The meeting seemed to be winding down. Wufei caught himself looking at the end of the table where Sally Po sat. He'd been trying to avoid doing it since he walked in. He supposed old habits died hard. He'd long since gotten over the hurt of her only seeing him as a little brother type and not a lover type. They were friends now; she was happily married and chief of internals on earth. Internals covered anything having to do with the preventers themselves. Physical and mental health, training, and internal security were all under her jurisdiction.    

Sally moved her head and Wufei felt a little twist in his gut when he saw Nicole Catalonia sitting behind her. Not his most favorite person in the world. She always made him uncomfortable. Back when he was still heavily infatuated with Sally, he'd applied for a position of team leader of internal security. Nicole or Cole as she preferred to be called got the position. Wufei couldn't help being bitter about that. She was three years his junior, and had still been a virtual rookie when she got the job. If he was honest with himself, a part of the reason why he applied was to be close to Sally. It had taken him months to grudgingly accept that Cole was actually good at her job and not some snotty rich kid who bought her way into a higher rank.

He sat there studying her. Looking at her no one would ever think she and Dorothy Catalonia were cousins. The only thing they had in common was coloring. Dorothy was a woman with long flowing hair, and nice curves. Cole was an overgrown tomboy. She kept her hair very short, was entirely too skinny, and Wufei had yet to see her in anything resembling woman's clothes. If not for her feminine eyes people would easily mistake her for a boy. Suddenly as if she knew someone was watching her, Cole looked up and made eye contact with him. He tuned away to avoid staring. As a man, he had to admit she did have very pretty eyes. That in itself was telling because usually eyes were the last thing a man noticed on a woman.

**********

Cole subdued the butterflies in her stomach that took flight when she caught Wufei looking at her. Get a grip on yourself girl! It's not as if he's interested in you. She inwardly sighed. Men rarely noticed her. Especially attractive men. The only reason Wufei even knew she existed was her cousin and her job.     

The people at the table were collecting their things and leaving. She caught the look from the Une and she and Sally stayed where they were as did Heero Yuy and Wufei Chang. The two men appeared puzzled by their presence but didn't comment on it. Une motioned for them to sit at the table.

"Well Wufei, it seems we have a problem. Cole?" Une motioned her to speak up.

"We detected your computer was hacked two days ago. Most of the information you had didn't appear to interest the trespassers. They were interested in some files about some people you've been investigating: Tolin Caruthers, Annabella Petronovitch, Shelby McGuire, Sam Fox, and Dr Ann Winters." She noticed both Wufei and Heero seemed alarmed by this.

Une interrupted what Cole was about to say next. "I was to understand there was only one woman and she wasn't an apparent danger to anyone. Would you care to explain to me what is going on?"

"There are two women" Wufei said quietly "and they are not a danger to anyone. Annabella and Shelby are their birth names, the other two are the identities they currently live under."  

"So are you going to tell me what happened to them that someone is hacking into our system to find?" Une remained quiet, but her tone was definitely inflexible.

"I spoke to both women yesterday. They have made an appointment to speak with you next week directly. They are worried about unwarranted prejudice to their situations and hope such a meeting will avoid that." Heero responded.

Unwarranted prejudice? Cole stood there stunned. How long had Heero been practicing that speech?

Apparently Une was just as unimpressed as Cole "What is this some kind of cult? First, I have Relena Peacecraft pleading on their behalf. Then two of my best preventers whose judgment I usually respect, are dodging any direct questions about them. I have someone hacking into my system to find out all we know about them, and now these two women wish to sidestep all channels and try to sway me directly because they fear unwarranted prejudice? I'm not sure just how more prejudiced against them I could get right now. For all I know they were the ones who hacked into our system!"

"It wasn't them." Wufei assured her. "But if someone is tracking their information, and there's a risk of it becoming public, I think you'd rather know before the public."

At the moment Une had the floor. Out of respect, Cole and her boss Sally stood silent. Cole doubted she could have said anything even if she wanted to. Yuy and Chang had impeccable records and reputations. Competition to be on their teams working under them was bloodthirsty. And now here they were, acting like a couple of juveniles caught shoplifting.  

Une glared at both of them. "Fine I'll wait until next week to speak to them, but the security issue has to be addressed. I want everything you have on these two women given to Cole" both men looked about to protest "and I want her to stay with you Wufei until my meeting next week. I'd like at least one level head mixed in this fiasco."

Cole inwardly groaned. Wufei was vibrating in anger, but had somehow managed to say "Yes ma'am" between clenched teeth. Oh joy. This was going to be soooo much fun she thought bitterly. She'll have to remember to always sit with her back to the wall. That way she'd have plenty of warning when he ran her through with his infamous katana.