Immortal History Lessons 17

Immortal History Lessons 17

A Little Love, A Little Larceny

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Methos drove them down the main streets of Istanbul, the lights of the city at night twinkling against the tinted windows. The immortal sighed.

"So much for showing you Constantinople." He said dismally.

"Istanbul. Don't piss the Turkish prince off any more than we have to. It is lovely though. Do you think we could come back in a year or so? Will he have forgotten by then?"

Methos shot her a smirk from the drivers seat. "I have it on good authority that vampires, like all other good little immortal guys and girls, are like elephants in the worst way. They never forget and they make the biggest stink over little things like indigestion."

"God, I'm back in high school," Sydney sighed.

Methos chuckled. "I'm glad I never went to one of those." He did a bit of funny moving in is seat before he managed to get a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Sydney, there as some Greek and Hieroglyphics written on it in Methos's unmistakable handwriting, along with a list in English, an extremely short list compared to the load of gear they were hauling.

"Right, I want all those in a bag before we reach the place, and anything else you might think we need. And don't bother with the shiny guns Zak decided to pack, we'll only need ours and I don't plan on using them."

"I should hope not!" she said and looked at the list. "Do you speak Turkish? Because we need a really good map. Like a detailed street map with block numbers or whatever they use here. And a GPS. Isn't there one back there somewhere? I've no idea how good the coverage is here in Turkey, but it's a good thing to have anyway. Have I told you I have an excellent sense of direction and I used to navigate car rallies? I was really good at it and we always won. You don't win by fast driving, you win by having a good navigator. So, hmmm," she turned around and put her tail in the air while she rummaged around in the back seat.

Methos was trying to keep his eye on the road and her bouncing backside at the same time.

"We won't need the GPS, and I love you to bits but I'm not putting you in charge of the map. I used to hang around here some time back, so we'll be ditching the car the moment we get there. I may not remember the Louvre so well, but I do remember the underground catacombs here."

"Uh huh. And just when was it you and your friend roamed the streets of Istanbul and explored the catacombs?"

Methos scratched the back of his head as he squinted. "About 1200 B.C."

"And I'm sure there was one of those here then," she said, pointing to a sign for the entrance to the Istanbul subway, the Metro. "Do you think, possibly, that a few catacomb byways might have been disturbed during construction?"

"Did I also mention I was here in 1942?" Methos asked.

She just pointed to the subway sign.

Methos sighed. "Fine, map, glove compartment."

"It won't hurt I promise," she said as she leaned over to kiss his cheek. Then she rummaged in the glove compartment. "Dammit, it's old. 2003. Well, it's better than nothing. Why do you have oatmeal on this list?"

"If it's not in the backseat, it's the grocery list."

"Oh."

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The house loomed over the street, on an outcropping of rock overlooking the Bosporus. It was in a wealthy section of Istanbul, all the houses large, gated, well lit. "Hmmm."

Methos looked out her window. "Oh, it's not that bad. I hate it when people exaggerate."

"Right," she agreed. "Problem one? Underground utilities. How do we blow the power?"

"We don't."

"Ok..." she said. "I swear that was in the plan. Then what?"

"We have steaks for the dogs, a trank gun for the guards, a couple of guns, gas canisters and masks." He shrugged. "That's enough for me."

"Okay, I thought we weren't going to use the guns. Because I seriously don't think I could shoot someone who wasn't about to skewer me."

"Then don't shoot at them, shoot around them." Methos said, as if it were the most logical thing since learning to look both ways.

"Okay, I can do that. Hopefully I won't hit you instead. I'm going to bring the C4 though. Since Thanos was no help at all in telling us how the thing was mounted, or if it was just in a safe. I'd rather be prepared."

Methos shook his head. "I don't know if I should be frightened or giddy about how easily you corrupt."

"Well, I confess, being a bad girl is a lot more fun than I thought. I did, though, now that I think about it, get into a great deal of trouble when I was little. I had a tendency to go exploring on my own." She regarded him for a moment. "Just what other skills do you have you aren't sharing? Flim Flam man next? Riverboat Gambler?"

"Well I was a Pharaoh once, but that was a long time ago. Come on, better get this over with." Methos said, getting out of the car with bag and mask in hand.

She hefted a back pack over her shoulder and followed him, giving every impression of a woman who knew what she was doing.

With all the agility Methos seemed to possess on the ground, he obviously lacked it in a tree. With the black mask pulled over his face, a duffel bag slung over his shoulder and the tranquilizer gun over the other, he was having quiet a time maneuvering through the tree branches skirting the wall of the house, and he wasn't doing it quietly.

Sydney followed along a bit more easily. Finally those bloody forced gymnastics classes her parents had insisted on were coming to good use. She doubted, however, her instructors would have approved.

