The pool area was empty when Hei pushed through the door from the men's changing room. At least, he was pretty sure it was empty. A thin mist hung just above the surface of the heated water - there had been a cold snap that week, and this wing must not have been very well-insulated, despite being completely indoors.

He wandered down the side, the decking damp on his bare feet. There was no sound of splashing from early morning swimmers; only the low hum of the pump somewhere in the distance.

The muggy atmosphere reminded him of those awful summers in central Brazil. The Syndicate had sent him and his sister to die in that war-torn hellhole; they'd kill him now if they knew he was here. They'd kill his whole team. His life - all their lives - rested in Kirihara's hands. A cop's hands - a fact which Huang reminded him of on a near-daily basis. If he was mistaken about her…

Hei gave himself a mental shake. There was no room for those kinds of thoughts, not now. Kirihara was a contact just like any of his other contacts. He had to trust her to the extent necessary to accomplish their goal, but he needed to remain on his guard. That was the only way to survive. Keeping up regular interactions in addition to exchanging information was part of the process.

It didn't look like she was here yet, though. What if she wasn't coming at all? Yin had told him that she swam on most mornings; not every morning. For a moment he considered turning around and leaving - there was no point in staying if she wasn't here, and if anyone from the Syndicate happened to see him hanging around the gym that Section Four's chief frequented, he'd be hard pressed to come up with an explanation.

But it was early still; before six. She might still show. That thought alone was enough to send a little skip through his heartbeat and solidified his decision.

Hei completed his circuit of the empty pool. It was an Olympic-sized pool, split into regular lanes by red and white floating dividers. He paused at the edge of the center lane and eyed the water dubiously. It had been a few years since he'd done any regular swimming, and he had no desire to pick it up again. If he had to swim, he preferred the open ocean. But, his cover was that he was here to do laps. So, laps he would do. At least there was no area deeper than five feet here.

He pulled his goggles down over his eyes and adjusted his swim suit self-consciously, even though there was no one here to see him. Taking a deep breath, he dove into the lane.

At least, he'd meant to dive; he'd angled too shallowly and instead he hit stomach-first, sending up a huge splash of water. Coughing, skin stinging, Hei surfaced. His eyes were burning - where had his goggles gone? He coughed out another lungful of water and spotted them floating a couple feet away. Quickly he snatched them up and scanned the pool again. It would be just his luck if Kirihara had chosen that moment to arrive and see him make a total fool of himself. She would laugh, and…

The pool area was still empty. Hei squinted into the far corners of the room where the mist was a bit heavier; no one was there. Inexplicably disappointed, he replaced the goggles over his eyes, tightened the strap to keep them on this time, and struck out down the lane.

It only took one laborious trip across the pool to remind him how much he truly hated laps. This was stupid; there were other things he could do while waiting for Kirihara besides swim.

Resting his arms on the side of the pool, he gazed at the long set of shelves that was arranged along the wall. There were life vests, kickboards, some foam noodles…he scanned the items until he saw a set of purple cuffs that looked fairly dense. Hei hoisted himself out of the water and, dripping, padded over to the shelf. He lifted one of the cuffs; it was about five pounds. An ankle weight, probably. Two should work.

Instead of diving in this time, Hei simply sat at the edge of the deck and slipped into the water, holding the weights against his stomach. It had been a long time since he'd tried this - nearly as long as the time since he'd last swum laps - but he still did a lot of deep breathing during meditation sessions. The concept was the same. Ignoring the panic was the key.

Standing chest-deep in the water, Hei closed his eyes and inhaled slowly through his mouth, filling his lungs, before exhaling at an even slower rate. After the second breath cycle, he could feel his heart rate starting to drop and his muscles relaxing. He took one last deep breath, pushing his ribs out to the limit of their expansion, then let the weights pull him down.

Once he felt his rear settle onto the slippery tiled pool bottom, he crossed his legs and cradled the weights in his lap. Then he opened his eyes.

A couple of tiny bubbles escaped from his nose and floated up; he watched them detachedly. It was much more peaceful below the surface. The overhead lights filtered softly through the water; the hum of the pool's pump was quiet white noise in the distant background.

It took about thirty seconds for his lungs to start to burn, but he reminded himself that he'd felt this sensation before; he could outlast it. Instead of focusing on the sensation, he stared down the black stripe of his lane as it extended away, narrowing into the far distance. Forty seconds passed, then a minute. The fire in his chest faded as his mind accepted that he was, in fact, not yet dead.

His previous record had been three minutes, twenty seconds. He doubted he could manage that today - it would be stupid to try - but he might be able to get to two. His brain mentally ticked off one minute ten seconds. Twenty…

A sudden splash from the far end of his lane snapped his attention back to the pool. A woman in a blue swim cap and black suit emerged from a cloud of bubbles, propelling forward with a strong and sure stroke. Directly towards him. With a jolt, Hei realized that she was looking down instead of ahead; she didn't see him.

