Fic!
Spooks series 9 au, all notes under the cut
Title: because this is what you do
Summary: count the ways it could be worse
Spoilers: general series 9
Pairing: Dimitri/Tariq
Disclaimer: not mine, sadly
Notes: So what happened was that in my usual way I managed to read all the spoilers and take my fic down the completely wrong avenue (you will see what I mean). And then I sent it off to delgaserasca for a beta read and forgot all about it (by which I mean I forgot that I’d even sent the fic to her). And then the usb where I’d saved the file died or something. And then recently I was going through all my fic printouts so I could get rid of some and I found the printout of delgaserasca’s beta comments.
And now there is a completed fic. HURRAH!
Title and summary from Survival Poem #17 by Marty McConnell
--
“Tariq, can I borrow you for a few minutes?”
Tariq looks at the clock - 5.20 - and nods. “As long as it doesn’t take too long.”
“It won’t.” Lucas says, and he smiles, which probably means he wants instructions on how to use his phone. Again.
“Okay.”
“I need you to come with me.”
“It’s the car, isn’t it?” Tariq says before he can stop himself. “I told you that you didn’t actually need one with an onboard computer.”
“I knew you’d be around to tell me how to work it.” Lucas says, and Tariq sighs. Story of his life.
--
The next thing Tariq knows, he’s waking up confused, trying to remember why he was even asleep. He doesn’t recognise the room he’s in, and his face hurts. He puts his fingers to face, wincing when he finds a large bruise.
“Hello?”
He can remember Lucas wanting him to look at something in his car, but that’s as far as it goes.
Lucas himself walks through the door a moment after he’s managed to put that thought together. He looks guilty, and Tariq starts to worry.
“What happened?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what?”
Lucas sighs. “I needed someone for… I needed a hostage.”
“You needed a hostage.” Tariq repeats slowly.
“There wasn’t any other way. I’m sorry.”
“You said that already.” Tariq says, shaking his head. “Why did you need a hostage?”
“Because things are about to come crashing down, and I need to get out.”
Tariq thinks about that for a moment. “I never thought you were a bully, Lucas.”
“What do you mean?”
“Going for the person on the Grid who couldn’t fight back? Not your usual style at all.”
“And who’d trust me enough to come with me.”
“Doesn’t that make me special?” Tariq says bitterly. He turns and looks out of the window, wondering when this is going to start making sense.
“Can I call my sister?” he asks. Lucas doesn’t answer. “Oh.”
“You won’t need to call her.” Lucas says. “This is strictly a temporary arrangement.”
Tariq doesn’t believe him - this whole thing looks like it’s being made up on the spot - but he’s not going to let on.
“So, what’s the plan?’ He asks Lucas. ‘You wait for them to notice I’ve gone, or you’re going to ring in and tell them you’ve got me?”
“Let’s see how long it takes.”
Tariq looks at his watch; about fifteen minutes, but he doesn’t think he’ll tell Lucas that yet.
“So I’m just a hostage.” He says. “I’m not useful because of who I am, just because I’m a person.”
“Trust me, that’s better than being targeted for who you are.”
“If you say so. Seeing as I’m not tied up, does that mean I’m free to move around the place?”
“Why?”
“Why do you think? Call of nature.”
“Bathroom’s upstairs.”
--
Once he’s upstairs, Tariq looks for a weapon, something heavy or sharp, think, boy, think. Lucas is paranoid enough to keep more than one gun around, so where… bedroom, he decides, so he can get to if he gets woken - ha, success!
Tariq lifts the gun and looks at it. Handgun, loaded. Right. Dimitri explained this, he knows how to use one of these, it’s fine. He’ll be fine. He isn’t going to use it, but at least he can get Lucas to sit down and listen to him.
“What’s taking so - oh, I see.” Lucas says. Tariq turns to see him coming up the stairs. He aims the gun at Lucas and deliberately clicks off the safety. “I thought you hated guns.”
“I hate the idea of dying more.” Tariq says. “Let’s go back downstairs.”
Lucas smiles. “So I can get my gun back? Tariq, that’s not a very good plan.”
“Are you going to talk to me if you don’t have it? Didn’t think so. You can have your gun, Lucas. I just need you to know that I’m not as helpless as you think.”
Lucas looks at the gun before turning and walking back down the stairs.
“Message received and understood.”
--
It’s a stand-off now: two guys, two guns. Tariq has no idea how he’s going to get out of it.
He’s angry - furious - at Lucas for thinking he’s a soft touch. He’s angry at himself for letting it be true.
