A/N: Hello here comes chapter four of 'Wild Card' I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Gunslinger Girl
It had been three days since the train station bombing and the Social Welfare Agency was putting all its resources behind tracking down the bomber. Even the Republican Faction took a back seat to the Ace of Spades.
"Dammit, there is nothing again." said a frustrated Jean as he, his brother Jose, Hilshire, Marco, Ferro, Priscilla, Olga, Alfonso, Amadeo and Giorgio were going over past crimes of the Ace of Spades looking for any information and watching video. They had just finished going over a case from Prague where the CEO of a bank tried for corruption, embezzlement, money laundering, taking bribes and bribing politicians to name a few of the laundry list of charges. He got off free but a few days later was found dead in his bedroom with a bullet in his head and an Ace of Spades playing card on his chest.
"It's the same as Madrid, Paris, Brussels, Copenhagen, Berlin, Budapest, Vienna, Athens, Istanbul, Moscow, Tokyo, Shanghai, Singapore, Mumbai, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Cairo and Edinburgh." said Hilshire exhausted.
"You have to give the guy credit, he is really good." said Amadeo impressed.
"Of course he is otherwise he wouldn't have gotten away with these crimes as long as he has." said Jean making Amadeo feel stupid.
"Either way this guy is like nothing we've ever dealt with before. Defeating him will be a tremendous task." said Olga.
"Yeah. And we can't forget the way he easily defeated three of our girls." pointed out Priscilla with her laptop in front of her, "How are we going to stop him?"
"We need to find out something on the Ace of Spades first so we can have an idea what we're dealing with." said Jean as he lite up a cigarette.
"Hey Jean, pass me one." asked Jose.
"I thought you quit for Henrietta." said Jean reminding his brother of the promise he had once made.
"Yeah, but I need one right now and she won't know." replied Jose so Jean gave him a cigarette then lite it up and Jose took a long drag. As the Agency member kept looking for the next twenty minutes.
"Here's one from London in 2002." said Priscilla pulling out another tape.
"That's the year the Ace of Spades debuted. Makes sense he'd work first in his homeland while building up his reputation abroad." said Jose while the video began.
As it began a group of men in business suits park a black Lincoln Continental then enter a cafe and begin talking. Then after about fifteen minutes a man in jeans, a red t-shirt under a black jacket, dog tags around his neck and wearing a white cap which he was using to hid his face. He was holding a Halliburton briefcase in his right hand.
"This could be him." said Jean pausing the tape and looking at the man.
"There's only one way to find out." said Hilshire as he got up and headed to the door.
"Just don't tell them why you want them here." said Jose as he put out his cigarette.
Hilshire left and returned a few minutes later with Triela, Henrietta and Rico. As soon as the three saw the man on the screen they tensed up.
"Henrietta, is that the Ace of Spades?" asked Jose but she couldn't find the words to answer.
"Yeah, that's him alright." said Triela not forgetting the beating he gave her, Henrietta and Rico.
"Why are you watching video of him?" asked Rico.
"To see if we can find any useful information on him." replied Jean.
"The fact we now have an idea of what he looks like helps us already." added Priscilla trying to be positive.
"Can we join you?" asked Henrietta and though he wanted to say no Jose could bring himself to deny Henrietta and the girls sat down with their handlers. Henrietta could smell the tobacco on Jose but decided not to say anything.
Priscilla then ran the tape and the watched the Ace of Spades reached the cafe then stopped and bend down.
"It looks like he's tying his shoe." said Alfonso confused.
"But if you look his shoe doesn't need to be tied." pointed out Olga as the Ace of Spades picked up his briefcase and kept walking, "He was making sure they were there."
The Ace of Spades reached the building in front of the targets car from the look on his face he seemed upset. At this point a valet came out and talked to the Ace who the wrapped his arm around the valet's shoulder and walked him off camera.
"Who is that valet?" asked Jean as he stopped the footage.
"James Gordon. He's a native of Canada who moved to London to attend the University of London but flunked out. He took up valeting to make income for him and his British girlfriend. His naked corpse was found in an alley the day this video was taken. His throat slit from ear to ear." said Priscilla grimly.
