LONDON CALLING

"Sanks!" Abbey said, glad to get some lunch. She tucked in happily to her soup and her soda bread. "Dis carrot, Aggie?" she asked.

"No, but that's a good guess," Angus smiled. "Pumpkin."

"Punkin?" she looked at him, as if she didn't believe him.

"Yeah," he laughed. "It really is pumpkin. Do you like it?" She nodded. "Ruby makes good soup." She nodded. He looked at Ruby. "I'll eat when everyone else does. In the meantime, I'll write some quick notes to these candidates and see if we can get them sent out so I can schedule some interviews and ask Brian to check their backgrounds when he gets to the Ministry next. I'll have to see if Lee will get one of his people do to the background check on Zoe, since she's living in the states."

He got out a ledger of the cabins on the estate and saw that they were close to being all filled. Well, that created a new issue. They needed to build more housing.

"Ru," Angus said, "we might need to give up our room here in the main house for a bit. I can find housing for Nicky and his family because we have one three bedroom cabin left, but I don't have a place for Zoe. If we hire her, I might have to house her in our room in the main house at least temporarily because I need to get more housing built. But--if we have chefs that will handle the cooking, we probably won't need to be staying here overnight like we used to. Either that, or we'll have to invest in some small places in the village near here. We did that at one time, but then we sold all those off because we were building here on the grounds. I'll talk to Robert and Brian and see what they want to do for a long term solution."

The outdoor crew had some barracks style housing out near where the crops were, and that seemed to suit them very well, but that wasn't going to work for a single woman who was going to need to be closer to the main house. As the current cabins were, there was room for at least three more cabins on the other side of Yu's cabin. But if those were ever filled, there would need to be another row of them somewhere. And, if Nicky brought two little people, and with Abbey and with Caprice coming, they might well need a part time nanny here too.

"Ralph might like me now, but wait until I have to take her broom away from her or ground her for not doing her chores or any of the rest of it," he cast her an amused smile. "Then she isn't going to like the sound of my voice quite so much. Everything will change."

Robert came inside and washed up from having been out in the barn, and he smelled the soup.

"God, that smells good," he said. "I didn't think I was hungry until I smelled that. i think the others are probably on their way in, you could serve up lunch any time. I'm going to go have a word with Angus for a moment." He went into Angus's office and closed the door for privacy.

"Angus, I'm going to have to assemble a team after lunch," Robert said quietly.

"What's up?" Angus asked.

"Michael went on a mission for me three days ago. He should have been back by morning, but it's now been three days, and not only have we not heard from him but neither has Daphne. He doesn't just drop off the grid like this, not unless he's in trouble."

"Agreed," Angus frowned. "Where was he headed?"

"Austria," Robert said. "He was meeting a contact there and retrieving some very rare old spell books--dark arts books that we were trying to keep out of Gelding's hands."

"Well, that puts you almost in Sergio's and Ana's backyard. Far closer to them than to our operatives in Paris."

"Yes," Robert said. "How are they in espionage?"

"Well, that's not their strong suit. I'm not saying they couldn't manage it, but they're far more the warrior type," Angus said. "You need Marcus for the espionage work. Ana adapts quickly, though, so she might be a good partner for him. or Edward. One or the other."

"I'll try to hold a staff briefing over lunch and see if anyone else is comfortable going to Austria undercover," Robert said.

"I have candidates for the chef jobs and the housekeeper job. Any problem interviewing them?"

"No, get them coming."

"We're short on housing, though."

"Yes, I know. Brian and I are having a blueprint drawn up for a small apartment building--if we house individuals and couples there, that would free up our cabins for families."

"Apartments? I hadn't thought about that."

"Well, this building would house about 8 rowhouse style flats, and they would be in the same log cabin style, so they would be rustic and they would fit in with everything else."

"Okay. How soon would they be built?"

"If we started soon, they might be finished by late January or February."

"Okay. That answers that problem. Good."

Robert left Angus's office and called everyone to lunch.

"Ruby, I need to do a small staff briefing, so if you need help getting lunch to the dining room, let me know," Robert said. "We have a situation that needs handled."

Kate heard Robert's summoning and knew this was not just a notice that lunch was ready. She shouted for Jack to go to the main building, knowing something was up. Edward and Simone recognized the difference too in Robert's tone, so they apparated over to the main building and went to the dining room. Kate went into the house and got out a pitcher of iced tea and one of ice water and set them out as alternatives to Ruby's pitcher of juice.

"I'm sorry to interrupt lunch," Robert told them all as they gathered, "but we have a situation. Where's Rowan? He should be here for this. This is important. One of our first stringers is missing. Michael went to Austria for me 3 days ago on what should have been just an overnight mission, and he hasn't returned. Nor have we heard from him. I need minimally a two person team to go to try to find him and bring him back. I will send Marcus as one person on the team, but to do that, I still need a partner for him. And I need someone to go and bodyguard Khaat at St. Mungos, stay with her this afternoon, and bring her home safely at the end of the workday. So, do I have anyone who either feels they can handle some espionage work or that will cover for Marcus at St. Mungos."

"Rowan," Robert said, "I am not discounting you, but I need someone that has espionage skills, at least enough that whoever I send isn't going to get him and themselves killed because of the lack of skills for the job. If I send you, you really will need to follow Marcus's lead...."

"Robert," Andrew said, seeing nobody was volunteering to help cover for Marcus. "I'll go step in for Marcus.'

"Thank you," Robert said. "We cannot risk James taking full advantage of this, and that would be exactly what he would do. If Jack ever shows up, I can send him to relieve you." Angus picked up immediately how tense Robert was. He wasn't making an intentional slam against Jack, but he didn't like it when one of his first stringers was missing--particularly someone he depended on as much as he depended on Michael. Andrew simply drew his wand and apparated out, going to St. Mungos.

It wasn't more than about five minutes, and Marcus and Brian arrived.

"Give me a moment to change," Marcus said. "Who's coming? We'll need casual, warm clothes. Jeans, maybe a sweatshirt and a jacket. It will be cold and damp."

"I'll go," Brian said.

"Fine," Robert said. He looked at Rowan, "if you can keep your cool and follow Marcus's, I'll send you with them. If not, then, I'll send Jack or Jessie."

"I'll help you," Simone told Ruby.

"So will I," Kate said.

"Andrew went to cover Khaat at St. Mungo's," Angus said to Jack, "but I think it would be a prime time for James to try to show up to take her. Any chance you could go when its closer to time for her to come home and make sure she gets home without him stirring up some crap tonight?"

"Alright," Robert nodded to Rowan. "Go change into warmer clothes and get some mission gear. Gear up, Marcus and Brian. You three roll out as soon as you're all ready to go." Brian and Marcus nodded, and they turned and went upstairs to change before going down to the weapons locker.

"I can message Sergio and Ana for any help they can provide," Angus said.

"Do it," Robert said.

"Write your message, and I'll send it," Edward told Angus. "If Jack is tied up at 5 this evening, I'll go help Andrew bring Khaat home. James knows better than to try to screw around with me."