notaspywrites

[notaspywrites]

Everything You Could - Part two

The team is preparing for negotiations and Chalice is in way over his head. 

And what does the Secret Service have to do with any of this?

Warnings: Hostage situation, discussions of terrorism, strong language, descriptions of injuries and guns

Word count for part two: 4,077 words

Author’s note: And we’re back! This is why I don’t make promises. I definitely could have had this up sooner but the last 100 words or so evaded me for several weeks. Hopefully I can get more up soon but, no promises. Let me know if you want to see stuff other than Team Black up here, though! I write a lot, but not always what I’m supposed to. I can always throw that on here to tide you over until the next update. As always, I hope you enjoy and thank you for reading - not-a-spy

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“Any developments?” Chalice asked, walking into the tent behind Nils. 

“Depends what you mean by developments.” Nils said, his eyes still fixed on his screens. “I’ve run all the other names of the guests, and the staff, and so far I’ve come up with nothing. Either our hostage taker has an alias I haven’t heard of or they aren't a guest.”

Chalice frowned. “Right.”

Nils glanced back at him. “What’s up?”

“I’m in charge of hostage negotiations.” Chalice said. “Karolli’s bringing over a phone line to get me set up.”

Nils pushed his headset off, spinning around to face Chalice fully. “You’re good to go ahead with this?”

“It’s not like I have a choice.”

Nils tilted his head sympathetically. “If you really feel like you aren’t up for it, I’m more than happy to take over.”

Chalice shook his head. “No, its fine. I appreciate the offer though.”

Nils opened his mouth to speak again but was cut off when Karolli stepped into the tent, followed immediately by Vicky. 

“Do we have anything else to work with, Nils?” Vicky asked as Karolli got to work setting up the phone next to Nils’ computers. 

Nils shook his head. “No. I have a final hostage count though. If all the staff are here today, then there’s a total of 31 people in that hotel. Probably not including hostage takers.”

“Right.” Vicky sighed. “Okay, Chalice, I want you to call and reach out. Don’t start any negotiations just yet, just ask if anyone is injured and if there’s anything they need. We can send an agent in if they need medical attention or anything else.”

Chalice nodded. 

“Is that a good idea, ma’am?” Nils asked. 

“I’d rather have a trained agent in there than anyone else.” Vicky said. “But let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” 

“Yes ma’am.”

“The phone’s all set up.” Karolli interjected quietly. “Let me know if you need anything else.” 

“Thank you.” Vicky said. “We’re good for the moment but we’ll let you know.”

Karolli nodded and quickly slipped out of the tent. 

“Are you good to go?” Vicky turned to Chalice. “I know I’m throwing you in at the deep end here, but I trust you on this. And Nils will be right here if you need any help.”

“I’m perfectly happy to step in if you need it.” Nils said. 

“Thanks. I’m good to go, ma’am.” His tone wasn’t at all convincing but Vicky nodded anyway. 

“Okay, good. I’ll let you guys get on with it then. Call me if you need anything.” With that, she stepped out of the tent, leaving Nils and Chalice alone. 

Chalice took a deep breath, his eyes fixed unseeingly on the phone. After a few moments, Nils glanced back at him. 

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” 

“I’m sure.” Chalice’s voice was a flat monotone. He stepped forward and picked up the phone, dialling the number for the hotel’s front desk. Nils pulled on his headset.

It rang for what felt like forever. They both held their breath. 

“Hello?” The voice on the other end was calm but audibly confused. There was the faint noise of voices in the background.

“Hi there!” Chalice said, immediately switching to his normal, upbeat tone. “My name is Henry Chalice, I’m a hostage negotiator. Who am I speaking to?”

There was another long pause. 

“A hostage negotiator?”

“That’s right.” Chalice turned and perched himself carefully on the edge of the table. 

“Nobody here called the police.”

“We were called in by a passerby who heard gunshots.” Chalice said. 

“Oh. Well, uh, we don’t need any hostage negotiator.” 

Nils scribbled something on a sticky note and pushed it quickly towards Chalice. It read: you’re talking to Simon Lundy. 

“I’m sure you know that’s not exactly how this works, Simon.” Chalice said cheerfully. “Is anyone inside hurt? Like I said, we’ve had reports of multiple shots fired.”

There was another long pause. It dragged on for so long that Chalice glanced back at the phone, checking to see if they were still connected. 

“There’s three injured.” Simon said quietly. “How do you know who I am?”

“We have the guest list.” Chalice said. “How seriously injured? We can send in a med team if you need.” 

“Look, Henry, can I call you back?” Simon asked abruptly. The noise in the background had gotten significantly louder and Chalice and Nils shared a glance. 

“Go ahead.” Chalice said. 

The line went dead. 

Chalice breathed out. “How’d I do?”

“Fine.” Nils grinned. “That’s definitely Simon Lundy, and there’s definitely something going on in there. I recorded the conversation and I’m going to run it, see if I can isolate the background noise and find out exactly what’s going on.” 

“So now we wait.” Chalice sighed. 

“Uh huh.” Nils had turned back to his screens, and was messing around with an audio file. “That’s all you can do.”

“I fucking hate waiting.”

“I never would have guessed.” He grinned over his shoulder at Chalice. 

“How are you boys doing?” Cipriana walked into the tent with two coffees in her hands. 

“We’ve made contact.” Chalice took one of the coffees from her gratefully. “Now we’re waiting for a call back.”

Cipriana put a massive iced coffee on the desk next to Nils. “Good work!”

Nils glanced away from his screens. “Thanks! I’m working on clearing up the background noise from that call to see if we can figure out what’s going on in there. Lundy sounded… skittish, wouldn’t you say?”

Chalice nodded. “Yeah. Something was definitely off there.”

“You think Lundy is the hostage taker?” Cipriana asked incredulously. 

Chalice shrugged. “No idea.”

Nils shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. Lundy sounded like he had a gun to his head, he was definitely being used as a pawn.” 

“Literally?” Chalice asked. 

Nils laughed. “Maybe. I don’t know, I was using it as a figure of speech, but it is entirely possible. What I meant was ‘Lundy isn’t doing this of his own accord.’” 

Chalice hummed. “Maybe.” 

“You aren’t convinced?” Cipriana asked. 

“No.” Chalice said. “I see the point, obviously, but to me it sounded like Lundy was surprised, like he didn’t want us involved. He could have been in charge.”

“Agree to disagree.” Nils said cheerfully. 

“You’ve met Lundy before?” 

Nils shook his head. “Not personally. I’ve run surveillance on him before and I recognized the voice. It’s pretty distinctive, the accent and the lisp. Besides, we did know he was there.”

“Wait, surveillance?” Cipriana interjected. “We’ve never done surveillance on McKinley or Lundy.”

“I didn’t say ‘we’ I said ‘I.’” Nils laughed. “I do work outside of this team, you know.” 

Cipriana raised her eyebrows but didn’t press the matter. She was about to speak when the phone rang. Chalice moved over to the phones but waited two rings before picking up.

“Henry Chalice, hostage negotiator.” He said. 

Next to him, Nils started recording again. Cipriana leant over the back of his chair, watching the wave forms on the screen. There was more noise in the background, something that sounded like a voice giving instructions. Nils frowned. 

“It’s Simon Lundy. We need a med team.” 

“Alright.” Chalice said, scribbling a note on a piece of paper and handing it to Cipriana. “You said three injured? How badly?” 

Cipriana looked at the note and left the tent almost at a run. 

“Just one badly injured. She’s been shot in the shoulder and it looks pretty bad.” Simon answered. “The others are mostly alright, just grazed.”

“Okay.” Chalice said. “We’re going to send in a med team to help you, just give us a moment, alright? I’ll call you back when they’re on their way.”

“Okay.” Simon said, and hung up immediately. 

Chalice set the phone down just as Cipriana walked back into the tent, followed by Vicky. 

“I hear they need a med team.” Vicky said. “I don't want to send a medic in if I can help it, like I said earlier.”

“They have three injured but only one badly.” Chalice said. “A bullet wound, in the shoulder. One of us with first aid training should be able to keep it stable until we can get them out.” 

“Right.” Vicky said. She paused for a moment. “I’d like to send two agents in, one to administer first aid and the other to keep an eye on things, just in case everything goes South. We still don’t know what we’re dealing with.” 

“Ma’am I don’t think this is a good idea.” Nils pushed his headset off and spun to face her. “I don’t know what’s going on in there yet and I’d like to at least wait until I can clear up this audio. This could be a trap.”

Vicky sighed. “Yes, I know, but if someone is seriously injured we can’t wait. This is why I’m sending in two agents.”

“What if no one is injured?” Nils asked. 

“We can’t risk lives on a ‘what if.’ What if someone is seriously injured and we hold off and they die? It’s not worth it.” 

Nils frowned, chewing on his bottom lip. “I get that but I’m against sending agents in without an idea of what’s happening.”

“We don’t really have a choice.” Vicky said quietly. 

“Give me two minutes!” Nils almost pleaded. “Two minutes to clean up the audio and make sure this isn’t a trap.” 

“Two minutes.”

Nils turned back to his screens, practically throwing his headset back on. As he did so, Maurice and Jay walked back into the tent. Maurice had a first aid kit in one hand and Jay was cradling a stack of files. 

“Ah, good timing.” Vicky said. “Nils is trying to clean up the background to make sure we aren’t sending agents into a trap. In the meantime, I want to decide who we’re sending in. Maurice, you’re obviously first choice because you’re our best medic.”

“Thank you ma’am.” Maurice said. 

“I’m sending someone else in with you for backup.” Vicky said. “Just in case.”

“Let me go in, ma’am.” Jay said. “If anything happens, I can handle it.”

Vicky smiled but shook her head. “No. You’re an excellent agent, Jay, and I know you could handle it but I want to avoid an all out gunfight if possible.”

Jay laughed. “I see my reputation precedes me. I understand, ma’am.”

“No, Cipriana, I want you in there.” 

“Okay!” Cipriana said. “To diffuse things, I’m guessing?”

“Exactly. These guys are going to see Maurice as a challenger, but they won’t see you as a threat. Use that to your advantage.”

Cipriana grinned. “Absolutely. Am I going to be armed?”

Vicky nodded. “Yes. You both are, but not visibly. Obviously hand over your weapons if asked but otherwise keep them hidden. Just in case. And you’ll both have mics on you, so we’ll be able to hear everything going on.”

Cipriana nodded. ‘Right.”

“Nils?” Vicky glanced over her shoulder at him. 

He swallowed hard. “Well, I cleaned it up. There’s nothing concrete that would tell us its a trap, in either recording but I still don’t like this, ma’am.”

“Nothing concrete?” Chalice prompted. 

“Someone in the background said ‘get their guns when they come in’ but that’s standard for hostage situations.” Nils said slowly. “I don’t like this.”

Chalice frowned, his fingers doing the dance they always did when he needed a cigarette. “It's weird but, but I don’t think it's grounds to not go in.”

“I agree with Chalice.” Vicky said. “We send them in, but carefully. Be on your guards.”

Cipriana and Maurice both nodded. 

“Good. Chalice, let Simon know they’re coming down.”

Chalice picked up the phone and dialled, keeping his eyes on Nils. Nils was looking for the mics in a briefcase, his free hand drumming an anxious rhythm on the table. 

“Henry?”

“Hi there.” Chalice made an effort to sound cheerful. “We’re sending a med team down to you, they’re leaving in a second.”

“Okay, good.” Simon said. “Thank you, Henry.”

“You’re welcome.” Chalice set the phone down and turned back to the rest of the team. “Alright. You’re up.”

“You said a med team.” Maurice said. “Are we supposed to lie?”

Chalice shook his head. “Nope. But if they don’t ask, don’t tell.” 

Maurice nodded. “Understood. Okay, I have the first aid kit, is there anything else we need.” 

“Here.” Nils stood, tucking the small microphone into Maurice’s scarf. “Don’t let them take it off you.”

Maurice raised an eyebrow. “I won’t. Look, Nils, it’ll be fine, okay? Don’t worry so much.”

Nils frowned. “I don’t like this.”

“You’ve said that.”

“Yeah and no one seems to be paying attention.” Nils said. “Seriously, something is up here and its not good. I think its a trap.”

“Which is why we’re being careful.” Maurice said. “We have no proof it’s a trap, okay? Our duty is to the hostages in there and if we don’t act when we think someone is injured, then we’re responsible if they die.”

“And if you die?” Nils’ voice was unusually serious. “Then what? Then who’s responsible?”

“It won’t come to that.”

“You don’t know that.” Nils said. “We have no idea what we’re sending you into and we don’t know if you’ll come out and no one is listening to me!”

“Nils.” Maurice spoke gently. “We’ve been through worse. And we’ve made it out of worse. I promise you, we’ll make it out of this one too.”

“He’s right.” Cipriana smiled, taking the mic from Nils and tucking it under her lapel before pulling her long brown hair over her shoulder, effectively concealing it. “Are we ready?”

“Ready.” Maurice said. 

“Be safe.” Nils said quietly.

“I second that.” Chalice said. “Be careful and stay in touch, yeah? We’ll be listening.”

Maurice nodded. “We will.”

*****

“Okay, play it cool.” The man in the mask hissed at Simon, pushing him forcefully towards the front door of the hotel. There was no sign of the med team yet, but they would certainly be there soon. “Let them assume you’re in charge.”

Simon nodded, slowly. The gun was pressing uncomfortably into his back and he shifted nervously. 

“If you lay a fucking hand on him I will rip them off of you.” Harlon snarled. 

“Oh, calm down Harlon.” A woman with long black hair, holding a gun in one hand, turned to face him, waving the gun casually. “You have no power here.”

“I’m fucking warning you.” Harlon spat. 

“We won’t hurt him unless you make us.” The man smirked. “If you cooperate, then he’ll be fine.”

Simon flinched as there was a knock on the front door. His first instinct was to step back, but the gun was firmly lodged into his back and stopped him from moving. 

“Okay.” The masked man said quietly. “I’m going to step back and let you answer the door. Don’t try anything. And Harlon? If you make any kind of noise at all I will blow his head off with no hesitation.”

Simon gave a terrified nod, so small it was barely noticeable. 

“Got it.” Harlon grunted. 

“Good. Open the door.”

*****

Maurice had just raised his hand to knock again when the door opened, slowly. A young man with short cropped curly black hair stepped aside, gesturing for them to walk past him into the lobby. Maurice and Cipriana shared a glance. 

“Hi.” Maurice said calmly. “Are you Simon Lundy?”

The man nodded but didn’t speak. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Simon.” Maurice said slowly. “I’m Maurice Pierre and this is Cipriana Dukas. We’re here to help.”

“Hi!” Cipriana waved. 

Simon gestured for them to come in again, still not speaking. 

“That’s bad.” Chalice’s voice sounded in Maurice’s ear. “He’s definitely not in charge here.”

Maurice didn’t need anyone voicing his thoughts, so he ignored Chalice and stepped inside. As soon as Cipriana was inside as well, the door slammed shut. A man wearing a mask was standing off to one side, a gun levelled at Simon’s head. Ahead of them, off to one side, a man he recognized as Harlon McKinley was sitting on the main staircase, a woman with long black hair standing just behind him. 

Chalice had been right. This was bad. 

“Put your bags down and set any weapons you have down on the floor in front of you.” The masked man said. 

Maurice and Cipriana complied, setting the bags down then slowly laying their weapons down as well. 

“Is there anyone injured?” Maurice asked. 

“Yes.” The masked man said. “They’re in the dining room. He’s stable but losing a lot of blood. You can tend to him once I’ve checked your bags.”

“Right.” Maurice took a step back, letting the man dump the contents of the two bags onto the ground. “Is anyone else hurt?”

“Harlon here got grazed but he’s fine and so did one of the hotel employees. If you could check her over too, that would be good.” The masked man said, pushing the contents around with his foot. “Okay, you’re clear.” 

Maurice bent down, quickly shoving the items back into the bags. The fact that their weapons had been taken concerned him, admittedly, but he convinced himself that this was just a standard hostage situation. 

“I’ll take you in to see them.” The man said as Maurice straightened up. 

“Thank you.” Maurice said, shooting another quick glance at Cipriana who raised her eyebrows but didn’t speak. 

They followed him out of the lobby into the dining room of the hotel. The rest of the hostages were all grouped up in there, with one man lying on a table in the middle of the room. He was obviously in bad shape. 

“Are you two the med team?” A woman who had been sitting next to the table stood up suddenly, taking a cautious step towards them. 

Maurice nodded. “Yes. I hear you have two injured.”

“One of the waitresses has a graze on her arm but he’s much worse.” The woman said, gesturing at the man on the table. “Can you help?”

Maurice approached the table cautiously, gripping the med bag so tightly his knuckles turned white. He was experienced in first aid but he wasn’t used to using his training under these kinds of circumstances. He pushed down the doubt and tried to sound more confident than he felt. “I’ll do my best ma’am.” 

“Can I help?” Cipriana asked quietly, stepping up beside him. 

The bullet had entered just a little right of his shoulder, leaving a neat hole under the collarbone. It didn’t look too bad to his untrained eye, but it was bleeding profusely.

“Hi.” Maurice forced a reassuring smile. “My name is Maurice Pierre, I’m a medic. What’s your name?”

“Hey there!” The man gave a feeble grin, raising his head slightly to look up at Maurice. “I’m Beckett Saunders, I’m an actor. And, uh, I could be better, y’know, but it sure could be worse. How’s it looking?”

“Not too bad in the grand scheme of things.” Maurice said. “I’ll stop the bleeding, but there isn’t too much else I can do until we can get you out and to a hospital.” 

“Well that doesn’t sound too bad at all.” Beckett grinned. “Unless you’re lying to make me feel better.” 

“I’m not.” Maurice smiled. 

Beckett tilted his head to look at Cipriana. “Is he lying?” 

Cipriana gave a nervous giggle. “Well, I’m not as experienced in first aid as he is but Maurice doesn’t lie, so I’d say no.”

“Good to know.” He winked at her. “And what’s your name?”

Cipriana almost blushed. “I’m Cipriana Dukas.”

Maurice flicked his eyes back and forth between the pair of them for a moment before frowning at Cipriana. “I could use a hand with this.”

“Of course.”

*****

“What’s going on?” Vicky stepped back into the tent. Chalice and Nils were both staring blankly at a computer screen but they glanced up as she approached. 

“They’re in.” Chalice said. “But something is definitely up.”

“What do you mean by that?” 

“Lundy and Harlon aren’t in charge, that much is clear.” Nils said. “And Maurice and Cipriana are now in there, unarmed, caught right between two potentially dangerous groups of criminals.”

“Well, all we can do for the moment is wait.” Vicky said firmly. “We don’t want to aggravate them by calling right now.”

Chalice frowned but didn’t say anything. 

“Are we sure that’s a good idea?” Nils pressed. “These are our friends we’re talking about here and this is almost certainly dangerous.”

“Nils.” Vicky took a deep breath. “I know how you feel about this but they are both trained agents and they know what they’re doing. You have to trust them to do their jobs, alright? Try and keep calm and stay on the line. Chalice, have you heard anything interesting on the mics?”

Chalice shook his head, slowly. “Not really. Nothing more than Nils said. The hostage takers are definitely focused on Harlon though, they seem to be using Lundy to manipulate him somehow.”

“Now that is interesting.I’ll see what more I can find on those two. Nils, I know you’re fairly familiar with these two, any ideas?”

Nils frowned. “I don’t actually. They keep a very low profile, as is fairly standard in their line of work but I can do some digging. There was an undercover op in their circles a while ago, I can reach out and see if they found anything that could help.” 

“Yeah, excellent.” Vicky said, before pausing for a moment. “Wait, wasn’t that a secret service op? How do you know about that?”

“Uh, better you don’t ask, ma’am.” Nils laughed. 

“Understood.” Vicky made her way out of the tent, pausing just in the entrance. “Let me know if you find anything. Or if anything happens.”

“Will do.” Chalice nodded. 

“I say we give them twenty minutes and if we haven’t heard anything then we call Maurice or Cipriana to check in.” Nils said, not taking his eyes off of his screens. 

“Nils, did you say you’ve had experience with McKinley and Lundy before?” Jay asked, making both of them jump. 

Nils gave a startled laugh. “Jesus, I’d forgotten you were here. Yeah, I have, but not enough to know all their previous compatriots by name, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

Jay grinned. “No, its not, actually. I was wondering if there’s any reason they would be using Lundy as leverage against McKinley. McKinley is ruthless, he’s left a trail of old accomplices who he’s abandoned. Why is Lundy any different?”

Chalice frowned. “That’s a good question, actually. What do we know about Lundy?”

“Absolutely fucking nothing.” Jay sighed. “His name is Simon Lundy and he works with Harlon McKinley. Beyond that? Not much.”

“That’s not entirely accurate.” Nils said. “He’s a criminal in his own right, actually, and a pretty good one, considering no one has heard of him. He’s not a jewel thief though, which is why the McKinley team up was surprising.”

“What’s he steal then?” 

Nils laughed. “You won’t believe this. Bike parts. Then he builds the bikes up and sells them on. It’s damn near the perfect crime.” 

“Then how did he end up with McKinley?” Chalice asked. He was rubbing his thumb anxiously along the tips of his fingers, one of the usual signs he needed a cigarette. 

“That’s what we don’t know.” Nils said. “Well, what I don’t know. I’m gonna call one of my secret service buddies, see what he can tell me. Give me a moment.”

Jay nodded, turning back to his files.

Nils dialled the number and waited. He wasn’t entirely sure anyone would pick up, they jumped around so often they were hard to pin down. 

“Heyo, Lyre here.” A bright voice on the other end spoke. 

“Hey Lyre! Karlessen.” Nils said. “I’m looking for some information on Harlon McKinley and Simon Lundy.”

There was a long pause. “What…what kind of information?”

“Anything you can give me that might help.” Nils said. “We’ve got a hostage situation down here involving those two and I’m scrambling for anything that could be of use.”

“You think they’re the hostages or the hostage takers?” 

“Hostages. And we think they’re using Lundy as leverage against McKinley.”

“Oh.” Lyre paused for another long moment. “Christ, Karlessen, this shit is level 7 clearance.”

“Which I have and which I know you have.” Nils leant back in his chair.

Lyre sighed. “Okay. Buckle up.”

[notaspywrites]

Everything You Could - Part one

When a hostage situation arises at a remote hotel in Norfolk, the team is called in to handle it. Missing two agents and with loaner agent Jay Edwards in tow, the team is thrown into a dispute that goes much deeper than they ever thought.

This is no by the book hostage situation.  

The countdown is on. 

And so is the pressure.

