“Jones, how was Florida?” Steven Rushton asked companionably as I entered the underground offices of the Terrka association- one of the two most feared gangs on London streets.

I shrugged loosely, “So-so. A little hot for my liking. The local talent was very appealing, however.”

Steve’s grin was quick and catlike, “I heard that.”

We walked into my office, after I’d entered the security code, and I shrugged out of my jacket, before loosening my tie. “What have I missed, then? Anything exciting?”

He adopted a casual stance and leaned against the wall, but I could see the excited gleam in his eyes. “Nothing much. Fletcher’s been working us all like dogs since his second in command went on holiday,-”

“The first in over three years,” I defended.

“You only went this time ‘cause the doctor said your leg would never fully recover from being hit if you didn’t take at least two weeks down time,” he muttered. I glared at him and he continued. “-and his third in command still hasn’t been recovered from the Polydon. Which reminds me…” Here it was. “We got one of them.”

My jaw dropped and I stared at him, loosing all sense of professionalism. Polydon were out main rivals- we’d been lashing out at one another for as long as I could remember. “What?! When did this happen?! And why the hell wasn’t I informed?! I was promised I would be the first to interrogate should we ever capture a Polydon!”

Steve gave a wry smile, “We tried to call you. Dr. Simpson practically held us back from the phone with a scalpel. He actually threatened Fletcher. I couldn’t believe his nerve.”

I nodded slowly, “Sounds like you’ve had a stressful time while I’ve been sunning it.”

“Oh, totally. You owe me one, Jones.”

I saw down behind the desk, pretended to consider, “My villa in Spain should be free next month.”

“Great. I’m due a break.” He sent me a stunning grin. “Fletcher wants to see you, by the way.” He left smoothly, humming contentedly to himself.

*****

As I pressed down on the buzzer outside Tom Fletcher’s- leader of the Terrka- office, I drew in a trembling breath. My stomach was jittering. I couldn’t believe it. A Polydon- in our custody. It was perfect. For two months, they had had Harry Judd of our side within their base. Now we had one of them. There was static on the intercom, and an electronic voice flowed through it: “Please identify yourself.”

“T-2. Jones comma Danny.

There was a beep, then a distinct snap. “Voice print recognised. Terrka two, you are cleared for entry.” I pushed open the oak door, letting myself into a narrow white corridor. The walls beneath the paint were steel, I knew. At the end of the corridor, there was another door- this one made of steel itself. It slid open as I approached, and I found myself in a tight embrace.

“Come on, Tom,” I laughed, “You’re going soft. Imagine if it had been someone else!”

“I knew it wasn’t…” he mumbled into my chest. “God, it’s been hectic. I missed you, Jones.”

I managed to steer us back into his office, allowing the door to slide shut again. “Hello…? I was bored stiff!” As he finally released me, I sank into one of his comfortable chairs, “But I hear you have a Polydon for me…”

He grinned, pouring himself a tumbler of brandy. He raised the bottle in offering, but I declined. “You heard correct,” he said at last, sipping. “We kept him fresh for you. He’s been stewing for the past five days. The only time he’s seen any of us is for food, and a shower trip the day before yesterday.”

“How integral d’you reckon he is?” I asked.

“He’s young. That, and the fact we managed to capture him point towards a rookie. It’s hard to tell, though. I mean, we’re hardly aged.”

I nodded thoughtfully, “I’ll bear that in mind. When can I go in?”

He shrugged, “Whenever you want. So far, he seems harmless. If he was going to run, he would’ve done it by now. He’s had opportunity.” His gaze met mine, “But, be careful, Dan. Like I said: It’s hard to tell.”

*****

I scanned my card key in the lock of the secured hostage room. “Voice identification, please.”

“T-2. Jones comma Danny.”

“Voice print match.” The door slid open. The containment room was small, with only a single hard backed chair, a table, and a bed. My gaze was met briefly by a pair of light blue eyes, before they flicked carelessly back to the pages of a book.

As the door shut behind me, I took in the hostage. He had a small frame- there didn’t look to be a lot of strength in him. His facial features were delicate, and the blue eyes were partly concealed under a floppy fringe of fair blond.

Tom was right. He did look young, but there was something that told me he wasn’t a rookie. His attitude. He wasn’t nervous, or scared. Matter of fact, he didn’t look bothered by my arrival in the room. There was an intense look in his eyes as he stared at his book. He was either experienced, or just acting very cocky.

I sat backwards in the chair and eyed him evenly. He ignored me. After ten minutes of us listening to the other breathe, I stood and took the book out of his hands, throwing it behind me onto the table so it hit with a thud and skidded a little before lying still.

He watched the book’s journey, and mouthed something to himself. I read his lips with ease. “Why is that ‘typical’?”

His gaze flicked onto me once more, and he smirked, and shook his head. Then he leaned back against the wall behind the spot he was sitting on the bed, his eyes trained on me now there was no distraction.

“You see,” I said smoothly, taking my seat again. “I think, if you were actually reading that book, your eyes would’ve been moving along and down, and you probably would’ve turned the page at least once.” I gave him a thin smile, “‘Cause there’s slow reading, and then there’s non-existent reading.”

The smirk remained on his face, and his eyes glinted arrogantly. I met his stare, my own eyes narrowing. After a few more minutes, I got to my feet once more, and moved over to him.

He watched me approach with no obvious reaction. I stood in front of him, and propped his chin up with one finger. “Open your mouth.”

He did as ordered, and I saw what I’d hoped I would. I nodded, “Uh-huh. I see you have a tongue. Why don’t you do me the honour of using it?”

He made a sound that- unless I was very much mistaken- sounded like a snort of laughter, as he leaned back again. He still didn’t speak, however. Going with my instincts, I leaned further towards him, “You don’t strike me as the shy type…”

The observational eye he ran over me clearly said I didn’t strike him as an efficient interrogator. I laughed softly, “That’s why I’m so successful… People think: ‘Stupid Northerner can’t get nothing out of me.’ Not strictly true…”

There was a buzz on the intercom, “T-4. Rushton comma Steven. Requesting admittance.”

I frowned, and moved over to the keypad next to the door. I pushed a few buttons and the door opened. “This better be important,” I said by means of greeting.

Steve’s eyes were wide, which was very uncharacteristic for him. His skin was pale, and he stood as if he were uncomfortable within his own skin. “It is. Danny, one of the search teams found Harry’s communicator. It’s broken beyond repair, and the homing device is smashed into dust. We have no way- at all- of finding him now,” he reported in a shaky voice, stepping into the room.

I took in a deep trembling breath, which was hidden by the rumble of the door closing, “No. He has to be okay. He’s Harry. You could never get rid of him that easily…”

Steve jerked his chin at the teenager still sitting on the bed, watching us curiously, “He’s our only hope.”

“What if we can’t find him?” I asked hollowly.

“We will.”

“Don’t say that!” I commanded. “Don’t say that when you don’t know!” I swallowed, “What if there’s nothing left to find? He could be like Mark, like Leon.” I retched as images flashed into my head, “I’m gonna be sick!”

Steve quickly swiped his card key and entered the code to open the door. I lurched out, hitting the code for the second door and running for the bathroom. “Danny!” Steve hollered after me. I didn’t stop to hear what he said to the hostage.

*****

“His name is Dougie Poynter,” Tom told me as we sat in his office. He consulted the file in front of him. “Apparently, he’s been with them for almost three years- since he was sixteen- but has never gained proper respect due to his arrogant nature and smart mouth.”

“I’m not sure about the smart mouth, but the rest sounds accurate.” I rapped my fingers off the arm of my chair. “I’m going to go back in today. See if I can get him to talk- literally.”

Tom frowned in concern, “Are you sure that’s wise?”

I gave him a questioning look, “What d’you mean?”

“He saw you when you were vulnerable, Dan. I know that doesn’t happen very often, but he could easily exploit that.”

I allowed myself to smile, “I’m not going to let him. He might think I’m weak now. That would give me the upper hand.”

“Danny, I-”

“Tom,” I said firmly. “I have been waiting years- no exaggeration- for this to happen. I’m not revoking my claim on the Polydon just ‘cause of a weak stomach.”

“What made you sick, anyway?” he asked curiously.

I sighed, dragging a hand through my hair, “I thought about Mark and Leon. And how that could happen to Harry.”

He winced, and pity came into his eyes, “The likeliness of that ever happening again is slim. They were butchered- horrifically. But it wasn’t Polydon.”

“I know.” But I still couldn’t get the flashing images out of my mind.

*****

He was lying flat on his back on the bed as I entered, but his eyes were open and fixed on the ceiling above him. He didn’t look over at me, nor did he flinch as the door shut. “How’s your stomach?” he asked instead.

I didn’t let myself jolt at the sound of his voice, but crossed the room, and leaned against the table, “Better. Your vocal chords have loosened up, I see.”

“I speak when I feel like doing so,” he informed me, humour sparking in his eyes as he turned his head to look at me. “And it’s never recommended to speak when in interrogation.”

I quirked an eyebrow, “Some would argue differently. In some cases, speaking saves your life.”

He jerked a shoulder, “Matter on opinion.”

“Then why are you speaking now?”

“Because I have something to say.” In one fluid motion, he swung his legs round and brought his back up so he was sitting on the edge of the bed, leaning forward slightly, “I find your interrogation tactics bizarre.”

I boosted myself up onto the table properly, “Oh? Do share.”

“Intimidation is always a key tactic, so the interrogator has to be either large in build, or have that glint in their eye that says ‘danger’. You have neither.” He ran another eye over me, slow and critical, “And I’m yet to come to any physical harm.”

I laughed, “Hurting people has a very low success rate, Poynter. I tend to find they are then either too scared of you to talk, or they decide you hate you and are therefore determined not to speak.” I cocked my head to the side slightly, “Either way, it complicates matters.”

If he had a reaction to my use of his name, he didn’t outwardly broadcast it, “So how do you plan to get information out of me, Mr. Jones? I’m intrigued…”

I stared him down, “Rushton never called me by my surname. How d’you know it?”

The arrogant smirk was back on his face- with a vengeance. “Oh, y’know… When a hostage insists on moaning it in his sleep, it kind of sticks in your head.”

My heart thumped, “Harry.”

He laughed at the blunt nature of my statement. “Yes. Your boyfriend?” he asked in mild interest.

“Ex,” I corrected.

“He doesn’t seem to think so. Or he wished he was more…” His gaze flicked down to my hands, which were gripping the edge of the table so hard my knuckles were turning white. “You don’t appear to be completely over him, either.”

“That’s none of your business, Poynter!” I snapped harshly.

He held up his hands in mock surrender, “Just commenting.”

“Well, now you’ve found your utterly charming voice, why don’t you use it to ‘just comment’ on where Harry is,” I returned coldly.

He gave a bright laugh, “Nice try. But no can do. Polydon policy, I’m afraid. ‘Thou shalt not reveal where the base lies.’” He leaned back, putting his arms behind his head carelessly, “Looks like we’re both screwed.”

