How I Met Your Mother Ch. 04

How I Met Your Mother: Picture Perfect

Newcastle City Hospital
Special Burns Unit
Saturday evening

Beep...Beep...Beep

Most of the words had gone straight over Leah's head. She had been sitting in the hospital waiting for word on Alison's condition for most of the day. Within an hour of receiving the phone call, Andrew had booked a hotel in the city centre and packed her and the kids in the SUV. Driving through the night, they'd arrived in Newcastle at sunrise. After dropping off the bags and checking into the hotel, they had gone en masse to the hospital.

Eventually, Andrew had taken Scott and Cassie back to the hotel for some rest. Leah had preferred to be alone at that point – her feelings inside swinging from one extreme to another with little or no control. As she had sat there in the cold plastic chair there was only one word that described how she truly felt.

Helpless.

"She has third degree burns across 35% of her body, focused down the left hand side of her torso, arm and leg," The doctor said as Leah looked on through the window at the room beyond. She couldn't remember his name – it was Terrence or Terrell...Travis! Dr Travis – that was it. Leah reached for the handle, only for the doctor to stop her. "I'm sorry, you can't go in there without the proper equipment and clothing - it's a sterile clean room. She needs to be isolated for the next few days to allow the eschar to form safely without the risk of any microbial growth beginning. Once we're past that stage we can manage any infections with antibiotics."

"So...will she live?" Leah could barely hear the words that came out of her own mouth.

"With skin grafts and extensive physiotherapy, she should recover in time, although the next twenty four hours will be critical to her cardiac functions," Leah looked confused. "Cardiac function in burn victims is always inconsistent in the first forty-eight hours after the injury occurs – it slows down to begin with, then increases to cope with the hyper-metabolic needs of the body. Once she gets through that we can sort out her transfer." Doctor Travis explained. "Although, the viability of the foetus is another question entirely."

"Foetus?" Leah asked. "Alison is pregnant?"

"Yeah," Travis replied. "Nine weeks. We detected elevated levels of chorionic gonadotropin glycoprotein hormones in her blood work. I assume that she was nulligravida, right? She's never given birth before?"

"Yes, yes," Leah confirmed. "Wait a minute – transfer? What transfer?"

"Once she's stable she's being moved to the Edwards Clinic down in London. It's a private facility – really top notch at dealing with burn victims." Travis said. "I'm sorry; I thought someone had told you – you're listed as her next of kin."

"No, no they hadn't," Leah said. "Who arranged the transfer?"

***

The television was filled with flashing images of violence and destruction. Two pairs of eyes sat across from it, mesmerised by the tale that was unfolding before them. As they sat in the bedroom of the hotel, Scott nudged his sister.

"This is so much better than the other one we watched at home."

"Yeah," Cassie replied without looking at her brother. "I like the flying ones though."

"Really? I like the truck and the sports car." Scott said before they both lapsed into silence again, punctuated by the odd gasp.

The door to the hotel suite opened and Leah stepped inside, shaking her coat to try and dislodge the last few remnants of the rain shower she had been caught in after leaving the Metro station. She hung her coat up and dropped her bag next to it before returning the key card to her pocket and looking for Andrew.

"Where are the kids?"

"In the bedroom watching cartoons on the DVD player," Andrew said as he threw a tea bag into a mug. "Cuppa?"

"When were you going to tell me?" Leah asked. Andrew looked at her.

"About what?"

"About Alison being transferred to some private clinic back in London." Leah hissed. "And about the fact that you're paying for it."

"Leah, look, I can explain..."

"You're dead right about that," Leah spat at him. She walked over to the other side of the room and closed the bedroom door. "What's going on?"

"You remember three years ago when Ruth had that car accident?" Leah nodded, recalling the incident with Andrew's youngest sister. "Well, she ended up in the Edwards clinic to treat the burn on her leg and they did a fantastic job on it – after we saw Alison this morning I thought I'd see what I could do..."

"You haven't answered the question Andy," Leah pushed him. "Why?"

"Because..." he looked out of the window for a minute, seeing the rain pouring down outside. "Because if this happened to you and I wasn't around to look after you, I'd like to think that Alison would have tried to do the same for you." He looked at Leah. "Because she's your best friend and the godmother of our kids; because it's theonlything I can do to help and it's the right thing to do under the circumstances." He shook his head. "Look, we don't need the money at the minute and the advance I received forInfectionwas more than enough to cover our day to day needs along with paying for Alison's treatment."

