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  Shawn. “I mean, not us specifically, but why not use Underground agents to do the work?”

  “He didn’t want to lose any of his own men,” Thiago answered bitterly as he

  squirmed to make his arms comfortable beneath his body. Remy sympathized with

  the discomfort. He wondered if they could trust Thiago enough to untie him.

  “He probably also liked the idea of making Hugh and Claude think one of

  their own had gone AWOL,” Carl added thoughtfully.

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  “Let’s get him untied,” Remy said after a few more moments of silence.

  “Are you serious?” Gray and Nikolaus asked simultaneously.

  Remy frowned at them. “What the hell happened with you three?” he

  demanded.

  Nikolaus immediately clamped his mouth closed, and Gray scowled

  impressively. Thiago closed his eyes and swallowed with difficulty, and Remy

  thought maybe he understood at least the basics of what transpired. It was obvious Thiago and Gray had a history. It was just as obvious that Thiago and Gray had gone through some sort of argument. Apparently, Thiago had lashed out at him violently.

  “I see,” he said softly. “Brandt, untie him.”

  Gray stood and walked toward the tiny toilet with a disgusted look on his

  face, and Brandt and Carl swiftly untied Thiago and helped him to his feet.

  Nikolaus sniffed disapprovingly, but Remy stared Thiago down and crossed

  his arms, letting the gun rest against his bicep in a subtle reminder of what would happen if Thiago made a wrong move. Thiago rubbed his shoulders and cracked his

  neck, looking at Remy gratefully.

  “So, what should we be expecting,” Shawn asked resignedly.

  LXVIII.

  THIAGO looked from Remy to Shawn and glanced at Gray’s back briefly before

  sighing heavily. Gray was refusing to look at him, Remy was watching him like a

  hawk, and Shawn looked even more tired than Thiago felt.

  “There will be men in Washington waiting for us,” Thiago told them as a

  sudden scuffle broke out behind him. He turned to see Carl restraining Brandt easily as the bigger man struggled to reach something that had apparently skittered beneath the lower bunk.

  “Sit still, you big baby,” Carl hissed as he thumped Brandt on the head from

  behind. “Leave it!”

  Thiago closed his eyes and turned back around to look at Remy, who had

  merely raised an eyebrow at the altercation. Thiago blinked at him and Remy shook his head.

  “I have no idea what I was just saying,” Thiago admitted solemnly.

  “I think you were telling all of us about what a fucking bastard you are,”

  Gray provided caustically from within the little toilet compartment. He walked back out and glared at Thiago briefly before looking around at all the others. “The problem is not who’s waiting for us in Washington. The problem is who may be on to us that we hadn’t thought to fear before.”

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  “Like Fletcher Barclay," Thiago agreed grimly.

  “Why would Fletch even know you’re here?” Gray asked with an

  exasperated sigh. “Unless, of course, that’s something else you’ve been hiding.”

  “No,” Thiago said sadly. “I told him because he was next in line to take over.

  I didn’t think he’d react to the news of who was backing us quite like he has. And I knew that when you found out what was really going down, you would want no part

  in it. That’s why I told you to go home and stay there.”

  Gray’s tense body relaxed slightly as the implications of what Thiago just

  told him sank in. “You didn’t expect to live through this, did you?” he asked sadly.

  “You weren’t even going to say goodbye, were you?”

  “I didn’t know how,” Thiago answered with a helpless shrug.

  Carl cleared his throat, and they all turned to look at him. He had managed to

  sit on top of Brandt to restrain him, and he sat there calmly, holding out his hand with the palm open as if he were about to say something that should have been quite

  obvious.

  “If we’re all stuck in one compartment like sardines, we’re not exactly hard

  targets if someone’s after us,” he said in an irritated voice. “I suggest we all split up now, and then get off at the next stop.”

  “No. No, Thiago and I have to go to D.C.,” Remy countered.

  “Remy–”

  “I’m tired of arguing, Shawn,” Remy said with a finality that Thiago found

  almost physically painful. “The five of you will get off at the next two stops. Carl, Brandt, and Nikolaus at the first, you and Gray at the second. Thiago and I will carry on to D.C., and we’ll cover any trail you happen to leave from there. Shawn?”

  Shawn looked up with a frown. “Hmm?”

  “I want you to take the girl with you and keep her safe.”

  “What?”

  “We can’t in good conscience see her killed,” Remy said apologetically.

  “And you’ll need someone to take care of you since you’re not likely to let Gray do it,” he added softly with a sad smile.

  Thiago stared at the other man in disbelief. “It’s not going to be that easy,

  you know,” he said in a shocked voice.

  “Sure it will,” Remy stated with a smile. He stepped closer to Thiago, put his

  hand on his shoulder, and brought his mouth to Thiago’s ear. “I suggest you say your goodbyes, podna,” he whispered with a discreet nod in Gray’s direction. “We’ve run out of time.”

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  LXIX.

