Author's Note: Please keep in mind that the events in this story take place in April of 2002. Why is this important? Several plot points could not happen were the story to take place later than 2002. And, no, I'm not going to tell you which ones. That's for me to know and you to find out. Once again, I apologize for the use of periods all through the story, FanFiction(dot)net still refuses to acknowledge my formatting, no matter what they say they've fixed or added. Very, very, very irritating to say the least. --AXZ

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19

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The coffee was terrible, bitter and so acidic that no amount of cream or sugar could hope to make it anything vaguely resembling palatable. However, it also appeared to have three times the caffeine a normal cup of the same size would contain. And, given the jet lag, it was something desperately needed. The horrid taste of the dark brown liquid competed with the damp fog laden breeze that drifted in the partially open window and which carried not only the sounds of the cars and passersby, but exhaust fumes. A lovely combination on any day, and greatly under-appreciated by visitors.

Most of the pedestrians were obviously locals doing nothing more than whatever their daily late-morning tasks required of them. The lone exception was an American couple, mid-western by the accent, that were dragging their plainly unhappy kids down the street to see all of the sites in the area on foot. The Sherlock Holmes Museum on Baker Street, Madame Tussauds', the Planetarium, the Royal Academy of Music and Regents Park, to name a few, were all within blocks of each other.

The snort of amusement was unexpected after the silence that had weighed heavily in the rental vehicle for the last several hours. "Oh man, if only Ma and Pa Kettle there knew what their beloved two point five were really thinking." There was a touch of humor to the words, almost as if the speaker was sorely tempted to share those thoughts with the very people from which they had been unwittingly stolen. Thoughts which shouldn't have been overheard in the first place, as they had nothing to do with the job at hand.

"Sil," Graywolf admonished, but cautiously, as she'd been very temperamental all morning, and he was certain it had little to do with the fact she'd not slept at all during the overnight hours. He'd been walking about more than a touch discomfited, still trying to figure just what the devil had gone on the previous evening. Part of him wanted to discuss the... incident, but she had made it quite plain that she had no interest in doing so.

"Lighten up, would ya. Gotta keep myself amused somehow while killing time," Alyx griped over the cup of tea she held in her hands. "I'd forgotten how boring stakeouts can be. I should have bought a paper and done the crossword." She shifted and sat up to lean one arm along the steering wheel as she focused on the entrance to the school just half a block down the street.

"What are we waiting for, anyway?" he asked, for the first time today venturing forth to try and find out what she had planned.

"The right moment. Need to time things so this'll go the way I want," she responded as she sipped her drink. The scent of the Earl Grey tea was far more aromatic than the contents of his cup. Her head tipped to the side and her gaze turned inward for an instant. "About 10 more minutes and all will be ready."

Confused, more due to her lack of sharing info than her current overly focused behavior he asked, "What's in 10 minutes?"

"Faculty meeting, which will conveniently leave the admin offices run by those lower down the food chain. The pretty papers I had printed up last night, along with corresponding data I placed in their computer system, should be more than enough to fool them and cover our tracks for a few hours." She finished off the tea, climbed out of the car to toss the empty cup in a nearby trash can, stretched her arms over her head and then leaned against the hood.

With a grumble Xavier got out as well and joined her. The sun was trying to finally burn off the fog, causing a stray beam of sunlight to illuminate most of the block. Sil raised her face with eyes closed in sheer pleasure. When the fog tried to roll back in, he cleared his throat to get her attention. "Sil, this might go a bit smoother if I know what you have planned."

She didn't even turn to look at him, just continued gazing off into the distance while the sunbeam bathed her with the minimal heat it managed to provide. Then the fog won its battle against the light, covering the momentary hole created through the murk, and she sighed in obvious dissatisfaction with the return of the damp clouds. "Huh. I suppose." She reached out and set her hand lightly atop his, and he just barely controlled the sudden impulse to stiffen in reaction. In an instant, her plans for getting the girl out of the school and back to DC were dumped into his mind. No warning, no gentle entry; just poured in as if he were nothing more than an inanimate object with no feeling and no pain receptors.

He sucked in a breath between clenched teeth as the stabbing pain that accompanied the flood of imagery eased to a dull throbbing smack between his eyes. "Shit, Sil, you could've at least warned me."

Alyx shrugged and yawned in what seemed to be complete and total boredom. "It's just a headache. Deal."

Gray held his tongue on the retort that wanted to burst forth, somehow knowing her response would be one he'd enjoy even less than the headache he was currently nursing. So he instead turned his attention to the information she had so unceremoniously imparted to him. He had to give her credit for boldness, if nothing else. The time difference between the United Kingdom and the US created some minor complications, but she seemed to have accounted for everything.

