GH Fic: Chaos Theory - Chapter 20/?
Title: Chaos Theory
Author: Normative Jean
Fandom: General Hospital
Characters/Pairings: Robin, Patrick, Lulu, Sam, Anna, Robert, Mac, Faison, original characters; main pairing is Robin/Patrick, with Lulu/OC and Sam/OC later
Rating: PG-13 (for language, situations, and thematic elements)
Timeline: begins March '06, after the bet debacle. AU after that.
Summary: The epidemic was just a experiment, and it was deemed a failure; its mastermind is now targeting the only doctor he believes can make the experiment a success: Robin Scorpio. Robin finds herself trapped in the middle of an international mystery, on the run from an old family enemy she believed long dead. Patrick Drake is determined not to let anything mess up his chances at happiness with Robin, even if it means going along for the ride. Along with old friends and unexpected allies, can they keep Robin safe and stop a plot to take over the world?
Chapter 20 - In the Thick of It
"Anything yet?" Robin asked as she carefully placed a watermark over the front page of Lulu "Andrea Cates" Spencer's new passport.
Bobby shook his head. He was sitting at the desk in the girls' room in front of his laptop as he scanned the files he had obtained from the WSB about the DVX for any mention of the driver they had identified. It was a slow process, and Bobby was getting agitated. They were so close to finding the link, he just knew it, but before they walked into anything, they needed to know as certainly as possible if the guy was just a dupe, or a DVX agent.
"Marcus Williams, huh?" Patrick said from his position on the floor next to Robin. He was watching her every move intently, despite her warnings that he would not learn how to make fake passports just by watching her, nor did she have the time or proper equipment to teach him. Nevertheless, he remained rooted in his spot, determined to pick up whatever information he could. He was taking Robin's words to heart, and decided that he never knew when something might come in handy. Patrick would put his operating room skills to good use: he would pick up on every single detail of a situation from now on, and use it to his advantage.
"Yeah," Sam replied. She was sitting on her bed, toying with her pre-paid cell phone; as per Robin's instructions, one was purchased for each of them so that they could get in contact with each other and, if need be, the outside world, without fear of being traced. Once they phones were used up, they could be discarded, with no hope of being found. Sam sighed; it amazed her that so many little things she had known a year ago had slipped her mind. She couldn't believe she had tried to use her own cell phone in the airport last night! How stupid had she gotten?
"Hey, Robin," Lulu called from the other end of the room, where she sat facing her own computer, running Bobby's decryption software on the WSB files she had helped him get. "Are these passports good for traveling?" She had been phenomenally impressed by the skills Robin had shown during the entire crisis, and Lulu was unable to believe that the good Dr. Scorpio, the woman her step-sister-in-law never quite measured up to, could commit crimes with so much ease. Lulu had paid as much attention as possible to what Robin was doing, but she hoped that the other woman would give her an in-depth tutorial once they were back home. Knowing how to make fake IDs would be a great skill to possess, especially once Lulu learned enough to make her own. She would never be turned away from the cool nightspots again.
Robin looked up from the thin lamination she was spreading over the front pages of each passport. "No, sorry. Without a computer encoder, I can't make the watermark viable under lasers. But in a pinch, when you just need to flash some ID, they'll work fine."
"Too bad," Sam said. "So we can't leave the country without drawing attention to ourselves?"
"No," Robin replied, running a penknife around the edges of the papers, cutting them to the exact specifications of a real passport. "But if we need to go anywhere again, by the time the WSB or DVX caught up to us, we'll already be hidden in the new country."
"Interesting," Patrick muttered.
Robin turned to face him and rolled her eyes. "Don't even pretend that you're remotely okay with breaking international immigration laws."
Patrick raised an eyebrow. "I told you I was fine, now."
"Okay," she laughed, "There's a difference between accepting something, and actively supporting it."
"I got it!"
They all whipped around to face Bobby, who was raising his arms in the air and beaming in triumph.
"I got a hit!" he said again. He read from a memo that was on his screen. "Marcus Williams was identified as a DVX agent during a raid on a safe house in Germany six months ago. He was removed from WSB custody by an unidentified agent four months ago, after which the Bureau lost track of him. But he had a known address in London at one point, so he must be our guy!"
"A London-based agent with something to prove against the WSB," Robin said. "He'd definitely volunteer for a mission to grab a WSB chief, no matter what role he played in it."
"And four months fits the timeframe for the virus," Patrick added. "They had to have been working on it for a while before it hit Port Charles. Whatever your dad knew, or was supposed to find out, it must have been a fairly recent development."
"Well, we know that the virus, or whatever it was actually supposed to be, was targeted at Port Charles at the last minute," Robin said thoughtfully. "Williams would have been sprung right around the time that the Faison's plans changed."
"You think that double-agent was the one who got him out?" Bobby asked.
"We don't even know for certain that there is a double-agent," Lulu reminded him. "That's still speculation at best. No offense, Robin."
Robin shook her head. "No, you're right. We don't know anything for certain, but it definitely looks like Williams is the agent who posed as your parents' driver, Bobby." She sat back and looked around the room. "So, what do we do now?"
Sam spoke up first. "Now, we call him."
"Wait." Patrick held up a hand. "Just like that?"
"Just like that," Robin agreed, nodding at Sam. "You want me to?"
