Tom knew he may have crossed a line in using Wolf that night. He hadn't really cared at the time but as the weeks dragged on he began to regret that moment in the hospital; the moment that he'd pinned Wolf down and forced the soldier to do what he wanted. The boy normally wouldn't have spared a thought to the man's feelings about how he was being used. Tom had used him various times before, even if those had only been for some harmless fun. And he knew that Wolf had been using him as well in order to get information about Alex. Those instances hadn't been nearly as blatant as what he'd done but he knew it when he saw it.
Despite the reasoning he'd used in order to make himself feel better for using Wolf's own good nature and sense of responsibility against him, Tom couldn't justify his actions enough to be honest with anyone else about what had happened. He knew that Alex, while supporting the outcome wholeheartedly, would gave him that look for the means he'd used. Tom hated that look. The one that said he'd gone a little too far across the proverbial line. Tom was very familiar with that unseen line. He did a constant dance with it, always trying to push it a little further out. He couldn't help it. One side of the line was boring and the other side was fun. Unfortunately, it was the fun side that nobody wanted him to be on. Wolf included.
Tom was grateful that Wolf never told anyone about that night. He hadn't made the man promise or anything and certainly didn't have anything on him to keep the man silent. He figured Wolf did it because it was embarrassing. For the both of them. Tom had faced down red alerts, kidnappers, bank robbers, and Brecon Beacons. His best friend had faced down much worse and together the two were the best of teams. And yet, Tom had been unable to defend himself from some punk. He'd been forced to call Wolf in the middle of the night, crying, cold, and in pain because he couldn't keep it together. Only Alex had ever seen him at such a low.
Wolf, on the other hand, had been tricked by a kid into doing something that went against his moral standings. It wasn't the first time he'd been tricked and it probably wouldn't be the last, but it was the worst occurrence. The man felt guilty for hiding that type of secret from everyone, and completely unsure on how to proceed. So his first reaction was to distance himself from the boy. To keep the kid-and his problems-at arm's length. The kid caught onto the tactic quickly and the two of them had descended into a stony impasse.
Wolf wouldn't look Tom in the eye and he hung around Alex less as well in his attempt to avoid the boy. Tom hated it. True, the two of them had never been extremely close but Tom had held a respect for Wolf that he didn't hold for others. He had liked the soldier. And now that the man was turning cold to him, he turned cold back.
In the end, it was Tom who broke first. He knew he had to fix it before Alex caught on and started poking around. Tom needed things to go back to normal. And all he needed for that to happen, was a little luck.
Wolf was on a date when he felt his mobile buzz in his pocket. He excused himself quickly and stepped out of the small cafe before he answered. It was the Sergeant. They were being called to the Royal and General. Wolf thought it odd. He'd only ever been called into MI6 once before and that was when he'd been sent in to find Cub at Point Blanc.
It took only a minute to tell the poor girl that he had to leave, there was an emergency, and he was sorry. She didn't seem bitter about it but Wolf knew that if it happened on the next date he'd probably never see her again. He was in his car and on the road before she could even fully process that the date was over. It only took him ten minutes to reach the bank and he wasn't surprised to see three other familiar cars parked in the underground parking garage. Though he was a little amused that Eagle had decided to drive Jack's Mini. Wolf had always thought it a rather girly car.
When he arrived at Jones's office it was to a decidedly tense crowd of people. He took a seat next to Snake and waited expectedly. Jones took the time to unwrap another peppermint before popping it in her mouth.
"Well, gentlemen," she said. "We have another situation concerning Mr. Rider and his little...hooligan."
Wolf was a little surprised that Jones would even admit she thought of Harris that way. She wasn't the type to show any sort of opinion while on the job. He found himself trying to hide a smirk at her choice of description.
"What have they done now, ma'am?" Eagle asked tightly, knowing he'd have to deal with it both as a member of K-Unit and as a member of the Rider household.