I simply watched him for a moment, “You know, I preferred you when you were mute.” He laughed again, just as my communicator beeped. I brought it out my pocket, and engaged, “Jones.”

I scowled at the fact Poynter was clearly trying to hold back a giggle as a voice came through: “T-4 reporting. T-2, you are ordered to report to the laboratory immediately. Danny, the homer picked up something.”

*****

A finger traced the large map spread out on the table in front of us. Terrka 6- Aaron Buckingham- tried to work out exactly where the homer had settled for a month before being destroyed, a time period in which the movements had been cloaked. Aaron was a technical genius. He could find data in anything- even a practically destroyed homing device. “We may have their base,” he said carefully, flicking his blond hair out of his eyes as he stared at the map.

“It could be a trap, though,” Steve contributed. “It’s not below them.”

Tom nodded, “We should send a team to scout it out. One of us has to lead it.”

I cleared my throat meaningfully, “I’ll go.”

“The hell you will!” Dr. Charlie Simpson- Terrka 5- was on his feet before anyone else could blink. “Your body is not yet fully recovered. You cannot go out in the field yet!”

“I’m fine!” I protested. “I’m fully capable of-”

“What if you’re shot again?” he insisted. “You could be paralysed!”

“I could also die, but that’s never been a problem before!” I shot back.

“You’re not going, Dan.”

I turned to look at Tom, who met my filthy glare calmly. “Why the fuck not?”

“Because you have a hostage at base. We can’t switch interrogators now.”

“I’ll do it, sir,” Steve volunteered, but neither of us acknowledged him.

“That’s bullshit, Tom,” I said levelly. “And you know it. Why are you treating me like I’m useless?!”

“Because we’re not loosing you to what might be a trap!” he snapped. “You’re injured- whether you want to believe it or not- and your feelings for Harry may cloud your judgement.”

I snorted in amusement, then my face hardened, “I’m nothing if not professional. And if you’re going to insult me and insist on treating me like I can’t function, I’m taking sick leave.”

“Danny!” Tom called tiredly as I headed for the door.

“I’m going home,” I said firmly. “I’ll see you in the morning- provided I have the strength to pull myself out of bed.”

*****

I still wasn’t in the best of moods when I strode into my office the next morning. I hadn’t slept well last night, and that fact had annoyed me beyond belief. I was only in there a minute before the intercom on my desk beeped, alerting me to the fact that someone was outside. I pressed a button on the console. “T-1. Fletcher comma Tom. Requesting admittance.”

“Request denied,” I said simply.

“Acknowledged.” I was alone in my office for about ten seconds before the door slid open and Tom walked in, hands in his pockets and a carefree look on his face.

“What’s the point in asking for permission when you’re just going to waltz in anyway?” I asked irritably.

“Manners, Danny. Something I know you’re very undereducated on…” Tom settled himself into one of the comfy chairs in front of my desk, as at home here in my disordered office as he was in his own plush, astonishingly neat one.

“Manners get you mugged on the way home.”

He gave an easy laugh, “You’re a cynic, Dan. I wanted to apologise.”

My head snapped up, “What?”

“You were right. I singled you out. I used your hostage against you. Steve left this morning, and with every second I’m glad it’s not you. I don’t regret holding you back, but I’m sorry you took offence at my actions,” he said smoothly.

I shook my head slowly, “You have a way of wording things that makes you sound both commanding and caring at the same time.” I leaned back in my chair with a sigh, “I’m sorry. I overreacted. I know I did. But I don’t want to be treated like a glass doll.”

“Danny, anyone who treats you like a glass doll deserves to be shot,” Tom remarked.

“Will you do the honours?” I asked with a grin.

“You bet. I promise: The next field project you ask for is yours.” He looked at his wrist as the watch shaped object on it bleeped, “I gotta go. Your hostage needs a shower. See to it.”

I stared at his back as he left. “What?” I asked hollowly. I hurried after him, “Hang on, hang on! I’m second in command! Since when am I on shower duty?”

He shot me a taunting smirk, “Well, I’d offer, but as Terrka leader, it’s unheard of.”

“You would’ve been joint Terrka leader if I hadn’t stepped back ‘cause I could do the technical side of things,” I hissed. “Now take me off the damn shower duty.”

He blinked at me innocently, “You revoked your title. I’m leader now. Your Polydon, your responsibility. No go shower your Polydon. And have fun.”

“Bastard,” I muttered venomously at his back as he went into his office.

*****

“My patience is drawing thin with you, Poynter,” I announced, striding into the room in while he was contained. “Today is the day you actually tell me something.”

He was reading his book once more, sat at the table this time. “I’m nineteen,” he said, without looking up. “Will that suffice? Or d’you need a life story?”

“Nineteen?” I asked curiously, leaning on the table. “Won’t Polydon be looking for you? Surely you still have a few more years left in you, yet.”

His gaze flicked up now, met mine coldly. “Polydon don’t like me,” he said simply, before looking back down at the book.

“Why not?”

He shrugged, “They just don’t.”

I cupped his chin in my palm, forcing him to look at me again. “Why not?” I repeated firmly.

He managed to keep his face admirably blank, “They think I’m insolent.”

I let go of his chin, left it at that. “You need a shower. Hold your wrist.”

“Are you going to put that ugly contraption on me, again?” he asked in distaste.

“Of course.” I took the metal cuff out of my jacket pocket. It was thick, and dark in colour, but surprisingly light. A line of what looked like large orange gemstones circled it. Pulling a thin pin out of my pocket, I hit a complicated series of the miniscule, hardly noticeable buttons next to the closed opening.

“What does it actually do, anyway?” he asked in mild interest as it popped open. “I didn’t bother asking the last guy, ‘cause I knew he wouldn’t tell me.”

I grinned. I knew who he was talking about, and he’d made the right decision there. “Basically, if you try to run away, I can press a button on here,-” I motioned to my wrist unit. “-and have your body surged with so much electrical energy, you’ll pass out immediately.”

“Pleasant…” he muttered.

“And she’s waterproof,” I said brightly. “So you can wear her in the shower.”

“I promise you, this is my happy face and I’m joyously dancing inside,” he said flatly. I laughed, and pulled his left wrist towards me gently; rolling up the sleeve of the loose blue shirt we had provided him with. I set the cuff round it.

“Is all your skin clear? It snaps closed fast. I’ve seen it embed itself in a guy’s hand.”

“I’m pressing my arm right against the table,” he assured me. I put my hand over the skin just below his elbow to help that along. With the other hand, I pressed a button on my wrist unit. The cuff clamped shut heavily, making both of us jump.

“Right.” I tugged on the cuff, trying to hide my blush at the fact that I had jolted. “I think that’s secure. Come on.” I moved over to the door, opened it. Then I turned back to him. “I need to check you over.”

“What? In case I’ve cut off a leg of my bed and hidden it up my sleeve?” he asked incredulously.

“I’m glad you understand.” As he rolled his eyes, I slid my hands down his arms. Then I checked his sides, torso, back and legs carefully. Then I double-checked by working my way back up. Our gaze met, and we just stood there for a moment.

We were jolted back to reality as the door slid shut, having decided no-one was going through. Poynter turned to look, clearing his throat, “Should we go?”

“Yeah,” I said weakly.

*****

The showers were four large cubicles. No locks, no curtains, but some form of privacy still. The showers were operated by two dials, and there was a line of dispensers filled with shampoo, conditioner and shower gel. There were lockers and benches just along from them. “In that one,” I commanded, pointing to the third one along.

“Right.” He moved towards the cubicle, and disappeared inside it. A few minutes later a bundle of clothes were hurled out. I grinned to myself and got one of the towels down off the top of the lockers and sat to the side patiently. “Danny?”

“It’s Jones,” I told him. “What is it?”

“You think I don’t know you’re there? At least have the decency to come over here,” he called over the spray of the shower.

I knew it was a bad idea. Seeing a man naked was never good for me, especially when he was as attractive as Dougie Poynter was without being both wet and nude. “I can wait over here.”

“Please? I need your help…”

I sighed and stood up off the bench. “What is it, Poynter?” I asked, moving along the row of showers. I stopped at his, and raised one eyebrow. “What the hell are you doing?”

He was standing with his back to me, giving me a perfect view of his undeniably pert ass, and his arms were stretched down his back, one coming from either side. “I’m having a bit of trouble… And the monstrosity’s in the way. Help me, and you can get out of here quicker.”

I stared at him as he raised his eyebrows at me innocently. “Fine. But I’m only doing your back.”

He rolled his eyes, “Whatever. Don’t be so precious.” I stepped back and toed off my shoes, before shrugging off my jacket and rolling up my shirt sleeves.

“It would not be wise to insult me after you’ve asked me to do you a favour,” I advised. “We’re in a shower. I could easily drown you and claim you slipped.” I reached over and dispensed some soap into my hand. “Come over here. I’m not getting wet.”

Although I couldn’t see it, I could sense the smirk on his face as he backed up, still sparing me from seeing him from the front.

“Thank you,” he said as I began to rub the soap into his back. His muscles were very tense, I noted. Maybe he wasn’t as carefree as he liked to make out…

“How long have you been working for Polydon?” I asked. I already knew the answer to that- I was just checking he was being honest with me.

“About two years.” He rubbed some shampoo into his hair. “Same question, but in relation to Terrka.”

“Seven years,” I said easily. I felt him stiffen.

“Since it started? What age were you?”

I grinned, “Fifteen. I was a runaway. I caught a train to London to start a new life. Found Terrka.”

“Found? Or founded?” He shunted forward to stick his head under the spray. It ran down his back, clearing the soap suds to reveal the slicked skin beneath.

“What d’you reckon?” I asked, brushing the remaining bubbles off his back.

“I reckon you don’t make Terrka-Two by just being well-behaved. I reckon you had the chance to be Terrka-One-Equal.”

“Done.” I nudged him away. “Hurry up with the rest.”

He turned round, “What? You not answering that one?”

I fixed my eyes on his face, refusing to let them stray past his torso, and gave him a mysterious smile, “That’s another story for another time.” I allowed myself one long stare at his body. My heart rate sped through the roof, but I made myself sneer as cover. “Hurry it up. You’re filthy.”

*****

I stepped into Tom’s office, and was mildly shocked he wasn’t there. “Welcome T-2,” a distinctly female voice said smoothly. “T-1 will be right with you. Please help yourself to any form of refreshment.”

“Thanks.” I sat down in one of the chairs. A second later the phone rang. Knowing Tom wouldn’t mind, I picked it up, “Terrka-Two speaking. T-1 isn’t here right now.”

“Danny?”

I snapped to attention the second I heard his voice, “Steve?”

“The one and only.”

“Please tell me it’s good news.”

“It’s not bad news,” he said carefully after a short pause. “Update: We found the spot, and we’ve found subtle hints that Polydon’s base may be underground, as ours is. However, we’re not going to risk going in right now. There aren’t enough of us. Our plan is to take some readings, scout out the area and head back.”