Everyone cringed at that news then Jean began the footage again. The Ace of Spades returns from the alley dressed in the valet uniform Gordon was wearing he looks around then after seeing nobody was looking he picked the lock and hopped in the driver's seat. He then hot-wired the car and moved several feet over now in front of a department store. The Ace of Spades got out and placed an Ace of Spades playing card in the windshield. He then returned to the alley reemerging minutes later in his original clothes.
"Why would he move the car?" asked Marco as Jean once again stopped the footage.
"The building where the car was originally parked was a software firm with a day-care center it." said Priscilla already with the information in front of her, "The department store on the other hand never had a day-care center."
"The Ace of Spades has a soft spot for little kids?" asked Giorgio surprised.
"I seriously doubt that." said Ferro skeptically.
"Let's keep watching." said Jean as he began the footage again.
The Ace of Spades walked into the department store and left twenty minuets later with several bags but with something missing.
"Where's the briefcase?" asked Hilshire.
"It might be in one of the bags." suggested Amadeo.
"It's still in the store." said Jose tensing up as he and Jean realized what the Ace of Spades had done.
When the men left the cafe the looked for the car and acted confused when it wasn't in it's original location but then one of the men spotted it and the men headed over to it waiting for the valet. Then an explosion from the blew out the front of the department store killing the men. As people ran to see what had happened the Ace of Spades slipped away in the crowd.
"Can we find any other video?" asked Jean as the video they were watching ended.
"Here." said Priscilla finding the footage and began running it.
This video came from around the corner near the blast site. On it a mother tried to comfort a crying little girl who had just dropped her ice cream cone. The Ace of Spades then came around the corner and seeing what was going on engaged the mother in conversation.
"He's going to kill them!" cried Jose.
After talking to the mother the Ace of Spades reached into his wallet and pulled something out.
"What's he doing?" asked Hilshire anxiously.
The Ace of Spades, to the amazement of everyone watching the video, pulled out his wallet and bought another ice cream cone. He then bent down and gave to the girl who happily took it. The Ace of Spades then patter her on the head and after being thanked by the mother said goodbye and left.
"So Giorgio was right. For the first time ever." said Alfonso jokingly.
"You're just jealous." retorted Giorgio.
"The important thing is we now know that." said Jean before turning to everybody who didn't handle a cyborg, "I want you look around with every realtor in Rome; the Ace of Spades has to be living somewhere. Meanwhile I'll come up with a plan to capture him."
Three days later Jean, Jose and Hilshire were in the inside gun range watching their cyborgs taking target practice. As they were finishing Priscilla entered.
"Jean, I found where he lives." said Priscilla without even needing to say his name. The handlers and there cyborgs left with Priscilla and met with Ferro, Olga, Alfonso, Amadeo, Giorgio, Marco, Angelica, Claes, and Director Lorenzo.
"What did you find Priscilla?" asked Jean.
"A man matching this description named Charlie Harrison moved into a small flat downtown shortly before the Milan fiasco." answered Priscilla.
"So his name is Charlie Harrison." said Jose.
"I doubt it. The fact he only paid in cash bugged me so I ran the data he gave and nothing came back. I'm confident Charlie Harrison is only an alias." replied Priscilla.
"So what do we do?" asked Hilshire.
"We do surveillance and make sure it's him. Once we're confident we lure him into a trap." answered Jean.
"How?" asked Jose.
"Remember he has a fondness for little children. We can use our cyborgs to pray on that and then trap him. If he goes quietly then fine but if he even tries to fight back then we kill him." replied Jean.
"But he has seen the girls." pointed out Olga.
"He's only seen three of them but not Claes or Angelica." said Jean.
"No way! Angelica is not ready for field combat and Claes doesn't even have a handler." objected Marco.
"They wouldn't do any actual fighting they would merely lure him in and we spring our trap on him." explained Jean, "I don't hear you coming up with any ideas."
Everyone then looked to Lorenzo whose eyes followed over everybody before he hung his head down.
