Chapter 13
Olivia Evans reappeared from her room and found Rebecca and Hope whispering about something. She plopped down onto the couch, exhausted from her flight.
"So Hope how's work?" She asked closing her eyes.
"Work? Is well work." Chuckled Hope, "Dad told you about Pym Tech yeah?"
"Yeah he told me about it all, he seemed angry talking about it, he mentioned something about Daren Cross and well – " She blushed, "Ant-man"
Hope looked at her cousin curiously, Hank was overly fond of her being the only niece. Yet it surprised her that Hank and entrusted such a big secret with her. Olivia remained quiet her eyes closed but she wasn't sleeping, she was resting.
"So Rebecca what do you do?"
"I um – work at Pym Tech as security along with my brother Sirus –"
Olivia didn't say anything, she merely nodded her head.
"What do you do?" Asked Rebecca politely despite the fact that she disliked asking questions. She once had been the outgoing extrovert, chatty but every since Josh's death she had grown quieter.
"I'm a nurse – I got promoted to San Fran and asked Hope here if I could stay with her." Olivia replied opening her eyes, "Lucky for me I start in a week's time. Say Hope could you show me around Pym Tech sometime this week."
"I think I can arrange something." Replied Hope flashing a suspicious smile.
Scott sat in the back of the van watching the various monitors rigged up. They displayed what was going on around the van. Sirus had left and had taken a stroll as to not draw attention. He wondered where Sirus had gone, it had been 30minutes before Sirus had left. He heard the driver door open and quickly slam and the van roared to life.
"Sirus what did you do?" Scott asked.
"Nothing, other then I broke in and planted the files on Andrew's computer. I just managed to escape before getting caught."
"Dude was that even part of the plan?" Asked Scott in an annoyed tone.
"Yeah it is, chill out, I'm just going to do a lap then park over near a café which will allow me to watch his place without looking suspicious." Scott detected a hint of cockiness.
"And why is it I'm stuck in the van?" complained Scott.
"Scott – we've been over this like a hundred times, his seen your face! Do I need to remind you again?"
Scott muttered something unintelligent while Sirus gave a small chuckle. It had been an issue for Scott as he had actually sat face to face with Andrew Schmit, which meant that he was a liability if he didn't do surveillance from the van. Sirus on the other hand was free from being recognized. The car parked and Scott heard the door shut as Sirus departed, most likely for lunch. Scott sat watching the live feeds from the numerous cameras hidden on the van. Scott was about to take a small nap when he noticed a car park on the opposite side of the road.
"Rebecca come in." He said in his mic.
"Yeah?" Came a reply
"Show me the recent feed." He said, he needed to see something.
The captured feed came through on one of the monitors. He watched intently, there 30 minutes earlier the car had drove on by. Something was definitely up, Scott turned back to the live feed to watch four large men exist and start walking up the street, some on the opposite side. He watched a woman stepped out of the car and approached the apartment where Schmit was staying.
"Sirus are you getting this?"
"Yeah Scott I am – can you tell who they are?"
"Why you asking me? Aren't you a SHIELD agent." Retorted Scott
"Well they ain't Hydra" Sirus responded after a moment of silence had lapsed, "Man they are good!"
Scott watched as a file was swapped most discreetly that it to anyone who had a quick glimpse would see nothing of the exchange. Afterwards the woman walked over to the café where Sirus was sitting. Scott watched the 25-year-old sit quietly eating playing on his phone, he knew for certain Sirus was snapping as many photos as possible. After an hour the woman left along with her goons. Sirus re-entered the car and turned the ignition and drove off. Scott scurried over to the passenger seat and glanced at a take-away burger. Sirus indicated that it was for him as he focused on the traffic ahead. Scott realized they were not returning to Hope's apartment as they had originally planned. Scott watched a car that was ahead, black with the number plate XI8798, the same that had dropped the package.
"What are you thinking?" asked Scott through a mouthful of burger.
"What does it look like?" growled Sirus, rolling his eyes, "its clear you don't understand how this works. We have a third party involved here – look I'll explain it all when we get back, this is just standard intel gathering." He gave Scott and apologetic look.
Suddenly the black car sped up and crossed the lights just as they turned red. Sirus slammed the brakes on and growled angrily.
Sirus remained silent the entire length back home. Scott didn't mention anything, he didn't want a knuckle sandwich, especially from a guy who could KO him in a single punch, if it was delivered right. After parking the car, they went up and knocked on the door. Hope opened the door and grinned as she quickly hugged Scott, Sirus coughed letting them know he was present.
"Sirus –" Said Hope noticing his scowl on his face.
Sirus didn't say anything in return and entered the apartment. Hope shot Scott an accusing look. Scott raised his hands to show in surrender making a gesture that he was innocent. Hope gave a disapproving nod then turned to follow Sirus, who was fuming silently. She found Sirus brooding at the kitchen counter, a case of ginger beer opened with a bottle already downed.
"You want to talk about it?" She asked calmly, the demeanor in his eyes were of anger and confusion.
"Not- really" he said finishing the second bottle and reached for the third.
"Sirus something is obviously eating away at you."
"Ya think?" He said faking a laugh, "I got blown tailing, I'm good, that just doesn't happen to me"
"Well perhaps they were good!" She froze that was not what she had intended to say.