Lucas can no longer look him in the eye. Good.
“I suppose I should be grateful you haven’t framed me for a terrorist attack.”
Lucas looks up, surprised. “So you know too?”
“What?” Tariq asks, confused. “I don’t know anything, I just meant - I’m Asian and I work for MI5. But. Don’t, please. Whatever else happens, I don’t want my sister hearing that I’m a traitor. Can you do that for me, Lucas?”
“I was never planning to.”
“Right, yeah. So if things didn’t work out, you were going to let me go? There’d be no point in taking me in the first place. If this all goes south, you’re going to kill me.”
“It won’t come to that.”
Tariq huffs a laugh. “Well, I’m glad you’re confident about that. What’s the plan?”
“The plan? Ruth will have spoken to Harry by now.” Lucas says. “They’ll be looking for me. They’ll look here, eventually. By that time, I’ll be gone and you can say what you like. It’s too late for Lucas North.”
“What does that mean?”
Lucas sighs. “Lucas is an identity. He isn’t...me.”
Tariq tries not to panic. Lucas isn’t Lucas? What does that even mean?
“So who am I talking to?”
Lucas shakes his head. “It’s not like that, I don’t have multiple personalities. I took on Lucas North fifteen years ago to get myself out of a hole. And now I’m in another hole, and Lucas isn’t enough anymore. I need to disappear again.”
“Right.” Tariq says, still confused. “What hole are you in, exactly? Is it Russia?”
Lucas grimaces and it looks almost involuntary. “No. It’s someone from before. Before Russia, before MI5. Just couldn’t leave me alone.”
“Where is this person now?”
“He’s gone. And I’m going after him.”
“But Lucas can’t.”
“Now you’re getting it.”
“I’m beginning to feel like I’m in one of those films where it turns out the main character’s been insane the whole way through.” Tariq says. “No offence.”
He’s worried for a moment that Lucas is going to hit him again, but after a moment, he just smiles. It looks broken.
“None taken. It would be simpler if I was insane. Then I might believe I had a chance of fixing things.”
“Why didn’t you just tell Harry?” Tariq asks. He doesn’t want to be curious, but he’s always had a need to know. If that means knowing exactly why he’s going to die, so be it.
“It was all too connected. Tell him one thing and I’d have to explain the rest. And the rest involved telling him I’d been lying about who I was as long as we’d known each other. You see why I didn’t?”
“Not really. I still don’t know what you did.”
“And you’re not going to.” Lucas says. “It won’t help you, and neither will keeping me talking.”
“But I haven’t even tried to remind you that I’m a real person and not a chess piece.”
“I know that.”
“I’m not sure you do.” Tariq says, knowing he’s taking a risk. “See, I live with my sister. It was her birthday yesterday. I told you but I don’t think you were listening. Dimitri and I were planning to take her out tonight. We were supposed to leave the office at six, so they’ve known I’ve disappeared for about twenty minutes now. And they’ll know there’s no way I went willingly.”
Lucas stares at him. Tariq takes a shaky breath and continues.
“And Dimitri’s going to be pretty hacked off that you kidnapped his boyfriend, so you’ll have him to deal with too. In case you were wondering if you could have made things any worse.”
Lucas’ head drops down, and Tariq almost feels bad for him, but his eye still hurts and Dimitri’s going to be frantic by now.
“Right.” Lucas says abruptly. “In that case, the plan needs to change. We need to go.”
Tariq shakes his head. “No. Lucas, it won’t work. Don’t you get it? The more you try to run, the worse things are going to get. Call in, tell them we’re coming back. If you take me back safely, it won’t be so bad.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do. I’ll help you.” Tariq says, knowing he can’t really promise anything. “Just call in. We can go back, and we can work it out. I’m sure.”
Lucas looks doubtful, and Tariq waits for an answer.
--
Dimitri’s been itching to get out of here. Samina’s supposed to be meeting them at the restaurant, and Dimitri’s looking forward to getting Tariq out for an evening.
Unfortunately, fifteen minutes before they’re supposed to leave, Tariq disappears. Dimitri waits for him to reappear from wherever he’s gone, but it gets to six and there’s no sign.
“Anyone seen Tariq?” He asks, addressing the question out to the room in general.
“Saw him about half an hour ago.’ Beth said. ‘Maybe he went to F section. There was some talk about some kind of tracker that could go invisible or was made of gold or something. Sorry, I wasn’t really listening, you know what it’s like when they start geeking out.”
