Feminine Fire

Brian got coffee from Robert's secretary and he sent her downstairs with two mugs--one for Jack and one for Steven. Brian decided to wait upstairs by the fireplace in Robert's office. He was anxious. he was sick and tired of this already. He didn't wait well this time. It made him impatient. He wanted Khaat home.

And it didn't take 30 minutes. "Quinn!" Gelding's voice roared again through a blast of magical green flame that rose up again.

"What do you want?" Brian snapped back in a deliberately foul tone.

"I have her. We need to trade."

"Indeed. Midnight," Brian ordered.

"No. Now!"

"You don't call the shots here, Gelding. I do."

"Look, Burke has been dealt with. Stop blowling things up and lets just trade and get this overwith," Gelding said impatiently.

"How do I know Burke will honor your orders?"

"He doesn't have a choice. And besides, I have her now. Not Burke. We do this now."

"Alright. Fine. You come the London Eye. I'll meet you there."

"Its full of stinking muggles!"

"Exactly," Brian said.

"Alright, alright. Ten minutes?"

"I'll be there. If you mess this up, Gelding, I'll kill you and everyone in your organization."

"Just cool your jets, Quinn. Worry more about yourself." The green flame went out. Brian smiled. This had gone the way he had wanted it to, from start to finish. He went back downstairs to Steven and Jack. "Just like clockwork. We exchange in ten minutes at the London Eye. Gelding has promised that Ethan Burke won't borrow me for awhile."

Steven was glad of the hot coffee, he blew over the top of it and started to drink he had only finished half when he heard Brian's voice he placed it down and moved to Brian " London eye, good choice, plenty of muggles so he won't do anything stupid " he said and raised his hat slightly as he looked at Brian. He saw Jack walk over and watched the woman.

" so how we going to do this we can't have her tied when we make the exchange " jack said to Brian he was glad things were working out for them and hoped this would mean Dakota and Abby would have their mother back. He drank the last of his coffee and placed it nest to Stevens cup and brushed down his dark shirt his eyes normal again as he looked at Brian.

"I'll take her," Brian said. "I want you two to go position yourselves nearby and out of sight. I'll need backup. Take a couple of muggle guns. Robert's secretary can find you a couple of handguns with silencers. Go see her now and then go find hiding places. Keep the guns concealed unless you need them. Don't use wands. Too many muggles there. Steven, you have the most experience with a handgun. I'll expect you to take the shot if you have to, but use a silencer. We don't want to cause panic. You two will be responsible for making sure that nothing happens to our guest, to Khaat and to me. Personally, I don't care about me so long as we get Khaat back. But, the reality is that I can't go in armed. I'll be depending on you. You both okay with that? I'll bring her as soon as I wake her. Gelding knows what I look like. I don't care if he sees me. You still aren't quite on his radar, and I'd like to keep your identities hidden if I can do that at all. It makes it easier to use you in stealth missions later. You two are like the aces up my sleeve, and I'd like to keep it that way, if that's alright with you. It means I really do depend on you more than either of you probably realize."

jack looked at Steven who nodded " I have my own gun" he said softly to Brian moving his coat to one side to show him " always take it with me as back up " he said then looked at Jack " anything goes wrong stay beside me " he said knowing Jack had little to no experience in muggle guns. Both men stood with Brian " Jack you stand at the bottom I'll go on the eye in a second carriage" he said and moved back to the woman standing over her " it will be good to have Khaat back " he said looking down at the woman on front of him.

Jack sighed and nodded " Brian, you do know I have no experience with muggle guns " he said looking from Steven to Brian and back worried his inexperience would screw things up and they would lose both Khaat and the woman if he messed up some how. He knew he would not mess up as he would do just what he was asked .

"Steven," Brian said, "Teach him how to shoot a gun. I want you two to have sharpshooter skills. If you aren't a sharpshooter, let me know. Owens is a sharpshooter. You can teach him what you know and Owens can sharpen up what you might not know. For now, business first. Take a gun, Jack. Don't shoot yourself with it."

He waved them away. He didn't want them near when he woke the girl. Once they had gone, he released her from the incarcerous spell and simply used a spell to bind her hands together. Then he removed the stunning spell on her. She woke, startled, screaming, terrified.

"Stop it," Brian told her calmly. "I'm not going to hurt you. You're only a pawn. I want my wife back. That's all. I'm taking you back."

"Y...your wife?" she stammered. "Who took your wife?"

"Ethan Burke. And my wife is pregnant. Due any time. If he hurts her, I'll kill him."

"If he hurt her, I'LL deal with him," she said, her eyes flashing. "He knows better than to take a pregnant woman. Ever." Brian couldn't resist a slight smile. In another time, he might have liked her.

"Thank you," he said softly. "I swear. I'm taking you home. Gelding is waiting for you."

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Brian Quinn," he replied.

"Quinn? I thought you were single."

"No. I"m not. If Gelding hurts my wife or my children, I'll kill him and everyone associated with him."

"I can't blame you for that," she sighed.

"Then you dont' know what he really is, do you?"

"What do you mean?"

"If you want to know, I'll tell you, but we're out of time."

"You have to tell me."

"You were a slytherin. But even slytherins believe in family and children. Gelding doesn't. He kidnaps them and sells them to muggles."

"What!!!"

"And he's using your family's money to do it."

"He is not!"

"Check him out yourself. Don't take my word for it. But protect yourself. Don't let him know what you're up to."

"How...do I find you if...."

"You'll know," he said, helping her to her feet. "We need to go." He apparated her out and took her behind a food vendor's truck at the London Eye. He began scouring the crowd, looking for any sign of Jack, Steven, Khaat, or Gelding.