Warnings: Hostage situation, discussions of terrorism, strong language

Word count for part one: 4,320 words

Author’s note: Did I say next week? Obviously I meant several months later (sorry).  Anyway, I am back for now and making no promises on when the next installment will be here because I have proven I can’t keep them. HOWEVER I am working on it right now, so keep your eyes out for it. This one is going to take a little longer because I’m rewriting the whole thing instead of just editing, but I’ll get it to you as soon as I can. Thank you for sticking around and, as always, I hope you enjoy! - not-a-spy

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“Morning!” Maurice called as he walked into the office early Monday morning. Chalice and Cipriana glanced up from their respective desks. No one else was in the main office and the blinds on Vicky’s office windows were closed. 

“Hey!” Cipriana replied brightly.

Chalice just nodded, turning back to the large textbook on his desk.

“Is Owens not back yet?” Maurice asked, looking at the empty desk next to Chalice.

“Nah.” Chalice said, slamming the book shut and leaning back in his chair. “He doesn’t come back until next week.”

Maurice nodded, distracted by the book on Chalice’s desk. “Are you studying for your agent exam?”

“What?” Cipriana exclaimed.

Chalice grinned at them. “Yeah. I wasn’t planning on telling you guys until I passed it.I’d prefer if you didn’t say anything to the others.”

“Of course we won’t.” Maurice said, sitting down at his desk. “When are you taking it?”

“This weekend!” Chalice said. He opened his mouth to continue but was cut off by his phone ringing. He answered, turning away from the others.

Maurice turned to face Cipriana. “Where’s Nils?”

Cipriana nodded her head towards Vicky’s office. The blinds were still closed. “In there. Has been since Chalice got here, which was just after 5.”

Maurice frowned. “Any idea why?”

Cipriana shook her head. “Nope. Chalice and I thought that it could be about Owens but, well it’s been almost 2 hours now, so that’s very unlikely.”

“He probably hacked something he shouldn’t have.” Maurice forced a laugh. 

Cipriana smiled. “Maybe it’s budget cuts? Or a job offer from someone else?”

“Whatever it is, it must be pretty serious. I can’t remember the last time that I saw her with her blinds down.”

Cipriana nodded. “Yeah. I guess I’m just trying to make myself feel better. But it is possible he’s gotten a job offer from someone else, isn’t it?”

Maurice frowned. “I suppose. But I doubt that a discussion about that kind of thing would last so long. Unless, of course, the job would keep him closer to home. He would do anything for Nikki.”

“You’re right.” Cipriana began.

As she spoke, Chalice put down the phone, his face serious.

“We’ve got a case.” Chalice said curtly, standing from his desk. “I’ll go get Vicky.”

Maurice and Cipriana glanced at each other, eyebrows raised.

“Something must be very wrong,” Maurice said, watching as Chalice opened Vicky’s door, knocking as he did so. Chalice stepped inside and Maurice turned back to Cipriana. 

“Mondays, am I right?” Cipriana laughed. “Everything has to go wrong at once.”

“Yeah.” Maurice sighed. “And we’re down an agent.”

“Two.” Cipriana corrected him. “Adalie’s on vacation. Won’t be back for two weeks. She’s in Iceland, the lucky thing.”

“Damn,” Maurice said.

“Uh-huh. We get to toil away behind our desks while she’s off on vacation.”

Maurice sighed, leaning dangerously far back in his chair. “It’s a bad time to be down two agents, especially if this mission is as big as I think it is. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Chalice so serious before.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him serious!” Cipriana laughed, her face going dark. “But you’re right, it’s the worst time. D’you think they’ll land us with some loaner agent since we’re down two?” 

Maurice grimaced. “I sure hope not. But depending on what the case is, they might think they have to.” 

As he spoke, Chalice walked out of Vicky’s office, closing the door behind him and gesturing for them to join him in the conference room. His face was still serious, his eyebrows knitted together. No one moved from inside Vicky’s office. Cipriana and Maurice stood from their chairs, quickly following Chalice into the conference room, exchanging a concerned glance as they went.

“What’s going on?” Maurice demanded, closing the door behind him. 

“The case or with Nils?” Chalice asked, distributing case files around the table as he spoke. “If it's about Nils, I don’t know but it isn’t good. Vicky said that she’ll be joining us in a minute, but I’m not sure if Nils will be.”

“Okay!” Vicky made a distinct effort to sound cheerful as she walked into the conference room. Nils wasn’t with her. “Chalice, have you presented the case yet?”

“No.” Chalice said. “D’you want me to wait for Nils or?”

Vicky frowned and shook her head. “No, it’s okay, you can brief him later.”

“Is everything alright?” Maurice asked.

Vicky shook her head again. “I’m sorry Maurice, I can’t tell you what’s going on. And neither can Nils, so please don’t ask him about it. He’s got a lot on his mind.”

Maurice frowned. He had been friends with Nils for ages and if something had been going on, then he was sure that Nils would have told him. He made up his mind to talk to him later, despite what Vicky said.

“Right.” Chalice began, straightening himself up in his chair. “We’ve got a hostage situation in Norfolk, just outside the village of King’s Lynn at the Queen Anne hotel. We have reports of shots fired already but the local police have failed to make contact so far. Right now, they’re waiting for us.”

“Why have we been called in?” Maurice asked.

“Apparently because we have the best expertise in this sort of thing.” Chalice said. “The locals seem to think that this is the work of some terrorist organization. Obviously, we can’t confirm this yet, especially since I can’t get any kind of guest list for the hotel.”

“Right.” Vicky said. “I’ll get Nils on that as soon as we get there. Good thinking, Chalice.”

“Do we have any idea how many people are inside?” Cipriana asked, her fingers toying nervously with a lock of her hair. 

Chalice shook his head. “No. And no idea how many hostage takers either, unfortunately.”

“I take it the report didn’t come from inside the hotel then.” Maurice said. 

“No. A passerby heard gunshots and called the police. More shots were fired after the police got involved, so they called us.”

“Jesus.” Vicky shook her head in disbelief. “What the hell are they doing?”

“No idea ma’am. But they want us there as soon as possible.” 

“Naturally.” Vicky frowned for a moment. “Okay, this could get messy and it is definitely not a good time to be down two agents. Maurice, can you get Nils and tell him we’re leaving in 15? I’m going to see if I can borrow an agent from another team, the rest of you grab your stuff and meet us by the cars.”

Maurice nodded, already on his feet. “I’ll go get him.”

He quickly slipped out of the conference room towards the bathroom, glancing into Nils’ office as he went. It was empty and he went straight into the bathroom, knocking gently on the door as he entered. 

“Has Vicky sent you to check on me?” Nils asked cheerfully, smiling at Maurice. 

He frowned. Despite his cheerful demeanour, Nils’ eyes were red-rimmed and his normally immaculate hair stuck up in all directions.

“No, she told me not to ask you what’s going on,” Maurice said, leaning back against the door. 

“But you’re going to anyway?” Nils smiled.

“Naturally. If there was something going on, I kinda expected you to tell me.” Maurice said.

“Yeah.” Nils looked away from him, fixing his eyes on the floor tiles. “Yeah, I know.”

“Come on Nils, what’s going on? It’s gotta be something pretty serious.” Maurice stopped, looking at Nils in sudden alarm. “Is everything okay with Nikki?”

Nils laughed, looking Maurice in the eyes again. “Yes! Yeah, we’re fine, it’s not that.”

“Then what is it? Come on Nils, don’t make me pry it out of you. If you can’t tell me, then say that, don’t do whatever this shit is.”

“I can’t tell you. Well, I could but,” Nils sighed, shaking his head, “it’s not time yet.”

Maurice frowned. “Okay. You know you can talk to me if anything’s seriously wrong, right? I’m always around.”

“Yes, yes I know Maurice and I’m always grateful for that,” Nils said. “But I don’t want you to worry about this. Promise?”

Maurice laughed, pulling away from Nils’ hands and opening the door back to the main office, letting Nils step through first. “Well, you failed. I’m already worried.”

Nils sighed. “Of course you are. I know I can’t make you not worry about it but I promise it’ll all work out okay. I’ll make sure of it.”

Maurice looked at him sceptically. “Sure. Anyways, Vicky’s meeting us at the cars, we have a case.”

“Chalice said,” Nils said, leaning around the doorway of his office to grab a brown messenger bag that was lying on the floor. “What is it? I’m afraid I wasn’t really listening to him.”

Maurice sighed. “A hostage situation. At a hotel out in Norfolk.”

“Oh great.” Nils said sarcastically. “Do we know how many hostages they have?”

“No, we have no idea. There’s been no contact established yet, so we have absolutely no clue as to what’s happening inside. All we know is that there’s already been shots fired.” Maurice said, pulling open the door to the stairwell.

“Jesus! Shots fired already? Yeah, that’s bad.” Nils said. “And no contact established? What the hell are the locals doing to provoke that kind of a response?”

“We really don’t know.”

“So we’re just going in blind, huh?” Nils asked as they walked into the parking garage. Chalice waved at him.

“Yeah, we are.” Chalice gave a wry smile. “Best way to deal with a hostage situation, obviously.”

“Oh yeah, of course.” Nils laughed. “Where’s Vicky?”

“Trying to find us a replacement agent.” Cipriana said. “Since we’re down two.”

“Oh, right.” Nils said. “I forgot Adalie’s on vacation this week.”

“Okay!” Vicky stepped into the parking garage, an agent following behind her. He was a little shorter than her, with dirty blond hair and wearing a tattered green army jacket. 

“Everyone, this is agent Jay Edwards.” Vicky said. “He’s from Team Red and he’ll be helping out, since we’re down two agents.”

Jay waved. “Hey everyone!”

Maurice waved back, grinning. “I thought you’d quit.”

“Can’t get rid of me that easily.” Jay grinned back. 

“Plenty of time for catching up later.” Vicky said, already climbing into one of the cars. “Right now, we need to get going. Jay, I’d like you in the second car with Chalice, please. He’ll brief you and Nils on the way down.” 

Jay nodded. “Yes ma’am.”

Vicky walked towards the other car, gesturing at Cipriana and Maurice to follow her. Jay turned to Chalice and Nils.

“We’ve met, briefly.” Jay said, reaching over to shake Chalice’s hand. 

Chalice smiled. “Yes, we have, ages ago. It’s good to see you again, agent Edwards.”

“You too.” Jay turned to Nils. “We haven’t met. I’m agent Edwards but you can call me Jay.”

“Nils Karlessen, technical analyst.” Nils shook Jay’s hand. “You were drafted for the original team, weren’t you?”

“Yeah!” Jay grinned as they climbed into the car. “You’ve certainly done your research.”

“He reads files for fun.” Chalice said, sliding into the driver’s seat as he spoke. 

Nils laughed. “I’ve been trying to digitise all our old files in my spare time. Most of them are still on paper and I’m slowly trying to bring Interpol into the 21st century.”

“That’s a mammoth task!”

“Yeah, it’ll probably take me another century or two.” Nils grinned. “But then again, it’s not exactly like I have a lot of spare time. Anyway, Chalice, what’s the brief?”

 “There’s a hostage situation at a hotel in Norfolk. I honestly don’t have any more information than that, other than we have shots fired and no communication.” Chalice said. 

“Jesus.” Jay said. “That’s really not a lot to go off of.” 

“No it isn’t.” Nils frowned. “We don’t even have a count on how many hostages?”

Chalice shook his head. “Nope.”

“Who’s our hostage negotiator, by the way?” Jay asked. 

“Chalice and I both have training.” Nils said. “I’m not sure which one of us Vicky wants in charge this time.”

“Yeah I’m not sure on that either.” Chalice said. “Out of curiosity, Jay, where do they have you now?”

“I’m with drug squad at the moment but there’s rumours of me being bounced again.” Jay laughed. “I can’t seem to keep a team, for some reason. I’ve been with terrorism, robbery, trafficking and drugs all within two years.”

Chalice laughed. “Well, at least you get some variety.”

“I suppose so.” Jay grinned. “The job never gets boring, that’s for sure. So, Nils, how long have you been with the team?”

“Coming up on five years.” Nils said. “So, a while.”

“Yikes, yeah, that’s quite the career, especially with team black.” Jay said. “You’ve lost most of the originals, huh?”

“Not quite.” Nils said. “Vicky, Maurice and Adalie are all still here, Adalie’s just on vacation at the moment.”

“Oh! I had no idea.” Jay said. “How about you, Chalice? You’re ex MI6, aren’t you?”

Chalice nodded. “Yeah. I’ve only been here a few months now but it sure is a nice change from MI6 office politics.” 

Jay paused for a moment, lost in thought, before responding. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

*****

Several hours later, the two cars pulled up on a gravel parking lot overlooking an imposing stone building. Half a dozen police cars and a police van were already on-site, but no one had approached any further than the gates of the hotel. Three tents were set up around the gate, flimsy canvas things with blue tarps serving as makeshift floors. The cold Norfolk wind tore through the tents, shaking the canvas walls and ruffling the files pinned down to folding tables with rocks borrowed from the surrounding landscape. The wind bit through their clothes and Nils retreated further into his puffy blue parka. Chalice shivered, drawing his thin coat closer around his shoulders and pulling on a pair of oversized wool gloves that didn’t match the rest of his outfit. As they got out of the cars, an officer ran out of one of the tents to greet them.

“Hey! You must be the Interpol team, right?” The young officer said breathlessly, stopping in front of them.

“Yes, you’re Alec Karolli, right? I’m Henry Chalice, we spoke on the phone.” Chalice said, stepping forward to shake Alec’s hand. Alec nodded enthusiastically. Chalice continued. “This is Vicky Elliot, team leader, Nils Karlessen, technical analyst and agents Maurice Pierre, Cipriana Dukas and Jay Edwards.”

 Alec dutifully shook hands with everyone. “I’m glad to have you here! Are you ready to set up now and get started?”

Chalice nodded. “Yeah. Can I ask why you haven’t established contact with them yet?”

“And we’ve had reports of shots fired already,” Vicky added.

Alec looked away uncomfortably. “Uh, well, we aren’t very well prepared for this sort of thing. We tried to get them to talk, just with a megaphone but they, well, we thought they might, that we might be in danger, so we fired.”

“Okay.” Chalice took a deep breath. “Where can we set up?”

“You can have all the tents, we won’t get in your way. The tent over by the gates, the one right next to the van, has the most outlets. What else do you need?” Alec asked nervously.

Chalice glanced over at Vicky and Nils.

“We’re good for the moment.” Vicky said. “Just get your people together and I’ll brief you all in a moment.” 

“Yes ma’am.” Alec nodded at them and ran off in the direction of the tents. 

“This isn’t going to be easy.” Chalice sighed. “Their attack might have already jeopardised our chances of getting them to talk to us.”

“What’s the plan?” Maurice asked. “And what are the rest of us doing?”

Vicky frowned. “Nils, I want you to figure out who exactly is in that hotel before we go any further. That might help us figure out what they want.”

Nils nodded. “Sure. You want me to make contact as well?”

“No, not yet. I want us to stay quiet right now. We reach out when we have an idea what they might want.” Vicky said. “We don’t want to provoke them any more.”

“Of course.”

“As for the rest of us,” Vicky turned to Maurice, “We’ll be figuring out a way to get inside the hotel if worst comes to worst. If we have to, one of us can go in to deliver supplies and give medical assistance. I know it isn’t technically our job, but I would much rather have one of us in there than an unarmed paramedic.” Vicky said.

Maurice nodded. “Right.”

“Okay, I’m going to go get set up.” Nils smiled sweetly at Maurice, who rolled his eyes. “Can you help me with my computers?”

“Why d’you need so many computers anyways? Can’t you just use the one for everything?” Maurice groaned as they walked back towards the cars. 

Nils laughed. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”

“Mmmm, of course.” Maurice laughed, lugging one of Nils’ many computers out of the back of the car. Nils grabbed two more and followed Maurice towards the tents.

“Can you promise me something?” Nils asked as they neared the tents.

“What, that I won’t worry about you? No, I can’t.”

Nils smiled wistfully. “It’s not that. Promise me that you’ll be very careful if you have to go in there. We have no idea what we’re up against here and whoever it is must be dangerous.”

“Better me than a medic.”

Nils sighed. “Better no one goes in there. But if you have to, please remember your training. Keep your head.”

Maurice frowned. “You’re not going to tell me what’s going on, are you?”

“It’s not related to the case if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Then why the sudden immense concern about my well-being?”

Nils gave a not entirely convincing laugh. “It’s my job to look after you. Aren’t I allowed to be worried about my friend?”

Nils walked away with his cases and Maurice frowned at his retreating back. He paused for a moment, lingering outside in the cold with his hands stuffed deep into his pockets, his eyes still fixed on Nils’s back. Taking a deep breath, Maurice followed Nils into the tent silently. Despite what Nils had repeated over and over again, he was definitely worried. When he had a moment, he’d speak to Nikki to see if he knew what was going on. If Nils wouldn’t talk to him about whatever was going on, then he’d probably have better luck with Nikki. 

*****

“Any luck with the guest list yet?” Vicky asked as she walked into the tent where Nils was already set up. 

Nils nodded. “I have access to their system, so I can see everyone who has checked in. It’s the slow season, so there are only 12 rooms occupied at the moment, leaving us with 18 guests. I haven’t checked the staff yet, so I’m not sure how many hostages we have in total.”

“Any interesting names on the list?” Vicky asked, perching herself on the table next to Nils’ computer set up.

“Oh yeah.” Nils grinned. “Harlon McKinley.”

Vicky’s eyebrows shot up. “Not… no, you aren’t serious.” 

“Dead serious.” Nils said. 

“What the hell is he doing here?” Vicky demanded, pushing herself off of the desk and beginning to pace the floor. “Wasn’t he in prison?”

“No one holds McKinley.” Nils said. “He was, for a while, but they released him.”

 “Christ.” Vicky sighed. “But why here? And what does he have to do with this?” 

“Something.” Nils’ eyes were still focused on his screens. “I’m sure of it. Lundy’s with him, so something’s up.”

“Any other names we know?” Vicky asked. 

Nils shrugged. “Uh, not sure yet. These people use so many aliases that I can’t be sure who I’m looking at. If you give me a few minutes, I’ll run the rest of the guests and see if I come up with anything.”

Vicky nodded. “Yeah, do that. I’m going to brief the others.” 

She walked out of Nils’ tent to where the rest of the team had clumped around a folding table. They all glanced up as she approached. 

“Do we have any news?” Chalice asked. 

“We do.” Vicky sighed. “There are currently 18 guests in the hotel, we’re working on getting a staff count as well. Harlon McKinley is one of them.”

“Shit.” Jay groaned. 

“Am I the only person that doesn’t know who that is?” Chalice asked, glancing around.

“You may have missed it because it went down about when WBFC was happening.” Vicky said. “Harlon McKinley is a jewel thief who runs a pretty extensive operation. Not only does he steal them, he also sells them on, usually to other thieves. He’s travelling with his main partner in crime at the moment, Simon Lundy.” 

“Wasn’t he in prison?” Maurice asked. “McKinley, I mean.” 

“He was, up until very recently.” Vicky said. “According to Nils, he was released.”

“Does he have something to do with this?” Jay asked. 

Vicky shrugged. “Probably.”

“But what?” Chalice asked, leaning over the table. “He’s a jewel thief, not a hostage taker, right?”

“Maybe he’s the target!” Cipriana said. “That seems more likely. Maybe someone’s trying to get their jewels back or something.”

Vicky nodded. “That does seem possible. Nils is running the rest of the guest list to see if anyone else comes up, but it’s possible our hostage taker isn’t a guest.”

“What’s our plan for making contact?” Maurice asked. “We need to make sure no one in there is injured, but we don’t want to provoke them in any way.”

“I’m going to hold off until Nils has a good grasp on who exactly is in there and then we’ll make contact.” Vicky said. “I’m hoping that if anyone is badly injured, they’ll reach out to us.”

Jay frowned. “They may not, ma’am. If this is an internal dispute between McKinley and one of his old accomplices, they won’t want us involved.”

“Right.” Vicky frowned, chewing on her bottom lip. “Okay. I need to brief the locals, and I’m going to call around to see if there’s a warrant for McKinley anywhere. Chalice, you’re our hostage negotiator. Get Karolli to set you up with a phone line then see what Nils has on the rest of the hostages. The rest of you, dig up everything we have on McKinley and Lundy, see if we can narrow down who might be involved.”

Chalice started. “Ma’am? You’re sure you want me on this? I can do the calling, I am a liaison, after all.”

Vicky paused just before she stepped out of the tent. “Yes, I’m sure. Leave the liaising to me for now.”

“Ma’am I’m not qualified. I don’t have agent training or any experience with hostage negotiation.” Chalice pushed back. 

“Then it’s time you got some.” Vicky said firmly. 

Maurice glanced between them and swallowed hard. “Owens isn’t coming back, is he?”

“That’s not important right now.” Vicky shot him down. “If you want to be an agent, Chalice, you need to learn how to deal with these kinds of situations. We need all the help we can get right now. Leave the liaising to me for a while, this is much more important. I trust you on this. If you need help, ask Nils.”

“Ma’am,” Chalice opened his mouth to protest again but Vicky cut him off.

“That’s final.” She said. She turned to Maurice. “And Owens will be coming back.”

“But?” Maurice prompted. 

Vicky sighed. “I’m not supposed to be telling you this.” 

“Tell them we forced it out of you.” Maurice said. 

“He’ll be coming back, but, and this isn’t set in stone yet, but his agent status will be revoked and he won’t be allowed to be in the field.”

Chalice shook his head, breaking eye contact with Vicky and getting out of his chair to pace to the side of the tent.

“Not in the field at all?” Maurice asked.

“Not at all. He’ll come with us to wherever we are but he’ll have to stay in the office or wherever base is.”

“They might as well just fire him then.” Chalice said. “What good is he to anyone if he can’t actually do anything?”

“They’re prepared to give him a second chance. Now,” 

Cipriana cut her off. “Give him a second chance? I don’t really know what’s going on with him right now, but he didn’t do anything wrong, even I know that much.”

Maurice nodded. “It’s not his fault.”

Vicky sighed. “I know that but it wasn’t my place to make that decision. I had to beg them for that much even. According to them, he's a liability.”

“Bullshit.” Chalice said.

“I agree with you there, Chalice. Unfortunately, I have to listen to my boss. Now, let’s get on with it. Let me know if there are any developments.” Vicky said, before turning and walking out of the tent. 

[notaspywrites]

Welcome Back to Team Black

Hello and welcome back to Team Black! Apologies for the long break between posts but the team will be back next week with their next adventure. As always, get ready for crime solving, drama and general chaos. In the meantime, get your iced coffees ready and stick around for a preview. 

Team Black returns next week in their second adventure Everything You Could. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vicky sighed, leaning back in her chair. “And you’re absolutely sure that this is what you want to do?”

“Of course I’m not sure.”

“I,” Vicky hesitated for a moment before continuing, “I can’t tell you what to do. Just, think about this. Please. Make sure you’re doing what’s best. But whatever you choose, the team will have your back.”

[notaspywrites]

Don’t Tell Me - part four - END

It’s Saturday and things are...not going according to plan. 

Will they pull through? Can Owens and Adalie save the day?