Once they had the girl, a task that had been granted a reasonable window for completion, they were to head for the Waterloo train station to catch the Eurostar to Paris. From there, it was a trip on the Concorde, which would land them in Dulles around 7pm local time. That would explain why she had not checked them out of the Landmark, even though they had brought all of their bags with them. It would be quite effective in muddying the trail and hopefully keep Keller from learning his - Lee's - daughter had gone missing for that much longer.

There were still plenty of potential problems that couldn't be helped, but they would just have to count on Keller wanting the situation kept under the rose bush when his, most likely hysterical, wife called to say Angel was gone, and with US government agents. Gray could only hope that when they landed in DC it wouldn't be into a nest of angry hornets.

He swam back up out of his mind, refocused on the world about him and turned to look at his partner who had perched herself on the hood of the rental with her feet resting on the chrome bumper. She had her elbows balanced on her knees, and her hands curved about her face as she warily eyed everyone and everything on the street. The average passerby would probably think she was bored or brooding, but Gray knew better.

"Sil,"

"Mmmmm," she responded without moving a millimeter. "Problem?"

Gray shook his head. "Not really, you appear to have everything covered." He glanced up and down the street, making note of the pair of Bobbies parked in their vehicle about a quarter mile south of the school. "A question, though."

"Shoot,"

"How are we going to get the girl?"

Alyx dropped her hands to the hood, gave herself a slight push and slid gracefully to the ground, the long coat fanning out behind her like a peacock's tail. If he didn't know better, he would have sworn she'd done it on purpose. She flashed him a quick grin, but her eyes... her eyes held this dangerous glint that caused a sudden rush of adrenaline to course through his veins, and for one brief instant he was frightened of her.

"Like this." She strode away and, as if he were no more than a puppet on a string, Gray found himself jerked into forward motion to trail just a few steps behind her. Within moments they were inside the lobby of the school and headed for the administrative offices.

There was one woman present and she looked exceedingly harried, trying to answer phones, type up something on an ancient typewriter and field the questions of a couple of pre-teens who appeared to be even less thrilled to be there. Alyx fished a sheaf of papers out of the interior pocket of her coat and set them down on the counter just as the unhappy girls were shooed away and told to return later.

"Can I help you?"

"I certainly hope so," Alyx stated, making an effort to sound pleasant. "We're here to collect Angel Keller and escort her to her father." She slid the papers across the polished marble and into the woman's hands.

"I'm not sure..." she began, eyes widening as she perused the official-seeming documents.

"There should be a confirmation in your phone logs," Alyx added, without a trace of concern that this might fall apart before they got very far.

"I... let me check." It didn't take more than a few seconds for her to find the notation in question in the computer's files. "I'll need more information..."

"Need to know, ma'am," Gray tossed in, following Alyx's lead. "We're on a tight schedule, so if you would arrange for the girl to leave class..."

"Of course," was the quick agreement. "I'll need to see your identification and then contact her mother."

"No need," Alyx assured her. "Another team is contacting her and making travel arrangements for her and Connor. Our sole job is to protect Angel."

"Protect? Oh dear, has something happened?"

Graywolf was mildly surprised at the upward twitch of Alyx's lips, as if she were trying not to laugh. "Ma'am, we are not at liberty..."

"Oh, right, right. Let me just inform Headmaster Warren and..." The woman froze mid-statement.

"Sil?"

"Taking too bloody long," Alyx complained. She closed her eyes for a moment, her breathing becoming slow and steady. Gray had no idea what she did next, but he felt it, although it didn't seem to affect him. "That should do it," she said softly as her eyes opened.

The woman before them shuddered lightly and began to move again. "Umm, oh, what..."

"Angel Keller," Alyx prompted.

"Oh yes, Agent Morris, I'll have her sent right down." She stepped aside and typed quickly at the computer. "She's in chemistry right now, so it will be just a few minutes." The handset of the phone was already rising towards her ear.

"That's fine." Alyx moved away from the counter over to the hard-backed chairs provided for visitors.

Gray grabbed her by the biceps and spun her about, using himself to block the view of the school employee. "Agent Morris?" he hissed, keeping his voice low. "What did you do?"

She yanked her arm from his grasp and responded at full volume, "What I needed to, all right? 'Sides, Morris could do with a little karmic retribution." Alyx laughed lightly, that dangerous glint back in her eyes.

"Damn it, Sil, do you want to screw this up?"

