The two guards had left her there outside the bars. Frank had arched an eyebrow as they walked away, and the gray haired Swede had shrugged back at him.
“The cell blocks have listening devices anyway. They don't have to be standing here to hear us.”
Frank smirked up at her from where he sat on the bed.
“Then they know I asked for a glass of water,” he said to the ceiling, raising his voice slightly near the end.
Stolt folded her arms. “And don't get up on my account,” the senior controller said with a wry twist of her mouth.
“Thanks, I won't,” grumbled Frank back at her. “Notice y'ain't dressed for prison like I am.”
The older woman rested a hand on one of the bars, chuckling dryly.
“No, I'm not. Your little outbursts on social media garnered attention for those of us who'd been seized faster than Mister Davies was able to do. I suppose I should thank you for that. None of us stayed in Inquisition cells for long.”
“You're welcome.”
“The Order also didn't want to keep the future Director of ARTEMIS behind bars, either.”
“Future Director...wait, what?”
Stolt sighed, tapping her fingers on the cell bar she was leaning against.
“Remember at Rivington Street? Where I told Grey none of those charges would stick, and he said one would?”
“Right. Occult contamination.”
“Well, Mister Calhoun, the opposite was true. Temple Hall medical staff quickly found that none of us who survived were infected—as they also found with you, Mister Davies, and Miss Green—but Inquisitor Akinwumni picked up Grey's investigation, and, well. Apparently Temple Hall agrees that ARTEMIS gravely overstepped its bounds. I'm told revelations about our 'contingency' simulations went over swimmingly...in any event, the Director has been forced to step down. They're appointing some new staff, but it was thought the head of the organization should still be someone the rest knows and trusts. So even though I'm an 'old hand,' I get to stay.”
Frank watched her for a moment without answering, rubbing his face and realizing with surprise it was clean shaven. Who the fuck shaved him? Did he not remember that either?
“Didn't we?”
Eyes the color of steel flickered back at him.
“Didn't we what?”
“Didn't we overstep our bounds?”
Frank could tell Stolt was about to disagree, but the usually indomitable woman paused.
“...perhaps, Mister Calhoun. Perhaps we did. At the time, it all made sense. There were so many threats—you've seen them. You've fought them. And you've seen how slowly and how cumbersomely the Hall responds to any threat. It made sense to build up our capabilities so we might better protect the Hall. The Directors plans all made perfect sense to those of us who were senior controllers.”
Stolt shook her head, gray locks bouncing slightly.
“In any event, we're to be...restructured. I imagine much of our assets not directly related to intelligence gathering and analysis are to be removed and reassigned. We're going to have to go back to the bad old days of working directly with the field cells or other cabals when wet work is to be done. I'm going to end up playing politician even more than the old Director did.”
“Y'mentioned Davies an' Green...they're okay? I mean...as okay as they can be? I reckon they're locked .
up like me...”
She nodded firmly.
“They were both in good health when I saw them. Green had been very ill, but she was already recovering well when I left her. And Connor...Mister Davies...well. I don't think there's anything that currently exists that can make the man die unless he decides he's going to die.”
Frank absorbed this information and got to his feet, going to the cell door and leaning up against it.
“An' th' assets we was workin' t' save? What about them?”
“As far as I've found, most are all right and in our hands. Most. Some had been killed. I wouldn't blame yourself for that; there were simply so many to save and so few of you working at it. If Grey hadn't blundered into us...there are also some simply missing. An asset in Chelyabinsk, Russia. One in Timbuktu, Mali. And so on. I suspect other elements got to them first to make use of them, since no bodies were found. You did well, Mister Calhoun. You and your...'friends'...both. The information recovered was important, even if those who gathered it perhaps weren't.”
Frank's hazel eyes met hers in an unyielding, level gaze.
“Th' people was important too, Mrs. Stolt.”
The veteran spymistress didn't blink.
“Some might be. This Jenner woman could be a powerful asset to the Order if she can be convinced to stop being incredibly pissed off at the Secret World in general for five minutes.”
“They're all important.”
For several heartbeats the two just glared at each other. Finally, Stolt shrugged expressively, blinking first.
“In many ways you've changed during your time with us, Mister Calhoun, but in some key respects you haven't changed a jot. I'd hoped our influence might have opened your eyes to how the espionage world really operates, but, stubbornly, you're still you.”
Frank gave her a crooked grin that only widened as a guard came up to the cell with a Styrofoam cup of water, which was passed through the bars.
“Gee, pal, that's so thoughtful,” Frank murmured as he took the cup. As the guard walked away without the slightest change in expression, Stolt continued.