And where has Chalice gotten to?

Warnings: mentions of terrorism, depictions of violence, mentions of bombs, explosions, guns, smoking, swearing and descriptions of panic and anxiety attacks.

Word count for part four: 4,048

Author’s note: And we’re at the end! I hope you’ve enjoyed this Team Black adventure and don’t worry, there will be more coming soon. I’ll be taking a week off in between, but I’ll be back soon with more Team Black. In the meantime, get your iced coffees ready and please don’t be afraid to let me know what you think! As ever, thank you for reading - not-a-spy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Adalie was breathing heavily, her hair, which had been arranged in a tight bun, now sticking out in all directions, her bangs matted down with sweat. She swallowed hard. Owens wasn’t sure he’d ever seen her so nervous. Normally, she was the cool headed one on the team, the one who kept everyone together, but Interpol didn’t train their agents in bomb defusal so that position had fallen to him. He was about as far from calm as he could get without having a full-on panic attack. 

“How much time?” Owens asked.

“Five minutes. Please hurry up.” Adalie said. 

“Going as fast as I can.” Owens answered, trying to keep his voice calm and reassuring. He wasn’t sure how well he was succeeding in that regard, but he didn’t think Adalie was really paying attention. 

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Adalie held her breath as he cut the next wire, visibly relaxing when nothing happened. 

He wasn’t sure, not in the slightest, but he wasn’t going to admit that. “Yes.” 

“So, what’s our next step?” Adalie asked. She was doing a bad job of pretending to be calm, her voice shaking despite her best efforts. 

“Hand me that screwdriver.” Owens said. 

Adalie did and he began to unscrew the small metal panel, holding his breath. He hadn’t used his bomb training in years and the fact that his hands were shaking like the leaves of a weeping willow wasn't helping. On the other side of the bomb, Adalie figited. Her obvious anxiety wasn’t helping Owens to stay calm. 

The panel popped off easily. 

“Oh god there’s actually coloured wires, just like the movies.” Adalie tried to force a smile onto her face but failed long before it reached her eyes. She paused, trying to meet Owens’ eyes. “What do we do?”

He didn’t answer her for a moment, his eyes fixed on the bomb. “Give me a second.” 

“We have three minutes.” She hissed. 

“Just give me a second to think.” Owens replied, still not meeting her eyes. He was chewing absentmindedly on his bottom lip, frowning at the wires in front of him as if they would give him answers. Why was he in charge of this thing in the first place? He wasn’t qualified for this, not with the lives of goodness knew how many people, including the team, at stake. Certainly not with Chalice in that building. He quickly turned his mind back to the bomb. 

He was so preoccupied that he barely heard Chalice’s flustered voice in his ear above the relentless pounding of his own heart.

“This isn’t a good time.” Owens replied automatically, more curtly than he wanted to, and barely listened to Chalice’s reply.

 When the words finally registered, everything stopped.

“I’m sorry.” Chalice whispered, before the line went dead.

Owens froze, hit by a wave of indistinguishable emotions followed closely by a wave of overwhelming panic. He couldn’t breath, couldn’t even open his eyes. Chalice was about to die and …

His thoughts trailed off, found nowhere else to go, and circled back around again. 

“Owens!” Adalie practically yelled his name and he forced himself to open his eyes and fake some semblance of concentration on the task at hand.

“Sorry.” Owens mumbled. “You cut the green wire and I'll cut the yellow one. Ready?” 

They cut both the wires at the same time, her blue eyes fixed intently on his. He looked away quickly. Nothing happened, no explosion, and he felt Adalie give a sigh of relief. He swallowed hard, his mind still racing a mile a minute. He needed to focus. He needed to defuse the bomb.

He wasn’t entirely sure how he managed it. They cut the wires, his brain working on autopilot, as if he was back in training working on a decoy. He was only aware that he had done it successfully when Adalie almost cheered.

“Mein Gott, you did it. With 30 seconds to spare.” Adalie flashed him a rare smile but his mind had already started to spiral downwards and suddenly he couldn’t breath. The smile quickly vanished from her face. Her lips moved but Owens couldn’t hear her, couldn’t focus on anything. 

He only barely registered her voice speaking rapidly to Nils or someone. He felt someone grab him, lift him to his feet, saying something he couldn’t make out. 

“Owens!” Maurice’s face came into focus and Owens managed to take a deep breath. Maurice gently sat him down. “Hey, you good?”

“I’m alright.” Owens managed to gasp out. “Just shaken. It was a tense moment, y’know, I haven’t used that bomb training in many years.”

Owens gave Maurice a weak smile, which he returned, hesitantly. 

“You sure you’re alright? You look a little rough.”

“I’ll be fine!” Owens struggled to make himself sound calm and relaxed. “I just need a second. Where’s Chalice?”

*****

“We’ve got him out.” Maurice spoke into his earpiece as he pushed his way past throngs of confused politicians to get back into the building. “I’m going back in, we’re still missing Chalice.”

“Fuck. Is Owens okay?” Nils asked. 

Maurice slipped past a group of flustered ladies in ball gowns and quickly ran down the stairs into the basement of the hotel. “Not really, but it could be worse. He’s holding it together, for now.”

“Right.” Nils’ voice was tense. “Cipriana, you were with Chalice, right? Where did you see him last?”

Maurice pushed open a door at the bottom of the stairs, blatantly ignoring the ‘staff only’ label on it. 

“I don’t know, I didn’t see if he went upstairs or down into the basement. Maurice, where are you?” Her voice echoed in his ear. 

“I went downstairs, you can take the upstairs. Nils, have you managed to contact him yet?” Maurice asked, pausing a moment to let his eyes adjust to the darkness before moving forwards slowly.

“No, I’ve got nothing on my end.” Nils said. 

Cipriana sighed. “Maurice, I can’t help thinking this was my fault.”

“Nonsense.” Maurice said. “He’s an adult, he can look after himself and he should know better.”

“Yeah.” Cipriana said. 

“What’s going on with Owens, by the way?” Maurice asked. “He’s not looking too good.”

“I don’t know. Adalie said he was talking to someone on his earpiece then he went weird and really quiet. It wasn’t me, and it wasn’t Nils.”

“So it must have been Chalice.” Maurice finished. “What the fuck did he say?”

“We’ll have to ask him when we find him.” Cipriana said. “Anything on your end yet?”

“Nothing.” Maurice said, pausing outside a closed door. He listened for a second before pushing the door open. The room was empty.

“Oh shit!” Cipriana half-yelled, almost making Maurice fall over. “Oh shit, Maurice, call a med team. Chalice has been shot.”

“Fuck.” Maurice turned around and practically sprinted back up the stairs and out of the door towards the ambulances. “Hang on, Cipriana, someone will be there in a second.”

“Okay.” Cipriana said. She sounded surprisingly calm. 

“Where are you?” Maurice asked, stopping next to one of the ambulances. 

“In the upstairs hallway, right at the end of the corridor.” Cipriana said.

“Someone’s been shot, upstairs at the end of the hallway.” Maurice panted, speaking to one of the paramedics. He nodded, gesturing to another paramedic. 

“We’ll get right up there. D’you know if they’re conscious?”

“Cipriana?” Maurice said into his earpiece. “Is he still conscious?”

“No.”

Maurice shook his head and the paramedics ran off towards the building.

“They’re on their way, just hang on.” Maurice said, hoping he sounded reassuring.

“Okay. I’ll ride with him and meet you at the hospital, okay?”

“Sure. I think Nils has already driven Owens down there so I’ll see if I can hitch a lift with one of the BND guys.”

Harmon, who had just walked up beside him, raised his eyebrows and gestured at a car behind him.

“Alright. I gotta go, Maurice, I’ll see you at the hospital.” Cipriana said.

The line went dead and Maurice turned to Harmon.

“You need a lift?” Harmon asked. 

“Yes please, to the hospital if you don’t mind.”

Harmon raised his eyebrows in alarm, already starting to move towards the car. “Everyone okay?”

Maurice sighed. “It looks like Chalice has been shot and Owens isn’t doing too well. Frankly, I have no idea what’s happening.”

“”Yikes.” Harmon said as they climbed into the car. “I mean, on the bright side, you guys pulled off that operation pretty seamlessly.”

“Thanks to Owens we did. Do you guys have bomb training?” Maurice asked casually.

“No?”

“Yeah neither do we. Luckily for us, MI-6 used to, that’s the only thing that saved this operation.”

“That’s damn lucky. Your agent saved everyone in that building.”

Maurice nodded. “Yeah, yeah he did.” 

Harmon nodded quietly and they fell into silence for the rest of the drive. The night was dark and clear, without a spot of rain. Maurice stared gloomily out of the passenger side window, lost in thought. There was something going on, something in the works that he didn’t like. Being only an agent, Vicky and Nils didn’t tell him anything, but he could feel that something was off. 

“We’re here.” Harmon’s voice cut into his thoughts. 

“Oh. Thanks for the ride, I guess I’ll see you later.” Maurice said as he climbed out of the car. 

“Yeah, for sure. Are you guys leaving immediately, d’you think?” Harmon asked, leaning over the passenger seat to talk to Maurice out of the partially open door. 

Maurice shrugged. “I don’t know. I’d guess we’ll be hanging around for awhile, since we now have two agents in hospital. And I still don’t know what’s going on with Owens.”

“Right. I’m sure Nils will let us know. Best wishes to you guys.”

Maurice nodded again. “Thanks.”

He turned and walked towards the hospital, tucking his hands into the pockets of his suit jacket. He had only just remembered that he was still wearing the suit from the ball and sighed. 

Nils and Cipriana were waiting for him just inside the doors of the hospital. Both of them looked disheveled and tired, Cipriana leaning heavily against the wall in an effort to stay upright.  

“Hey.” Nils said, turning towards him. 

“Hey. How’s Chalice doing?” Maurice asked through a yawn.

Nils shrugged. “There’s no update yet, but as far as we know he’s still unconscious.”

Maurice swallowed hard. “Is he expected to pull through?”

“We don’t know.” Nils sighed, passing a hand over his face. “They won’t tell us anything. We’re going to have to wait.”

“Why don’t you guys go back to the hotel?” Maurice suggested. “You look exhausted. I’ll stay and let you know if anything happens.”

Okay.” Nils said. “You’ll have to sit with Owens though, he’s still not doing too great.”

“Right.” Maurice nodded. He had expected as much. “I’ll grab a cup of coffee and go sit with him.”

“Sounds good. And you’ll let me know whatever happens, right?”

“Of course.” Maurice said. “Go back to the hotel and get some rest, both of you. I’ll be okay.”

“Okay.” Nils said. “We’ll see you in the morning then. Oh! The room is just down that hall to the right, you’ll see Owens sitting outside. Call if you need anything at all.”

“Yes, of course I will. Go!” Maurice laughed, gesturing towards the doors. 

They left, Nils flashing him a wave as he left. Maurice sighed, running his fingers through his curls, the sticky texture reminding him of the copious amounts of gel in his hair. Shaking his fingers free, he made his way towards Chalice’s room. He stopped by the small canteen on his way, grabbing a cup of strong coffee and, on second thought, a glass of water for Owens. 

Maurice turned the corner of the corridor and stopped. Owens was sitting about halfway down the corridor, his head between his knees and his hands laced over the back of his head. Maurice frowned sadly and made his way quietly down the corridor towards him. Maurice stopped, putting his coffee down on a chair and kneeling down in front of Owens. 

“Hey.” He said quietly. 

Owens started, suddenly sitting bolt upright. His breathing was fast and irregular. Maurice held out the glass of water to him and Owens took it with a quiet nod, taking a small sip.

“What d’you need?” Maurice asked gently. Owens gasped for air and shook his head helplessly. 

“I-” He swallowed hard, trying to force the words out.

“It’s okay.” Maurice said. “Take your time. What normally helps?” 

“Chalice.” Owens managed to gasp. 

“Okay. What does he normally do? How can I help?”

Owens shook his head again. “He just, he just waits it out.”

“Okay. I need you to take a deep breath, okay?” Maurice said gently. Owens did. “Good. There’s something I’m gonna get you to try, alright? This might work to calm you down a little, hopefully.”

Owens looked confused but nodded, his breath still coming hard and fast. 

“Alright. Take another deep breath and tell me five things that you can see.”

“What?” Owens asked breathlessly.

“Tell me five things you can see.” Maurice repeated patiently. “It’s a grounding exercise, it’ll help to bring you back to reality.” 

“Okay.” Owens said, hesitantly, making an effort to steady his breathing and raising his head just enough to look around him a little. “Uh, well, you, obviously, and the tile floor, and the benches opposite, and…”

“You’re doing great.” Maurice said gently. “Two more.”

“Um, the, the glass of water and, the nurse down the hall.” Owens finished, his breathing gradually starting to return to normal.

“Okay, great. Now, four things you can hear.” 

Owens continued, still stumbling over his words a little, but his breath slowed and evened out, the colour gradually returning to his face. When Owens finished, he was still shaky but much calmer. Maurice smiled at him.

“Okay. Better?”

Owens nodded. “Yeah, a little. Thank you.”

“It’s no problem. I won’t be going anywhere, I offered to stay behind and keep an eye on you two.”

Owens shuddered. “Is he gonna be alright?”

Maurice frowned, looking away at the blank white walls. “We aren’t sure yet.”

“He…” Owens started, burying his face in his hands.

“Hey, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. Just focus on breathing for right now.”

“No, no I need to tell someone.” Owens said. “He, he thought he was going to die, I guess, and he.. He said he loved me.”

Owens looked ready to burst into tears and Maurice gently handed him back the glass of water.

“Just breathe, Owens, just focus on breathing okay. We don’t need to deal with that right now, alright, it can wait.”

Maurice cursed under his breath. How could Chalice have done something so stupid when he knew that Owens was in such a delicate mental state. Owens finished his glass of water, his shaky breathing finally returning to almost normal. Maurice looked at him and took a sip of his forgotten coffee. 

“You sure you’re going to be alright?”

“I think so.” Owens said quietly. “Thank you, Maurice, for everything. Where did you learn that stuff? My therapist never taught me anything like that.”

“Really? They should teach you coping skills, if these attacks keep happening.” Maurice frowned. “I learnt them from my boyfriend. He used to get panic attacks too, so I did some research, took some courses and learnt how to help with them. I’ve got some books I can give you that might help.”

“Really? I, well, honestly don’t think I’ve been coping so far, just, getting through it and trying to ignore it.”

“You’ve been seeing someone about it?” Maurice asked.

“Yeah, but, I don’t talk about this kind of thing, y’know? It’s, it’s not who I want to be. I’m stronger than that.”

“It’s not a sign of weakness.” Maurice said, forcefully. “You’ve just had to rely on yourself for so long. I’m not surprised you broke down. Anyone would.”

Owens smiled, nodding gently at him. “I guess I never really thought of it like that.”

“You can’t carry the whole world on your shoulders. Even you need a break sometimes. Now try and get some rest, I’ll wake you up if anything happens.”

*****

Nils strode into the hospital early the next morning, carrying a tray of coffees. He found Maurice and Owens still in the hallway outside Chalice’s room, Owens asleep and Maurice barely conscious, struggling to keep his eyes open despite the pile of empty coffee cups next to him.

“Morning!” Nils smiled. Maurice sat up straight and rubbed his eyes. Nils grinned and handed him a cup of coffee. “I think you might need this.”

“Thanks. I didn’t sleep at all last night.” Maurice said, yawning. 

“I didn’t think you would. Any news of Chalice?”

Maurice shook his head. “He’s alive and stable but not conscious yet.”

“Damn. Well, at least he’s alive. How’s Owens doing?” Nils asked, nodding towards the sleeping figure next to Maurice. 

Maurice sighed and shook his head sadly. “Not great. I managed to calm him down and get him to sleep a little, but he’s in one hell of a state, Nils. Chalice apparently made a confession of love because he thought he was about to die. It completely threw him.”

“Fuck.” Nils swore. “What was the idiot thinking? Take Owens back to the hotel and I’ll sit with Chalice.”

“Don’t make too much of a scene when he wakes up please.” Maurice laughed.

“I’ll try not to. But you bet I’m going to give him one hell of a talking to.”

Maurice laughed again, and leant over to gently shake Owens by the shoulder. He woke up with a start.

“Morning!” Nils said cheerfully, handing him a cup of tea. “How are you feeling?”

“Thanks. I’m alright, a little shaky, maybe, but I’m sure I’ll be okay.” Owens said quietly. He was pale and his voice lacked its normal confidence. 

“Okay. Not sure I believe you, but okay.” Nils said. “Uh, ah yeah, I’ve been told that you’ll be flying back on Wednesday. I spoke to Vicky’s doctor and she said that Vicky’ll be good to fly back then.”

“Really?” Maurice asked. “I didn’t think she’d be cleared yet.”

“She should be good by Wednesday. We don’t know about Chalice yet, but it’s looking pretty unlikely, so if he isn’t cleared to fly I’ll end up hanging around to look after him.”

“I guess you won’t let me stay instead?” Owens asked halfheartedly.

“Definitely not.” Nils said decisively. “You need to go back to London and rest. Besides, I’m going to give him shit when he wakes up.”

Owens cracked a weak smile. 

“Don’t worry, I won’t be meaner than he deserves.” Nils laughed. Maurice looked as if he had drifted off again and Nils poked him awake. “Maurice, for the love of god, go back to the hotel and get some sleep. Owens, will you go with him, please?”

Owens nodded reluctantly and got to his feet. 

“Hey.” Nils caught him gently by the elbow as he walked past him. “Promise me you’ll look after yourself, okay? I’ll let you know as soon as he wakes up.”

Owens nodded again. “Yeah, I’ll, I’ll do my best. Thanks, Nils, I appreciate it. Just, don’t be too hard on Chalice. He was scared.”

Nils sighed. “I know. But he shouldn’t have put you in that situation, Owens, it’s not fair on you.”

“He wasn’t thinking straight. He thought it was going to be the last thing he said.” Owens said quietly, his voice starting to waver a little. 

“Okay, alright, I won’t go too hard on him.” Nils backed off. “Now, get back to the hotel and make sure Maurice doesn’t pass out on the way there.”

Maurice grimaced playfully at him, chugging the rest of his coffee as he followed Owens out of the hospital.

*****

A week later

“Nice to have you back!” Nils said cheerfully, spinning round to face him as Chalice wandered into his office early Friday morning. 

“How long have you been in?” Chalice asked, flopping down onto the sofa opposite Nils. The pair had only gotten back late the night before and Chalice had just barely managed to get to Interpol half an hour late. 

“Uh, since about 5.” Nils’ face went serious. “I’ve had paperwork to fill out.”

“Jesus.” Chalice mumbled, suppressing a yawn. “I don’t know how you manage it.”

“It’s called ‘copious amounts of iced coffee.’” Nils laughed. “You look like you need some.”

Chalice stuck his tongue out in mock disgust. “I can’t stand black coffee. I can only drink coffee if there’s more sugar and cream than actual coffee.”

“That’s no way to treat good coffee!” Nils laughed. “How are you, by the way?”

Chalice sighed, passing his hands over his face. “I’m okay, I just don’t know what to do about Owens.”

“Apologize.” Nils said, tapping his pen sharply on the desk. “Apologize and tell him to forget about it.”

Chalice nodded, not meeting Nils’ eyes. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“I am. Look,” Nils leant forward, resting his elbows on his knees, “Chalice, I know how you feel about him, but he can’t handle something like this right now. You need to give him time. And you need to apologize. He’s worried about enough right now, you don’t need to add to it.”

“Yeah.” Chalice mumbled, glancing around the office. “Where is he, by the way?”

Nils sighed. “Probably in Vicky’s office. He’s being put on medical leave for the attacks, just for a week or two, hopefully. I hate to say this, Chalice, but it’s too risky to have him on the team right now. He could put himself and everyone else in serious danger. He leaves today.”

“Today?” Chalice shot bolt-upright in his chair.

“Yes. Calm down Chalice, you can try and catch him when he leaves. It’ll most likely only be two weeks. Honestly, it’ll probably be a good thing if you aren’t around each other all the time.”

“This job is the only thing he has! We’re the only friends he has in London, he won’t survive alone for two weeks!”

Nils rolled his eyes. “No one said you couldn’t visit. Besides, I’m sure Maurice and I have enough boyfriends between us to keep him company.”

Chalice laughed. He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Maurice.

“Nice to see you back! You’ve missed your chance to say goodbye though, I just saw Owens leaving.” 

“Shit!” Chalice leapt out of his chair, and was out of the door before either of them could say anything. If he was lucky, he could catch the elevator and beat Owens to the parking garage. 

*****

Chalice sprinted out of the elevator, careening into the parking garage as Owens made his way towards his motorcycle.

“Owens!” Chalice called, stopping in the middle of the roadway and putting his hands on his knees to catch his breath. Owens didn’t turn around, so he tried again. “Owens! Owens!” 

There was still no response from Owens and Chalice sighed, trying one last time. “Theodore!”

His voice broke as he yelled, the emotions he had been trying so desperately to hide suddenly crashing into the open. Owens turned to face him, motorcycle helmet in hand. 

He didn’t talk, just raised his eyebrows questioningly. He looked pale and drawn, with dark bags under his eyes. Chalice wondered when was the last time he’d slept and wondered how much of that sleeplessness he was responsible for. 

���Look, I,” Chalice straightened himself up and moved forward a few steps, holding his hands out pleadingly, “Owens, I wanted to apologize. What I said, at the ball, wasn’t fair on you and I’m sorry that I put you through that.”

Owens didn’t say anything for a few minutes, staring at him blankly. Chalice willed him to speak, to yell at him, to do anything to break the blanket of silence that had fallen over them. 

“Did you mean it?” Owens asked flatly. 

Chalice started, momentarily taken aback. “What?” He stammered.

“Did you mean it? What you said at the ball.”

Chalice swallowed hard. “Yes.” 

THE END   

[notaspywrites]

Don’t Tell Me - part three

It’s all or nothing now. 

Saturday is rapidly approaching and the team is still scrambling to track down the person behind it all, as well as come up with a plan to stop half of Berlin’s high society from going up in smoke. Will they hold firm or will the team crumble at the first taste of pressure? 

Warnings:  mentions of terrorism, depictions of violence, mentions of bombs, explosions, guns, smoking, swearing and descriptions of panic and anxiety attacks.

Word count for part three: 5,263

Author’s note: Welcome back to Team Black! My sincere apologies for the very late update, life always seems to get in the way but we’re getting right down to the wire now! I hope you enjoy this week’s update, another short one but the fourth and final part coming next week! As ever, thank you for reading! - not-a-spy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Okay team!” Nils said cheerfully, walking into the tiny basement conference room with yet another massive iced coffee in his hand. “How are we feeling about tomorrow?”

Maurice groaned. “Not great.” 

“You are such a downer, Maurice!” Cipriana laughed, taking a sip of her own iced coffee. “I think we’re about as prepared as we can be.”

