Disclaimer: Primeval does not belong to me, this is fan fiction, not for profit.
Any references to people, places, businesses etc is entirely fictitious.
3.5-2 Plan B
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Danny Quinn couldn't believe it. He had a job as team leader at the ARC. And the first job of any organization was to know the competition, right?
He held up his hand, waving to attract the attention of the pub's harried waiter.
"Another?" Danny asked Captain Wilder. The man, who looked so different out of his uniform, nodded.
"What's it like," Wilder asked "working for James Lester?"
"Oh you know," replied Danny with an easy going grin, "probably just the same as working for your boss… what's her name… Chris, or Christy?"
The man snickered. "The idea," replied Wilder "It's Christine Johnson… no nicknames, not ever."
"Yeah," agreed Danny "I can't quite see Lester ever being called Jimmy now, can you?"
As interrogation techniques went, it wasn't much, but at least Wilder was talking to him now thought Danny. Danny wasn't sure what he hoped to learn from Wilder, but he was going to try.
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Abby shut the door to the flat and looked at the mess in dismay.
"Jack!"
But he didn't answer. Somewhere between picking up the dirty dishes Jack had left throughout the flat, turning off the telly, feeding Rex and washing said dirty dishes she found the note he had left. Gone to visit a friend, don't wait up.
She snorted. For this she had asked Connor to leave?
"Rex," Abby told the coelurosauravus "I think I made a mistake." The creature tilted its head sideways, bobbing it up and down as he chirped. It seemed as if Rex agreed.
Connor had asked her this morning if she missed him yet, and Abby hadn't answered. But if he asked her again, right this minute… Abby would have told him.
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Jack and his mates had been out late drinking. When he finally stumbled into Abby's flat, he knocked into the first piece of furniture in the place. The small table by the door was fine, but the framed photograph that had been sitting there had fallen, the glass shattered, cutting into the picture.
Oooh, thought Jack. Abby wouldn't like that. For once in his life, Jack looked for the hand broom and dustpan. He cleaned up the mess and threw the broken glass, frame and torn picture all in the bin.
The next morning Abby found it. She went off on him for throwing out her favorite picture of her flat mate Connor and herself. Jack didn't listen too much, his head was pounding.
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Connor stepped into the posh London flat, following Lester. A three bedroom flat in the heart of London… it had to cost a fortune. This was no little place in Connor's opinion.
"You can stay in there," said Lester pointing to the doorway at the end of the hall. "It's my son's room, but don't mess with anything."
"Right, no messing," answered Connor. In the carry crate he was holding, Sid and Nancy chirped in apparent agreement.
Connor pushed open the door. His lips curled up in a small grin. "Empire Strikes Back sheets Lester," he called over his shoulder "your son and I would probably get along quite well."
"He's seven," responded Lester dryly. "The two of you would probably get along quite well."
Connor drank a cup of hot cocoa before going to bed. He still felt chilly. Sometime in the middle of the night, he awoke to a thumping noise. He'd been dreaming of that fungus creature and now something was banging against the wall by his bed.
For a moment, Connor was frightened thinking the nightmare creature was in the flat, but then he realized what the sound signified. Even expensive, posh flats had thin walls. He grinned, as he rolled over on his side and put the pillow over his head.
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Becker couldn't believe that Danny had broken into the ARC. After all Becker's efforts to tighten security in the place!
He took a deep breath. Steady, he told himself, can't let your frustration show. The target appeared in front of him. Bang, bang, bang… the sound of the shots echoed in the target practice room.
Again, Becker ordered the young cadet.
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Sarah let herself into her empty flat. She missed Jamal, but thinking about him wasn't going to do any good. The man hadn't believed what little she had been able to tell him about her new job, and she wasn't going to bring him into it. The work at the ARC was dangerous, and today had been a perfect example of that.
She sat down on the sofa, taking off her shoes and thinking. They had almost lost Connor and Percy today.
Well, technically, they had lost Percy. The man had been dead for a few minutes, and when they had resuscitated him, he had quit and stormed out. In all the commotion, with his leaving and convincing Lester that they really needed that Danny Quinn guy on the team, Sarah hadn't got a chance to talk to Abby. Sarah wondered, did Abby know that Connor had been staying at the ARC? Or that he'd gone with Lester this evening? It was only by chance that Sarah had found out.
Sarah looked at the clock. It was too late to call her tonight, she decided, but tomorrow… first thing… Sarah was going to talk to Abby.
Her phone rang. Sarah looked at the caller ID and picked it up. She'd told Claudia to call anytime, and she meant it. Sarah would do anything she could to help the Cutter's.
"Hi Claudia," answered Sarah "how is he tonight?"
"Cranky and irritable," replied Claudia cheekily "the stitches are itching and he's still on bed rest for another week… but mainly, he's bored."
Sarah chuckled. "Does he want another report?" she asked.
"Oh yes please!" said Claudia "I'll put you on speaker… can you hear him?"
The professor's brogue came across the phone line clearly, "So tell me what's happened? What kind of anomaly was it? Were there any creatures?"
Sarah chuckled again at the eager questions. The man was starting to get better, his curiosity was a good sign, but where to start she wondered? She didn't want to upset him too much with the scary stuff, his health was still fragile. Hmmm.
"Well, we've got a new team member," she began "a former police officer named Danny Quinn… he's driving Lester crazy."
"Oh… I like him already," replied Nick with a chuckle.
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Percy wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his life, but he sure didn't want to go out as a fungus.
He'd quit. Left the security, if you could call it that, of a government public relations job to find himself. He'd hitchhiked out of London. The last person to give him a lift had dropped him after the Severn Bridge.
The man was headed towards the Forest of Dean. Percy wasn't about to go anywhere near that place. He was walking in the general direction of Hayesgate when he heard shouting. A woman screamed "Run."
The woman passed him, followed by some more people, all of them running. Percy stared. But when he saw the creature that was following after them, he turned and ran too. No one stopped or turned aside from the glowing lights in the meadow. Percy didn't stop until he had caught up with the group. In the sudden quiet, he realized they were staring at him.
"It looks like we've got a new person in the group," said a man with coldly calculating eyes.
"Hush Ethan," said a woman. From her voice, Percy thought she must have been the woman who had told everyone to run. "I'm Emily," she introduced herself "what's your name?"
-x-x-x-x-x-x
James Lester held Vivian tenderly, trailing kisses across her shoulder, up her throat and finally meeting her lips.
"Mmmm," his wife sighed as she smiled at him. "I should stay in London more often."
"Yes," agreed Lester "you should."
"James," she asked "what happened today?"
"Let's talk about work tomorrow," he whispered, holding her close. He didn't want to think about how close he had come to losing everything he held dear today.
"Allright," Vivian replied, snuggling closer. "But tomorrow… you tell me everything."
"Oh, one more thing," said Lester "don't go out of the bedroom without a robe on."
She arched her eyebrow, suddenly wide awake. "Why James?"
"We've got a flat guest," he replied a little uncomfortably "Connor Temple."
Vivian sat straight up in the bed, clutching the sheets to her breasts. "You brought my great-great grandfather here! That wasn't part of the plan."
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Christine Johnson put her hands together contemplatively. A man had died today. She'd signed the necessary forms. The insurance settlement would be sent to his beneficiaries. Now, she had other, more important, things to deal with.
Who on earth was this Danny Quinn, she mused. And how could he best be used to further her plans?
-x-x-x-x-x-x
A/N Happy Thanksgiving. :)