a/n: wednesday update for you guys!
Forty-Two
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They were running out of time. Every second that passed reminded Quinn that someone else's life was at stake — Willa, someone who had not committed any other crime than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Locke had settled into a sort of pre-mission calm, and she'd caught him routinely checking his weapons, seated casually on the sofa in Kat's apartment.
Kat herself had been holed up in her room even after Quinn had forced her in there, most likely attempting to keep herself from turning into a jumble of nerves. Kat's current emotional condition did not stop Quinn from heading down the small hallway, a knot in her throat as she raised her fist to knock. Gavin and her were due to leave any second now, en route to hide out at his friend's hotel in Prague. They would be able to buy themselves at least 24 hours there, and Quinn had taken it upon herself to attempt to convince Kat to tag along.
She couldn't stay here. The address was listed as hers, and it was only a matter of time before some crook showed up here in an attempt to track Quinn down. Quinn had carefully told her friend to pack a small bag only half an hour before, but she'd heard little noise from within the small bedroom.
You'll have to check on her, either way. With that reasoning rooted firmly in place, Quinn reached for the handle of the bedroom door, slowly inching it open. A small weight floated off her chest when she noted a neatly packed weekend bag, poised primly on one corner of the bed. However, that weight slammed back down, increased tenfold, when Quinn noted her friend sitting dejectedly by the bag. Kat's head was buried in her hands, shoulders shaking as she was wracked by silent sobs.
"Oh, Kat."
It was all Quinn could get out as her throat closed up, heart breaking for her friend's sorrow.
I did this.
She stepped across the room in seconds, crouching in front of her friend before carefully grabbing both of her wrists.
"I'm here, Kat. We'll fix this, but first we have to go, alright?"
Kat gave no indication she'd heard what Quinn had said. Instead, she merely looked up for one second, tear-drenched eyes zeroing in on Quinn's sad expression.
"I know it's hard, Kat, but we have to go."
Slowly, Kat moved, one hand reaching for her eyes as she wiped a flurry of tears away from the corner of her eye.
"And what then? I just, drop everything? Lose everything? My home, my life -"
Kat broke off again, sniffled, before she regained enough composure to straighten up, meeting Quinn's eye.
"I'm sorry, Kat. If I could do it all again - "
- I wouldn't put you in danger.
Quinn shook her head, the words trailing into nothing.
"That doesn't matter, now. What matters is that we can fix this, but first we have to go. You'll stay at Gavin's friend's hotel for a day, two."
"And then what? You know I can't just go back."
Quinn felt pressure in her own eyes, forced that surge of emotion down until she couldn't feel it anymore.
She wanted to apologize, a thousand times over, but knew it would do little. What she had to do was get Willa back to her friend — to make sure Kat's personal life didn't suffer more than it already had.
"I got in touch with Ryonne. Hypatia will help set you up with some temporary place. I've also been trying to reach Liza Jaeger, to ensure she helps ward off any access to your info that's floating around."
Kat nodded, nothing more than a minimal movement. However, Quinn could see the conflicting thoughts whirring in her friend's head, so she stayed silent, merely tightening her grip on Kat's wrist. A silent, tangible show of support — all she could offer when she was the reason that support was needed in the first place.
"My life is never going to be the same, is it?"
Kat's quiet question echoed loudly in Quinn's head.
"I — " Quinn fumbled for words, something she rarely did, " — I can't promise you it will, Kat."
Shaking her head again, Kat gently removed Quinn's hands. With that, she reached for the weekend bag on her bed. They wouldn't have time to pack anything more at this time, as they needed to get the hell out of the apartment before anyone found out this was Kat's address. They'd managed to find the car quicker, had caught the license plates on the CCTV footage outside the shooting range, but it was only a matter of time before they dug through the layers of protection Quinn had given Kat's personal info.
They needed Liza Jaeger on it, and Quinn hoped that whatever deity who listened to her would make sure Jaeger got Quinn's message.
"I guess we'll have to get going," Kat started, slung the bag around her shoulder, "Lead the way."
But her tone was flat, sad. Quinn felt the lack of emotion spearing through her chest. She watched, painfully, as Kat glanced over her home before she exited the bedroom, unaware if she was going to return within the foreseeable future.
Gavin waited by the entrance to Kat's apartment, a silent, stoic figure in the half-dim lights of the living room. He ran a quick eye over Kat's tear-streaked cheeks, before those dark eyes slid to Quinn's. She shook her head, slightly, before gesturing to the door.