I took a deep, calming breath, as I heard the door open behind me. I didn’t look round, “Yeah. Good job, Steve.”

“We’re going to get him back, Danny. They won’t have killed him. They need him- just like we need Poynter,” he vowed, before hanging up. I groaned as I set the phone down, cradling my head in my hands.

“How is Steve?” Tom asked conversationally, walking round his desk.

“They’ve found hints that the Polydon base may be underground at the traced location. They’re going to do the standard checks and head back,” I reported.

He nodded thoughtfully. “That’s good news,” he mused, taking two cans of lager out of his fridge. He passed one to me, and straightened his suit jacket before cracking his open. “How was shower duty?”

I shrugged, “Uneventful. Then again, once you’ve been forcefully dragged into a shower stall by a six foot five American covered in blood who’s high on some unknown substance that makes him want to screw everyone he sees, everything else just seems dull.”

He laughed, “I remember him. He shoved me down onto his bed and proceeded to ravage my neck with his mouth.”

“Yeah,” I recalled with a grin. “I remember trying to drag him off you.”

He tipped his can towards me, “And that’s when he realised it might be fun to have a threesome…” I groaned loudly. “You had to lead him on until he dropped his guard and gave you dominance.”

My smile was innocent, “What can I say? He wasn’t satisfying my needs…”

He laughed once more, and his intercom sounded. He pressed a button on it. “T-7. Brant comma Antony requesting admittance.”

Tom frowned, “What does he want?” I shrugged, taking another mouthful of my lager. “Granted,” he said clearly.

“Acknowledged.”

“You have to feed Poynter,” Tom told me.

I sighed, “Can I ask why I’ve turned into his personal slave? He does know there are other people in Terrka, y’know.”

“To distract you,” he said simply. The office door slid open.

“Sir, I have a-” Ant strode into the office, as business. Then he spotted me. “Jones.”

“What do you have?” Tom asked, drawing him back to topic, as he was just glaring at me now. Ant had never liked me. I had a sneaking suspicion that he had a crush on Harry.

He dragged his gaze back to Tom, “Should we not discuss this in private?”

His face remained neutral, but I saw the warning twitch of his fingers on his can. “Anything you tell me, I would tell Danny later on, anyway,” he said in a low, dangerous voice. “This way, it saves time.”

Ant puffed up his cheeks. No-one ever argued with Tom, and I hoped for Ant’s own sake he wasn’t going to be the first. Everyone knew I was the only one permitted to talk back. “Fine. I have a-” He frowned at me as I stood up, “Where are you going?”

I dropped my empty can into the metal recycling bin so the clang sounded clearly, “As much as I’d love to stay and listen to you drone on, I have a hostage to feed…” Over his shoulder, I saw Tom snort silently into his can, an action Ant thankfully missed. I gave him a sweet smile, “Sorry. Tell me all about it later, ‘kay, Tom?”

“Will do,” Tom responded as I headed for the door. I could feel Ant’s gaze burning holes in my back. Man, I loved messing with him…

*****

Poynter was asleep on his bed when I came in with his lunch- which consisted of a sandwich, a fruit salad, and a glass of water. Not bad by hostage standards. I set the tray down on the table and moved over to him. It was weird. He looked really innocent in sleep- angelic almost. I leant over him, “Poynter! Wake up!” There was no reaction. “Poynter!” I said again, louder this time. I put my hand on his arm, “Poynter!”

That got a reaction. His hands closed like vice-grips over my arms, and he dragged me on top of him. His eyes shot open, and I found myself staring into them. They widened slightly. I levered myself back as far as I could whilst he was still holding my arms. “Well, this is a compromising situation…” he managed. His grip on my arms loosened. I propped myself up, about to get off. “Harry did this to me once.”

I froze, my gaze snapping back to him, “What?”

His lips curved slowly, no longer rocked by the fact I was on top of him, “I was sent in to give him some food. He was asleep, moaning as per usual. I tried to wake him up, but I couldn’t. I touched his arm to give him a shake, and he grabbed me. Looked bitterly disappointed when he woke up seconds later to find it wasn’t you.”

I took a deep breath as I considered this. “What does he moan?” I’d completely forgotten Harry had a tendency to talk in his sleep if he was stressed. If he was giving away Terrka secrets, we were doomed. You could easily hold a conversation with him whilst he was asleep.

“Same thing every time,” he said with a shrug.

“What?” I pressed. He closed his eyes, and began to shift like he was uncomfortably: “‘No, Danny! Danny, please!’” His body arched up against mine. “‘No, Danny! Don’t! Jones, I-” He never got any further into his re-enactment as my lips came crashing down on his. His eyes flew open.

I stared at him. Oh, God. Why the hell had I just done that? “I-”

“He never got that comfort,” he murmured. His hand found the back of my neck and he pulled me back down. The kiss was lustful and rough- with both of us fighting for control of the situation. Man, this guy could kiss. His hands fisted in my hair as his tongue clashed with mine sensuously.

I jerked back so suddenly I fell right off the bed, “Oh, God. Oh, God.”

“Jones?” Poynter asked questionably as I got to my feet.

“Eat your lunch,” I commanded, running a hand through the hair he had touched only moments before.

“But-”

“Eat it!”

*****

“So what did Brant want?”

“What’s wrong?”

“What did Brant want?”

“What’s wrong?”

“This could easily bounce back and forward all day,” I said irritably. “Answer me, then I’ll answer you.”

He nodded, “If I didn’t know full well how much you cherish getting on Antony’s last nerve, I would have ordered that you stayed. He’s our communications expert, as you know. He may have had some information.”

I gave a snort of contempt, “The day that guy has anything worthwhile to say, the sun will implode. What he does is clutch at straws until he says the right thing.” I leaned back in my chair, “Go on then. What did he say?”

“He found a phone call from these offices to Harry’s mobile on the day he was taken.”

I didn’t react, just stared at him blankly. “That was probably me,” I remarked.

“Thought as much. I dismissed him a minute later.” Tom grinned lightly, and I realised what he’d done. He’d given me basically no information whatsoever for something major. I scowled at him. “Now, what’s wrong?” he asked.

I shifted slightly, “I had an…encounter with Poynter.”

He stared at me blankly, “Expand…?”

“I kissed him.”

He shrugged, “It wouldn’t be the first time,” Tom said carelessly. “Just don’t let it get any further. You’re allowed one slip. Any more and I’m afraid I’ll have to suspend you.”

I nodded, “Understood.”

Tom’s desk console beeped, telling him a call was coming in. He put it on loud speaker, “Fletcher. Jones also in attendance.”

“T-4 reporting. We’re back.”

Tom sent me a grin over the console, “Great. Take conference room B. We’ll be there in a minute. You can update us.”

“Right. See you then.”

“You go on ahead, Dan,” Tom told me. “I just need to finish something here.”

I nodded, “Okay.” I got up out my seat.

*****

The whole of conference room B fell silent as I walked in. For some bizarre reason, all the lesser Terrka seemed to be really intimidated by Tom and myself. I had never understood it, but- then again- I knew Tom and myself. I crossed the room to where Steve was setting up at the head of the ebony table. “Hey.”

He glanced up, “Afternoon.” His gaze moved down the table, “You can talk amongst yourselves.” He looked amused as he looked back at me, “They’re so polite it’s scary.”

“What happened to your face?”

“What? Oh.” There was some snickering from down the table as he moved his hand to his cheek, which looked very shallowly grazed- though those always hurt the most. “Yeah… I tripped over a cat.”

I grinned as the few nearest to us laughed. “I did that once. Hard to avoid, aren’t they?”

“Hurts like fuck,” he remarked.

The room had gone silent again. “Danny, I don’t think there’s an object on this planet that you haven’t fallen over,” Tom announced, striding towards us. He took a look at Steve’s face, “Did you clean it?”

“Yeah.”

“It’ll heal.” He turned to consult those sitting down, who were staring at him in what resembled awe. There were so many Terrka now, that not all of them had actually seen Tom in the flesh. “Welcome back. Who wants to tell me and T-2 here what you found?”

There was an overwhelming silence once more, then a fresh-faced boy of about eighteen raised his hand. At Tom’s nod, he began: “We traced the homer signal to a location across the city, where we discovered the area was run down and largely unpopulated.”

“So they went the opposite way from us,” Steve contributed. “While we chose to mask ourselves in the middle of London civilisation, they chose to hide where no-one went.”

“We found five possible entrances to the base, but didn’t venture too far into each for fear of triggering any security mechanisms,” a second voiced.

“A wise move,” I agreed. “Did you find any evidence to suggest it was Polydon’s base?”

“No, sir,” a third said. They seemed to be speaking easier now the first had gone. “But, with all due respect, they wouldn’t be stupid enough to put up a flashing neon sign announcing themselves. They’d want to keep it low key.”

“Well said,” Tom complimented, and he flushed. I had to fight to keep a straight face. I could sense Steve was having trouble as well. “Is there anything more you need to tell us?” Tom asked, ignoring us.

“No, Mr. Fletcher.”

“Then good job. You are dismissed.”

*****

“Are you really that scared you’re going to slip?”

I jumped as Tom’s voice sounded behind me, “Sorry?”

“Ant says you keep sending lower Terrka in to care for the hostage for you.”

“Well, Ant’s a prick,” I said stiffly.

“Agreed. But is he an honest prick?” he asked, so plainly that I couldn’t help but laugh.

“I can’t deny that I’m attracted to Poynter. If I see him, something could happen. He didn’t exactly shove me off and beat me up for touching him…”

“So that’s why you’ve been avoiding him for the past week?”

“The others need hostage capability practice,” I tried lamely. He shook his head.

“That’s not going to slide, Danny.” He leaned against the wall next to the vending machine I was trying to coax into working for me. “You have to face up to this sooner or later.”

I sighed, “Look, the expedition to raid Polydon’s base is going ahead next week. I have to focus on that.”

“Take a break,” he suggested mildly. “Take Poynter to the shower block.”

“He had one yesterday,” I said, giving the machine a hard thump. “No! Don’t eat my money, you wanker!”

“What better place to start getting over your crush?” he said smartly. He rapped the side of the machine with his knuckles, and a bottle of water fell out. “Go shower him, Danny. That’s a bloody order.”

*****

“T-2, you are cleared for entrance,” the machine told me as the door slid open. “The hostage will be informed of your visit.”

I raised my eyebrow at the intercom, “Will he really…?” I stepped through the door. He’d somehow worked out how to screw with the security. We had to get Aaron on that.

“Terrka-Two entering,” it said as I stepped into the room.

“Very clever, Poynter,” I commented dryly. “Why don’t you just-?” I froze, my eyes scanning the room in front of me. Where the fuck was he?

“Shit,” I muttered, turning to leave- only to find myself face-to-face with him.

“I was wondering when you’d make a reappearance.”

I swallowed nervously, “I thought you’d gone.”

He jerked a shoulder, his gaze never leaving mine, “Reprogramming it so I was told who was entering and when was child’s play. Naturally, overriding the intense security on this room is more complicated. I could do it, but it would take a while.”