"We can't take the chance that he'd recognize your voice," Bobby countered. "And Sam's already made contact with the car service, and if they were still watching that place, then they'll just think she's a dupe."
"We can't just call him," Patrick protested. "He isn't with that company anymore; if someone calls out of the blue requesting driving services, won't he think it's bit...odd?"
"Or maybe..." Lulu said slowly, "That's exactly what we want." She looked between Robin and Bobby. "So Sam calls the guy and insists that she got the number from her aunt and uncle. If she drops Sean and Tiffany's names, maybe it'll be enough to scare Williams into a public meeting."
"Sounds good," Robin smiled.
"Nice job," Sam said to Lulu, impressed by the girl's bluffing abilities.
"It'll work," Bobby reluctantly acknowledged.
"You people are all insane," Patrick muttered.
Robin slapped his arm lightly. "No, we just know what has to be done." She looked over at Sam. "You want to get this over with?"
Sam nodded and picked up her cell phone. She reached towards Bobby. "Give me the number. I'll insist on someplace public, okay?"
Robin tapped her chin with a finger. "Someplace nearby to here, but not so close that we could be followed." She grabbed a guidebook from the nightstand next to her bed and began flipping through it. "Bloomsbury Square Gardens are just south of here on Montague," she noted. "It's easy enough to lose anyone following us in Russell Square, and Bloomsbury should be quieter at this time of day."
"We don't have weapons," Bobby added softly. "And we have no idea what we're walking into."
"All of this is just one giant risk," Robin reminded him. Her eyes softened when they fell on him; despite his warnings about safety, Robin knew that Bobby was hoping they wouldn't turn their backs on the only lead he had on his parents. "But we don't have any choice at this point. If there's a DVX presence in London, then there's a WSB presence, too. We have to do whatever we can to find proof that Faison is connected to your parents' disappearance."
Bobby gave a tiny half-smile. "Thanks."
"All right, then," Sam said. "I drop the names, give him an hour to meet up with us at Bloomsbury Gardens, and we hope to God that we're not walking straight into an ambush."
Robin nodded. "That's all we can do." She trained her eyes on Sam, her resolve firm. "Make the call."
***
They had chosen a small park area near the southern edge of Bloomsbury Gardens as the meeting place. It was far enough away from the major streets, busy at the end of a workday, to allow for privacy, but close enough to the more crowded central gardens to provide at least a minimal safety net. The park was quiet, designed for rest and communion with nature amidst the hustle and bustle of the West End. A few scattered groups of trees, mostly birches and alders, dotted the flat landscape; benches were placed sparingly, a purposeful design to invite people to sit directly on the earth. Several large rocks and boulders added depth to the garden area. Only two litter cans broke up the harmonious visage, but people so rarely created trash in this tranquil spot in London, that they were both almost empty. Most of the people who still wandered through Bloomsbury Gardens that early evening had migrated towards the northern part, where several fountains and streetlights made for a much more pleasant gathering place. As far as Robin and the others could see, they were completely alone for the moment.
"Where is he?" Bobby asked, looking at his watch.
"It's not quite five o'clock yet," Robin said with a calm she didn't feel. "There's still time."
"This was a bad idea," Patrick murmured to Robin. "This part of the gardens isn't as crowded as we thought it would be."
Lulu crossed her arms in front of herself to ward off the impending nighttime chill. "We went with what we had," she reminded him. "Robin's right; we didn't have a choice anymore."
Sam walked back over to the group from the edge of the nearby parking area she had been scouting. "It's emptying out pretty quickly, guys," she warned. "Even if Williams shows up alone, we have to assume that he'll be armed." She looked around at everyone, standing under the minimal cover of an alder tree. "And we are very much not."
"Even if he's with someone," Lulu argued, "It'll still be five against two."
"Do any of you even know how to fight?" Patrick asked sarcastically. His eyes widened when Robin, Bobby, and Sam all raised their hands, and Lulu made a 'sort of' motion with her hand. He blinked. "Okay, then."
Bobby looked down at his watch again. "It's five o'clock. Where is he?" He was almost vibrating, and began bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet in an effort to release some of his nervous energy.
"Hey," Lulu said quietly, reaching out a hand to rest on his shoulder. "If this doesn't work, then we'll just find some other way to track him down. Look at me," she said firmly, tilting his face towards her. "We made it this far. We'll find your parents, Bobby."
He looked down, unable to meet Lulu's eyes. He hadn't been on the receiving end of her gentle side before. "Thank you," he said hoarsely.
"Car," Robin interrupted, quickly turning around to face the parking area.
The others turned as well, all of them training their eyes on the black Rolls Royce that was pulling up to the edge of the gardens. The engine turned off, but nobody got out of the car.
"That has to be him," Bobby muttered. "Fancy car, parking right where he said he would. That has to be him."
"Don't do anything rash," Robin whispered, afraid her voice might carry over the southerly breeze. "Wait to see what he does."
"We don't have a plan for what to do after he gets out of the car, do we?" Patrick asked. "I don't remember us getting that far."
"Shut up!" Sam hissed. "Someone's coming."
The door to the car opened, and a man stepped out. He was tall, of thick, stocky build, and looked to have European features. He was a perfect match to the agent photo ID in the WSB file. The man closed the door, locking it and putting the keys in his jacket pocket. He walked over to the group.
