The engine was silenced as Alec turned the keys and removed them from the ignition. Leaving them lying on the driver's seat he stepped out of the car and shut the door, then proceeded to the back seat to retrieve his minimal travelling belongings, which were neatly packed into a standard, plain-looking Samsonite briefcase. Though he was aware that leaving the keys so exposed presented the possibility of the car being stolen from the airport parking garage before the MI6's American outpost had a chance to retrieve it, he did not feel the desire to spend the extra time checking them in with airport personnel. It was not as though he would miss that beastly thing anyhow. Though he was able to see how some crazy street person behind the wheel of a car with stinger missiles behind the headlights could be problematic.
Part of the perk of the level of security clearance Alec and K possessed was that they were not required to pass through airport security – and thus why Alec was not enthused about the idea of making the trip just for the Charger's keys. He exited the parking garage to the outside of the building and circled the structure to get to the air field. He was required to pass only through one gate, and while it was guarded by security armed with submachine guns, Alec scanned his MI6 identity and was permitted access.
As he strode briskly across the open air field he experienced a gust of cool wind. Of course it was only two o'clock in the morning, but after K had been attacked in her home she had wanted to leave as soon as possible. Still, thought Alec, would it have killed her to wait until there was some semblance of daylight? He looked up at the still-dark sky. No stars were visible because the numerous flood lights illuminating the runways.
Finally approaching the private hangars, he saw Agent K already waiting there.
"Good evening, K." Alec greeted her.
"Don't you mean 'good morning'?" she retorted. Alec could see that she was still visibly uncomfortable with returning to her former WIB title. "Is that all you have?" she continued, looking down at Alec's possessions. "That one puny briefcase? There isn't even enough space in there for a week's worth of underwear."
"Yes, that's true. Not the way you pack it, in any case." Alec replied with a smirk. He was not going to let K's sarcasm make the mission completely unbearable.
"Honestly, I can't see how you would have fit anything you need in that. I really didn't think that I had to specify what 'coming prepared' entailed." K said skeptically.
"Well regardless, everything I need is in fact in here. You need only worry about your own possessions, my dear." Alec said. "Are you ready to get moving?"
"Yes. I've only been waiting for you," she said, though much more business in her tone now. "Which hangar is it?"
"That one," said Alec, pointing towards the middle of the row of hangars sitting along the outside of the air field.
MI6 had arranged for the agents to be flown privately to England as opposed to on the airline that they had flown Alec in on, after both of them had been attacked in their homes. Clearly whatever had happened to James went deeper than a personal vendetta against 007 himself. Whatever was happening, they had the ability to possess much more pertinent knowledge, such as the fact that Alec had been assigned to the case, and that he was meeting up with K to enlist her to the case as well. Since those actions were among the most classified MI6 mission intelligence, headquarters thought it best to keep the K and Alec as out-of-sight as possible until it was figured out.
Once they arrived, two airport personnel assisted in hauling the hangar doors open, revealing the small, sleek Learjet inside. The side hatch was opened outwards, forming a stairway into the plane. As K and Alec walked towards the jet, a man emerged from inside it and descended the steps toward them, addressing them when he was near.
"Hello, 006. Good to see you again," he said, shaking hands with Alec. "And Agent K, I presume. The living legend herself." He thrust his hand eagerly towards her as well. K ignored it. Alec decided to introduce them.
"K, this is Gordon Johnson, one of the finest pilots in the Secret Service."
"A pleasure," she said, acknowledging him briefly.
"You know," said Gordon, completely oblivious to her very evident lack of enthusiasm in talking to him, "I never really knew if I believed that a branch of MI6 existed that dealt specifically with otherworldly events and security. It's an honour to meet a WIB agent in person."
"As long as you can get us where we're going, then that's just great." K responded, wanting to end the conversation. There was a drawn-out silence as Alec looked back and forth between them, waiting for sparks to shoot out of K's eyes and electrocute the oblivious Gordon. Finally he spoke.