  CARL watched impassively as Nikolaus tried to calm the girl they’d essentially

  kidnapped. Brandt had tried it first, but his attempts nearly sent the poor thing into hysterics, to the point that Carl had been forced to shake her to get the point across that she had to be silent.

  Carl didn’t like being violent unless his target deserved it or could fight

  back, and with as many knots as Remy had tied the girl in, she really had no chance at defending herself. No wonder it had taken the younger man a whole fifteen minutes to see to the girl.

  Carl had been somewhat relieved to walk into the compartment and find her

  wrapped up like a mummy in as many sheets as Remy could find. At least they were

  merely kidnappers, and not rapists as well. Not that the girl would have minded a roll around with Remy, in Carl’s opinion. Shawn, though, that was an entirely different matter. One that Carl really didn’t want to think about.

  “Are we really going to let Remy and Thiago just give themselves over like

  that?” Brandt asked in a distraught voice as the girl cried quietly in the background of Carl’s awareness.

  “I really don’t see what else we can do,” Carl responded with a shrug. He felt

  more helpless than ever, but he was still trying desperately to keep up the appearance of calm for the other two men. Lord only knew what sort of explosive whatsit Brandt would produce if he felt cornered.

  “You’ve got to think of something, Carl,” Nikolaus urged desperately as he

  gave up on comforting the inconsolable woman. He looked up at Carl pleadingly as

  he sat on the edge of the bunk. “We can’t let them just march to their doom while we saunter on our merry way to safety.”

  The girl began to hum and sob quietly, and she closed her eyes and started

  rocking. Carl realized with something akin to admiration that she was humming so

  she couldn’t hear what they were saying. She still hoped they would let her go.

  “What do you want me to do, Gizmo?” Carl asked as the des
peration began

  to poke through his façade. “I don’t know what to do any more than the rest of you!

  And it’s not like the rest of us will exactly be sauntering, either. If any of us live through the year, I’ll be quite impressed.”

  “I know that! But you knew Thierry! You were lovers, for fuck’s sake! Call

  him! Talk to him, get him to let us all go,” Nikolaus begged as he grasped for their last straws of hope.

  Carl furrowed his brow and sighed sadly, and Brandt put his hand on Carl’s

  shoulder in a familiar, comforting gesture.

  “Thierry cares first and foremost for power,” Carl explained bitterly. “He

  won’t give a damn about seven men who can’t offer him anything in return. All we

  have to give him is our skills, and to use those he has to own us. No, Thierry won’t

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  help us here.”

  “What about the other side? Hugh or Claude?” Brandt suggested doubtfully.

  “We’re too much a liability for them to trust our word against Thierry’s.

  They would want us dead faster than St. John would,” Carl reasoned mournfully.

  The girl sniffed pitifully, and they all looked at her as if she’d just

  materialized from thin air.

  “Could we take her gag out, do you think?” Nikolaus asked hopefully as he

  looked back at her and then up at Carl and Brandt.

  Carl tilted his head and looked down at the girl. She was a pretty little thing,

  not beautiful by any means, but certainly not plain, either. She was of average height and average build. She had mousy brown hair with blonde streaks throughout, and a clear, healthy complexion. The most striking thing about her, though, was the color of her eyes. They were the same mesmerizing green that Shawn’s were, and right now

  they were filled with terrified tears and looking up at Carl pleadingly.

  Perhaps they could risk taking the gag out of her mouth, but they definitely

  needed to explain a few things to her first.

  LXX.

  “PLEASE don’t make this any harder than it already is!” Remy practically yelled as Shawn gripped both of his arms and held him in place, preventing the younger man

  from turning away from him and pacing again.

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Shawn said in disbelief as he

  searched Remy’s brown eyes for any emotion, other than determination. What he

  found was so much worse. There was sadness so profound that seeing it made Shawn

  physically ill. His throat constricted painfully before he could get any more words out.

  “If you’ve got any better ideas, I’d love to hear them,” Remy said in a

  hoarse, desperate voice as Shawn’s grip loosened.

  “No,” Shawn admitted softly. “The only thing I can think of is getting you as

  far away as fucking possible and keeping you safe.”

  “Beignet,” Remy whispered as his hand came up to brush Shawn’s cheek

  affectionately.

  “I wouldn’t live if I thought you were in danger every day,” Shawn

  whispered urgently as he took a step closer to Remy and took the younger man’s face in his hands. “I wouldn’t live. I have to know you’re out there somewhere, alive and safe. I have to know–”

  “Come on, Shawn,” Remy interrupted uncomfortably. “You’re a rock.

  You’re a fucking hero, man. You don’t need me and you never have.” The statement

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  wasn’t bitter; it was simply a fact put forth in Remy’s blunt manner of speaking, and that made it all the more hard to take. Remy actually believed it and accepted it as the way of life.

  Shawn laughed miserably. He let go of Remy as he stepped away and

  retreated to the window of the little compartment. He had always known that Remy’s half of their relationship had been a little heavy on the hero worship. Remy had never really known that he was the real rock. Well, it was past time to change that.

