A/N – okay, time for a bit of suspension of reality, but isn't that what fanfic is all about?
-oo-
"Wait, Millie!" Max followed Millie as she bounded up the steps to the door of their flat, reaching her she turned back to face him.
"Keys! Give me your keys, I gave mine to Mum." Max hesitated, struggling to decipher the rapid fire of her words. "Keys!" she demanded again, frustrated that he wasn't being quick enough and thrusting her hand into his jeans pocket to pull out his set of keys.
"No!" he tried to wrestle them back from her as her shaking hand lifted them to the door. "You don't know," he began. Her hand stalled, still trembling. "We don't know what's happened here. Let me go in first." He reached up and covered her hand with his. She relinquished to him, trying to force out of her mind the possibilities that lay behind the door. Max turned the key and stepping past her entered the flat. He looked around, no sign of any struggle but plenty of evidence that Sondra had been inside. Nodding back at Millie, she followed him in. Sondra's brown leather handbag sat on the dark granite counter top, vegetables and the promised chocolate mousse lay piled next to the fridge, ready to be stacked away, Millie keys were next to the sink. But there was no Sondra. Millie ran frantically from room to room, checking each in the hope that she would be hidden away somewhere, but the flat was just as they had left it that morning.
"She's not here," cried Millie fearfully. "What's happening? Why is this happening?"
Antonov, Max wanted to say, but there was still no reason to give for his suspicion and he couldn't explain that. "I think we should tell your Father."
"Oh my God," whispered Millie, "he'll crack. We can't tell him, not yet, we have to find her," rambled Millie, looking around the room as if by magic Sondra might suddenly appear.
Max walked over to where she stood and pulled her close, closing his eyes as she allowed herself to soften against him, wishing it hadn't taken this to bring about their rapprochement. "We have to tell him. This isn't just about Georgie. I hoped it was, but whatever it is, Richard and Sondra are involved as well. I just don't understand why."
The brief moment of closeness dissolved as Millie pulled away sharply, looking up at him with narrowed eyes. "What is it? What else haven't you told me?" she beat out each word on his chest with her clenched fists.
Max stared back at her, allowing her the anger she needed to vent, wishing she would cry. At least then he could try to hold her while she wept. There was nothing he could do when she was like this. Calmly he took each blow until her energy was exhausted and she backed away. "Let's go. Richard will need you."
-oo-
Having tasked Tommy with getting hold of the CCTV footage of the car park from the security company that managed the apartments, Max drove Millie to Georgie's house in silence. Millie was numb, unable to force out tears that she knew should flow. But she couldn't understand what was going on to feel any of it. It was as though everything was happening to someone else. Still too angry with Max to be able to turn to him, to trust him with her confusion, she held it all inside, a jumbled mass of questions and half-assumed answers. She tried to think of anything, anyone that might explain why her mother had been taken, anyone who might want to destroy her father as this surely would do. But there was none, her parents were well-liked and respected, regarded as kind and benevolent. At least her mother was, she knew her father could be cantankerous, but that was only when faced with incompetence. It all came down to Georgie and the shadows of his world which somehow had now engulfed theirs. And Max knew, at least he knew something and that was more than she did. She fisted her hands, her nails digging painfully into her palms.
The gates to Georgie's house opened automatically, as they had done earlier that morning, but this time Richard stood on the steps instead of Sondra. "Well?" he demanded of Millie as she got out of the car before Max had even the chance to cut the engine. He saw that Millie was struggling to speak and leapt out, slamming the door shut behind him.
"Richard, let's go inside," suggested Max softly.
"Why? Where's Sondra?" panic entering Richard's voice.
"Inside, please," Max stared at the older man firmly, the closest he had ever come to issuing an order to him. Under normal circumstances he wouldn't have dared, but this time Richard complied almost limply. They moved through the house into the kitchen. Georgie was still slumped in a chair in the conservatory and empty glass on the coffee table in front of him, staring out at the garden. Max took a deep breath, there was no way to do this kindly and he knew Richard would only be angered if he believed he was being pitied. "Sondra's car has been found, burnt out just like Carly's." Richard fell into a chair next to him staring up at Max with wide eyes, mouth open in shock. "Millie and I have been back to our place, I'm waiting for CCTV footage, but it looks like she was abducted from there." Max watched Richard's disbelief grow with each word, the full horror setting in. "Look, I know this is hard but is there any reason, any possible link between you and Georgie beyond friendship, anyone who would do this to both of you? Who would take the people who mean most to you both?"
Slowly Richard shook his head, glancing back at the man in the conservatory unaware of the latest development. "No. We've been friends since we were kids. I mean we had a few business deals long ago, but since then, nothing. Just mates. I love him, he's a brother to me, but we ... you know we're different. Our businesses, well they don't really mix," Richard explained carefully.