"They have managed to explode Spire Enterprises newest pet project, the Spire Tower," she replied just as tightly. Wolf winced. Spire Tower was set to become one of London's many prized possessions. Wolf heard that it was set to be the tallest tower in the world at 2000 feet, surpassing America's planned Freedom Tower by several hundred feet. The thing was only just starting to be built. And what did the two boys have against Spire Enterprises anyway?
"Why would they do that?" Snake asked.
"We are not sure," she replied. "We have yet to locate the boys but we were in brief contact with them about two hours ago. Unfortunately, we aren't sure as to what message they were trying to give us."
"They gave you a coded message?" Wolf asked. If that was the case why not just run it through the decoder? It wasn't like K-Unit knew anything about how it worked. It was the most convoluted thing Wolf had ever seen.
"No," she said.
"Then what did they say?" Fox asked when she paused looking about as uncomfortable as an MI6 agent ever got.
"What is the Easter Bunny Incident of '97 and why is it important to national security?" she asked with all seriousness. Wolf had no idea what to say something like that. No wonder the woman looked a bit uncomfortable. Anybody else would be blushing after asking something that sounded so stupid.
"What?" he asked, confused. He had never even heard of this 'Incident'. He looked at Eagle to see if he had. After all, the man was living in the Rider home now, and thus was around this crap more often than any of them. Wolf took it as a confirmation that he had heard of this Incident thing by the way the other man suddenly wouldn't look anyone in the eye.
"Eagle?" Wolf probed, his tone forcing his teammate to meet his eyes. "What is the Incident?" He refused to sound ridiculous by saying the entire name.
"I don't know anything about it," he said. "Jack mentioned it once but even Tom said that I wouldn't want to know." Wolf felt his eyebrows shoot up. Tom never missed a chance to tell everyone about his escapades.
"So Jack knows what it is?" Fox asked him.
"Yeah, she knows what it is."
"You must locate her quickly," Jones said suddenly, her tone snappish and back to business. "Whatever these two are now into it is extremely dangerous. Secure her, get the information, and report back."
They were out of the door before she finished her sentence.
"Jack!" Eagle called out. "Jack are you here?"
"I don't think she's here," Fox said coming back from the kitchen. "Try calling her mobile."
Eagle pulled it out of his pocket and dialed quickly. The woman picked up on the fourth ring and Eagle had to rip it away from his ear at the amount of screaming that came over the line. Wolf grabbed the man's wrist to bring the device closer to him and pressed the speaker button.
"Tom!" Jack screamed apparently forgetting that she had answered her mobile. "Look out!"
"Ah!" Wolf recognized that as being Alex. Funny, he'd never heard the boy scream before. K-Unit was rooted to the spot and struck dumb. None of them had the presence of mind to actually try to get Jack's attention over the line.
"Red light! Red light! Red light!"Jack screamed. "Truck!"
"I see it!" Tom screamed. Wolf had the terrible feeling that Tom was driving and not very well either. "Alex! Shoot them!"
"I can't! It's out!"
"Do something!"
"Why do I always have to come up with the damn plans?"
They heard a few more screams and what sounded like explosions.
"Tom! Bridge!"
"I see it!"
They heard a crash, thuds, and screeching. It sounded terrible and Wolf felt a rock form in the bottom of his stomach.
"Jack!" Eagle shouted into the speaker, trying to get the woman's attention. It worked now that there was silence on the other end of the line.
"Andy! Oh my god!" Jack exclaimed. She sounded out of breath and scared.
"What happened? Where are you?" Eagle demanded.
"Near Spire Corp., look for the smoke," she said and K-Unit immediately leapt into action heading to the car. Eagle kept Jack on the line for the duration of the short ride.
"What happened?" he asked her.
"Oh my God," she breathed. "Never let me get in a car with Tom again."
"Hey!" they heard the boy exclaim. "I did just fine all things considered."
"That was not fine!" Jack half snapped, half screamed. "How do you miss a bridge?"
"It's not my fault the van spun out of control! They shot the tire out!" Tom responded. Wolf had never seen these two fight before. In fact Jack was the only person Tom had never even challenged, authority wise.
"Jack!" Eagle snapped into the speaker, his soldier tone coming out in his frustration in keeping the woman focused. "Tell me what happened."
