“And you can fuck off as well!” I said with false cheer. There were a few people who dared to laugh around the hall.

Charlie grinned, “Danny… You’re not going on the raid… Why not help in this way?”

“Because I’m not getting knocked out of my own free will! It’s bad enough when it’s accidental!”

More laughter. Oh, God. I was being ganged up on. Tom put his hand on my shoulder, “Come on. I think it’s only fair that they get to know how this works.”

“Then you do it!”

There was silence now, like everyone was expecting Tom to punish me for that remark. I knew he wouldn’t, so just stared at him evenly. His lips curled slowly, “I couldn’t. I have to be functioning for as much of today as possible.”

“Well, I’d rather be functioning as well, thanks!”

“Danny…”  Harry murmured into my ear from the other side of me. “If you do this… Then, when you wake up, I’ll make you glad you rested up…”

My heart rate increased, and I bit my lip in frustration. “That’s evil,” I hissed.

“I know. Is it going to work…?”

Tom was smirking at me knowingly. He knew what Harry was offering, and he knew that I was going to agree. I was sunk, and all three of us knew it. I sighed, “Fine.”

“Thank you.” Aaron came over and pulled me to my feet. “Right.”

“This better not fucking kill me,” I muttered to them as Charlie rolled up my right sleeve.

“It’s fine. You’re not the first guinea pig.”

I surveyed Aaron through my hair, “Have you tested it?”

He gave me a stunning smile, “Nope.”

“Joy…” I muttered darkly. I lifted my arm slightly so Charlie could tighten the medical tourniquet around my upper arm, causing the veins to stick out in the curve of my inner elbow. Charlie positioned one of the smallest needles I had ever seen next to one vein.

“Now, all of this is not necessary,” Aaron said to the assembled Terrka. “In fact, the serum can be administered through any exposed skin below the chin, provided you catch a vein, which is highly likely.” He turned back to me, “We ready?”

“Not really.” Charlie grinned at my muttering and pressed the needle into my skin. He glanced up at me to make sure I was okay. I blinked, “Did you even put that in? I can’t feel it… Wouldn’t a needle that small snap if you jabbed it into someone quickly in self-defence? With all the adrenaline pulsing through your body, you wouldn’t go easy.”

Aaron nodded with a proud smile, “We considered that, and the needle- although small- is very resilient.”

Wow. They really had considered everything. “Why do I bother asking…?” I remarked, rolling my eyes.

Aaron took a step closer and lowered his voice so no-one else could hear him, “Because it makes us look intelligent and controlled when we can answer them.” I raised my eyebrows in amusement, and looked at Charlie- who nodded.

“And if I ask one you don’t know the answer to?”

“Not going to happen,” was Charlie’s assurance.

“Fair enough. Any other questions you want me to project while I’m standing here with a syringe sticking out of my arm?”

They exchanged a thoughtful glance. “No,” Aaron decided. “We’re good.”

“Then let’s get this done,” I said, bringing my voice back to normal so all the other Terrka could hear.

“It would be a pleasure.” I felt a cool sensation in my elbow, then my head went light and my vision blurred. There was a dull echo in my ears, and then nothing. Just comforting blackness.

*****

I came to as you might when awakening from a deep slumber. Body limber, mind blessedly clear as I stretched out on the soft sheets on the king-sized bed…

Hang on. Where the fuck did the bed come from?!

My eyes shot open as I jolted upright and stared around frantically. This wasn’t the base. Where the fuck was I?

I took in the bedroom slowly. It was simply but finely furnished, and every aspect of it breathed money. My eyes narrowed suspiciously. Harry had something to do with this.

I swung my legs out of bed and went to investigate. I was shocked to realise that my whole body felt lighter, my mind was clear, and I didn’t have that bitter taste that some sedatives left on your tongue. I headed towards the bedroom door, and turned out of it into an empty corridor. I moved along it slowly, glancing back every now and then and check where I had come from. No way was I getting lost in here…

I came to the top of some stairs, and peered down them. I let out a sigh of relief. Harry’s house, definitely. I’d recognise that window design anywhere. However, I still loitered at the top of the stairs. I felt weird- how long had I been out for?

Arms curled around my waist and someone pressed a soft kiss to the nape of my neck as a familiar scene rose in my nostrils. “Finally, you’re awake… I’ve never seen you sleep for so long.”

Alarm bells sounded in my head, “Why? How long was I out for?”

I felt his body shift behind me as he shrugged, and he focused his attention on my neck again. “Not sure. Twelve hours? Give or take ten or fifteen minutes either way.”

I whipped round to stare at him, “What?! But the antidote was meant to-”

Harry had the good grace to look guilty, “Yeah… Well… We didn’t give you the antidote.”

I stepped back from him, breaking any and all contact between us. “What?” I repeated coldly.

“I’m sorry. We just thought-”

“Well, don’t think, Harry. We all know it’s not your strong point,” I snapped. “What possible reasoning could you have for knocking me out for half a day when there’s a raid in three? A potentially disastrous raid! What were you thinking?!”

