Chapter Three: Dealing With Marina

Sergeant Ed Lane felt numb as he pulled his truck back into the SRU garage. The idea that the odds of his boss's survival would be so low that the Healers had requested him to sign a DNR… What hurt even worse was that he'd signed it. He'd given up on Greg, something he'd promised he'd never do again. But what was the alternative? He wasn't sure they could handle any of the possibilities the Healers had outlined. A crippled magical core was small potatoes next to the potential for severe brain damage, a lifetime of magic boosters to keep Greg going, or a long, agonizing death from magic slowly shutting down their superior's nervous system.

So he'd signed the DNR, feeling like each stroke of the pen was another nail in his best friend's coffin. Wishing they'd fought harder to get him to stop, to let the Healers save Lance's life instead of Greg saving the day once again. Too late, all too late. All they had now was a lifetime of regrets.

"Boss, what do we do with Marina?" Sam asked over the comm. "She's still riding with me 'n' Jules."

Ed's laugh was bitter. "Arrest her. We got enough to hold her till the kid recovers."

"Ed," Wordy chided, though his own voice was breaking. "It's not Lance's fault."

He knew that, but he wasn't sure he cared. "If he hadn't done that ritual, none of this would've happened!"

"We don't know that," Lou countered. "For all we know, this has more to do with what happened Friday night than what he did."

Any further retorts died on his lips. Lou was right, darn it. The love potion was far closer in time than Lance's stupid, ignorant ritual thingamajig. And, funny thing, Greg hadn't left Lance alone until today. Dean and Alanna were in school, but Lance had been home sick. He certainly hadn't volunteered to get kidnapped, stabbed, and dosed with a Suppression Potion powerful enough to shut his magical core down. To blame the victim of a kidnapping was beyond the pale and if Greg had still been his Sergeant, he would've given Ed a chiding, disapproving frown for even suggesting it.

He stumbled out of the driver's seat, resisting the urge to groan and bury his face in his hands. Blaming the kid was easy, easier than admitting Greg had screwed up and pulled yet another crazy, dangerous stunt. How many times could you pull an all-or-nothing stunt and come out unscathed? There was a reason there weren't all that many old barnstormers or stunt drivers or daredevils. Sooner or later, the risk caught up to you.

"Ed, he might survive. They don't know the Sarge like we do."

The sniper couldn't look his other best friend in the eye. "And if he doesn't? What then, Word?"

"Then 'Lanna and Lance move in with me and Dean goes to you until we can get ahold of his mother," Wordy replied. "Ed, we've been through this before. And…" His voice caught, breaking in grief. "And I hate it just as much as you do, but we made it through Sarge dying once. We can do it again." There was a beat, then Wordy whispered, "At least this time we'll have a body to bury."

It hurt, but Wordy was right. They had made it through Greg dying on them. The second time wasn't going to be any easier, but the world was going to keep right on turning. Funny how that worked. Ed swallowed hard, but nodded. "Okay. Let's go talk to Holleran and Team Three."

"Copy that, Boss," Wordy agreed. "Jules, Sam, read Marina her rights and put her in a holding cell. We got the report from the Healers, now let's see if we can fill in a few more puzzle pieces."


Sergeant Cooper and Constable Sabine were waiting for them in the atrium, along with Commander Holleran and Kira. All of them were grim; Ed had called from St. Mungo's to let the commander know their lieutenant's prognosis as well as who they had in custody. The two Team Three officers waited for Sam and Jules to catch up with their teammates, then glanced to their commander, waiting for his nod before beginning.

Donna held up a key. "So. This is the key Lieutenant Parker gave Commander Holleran right after he moved into his new apartment." Her smile was mirthless. "It worked, but it shouldn't have."

"What? Why?" Jules demanded.

Cooper grunted and brandished a piece of paper sealed inside an evidence bag. " 'Cause Parker had his locks changed on Saturday. Paid extra to make sure they did it that day."

Ed sucked in a breath. "Are you saying they didn't change the locks?"

"That's what it's looking like, Lane," the Sergeant confirmed, expression souring. "Apartment complex pocketed the money and sent their maintenance guy over to make it look good, but about the only thing they paid for was four brand-new keys just like the old ones."

"I found another batch of love potions in the refrigerator," Donna added quietly. "And there were signs of a fight in one of the bedrooms, so we know someone was in the apartment when the break-in happened."

