(no subject)

[walk_ins]

By the time they had arrived, he was ready. When he was properly informed and went to join them in the reception room, Gabriel Tam had been coolly confident-- as a highly-placed member of the Alliance, he was well aware not only of his rights as a citizen, but also of those prerogatives that accompany power.

He hadn't been surprised when the officers asked deferentially if he'd be willing to accompany them to Headquarters to answer a few questions --formalities only, of course-- and had graciously acquiesced while making it clear that he was, in fact, doing them a favor.

They'd brought him to an interrogation room-- through an unmonitored door, with the discretion due someone of his rank-- and it was there that they'd done the unexpected. They'd left him alone.

Now, still waiting in the otherwise empty chamber, Gabriel is truly beginning to become alarmed.

Comments

[walk_ins]

Best to let him sit. Let him become nervous.

Cathcart and Charrington watch him on the video feed.

Charrington murmurs to Cathcart: "Do you truly think he knows something?"

Cathcart to Charrington: "We'll see, won't we."

They decide to wait until he becomes a bit more...agitated...before entering.

They watch Gabriel Tam as though he were a rare specimen in a zoo -- with speculation, with clear analytical sight, and with excitement that isn't entirely benevolent.

[gabriel_tam]

Inwardly, he curses Regan for her interference. I've reported it for you, Gabriel.

He's been careful-- careful enough, he hopes. But what if he's wrong? Your research has been observed, the message had said.

Still, there's nothing for it now but to play the game as if this were a corporate negotiation. Gabriel forces himself to sit back in his chair with a look of exasperated impatience. You're not fooling anyone with these tricks, it says.

[walk_ins]

They give him another twenty minutes, sipping coffee, waiting, watching.

In silence.

Cathcart and Charrington have worked together for years, and they know each other very, very well. They have a routine. A successful one. One that always gives them what they want, in the end. When Charrington and Cathcart are assigned to a detainee...it says something.

It says a lot.

"Refill?" murmurs Charrington to Cathcart. Cathcart shakes his head.

"It's time."

They throw away their paper cups and leave the room, walking side by side down the hall -- like Mike and Ike, they think alike, and act alike, too. Cathcart is a bit heavier than Charrington, and Charrington is a bit taller than Cathcart. The two men could pass for brothers, though -- the same nocolor light brown hair, the same pale hazel eyes.

The door opens. Charrington is smiling; Cathcart is not.

"Good evening, Mr. Tam."

[gabriel_tam]

"Good evening, gentlemen." Politely said, even cordially, but he doesn't get up. Gabriel stays seated, leaning back slightly in the chair with the appearance of inspecting them as they enter.

"I've been given to understand that there are some formalities that need to be addressed?"

[walk_ins]

Tam chooses to stay seated; Cathcart and Charrington know what they need to do.

They don't sit down. Instead, they stand at either side of the table in positions very like parade rest -- Charrington's hands clasped in front of him, Cathcart's behind.

Their empty chairs are very obvious.

"Certainly," offers Charrington, still smiling. It's a professional smile. "Would you care to do so?"

Cathcart still isn't smiling.

[gabriel_tam]

"I'm a very busy man, gentlemen."

Gabriel glances between them and then chooses to address Charrington.

"My wife said that you wished to speak to me, as I'm certain you're aware, but perhaps we could accomplish things more efficiently if you were to tell me what it is that you're interested in."

Businesslike, and nothing more.

[walk_ins]

"We know that you've been busy."
What do you want?
And now Cathcart is smiling, and Charrington is the one with the unreadable expression.
We want information.
"Where are your children, Mr. Tam?"

[gabriel_tam]

His businesslike mien shatters like fallen china and is replaced with coldly outraged politeness.

"I don't know."

Gabriel stands.

"Now, gentlemen, if the only reason you've brought me here today is to ask old questions to which apparently nobody has answers, then I think our conversation is over, don't you?"

[walk_ins]

"Sit, Mr. Tam." Charrington's voice is cold.
Whose side are you on?
Cathcart is still smiling. "We're not through yet. You've been running some interesting searches on the Cortex recently. Tell me -- "
That would be telling. We want information... information... information.
There's just enough of a pause to imply and it will be a lot easier for you.
You won't get it.
" -- what is your interest in gunslingers?"
By hook or by crook, we will.
Cathcart leans forward a little. Charrington steps forward. He's taller than Tam.

[gabriel_tam]

He doesn't sit immediately. Can't show weakness, Gabriel thinks, I can't act guilty or it's all over. He plants both hands flat on the table, looking at Cathcart, and attempting to ignore Charrington's threatening movement.

"You can't possibly expect me to believe that this is how the Alliance spends its resources? By asking questions concerning every new hobby a man develops a curiosity about?"

And now he does sit down, looking at the other men with what seems to be irritated exasperation.