“I was thinking you needed the rest!” he retorted hotly. “I was thinking I hadn’t seen you sleep for more than a couple of hours for weeks, and it’s worrying me! I was thinking that you couldn’t do any good to Terrka if you were half dead from exhaustion!”

“Then ask me to take five hours, seven even!” I glared at him, “But never force me into sleep.”

“You needed to recharge,” he snapped. “I wasn’t going to wait for you to keel over! What do you have against sleep, anyway?”

I faltered, and a frown, came onto my face, “What the hell’s that meant to mean? I don’t have anything against sleep.”

“Then why will you never seem to relax into it except when you’ve exhausted yourself to the extent that you can’t fight it anymore?!”

I stormed past him and back into the bedroom, with the intention of grabbing the jacket off the chair and leaving. “Sleep is a waste of time that could easily be used for more creative purposes. I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

“Carry on like this, Dan, and that won’t be long,” he hissed, taking hold of my upper arms and forcing me to look at him. “You’re twenty-two. You have a life ahead of you. Why kill it by overworking yourself? Can you not get out of the mindset where every minute is a fight for your life?” His eyes widened slowly as realisation crept in, “Are you scared that if you go to sleep, you might not wake up? Danny, you’re not on the streets anymore. That’s not going to happen. You can drop your guard now. You’re safe.”

“I’ve been safe for seven years and it hasn’t changed anything!” I snarled. “I’m sorry for being afraid of one fucking thing in my whole life.”

He stopped me as I made to go past him, “You can’t go home now. It’s too late. It’s dark out. There’s no transport.”

I groaned, “Fantastic… What time’s it?” I thought back to when I’d been injected, did the maths. “Half three in the morning?”

“Quarter to four.”

I exhaled slowly, “I’m not going back to sleep.”

“Neither am I.”

I crossed my arms across my chest, considered, “Well, we’re going to have to think of something constructive to fill our time with.” I looked up at him innocently, found his questioning gaze on me. I reached up and took hold of his tie, and- rather than using it to strangle him like he seemed to believe I was about to do- I tugged on it, leading him over to the bed, walking backwards. I lay down, pulling him with me. “I did it,” I reminded him slowly. “Don’t you owe me my reward…?”

*****

Easily the most energetic bout of sex we’d ever had, I told myself as I walked into the base at six o’clock. There was always someone in the base. Terrka didn’t shut down at night then whirr back into action as soon as someone turned up. It was a twenty-four hour operation. But I couldn’t see Harry again today, I ordered myself strictly. Or I’d be possessed by the overpowering urge to ravage him inappropriately at work- never a wise move.

“You’re looking refreshed, T-2,” T-9 remarked, falling into step next to me. “I take this to mean the serum was a success? No side effects?”

I nodded, “So far. Increased my sex drive, but I might just have been horny…”

Disgust snuck into his face momentarily, but he forced it back. “T-2, you are so uncouth at times.”

“Have money, have manners,” I told him smoothly. “And we all know I have neither.” I glanced round as Neilson charged up to me, panting and out of breath, the pink blotches on his cheeks evidence that he’d just come in from the bitter wind outside. “What’s up with you?”

“You’re late,” T-9 told him sternly.

He rolled his eyes, “Fuck off! No, I’m not. You told me to be here for half past, it’s ten past. So go away and I’ll report to you in twenty minutes.”

“Sam, if you think you can just-”

I held up a hand, “The only reason he’s in early is because of me, so why don’t you go away and let him talk?”

T-9 muttered something venomous to himself under his breath, then nodded at me. “Yes, sir. Just try not to make him late.”

Neilson let out a low whistle, “I’m gonna have to start taking notes of how much you save my arse with him so I can pay you back.”

I leaned my back against the cubicle we were standing by, “How could you possibly pay me back?”

He sent me a stunning smile, “Every time Judd touches you, I’ll drag him off. That’s my good deed.”

“And has it ever occurred to you that I might like him touching me?” I asked, amusement lilting my voice.

“No.”

“And why not?”

“Because only an insane person would.” He held up a hand to fend off my retort, “However, I did not come to find you before I was due in in order to discuss your utterly charming boyfriend.”

“Yeah, you can do that during normal hours.” I started towards my office, “What’s up?”

“It’s two days until the mission, and I have no idea what the hell we’re doing. Question: What the hell are we doing?”

“We are going to be Aaron’s informants.”

“Meaning…?”

“T-2. Jones comma Danny.” As we were let into my office, I considered my answer, “Aaron and his technicians of choice are going to be in a can for the raid. This means they won’t have full access to the Terrka files. And that’s where we come in.”

“They need information they can’t find, we look into it,” he muttered.

“Exactly.”

“So I have to take orders off the geek?” he asked slowly. “Man, she is gonna revel in this…”

“It should just be Aaron,” I reassured him with a laugh. “And, besides, even if it is her, she went from being three under you to being nineteen under you. Let her have something…”

He gave me a look of distain, “Why?”