"Down boy," Alyx admonished. "No one in this building will think anything I don't want them to. At this point, they won't ever remember us being here, just Morris and Trent."

"Morris and Trent. Why?" Graywolf was having a hard time comprehending her claim of having taken over every mind in the building, which shouldn't have been possible, at least, not without causing her what should have been a debilitating headache. And... and it just wasn't something she did. Never before had Alyx resorted to this type of over the top mind control. She'd never needed to. They'd always been able to find a workable solution that didn't cross the line between use and abuse of her abilities. For her to do so now, and on such a grand scale, just made no sense.

"Why not?" she countered, "Leaves another wild goose for Keller to chase when the excrement hits the rotating blades."

"You can't do this," he snapped, hoping she'd see reason. "You can't just change their minds to suit your whims."

"Can't I?" she sneered. "Shall I give you a personal demonstration of exactly what I can and can't do?"

Gray was taken aback, baffled by the cold viciousness in her voice. He tried to come up with some statement to placate her before she decided to make him do whatever she wanted. His reprieve came when Alyx spun about just as a young girl who matched the picture they'd found in the school's files entered the office, backpack slung over one shoulder and more books in her arms.

"Miss Remington?" Angel queried of the woman they'd been chatting with minutes before.

"Angel?" Alyx asked as she approached the girl, who nodded with some nervousness. "We're from the CIA," Alyx pulled out her badge and showed it to the girl, "and your father sent us to escort you back to the States."

The girl went from nervous to suspicious in an instant. "Why would he send you? Where's my mom? And what about Connor?"

Alyx stepped forward and set gentle fingers on the girl's cheek. "Everything will be fine," she said in an oddly lyrical tone.

Angel's eyes unfocused as Gray watched, making it plain Alyx was doing whatever was necessary to sway and probably calm the girl. When Alyx released her, Angel blinked twice and then smiled. "We're going to see my dad?"

Alyx nodded. "Definitely."

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"See anything, Fawkes?" Hobbes lowered the binoculars and glanced down at his partner from his vantage point halfway up a mid-sized evergreen tree that was doing a fair job of hiding him from view. Darien was nearby; lying on the ground under some neatly trimmed juniper bushes, with his teeth chattering so loud Hobbes could hear them from 10 feet above.

"Just the same mooks patrolling the same spots over and over and over. They're leaving holes a semi could drive through," Darien responded, making his low opinion of the security set-up plain in his tone.

Hobbes chuckled. He had to give Darien credit, he was probably freezing his cajones off down there in the snow and could be bitching and moaning, yet he was doing the job. The kid was right, Fawkes had grown up somewhere along the way without any of them really noticing it. Although it was looking like this particular idea wasn't going to pan out. They'd been here for over an hour now, and, much like Fawkes had said, they'd seen nothing more than the same guards.

Both of them, for their own reasons, had been certain this was the best and least likely to be spotted way to sneak onto the grounds of Tudor House. They had discovered a rarely used and poorly maintained road behind the estate, parked the Hummer and jumped the wall once they had determined the security consisted of a metal gate rusted into place and covered with winter dead vines - raspberry, based on the thorns. The gate was probably invisible during the summer months, especially with the screening of tress and topiary hiding the wall from the house and gardens. Together they conspired to encourage fallible human minds to forget the gate's very existence.

The few cameras were easily avoided, with either Quicksilver or by simply staying to the shadows. The occasional blatant footprint left behind would most likely be attributed to those who belonged here instead of intruders.

Hobbes caught a flash of movement to his left. "Fawkes..."

"Hobbes, ten o'clock," Darien shifted, sliding out from under the bush, "and at eight." The Quicksilver slipped over him so fast that Bobby had no time to protest.

With a soft grumble, but without knocking a single flake of snow from the tree, Hobbes climbed to the ground and followed the trail his partner had left behind. He caught up just in time to see the white clad stranger kick out at nothing. An instant later, the snow exploded from a nearby bush as something impacted it. The flying snow revealed a man-like shape lying within the greenery, where before there had been nothing but air.

Hobbes pulled his gun out and aimed it at the stranger. "Freeze," he ordered, though he made certain to keep his voice down. No need to attract any of those so-called guards.

Surprisingly, the man did as he was told, hands rising partway as dark eyes glared murderously at Hobbes from the slits in the pale mask hiding his features.

"Fawkes, you alive?"

The bush shook itself and groaned. "Yeah. Can someone else play punching bag next time?" Darien groused, shedding the Quicksilver along with the dusting of snow as he pushed himself upright. His sudden appearance clearly impressed their friend, whose eyes widened at the sight. "Least I got im, right?"