"Marcus Williams?" Sam asked, keeping her voice steady.
"Yeah," Williams replied. "You Maria Cates?"
Sam stepped forward slightly, leaving the cover of the tree's shadow. "That's me. We spoke on the phone about car services. My aunt and uncle--"
"Yeah, about that," Williams said, interrupting her. "You're aunt and uncle couldn't have told you about me, because..." He trailed off as he looked at the others who stood before him. A slow, wicked grin spread over his face. "Robin Scorpio."
"Shit!" Bobby cursed, just before Williams whipped out a gun and fired.
They scattered, and Williams followed Robin, his gun trained out in front of him. "Dr. Scorpio, there are orders to take you in with minimum injuries," he said conversationally. "But those orders didn't say anything about anyone else with you."
"What happened to my parents!" Bobby shouted. "We know you were the last point of contact with them before they disappeared." His face twisted into a furious grimace. "Where are they?!"
Williams ran forward at Robin, who dove out of the way towards Patrick. Williams turned around and fired the gun again, the bullet knocking over a trash can and barely missing Lulu. "Don't make me do this the hard way, Doctor," he warned, leveling his gun just above Robin's shoulder at Patrick. "It's easy enough to take the rest of you down, and I really don't care that much about hurting her."
Robin shoved Patrick to the ground just before another shot rang out, and she dove forward towards Williams, knocking him down as well. Maintaining his hold on the gun, he reached out and swung his arm at Robin, the semiautomatic whipping her on her cheek and throwing her backwards.
"Robin!" Patrick shouted, scrambling up.
"Stay back!" Robin screamed at him, struggling to get up before Williams could grab hold of her. She wasn't quick enough, and she cried out in pain as he grasped onto her wrist.
"Let her go!" Sam launched herself onto Williams' back, wrapping her arms around his throat and trying to distract him from Robin.
Lulu and Bobby raced over and tried to pry Williams' strong hand from Robin's tiny arm, and they had barely gotten her free when Williams flung himself back, throwing Sam off of him and sending her crashing to the ground. She didn't get up. Williams fired the gun again, and the bullet grazed Lulu's upper arm.
Lulu screamed and stumbled back, letting go of Robin. Patrick ran forward and pulled Lulu away from Robin, Bobby, and Williams, who were still fighting. Patrick took the momentary distraction to grab Sam and drag her backwards as well; she was struggling to breath but remained alert, and Patrick couldn't find evidence of anything worse than having the wind knocked out of her.
Taking cover with the women behind a large boulder near the edge of the garden area, he locked his eyes onto Robin, who had her hand on the gun and was attempting to wrestle it away from Williams. Bobby was more than a head shorter than Williams, and not built nearly as sturdily, but maintained a tight grip on Williams' other arm in order to prevent him from reaching for Robin again.
At that moment, Williams lost his footing on a small rock, and Robin saw her chance. "Bobby, look out!" she called, before whipping her leg around and delivering a swift roundhouse kick to the DVX agent's midsection. Winded, Williams stumbled back a few steps, and Bobby jumped away from Robin right before she threw a solid punch into his solar plexus. Gasping for air, Williams doubled over and was unable to avoid the harsh chop to his head, just below his occipital ridge. The last thing he knew was intense pain, before the darkness overtook him and he slipped into unconsciousness.
Williams dropped to the ground completely. Robin took a few shaky steps backwards before Patrick ran over to catch her, pulling her securely against his chest. Bobby moved quickly towards Lulu and Sam and without a word, he ripped a strip of cloth from his t-shirt off and wrapped it around Lulu's arm.
"It's fine," she gasped. "Just a graze."
"You could have been killed!" Bobby shouted at her, suddenly furious. "Why the hell didn't you get out of the way?"
"I was trying to help you and Robin!" she shouted back. "And why are you yelling at me? I was shot!"
"I know that!" Bobby hissed through gritted teeth, his hand still holding the makeshift bandage firmly in place. "And I have a problem with that!"
Sam struggled to stand up, but forced herself to try and breath regularly. It was far from the first time she'd been winded in a physical fight, and though it had been a while, she knew her body could sustain a lot worse damage than that. She walked over to Robin, who was still wrapped tightly in Patrick's arms. "Robin?" she whispered.
Robin lifted her head from Patrick's chest and turned to look at Sam. "Are you okay?" she asked quietly, the adrenaline her body had produced during the fight rapidly fading out of her system. She tried to pull back completely, but Patrick kept a firm hold around her body. Robin looked up into her boyfriend's face. "Patrick?"
"What the hell was that?" he asked, though his soft tone did nothing to hide the fear and anger. "He had a gun. What the hell were you thinking, charging at him like that?" Patrick gripped Robin tighter, and he knew that it was because he could find no other outlet for all his churning emotions. The man had had a gun, and Robin had tackled him. Oh God, Patrick thought bleakly as the reality of what just happened sunk in. He had a gun, and he had tried to shoot Robin. "Don't you ever do something that stupid again!"