*****

“What d’you mean there’s a gun shortage?!” I demanded, “Arms distribution has not been increased, nor have we lost any. So please explain to me how the hell there can be a shortage!”

“I’m not sure, sir,” the Terrka on the other end of the phone stuttered

The console on my desk beeped, and I hit enter without even bothering to check who it was. The door slid open and Harry walked in. Noting I was on the phone, he took a seat as the door closed. “Well, I suggest you find out. I won’t be pleased to learn you’ve lost them. Look everywhere- every storage space. I want them found!”

“Yes, sir.”

I put down the phone moodily, before smiling at Harry, “What’s up?”

Oh, please let there be a reason for him being there, so I could distract myself from the fact that all I wanted to do right now was rip that suit from his body and sink my teeth into the hard muscle of his shoulder… What the hell was wrong with me? Why was I suddenly so horny? Was that just what I was like when I was awake?

His lips curved slowly, “No reason. I just thought I’d check up. Problem with the weapons?”

I sighed, “Yeah… We’ve lost half of them.” I stood up slowly and leaned on my desk, “But there’s another- more pressing- matter first. One which I need your help with.”

He frowned at the serious tone of my voice, “Anything. What is it?”

Dragging my hand along the wood of my desk, I moved round it and stepped towards him. He must’ve caught the glint in my eye, because he moved back in his chair. “Danny…?”

“I’ve not been able to get you out of my head all day…” I murmured, sliding gracefully into his lap. “I need you now. I tried staring at Neilson’s arse, but not even that could satisfy the lust… So you’re going to fuck me.”

He grinned at me, touching his lips to mine gently. Then I cupped the side of his face in one hand and took the kiss deeper.

And the phone rang.

Harry pulled back with a scowl, his eyes narrowed, “That machine is against us.”

“All machinery is against me,” I corrected with a sigh. I stood up and walked over to my desk. I picked up the phone, hitting the correct button, “Jones.”

“Good afternoon, Mr. Jones. Tell me: What is the purpose of this meeting if you’re not even going to be there?”

I froze. Why- every time I heard that voice- did this happen to me? “Harry?” I requested, speaking past the handset. “Could you give me a minute? I have to take this privately.”

He nodded, “Erm… Sure. I’ll talk to you later?”

“Sorry,” I told him truthfully, opening the door for him. He smiled at me reassuringly and left. The second the door was closed, I turned my full attention back to the phone: “What are you on about, Poynter?”

“I told you why we’re meeting at that warehouse, didn’t I?” he verified. “So you would enlighten us on our technical faults, in exchange for Terrka’s safety. So, how are we supposed to do that when you’re not coming?”

I laughed softly, “You harm any Terrka, it lessens your chances of getting any information, and you know that. Also, remember who you’re talking to. Would I honestly back out of a mission?”

“But you clearly have, so don’t waste my time,” he snapped impatiently. “Do you think that if you and Mr. Neilson don’t show, we’re just going to let this drop?”

Alarm bells went off in my head. “How do you know his name?”

One of his dangerous chuckles sounded down the line, “Oh. We have our ways.”

“Very few Terrka know that people are being withdrawn- much less whom. You couldn’t have gotten that by hacking, Poynter. It wasn’t on any of the systems. The only way it could be was if we were trying to throw you off.”

“Then I guess one of your ‘loyal’ Terrka isn’t so loyal after all.” The tone of his voice changed, became colder: “The two of you will be there, Jones. You can’t afford not to be.” The dial tone sounded in my ear. I slammed the phone down, and swore loudly. Then I stood up purposefully.

*****

“Aaron?” I called, striding into the technology division. “Aaron? Aaron?!”

“Holler all you want, he’s not going to answer,” a Terrka replied, striding into the main room carrying a mug of something hot.

I surveyed her critically, “Why? You killed him?”

“It’s tempting at times,” she admitted, taking a seat at one of the computers and setting down her mug. “But no.” Her voice was somewhat familiar- I knew I’d heard it before. Ipswich accent… My, my, the infamous T-40… “He’s working on the van for the Polydon raid. Bless his socks- you wouldn’t catch me outside in this weather…” She cleared her throat, adopted a more polite stance, “Anything I can help you with, sir?”

I considered this. Aaron was normally my main technical consultant, but she may have to do. “Are you above hacking email?”

She let out a derisive snort, “No.” She spun to face me properly, leaning back in her chair again and propping her feet up on the desk casually, “What’s your excuse if we’re caught?”

“Polydon1 knows that Neilson and I aren’t going on the raid,” I said bluntly, assuming he’d have told her that we weren’t going.

She blinked, telling me that I was bang on the money with that assumption, “Ah. And you think we have a traitor in our midst? It’s all very Judas…”

I nodded, reaching into my pocket, “I’ve made a list of anyone who could have possibly known about us. It’s quite long, but could you take a look? There’s a strong chance that email would have been the correspondence. The Polydon are too smart to have a face-to-face, and phone calls are too easily traced.”