"What?" Leah suddenly felt sick, realising her initial gut feeling had been wrong. "I...I thought you were going to say...Jesus, I thought you were having an affair with her..."

"What? Where the hell did you get that idea from?" the shock was clearly visible on his face. "Look, I love you and you alone, always have; always will."

"She's...she's pregnant," Leah said, sitting down on the sofa. Andrew was visibly surprised. "I know she hasn't been seeing anyone recently – and as far as I know you're the only guy she's spent any time with outside of the office...and I know she's notthatcrazy when she's on the job...I just overreacted – I leapt to a conclusion...everything is so fucked up right now...I'm not thinking straight..." Andrew sat down and put his arm around Leah, pulling her towards him as she put her head on his shoulder. Andrew felt tears beginning to soak through his shirt.

"Shush, shush. It's okay baby," he cooed. "Come on; get it all out of your system."

"It should have been me Andy," Leah said, letting her emotions boil over. "I should have been in there with...I..." She finally broke down in Andrew's arms. She couldn't tell how long she stayed there, but by the time she heard Andrew talking quietly in her ear, Leah's legs felt like jelly.

Leah held onto Andrew as tightly as she could. "Okay, you need to get some rest," Andrew said, helping Leah to her feet. "It's been a shitty day for everyone and you've barely slept since last night."

"Mommy, what's wrong?" Scott's question startled Leah. She tried to wipe away the tears that were streaming down her face as she saw her two children standing in the room, looking at her with concerned expressions etched on their young faces.

"It's okay Scott, Mom's just abit upset about Aunty Alison's accident," Andrew said. "Now, let's get Mommy tucked into bed and then we'll order something to eat shall we?" Scott and Cassie followed behind Andrew like two puppies following their mother. They watched while Andrew helped Leah into bed, then clambered up either side of their mother and held her with their tiny arms. Leah was asleep in minutes. Andrew went back into the other room and picked up the telephone. "Yeah, this is Mr Hargreaves in room seven one four, I'd like to place an order for room service..."

****

Sunday morning

"How much ice cream did the kids eat last night?" Alison asked as she handed the suitcase to Andrew. He shrugged his shoulders.

"Not sure – I lost count after the third bowl." He closed the boot and looked at his wife. "Right, now are you sure you're going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Leah replied, her hands shoved in her pockets. "Tom wants me to hang around for a couple of days while they conduct the investigation into the explosion. I'll be home by Thursday at the latest." Andrew hugged her, and then looked her in the eye.

"Well, whatever you do, just make sure you come back in one piece."

"What?" Leah tried to disguise the realisation in her voice that he knew exactly what she was planning on doing.

"We've been together for nearly eleven years – you can't hoodwink me that easily anymore Leah," Andrew said. "Just stay safe and remember that we need you too."

"Don't talk like..."

"Weneedyou Leah," Andrew's tone was as forceful as he could muster under the circumstances as he repeated himself. He then walked around the side of the car to open the driver's side door. "I've left something in your bag for you to read, you know, should you happen to take any flights anywhere." Leah opened the back door and looked at Scott and Cassie buckled into the back seat.

"Be good for your Dad while I'm away." Leah said as she leaned in and kissed Cassie, then Scott. In turn, he tried to wipe the saliva from his face.

"Mom!" He moaned.

"Bye Mommy – love you." Cassie said as Leah withdrew. She paused for a minute – an urge began rising up inside her to simply get in the car and go home with Andrew.

"I love you too." Leah said, closing the door quickly before the urge overwhelmed her completely.

****

The top floor of Pilgrim Street Police Station had been completely taken over by the team despatched from London to oversee the investigation into the explosion in West Jesmond just over twenty four hours ago. As Leah made her way through the hordes of people scurrying about, she caught sight of Tom as he was gathering together several of his senior staff members that were present.

Tom Benedict was a career man. He had long since abandoned field work in the early 1990s in order to climb the ladder of the department and it showed in his appearance. Overweight and with a hair line that had long since gone the way of the dinosaurs, he managed the team with a flair that belied his appearance. As he caught Leah's eye he gestured for her to come over to the office he had commandeered.

"Hargreaves, how you feeling?"

"I'm fine sir," Leah lied. "I'll admit that I'm a little upset about events but..."

