Hours had passed since Michael managed to elude everyone. Night was drawing over the Nevada desert and the trail had gone cold. The children and their respective guardians had left. Ratchet hadn't given up on searching though no one had bothered telling him it was a futile effort. But he still searched through CCTV footage of the entire airport terminal still holding onto the hope of finding him.
Elita had resigned herself to take some rest back in her quarters leaving Optimus and Baines left pondering in the control room in silence, save for the sound of Ratchet at the main computer. The two hadn't said a word to each other for quite some time now. Baines was sat of the sofa staring vacantly at the blank TV screen. Optimus stood near the platform seemingly staring straight ahead at the rock wall, his mind was drawing up on blanks as to what was the best course of action.
"Right, that does it" Baines said standing up "I just can't sit here and do nothing"
"What do you intend to do?" Optimus asked looking at the admiral.
"I just want to get outside for a while. I can't spend another minute sitting here"
"Do you require a ground bridge?"
"No thanks. Maybe somewhere in the local town. Jasper, was it?"
"That is correct"
Baines nodded slightly and his mind seemed to drift off for a moment "Say, do you want to come along for a while? You look like you could use the distraction as much as me"
Optimus looked over to Ratchet. What was the harm in leaving the base for a while? If something where to happen, Ratchet would be able to cope with it. Optimus could always bridge back if needs be. "Very well" He answered.
Optimus transformed while Baines climbed down the stairs. Optimus fired up his engine and opened his driver's side door. Baines walked round and stepped up on the running board and climbed in. Once he was strapped in the pair headed off down the tunnel and out into the Nevada desert and took the road leading straight ahead towards the nearby town.
Baines watched as the headlights lit up the dark road and saw the white on green road sign saying that they were approaching Jasper.
"Have you got anywhere in particular you wish to visit?" Optimus spoke through the speakers.
Baines was still not use to the idea that a vehicle could talk let only drive itself, he only then realized he didn't have to hold the wheel.
"I was thinking somewhere I could get a drink"
"I may be unfamiliar to this idea of consuming alcohol, but I believe that isn't the best thing for you to do right now"
"No, no. I definitely need a drink, it's been a hard day" Baines spoke with authority.
Optimus could sense he wasn't going to sway the admiral's mind "Very well then"
They carried on down the unlit desert road in the night heading for a truck stop located just off the main highway.
The old man was unconscious. The electric jolt he got from Knockout did a bit more than was expected as he'd been out of it for a couple of hours. He started to stir, his eyes slowly opening and he slowly came round. He tried to stretch his arms but his arms were restrained. Only then did he become more alert. He sat up the best he could and saw he was tied down to a metal surface held at a forty five degree angle. His surroundings was dark and the air was cold. He tried again at the restraints made by handcuffs tied to a metal eye welded onto the metal surface but they weren't going to break anytime soon.
"Where am I?" he asked into the darkness. He knew full well what situation he was in. Might as well get the introductions over and done with.
"Ah, you have finally woken up" Megatron approached the berth the old man was tied to.
The old man only took a moment to realize who he was looking at "I take it you must be Megatron, leader of the Decepticons? Am I right?"
"Right you are"
"Why am I here?" He asked, getting straight down to business.
"Simply, I want you to change what you will say at the tribunal"
The old man's face was one of mystified confusion. Then all that Barnaby had said in the restaurant had made sense.
"So you got a Home Office legal advisor wrapped around your finger, not bad. But in regard to changing my statement all I'll say is, make your threat and let me go because I won't budge"
Megatron smirked, a reluctant one. All the more fun for him. "Oh you say that, but we Decepticons have ways of making prisoners talk, and believe me we will make you talk"
The old man chuckled "You obviously have no idea who I am or my past, because if you did you would know I'm deadly serious, you won't make me do anything"
"We know who you are. Head of operations for the British security services MI5 who hasn't been in the field for over ten years. The one who personally handled Michael Rickers on all your off the record operations. All those operations we know about. Anything important we missed out?" Megatron asked confidently.