Robin forcefully pushed against Patrick's body, but he refused to let her go. The intensity of the moment overwhelmed Robin then, and she used the most convenient outlet for her frustration and fear that she had to let some of her energy out. "I told you that this might happen--"
"No!" Patrick roared. "You told me that spying was about observation and confidence, not--"
"I said that it boiled down to that!" Robin cried in frustration. "I never said it didn't involve weapons or fighting at all!" She glared accusingly at him. "Don't you remember the other night, when I first told you about everything? I told you I knew how to disable an attacker and shoot a gun. Don't tell me you still thought it was all just for your benefit!"
"I didn't think you'd give me a first-hand demonstration!" The fight abruptly fell out of Patrick, and he slumped against Robin, holding her solidly against him, but with a much gentler embrace. "God, Robin." His voice came out raw as he choked on a sob. "The man had a gun. He had a gun, and he tried to shoot you."
Robin relaxed against him, understanding what had caused Patrick to react like that. "Patrick," she said softly, wrapping her arms around his back. "I told you things would get bad. I know you weren't expecting this though, not really." Robin shuddered when Patrick leaned down and buried his face into her neck, breathing her in deeply. "It's over now."
"It's going to get worse though, isn't it?" he asked. He felt Robin nod against him, and Patrick squeezed his eyes shut.
Sam moved away from the embracing couple, suddenly feeling incredibly awkward. She looked over to where Bobby and Lulu stood, both frowning at the ground and avoiding each other's eyes. But she saw that Bobby had not removed his hands from Lulu's injured arm, and that Lulu was making no move to get away. Glancing back at Robin and Patrick, who were lost in each other just for that moment, Sam was struck by how utterly alone she felt.
Suck it up, she told herself. Deciding that someone had to deal with the immediate problem, she knelt down next to Williams' body and checked his pulse.
"Oh God," Robin murmured, pulling herself back to reality. She gasped. "Lulu!" She turned to check on the young girl, but Patrick squeezed her hip lightly and pulled away, walking to Lulu and Bobby to examine the bullet wound. Robin knelt down next to Sam. "Pulse?"
"I feel it," Sam said. "But could you just double-check?"
Robin nodded and reached down, feeling a strong, steady pulse. That was good, but she had no way of knowing how long Williams would remain unconscious.
"Hey, um..." Patrick called over from where he stood, gently probing the area around the clotting blood on Lulu's arm. "We didn't kill him, did we?"
"No," Robin told him. "Just unconscious. We have to get him someplace where we can ask him questions."
"We have to get out of here," Bobby remarked. "Four gunshots in a crowded neighborhood in a country not known for gun violence is going to attract a lot of attention soon."
"If he had backup," Lulu began, then winced as Patrick reapplied the cloth bandage, "They would've been here by now, right?"
"Probably," Robin agreed. She looked at Sam. "Keys?"
Sam nodded. "And wallet."
They both reached out and began patting Williams down, searching his body for anything they could use. After a few moments, Sam dug something out of his jacket pocket. "Keys!" she called triumphantly.
"Wallet!" Robin smiled a moment later. She and Sam stood up, and Robin turned back to Patrick, Bobby, and Lulu. "So, guys," she said conversationally, "You want to carry him to the car?"
Patrick's eyes bugged out, and he remained rooted in place even as Bobby walked over to the downed agent. "Why are we taking him to the car?" he asked cautiously. "Assault isn't enough, we have to go in for kidnapping now, too?"
Robin rolled her eyes. "We aren't kidnapping him," she replied. "I have his wallet and ID. We're taking him back to his place."
"We are?" Lulu frowned, holding her injured arm.
"Yup. We can either question him there, or we can search his place for some evidence of what happened to Uncle Sean and Aunt Tiffany."
"Or we can do both," Bobby said, motioning for Patrick to help him lift the large agent. "Geez, this guy weighs a ton! Talk about not being built for stealth."
Patrick picked up the bottom half of Williams' body, muttering under his breath that Robin's parents had damn well better make any charges leveled against him disappear, or else there would be hell to pay. He and Bobby struggled towards the parking area, the women having run ahead of them and unlocked the car.
"Put him in the back," Robin instructed, carrying the gun. "Lulu, take shotgun. I want you to have room for your arm."
"It's not that bad," she protested.
"And I'd like to keep it that way," Robin said. "It'll be too crowded in the back, and I don't want to risk your clot pulling loose."
Bobby climbed into the backseat of the plush car, thinking that this might have been the last place his parents were conscious of what was happening. Or the last place they were alive. He forced that thought out of his mind and roughly pulled Williams' upper body along the leather seat to rest against his thigh. Robin got into the backseat next, keeping the gun loosely in her lap as she shoved Williams' long legs out of the way, sending the man half-sprawling onto the floor of the car. She shrugged, noting with a clinical detachment that he was unconscious and therefore wasn't really feeling anything. She would worry later that her code of medical ethics didn't quite seem to extend to DVX agents. Sam followed her into the back of the car, taking a seat on the edge and pulling the door shut behind her. She would have felt better with a gun, but reminded herself that Robin really did seem to know what she was doing. She idly wondered if Jason had ever known that this side of his ex-girlfriend even existed. She wondered if he remembered that it existed in his fiancée.
Patrick watched the other doors slam shut and sighed, walking around to the right side of the car. "I guess this means that I'm driving?"
His answer was Sam throwing the keys at him. Closing the door, he twisted the key into the ignition and started to drive away. "Okay, so who's navigating me to the assaulted-but-not-kidnapped guy's home?"
