiere she wore beneath.
Gray had no idea he could move that fast as he found himself once again seated on the end of the bed, only this time his hands were cupping her cheeks. She slid her arms along his shoulders until her face was directly in front of his. "Now, isn't this better?" she purred, the words tickling their way along his skin and making him shiver lightly.
"Much, tsidi." He then threw caution and doubt to the winds and kissed her. He was not surprised at the incredible surge of downright lust that struck him the instant his lips touched hers. It was electrifying as her abilities kicked in, making even the slightest brush of fingertips along her skin sing with as if with a static discharge - which, of course, was exactly what was happening.
She sighed in seeming contentment and opened her mouth to him, allowing him to taste of the honeyed tea she'd been drinking most of the evening. He untangled one hand from her hair to slip its way down her torso, brushing down the side of one firm breast to curve about her waist and pull her closer. While most assuredly enjoying himself, niggling concerns began poking at the far more rational part of his mind, and no matter how many times his libido told them to take a long walk off a very short company pier, they insisted on being addressed right now. He dragged himself up out of the dangerously intoxicating pleasure he'd been swimming in to find Sil making short work of the buttons on his shirt. As he pulled slightly away she completed her task and parted the material, her cool hands sliding across the muscles of his chest leaving a literally shocking trail.
"Sil," he mumbled; his tongue strangely useless at the moment, not that it made any real difference, as she would still hear him.
"Mmmmmm," she vocalized, the sound vibrating against the side of his neck and very nearly making him forget what it was that had been so damn important that he'd stopped kissing her.
But he did recall and part of him couldn't believe that he was actually going to say this, but he felt oddly compelled to do so. "What about Fawkes?"
"What about him?" she murmured in response.
"Sil, are you going to leave him?" he asked, needing to know if she was indeed choosing him over the man she'd become engaged to only a day ago.
Without allowing her tongue to miss a beat she laughed, "Why would I do that?"
Her words created a roiling turmoil of confusion deep within him, though it did little to cool his ardor. His hand still slipping along her warm flesh, noting the thin layer of perspiration that had sprung up making her feel slick to the touch, allowing his hand to slip easily across her belly and up to cup one firm breast. He couldn't seem to find the strength to push her away, even as his hind-brain shouted for him to do so while calling him nothing more than a thrice be damned fool for allowing this - whatever this was - to continue. He wanted to look her in the eyes as he spoke, but the part of him that was in control would not move her away, at least not while she was doing that with her hands.
"Won't Fawkes be upset when he learns that you... that we... Ah, damn, tsidi."
"Gray, I'm not planning on telling him, so why would you?" she questioned as the fingers of one hand tapped teasingly along his straining erection.
"Shouldn't I?" he countered, with some far more animal part of his mind screaming at him to just shut up and get on with the sex now thank you very much. Alyx straightened, her hands stopping their arousing wandering, which made that voice shout, 'Now look what you did, idiot.'
She shrugged. "If you must, but I doubt it would change anything. I've slept with his worst enemy, the man who killed his brother, and we're still together."
Xavier blinked his eyes, so utterly blown away by her casual tone that for a long moment he wasn't able to form a reply. More than long enough for her to assume his silence was acceptance and lean back in to run her tongue across his lips. "Alyx, you can't be with both of us," he pointed out astutely, thinking it should be obvious to her given the discord that had hung heavy between him and Fawkes for the last week.
She began to shake, her forehead coming to rest upon his shoulder and Gray feared he'd said the wrong thing and upset her unduly. When her laughter registered he knew that his assumption was very wrong and it bothered him. Nothing that had occurred in the last 20 minutes made any sense, he suddenly realized, and yet he couldn't really point to anything that was wrong, so he continued with his part in the game that she seemed to be playing.
"Shush-yahz, of course I can." She raised her head slowly, a sly smile snaking its way across her face. He frowned slightly and her hand came up to caress his cheek. "Come now, you want sex and I'm more than willing, so what's the problem?"
"Sil..."
"Look, a romp is a romp, Xavier. I still fully intend to marry Darien. There are... advantages on so many levels by having him locked into a commitment with me. Not the least of which is leverage to get him away from Charlie... or join him at the Agency, if I choose." Alyx rattled all this off in such a way that it frightened Xavier. He felt as if someone had poured ice water in his veins.
"Sil," he tried again, but she ran right over the top of his words as if she had never heard him.
"You could come along for the ride. Charlie'd be more than happy to have an agent of your skill. The Agency may not have all the toys, but they do have intel and knowledge that makes hunting Bin Laden look like small potatoes." She wiggled her hips, her breasts swaying gently before his eyes, which was effective in melting a fair portion of the ice. Hell, parts of him - one part to be exact - had never been affected at all.
"Alyx, I can't do that," he announced hoarsely.
"No? Well, that's all right. CIA is cool. I can play with you on duty and with Darien when I get off." The laughter fell from her lips like liquid Quicksilver only to crystallize and shatter as it struck at his heart. Her fingers were trailing slowly down the centerline of his chest, her touch more than enough to keep his heart pounding and the blood flowing to regions he'd much prefer it not. But, while his body might be continuing its interest in bedding her, his heart and more importantly his mind weren't. She was in the process of unbuckling his belt when he grasped her gently by both wrists and moved them away from him.
"No, Alyx, not like this," he decided, his voice arctic cold.
Her eyes narrowed, the heat, the desire to be replaced with disdain. "Why am I not surprised?" She freed her hands and sneered, "Go take a cold shower, Xavier. Not that it'll do you much good at this point. I have work to do." With that she scooped up her shirt, turned her back on him and pulled it on as she stalked back to the desk.
Gray snarled in pure frustration, stood, one huge ache through his cock and balls, and headed for the shower knowing full well she was correct and that there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell cold water would make any difference to his current condition.
