Caitlin dropped lightly onto the grass and rolled with a weight tight to her. She moved her other arm over her face to protect it as footfalls came thundering along the ground toward to her. "Oof!" She pulled her arm off her face and wrapped it snugly around the small warm body that had fallen on her. She stood with a roar.
Parker shrieked giggles as he tried to wiggle loose and pull the football free all at the same time. His tow hair was in her face as she swung around to run.
"Oh no. Oh no. Team Caitlin is tackled but not down. Team Parker is trying to strip the ball. It's down to the wire." She faked a crowd noise before she spiked the ball and began dancing still holding Parker. He was dancing under her arm. They froze as they heard a musical laugh from behind them. Caitlin spun and grinned. Parker waved from his position under her arm.
"Hi Rachel," he said happily. Their frequent trips and meals together over time had him enamored with her.
"Well hello there Parker. Who's winning the game?" Rachel dropped her duffel bag to the grass before scooping up the ball.
"Mommy, but I almost got her."
Rachel laughed. "Next time I will be on your team. We will win easy."
He cheered. His mom put him down and he ran swiftly to hug his teammate. Caitlin soon joined him, giving her girlfriend a gentle kiss. "Two against one? Nice."
"Oh and just shy of six feet against three feet is fair?" Rachel stroked Caitlin's cheek. "Little dirt."
Caitlin cast a glance at the bag. She chewed her lip. She looked at Rachel inquisitively.
Rachel shrugged. "I started to pack the rest, but I figure if you want me around bad enough, you are going to help me carry it all."
Laughing, Caitlin ruffled Parker's hair. "Honey, take Rachel in and get her some juice while I get her bag?"
Parker grabbed Rachel's hand. "Come on Rachel, I will give you one of my juice boxes." He giggled as she allowed herself to be tugged along. Caitlin slipped the duffel strap over her shoulder and followed them with a grin.
Parker opened the fridge and pulled out a juice box pressing it into Rachel's hand. "Thank you, Parker," she responded as she sat at the kitchen table. Her eyes followed as he knelt on one of the chairs and pulled a pile of construction paper and crayons towards himself.
"I'm gonna draw us," he announced.
"Wonderful."
Caitlin put the bag on a small side table and watched them for long moments. She frowned as she felt her pocket vibrate. She saw from Rachel's expression her cell phone was vibrating too. Caitlin opened the message. "We need to go in."
Rachel looked from her to the sad looking little boy watching them. "Mommy?" he asked.
Caitlin smiled. "Well little man. I think we need to call your favorite sitter and make a date for a special dinner for all of us when we get back."
"Margo?" he asked.
"Lady Margo of the Giant Craft Chest," she affirmed.
He smiled. "Okay." Parker went back to drawing.
Nikita leaned over Birkhoff's shoulder. "Show me the footage again, Nerd. This time slow it down."
He sighed and took a sip of his energy drink. "I love showing things a million times. I sent this to you, Nikki. You could watch it over and over again all by your lonesome." He looked up at her glare. "Rewind and replay," he responded tiredly.
Nikita's eyes narrowed as she regarded the grainy footage. "And there's no way to clean it up?"
"This is cleaned up. The warehouses in the area are interested in people breaking in, not people passing by." Birkhoff ran it again frame by frame. "Two of them. General shape female. Both masked. One is the driver, the other is the troublemaker. She is good. She took out our guy without hesitation. Moves fast and sure of herself...up until..." The screen flicked to the footage of a different camera. "Here." He tapped the screen. "She pussied out of the witness purge and bolted back."
"That doesn't make any sense. An operative allowing a witness to go free? Amanda would cancel her for that." Nikita shook her head. "I wish I could put my finger on what is so familiar about that operative." Her eyes darted up. "Rachel and Caitlin are here. Tell Michael to get the case and come to the office. Good job getting the footage before Amanda deleted it. Keep working, Nerd. I want more on Amanda's operatives than the drek you've pulled up so far."
Michael soon joined them in the office. He slid the long black case onto the desk. "We sent out some feelers and came up with word of a job coming up locally. An assassination will take place on Wednesday. It is the perfect time for us to make a move." He opened the case to show a sniper rifle of advanced design. Rachel and Caitlin looked at the rifle and then at Nikita.
"You want us to assassinate someone?" Rachel asked.
Nikita looked at the two women standing before her. "We are aware of two possible targets. Two teams, eyes and trigger in the prime hunting locations. Two additional teams kept close. My gut says sniper based on the terms of the contract that we were able to learn. It is the only safe way for Amanda's operatives to get the job done. Amanda stands to gain money and contacts from this. She will bring out her best for the job. We want you two to take one of the snipers. Find them. Take them out if you have to, but try to capture if you can. We need information. If we can get our hands on one of Amanda's operatives, we can beat it out of them."
Rachel nodded. "Sounds like a plan that gets us one step closer to Amanda. When and where?"