“You’ve had a while.”

He chuckled softly, a dangerously sexy sound if ever I’d heard one. “Yes… But why would I want to escape, Mr. Jones? You’re right here…”

He was close, too close. I took a wary step back as he advanced, “What d’you mean?”

“I mean: I’m not going anywhere until I’ve had you.”

My heart rate rocketed. So much for getting over Poynter… If I didn’t get out of here quickly, this was going to the next level! I held up my hands to stop him, “I can’t let you do this. You’re clearly not thinking rationally in your current state.”

“Oh? And what state is that?” he asked softly.

My hip connected with the table, so I skirted round it with the hope of putting a solid object between us. “You’re obviously suffering from sleep deprivation, and a lack of sex- the combination of which is making you insanely horny.”

He chuckled again, “I’m horny because of you. And the craving’s not going to go away until it’s satisfied…” He bit his lip seductively, moving round the table, “Why don’t you give me a hand with that?”

Oh, man. I went in a full circuit round the table and backed off towards the door. I needed to get out of here, now. “I can’t do that.”

He smirked, “Why are you denying yourself? It doesn’t mean anything… It’s just a much needed release. For both of us…”

I turned to open the door, “No.” My card key fell to the floor with a clatter as he gripped my arm, and pulled me roughly back round.

“Yes,” he hissed. Our lips crashed together. He drove me backwards into the wall, already fumbling with the buttons on my shirt. I couldn’t think straight. Everything rational in my head had been cancelled out by this manic animal passion.

We tore at each other’s clothes, desperate to feel flesh against flesh. With every kiss there was a short burst of heat in my stomach, like a flame coming alive after lying dormant for centuries.

He steered me towards the bed, pulling off my tie, jacket and shirt as he went. His fingers were very quick and skilled in these movements, I noted. We broke the kiss so I could pull his top over his head, then I took no hesitation in pinning him down on the bed.

The lean, powerful muscles in his stomach quivered as I worked my way up his torso. I scraped my teeth roughly over his stiff nipples, making him gasp involuntarily. Our mouths met again and we kissed deeply.

His hands pushed at my belt impatiently. I would’ve laughed at his desperation- his sudden lack of composure- had I not been feeling the exact same way myself. As I pulled his trousers free of his body, I was finally allowed to admire the spectacle that was Dougie Poynter’s body.

“Stop staring and come here,” he said with a definite giggle. He moved up so our lips collided again. He brought one hand up to cup my face, the other holding him up. As our tongues explored each other’s mouths, my hands did similarly to his body.

His arm buckled as my fingers came into contact with his erect penis, and we both crashed back down onto the mattress. He arched up into me, our erections grinding together. I moaned throatily into his mouth.

My hand found his penis again, and I gripped it. As I began to pump, his eyes opened. They were glassy with pure pleasure and the knowledge that I was causing that pleasure made me pump even harder.

“Jones…” he moaned loudly. With the hand that was braced on his stomach, I felt the muscles tense, and I let go. He stared at me, “You…bastard.”

I grinned at him at him and moved down slowly- kissing, sucking and biting at every patch of skin that took my fancy. Trailing a finger up the underside of his throbbing member, I heard him cry out in sexual agony.

My tongue darted out and licked up the liquid oozing out the tip. He gasped in surprise. Taking this as a good sign, I took the head into my mouth. His hands found the back of my head and he guided me up and down his length.

“Good… Oh, God… I’m gonna-” He ejaculated violently into my mouth. I swallowed to avoid choking. I moved back up to him. There was a sheen of sweat on his face. I grinned down at him.

“Hang on. I’m dead,” he managed. I dipped my head, catching his lips with mine again. I pulled him into an upright position as the kiss deepened.

His mouth plundered mine, his hands gripping my shoulders tightly. They tightened more still when I slid one of the fingers I’d wet before rising up to meet him into him. I slid it in and out gently, and he shuddered in anticipation.

Pretty soon I’d created a hole big enough to admit myself. I slid in slowly. He screwed his face up slightly in pain. I pressed a kiss to his forehead. I could sense his eyes on me as I began to move in and out of him.

“Fuck, Jones! There! Right there!” he suddenly cried. I complied, and watched his eyes go opaque as I hit his spot over and over. His inner muscles clamped around me and I climaxed, crying his name loudly.

I collapsed on top of him, panting loudly. He stroked my lower back gently, “Wasn’t that worth it?”

I looked into his wide, faux-innocent eyes, “That’s never happening again. You do know that?”

He smiled lazily. His eyes still hadn’t totally cleared. “After that? No way. I won’t be able to keep off you.”

“That was built up energy,” I said stiffly. “I haven’t- I-”

“How long?” he asked.

“Over a year.” I got off him.

“When you broke up with Judd?”

“Yeah.”

He sat up as I pulled on my boxers, “Why did you break up?”

“That’s none of your business.”

Before I knew it, he was up and his lips were brushing over mine, “I can see why he still wants you…”

“You don’t know me.”

“I have a fair idea,” he corrected. “I’m a good judge of character.”

I snorted, “Whatever.”

His eyes narrowed at me as I pulled on my trousers, “What?”

“If you were such a ‘good judge of character’, we wouldn’t have captured you.”

He winced, “That was momentary lapse.” He began to dress as well.

“What d’you do for Polydon, anyway?”

“I’m a hacker. Information expert, if you’d prefer.”

“Sounds major.”

“Major, but not rare,” he agreed. “They’ll be glad to replace me, despite the fact they may not get the same quality again. I hate to break it to you, Jones, but Polydon isn’t going to be running over the nearest hill to save me.”

“Shame,” I remarked. “If they were, there would be less of them in your base to slow us down when we raid it.”

His eyes widened before he could stop them. He still hadn’t regained his composure after the sex, I noted. It slowed his reflexes. “What? You found it?”

“Yup.”

“How?” he demanded.

I shot him a sideways glance, then turned to him. He was still naked from the waist upwards, but there was a hardness in his eyes I’d never seen before- a kind of cool calculation, all business. Polydon obviously meant more to him that he implied. “Harry had a homing device.”

“I thought that was destroyed,” he spat.

“You thought wrong.” Sliding on my jacket, I turned to leave, “You need a shower tonight. I’ll be back.”

He caught my arm in that vice-grip of his. “When are you going?” he hissed.

I turned my head slightly to look at him, “Why d’you care?” I watched his eyes flash, and realisation flood in. “You slipped, Poynter.” I shook him off. “Tonight.”

*****

“All right?” Steve chirped, trotting into my office with his arms filled with papers.

I looked up from my computer, “Need help with those?”

“Nah, I’m good.” He dumped them haphazardly into one of my chairs. “I came to show you the latest plans.”

“Steve…” I said warily, eying the pile of papers flooding out of the chair. “How many plans do we have, exactly?”

He laughed. “Enough that we have back-ups. This is the main one,” he announced, pulling forth a rolled-up, poster sized blueprint.

“Is this the surrounding area?” I asked as he tacked it up on the board.

“Yeah. Our plan is to approach in five teams. They’ll search the area, testing each of the five possible entrances we have found. Team leaders will be me, you, Fletcher, Simpson and Brant.”

“Brant?”

“He offered, and he’s higher rank than the others.”

“Screw rank! He can’t lead a team!”

Steve grinned at me, “Don’t worry. His team will be watching him closely.” He cracked his knuckles playfully, “Any excuse to demote him.”

“Take me through the plan.”

*****

Poynter wasn’t talking to me as I came in to take him for his ordered shower. This didn’t faze me much- in fact, the less he spoke, the less inclined I would be to have a repeat performance of earlier.

I walked over to where he was sitting on his bed, and took hold of his wrist. He had finished his first book, and had now moved onto another we had provided him with.

He didn’t look at me as I put the cuff on his wrist. I took the book from his hands and set it to the side. “Come on, Poynter.”

He stood, and the look he gave me radiated such pure venom that I almost took a step in retreat. Instead, I met it with a hard gaze of my own. Damn it if I was going to be blamed for his slip!

I moved towards the door, and entered the code. I felt him down quickly, and gestured him through, before opening the second door. He stalked a few paces ahead, knowing the way by now.

“Jones,” Brant fell into step next to me. “It’s a relief to see you’re no longer neglecting your responsibilities.”

I turned sharply into the shower block after Poynter, so he had no choice but to follow if he wanted to hear my response. “Well, it was hard to after you told on me…” I turned to him, my eyes cold, “If you have a problem with me, Brant, I don’t resent it. But do not question my methods by going to the boss. Do you understand me?”

He smirked, “What methods? You think just because you and Fletcher are so close and because you’ve screwed Judd that you’re so incredible. You’re not. Get used to it.”

I took a step towards him, “You forget that I outrank you. If one more half-assed attempt at an insult leaves your mouth, I’ll personally see to it that you’re removed from the Polydon raid.” His eyes flickered as he realised how deadly serious I was. “Now get the fuck out of here.”

I looked over my shoulder as he left to see Poynter watching me. “Don’t get stand there. Get in the damn shower.”

“You’ll never get into the base.”

I ignored him, and got a towel down from on top of the lockers, “I don’t like being held up. I have better things to do than make sure you keep up with your personal hygiene.”

His eyes narrowed angrily, “The security on our base far surpasses that of yours. You’ll never make it within a foot of the entrance.”

My smile was sweet and innocent, “Then you won’t mind up trying anyway, will you?”

He took a step forward as I coded in the door lock. He’d stripped down to his boxers, but once again he still managed to look dangerous. His eyes were dark with rage, and his upper lip was turned up in a snarl. “You have nothing. The chip in that homer was destroyed!”

“That chip was a decoy,” I corrected, and watched his eyes flash red hot. “The real one survived. We have your base.”

“You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into. You’ll be killed.”

I faltered, looked down at the ground anxiously. My voice was small: “We won’t.”

“Yes, you will. It’s not safe. We have weapons to avoid intruders.”

I looked up at him, my eyes wide, and shuffled my feet nervously. “You’re lying.”

“No, I’m not,” he said in a softer voice. He moved over to me. “You can’t do this,” he told me, putting a hand on my cheek. His lips met mine briefly.

“We have to.”

“You’ll be hit by intrusion devices.”

I forced my gaze up, stared into his eyes. “What are they?” I asked weakly.

“There’s CCTV over every door, and a motion detecting shot-gun. Lasers and trip-wires lie all over the place.”

“Oh, God. Oh, God. We’re never going to get in,” I whimpered, more to myself than him.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured. He kissed me again, deeper this time. I held onto him tightly.

“Well,” I said slowly as we pulled back. Then my voice went back to normal, loosing all pathetic quality as I straightened: “At least now we know what to look out for, it may help.”

His jaw dropped as he realised that I’d lead him on. “You bastard,” he spat, shoving me away from him.

I shrugged carelessly, “I don’t care. I don’t have any more time to play games with you. Take your shower, Poynter.”