“We’re organised…” She took hold of the list, scanned it, “You and Neil are on here. Why? In case you decided to rat yourselves out? And Fletcher…”

“You’re on it as well,” I pointed out. “No offence.”

“None taken. I’m actually honoured to be considered. I have a question, though: If I don’t yield results, will suspicion of me increase?”

I narrowed my eyes, “Do you have a reason to fear that happening?”

“No, not really. Just curious,” she said nonchalantly. “I better find something, then.” She set the list aside, “You have my word that every person on this list will have their privacy violated.”

“Thank you.” I smiled at her, “You and Neilson have any bets going just now?”

Her gaze flicked up to meet mine, “No, but how d’you-?” She gasped, “He told you, didn’t he? Bastard. I’m setting a new rule: He can’t tell you.”

I grinned, “Bit late now.”

She regarded me evenly through narrowed eyes, “Then I’m employing you to work for my side for twenty per cent gain.” She held out a hand, and I shook it in amusement. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, sir, I have email to check…”

*****

“Danny, this is a serious accusation,” Tom reminded me with a sigh.

“But not one we can ignore,” I agreed. “Poynter practically told me that he had an informant within the base. I’ve given a list of possible leaks to T-40 in technology and she’s running them for me.”

“T-40?”

I shrugged, “Aaron’s busy with preparations for the raid. We have no reason to believe she’s unable to look into this. T-40’s actually an impressive rank for a tech.”

He nodded, “It is. We’ll see if she comes up with anything.”

As we descended into silence, I bit my lip anxiously, “It’s gonna be so bad if it is one of us… Leaking to Polydon. What would we do? I mean, let them go, obviously. But what else?”

“Threaten them,” Tom said tonelessly. “Make them think we’ll be watching them, and if they ever leak anything more about Terrka, we’re going to pounce.”

My heart gave a slow thump as my head filled in the rest. Kill them. “Would we actually-?”

“Hopefully, we’ll never have to find out.” He exhaled slowly, meeting my gaze, “We’ll cross that bridge if and when we come to it, Danny. The question is: Are you going on the mission?”

I tapped my fingers off the side of the chair in a random beat that pretty much captured the manic gurgle of crap that filled my head at that point in time. “Tell everyone- Harry, Aaron, Steve, all of them- that we are.”

*****

“What made you change your mind about coming?” Harry asked as we stood by the cans that were meant to take us to the location.

“Oh, you know me. Can’t resist a mission.” I grinned, “Plus, once we found the missing weapons in the utility closet, I couldn’t resist. I was too hyped.”

The order was given and we climbed into a van and sat down. “Well, I’m glad you’re here. It feels right.” He smiled at me, “Let’s hope it works out.”

Tom appeared at the open back, “Ready, Dan?”

I stood up again, “Definitely.” I gave the confused Harry a short kiss on the lips, “Good luck on the mission, baby.”

His jaw dropped, “You’re not coming?”

I hopped down out of the van, “Nope.”

He caught my shoulder as I started to walk away, “Then why did you-?”

“Someone told Poynter I wasn’t going. Now they will have told Polydon that I am. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you.”

I nodded, “No. I get it. Thanks for trusting me, Danny.” It was me who caught his shoulder this time as he turned to leave. And I brought my mouth crushing down on his. I held onto him, letting him know I loved him.

“This is not the time for you to be precious, Harry,” I warned him. “I trust you- don’t you ever think I don’t. But only Tom, Neilson and I knew- could know. I’m sorry.” I shoved him back into the van without another word and closed the door in his face.

“You okay?” Tom asked.

I inclined my head in affirmation, “Yeah. Let’s just go get Neilson, then you can head off.”

“This was a good plan,” Tom commended as we crossed to Neilson’s van. “Now the informer has no time to tell Polydon. And they’re all bugged so we’ll know if they try to tell now.”

“And T-40’s still running email addresses.” I stopped at the open door, “Come on, Neilson. We’ve had our fun.”

“Yes, sir,” he jumped out of the van, landing next to me. T-9 scrambled out after him.

“What the hell is going on?!”

I took in his red face, the shock in his eyes, and my lips curled slowly, “Your aide and I are not going on the mission- as a precaution to ensure our own safety.”

His eyes bulged out of his skull, and Neilson’s shoulders rose slightly, a sign that he was fighting laughter. T-9 stared at the both of us, “And why am I only just being informed of this?!”

Tom cut in, “For safety purposes, again. Are you questioning my second in command?”

He flushed, “No, sir. I just would’ve appreciated a little more warning.” He glared at Neilson, and climbed back into the van.

“He so wants me.”

I laughed, closing the doors, but not before I caught a glimpse of Brant’s furious face. He wasn’t happy with what we’d just pulled! Even Tom grinned as we stepped away. “I know,” I agreed. “It’s a shame you’re engaged, then, isn’t it?”