"Jean's plan is the only one present not to mention it does have a chance of success. We have to figure out where we'll trap the Ace of Spades and it can't be anywhere populated. While I'm not a huge fan of using Claes and Angelica we don't really have an option. We're going ahead with Jean's plan and that's final." said the Section 2 chief as everyone got up and left.
"Thank you sir." said Jean but Marco was still unhappy as he left with Angelica behind him.
"Marco. I can do it. Don't worry." said Angelica trying to reaffirm her handler who stopped and turned to say something but upon seeing her he couldn't and just kept walking.
In a cabin in the remote mountains of province of Como in the northern Lombardy the top members of the Republican Faction were meeting. The cabin was highly important because it was remote and near the Swiss boarder so members could easily slip into the Ticino canton of Switzerland, which has an ethnic Italian minority in that country, to escape the government. Everyone was gathered in the main room of the cabin as a fire burned in the chimney. Cristiano was there and he quickly realized other members blamed him for what had happened in Milan as the fifth man today scapegoated him for what had happened.
"And as you can clearly see the negligence shown by Cristiano is directly responsible for the disaster in Milan." ended one of the faction's Venetian members following the pattern of scapegoating Cristiano for everything. Little didn't he know this wouldn't be the last time.
"Cristiano, do you have anything to say in your defense?" asked one of the most senior members of the Republican Faction. Cristiano stood up and looked around the delegation before speaking.
"Many people in here act like I'm the sole cause of the incident in Milan. Like my presence brought the Ace of Spades here and now after years of loyal service they plan to stab me in the back like Caesar."
"The way you act I'd thought you say we'd betray you like Christ." countered a Genoese member.
"What does that mean?" asked Cristiano angrily.
"You act so holier than thou and pretend you're better than everyone else." replied the Genoese man.
"I have never!" retorted Cristiano aggressively shocked by this blatant character assassination.
"Let's face it everyone here knows you deeply admire Italian culture and politics. How do we know you are working for the government or that you didn't hire the Ace of Spades yourself?" asked a Tuscan member.
"Not to mention those bomb makers Flanca and Franco. They aren't Padania yet you use them. They could be spies for all we know. It's reckless and irresponsible you would hire outside help!" added a Romagna member fiercely.
"First of all, I never have nor will I ever betray the Padania and to say I hired the Ace of Spades is ludicrous. Second, outside help has been used before with no complaints or reasons for distrust and not to mention I'm not the only here to use that duo." said Cristiano looking around, "Besides if you haven't forgot Flanca is the daughter of a dissident who was falsely arrested by the government, denied basic rights and then cruelly executed for speaking out. She knows the pain this government can cause so there is no need to doubt her."
"Yeah, until they wind up dead like your CIA flunky John Doe." spat the Venetian.
"That wasn't his fault." replied Cristiano.
"Yeah, he was a lousy drunk." said the Tuscan and a group of people laughed.
"He did have demons." admitted Cristiano.
"So you hired you hired a drunk and we're supposed to have faith in the people you hire?" asked the Romagnan.
"I believe Cristiano when he says he didn't hire the Ace of Spades. Anybody that hires an alcoholic would never have the for thought to hire him." added the Tuscan laughing.
"I can assure you I only hire capable individuals." replied Cristiano.
"So that's why the men at the door were drunk we the Ace of Spades arrived?" asked a member from Piedmont who began the attacks on Cristiano.
"I do take responsibility for that but your giving slanderous and libel statements making me seem incompetent." said Cristiano.
"It's hard to argue fact." said the Piedmont member causing his allies to snicker.
"We should not blame each other what we must do is unite and create a plan to defeat the Ace of Spades." said one of the top members of the Republican Faction.
"What about Giacomo Dante?" asked a member from Trento, "He's a former mercenary, he has a bloodlust and Cristiano knows him so he can convince Dante to help us."
"Dante can't help us. He'll be arrested or killed by the government as soon as he steps foot in Italy. It's too dangerous and I won't risk it." replied Cristiano, "However I do have a plan."
After explaining his plan the top Republican Faction members agreed to try it and so the meeting was dismissed. Cristiano returned to his mansion and upon entering heard the familiar sound of a piano.
"Hello uncle." greeted Pinocchio as Cristiano found him finishing his piece on the piano in the living room.