Author: Normative Jean
Fandom: General Hospital
Characters/Pairings: Robin, Patrick, Lulu, Sam, Anna, Robert, Mac, Faison, original characters; main pairing is Robin/Patrick, with Lulu/OC and Sam/OC later
Rating: PG-13 (for language, situations, and thematic elements)
Timeline: begins March '06, after the bet debacle. AU after that.
Summary: The epidemic was just a experiment, and it was deemed a failure; its mastermind is now targeting the only doctor he believes can make the experiment a success: Robin Scorpio. Robin finds herself trapped in the middle of an international mystery, on the run from an old family enemy she believed long dead. Patrick Drake is determined not to let anything mess up his chances at happiness with Robin, even if it means going along for the ride. Along with old friends and unexpected allies, can they keep Robin safe and stop a plot to take over the world?
Chapter 20 - In the Thick of It
"Anything yet?" Robin asked as she carefully placed a watermark over the front page of Lulu "Andrea Cates" Spencer's new passport.
Bobby shook his head. He was sitting at the desk in the girls' room in front of his laptop as he scanned the files he had obtained from the WSB about the DVX for any mention of the driver they had identified. It was a slow process, and Bobby was getting agitated. They were so close to finding the link, he just knew it, but before they walked into anything, they needed to know as certainly as possible if the guy was just a dupe, or a DVX agent.
"Marcus Williams, huh?" Patrick said from his position on the floor next to Robin. He was watching her every move intently, despite her warnings that he would not learn how to make fake passports just by watching her, nor did she have the time or proper equipment to teach him. Nevertheless, he remained rooted in his spot, determined to pick up whatever information he could. He was taking Robin's words to heart, and decided that he never knew when something might come in handy. Patrick would put his operating room skills to good use: he would pick up on every single detail of a situation from now on, and use it to his advantage.
"Yeah," Sam replied. She was sitting on her bed, toying with her pre-paid cell phone; as per Robin's instructions, one was purchased for each of them so that they could get in contact with each other and, if need be, the outside world, without fear of being traced. Once they phones were used up, they could be discarded, with no hope of being found. Sam sighed; it amazed her that so many little things she had known a year ago had slipped her mind. She couldn't believe she had tried to use her own cell phone in the airport last night! How stupid had she gotten?
"Hey, Robin," Lulu called from the other end of the room, where she sat facing her own computer, running Bobby's decryption software on the WSB files she had helped him get. "Are these passports good for traveling?" She had been phenomenally impressed by the skills Robin had shown during the entire crisis, and Lulu was unable to believe that the good Dr. Scorpio, the woman her step-sister-in-law never quite measured up to, could commit crimes with so much ease. Lulu had paid as much attention as possible to what Robin was doing, but she hoped that the other woman would give her an in-depth tutorial once they were back home. Knowing how to make fake IDs would be a great skill to possess, especially once Lulu learned enough to make her own. She would never be turned away from the cool nightspots again.
Robin looked up from the thin lamination she was spreading over the front pages of each passport. "No, sorry. Without a computer encoder, I can't make the watermark viable under lasers. But in a pinch, when you just need to flash some ID, they'll work fine."
"Too bad," Sam said. "So we can't leave the country without drawing attention to ourselves?"
"No," Robin replied, running a penknife around the edges of the papers, cutting them to the exact specifications of a real passport. "But if we need to go anywhere again, by the time the WSB or DVX caught up to us, we'll already be hidden in the new country."
"Interesting," Patrick muttered.
Robin turned to face him and rolled her eyes. "Don't even pretend that you're remotely okay with breaking international immigration laws."
Patrick raised an eyebrow. "I told you I was fine, now."
"Okay," she laughed, "There's a difference between accepting something, and actively supporting it."
"I got it!"
They all whipped around to face Bobby, who was raising his arms in the air and beaming in triumph.
"I got a hit!" he said again. He read from a memo that was on his screen. "Marcus Williams was identified as a DVX agent during a raid on a safe house in Germany six months ago. He was removed from WSB custody by an unidentified agent four months ago, after which the Bureau lost track of him. But he had a known address in London at one point, so he must be our guy!"
"A London-based agent with something to prove against the WSB," Robin said. "He'd definitely volunteer for a mission to grab a WSB chief, no matter what role he played in it."
"And four months fits the timeframe for the virus," Patrick added. "They had to have been working on it for a while before it hit Port Charles. Whatever your dad knew, or was supposed to find out, it must have been a fairly recent development."
"Well, we know that the virus, or whatever it was actually supposed to be, was targeted at Port Charles at the last minute," Robin said thoughtfully. "Williams would have been sprung right around the time that the Faison's plans changed."
"You think that double-agent was the one who got him out?" Bobby asked.
"We don't even know for certain that there is a double-agent," Lulu reminded him. "That's still speculation at best. No offense, Robin."
Robin shook her head. "No, you're right. We don't know anything for certain, but it definitely looks like Williams is the agent who posed as your parents' driver, Bobby." She sat back and looked around the room. "So, what do we do now?"
Sam spoke up first. "Now, we call him."
"Wait." Patrick held up a hand. "Just like that?"
"Just like that," Robin agreed, nodding at Sam. "You want me to?"