“Which isn’t exactly very prepared.” Maurice shot back. “We’re still down Vicky, and have only had a few days to try and get this, frankly, massive operation off of the ground. Besides, we’re basically down two agents because Chalice, no offense, doesn’t really count.” 

Chalice cracked a wry smile. “None taken.”

“You forget that we have the BND guys helping us out.” Nils said, taking a seat at the small table. “It won’t be so bad.”

Adalie frowned. “Maurice does have a point. I’ve taken a look at the plans for the hotel and that building is massive. We won’t have nearly enough people to cover all of the areas.”

“That’s why the plan isn’t to cover all of the areas.” Nils said. “We’ll have agents on the main floor of the ball, as well as some behind the scenes so we can get to wherever they may plant the bomb. Or bombs, I suppose. And I’m going to get one of the BND boys to trail Seidel.”

“Where will you be?” Chalice asked. 

“In the van, outside.” Nils said. “I’ll keep in touch throughout the whole thing and I’m going to also have control of their security system, so I’ll be able to keep track of where everyone is and who is coming and going.”

“What about us?” Harmon asked, pushing open the door to the conference room and letting Gatsby step through first. 

”Ah, Harmon, nice of you to join us.” Nils said. “I was just running through some rough plans for tomorrow night. As for the pair of you, I want you, Harmon, on the ground in the ball with us and Gatsby out tailing Seidel.”

Gatsby nodded.

“You don’t think Seidel will be there?” Adalie asked. “After all, it will be quite the social occasion.” 

Nils shook his head. “Nope. He’ll be staying as far away as he can, even if it does raise a few eyebrows.”

“But we don’t think Seidel is in charge, do we?” Owens spoke up, his voice quiet. 

“No.” Chalice said. “He distinctly mentioned a boss, though I have no idea who that could be. Do we have any ideas on that yet, Nils?”

Nils took another sip of his iced coffee. “Not as of right now, but I’ve been doing plenty of digging. And obviously, the first suspect would be Seidel’s father, since I would assume that he’s the one who covered Seidel’s previous.”

“You’re pointing the finger at the Chief Constable?” Harmon stared at him in disbelief. 

Nils held his hands up. “No, no, hear me out. I said he would be the first suspect. I’ve done a lot of digging into his past and there’s nothing there that rings any alarm bells for me. In fact, he’s got a pretty decent record.”

“Okay.” Harmon grinned. “You had me worried for a second.”

“So, its not the Chief Constable.” Nils continued. “In fact, I am of the opinion that it isn’t anyone from within the police force.”

“What makes you think that?” Adalie asked. 

“Well, I’ve been through just about everyone and no one else has the same kind of background as Seidel.” Nils said. “But the biggest thing is Seidel’s phone records. There’s one number that he’s been in almost constant contact with and, from what I can find, it isn’t registered to anyone within the police force or with any kind of connection to the force.”

“Do we know who the number belongs to?” Cipriana asked. 

Nils shook his head. “Not yet. I’ve run into some issues, but I’m working on it. I have it narrowed down.”

“When will you know?” Owens asked softly. 

Nils shrugged. “I honestly have no idea, Owens. But I’m working on it.”

“So, what are we doing for today?” Maurice asked. “Is there anything we can do to help track down the leader, or are we working on something else?”

“As soon as I find out who the number belongs to, you’ll be helping me. Until then, I want you to take a look at the floor plans of the hotel, see where they might plant the bomb, or bombs.” Nils said, picking up his iced coffee and moving towards the door to his makeshift office. 

“What about us?” Harmon asked. “Are we doing the same thing?”

“Actually,” Nils paused, “I want the pair of you to take a look through some of your files and see if there’s anyone who might stand out as Seidel’s boss.”

Harmon nodded. “Right.”

“Is there anything in particular we should be on the lookout for?” Gatsby asked quietly. “Any indicators?”

“Anyone with clear connections to terrorist organizations would be a good place to start.” Nils said. “If they have a criminal record with any terrorism related charges then that’s someone I would dig into further. Other than that, I would be on the lookout for people who are very vocal about radical causes or views.”

Gatsby nodded. “Okay.”

“Adalie can help you out.” Nils said, gesturing towards her with his iced coffee. 

She nodded curtly. “Of course.”

“Do you want us to formulate a plan for where us agents should be positioned as well?” Maurice asked. 

Nils nodded. “Yeah, that’s absolutely a good idea. Just get an idea of where the best places to be positioned would be.”

Maurice nodded. “Okay.”

Nils glanced around at the team, his hand on the door handle. For the most part, everyone looked tired but ready to go, except perhaps Cipriana, who had consumed almost as much coffee as him. His eyes landed on Owens. Owens’ eyes were glazed over, fixed on something only he could see. Nils didn’t think he had heard a single word of the briefing. After talking to Vicky, he was incredibly worried about putting Owens out in the field. Chalice could handle himself, he was sure of that, but he wasn’t nearly as sure about Owens. 

Nils pushed the door open but hesitated before stepping out of the conference room. “And, Chalice?”

Chalice glanced up at him. “Hmm?”

“If your hair is still gray tomorrow, there’ll be hell to pay.” There was a mischievous twinkle in Nils’ eyes. 

Chalice groaned. “Yes, sir.”

Nils laughed. “Good. I’m sorry, for the record.”

Chalice rolled his eyes. “You are not.”

Nils took another sip of his iced coffee, still grinning mischievously. “I’ll see you all later.”

*****

Maurice knocked on the door to Nils’ makeshift office, balancing a tray of coffees in one hand. Nils had his headphones on and didn’t glance up so Maurice stepped inside, tapping Nils gently on his shoulder. Nils jumped violently, knocking off his headphones and almost upending the coffees in the process. 

“Jesus!” Nils laughed. “Don’t sneak up on people like that, you almost gave me a heart attack!”

Maurice set the coffees down on Nils’ desk. “To be fair, I did knock.”

“Did you?” Nils laughed. “Oh. Nevermind then.”

“Mm.” Maurice frowned at him, handing him a large iced coffee. “Made any progress yet?”

Nils shrugged. “Not really. I’m a little bit stuck at the moment but I’m digging myself out of that hole.”

“Anything I can do to help?” Maurice asked. 

Nils shook his head. “Nope. Carry on with the floor plans and I’ll let you know when I have something.”

Maurice sighed. “How are you feeling about tomorrow? I get the feeling you’re a little, cautious, if not worried.”

Nils paused for a moment before taking a sip of his iced coffee. “I am worried, to be honest. I don’t think Owens is up to it.”

“Owens is our best agent.” Maurice said. 

“He’s our best agent on paper.” Nils corrected him. 

“He was damn good in the field at Checkpoint Charlie.” Maurice said. “I don’t think you should doubt him so much.”

Nils frowned. “He may be good at hiding it but Checkpoint Charlie took a lot out of him. I don’t know if he can handle it anymore.”

“What does Vicky think?” Maurice asked. 

“Vicky thinks I should pull him.” Nils said quietly. 

Maurice started. “Seriously?”

“Yes. She thinks that putting him in the field could be dangerous.”

“But we need him in the field!” Maurice said emphatically. “We won’t be able to cover everything with just the four of us plus the BND agents. Especially since Chalice isn’t trained.”

“Agreed.” Nils said. “Which is why I’m keeping him in the field for tomorrow. We can’t lose agents right now.”

“Do you think it could be dangerous?” Maurice asked, fiddling with the sleeve of his coffee cup. 

Nils shrugged. “I don’t know, Maurice, I really don’t. I like to think that Owens would be able to keep his head enough to not endanger himself or the rest of the team, but I can’t know for sure.”

“Of course not.” Maurice said. “To be honest, I would be more worried about Chalice.”

“Chalice has a good head on his shoulders.” Nils said. “He’ll be fine.”

“You seriously think Chalice will keep a level head where Owens is concerned?” Maurice asked incredulously. “He’ll lose it if anything goes wrong.”

Nils shook his head dismissively. “Chalice will be fine.”

Maurice opened his mouth to protest but Nils stopped him with a quick hand signal. 

“Hang on, I’ve got something.” Nils said, turning his full attention back to his computer, his fingers flying over the keys. 

Maurice leant over his shoulder, trying to make sense of what was on Nils’ screen. “You have a name?” 

“I might.” Nils said. He leant back in his chair suddenly, raising his arms in triumph. “There he is! That’s our guy.”

The mugshot of a middle aged man with long blond hair had just popped onto the screen. He had a slight smirk on his face as he looked directly into the camera. Maurice shuddered. There was an air of malice about the man.

Nils continued. “His name is Ryker Haas and he was part of the same group that Seidel was associated with in his youth. When Seidel left to join the police force, Haas took the helm. He’s got quite the extensive record but he’s never been in prison which, if I had to guess, is probably Seidel’s doing.” 

“And this is our guy?” Maurice asked. 

“Almost certainly.” Nils said. 

“Almost?”

“Almost.” Nils repeated. “The phone is a throwaway, so I can’t be 100% certain that it belongs to Haas, but I’m about 99% sure.”

“Do you have enough to bring him in?” Maurice asked. 

Nils shook his head. “No. What I have is almost all circumstantial. We would need to put him at the scene of one of the shootings, Checkpoint Charlie or at the ball tomorrow and I would hazard that he’s too smart for that.”

Maurice scrunched up his face in concentration. “Are you sure about that? You don’t think he would want to see the aftermath of his handiwork?”

Nils shrugged. “I don’t think so but I’m a technical analyst, not a mind reader. I have no idea what this guy could be thinking. I just know that if I were him, I’d be well on my way out of the country by now.”

Maurice opened his mouth to speak but Nils cut him off. 

“And before you say anything, I’ve already put an alert out. If he tries to leave, I’ll be the first person to know.”

“I thought you said we couldn’t arrest him?”

“We can’t.” Nils said. “No one is going to arrest him, they’re just going to tell me if he makes a move. If anyone tries to stop him from leaving, he’ll probably alert Seidel and the rest of them and then we’ll lose the whole lot, which we don’t want.”

Maurice nodded. “Right. So what do we do now?” 

“We wait.” Nils said. “We gather as much information as we can about Haas, Seidel and whoever else we think is working with them, but we can’t do anything until tomorrow night.”

“We’d better get back to work then.”

*****

Chalice frowned at himself in the mirror, toying unhappily with his newly dyed brown hair. He missed the grey already. He’d never looked good with brown hair and the fancy suit certainly wasn’t helping. He rolled his shoulders uncomfortably, adjusting the collar. He wasn’t used to wearing his shirts done up all the way and he felt rather as if he was being strangled, especially with the ugly lilac tie. The piercings were missing too, which made him feel oddly naked. He screwed his face up, glaring at his reflection. Momentarily, he debated leaving, going back to the hotel, changing into a pair of jeans and going to sit in the van with Nils. But the team needed him. Giving his hair one last disapproving tug, he walked out of the bathroom.

The team was meeting in the conference room in the basement of the BND building, anxiously waiting out the last few hours before the mission really started. Actually, he should have been here almost an hour ago but he had spent too much time trying to figure out a way to wear a suit and still look even vaguely attractive. He had given up. He pulled open the door to the conference room and stepped through, letting it slam shut behind him. The team, plus the two BND agents he had met already and a few others that he didn’t recognize, were scattered around the small room.

“Can we help you?” Nils barely glanced at him as he spoke, turning immediately back to the glass board.

Chalice didn’t answer.

Owens was sitting at the table partially facing him, leaning back in his chair with one heel on the edge of his chair and the other leg dangling in front of him. His auburn hair was slicked back from his forehead, sweeping backwards away from his face so that Chalice could see his freckles for once. He wore a tailored white tuxedo set, a distinct contrast to his usual ill-fitting suits, and Chalice found himself unable to speak for a moment. Owens turned to look at him and Chalice caught a rare glimpse of his emerald eyes.

“You changed your hair.” Owens sounded almost disappointed as he spoke and it took Chalice a second to pull himself back to reality.  

Nils looked away from his board. “Oh shit! I honestly did not recognize you. You look good!”

Chalice frowned at him, tearing his eyes away from Owens. “That’s a lie and you know it.”

“It’s not entirely a lie.” Nils turned to Owens. “I’m the one who forced him to dye his hair.”

Owens glanced back at Chalice and scrunched his face up. “I don’t like it.”

His eyes flicked away from Chalice’s hair for a second, appraising him. “I like the outfit though. Looks good.” 

Owens turned away. Chalice’s heart thundered in his chest. The words had been delivered so casually that he wasn’t entirely sure what the intention was. Chalice stood for a second, frozen in place. Nils caught his eyes, and raised his eyebrows suggestively. Chalice glared at him and took a seat at the table next to Owens. 

“Are we all here?” Gatsby asked.

“Uh…” Nils looked away from the glass board, taking in the room, “no, not yet. We’re still missing Adalie.”

Cipriana snorted with laughter. “Nils, I’ll bet you 5 pounds that she shows up in a pair of pants instead of that stupid short skirt.”

Nils grinned. “You’re on!”

Cipriana held out her hand and Nils shook it. Chalice looked over at Owens and rolled his eyes, earning a smile in return. 

“So!” Harmon clapped his hands together. “Other than your missing agent, is everything ready for this evening?”

Nils nodded. Chalice noticed that he looked drawn and pale, with prominent dark circles under his eyes. He wondered how much he had slept. 

“Yeah, everything is set. I’ll be in the van outside, coordinating everything, Owens and Adalie will be behind the scenes and the rest of you will be mingling with the guests.” Nils said, looking around the room. “Harmon, where’s your suit?”

Harmon sighed. “It’s in my locker.”

Nils laughed. “Listen, if Chalice here has to wear a suit, then you do too. Go get changed.”

“You aren’t wearing a suit.” Harmon complained. 

“No, I am not. But I will not be inside the ball.”

Harmon sighed and reluctantly left the room, holding the door open for Adalie as she entered. She was scowling and wearing a neat white blouse with a short black skirt and a white apron. Nils grinned at Cipriana, who was sitting at the table, her mouth agape.

“You owe me five pounds.” He said triumphantly.

“How...how on earth did you manage that?” Cipriana stuttered, handing a five pound note over to Nils as she spoke. 

“The art of persuasion.” He grinned, handing the note directly to Adalie.

“Art of bribery more like.” She mumbled angrily, smoothing down the skirt. “This get-up is absolutely ridiculous. I don’t see why I have to play the waitress while she gets to dress up in that fancy ball gown.”

Adalie gestured at Cipriana’s long green gown. Cipriana grinned at her, smoothing down her ball gown. 

“Because we need you behind the scenes with Owens. You’ll have the harder task because I know that you can handle it.”

Adalie glared at him. “Flattery will get you nowhere.”

Nils nodded at her attire. “It got you into that skirt. Now, we really must move on from this. Once Harmon gets back, we’ll be ready to move.”

Harmon stepped back into the room, still tying his tie. “I’m here. Where’s Gatsby? Is he not coming with us?”

“He’s already out, he’s following Seidel.” Nils said. “As of right now, Haas hasn’t moved as far as we know, but we’ll keep an eye on him.”

“We?” Maurice asked. 

“Yes, I’m borrowing the BND’s junior tech analyst for the evening.” Nils said, nodding towards a young man standing in the corner of the conference room. “We also have agents Altergott, Woertz and Thyen joining us. They’ll be on the floor at the ball along with Cipriana, Chalice, Maurice and Harmon. Adalie and Owens, you two are going to be behind the scenes. Myself and Gerber will be outside in the van and we’ll be in constant radio contact with all of you.”

“Do we think they’re going to plant and run or will they stick around?” Cipriana asked. 

Adalie glanced over at Nils before responding. “I would assume they’ll stick around, to make sure things go according to plan. Especially after Checkpoint Charlie.”

Nils nodded. “Definitely. But I would be surprised if Seidel shows up at all.”

Adalie frowned. “But this is a major political fundraiser and he’s the son of the Chief Commissioner. Surely it would look weird if he didn’t show?”

“He’ll have come up with an excuse of some kind, I’m sure.” Nils said. “But Gatsby is on his tail, so if you turn out to be right, Adalie, we’ll have advanced warning.”

Adalie gave a satisfied nod. “Okay, good.”

Nils glanced down at his watch. “Owens and Adalie, you two need to get a move on.  I’ve put your names down as Karl Higgins and Felicia Malay. You’re to go in by the staff entrance and sniff around until you think you can slip away. Get into the basement if possible, that’s probably where they’ll plant the bomb. And keep an eye out for anyone suspicious.”

Adalie nodded again, getting up from her seat. 

“Right.” Owens got up elegantly from his chair and gently smoothed down his white suit jacket. He left the room behind Adalie, flashing a smile at Chalice as he did so.

“What about the rest of us?” Maurice asked. 

“The rest of you don’t need to leave for another half an hour.” Nils said, picking another iced coffee off of the table. “Harmon, you’ll be there under the name of Leon Becker, a journalist, meaning you have a right to be nosy and irritating. Maurice, you’ll be there under the name of Fynn Muller, a rich aristocrat recently moved back to Germany from France.”

Harmon grinned. “Wonderful.”

“And you two,” Nils smirked at Chalice and Cipriana, “Are Mr and Mrs Hahn, another wealthy couple.You’ve put a lot of money into the police and Emil is very interested in politics, so you’ll be asking a lot of questions about the people there and what they do.”

Chalice glared at him. Cipriana tried desperately to suppress her laughter. Maurice coughed loudly, choking on his laughter and coughing more.

“Are we just glossing over the fact he said ‘Mr and Mrs?’” Chalice asked, gesturing at Nils. 

Cipriana giggled. “Why? Don’t fancy getting married?”

“No offence Cipriana, but not to you.”

Cipriana laughed. 

Chalice turned and frowned playfully at Nils. “First you get me to change my hair, and now you’re asking me to pretend to be straight, too? There’s only so much a man can sacrifice for his job.”

Maurice burst out laughing. 

Nils grinned. “Sorry Chalice, if you want to be an agent, you’ll have to get used to pretending to be someone you aren’t.” 

Chalice rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine. Just this once.”

“Thank you.” Nils said. 

Cipriana giggled. 

“Okay!” Nils clapped his hands together, downing the last of his iced coffee and grabbing his jacket off the back of a chair. “I need to get going and get myself set up in the van. Gerber’s going to be coming with me to help coordinate everything. You guys still have about 20 minutes or so before the doors open so you can, uh, just chill out here until the limos arrive. Oh, and please make sure that all of your mics and earpieces are working before you leave. I don’t want anyone getting cut off, not tonight.”

Maurice frowned at him. “Wait, did you say limos?”

“What, you thought you were just going to roll up in police cars? Come on Maurice, I don’t want to have to send you back to the hospital for brain damage.”

Maurice glared.

“We should get going, sir.” A small voice piped up from the corner. The BND’s junior tech analyst had pushed himself away from the wall and stood in the corner of the room, wringing his hands. 

“Of course!” Nils said, flinging on his jacket and tossing his empty coffee cup into the garbage. “And please don’t call me ‘sir,’ Gerber, I don’t deserve it.”

“Uh yes, okay, um, okay.” Gerber said, quickly leaving the room. Nils followed.

“I’ll see you guys later. Don’t do anything stupid!” Nils said, waving at them as he left.

*****     

“So, what exactly is it that you do, Mr. Haider?” Chalice asked casually, taking a sip from his glass of wine. Cipriana stood next to him, her hand resting gently on his elbow, her eyes focused on nothing in particular. In short, she perfectly filled the role of the bored wife. 

Haider gave a dangerous smile. “Oh, you know. I’m a politician, I work closely with the German police most of the time. It’s quite boring, really.”

“You work with the police?” Chalice pressed. “Then surely you must know Seidel.”

 Haider tilted his head to one side, suspiciously. “Naturally. I know both of them quite well. How do you-”

Chalice cut him off. “Oh, my wife and I work quite closely with the police. I know the younger Seidel very well.”

“Ah, right.” Haider relaxed visibly. “Yes, Seidel the younger is very interesting. He’s got some brilliant ideas, I’m sure you’ve heard them.” 

Cipriana and Chalice shared a quick glance. 

“Some of them, certainly.” Chalice smiled. “I’m sure you’ve heard more than I have. My wife and I don’t quite run in the same circles, you know.”

Haider gave a mirthless chuckle. “Of course. Well, if you have a moment, I’d be very happy to discuss them with you.”

Chalice smiled. “Oh, that would be excellent, if you don’t mind.”

Cipriana coughed delicately. “I’m going to get a glass of wine, dear, I’ll be right back.”

Slipping her arm out of Chalice’s, she quickly made her way out of the main ballroom away towards the bar. On her way, she slid out of the backdoor of the hotel. 

“Nils?” She whispered into her earpiece.

“How’s it going?” Nils asked. “How’s Chalice working out as the perfect husband?”

She giggled. “I wouldn’t marry him. But I’d say it’s going pretty well. I’ve just left Chalice alone with some young politician that I think might be one of Seidel’s men, hopefully Chalice will be able to get some more out of him. His name is Haider, if you’re interested.” 

“Right.” Nils fell silent for a moment and Cipriana could just barely hear the sounds of keys clacking through the earpiece. “Ah, okay I have him. You could be right about him, Cipriana. Good work!”

“Thank you!” Cipriana said. “How’s the van going? You sound tense.”

“Both Haas and Seidel are on the move.” Nils said. “Gatsby has eyes on Seidel but I don’t have anyone trailing Haas and I’m worried we’ll lose him.”

“Where’s he headed?” Cipriana asked. 

“The airport. I have no idea what his plan is beyond that.” 

“Right.” Cipriana glanced down at her watch. “The speeches are due to start in about fifteen minutes or so, if I were our guys, then I’d probably strike then, I mean, everyone will be in one spot.”

“Okay. I’ll let Owens and Adalie know. And Cipriana, can you do me a favour?”

“Uh huh. What d’you need?”

“Keep an eye on Chalice please.”

“Uh, yeah, of course. Why?”

Nils sighed. “He’s a little too eager to impress. I’m worried that he’ll go too far and do something stupid. He’s not a trained agent, Cipriana and if he does something that puts this mission in jeopardy, then I’m fucked.”

“Okay. I’ll keep an eye on him then.”

“Thanks.” Nils said. The line went silent and Cipriana quickly made her way back to the ballroom, grabbing a glass of wine from Adalie on her way in. She winked at Adalie, who only glared at her in response. 

When she got back into the ballroom, Chalice was nowhere to be seen. She swore under her breath and made a beeline for the young politician that they had been talking to earlier. 

“Hi!” she said cheerfully. He turned around.

“Hi. Are you also interested in Seidel’s ideas?” He smiled charmingly at her.

She put on her best condescending smile. “Oh no. That’s my husband’s thing. Have you seen him, by the way? I’m not sure where he’s gotten to.”

He shook his head. “I think he went to look for you. You were gone for rather a long time. We finished our discussion and then he wandered off in that direction.”