I saw the flash in his eyes, then the change. And didn’t move quickly enough to avoid it. He grabbed me by the tie and pulled me into him, “Take it with me.”

*****

Twice in one day. I knew it had been a mistake to start it. Satisfying the craving, he had said. Fuelling the addiction, more like. That evening, all available Terrka below the number seven were called into a meeting to discuss the Polydon raid. “Poynter’s worried,” I announced. “He pretends not to be, but you can see it in his eyes.”

“Is he giving anything away?” Aaron asked.

“He gave me a basic security plan,” I told him. “That is, if he was being honest. He may just have been trying to put me off.”

“But you don’t think so,” Tom voiced.

I nodded, “No. I don’t.”

“Our objective is to get inside the building and find Harry.” Steve took up the speaking. “We can’t take too many in, because to attract attention may be a danger to him.”

“But too few may be a danger to us if we are sighted,” Charlie pointed out.

“If we are sighted, evacuation must be immediate,” Tom said firmly. “We’ll be no good to him if we’re all taken.”

“I was thinking half a dozen per group would be sufficient,” Ant put in.

“Too many,” I said. “Three. Four at the most.”

Steve nodded, “Three, plus group leaders. That sounds about right. We’ll each have two others.”

Tom nodded, “Assign your teams. We leave at six hundred hours on Monday.”

*****

“Voice identification, please.”

“T-2. Jones comma Danny.”

“Voice print recognised. Awaiting permission to enter.” I frowned. Bugger it. He’d been messing with the controls again. “Access denied.”

I stared at it. That bitch, I thought furiously, as I dug my manual key out of my pocket and used it to open the locked section at the bottom of the intercom. That arrogant, cocky bitch. There was a keypad underneath the lock. “He had no right. No fucking right,” I muttered venomously as I coded in the override. The door slid open, and I strode through it- not bothering to mask my rage. I entered the code again for the second door- a tedious process if anything. “What gives you the right to-” I began loudly, stepping into the room.

He jumped me from the side. His legs locked around my waist and his hands drove into my hair as his mouth met mine passionately. “God, you’re so damn hot when you’re angry,” he said breathlessly.

“What if I hadn’t have been me?” I asked, cupping his bun to stop him from sliding down. “Very few of us know how to deal with something like that. It’s very rarely that a hostage has those skills. You could’ve caused a panic.”

“If it was anyone else, I would have granted them access,” he said slowly. “But I knew it was going to be you,” he continued confidently, threading his fingers in my hair. “Because you wouldn’t let anyone else come for dear I was going to tell them what we’ve been up to this past week.” As if I needed an example, he leaned closer and sank his teeth greedily into my lower lip.

I rubbed my nose gently against his, “Mm. The Polydon mission leaves tomorrow. I don’t want to be suspended before that.”

He sighed, and dropped off me, “What are you going to do if this goes wrong?”

I eyed him narrowly, “What are you going to do if this goes right?”

He gave me a look of distain, “It won’t. We can take you.”

“You can’t have more men than us,” I argued, leaning against the wall. “And all perfectly trained.”

The all-too-familiar arrogant smirk appeared as he turned his head to look at me, “We have a fair amount, trust me on that.”

I grinned, “You’ve got your composure back.”

“I realised…that whenever I panicked, or didn’t stop to think, I gave you information before I worked out what I was doing,” he said, crossing to the table and leaning against it. “So I commanded myself not to panic or loose myself anymore.”

I moved over to him slowly, and braced my hands on either side of his body- trapping him there. “I like making you loose yourself…” I murmured.

“I know… And you do it so well…” He touched his lips to mine gently. “It’s foolish of me to let you…”

“But you know you want it anyway,” I said softly. I saw lust flicker in his eyes seconds before he brought his mouth up to mine seductively.

*****

“Dougie?” I asked sleepily, resting my head on his chest.

“Mm?” was his lazy response. He was playing with my hair, something he seemed to enjoy doing after sex.

“This mission tomorrow.”

His body was too lax still, or he would have tensed up, “What about it?”

“Where are you holding Harry?”

He moaned in anguish, and his hands left my hair. “Don’t, Danny,” he begged. He shifted me off his chest and sat up. “Just don’t,” he repeated, pulling on his boxers.

“Please. Tell me.” I sat up next to him.

He looked tormented, “I can’t.”

“Dougie, this isn’t about getting revenge on Polydon for me,” I told him, as he turned his head to look at me. “I can ignore the years of rivalry. I can ignore the mutual hatred. This is about getting Harry back. I’m not leaving that base again without him.”

“Don’t be rid-”

“I’m serious. I’ll stay there ‘til I find him. Even if Polydon find me first.”

He didn’t say anything, but reached up to my face and dragged his thumb along my cheekbones. When he brought it back, it was glistening with the tear I hadn’t even felt fall. Keeping his eyes on mine, he put his thumb in his mouth slowly, and cleaned it. “Goddamn it, Danny…” he whispered. “Don’t cry.”

“I didn’t know I was.” I closed the gap between us, and touched my lips gently to his. The proper kiss that followed was nothing like any other we’d previously shared. It was tender, and soft. There was no burst of heat with this one, just a slow, rolling warmth.

Dougie leaned his forehead against mine, “I can’t handle it when people cry outside of interrogation.”

“Can’t you at least tell me the floor he’s on?”

He hesitated, “Third. That’s all I can tell you, okay?”

“Okay.” I brushed my lips over his once more, “Thank you.”

*****

“Okay,” I told my team, as we paused a block down from the chosen possible entrance for us to investigate. If anyone found anything, we were all wired, and the message was to be passed on immediately. “We need to be very careful approaching this entrance.”

“It could be surrounded,” one of the higher Terrka said matter-of-factly. “The last thing we want is for one of us to be injured.”

“What defences might there be?” one particularly young one queried.

“CCTV, trip wires, lasers, motion-detector shotguns,” I listed effortlessly. “Any idea how to avoid that, T-9?”

He faltered, “Why are we even here?! We’re not going to get in!”

“That kind of attitude gets you killed,” the younger one scolded. I grinned.

“Positivity, T-9… T-37 has it.” I tapped the side of my forehead knowingly, “It’s a good thing.”

“Then why are you such a cynic?” Tom’s voice sounded across the earpiece.

“Shut up,” I retorted. T-9 snorted in amusement. I found the higher ranks found it easier to laugh at the top people. “Stop eavesdropping, Fletcher. We have a mission.”

“And that’s why I contacted you. Our entrance is bogus. It’s manhole leading into a sewer. Nothing here. We’re gonna head round to Brant’s team- see if they have anything.”

“And to check they haven’t killed him,” I remarked. “I would’ve by now… We’re about to investigate out entrance.”

“We’re a little wary, sir,” T-37 spoke up. “Should the security activate.”

I could sense Tom nodding. “A wise worry,” he agreed. “You know how to handle this, Danny. Just try not to get shot again. Simpson would kill me.”

“Right.” I lead them a little further in the direction we were heading in. “Pass me the sensor,” I commanded, stopping just down from it and holding my hand out. Someone pressed it into my palm. I pressed a few buttons on it, and a shrill beeping sounded.

“What does that mean?” T-37 asked anxiously.

I stared down at the screen, “We found it.”

“T-2, that’s practically block red!” T-9 exclaimed, his eyes also attached to the readout. “How are we going to get past all that?”

“I’m into the cameras,” Aaron’s voice came over the earpiece. He was in a van situated about three blocks down, tapping the Polydon system. “I’m putting them all on a loop, but there are tonnes of them. And by ‘them’, I mean cameras and Polydon! We don’t want them to know we’ve hacked their system.”

T-37 leaned heavily against the opening to a ventilation shaft in the wall of the shabby looking building. “What are we going to do?” he asked in exasperation.

“Sir, with all due respect, to face that would be the equivalent of committing suicide!” T-9 claimed, jabbing a finger at the bleeping machine.

I nodded, “Of course.”

T-37 shivered nervously as my gaze fixed on him, “What?” I didn’t respond, but T-9 followed my gaze and saw what I saw. A ventilation shaft.

*****

I swung out of the shaft and landed gracefully in a white desolate corridor. I glanced around. I was very wary, because I hadn’t expected that to work in the slightest. I crouched there for a moment, until T-37 landed next to me.

I’d commanded T-9 to stay outside and keep watch- something he’d complained very bitterly about. But the fact of the matter was T-37 and I both had lighter body frames that he did, and were less likely to be picked up the Polydon ventilation blockage systems, which I had asked Aaron to try to freeze. Whether he had managed it, I wasn’t sure.

I nodded at T-37, and we pulled out our weapons and moved slowly down the corridor. “Aaron, what floor are we on?” I hissed.

There was a moment of silence, “Five, I think. You either have to go up two or down two. I don’t have a floor plan as yet. Can you find an elevator, or stairs?”

“We’ll take a look. Thanks.” Running a hand nervously down the leg of my jeans, we turned the corner. We’d been commanded to wear casual clothes for this mission, so we wouldn’t be identified as Terrka. Only the upper Polydon tended to dress formally.

I jerked my head to the left as we came to an intersection, telling T-37 to check that way whilst I took the right. We went out back-to-back.

“Where is everyone?” T-37 whispered as we once again saw no-one. “I would’ve thought we should have seen at least one person by now…” I moved over to one of the many white doors we’d passed- the ones that almost blended into the walls, and pushed it open.

“Storage,” I told him upon seeing the neat shelves of guns and other weaponry within. “Would that be on the top or bottom of a base?”

“Top, probably. They’d have the main offices on the bottom, and the sensitive computer equipment. This way, if they sense any invaders, they can head them off before they penetrate too deep into Polydon’s core.”

I nodded, “Good analysis.” I considered, “They should know we’re down here, though they may still believe us to be Polydon at this moment in time. The sound bugs are probably distorted this close to the surface, due to all the metal above us, so they probably can’t hear us too well right now. Don’t act suspicious. We need to go down two floors.”

Closing the door again, we walked down the corridor at an average pace. We kept our guns in our hands, but held them down by our sides, meaning they were easily brought up should their use be required, but not overly obvious to any Polydon security cameras.

We turned the corner to practically walk into a large man. Large in more than one way. He was easily 6”5, with broad shoulders and bulging muscles in his arms and abdomen that I didn’t care to test the strength of. There was a tattoo of a black snake curling down one side of his ugly face. “You,” he grunted at me. I sensed T-37 stiffen.

“Yeah?” I responded easily, cocking my head to the side.

“You Poly49?”

I nodded, “Yeah. Who’s asking?”

“I was sent to relieve you. You’re off duty.”

I nodded again, feeling relief go through my body, “Cheers. We’re out of here.” I held up a hand as he started to move past, “Hold up. Is there a lift in here? We took the stairs originally, but he’s managed to twist his ankle.”

The man moved his gaze onto T-37, who had begun to lean heavily on his left leg as soon as the words had left my mouth. A look of discomfort became evident on his face. Anyone who didn’t believe he was in pain could be called heartless. “It’s just next to the stairs,” he said finally. “Next left, and straight on.”