"We can't take the chance that he'd recognize your voice," Bobby countered. "And Sam's already made contact with the car service, and if they were still watching that place, then they'll just think she's a dupe."
"We can't just call him," Patrick protested. "He isn't with that company anymore; if someone calls out of the blue requesting driving services, won't he think it's bit...odd?"
"Or maybe..." Lulu said slowly, "That's exactly what we want." She looked between Robin and Bobby. "So Sam calls the guy and insists that she got the number from her aunt and uncle. If she drops Sean and Tiffany's names, maybe it'll be enough to scare Williams into a public meeting."
"Sounds good," Robin smiled.
"Nice job," Sam said to Lulu, impressed by the girl's bluffing abilities.
"It'll work," Bobby reluctantly acknowledged.
"You people are all insane," Patrick muttered.
Robin slapped his arm lightly. "No, we just know what has to be done." She looked over at Sam. "You want to get this over with?"
Sam nodded and picked up her cell phone. She reached towards Bobby. "Give me the number. I'll insist on someplace public, okay?"
Robin tapped her chin with a finger. "Someplace nearby to here, but not so close that we could be followed." She grabbed a guidebook from the nightstand next to her bed and began flipping through it. "Bloomsbury Square Gardens are just south of here on Montague," she noted. "It's easy enough to lose anyone following us in Russell Square, and Bloomsbury should be quieter at this time of day."
"We don't have weapons," Bobby added softly. "And we have no idea what we're walking into."
"All of this is just one giant risk," Robin reminded him. Her eyes softened when they fell on him; despite his warnings about safety, Robin knew that Bobby was hoping they wouldn't turn their backs on the only lead he had on his parents. "But we don't have any choice at this point. If there's a DVX presence in London, then there's a WSB presence, too. We have to do whatever we can to find proof that Faison is connected to your parents' disappearance."
Bobby gave a tiny half-smile. "Thanks."
"All right, then," Sam said. "I drop the names, give him an hour to meet up with us at Bloomsbury Gardens, and we hope to God that we're not walking straight into an ambush."
Robin nodded. "That's all we can do." She trained her eyes on Sam, her resolve firm. "Make the call."
***
They had chosen a small park area near the southern edge of Bloomsbury Gardens as the meeting place. It was far enough away from the major streets, busy at the end of a workday, to allow for privacy, but close enough to the more crowded central gardens to provide at least a minimal safety net. The park was quiet, designed for rest and communion with nature amidst the hustle and bustle of the West End. A few scattered groups of trees, mostly birches and alders, dotted the flat landscape; benches were placed sparingly, a purposeful design to invite people to sit directly on the earth. Several large rocks and boulders added depth to the garden area. Only two litter cans broke up the harmonious visage, but people so rarely created trash in this tranquil spot in London, that they were both almost empty. Most of the people who still wandered through Bloomsbury Gardens that early evening had migrated towards the northern part, where several fountains and streetlights made for a much more pleasant gathering place. As far as Robin and the others could see, they were completely alone for the moment.
"Where is he?" Bobby asked, looking at his watch.
"It's not quite five o'clock yet," Robin said with a calm she didn't feel. "There's still time."
"This was a bad idea," Patrick murmured to Robin. "This part of the gardens isn't as crowded as we thought it would be."
Lulu crossed her arms in front of herself to ward off the impending nighttime chill. "We went with what we had," she reminded him. "Robin's right; we didn't have a choice anymore."
Sam walked back over to the group from the edge of the nearby parking area she had been scouting. "It's emptying out pretty quickly, guys," she warned. "Even if Williams shows up alone, we have to assume that he'll be armed." She looked around at everyone, standing under the minimal cover of an alder tree. "And we are very much not."
"Even if he's with someone," Lulu argued, "It'll still be five against two."
"Do any of you even know how to fight?" Patrick asked sarcastically. His eyes widened when Robin, Bobby, and Sam all raised their hands, and Lulu made a 'sort of' motion with her hand. He blinked. "Okay, then."
Bobby looked down at his watch again. "It's five o'clock. Where is he?" He was almost vibrating, and began bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet in an effort to release some of his nervous energy.
"Hey," Lulu said quietly, reaching out a hand to rest on his shoulder. "If this doesn't work, then we'll just find some other way to track him down. Look at me," she said firmly, tilting his face towards her. "We made it this far. We'll find your parents, Bobby."
He looked down, unable to meet Lulu's eyes. He hadn't been on the receiving end of her gentle side before. "Thank you," he said hoarsely.
"Car," Robin interrupted, quickly turning around to face the parking area.
The others turned as well, all of them training their eyes on the black Rolls Royce that was pulling up to the edge of the gardens. The engine turned off, but nobody got out of the car.
"That has to be him," Bobby muttered. "Fancy car, parking right where he said he would. That has to be him."
"Don't do anything rash," Robin whispered, afraid her voice might carry over the southerly breeze. "Wait to see what he does."
"We don't have a plan for what to do after he gets out of the car, do we?" Patrick asked. "I don't remember us getting that far."
"Shut up!" Sam hissed. "Someone's coming."
The door to the car opened, and a man stepped out. He was tall, of thick, stocky build, and looked to have European features. He was a perfect match to the agent photo ID in the WSB file. The man closed the door, locking it and putting the keys in his jacket pocket. He walked over to the group.