He waved his hand vaguely behind his shoulders, the opposite direction that she had gone when she left. She resisted the urge to swear out loud. 

“Oh. Well, thank you very much.” She grinned. “I’m sure I’ll see you later.”

She slipped away, moving hurriedly in the direction that the man had indicated. She should have listened to Adalie, Chalice was much too reckless to be on an important mission like this. He was eager to impress and, knowing him, he’d do whatever it took to prove himself as an agent. She just hoped that he wouldn’t get himself into any real danger. She reached a set of rear stairs and ran up them as fast as the heels and the excessively long skirt would allow. Chalice had to have come this way, there was no other way he could have gone. She hiked the dress up to her knees, only letting it drop back to the floor once she reached the second floor. The hallway was dark, the lights off, and it was lined with wooden doors, all of which were closed. She swore, out loud this time, but in Greek, in case anyone was listening who shouldn’t be. This was going to be impossible. Chalice would have to figure out his own mess. 

She turned around and sideled back into the ballroom, scanning the room for any sign of Chalice. She couldn’t see him anywhere, but she did catch sight of Maurice, standing alone on the far side of the room. She made her way towards him, quickly. 

“Look for the man with the blue suit and silver tie. He’s with Seidel.” She whispered into his ear as she slid past him. He nodded nonchalantly, taking a dainty sip of his champagne. She checked her watch. 5 minutes until the speeches started. 

“Adalie, Owens, you guys have 5 minutes to the speeches.” Nils’ voice echoed down her earpiece. She watched as the man in the silver tie peered into the ballroom before sneaking away into the hotel. She frowned at him and met eyes with Maurice, inclining her head in the direction the man had just gone. He nodded and moved to follow him

“Yeah, we’re downstairs.” Adalie said, her voice clipped.

“Good. How’s it going?” Nils asked.

“We’ve found the bomb.” Adalie barked. “They’ve planted and run, Nils.” 

“Shit.” Nils mumbled, and Cipriana could hear his keyboard clacking on the other side of the line. 

“Where's the bomb squad?” Adalie asked. 

“They’ve been held up somehow.” Nils’ voice was shaking. “Fuck, Adalie, they aren’t going to get here in time. Are you two going to be able to handle this?”

As if they really had a choice, Cipriana thought. They would have to handle it, somehow.

“We’re gonna have to.” Adalie said. “Owens has bomb training.”

“Okay, alright.” Cipriana could tell that Nils was trying desperately to stay calm. “Cipriana, how are you and Chalice getting on?”

She swore under her breath. “Chalice has run off somewhere. I’m so sorry Nils, I was following some guy I thought could be working with Seidel.”

“Okay. Okay, whatever, we can’t worry about him right now. Maurice, Harmon, what about you guys?” 

There was a faint buzz as someone’s earpiece turned on, followed immediately by a loud thud and a rapid string of french expletives. Cipriana stifled a snort of laughter.

“Merde. We’ve got your man, Cipriana.” Maurice panted. “We’re good Nils, we’ve taken down one of Seidel’s operatives. We’ll get him to the BND van then get back inside.”

Nils paused. “No, don’t go back, there’s nothing else you can do.”

“You’re sure?” Maurice asked. “We don’t know how many people Seidel has inside, I doubt we’ve gotten all of them.”

“I’m sure.” Nils said firmly. “Stay outside and see if anyone comes out early. If they do, follow them in one of the cars.

“Okay, sure.” Maurice said. 

“You think the building’s going up?” Harmon asked.

“Not if we can help it.” Adalie cut in.

“I have confidence in Adalie and Owens, I’m just being cautious.” Nils said, but there was an edge of uncertainty in his voice. “Cipriana, are you still inside?”

“Yeah.” Cipriana said. “You want me to leave?”

Nils hesitated. “Yeah, yeah, make your way out now, just to be safe. And keep your eyes open for anyone else who’s leaving early.”

Cipriana began to weave her way through the crowds. “Got it.”

[notaspywrites]

Don’t Tell Me - part two

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse...

With Vicky still in the hospital, a traitor in their midst, and a possible terrorist attack to stop, the team has to fight to hold themselves together while still being able to save the day (as well as find the person behind it all). 

Warnings:  mentions of terrorism, depictions of violence, mentions of bombs, explosions, guns, smoking, swearing and descriptions of panic and anxiety attacks.

Word count for part two: 7,451

Author’s note: Welcome back! Here, as promised, is part two of Don’t Tell Me. A bit of a shorter update this week but the third part will be coming the same time next week, so stay tuned! As ever, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy! - not-a-spy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Good morning Nils.” A young woman with short blond hair greeted him as he walked through the front door of the BND, holding a very large iced coffee. “How can we help you this morning?”

“Morning Katja. I have a meeting with Gatsby and Harmon, they should be expecting me.”

The receptionist frowned at him. “Do you have an official appointment?”

“I have a meeting,” he insisted. 

“Unless you have an official appointment I can’t let you through.”

“Let him through, Katja.” Harmon Boltz smiled at Nils from the other side of the security desk. “He’s got a meeting with me.”

Katja sighed and took Nils’ ID, frowning at it. “You’ll have to sign in.”

“No problem.” Nils said, quickly signing his name in the guest book. “I have two more agents coming to the meeting, if you could let them through, that would be great.”

Katja glared at him as he walked through security. 

“Morning Nils!” Harmon greeted him as they shook hands. “How’ve you been?”

Nils sighed. “Fine. Busy. I’ve got two new agents on my team and I swear to god, those two are going to kill me one day.”

“Why?” Harmon asked as they walked down a narrow corridor towards an even narrower staircase.

Nils shook his head. “They’re just, god, well, I can’t really say anything but they’ve come from MI-6 and they’ve got some issues.”

“‘Putting the team in danger’ issues or something else?”

“No, putting themselves in danger, more like. But that’s not the point. We’ve got a possible terrorist inside the police force and it’s someone you guys knew about.”

Harmon frowned, pushing open the door into a dimly lit basement. “Have you been in our files again?”

Nils smirked. “Not my fault that you guys have shitty security.”

Harmon sighed. “I feel like we’ve repaid you enough with the numerous times you’ve accessed our files.”

“I don’t think that that’s ‘repaying’ considering I did all the work myself.” Nils paused. “But seriously, thanks for this Harmon, I really appreciate it.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Harmon smiled. “When are your other agents getting here?”

“Uh…” Nils checked his watch. “They should be here any minute now, provided Katja lets them in!”

Harmon laughed. “Well, I’ll leave you here and I’ll go get them.”

Nils looked around the dark basement. “We’re meeting down here?” 

Harmon pointed at a door behind Nils labeled ‘Conference room.’ “Well, yeah. We’re meeting in there.”

“Should I ask why you have a conference room in the basement?”

Harmon grinned at him. “Probably not.” 

“Okay. I’ll wait for you guys in there.”

“Gatsby should be in there already, he can keep you company while I go collect your friends. Have I met them before?”

“I think you’ve met Maurice, right? French boy with curly hair?”

“Oh, yeah. He was here with you last year, right? When you were here on the bank robberies case.”

“That’s him. I don’t think you know the other one, he’s an MI-6 transfer. Joined Interpol two months ago.” Nils said.

“Huh. Well, I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

Harmon turned and walked back down the dark corridor towards the stairs. Nils opened the door to the conference room and stepped inside. The room was dark and dingy, the only light source a single bare bulb hanging from the ceiling.

“I feel like I’ve stepped into the X-files!” Nils laughed, stepping forward to shake Gatsby’s hand. “Why have you guys been banished to the basement?”

Gatsby smiled. “Because we aren’t supposed to be helping you with this. How have you been?” he asked quietly, turning away to pin some pictures onto a glass board. 

“Busy. My boss is currently in hospital so I’m in charge.”

“Your team was involved in that explosion yesterday, right? I heard you had two injured agents.” Gatsby turned to face him. “There were rumours that you lost someone.”

“That’s not true, thank god. Two agents did end up in hospital, but Maurice was discharged, so he’ll be helping me out here.”

“He’s the one who was here with you last time, correct?”

“Uh huh.” Nils said, setting his iced coffee down on the table and wandering over to the board. “Is this everything you guys have? I thought I sent you all my files.”

“You did.” Gatsby pointed at a board on the other side of the room. It was covered with pictures and notes on the shootings. “This is the information I found in our archives.”

“That’s not a lot.”

“No. But because Seidel is the son of the Chief Constable there isn’t a lot in his files. What there is is very difficult to get at. I would need permission from my boss, which I do not have.”

“Are the files online?” Nils asked, sitting down at the table and pulling out his laptop.

“Some. Most of the ones about his crimes are still on paper.”

Nils sighed. “Why are you guys still in the dark ages? I can’t help you if you insist on keeping hardcopies of everything. What would you do if there was a fire?”

“The files are in the basement here, in a special room. They would be safe.”

“So you have a specially constructed room for your files but you haven’t put them into the computer system yet? How does that make sense?”

Gatsby smiled. “I have nothing to do with those decisions.”

“I should talk to your superiors about this.”

“What would you say?” Gatsby asked, an incredulous smile on his face. “‘Could you please put your files into your computer system so I can hack them easily?’ I do not think that would go down well.”

Nils laughed. “Well, we need those files somehow. The ones about what he did, I mean, I have the ones on him already. There isn’t much there.”

“How do you plan on getting them?”

“Are your files guarded?” 

Gatsby frowned. “Yes.”

“Do you have to sign the files out?”

“Well, you have to tell them what you want.”

“And do they check that you’re only taking what you said you needed? Or do they grab the files for you.”

“I do not like what you’re suggesting.”

Nils grinned. “I’m not suggesting anything, I’m just curious about your file system.”

Gatsby sighed. “No. They do not check. You have to go in and grab the files yourself. If you take the files out, you sign a book and sign it again when you bring them back. You do not have to sign which specific files you are taking.”

“Excellent! Are there any other files we need?”

“You could check the files on a shooting incident we had here 3 months ago.” Gatsby said reluctantly. “We did not think it was related, but it might be good to check.”

“Great! I’ll go grab that for you.”

Gatsby shook his head in frustration. “Do not bring me into this.”

“Into what?” Nils asked innocently. “I’m just going to get a file you wanted. Anything else that might find its way here is my fault.”

Nils grinned at him and slid out of the door. He followed the hallway down past the staircase and eventually found a door labeled ‘archives.’ He knocked, and opened the door before anyone could answer. 

A woman with long black hair glanced up from her desk.

“Hi!” Nils said cheerfully. “I’m from Interpol, I’m just here to grab a file on the shooting incident last year?”

She nodded. “Go ahead. Do you know where it is?”

Nils smiled. “I’m sure I can find it, thank you!”

She turned back to her files. Nils slipped down an aisle. The organisation system was odd, not at all what he was used to and it took him longer than he wanted to find the file he was supposed to be looking for. It was a small file, and he left it on top of its box while he grabbed the others. 

Seidel’s file was easier to find, but it took up almost an entire box. Nils swore under his breath. There was no way he could get this entire thing out of here without anyone noticing and asking difficult questions. Quickly flipping through the files, Nils grabbed as many as he could hold, shoving a bunch into his bag. Putting the nearly empty box onto the shelf, Nils went back to fetch the file he was supposed to be getting and hid the other files inside of it. With the file under his arm, he went back to the front desk.

“I found it! Can I sign this out?”

“Of course.” She handed him a book. “Just put your name and the time.”

“Thanks!” Nils smiled, quickly signing his name. 

“No problem.” She said, taking the book back and barely glancing at his signature. “Have a good day.”

Nils waved at her and practically ran out of the archives back towards the conference room. Despite the fact that he was a trained agent, this wasn’t normally part of his job and he wasn’t fully comfortable with what was basically theft.

“I got ‘em!” Nils said, slamming into the conference room and letting the door swing to behind him.

Gatsby looked distinctly disappointed. Harmon just grinned. 

“Have you already gotten up to nefarious business in the,” Harmon paused to check his watch, “five minutes that I’ve been gone? That’s impressive, even for you.”

“I aim to please.” Nils said, dumping the files out onto the table. He glanced around the room as he did so. Maurice was standing by one of the glass boards, and Owens sat in a chair. He looked pale, but better than he had the day before. 

Harmon frowned at the files before Nils had a chance to speak to his team. “Are those Seidel’s files?”

“No?” 

“Nils, if we get caught…”

“If I get caught, you mean. None of this was your fault. I did all of this of my own volition. Actually, Gatsby here tried to stop me.”

Maurice tried to hide a fit of laughter behind his hands, failing miserably.

Harmon sighed. “You’re terrible.”

Nils glanced around in confusion. “How? I thought I was very good at my job. I am supposed to be getting information, aren’t I?”

“Okay, okay.” Maurice cut in, a hint of laughter lingering on the edge of his voice. “Can we move on from ethics and get to business.”

“Fine.” Harmon said. “So, you guys think he’s going to hit the ball this Saturday?”

“Yes.” Nils said. “Almost certainly, it’s a big hit and there are a lot of prominent political figures who are going to be there. In their eyes, it’s an ideal target.”

“Right. But, how sure are you? We don’t want to do all this and then have nothing happen.” 

“I looked up Seidel’s internet history early this morning before running over here. He’s looked up the event multiple times, the map of the area around it and a guest list. It’s not much but I’m pretty confident.”

“Okay.” Harmon said. “I’ll take that.”

“What was your plan for dealing with the police?” Gatsby asked. “You know that Seidel is one of the people behind this, what are you going to do to avoid him guessing your plans.”

“The rest of our team is back at police headquarters preparing them for an attack on the mall tomorrow.” Nils said.

“What makes you think he’ll buy that?”

“One of our agents has made an attempt to befriend him, I suppose? Anyways, it seems to be working so far, so if we can get Seidel to trust him, it’ll be easier to give him the fake story about the mall, since he’s already heard it from someone.”

Gatsby frowned. “Depends how good your agent is.”

Nils sighed and shook his head. “Must you always be so sceptical? I have a good team and they know what they’re doing. We can handle Seidel. Now, can we please get to business?”

*****

As Nils and Gatsby started talking shop, Harmon glanced around at the other two agents. Maurice had joined the conversation, leaning over the table. He was objecting to the idea of having too many agents in the ball, saying they’d stand out in these political circles where everyone knew each other. The other agent, presumably the MI-6 transfer that Nils had told him about, was still silent. Harmon eyed him suspiciously. He looked familiar, like he’d seen his face on a bulletin or something and hadn’t remembered to forget it yet. But that wasn’t possible. Bulletins like that were reserved for traitors, dangerous criminals, people to be looked out for. Not only would Nils never allow someone like that onto his team, but the agent sitting in front of him didn’t look capable of the mental strength that kind of thing took.  

But that was the exact kind of thing that made good agents. Harmon frowned, pretending to shuffle some files. Not that the agent had noticed him staring. His eyes, partially hidden behind his auburn hair, seemed to be focused on something that only he could see. Harmon wondered what he was thinking. Was he listening to their plans, gathering information to give to his superiors later? More importantly, who were his superiors? Was he working with Seidel or was something bigger at work here? 

“Harmon?” 

Nils’ voice cut into his suspicions and, for the moment, Harmon pushed them aside, resolving to talk to Nils in private when he had a chance. 

“Huh? Sorry, I zoned out for a minute there!”

Nils eyed him suspiciously. “Like I was saying, you’re going to be actually inside the ball with Maurice and Cipriana. You got a nice suit?”

Harmon laughed. “Sure I do. So I’ve been relegated to collecting info, huh?”

“Yes you have. You’ll blend in better at the ball than Gatsby here.” Nils smirked at him and Harmon laughed. He was right.

“So where will I be?” Gatsby asked.

“Trailing Seidel. Someone needs to keep an eye on him and he’ll recognize any of my guys.”

Gatsby nodded. “Of course. If you don’t mind, I’ll bring one of the trainees with me. I’ll need some help.”

“For sure.” Nils nodded. 

“What about myself and Adalie?” The agent spoke for the first time. His voice was weak, but Harmon immediately snapped to attention. He wasn’t British. He had a British accent, sure, but it sounded like his own, unnatural and well-practiced. 

“You’ll also be there, but you and Adalie are going in as staff.”

“So no suit?” The agent smiled hopefully.

Nils laughed. “Sorry, Owens, you’re gonna have to wear a suit. You’re going in as wait staff. If it makes you feel better, Adalie is going to have to wear a skirt.”

Owens laughed. “That’s not going to go down well.”

“Nope. None of this cover is going to go down well.”

Harmon watched them, frowning. Had Nils been tricked into believing this agent’s cover? They certainly seemed to be good friends, but he couldn’t tell if that friendship was real on both sides. He couldn’t believe that Nils would be tricked so easily. He quite liked Nils and he trusted him, but there was something distinctly off about Owens. He just didn’t know what. If he could remember where he had seen him before, that would help. 

Harmon watched him intently for a second, studying the face he was sure he had seen before. Then it hit him. 

Sometime in early 2015, MI-6 had been involved in an incredibly audacious attempt to shut down one of the most notorious crime rings of all time. MI-6 referred to it as WBFC. The exact details of the mission had never been released, but two agents had died and another had disappeared. He was suspected of being the mole responsible for multiple deaths and, as MI-6 had claimed, the possible collapse of the entire agency. They had issued a special bulletin in order to locate him. That’s where he had seen Owens. He was the agent.

Harmon froze. How could Nils not know who Owens was? If he could recognize him from a bulletin issued many years ago then Nils with all of his computers must have dug up something. He frowned. There had been a whisper about the mole being cleared, someone else had been discovered. Someone had said that Owens had been framed and that was entirely possible but something about him just didn’t sit right with Harmon. He was closed off, and whatever emotions he seemed to be showing were obviously falsified. 

“So!” Harmon startled as Nils clapped his hands together. “I think that’s pretty clear.”

The others nodded. Nils looked at him pointedly and nodded towards the door.

“Can we talk?” Nils asked, already standing and moving towards the door. Harmon nodded and got out of his chair. Owens started questioningly at them as they left. Nils shut the door behind them.

“You know about Owens’ past?” Harmon asked quietly. “I’m just worried about the integrity of your team.”

Nils’ face was hard and unfriendly, his back pressed against the door to the conference room. “Of course I do. It’s none of your business.”

“It is, if he’s putting this mission in jeopardy! I’m sorry, Nils, I don't even know the kid, but you have to admit that he’s acting shifty! And he’s got a history of this shit!” Harmon fought to keep his voice below a shout, flinging his arms wide to compensate for the lack of volume.

“No. You do not get to talk about a member of my team like that.” Nils’ voice was quiet and tense, just above a growl. “He does not have a history, he was framed. And he’s not ‘acting shifty’ as you like to say.”

“Really? What do you call that then?” Harmon waved violently, smacking his hand against the wall.

“I can’t…” Nils paused, shaking his head as if in pain, “I can’t disclose agents personal issues. But the kid’s going through a tough time right now and he’s just trying to work through some stuff. Unfortunately, that means shutting himself off from the world and putting up more walls. That’s why he’s acting weird.”

Nils stopped, running his hands through his hair. He didn’t look at Harmon and he suddenly felt very guilty for doubting him. 

“I’m sorry Nils, I didn’t realize.”

“No. And it’s not me you should be apologizing to.” Nils turned and walked back into the conference room, not looking at Harmon as he purposefully closed the door behind him. 

He stood in the corridor, leaning his head back against the wall. Nils was probably right, he knew his team better than anyone else, hell, he probably knew them better than they did themselves. Harmon took a deep breath before walking back into the room.

*****

“Where is your ‘technical analyst?’” Seidel asked, stopping next to where Chalice was leaning against the wall. “The tall Swede with the blond hair.”

Chalice shrugged and rolled his eyes. “God knows where he is. He’ll probably show up soon.”

Seidel checked his watch. “You are supposed to be presenting at 9am, correct?”

“Yeah. But we can handle it without him if he decides not to show up.” Chalice said nonchalantly, looking at Seidel out of the corner of his eye. Seidel seemed pleasantly surprised.

“Even down three agents?” Seidel asked.

“I mean, it makes it harder, but we can do it.” Chalice said confidently. 

The confidence was completely fake, if Nils didn’t show up, he wasn’t sure that the three of them could pull this off by themselves. He took another long drag from his cigarette, already feeling guilty. He had promised Owens he would quit and here they were, both lying to each other. Somehow, that didn’t make it any better. 

“You are a very competent team.” Seidel said. “I am sure that, with you, this operation tomorrow cannot go wrong.”

Chalice smiled, trying to appear cheerful. They had almost no hope of a successful operation on Saturday, what with Vicky out and Owens in no condition to be in the field. He wouldn’t exactly be helping matters either. He wasn’t trained and they all knew that. Putting him out in the field could be dangerous. But he was determined to do his best. He wasn’t going to let Nils and the rest of the team down. He couldn’t.

“Hey!” 

Chalice quickly stubbed out his cigarette on the wall behind him, Seidel suppressing a smile as Chalice’s eyes widened in panic.

“Chalice, please tell me you aren’t smoking again.” Nils sighed in disappointment as he approached where the pair were leaning against the wall of the building. He had another full iced coffee in his hand. 

“I’m not smoking.” Chalice said guiltily, holding the cigarette behind his back. 

Nils and Seidel exchanged a glance, Nils shaking his head. Seidel smiled, stamping out his own cigarette. 

“Fine, whatever you say.” Nils said, taking a sip of his iced coffee. “We should get going, we need to prep before we debrief the police. We’ll see you later, Seidel.”

Seidel nodded as Nils and Chalice walked towards the building, Chalice quickly dropping his cigarette into a garbage bin as they passed. Nils frowned. 

“You’ll have to quit if you really want to become an agent.” He said, holding open the front door. 

“We both know that isn’t likely.” Chalice sighed. “I’m not cut out for that and you know it.”

“But you’re still going to try for it, aren’t you?” Nils stopped in surprise. “I thought you really wanted to be an agent.”

“I do. But I’m not an agent. I mean,” Chalice threw his arms wide, “look at me. I don’t look like an agent, do I?”

Nils smirked. “I mean, what does an agent look like? If we’re going by James Bond standards, none of us really look like agents. Except maybe Owens. Speaking of looking like an agent, Chalice,” Nils paused, “you aren’t gonna like this part.”

“What part?” Chalice asked suspiciously.

“You’ll be going into this ball undercover.”

“So I’m going to have to learn how to wear my clothes properly?”

Nils laughed. “Among other things.”

“Other things?” 

Nils sighed. “”You’re going to have to dye your hair.”

“I’m what?” Chalice demanded, stopping just outside the door to the team’s conference room.

“You’re going to have to dye your hair brown. Trust me, Chaice, I wouldn’t ask you unless…”

“No.” Chalice interrupted him. “No deal. The hair stays.”  

“It can’t. Chalice I’m sorry, but you can change it back once we’re done.”

“Nope. The grey stays.”

“If you really want to be out there, the hair has to go.” Nils gave him a hard look. “You’ll stand out like a sore thumb if you go in there like that.”