Sirus snorted and looked up at her, "Your darn right about that, they were professionals. We are going to have to get Kurt to run the car plates, see who owns it. I got pictures of a mysterious lady who had a small detail, armed like a little army. Handguns, submachine guns hidden in their jackets."
Hope nodded, "Don't beat yourself up on this."
Sirus nodded, "Sorry about my behavior – my minds been – occupied." He said stuttering the last words as he caught sight of Olivia.
Hope noticed that Sirus was swallowing hard, his looked nervous and she smirked, knowing what, was going on. She turned around to see Olivia watching them both. It didn't take a genius to realize that Sirus Burke, the man who held the record for standing he longest against the Captain America, ambitious SHIELD operative, daring and outgoing young man, was in fact smitten with Olivia Evens. Hope smiled cheekily before saying,
"Sirus, Olivia would like a tour of Pym Tech, Scott and I have a lot of work tomorrow getting ready for a business proposal, could you please take her on a tour?"
Sirus was caught dumbfounded, "Um – er – yeah I can – um do that." He said nervously, and flashed Olivia a small smile.
"Excellent." Replied Hope she turned to see a grinning Rebecca.
"So this is um Pym Tech." Announced Sirus nervously as he led her about the facility explaining to the best of his ability the different sections of the Pym building.
"Thanks Sirus."
"Uh – your welcome Olivia." He said his throat when dry as he looked at her. She's beautiful. He caught himself thinking.
"Sirus, get up here, Kurt found the owner of the car plate, and I think we've found out who the lady is." Hope's voice came through his earpiece, "Oh and bring Olivia up."
Sirus motioned Olivia to follow him. As they stepped off the elevator lift Hope rushed over to them.
"Olivia, did you like the tour?" she asked curiously.
"Yeah I did, Sirus was great."
Sirus went over to his station to find Kurt busy projecting images onto the large screen.
"So I ran the car plate it belongs to Mara Finch, I've checked the records but there is no Mara Finch. Who ever this lady is, she's a ghost." Began Kurt, "Hope had me scan internet for similar faces and we got 12 positive alias."
"Any idea who she works for?" Sirus asked looking at the face of the woman.
"No, I'm going to say she's a bounty hunter, but that's because she has no record on SHIELD and she doesn't appear to be the Hydra type."
"You ran this through Maria? Most high level operators aren't listed, it keeps SHIELD and the operator safe from any exposure."
"Hope sent it off to her this morning."
"Any news from Bex and Scott?"
"They are tailing Andrew Schmit as we speak."
Sirus frowned there was something wrong about this Andrew Schmit but he couldn't put a finger on it. Evidence showed he worked with Hydra but talking to an unknown party was off. Hydra stuck to themselves, often employing their own agents to get things done.
"Hey Sirus, Olivia and I are going to go head off and get some lunch want to come?"
"Um – sure." He said, Hope watched him slip a second handgun into his holster.
"Was Sirus acting strange when you and him left yesterday?" Asked Rebecca curiously.
"Yeah he was why?" asked Scott adjusting his hat to cover his eyes.
"Oh just curiosity." She said Rebecca sped up managing to cross the traffic light before it turned red.
They had spent the morning following Andrew Schmit, he was driving slowly going no where in particular. Rebecca groaned as the came across a red light, Schmit's car was three in front. Scott nudged Rebecca to look, she turned her eyes away and watched as a motorcycle approached Schmit's car and a small white envelope was passed through the window, the lights changed and they went separate ways. Rebecca cursed under her breath, they were good. Too good and they defiantly weren't Hydra.
"What was that?"
"That was called a pretty sweet handoff, these guys are good, but what is their connection with Schmit, they aren't Hydra yet they are working with someone who may be associated with them."
Sirus was on edge, he had a feeling that something bad was about to go down. It was the same feeling he had when he thought he had lost Rebecca. He shifted uneasily in his chair, his hand was resting on his handgun. The lunch went without a hitch and he spoke little, he couldn't believe how awkward it was to speak when Olivia was around. Do I like her? He asked himself. After they had finished eating he allowed them both to walk in front and he walked behind them, this way he wouldn't be caught staring at Olivia. A car screeched to a halt alongside Hope and masked men jumped out of the car. Sirus drew his gun in an instant and fire two shots.
"RUN!" He yelled as squeezed off two more shots.
He ducked behind a parked car. He heard bullets hit the car he was hiding behind, Hope and Olivia were running but two goons were hot on their trail and he had two more firing with assault rifles. Sirus fired two shots dropping both of them to their knees moaning in pain. Sirus ran to the idle car jumped inside and took off, he didn't bother strapping the seatbelt in as he searched for Olivia and Hope. He replaced the magazine and soon caught sight of them, their pursuers not far behind. Sirus wound the window down and fired a shot, catching one of the men in the shoulder, the other stopped and brought out a handgun and began firing into the car. Sirus ducked down to protect his head, he swung up to the girls.
"GET IN!" He yelled.
They scrambled in and soon they were off. Sirus looked in his rearview mirror as two black unmarked highlanders gave chase.
"Crap!" Muttered Sirus.
Sirus watched as the muzzle of a handgun appeared out of the front window if the highlander. Sirus hit the accelerator and passed the gun over to Hope.
"How goods your aim?" he asked.