"Anyways, if we're all ready to get going, then let's get this show on the road!" He turned around and climbed the stairs back into the plane, K and Alec following behind. Gordon settled himself into the cockpit as the ramp behind them was shut and sealed. Alec was very aware of the locks being fastened. Despite the training he had received from the Secret Service on a variety of vehicles, planes had made him uncomfortable since before he had ever been recruited by MI6.
Gordon fired up the engines and began taxiing onto the runway, leaving the hangar behind. Between his communications with the control tower, Alec spoke briefly with him.
"How long until we get to England?" he asked.
"It'll be five to six hours," Gordon replied.
"Terrific," muttered Alec despondently as he turned and made his way to the passenger area of the plane. K had already made herself comfortable at one of the tables. Producing a tablet from one of her bags she began rifling through various documents. She looked up as Alec sat down across from her.
"What're you looking at?" he asked.
"I'm going through all of the media databases I can find that contain information about Travis LeBeau's disappearance. Maybe there's some minor detail or something that was overlooked by investigators that has some meaning to us." K replied without looking up.
"Excellent. Well before I left to meet you at the airport I was doing a little research of my own." Alec opened the briefcase and produced a small laptop computer. Though K continued to flip through pages on her tablet, Alec could see that she was attempting to steal a glance at the remaining contents of the briefcase before he shut it, no doubt checking to see if, in fact, more than a week's worth of underwear could be packed inside.
Alec booted up the computer and continued telling K what he had found.
"As you mentioned over the phone, these mercenaries or whoever has been sent to cover up the disappearance of James are using MI6 protocols, right down to the use of cyanide as an out to protect their identities. MI6 certainly aren't the only organisation doing that anymore, but it did start with us, and must have been leaked by one of our own at some point in time."
"Well, MI6 has existed for a long time, Trevelyan. Countless agents have come and gone in that time. It could have been any one of them selling secrets to terrorist organisations. Cyanide pills have been in use for decades." K said.
"You're correct, yes. However, in more recent years, the R&D scientists at the MI6 labs developed a newer type of pill, which in addition to killing the user quickly and painlessly, releases a chemical into the bloodstream that effectively irradiates organic tissue relying on that blood for oxygen - basically the entire human body." Alec explained.
"So are you saying that I've got two corpses in my house that are emitting deadly radiation?!" K demanded. "Because if after the mission I can't go home for the reason that my house is a pile of green radioactive goo, and it's all James fault..."
"No, no, no, nothing like that," Alec reassured her before she could continue. He could far too easily see her escalating into hysterics and the Learjet's cabin atmosphere rapidly decompressing due to several bullets having punctured it. "I apologise if I've given the impression that I'm an expert on this stuff, I've just been reading the files on it. When they agreed to let me return to the field to take on James' case, they also granted me access to the higher security databases. Anyways, from what I've read, the amount of the reagent used in the pill is not enough to release radiation into the atmosphere, just to damage the organic materials it comes into contact with."
"Right, so while I'm going through police reports, news footage, you know, relevant stuff, you're catching up on your Scientific American issues? Can you please get to the point while I'm still young..." Alec shot her a teasing look of cynicism. "...ish?" K finished.
"Again, I'm no scientist, but the point is that the genetic code for that tissue becomes, in essence, scrambled, preventing forensics from being able to positively test the victims for identity. They're basically wiped clean of everything but sheer physical appearance. So unless you recognise those guys from the supermarket, there's no other way to ever find out who they are," Alec concluded.
"So you're saying our would-be killers used this new pill?" K asked quietly.
"Yes. I had the foam from my guy's mouth tested, and they detected the reagent in it."
The two of them sat in silence momentarily, considering this. Neither K or Alec were foolish enough to suggest a fingerprint check since the assassins were using MI6 tactics, they would likely have been cauterised off.