Max longed to make him clarify, to say outright that Georgie was a crook while he was entirely legitimate, if only to prove the point to Millie, who stood next to her father, her hand on his shoulder and deliberately avoiding any contact that Max tried to initiate. He sighed, frustrated at how difficult everyone was making this. He wanted honesty, freely given information but it seemed both Georgie and Richard were determined to hide their sins. "Richard, look, I've been checking into Georgie's criminal record." That attracted Richard's attention once again. "I need you to tell me, who is, or was, Nikolai Antonov?" Max watched as the name played on Richard's lips, silently mouthing them as if slowly becoming re-accustomed to their rhythm, his brow furrowing just as Millie's did. Father and daughter had little in common in looks, she being so like her mother, but the sudden similarity was striking.
"What did you say?" a drunken slurred voice called out from the conservatory. "What was that name?" Georgie heaved himself up and staggered towards the half empty bottle of scotch on the counter top.
Max turned back towards him. "Antonov. Nikolai Antonov."
The glass clattered across the granite as Georgie looked first at Max and then to Richard. "Niko?" he whispered shakily.
"He's dead. Isn't he? That's what you told me." Richard stared at Georgie. "You told me he was dead!"
"I thought ... I thought he must be dead, there was no way he could survive where they were going to send him."
"So you didn't know, not for sure," Richard leapt up and flew across at Georgie throwing him back and pinning him against the wall. "Why the hell didn't you tell me?" he roughly shoved his oldest friend.
"Dad!" exclaimed Millie as Max jumped in to separate the two men and guiding Richard back to his seat.
"Sit down," he ordered. "And you," turning to Georgie, "sit there," he pointed at a chair opposite Richard, the table keeping them apart. "Now, I've had enough of both of you holding back. Whatever happened, I want to know, before anyone else goes missing." Max looked briefly at Millie, it had already occurred to him that if Carly and Sondra had been taken, then perhaps she or Tara might be next in line.
"Anyone else?" ventured Georgie weakly.
Richard glared at him. "Sondra has ..." he blinked, unable to continue.
"Sondra? No! Oh God, no!"
"Talk, Georgie. Now," Max demanded.
"Georgie closed his eyes, summoning up a past he wanted to forget had ever taken place. "I suppose you know that I was sent down for my part in a smuggling ring, thirty years ago?"
"Yes," replied Max, out of the corner of his eye he saw Millie sit down silently next to her father, his hand finding hers for comfort.
"Nikolai Antonov worked at the Soviet Embassy, he was a spy I suppose. They all were back then, everyone in the embassies were spies of some sort. He was a Russian, our age, enjoyed the high life. Well, coming from Mother Russia he would have done, anyone would have. He loved the west and everything it had to offer, especially money. We met at a party up west, him me and Dickie. It's where we met Sondra for the first time, we thought we were really living it, mixing with high society. It was at some nightclub in Mayfair, Sondra was there because her Dad was something big in the Foreign Office at the time so she was in with that crowd. Niko was with her, not with her as in going out with her, but he wanted to."
"She didn't," interjected Richard.
"No and that was a problem. Anyway, me and Niko hatched a few plans for some easy money. Smuggling into the Soviet Union anything from western clothing, jeans, trainers, even perfume to cars," Georgie glanced pointedly at Richard. "Anything that he could sell back home through his contacts. It was simple. He was doing well at the Embassy and knew who to give the backhanders to for the goods to have clear passage. So easy. Until he pissed off his boss with his new flash lifestyle and not being a good Commie anyway. That's when it all started to close in on us. I didn't know your lot were watching me."
"You were arrested?"
"Yeah. I was given a choice. Give up Niko or go down for the whole lot."
"So you gave him up?"
"Yeah. Dickie and Sondra were getting close, I knew he'd fallen hard but Niko was always there, hanging on, getting in the way. And the game was up for our racket. It was over, so I cut my losses and did my time."
"What happened to Antonov?"
Georgie shrugged listlessly. "He was taken away. I heard that he'd been put in some Siberian camp that no one ever left so I assumed ..."
"That he didn't?"
Georgie nodded.
"Well I think he is back, and somehow he's connected to Kiril Barsukov," explained Max.
"Why?" demanded Richard.
Max pursed his lips, hesitating to reveal more of the suspicions he had withheld from Millie. "Because of the name of Barsukov's boat." All eyes were on him expectantly. "It's called La Sondra II. It feels like too much of a co-incidence." What little colour had been in Georgie's faced drained away and his eyes glazed. "You think I'm right, don't you? Why? Answer me, Georgie?"
"Because ... because the last time I saw him, he told me that he would come after me and everybody that I love. No matter what it took, I'd pay for betraying him and taking away what he loved most."
"Money?"
"No. Sondra."
Richard stood, scraping his chair on the stone floor and shrugging off his daughter's comforting arm. "I don't believe this is happening. Why the hell did you have to get involved with another bunch of Russians? Why did you have to drag us all into this?" he shouted furiously. "If that bastard harms Sondra, I'll kill you for this."