"It's time to go," Quinn said, the quiet words unusually loud in the silence around them.
Quinn reached up, placed a reassuring hand on Kat's shoulder. Kat's eyes remained stuck on the apartment, the home, she was now forced to leave. A heartbeat passed before Kat shrugged Quinn's hand off her shoulder, shaking her head again.
Backing away, Quinn headed out of the doorway. Gavin fell into line beside her, as they stopped right outside of Kat's apartment doorway.
"It's the only choice, Quinn."
Gavin's words were soft, though Quinn still trained her eyes on Kat's still figure in the entryway. She hadn't moved, yet, still in shock over the recent turns of events, over the fact that she would have to leave her home, her life.
"It is, but I was the one who made it her only choice." Quinn replied, the words tumbling from thoughts which had been circulating in her head for the past week, "I put her in this situation."
"A situation you were put in. If we're taking that route, it's my fault as well."
Quinn's eyes snapped to Gavin's. They spoke quietly enough so that Kat didn't hear, not that she was listening either way. Kat was still inside the apartment, trailing a hand along the back of her sofa at the moment, eyes closing as she inhaled deeply.
"I told you before, I'm here to make that mistake right again. You have a right to that, too. But you weren't the one who kidnapped Willa, who made that ultimatum."
"Maybe not, but I had a hand in putting us here."
"And that guilt gets us where, Quinn?" Gavin replied, eyes dark and stormy and focused entirely on her.
The guilt got them nowhere. Quinn's logical mind couldn't fault that answer, and so she remained silent, but found that Gavin's stare remained insistent on her face. She looked up, briefly, their eyes meeting.
"Exactly." Gavin turned to the entryway to Kat's apartment, one hand braced on the wooden door jamb.
Quinn let her eyes drop from the sharp silhouette of Gavin's face, let them trace along Kat instead. Her friend turned to them, spotted the duo standing, waiting, in the doorway.
"I'm ready. Let's go."
She said it firmly, even though her tone shook. She'd convinced herself it was what had to be done, but she didn't fully agree with it. Putting her friend in this position was something Quinn would never, ever, do again.
That, she promised herself. It went right up there with her promise to fight. In some cases, though, a part of the fight was knowing when to push, when to pull, and when to provide. In this case, Quinn knew she had to provide Kat with some solace despite the current turmoil.
"There's a car waiting for us downstairs," Gavin said, backing away slightly as Kat turned off the last few lights in her apartment, then eased the door shut.
Kat's hand shook as she reached for her key. Her throat bobbed, sobs stuck in her throat. Even though Kat might not have wanted it, Quinn reached out, placed a hand firmly around the fingers gripping the key. The shaking didn't stop, not entirely, but Kat's teary eyes lifted to hers.
"I'll do everything I can to fix this, Kat," Quinn started, voice soft, " — but to do so we have to leave, and we have to leave now."
Nodding slightly, Kat pushed the key into the lock, twisted it. The lock clicked into place audibly. Kat dropped the key into her pocket, took a step away from the door. She muttered something in Russian, voice quiet enough so that neither Quinn nor Gavin heard, before she moved away through the door.
The trio moved down the stairs swiftly, then piled into the sleek black car sent by the hotel to fetch them. Quinn had questioned Gavin about his hotel-conglomerate friend, and he'd answered confidenty enough for Quinn to trust in Gavin's belief in his friend.
Gavin had slid into the passenger seat in front, while Kat and Quinn sat on opposite ends in the backseat. Quinn angled her head into the seat, though her eyes tracked the outlines of buildings as they whizzed through the streets of Prague.
The fancy cab dipped and rolled with the uneven surface of the cobblestones, though the car did little more than rock gently in response. Quinn felt a wave of fatigue roll over her, clashing with the stress of what she knew she had to do.
The image of Kat's devastated face, the knowledge that she'd ripped her friend away from the life she'd fought for, the life she had built and now loved so fiercely — it had ingrained itself into Quinn's mind.
She'd do whatever it took to save Willa.
Even if it comes down to me taking her place.
Beneath all of the sadness, the pain, the stress, the anguish, there was an anger brewing. Quinn had felt it, nurtured it, since she'd first heard of Cam's betrayal.
When the time came, she'd let it explode. For now, though ... she'd keep a lid on it. Let it sit, let it brew.
When the time comes, Quinn thought, eyes tracking the busy night.
*
The hotel received them through a back entrance, a quiet employee hoisting their bags over one shoulder before he slipped into a service elevator.