Dimitri calls Section F, but they haven’t seen Tariq. He calls Section A in case Tariq has gone hunting for Nadine again, but he hasn’t been down there either. He calls Samina, in case he’s left on his own for some odd reason and is already at the restaurant.
That’s a wash, with the added bonus of letting on to Samina that something is up. Great.
“I don’t get it.” He says out loud.
“Get what?” Beth replies.
“Where Tariq’s gone. We were supposed to leave here dead on six, and he’s wandered off.”
“Do you want me to check if he’s left the building?” she offers.
“Yeah, thanks.”
Dimitri looks around the grid. Ruth is in Harry’s office, Beth is here, Gary and Sonia are at their desks, and Lucas and Ian had already left for the day. And Tariq is nowhere to be seen.
“He left with Lucas.” Beth says a couple of minutes later.
“What?”
“He left with Lucas. I checked with reception. They went down to the car park.”
“Why?”
“Who left with Lucas?” Ruth asks as she came over to the desk.
“Tariq.” Dimitri says, and it wasn’t until Ruth’s face falls that he actually starts to worry. “What? What’s going on?”
She pauses. “Lucas is…in some trouble. If Tariq’s with him...”
Dimitri takes in a quick breath. “Why would Lucas take Tariq with him?”
“As leverage, maybe. If he thinks things are about to go bad, Tariq might be a hostage. I - I need to tell Harry.”
She hurries away; Dimitri just watches her go.
“Did she just say hostage? What the hell is going on?”
Beth shook her head. “It can’t - why would Lucas want Tariq as a hostage? What’s he done?”
Dimitri shook his head in return, and tried Tariq’s number, then Lucas’. No answer on either, but that didn’t stop him trying Tariq again and leaving a short message this time.
Ruth came back over with Harry, both of them grave.
“Anything?”
“Can’t get hold of them.” Dimitri says, trying not to sound too much like he’s panicking. “What’s going on?”
“You said they left in Lucas’ car?” Harry asks. Beth nods.
Harry and Ruth glance at each other quickly, and then Ruth explains everything, and it just makes it worse.
Dimitri wants to know where they’ve gone. He wants to know why Lucas took Tariq, what the hell he thought he was doing. He needs to track them down and get Tariq back and explain to Lucas in great detail why it’s bad form to kidnap a colleague.
He calls Samina and lies about what’s happened, tells her he’s tracked Tariq down and that there’s some computer emergency. After that, there’s not much he can do but wait. Beth’s trying to track where they went after leaving Thames House. Dimitri was going to do it, but she took even that job away from him.
He’s in the corridor, hiding from the lack of news, when Ruth finds him.
“He’ll be alright.” She says. “Whatever’s going on, Lucas knows that things will be a lot worse if he hurts Tariq. He has to know that.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I don’t want to pry.” Ruth says carefully, and Dimitri’s been waiting for this from someone. “But, you and Tariq -“
“Yes.” Dimitri replies. Ruth takes his hand, squeezes it.
“He’ll be fine.”
“He’d better,” Dimitri says, “or whatever Lucas thinks has happened up until now will seem like a walk in the park.”
“It’ll turn out alright,” Ruth promises again. Dimitri tries to trust her.
--
A call comes in to his mobile; Tariq’s number. Everyone sits up and takes notice, and Dimitri’s apprehensive when he answers. He wishes he didn’t have to put it on speakerphone, but they all need to hear this.
“Is everything alright?”
“Hey.” Tariq says, and Dimitri feels weak with relief. “It’s okay. We’re coming in. Everything’s fine, don’t panic.”
“We weren’t.” Dimitri says. “Barely even noticed you were gone.”
Tariq laughs, and that’s what makes Dimitri believe it’s all okay.
“Thanks a lot,” he says, and then his tone changes. “did you - did you talk to Samina?”
“Yeah. She’s fine, don’t worry. I’ll call her as soon as I get off the phone with you.”
“Okay, good. Thanks. We’ll be in soon, alright? It’s all fine.”
“Alright,” Dimitri says, and he wants to say something else, but there are too many people about.
“Is Lucas there?” Harry asks. There’s quiet on the line for a moment.
“He’s here.” Tariq says eventually.
“Lucas.” Harry says, and then he pauses. “You’re doing the right thing, coming back in. Whatever’s wrong, we can talk about it. We can fix things.”
Lucas doesn’t answer.
“We’ll be in soon.” Tariq says, and hangs up.
They all look at each other.
“He talked him down.” Beth said.
“It seems that way.” Harry agreed. “But it would be best to be cautious. We don’t know what’s going on in Lucas’ mind until he actually comes in and tells us.”
