fredbassett | Fic, Crow on the Cradle, Part 15 of 15, Stephen/Ryan, Lester/Lyle, 18

Title : Crow on the Cradle, Part 15 of 15
Author : fredbassett
Fandom : Primeval
Rating : 18
Characters : Stephen/Ryan, Lester/Lyle, Cutter, Claudia, Abby, Connor, OCs.
Disclaimer : Not mine (except all OCs), no money made, don’t sue.
Spoilers : None
Summary : Lyle’s mother is on the scent of a story and it looks increasingly like the ARC team aren’t the only ones with knowledge of the anomalies.
A/N : this is my first official Primeval Big Bang! With many thanks to

lukadreaming for incomparable beta work and for holding my paw throughout a very long writing process. The total word count is 51,277 and I will be posting in 15 parts. A very big thank you to everyone who has stuck with this series. Your comments have been a huge boost over what, for various reasons, has been a tricky few weeks.

Lester stood on the steps of Farnley Hall and watched as yet another ambulance ferried more wounded to the hospital. At his side, Gillian Clement, the soon-to-be-ex-Home Secretary, paced nervously. Lester made no attempt to reassure her. He was still waiting for news of his own lover and was not minded to waste sympathy on her.

Claudia had accompanied the ambulance in the hope of minimising any mention of dinosaurs and, in the absence of Ed Mason to issue any instructions, Sandra Willoughby had decided that co-operation was the best policy. Lester had been furnished with a full list of her employer’s clients and it was already clear that the man had gathered extensive information on the anomalies. Lester’s mind was already whirling with possibilities, even if all he wanted at that particular moment was the safe return of his field team.

“There’s nothing more we can do here, sir,” Ditzy commented at his side. “Finn and I may as well take a couple of the lads back in there and see what we can do.”

Lester nodded. A helicopter had ferried in back-up troops from the ARC and, in the absence of Ryan, Stringer and Lyle, the medic was now the ranking officer. A military cordon had been set up around the bunker containing the anomaly and the heavy metal doors remained open. The soldiers were well equipped to deal with any unwelcome incursions and the way had been left often for a rapid exit from the past should it be needed.

As the two men jumped into the Land Rover, the radio in Lester’s hand cracked into life. “We have incoming!” declared one of the guards.

Lester’s heart rate rocketed and, without a second thought, he took the steps two at a time and hauled open the door of the Land Rover. “Room for a little one?” he enquired.

* * * * *

As Finn accelerated across the well-tended parkland, Lester saw two battered Land Rovers burst out through the open doors of what he now knew to be the Faraday cage that had shielded the anomaly from registering on Connor’s detection devices. Lester hadn’t as yet discovered how much information had been deliberately leaked to Mason by Clement or whether indiscreet pillow-talk had simply been fed back to him by her husband, but he was sure it was no coincidence that the anomaly had been shielded from prying eyes by a method that also kept it from coming to the knowledge of the ARC.

The two vehicles came to a halt, disgorging a motley collection of soldiers and civilians. He heard Cutter’s yell of, “Medic!” and Ryan’s almost simultaneous order for someone to close the doors.

Ditzy dived for the lead vehicle while Lester’s eyes anxiously raked across every face, noting that Julia Denton was climbing shakily out of Land Rover even as he searched for the person who mattered most to him. The rear doors of the second vehicle opened and a warm rush of relief flooded through him. Lester could tell from the careful way Lyle exited the vehicle that his lover was clearly in pain, but he was alive and moving under his own steam, that was what counted. The lieutenant raised a hand in greeting and Lester allowed himself a slight smile and a nod.

In a matter of minutes, the convoy was on its way again. Another ambulance was still on standby at the hall and paramedics were soon working on the injured. From a rapid conversation with Ryan, Lester gathered that both Blade and one of the mercenaries had been injured in a crash that had ended Ed Mason’s own life. Lester couldn’t say he was sorry about that latter fact. The situation would be hard enough to unpick as it was, but with Mason dead, at least they would have free run of Farnley Hall.

Trays of tea and coffee appeared and were passed around the front steps still thronged with people all waiting for news of the injured. Julia Denton waved away her son’s concern and promptly demanded a packet of cigarettes and a very large whisky. She sat down and leaned against one of the Doric pillars, her face looking older and more lined than Lester remembered.

“Julia, are you all right?” he asked.

She looked up at him and mustered a half-smile. “I’ll live, which is more than can be said for a lot of people.”

Sandra Willoughby arrived with cigarettes and whisky. The latter was in a cut-glass decanter, served on a silver tray. Mason’s personal assistant clearly believed that some standards needed to be maintained even in the face of complete chaos. Julia drained the glass in one swallow and the other woman poured another of equal size while Julia lit a cigarette with hands that appeared remarkably steady for a woman who looked like she’d taken a trip to hell and back.

Julia took a long drag and exhaled smoke through her nose with evident pleasure. “Christ, I needed that.” She looked up at Lester and then looked over to where Gillian Clement had her head buried in her husband’s shoulder. Tony Porter put his arms around her and gently led her back into the house. “He’s a brave man, even though I don’t like what he does for fun. I take it you’ve found your leak, James.”

He nodded and sat down on the steps next to her. “Porter is an old hunting buddy Mason’s. Gillian Clement has had full access to information from the project, which is no doubt how Mason managed to get his little construction project finished before Connor brought the detector on line.” There was another glass on the tray so he poured himself a drink and threw it down his throat, heedless of how good a malt it was. “And you’ve got your story.”

Julia took another pull on her cigarette and laughed, her voice rough with smoke and alcohol. “Don’t bait me, James, it’s not gentlemanly.” The second whisky followed the first almost as quickly. Her hazel eyes gleamed with suspicious brightness, making Lester wonder what had happened on the other side of the anomaly.