Methos reached the top before her, even with his troubles. Resting the duffel in the crook of one tree, he brought the gun around into his hands and peeked over the wall, then he kicked out with his foot and made one of the branches shake over the lighted perimeter and the sound of a dog snuffling near their position could be heard.

She unwrapped one of the steaks and leaned over to see where the dog was. She tossed it to him. The dog yelped, as it had hit him on the head. Sydney shrugged at Methos's look, and mouthed, "sorry!"

The dog's handler came along a few seconds later and Methos pulled Sydney back down beneath the wall line, the man started talking to the dog in Turkish and Methos quickly stood up straight again, turned and pointed the gun over the wall and whistled. The guard only got out a single word of surprise before Methos pulled the trigger and the guard was down.

Methos ducked down next to her, reloading the gun. "How many outside?" He asked under his breath.

"I counted three. But not sure if there were more," she replied softly.

"Well we can't pick them all off from here, and I forgot to ask how long the darts lasted so we better do this quick. So..." Methos trailed off, glancing over the wall. "Easiest way is head on."

Then before Sydney could stop him, Methos hopped over the wall and into the yard and gave a much louder whistle this time which pierced the calm night.

"Honest to God the man is a maniac," Sydney muttered, reaching for her own trank gun and staying put. Two men and a dog came streaking around the corner of the house. She dropped one of the guards but didn't have a line of fire on the other guy or the dog.

A soft report of Methos trank gun and the other guard went down. But a loud growling was building up on the other side of the wall and he'd only reloaded the gun once.

"Good doggy, you don't want to chew on me, I doubt I'd taste that wonderful..." Methos was cooing gently to the dogs. "A little help would be appreciated about now." He said in a much sharper tone.

"Right. Well, a little sharing of your mad plans would be helpful too, you know," she replied as she unwrapped another steak, dropping down out of the tree as she did so. "Nice doggie. Look what I've got for you! I told you we should have gotten them cooked steaks. They smell so much better."

"Well excuse me if I didn't feel in a culinary mood," Methos hissed as he backed away. "Just give it to them before they get any ideas about which part of us they'd like to gnaw on first."

"Nice doggie, look it here," Syd said soothingly. The dog abandoned his growling and instead took the steak delicately from her hand. "Aww you're a sweetie, honey, you enjoy that steak." Then she turned to Methos. "Okay, maestro, what next?"

"There's some gas canisters and masks in..." Methos paused and looked from Sydney to the tree which was out of reach from their side of the wall now, he sighed. "In the the bag which I conveniently left in the tree."

"Well, great, just great. Come on, boost me up and maybe I can reach it," she said as she sprinted toward the tree.

Methos caught a wisp of movement in one of the house windows and dove for Sydney, rolling her to the ground with him with Sydney landing on top.

"No time, we're going to have improvise." He whispered once the person had walked by without seeing them.

"Ah look at the nice doggie. Hi sugar," she crooned.

The nice doggie, an immense Rotweiller, was licking her cheek, it's stump of a tail wagging happily.

She got to her feet and the Rottie danced happily around her.

"Shh!" Methos hissed. "No time to play games. Come on." He said, grabbing Sydney's hand they darted across the lawn to a room which looked close enough to a display room for him. He dropped down to one knee and pulled out a pack of lockpicks, trying to decide which one was best.

"The good burglars use a hairpin. Want one?" she offered, petting the Rottie. "I'm naming him Sugar."

"We are not taking the dog," Methos said, tossing a weary glance at the animal before pushing a peculiarly angled bit of metal into the lock. "And since every alarm is going to go off the moment I open this door I doubt it really matters what I use."

"We can't leave him behind. They'll think he's our accomplice and be in trouble." Then to the dog she added, "Don't you worry Sugar, plenty of room in the back seat."

With a click, Methos had the door unlocked and pushed the doors wide. "That's the silent alarm, we have maybe twenty minutes tops. Now we just need to get past the heat sensors." Methos turned to look at the dog speculatively and grinned. "Or not."

The Rottie barked happily and ran into the house.

"Uh oh," Syd said.

Methos grin only widened. "Thata boy."

Methos pulled Sydney back from the door as a flashlight shined in the dark room 'Sugar' had just bounded into. When it stopped on the giddy dog the man laughed and said a negative into his walky talky, not even seeing the butt of Methos gun until he felt it collide with the back of his skull. Methos patted the Rottie on the head.

"You're much better than the cat." He complimented before snatching up the walky talky and tucking it into his jeans.

The Rottie drooled happily on Methos's pants.

"See, we gotta take him with us. Now what?" Syd asked walking almost on Methos's heels.

"Well for now they're gonna think it was the dog that tripped the alarms. But that won't last long once they start to call the men outside. Now we find the aegis and get out." Methos said, grabbing the flashlight as well with gun in hand. "Look for a large gold disk."