"Blood?" Wordy pressed.

"Some," Cooper replied. "Not much, though. Maybe a split lip or a bloody nose. Not like that blood pool we saw at the warehouse."

"It gets worse," another voice announced. The officers turned to see two visibly fuming detectives entering the atrium. Auror Giles Onasi's jaw was tight and his brown eyes all but threw sparks as he stalked to join the group. With a nod in Sergeant Cooper's direction, he explained, "We made a copy of our known good key so the forensics guys could lock up after they were done. Then one of them checked the front door for spells."

"They found a spell on Sarge's door?" Spike yelped.

"Yep," Roy confirmed. "Real beaut, too." Reaching in his pocket, he pulled out a key identical to the one Donna had, save for its neon green color.

At the hiked eyebrows, Onasi rolled his eyes. "Modified Geminio charm. The regular charm creates an exact duplicate of the original, but the copy deteriorates fairly quickly."

"You added a color change?" Lou asked, intrigued.

The wizard nodded. "That way we wouldn't mix the copy up with the original," he explained. Taking the neon green key from Roy, he shook his head. "Forensics cataloged the spell on Parker's front door, but it's gonna take them awhile to figure out how it works. Might even have to pull the Unspeakables in; we're not sure if it's Latin or something else."

"Old Magic," Wordy filled in.

"Not necessarily," Giles disagreed. "There's a lot of magic in the world, Wordsworth. We're used to either Latin or the Old Religion, but plenty of places have their own native magic, including Canada." Holding the key up by its tip, he elaborated, "Whatever the origin language is, we don't think it was originally cast on the lock itself."

"It was cast on a key that went in the lock," Roy filled in. "Nasty sucker, too." He snatched the key back from his partner and mimed sliding it in a lock. "Say this was our suspect key. It goes in, pushes the tumblers up just like regular…"

"…and the spell captures that sequence as it transfers to the lock," Giles finished. "Actually, we don't know if it transferred to the lock or the door; could go either way."

Ed studied the neon green key thoughtfully. "So once the spell captured that sequence, it made it so any key cut like that could open the door?"

"Pretty much, bro," Roy confirmed. "Kinda neat, in a crime-friendly sort of way – one lock, two possible keys."

"Sounds like the spell would have to go on the door, not the lock," Donna observed. "Otherwise, you could just take the lock off and then what's the point?"

"Yes," Giles agreed. "We can't be sure, though." His expression was mirthless. "Once the forensics guys cataloged this spell and captured the magical signature of whoever cast it, they took it off."

"Key still worked," Roy put in. "So Parker was screwed either way. Even if his apartment complex had changed his locks like they were supposed to…"

"Anyone with the old key still had access," Giles concluded. His gaze shifted to Team One. "From what I understand, Lieutenant Parker's fiancé is involved?"

Ed scowled. "She used Lance's phone to call the Boss and we found her right next to him." The Sergeant paused, letting the moment hang an instant. "Plus a balisong in the pool of blood between them and the door."

"A what?" the wizard asked even as Roy hissed, stiffening in outrage. "She stabbed the kid?"

"Someone did," Jules interjected. "Whoever it was, they twisted the knife in the wound."

"By Morgana and the Morrigan," Onasi swore, expression turning utterly sick. "How is he?"

Ed grimaced and shook his head. "The knife isn't the problem," he admitted. "He got dosed with a Suppression Potion powerful enough to shut down his magical core." A harsh swallow. "Boss tried to use his own magic to keep the kid alive long enough for us to get to St. Mungo's, but…"

"Long story short, Lance is probably gonna make it," Sam broke in, expression shuttering. "But they don't think Sarge will."

"Enough," Commander Holleran intervened, pulling all attention to himself. "Lieutenant Parker has beaten extremely long odds before." He surveyed his officers. "While that doesn't mean he'll survive this time, I'd only be inclined to believe him dead when I see his body."

"Yes, sir," Ed whispered, the sentiment echoed by his fellow Sergeant and the assembled constables.

Turning his gaze to the two detectives, Holleran asked, "Gentlemen, are you in charge of investigating the kidnapping?"

"More or less, sir," Onasi confirmed. "Given that our prime suspect is a techie, Commander Locksley felt it would be better if the investigation was handled by Aurors familiar with the technological world."