Steven took Jack to one side and took a gun from Owens and lead Jack out to a tree "! ok aim at that tree and fire " he said watching how jack stood and took aim and missed the tree entirely. He sighed " long day" he said and quickly showed him how to fire it. Soon Jack was hitting his target. " god you'll do " he said and gave him the holster and gun to wear " keep it hid under your jacket I keep mine against my hip, you better wear a shoulder holster " he noticed Brian and took Jack's hand " just don't shoot your foot off rookie " he said and chuckled as he aperated them to the eye or rather an alley close to it quickly they got in position Jack stood at the base while Steven rode up in an adjacent carriage his eyes spotting Brian and the woman straight away he pulled down his hat and nodded to Brian indicating he was there.

Brian saw Steven and then spotted Jack. That made him feel better.

"He's here," the woman said, pointing out Gelding to him. Gelding had changed his hair. Not a very good disguise. he was too old to wear a spiky gothic haircut dyed in an icy white color. It was revolting.

"Was that your idea?" Brian frowned.

"No," she said, sounding just as disgusted as Brian felt. Then Brian saw Khaat. She did not appear to be hurt, but Gelding had her clearly under an imperious curse so that Khaat was forced to act as if she were Gelding's loving and devoted girlfriend. That pissed Brian off. He understood why Gelding had done it, but Brian didn't like Khaat being put under an unforgiveable curse, no matter how well he treated her.

"Are you ready to go back?" Brian asked the woman.

She nodded and then said, "I...I wish I'd maybe...."

"What is it?" Brian asked her.

"I was just wishing I'd met you years ago. Is that her?" she looked at Khaat.

"Yeah," Brian said.

"She's gorgeous. Tell her how lucky she is, would you?"

"I'm the lucky one," Brian said softly. He led her towards Gelding. When he and Manning stood toe to toe with Gelding and Khaat, Gelding narrowed his eyes at Manning, trying to decide if she was alright.

"I"m fine, Tom," she reassured him.

"You'd better be," Gelding said harshly.

"I can't say the same for her," Brian said to Gelding while he was looking at Khaat.

"Its harmless," Gelding said. "If you're half the man you say you are, you can handle it." He looked at Khaat. "Walk over to him and put your arm around his waist as if you were lovers." Khaat obeyed, still under the ikmperious curse. She walked over to Brian and put her arm around his waist as Brian watched Manning return to Gelding. "Next time you want something, Quinn, just ask," Gelding said.

"Next time, keep your thugs under control and we won't have a problem," Brian said. He stood firm while he watched Gelding turn and walk away with Manning. He saw at least six men fall into line walking behind him as they walked into an alley, presumably so they could apparate away. Brian decided not to remove the imperious curse here in front of the muggles. "Come with me," Brian told Khaat quietly. "Let's go home." He looked over at Steven and Jack and made a slight motion to follow. Then he headed in the opposite direction Gelding had gone, towards another alley so he could remove the spell and take them all home.

Steven watched the exchange up to the point when Brian left He hung around for a bit longer and when the carriage stopped he climbed out joining jack in the alley. Holding his hand he aperated away back to the main house where he let go and moved to the kitchen changing his clothes back to there usual relaxed style as he moved. " no problems ?" he asked " I did notice she seemed concerned with Khaat " he said as he walked back in with a cup of coffee and one of tea witch he handed to Brian " for Khaat that spell might make her thirsty " he said moving to sit down. Steven watched how jack stood watching Khaat and sighed " ok Rookie, gun please " he said and took it back from him placing it in a lockable drawer away from the girls.

Brian apparated Khaat back to the house, keeping her firmly at his side. Robert and Kate immediately stood and went to them. Robert lifted Khaat's face to look into her eyes. He saw the curse at work in her system and he cursed out loud, disgusted. He laid his hand on her forehead, checking her and then his other hand on her stomach.

"She is unharmed, outside of the imperious curse. I'll take care of that in a moment," Robert said. "Sit, Khaat." She obeyed, her face blank, unthinking. He drew his wand and cast a Finite spell at her to draw off the imperious curse. Her head spun, and she fell limp against the back of the sofa.

"Give her one moment. She'll be fine," Robert said. "Jess, can you brew her a mug of chamomile tea, please? I'm sure something to soothe her nerves will be most welcome. And then I'd like you and Angus to fix us a late lunch please. I think we could all use a bit of food about now. Something simple will be fine."

Jess stood watching as she saw Khaat obey Robert and sit down then slump against the back of the chair she wanted to go to help her but knew that Robert would have it well in hand. Quickly she moved to the kitchen switching on the kettle and pulled everything she needed down from the cupboards to make the tea. Soon she held a tray with the pot of tea and a cup on. She carried it through to the main living room and placed it on a small table next to her, Jess looked at Robert " is she alright?" she asked softly as she pored two cups of tea, one she handed to Robert and the other she left on the tray for Khaat. " You looked as if you needed one too Robert" she said. Holding her self from prying into his mind so he would know she had mastered her own self control in her seeing and now she held it. Only sensing Jacks feelings which she knew any way being his wife. She then moved back to the kitchen, " ok what are we going to make we could use the last of that beef and make some sandwiches or a quick stew" she offered but she knew Angus would have a better idea of what to make.

Steven sat watching he had seen the spell before and knew Khaat would be alright but he could hot help move slightly when she fell back in the chair. His eyes watching so see if she would be fine as Robert had told Kate. sitting back in his chair he waited glad Khaat was back and safe but he stood up and walked out side to patrol for his own peace of mind, he felt some one join him and smiled seeing Jack had joined him in his patrol leaving the others inside.