“The piercings I’ll take out but the hair stays grey.” Chalice brushed his fingers through it, toying unhappily with the ends. 

“I can’t let you go with the hair. You can keep the undercut but it has to be neutral. Brown, blond, even black, but it has to be neutral.” Nils took another sip of his iced coffee. 

“Fine.” Chalice sighed, heavily. “But I won’t be happy about it.”

“Of course you won’t be. No one is.” Nils smiled. “Adalie is going to have to wear a skirt.”

Chalice winced in sympathy. “Ouch. I wouldn’t want to be in your situation. She’ll rip your face off.”

“Yeah. And I thought you were difficult. Actually, I was expecting more of a fuss from Owens but I don’t think he’s in much of a state to put up a fight right now.”

Chalice laughed. It wasn’t forced this time. “Are you making him wear a suit?”

“Of course.” Nils smiled as he pushed open the door to the conference room. “Look, Chalice, I promise it’ll be worth it. You’ll get a taste of life in the field and get to be a hero in the process. All you have to do is dye your hair.”

Chalice pulled a face, stepping into the room after him. “If you say so.”

“Nice to see you’ve decided to show up.” Adalie said, looking pointedly at her watch. “Are we supposed to work by your time or did you expect us to go on without you?”

Nils took a sip of his iced coffee before putting it on the table and taking off his scarf. “I’m sorry Adalie, the meeting with the BND went late because they were intent of accusing one of us of being the mole and I had to step in to defend his reputation.”

Adalie and Cipriana shared a look. Nils froze, glaring at them.

“Don’t tell me I have to go off on you too. Cause that means someone’s going to have to buy me another coffee and no one wants that.” 

Cipriana laughed. “Don’t worry, we all know it’s Seidel. No one is going to accuse any of our team of being a traitor.”

Cipriana shot Adalie a pointed glance and she nodded. Chalice, sitting at the table next to Cipriana, hung his head and stared at the table. 

“Good. We can’t be having any of that.” Nils took another sip of his iced coffee and sat down. “So, do we kind of know what we’re doing at least?”

“Yes.” Adalie said confidently.

“I think so!” Cipriana smiled.

“We’re just hanging around at the mall, waiting for people to blow us up, correct?” Chalice asked, a trace of a smirk on his lips.

Cipriana and Nils laughed.

“That’s the basic gist of it, yes.” Nils said. “All of us will be stationed around the inside of the mall, looking for suspicious activity. There will be a handful of undercover police inside as well, but for the most part, they will be waiting outside in case of an attack.”

Everyone nodded. 

“What if they do end up attacking the mall?” Cipriana asked.

“Why would they do that?” Adalie snapped. “They think that we don’t know their plans, so they think they’ve gotten away with it. Why change last minute and blow up a half empty mall and risk getting caught in the process?”

“Yeah, but it’ll only be the four of us and we can’t cover everywhere. If Seidel slips in earlier, he could blow the building up with us inside and get rid of four more agents pretty easily.” Chalice interjected before Cipriana could reply.

Nils nodded contemplatively. “Yeah, you’re right but I don’t think he’d risk it. Not with a much more prestigious event coming up Saturday and us sniffing around right under their noses. Plus,I agree with Adalie, I think we can assume that they wouldn’t change their plans in the hope of killing a few agents, it would make too much of a stink.”

“Okay.” Cipriana said.

“Right!” Nils stood up and took another sip of his iced coffee. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

Seidel nodded at them as they filed out of the conference room into the main area of the station. The entire police force was waiting for them, sitting on chairs and miscellaneous pieces of furniture where there were no more chairs available. 

Nils introduced himself and the team, speaking in rapid German that Cipriana and Chalice couldn’t understand. The two of them stood there awkwardly, occasionally exchanging confused glances. Nils continued talking, gesturing to emphasize his point. 

Adalie cut in, obviously elaborating on something Nils had just said.

“Thank you.” Seidel said in English after several more minutes of talking. “I did have one question.”

“Go ahead!” Nils smiled, taking another sip from his iced coffee.

“Are we planning on evacuating the mall? I mean, there will be lots of people there and we want to make sure there are as few casualties as possible, no?” Seidel asked, his face a mask of fake concern.

Nils frowned and shook his head, looking over at Chalice.  

“No, we aren’t.” Chalice said. “ I know, we are putting a lot of innocent people at risk and it’s not the way that I’d like it to be, but if we evacuate the mall we risk alerting them to our plans and they may not go ahead at all, which puts us at a loss as to where they might strike next. Unfortunately, this is the only way we can catch them.”

Seidel frowned. “I’m not pleased with that idea.”

Chalice sighed heavily. “Frankly, neither am I, however that’s how it goes in this job unfortunately.”

Nils stepped in. “Myself and my three agents will be there, as well as your team, so I can assure you we will do our absolute best to get these guys and ensure that nobody gets hurt. All of us are well-trained in this sort of thing, if they’re there, we’ll catch them.” 

Nils spoke with a confidence that Chalice admired. Even though all of this was just made up for the sole benefit of Seidel, Nils spoke as if he was sure this was going to go down in the exact way he said it would. That was a gift not many people had. Nils was excellent at making people feel comfortable, getting them to trust him even if he was just spewing bullshit like he was right now. Even Seidel nodded reluctantly.

“Okay. But why do you say ‘if?’ Do you not expect them to be there?”

“It’s possible that they’ll plant the bomb and leave, but not likely. We’ve seen that they like to be at the scene of the crime when the bombs go off. If they don’t hang around, we’ve got a bomb squad on call with dogs to find the devices as quickly as possible. Don’t worry. We have all our bases covered.”

Seidel nodded and gestured for the rest of the officers to go. They started filing out, chattering amongst themselves.

“Thank you very much. We appreciate it.”

Nils smiled. Chalice wasn’t entirely sure how he could at this point, he himself was tired and stressed, worried about Owens and about how the attack was going to play out. 

“No problem. We’ll see you tomorrow. Let’s hope everything goes well.” Nils said, taking another sip of his iced coffee. 

Seidel gave him a tight-lipped smile and strode out of the room. As soon as he was gone, Nils sighed and chugged the rest of his iced coffee. 

“Tomorrow is going to be one hell of a boring day.”

*****

Chalice sighed heavily, glancing around the mall once again. For a Thursday afternoon, it was relatively quiet and Chalice could see everyone in the food court. No one stood out or even looked remotely suspicious. If only Owens was here. He had always been so much better at picking out suspicious people, though Chalice had always joked that that was because Owens didn’t trust anyone. Now, that seemed a little too pertinent. Chalice shook his head sadly. 

“Anything?” Nils asked, his voice loud in Chalice’s earpiece, almost making him jump out of his skin. 

“Absolutely nothing. Nils, we’ve been here for 6 hours, can we please call it a day at this point?” Chalice asked. They had been hanging around since the mall opened at 9 am and had been set to stay until it closed at 9 pm. It was only 3. 

Nils laughed. “Unfortunately, we have to stay. I know it’s a very long time to sit around doing nothing but it’s all part of the job.”

“I hate surveillance on a good day. This shit isn’t even surveillance, it’s just pretend surveillance.”

“I know. But we’ll make up for it when we catch the bastards, don’t you worry about it.”

“Sure. Nils, you saw Owens yesterday. How’s he doing?”

Nils didn’t respond for a moment. “Have you not spoken to him?”

“No, I haven’t seen him at all. I did knock on his door before I left this morning but I didn’t get anything in response.”

Nils sighed. “That’s not good. I don’t think he’s doing too good honestly, I mean, he seemed fine when I saw him yesterday morning but he’s definitely not 100% at the moment.”

“Right. I’ll see if I can talk to him tonight.” Chalice nodded automatically, absently chewing on his lower lip. “That stuff you said yesterday, about the BND suspecting the mole was one of our agents, that was Owens, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Nils replied. “It’s just not fair, is it? He’s already under so much stress, he really doesn’t need this suspicion hanging over his head again.”

“You’re right.”

“Yeah, well, I gotta check in on the rest of the team. Good luck on your surveillance, Chalice, I’ll talk to you again later.” Nils said. The line went dead. 

Chalice stood up from his bench and glanced around the foodcourt again before casually wandering off towards the main area of the mall. 

There weren’t as many people hanging around in this portion of the building and Chalice quickly assessed all of them. No one suspicious. Not that he thought there would be. Seidel and whoever he was working with were much too smart to attempt anything under the noses of four Interpol agents. This was all just an incredibly elaborate and boring show put on for his benefit. Hopefully, Seidel didn’t know that. 

“Hey!” 

Chalice jumped as Seidel came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Sorry!” Seidel laughed. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“It’s alright.” Chalice smiled. “I think we’re all a little on edge today.”

“Mm. It is worse since nothing seems to be happening.”

“Yeah.” Chalice glanced around. “I wonder what they’re playing at.”

“I do not know. But if I were them I would not be planning to attack a mall on a Thursday when it is so quiet.” Seidel spoke with a hint of a smirk on his face and Chalice looked at him sharply. 

Was it possible that Seidel knew about their ruse? He didn’t think so, they had been incredibly careful to keep everything under wraps but there was always the possibility that the conference room had been bugged.

“Maybe they expected it to be busier.” Chalice said. “It does seem a little odd, but we have good information that they are going to attack today. It’s likely that they aren’t German, then they wouldn’t really know how things work around here.”

“Ah, that is true.” Seidel said. “What will you do if they do not attack today?”

Seidel was letting his guard down. Even if he wasn’t a trained agent, Chalice could still tell when someone was probing him for information and that was definitely what Seidel was doing now. Since he thought they were friends, he had stopped trying to be subtle about it. Chalice was mildly insulted, did Seidel really think that he was that stupid? But he was only mildly insulted. After all, he was only a liaison. 

“We’ll probably have to go back to London. Things are pretty busy over there. If nothing happens I wouldn’t be surprised if we have to fly back tomorrow.”

“Really? That seems very fast.” Seidel almost seemed to relax at that piece of information.

“Yeah, well Interpol suffers from a lack of agents so they’ll need us back there as soon as possible. If there is something today though we’ll probably have to stick around for a bit.”

“Makes sense. But isn’t your unit chief still in hospital?”

“Yeah. I suppose someone will have to stay behind to look after her until she can fly again. Honestly, it will either end up being myself or Nils, since we’re the only ones who can be left behind.”

Seidel laughed incredulously. “Surely that is not true!”

“I’m not even a trained agent so I’m basically useless in their eyes.” Chalice laughed. “And Nils is only a tech analyst.”

Chalice could practically taste the blasphemy as he spoke and made up his mind to buy Nils a coffee later by way of an apology.

“Do you not need your tech analyst?” Seidel asked.

“Nah.” Chalice mentally added a slice of lemon loaf to Nils’ Starbucks order. “There are other ones in our office.”

“I see.” Seidel said and checked his watch. “I suppose that we should get back to our surveillance. I will talk to you later.”

Chalice nodded and watched for a few seconds as Seidel walked away in the opposite direction. He wasn’t fully convinced that Seidel didn’t know that this whole exercise was just a decoy but if he believed that they would go home on Saturday then that was probably good enough. 

He sighed and looked around the mall again. It was going to be a long three hours.

*****

“That was a useless exercise.” Adalie complained. 

The team and Seidel were back at police headquarters, sitting in the conference room. It was nearly 11pm and the rest of the building was silent. Everyone else had gone home for the night. 

“We should have known they wouldn’t hit on a Thursday,” she continued, leaning back in her chair and passing a hand over her face.

Cipriana yawned. “Yeah, those messages must have been a decoy.”

Seidel shook his head in disbelief. “Chalice told me you would be going home if this fell through.”

Nils, who had just walked back into the room, cell phone still in hand, nodded. “Unfortunately that’s the plan. We need to be back. Lack of agents.”

Nils stifled a yawn and brushed his fingers through his hair.

“Not me though. I will be staying here to keep an eye on Vicky.” He glanced around, hiding another yawn behind his hand. “Where’s Chalice?”

“I’m right here!” Chalice said, opening the door with his back. In his hands he had two starbucks drinks and a small bag. 

Nils looked at him suspiciously. “Coffee? Why?”

“Mine is not coffee. Not at 11pm. But yours is.” Chalice said, holding him a very large iced coffee and the small bag. 

“What’s all this in aid of?”

Chalice glanced over at Seidel. “I’ll explain later.”

“Right.”

As Nils spoke, Seidel got up. “I am disappointed. Without you here, more innocent people will die.”

“We have to go home, it isn’t our choice.” Chalice said gently. 

“I understand. But I do not like it. Goodbye.” Seidel said, leaving the room and letting the door slam to behind him. 

Nils raised his eyebrows and Chalice giggled. Cipriana was less subtle, bursting into fits of laughter. 

“I do not like it.” Adalie mimicked him, barely finishing her sentence before dissolving into laughter. 

“Okay.” Nils said, struggling to control his laughter. “Okay, get back to the hotel you guys. I’ll see you tomorrow at 7am at the BND.”

“You’re headed back there now aren’t you?” Chalice asked. 

“Yeah.” Nils sighed. “Yes I am. Thanks for the coffee, Chalice, but why?”

Chalice laughed. “I’m so sorry but I had to shit talk you to Seidel earlier to maintain our cover of why you’re staying here.”

“And that warranted buying me coffee and a lemon loaf?” Nils laughed. “I mean, I’m not complaining but that’s a little extreme.”

“Nah, not at all.”

Cipriana giggled. “Okay boys. We are headed back to the hotel and we’ll see you tomorrow bright and early. Night!”

“Night!” Chalice said. 

Nils just nodded. “Aren’t you headed back too?”

“Nope, I’m coming with you to the BND. I lied.” Chalice said, raising his coffee cup. “It is coffee.”

“You don’t have to do this, y’know. You should go back to the hotel and sleep, get some rest.” 

“No.” Chalice said, his voice firm. “I’m coming with you. Owens will still be there, won’t he?”

Nils sighed. “Of course he will. That boy works too hard, Chalice, I have to convince him to leave the office some nights.”

“You’re one to talk.” 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I’m worried about him.”

“You aren’t the only one. That’s why I’m coming with you, to check on him. Make sure he’s okay.” Chalice sighed. “He’s not been himself lately. I should have known the attacks had gotten worse.”

“You couldn’t have seen it.” Nils said, picking up his coffee and walking out of the office, Chalice close behind him.

“Yes, I could. I’ve known him for ages, I should have seen that something was wrong.”

“No.” Nils stopped, turning to face him. “Chalice, do not blame yourself for this. I know how you feel about him but the only thing you can do now is be there and try to look after him.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do.” Chalice gave him a wry smile as they walked out of the police headquarters. 

*****

“Morning!”

Vicky looked up at Nils’ horribly cheerful voice. It was 11 am but she was utterly exhausted. The pain had kept her awake all night and she just wanted to sleep.

“Hi Nils.” She said.

“Hey! How are you feeling boss?” 

She smiled weakly. “Not wonderful, but I’m still alive. How’s the team doing? Are you guys all ready for the raid tomorrow?”

“Well, we’re glad that you’re alive, that’s for sure! I don’t know how we’d survive with you. The team…” Nils sighed, “well, they’re doing okay.”

Vicky’s brow creased. “What’s going on?”

“Has Owens told you about his attacks?”

“Yes, he did. But he told me that he had gotten better and he was fit to work.” Vicky frowned at him. “You have to tell me if something is wrong and you know it.”

“The attacks have come back. I think they’re worse now, Vicky, and I’m worried that he’s going to put himself in danger. He told me he’s seeing a psychologist.”

“Is he on meds?”

“No. Cause that means that he wouldn’t be able to work. Vicky, this job is his life, the poor boy doesn’t have anything outside of it and frankly, I’m worried that he’d get worse without it.”

“Nils,” Vicky sighed, “I’m going to have to report this to the board and he’ll have to be assessed.”

Nils’ eyes went wide with panic. “No, Vicky, you can’t, please.”

“Nils, I know you want to protect this team, but you have to look after yourself too.Owens isn’t your responsibility.”

“He needs my help. They all do.”

“You can’t keep doing this!” Vicky said, struggling to sit up. “Honestly, Nils, you’re the one I’m worried about. Owens has only been here two months, he’s only on probation, but I can’t lose you.”

“What part of ‘this job is all he has’ don’t you understand? Vicky, him not being here would be worse than him being here.”

“Not if it puts the team in danger. I know that you want to protect him, but you have to consider the risks! If he gets an attack while on a mission, everyone would be screwed. People could die, Nils!”

Nils hung his head.

“Tell me you aren’t taking him with you tomorrow.”

“I have to. Even with the boys from the BND I don’t have enough agents.”

“Fuckin,” Vicky mumbled, shaking her head, “Nils, that’s not a good idea. You’re going to have to make do with the five of you and the BND boys.”

“I’ll have to be in the truck. And I have Gatsby on Seidel, I need Owens in the field.” Nils said, and Vicky could hear that he was struggling to keep his voice from breaking.

“You cannot put him in that situation! For his own sake, as well as everyone else's!” 

“Vicky, I have no other option. Besides, he would never let me take him off the mission without a fight. I have been preparing the team for this all week, I can’t change the plan on them now.” Nils looked as if he was about to break down and Vicky felt incredibly sorry for him. There was nothing she could have done about it but it felt very unfair to leave him in charge of the team. 

“Okay. Alright Nils, do what you have to do. But I am going to have to report him to the board, you know that.” 

“Yeah. Yeah, I do know that and I wish you didn’t but we gotta do the bureaucracy, right?” He gave her a weak smile and she made a mental note to put him down for extra days off once she was back in London.

“Yup. Thanks for dropping in, Nils, and good luck tomorrow.”

He nodded and left the room wordlessly. He looked terrible, definitely not fit to be leading the team in an important mission like this one. From here, though, there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. She’d have to talk to Maurice and get him to keep an eye on Nils while she was in the hospital.

[notaspywrites]

Don’t Tell Me - part one

After a series of suspected terrorist attacks rocks Berlin, Team Black is called in to find the culprits and stop the attacks before they get any worse. However, the enemy is closer than they think and with tensions on the team running higher than ever, it’ll be a race against the clock (and against basic human emotions) to save the day and keep the team intact. 

Warnings: mentions of terrorism, depictions of violence, mentions of bombs, explosions, guns, smoking, swearing and descriptions of panic and anxiety attacks. 

Word count for part one: 9,966

Author’s note: Hello and welcome! This is my very first time on Tumblr so please bear with me as I figure this out. This is part one of a several part series, so stay tuned for updates! Part two hopefully coming same time next week. Also, thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoy! - not-a-spy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nils Karlessen chewed on his bottom lip, drumming his fingers anxiously on his desk. The line was still dead, five agents all not responding. Behind him, Henry Chalice paced, twisting his hands incessantly. The room wasn’t big enough for him to get more than a few steps before he had to turn around and start again. Nils ignored him, staring at his screens. After the explosion his GPS reading had been scrambled so he had no way of tracking any of them. 

“Vicky? Maurice? Come in please.” Nils tried again, struggling to keep his voice even. The radio signals must have been disrupted somehow; they’d be back in a moment. 

“Nothing?” Chalice stopped pacing, running his fingers through his dyed grey hair. 

“Not yet. Chalice don’t panic, let the dust settle first. They’ll respond in a minute.”

“We should be over there!” Chalice’s voice shook with the emotions he had been trying to control. 

“No. We can do more here than we can out there. They’re all trained agents, they know what they’re doing. Just give them a minute.”

“I don’t see how you can be so calm!” Chalice said, passing his hands over his face. He was shaking.

Nils frowned sympathetically, spinning around to face him and wincing as his foot was squished into his desk. He sat up straighter, pushing his headphones off of his ears. “Because I’ve done this before. You can’t always think of the worst case scenario. They’ll be back. Sometimes the radios go down but they’ll be back.”

“Nils! Do you copy?” 

As if to prove his point, a faint voice crackled from his headphones. He spun around, whipping them back on as he did so.

“Adalie? Where are you?” 

“We’re,” she panted for breath, “we’re on Zimmerstraße, right outside the English school.”

“We? Adalie, who’s we?” Nils asked, holding his palm out to stop Chalice from talking. Chalice wrung his hands desperately.

“Cipriana’s with me. We’re both safe.” Adalie paused again. “She lost her earpiece, that’s why she couldn’t call you.”

“Good. That’s excellent. You girls get back to the cars and head towards base. Have you seen Vicky and the boys?”

“No. No, sorry Nils, we haven’t seen anyone. We’ll see you soon, depending how bad the traffic is.” The headphones went dead again and Nils shoved them off, spinning back around with a grin on his face.

“The girls are okay! They’re headed back to the cars, they’ll probably be here within the hour. But we still haven’t heard from the boys or Vicky.”

Chalice covered his mouth with his hands. He looked as if he was about to throw up. Nils reached out and took his wrist gently. 

“I’ll call them again, okay?”

Chalice nodded. 

“Maurice, Vicky, come in please. Owens, come in please. If you can hear me, come in please.” Nils paused, waiting for a reply. The silence hovered. 

His extension rang and Chalice jumped violently.

“Nils Karlessen, Interpol.” He listened intently, switching to German to reply to the paramedic on the other end. He frowned, then spoke again, his voice hard. 

Chalice looked at him, his eyes demanding answers but Nils shook his head. He knew what Chalice wanted to hear. 

Nils signed off sharply and then called again. “Maurice, come in.”

“Nils.” The voice was strangled and tense. “Vicky’s hurt. I’ve called for a med team.”

“I know. They just called me. Are you okay?”

“Sure. Vicky’s unconscious, I, I don’t, I don’t know if she’s breathing, Nils, I…”

“Okay, alright, Maurice I’m gonna need you to calm down, okay, take a deep breath and sit down. The med team is on their way, I just need you to hold on until they get there.”

“Vicky’s unconscious, Nils, I…”

“Maurice, I need you to take a deep breath, okay, the med team will be there in a sec. Sit down and take a deep breath before you go into shock, okay. You’ll be fine.”

On the other end of the line, Maurice took a deep shaky breath.

“Hang on Maurice, I’m getting another call. It’s probably the med team. I’m gonna have to put you on hold for a sec but I’ll be right back.” Nils said, his finger hovering over the transfer call button.

“Okay.”

Nils nodded involuntarily and pressed the transfer call button. He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the German voice on the other end. He listened intently for a second and nodded again before barking a few quick words and hanging up. 

Chalice frowned, moving to perch on the desk next to Nils’ makeshift computer set-up. 

“Maurice? The med team is right there, okay, they’ll take care of things from here.”

“Yeah...yeah, I see them. Thanks Nils.”

“No problem buddy, you take care of yourself. One last thing, you haven’t seen Owens, have you?”

“Uhh, no. What about the girls?”