Holleran inclined his head in acknowledgement. "Then Teams One and Three are at your disposal. I would suggest interviewing Team Three first; I need them back on duty, but Team One has already had one hot call this shift."

Roy flicked a glance at his brother, but replied, "That sounds like a plan, Commander."

The older Lane restrained a grimace, but caught the unspoken assumption that Team One would be more involved in the investigation. "Sir, we'd just come back from that hot call when this happened. We'll do the debrief while Team Three is being interviewed."

Commander Holleran nodded once. "Keep me posted," he requested before departing to his office.


There had been harder debriefs, but Ed couldn't name any of them as he struggled to keep himself and his team on task. Ironic, really; the call itself had been about as straightforward as an SRU hot call could be, one reason why they'd been able to wrap it up and return to the barn just in time to see their lieutenant hustle out of his office.

Still, a debrief was part of their routine and it needed to be done, so the Sergeant persevered to the very end before writing down his badge number and signing his name on the transcript with a sense of relief. His teammates' sighs echoed that relief as they all returned to the day's real hot call – and their own helpless frustration.

Sam shifted in his seat, trading a glance with Jules. "Boss?"

Blue sharpened on the blond sniper. "Something up?"

Jerking his thumb in the general direction of the holding cells, Sam said, "When me 'n' Jules were hauling Marina to the cells, she came up with this stupid story about how the kids' parents are really alive and she was just tryin' to get Lance to go with his father."

"Oh and where'd the knife come from?" Spike questioned, sarcasm reeking. "What, it was only an accident?"

As the acidic comments flew back and forth, the Sergeant bit down on his own impulse and frowned, thinking hard. It had never made sense to him that Marina would take such a disliking to the Boss's nipotes. After all, until they had come along, Greg had been a very lonely man. A great boss, but his only outlet had been the job and Team One; that wasn't good for anyone long term. The kids had made a huge difference in their lives, but really, truly, Greg's life had been changed the most and aside from his magical issues, almost all those changes had been for the better. Why resent that? Even if the kids hadn't made the best first impression, Ed was quite sure they'd done their best to make up for it. So what was Marina's problem? And why had she triggered Lance's idiotic ritual?

"Okay, enough," Ed ordered, standing up. "We can theorize all day, but how 'bout we just go straight to the source?"

"Not by yourself."

Lane turned to see his brother and Giles in the briefing room's doorway, but shook his head. "I want you two to stay out of sight," he countered. "Yeah, we arrested Marina, but I bet she'll talk to us before she'll talk to anyone who might be a wizard."

"Ed?" Jules inquired, surprised by the claim.

"Call it a hunch, Jules," Ed replied. "I might be wrong, but I don't think so."

"Wrong about what?" Onasi pressed, but the Sergeant ignored him as he headed out of the briefing room towards the SRU's holding area.

His team fell in behind him and the detectives trailed behind, trading irritated glances at Ed's refusal to explain what he was up to or why. The lean sniper adjusted his breathing, letting out his impassive hawk-like mask; he couldn't let his emotions get the better of him if he wanted to get the information they needed. As he entered the SRU's holding area, the Sergeant allowed his pace to slow, a hint of nonchalance appearing – just a hint since Marina knew him well enough to spot any attempts to play negotiator.

The SRU's holding area was small and typically only visited by the building's janitorial staff since most arrests occurred during hot calls and could be handed off to local officers in the field. Even so, the SRU did maintain both a holding area and interview rooms just in case a situation might call for it. Four of the cells stood empty, but the cell furthest from the door was occupied. The blonde woman inside wore blood-stained professional clothing and her hair was in disarray, but her demeanor brightened as soon as she saw her visitors.

"Marina," Ed greeted, keeping his tone even.

"How is he?" she asked.

One eyebrow arched. "Which 'he' did you have in mind?"

"Greg," Marina replied. "I don't know what Lance did to him, but…"

A sharp gesture cut her off. "Lance wasn't doing anything by the time we got there," Ed informed her, ignoring the angry murmurs from his team. "As a matter of fact, we're trying to figure out why you were in that warehouse with a teenager who was supposed to be home sick."

The blonde drew back, but Ed simply waited, maintaining his calm expression. It took another minute, but Marina nodded acceptance of the question. "I, ah…" Studying her audience, she asked, "How much do you know about Greg's niece and nephew?"