"I know what an aegis is," she replied huffily, and went off in an opposite direction searching. Sugar reappeared and bounced along at her feet. She hurried through the rooms, flashing her light around as little as possible. It was a corner room, window walls on two sides, where she found it. It was sitting on a pedestal against a wall all alone in its glory. The gleam of the gold as her flashlight highlighted the details made her suck in her breath. She ignored Sugar bumping at her hand to pet him. She crept over and closed the blinds then went to find Methos.

"Here," she hissed at him as she saw him creeping up the hallway. "Over here!"

Methos made his way to her, took a look at what she'd found, then he pulled his mask off and took another look at it. "That was easy." He said doubtfully.

"Well, he probably a pretty arrogant fellow. I mean look at this place. Let's get it and get out of here. Hush, Sugar. You're coming."

"Wanna flip a coin to see who triggers the rolling ball?" He asked.

"Heh. I'll give you that honor. Actually, I thought you were good enough to get it off there without triggering an alarm," she retorted grinning broadly.

Methos returned the grin mockingly and looked at the thing from all angles, shining the light behind it, but nothing. "Right," he said finally and handed her the flashlight before carefully placing his hands on either side and lifting it from the pedestal and jumping back with the shield. Nothing happened.

"Silent alarm?" she suggested. But there didn't seem to be a trigger where it had sat. She got up next to him and stared at the shield as he stared at the now empty display.

"Wait," she said. "Read that. That's not right," she said, pointing to an inscription that was carved along the edge of the shield. "I suck at ancient Greek, but that's not right."

"Then you're not too good at modern Greek either." Methos quipped. "Read it again."

She squinted at it, "Zeus that beareth the aegis..." Beareth is wrong. That's what I said. It's... bears.. like in fuzzy wooly bears, not as in holds or uses." She groaned. "It's a cheap knock off."

Methos chuckled. "Smart man, leave the fake out here to be stolen..." He said, setting down the fake with very little care and pointing his flashlight at the back wall where he'd been. "Put the real one in there." The light fell on a huge roll pin safe that you often found in banks.

"Can you open it? Or do we need to blow it?" she asked, frowning.

"If you want a quick smash and grab job, I can do that." Methos said as they walked over to the door. "Something quiet and exact and you're talking to the wrong immortal. Which is why I'm relying on your clever ingeniousness with C4."

"I got it," she replied, shrugging off her back pack and digging inside. She applied the explosive along the door edge and set the fuse. She set the timer and looked at him. In a hurry right? She set it for twenty seconds and whispered, "Run!"

The two of them backed off into the hallway, Sugar more than willing to come with her. They hid behind the wall and held their breath.

Methos suddenly felt a gun barrel at the back of his head.

"What are you doing here?" Demanded a heavily accented voice and Methos winced as the gun was pressed harder against his skull.

"I think it's a good idea for you to get down on the floor, sir." Methos said slowly.

"Really, I'd do that if I were you," Sydney added. "We don't want to hurt anyone, honest. We just have to, you know, get this for someone so ... so he won't kill me."

Methos felt the pressure ease on his head.

"You're lying."

"No, really, it's true." Methos said and grabbed Sydney's wrist, his fingers tapping out numbers against it as the clock ran. "If we don't deliver the aegis to our contact in two hours they'll kill both of us, so please." Methos could send desperate when he wanted to.

The gun eased a little more.

"Please, please," Sydney said bursting into tears. "And just get down first. Or it might not matter, we'll be dead here and you with us!"

The man was confused now. "What are you..."

3,2,1...

Methos yanked her down hard, kicking out with his foot and knock the man on his ass, the gun going off into the roof the same moment the safe blew. Methos threw himself over Sydney as the glass and other priceless antiques were smashed by the explosion.

It took a minute for her to remember where she was (under Methos) and longer before she could sense anything other than the noise in her head that was reverberating through it. Methos was saying something to her, but she couldn't hear quite right. She let him pull her up to her feet and started after him into what was left of the room that held the safe. Then she stopped, looking down at the man who'd so recently held a gun on them. She saw blood, and knelt down.

"Oh Jesus, oh, God, we killed him!" she wailed.

Methos came out of the safe with a large, leather wrapped parcel when he heard her screaming and the sirens. He rushed to Sydney's side and checked the mans pulse, it was still beating there strong. He quickly grabbed her hand and let her feel it too.

"He's fine,just knocked out, but we have to go!" Methos said quickly, pulling Sydney to her feet and sending out a loud whistle for Sugar.

Sugar met them as they hit the lawn. The three of them running flat out toward the driveway. They stopped in the deeper shadows to make sure the guards were elsewhere. They were. They'd run toward the house. The three of them slipped out through the gate.

"Come on!" He said under his breath and they dashed for the cover of the car, crouching behind it until they heard the shouts and sirens surround the house and all focus was away from the streets. He shifted the shield to the other arm and then they made the last stretch between them and the alley way passing between a set of large houses where they finally stopped.

