Chapter 11: Don't Get Attached
There's an unexpected warmth that emanates from the office they enter, setting a different tone to all the other rooms Phil's been subject to so far. The door closes almost silently behind them and G immediately walks over to a small silver dish, picking up an ornate teapot in one hand and a small cup in the other.
"Tea, Mr Lester?" Phil shakes his head, standing awkwardly just in front of the door while G pours tea for himself, collecting enough biscuits to fill his saucer for good measure.
The carpet is a rich red, generously thick as it gives way beneath Phil's shoes, his shabby appearance rapidly apparent in the sumptuous surroundings. The scene could have been lifted straight off the front page of an interior decorations magazine, dark wood and gold embellishments balanced out with warm yellow light-shades, hanging from intricate roses carved into the high ceilings and expansive windows, spotlessly revealing the silhouette of central London, silver buildings tinted with the first oranges and purples of a murky sunset.
G moves to sit down in a large leather chair and indicates for Phil to join him. They sit in silence as G sips, and Phil takes in the wall behind his large desk, decorated with personal affects, photographs and trinkets tucked into the corner of overflowing bookshelves. There are hundreds of black folders, labelled only with large, black numbers; but also a large collection of older-looking fictional works, occupying two shelves on the lower left hand side.
"A hobby of mine."
Phil looks up to see G's gaze trained on him, munching through an almond biscuit. He swallows another mouthful of tea and continues.
"You'll find that they're all first editions, some of them are quite priceless! Almost cost me my right hand to…" His voice trails off, possibly lost in a memory or strategically avoiding a scandalous tale. "But you don't want to hear about that do you! We're here to talk about Mr Howell, and of course, you. I understand you have some questions still, so perhaps we can start by my explaining of how Mr Howell, or Artemis as we all know him, came to work for MI6."
Phil nods, his bravado from earlier somewhat faded, but now that the imminent threat of danger seems to have passed, he summons the courage to voice his request.
"Could I see Carrie and the others now? I know you said they're safe, but she doesn't know I'm safe and I- I would really appreciate that." It's a fairly pathetic request, with no real reason to warrant it or incentive for G to agree, but to his surprise G almost immediately reaches over his desk and grabs a sleek black phone and, dialling in two numbers, clears his throat and begins to speak. Unlike a moment earlier, his tone has dropped to become sharp and official, loosing all trace of the sweeter eloquence from earlier.
"Higgins, bring the five QACs from room nine to my office- through the back entrance – and ensure that they remain UTP. Yes." He looks up at Phil for a second before- "No, they won't be staying. Thank you Higgings." He hangs up the phone and straightens his jacket lapels, the smile and charm flushing his face once more.
"There you go Mr Lester, now don't let it be said that I am an inhospitable guest!" He wags a pudgy finger at Phil, who smiles back, but notes the discrepancy between the two versions of G he has seen so far. How many masks must it take to run a spy organisation?
"Why did you say they wouldn't be staying?" He doesn't want to ask more of G, but curiosity always was Phil's weakest point.
"Because they won't be, Mr Lester, but I will let you see them and see that they are alive and well. I'll even leave the office to allow you all to reunite, then I'd ask for the others to return to their quarters while we have a little chat, yes?" The last word is a drawled smile, but before Phil can answer, the door swings open and a bundle of blonde hair flies through the entrance, making a beeline for Phil as he rises out of his chair.
"Carrie? Ooof!" She collides somewhere around his ribs, small but strong arms locking behind his back.
She's followed by Alex and Charlie, whose face lights up at the sight of Phil and he quickly joins in on the hug. He smiles hopelessly at Alex, and could almost have cried with relief when he saw PJ edge around the door, Chris following shortly behind. They hug, one after the other, an endless grappling of hands and of support- for the first time in far too long, Phil feels like he might actually have a chance at being himself again. Soon enough, the questions start.
"Where did they get you? I was pulling my stuff out to get changed, I figured unpacking in a tree would be tricky, but then suddenly there was something over my eyes and- Phil?" Carrie's melodic voice hasn't changed a bit, and he suddenly hugs her again, wishing he could find a way to express the absolute gratitude he's rediscovered for having brilliant friends.
"Nothing, sorry, I just missed you all." He looks around and realises that at some point G must have left the room. He may have promised privacy, but Phil doesn't relax entirely- there's no way that this room wouldn't be covered in surveillance. He wants to trust G, he's definitely grateful that they've all been reunited, but there's still so much yet to be uncovered and too little that he understands yet to rely on G entirely. He turns back to Carrie and smiles- no harm in sharing what the agents have already heart.
"I realised they'd taken you when I got to the park and you weren't there- but your beanie was. They got me soon after- or, I got them."
"Got them?" Chris raises his eyebrows, "They're not the ones locked up at the moment, are you sure they didn't drug you while we were gone?" PJ flicks his shoulder, silencing him, but their smiles are unwavering.