"Let's find out." Hobbes cautiously moved towards the man. "We're lookin' for William Lee."

The guy started. "Why? To hand him over to Keller?"

"No," Darien stated, sounding as serious as he could muster while wincing at the new collection of bruises he was surely sporting. "To try to figure out what Keller is really up to."

Another shock. "So am I." Moving slowly, he removed the mask covering his face to reveal a man in his forties. "I am William Lee. And you are the men we encountered in Lincoln."

"Yeah, we are." Hobbes holstered his weapon, which was effective in getting Lee to relax, if only marginally. "Look, we're on your side in this, but we need you to back off until we have some more intel."

Lee shook his head. "You have no idea what he has done to me."

"So tell us," Darien suggested. "C'mon, we've already screwed up your plans here, and we might be able to help if we knew what exactly is going on."

"And why should I trust you?" Lee questioned, his eyes narrowing.

Darien sighed. "'Cause you ain't got much choice," he pointed out, which didn't really help build Lee's confidence, Hobbes noted.

Hobbes knew he was going have to do something to convince Lee that they could be trusted. "How about, cause we coulda told Keller about you anytime in the last week? Or cause Keller's just as likely to shoot us as you, at this point? Or, the obvious one, we coulda raised a ruckus and had security swarming all over you by now?" He paused for a few moments to allow his words to sink in. "We ain't got no interest in handing you over to Keller, but if you want to resolve this with minimal damage you gotta give us something to work with." Hobbes' final sentence wasn't quite a plea, but it was close enough, and Lee plainly saw it that way, as the man's look changed to one of wary trust.

"What we do know doesn't make much sense," Darien offered up, and it was the right move.

"I bet," was the wry reply from Lee. "You know Keller and I were partners?" Both Darien and Bobby nodded. "Then you know I was deep undercover in China." A statement that required no acknowledgement. "What you don't know is that I've been working all this time. After I was warned about my cover possibly being compromised, I tracked down my family that still lived in the country and went into hiding for a couple years. Angela and the baby were moved into Witness Protection as a precaution." He ran a hand through his hair, mussing the black locks. "I was such a trusting fool. But he was my best friend. I had no reason to believe he'd betray me. It wasn't until I ran into Peterson that I had even the slightest suspicion that something was wrong."

"Peterson?" Darien asked.

Lee laughed harshly. "I trained him. He was damn surprised to see me... alive that is. He's the one who told me Angela and the baby were dead and buried." His hands balled into fists, the anger easily read on his features.

"Why'd you stay in China all this time?" Hobbes had his suspicions about that one and wanted them confirmed.

Lee gazed past Hobbes' shoulder, focusing on something in the mid-distance. "I've been running missions, or so I thought. Keller claimed that it was too difficult to insert anyone else and, since I was already there, I was too valuable a resource to waste. I've been sending him all kinds of information for over a decade."

"No wonder he's the golden boy over at the State Department. He had inside info," Darien said, turning to meet Hobbes' eyes.

"That he did, my friend." Hobbes met Lee's wary gaze. "We think your daughter is alive," he stated, hoping it would be the key to convince Lee to work with them instead of going haring off on his own and get himself killed. Hobbes wasn't known for his fondness for traitors, and if Lee's story proved out to be true, Keller was going to be on Bobby's personal shit list.

For an instant, joy flashed across Lee's countenance, only to be quickly replaced with disbelief. "You haven't any more proof of that than I do," he growled softly. Clearly, the seeds of distrust were still sown about them, but in truth, Hobbes couldn't blame the man. Lee had spent the last 15 years of his life being played by an expert in the game.

"You're right, we don't, but we know someone who does," Darien told Lee, who spun about to glare at the taller man. "There were four of us in Lincoln, remember?"

Lee nodded slowly. "How is the girl?" he asked, the touch of guilt in his tone seemingly honest.

"Kid's doing okay," Hobbes responded, wanting to get the conversation back on track. "Following up on a lead. If you can hold off just 24 hours we..."

"I've waited too long already. I lost my wife. I lost my daughter. I want answers and Keller is the only one who has them." Lee's hand moved in a short chopping motion and suddenly they were surrounded. His three companions stepped out from behind the flora that had been screening them from view. Hobbes was more than a little chagrined, though he'd been certain that Lee was not alone, and not just due to Fawkes' spotting more than one of them, he hadn't heard anyone approach.

"Lee..." Hobbes tried, only to be rebuffed.