“I dunno. If he asked…”

“And before this conversation takes another disturbing turn,” Tom interrupted. “We’re going to head off, I’m not going to be able to look at T-9, and you two will head in and talk where I can’t hear you.” He nodded decisively, “See you later, Dan.”

I laughed as he strode off towards the van he was meant to be in, “I think we scared him.”

“An achievement in my books,” Neilson assured me. “I’d imagine it takes a lot to freak him out. He’s friends with you, after all.”

I let out a sarcastic laugh as the vans pulled out, and we headed towards the base, “You’re so funny, Neilson. Did I ever tell you that?”

“Nope.”

“Yeah…? Well… There’s a reason.”

He grinned at me as we entered the back entrance to the base, “So, now what?”

“We get to my office, and we wait,” I told him. “Pretty soon, it’ll be all go.”

*****

“And in what way, shape or form does this classify as ‘all go’?” he dared to ask an hour later.

“Shut up, Neilson.”

He rolled his eyes, “Well, we haven’t done anything! And still we sit here!”

“They could still call,” I told him. “Besides, they’re probably just going into the warehouse, anyway. It’s about a fifty minute drive from here.”

He groaned, leaning back in his chair, “I feel like I’m in a desert. No-one around for miles, the sun slowly roasting me alive, my skin searing under the heat, my throat so dry it feels like it’s closing up-”

“Maybe you should have written the scripts instead of acting them,” I remarked.

The phone rang. Neilson’s head snapped up. “Water,” he gasped, making me grin.

“Get out of desert mode- this is serious.” I hit the button for speakerphone, “Jones.”

“We’re on location and the troops are headed in,” T-40 reported. “But I have an update on our leak. On a general search, I’ve found niggles of both outgoing and incoming emails to and from Polydon, and with some digging I’ve been able to find the actual emails. I haven’t looked at them, or the name of our Judas- figured I’d leave the final breach of trust to you. You’re higher ranked, you get away with more.”

“Agreed.” I met Neilson’s gaze over the desk, “Nice work, T-40. Give us the details and we’ll take a look.”

“Thank you, sir.” There was a pause on the other end of the line as she presumably waited for me to set up my computer page, “Right. Are you into the email?”

“Open and ready.”

“And has been for the past hour,” Neilson added cheerfully.

“Perfect. Okay. The username is 91012. That’s 9…10…12. Got it?”

I nodded, “Got it.”

“Right, and the password is Samanie. S-A-M-A-N-I-E. It’s a girl’s name- fairly uncommon.”

“Yeah, I have a cousin called Samanie,” Neilson voiced.

“Well, of course you do… Your family’s obsessed with the name Sam. His mum’s called Samantha,” she informed me. “How confusing would that be? Going to a family reunion: ‘Sam…! Don’t you look beautiful?! And little Sam… Oh, you’re all grown up!’”

“Shut up!” Neilson ordered in irritation. “And why are you making my family sound Scottish?!”

I grinned, then turned to my computer as it beeped. “Oh! We’re in!”

“And this is where I leave you,” T-40 lamented. “Aaron’s giving me a stern look. I think, after the family reunion crack, he thinks I’m slacking… Good luck, sir. Neil.” There was a click on the line as she disconnected, and the phone fell silent.

“My family isn’t obsessed with the name Sam,” Neilson said carefully.

I shrugged, “Be glad you can add different endings to that one. My family has about twenty Georges…” I tapped on the mouse, “Well… That’s helpful… She’s moved them to his inbox for us.”

“How d’you know it’s a he?”

I shrugged, “Just going on majority.” I went into the first of the emails, and my eyes scanned the text:

‘Dear Terrka,

In response to your-’

I frowned, “Hang on. This means Polydon didn’t establish contact. This Terrka contacted them with the intention of ratting us out!” I went into the sent items box, and found what I was looking for. Neilson moved round behind me so he could read over my shoulder.

‘Dear Polydon,

I am a Terrka of fairly high rank, and I have some information about the up and coming meeting that may be of significant interest to you. Make an offer and it’s yours.’

“No name,” Neilson remarked. “He doesn’t want to give his identity until he’s certain he has them.”

I nodded, scanning over the response email. A Polydon told the traitor that if he gave them the information, he would then be given a generous sum of money by the Poly1. I snorted as I read that. Poynter wouldn’t give him any money. Loyalty meant as much to him as it did to me- this would have disgusted him, even if he found out information.

We made our way through some more emails, then I paused. “He said we weren’t supplied with Donkata. Were you?”

“Yeah.” Neilson frowned, “They thought they may as well.”

We reached the one where he told them that we were back on:

‘Dear Polydon,

I am unsure as to how this came about, but both T-2 (Jones) and T-21 (Neilson) are back on the mission. I could bring them to you if you so desire, though then I would be required to tell you my name.’

“Slimy git,” Neilson muttered. “Who do you know that could lead both of us somewhere?”