--
They arrive back half an hour later, Tariq taking the lead. Lucas follows him, looking like he wants to bolt.
Dimitri doesn’t grab hold of Tariq like he wants to. He holds his hands behind his back, and waits. Tariq’s here now; he can wait a little longer to actually touch him.
“Lucas?” Harry says, and Lucas looks up. He looks more scared than anything. “I think you should come with me, and we’ll talk.”
All the fight’s gone out of Lucas, and he just nods. “Yes, Harry.”
Harry takes Lucas away, to the meeting room rather than one of the interrogation rooms; they’d discussed it after the phone call, how best to get Lucas to talk without making him feel pressured. He shuts the doors on them and then Tariq relaxes, leaning suddenly against the nearest desk.
“What the actual fuck just happened?” Dimitri says quickly.
“I don’t know.” Tariq replies, shaking. ‘I have no damn idea. I barely got him to leave the guns in the car. I -“
“The guns?”
“Don’t ask. He’s lost it, he’s mad.”
Ruth walks over and hugs him. It looks ridiculous - he’s so much taller than her - but he leans into her.
“You were very brave.” She tells him. “Well done.”
“I can’t stop shaking.”
“It’s okay, you’re safe now. You did really well. Why don’t you sit down, I’ll get you something to eat. Dimitri can stay with you for a minute, can’t you, Dimitri?”
“Yeah. Of course.”
Ruth leaves the two of them, Tariq slouched in a chair, Dimitri standing over him. He’s got his hand on Tariq’s shoulder, a safe touch that won’t look untoward.
“I told Ruth about us.” Dimitri says quietly, and Tariq nods.
“I told Lucas.”
“Why?”
“I wanted him to know how stupid he was being. I think he thought I was just some geek with no life, so it wouldn’t matter if he took me. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Dimitri shakes his head. “Whatever you did worked.”
“I told him my boyfriend was the only person on the grid who could take him in a fight so he’d better bring me back unharmed.” Tariq says with a small grin.
“There must have been more to it than that.” Dimitri replies. “You want to watch out, you’ll be head hunted for negotiating teams soon.”
Tariq doesn’t say anything for a long time, and Dimitri has no idea what he could say to make any of this better.
“Your sister told me to tell you that she went to dinner on her own, but that you still owe her a meal.”
Somehow, that actually seems to help. Tariq looks up at him and grins.
“She probably went to a better restaurant than we were going to. Was she alright?”
“She was when I phoned her up and admitted you hadn’t been fixing a computer emergency, but that you were safe now.”
“I should phone her, shouldn’t I?” Tariq says, sighing. “This is such a mess.”
“It’s over now.”
“Not for Lucas. I didn’t know he was that bad. He wasn’t making any sense.”
Dimitri struggled for something to say again, only saved by Ruth coming back.
“I managed to get Sonia to give up some of her decent chocolate.” She says, handing it over to Tariq.
“What’s going to happen to Lucas?” Tariq asks, breaking the chocolate into individual squares. Ruth glances over at the meeting room.
“I don’t know. We don’t know how far it’s gone. But we’re going to try to help him.”
“He said he wasn’t Lucas.”
“I know.”
“I don’t.” Dimitri points out. “Why does he think he isn’t Lucas?”
“He took someone else’s identity.” Ruth explains. “We’re trying to find out the details.”
“I don’t want to think about this anymore.” Tariq sighed. “When can we go home?”
“I should debrief you.” Ruth says, and then she caught Dimitri’s eye. “But Dimitri probably -“
“Don’t finish that thought.”
She smiles at him. “We can do it tomorrow. Go home, get some rest.”
“You too. Don’t wait for Harry to finish with Lucas,” Dimitri said.
“When did you start giving the orders?”
“I agree with Dimitri.” Tariq says. “Go home.”
“Oh, for…fine, I’m going home, alright?”
Tariq smiles. “Good. So you can give us a lift, then?”
“Oh, nice. I should have guessed you had another agenda.’ Ruth says. ‘Come on, then. I suppose it’s not too far out of my way.”
“Where’s Beth? Isn’t she going to want a lift?” Tariq asks as they walk towards the pods.
“Beth has a date. I’ve been told not to wait up.”
“There’s someone crazy enough to take her on?” Dimitri asks.
“There was someone crazy enough to take you on.” Tariq says.
“Yeah.” Dimitri says, looking at him. “Lucky me.”
Ruth rolls her eyes, but she can’t quite keep the smile off her face. This entry was originally posted at http://hestia8.dreamwidth.org/37616.html.