Now the panic crept into his bloodstream, constricting his lungs. She was halfway across the pool already; should he move? One minute, thirty seconds. He needed air, he needed to surface before -

The woman was already on top of him. She ducked her head to start a flip turn - and stared down directly into his face.

Falling upside-down while underwater should not have been possible, but that was exactly what she did, her mouth opening in a surprised exhalation as she crashed into the wall right on top of him.

Hei dropped his weights and pushed up hard, his lungs burning. They surfaced together in a confused tangle, choking and gasping for air.

"Hei? What are you doing here?" Kirihara coughed. She pushed her goggles onto her forehead and wiped the water out of her eyes.

Even a mere two feet away, Hei almost didn't recognize her. Her long hair was tucked up under the tight swim cap, accentuating her long, graceful neck. Her eyes, normally hidden behind thick lenses, were a startlingly warm brown.

"Um," Hei spluttered, attempting to refocus and get his breath back at the same time. "Waiting for you."

"At the bottom of the pool?" she asked in disbelief.

"I was practicing some freediving exercises. You're late; I got bored."

Kirihara drifted back a bit to rest her arms on the floating lane divider. "What do you mean, late? How do you know when I usually get here?"

Her tone was more curious than suspicious, Hei noted with relief. "I asked Yin where I could find you; she told me that you're usually here around five-thirty," he said, pulling off his own goggles and brushing a wide chunk of hair out of his eyes.

"Yin?"

Shit - he shouldn't have said that. "The doll on my team," he said shortly.

Kirihara's eyes widened slightly. "You have your doll keeping an eye on me?"

"No. But she had a vote in our decision to reach out to you too; she's probably just worried like the rest of us."

"Worried? You're still afraid you can't trust me."

The hurt in her voice was clear; shit, he hadn't meant to imply that at all. "What we're doing is a risk regardless," he said with a heavy sigh. "None of us can afford to get complacent where the Syndicate is involved." He couldn't help but glance around the still-empty room; even just saying the name of his employers aloud was enough to send a chill through his blood. If they caught the two of them talking…

When he turned back to Kirihara, her mouth was twisting into a slight smile.

"What?" he asked.

She bit her lip. "Nothing. Well, let's get to business."

Hei eyed her; she was clearly holding something back. "What is it?"

"Nothing. It's just…" She drew a circle around her eye with a fingertip. "I think your goggles were a little too tight."

"What?" Hei reached up and felt a clear indentation beside his eye where the rubber seal of his goggles had rested. Fantastic. The way she was smiling, though, sent a flush of heat through his blood that had nothing to do with embarrassment. "It's been a while since I've done much swimming," he said defensively.

"Alright," Kirihara said, still smiling. "What did you want to see me about?"

Shit. "Nothing in particular. I mean, it's been a week since we last talked, so I, uh, just wanted to check in."

"Check in?" She paused in thought, idly letting one foot drift up towards the surface of the water, then the other, as she leaned into the lane divider. "I did get another photo off the webcam. This man has been passing by the dead drop frequently; he never stops, never even looks towards that house, but something about it has my instincts buzzing. I haven't a chance to run it through the system yet though."

"Do you have the photo now?" Hei asked. He doubted that anyone simply walking by the house must automatically have a connection to the Syndicate; but he couldn't discount Kirihara's instincts either.

"Yeah; it's on my phone. Come on."

Without waiting for answer, she pulled her goggles back down and struck out down the lane to the opposite end of the pool where a row of lounge chairs lined the wall. Unable to suppress a grimace, Hei followed with a slow, awkward breast stroke.

He swam the last couple of yards underwater. Kirihara was already perched on the edge of the deck, her legs dangling in the water, ankles crossed. Her toenails were painted a pale, feminine pink, he noted with surprise; though why that would be surprising was beyond him.

She raised one eyebrow when he surface. "Is that really your breast stroke?"

"Yes, Hei said defensively. He stayed in the water, crossing his arms on the deck next to her. She must have left her phone sitting on one of the lounge chairs when she began her swim, because she held it in her hand now.

"How did you learn to swim - did someone just throw you into the deep end and hope for the best?"

Her tone was teasing, but Hei answered honestly. "Yes."

Kirihara blinked. "What, really?"

"I didn't learn until I was twelve," Hei admitted. He and Xing had splashed around in the lake up by their country house, but even in the summer it was too cold for any actual swimming. "When I joined the Syndicate, they put me through lessons; but since I trained with my sister the instructor would never get in the water with us; I never really got the hang of the proper strokes." He shrugged awkwardly.

"Your sister?"

Hei turned his face away. What in the hell had prompted him to mention her? "She had the same power as me," he said shortly. "Before I was a contractor. Water is a good conductor of electricity."

He fully expected Kirihara to withdraw her legs, maybe even scoot a little further away from him and the water, at the reminder of how dangerous his ability was. However, she didn't move. Instead she asked, "And they just threw you into the pool and told you to swim?"

Hei felt a fresh surge of appreciation for her willingness to not pursue a topic that he was clearly uncomfortable with; she never pressed him for information on his teammates, either. Maybe that was what made it so easy to talk to her.