The towering building before them had sleek, modern lines and walls of glimmering glass. It rose high, spearing towards the grey clouds of a dusty night, shining with the beacon of a fancy hotel-chain logo. It spoke of understated wealth, a subtle luxury intertwined in every inch of the hotel's exterior.
"How did you come across this hotel-conglomerate friend, again?"
"Kenny?" Locke asked, head craning down lightly to meet Quinn's gaze, the wind whipping tufts of dark hair around his sharp face, " — we met when I got his niece out of a kidnapping situation."
Quinn remembered it, vaguely, but hadn't known Gavin was the Special Agent in charge of retrieval. She liked to brush up on the larger cases around the Agency, liked to think any good Analyst ought to.
Not that you're an Analyst at the Agency any more.
Recognizing that line of thought as useless, Quinn shoved it aside.
"How is she, now?"
Gavin angled his head, the question evident. Quinn took a second to let her eyes skim over Kat's quiet face as the three of them stayed put by the hotel's back entrance. They were to stay there until whoever came to fetch them to their new living situation. Switching her mind back to Gavin's question, Quinn clarified:
"The niece, I mean."
"She's doing well. Kenny tells me she's off to boarding school in Tokyo next year."
Gavin smiled, the small gesture transforming his face even in the shadows of the hotel's back entrance. It was strange, how that simple measure of curving the edges of his lips, could change the entire expression. Perhaps it was because Quinn was used to the hard, cold scowls he wore — ever the Special Agent, working in field. Now, though, she saw more of those smiles, of those moments that turned his expressions significantly softer.
You can't lie and say you haven't noted those moments.
Before Quinn could go down a line of thought that would no doubt end somewhere she wasn't wholly comfortable, the double doors to the extravagant building burst open. A man dressed in a light blue suit strode out, the small heels on his dress shoes clacking against the concrete flooring as he strode straight for Locke.
Turning his way, Gavin inclined his head to the middle-aged man who was sporting a wide smile, showing a row of stupidly white teeth. His entire face seemed have a healthy glow that made him look significantly younger, and paired with the elegant clothes and affable grin Quinn could feel herself studying him more closely.
A man put together with such effort, with such care to look inviting, had more than one ace up his sleeve. Quinn studied him quietly, mouth flat, while Gavin reached out and shook his hand firmly.
"Special Agent Locke."
"Kenny," Locke replied, tone dark, " — I didn't think you were on location."
"I got my ass on the jet and got here as fast as possible. I wasn't far off — just a country or two." Kenny winked, chuckled, " — there's never a border far off when you're in Europe."
"Doesn't seem to be a Wallace-hotel far off, either." Gavin shot back, easily. Kenny smiled again, though his eyes had slowly crept over to Quinn. She met them easily, kept her stare cool.
"Hello, miss. Kenny Wallace Jr, pleased to meet you." He smiled again, extended his hand.
Quinn took it, felt his smooth palm, the bite of cold metal of his rings.
"Quinn."
"No last name?" He inquired, manicured eyebrows hiking up.
"Not one I feel like handing out, as things are." Quinn smiled coldly, though she kept her look reserved, studying the man. She was inclined to trust him, based on Locke's word — and her trust in Locke — but as things were she wasn't keen on blind trust.
Look at how that went with Cam.
Instead of questioning it, Kenny smiled again, shook Quinn's hand once more.
"In which case, nice to meet you, Quinn."
Quinn's hand slipped out of his grip as Mr. Wallace turned to Kat. She gained an inch of respect for the effervescent man as he visibly reigned in some of his bubbliness when he noted the dejected set to Kat's shoulders, the sad tint to her expression.
"Katya Ivanov." Kat replied flatly, when Kenny repeated the routine he'd just done with Quinn.
"I feel as if I have heard that before — yes, I must've ...-" Kenny ran an eye up and down Kat's casually dressed figure, "You have a dancer's build. Are you, by any chance, in ballet?"
"I am," Kat replied, carefully.
Her eyes had narrowed, shooting quickly to Quinn. Quinn looked to Locke, who gave her a brief nod.
Trust him, Gavin's dark eyes seemed to say. Quinn turned back to Kat, repeated the quick nod.
"Here in Prague?"
"Yes," replied Kat, watching as a smile bloomed again on Kenny's face.
"Then my husband and I must have seen you. We are keen lovers of the arts, you see. Tell me, where have you performed?"