"Hello Pinocchio." replied Cristiano before turning to leave.
"How was the meeting?" asked the young assassin.
"A few men kept attacking me but they're just jealous. The see me as a rival and want me out of the picture."
Cristiano could sense the anger emanating from Pinocchio so he decided to steer the conversation away from the men.
"I proposed a plan to kill the Ace of Spades and it was approved. We begin tomorrow." said Cristiano which brought joy back to Pinocchio.
"Can I help?" asked the teen boy.
"No." answered Cristiano who then immediately left sensing the disappointment from Pinocchio. Cristiano didn't want to hurt Pinocchio but he wasn't going to put him in danger if he wasn't sure that Pinocchio would return alive.
Outside of the an apartment in downtown Rome ever available member of the Social Welfare Agency was waiting for the Ace of Spades to exit his apartment. Marco, Angelica, Priscilla, Olga in one car and Jose, Henrietta, Jean, Rico, Hilshire and Triela in a van close by. They had hacked his email and founded out that he was meeting a Mister Lombardi at a restaurant for diner a block over for diner. Alfonso, Amadeo, and Giorgio were undercover as waiters in the restaurant. After a little while the Ace of Spades left and began walking to the restaurant.
"We have visual. We going to begin following." said Marco over the radio in his car.
"Roger. We'll be right behind you." replied Hilshire over his radio.
The Ace walked to the restaurant with the Agency members following at a distance. Once the Ace of Spades got to the restaurant he walked over to a man about 5 ft. 12 inches in a black suit and shook his hand before sitting across from him.
"I'm going in." said Alfonso who then walked over to the table carrying a basket of bread sticks that had a tiny receiver hidden in the weaving.
"Bread sticks sirs and your menus." said Alfonso as he placed the basket down and handed then men their menus.
"Thanks." said Langsford who then took a bread stick and took a bit then began talking while the Agency members listened in.
"So you want to hire me? What's the mission?" asked Langsford.
"Indeed. We have somebody we need eliminated. The person is a pest who killed several of our own. They need to be taught a lesson." replied Mr. Lombardi.
"You must know my services aren't cheap." said Langsford.
"Yes. Here is the first half of your payment. There's five thousand here and you'll get the other five thousand later." said Lombardi as he handed a briefcase. Langsford opened the briefcase and looked at the money.
"This will do." said Langsford as he closed the briefcase and puts it next to him, "I'll need details of course."
"Yes. He likes to hike in the Provincial Nature Reserve ever Saturday so if you go this Saturday then you'll have him where you want him. The best time to strike is at night he usual stays until dark and you can use the darkness to escape." said Lombardi.
"First, don't tell me what to do and second I'll take the job." replied Langsford.
"Great." said Mr. Lombardi and the conversation became somewhat casual talking about politics. Eventually they ate and left allowing Alfonso to take receiver before he himself left and along with Amadeo and Giorgio joined the others.
"So this Saturday then. We only have two days then." said Jose.
"Yes but everything is set. We'll have Angelica and Claes pretending to be sister visiting the reserve with the parents but wandered of and were now lost and scared. The Ace of Spades will fall for it due to his soft spot for little children and then we'll jump out." explained Jean.
"We're going to capture him right."
"No it'll be too risky so we are just going to eliminate him." answered Jean, "In two days he dies."
Meanwhile Mr. Lombardi was driving home in his Ferrari when his boss called.
("Did he fall for it?") asked Cristiano over the phone.
"Yup he took the fake money and said he'll do it. All he has to do is show up and we'll ambush and kill him." replied the Republican Faction agent.
("Excellent.") said Cristiano.
Back in his apartment Langsford put the briefcase at the foot of his bed and stayed up for a few hours watching TV before brushing his teeth and going to bed. That night he had a splendid dream about a little girl he once knew and spent the night with a smile across his face.
"Caitlin." he said warmly.
A/N: Another figure from the past of Langsford like the mysterious Elizabeth and I want to make sure it is clear Peter Langsford is NOT a pedophile. Anyway next time comes Saturday and the two traps by the Republican Faction and the Social Welfare Agency. Keep reading to find out what happens and please review!