“Tom, Charlie or Steve,” I said truthfully. “But, somehow, I don’t think any of them are behind this…” I flicked onto the next one, and my eyes scanned the short message:

‘If you bring them to Poly1, you will get your reward. But if they do not show, you will be punished. We do not appreciate time-wasters. Give us your name and we’ll see you there.’

‘Don’t worry if they’re not there. If they aren’t, I’ll bring you Fletcher. If you have him, then Jones will be sure to follow.

Michael Barton’

I felt a rush of anger, only contained by my desperation to contact Aaron immediately. I snatched up the phone, and pressed a speed dial button.

“T-6.”

“Aaron, it’s me,” I greeted. “Look, call Tom out of the building right now. Don’t ask any questions, just do it and trust me. Neilson and I may be on our way. Just get Tom and keep him with you. Send in T-40 if you have to, but get him out of there!”

I slammed down the phone angrily, raking a hand through my hair. “Bastard. Fucking bastard! Who is he that he knows all this?!” I glanced back at Neilson, and was rendered speechless.

I had never seen Sam Neilson furious before- but it was the scariest thing I had ever laid eyes on. His eyes were even darker than before, so they looked almost black in the office light. His sharp features looked even more defined as anger laced every crevice. And his mouth was set into a grim line, the only time I had ever seen it with no curve at all.

“You know who it is.”

“Damn right I know who it is,” he said evenly. “You got your knockout syringes on you?”

“Yeah… Why?”

“We’re going over there. And I’m kicking his arse to next week.” He stood up and strode off before I could react. “Come on,” he called back to me impatiently. “We’re taking my car.”

*****

I knocked on the back door of the communications van five times. Neilson’s anger had meant that we’d gotten here even faster than I had anticipated, with him breaking every speed limit known to man in the process.

Aaron pulled open the door, “Danny?! What the hell’s going on?!”

“We found something out,” I said simply, climbing into the van. Tom was sitting by the console, giving me a confused, probing look.

“The emails,” T-40 muttered.

“What emails?” Aaron asked in confusion.

“You found out who it was?”

“Oh, yes,” I said, looking directly at T-40, then round at the others. “We also found out that if we didn’t show, the traitor was going to trick Tom into going to them. Hard to do, but this guy’s high enough rank that he could.”

“So we’re going to go in there, and send him out. Then we’re going to Poynter,” Neilson said, exhaling nervously.

“Is that safe?” Aaron demanded, having understood what was happening now. He could pick up on things easily.

“Probably not,” Neilson admitted.

“But we’ve had a forty minute car journey to think it through, and we see no other option. We have the protection and weapons.” I moved towards the door, “Don’t let anyone know we’re here.”

“Who is it?” Tom asked, speaking for the first time since we had come in. His voice was cold and flat. We both showed our anger in different ways.

“You’ll find out when we send him to you.” I hopped down out of the van.

“Danny!” I turned to see Tom leaning out the back. “I know you’re pretty much running on fury right now, both of you. But, for God’s sake, don’t do anything stupid!”

Neilson nodded, “Yes, sir. Though, I am going to punch the traitor- with or without your permission.”

“I don’t care as long as you send him back to me conscious.”

*****

“I see a rat,” Neilson whispered as we moved round a corner in the warehouse.

“You wanna do this?”

“Oh, yes.” His eyes scanned the space filled with positioned Terrka as he cracked his knuckles playfully, “I know what cover I can use to get close.” He moved forward slowly, until he was next to T-9, “Sir, we were asked to come in for extra defence.”

“Sam!” I heard T-9 splutter.

“Sir,” he said politely in response. “What’s going on?”

As T-9 filled him in, I noticed that Neilson was gradually moving closer and closer to the traitor. Then, all of a sudden, he lashed out, punching T-9 right on the nose.

He snapped back, but not before I heard a crunch and blood spurted out and down onto his lips. “What the hell are you doing?!” he roared.

“Did you really think we wouldn’t find out?” he snarled. “Only a coward betrays his team for money!”

“You have no idea what it’s like to be this high ranked, but with no respect!” he spat, his upper lip curling into a sneer as I made myself visible to him. “You have it fine. Attractive, likable, and in with Terrka-Two. I have nothing!”

I cocked my head to the side thoughtfully, “Well, now you definitely do.” I seized him by the scruff of the neck, hauled him towards the exit, “Just so you know, you never would’ve gotten that money.”

“And how d’you know that?”

“Because one: Poynter was the one who tipped us off on a traitor, and two: You can’t trust a hormonal, stroppy nineteen-year-old.” I shoved him roughly in the direction of a random Terrka, “You know where the communications van is?” He nodded. “Take him there. Tell T-1 this is his traitor.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You,” I motioned to another Terrka, who looked shocked that I was speaking to him directly. “Go with him. If he puts up a struggle, don’t be afraid to hurt him. You’re probably stronger than he is, anyway…”

“Yes, sir.”

T-9 was dragged away, and Neilson turned to me. “Now what?”