With that, Kenny whiskey Kat into a discussion about the true passion of her life, and some of the dark edged out of her shoulders, of her stance, as she spoke about her life's work. Quinn's respect for the man kicked up another notch as he teased Kat out of the cover of shadows she'd suffocated in for the past hours, watching their interaction with a barely subdued interest.
"Before I keep on going," Kenny started, " — I wished to show you to your suite. Follow me. Now, Ms.Ivanov, about what you just said -"
Quinn tuned out, fell back into line beside Gavin. His eyes glanced to her face, read the worry in her face, though he didn't comment on it, choosing to wait for Quinn to speak up.
"Kenny seems nice," Quinn offered, kept her eyes firmly on Kat's back as Kenny and her walked a few steps in front.
"I wouldn't have brought you here — or Kat — if I didn't trust the man. He'll keep our presence here quiet for a few days." Locke's reply made Quinn nod, slightly, though her eyes remained trained on the back of Kat's head.
"You trust him that much?"
Locke looked to Quinn, "I do."
Exhaling deeply, Quinn let her eyes drift until they met the dark gaze of Gavin.
"Then I'll have to trust him, too."
That smile flashed again, brief but stunning. Quinn didn't avert her eyes for a second longer than she ought to, which made color, warmth bloom out across her cheeks. She hoped Locke didn't notice it in the dim hallway of the hotel.
The four of them stepped into a large elevator. The floors were veined marble, while one wall simply was a pane of glass exposing a view of Prague as they shot up through the hotel. They climbed, floor after floor, while Quinn half-listened to Kenny's and Kat's discussion about the finer points of ballet.
It wasn't until the few top floors that the elevator started slowing. As it slowed, it gradually closed in on the top floor, until it stopped there with a soft ding as the doors slid open. Kenny gestured for them to follow, leading them to one of three double-doors visible in the long hallway of the building's top floor.
"Nothing but the best for the man who saved my niece." Kenny smiled widely, nodded to the door with the golden number mounted on its door. Kat had slowed, the conversation which had occupied her mind having dissipated, and so the dark clouds seemed to gather again around her head.
Quinn noted it, reached for her friend.
"Here is the key," Kenny said, noting the interaction between the two women. He slipped a keycard into Quinn's hand. Their eyes met for a brief moment. Quinn inclined her head his way, the gesture of respect.
Kenny smiled in turn.
"Thank you, Kenny." Quinn said softly, sliding the keycard over the reader mounted on one of the double doors.
"It's no trouble. You stay safe." His eyes met Kat's, " — I look forward to our next discussion."
A brief, ghostly smile passed on Kat's face before she was firmly steered into the suite by Quinn.
Gavin lingered for another second outside, watching Kenny's soft features morph as he turned to Locke again. He looked serious, now, the affable facade dropping momentarily.
"How much trouble are we talking about, Locke?"
Locke shoved his hands into his pockets, watched darkly as Kenny met and held his gaze.
"Nothing that'll spill over to you," Gavin replied, " — we'll be gone within days."
Kenny nodded, "I'm assuming you mean you and the ever-suspicious Quinn."
Nodding again, Gavin replied: "I do. Katya will be heading to another location."
"I can't deny that I've heard whispers about what's going on, but nothing tangible." Kenny started, mouth thinning, " — but if that's right, she's in a hell of a lot of trouble."
"I'll do my best to get her out of it," Gavin said easily.
Kenny's mouth slipped into an easy smile, "I can see why. She didn't keep her eyes off me while I spoke to her friend — speaks to character. I like her."
Locke smiled, very briefly.
"So do I."
With that, Kenny half-chuckled. They bid each other good night, Kenny slapping another keycard into Locke's hand. For now, they'd have a few hours of refuge. After that, well ...
They were getting Willa.
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a/n: hey guys! how are you? hope you're doing well. i've had a great day - did some tanning, some editing, listened to some hannah montana. top-notch quality right there. probably going to watch a movie right now, so drop a recommendation here if you have one.
questions of the chapter:
1. what do you guys think is the next step to clearing quinn's name?
2. how will willa's rescue go?
3. will our duo get to france unscathed?
4. a few locke x quinn interactions this chapter ... what types of situations would you like to see them in? ;)))))))))))
xo, cleo
ps. been watching a lot of suits. why did no one tell me how good this series is? i'm living for mike and harvey. currently on season 8 and missing their interactions like crazy.
pps. also watching the 100 season 7. excited for 7x05, kind of wishing bellamy would come back already :(