"One of the guys who attacked me said that we had met before," K contemplated out loud. "So maybe there's a chance I could identify him from appearance alone. The problem is, his face didn't immediately ring a bell."
"Hmmmm. Interesting. The gentleman at my house didn't utter a word." Alec said.
"How is it that your place is so nearby when you're still with MI6?" asked K. "I settle hidden away in the States when I retire, only to find out that 006 lives only a car ride away?"
"Not exactly. I still live in the house in Muswell Hill I've been in since MI6. The American house was my uncle's. I inherited it after he died. Just pure coincidence that it's so close to yours, I suppose. I don't spend an awful lot of time there in any case, just saw it as convenient to set up there briefly while I came to solicit your help." Alec explained. K just sighed and shook her head with a slight smile.
"As a side note, I still think it's unfair that you got two."
"No kidding," agreed K. "Figures I'd get twice the work."
"And did they not think that I could handle two as well? I find it rather insulting that they only sent one guy to my place, when I can easily handle whatever situation the great Agent K can." Alec joked.
"Whatever you say. As I understand it, you were just about done in by the first one. Face it, Alec, I could kick your ass now even harder than I could back in the old days." K laughed. It might have been true but Alec wasn't going to admit it.
"Moving right along," he said, changing the subject, "the new suicide pills have only been in use since the 00-Agents and WIB were created, as an extra measure of security. What that means is that whoever sent these guys has to have an in with one of our MI6 divisions somehow."
"But we've only existed for just over a decade. We were basically the first recruits of our kind for them!" K said.
"Exactly. Meaning that whoever is propagating these MI6 tactics is, while not necessarily someone you or I know personally, likely someone we worked alongside at some point, which significantly narrows down the possible suspects." Alec flipped the laptop around to face K, showing her what he found. "I created a list of all of the 00-Agents since we were formed. We should do this with the WIB as well, to see if you come up with anything; I didn't have access to your division's files."
Alec brought up the list as K looked on with an expression impossible to read. Alec could see her eyes scanning through the information, processing it for anything suspicious as the WIB were so well-trained to do.
"From the list, I filtered out all of the agents that were confirmed killed in action, and all of the ones that retired voluntarily or were discharged from the service, as MI6 still keeps tabs on them and would know if anything suspicious were going on." Alec clicked a button and the list was pared down to just two names.
"These are the only two agents who were ever lost on a mission, and whose conditions were never confirmed, dead or alive. One is our old friend Max, who you may remember as 008. He was assigned to the LeBeau case before I volunteered for it, and also went missing," Alec said, finally revealing this to K. Her reaction was again difficult to interpret but Alec noticed that her eyes widened ever so slightly upon this news. He couldn't tell whether this was shock or anger at having been kept in the dark about it until now.
"The other was 001. K, until I got access to these files recently, I was not even aware of this fact. I'd heard the stories about 001 of course, but none of the other 00-Agents, James, Max, myself, had ever actually seen him, or encountered him on any of our mission briefing or debriefing documents. One time James asked the MI6 director why this was, and he was informed that none of 001's activities were ever written down or recorded in any way. His missions were supposedly of such importance that MI6 was more prioritised keeping them a secret over knowing the whereabouts or actions of their operative. Of course that has clearly come back to bite them in the ass since now he is evidently missing and they have no idea where to look for him." Alec said solemnly.
"So what's the big deal? So it was this 001 that's behind it. We find him, and the whole mystery unfolds, right?" K asserted impatiently.
"You may be right, yes." Alec said. "But it's not necessarily that straightforward. I wasn't surprised to discover that when I opened 001's file, there was not very much information. All that was really there was the background on his recruitment."
