LONDON CALLING

"Wait a second," Robert said, coming between Jack and Rowan. "How did we get morons on the crew anyway? Who hired them or sent them?" Robert's guess was that it was probably people that the phony Owens had sent from Paris. "Jack, you get all our staff who aren't first stringers, and you put them through the obstacle course and then send them over to Kieran for a simulations test. I have given Kieran the curriculum to run simulations of the kinds of situations they might well find working for us. Get all these men tested in the next 48 hours. Then, Rowan, your man has one week to start showing improvement in these guys, or the guys are gone. I need to be able to trust them with the lives of my family members, and if I can't do that, they're bloody worthless to me. Jack, we will run the obstacle course test and the simulations again 9 days from today. I want the before and after scores from here and from Kieran on my desk on day ten. And then, I'll let you know on day 11 who stays and who goes. Any questions from anybody? I take this seriously because I've seen what happens is this is buggared up."

"Ruby, a word, and Nigel, you might as well sit in," Robert said. "It won't take long, Ruby, but you do need updated. The rest of you, back to work."

Michael didn't say a word. He understood Robert's mood too well. He had seen what James and Gelding could do if they got too much leeway into the estate. He agreed with Robert that it couldn't be allowed to happen again. He also knew that Lee was still here,and he would not pull his men while they were proving to be so invaluable. But Robert was losing patience with incompetence, and Michael couldn't blame him.

"We'll keep everyone covered, Robert," Michael told him. "This first string knows how to protect itself. We'll manage. There's a good reason why we're the first string. We've got this, Mate. It'll be alright."

"I hope you're right," Robert said.

Rowan and Jack looked at Robert and listened " yes sir" they both said together and looked at each other. Jack left to go pull the iddiots from the ranks to be retested while Rowan passed the message to his second in command Grant to follow what ever order Jack gave him and to do the same. Grant walked in with a report and names for Rowan who looked it over " yep, your right, they all came in about the same time and are wowfully under trainned, Grant send them to Owens in paris for retrainning, Jack knows who and where to send them." Grant left and Rowan placed down the report for Robert to look over. " its about five or six men in total, Jack got the running now any who don't make it gets send to Owens." he said sitting back against the counter with a cup of fresh tea.

Ruby looked at Robert with a pickle in her mouth but she quickly ate it and moved to Robert knowing it had to be important. She sat facing him and it hadn't gone un noticed that Angus was no where around. " you wanted to talk to us?" she asked as Nigel joined them

Robert felt much better knowing that Jack was on it. Robert decided he would talk to Lee and make sure Lee could continue to extend the additional help, and Robert would ask again to pay for their services. Lee hadn't charged him yet, but Robert was going to ask again, all the same.

"Yeah. Just wanted to let you know. We had a situation here last night. Everyone here is fine. So, take a moment and let that register. Everyone is fine. But, you and Nigel need to know the details. Let me say this and then go back and fill in the blanks. Angus is fine, and he's here. He was up late last night, so he's sleeping in upstairs in your room here.

"Here are the details. They're relevant to both of you. We were breeched by James and some of his werewolves. James told Angus that he had come to get a wedding present for his boss. Now, I think we both know what that means. It sounds to me like James thinks Gelding is going to be soon moving ahead to marry your mother. I've checked with my sources at the ministry here and I've also checked with the minister in Paris. There has been no license applied for yet. So, unless they married somewhere else, and I don't know how they can, seeing as though your mother is still a British citizen, there is no record of anything happening yet.

"So, they attacked here, and our crew did a good job of holding them off. Edward eliminated a couple of the younger ones. And then one of the young ones apparated behind Angus and apparated out with him, leaving Angus' chair behind. We found an old key and an old brochure on the body of one of the werewolves that Edward killed, and we traced it to an old abandoned resort in southern France.

"In the meantime, Angus was trying to work to get himself out, and I can't blame him. That's what he's been trained to do, and that's what I think any one of us would try to do. With very limited mobility and no magic, his option to get out was to crawl through the standing water in the room he was in. And, in the process he ran into some splinters of wood and shards of glass--mainly in his hands, and a few in his knees. All very superficial. He's pretty tired, though. He didn't have the energy for all that. We brought him back here, and it did take me a bit to get all the glass and the splinters out of his hands. And he simply fell asleep. He was completely worn through. He did exactly what he needed to do, and I was proud of him for pushing through it. I felt for him, though. I really didn't want to wrestle him around very much, so we just levitated him upstairs. That's why he's here. I've got some medicated bandages around his hands but I'm betting I'll be able to take them off by bedtime or morning. I'm only being cautious to try to keep his hands from getting infected from whatever nasty crud that might have been in the water. It's purely preventative. So, before you go home and you don't find him there, that's because he's here. And he deserved a few hours of sleep. If I know him at all, he'll be awake soon since he never sleeps more than about five hours at a time anyway."

"I'll keep an eye out for him to make sure he's still doing as well as he was before last night," Nigel said.

"That was precisely why I included you in this. He's so ahead of schedule that I don't want him to have any sort of a setback if we can prevent it," Robert said.