Title: because this is what you do
Summary: count the ways it could be worse
Spoilers: general series 9
Pairing: Dimitri/Tariq
Disclaimer: not mine, sadly
Notes: So what happened was that in my usual way I managed to read all the spoilers and take my fic down the completely wrong avenue (you will see what I mean). And then I sent it off to delgaserasca for a beta read and forgot all about it (by which I mean I forgot that I’d even sent the fic to her). And then the usb where I’d saved the file died or something. And then recently I was going through all my fic printouts so I could get rid of some and I found the printout of delgaserasca’s beta comments.
And now there is a completed fic. HURRAH!
Title and summary from Survival Poem #17 by Marty McConnell
--
“Tariq, can I borrow you for a few minutes?”
Tariq looks at the clock - 5.20 - and nods. “As long as it doesn’t take too long.”
“It won’t.” Lucas says, and he smiles, which probably means he wants instructions on how to use his phone. Again.
“Okay.”
“I need you to come with me.”
“It’s the car, isn’t it?” Tariq says before he can stop himself. “I told you that you didn’t actually need one with an onboard computer.”
“I knew you’d be around to tell me how to work it.” Lucas says, and Tariq sighs. Story of his life.
--
The next thing Tariq knows, he’s waking up confused, trying to remember why he was even asleep. He doesn’t recognise the room he’s in, and his face hurts. He puts his fingers to face, wincing when he finds a large bruise.
“Hello?”
He can remember Lucas wanting him to look at something in his car, but that’s as far as it goes.
Lucas himself walks through the door a moment after he’s managed to put that thought together. He looks guilty, and Tariq starts to worry.
“What happened?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what?”
Lucas sighs. “I needed someone for… I needed a hostage.”
“You needed a hostage.” Tariq repeats slowly.
“There wasn’t any other way. I’m sorry.”
“You said that already.” Tariq says, shaking his head. “Why did you need a hostage?”
“Because things are about to come crashing down, and I need to get out.”
Tariq thinks about that for a moment. “I never thought you were a bully, Lucas.”
“What do you mean?”
“Going for the person on the Grid who couldn’t fight back? Not your usual style at all.”
“And who’d trust me enough to come with me.”
“Doesn’t that make me special?” Tariq says bitterly. He turns and looks out of the window, wondering when this is going to start making sense.
“Can I call my sister?” he asks. Lucas doesn’t answer. “Oh.”
“You won’t need to call her.” Lucas says. “This is strictly a temporary arrangement.”
Tariq doesn’t believe him - this whole thing looks like it’s being made up on the spot - but he’s not going to let on.
“So, what’s the plan?’ He asks Lucas. ‘You wait for them to notice I’ve gone, or you’re going to ring in and tell them you’ve got me?”
“Let’s see how long it takes.”
Tariq looks at his watch; about fifteen minutes, but he doesn’t think he’ll tell Lucas that yet.
“So I’m just a hostage.” He says. “I’m not useful because of who I am, just because I’m a person.”
“Trust me, that’s better than being targeted for who you are.”
“If you say so. Seeing as I’m not tied up, does that mean I’m free to move around the place?”
“Why?”
“Why do you think? Call of nature.”
“Bathroom’s upstairs.”
--
Once he’s upstairs, Tariq looks for a weapon, something heavy or sharp, think, boy, think. Lucas is paranoid enough to keep more than one gun around, so where… bedroom, he decides, so he can get to if he gets woken - ha, success!
Tariq lifts the gun and looks at it. Handgun, loaded. Right. Dimitri explained this, he knows how to use one of these, it’s fine. He’ll be fine. He isn’t going to use it, but at least he can get Lucas to sit down and listen to him.
“What’s taking so - oh, I see.” Lucas says. Tariq turns to see him coming up the stairs. He aims the gun at Lucas and deliberately clicks off the safety. “I thought you hated guns.”
“I hate the idea of dying more.” Tariq says. “Let’s go back downstairs.”
Lucas smiles. “So I can get my gun back? Tariq, that’s not a very good plan.”
“Are you going to talk to me if you don’t have it? Didn’t think so. You can have your gun, Lucas. I just need you to know that I’m not as helpless as you think.”
Lucas looks at the gun before turning and walking back down the stairs.
“Message received and understood.”
--
It’s a stand-off now: two guys, two guns. Tariq has no idea how he’s going to get out of it.
He’s angry - furious - at Lucas for thinking he’s a soft touch. He’s angry at himself for letting it be true.
Lucas can no longer look him in the eye. Good.
