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The resemblance was unnerving.
Considering that Lee had ranted at him for what had felt like at least two hours when Barney had told him about the job, he really could have mentioned that the elder Shaw brother looked like his evil twin. Or rather he looked exactly like Lee himself. Not just the same face, but the same height, the same broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted swimmer's build, the same coiled way of moving that Barney was starting to suspect was some by-product of SAS training. It was fucking disturbing and Barney would have appreciated a heads up, instead of letting it distract him now from talking shop with the younger Shaw (who, for all his other faults, at least had the decency not to look like anyone Barney knew).
Owen Shaw was an over-planner, in Barney's professional opinion, the kind of guy who needed a meticulous, detailed plan and three backup plans before he lifted a finger, while Barney was a big believer in improvisation. The kind of work they did couldn't be predicted with absolute certainty, and relying too much on plans was an easy way to get yourself killed when things went sideways. But it was Shaw's op, and he was paying the Expendables a small fortune for what any less experienced team could have done just as well – not much more than providing extra fire power and being the anvil to the hammer of Shaw's own team. It was the reason Barney had accepted the job, and more importantly the reason he hadn't changed his mind and called the whole thing off after talking to Lee.
Usually he trusted Lee's judgement, but this was clearly personal. And as much as Barney liked Lee – which was a lot more than he was comfortable admitting in daylight – he wasn't going to miss out on a job this lucrative just because the people paying for it had pissed Lee off at some point in the past. He'd offered Lee to sit this one out, which Lee had refused with a charming comment along the lines of “you're too fucking ancient to go out there without me”, so now he had an incredibly irritated Lee standing by his side and staring daggers – ha-fucking-ha – at Owen Shaw.
Barney still didn't know what the hell Lee's problem was. Not that Barney couldn't tell that Shaw was a snake – handsome enough, younger than Barney had expected, but he had that kind of creepily pleasant smile that never reached his eyes, and a voice as bland and smooth as an ice cube. But people like that were unavoidable in their line of work, and they had never bothered Lee before.
Maybe he was just as freaked out by the resemblance as Barney was, but that explained even less why Lee hadn't mentioned it before. Deckard Shaw – Barney was almost entirely sure it was his real name because not even a Brit could voluntarily pick a name like that – was as quiet as Lee was usually loud, a calm, solid presence at Owen Shaw's right, apparently happy to let his little brother do the talking and the planning.
As far as Barney knew, Owen was the smarter one anyway. Deckard Shaw was just the kind of man that even Barney wouldn't want to get into a one-on-one fight with. He barely spared a look for any of them while simultaneously projecting absolute certainty that he knew exactly where everyone else was. It was a neat trick, Barney thought. Owen, on the other hand, occasionally cast a mildly amused look – again with that smile that only consisted of a curl of his lips – at Lee. They knew each other from the army, and that was the extent of actual facts Barney had gotten out of Lee.
Once they'd gone through the plan – definitely in more detail than Barney thought necessary, but he was willing to put up with some paranoia for the amount of money Shaw was paying – the rest of his own team and of Shaw's team started to mill out of the room, some of them talking to each other. Caesar seemed to know one of Shaw's men from before he'd joined the Expendables. Barney made a mental note to ask him about that later.
Lee was still by his side like he didn't want to risk leaving him alone with the Shaws, and that was probably the most ridiculous thought Barney had had in a while. He was unusually quiet for his standards, but considering some of the things he'd said about the Shaws the day before, Barney appreciated it. No need to antagonise anyone they still had to work with for a couple of days.
When Owen walked around the table, rolling up the plans of the compound they were targeting, he and his brother stepped around each other with an automatic, comfortable ease that reminded Barney oddly of himself and Lee, of the way they moved around each other in the confines of the cockpit without ever bumping into each other. Barney, who hadn't spoken to his own siblings in decades, couldn't even imagine sharing the kind of work they did with someone he was related to.
“Didn't you use to have a different partner?” Owen asked, stopping in mid-stride as if the thought had only just occurred to him as he'd been about to leave. “What was his name? Stonewall, something like that?”
Considering his usual attention to detail, Barney was almost entirely sure the slip-up was deliberate, just like he was almost entirely sure that Shaw had been planning to mention this since the beginning of the meeting, if not earlier. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lee's frown deepen. He'd never told Lee about Stonebanks. He wouldn't have known what to say. That the last partner he'd trusted as much as Lee had turned out to be a lying bastard and Barney hadn't realised it until it was too late? Either way it was in the past, and he wasn't going to let Stonebanks do any more damage now that he was finally in the ground.
“He's dead,” Barney just said without bothering to correct Shaw. “Been dead for years.”
“Ah, of course.” There was a sly glimmer in Shaw's eyes, arrogant and so fucking condescending that Barney finally understood at least a fraction of the anger the man seemed to provoke in Lee. Something about Owen Shaw's face was just begging to be punched. Brass knuckles preferably included. His lips twitched up in something that almost looked like a smile when he added, “Occupational hazard, isn't it?”
“Fucking miracle you're still walking,” Lee snapped next to him. Barney closed his eyes for a second, but really he should have been impressed that Lee had managed to keep his mouth shut this long. A half-step behind Owen, Deckard was looking at Lee like he was almost hoping this would turn into a fight, and, no matter how much the thought of punching Owen Shaw at least appealed, this was literally the last thing Barney needed right before a mission. Maybe it had been a mistake to ignore Lee's objections – not necessarily because he'd been right about the Shaws being untrustworthy, but because this kind of tension wasn't good for anyone involved.
“I don't make the kind of mistakes that get a man killed,” Owen said breezily. It was exactly the kind of arrogance that did get a man killed in their business, and Barney was suddenly glad that they weren't working a more involved job together.
Lee sneered. “Doesn't explain why none of your associates have shot you in the head yet.”
“I'd love to see them try,” Deckard said. Christ, even his voice sounded like Lee's, though there was a relaxed calm in it that Lee was clearly lacking entirely at the moment. He barely even bothered to make the words sound like a threat.
“Maybe some other time,” Barney said, looking more at Lee than at either of the Shaws, because he felt somewhat obliged to keep Lee out of trouble after accidentally dragging him into it. When all this was over, he was going to insist on some kind of explanation, although he had a feeling Lee wouldn't be particularly inclined to give him one. Maybe if Barney managed to get him properly drunk, that tended to make Lee even more talkative.
He put his hand on Lee's shoulder to make him come along – even though there was something viscerally unpleasant about turning his back on the Shaws – and for a second before they turned he saw that sly half-smile flash over Owen's face again. Cocky, knowing, irritatingly smug. It probably meant nothing. Shaw was exactly the kind of bastard who'd throw a comment like that into the room just to see if he could get a reaction out of someone. Stonebanks was dead and buried, had been for years. It wasn't surprising that Owen had heard of him or knew that he and Barney used to be partners. Hell, maybe Owen had even known him personally, considering some of the crap Stonebanks had gotten into at the end – birds of a feather and all that crap. Nothing else to it.
He didn't quite catch what it was Owen whispered to his brother behind them, but at least the answering quiet laugh sounded nothing like Lee. Too sharp, too harsh, too cold. Barney decided to ignore it. They were going to get the job done, get paid, and make sure to be unavailable if the Shaws ever called again. And maybe next time he'd listen to Lee's advice.