  “Do you have any idea how I spent the last month without you?” Shawn

  asked softly as he watched the countryside fly by. He could see Remy’s form

  reflected in the window, and he watched the younger man cross his arms across his chest and shrug uncomfortably. “Do you?” he asked again as he turned around to look at Remy.

  “No,” Remy answered as he looked down at his feet and shuffled a little. “I

  know Brandt stayed with you,” he said in a soft voice.

  “Do you know why?” Shawn pressed.

  “I think I could guess, if you really wanted to torture me in our last hours

  together,” Remy snapped as he looked up and his eyes blazed briefly before he

  clamped his mouth shut and looked apologetic once more. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

  “He stayed with me because….” Shawn met Remy’s eyes and wondered

  once more if he had the courage to tell the younger man the truth. He’d spent five years trying to be the hero Remy thought him to be. It wasn’t easy admitting how

  weak he really was after all that time. He forced the words out before he could second guess himself again. “Because they were trying to keep me from killing myself,

  Remy. That’s why I was handcuffed to the bloody bed when you found us. Every

  fucking chance I got, I tried to end it. I even let them put me on a bloody helicopter!”

  he said plaintively.

  Remy straightened up and dropped his arms to his sides as he listened, and

  when Shawn ended abruptly with a shiver in remembrance of the helicopter ride from Hell, Remy blinked twice at him and opened his mouth to speak, then shut it once

  more with a disbelieving shake of his head.

  “Why? Why would you do that?” he finally asked after several tense

  moments of silence.

  “Because you,” Shawn said emphatically as he stepped up to Remy once

  more and took his hand in a surprisingly tender gesture, “you are my world, lad. I didn’t want to face the world without you in it. Whether you’re with me or not is neither here nor there. I just need to know you’re out there. I just need you in it.”

  Remy swallowed heavily and stared at Shawn for several more long

  moments before he launched himself at the older man and wrapped his arms around

  Shawn’s neck. Shawn grunted from the sudden onslaught. He closed his eyes and

  returned the hug until his supply of air was almost cut off.

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  “I’ll still be out there,” Remy said with difficulty as he buried his face in

  Shawn’s neck.

  “You’re not careful,” Shawn responded as the lump in his throat threatened

  to develop into full-fledged tears. “I need to be there to protect you from yourself.”

  Remy let out a laugh that sounded more like a sob. He didn’t let go of

  Shawn, though, and they stood there clinging tightly to one another, the steady

  swaying of the train their only movement as they said a final, silent goodbye.

  LXXI.

  NIKOLAUS frowned worriedly as Carl knelt in front of the unfortunate woman and

  scowled at her.

  Brandt kept his distance out of necessity. For some reason she started

  hyperventilating every time he came near her, and Nikolaus wondered what he’d said to her earlier to make her so terrified of him.

  Carl wasn’t much better. He was deliberately trying to be intimidating, and

  he was doing such a good job that even Nikolaus felt the need to scoot away from

  him. But he remained by the girl’s side and patted her foot comfortingly, for lack of a better body part being reachable through all the sh
eets in which Remy had wrapped her.

  “There are a couple of rules I need to go over with you, love,” Carl said in a

  pleasant enough voice.

  The girl nodded her head and widened her eyes as if to signify that she

  would do anything they wanted.

  “Here’s the situation. We can’t let you go,” Carl said without preamble.

  Several tears streamed down the girl’s face as she looked desperately from

  Carl to Nikolaus, but she didn’t utter a sound and Nikolaus found himself admiring her courage.

  “Now, you’ve probably gathered that there are some very bad people after

  us. If we leave you here, they will kill you.”

  She closed her eyes and more silent tears trailed down the side of her face.

  “We won’t let them hurt you,” Nikolaus murmured in a comforting voice as

  he rubbed her hair and patted her on the head. Her hair had been up in a neat ponytail, but had long since come undone during the excitement.

  Carl nodded in agreement. “Now, if we take this gag out, you’re going to

  have to be very quiet,” Carl continued in a soothing voice, his gentle manner

  returning as he started to feel sorry for the girl. “Can you do that?”

  She nodded slowly, even though she had yet to open her eyes. Carl gave

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  Nikolaus a nod and Nikolaus went to untie the complicated knot at the base of the girl’s skull.

  “Dixie can be a little overzealous when he ties these things,” Nikolaus

  murmured to her as he tried to get it loose. “He seems to think that everyone can get out of them like he can,” he added with a little smile.

  She sniffed and opened her eyes as Nikolaus messed with the torn sheet.

  “Do you need to cut it?” Carl asked in exasperation.

  “Have you ever tried to untie one of these things? It’s like a five year old’s

  shoelace,” Nikolaus griped.

  Carl raised an eyebrow and smirked at him.

  “Yeah, hand me your knife,” Nikolaus sighed as he finally gave up on the

  thing. “So much for the dramatic unveiling, right Hasi?” he whispered to the girl as Carl reached through the hole in his pocket and retrieved the huge dagger he kept strapped to his thigh.