“I suppose I should be grateful you haven’t framed me for a terrorist attack.”
Lucas looks up, surprised. “So you know too?”
“What?” Tariq asks, confused. “I don’t know anything, I just meant - I’m Asian and I work for MI5. But. Don’t, please. Whatever else happens, I don’t want my sister hearing that I’m a traitor. Can you do that for me, Lucas?”
“I was never planning to.”
“Right, yeah. So if things didn’t work out, you were going to let me go? There’d be no point in taking me in the first place. If this all goes south, you’re going to kill me.”
“It won’t come to that.”
Tariq huffs a laugh. “Well, I’m glad you’re confident about that. What’s the plan?”
“The plan? Ruth will have spoken to Harry by now.” Lucas says. “They’ll be looking for me. They’ll look here, eventually. By that time, I’ll be gone and you can say what you like. It’s too late for Lucas North.”
“What does that mean?”
Lucas sighs. “Lucas is an identity. He isn’t...me.”
Tariq tries not to panic. Lucas isn’t Lucas? What does that even mean?
“So who am I talking to?”
Lucas shakes his head. “It’s not like that, I don’t have multiple personalities. I took on Lucas North fifteen years ago to get myself out of a hole. And now I’m in another hole, and Lucas isn’t enough anymore. I need to disappear again.”
“Right.” Tariq says, still confused. “What hole are you in, exactly? Is it Russia?”
Lucas grimaces and it looks almost involuntary. “No. It’s someone from before. Before Russia, before MI5. Just couldn’t leave me alone.”
“Where is this person now?”
“He’s gone. And I’m going after him.”
“But Lucas can’t.”
“Now you’re getting it.”
“I’m beginning to feel like I’m in one of those films where it turns out the main character’s been insane the whole way through.” Tariq says. “No offence.”
He’s worried for a moment that Lucas is going to hit him again, but after a moment, he just smiles. It looks broken.
“None taken. It would be simpler if I was insane. Then I might believe I had a chance of fixing things.”
“Why didn’t you just tell Harry?” Tariq asks. He doesn’t want to be curious, but he’s always had a need to know. If that means knowing exactly why he’s going to die, so be it.
“It was all too connected. Tell him one thing and I’d have to explain the rest. And the rest involved telling him I’d been lying about who I was as long as we’d known each other. You see why I didn’t?”
“Not really. I still don’t know what you did.”
“And you’re not going to.” Lucas says. “It won’t help you, and neither will keeping me talking.”
“But I haven’t even tried to remind you that I’m a real person and not a chess piece.”
“I know that.”
“I’m not sure you do.” Tariq says, knowing he’s taking a risk. “See, I live with my sister. It was her birthday yesterday. I told you but I don’t think you were listening. Dimitri and I were planning to take her out tonight. We were supposed to leave the office at six, so they’ve known I’ve disappeared for about twenty minutes now. And they’ll know there’s no way I went willingly.”
Lucas stares at him. Tariq takes a shaky breath and continues.
“And Dimitri’s going to be pretty hacked off that you kidnapped his boyfriend, so you’ll have him to deal with too. In case you were wondering if you could have made things any worse.”
Lucas’ head drops down, and Tariq almost feels bad for him, but his eye still hurts and Dimitri’s going to be frantic by now.
“Right.” Lucas says abruptly. “In that case, the plan needs to change. We need to go.”
Tariq shakes his head. “No. Lucas, it won’t work. Don’t you get it? The more you try to run, the worse things are going to get. Call in, tell them we’re coming back. If you take me back safely, it won’t be so bad.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do. I’ll help you.” Tariq says, knowing he can’t really promise anything. “Just call in. We can go back, and we can work it out. I’m sure.”
Lucas looks doubtful, and Tariq waits for an answer.
--
Dimitri’s been itching to get out of here. Samina’s supposed to be meeting them at the restaurant, and Dimitri’s looking forward to getting Tariq out for an evening.
Unfortunately, fifteen minutes before they’re supposed to leave, Tariq disappears. Dimitri waits for him to reappear from wherever he’s gone, but it gets to six and there’s no sign.
“Anyone seen Tariq?” He asks, addressing the question out to the room in general.
“Saw him about half an hour ago.’ Beth said. ‘Maybe he went to F section. There was some talk about some kind of tracker that could go invisible or was made of gold or something. Sorry, I wasn’t really listening, you know what it’s like when they start geeking out.”