"Stay out of our way and you won't be harmed," Lee warned. Without a word spoken to each other, the foursome moved off, vanishing out of sight almost as effectively as Fawkes with his built-in camouflage.

"Well, that didn't go like we thought," Fawkes groused, staring after the quartet.

"Maybe not, but we know more than we did this morning." Hobbes glanced over towards the gardens and the patrolling guards, noting they hadn't changed their pattern during their little tete a tete.

"Now what?" Fawkes was plainly out of ideas. "Wait for Alyx and Graywolf to get back?"

"That and stopping Lee from doing anything stupid. C'mon." Hobbes strode back the way they'd come, being cautious of the security cameras. In no time at all, they were back over the wall and slogging through the knee deep snow towards the Hummer. There they learned their all but forgotten back road had been rediscovered, and not by the good guys.

"Crap," Fawkes muttered, echoing Hobbes' own sentiments. "Who are they?"

"Keller's hired hit squad from the look a'things. That's all military gear." Hobbes frowned, trying to think of a way out of the situation. There were six of them and it was obvious they were just waiting for the he and Fawkes to reappear, and that they knew exactly whose Hummer it was.

"Wait em out?" Darien suggested, not sounding too confident with the idea.

Hobbes grinned. "I'm thinking we should throw them a surprise party, partner." He nudged Fawkes over and they hunkered down behind a screening of bushes. "Think you can circle around and come at em from the other side?"

"Can do. Take out as many as we can and book it for the Hummer?"

"Got it in one. Once you distract them I'll make sure our ride is ready to roll." Hobbes withdrew his gun and flicked the safety off. Fawkes nodded and let the Quicksilver flow across his body. After the first couple of steps, Hobbes couldn't hear his partner, the snow muffling the sound of his footsteps, though he could see the prints, but there wasn't a whole lot either of them could do about it. Hobbes shifted about, moving so he could get a clear shot at the tires of the two vehicles blocking in their ride.

He didn't have to wait long. The first guy who'd been walking along the tree line furthest from his location went down without a sound, which led Bobby to believe that Fawkes had picked up something to use as an impromptu weapon. The second went down almost as easily, but managed to shout a warning before dropping to lie on his back in the snow, dazed and out of the fight. The third one spun about, gun at the ready, just as Fawkes took a swing at him, Hobbes guessed. The impact was less effective and a struggle - an odd-looking one, admittedly - ensued.

The three near Hobbes all turned to watch their compatriot doing the mambo with himself, giving him the opportunity to slip out behind them. He cold cocked one with the handle of his gun, squatted down, pulled out the knife he carried everywhere like a good boy scout and plunged it into the tire. It instantly began to deflate with a loud hissing noise, which, of course, attracted the other two mooks standing nearby. Hobbes took one out with a quick combination of punches, leaving him on the ground next to the vehicle.

The third wasn't as easy, and by the time Hobbes had him out of commission, Fawkes was visible and in trouble. One arm twisted painfully up behind his back and the other wrestling for the pistol that was waving about in an increasingly dangerous manner.

Hobbes dove for the Hummer and got it started. He leaned out the window and fired twice, taking out the right front tire of the other vehicle and hitting the radiator, making doubly sure it wasn't going anywhere. The distraction was enough to give Fawkes the opening he needed. He twisted about and managed to lift his knee up and nail the other guy right in groin, sending him to the ground with a yowl of pain.

"Move it, Fawkes," Hobbes shouted, which was effective in getting his injured partner staggering in the right direction. There was blood running from a cut on his cheek and he was holding his ribs again, but he was up and moving. Always a plus these days.

Fawkes yanked the door open and slid in even as Bobby floored it, the tires spinning for a second in the soft snow. "You okay there?"

"Yeah," Fawkes groaned. "Nothing an ice pack or two won't fix." His hand went to his cheek and he swore when he saw the blood. "We need to hole up for a while."

"Can do. Not the kid's place though. I'm betting Keller has his goons watching it." Hobbes mulled the options and decided to just choose a hotel at random - after hitting a drug store for supplies.

"How're we gonna find Lee now?" Darien whined, sounding tired as well as in pain.

Hobbes concentrated on his driving as they came to the end of the dirt road and turned right onto the well-maintained side street, keeping his eyes peeled for a tail. "Where would you go next, if you were Lee?"

Darien thought about it for several minutes, while Hobbes made sudden turns to reveal any followers, all the while heading towards more populated streets. "Other than lucking out and running into Keller someplace public and unguarded... I'd head to his home. He's gonna end up there eventually."

"Exactly, my friend, exactly."