"I suppose you're right; and no drugs I'm pretty sure! Unless you're all a hallucination?" Chris frowns and then pokes Alex's neck, causing him to wince and squeak as he recoiled from the unexpected attack.
"Don't think so, unless- unless we're drugged too?" His eyes go wide and Phil laughs, voice turning slightly hoarse from the past few hours.
"I don't think so, even my imagined Chris wouldn't be such a derp!" He punches Chris in the shoulder softly, "What I mean is, I stopped trying to hide, so they picked me up from a café- I called G, that's the man who was in here before, from a phone I found in our apartment." He considers mentioning what else he found, but decides against it, for now, until he has more answers. "They questioned me for a bit, but then G took over and brought me up here."
"They questioned me too!" Carrie rolled her eyes, "The stupidest things, would you believe?"
"And us too!" Charlie cuts across, "At first it was all about Dan and you and Carrie, but then it moved on, maybe because they'd run out of those questions, and they started asking us such random things! Like, if we had ever heard you guys speaking Russian, and if we'd ever-"
"I think we can all agree now that you've been satisfied your request in knowing that your friends are alive and well?" A clipped, posh accent cuts across their conversation. A well tailored suit and sleek, immaculate hair frame the soft but stern face of the newest entrant to the office. The others appear to recognise the lady and PJ whispers under his breath to Phil, 'Meet Mary Poppins!' to which Phil struggles to suppress his giggle; the resemblance is uncanny.
"Mr Liguori, please do not make such insinuations if you are not prepared to say them to my face, thank you!" PJ's grin slides off his face, but as her stern glare turns of him, he sticks his tongue out at Phil.
"You must be Mr Lester?" She steps towards the group in steady strides, extending her hand to Phil, who accepts it gladly- of the growing crowd of people he's been introduced to today, she appears to be the first to be straight forward and honest. "I'm Mairead McPherson and I've heard a lot about you- but no one mentioned that you apparently lack any capability of self-grooming and maintenance, I do hope this is not your regular appearance or we are going to have a real job to do."
Chris chokes down another giggle and Alex grabs Carrie's wrist as she attempts to step forward to protest, but Phil can more than defend himself.
"No, this is not my regular appearance." He grins at her, feeling cheeky, "But why don't you spend a few months on the run from MI6 and we'll see if you can do any better!" He expects her to shout at him, or even return the insult, but instead she simply raises a single, immaculately groomed eyebrow and gives him a satisfied smirk.
"I think you'll find I never allow such trivialities to affect my presentation, Mr Lester." She turns on her heel and heads back towards the door, calling out as she reached the door, "You'll all be returning with me now, thank you!"
Charlie turns to Phil, "We don't actually have to leave already, do we?"
Carrie snorts.
"I'd like to see them try!" Alex, still holding her wrist, smiles proudly, but Phil shakes his head.
"I promised I'd talk to G alone if he let me see you guys first, I'm not sure if there's anything we can do!" As if on cue, the boulder of a man walked through the door as he finished his sentence, and PJ mouthed 'G?' at Phil, who gave a slight nod.
"Mr Lester is correct, I do need to speak to him alone for now, but I assure you that you will all see each other soon." As he friends are ushered out of the room with many waves and promises of reunion, Phil is steered back towards his seat at the desk, and G places himself on the other side once more, flipping open the screen of a slim laptop. After a few moment of clicking from G and silence from Phil, the laptop is swivelled to reveal grainy video footage of what appears to be a waiting room, with lengths of seats, information desks and a multitude of people, standing and sitting, all patiently waiting.
Before Phil can open his mouth, G cuts across him- "I'll explain where this is in a moment, but first just watch."
At first it seems a dull scene, with a few individuals moving from one seat to another, an arguing family feuding over soft toys, an elderly couple hobbling to a vending machine in slow, fragile steps. But Phil doesn't have to wait long for a change.
A tall figure walks in through the automatic doors, and despite the bad dye job and the weight loss, Phil would have recognised Dan anywhere. It's actually him, alive, walking and Dan. His mouth is too dry and his hands are turning white from their intense grip on the edge of the desk, but it's Dan and Phil's heart is pounding because even after everything, there's nothing as thrilling or devastating as seeing him again. There's an undeniable quiver that runs down his spine as Dan looks up to the camera and their eyes meet, for just a second. Then, shoving a beanie over his long hair, he walks up to a service desk, pulls out some papers and starts chatting to the attendant.
It seems to be going smoothly at first, Dan is smiling, gesturing conversationally and after a moment, the lady starts typing in details. After a few more moments, however, her smile falls and she excuses herself. Dan nods and smiles and waits, but as soon as she has disappeared he begins to casually walk away from the desk, all pretense of humour gone. The office door swings open to reveal several heavily armed security guards, but by the time they have come around the desk, Dan has long up and run off-screen. They swiftly follow his path, and as the last guard exists the frame and a siren begins to shriek, the footage comes to an awkward halt, immortalising the confused faces of waiting passengers.