“Right. Thanks. Come on, let’s get you to the hospital ward,” I said to T-37. “You need to get this looked at.”

He shrugged off the arm I laid on his, playing the-newbie-desperate-to-prove-himself to a T. “I can walk,” he said tensely through gritted teeth. “Don’t mollycoddle me.” He limped off. I almost forgot he was acting- this kid was good! I sent the big guy a ‘what can you do?’ smile and hurried after him.

“Nice,” I said out the corner of my mouth once we’d rounded the corner. He blushed.

“My speciality, sir. Sorry for my rudeness.” He continued to limp, should the cameras still be on us. I just hoped no-one had watched us drop out of the air vent. We reached the lift, and I pressed the button to call it.

I stayed close to him as we entered, playing the caring friend. “Try not to put too much weight on it. It’ll still be delicate,” I told him.

He looked up with a sigh, looked around the lift casually, but I could tell he’d gotten the message. This lift could be bugged, and it wouldn’t have the disturbance the ones in storage would. We couldn’t risk being discovered. “Look, we don’t even have to go to the hospital ward,” he tried hopefully. “Look, I can lean on-” He broke himself off with a whimper.

“Don’t be so stubborn. You need that looked at.”

“I don’t like hospitals,” he said through gritted teeth.

I laughed, “What? Seriously?”

“No, I’m just going to make something up ‘cause I’m feeling so happy with my ankle swelling up under me,” he retorted sarcastically.

“Come here,” I said impatiently. I pulled him into a tight hug, being careful not to move him in any way in which his ankle would hurt if he wasn’t faking. “My theory is that Harry’s on the same floor as the medical ward,” I said softly into his ear. “So we’re going to get out on floor three, and act like we’re getting you medical attention, and we’re going to find him.”

“Yes, sir. Should we split up?”

“No. We’ll need back up if we are discovered.” I moved back as the door opened on the third floor. I looped an arm around his lower back like I was helping him walk, “Let’s go.”

I helped him to limp out the lift, though he still acted like help was the last thing he wanted. “I don’t need your help,” he hissed in protest. “I don’t even need to be here.”

A pretty young nurse stopped with a light laugh, “What appears to be the problem?”

I realised that T-37 had been trying to attract her attention. If we were walking with a nurse, we were less likely to be classed as suspicious. “Yes,” he told her sweetly. “My friend has gone totally insane.”

“He’s twisted his ankle,” I voiced.

“I haven’t,” he corrected. “I just fell on it funny.”

“Therefore twisting it,” I said with a smirk. I grinned at the nurse, “He doesn’t like hospitals.”

She smiled, “A lot of people don’t. Let’s take a look at that ankle.”

T-37’s eyes widened drastically, “What? Here? Now? Right here?”

I made a show of rolling my eyes, “Is there a private cubicle? He’s annoyingly shy when it comes to his body…”

She nodded, but I was surprised she hadn’t given up on us yet. I guessed she was trained to put up with stuff like this. “Of course. It’s a across the ward, though. Can you walk?”

“Yes,” he said tensely. His face portrayed no other emotion besides annoyance, but I knew he’d absorbed what was happening. We were getting lead, probably quite slowly, practically right through this floor. We may get an idea of where Harry was.

*****

By the time we reached the cubicle, I knew exactly where they were keeping him. “I’ll wait outside,” I told T-37.

He slanted me a sideways look, still pretending to sulk. Luckily for him, the nurse seemed to find it endearing, and I knew he was faking, or I probably would’ve punched him by now. “Call the others, say you put me in hospital,” he said bitterly.

“I will…” I said sweetly. He shot me a glare as I left. I walked over to the phone casually, mimed dialling, and picked up the receiver, holding it to my ear. “Aaron,” I hissed, knowing the mini microphone glued to my back teeth would pick it up. T-37 would hear as well. “Put me through to T-4.”

“Go for it.”

“Steve?”

There was noise in the background, and I heard him shushing his team impatiently. “Danny? What’s up?”

“I need a distraction. Are you free?”

Steve didn’t speak for a moment, “I reckon so. Our door has no weaponry, but a high definition lock and code device. A guy came out a while back for a fag, and we were gonna wait until he opened the door to go back in, then ambush. But one of them got trigger-happy. I was gonna have the fresh faced one there when he wakes up- do the whole innocent-passer-by-saw-you-pass-out act. I can tear myself away.”

“I’m glad,” I remarked dryly. “I’m inside the hospital ward- just along from him.”

“What?! You got in?!”

“I’ll tell you later,” I said dismissively. “When I give the command, I want an explosive set off outside the door I was assigned to. How soon can you be set up?”

“Does twenty bode well?”

I sucked in my breath, “That the best you can do? I’ve got T-37 faking an ankle injury. The nurse is bound to work it out sooner or later.”

“He’ll keep it going. He’s good. He used to be an actor.”

“That explains it,” I muttered. I twisted round as a beeping sounded across the ward, and saw the nurse race out of T-37’s cubicle. “I gotta go. You have twenty, T-4. Disconnect.” My earpiece went silent, but I didn’t put down the phone- keeping up appearances. “How you doing in there?”

“Okay. She got called away before she actually looked at my ankle, so that covers more of the twenty,” T-37 said easily. “Don’t people think you’re talking to yourself?”

“I’m on one of the payphones,” I said with a grin. “Look, once she declares that you were right and you must have just fallen on it funny, start to get up, and let her see the cut on your upper arm.”

“There isn’t a cut on my upper arm,” he said blankly, a frown in his voice. I heard movement. “Oh. How the hell did that get there? Left hand side, right?”

I nodded, “Yeah. You probably got it in the vents. There were some sharp edges. You don’t tend to notice it as much when you’re the one bleeding. It works in our favour. Act like you don’t know about it, and turn to leave so she sees it.”

“Right. I know where Harry is. It’s pretty obvious. Is that what you’re going to do? Get him out. Then escape while the distraction causes havoc?”

I let out a breath, “That’s the plan. When you hear the red alert go off, I want you to get out of there and meet me at the end of the ward.” I paused, “Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir. And I’m going to say, if we’re caught, it was an honour to work with you so closely on this mission.”

“Same to you. We get out of this; I’ll get you a promotion. You’re a good Terrka.”

“Thanks.” I could sense he wasn’t finished. “Oh, and sir? The acting thing…?”

“They won’t find out off me.”

“Thank you, sir.”

I hung up the phone as I spotted the nurse coming down the corridor, and- reaching into my pocket- I jogged towards her. “Excuse me? Do you know what’s wrong, yet?”

She smiled at me kindly, “I’m just about to look at him. I’m sorry.”

I shook my head nervously, “No. It’s fine. I’m just…worried, y’know? He wouldn’t get why.”

“Your devotion is very touching.” She cocked her head to the side, “If you don’t mind my asking, are you a couple?”

I allowed a blush to creep onto my face, “No. He’s straight. He doesn’t know I…”

“He won’t hear it off me,” she promised, taking my hand and gripping it. “I’d better get back to him.”

“Okay…”

“What the fuck was that?!” T-37 squawked in my earpiece.

“I needed her sympathy, so she’d touch me.”

“Why?”

I watched the nurse disappear into his room, knowing he wouldn’t reply again. “Because I needed her fingerprints.” I admired the glossy coating on my fingers, which now contained a perfect mould of her fingertips, “We’re getting Harry out.”

*****

Adjusting the sleeve of the doctor’s uniform I had claimed as my own in the last ten minutes, I moved through the ward towards where I suspected Harry was. I keep my head bowed, and shuffled my feet- playing the doctor in a hurry who doesn’t want anyone to talk to them.

I slowed down as I reached the secured door. There was a keypad to the left of it and a small glass panel. Unless you were really looking, you wouldn’t know it was there. I strolled over to it, addressed the man standing next to it:

“Is he secure?”

The guard gave a curt nod, immediately informing me that myself and T-37’s guess had been correct. “He’s sedated after trying to attack a nurse on duty.”

I nodded thoughtfully, but my heart was singing. Harry never went down without a fight! “Terrka are out of control- we know that. May I go in and see him?”

“You can your print.” He motioned to the glass panel. “If that’s a match to one of ten Polydon licensed to enter, then I code you in.”

I smiled, “Okay.” I pressed my thumb against the glass panel, the thumb which had been covered with the latex, praying the nurse was of the high enough order to merit entrance. I was in luck. There was a metallic beep and a green light flicked on.

The guard nodded in satisfaction and entered the code into the keypad. The door slid open. It shocked me how lax the Polydon security was once you were in. Maybe they didn’t expect you to get in at all. I shifted the material covering my hair and moved through.

“What about the second door?” I asked.

“You pull it,” the guard said, as if I were stupid.

I pretended to try to, felt it shift, but didn’t open it, “I think it’s jammed. Can you help me?”

He emitted an irritated sound. “Look, you just-” He took a step into the small corridor between the two doors. As soon as he was clear of the first one, I hit the emergency close button.

A look a shock crossed his face as I moved towards him, slamming my leg into the side of his head. He stumbled back, but didn’t fall. His hand went for his weapon, as he lashed out with one leg in an attempt to keep me back.

I struck again, this time in the form of ramming my knee into his stomach. What I felt was pretty much solid muscle, but I’d put enough force behind it that he doubled over. I clenched my fists together, before bringing them down heavily on the top of his skull. I heard a satisfying clunk, and his eyes rolled back, as he keeled over.

I bent down and searched his body- quickly but thoroughly. I found a card key in his pocket, along with a set of keys. I assumed one of them was for the door we’d just come through. They would come in handy later. I slid them both into my jeans pocket, before pushing over the second door.

My eyes took in the room before me carefully, scanning it. It was bizarrely white, and very empty, with only a thick mattress on the floor by one wall. No cameras, I noted. No apparent bugs, either, but if there were, I’d take the chances. I looked straight ahead.

Stopping dead in my tracks, I stared- the room forgotten. “Harry…” I whispered.

He was standing by one wall, a hand braced on it behind him. The eyes he surveyed me with were bloodshot and unfocused. His skin was pale and gaunt, like he hadn’t been eating enough- but overall he didn’t look too badly abused.

He blinked at me for a moment, and I heard the furious mutter: “No-one told me this was going to make me hallucinate…”

He sounded weak, like it was an effort to say even that. I moved towards him, keeping my voice low. “I’m not a hallucination, Harry.”

He shook his head lightly, and reached up with his free hand, touching it gently to the side of my face. “You can’t be real,” he slurred. “My beautiful Danny can’t see me like this… They gave me something. I feel heavy. All I did was hit that nurse…”

I smiled softly. Typical Harry. Not understanding what he had done wrong. “You have to come with me,” I told him.

His hand closed around my wrist firmly, “Can I see Danny again?” His voice was demanding, but the look in his eyes was pleading.

I nodded, fighting back the tears that threatened to fall, “Yes. You can see him. He wants to see you…”

“T-2?” I jolted to attention as Steve’s voice came through my earpiece. “The explosive is ready to be activated. Shall we proceed?”

