Title: Better than an Alarm
Fandom: Spooks (MI5)
Rating: G
Length: 609 words
Summary: A wolf's howl can be useful

Adam and Jo were sitting in the hotel dining room, chatting to the couple they’d arranged to meet for lunch.  The waitress had just brought their desserts and Adam was taking his time, despite the other man’s edginess and obvious desire to bring the meal to a close.

Suddenly there was a strange howl and the couple looked round in some consternation.

“Is anything the matter?” Jo asked politely.

“Did you hear that?” the woman said.  “It sounded like a wolf howled.”  She shivered slightly.

“No, I didn’t hear anything,” Jo replied with a shake of her head.  “Did you?” she asked Adam.

He, too, shook his head, and continued to cut his cheesecake into small pieces, each of which he was eating slowly.

The waitress came over.  “Would you like coffees?” she asked.

Adam put down his spoon, as the man said, “No, I don’t think so, thank you.  We should be off.”

“There’s no rush, surely,” Adam said.  “Would you like a liqueur as well?”

The woman looked at her watch again.  “Just coffee will fine,” she said.

“Four coffees, thank you,” Jo said to the waitress.

“This has been very useful,” Adam said, as he slowly drank his coffee.  “I hope we haven’t kept you unduly.”

There was another howl, louder than the first.

“Did you hear that?” the woman said.  “You can’t have missed it.”

Adam hurriedly swallowed the rest of his coffee and stood up.  “Oh, yes.  I heard that.  And now we must be off.”

He and Jo left the dining room before the other couple realised what was happening.  They met Ros, who was at the bottom of the stairs which led to the bedrooms.

“Successful?” Adam asked.

“Very.  Even better than we expected.”

The three left the hotel and walked rapidly round to the car park, where Tariq and the werewolf were waiting for them.  Ros took the front passenger seat, leaving Adam and Jo to squash in the back with the werewolf. 

“You took your time,” Adam said when they had left the hotel drive.  “Was there a problem?  I don’t think I’ve ever eaten a cheesecake that slowly in my life.”

“They’d left a guard in the room next to their own, so we had to neutralise him before we could go in,” Ros explained. 

“Did he see you?”

“No, Lucas knocked him to the floor when his back was turned, so he’ll have no idea what hit him.  And he won’t wake up for a couple of hours.  I presume you heard the howl when we finally got into the room – did it cause any suspicions?"

"A number of people looked up, but we denied hearing anything the first time,” Jo replied.  “No-one seemed particularly bothered since it was just one howl.  Our couple were on edge anyway, so it wouldn’t have helped, and we played it down while Adam continued eating the cheesecake.  I think everyone heard the second, it sounded rather triumphant.”

“Yes, he was rather pleased with what we’d found, especially as he’d been the one to find it.  I did tell him not to be too enthusiastic.”

The werewolf gave a ‘Hmph’.

“I don’t think it matters,” Adam said.  “They’re hardly going to be able to explain to their employers that their equipment was taken by a wolf.”

“I doubt Harry will even give them enough time to contact their employers.  They’re far higher up the chain than we thought.”

They drove in silence for a while, until the werewolf fell asleep and began to snore loudly.

“Aargh!” Ros groaned.  “Please tell me we won’t be hearing that all the way back to London.”