“Still you. And quite honestly, I don't know if I should be annoyed or envious.”
Frank sipped from the cup.
“Could always do both, ma'am. Apparently I kinda provoke conflictin' emotions in folk.”
Snorting, Stolt rolled her eyes, but there was the barest hint of a smile there. Just a hint.
“So,” began Frank after a few moments, holding the cup in both hands. “What's gonna happen t' me? T' Davies an' Green? An' all th' rest that rabbited t' fight another day?”
That hint of a grin was gone as Stolt nodded at him.
“Miss Green, I expect, will get off the lightest. She's young, impressionable...clearly she was influenced and manipulated by the rest of us into joining the two of you on your globe trotting adventure. That, and her Sight is incredibly valuable. The Order won't squander it. I won't lie, I'll be fighting hard to make sure we retain her services.
“Mister Davies, on the other hand...he was a team leader, a senior member of the Order. He's been serving the Order in a field capacity since even before he stormed Pebble Island during the Falklands War. There will be demotion, forfeiture of pay, and more than likely a period of incarceration. There's mitigating factors in play that I hope the tribunal will consider, but he'll still be punished.”
She paused, tapping her fingers on the bar once more.
“The agents involved in the shoot-out in Wittenberg, however...Mister Calhoun, I expect there will be murder or manslaughter charges for those who took lives. On both sides. Templar killed Templar. I won't insult your intelligence by saying it's never happened, but it doesn't happen often.”
Frank took another drink of water.
“And me?”
Stolt answered quickly.
“From the point of view of the Hall, you abandoned your post, you refused to heed the recall order that went out to all of you, including Grey and his personnel, you apparently physically assaulted an Inquisition agent sent to apprehend you in Manilla--”
Frank interjected, swirling what little water was left in the cup around.
“Yeah, I totally broke th' poor fuckers arm. He was kinda tryin' t' stick his pistol up m' bee-hind.”
“--and you engaged Grey's men in a fire-fight, however brief and without Templar casualties it was.”
“They shot first.”
“It doesn't matter, Mister Calhoun. You're going to be charged, and you'll be put before a tribunal as well. Again, there are mitigating factors...but the Order isn't going to just put you back into the field tomorrow. They're going to show there are consequences, just as they're showing ARTEMIS. I'm told we're even going to have to drop the name. God's sake, we can't even keep the name.”
“An' after I'm tried...what then?”
Stolt looked over at him.
“I...don't know. I expect there will be a demotion as well. You will lose pay. You will probably serve a stint in this cell, though probably months and not years. You will probably be reassigned, as they're gutting our direct action capability. I don't think Dame Julia or Abbott will want you back, given what happened. I don't know if they'll send you back to the field cells. They'll find a use for you, but Mister Calhoun, I don't know what that will be.”
Frank drank the last few droplets of water from the cup. He hadn't know just how thirsty he was until he'd been given it.
“And Grey?”
“That's something they're not telling me, but the rumors are he's to be tried as well. I know Akinwumni is in charge, and I know that woman of old, Mister Calhoun. She's old guard to the core, she's very firm, but she's also quite fair. If the rumors I'm hearing are correct, Mary Akinwumni is going to throw the book at Grey. The fact that they rose through the ranks together and were friends is totally immaterial; Akinwumni will pursue the truth. If I were you, I'd take some comfort in that concerning your own appearance before a tribunal.”
Frank nodded, almost to himself, and went back to his bed, sitting down on the hard surface. Stolt, figuring the conversation was over, started to walk away when Frank cleared his throat, causing her to turn back.
“Was it worth it?”
“Was what worth it, Mister Calhoun?”
“All of it. Th' deals ARTEMIS made with the sex traffickers in Ukraine. Th' dangerous occult shit ARTEMIS kept for its self. Th' folks that were lied to or blackmailed or whatever into bein' 'assets' in a war they don' even know is goin' on. Everyone that's had t' die; Amelia Paiva, an' Carlos Santiago an' Umar Kalla an' all th' fuckin' rest. Was it worth it?”
Stolt folded her hands behind her back and considered Frank, then nodded.
“If you're asking me? Given what we accomplished? Yes, Mister Calhoun. It was all worth it. It absolutely was.”
And with that, Stolt motioned to people Frank couldn't see, and the guards returned to lead her out. Five minutes later, the guards returned, now with a man in Templar red-and-blacks that looked more bureaucrat than officer.
“Mister Calhoun?”
Frank remained sitting.
“Yeah?”
“You are hereby charged with the following offenses against the Order of the Templars...”
