Disclaimer: I don't own any part or person of Human Target. I'm just borrowing the characters for entertainment purposes.
A/N: Thank you, tree979, for helping with this!
The telephone call came in two weeks after. Apparently word had finally hit the streets: Christopher Chance was gone. Guerrero was on his own.
And back to his old ways?
That offer was a test for sure. Was he available again? For the real work?
Good question.
The price was right. They knew his old fee and had made a reasonable offer for a not-too-complicated job.
So what was stopping him? Not Chance and his "nobody deserves to die"-attitude, obviously.
Well, another telephone call had come in. Winston. Beating around the bush for a while and then mentioning an old client with a new problem. In principle manageable without Chance's special skills, but thanks to bearded guy he was still pretty much out of order and (insert long pause here) "could do with an extra hand".
Old client/maybe-new-client was even able to pay. Not terribly much, but it would cover his expenses and then a little some.
Guerrero considered the cost-effectiveness of his various options.
In the end he reached the conclusion that – from a strictly economical, objective point of view – helping old client/new client would make more sense in the long term than going for the fast money that a contract hit would bring in.
Three days later Winston put down the phone in the dilapidated remnants of his office. Word was on the streets that Guerrero still wasn't taking hit jobs, despite Christopher Chance's departure.
Winston shivered. The wind coming in from the Bay through the broken windows was chilly.
Had it been worth it, not replacing the windows and instead taking the rest of the money he had made with Chance to pay Guerrero and pretend it was coming from the client?
Good question.