"The boys came home and said I had to get in the van. They said I was in danger," she said.
"From who?" Eagle asked. Jack didn't answer him though. They heard some rustling and some mumbling. Soon another voice came on the line.
"Eagle?" It was Alex.
"Cub," the soldier said tightly. "What the hell is going on?"
"We're being chased by terrorists," the boy replied sharply and calmly in that way only he could. "We're safe for the moment but we could use your back up."
"How did you get in this mess?" Eagle asked.
"I'll explain it better later," the boy replied. They took that to mean that it was probably classified information and that the boy could or would only talk to them face to face in a secure location. It took them only another half minute to reach the sight of the car crash. Eagle hung up on catching sight of the two kids and his girlfriend. He barely waited for the car to come to a stop before he was up and out. Jack went to him instantly and he drew her into him, holding her tightly. The rest of K-Unit approached the two boys.
The street was littered with debris. The road had been undergoing construction and was closed off the public. Wolf saw a utility van sitting on the bank of the small creek that ran through the generally nice looking business complex. It had clearly been trying to turn sharply only to run over the side. The back door of the van was opened and Wolf could see harnesses hanging from the roof that would normally hold large canisters.
Wolf looked back up the street, the way they'd come. There was small fires burning at random intervals along the road but the soldier didn't see anything specific that could have caused them. There was also a car which had collided hard with a bulldozer. The front end was completely ruined and Wolf could see two men inside, not moving. He moved to the car quickly, gun drawn and aimed. He opened the door on the driver's side and moved the air bag aside so he could feel along the man's neck for a pulse. Snake copied his movements on the passenger side.
"Anything?" Snake asked.
"No, he's dead," Wolf replied, withdrawing from the car.
"This one too."
The two went closer to where Fox was standing with the two teens.
"What started these fires?" Wolf asked.
"Ether," Tom said. Wolf stared at him, a little surprised. Ether was what they used to cut cocaine and it was highly flammable. What were they doing with it?
"Was that what was in that van?" Fox asked, pointing to the wrecked vehicle on the bank. The teens nodded. "Who was driving?"
"I was," Tom said.
"This isn't the place for a debriefing," Snake cut in as Wolf opened his mouth to demand the full story. "We should get them to the bank for that." Wolf nodded tensely and motioned for the two teens to get into the SUV. Eagle and Jack were already inside, in the far back. She was trembling slightly from fear and adrenaline but seemed to be keeping it together okay. She grabbed Alex's hand the second he sat down next to her and refused to let go.
Tom and Wolf ended up sitting in the middle seat next to each other. It was awkward to say the least. The boy would shoot him glances every now and then as if he expected Wolf to say something to him, anything. Normally, Wolf would already be berating the kid for whatever insanity he may have cooked up but he wasn't quite willing to forget the hospital right then. The boy had a lot to answer for concerning that night. Wolf could tell something was off with the kid after seeing that small glimpse into his life.
Whatever his issues with the boy he couldn't let it get to him. He was on the job. He figured he could talk to the kid about later. However, even in his own head he knew that probably wasn't true.
At the bank Jack and the two boys were split off from each other into different offices. Fox went with Cub and Snake went with Jack. Eagle wasn't allowed in the debriefing because he was living with two of them. He was ordered back out to Spire Tower to see what he could see. That left Wolf with Harris. The last person he wanted to be with and he was furiously cursing his luck.
He took the boy into an empty office, and directed him to a chair. Taking his place on the other side of the desk he set a recorder between them and turned it on. After going through the typical formalities involved in documenting debriefings he took a long look at the kid.
"Alright Harris," he said. "Start at the beginning." Wolf didn't find it necessary to give him anymore direction than that. This was hardly Harris's first debriefing. But the boy didn't start talking like he normally did. Instead he just gave Wolf a stony look, the same one he'd been giving him for weeks. Wolf didn't appreciate the stall tactic. "Harris."