"Marcus Williams?" Sam asked, keeping her voice steady.
"Yeah," Williams replied. "You Maria Cates?"
Sam stepped forward slightly, leaving the cover of the tree's shadow. "That's me. We spoke on the phone about car services. My aunt and uncle--"
"Yeah, about that," Williams said, interrupting her. "You're aunt and uncle couldn't have told you about me, because..." He trailed off as he looked at the others who stood before him. A slow, wicked grin spread over his face. "Robin Scorpio."
"Shit!" Bobby cursed, just before Williams whipped out a gun and fired.
They scattered, and Williams followed Robin, his gun trained out in front of him. "Dr. Scorpio, there are orders to take you in with minimum injuries," he said conversationally. "But those orders didn't say anything about anyone else with you."
"What happened to my parents!" Bobby shouted. "We know you were the last point of contact with them before they disappeared." His face twisted into a furious grimace. "Where are they?!"
Williams ran forward at Robin, who dove out of the way towards Patrick. Williams turned around and fired the gun again, the bullet knocking over a trash can and barely missing Lulu. "Don't make me do this the hard way, Doctor," he warned, leveling his gun just above Robin's shoulder at Patrick. "It's easy enough to take the rest of you down, and I really don't care that much about hurting her."
Robin shoved Patrick to the ground just before another shot rang out, and she dove forward towards Williams, knocking him down as well. Maintaining his hold on the gun, he reached out and swung his arm at Robin, the semiautomatic whipping her on her cheek and throwing her backwards.
"Robin!" Patrick shouted, scrambling up.
"Stay back!" Robin screamed at him, struggling to get up before Williams could grab hold of her. She wasn't quick enough, and she cried out in pain as he grasped onto her wrist.
"Let her go!" Sam launched herself onto Williams' back, wrapping her arms around his throat and trying to distract him from Robin.
Lulu and Bobby raced over and tried to pry Williams' strong hand from Robin's tiny arm, and they had barely gotten her free when Williams flung himself back, throwing Sam off of him and sending her crashing to the ground. She didn't get up. Williams fired the gun again, and the bullet grazed Lulu's upper arm.
Lulu screamed and stumbled back, letting go of Robin. Patrick ran forward and pulled Lulu away from Robin, Bobby, and Williams, who were still fighting. Patrick took the momentary distraction to grab Sam and drag her backwards as well; she was struggling to breath but remained alert, and Patrick couldn't find evidence of anything worse than having the wind knocked out of her.
Taking cover with the women behind a large boulder near the edge of the garden area, he locked his eyes onto Robin, who had her hand on the gun and was attempting to wrestle it away from Williams. Bobby was more than a head shorter than Williams, and not built nearly as sturdily, but maintained a tight grip on Williams' other arm in order to prevent him from reaching for Robin again.
At that moment, Williams lost his footing on a small rock, and Robin saw her chance. "Bobby, look out!" she called, before whipping her leg around and delivering a swift roundhouse kick to the DVX agent's midsection. Winded, Williams stumbled back a few steps, and Bobby jumped away from Robin right before she threw a solid punch into his solar plexus. Gasping for air, Williams doubled over and was unable to avoid the harsh chop to his head, just below his occipital ridge. The last thing he knew was intense pain, before the darkness overtook him and he slipped into unconsciousness.
Williams dropped to the ground completely. Robin took a few shaky steps backwards before Patrick ran over to catch her, pulling her securely against his chest. Bobby moved quickly towards Lulu and Sam and without a word, he ripped a strip of cloth from his t-shirt off and wrapped it around Lulu's arm.
"It's fine," she gasped. "Just a graze."
"You could have been killed!" Bobby shouted at her, suddenly furious. "Why the hell didn't you get out of the way?"
"I was trying to help you and Robin!" she shouted back. "And why are you yelling at me? I was shot!"
"I know that!" Bobby hissed through gritted teeth, his hand still holding the makeshift bandage firmly in place. "And I have a problem with that!"
Sam struggled to stand up, but forced herself to try and breath regularly. It was far from the first time she'd been winded in a physical fight, and though it had been a while, she knew her body could sustain a lot worse damage than that. She walked over to Robin, who was still wrapped tightly in Patrick's arms. "Robin?" she whispered.
Robin lifted her head from Patrick's chest and turned to look at Sam. "Are you okay?" she asked quietly, the adrenaline her body had produced during the fight rapidly fading out of her system. She tried to pull back completely, but Patrick kept a firm hold around her body. Robin looked up into her boyfriend's face. "Patrick?"
"What the hell was that?" he asked, though his soft tone did nothing to hide the fear and anger. "He had a gun. What the hell were you thinking, charging at him like that?" Patrick gripped Robin tighter, and he knew that it was because he could find no other outlet for all his churning emotions. The man had had a gun, and Robin had tackled him. Oh God, Patrick thought bleakly as the reality of what just happened sunk in. He had a gun, and he had tried to shoot Robin. "Don't you ever do something that stupid again!"