"I bet he'll be okay. One thing I've learned--he's a stubborn buggar. Takes after his grandpa."

Ruby was glad that Angus was back safe even though he hurt his hands she knew he had tried his level best to get back to them . " can I go see him?" She asked as she sat looking at Nigel her stomach turning at the thought of what might have happened to him. She had heard the pain in his voice at James getting onto the grounds. "I'm guessing thats what all that was about" she said meaning the speach to Jack and Rowan about retrainning some of the men " you think those idioits let him slip by don't you." she said but knowing Robert had take the right stance to protect every one.

Rowan listened and looked at Michael " is it always like this?" he asked palcing down the empty cup and walkign out onto the porch to light up a ciggerette. " want one?" he asked offering him the packet. " he looked out over the grounds and lent on the wooden railings " its funny you were so close yet so far away" he said and chuckled as she saw several men runing two or three falling behind the rest. " guess those will be going to paris" he said pointing to the rather unfit silloettes in the distance.

"Of course," Robert said. "You can absolutely go up and see him. Why don't you take him a mug of coffee? As I said, I'm sure he'll be awake any time now, and he's going to want coffee. Oh, those really are his cinnamon rolls. He made them last night after supper, and Michael baked them off this morning.

"ou would have been proud of Angus, though. He had his pistol with him on the porch, and he stood his ground. Edward and Simone and Andrew had him covered--until James hit Angus and Andrew with a Petrificus Totalus charm. Otherwise, I don't think James's men could have touched him. I haven't had a chance to debrief him yet, but I will because I want to find out his version of things.

"I actually didn't consider yet if those men were part of some sort of slip last night. Haven't had time to look into it, but I'm sure Jack will. Jack is very thorough that way. I always take the security of this property, the farm, Paris, and Colorado very, very seriously. The people that I love live there or work in those places. I was helpless to stop my brother from being turned into a werewolf, but he was only four and I was only five. It wasn't supposed to be my job to protect him. I took it very seriously though, and if something happened to Kate or Khaat, I really don't know what I would do. And I know every single person here has someone in their lives that they feel that way about. How could I do less than to put everything I know and everything I have to protect that? What sort of a man would I be if I didn't? Ruby, James has been coming and going at will from this estate for a bloody long time. If I could figure out how he's managing to do that and shortcut it, I absolutely would. But he's been doing that for the last three years at least. I will do my level best to make sure that we're secure. That's why we've been looking at increased layers and types of spells for the protection grid."

"Yes, it is always like this, except when it's worse," Michael said. "God, yes, I would love a cigarette. Thanks." Michael took a cigarette from the pack and lit it. He watched some of the men struggling to keep up. "Let's hope Robert isn't seeing that. That's just a pitiful level of conditioning. Clearly, they're in their early 30's. I'm 62, and I could leave them all in the dust. I'm bloody tempted to go do it just to shame the daylights out of them. Tell me, Rowan. What interests you? You seem like you have a lot of interests and a lot of abilities in a lot of areas. What is it you really want to be doing with yourself and your life? I'm not attempting to preach, believe me. I'm certainly not qualified. Just trying to get to know you."

Ruby relaxed as Robert spoke she knew if he felt everything was ok then it was " thank you I will and I am immensely proud of him." she said smiling as she looked towards the stairs that lead to their bedroom.

Rowan looked over as he held out the packet then slipped it back into his pocket as he lit his own then Micahels with his lighter. " oh not much the firm keeps me busy, no girl no wife and kids, i traveled a lot doing security, gess when Im not doing that I read and well look around for aniques, nice ones not tacky ones, he showed him the lighter he had " its how I got this." he showed him a brass engraved lighter with M.T engraved on one side " it was in with a load of modern ones I saw it and knew it was a Venetian SLIM Vintage Style Silver Zippo with a Custom Monogram Engraving." he held it out to Michael.

"Now that is a very nice lighter,' Michael said. It looked like one he himself had had years ago. Alette had given it to him early into their relationship. He couldn't be sure it hadn't been his, but he wasn't going to even imply it. "My life was much the same," Michael said. "I wanted your mother to be 'the one.' That was part of what that cottage was about. A little whitewashed cottage right on the beach that we could settle into and maybe have one or two kids, and still be crazy for each other. That was what I had hoped we would have. Your mother didn't have the same dream, though, I found out. And as she got older, she got less and less emotionally stable.

"You have to understand that to be effective as a burglar, you have to have very sensitive hearing and eyesight and especially very sensitive touch. As she aged, she lost the sensitive touch. She didn't want to believe she couldn't go crack a safe anymore but the fact was that she couldn't hear the tumblers anymore and she couldn''t feel them either. She just couldn't do it, and she couldn't accept that she wasn't able to pull a job anymore. The last three big heists she tried to pull, I had to go save her behind because they damn near got her killed. She snapped completely. and for the better part of a month, she was hospitalized at St. Mungo's because her mind just wasn't right. She tried one last job after that, framed me for it, and I did damned near a month in Azkaban for something I didn't do. Robert found out the truth and got me out, thank God. Miserable place, that.