[walk_ins]

Charrington, amused: "Mr. Tam. You know our ways well enough, placed as you are -- do you really think we'd have called you in here if it were just a matter of a new hobby?"
Who are you?
Cathcart, toneless: "You've started looking at things that by rights a businessman such as yourself would have no interest in. Why a new hobby now, Mr. Tam, when things are going better for you than they ever have before? When you're just now finally coming out from the shadow of the crimes of your children?"
The new Number 2.
Charrington, sly: "You do know what we're talking about, don't you?"

[gabriel_tam]

No, I know why you called me in here, he doesn't say, and inwardly he curses Regan again-- although it's clearly becoming apparent to him from the questions that it was only a matter of time. Instead, Gabriel answers flatly, "My children aren't criminals."

He sighs and runs a carefully deliberate hand through his hair, conceding, "I'll grant you, Simon's disturbed-- you've heard the rumors about my fēngle son as well as I have, I'm certain, and he's made some unwise decisions -- but he's not a criminal."

[walk_ins]

Cathcart and Charrington exchange glances.

This time they both smile.

"We've a little something to show you, Mr. Tam."

"Something that will change your mind on that account."

"If you'll just give us a moment?"

They leave the room. The door locks audibly behind them.

They wait a good ten minutes before bringing the video back in, and setting it up.

"Now!" Cathcart is cheerful. "Watch carefully."
By the time we finish with him, he won't know whether he's Number 6 or the cube root of infinity.
Charrington, also smiling, presses a button. "This is footage taken from their last known appearance on Ariel."

[gabriel_tam]

He remembers the family vacation to Ariel, years ago. River couldn't have been older than five. Six? Five. Long time ago.

Swimming in a bioluminescent lake is like nothing else in the worlds. Water like light made liquid, so clear you can see underwater for what feels like miles. Coral forming an alien forest in a thousand subtle colors. A school of tiny fish surrounding you for a moment like a cascade of living jewels, their shadows dappling over your skin, and then gone.

River breaking the surface like a dolphin, glowing drops flinging from her hair, and letting out a treble shriek of joy. And Simon, catching her and swinging her high to splash down into the luminous water again, shouting laughter. And Regan, her own laughter quiet but no less joyful, turning to look at him in a brilliant moment of shared pride.

Long time ago.

What he sees on the screen before him now is far more recent. Crumpled bodies-- bodies in Alliance uniforms, lying still and silent and clearly murdered, with blood running from ears and eyes and hands.

So much blood. Gabriel feels sick, and knows that he looks it -- that the men watching him with coldly vicious enjoyment are perfectly well aware of what they've done by showing him this.

"Footage taken from their last known appearance on Ariel." It's another voice he hears now, though, his son's voice, earnest and desperately eager, telling him, "Dad, I wasn't wrong and I wasn't crazy. What they did to River at that place -- I've got evidence now, medical evidence, I can show you--"

Before him on the screen he sees Simon pushing River in a wheelchair. The risk they took to come here was enormous, he knows, and still-- he watches as Simon turns away from his sister for a moment and goes to save a man's life.

A stranger's life.

That simply -- as if he'd ever doubted -- Gabriel Tam knows that his children aren't murderers. And that means that those who want them, like these men-- they are.

[ooc: childhood memory written by Batya.]

[walk_ins]

Smiles are gone, now.
What in fact has been created? An international community.
"You see these men who work to keep you safe -- those are your children who murdered them." Charrington.
A perfect blueprint for world order.
Cathcart. "She's sick, Mr. Tam. She's sick, and she needs help, and it is patently obvious that your son...well. You can ask yourself: would she have committed murder before Simon kidnapped her?"
A perfect blueprint for world order.
"We need to know what you know." Charrington. "And why you know it."
When the sides facing each other suddenly realize
"We can't force you to help."
that they're looking into a mirror,
"We can merely say that it would be highly advisable."
they'll see that this is the pattern for the future.
Their eyes are pale, their uniforms paler in the sick fluorescent light.

[gabriel_tam]

It's all he can do not to throw up, and even though he knows that any evidence of weakness will smell like blood to these human hounds, Gabriel buries his face in his hands, hearing his daughter's soft voice once again:

"Read the letters. Went looking too deep. Then they scared you. Told you I wasn't finished. Want to be careful, Mr. Tam."

"I need time." He looks up at them now, from one to the other, and his voice is unsteady but carefully businesslike once more. "I wasn't expecting this-- surely you can give me a little while to take it all in, gentlemen? To prepare things, as it were. To provide an orderly report."

I can't let you find them again -- I need time to figure out what to do.

[walk_ins]

"Of course, Mr. Tam." Charrington's voice is gentle. "It's difficult to see your children like that. I understand."

Cathcart is smiling. "But if I were you -- "

And now both their smiles are gone.

Charrington finishes, "I wouldn't take too long."
You shouldn't have interfered, Number 6.
"A good evening to you, Mr. Tam." Cathcart is cold.
You'll pay for this.
Charrington leads the way out of the room. The door is left open.

[gabriel_tam]

It takes him a few minutes.

But eventually, Gabriel stands up and goes through the open door.

He's met by the officers who brought him, and a short time later they're on their way back to the Tam estate.