I took a step back from Harry, who still clung to my wrist, and put the fingers of my other hand to my ear, knowing he would recognise the signal even in his sedated state. “Ensure the area is clear and proceed as ordered,” I commanded. “Then take your team and head back to base. Polydon can’t have any sign you were here. Understood?”

“Understood. Disconnect.”

I brought my hand down from my ear, “We have to move.” I placed a hand on either of his shoulders, “Can you move?”

He shook his head again slowly, “It’s hard. But I’ll do it. I’ll do it for him.”

I took a deep breath, my eyes shining, “Yeah… Do it for Danny.”

“I will,” he promised. Overcome with emotion, I leaned in and rested my forehead against his.

“Come on,” I whispered.

*****

As we left, Harry was the one in the doctor’s uniform, and I was back in my casual clothes. That had taken a while, as Harry’s limbs appeared to be getting heavier and heavier, but I didn’t want him being recognised, so I’d set it up to cover most of his face. He moved slowly down the corridor, but thankfully it wasn’t obvious as to why.

All of a sudden, a loud screeching alarm sounded, and the ward began to flash red due to warning lights that were stationed all over the place. A total state of panic began, and Polydon began to run for the doors- for phones- knocking into Harry and myself.

“Sir!” T-37 ground to a halt nest to us. “We have to evacuate.”

“He can barely walk,” I argued. “We’re never going to get out in time!”

He glanced around, and his gaze settled on something. “I have an idea.” He ran off. I continued down the corridor with Harry, who was getting slower and slower. He looked like he was having trouble keeping his eyes open by this point. The sedative seemed to be the type that took a while to go into full effect.

I hoped to God T-37 would be back soon. I needed his help to keep Harry upright. Not that I wasn’t confident that his idea was going to be a good one- rather the opposite. As yet, all of his ideas had been very smart and effective. I had high hopes for him.

I heard a rattling behind us, and turned to see T-37 coming back, pushing a wheelchair along easily. “That’s perfect,” I told him gratefully as he helped me lower Harry into it. I cupped Harry’s face in my hands, waited ‘til his bleary eyes focused on me. “Hang on. For him.”

“For Danny,” he murmured. I sensed T-37’s eyes on me, though he refrained from saying anything. Instead, he began to push the wheelchair steadily down the corridor. I followed behind. One of the sleeves on his casual shirt had been rolled up, and there was a neat bandage on his upper arm.

“How d’we get out?” he hissed out the corner of his mouth, not that we would’ve been heard amidst the cries of panic and the alarm that was still trying to drill a hole in my head. “We can’t take him out through the vents!”

I nodded, “We’ll head for Steve’s entrance. Maybe that’ll be easier to get out of. I think their main concern is to try and stop people getting in.”

He considered this, and nodded. We increased our pace. “Sir,” T-37 said suddenly after about thirty five seconds. I heard the alarm in his voice, and turned to look at him. His eyes were fixed on Harry, “He’s not moving. Is he breathing?”

I stopped, so he had to as well. I knelt in front of Harry. His head was slumped- he’d let unconsciousness take him. I felt for his pulse. “It’s weak, and he seems to be breathing marginally.” My voice was calm, but inside my heart was beating like a double bass drum pedal on full speed. “Pass me the emergency kit.”

I heard T-37’s sharp intake of breath, looked up into his wide, shocked eyes. Realisation hit me hard and fast, leaving my head pounding as the drumbeat moved north. “No…” I begged in an almost unheard whisper.

“Yes…” was his shaky reply. “Sir… T-9 had it.”

I cursed loudly, and he nodded weakly in agreement. I checked Harry’s pulse again, bit my lip in concern, “We have to get out of here! Quickly!”

“Danny!” I looked up at the familiar voice to see Tom running towards us.

“How’d you get in?” I called.

“I slipped in while people were streaming out of Steve’s door. He tipped us off that that might be the best option. It’s pandemonium out there thanks to that explosive.”

“Give me your emergency kit,” I ordered him. He didn’t even react to my rude behaviour, just handed over the small blue bag that had been clipped to his belt. I opened it and took out a small needle, before preparing it carefully.

I rolled up the loose sleeve of the doctors scrubs that Harry was wearing, and set the needle to the side. I moved back to find Tom press his belt into my hand, sensing what I was about to do. I smiled thinly at him, and wrapped it tightly round the arm just below his elbow to make the veins stick out- in the form of a tourniquet.

My hands were steady as I injected the serum. “Come on,” I whispered pleadingly, taking his pulse once more. It didn’t seem to be changing.

There was a hand on my shoulder. “Give it a moment, Danny,” Tom said soothingly. All the alarms seemed to cancel out, I couldn’t see the flashing red light- all I was focusing on was the beat against my fingers.

“It’s picking up,” I said after what seemed like an hour, but could barely have been a minute. My chest felt like it was about to burst.

“We have to go,” T-37 said urgently. I nodded at him. “The alarms going to stop at any moment, then we’ll be trapped.”

Tom inclined his head thoughtfully, “Let’s head back to where I got in. There’s mass confusion there. No-one should notice.”

*****

“Wipe all cameras,” I commanded as soon I climbed into the van. “Polydon can’t know how we got in, or that we were even really there.” We’d gotten out without much problems, no-one had even really noticed us, which I was thankful for.

Aaron smiled at me, “I deleted it as it happened. All they’re going to see is Polydon. Nice job, Jones.”

“Same to you.” I turned to T-37, “Take a seat. There’s nothing more for you to do.” I laid a hand on his shoulder and lowered my voice, “Thank you.”

“It was a pleasure, sir,” he said smartly, before collapsing onto the bench along the side of the van- much to the amusement of one of the female Terrka. T-9 was pointedly ignoring him, I noticed. He didn’t seem to care.

“Are there any more to arrive?” I asked.

Tom shook his head, “No. I sent my two back with Brant’s group, and you sent Steve’s back. The rest of us are all here.”

“Which means we can go,” I said. Immediately, the van rumbled into life beneath us. I moved over to the other bench, where Harry was laid out. “How is he?” I asked Charlie.

“Weak, but not fatally so. You gave him the injection just in time,” he told me. I breathed out a sigh of relief I hadn’t even realised I’d been containing.

“You think they meant to kill him?”

He shook his head, “I can’t be sure until we get the drug test back, which I can’t perform until we return. But I suspect it was simply a case of they didn’t realise how strong the sedative actually was.”

“They needed him.”

“Yes.” He ran a critical eye over me, “Sit down. You look exhausted.”

“I’m okay.” But now we were out the building and away, I was starting to feel the strain. My head throbbed lightly, and my arms and legs felt like lead, weighing me down.

“Sit down T-2,” Charlie repeated. “Or I’ll tie you down.” Sensing he was deadly serious, I took a seat next to Aaron, who was still making sure the camera rolls were smooth.

“T-6,” he said suddenly into his headset. I glanced over at him. “He’s right here. Hang on. Yeah, he got out.” His eyes met mine, and he jerked his thumb at the headset in front of me. I put it on. “You’re on in three, two, one.” He pressed a button in front of him.

“Danny?” a shaking voice asked.

“Steve?” I asked sharply. “What’s wrong?”

“We- I- Oh, God. Danny, we got back and…”

“Steve,” I said calmly. “Take a breath, and tell me what’s happened.”

“Poynter’s escaped.”

I froze. Aaron snapped round to stare at me suddenly- sensing something was off. If he wasn’t so good with technology- he’d be an undercover agent. He had good instincts. “What?” I croaked.

“He’s gone. I just went to check on him. He’s just vanished!”

“He hacked the system,” I said bitterly. The eyes of your technician widened, and he spun back to his computer, beginning to type frantically on the keyboard. “Search the entire building. Our internal security is far superior to Polydon’s- he might not have gotten all the way out. We’ll be there as soon as possible.”

“Right. Disconnect.”

“What’s wrong?” Tom asked as I pulled off the headset.

“Poynter’s gone.”

Charlie managed to choke on air, “What? How?”

“He’s a hacker,” I said simply, standing.

“But he didn’t have a bloody computer!”

Aaron laughed, “A proper hacker doesn’t need a computer. It speeds up the process, sure enough, but it can always be done manually.” His eyes were fixed on the screens in front of him. “I don’t understand how he managed it. I increased the barriers.”

“Don’t beat yourself up, Aaron,” I told him. “Like you said, a true hacker can surpass anything.”

“It’s still degrading…” he muttered.

I took a seat next to Tom as furious chatter broke out amongst the others. “You haven’t said anything,” I remarked.

“I’m thinking.”

“You’re always thinking.” I tipped my head to look at him, “Care to share?”

“I don’t understand why we’re all so shocked.”

I blinked at the calm tone of his voice. His face was expressionless- which irritated me to no ends. If it were just me and him, he would show what he was feeling, but the Terrka leader couldn’t do that here. If he lost his composure, riots would ensue. “Only you, me and Aaron knew. The others are allowed to be shocked. We upped the security.”

“Yes. But he was never stupid,” he pointed out. “There was always a light on in there. I had a sneaking suspicion he may try to escape. His personality type fitted. And his intelligence showed because he did it whilst the majority of us were out of the base.”

“With all the upper ranks gone,” I muttered. “I should have realised.”

Tom shook his head, “You were focused on getting Harry out. If we could go back, would stay to watch over Poynter?”

My eyes were fixed on Harry’s unconscious form, “No.”

“Then you have nothing to be sorry for. It was inevitable.”

“That doesn’t make it any less annoying…” I murmured.

“Tom. Danny,” Aaron called as Tom patted my shoulder comfortingly. “Come and see this.”

We walked over, being careful on our feet because the chosen driver wasn’t exactly taking the corners gently. Tom leaned on the back of Aaron’s chair, “What is it?”

“He managed to cut off all the cameras. We have no idea how he got out- if he has.”

“Was there a camera in his room?” I asked sharply. Oh, God. Help me if there was.

Thankfully Aaron shook his head, “No. One was never installed. It was a way of making the hostages feel more at ease. If they thought we were watching their every move, they’d be less likely to give anything away.” He typed in something, and his jaw dropped, “God, he’s good. He’s essentially demolished my entire security in just over two hours.”

“How long did the mission take?”

Tom checked his watch, “Three and a half. We wouldn’t have caught him. Not as well as getting Harry out of there.”

“You think they’ve realised he’s missing yet?”

“It’ll be calming down. If they haven’t yet, they will soon. Are the Polydon cameras clear, Aaron?”

He was still pouting over the damage done to his system. “Yeah. They can dig all they want. There’s not going to be any sign that you were there.” He rapped his knuckles off his forehead in irritation, “Damn. How long has this guy been hacking?”

“He’s nineteen- been with Polydon for two years,” I supplied. “Though I’m assuming he began long before that to be considered worthy of one of Polydon’s hackers. If they’re coming up against Aaron Buckingham, they have to be pretty damn good.” I pushed him on the side of the head affectionately.