"Go home." Tom interrupted her. Leah's jaw dropped open.

"What?"

"You heard me, go home," He repeated. "You're too close to this to be objective – if I need to I'll get Tompkins to drive you." Tom then went into the room and closed the door behind him. Leah was shocked – and she could feel the anger building up inside her at being suddenly shut out. Her first reaction was to open the door and tell Tom exactly what she thought about his decision. However, instead of letting it get the better of her, Leah turned around and found herself a small computer terminal in a distant corner of the office. After logging on she did was she did best.

She began to hunt.

****

August 2000

Clearwater House Publishing Annual Dinner Event

"Okay, how bored are you?" Andrew asked as he joined Leah by the buffet table. They had just sat through a reading of the first five chapters of Antoine Fortune's new novel,The Captain's Wife, by the celebrated French author himself. It had been billed as a tale of romance and adventure on the high seas of the seventeen-century. After the third page, even Andrew had found his mind wandering.

"Bored enough that I've already figured out five different ways to kill the Frenchman," Leah said as she held up a small sliver of wood. "All with this toothpick!"

"Fantastic, you'll have to tell me those later," Andrew said as he directed Leah away from the food. "Look, I want you to meet someone – you'll love him." He guided her across the room filled with authors, agents and various corporate sponsors. As they wound their way towards the rear of the room, Leah could see that Andrew was directing her towards a table that was occupied by a bear of a man. He stood up as Andrew approached.

"Andrei," He said – Leah instantly recognised his accent as Russian. "Is this who I think it is?"

"Innokenty Annenskij, this is my fiancée, Leah Bennett." The big Russian nodded to Leah and gently took her hand and kissed it. "Leah, this is Inno, the big Russian."

"Pleased to meet you Mr Annenskij," Leah said. Inno waved away her formal greeting.

"Please, call me Inno – everyone else does." Inno insisted as he pulled a chair out for Leah to sit at. Andrew joined them a moment later, carrying a small tray of drinks in his hands.

"Inno here has been telling me some very interesting things about his former life in the old Soviet Union," Andrew said. Leah could see the gleam in his eyes. "Namely around the Dylatov Pass Incident of 1959."

"Another one of your wild goose chases, right?" Leah said, smiling wildly at Andrew. "Like going to look for Bigfoot and the Mongolian Death Worm?"

"Ha ha ha!" Inno's laugh made everyone around him look at the occupants of the table at the back of the room. "You should come to Siberia – I could show you Alma that make Bigfoot look like monkey in zoo."

"Get me the administrative access documents and I'm there big man!" Andrew said, handing a shot glass of vodka to Leah and then one to Inno. "Inno here used to be a diplomatic attaché to the Russian embassy in Washington and London back in the seventies and eighties." Leah eyebrows rose visibly, immediately seeing through the terminology Andrew used. She knew that Andrew had picked up on her non-verbal signal.

"That's why I'm here – to hand over final copy of manuscript to Diane."

"So that's how you too know each other – you have the same editor." Leah said, relief audible in her voice.

"Not entirely," Andrew said. "Inno here lived across the street from me when I was a teenager. He'd moved to England following the collapse of the Soviet Union." Leah looked at Andrew with a strange, strained expression on her face as Inno threw his hands in the air.

"Perestroika! Pah!"

"What? You didn't think that the retired gentleman to our left was trying to recruit me as a double agent or something silly like that?" Andrew said as he knocked back the vodka at the same time as Inno. "Another drink?" Leah followed suit a moment later.

"Da! Another drink!" Andrew got up from the table and disappeared. Leah and Inno shared a look.

"So, what were you? KGB?" She asked. Inno smiled.

"Da! Colonel in the end," Inno smiled at Leah, looking at her as she sat in the chair, dressed in the long black evening gown she'd picked out for the evening. "You're MI5, MI6, right?" He said with an air of expectancy in his voice.

"How could you tell?" Leah replied. He waved his hand again.

"After thirty years, you develop – how you say – sixth sense. I see the way you walk, the way you look at things – you never lose that sense, that understanding of how things can go bad quickly. You look at things, people and evaluate them, up here." Inno said, tapping his forehead. "So, Andrew and you...?"

"Are an item, yes." Leah said, sensing something in Inno's voice that she wasn't anticipating.