Robin forcefully pushed against Patrick's body, but he refused to let her go. The intensity of the moment overwhelmed Robin then, and she used the most convenient outlet for her frustration and fear that she had to let some of her energy out. "I told you that this might happen--"
"No!" Patrick roared. "You told me that spying was about observation and confidence, not--"
"I said that it boiled down to that!" Robin cried in frustration. "I never said it didn't involve weapons or fighting at all!" She glared accusingly at him. "Don't you remember the other night, when I first told you about everything? I told you I knew how to disable an attacker and shoot a gun. Don't tell me you still thought it was all just for your benefit!"
"I didn't think you'd give me a first-hand demonstration!" The fight abruptly fell out of Patrick, and he slumped against Robin, holding her solidly against him, but with a much gentler embrace. "God, Robin." His voice came out raw as he choked on a sob. "The man had a gun. He had a gun, and he tried to shoot you."
Robin relaxed against him, understanding what had caused Patrick to react like that. "Patrick," she said softly, wrapping her arms around his back. "I told you things would get bad. I know you weren't expecting this though, not really." Robin shuddered when Patrick leaned down and buried his face into her neck, breathing her in deeply. "It's over now."
"It's going to get worse though, isn't it?" he asked. He felt Robin nod against him, and Patrick squeezed his eyes shut.
Sam moved away from the embracing couple, suddenly feeling incredibly awkward. She looked over to where Bobby and Lulu stood, both frowning at the ground and avoiding each other's eyes. But she saw that Bobby had not removed his hands from Lulu's injured arm, and that Lulu was making no move to get away. Glancing back at Robin and Patrick, who were lost in each other just for that moment, Sam was struck by how utterly alone she felt.
Suck it up, she told herself. Deciding that someone had to deal with the immediate problem, she knelt down next to Williams' body and checked his pulse.
"Oh God," Robin murmured, pulling herself back to reality. She gasped. "Lulu!" She turned to check on the young girl, but Patrick squeezed her hip lightly and pulled away, walking to Lulu and Bobby to examine the bullet wound. Robin knelt down next to Sam. "Pulse?"
"I feel it," Sam said. "But could you just double-check?"
Robin nodded and reached down, feeling a strong, steady pulse. That was good, but she had no way of knowing how long Williams would remain unconscious.
"Hey, um..." Patrick called over from where he stood, gently probing the area around the clotting blood on Lulu's arm. "We didn't kill him, did we?"
"No," Robin told him. "Just unconscious. We have to get him someplace where we can ask him questions."
"We have to get out of here," Bobby remarked. "Four gunshots in a crowded neighborhood in a country not known for gun violence is going to attract a lot of attention soon."
"If he had backup," Lulu began, then winced as Patrick reapplied the cloth bandage, "They would've been here by now, right?"
"Probably," Robin agreed. She looked at Sam. "Keys?"
Sam nodded. "And wallet."
They both reached out and began patting Williams down, searching his body for anything they could use. After a few moments, Sam dug something out of his jacket pocket. "Keys!" she called triumphantly.
"Wallet!" Robin smiled a moment later. She and Sam stood up, and Robin turned back to Patrick, Bobby, and Lulu. "So, guys," she said conversationally, "You want to carry him to the car?"
Patrick's eyes bugged out, and he remained rooted in place even as Bobby walked over to the downed agent. "Why are we taking him to the car?" he asked cautiously. "Assault isn't enough, we have to go in for kidnapping now, too?"
Robin rolled her eyes. "We aren't kidnapping him," she replied. "I have his wallet and ID. We're taking him back to his place."
"We are?" Lulu frowned, holding her injured arm.
"Yup. We can either question him there, or we can search his place for some evidence of what happened to Uncle Sean and Aunt Tiffany."
"Or we can do both," Bobby said, motioning for Patrick to help him lift the large agent. "Geez, this guy weighs a ton! Talk about not being built for stealth."
Patrick picked up the bottom half of Williams' body, muttering under his breath that Robin's parents had damn well better make any charges leveled against him disappear, or else there would be hell to pay. He and Bobby struggled towards the parking area, the women having run ahead of them and unlocked the car.
"Put him in the back," Robin instructed, carrying the gun. "Lulu, take shotgun. I want you to have room for your arm."
"It's not that bad," she protested.
"And I'd like to keep it that way," Robin said. "It'll be too crowded in the back, and I don't want to risk your clot pulling loose."
Bobby climbed into the backseat of the plush car, thinking that this might have been the last place his parents were conscious of what was happening. Or the last place they were alive. He forced that thought out of his mind and roughly pulled Williams' upper body along the leather seat to rest against his thigh. Robin got into the backseat next, keeping the gun loosely in her lap as she shoved Williams' long legs out of the way, sending the man half-sprawling onto the floor of the car. She shrugged, noting with a clinical detachment that he was unconscious and therefore wasn't really feeling anything. She would worry later that her code of medical ethics didn't quite seem to extend to DVX agents. Sam followed her into the back of the car, taking a seat on the edge and pulling the door shut behind her. She would have felt better with a gun, but reminded herself that Robin really did seem to know what she was doing. She idly wondered if Jason had ever known that this side of his ex-girlfriend even existed. She wondered if he remembered that it existed in his fiancée.
Patrick watched the other doors slam shut and sighed, walking around to the right side of the car. "I guess this means that I'm driving?"
His answer was Sam throwing the keys at him. Closing the door, he twisted the key into the ignition and started to drive away. "Okay, so who's navigating me to the assaulted-but-not-kidnapped guy's home?"