Ten Past the Hour (Mycroft Holmes Fanfiction)

Chapter 12

Amy took a deep breath and fixed her jacket. She flexed her hands, trying to find some form of confidence. She turned to her team.

"How do I look?"

Laurel gave her a thumbs up. "Go get 'em."

Amy smiled and entered the lift. She pressed the button for the fourth floor, the conference floor. She'd gotten a letter proposing a merge of the Archive systems of MI-5 and 6. Under these difficult conditions with jeopardize security, it was risky. Someone had proposed that Amy be assigned to oversee the merge as well as manage the double Archives. Mycroft had only given her an innocent look when she asked if it was his doing.

Now she was on her way to meet a council of Level 1 members who would decide if she was a worthy candidate. She took a deep breath, waited for the clock to read exactly 2:30 and stepped in. A dark boardroom with a long mahogany table greeted her. Six board members faced her, three from MI-5 and three from MI-6. She met Mycroft's gaze. He nodded to her, his warm blue eyes sending silent encouragement. Straightening her back, Amy resolved to simply be herself. That meant she was going to have to get comfy. Going to the end of the table, she took her seat, pulling off her jacket and putting her hair up in a messy bun. She opened her bag and extracted six folders, each of them containing her plans for the merging and managing of the Archives.

"Well gentlemen. Where would you like to begin?"

***

Mycroft waited until they were the only two left in the lift to do what he'd been dying to do the moment Amy took the floor. Pressing the button to stop the lift, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her soundly.

"You... Are... Magnificent... Amazing... Incredible..."

She giggled as he paused between words to kiss her. "Stop it, there's a camera."

"I don't particularly care." He muttered. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back, feeling his heart pounding in his chest alongside hers.

Smiling as he finally pulled away, Mycroft restarted the lift. "Let's have dinner tonight. Somewhere outrageously expensive an exclusive." He kissed her one last time. "I want to show you off."

She rolled her eyes and fixed his tie. "I'll see you for dinner then Mr. Holmes."

"Miss Bryne." He went to his office.

At seven that night, Amy was about to head for Mycroft's office when an alarm went off in the Archives. She rushed from her office and to the front counter, checking to see what systems had been compromised.

"I want total lockdown in two minutes! Laurel, see what you can do about that Trojan. Lukas, shut down the digitals but leave scanners running. Jeffrey, get down to IT and see what you can do. Move people!"

Her phone rang. She answered quickly. "Mycroft? We've had a breach in Archives, a Trojan got past the antiviruses. I've got a diagnostic running but I think they've already accessed critical files."

He cursed quietly. "Level 2 operatives are being released. Lane will probably sell the files to the highest bidder tomorrow."

"IT should be working on stopping the connection. We might be able to keep the list out of the public's hands."

"Keep me posted."

She hung up and ran to the lift, pressing the button frantically. It opened up and she leapt in, jamming the button for the IT division. Reaching the floor, she quickly caught up on the status of things. Sitting down at a computer, she joined the race to find and cut the connection.

"I've got it!" Someone shouted. Amy jumped up and ran to their computer.

"Let me see."

"It's coming from a flat in Soho. Let me see if I can cut it..." She trailed off as Project 607 failed. "Damn! Hold on..."