"Does he know?" He seemed almost protective towards her fiancé.

"Yes, yes he does." Leah said, starting to warm to the man sitting next to her. "We don't have any secrets between us." Inno's smile grew even wider.

"My wife the same! Married for twenty-five years – never a secret between us – exactly way it should be. You will make good Russian marriage!" Inno beamed as he saw Andrew making his way back from the open bar. "Andrew's a good boy – I knew his father you know." His voice was low – conspiratorial almost. Leah sudden felt that some grand revelation was about to slip from his lips. "He was a good man – built my garage for me. Fantastic craftsman. Such a shame when he died. Andrew was so lost for awhile..." Inno seemed to drift off for a moment; his eyes seemed to mist over. "But he start to write – I read something printed in the local newspaper and I offered him my help."

"Help? You were trying to get me to ghost-write your memoirs at the age of nineteen." Andrew said as he lined up six shots of vodka. Inno's booming laugh flowed again.

"Yes – and now I write them myself." Inno knocked back a shot. "Now, we drink and celebrate my success. I drink to my book!"

"Okay," Andrew said, looking at Leah. "We'll drink to your book big man."

****

Two hours later, Inno was stumbling along the corridor of the hotel he was staying at with Leah trying to keep him upright. Despite the amount of alcohol the Russian had consumed he still had a solid grasp of his faculties.

"Old regime cruel, harsh, but you knew where you stood with them," He said. Leah propped him up against the wall as he searched for his room key. "New men – FSB – bastards!" he spat. "No respect..."

"Where's your key card Inno?" Leah asked as they resumed their progress. She waved at the man down the hall who was struggling with his door, hoping that their odd couple routine didn't upset any existing guests who had already turned in for the night. "Come on, Andrew is waiting for me downstairs."

"Here somewhere..." They paused again. As Leah helped Inno to stand upright she noticed that the man down the hall was looking at them, no, he was watching them. She leaned into Inno slightly.

"We're being followed."

"Told you!" Inno cried out. "No respect..."

"Shush!" Leah said, handing Inno her purse. "Get my phone out of there and look through it for an entry markedAlison."

"What, no..." Inno started to speak – Leah placed her hand on his mouth to keep him quiet.

"No – oddly enough, this wasn't on the agenda tonight." Leah patted his chest. "Just don't fall over." She turned and began to walk back down the hall, acting as if she was drunk. Almost toppling over at one point, Leah looked as if she was going to walk into the tall man. He put his hands out to stop her, yet nothing could prepare him for what happened next.

As she "fell" into him, Leah drove her knee forcefully into his stomach, doubling the man over. Stepping to the side, Leah slammed her hand in a knife-edge strike across the back of his neck. The man slumped to the floor. Leah knelt down and rolled the man onto his back, checking his pulse as she searched him.

"...Is he...?" Inno was walking better now, suddenly more sober than before.

"He's alive – I'm not in the habit of killing people just for the sake of it," Leah said as Inno handed her the cell phone. She pulled a pistol of Russian origin from out of his jacket and a small identity wallet. Leah looked at it as she called Alison. "You'll have to read that – it's all gobbledygook to me." Inno looked at the documentation in the wallet.

"Diplomatic Service," He spat. "Pah! FSB!" Leah nodded as the call was connected.

"Alison, it's me," she said. "We have an unwanted that needs to be looked after for a few days at the Cresswell Hotel...okay." Leah ended the call and looked at Inno. "You know what Inno, why don't you stay with us for tonight?"

****

Pilgrim Street Police Station

2009

Two hours of trawling through data files and intelligence reports had left Leah with a mountain of paperwork at her side but no real leads. The house in West Jesmond had been rented by someone using the name John Banfield – however the fingerprints on the documents belonged to a man by the name of Milos Pelevin, or Johann Blanc, Jack White, Miles Furman or anyone of a number of assumed names that flashed up on the screen.

After searching through numerous databases, Leah realised that the elusive John Banfield – which was the name she was going to stick with in her mind – was wanted by Interpol, the FBI and a variety of regional crime units across Europe. Primarily he seemed to be something of an ironmonger, dealing weapons through the black market, but it appeared he'd dipped his toes into people trafficking and money laundering as an unhealthy sideline. As she leaned back in the uncomfortable chair and ran her hands through her hair the telephone in her pocket began to buzz. She answered it without looking at the display.