"Where's the rest of it?" Just sitting here, watching a screen leaves Phil itching; needing to be out of this chair, out of this suffocating pleasant office. Dan is out there and alive and he needs Phil's help. "What happens next?"
"That's it I'm afraid! Artemis exits the shot in the upper left quadrant and, as you saw, is pursued by airport officials," G shrugs, raising his hands in apology, "We have nothing else! They didn't apprehend him, nor did he cross the path of another security camera- as far as they could tell us. It was difficult enough to obtain this footage without explaining the true extent of our situation."
"Which is?"
G's eyes narrow slightly. "What do you know of the Cambridge Five?"
"I saw the film- they worked for us but were actually giving the Russians information? But that was ages ago!"
"One of our greatest failures- and so well publicised! We had a solid identification on four members and we thought we had the fifth- but then it appeared that there were a great deal many more parties involved- it may be that we never fully appreciate the extent of their impact on our intelligence."
Phil frowns.
"But what has this got to do with Dan?"
"Patience, Mr Lester. This is a long story and I cannot tell you all the details for many reasons, but I will tell you that in the late 1980's, it was believed that we had uncovered the final key member of the Cambridge Five, hidden cleverly in Moscow, beyond our national reach."
"But you're MI6- don't you just go on in anyway, isn't that the point of spies?"
G coughs loudly and then clears his throat.
"We are primarily an organisation for collecting and interpreting intel but yes, as you say, we have agent who will sometimes take action, where the crown considers it appropriate."
Phil's mouth drops just a little. "The actual Queen? Cool."
"Indeed." He leans back a little, reminiscing. "There was an apartment block on Kashirskoye Highway, near the centre of Moscow. Two of our agents were going to meet our informant, who would pass on the location and necessary details of the target, so we could apprehend them with little fuss or commotion. Alas, things did not go according to plan. The target was far more connected than we anticipated and managed to blow up the entire building, taking out our two agents and the informant. There were a series of bombings at the time and this one in particular was not noticed generally to be anything more than another attack made by extremists- but we have always believed that the target used this unstable time as a cover for his actions, and have no idea how many other hits were peformed in this method. However, to out greatest surprise, and delight, there was one survivor from the ruined mission. The son of out two agents, who they'd brought along to strengthen their cover as a family on holiday-"
Phil barely dares to ask, but he must.
"Dan?"
G nods.
"Daniel Howell, son of two of the greatest agents we've ever had. He was a secret they held close, to protect him from being used as leverage, and from the volatile world of espionage. Their suggestion, with my approval, was to bring him to Moscow as cover mainly to bypass border officials and leave him with backup agents as they undertook the mission further north."
"They were really going to bring their son somewhere so dangerous!?"
"They'd done far more challenging things before- and it had been their suggestion. I was the only one informed of his true identity, and when the agents found him in the rubble following the unexpected explosion, it was clear that our cover had not been as flawless as we'd hoped. We brought Mr Howell back home and found suitable parents to raise him. But he was old enough to understand what had happened- to his parents and to his previous life. We couldn't keep him away from our world, despite initial attempts."
"But he must have been, what, six year old? Seven at most! What do you mean couldn't keep him out?"
With a small chuckle, G replies, "Believe me, I often wondered just how much his parents had managed to teach him during those years where only they knew he existed. He had come to my office just once, after he returned from Moscow, when I explained to him what was going to happen. We didn't want to put him in any more danger by associated to anything related to this agency, particularly me, and I planned on never seeing the poor boy again, but then one morning I arrived to find him, wide brown eyes and impish grin, sitting in my office waiting for me. He never would fully explain how he worked out how to break in, suffice to say there were many security changes made that day."
To Phil's amusement, it appears that G is torn between being impressed and miffed that a child had outsmarted him. He can't believe that any of this was Dan, his Dan. It sounds like the life of someone else, taken from a special addition of the newspaper to commemorate their death or something. Despite everything, Phil still sorely wants to believe that this is some big misunderstanding, that'd they'd grab Dan and just go back to the life they lead before, no spies or lying or international affairs.
"He worked for MI6 over the next four years, although technically he was in training for two of them- we found that his skills were already so keenly developed by his parents there was little need to teach him the basics."