"I have nothing to say to you," the boy said. Wolf sighed and reached over to pause the recording. MI6 really didn't need to know about this part. Wolf knew the kid well enough by now to know that he wasn't going to make anything easy for Wolf until he got what he wanted. The soldier knew he wanted something from him; could tell by the look in his eye. And damn, if Harris wasn't a stubborn one.
"This isn't a game Harris," he snapped. "I need to know what happened." Harris didn't respond. It looked as if he wasn't ever planning to and Wolf knew they could be there forever if he didn't give a little in his own stubbornness. Sighing he proposed a compromise. "Tell you what, if you let me do my job without any more of your bullsiht I'll let you say what you've been wanting to say to me. Sound fair?"
"Fine," the boy conceded after only a moment's hesitation. Wolf unpaused the recording and nodded for him to start talking. "Back in 1997..."
Nine-year-old Tommy was having a good day. Alex had invited him to come along to the big Easter Egg Hunt at the Mayor's home and he couldn't have been more excited. What little boy wouldn't be excited about running around and looking for hidden candy? Not to mention the Easter Bunny that seemed so nice. He'd given Tommy an extra chocolate that the boy hadn't seen him give to anyone else. It made him feel special.
Tommy was currently looking for Alex. He'd lost his friend at one point but he couldn't remember where. He wasn't too concerned as he could still see Jack and Ian, enjoying some of the food and talking with adults Tommy didn't know nor cared to know. They all looked pretty stuffy and boring to him.
He scanned the crowd as best he could with his short stature looking for Alex. He couldn't seem to find him nor the other kids they had been playing with. He did however, catch sight of the Bunny as he rounded the corner of the greenhouse, just across the lawn. Tommy wondered what he was doing over there. There were no kids over there, he knew that. And there shouldn't be any Easter eggs over there either. It was too far away from where the refreshment tables were set up. Curious, the boy followed.
As he neared the corner of the greenhouse, he heard two people speaking. One of them sounded like the Easter Bunny, but this time voice was serious and mean sounding. Tommy paused just before the corner and poked his head around to look. The Bunny's head was off and Tommy could see a man with a lot of scars talking to another man with a knife tattooed on his face. They scared him a little and Tommy ducked his head back out of sight just in case they looked over. He'd become pretty good at eavesdropping having practiced on his parents' private conversations.
"Is it all set up?" Knife-man asked.
"Yes," Bunny asked. "Playing the Easter Bunny will let me get close enough. All I need to do is seem like I'm hanging out with the kids."
"Just make it quick and clean," Knife-man said. "The sooner that Mayor's dead, the better."
Tommy's eyes widened and he didn't stick around for the rest of the conversation. He had to find Jack! They were going to kill the Mayor! Tommy didn't know why but he knew killing people was wrong and that if he told Jack, she could take care of it.
The boy quickly ran back across the lawn, but in the time that he'd been gone both Ian and Jack had disappeared. He hopped up on a chair, frantically trying to find them in the sea of people, but it was hopeless. Jumping down, he ran through the legs of people trying to find them that way but still he couldn't locate them. Where could they have possibly gone?
The only person Tommy could find was the Easter Bunny, his head now back on. Tommy felt inexplicably angry at the Bunny. The Easter Bunny was supposed to be nice and fluffy and hand out chocolate, not kill people! This man didn't know what took to be a proper Bunny and that made Tommy mad. He was giving Bunnies everywhere a bad name and needed to be stopped.
Tommy's eyes followed him as he watched the imposter move through the crowd. He stopped by a refreshment table with the biggest cake Tommy had ever seen. It was one of those fancy ones that you really weren't supposed to eat because of how much work went into making it. It was large, bigger than him even, and shaped like a comical Bunny with a bunch of Easter eggs at its feet. The boy could see the man looking at one particular group of people and he figured that one of those men was the Mayor.
"Tommy!" The boy quickly turned to see Alex running towards him. "C'mon, all the eggs are over here!"
"Alex, we have to stop the Easter Bunny!" Tommy exclaimed quietly as soon as Alex came to a stop in front of him. The other boy looked at him surprised, and then to where the fake Bunny stood, seemingly doing nothing.