"Sam already mentioned you were claiming their parents are alive," Ed countered, crossing his arms. "What makes you think that?"

"I've met them," Marina replied, lifting her chin. "Lovely couple, absolutely a joy to work with and extremely disappointed with their children's behavior."

Someone snorted disbelief, but Ed leaned back on his heels, still icy calm. "Let's say you're right. Lance and Alanna are both underage; if their parents wanted custody back, they could get it. Children's Services sure wouldn't side with Greg, not if the parents were in the picture."

Marina hesitated for an instant before forging ahead. "Not if the children used their unnatural talents on Greg."

"Again, what would that have to do with anything? What's stopping the parents from stepping in and taking the kids back?" Ed shrugged. "I mean, sure, Greg wouldn't like it, but if the kids' parents were still alive, he'd give 'em back." Then he leaned forward and went for the kill. "And why would the kids' parents want you to kidnap their son from Greg's apartment, drag him to a deserted warehouse, and stab him in the thigh?"

"I didn't stab him!" Marina protested. "Neither did the Malisons!"

Fury vibrated behind him, but the sniper maintained his focus and pulled out his phone, flipping to a particular app on it. "Malisons, huh? Funny…the kids' last name is Calvin."

"So they claim," Marina snapped.

Outwardly thoughtful, Ed asked, "Think you could give me a description?"

"Of the Malisons?" Marina inquired.

Meeting her gaze, the Sergeant nodded. "Plus whoever stabbed Lance."

Marina's eyes dropped. "I didn't get a good look at her."

Her. Resisting the urge to ask how Marina knew Lance's attacker was a woman if she hadn't gotten a good look, Ed twitched one shoulder as if it didn't matter. "Okay. The Malisons then. Start with the husband."

The rest of Team One kept quiet, approval surfacing at how their Sergeant was handling the situation. Lou even forced Giles and Roy back to keep them from interfering; even with several years of working with Team One under their belts, the detectives still didn't understand all of the SRU's methods. Given Marina's slander towards someone they all knew, tempers were running very short, but only patience and calm would get them the information they needed.

For his part, Ed kept coaxing details out of Marina as he worked with an app on his smartphone that he'd only used once or twice before. It was a portable version of the software used to create composite sketches on the fly and it included hair and eye color, unlike many police sketches. Every so often, he turned the phone so Marina could see the sketch, nodding to himself as he improved each of the images. When the blonde finally offered her seal of approval, he saved his work, but didn't show the sketches to any of his teammates.

Instead, he inspected them one last time, then questioned, "So, how you figure two blonds ended up with a brunet and a redhead?"

Marina rolled her eyes. "I know a bottle blonde when I see one."

The sniper blinked, then glanced over at their two detectives. "Giles? Do you know what the traditional Black Family hair color is?"

"Black or brown," the Auror replied, moving forward. "Why?" In answer, Ed tilted his phone for the other man to see. Onasi whistled low as he inspected the sketch. "Yeah. Black or brown. I've seen old pictures of Bellatrix and she had black hair. The other sister has brown."

Ed nodded thoughtfully. "Okay, I'll give you the brunet, Marina, but how about the redhead?"

"I looked it up; red hair is a recessive gene," Marina explained. "It's not impossible for a blond and a brunette to have a redheaded child." At the skeptical looks she got, she smiled thinly. "Like I said, bottle blonde. Sometimes Mrs. Malison went a little long between dye jobs." Gray regarded Giles with curiosity as she took in his dark brown leather jacket, black pants, and low slung holster – although it looked like a gun holster, all of the Auror's teammates knew it was actually his wand holster. Onasi kept his gun tucked under his jacket behind his hip; had ever since Sam had caught him carrying in the small of his back and bawled him out for it.

The wizard opened his mouth, but subsided when Ed shook his head. The Sergeant focused on Marina. "All right, you didn't just take their word for it, but did they happen to explain why they didn't just show up at Greg's door with Children's Services and the kids' birth certificates?"

The blonde woman drew back again. "They…they said their children are very willful and very stubborn. Every time they tried to take the children home, they just ran away again and used their talents to trick Greg into thinking they'd never left."

"Talents?" Giles asked.

Marina eyed him, wary, but answered, "The Malisons possess a number of very unusual talents, Detective. The children have been using those talents to keep themselves in Greg's life."