“They’re fine, they’re headed back to base now. Thanks Maurice. We’ll see you later.” Nils signed off, pushing his headphones off of his ears and stared blankly at his screens. Four out of five agents were now all accounted for, but he had received nothing but radio silence from Owens and he was starting to get worried. There was no doubt that he was an excellent agent. If it were anyone else out there on their own, Nils would certainly be in a state of much greater panic, but if Owens had been capable of checking in, he would have. 

“Is Maurice alright?” Chalice asked. 

“Debatable. He’s shaken, maybe concussed even. Vicky’s unconscious but the med team should be there by now, so hopefully they’re on their way to the hospital. I’ll call in later and make sure she’s okay.” Nils turned to face him as he spoke. He knew exactly what was coming.

“He’s dead, isn’t he?” Chalice’s voice was controlled and even, but Nils could hear the emotion wavering at the edge of it.

“We don’t know that.”

“That’s not a no.” Chalice said, his voice hard.

“But it’s not a yes either. I have faith in him, Chalice. I’m sure he made it out of there okay.”

“But then why hasn’t he reported in yet?” Chalice demanded, pushing himself off of Nils’ desk and beginning to pace the room again.

“Adalie said that Cipriana had lost her earpiece. Maybe that’s what happened to Owens. It’s entirely possible,” Nils paused to fix his hair and was about to continue when the door to the office was thrown open and a young detective stormed in. 

“Can you tell me what the fuck is going on?” His english was heavily accented but clear. Nils glared at him. He continued, “There has been an explosion and countless tourists may be dead. I thought it was your job to stop this.”

“There was no indication that there would be a bombing. Up until today, all these attacks have been shootings, you know that as well as I do.” Nils snapped, any hint of sympathy vanished from his face. “And I’ll have you know that two of my agents are injured and another is missing so if you don’t mind, I’ll do my job and you can go do yours.”

Nils turned abruptly back towards his computer, leaving the detective fuming in the doorway. He stood there for several moments before turning and slamming the door closed behind him.

*****

Owens watched the man standing on the other side of the road.

Something was off about him, something that made it so he didn’t quite blend in with the crush of tourists surrounding him. He was average-looking, average height with blond hair and wearing a grey hoodie, but his movements had a furtive quality that Owens recognized immediately. 

That was how you moved when you knew someone was watching you. He tried to look nonchalant, leaning casually back against the wall of the building and pulling out his phone to disguise his earpiece.

“Vicky, I’ve got a suspicious man across the street from me, wearing a grey hoodie and black jeans.”

“Right.” She paused for a second. “Okay I got him. Why’s he suspicious to you?”

“He looks shifty, like he’s afraid of being watched. And he’s got both hands in his pockets, which is never a good sign.”

“Right. Has he seen you?”

“No ma’am. Do you want me to keep an eye on him?” Owens asked, shifting his position against the wall as the man in the hoodie took a few steps down the street.

“Yes, please do. I trust your instinct. Keep me updated Owens.” Vicky signed off and Owens slipped his phone back into his pocket.

The man in the hoodie started to move suddenly, walking with small, quick steps away from the checkpoint down Friedrichstraße. Owens followed, a few steps behind on the opposite side of the road, his eyes fixed on the man’s retreating back. 

“Vicky, he’s on the move. He is walking north down Friedrichstraße. I’m going to follow him.”

“Good. Stay safe.” 

The man in the hoodie picked up his pace, glancing furtively around him but not seeing Owens on the street behind him. Owens frowned. This team’s MO so far was shootings, driving into heavily trafficked areas and letting loose with a machine gun. This wasn’t matching up to that. Seeing a break in the traffic, Owens ran across the street, falling into step several paces behind the man. 

“Vicky.” Owens paused, turning to stare into a shop window as the man turned around in his direction. As he did, the man pulled out a cellphone. “They’ve got a bomb!” 

Owens broke into a sprint, dodging through the tourists as the man pressed a button on his phone.

*****

“They’ve got a bomb!” Owens’ voice had lost its emotionless quality and was suddenly frantic. 

“What?” Vicky demanded, causing Maurice to look at her in concern. “Owens what do you mean?”

The street exploded. A wave of unbearable heat swept over them, followed immediately by a wall of flame. Vicky dropped to the ground, dragging Maurice down by his sleeve, hitting the pavement as the shrapnel rained down over them. A large piece of wood hit Vicky over the head and she pitched forward onto the ground. Somewhere behind them, someone screamed, people running haphazardly in every which way around them. Maurice stayed where he was on the ground as destruction rained down around him, trying desperately to keep his breathing even. A second explosion shook the street and Maurice covered his head with his arms, doing his best to sink into the sidewalk. Vicky was still motionless on the ground next to him and from where he was he couldn’t even tell if she was breathing. The explosions seemed to have stopped and Maurice raised his head. People were still running around uselessly, screaming ringing over the street. Maurice clambered gingerly onto his knees, glancing around for any other members of the team. From where he was on the ground, he couldn’t see anyone other than Vicky. He crawled over to her, rolling her over to check her pulse when the museum exploded. Maurice was thrown flat from the blast, broken glass and building fragments showering down over him. He pressed himself further into the ground, feeling himself beginning to hyperventilate. He took a deep breath, clamping his hands tighter over the back of his head. The sharpnel kept coming this time, flaming pieces of building landing around him. After several more minutes of incessant shrapnel, the flaming rain stopped. He lay still, trying to keep his breath even. He kept his eyes to the earth until he felt that several minutes of silence had passed before daring to look up again. This time the street was silent and motionless, no one daring to breathe in the silence that followed the attacks. Eventually, he crawled over to where Vicky was lying. Through the dust and confusion he couldn’t tell if she was breathing or not. The only course of action would be to call a med team. 

The call was long and arduous, Maurice’s German inadequate to properly express himself amid the emotions running rampant inside him.

Eventually he got through to them and managed to explain what he needed and they told him they’d be there soon. Not that he really knew what ‘soon’ meant. He lay on the pavement, still stunned by the explosion. People had started to run around again, yelling. His head ached with the screaming and he reached up to massage his temples. As he sat there, he heard an echoey voice in his ear. At first he assumed it was just another part of the rabble going on around him but then he recognized who was speaking.

“Maurice, come in.”

“Nils.” Maurice managed to choke out the name, taking a deep breath before trying to continue. “Vicky’s hurt. I’ve called for a med team.”

“I know.” Nils’ voice was calm and reassuring, giving Maurice a chance to catch his breath. “They just called me. Are you okay?” 

He ran his fingers through his tangled hair. “Sure. Vicky’s unconscious, I, I don’t know if she’s breathing, Nils, I…”

He trailed off, trying very hard not to burst into tears. He was a trained agent, his head shouldn’t feel this muddled.

“Okay, alright, Maurice I’m gonna need you to calm down, okay, take a deep breath and sit down. The med team is on their way, I just need you to hold on until they get there.”

“Vicky’s unconscious, Nils, I…” Maurice tried to explain, to make sense of what was happening but his thoughts were disordered and he trailed off again.”

“Maurice, I need you to take a deep breath, okay, the med team will be there in a sec. Sit down and take a deep breath before you go into shock, okay. You’ll be fine.”

Maurice nodded for no reason in particular, taking a deep shaky breath as he did so. 

“Hang on Maurice, I’m getting another call. It’s probably the med team. I’m gonna have to put you on hold for a sec but I’ll be right back.” 

Maurice wanted to ask him not to leave but he forced himself to stay calm. “Okay.”

For a few moments the line was silent. Maurice looked over at Vicky, still lying on the pavement and his heart started to pound again. 

“Maurice?” Nils’ voice cut back into his thoughts. “The med team is right there, okay, they’ll take care of things from here.”

Maurice glanced up and caught sight of an ambulance coming towards him. “Yeah...yeah, I see them. Thanks Nils.”

“No problem buddy, you take care of yourself. One last thing, you haven’t seen Owens have you?”

Maurice frowned, trying to think of the last time he’d seen Owens. “Uhh, no. What about the girls?”

“They’re fine, they’re headed back to base now. Thanks Maurice. We’ll see you later.” Nils signed off abruptly and Maurice struggled to his feet to meet the med team. 

*****

“Why have they changed their MO?” Cipriana asked, her feet resting on the dashboard of Adalie’s car. “They’ve suddenly graduated from driving in and letting loose with machine guns to sophisticated bombs in two seperate buildings which are set to explode minutes apart. How does that happen?”

Adalie sighed. “I have no idea. Maybe it’s someone else and we’re looking at two different perps.”

“I don’t think so. It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t make sense either way actually, because why change MO so suddenly and seemingly without provocation? I mean, we knew they’d be at Checkpoint Charlie but they can’t have known that. There’s no way.”

“Well, I think we have to assume that they did know, if they are in fact the same people. And if they did, then they probably planted those bombs to try and kill us off.”

Cipriana frowned. “And maybe it worked, for one of us anyways.”

“You think Owens is dead?” Adalie asked.

“Well, what else could have happened? I mean, I know none of us know him very well but he’s a bloody competent agent, if he was capable of checking in he would have.” Cipriana said, waving her hand out of the open window. 

“Suppose that they did know we were coming. There would have had to be a leak somewhere on our end to inform them that we would be there, right? And all of us have checked in, and besides, we’ve known each other for ages. So it would only be logical to assume that the newest member, and coincidentally the only one who’s missing, is the mole.”

“There could be a reasonable explanation. Maybe he lost his earpiece. Or maybe they caught him somehow. And as for the mole theory, we are collaborating with the police. One of them could have leaked it.”

“Hmmm.” Adalie glared out the windscreen at nothing in particular. “I guess you could have a point.”

“Or it could be Chalice!” Cipriana said. “He could be calling the shots from behind the scenes, and what a great way of assuring you aren’t caught in the explosion!”

“I don’t know. I rather like Chalice, which doesn’t exonerate him, but makes me less inclined to believe it's him.”

“It's a good cover! But I agree, I don’t really think it's Chalice either. Not that I think it's Owens, for that matter.”

“You always want to see the best in people, don’t you?”

“What’s wrong with that? We couldn’t have two pessimists on this team, always thinking there’s a mole somewhere.” Cipriana laughed and took a sip of her iced coffee. 

“Do you know why Owens left MI-6?”

“Of course not! Only Nils knows that shit about us.”

Adalie shuddered. “Yeah I hate to think what he could dig up on us. But there are other ways of obtaining information. I know some of the girls over there and there was a massive scandal a few years back, in 2015, I believe, and he was suspected of selling names. Well, he disappeared for a few years, supposedly dead and then turned up again in 2018.”

Cipriana raised her eyebrows at her. “2015? Wasn’t that the year MI-6 tried to pull off that WBFC takedown?”

“Yeah. Owens was one of the agents involved.”

“But they caught the mole! It wasn’t Owens, it was some other dude.”

“I know. But there was always a theory that there were two moles. Owens did go back to work for MI-6 for a while after he returned from the ‘dead’ but he quit not long after and came to work here.”

“That’s terribly anti-climactic! I thought you were going to tell me they kicked him out or something.” Cipriana said. 

“Well that’s just the official version. We don’t actually know what happened.” Adalie added pointedly.

“You should quit Interpol. I’m sure you could make an absolute killing as a conspiracy theorist.” Cipriana smirked. 

Adalie wacked her in the shoulder and Cipriana made a face. 

“Hey!”

“I don’t know about Owens, Cipriana. He’s a bloody good agent, but I'm not sure about him.”

“He’s just shy! That doesn’t mean that he’s a traitor. I can’t believe he’d sell us out. I mean, why would he? I can’t believe he’s the kind of guy who would put people in danger for money. It’s ridiculous.” 

“Maybe it is. But maybe not.”

*****

“Is he still not answering?” Chalice demanded, handing Nils a large iced coffee as he slammed back into the office. 

Nils shook his head. “I’ve been trying every five minutes and I’ve still got nothing. The earpiece is either dead or it's fallen out and gotten destroyed, otherwise I’d be getting some kind of feedback.”

“Fuck.”

“But that means there’s a good chance he’s still alive. For now, we need to worry about something else. Why did they change from shooting to bombing?”

“They knew we were coming and had a higher chance of killing some of us with a bomb.” Chalice said, regaining some kind of composure. “If they had stayed with the shooting it would have been much easier for us to catch them.”

“Good point. But who tipped them off?” Nils mused, his fingers flying over his keyboard.

“What are you looking at?” Chalice asked, setting down his own coffee and leaning over the back of Nils’ chair.

“The records of all the police officers involved in our investigation. Oh!” Nils’ fingers stopped, hovering just above his keyboard.

“What is it?”

“This dude, Eberhard Seidel, his files are locked. I’m not allowed entry.”

“But you’re going to get in anyways?”

“You bet your ass I am.” Nils smirked, his fingers resuming their dance over his keyboard. 

Chalice perched himself on the empty desk next to Nils and drank his coffee while he watched Nils work. It was impressive, the amount of information he could get out of five minutes of sitting at his computer. 

“That’s interesting.” Nils said, frowning at his screen, his fingers still flying over the keys. 

“What is?”

“His files are classified by the BND. Which isn’t an issue, but is intriguing.”

“German secret service?” Chalice paused, taking another sip of his coffee. “Is he one of their agents, d’you think?”

“That’s a more pleasant thought than the idea that there’s a suspected terrorist in the German police force.”

“Can you get through the BND security?”

“Is water wet?” Nils asked, not glancing away from his screens. “I just need a minute to crack it.”

Chalice cracked a smile for the first time since the bombs had gone off. If anyone could hack the German secret service, it would be Nils. There was a rumour that the reason he had been hired was because he’d hacked the Interpol server at age 16. Chalice wasn’t sure if it was true, but he didn’t doubt that it could be. 

“Okay! I have bad news. Our man Eberhard was arrested on terrorism charges when he was a minor, which explains why it doesn’t show on his record.”

“So the police have a possible terrorist on their staff? Absolutely fucking wonderful.”

“It gets worse! He’s not just any police officer.”

“Oh don’t tell me.” Chalice groaned, burying his face in his hands.

“He just so happens to be the son of the Chief Constable.”

“Somehow that’s worse than I thought. Fuck, this is a mess and a half.”

“Agreed.” Nils said. “There’s nothing in here about what his motives were, unfortunately. I’m not seeing anything about links to known terrorist organizations or anything like that.”

“I guess we’ll have to figure that out, won’t we?” Chalice asked. 

Nils smirked. “I suppose we will. More importantly, we need to figure out where they’re going to strike next. Major events going on in Berlin, protests, government shit, stuff like that. Where will have the highest body count? We know they’ve graduated to bombs now so we can’t assume that they’ll go back from that, so it could be a...a...function or a…”

“A ball, perhaps?”

Nils spun around violently, jamming his feet on the floor to stop himself from flying back into his desk. “A ball?”

“Yeah. Some fancy dress ball, I think it's a political fundraiser of some kind.” Chalice said. “I keep seeing posters for it.”

“Chalice you are a genius.” Nils said, spinning back around in his chair and resuming his furious typing. “This Saturday. Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin. That’s not in the center of town but its five-star and bloody expensive. And based on the guestlist, it's gonna be packed, full of big names too.”

“My supposed genius doesn’t help us much if we have two agents in hospital and one MIA. This thing’s gonna be huge. The four of us can’t handle it ourselves, there’s no way.”

“We can try! Maurice should be out of hospital by then, and hopefully we’ll have found Owens, so we should just be down Vicky and if not I have some favours I could call in, which would mean someone could take over this job and I could be in the field with the other guys.”

“You have field training?”

“Naturally. And I can shoot.”

“That’s not fair! I’m still waiting to take my field training course and I can’t shoot.”     

Nils laughed. "Oh I know it'll work out in the end. Besides, you don't need field training to help save the world! You really want to run around out there with those guys?"

"You know I do.”

“Because you think you’ll be able to keep a closer eye on him if you’re out there too, is that it?” Nils turned to face him, twirling his pen expectantly between his fingers. Chalice stared at him defiantly.

“Of course not. He can look after himself.”

“Which is why you’re so worried?”

“Well he can’t very well look after himself if he’s dead.” Chalice snapped, jumping off of Nils’ desk and beginning to pace again. Nils rolled his eyes.

“You shouldn’t worry about him so much. He can handle himself.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Chalice demanded, not stopping his pacing. “I...I just worry about him. He’s not how he used to be back in MI-6.”

Nils frowned sympathetically. “Chalice, I know both of you went through some shit, but seriously, he can handle himself. Nothing good comes from worrying about him. It’s pointless, it just stresses you out.”

“You’re telling me you don’t worry about Nikki?”

Nils sighed. “That’s different and you know it. As it stands right now, you’re just friends and it’s going to stay that way unless you do something about it.”

He turned back to his screens, pushing a button on his headphones as he did so.

“Owens, it’s Nils. Come in please.”

There was silence. No static, or faint heartbeats, or background noise. Just pure silence.

“The earpiece is dead or destroyed. Meaning it's likely that it isn’t attached to him anymore, so his chances are pretty good. I’ll call his work cell, maybe he’ll pick up on that number. Gimme a sec.” 

Chalice waited impatiently, wringing his hands and trying to suppress the urge to start pacing again. Nils watched him in the reflection of his computer screens as Owens’ phone kept ringing. 

It stopped with an automated voice telling him he’d reached Theodore Owens but he wasn’t available right now. There was no personal message, which was pretty standard for agents. Nils didn’t bother leaving a message.

“No reply I’m afraid. The emergency crews are moving in now so if he’s there, they’ll find him. I promise.” 

Chalice opened his mouth to protest but thought better of it. There was nothing he could say now that he hadn’t said before. Nils was probably right, Owens was probably alive somewhere running after the guys who had caused this mess in the first place. 

*****

The second Owens started running, the street exploded behind him. The ground shook, pieces of rubble flying past his head, but he managed to keep his balance and kept sprinting. The man in the hoodie had seen him by now and took off running, throwing the detonator into the street as he ran. Around them people screamed, some running in every direction, others just standing still. The man in the hoodie dodged through them recklessly, shoving people aside when they didn’t move out of his way. Owens followed, gaining on him quickly, his right hand reaching back for his gun. The man in the hoodie noticed the movement and dodged down an alleyway, Owens’ feet nearly sliding out from under him as he followed. 

“Stop!” Owens yelled, flicking off his gun’s safety. The man didn’t so much as slow down, yelling something in German over his shoulder. Owens didn’t understand, but didn’t like the sound of it anyways. He took the risk of glancing over his shoulder, doing so just in time to see a woman barreling at him from behind. He dodged sideways, firing his gun at her as he did so. He missed. She didn’t, careening into him at full speed and throwing him against the wall as the man in the hoodie switched directions and began walking towards them. 

Owens shoved her off of him and she stumbled backwards, cursing at him in German. Owens leveled his gun at her but the man slammed into him from behind and he went down hard. The gun flew from his hand, skittering across the ground. He rolled over, reaching for it but the woman kicked it away, leaving him completely unarmed. He struggled onto his elbows, making to get up but the man aimed a sharp kick at his face and he fell back to the ground, momentarily disoriented. 

“Who is he?” A third figure demanded, emerging from the shadows behind the man. 

Owens sat up with difficulty, his head spinning from the blow. The woman made a move to shove him back down again but was stopped at a sign from the figure in the shadows. 

“We don’t know.” She responded curtly. 

“He followed me from the checkpoint. We do not know who he is.”

The figure stepped into the light and Owens’ heart dropped. It was Eberhard Seidel. He was one of the police officers that they had been working with, but Owens suspected he wasn’t there on police business. 

“Ah. Agent Owens, is it not?” Eberhard said, looking at him for a moment before turning to the man. “Shoot him.”

“You’re in trouble Seidel.” Owens rasped, his hand clutching at the stone wall as he attempted to stand up. Blood poured from his nose and the world spun around him as he hoisted himself to his feet. For a moment he thought he was about to faint but the shadows retreated from the edges of his vision.

“I do not think so.” He smiled, throwing his arms wide. “Only you have seen me, and you will be dead soon.”

“My team is smarter than you think.” Owens said as Eberhard turned and began walking away. 

“My records are sealed!” He crowed triumphantly over his shoulder. Despite the pain, Owens managed a smirk.

“Have you met our tech analyst? He can get into anything.”

When I said ‘shoot him’ I meant now!” Eberhard yelled at the man in the hoodie. The man grimaced and went for his gun. Owens lunged for him, sending him flying backwards into the other wall of the alley. He fell to the ground and Owens was about to run for it when he heard the safety of a gun click right behind his head. He had forgotten about the woman.

*****

“How you doin’ buddy?” Chalice asked, standing in the doorway of Maurice’s hospital room. 

“Fine. I’d be a lot better if they’d let me out of here. There’s nothing wrong with me.”

Chalice grinned, moving into the room and sitting down in the chair next to Maurice’s bed. “I wasn’t aware you were a doctor in your free time.”

“I don’t need to be a doctor to know that I’m perfectly fine.” Maurice shot back, sitting up in the hospital bed. 

“They’re just worried that you’re in shock. That was one hell of an explosion Maurice, I was rather worried about you myself.”

“I’m honoured. How are the girls?”

“Adalie and Cipriana were on their way back to base the last time I heard. Vicky is awake now, they’re running some tests and they think she has a concussion but she’ll be okay.”

“That’s good.” Maurice said. “What about Owens? When I talked to Nils it sounded like you guys weren’t sure where he was.”

Chalice paused for a second, his eyes fixed intently on the ground. When he spoke again, his voice was measured and even, as if he was trying not to betray some intense emotion. “He still hasn’t checked in yet. You’re sure you didn’t see him before the explosion?”

Maurice frowned, trying to remember. “I didn’t see him but Vicky was talking to him right before the bomb went off. She...she seemed surprised about something and asked what he meant but then, it exploded.”

Chalice frowned. “You didn’t hear what he said?”

“No. It just wasn’t something she expected him to say.” Maurice watched Chalice’s face carefully. He was staring absently into the middle distance, his brow furrowed in concern. 

“Has Nils told you what we found out?” Chalice asked, snapping out of his reverie.

“Nope. I have heard nothing.”

“We think Eberhard Seidel is involved, that he’s feeding information to the group.”

“Eberhard Seidel, isn’t he the Chief Constable's son?”

“Uh huh. One and the same.”

“Shit. That’s not good.”

“No it most certainly is not. Nils managed to get into his files and found out that Seidel was connected to suspected terrorist activity when he was a minor. I guess his dad must have helped him cover it up and gotten him a job.” Chalice said.

“Christ.” Maurice passed a hand over his face. “What are we gonna do?”

“There’s a ball happening this Saturday that we think is gonna be their next target so we’re going to be there. And we’ll be prepared this time. Bring in the bomb squad, whatever it takes to catch these assholes.”

“Even down two agents? I mean, I’ll be there, for sure, but with Vicky concussed and Owens…” Maurice trailed off. Owens had to be dead, didn’t he? Well, there was of course another alternative, but there was no way he would ever voice it to Chalice.

Chalice swallowed hard. “We’ll manage. Nils said he’s got a few favours he can call in and, worst comes to worst, he can always join you guys in the field.”