The old man's face relaxed remembering something from the past but it wasn't a pleasant memory. "Yes, 1975, Berlin, Treptower Park"
Megatron didn't know what any of that meant, but he was intrigued as what it was. He didn't respond allowing the old man to continue.
"Back then I was working with MI6 and I was meeting a Soviet defector who had supplied information for the UK. But the defector was a double agent and I was met by a team of KGB agents. So they took me prisoner and I was past from place to place for months and was subjected to all sorts of torture. You name it they did it. Physical and psychological, the lot"
"So you believe that your past will help you now. We will make you do as I command. It's only a matter of time"
"That's what they told me all that time ago. They were prepared to hold me for as long as necessary. And you know what? I never gave up and never sold out my country"
Megatron didn't seem to believe the man's words. He was about to make another treat but the man carried on.
"After I think it was a year in captivity I tried to hang myself. Wasn't hard, I used a chair punched out a ceiling tile and used the bandages I collected through self-inflicted injuries and tied that around a sturdy pipe" The man snorted "The damn guard on duty that night was a professional at his job and he stopped just in time. That's how prepared I was to stop them from plucking the stuff out from my head"
"Well then" Megatron said "It'll seem we will be for some time then. Doctor" He called for his physician Knock Out who from the darkness approached his master's side.
"Do what you must to make him change his mind" With that Megatron turned and left leaving the old man at the mercy of the Decepticon scientist.
Back in Nevada Optimus and Baines had arrived in a truck stop along the interstate that passed closed the town. With Optimus using his hologram the two walked through the door into the bar and the low noise of quiet chatter immediately stopped as everyone watched a man in dress naval uniform. The only noise came from an old jukebox in a far corner and the fuzzy sound of an old TV left on the news channel. The admiral took a passive aggressive approach to show that he was not to be messed with. The two had taken a table next to the windows and Baines had ordered a whiskey chaser and also ordered a pot of coffee for Optimus just so to make him blend in a bit more.
Baines picked up the whiskey shot and stared at it for a short few seconds then quickly gulped the shot in one and slammed it down and shook as the amber liquid went down his throat quickly took a sip from the glass of beer.
"So admiral, where did you think Michael went then?" Optimus asked.
The admiral took another sip and put his glass down "Come on, use your head and try to think as if you were him"
"I would think of going to a place that at first seem the last place to go to. Some that would seem so obvious that those after him wouldn't bother to check"
"Yep go to a very familiar place and what better then to back go home"
In the early hours off the morning in the Welsh capital a Great Western express train from London Paddington slowly eased into Cardiff Central. The sound of the wheels flanges squealing and the air brakes slowly applying. The eight coach train slowly rolled along the platform and came to a stop. All the doors opened and passengers spilled onto the platform, some looking for those waiting at the platform for them while others walked directly for the steps to the underpass to the ticket hall and exit, one of them being Michael. He stepped out of the exit into Central Square and the warm glow of the high rise buildings greeted him home.
Back on the Decepticon warship the old man was covered in bruises and cuts from the unrelenting beating he got from the troopers under the command of Knock Out. The old man had to breathe heavily as his body wasn't coping well with the pain.
Knock Out leaned in close "When will you give in? If you just accept then I can make the pain stop"
"I won't be bullied into submission" The old man defied.
Knock Out stepped back and a trooper came back with an energon prod and electrocuted the prisoner again. The man grunted in pain.
The doors opened and Megatron entered the room followed by his communications chief Soundwave. Everyone currently in the room backed away from the table.
"Any development doctor?"
"None at all"
"Hmm, as I suspected. Well then" Megatron approached the old man and leaned down "Well it would seem we have to take a much different approach"
"Go on then, do your worst" The old man said confidently.
Megatron chuckled "You really underestimate us. You see I'm very well aware of the politics of your little world and I have come to understand that your territory has a special relationship with another. Am I correct?"
The old man simply nodded, not to sure where this was leading.
"Well my communications officer has been through your computer database and we have seen all that you have been up to"
"You what?!" The old man shouted in disbelief "How dare you!"
"SILENCE!" Megatron bellowed "We know that you haven't been playing nicely with this other territory"
The MI5 operations head was trying to work out whether it was a bluff "So then, what evidence do you have?"
