(Following two weeks after this thread, with mood music suggested by Dawn.    )

---

It was the way that the man counted out the money that caught his eye.

Ever since the assassination attempt, Jonas had been wary.  They knew how the Runespoor ring operated.  Whenever an investigator -- hell, whenever anyone -- got too close, the shadowy monster that was the smuggling operation struck hard and fast.  People died, suspects scattered, and Magical Law Enforcement was left to pick up the pieces until another lead surfaced years down the road.

The black-haired man looked slightly familiar, which was a bad sign.  He'd come in a bit after they had and had sat by himself at the bar counter.  He'd ordered a pint but hadn't touched it; that in itself was enough to attract attention, especially in an Italian restaurant that no one went to for the beer.  But he had sat there, and after Jonas and his family had gotten up, he had dumped an entire pouch full of sterling coins on the table and had begun fumbling through it, searching for the right amount with panicked haste, which meant he was either American or a very confused wizard.

Jonas watched him for the briefest of seconds, and then let his gaze slide past.  There was a knot in his stomach.  Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself and helped Anna into her coat, and then leaned in to kiss her cheek.

"When we head out, take the kids and walk to the car," he murmured into her ear, keeping his voice low.  Gwenna and Artie had already started for the door; Gwenna beat her younger brother to the bowl of mints by at least a foot and began cramming them triumphantly into her pockets.  "Drive to your parents', yeah?  I'll call you in a bit."

Anna went perfectly still.  They could have both been holding their breaths, with the entire world still spinning around them, and then she met his gaze.  Her hand found his, and she squeezed it tightly.

"Of course," she said, giving him a tight smile.  Perfectly calm, keeping her voice perfectly level, she stepped in close to him.  Jonas could feel the shiver run through her, but she gave no outward sign of fear or concern.  "I meant to give your friend from Jerusalem a call later.  Did you want me to still see if I could get through?"

Despite the fact that there was a man sitting two tables over who was very likely there to try and kill him, despite the fact that his family could well be in danger, Jonas found himself smiling warmly back at Anna.  There were times when he very much loved his wife.

"Yeah," he agreed easily, putting an arm around her.  "See if he's talked to Tam lately, too.  Gwen, pick either the mints or the toothpicks.  You don't have pockets enough for both," he instructed his daughter firmly, taking hold of her shoulder as he directed her out the door.


It was lucky that they'd parked just outside on the curb.  Sparing a glance at him, Anna had taken the children and ushered them immediately to the car.  Artie had not looked happy -- their reunited family was still new enough that neither of the kids seemed to entirely trust it -- but his mother had picked him up and swung him inside the vehicle, ignoring the tears.  Gwenna, for her part, had for once gone along without argument.  She had shot her father a frightened look out of the car window as Anna had turned on the ignition and pulled away from the curve.

Jonas watched them go as he leaned back against the wall of the restaurant, waiting just outside the door.  One down, he thought, and made himself breathe.  He didn't need to worry.  Anna was smart and savvy; she'd make sure that they were safe.  That left Jonas free to deal with the more immediate problem, who would likely be departing the restaurant just as soon as he finished sorting out his sickles from his pounds sterling.

He waited, doing his best to resist the urge to start whistling along to the ominous movie theme song that was playing in his head.

When the man exited a moment later, he hit him in the throat.

That was really a miscalculation, as he'd been aiming for the face, but the bloke was at least a few inches taller than he'd first judged.  The secondary targeted area seemed to work just as well, so all in all, it was probably a happy mistake.  Adon could have had the idiot incapacitated on the ground in less than three seconds whether his opponent knew the attack was coming or not, but Jonas would take dropping the bastard with an unscrupulous sneak attack any day as long as it meant that he went down hard.

Any cry that the man might have given was made slightly less possible by the fact that his windpipe was no longer functioning as normal.  He gasped, making a heaving, breathy sound, and Jonas slugged him again, this time in the stomach.  It didn't take much momentum to send the bastard on his way to meet the pavement.

Maybe he'd get the hang of this Krav Maga thing yet.

"Well, this seems like an offer that you can't refuse," Jonas growled through clenched teeth, grinding his good knee into the idiot's back.  He had his elbow twisted back far enough that it ought to hurt.  The man gasped, the right side of his head pressed against the pavement, but he stopped when Jonas pointed his wand at his face.  The red-haired man managed a grim smile.  At least he'd been right about that.

"Now," he said, gritting each word out with feeling.  He kept the wand aimed steadily at the other man's nose.  "I reckon that there are the two ways that we can look at all this.  Either we decide that this is personal --"  He paused, letting the word hang for emphasis. "Or we treat it as strictly business." 

He gave the man a tight, bitter smile, letting the implications of the two adjectives creep in.  "Did you have a preference as to which one we chose?"


They decided to go with business.

Jonas let him go.  That might not have been the safest way to finish the encounter, but he had a name, a location, and a time -- and now a second wand, which wasn't really that useful considering that he still couldn't use it, but he supposed that perhaps he could start a collection.  His new friend had seemed perfectly happy to wash his hands of the entire affair.  Whoever Declan Montgomery was, he did not inspire much loyalty in his private contractors.

He checked the time.  Just after seven.  If Anna had gotten through to Adon, then he was probably already close.  Sighing, he pulled out his mobile phone and tried his friend's number. 

No answer. 

Just static.

Jonas pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment.  If he wasn't even getting voicemail, Adon was probably on patrol at Hogwarts.  He had just over an hour to this supposed rendezvous.  There was no other way to get in touch with his partner, and if he went by himself, Tamis would murder him.  Well, to be fair, if he went by himself, someone else would probably murder him first, but Tamis would convince Alberic Grimm to resurrect him just so she could get her hexes in.

He couldn't send a patronus.  Couldn't make it to Tamis's flat and back again in time.  The supposed meeting between the arse who had been tailing him and the man who had hired on said arse was happening soon, and it was all the way on the South Bank.  If he were going to get there in time to scout the location out and see if he could catch this supposed mysterious employer, he was going to have to move.

But he couldn't reach Adon.  Couldn't contact Tamis.

Although there was someone else he could ring.

Jonas hesitated, cradling the phone in his hand.  He didn't exactly want to do this.  The other man had made it very clear what he thought of Jonas, Jonas's judgement calls, and Jonas's capacity to make good decisions. But wizards with access to mobile phones were few and far between, and one particular saying seemed all too apropos for the evening: Never hate your enemies.  It clouds your judgement.

Sighing, the Auror thumbed through the address book to find the right number, and then activated the call.

"Yeah, Dreogan?" he asked, after the man on the other side of the phone had picked up.  "Yeah, sorry, it's me.  Look," he said, after letting out a quick breath.  "I'm sorry to bother you out of nowhere like this.  But I think I might need a hand..."