By this point, Phil is just listening avidly, as the tale is spun out like a TV series. G explains how Dan had been something of a pridogy; success after success had him quickly rising in the ranks as Artemis. As an agent, he had been a quiet achiever, working swiftly and efficiently, but he had always expressed his desire to go back to Russia again. G had not been able to convince him that Russia had no answers for him, and worse that someone would recognise him from his parent's mission; for four years Dan's resolve remained firm. In the end, he'd stolen a plane and gone on his own, with another young agent who had trained with him, Seamus. By the time G had realised where they were and sent a rescue team, Seamus was shot dead in the streets and Dan was being beaten up in a basement. It was the beginning of the end- after that he'd taken on a few more missions, but soon was decommissioned and filed for a sleeper position.
"Sleeper? What's that?"
"It means we ask them to go on and life a normal life- have friends, find a job, buy a house, whatever they'd normally do if they'd never have met us. There are strict codes on the information they are allowed to divulge of their past, and often we will fill in the details of their family history, past education, and the likes. But a sleeper can always be reactivated, if the need arises for their skills and knowledge."
"So did you guys… 'wake up' Dan then? Is that why he ran away?"
"No. But I do believe that despite our best efforts to keep his cover safe, someone, or something, did."
Phil jumps a little as the laptop screen is closed with a snap and slipped into a desk draw. There is a pause between the pair; Phil has learnt that Q seems to value waiting over impatience. The director makes a steeple with his fingers and examines Phil over the top of them.
"I have a proposition for you, Mr Lester. One I anticipate you'll consider seriously and I greatly hope you will accept." All warmth has been eviscerated from his voice, each word clipped as it exits his lips. "We find ourselves at rather a dead-end when it comes to Artemis; short of launching a full scale and unfortunately CIA-transparent rescue mission, we are currently unable to safely retrieve him. This is where you come in. I want you to bring Artemis- Mr Howell, back to England. And I want you to leave tomorrow."
Here, he pauses, allowing this to settle. Unknown to G, Phil had been waiting for this request from the moment G had invited him to his luxurious office. They'd clearly needed something aside from information from Phil, otherwise why not leave him in the interrogation rooms? But- to actually go see Dan? To help him? It was more than he had anticipated.
"Of course, I'll have my tech team outfit you with the newest innovations of-"
"I accept."
G is momentarily silenced by Phil's clear quietly spoken words.
"You do?"
Phil nods. It seems pointless to waste more time. G wants him to go find Dan and is willing to help him, and there is nothing that Phil desires more.
"I do. I mean, yes." He grins despite himself, "Agent Lester at your service! Where do we get started?"
There you go! I hope you're enjoying what is unfolding, only three more chapters till we get to the scene which prompted me to start writing this whole story (even if its taken me literally a whole year to do so!) so stay tuned :D Also in my mind (if you were interested :P), G looks a bit like Stephen Fry and Mairead looks like Kelly McDonald- please do let me know what you thought of this so I can keep in mind your suggestions on what you liked/didn't like! Thank you so very much to the lovely people who took the time to review the last chapter: NeverlandNat (Definitely far from over, I'm glad things are getting clear!), EnduringDarkness (Thank you that's so lovely!), ledanimal (You do? sorryforslowupdates but I hope you enjoyed this one!), Malteser24 (Howell 007? :D Thank youuuuu!), animefangirl-isnotonfire (I'm so glad it works! Thank you :3), Moonfruit Infusion (I'm glad there's still some mystery, well done on working it out!), orangesofsymmetry (Thank you! I'm hope this chapter was exciting too :D), DevTheManiac (EXCELLENT :D), guest, darkweepingtimeeater (more as requested! Sorry for the wait :D), vogonsoup (Aww thank you so much! It's lovely to see you and I feel very blessed that you took the time to visit this story :3) and Jasmine 29384 (I'm sorry to make you mad? :P I write several stories at once and don't always end up updating in order, sorry! Hope you like this new part :D)
I'll see you all at the next instalment, I will be done with exams by the 28th November so here's hoping I don't have to do further assessment and can get this done a bit faster! Thank you for reading and see you soon :D
xxx panfs
p.s. please check out my page for a poll on updating stories!
Notes:
MI6 – Military Intelligence: Section 6. Also known as SIS (Secret Intelligence Service). British agency charged with supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Founded in 1909, has been an essential resource during the first and second world wars, the cold war period and many other international issues, more recently working on intelligence exchange and counter-terrorism strategies. Headquarters is located on the banks of the River Thames by Vauxhall Bridge, London.
Cambridge Five – a spy ring recruited by Soviet Russia to obtain information from Britain SIS during WWII and the 1950's, with four confirmed members and several other uncovered Soviet spies suspected to have participated in their activities based on confessions and circumstantial cases
Russian Apartment Bombings - a series of explosions in 1999, deemed to be linked based on the chemical composition of the bombs and the similarities of targets: weakest points of large apartment buildings, detonated at night to cause maximum civilian casualties. There were many other linked actions and groups, and while there were court rulings and convictions in 2002, there are still multiple suspected reasons for the events.
QAC – questioning and incarceration
UTP – unknown to public