"Yeah," he said, turning back to her and resting his chin on his folded arms. "The instructor fastened weight belts around our waists and then without warning pushed us off the edge. We sank straight to the bottom. Fifteen feet."

"What did you do?" Kirihara asked, aghast.

A bead of water dripped from the edge of her swim cap and onto her neck; Hei watched it trace a long, languorous path towards her collarbone. If he kept staring at that bead, he could push aside the memories of the crushing pain in his ears and sinuses, the burn in his lungs as his air ran out, the certainty that he was going to die. The panic had nearly overwhelmed him; it was only the sight of Bai, struggling calmly with the release on her weight belt, that had allowed him to focus.

"I undid the catch on her belt," Hei said, "then did mine and followed her to the surface. Getting back to the edge of the pool was easy after that."

"That's awful though," Misaki said softly. The compassion in her eyes startled him. He met her gaze. A droplet of water was poised on the edge of her eyelash. He stared, captivated. Then she reached up and absently brushed it away. Hei blinked and swallowed hard.

"It's all about controlling your adrenaline," he said, collecting himself. "and not letting the panic take over. That's an invaluable skill."

"Still, it must have been hard for you to get back into the water after that."

He shrugged again. "Do you have that photo?"

"What? Oh, right." She picked up her phone and fiddled with it for a moment. Then she turned the screen to his view.

Hei squinted at the image on the screen, but he didn't need to. He recognized that profile right away. "That's our liaison with the Syndicate," he told her, his blood running cold as he remembered the way the man had calmly watched the contractor Shihoko kill herself. "I don't know his name."

There was a light in Misaki's eyes now. "If he's your connection to the higher-ups, that makes him the best lead we've had yet."

Shit. He should have pretended to not know the man. "Don't let him catch you anywhere near that street. You should take down the webcam - no, send someone else to do it. If you -"

"Alright," Misaki cut in irritably. "He's dangerous; I'll be careful."

They lapsed into silence. Hei had nothing more to tell her except for more warnings, which he knew would only irritate her. For her part, he was sure that she was already planning a strategy to catch this guy.

Misaki snapped her phone shut and, turning, tossed it onto one of the lounge chairs behind her. Hei tried not to notice how close the smooth skin of her thigh was to his hand. Why had he thought that meeting her at the pool was in any way a good idea? Why had he had to come up with such a flimsy excuse just to talk to her again?

"Can I ask you something?" she said abruptly.

"Um, sure," he said, desperately hoping that she hadn't caught him staring.

"You said you were practicing freediving techniques, but you completely suck at swimming - what were you really doing?"

"That is what I was doing. I'm trained in advanced scuba and I've free-dived down to one hundred feet. I like that stuff; I just can't swim laps."

"Really?" She pursed her lips. "I've done some scuba, but I've always wanted to learn freediving. It looks difficult though."

"It's not; I can show you some easy breathing exercises to get started." Mentally Hei kicked himself. He should not be volunteering to interact with a police officer more than absolutely necessary. But the idea of spending time with her, talking about something that didn't involve the Syndicate, was too tempting to pass up. And that was a problem.

Misaki smiled. "Maybe once this whole thing with the Syndicate is over, we can work on that."

His heart sank. "I'll have to leave Japan once you move on the Syndicate."

"Well," she said, her smile tightening a bit, "that's just as well. You'd probably only be able to teach me how to lurk at the bottom of swimming pools."

"I wasn't lurking," Hei protested. "You must be completely blind not have seen me - how do you manage to not run into the wall on every lap?"

Misaki mouth dropped open. "At least I don't swim like a pregnant hippopotamus."

Maybe it was the good-natured name-calling, bringing him back to the days of schoolyard taunts and summer games; Hei was never sure. But without thinking, he grabbed her elbow and yanked her forward into the water. She had just enough time to let out a startled gasp before she hit the surface with a splash.

"Hey!" she spluttered, wiping the water from her eyes.

Hei realized with a shock what he'd just done. Before he could apologize however, Misaki swept a wave of water right into his face. He blinked, dripping, as she grinned at him.

"You think you have the advantage over me in a pool?" she taunted, a determined gleam in her eye.

"You -" he began. Then the harsh jangling of a cell phone cut him off. They both turned to look at the lounge chair.

"Oh," Misaki said. "Um, I think I have to go."

"Right." Hei tried not to watch as she pulled herself gracefully over the edge of the pool and padded lightly to her phone. She kept her back to him as she answered.

Feeling suddenly disconcerted, he replaced his goggles over his eyes and began a slow freestyle stroke down the lane. When he reached the weights that he'd left at the other end, he glanced back just in time to see Misaki hurriedly turn away, as if she'd been watching him. She scooped up her towel and left the pool.

Hei closed his eyes and started up his breathing exercises once again.

It was days later when it would occur to him to wonder just when he'd begun thinking of her as Misaki rather than Chief Kirihara in his head; he realized then that he was in much deeper trouble than he'd first thought.