“Yeah.” Maurice frowned. “Hey, are you alright? You don’t sound too hot.”

“I’m fine. I’m just a little worried about Owens.” Maurice opened his mouth to talk but Chalice cut him off. “And I know, I know, he can handle himself I just, I can’t help it.”

“I get that. And I know you don’t want to hear this, but I’m sure he’ll be fine. You MI-6 boys have a way of getting yourselves out of tricky situations.” Maurice laughed, then grimaced from the pain.

“I thought you said you were absolutely fine?” Chalice smiled. “You sure you’re gonna be okay for Saturday?”

“Yes, I’ll be fine.” Maurice said determinedly. “You guys are gonna need my help.”

“We need you alive for the long term and going into a dangerous situation while still in shock will not help that cause.”

“I’m not in shock!” Maurice protested loudly. “I’m fine!” 

Chalice laughed. “Sure you are. Anyways Maurice, I’ve got to get back to Nils but I’ll see you later. He’ll probably swing by and bring you a coffee or something.”

“Hopefully I’ll be out of here by then.”

“I know, I know, you’re fine. But look after yourself anyways. See ya.”

“See you!”

Chalice slipped quietly out of the room and down the hallway. Halfway down, he stopped and pulled out his phone. He shouldn’t. It could quite easily put Owens in more danger than he was probably already in. He knew better. He dialed anyways.

The phone rang for an excruciatingly long period of time and Chalice started to fidget. He wasn’t going to pick up and Chalice knew that. This had been a bad idea.

“This is not a good time.” Owens panted. He sounded terrible but he sounded alive and right now that was all that mattered. 

Chalice couldn’t talk for a few seconds, and when he regained his voice all he could manage was a weak laugh. “Really? I thought now was a perfect time for a quick chat.”

“Honestly Chalice,” Owens breathed heavily, “you’re terrible. And yes, I’m fine. Where are you?”

“At the hospital with Maurice. You need me to come pick you up?”

Owens managed a laugh. “You can’t drive. Get the police to come pick me up. But not Seidel!”

“Oh fuck you know about him too?”

“Yes. He just tried to shoot me.”

“Shit, Owens!”

“I’m fine! Just get the police to pick me up.” Owens stopped for breath. “I’m back in the police zone now so he can’t get me here. Just get someone to pick me up and I’ll see you later. Don’t worry.”

The line went dead and Chalice took a deep breath of relief. He was safe. And he was fine enough to crack jokes, which was a good sign. He caught himself smiling and stopped, shoving his hands into his pockets before walking out of the hospital to dial the police station.

*****

“Hey Nils!” Cipriana said cheerfully, waving at him through his office door. “How goes it?”

“Oh!” Nils spun around in his chair, his headphones falling off as he slammed to a stop. “Hey! I didn’t expect you back so soon.”

“She wanted to stop for more coffee but I wouldn’t let her.” Adalie said. “Where’s Chalice?”

Nils laughed. “Coffee deprivation is no joke. Chalice went to the hospital to check on Maurice and Vicky. He should be well on his way back by now.”

“Oh? How are they?” Cipriana asked.

“Uhhh, last I heard Maurice is sure that he’s fine and Vicky has a concussion but she should be okay.” Nils said. 

“That’s good!” Cipriana grinned. “Any word from Owens yet?”

“Hi.” 

Cipriana and Adalie wheeled round in astonishment, almost falling over as they spotted Owens standing in the doorway. He looked absolutely terrible, his face bloody and his hair matted, but he managed to have a slight smile on his face. Nils laughed. 

“Welcome back. Shouldn’t you be in hospital?”

Owens laughed. “I’m fine, it’s just a broken nose.”

“You sound like Maurice. I still want you checked for a concussion asap.” Nils paused for a second, staring at him intently. “Have you spoken to Chalice? He’s worried about you.”

“Yeah, he called me.”

“He what?” Adalie snapped. “That’s strictly against protocol.”

“Oh give him a break Adalie, the boy was worried.” Nils said.

“He could have put him in more danger!” Adalie spun to face Nils. “It’s reckless!”

“But he didn’t put me in danger.” Owens said patiently. “Yes, it was against protocol, but we’ve been through a lot in the past few years and it’s understandable that he got worried. Please, cut him some slack this time.”

Nils looked at the back of Owens’ head, his eyebrows raised. Adalie huffed. 

“Let it go!” Cipriana grinned, playfully punching her in the shoulder. Adalie frowned before nodding reluctantly.

“Fine. I’ll let it go.” She frowned, wondering if maybe Owens and Chalice were in this together. 

“Have you girls had the update yet?” Nils asked, quickly changing the subject.

“No, what update?” Cipriana asked.

Nils glanced around suspiciously and motioned for Owens to close the door. Owens did.

“So, Chalice and I were thinking after the explosion, and we decided that someone must have leaked information to the group.” Nils paused.

Adalie shot a pointed look at Owens, who didn’t notice. Cipriana did, however, and kicked her in the ankle.

“So, naturally,” Nils continued, “I did some digging into the police officers we’ve been working with and I got something.”

“Oh?” Cipirana asked.

“Eberhard Seidel’s files were locked, and by the BND no less.”

“Isn’t he the chief’s son?” Cipriana asked. “Why would his files be locked?”

“Well, it turns out he was arrested on terrorist charges when he was a minor. My guess is, dad sealed up his record for him so he could still get into the force.”

“Fuck.” said Adalie, agressively throwing her empty coffee cup into the garbage bin. “Where is he now?”

“Last seen a few blocks away from the scene of the explosion.” Owens said. “He tried to get his minions to shoot me. Needless to say, that plan didn’t quite pan out.”

Nils laughed, then his face turned serious again. “‘His minions?’ Owens, do you think he’s in charge of this?” 

“Almost certainly. The people he was with treated him with, I wouldn’t say respect exactly, it was like they were scared of him.”

“What do we do?” Cipriana asked. “Should we tell the chief? I mean, his son tried to shoot Owens.”

“No we can’t tell the chief yet.” Nils sighed. “And besides, he didn’t actually try and shoot Owens, he got someone else to do that. This guy is smart. No, I say we let him be for now. There’s a ball this Saturday, some sort of political fundraiser and we expect them to hit there next.”

“So what?” Adalie demanded. “We’re going to let them blow all those people up?”

“We set them up.” Owens said quietly. “We let Seidel think that we think that they’re going to hit somewhere else. If they think that they’re going to get away with it, they won’t expect us.”

“And they might slip up!” Cipriana added.

“Yeah.” Nils mused, starting to twirl his pen again. “But that means we won’t have any help with the take-down itself. It’ll be just our team. If we’re keeping this from Seidel, we’ll have to keep it from everyone so no one blabs.”

“Why don’t we contact the BND?” Owens asked. “There’s no way that we can take these guys out with just the six of us, assuming Maurice will be out of hospital by then.”

“Five.” Adalie corrected. “Chalice isn’t an agent.”

“You’re right, Owens. I’ll call the BND, I’ve got a few guys there who still owe me a favour.” Nils turned to Adalie. “Chalice can help me out in the van. Or we can send him in to relay information back to me. Don’t be so stuffy.”

She frowned, but didn’t say anything. 

“Okay! We’ll get started on figuring out a plan for Saturday. We’ll make sure not to let any of the police hear our plans.” Cipriana said cheerfully, putting her hand on the doorknob. 

“Sounds good, I’ll get on the phone.” Adalie, Cipriana and Owens made for the door but Nils stopped them. “Not you, Owens, you’re going to the hospital. I want you checked up.”

Owens sighed, leaning his head back against the doorframe. “I’m fine Nils, I’ve survived worse than a broken nose.”

“I don’t care.” Nils said, deliberately holding Owens’ gaze. “You could be concussed.”

“I can figure that out later rather than wasting valuable time hanging around at the hospital.” Owens said. 

Cipriana snorted with laughter, holding a hand over her mouth in a fruitless attempt to disguise it as a cough.

“Oh so you’re going to wait until you pass out? I don’t think so.”

“It’s not that bad.”

“Do you have a headache?” Nils asked.

“Do I…” Owens paused, tilting his head to one side, “do I have a headache? Yes, of course I have a headache Nils, I was kicked in the face.”

Nils frowned. “Please look after yourself.”

Owens’ voice softened. “I will.”

“Fine.” Nils sighed in defeat. “I’ll see you later.”

Owens slipped quietly out of Nils’ office, closing the door gently behind him. His head was throbbing, and the panic he had been trying so hard to keep down was threatening to break free. As he headed towards the bathrooms, he still had blood covering his face from his broken nose, he stopped at Chalice’s desk. There was always a bottle of extra-strength Tylenol in his top drawer, even if they weren’t in their own office. He rifled through the drawer, finding the bottle easily and emptying three pills into the palm of his hand. He swallowed them quickly and moved to the bathroom to clean the blood off his face.

*****

“What do you mean ‘he got away?’” Seidel demanded, stomping out his cigarette angrily. “I told you to shoot him! Elske, now we are fucked! I told you to shoot the fucker for a reason, he knows who I am!” 

Chalice flattened himself back against the wall just out of Seidel’s view, his own cigarette dangling from his fingers. He couldn’t hear what the person on the other end of the phone said, but Seidel definetly wasn’t pleased.

“Of course we’re going ahead with it! They don’t know the plan yet and we’re going to make sure that they don’t find out.”

Chalice smirked, quickly glancing back towards the main doors before taking a drag of his cigarette. He wasn’t supposed to be smoking but he wasn’t going to let that stop him. 

“Yes, of course I’m going to try and mislead them. One of the dudes comes out here to smoke, I’ll feed him some bullshit story or other.”

There was a pause and Chalice took another quick drag.

“You better be fucking sorry! You fucked this up Elske and don’t think I’m going to forget that. The boss won’t be too pleased either.”

Chalice frowned. Who was the boss, he wondered. That was something that they hadn’t been able to work out from the beginning, who was behind this whole operation. They had assumed that it was Seidel but apparently that wasn’t the case. Seidel cursed something in German and hung up, stomping angrily around the small smoking area. Chalice waited. He didn’t want him to think that he had been listening this whole time. 

After a suitable amount of time had passed, Chalice slipped around the corner, cigarette between his lips, phone in hand. He didn’t talk, just leaning back against the wall nonchalantly. 

“Your team okay?” Seidel asked him.

Chalice glanced up. “Oh, uh, not really. Two are in hospital and last I heard one more was missing.” 

Chalice turned back to his phone, not wanting to initiate the conversation.

“Oh.” Seidel hasn’t been expecting that. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

Chalice shrugged, not raising his eyes. His teammate was supposed to be missing, he wasn’t about to blow his cover by being too chatty. “Let’s hope he’s not dead.”

Seidel swallowed hard. “I’m sure he’s fine. What are your next steps?”

There it was. 

“We think they’re going to hit the big shopping mall next, probably this Thursday, since they’re hosting an event there.” 

It was a well-rehearsed lie, one that Nils had sent him on his way back from the hospital. He could have sworn he saw a smirk cross Seidel’s lips for a second before he pulled back on his mask. 

“Of course. We were warned that they might try a mall next.”

That was absolute bullshit and Chalice tried not to laugh. Did he really think he could fool the whole team? Him, sure, Chalice had been mistaken for an idiot enough times to know how to play the game, but Owens and Adalie were much too smart to be played. Surely Seidel must know that. 

“Yeah. It’s a pretty common target for terrorists.” Chalice put a little too much emphasis on the last word and watched Seidel squirm. “We’re going to brief your men later, three days isn’t a lot of time to get ready for something so big.” 

“Of course.” Seidel nodded.

Chalice stamped out his cigarette, glancing around furtively to make sure none of the team was watching. Seidel noticed.

“Are you not supposed to be smoking?” He asked, as they started back inside the building. 

“No I am not.” Chalice laughed. “I’d be grateful if you didn’t tell anyone.”

“Of course.” Seidel nodded.

They split directions as they re-entered the building, exchanging curt nods. Seidel seemed to think that they were friends, which was good. Seidel thought that he was playing Chalice, when it was actually the other way around. Chalice glanced around the area of the office that the team was occupying. Owens wasn’t around that he could see and he frowned. Where was he? He should have been back by now. Still frowning, he wandered into Nils’ office.

Nils looked up as he walked in. “Can you go check on your boy please? He went to the bathroom about 15 minutes ago and I’m a little worried.” 

“He’s back?” Chalice asked.

“Yeah. I think he might be concussed but he’s refusing to see a doctor.”

Chalice smiled sadly. “Yeah, that’s Owens for you. I’ll go make sure he’s okay.”

Chalice quietly pushed the door to the bathroom open. It wasn’t locked, which was a good sign, and Chalice slipped inside. Owens was on his elbows over the sink, his forehead leaning against the mirror. He looked terrible, his face covered in blood, his nose obviously broken. Chalice leant against the door, waiting for Owens to notice him. He didn’t, his breath coming in short pants and gasps. 

“You good?” Chalice asked quietly. 

Owens shook his head, forehead still resting against the mirror. “Just..just give me a second Chalice.”

“Okay. But I’m not going anywhere.” 

Owens didn’t protest. They had done this enough times before to know the routine. Chalice waited as Owens collected himself. He pulled himself up, turning around and sitting on the counter. He pushed his hair out of his eyes. 

“I…” Owens stopped. “I’m sorry. That encounter with Seidel shook me a little.”

“That’s understandable.” Chalice said, keeping his voice gentle. “I thought the attacks had stopped?”

Owens didn’t say anything, hanging his head. 

“Hey, it’s alright. I’d just like to know, that’s all. So I can help.” Chalice was struggling to keep his tone even now but he fought it.

“You worry too much.” Owens’ voice was barely a whisper and he refused to look Chalice in the eyes.

Chalice bit his lip to stop himself from saying something he was going to regret. He paused, unsure of how to proceed. 

“It’s for your own good.” Chalice said. His voice was still gentle but he spoke with renewed confidence, none of which he felt. “You need someone to look after you sometimes.” 

“Yeah.” Owens mumbled.

“Get yourself washed up.” Chalice said gently. “Nils is expecting you back. D’you want me to stay with you?”

Owens shook his head and turned back to the sink to wash his face.

“Okay. I’ll tell Nils you’re okay.”

Chalice slid quietly out of the bathroom. Owens wasn’t okay, not that he would ever admit that to anyone, but Chalice didn’t know how to help anymore. If Owens didn’t want his help, then there was nothing he could do. 

*****

“Is he okay?” Nils asked as Chalice walked into his office.

“He doesn’t seem to be concussed, if that’s what you’re asking.” Chalice sighed, sitting on the desk next to Nils and covering his face with his hands.

“Ah.”

“You know about the attacks?” Chalice asked, lowering his hands. 

“Yeah. He had to undergo a psych evaluation when he joined and he disclosed the attacks then. I asked him about them and he said he could handle it.” 

Chalice sighed. “Typical. He told me they had stopped.” 

“He's probably ashamed of it. You know him better than I do, Chalice, but I can tell that he's the kind of guy who would rather suffer in silence than admit he needs help. I wouldn't take it personally. ” 

He nodded. “I know. I just wish he could trust me.”

Nils sighed. “Give him some time. Anyways!” Nils clapped his hands together and stood up. “We need to brief our team before we speak to the police officers.”

“I spoke to Seidel earlier.” Chalice said, following Nils out of his office and towards the conference room where the remaining members of the team were. “I started feeding him that story you told me.”

Nils frowned at him. “I thought I smelled smoke on you. Good job with Seidel though.”

“Thank you. He thinks that we’re friends now, so he’s more willing to trust me. Oh, and Nils?” Chalice stopped just outside the conference room. “Please don’t tell Owens about the smoking.”

“No, I won’t.” Nils sighed, pushing the door open. 

Adalie, Cipriana, Maurice and Owens were sitting around a round table in the middle of the room. Nils looked at Owens as he walked in and mouthed the words “you okay?” Owens nodded unconvincingly. He still looked shaky and uncertain, his hair falling messily into his eyes. Nils wondered just how bad the attacks were. In all honesty, he should probably recommend that Owens undergo another psych evaluation, take him out of the field for a while before something went badly wrong, but he couldn’t help but think of that as a kind of betrayal. Nils sighed and walked into the room behind Chalice, closing the door after him.

“So,” Nils started, as everyone else sat down. “Despite the fact that we are currently down an agent, we’re moving ahead with plans to make our move on Saturday. Maurice, are you sure you’ll be good?”

“I’ll be fine!” Maurice said. “They discharged me after a few hours, Nils, there’s nothing wrong with me.” 

“Okay, fine, so you’ll be there for Saturday. Vicky has a concussion and certainly won’t be able to help us. I’ve called in some friends from the BND, I’m going over there later to debrief them before we talk to the police.”

“Will all of us be in the field?” Owens asked. He was pale, and his voice wavered, but no one except Nils and Chalice seemed to notice.

“Yup, everyone except me. I’ll be in the van, directing from behind the scenes as usual.” Nils said, meeting Adalie’s exasperated gaze.

“Really? You think that’s a good idea?”

“We need all the help we can get.” Owens replied quietly. Nils nodded.

“He’s right. It won’t be an issue.”

Adalie frowned, but didn’t say anything. 

“So,” Nils leant forward over the table, lowering his voice, “we all know about Seidel, correct?”

Everyone nodded, and Nils noticed that Owens’ hand instinctively went to his broken nose.

“Because of him, this stays between us. The official story is that we believe the group are going to attack the mall on Thursday. There will be an armed response and we’ll be there too, but when nothing happens we’ll say we were called back to London and gave up the case as a bad job, except me, of course, because I have to stay and look after Vicky.”

“Right!” said Cipriana. “And where are we going? Not back to London?”

Nils laughed. “Of course not. No, you’ll go to the airport, hang around for a few hours and then come back, all leaving at different times. You’ll be staying at various hotels around the city until Saturday.” 

“Will we have contact with each other?” Chalice asked.

“Of course you will, we won’t be in deep cover, just making sure we aren’t obvious. We’ll be meeting pretty much daily as well, this thing is going to take a lot of coordination to pull off properly. My friends over at the BND have agreed to let us use a room in their basement for this.”

Adalie arched an eyebrow. “You seem to have a lot of ‘friends’ at the BND.”

Nils laughed. “I did them a favour once. For legal reasons, I can’t tell you what.”

Chalice frowned at him suspiciously. “Legal reasons as in it’s covered by the official secrets act or legal reasons as in the favour was illegal?”

“That would be giving the game away.” Nils winked at him. “Anyways, this is not the issue at hand. We will be briefing the police on the mall plan tomorrow, I’ve already typed up a vague action plan for the ‘take-down.’ Adalie, since Vicky isn’t here, I want you to look the plan over and then bring it to the chief for finalization. You and Chalice will lead the briefing tomorrow as well.”

Adalie nodded. Chalice’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Wait, why me?”

“It is your job!” Cipriana laughed. Chalice rolled his eyes playfully.

“She has a point!” Nils grinned. “And you’ve already approached Seidel with the plan, so I think he’s more likely to trust you than one of us.”

“Okay, I get that, but you know the plan much better than I do.”

“Ah. Well, since I’m the only one who’s staying behind, they can’t think that I’m at all useful to the team. If they know that I’m, well, not ‘in charge’ exactly, but giving instructions, then they might be suspicious when I stay behind.”

“Okay, makes sense.” Chalice sighed. 

“Cipriana, I want you to help out with that as well, but Chalice and Adalie will be in charge.” Nils continued. “Owens, Maurice and I are going to start with our plan for Saturday. You two will be over at the BND tomorrow, I’ll introduce you and you can get started.”

“Won’t that look suspicious?” Maurice asked. “If two agents just don’t show up.”

“Not at all. You two are both supposed to be on medical leave and that’s the cover you’ll be working under.”

“Ah. Right. As if we would ever actually be granted medical leave. I thought our covers were supposed to be realistic?”

Nils laughed. “Careful what you say, Maurice, if you want to keep your job.”

“Oh no. What are they gonna do, replace me?” Maurice said sarcastically. “With what agents?”

Cipriana laughed, and even Adalie managed to crack a smile. Owens remained silent, his eyes fixed on the middle distance. Nils wasn’t entirely sure if he had heard a word of the briefing. He would have to pull him aside some time and get him to talk.

“Are we good to go Nils?” Maurice asked. “It’s already almost 11pm and I would like to sleep tonight.”

“Oh shit, is that the time? Yeah, for sure you guys, go back to the hotel and get some rest, it’s been one hell of a day. Maurice and Owens, I want you guys to meet me at the BND building at 7am tomorrow morning. The rest of you, here at 9am. I’ll see you guys then!”

Nils stood at the head of the table, sifting through his files as the team streamed out. Everyone looked tired and tense, except maybe Cipriana, who had had enough iced coffee to power a small country. Owens was the last to leave. 

“Hey.” Nils said, once they were alone in the room. Chalice had gone to grab his coat, promising to wait for Owens and to walk him back to the hotel. “Are you sure you’re up for this?”

“I will be.” Owens mumbled. “I just need a good night's sleep.”

“It’s okay if you aren’t, Owens. There’s no shame in that. If you need anything, you need to tell someone. We can’t have you breaking down.”

Owens sighed heavily, passing a shaky hand over his face. “I know. I’ve been going to my psychologist pretty regularly, but we’ve been out of town so I haven’t been for a few weeks.”

That was good news, at least.

“Are you on anything? For the attacks?” Nils asked.

“No.I...I couldn’t get a prescription and keep working.” Owens looked up, and Nils could tell he was trying to fight back tears. “I know it sounds stupid, Nils, but this job is everything I have. If I lose it, I’m sure everything will get worse.”

“Jesus.” Nils muttered. “I get it, Owens. But you need a break from this. I know you don’t want to stop working because you’re scared it’s going to get worse, but if you keep working I’m scared you’re going to break down eventually.”

Owens shrugged. 

“Okay, I’ll let you get back to the hotel. But promise me you’ll look after yourself, or at least let Chalice look after you.” Nils said, putting the last of his papers into his messenger bag.

“Yeah, I will. Thanks, Nils.”

“No problem. I’m always around if you need anything, Owens, and I mean that.” 

Owens nodded, grabbing his stuff and walking out of the room, meeting Chalice on his way out. Nils sighed, running his fingers through his hair. Those MI-6 boys were going to kill him one day.

[notaspywrites]

Welcome to Team Black

Hello and welcome to Team Black, Interpol’s best team, solving the hardest cases and creating the most drama while they’re at it. Grab the largest iced coffee you can find and strap in for romance, chaos and general mayhem (and maybe some crime solving too). 

The first adventure, Don’t Tell Me, coming next week. Stick around for a preview.

“Guys?” The voice echoed through the earpiece that lay discarded on the pavement. “If you can hear me, report in please.”

There was a pause. The silence hung in the air over the rubble. 

“Report please.” The voice was clipped, the harsh notes ringing in the still air. Still, there was no response.