“Taxi is holding for them,” Liam said.
The soldier saluted in a quick motion.“We’ll keep an eye on it, Your Highness.”
Lamp posts lit their way up to the building, its pale exterior bright against the darkness.It was a welcome sight after fleeing the scene of the car crash and shootout for the Camden Town Underground station, splitting up into two groups once they were on the platform.The Northern Line branched out in two directions going south, so they’d taken two different trains, all of them agreeing to pair up and get off at different stops before catching black taxis home.
Jamie and Kyle’s route home required a detour.Once their comms had come back online, the UMG had agreed to Jamie’s request through Liam for the Reborn IRA intel since Alpha Team was keeping their own communications with the MDF dark while in London.Liam had orders to bring Jamie with him to Clarence House for a pickup under the pretense of going home with a friend for a visit after a night on the town.
Which was how they came to be here, walking up the flat pebbled drive to the overhang that covered the entrance, bypassing the rose garden taking up the front yard.Liam scanned them into the royal residence, holding the door open for them with a firm hand.
The place hadn’t really changed since the last time Jamie had dropped by.Still as much a museum as a home, the history in its walls was overshadowed by the slim, dark-haired woman of Indian descent coming down the hall with a purposeful stride.
“Gentlemen,” Royal Naval Captain Samaira Bhasin said in a crisp voice.“I’m glad to see you managed to make it home without burning down half of London after that cock-up in Camden.”
“If I said it wasn’t my fault, would you believe me?”Liam asked her.
Samaira rolled her eyes.“No.”
“I am absolutely gutted by your lack of faith in me.”
“Hardly.”
The easy companionship between Liam and his second-in-command came from years of stepping on each other’s toes in order to find a comfortable working relationship.Samaira, at twenty-seven, had been assigned as Liam’s second-in-command five years ago to be a stabilizing influence on him.Liam, as SAS and a lifetime member of theorders are guidelinesclub while in the field, had clashed with Samaira’s straitlaced order and precision background instilled in her by the Royal Navy until they learned to work with each other instead of against each other.As officers, Liam outranked her as a lieutenant colonel, but in the field as leaders of the Royal Legion, the UMG’s top metahuman field team, they shared responsibilities almost equally.
Samaira pointedly turned away from Liam and graced Jamie with a pleasant smile.“Hello, Jamie.It’s lovely to see you again, though I wish it was under better circumstances.I have the file with the information you requested.”
“Let’s put the kettle on for them before we make their night worse, Samaira, really,” Liam said.
“Tea would be great.So would the file,” Jamie replied.
Samaira nodded before leading the way to the morning room, where one of the house servants had left a tray of tea.The room was cluttered in a homey way, the design more than a little dated.For all that Clarence House was home to Liam, his brother, and two of their unmarried male cousins, none of them were about to turn the place into a bachelor pad.
Jamie and Kyle took a seat on an antique sofa that was hard as a rock, but the tea Liam poured made up for that.Before sitting down, Samaira pulled a small solid-state drive out of her pocket and passed it over to Jamie.
“Encrypted six ways to Sunday, I’m told.No biometrics, and I have the password whenever you’re ready,” she said.
Kyle plucked it out of Jamie’s hand and shoved it into his pocket.“Go.”Samaira rattled off the alphanumeric code that Kyle committed to memory.“Thanks.Glad she’ll have something to take her anger out on rather than on us.”
“Do either of you know why she was so pissed off back at the club?”Liam asked.
“No, but we’ll find out soon enough once we get home,” Jamie said.
“I’ll drop by tomorrow for lunch to hear your report if that’s all right, since meeting at UMG headquarters isn’t allowed right now.Your place will have fewer tourists about taking photos.”
“It’s fine.We’re in a holding pattern until Jansen contacts us anyway.We’ll meet at the house, then go out for lunch.We need to be seen.”
Kyle made a face he didn’t bother to hide at the idea of putting themselves out there as a target once again.Liam chuckled.“I know.Being out like this in public is bollocks.”
“It’s like he forgets he’s a royal and that’s his duty,” Samaira said to Jamie on an aside.
“I do right by queen and country every day.I don’t need to be paraded about and glad-hand with strangers to get the job done,” Liam protested.
“You’re just angry that we didn’t get lead on this mission.”
Liam rolled his eyes but didn’t deny it.
“Why didn’t you?”Kyle asked.
“I argued for it.Gran expressed herself very strongly that the UMG should not give it to the Royal Legion when it came up that my team was every agency’s first choice.Said I’d risked enough already and that the Americans could be in charge.She hasn’t quite come to terms with the fact that I’ve chosen to be career military.I’m never going to sit on the throne, so the risk is acceptable in my mind, and I’m good at what I do.But there’s still the issue of who I am related to.This whole fighting as a metahuman is a bit more complicated for me than for Jamie.”Liam paused.“For now, at least.Your father may well win the election next year, and that will be a right mess for you.”
