Danny

[0_0_7]

Bond had sat in his car watching the building. He'd been watching for some time now and he knew Danny's habits. When he was home, for how long, when he left, where he went, and he'd even learned to tell how long he might have by how the man dressed. He'd go out dressed neatly, hair combed and face shaven. Job interviews. He'd go out at night in a casual shirt and a second hand jacket he didn't mind losing. Clubbing. Sometimes he dressed nicely but casually and on those nights he'd followed him to Hex's house. So he knew he'd have the night. Of course he knew Hex's schedule. That bloke was predictable.

And so Danny went out for the night and Bond made his move. He broke into the flat, well aware that the flatmate was at her boyfriend's house, likely high and fucking by now. THat gave Bond plenty of time to stage the flat.

He tipped over a table and scooted a chair. He dropped a shoe he'd brought and then some distance later he dropped another. A shirt tossed to the side. Trousers left puddled in the hall. And atDanny's bedroom doorway a pair of pants with anonymous DNA staining the crotch. He tussled the bed and smashed the pillows and then he waited in the shadows. Danny would be home soone enough.

Bond just hoped this wouldn't implicate Hex in this staged sex crime. He'd feel a bit bad if that happened.

Comments

[london_spy]

It was as good as morning by the time Danny got home, stumbling a bit and then frowning at the mess.

"Bloody hell," he muttered before calling out, "Sara?"

No answer, but not unusual, she was probably sleeping by now. The mess could wait anyway, he just wanted to go to bed.

He was shrugging off his shirt when he reached the bedroom, and he frowned at the unfamiliar pair of trousers, then pants.

"I swear to god, if you've been shagging in my bed..." he sighed.

[0_0_7]

Bond was sitting on the corner of the bed, patiently waiting. He'd played games on his phone for a bit but as the clubs shut up he put that away and pulled out his gun. It rested on his thigh.

"Come in, Mr. Holt," he said.

[london_spy]

Danny eyed the gun, then the man.

"James, isn't it?" he asked. That's what you were supposed to do if someone attacked you or abducted you, wasn't it? Use their real name, try and connect... He was sure he'd seen that on some American police show. Though he wasn't sure that applied to spooks.

"If you wanted to make a night of it, you could have just asked," he quipped flatly, stepping into the room but keeping a distance.

[0_0_7]

"Don't be cute," Bond ordered in a soft voice. "I've come for what Alex left you. Do you want to give it to me or shall I just take it from around your neck?"

[london_spy]

Danny reached for the item in question, wrapping his fingers around it, holding it so tightly that he could feel the numbers pressing into his palm.

"Wouldn't suit you, I don't think, James," he replied, offering a smile.

He should have been scared, and he was in a way- But at the same time it was almost a relief to have reached this point. He'd known he was in danger, and waiting for it to strike had been excruciating.

For the first time in weeks, Danny felt like he could breathe.

[0_0_7]

"I'm not the one who really wants it, Danny. But I will be taking it, one way or another. I assume you can guess my orders," he said as he rose from the bed to stand and face the other man.

[london_spy]

Danny took a step back, even though he knew there was no where to go. Though it wasn't James he feared. He didn't think he cared if the man killed him- What he couldn't stand for, however, was the idea that Alex's work might just vanish. That the very thing his lover had been killed for could wind up lost and forgotten- Or worse, destroyed.

"Did you kill him?" he asked, deciding that if this was the end, perhaps he might finally get some answers. "Were you there?"

[0_0_7]

THere was no reason to lie. Not now.

"No. I wasn't. I didn't even know who he was or what he did. I still barely know. You're my target, Danny. You and that. Do you know what it is?"

[london_spy]

Danny shook his head, and it was the truth. Yes, he'd managed to open it, but the contents of the drive... It was all so beyond him. He'd always known Alex was brilliant, but to look at his work- Well, it made it clear just how thick he was compared to his lover.

"It's all I have left of him," he said quietly. "It was the only thing he left for me. Hidden where only I'd look, locked so only I could open it. I've looked at it, and it's... It's nothing to me. Just numbers and patterns. Encoded, I imagine. Though even if it wasn't- Alex was a genius. I don't imagine I'd be able to make heads or tails of it."

He opened his palm to look down at the flash drive, running his thumb over the numbers of the lock.

"This is Alex," he said quietly. "His mind, his... Work. So not to be a cliché, especially since I know what you intend to do- But if you want to take this from me, you'll have to do so over my dead body."

[0_0_7]

Bond tucked his gun away and straightened his jacket, then reached into the breast pocket.

"That's the plan," he said and stepped in quick to plunge a needle into Danny's arm and deliver the strong sedative.

[london_spy]

He tried to fight at first, but as his body gave in to the drug he only held the flash drive in both hands. As if he could somehow protect it- Or as though he was apologizing to someone who was already dead and gone.

[0_0_7]

Bond got right to work, stripping Danny bare and leaving him on the bed. The sedative would last, but he had to hurry. The truth of it was that Danny had already been thoroughly discredited and no one would believe anything he said. The public did love a good sex scandal, the seedier the better.