Megatron smiled and said simply one word "Sandfire"
The old man knew the game was up "What about Sandfire?"
"Well you had your chance, but now I think it's time to teach you a lesson that you should never try to fight against me. Soundwave, if you please"
Soundwave simply nodded and his screen showed a file being uploaded somewhere.
"What do you mean lesson?"
"Soundwave has just uploaded everything about Sandfire onto a leaking website" Megatron answered and laughed proudly.
"No, you can't. Please don't" The old man begged.
"Too late. However if you won't cooperate I will have no choice but to leak more from your database"
The old man hung his head in defeat. To carry on fighting, the price was just too high "What do you want me to do?"
"From now on, you call me master" Megatron ordered.
The old man mentally bit his tongue "What do you want me to do… master?"
Back in the truck stop in Nevada and Optimus and Baines were still at the table and chatting away. They had talked the time away with idle chit chat, Optimus could level with the admiral with both being important figures within their own organizations. The conversation had gone from tactics, friendship and how they thought about the team and the importance of keeping the children innocent with all that was going on. Optimus had enjoyed a chance to being able to speak his mind a little more freely than normal. He didn't see the admiral much so thoughts of day to day things were not awkward to discuss, however the conversation went stagnant.
"So tell me" Optimus said "When did it happen?"
"I'm sorry, when did what happen?"
"The day that traumatized you till this day. I see it in any Autobot, the pain that never goes away"
Baines put his glass down and gripped it hard. He knew what Optimus meant and the memories came flooding back, almost too much to bear. His breath became low and shallow.
"It was my fourth deployment, 1982. I was in the taskforce send to recapture the Falkland Islands from Argentina. I was on board the HMS Sheffield which a Type 42 destroyer and was maintaining air cover for the fleet. Should have been easy they told us, but we should have known better"
Optimus could see the pain in his eyes "What happened?"
"A missile came out of nowhere, hit the ship broadside" His hands were shaking "The place went up in flames, it all happened so quickly. So many were killed" Baines eyes closed tight and was visibly shaking with the terror he felt all those years ago.
Optimus reached out and held his hand for reassurance.
"T-The screams, the boys were screaming for help, some called for their mothers. I just couldn't go through the hatch for them, the fires was too hot"
"And you got out?"
"I got lucky, managed to find a way out and I jumped straight into the water and was airlifted to the HMS Hermes. Not many managed to escape unharmed" He let go of the glass and rolled up his left sleeve and showed to Optimus the burns "That came from the fire" He rolled his sleeve back down.
"And how do you feel about it?" The important question Optimus had to ask.
"I feel guilty at myself, I could have tried to save someone, but I panicked. Out all the guys I shared my quarters with, all the other eleven died that day. We were close friends and they all perished" He looked through the window and into the night sky as a tear rolled down his face.
Baines took a deep breath and exhaled as if it got rid of the sad emotion "But it happened, nothing I do to change that now"
"Survivor guilt is not uncommon, many good Autobots have suffered from it as well"
"Don't worry about me, I got the counselling I needed when I got home. You worry about your team"
Baines looked back at the bar and saw the small 17 inch screen TV mounted on a bracket. The picture quality was poor and the sound was fuzzy but still understandable. The news channel had been on the entire time but what got his attention was the tone of the newsreader. The screen glued him to it and Optimus as well. In big letters on the bottom of the screen said 'BREAKING NEWS: BRITISH SPY IN PENATGON'. The two stared back at each other and listened closely.
'In the last few minutes a leaked file from the British MI5 shows that a British spy has been working deep undercover within the CIA for the past twenty years. Experts do believe this is genuine and not a hoax. Although details of what the spy was doing is sketchy at this moment, the identity of the spy codename Sandfire was mentioned within the file. And only a few moments ago the FBI has arrested a suspect in Virginia. So far the FBI, the CIA or the British government have yet made any comment on this. We will have more as the story develops'
The two looked back at each other and both just knew this had to do with them somehow. Baines reached into his pocket for money but only had pounds sterling, he placed a tenner on the table and both got up and headed straight back to the Autobot base hastily.