“We find Poly1.”

He shrugged, “Well, that’s easy enough. We just have to go up to a Polydon and say who we are.” He caught my eye, “But you don’t want to do that, do you?”

“Nope.”

“Enlighten me,” he muttered, his eyes all the while scanning for Polydon that might spring out and attack.

“We have to find out where Poynter is and get them to him without alerting too many Polydon to our presence.”

“And we do that…how…?”

“I’ll tell you once I think of something.”

*****

“He’s getting restless,” one Polydon said to another. “I don’t think he believes the Terrka are going to show. Or that their disloyal member is going to bring him Fletcher.”

Neilson’s eyes locked onto mine where we were hidden as we listened to the conversation. We needed them to say where Poynter was.

“You think they’re here?”

“I’m not sure,” the first Polydon admitted. “Jones is hardly the most predictable of them.”

“Predictable? He’s a maniac!” the other declared. I grinned at Neilson. “No wonder Rashman took a shine to him.”

“Have you ever seen him?”

“Not in the flesh. Apparently, it’s scary how young he is. To think he could have been one of us…”

“We’d be better off.”

“Definitely. We could do with some maniacs…” There was movement, “Nothing here. Let’s head back to the others.”

I nudged Neilson with my elbow, jerked my head to tell him to follow my lead. Then I moved slowly round the mound of crates that concealed us, so as the Polydon travelled, we wouldn’t come into view. We watched them leave.

“You could’ve been in Polydon?”

“You could’ve been in Hollywood- you’re here,” I remarked. “It’s not important.”

“Sure, it’s not,” he muttered, but said nothing more. Then a voice rang out behind us.

“How’s the ankle fairing?”

We both whirled round to be greeted with the smirking face of the nurse who had ‘treated’ Neilson in the Polydon base. Then something heavy collided with the side of my head, sending me flying into darkness.

*****

“He doesn’t look that dangerous…”

“He’s unconscious. Neither would you if you’d been KO’d by an iron bar to the head…”

My head was pounding as distorted voiced that sounded about two octaves lower than they probably ought to be reached my ears. I tried to open my eyes, but my whole body felt heavy. I could feel the numb weight of my hands bound behind me, but I was sitting upright.

Trying once more, I managed to force my eyes open. My vision blurred and even that small movement sent a searing pain through my head, but I soon managed to focus on the two Polydon who were staring at me. I recognised them almost straight away- they were the ones Neilson had been eavesdropping on.

Neilson. I looked around the room slowly and critically, ignoring the pain it caused me, ignoring the fact that I was being watched. Neilson was across the room, still unconscious, handcuffed to a pipe as he slumped on the floor. And the only exit I could see was one door.

Finished with my checks, I turned my head towards the Polydon, and met their gaze calmly. The longer I was awake, and the less I thought about it, the less the pain seemed to register. The Polydon stared back at me, and one of them shifted on his feet, clearly unsettled. “He’s freaky,” he muttered.

“He’d have to be to survive what he has,” the other one murmured. “Charm only gets you so far.”

I gave them a slow smirk, still not saying anything. “I see he agrees with you,” the first one voiced. “How’s your head, Jones? Poly1 ordered for you not to be harmed.”

I raised my eyebrow at them condescendingly. Surely whacking Neilson and I around the head with a metal pole counted as harming us… I wasn’t sure how long it had been, but Neilson was still out, for Christ’s sake.

The door opened and someone walked in. I looked round out of curiosity, before rolling my eyes. Oh, fuck. It was Willis. You would’ve thought if he’d managed to get damn near nothing out of me last time, they would’ve known not to use him this time.

He crossed to me, “I never expected to see you again…”

I’d had hopes as well, but what could you do? I shrugged loosely in response, staring up at him confidently.

“You’re fucking insane,” he told me matter-of-factly. “Not only busting out of our base, but holding Poynter at gun-point while you did it.”

I shrugged again, “Worked.”

He jolted at the sound of my voice, though he tried to cover it up, “Why come back when you escaped?”

I slanted my eyes upwards, admired the grey squares on the ceiling, “Why ask the question when you’ve already made up your own answer?”

I saw movement across the room out of the corner of my eye. Neilson was coming to. Shit! I couldn’t let Willis know. I had to keep everyone’s attention on me. “You all think I’m ‘fucking insane’, anyway. I don’t need to explain myself,” I continued, moving my gaze back down to lock onto Willis’. “Go on. Tell me you don’t.”

“I’m not a liar.”

“Yeah, you’re just a crap interrogator who has to resort to violence to get what he wants,” I agreed. “Which, FYI, doesn’t work half the time.”

That did it. He flew at me, and the two Polydon had to grab him by the arms and haul him back again. “Sir!” one of them cried. “The hostage is not to be harmed!”

“The term ‘hostage’ implies he’s human!” Willis snarled.

“We still can’t let you!”

Willis gave up, took a step back. “Aw…” I said in a patronising voice. “Shame that, isn’t it? Just so you know… I was betting on you.”

