Marriage is Murder

Cassidy chuckled at Roberts comment and felt a little better she took hold of Michael's hand letting him lead her down the cave path after she had lit her wand the light brightening their way she could feel the floor sloping away from her and she gripped him tight her heart racing a her foot lost its grip a little under her. It was then she stopped " you here that, voices" she said softly as she dimmed her wand a little she wondered if the path just looped back to the main branch if not then they had found some two legged bats as Robert called them.

Michael had a tight hold on Cassidy and when he felt her start to slip, he wrapped his arm tightly around her waist to catch her. "Don't worry. I've got you," he said. When it came to things like this, Michael was surefooted. "I hear them too," he said. "Put your wand out. Silence now." He dimmed his wand until he was sure Cassidy wasn't going to be able to see much of anything. But Michael was accustomed to working in the dark. He could see. He slowed their steps to be sure that each step was noiseless. He moved them slower, one step at a time.

In the northbound corridor, Robert brought Kate to a halt. "Wait," he said. "I see something." He crouched down to the ground and shifted a rock. He picked up something, and when he stood up, Kate was shocked. There was a medallion from the organization with a broken chain. She gasped in shock.

"You know what this means, dont you?" Robert said.

"Yes., but I can't believe it," she said, thunderstruck.

"Believe it. There isn't any other way this could get here except if we have a mole in our organization. Someone working with us is also working for one of our enemies. They deliberately sold us out to them. We are surely in a great deal more danger." He wrapped his hand arond his own medallion and fired a warning spell into his own medallion. It made the normal green stone in the coin glow an eerie yellow.

"Brian!" Khaat said. "Your medallion! Look! I've never seen that." He drew out his medallion. "I've only seen that once or twice myself. I almost forgot it could do that. Its a warning code. It means that Robert believes we may be in extreme danger. We need to be on our highest guard.

"Then he's found something," she said.

"He most certainly has. I don't know what, but he surely has found something."

Cassidy turned out her wand but only to have an eerie yellow glow come from her medallion " Michael look, they must have found something ." she whispered and showed him her medallion before she covered it to hid its glow to crouch close to him . The voices staid just in front of them both she didn't recognize ether of them and glanced where she thought he would be taking this chance to learn how he worked adding to her skills by watching him closely. Her heart beat in her ears and she felt some what like a small child again crouched next to Michael.

Michael nodded, as they hid behind a rock in the passageway. They were negotiating a fee. A very significant fee, for a significantly risky job. Michael began to gather just enough details to know what the fee was for. There was an intruder--a traitor right in their midst. It was how whoever was beind this had learned the location of the safehouse and had learned how to build the tunnels they were in. The fee, he gathered, was for an assasination attempt. It wasn't clear who the target was but Michael doubted they had shifted gears much. Michael had to work hard to reel in his rage. Nobody was coming against his goddaughter without having to go through him first.

In Brian and Khaat's passageway they came across a narrow opening to Brian's left. He and Khaat slipped inside, and he was horrified. It was a lab for making and storing explosives. They didn't have much built up yet but what they did have was surely not geared for making more caves or tunnels. And he saw at least one that he was sure carried some sort of wizarding plague rather than gunpowder or other explosie means. Brian motioned for Khaat not to touch it. Khaat wasn't moving. Brian turned to look at her. She was looking behind them. He turned to look at what she was looking at. It was an execution block, with an axe leaning against it and a wicker basket, presumably for catching the head of the executed. Brian sighed, annoyed.

"Really?" he scowled. "Are we no more sophisticated than that these days? After all, we are almost in 2025."

"I know what its for," she said softly.

"Dont go there. I plan on you having that necklace for a long, long time, he said. "And I plan on you keeping your head attached as well. He flicked his wand at the stone and the axe and the basket and simply disapparated them into utter nothingness. "That ought to make that a lot harder." She nodded, not speaking. "Hey," he said. "I am not going to let them have you. Not for a oent." He gave her a quick hug and a kiss to reassure her.

Cassidy listened her ears focused on the voices , she felt the tension in his body. " ahem, can we not get angry just yet " she said softly "maybe once we find the traitor " she added softly a she listened more to the talking . It stunned her how people could put a price on somebody's life like that. Now she knew why Steven and Jack did what they did for Robert and the organization. Slowly she turned her head hearing foot steps behind them but as usual Michael was one step ahead and pulled he behind a rock she found her self knelt in a pool of what she took to be water but it felt more sticky. Reaching down she touched it bringing hr hand up she gasped it was not water rather blood but she was uninjured.