"Do you remember a gardener fellow that lived in the cottage with your mother for the last year or so of her life, in the guest room? Rupert, I believe his name was? Well, he was there to keep her safe, to keep her from doing something either illegal or stupid. He was a legitimate nurse, but he had also done some bodyguard work. Robert found him for me, and I paid for Rupert. That's what kept her safe and stable for the last year she had. I'm guessing you were told that Rupert was with her when she passed. Well, he was in the house, but I was with her when she passed. Rupert notified me when it got to be her time to go, and I went to her. I was there with her so she wouldn't be alone. And I took care of her expenses. I simply locked up the house just as it was the day she passed and haven't gone back. I knew it was still there, but I hadn't gotten up the courage to go there and not find her there. So, someone might as well be getting the use out of it. I'm fine with your being there. Entirely too many memories for me.


"So what else do you like to do? I like cooking, fine wines, good tobacco, good music, good friends, and climbing. I do quite a lot of mountain climbing. I don't know that its much of anybody else's thing, but Angus does some. Jessie does a little. Sergio and Ana, when they're here, they seem to like climbing like I do, but I don't know them well. They work with us, but they live in Romania, so I don't know them like I'd like. And now that you're working in England, where are you staying?"

Rowan smiled and chuckled as he took back the lighter. He listened to Micahel and nodded " I know him he use to give me candy when I was small and yeah I know he was there, didn't know you were thought, they brought me back for the funeral that was all, I went to university got a degree in Law but was never one for sitting around." He listened as Michael asked about what he liked and he chuckled " got to love good food and that goes with good wine too, a god book, cigars, fine music, I play the piano, she made me have lessons, thought I haven't since she passed." he smiled " as for freinds there who I work with, some I've saved from bad situations, Grant, for instance, lost his kids to a slaver, together we went in got them back, slaver never knew we were there, he was grateful and said he'd replay me by working with me, I gave him a decent wage and home to live it, His daughters in collage now, studying archology or something like that." he turned to face Michael "So what now?" he asked 

Ruby stood up and made a fresh cup of coffee then headed up the stairs to their rom , slowly opening it she smiled and moved to palce the cup on the night stand. Looking down at Angus she waited for him to speak before she did not knowing if he was still sleeping or just dozing. She did how ever lean down and kiss him lightly

Michael smiled when Rowan said Alette had made him take piano lessons.

"Well, I can tell you why that was. I taught your mother about classical music, and I took her to the symphony and the opera. She loved every bit of it. The dressing up, going out to the theater and then going for a late night supper afterward. I really thought it was going to be something we could enjoy together, but then I realized she had an extra thing she liked about it that hadn't occurred to me. She was nicking the jewelry off the socialites that were going. I hadn't even considered nicking someone. So, I started buying her cd's and muggle means for her to enjoy the music without going to the theater. I took her once in awhile, when I could manage to have eyes in the back of my head. So I think her love of classical music and wanting you to learn how to play came out of all of that." He listened to Rowan talk about rescuing children, and just like so many things, there were common grounds there too.

"Well, we do a lot of that too. Just last week, we rescued 52. They'll stay with us until we can determine if they can go back home to their families or not. We've been doing that since just about the time we graduated. That makes it--god, 45 years we've been rescuing kids." And then the real question had come up. Rowan had asked what now.

"I don't know," Michael said. "I didn't think I would ever be a father, so I don't know how to answer that. I can't promise you that I can be anything but myself, and I don't expect anything other than that from you either. Maybe you gave it a bit more thought about what you hoped it would be like if you ever found your dad. So, you answer me. What are you hoping for? Where would you like to see things go?

Upstairs, Angus had been in a much lighter sleep now, and the aroma of fresh coffee had gotten his attentions a bit. And then she had kissed him.

"Hm..." he said, more asleep than awake. "I smell coffee. First time I've ever been kissed by a cup of coffee. Ruby's going to be so jealous she missed out," he managed to tease her just a little. He woke and looked at her. Then he looked to see where he was. He frowned. The last he clearly remembered was...well, just what was it anyway? "Oh, yeah. the last I knew was coming home last night. Then it gets really fuzzy. I was too tired to care. How are you? Been home long?"

Rowan listened to Michael and chuckled knowing what he said must be the truth of it all he sighed as he spoke of his mother and opera " yeah she loved to listen to it, always smiled when she did." he said then he heard him talk of rescuing children " that was you guys, nice work, we started ten years ago, I'm surprised we haven't crossed paths before" he listened when Michael spoke again and nodded he heard him ask and chuckled " well for one not while on the job, but I guess knowing who I am, where I came from, mom gave me some info, but as you guessed, it was half truths wrapped in paper shit, I guess I know we're never going to be all over the top lovey-dovey father-son stuff, but being civil for now will work and just being able to be there if needed, we both have our own lives" 

Ruby chuckled as she heard his voice but was concerned about his lapse in memory. she didn't show it but smiled at him " we're both fine and Nigel and I got in not so long ago." she said to him kissing him once more "Im glad your resting, I missed you and Im so proud of you." she brushed some of his hair off his face and back behind his ear.