Dimitri calls Section F, but they haven’t seen Tariq. He calls Section A in case Tariq has gone hunting for Nadine again, but he hasn’t been down there either. He calls Samina, in case he’s left on his own for some odd reason and is already at the restaurant.
That’s a wash, with the added bonus of letting on to Samina that something is up. Great.
“I don’t get it.” He says out loud.
“Get what?” Beth replies.
“Where Tariq’s gone. We were supposed to leave here dead on six, and he’s wandered off.”
“Do you want me to check if he’s left the building?” she offers.
“Yeah, thanks.”
Dimitri looks around the grid. Ruth is in Harry’s office, Beth is here, Gary and Sonia are at their desks, and Lucas and Ian had already left for the day. And Tariq is nowhere to be seen.
“He left with Lucas.” Beth says a couple of minutes later.
“What?”
“He left with Lucas. I checked with reception. They went down to the car park.”
“Why?”
“Who left with Lucas?” Ruth asks as she came over to the desk.
“Tariq.” Dimitri says, and it wasn’t until Ruth’s face falls that he actually starts to worry. “What? What’s going on?”
She pauses. “Lucas is…in some trouble. If Tariq’s with him...”
Dimitri takes in a quick breath. “Why would Lucas take Tariq with him?”
“As leverage, maybe. If he thinks things are about to go bad, Tariq might be a hostage. I - I need to tell Harry.”
She hurries away; Dimitri just watches her go.
“Did she just say hostage? What the hell is going on?”
Beth shook her head. “It can’t - why would Lucas want Tariq as a hostage? What’s he done?”
Dimitri shook his head in return, and tried Tariq’s number, then Lucas’. No answer on either, but that didn’t stop him trying Tariq again and leaving a short message this time.
Ruth came back over with Harry, both of them grave.
“Anything?”
“Can’t get hold of them.” Dimitri says, trying not to sound too much like he’s panicking. “What’s going on?”
“You said they left in Lucas’ car?” Harry asks. Beth nods.
Harry and Ruth glance at each other quickly, and then Ruth explains everything, and it just makes it worse.
Dimitri wants to know where they’ve gone. He wants to know why Lucas took Tariq, what the hell he thought he was doing. He needs to track them down and get Tariq back and explain to Lucas in great detail why it’s bad form to kidnap a colleague.
He calls Samina and lies about what’s happened, tells her he’s tracked Tariq down and that there’s some computer emergency. After that, there’s not much he can do but wait. Beth’s trying to track where they went after leaving Thames House. Dimitri was going to do it, but she took even that job away from him.
He’s in the corridor, hiding from the lack of news, when Ruth finds him.
“He’ll be alright.” She says. “Whatever’s going on, Lucas knows that things will be a lot worse if he hurts Tariq. He has to know that.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I don’t want to pry.” Ruth says carefully, and Dimitri’s been waiting for this from someone. “But, you and Tariq -“
“Yes.” Dimitri replies. Ruth takes his hand, squeezes it.
“He’ll be fine.”
“He’d better,” Dimitri says, “or whatever Lucas thinks has happened up until now will seem like a walk in the park.”
“It’ll turn out alright,” Ruth promises again. Dimitri tries to trust her.
--
A call comes in to his mobile; Tariq’s number. Everyone sits up and takes notice, and Dimitri’s apprehensive when he answers. He wishes he didn’t have to put it on speakerphone, but they all need to hear this.
“Is everything alright?”
“Hey.” Tariq says, and Dimitri feels weak with relief. “It’s okay. We’re coming in. Everything’s fine, don’t panic.”
“We weren’t.” Dimitri says. “Barely even noticed you were gone.”
Tariq laughs, and that’s what makes Dimitri believe it’s all okay.
“Thanks a lot,” he says, and then his tone changes. “did you - did you talk to Samina?”
“Yeah. She’s fine, don’t worry. I’ll call her as soon as I get off the phone with you.”
“Okay, good. Thanks. We’ll be in soon, alright? It’s all fine.”
“Alright,” Dimitri says, and he wants to say something else, but there are too many people about.
“Is Lucas there?” Harry asks. There’s quiet on the line for a moment.
“He’s here.” Tariq says eventually.
“Lucas.” Harry says, and then he pauses. “You’re doing the right thing, coming back in. Whatever’s wrong, we can talk about it. We can fix things.”
Lucas doesn’t answer.
“We’ll be in soon.” Tariq says, and hangs up.
They all look at each other.
“He talked him down.” Beth said.
“It seems that way.” Harry agreed. “But it would be best to be cautious. We don’t know what’s going on in Lucas’ mind until he actually comes in and tells us.”