"Why?" he asked and Tommy quickly told him everything that he knew. Alex was just as surprised that someone could be so low as to masquerade as an Easter Bunny in order to hurt someone.
"What should we do?" Alex asked. Tommy eyed the fake Bunny and then the table with the large cake.
"Follow me."
Wasting no time, Tommy quickly ran over and crawled underneath the table cloth moving to where he could see the false Easter Bunny standing, Alex following his every move. Tommy grabbed the tablecloth and began to pull. It was very heavy but between the two of them eventually the cake above started to move. They pulled and pulled at the cloth, and with each pull Tommy felt move a little easier and a little faster. He knew the fake Bunny would still be looking the other way, at the group of people so he didn't expect to be caught.
The cake suddenly fell, it's full twenty-two kilograms crashing into the fake Bunny's left thigh. Tommy heard a shout of pain and a loud bang. The lawn erupted with screams and Tommy saw the fake Bunny fall to the ground, clutching his leg in pain. He was soon surrounded by men in suits and police officers all of whom had guns. Both boys didn't know what to do, and they were frozen to the spot. Soon enough though a police man lifted the tablecloth and smiled at them
"Well, there you two are," he said and reached out a hand to him. "It's alright, you're safe now."
"Did you get the Bunny?" Tommy asked as he took the offered hand and allowed himself to be extracted from his hiding place, Alex crawling out behind him.
"Yes we did," the police man replied. "Thanks to you."
"Good," Tommy replied crossing his arms and scowling. "He was the worst Easter Bunny ever."
"That he was boys, that he was."
"Anyway," Tom said, ignoring Wolf's narrowed eyes and raised eyebrow at the stunt he'd managed to pull even at nine-years-old. "It turns out that the Mayor was really hard on the drug cartels and gangs. They were trying to kill him so that their businesses wouldn't keep getting wiped out."
"You told Jones that this all ties in with national security," Wolf prodded, unable to find the energy to be truly shocked about this incident. No wonder Jack hadn't wanted anyone to know although it did give some sort of insight into the boy. Wolf had heard about the Save Santa crusade the kid had gone on in New York and with this incident now in the open Wolf was starting to understand something critical. Harris had a pathological need to protect all things childhood. It explained why he had gone so far in trying to save a Santa and why he'd become so angry when he'd found out that the man playing the Easter Bunny was going to hurt someone.
"When he was trying to destroy all the drug dealers," Harris began to explain, "the Mayor stumbled on a major drug cartel. They're real nasty and they don't like people making waves. The fake Bunny was hired by them. He's out of jail too. He was the driver in that car that was chasing us."
"Okay, explain how all of this ties into what happened today," Wolf said. "What does Spire Corp have to do with anything?"
"Spire Corp is a huge importer," Tom said. "They've been in the cartel's pocket for years, helping them smuggle all their drugs in."
"And how do you know that?"
"Alex figured it out," Tom said. "His bosses sent him on a mission to figure out how they were getting the drugs into the country and Alex was able to trace it back to Spire Corp."
Wolf raised his eyebrow at that. They hadn't been told that Cub had been on assignment in the middle of all this but then it really hadn't been pertinent until now.
"And how does all this play into what happened on the street?" Wolf asked.
"The cartel found out that Alex was undercover, though they only suspected him of being a snitch," Tom said. "Alex had to set off some explosives in Spire Tower to get away and he stole the van without realizing what was in the back. They were going to kidnap me in order to force him to give them all the evidence he had on them so Alex came to find me. He found me at the park with a couple of our friends and we left just as those two men in the car started chasing us. I recognized the fake Bunny and he called his boss to let them know what was going on but he didn't get very far."
"And Jack?"
"We knew it was only a matter of time before they went looking for her like they had me," Tom said. "Alex was able to lose the fake Bunny and we went straight for Jack. Alex had just gotten her out of the house when they came around on the corner, and I had to jump in the driver's seat and get the van started and ready to go. I did the best I could to lose them but I'm not that good of a driver. They shot at us and Alex shot back. When he ran out of ammo he started throwing that ether out. Some of it exploded and some of it didn't. Then they shot out the tire on the van and that was when we crashed. Then you guys showed up."