“I’m shagging your son,” Lester said quietly. “I’m allowed to bait you. It’s what prospective mothers-in-law are for. So, are we going to see this lot all over the newspapers, Julia?”

“You’d slap a DA notice on me before I’d even started typing the copy.”

“You paper the bogs with them, as your son so elegantly put it.”

A pair of very tired eyes met his. “Yes, I do. But not this time. I don’t say this very often, James, and if you quote me on it, I shall deny every word, but I was wrong. This – whatever it is – is too fucking dangerous. So I’ll keep my mouth shut. But I promise you one thing: if our government – or anyone else, for that matter – makes any attempt to exploit what lies on the other side of those things in any way, shape or form, I will explode the whole bloody story via every possible outlet. And that’s not a threat, it’s a promise.”

Lester held her gaze. “If that happens, Julia, I will help you to break the news. And that’s a promise as well. Gillian Clements’ career is over, but she’s not the only one who can’t be trusted. It’s my job to keep this project out of the hands of the sharks.”

Julia Denton lit another cigarette from the butt of the first one. “You’re a good man, James Lester. Now do something useful and lend me your phone. I need to call my husband and my friend. I think I’ve got some grovelling to do.”

* * * * *

Several hours later, Farnley Hall still resembled a military barracks more than a stately home. Soldiers still seemed to be everywhere and it looked very much like Cutter would have to be prised out of Mason’s office like a limpet off a rock. He was poring over the data Connor had retrieved from various computers and spouting facts and figures that meant little or nothing to Lester, but which Cutter would no doubt insist on inflicting on him at the earliest opportunity.

Claudia had reported from the hospital that Anne Churchill and Charlie Marsh were both recovering from their injuries and, apart from bad concussion, whiplash and a dislocated shoulder, so was Blade. On top of that, Ricky Carey had six broken ribs and was being kept in for observation. The tally of the dead was somewhat longer and would no doubt take all of Claudia’s considerable skill to smooth over, but it was felt unlikely that anyone would be talking about their experiences. Mason’s remaining clients were lucky to be alive and they knew it.

Lester pushed open the door to the library and found Lyle reclining on a chaise longue, resting his bandaged leg and drinking beer in the company of his fellow officers and Stephen Hart. He relayed the latest news from the hospital and accepted the beer that Stephen handed him. Lester was past the stage of worrying about having drunk too much. It was now well after midnight and rooms had been made ready for all of them.

“Thank you for what you did today, gentlemen. I gather from Cutter that matters became a little… exciting at times. I shall await your reports with interest.”

Lyle groaned. “Have a heart, darling.”

Lester smiled sweetly. “Tomorrow morning will be quite soon enough, possum.”

Lyle flipped him the finger and took another swig of his beer. “What’s going to happen to Dewar?”

“I was going to ask for your collective recommendation on that matter,” Lester admitted.

Lyle shrugged. “There’s no reason to hold him.”

Both Ryan and Stringer nodded in agreement.

Lester wasn’t surprised. He’d already been told about the part the mercenary had played in the rescue of Lyle’s mother and the various close encounters of the tyrannosaurus kind and he knew that none of his officers would be likely to want the man incarcerated. Dewar would have to be thoroughly debriefed but beyond that, Lester would make no attempt to hold him.

A wave of exhaustion rolled relentlessly over him. “I shall bid you all goodnight. I’m told by the redoubtable Mrs Willoughby that breakfast will be served from 7am.”

Lyle brushed off his attempts to lend assistance as they climbed the stairs to one of the guest bedrooms. Too tired to do anything more than simply brush his teeth, Lester flopped down onto the crisp sheets and waited for Lyle to join him. His lover laid aside any pretence at nonchalance along with his clothes and allowed himself to be drawn into Lester’s arms without protest.

“What happened to her, Jon?” he asked quietly, finally broaching the question that had been lying between them for the last few hours.

“Ben Harris lived down to his reputation,” Lyle replied quietly, clearly not able to bring himself to be more specific, even though Lester had suspected as much.

Lester closed his eyes in the darkness. “I’m sorry. Maybe if I’d let you kick some doors down earlier…”

Lyle silenced him with a light kiss. “Don’t go there, James. I know fucking well that you put your career on the line for me today. When you sanctioned the op you didn’t know about Clement’s husband being involved, did you?” Lyle took his silence for assent and continued, “If we’d got here earlier, I don’t think we would have found anything quickly enough to have made a difference. Yeah, we might have found Mason’s underground storage areas for the animals if we’d kept looking, but I doubt we’d have found the anomaly. He’d covered his tracks well enough. It’s taken the boy wonder most of the evening just to hack into his computers. So let’s not play the maybe game, it’ll just do your fucking head in.”

Lester returned the kiss, comforted by his lover’s calm pragmatism. “What did Ditzy say?” He knew that the medic had spent some time with Julia, although the woman had obstinately refused any hospital treatment.

“That’s she’s a tough old bird who shouldn’t be anywhere near as healthy as she is considering her penchant for booze and fags,” Lyle murmured as he pillowed his head on Lester’s shoulder and slipped an arm around his waist. Lester listened as Lyle’s breathing deepened and his lover started to drift into sleep.

The mopping up from Ed Mason’s little venture was only just beginning but Lester was confident that the Prime Minister would be entirely cooperative on all matters of importance.

And it looked very much like Abby Maitland was just about to acquire her very own zoo.

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

nietie.livejournal.com

Wow, what a thriller Big Bang.

Lyle's mum definitely is a tough old bird *g*

From:

Fic, Crow on the Cradle, Part 15 of 15, Stephen/Ryan, Lester/Lyle, 18

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