Bond's task now was to get into the drive. As he worked at it, carefully listening and taking it apart he thought of what Danny had said. That this was all he had left of Alex. Bond found the one tender spot in his heart for such a sentiment, thinking what he'd do if Q had left him just one thing.

He couldn't keep it, but Bond saw no reason to kill the man when he wasn't specifically ordered to do so. Get the drive, at any cost.

He should leave now that he had it, but that little part of his heart hurt for Danny and so he did something that may be considered foolish.

He called Q.

"I'm on a job," he said, instead of hello. "How can I clone a usb drive if I can't actually get to the drive?"

[quartermaster_q]

Q was in his pyjamas- In bed, actually. A bed he'd been hoping Bond would fill, but instead was currently being occupied by two cats and his laptop which was currently playing My Neighbour Totoro.

"Hmm- Well, if it has built in wifi, you could get in that way. However, if it's locked up, then I imagine it's not that sort of drive. Where is the USB? Why can't you get to it?" he asked, reaching to pause the film now that Bond had his interest piqued.

[0_0_7]

"It's in a lock. I can see how it comes apart but I don't know the combination and I'm afraid there's no picking this. It's seven tumblers, each starts with zero. Millions- billions of possible combinations and I can't crack it," he said, looking for a wifi router. "Ideas?"

[quartermaster_q]

"There must be a way to figure out the code," Q pressed. "Just interrogate someone who might know it. You love a good interrogation," he added dryly.

[0_0_7]

"He's out cold and he'd never tell anyway. And he said he was the only one who could possibly know what the combination is because it means something to him," he sighed and paused. "How do I try to see if I can use wifi? I don't even think he has wifi but someone in the building might."

[quartermaster_q]

"No, not the building, the device would be it's own hotspot. ...But James, if it's locked up so tight that only one person can unlock it, it doesn't have wifi," Q assured him, sighing a bit as he sat up and pushed his glasses back up his nose. Oberon stretched beside him, then got to his feet, rubbing his face against Q's arm, then trying to climb up so he could rub against the phone as well.

Q paused a beat as he stroked the cat and moved the phone to his other ear, then realized what James was up to.

"I hope you haven't killed him yet, because if you're working on what I think you're working on, that man might genuinely be the only person who can open it."

[0_0_7]

Bond huffed a long sigh.

"Bloody hell. All right," he said. "You know, I could just kill him and bring it back to Q Branch. I'm certain given enough time you could open it. You probably bloody invented it."

[quartermaster_q]

"I can't tell you what to do here, James," Q replied quietly. Though what he really meant was- 'I won't tell you what to do here.'

Because honestly? Yes. With the device in his hands, Q was certain he could have it open in a week tops. If he didn't invent it, he no doubt could work out how to crack it. ...But he knew enough about the mission that he found he didn't want to be involved. He would do as ordered, if he had to, but he wouldn't volunteer to jump in.

"I'll either see you shortly, or I wont. Good luck, James."

The fact that he didn't say 'Bond' or 'Double-o Seven' was no coincidence, it was a clear message to James that he wouldn't work on it unless forced.

[0_0_7]

The use of his name was as clear a signal as if Q had outright told him what to do. He killed the call and turned to the bed, jerking and pulling Danny to get him back into his pants and a shirt. Once dressed, he tied him up.

Then he waited as the sun rose, nearly noon before the sedative would wear off for him to begin the interrogation.

[london_spy]

Danny didn't sleep so much as he... Drifted. The world was black, empty- And then there was sunlight. He hadn't expected to see morning ever again.

He could feel he was bound before he even opened his eyes, and he didn't struggle as he blinked himself awake.

[0_0_7]

Bond was watching him closely and saw when he roused to consciousness.

"You need to tell me how to open it, Danny," he said simply. That the man was alive was proof enough Bond wasn't here simply to kill him and be done with it. He needed the drive.

[london_spy]

Danny looked at James for a long moment, then looked away, sitting up and testing his bonds finally.

"Flatmate will be home soon. Hurt her, and you'll never get that device open. Scare her, and you'll never get that device open. Do you understand what I'm saying to you? You want to hurt me, kill me, torture me into opening that device? Do it. But the second someone else is involved, that's it. You lose any chance I might crack and help you. ...No one else I love is going to die, or be harmed. That ends here and now, James."

Always James, never Bond. Names were important. Danny didn't know much, but he felt sure of that. A small part of him even believed it was why he'd lasted this long so far. Somehow he'd connected with the man. That was important. It had to be maintained.

[0_0_7]

Bond thought for a long moment about that and then he put the device on the desk and began to undress. He carefully laid his suit over the back of the chair, stripping down to his pants. Then he went and closed Danny's bedroom door.

"All right. Now she'll think you brought someone home. Plausible enough, I've seen what you do. I won't hurt her. I've no desire to hurt her. Now...tell me how to open it."

[london_spy]

Danny hadn't agreed to cooperate though, and he had no intention of doing so.

"You're much less intimidating in your pants," he said. "Not a terrible view though, I guess."