"So…did the Malisons give you the bottles to plant in Greg's 'fridge?" Ed inquired, outwardly nonchalant.

"No, that was…" Marina cut herself off, eyes widening in fear.

Ed fixed her with a stare. "Was it the same person who stabbed the kid?"

Although Marina didn't nod, shake her head, or reply, there was a flicker in her eyes that told the Sergeant he was right.

Still staring at her, he asked, "Do the Malisons know about this other person?"

"How should I know?" Marina demanded, defiant. "I don't know who she was!"

For a long moment, Ed maintained his stare, but after a minute, he stepped back. "Okay. So that's your story. As far as you're concerned, Lance and Alanna have all of us fooled, their parents are really alive, and someone you supposedly don't know gave you a whole bunch of bottles to plant in Greg's 'fridge. Oh, and she had you grab Lance and bring him to some warehouse so she could stab him."

Marina kept her mouth shut, though fresh alarm appeared for an instant at how much she'd inadvertently given them.

The bald sniper shook his head, closing his eyes in sorrow. "You know, you really should've just come to Greg and talked to him. Then maybe none of this would've happened. But too late now." Blue opened once more and the Sergeant let his fierce, independent inner hawk out. Turning his phone towards Marina, he held it flat and tapped it; the sketches expanded up, floating in midair for the whole group to see. "Meet Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, pureblood bigots extraordinaire. They think people like us should be their serfs and that's being generous."

"Lucius Malfoy is a known terrorist and he shouldn't even be in Canada at all," Giles added. Solemn brown canted in Ed's direction. "Commander Locksley won't be happy to find out he's involved in this debacle."

"I know," Ed agreed without turning away from Marina. "The Malfoys actually tried for custody of the kids twice. Once after their real parents died and once when they backed an effort to overturn Artorius Calvin's last will and testament. Lucky for the kids, both attempts failed. I guess this makes attempt number three."

"No," Giles disagreed. "Lance is seventeen, remember? Even if Parker lost custody of Alanna, Lance would get it, not the Malfoys." The Auror scowled, resisting the urge to pace. "Lucius Malfoy knows the laws of inheritance inside and out. Heirs are always taught the family lore and the laws of inheritance before they go to school, just in case they have to take the Headship early."

"So what was this?" Wordy questioned. "Revenge?"

"I'll bet it is," Lou whispered, pulling all attention, even Marina's, to him. Anguish shone in the less-lethal specialist's dark eyes. "Think about it, guys. Either way, Sarge loses. If Marina succeeded, he'd lose the kids, but if the kids fought back, he'd lose Marina." Then he barked a bitter laugh. "Plus now Marina's afraid of their abilities; that's triple revenge right there."

"The kids won't be too happy if Sarge finds another girlfriend," Spike agreed. "And that's assuming Sarge is willing to try again after all of this."

Dead silence rang, painfully loud. By poisoning Marina against their Boss's nipotes, the Malfoys had ensured he'd have to choose – and once he chose, it would be nearly impossible to reverse that decision or have the best of both worlds. Worse, the Malfoys weren't the only party in play, though Ed could make a decent guess at who she was.

One eyebrow cocked in Marina's direction. "This person you don't know, her name wouldn't happen to be Morgana, would it?"

To his surprise, Marina shook her head, though her gray eyes were troubled as she considered the information she'd just been given. "Where is Greg?" she asked, fearful and soft.

He hadn't intended to tell her, but bitterness won the battle. "He's dying," the Sergeant informed her, tone flat. "Congratulations, by the way. You wanted to save Greg from being manipulated by two kids he loves with all his heart – well, he sure will be safe once he's dead because of what your mystery accomplice did to his nephew." Leaning forward, he dove for the kill. "Oh, one other thing. You know how the kids have unnatural talents?"

Mute with horror, Marina nodded.

"Well, they do say talents run in families." A smirk emerged. "Greg has magic, too."

With that, Ed turned and gestured for his team to leave, ignoring the sputters from behind him. As Team One and their two detectives left the holding area, the Sergeant was grateful he was at the rear; it meant none of them saw him flinch as he felt the link within him stir to life, thrashing violently against something before it began to fade away.

In that moment, he knew. It hadn't just been bitterness or lashing out. His best friend, his boss, his brother in all but blood… was dying.