"Are you sure this is where we're supposed to be?" she asked, looking around for Zak, who had promised to get them out of town with the loot. "Right street? Where the hell is he? Sugar, hush." she added to the dog who was shaking and whining as he leaned for reassurance against her thigh.

"I don't know, but when I get my hands on..."

Methos' threat was cut off by the sound of gunfire.

"What the fuck happened to warning first!?" He cursed, pulling Sydney behind him as more shots came down the open alleyway.

"Why are they shooting at us," Sydney asked. "You didn't tell me I was going to get shot at. Do we shoot back?" Sugar was trying to hide under the both of them.

"It wasn't exactly part of the plan." Methos snapped, bringing the leather wrapped aegis in front of them and bullet struck it and deflected off back down the alley. There was a yell and someone down the alley went down, the firing stopped for a moment and Methos looked at Sydney in surprise.

"Don't hurt it!" she yelped. "Wait. It's gold it can't do that, can it?" That was when she heard the thrumming sound and it seemed to be coming from the aegis. She looked at Methos, her eyes wide. "What's that?"

"I didn't even feel it." Methos said with a little disbelief, then he grinned. "Thanos, old buddy. We're gonna have a talk when this is over." The immortal said and pulled the sword from his coat. "Ready?" He asked, giving Sydney a manic grin.

"You're going all Conan aren't you." It wasn't a question. "I'm ready. You ready, Sugar? Heel. Let's get it over with."

Methos laughed. "Haven't done this in a few centuries." He said before he lifted the shield and pushed off from the ground with Sydney and Sugar on his heels.

They rushed forward the shield in place, it humming louder yet now. Shots aimed at them, even those that shouldn't have hit the shield were deflected and not just deflected but seemingly aimed right back at the person using the weapon. A couple of yelps and a scream made everyone doing the shooting get the idea really quick.

Methos in the lead, Syd and Sugar staying as close in as they could, raced toward the guys with weapons. Methos slammed the shield into the first body he came in contact with, shoving the person into the alley wall and his sword came down, his eyes registering the face before the man lost his head. A flick of green eyes down the alley showed all the guards either down or gone, but Methos didn't let up the sword from the djinn's neck.

"Where the hell have you been?!"

The djinn, whose arms were crossed on his chest, replied, "I'm late. Sue me."

"Sue you!" Sydney yelped. "Take his head Methos."

"Thinking about it," Methos growled turning the sharp edge against Zak's throat. "Get us out of here, now."

"Long walk out of here, Sydney," the djinn commented as the four of them turned to a streak of fire and shot off toward the sky.

One of the bad guys, halfway aware, muttered the Turkish equivalent of Damn and passed out again gratefully.

They reappeared in a sumptous bedroom, with windows open wide to the sea. Methos's blade was still up against Zak's neck, which, when Sydney thought about it made little sense since a second ago they were like flames.

Sugar looked a bit confused.

"I want to talk to Thanos." Methos said very slowly, dragging each syllable out as the blade slid away from Zak's throat. "I'll hold onto the aegis until then."

Zak's smile was amused. His hand made a magical sort of motion at the bed behind them. "Clean clothes. Bathroom's that way. You'll hear the gong for breakfast. Thanos will be delighted to see you. And it." The djinn faded out a bit less spectacularly this time and was gone.

Sydney's knees gave way and she sank to the floor.

Methos tossed the shield on the bed before he sat down on the ground next to her. Sighing, he stroked her hair.

"Well that was exciting." He quipped.

"Yeah, especially the part where we were running toward the bullets. I swear Joe told me you always ran the other way."

"And I would have, if there'd been a way for me to cover our backs as we ran." Methos assured.

She buried her head against his chest and held onto him. After a moment she said, her words muffled, "Can we not do that again right away?"

"I like that idea." He agreed whole heartedly and held her close.

Sugar had crept close to the two of them, and licked Methos's hand.

"Oh, and I want a promise from Zak that he gets Sugar home for me. I'm not leaving him in some god-awful animal control prison for months to satisfy quarantine laws. If I can help steal a bloody aegis, then I can sure as hell break quarantine laws without a qualm."

Methos looked quizzically at the Rottie that was content to watch his new masters cuddle as he scratched behind his ears. "I'll add it to my list of demands." He said, amused. "Should we send him to MacLeod for safe keeping then?"

"Oh yeah, let's do that. Then I won't worry about him."

"Yes, but who's going to worry about MacLeod?" Methos said with an evil grin.

"Not you. And certainly not me. I"ll race you to the shower."

Methos raised a brow. "You're on."

They reached the shower together and afterwards found the bed. Sugar behaved himself and didn't take Sydney's vocalizations too seriously. Then they slept the sleep of the, well, perhaps not the innocent.

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