"So this entire thing is pretty much one giant coincidence?" Wolf asked, incredulous. How did these kids get into these things? His teenage years hadn't been nearly this exciting. It wasn't just because Alex was a spy either. Harris had been getting into these types of things and causing chaos at nine-years-old! It was ridiculous!
"I guess you could say that, yeah," Harris responded. Wolf shook his head and turned off the recorder. MI6 had all they were going to get from this kid. Cub would likely a give a much better account of all the details. As far as Harris went, the interview was over.
"Alright kid," Wolf said. "You held up your end. What do you have to say to me?"
But Harris didn't say anything. He didn't seem to be contemplating what he wanted to say either. In fact, he seemed content in just letting Wolf guess at his thoughts. A dangerous task in the best of times. Wolf sighed at the stubbornness and shook his head again.
"Harris," he hedged not sure how he wanted to continue. "Did you get everything you wanted out of that little stunt?"
"No."
Wolf was actually a little surprised. The answer was simple, honest and worrying all at once. Tom was rarely that blunt when talking about something like this. It made his warning bells go off, just like they usually did when he dealt with the boy.
"He didn't leave did he?" the soldier continued, feeling an inkling of concern. He and Tom would never see eye to eye. But with Jack and Eagle getting as serious as they were and with Alex being integrated into the Unit, Wolf knew he would be dealing with Tom more than he would have initially liked. The two boys were practically joined at the hip and it was hard to deal with one without dealing with the other. He may not like it, but Tom was a part of all their lives in some way or another.
"He was gone for three weeks, two days, and thirteen hours," Tom replied and it didn't surprise Wolf that he knew exactly how long the arsehole had been gone. "But Mum just couldn't seem to live without him and now he's back."
"And?"
"And what?"
"How have things been since he's been back?" Wolf asked trying not to snap and trying to ignore the fact that he sounded like a therapist.
"I wouldn't know," Tom replied guardedly, his arms crossed.
"What do you mean?" Wolf asked hesitantly, not sure if he wanted to know.
"I left."
"You left?" The boy nodded in confirmation and Wolf felt a headache coming on. Great. "And where exactly, are you living?" He knew it couldn't have been at the Rider house. Eagle would have mentioned something that big.
"The teen shelter," Tom said.
"You're living on the streets?" Wolf asked, incredulous.
"Why are you so shocked?" Tom asked, surprised for some reason. "That's kind of what happens when you run away Wolf."
"Why didn't you go live with Alex?" the soldier asked, his headache now fully present and he pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to rid himself of the pain, both the one in his head and the one sitting across from him.
"Because," the boy replied vaguely, obviously not wanting to answer.
"Because, why?" he pressed.
"Because it's embarrassing!" the boy exclaimed. Wolf didn't push beyond that. He thought he understood, but he wasn't willing to confirm. Tom didn't talk about things like this with anyone, much less with Wolf.
"So what? Are you just planning on living on the streets?" Wolf asked trying his hardest not come off as sarcastic and ultimately failing.
"Maybe," the boy replied, sounding petulant. Wolf rolled his eyes and felt himself blurt out his next words before he could stop himself.
"No," the man snapped. "You'll stay with me until we can get this shit straightened out."
Tom looked as shocked as Wolf felt and the soldier had never regretted speaking before thinking more than in that moment. It wasn't as if he wanted Tom on the streets or in the foster care system; he just wasn't sure he was the appropriate choice for taking care of the kid. The two of them could barely sit in the same room for five minutes before fighting. The kid frustrated him and he frustrated the kid and that was about the extent of their relationship with each other.
"Are...are you serious?" the kid asked. Wolf had never heard the kid hesitate. Ever.
"Yes," the soldier replied. "I'm serious. But it's only temporary until you can go home so don't try to pull any of your stunts with me." Tom just smiled at him in that way that made him nervous. The kid was planning something. He just knew it. "I'm serious Harris. No bullshit."
"Okie dokie."
Wolf had an absolutely terrible feeling about this. He doubted he'd be getting much peace for the foreseeable future.