“You’re too kind,” he purred loosely. “Now leave me alone. I have to fix this before I get too depressed to focus. I’m not being outdone by a bloody teenager.”

I grinned at Tom, “I think the geek just gave us marching orders.”

“We outrank him.”

I nodded, “We should punish him.”

“Later. He’ll eat us if we try anything now.” I laughed as Tom led us back to our seats. He paused, “Is he okay?”

“Totally drained,” the female Terrka told him. She was crouched next to T-37, who appeared to have completely lost consciousness. “I’m surprised you aren’t as well, sir.”

I smiled, “I’m more practiced. I’ll collapse later.” She grinned at me, and I moved back over to where we were sitting before, “About T-37…”

“You want him to get a promotion?”

“I believe his performance today more than merits it. He is quite possibly the best partner I’ve had since you and I were still allowed to go together.”

“High praise coming from you,” he remarked.

“He deserves it,” I said earnestly, my gaze torn between Harry, and the Terrka to whom I owed so much for his rescue.

*****

“He’s not in the building,” Steve reported the second he saw me stride into the main offices. “We searched everywhere. He got all the way out.”

“I figured as much,” I admitted, moving in the direction of my own office. “Poynter isn’t one to do things by half-measures. Aaron, check your room. My guess is he went there- hacked the mainframe.”

He nodded, “Okay.” He veered off to the right.

I stopped at my door, and swiped my ID card in the slot. “Please identify yourself.”

“T-2. Jones comma Danny.”

“Voice print recognised. Welcome back, T-2.”

“You okay?” Steve asked, following me into the office. “Well, I know you’re not perfect with Poynter escaping and everything, but you look like you’re about to pass out.”

“I agree,” Tom voiced, coming in through the still open door. The reason that it hadn’t shut behind us was because a millimetre of Steve’s foot was setting off the motion detector. He shifted slightly to let Tom past and jumped as the door suddenly slid closed.

“Thanks for that,” I muttered, sitting down in my chair. “I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not. Take the rest of the day off. You need to rest up and recover if you’re going to be any good in finding Poynter before he tells Polydon where the base is.”

I regarded him evenly, “You really know which buttons to press, don’t you?”

He grinned, “I’ve only had seven years to master it.”

“Fine. I’ll go home,” I said slowly, knowing he would wear me down even if I refused- and I could see the logic of what he was saying. “But I want to stop by the hospital ward first, make sure they’re okay.”

He nodded, understanding it was something I had to do. “Right. Don’t be too long.”

*****

I found Charlie standing over T-37, checking his readings. He glanced over as I came through the pale curtain. “How is he?” I asked softly.

He looked back down at T-37. “He’s recovering. You did well, I’ll say it again. He may still be unconscious for a few days, though- while his body deals with the shock to the system and heals. You can go in and sit with him if you want, but I can’t guarantee any stunning conversation.” He moved a blanket up over T-37’s chest, “As my most extreme patient at the moment, he’s in the room at the end.”

I laughed lightly, causing him to frown at me in confusion. “I wasn’t actually talking about Harry.”

“Oh! You mean…?” He motioned to T-37. I nodded. “He’s fine. Just physically exhausted. Once he sleeps it off, he’ll be as good as new. He should be out of here by tonight if he’s lucky.”

“Typical of a first mission,” I said with a shrug.

Charlie gaped at me. “That was his first mission?! Are you insane? They need practice first!!” he hissed furiously, trying not to raise his voice too much.

“I’m still injured. I can’t think straight,” I defended this with a grin. “Oh, c’mon!” I protested as he shot me a dark look. “It was a good call on my part, you have to admit! He’d been on some smaller ones and got glowing reviews. I went with instinct.”

“But he was inexperienced.”

“He’s T-9’s aide- meaning he’s being trained by someone of very high rank,” I pointed out. “Personally, I think he could do better than T-9, but he’s been taught well. He performed without fault, and put his full trust in me without even knowing me.” I shrugged, “And, besides, you have to start somewhere.”

“But he’s so young, Danny.”

I turned to look at him, crossing my arms across my chest and raising my eyebrow at him, “He’s only two years younger than me. You never voiced these concerns when we were sixteen.”

“Yes, but that was you and Tom. Nothing I said would’ve stopped you.”

“Agreed. But it would’ve been nice to know you care…”

He laughed, “There wasn’t a day when I wasn’t worried sick about you two, which became you four when you teamed up with Harry and Steve. To be the thirty-year-old amongst all the teenagers was stressful.”

“You look good for thirty-seven, though.”

“Don’t be a suck up, Danny.”

*****

I sighed heavily as I typed the password into my computer. Two days had passed since the mission, and we still didn’t have a clue exactly how Poynter had gotten out and where he was. I didn’t even know why we were still searching. I wasn’t sure Tom knew. Poynter would be back with Polydon by now, no doubt.

Harry was still unconscious as well, so it wasn’t like I’d had anything to distract me from that annoying fact. Though, in a sense, this relieved me that he was still out. Now that Dougie was gone, it was going to be harder to ignore Harry once he was awake- more specifically ignore his advances. I had no intention of getting back together with him- no matter what he said. Or at least that’s what I told myself…

There was a beep on my office intercom. I pressed a button and the door slid open. I didn’t see the point in ID checking unless you were trying to avoid someone in particular. “Sir?”

I looked up at the now familiar voice, and found myself grinning. T-37 had recovered quicker than even Charlie had thought after the mission, being released from the hospital ward only three hours after I had left. I was just awaiting the paperwork for his promotion to be cleared before I tracked him down to share the news. I hadn’t seen him since that day. “Hey. How are you?”

He shrugged loosely, “Not too bad. My arm started to throb something awful yesterday, though. Dr. Simpson reckons I may have picked something up in the vents.”

I frowned, “You mean when you cut your arm?”

“That’s the one,” he confirmed. “But I’m not just here to chat. You’re looking well, by the way,” he added, making me laugh.

“Did I look like death on Monday?”

“By the end of it, yes, sir,” he admitted. For a second time, he seemed to shake himself back to task. “Anyway, Dr. Simpson sent me.”

I was suddenly alert. As much as I enjoyed talking with T-37- who seemed to have grown much more comfortable with me whilst inside the Polydon base. You had to put everything aside when you were working with someone. But this was more important right now. “Why?”

“He thought you’d like to know T-3’s awake.”

*****

Harry’s eyes were closed as I stepped into the room. He remained motionless as I moved over to him. Looking down at him, I sighed in irritation. “They told me you were awake…” I said loudly enough to wake him if he had dozed off.

I turned to leave, but felt his hand close over my wrist. I looked back to see his blue gaze, now clear, staring back at me. He smiled slowly, “Hey, Danny.”

“Hey…” Taking his hand, I sat on the side of  his bed. “You look so much better…”

“Oh, God. Did you see me when I was drugged?” he asked, blushing furiously. He dragged a hand down his face slowly, “I bet that was attractive…”

I laughed, “I didn’t care. It was you. As soon as I walked into that room and saw you, nothing mattered but getting you out.”

He stared at me, emotion swimming in his eyes, “You got me out?”

I couldn’t help but grin, “Would I have it any other way?”

He smiled again, but it didn’t last long. “I can’t remember anything after hitting that damn nurse… I would say I didn’t mean anything I said… but I don’t know what I said.”

“Well…” I drawled, running my hand up his arm in a soothing manner. He groaned. “You did say I was beautiful…”

His eyes widened, “Oh, no. Did I?” I nodded. “You were never meant to hear that… ever.”

I burst out laughing, “You really think that?”

He back-tracked furiously, “No. Of course not. I was sedated. You say all kinds of crap when you’re sedated…”

I leaned towards him, “Don’t lie. You said I was never meant to hear… You think I’m beautiful!”

He raised an eyebrow at me, “Most guys wouldn’t take that as a compliment.”

“Well, I’m not most guys.”

His smile was bright and genuine, “You never were…” He squeezed my hand gently, “Danny…”

I shushed him, putting a finger to his lips and rubbing his chest soothingly, “Quiet… You need to rest… Tell me later…”

He stared at me, and nodded slowly, “Okay.”

“Okay…” I whispered. I continued to rub his chest, watching his eyes slide shut as he fell back into much-needed sleep. I didn’t want to have this conversation with him. I didn’t want to start dating him again, but I was scared that if I let him talk, he’d convince me otherwise.

There was a hand on my shoulder, and I turned to look into Tom’s eyes. “How is he?” he asked gently.

I turned my eyes back to the steady rise and fall of Harry’s chest, “Better. Much better. He’s almost back to himself. Give it a few days and I swear he’ll be sitting up, claiming he’s fit to go home.”

He nudged my shoulder gently, “Let’s move out.” I stood up and followed him out the room. “So what’s going to happen now he’s back?”

I frowned as I fell into step next to him once we were outside the ward, “What d’you mean?”

He shrugged nonchalantly, “You can’t deny you have feelings for him… Are you going to get back together?”

I shook my head, “No.”

“Why not?”

I turned to look at him, not breaking stride. Confusion lined his face, which he could show since there was no-one else around to see it. It was late, and most people had gone home. We stopped outside the door to Tom’s office, and he was still waiting for an answer. “I-”

“Are you afraid?” he asked carefully. “T-1. Fletcher comma Tom.”

I sighed as the door slid open at his voice command, “I’m not scared. Okay, well… I am.” I leaned heavily against one of the metal under-plated walls of the corridor as he opened the second door. “I don’t want to let him in…just so he can break me again.”

He walked into the office ahead of me, ignoring the mechanical voice that rang out. “Why are you so convinced he’s going to?” he asked curiously, pouring brandy neatly into two tumblers before adding ice to one and handing it to me.

“I’m not certain,” I admitted, taking a sip and rolling the smooth taste around my tongue. “But I don’t want to give him any chance to.”

“But you’re in love with him…”

“No. If I was still in love with him, I would have full faith that he had changed. There would be no doubt in my mind,” I retorted, pressing a finger hard to the side of my head. I stared straight at Tom, letting him see the fear, the pain in my eyes. “But there is a doubt. And that worries me more than anything. I can’t ignore that.”

Tom stared into the deep brown of his drink for a moment, then looked back up at me, “You’re not even going to give him a chance?”

He sounded his age, I realised with a jolt. At that moment in time, he wasn’t the Terrka leader, but an unsure twenty-three-year-old, torn between two of his best friends. “Do you think I should?” I asked him.

“Well… Yeah. He deserves a second chance…” he said reasonably.

“I don’t know if I can give him that…” I said quietly.

“Danny…” he whined. I smiled at him as I finished off my drink and put down the glass. I sensed him frowning at my back as I headed for the door. “Where are you going?”

I looked back as I waited for the door to open, “If there’s nothing more I can do tonight on base, I need to think. You’re biased. I need a fresh perspective.”

The corners of his lips quirked slightly, “Oh? And who are you going to find to provide that?”

*****

“You wanted to talk to me, sir?”