"Me? So this is all my fault? I went inside for you, or have you conveniently forgotten that?" replied Georgie equally angrily, stilling Richard for a moment. "I didn't have to take the rap for you, I could have ..."
"Could have what?" prompted Max.
"Nothing," muttered Georgie, slumping back into his chair.
"Richard?"
"Dad?"
Richard held a hand to his head and sighed. "I'm sorry, Millie. I never wanted, and your Mother certainly never wanted to know about this."
"About what?" asked Millie softly. "Please, Dad. I need to know."
"I ... I was involved in the racket, sort of. Georgie used to ask me where he could find certain cars and ... I would tell him. I'd tell him so that he could get them stolen to order. I'm not proud of it and I only did it a few times, but Georgie split the profit with me and it was enough to set me up in partnership at the first showroom. It gave me the chance to get started, to be able to support your Mum, all of you." Richard hung his head, resting it into his hands. "When it all blew up ... I didn't know what to do. I wasn't very savvy back then, wet behind the ears still. The cops knew I was in on it and I was interviewed," he looked up at Max, "but I suppose you already know that." Max nodded slowly, avoiding Millie's silent accusing stare. "But," Richard sighed, "one day I was in the station and the next I was off the hook. Georgie took the rap for it all. It was only later that we understood why," he finished wryly.
"And?" asked Max.
Richard looked nervously at his daughter. "I'm not sure I should say ... I mean I don't think it's relevant."
"I think you should let me be the judge of that, don't you?"
"Maybe," he sat back and eyed Max, for the first time feeling inferior to his future son-in-law. "Sondra's father was a high-ranking civil servant in the Foreign Office, very near the top. Very well connected. He knew of Niko, knew his reputation and knew that he had taken an interest in Sondra. They met at a diplomatic function I think. Malcolm, didn't like it, not at all but he thought his daughter was safe, it wasn't as if Niko could ever become his son-in-law. But then he heard murmurings that Niko was planning to defect, he certainly didn't want to go back to Moscow and leave his London life behind. So, Malcolm made sure that Niko was removed and unfortunately Georgie and I got caught up in it. By then, Sondra and I were, well ... close. Very close. In fact Millie, you were already on the way. Your Grandfather didn't know that of course when he set his plan in motion, he had no idea about us. He only found out when I got pulled in and he realised that although Sondra was upset for Niko, she was beside herself over me. She told him she was pregnant and he was furious, but for all his faults, he always loved her and made sure I walked away from it all."
"He used his influence? That's why you're not mentioned in the case file?" asked Max neutrally.
"Probably. Aside from anything else I suppose, it would have been too embarrassing to have the father of his grandchild locked up for smuggling. He's never really forgiven me for it though, only started to accept me when I made enough money to make it easier to bear."
The room lapsed into silence. Richard and Georgie both somewhere in the past, Max and Millie coming to terms with the revelations of spies and smuggling. Max mulled over his next move and regretfully coming to the conclusion that he was no further forward. No closer to finding Carly and now Sondra. To Millie, her father's story helped answer a few questions she'd had since childhood, but it only made her want her mother even more. Despair threatened to fill her heart as she stared down at the table. A chair scraped next to her and familiar fingers found their way to her thigh under the table. She looked at Max, feeling herself wanting to crumple against him, to feel submerged in his strength and protection. He increased the pressure, reaching out to her, silently asking her to let him look after her. He felt her soften but the quiet was suddenly interrupted.
"Why didn't you go straight, Georgie? Why did you have to always want more?" asked Richard sorrowfully.
"Oh it's so easy for you to be sanctimonious, isn't it?" replied Georgie belligerently. "But don't you forget that if it wasn't for me, you would never have got where you have. You had nothing! I made sure you got the money, I kept quiet for you, did time for you!"
Colour flooded Richard's face, his entire body appeared to shake with fury, his fists clenched. Before Millie could hold him back he launched again at Georgie, this time his fist connecting loudly with the other man's jaw, knocking him frpm his chair to the ground in a sprawling mess, his drunkenness making it impossible for him to defend himself, let alone retaliate.
"Hey, hey, hey!" cried out Max, hauling him back and away from the prone figure on the floor.
"Get me out of here. I want to go home, before I ..."
"Do what Dickie?" Georgie taunted. "You never did have the guts-"
"That's enough!" shouted Millie, surprising Max with her vehemence. "No matter how much you try to make excuses, this is down to you. You made your choices and now we all have to live with them!" She stopped, suddenly aware of the unintentional strength of her outburst. "Dad, perhaps we should go. Tara ... she should know and I think ... I think we should be at home."
-oo-
Time sped by and with what seemed only a matter of minutes Millie and Richard were safely bundled into the back of an area car driven by Ben, closely followed by Nate who just managed to keep his joy in check at being given the job of driving behind them in Richard's Mercedes.