"001 was the first 00-Agent. He was essentially MI6's trial run to see how essentially 'above-the-law' operatives might benefit national security. No need for all the bureaucratic red tape that slows down and jeopardises important missions, just action. However they knew that it would only be rare individuals who would qualify for a position like that. They wanted someone incorruptible. Intense psychological evaluations were done with top prospects from every branch of the highest-level British military forces. Once selected, the candidate underwent years of additional physical, psychological and academic training. Once it was completed, he officially became 001, and was sent on missions by MI6. They were apparently successful, as the 00-Agent program was approved and its existence is the reason I am sitting before you today." Alec said. He realised he had unintentionally said that with a touch of pride in his voice, but he couldn't help it when he remembered what an honour it had been to be chosen to make up the crack team of remaining 00-Agents. "The bottom line is, despite knowing next to nothing about 001, his origins and what everyone else says about him represent everything the 00-Agents stand for. What I stand for. I'm not saying he couldn't be behind this but what would his motive be? There's definitely reason to doubt that theory as well."
"Well that's all well and good for the boy scouts," K snapped suddenly. "But the reason I'm here today isn't a pathetic sense of patriotic pride, or some kind of raison d'être I get from because I'm the best of the best and the only thing that stands between peace and international chaos."
Alec suddenly felt very ashamed. Even though he was fairly certain she hadn't been referring to him directly, had her comments stung far more than they should have because they were true? Was he actually drawing vitality from the fact that James had disappeared? Had he only adamantly demanded that he return to field service to take on James' case with foolish hopes of reliving the glory days? Alec silently questioned himself as K continued.
"I'm here because of James," she said simply. "I was not happy to see you on my doorstep. I was not happy to have to fight off two men yesterday afternoon. And I'm certainly not happy about assuming the title of 'Agent K' again."
Alec suddenly noticed that there was a very obvious pain in her eyes and in her voice. He had no idea what it could mean, but it alarmed him as it was the first time since he had met up with her the previous day that she had ever so slightly let down the wall that was blocking Alec from her real emotion, and it alarmed him slightly.
"If it weren't for the fact that...that working with you guys must have instilled some bastardised sense of normal social companionship between us agents, I would say to hell with all of it without a second thought, but we can't just leave James high and dry." K finished. She looked down briefly at her tablet, then looked up again.
Alec returned her look, beginning to understand fundamental aspects of her personality and why she ever would have chosen to come on this mission, throwing her normal, happy life out the window, even if only temporarily.
"I know exactly what you mean," he said sympathetically. "James is my friend, too. When we get to England we will consider all of the possibilities." He wanted her to know that he was ready to work with her to do whatever it took to find out what happened to James, even if it meant accepting the 00-Agent golden boy as a traitor.
"Thank you." K said. "And I do mean that."
The plane taxied onto the runway, preparing to take off, and Alec's stomach lurched. He reclined his seat back.
"Until that time though, you don't mind if I get a little more shut-eye, do you? 0200 is hardly a reasonable time for anybody to me awake."
"How can a man who has survived every vehicle he has crashed – and that's basically every vehicle you've ever been at the controls of – be nervous on a flight?" She asked.
"What makes you think I'm nervous?" Alec replied, trying to mask his fear.
"Honestly. You're jumpier than a prepubescent boy at his first school dance." She said, looking back down at her tablet.
"Touche. Well, remember how James and I were SAS commandos before we were recruited by MI6? Well, due to my proficiency during the initial flight training we were all required to do, they were actually considering transferring me over to what would later become the Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing, but James changed that."
"Oh, how cute," K drawled sarcastically. "The two boy scouts, meant to be 00-partners from the beginning."
"No, actually. On my last mission before I was to be transferred, James and I were sent on an insertion operation during which we were extracting hostages from a Ukrainian air base near the end of the Cold War. We got the hostages onto a helicopter but James and I were forced to find alternative means of escape. Next thing I know I'm in a fighter-trainer with James, and he's at the controls. Let's just say that even though by the end of the mission, the British military was in possession of important Soviet technology, James made sure it would be of no use to them except as scrap metal. He also effectively destroyed my desire to ever fly again." Alec gripped the table tightly as Gordon received permission to take off and the plane began to accelerate rapidly. "It's a shame too; I used to really like to fly."