--
They arrive back half an hour later, Tariq taking the lead. Lucas follows him, looking like he wants to bolt.
Dimitri doesn’t grab hold of Tariq like he wants to. He holds his hands behind his back, and waits. Tariq’s here now; he can wait a little longer to actually touch him.
“Lucas?” Harry says, and Lucas looks up. He looks more scared than anything. “I think you should come with me, and we’ll talk.”
All the fight’s gone out of Lucas, and he just nods. “Yes, Harry.”
Harry takes Lucas away, to the meeting room rather than one of the interrogation rooms; they’d discussed it after the phone call, how best to get Lucas to talk without making him feel pressured. He shuts the doors on them and then Tariq relaxes, leaning suddenly against the nearest desk.
“What the actual fuck just happened?” Dimitri says quickly.
“I don’t know.” Tariq replies, shaking. ‘I have no damn idea. I barely got him to leave the guns in the car. I -“
“The guns?”
“Don’t ask. He’s lost it, he’s mad.”
Ruth walks over and hugs him. It looks ridiculous - he’s so much taller than her - but he leans into her.
“You were very brave.” She tells him. “Well done.”
“I can’t stop shaking.”
“It’s okay, you’re safe now. You did really well. Why don’t you sit down, I’ll get you something to eat. Dimitri can stay with you for a minute, can’t you, Dimitri?”
“Yeah. Of course.”
Ruth leaves the two of them, Tariq slouched in a chair, Dimitri standing over him. He’s got his hand on Tariq’s shoulder, a safe touch that won’t look untoward.
“I told Ruth about us.” Dimitri says quietly, and Tariq nods.
“I told Lucas.”
“Why?”
“I wanted him to know how stupid he was being. I think he thought I was just some geek with no life, so it wouldn’t matter if he took me. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Dimitri shakes his head. “Whatever you did worked.”
“I told him my boyfriend was the only person on the grid who could take him in a fight so he’d better bring me back unharmed.” Tariq says with a small grin.
“There must have been more to it than that.” Dimitri replies. “You want to watch out, you’ll be head hunted for negotiating teams soon.”
Tariq doesn’t say anything for a long time, and Dimitri has no idea what he could say to make any of this better.
“Your sister told me to tell you that she went to dinner on her own, but that you still owe her a meal.”
Somehow, that actually seems to help. Tariq looks up at him and grins.
“She probably went to a better restaurant than we were going to. Was she alright?”
“She was when I phoned her up and admitted you hadn’t been fixing a computer emergency, but that you were safe now.”
“I should phone her, shouldn’t I?” Tariq says, sighing. “This is such a mess.”
“It’s over now.”
“Not for Lucas. I didn’t know he was that bad. He wasn’t making any sense.”
Dimitri struggled for something to say again, only saved by Ruth coming back.
“I managed to get Sonia to give up some of her decent chocolate.” She says, handing it over to Tariq.
“What’s going to happen to Lucas?” Tariq asks, breaking the chocolate into individual squares. Ruth glances over at the meeting room.
“I don’t know. We don’t know how far it’s gone. But we’re going to try to help him.”
“He said he wasn’t Lucas.”
“I know.”
“I don’t.” Dimitri points out. “Why does he think he isn’t Lucas?”
“He took someone else’s identity.” Ruth explains. “We’re trying to find out the details.”
“I don’t want to think about this anymore.” Tariq sighed. “When can we go home?”
“I should debrief you.” Ruth says, and then she caught Dimitri’s eye. “But Dimitri probably -“
“Don’t finish that thought.”
She smiles at him. “We can do it tomorrow. Go home, get some rest.”
“You too. Don’t wait for Harry to finish with Lucas,” Dimitri said.
“When did you start giving the orders?”
“I agree with Dimitri.” Tariq says. “Go home.”
“Oh, for…fine, I’m going home, alright?”
Tariq smiles. “Good. So you can give us a lift, then?”
“Oh, nice. I should have guessed you had another agenda.’ Ruth says. ‘Come on, then. I suppose it’s not too far out of my way.”
“Where’s Beth? Isn’t she going to want a lift?” Tariq asks as they walk towards the pods.
“Beth has a date. I’ve been told not to wait up.”
“There’s someone crazy enough to take her on?” Dimitri asks.
“There was someone crazy enough to take you on.” Tariq says.
“Yeah.” Dimitri says, looking at him. “Lucky me.”
Ruth rolls her eyes, but she can’t quite keep the smile off her face. This entry was originally posted at http://hestia8.dreamwidth.org/37616.html.