"Didnt you see him here?" MIchael asked, crouched beside the mutilated corpse of one of Robert's staff members. He did his best now to shield her from seeing the gruesome sight. "Life is amazingly expendable, isn't it? He was a good lad. God only know what he was doing down here. We'll have to leave him for now. We don't have a choice. But you don't need to look at this. It's definitely gruesome."

Robert and Kate came to the end of their tunnel and it opened up into a vast sized room. As near as Robert could figure, it was about the size of an American football field. It was divided up by areas for various tasks. Weapon making and storage, food storage and preparation, sleeping areas, living areas, and other work areas. This was the heart of what they had come to find. He didn't see anyone here and he didn't see many signs that they had managed to store much of anything. This was, by all he could see, very new.

"Robert," Kate whispered, pointing to her right. He saw the most macabre torture chamber he'd ever seen, and what made it macabre was that it was designed to have spectator seating--for entertainment purposes. Robert knew exactly who they intended to be the star attraction. He had his mind made up. This was being destroyed. Just as soon as they ferretted out the traitor and knew which enemy they were up against.

Cassidy shook her head " too dark for me to see much " she said keeping her eyes forward she herd him talk and sighed " then he died performing his duty" she said softly " we should move on I think they have gone but we all know who there all after " she placed her hand on the stone close to her and wiped the blood off in the mark of a cross " so we can come back for him " she looked at Michael not at the body. Turning back she looked down the passage way at the faint light from inside.

Khaat and Brian emerged from their tunnel at the same time Lee and Jenna emerged from theirs, coming out into the large room. The torture chamber/entertainment circle was the first thing that Khaat and Brian saw. The same thought raced through their heads. Brian drew her tightly against him, feeling the strength rush out of her almost all at once. He felt her knees threaten to give way.

"Steady," he said to her softly. "I'm never gonna let them have you. Never. Come on." He reached into his coat pocket and drew out a flask of firewhiskey and opened it. "Here. Drink." He fed her a drink of firewhiskey and he felt her use it to gather her wits about her. "Better?" he asked. She nodded. He closed the flask and replaced it in his pocket. "I'm going to find them, Sweetheart. I swear." She nodded.

Lee walked over to Robert still looking in every direction. "Jenna and I found a command office in our corridor and what looks like the starts of a commander's quarters and some other offices. They're still under constrution. We need to take this down."

"No," Robert said, having second thoughts. "I need the mole. We need to set a trap."

"Alright. I have a suggestion. I have 2 house elves back in Washington, and we have one invisibility cloak in our archives. It would shield them both. Because house elves are so powerful, what if we use them and hide them with the invisibility cloak and let them immobilize your mole and then you can have him?" Lee suggested.

Cassidy followed Michael down the passageway out into a large area Cassidy's eyes fell to what she could only describe as a torture chamber/entertainment circle and she shivered remembering what she had seen as a kid on the streets and who it was meant for." that should be destroyed " she said to Michael now her own anger rising from deep inside her . It was then she saw the others and moved to them hearing them talking as she did. Her stomach turning as she thought about the torture chamber/entertainment circle and possibly how many had used it and lost there lives in it.

"It will be," Michael told her. "In time. I know that look on Robert's face. He's got a plan. And he's working with Lee on something." Michael walked over to the equipment. It was conjured but very good conjuring. "It hasn't been used--yet," MIchael said. "Don't let your mind wander away with itself. Its easy to let it go off into odd places when you see this stuff, but this hasn't been used yet. Everything you see is conjured. Easily created, easily destroyed."

He walked over to Robert. "Can we help?" he asked.

"Yes. I'll need volunteers. We need to stay well hidden all around here. Lee's going to bring a couple of special agents to help. They'll be the ones that move. Not us. We want the mole taken alive. The rest of us will simply remain in hiding and provide backup if they need it. But--we cannot underestimate their ability to infiltrate the house and get to us and our kids."

"I'll bring in more men," Lee said. "I'll use my men here. You keep the ones you trust on high alert. Otherwise, we'll tip off the mole for certain. I'll bring you the mole when we get him. And then it will gie me great pleasure to have you help me destroy this place for all time."

"Makes more sense," Kate said.