His fist smacked into my lower cheek, and my head snapped to the side. The Polydon emitted various curses and seized him again. “We’re going to have to ask you to leave,” one of them said bravely.

“Okay. I will. I don’t want to be near that.” He pointed an accusing finger at me and left.

“He can’t even throw a decent punch,” I marvelled, as Neilson sat up properly. His eyes had opened while Willis was here, but he’d seen sense not to move. “I’ve had a midget on the streets sock me harder than that.”

Neilson grinned, then groaned, alerting the Polydon to him: Not that it mattered, if these Polydon were going to do anything to us, they wouldn’t be staring at me in amazement. “Oh, God. My head’s killing me.”

“It fades,” I promised him

“It bloody better!”

“Well, at least Willis didn’t notice you. It was worth a lame-ass punch for that.”

He blinked, “You deliberately pissed off the man who looked like he wanted to kill you, so he wouldn’t see that I was awake?”

“Trust me. I’ve been face to face with him before. You’re better off.”

Neilson’s eyes scanned the pipe he was handcuffed to. It was just one, meaning he could run back and forth along the length of the wall if he wanted to- he had more freedom than I did. I tried to move my legs, which were also bound to my chair. Did they think I was more dangerous? Or were they just not taking chances with me anymore? “Uh-huh…” he muttered, standing up to test how far he could wander.

“Tip:” I announced to the two Polydon. “The silent intimidation tactic doesn’t work when you’re staring at me in awe.”

Neilson shook his wrists, so the cuffs rattled off the pipe, “I think I’m stuck.”

I grinned at him, “At least you can move. I think they know me better this time round…”

And they didn’t know Neilson well enough. Leaving his legs free was a bad move on their part. He could easily fight someone off with just his legs and room to run up and down a pipe.

“Yes,” one of them voiced. “Once you managed to hide in the floor of a secured room, we decided not to take any more chances.”

“It’s not my fault I was put in a room with a hole in the floor…”

“I can’t remember you being silent…” the other Polydon muttered wryly.

The door opened again, and a Polydon I didn’t recognise walked in, “You two are to go join the defence. If Terrka find out we have them, they’ll charge.”

“But, McDaid, we-”

“Poly1 orders.”

They nodded, “Okay.”

One of them turned to me, “It was an honour to finally meet you.”

“Nice to meet some Polydon who don’t want to batter me.”

I watched them leave, then turned my attention to McDaid. I took an immediate dislike to him, and that wasn’t just because I recognised his name from the phone call that had come through when I was about to have sex with Dougie on his desk. It was also because he was sneering at me like I wasn’t worth his time nor breath.

Neilson’s eyes had narrowed as well from where he was standing in the corner. We both kept our faces blank once he started looking at his properly, though, so as McDaid looked between us, he couldn’t see fear, or anything else.

“So you’re the two masterminds who managed to break into our base…” he mused slowly. “A stupid street brat trying to prove his worth, and a pretty boy trying to be tough.”

“Both better than an ugly bloke trying to insult us like it’s going to provoke anything,” Neilson said evenly. “I don’t think you have any right to judge us, do you? At least we know when it’s better to keep out mouths shut.”

McDaid rounded on him, “A good time for you would be right now.”

I snorted, “That’s so overused… No originality, either.”

“Shame. I was hoping he was going to redeem himself.”

With us insulting him from opposite corners of the room, McDaid was torn between whom to march up to and harass. I would be the easier target right now, being bound to a chair and all, but he probably thought Neilson was the weaker one. He stalked to the door. “You two, in here,” he commanded.

Neilson raised his eyebrow questioningly at me across the room, but- even though I had a better view of the door- I couldn’t see who he was calling to. I shrugged across the room at him, but his question was answered anyway a few seconds later when two more Polydon swaggered into the room.

One of them sneered at me, “You’re Danny Jones? I don’t see what all the hype’s about.”

We both decided to fall silent at this moment, giving them no bait, no hints that we felt anything except indifference towards them.

“You’re not so high and mighty now,” McDaid challenged Neilson, coming to the conclusion that I’d predicted. Neilson just raised his eyebrows at him, and was rewarded with a badly aimed punch at his face. He ducked it and drove one of his feet up, catching McDaid sharply on the jaw, but he couldn’t pivot in time to stop the one that flew at him from the side.

“Sam!” I shouted as they all rounded on him. They stepped back and looked towards me. Sam was on the floor, his lip split from the rain of fists.

The glint of gold on his finger caught McDaid’s attention, “Hey, check this out, guys! He has a bird!”

“Nice ring,” one of them remarked. I sensed someone behind me, but didn’t dare take my eyes off Sam for fear that they would do something to him.

McDaid took something out his pocket. A switchblade, I realised with a jolt as he flicked it open. “Why don’t we take it?” he suggested.

“Don’t you touch him with that!” I roared, trying to fight my way out of the chair. A hand came to rest on my shoulder, silencing me.