A/N: Hello! I'm sorry I took so long. I'm having a few issues with this story, because while I know where it's going, I am having difficulty actually getting it there. But, anyway, moving on. I am currently avoiding work, and a dozen other things I need to do, but I'm sure you're going to whole-heartedly support that if it means you get more updates, aren't you? :)
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing that you recognise.
-o-O-o-
Alex shivered as the drizzle seeped through the hoodie he had stolen from Matt.
The cold was seeping up through the concrete he was lying on and he couldn't help but shift uncomfortably as he held a pair of night binoculars – pilfered from the supply truck – to his eyes. Beside him, Davies wasn't doing much better, rustling around as if he wanted to give their position away.
Which, Alex was forced to remind himself, was all too likely to be a possibility.
They'd been up here twenty minutes, and Alex was getting bored. Davies thought that they were waiting to meet Faulkner. In reality, the others had intercepted Faulkner on his way to a completely different meeting point, with only Alex and Davies scoping out the dark square thirty feet below them.
"Where's Yassen?" asked Davies, peering at the square.
"Probably lurking in a shadow," muttered Alex, knowing full well that the assassin wasn't there. "He's good at that."
Davies muttered beside him and shifted uncomfortably.
Alex glared at him irritably, then went back to his study of the square.
He frowned, and twiddled with the notches on the binoculars. It wasn't quite in focus.
He cursed as he finally found the right settings and the far side of the square was thrown into sharp relief.
"Dammit, Davies," he snapped. "I was routing for you!"
Davies barely had time to stare at him before he fell limp against the concrete, unconscious.
-o-O-o-
It took him over an hour to get back, and he had to knock Davies out twice more on the way. The streets were crawling with soldiers, more so than usual, and so Alex found himself clambering over rooftops with Davies a dead weight slung over his shoulder.
By the time he reached the relative safety of the dark house, he was soaked through and his back was aching.
He dumped Davies on the floor in the kitchen and gestured to Graham and Eagle.
"Take him down to the basement and tie him up," he instructed curtly. "I'll deal with him in the morning."
He stripped off the hoody, relieved to find that his t-shirt underneath was still relatively dry, and dumped it in front of the washing machine. Maybe if he asked Sabina nicely, she'd shove it in next time she did a load.
"Here," said Sabina, appearing next to him as if his thoughts had summoned her.
He turned and smiled at her, gratefully taking the steaming mug she pressed into his hands.
"Hot chocolate?" he asked with a quirk of his eyebrow.
She shrugged. "I know you like it," she commented. "And the sugar will do you more good than caffeine would at this point."
"Thanks," he muttered. "The others?"
"Upstairs. Graham and Eagle came down here to wait for you."
"Right," he said, moving towards the stairs.
-o-O-o-
"Davies is in the basement," said Alex heavily as he entered the Strategy Centre. "Gray and Eagle are tying him up as we speak."
"So, they showed up?" asked Emily, her expression going instantly from calm to heartbroken, complete with tears in her eyes and a wobbling lower lip that she bit down on. Alex thought the change from soldier to love-sick teenager was remarkable, but didn't comment on it.
"I'm sorry," he said instead and she sighed and crossed her arms over her abdomen.
"How did things go with Faulkner?" asked Alex, turning to Matt.
"It was definitely interesting," said Matt, with one final glance at his niece.
"Interesting how?" asked Alex, sharply. In his experience, 'interesting' usually meant 'bad'.
"Well, first of all," said Ben, "A lot of the officers in the army don't want to be fighting this war. They think it's unethical."
"So, they're just following orders?"
"No, worse. A few dozen of them tried to leave. Those that weren't killed had their families kidnapped and held hostage to their good behaviour. Any of the recruits that looks too much as if they're going to cause trouble among the troops are shot. They blame the opposition – or us, if they're dealt with in-country."
"Jesus Christ," muttered Alex. "Do we know where they're being kept?"
"Faulkner didn't," commented Ben, "but I'm fairly sure it's in the information we have upstairs. Snake remembers some pages about a building, but we never really understood it, so none of us paid attention to it."
"Matt, could you and Snake start on that? You probably know your way around better than any of us, it might help."
"Sure," said Matt, and Alex frowned at the lack of resistance. True, they weren't at each other's throats constantly anymore, but they weren't friends either.
He'd talk to him later.
"Right, so our main priority is to find that house and-"
"Hold on, Alex," said Ben, and Alex paused, suddenly embarrassed. He needed to stop rushing ahead without thinking. When it came down to it, Ben probably had more experience and, if he hadn't had regular sparring matches with the world's top assassin, then he had at least been in the field for the last two years, unlike Alex.
"There's something else we found out."
"What?"
"Byrne is alive," said Ben, quietly. "In fact, not only is he alive, but he's free and in hiding… and managed to steal the key-card before he went."
-o-O-o-
Alex frowned slightly as Emily paced in front of Davies. They were in the basement, and part of him really didn't want to be here. Interrogating Davies would come later; this was simply Emily facing the lover who had betrayed her. If it had been possible, they all – including Emily, who had been incredibly forthright on the subject – would have preferred that she had been able to do this alone, but none of them would leave her alone with a potentially dangerous enemy.
They were in the basement, at the moment, where Davies had been tied up. There were no windows, and all the general junk from the room had been moved so that prisoners could be kept here, so Alex was fairly sure it was secure.
His frown deepened as he tuned out Emily's harsh words and focused on his thoughts.
The news about Byrne had been… good. To a certain extent, anyway. It had raised a boat load of new issues. No, an entire flotilla would be more appropriate. How could they find him? If they managed that, how could they persuade him to give them the key? Even if they got the key, Alex was fairly sure that they'd need an access code. He'd check with Matt later.
He quickly glanced up as Emily's voice faded away completely.
"Why?" she brokenly whispered, after the silence dragged on uncomfortably. "Why would you do this?"
"Em, I swear I didn't!" shouted Davies. "It's not me, I promise. I would never!"
Emily shook her head and bit her lip as her eyes flooded with tears and Alex stood.
"Come on, Emily," he said lowly. "You're finished here."
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her out of the room.
-o-O-o-
A/N: So! Well, actually, I have no cocky comment to say here at all. Wow. I must be ill or something. Anyways, review and tell me what you thought?