I may have gone a little far with Hans/Skipper here like it's not subtle at all and it is rather crass at one point, but I feel that while they have a habit of getting under each other's skin and Skipper is still sore over Denmark, they do care about each other.

"Doris is not an easy woman to get in contact with and she's an even harder woman to find," Hans explained as he pushed his empty plate to the side. "And while I can't know for certain if Francis told her anything about my exact role, I certainly suspect that some information has been passed along. In fact, I was ready to call it a wash when she reached out to me. Unfortunately, she wasn't particularly interested until I informed her that I was working with you to find a way around CENTRAAL."

"So she doesn't trust you." Skipper concluded, not entirely phased by the news.

"Actually, it's you," Hans briefly met Kowalski's eyes as he looked over the group, "she doesn't trust. Francis underestimated how far you're willing to go for one another and she doesn't want to make the same mistake. Of course, I don't blame her, I certainly wouldn't want to be on any of your bad sides."

Kowalski hadn't missed the look Hans had given him and knew that the man was still mincing words, trying to get a feel of what he could or couldn't say. He looked over at Skipper who had yet to say anything and finally commented when it was clear their leader wasn't going to. "Sounds like we could be walking into a trap if we're not careful."

"Doris has expressed the same concern, but I assured her that I could act as an informant, let her know exactly what you are planning and what progress you've made in recovering Project Collar."

"And she bought that?" Skipper huffed in amusement, "so much for not making the same mistake as her brother."

"Perhaps," Hans turned to Skipper, the look on his face positively vicious, "but I have fucked you enough times that it's not hard to convince someone that I wouldn't do it again."

"I think you forget who was fucking who," Skipper replied flatly into his coffee.

Kowalski nearly choked on his coffee at the comment and out of the corner of his eye he could see Rico was biting his lip to keep from laughing while Private had turned cherry red.

"Oh, believe me, I didn't forget, but if you're willing to jog my memory I wouldn't complain," Hans challenged, always enjoying how easy it was to get Skipper worked up.

"I think we're gotten off track," Private cut in sharply. "Regardless of how Hans earned Doris's trust, we need to figure out what our next move is. It's not like we have an unlimited amount of time to figure this out."

Kowalski internally winced at the reminder, recalling Rico's coronary spasm from just a few hours ago.

"Right," Skipper pinched the bridge of his nose and regained his composure. "Unfortunately, there's no way that we're going to be able to recover what's left of Project Collar. CENTRAAL has already moved it, doubled security, and made room in Hoboken in anticipation that we would try to take it."

"So where exactly does that leave us?" Private asked with irritation clear in his voice. "Doing nothing? Again?"

" I understand your frustration but this isn't me trying to be heartless, Private. Rico was on the team a few years before you so you wouldn't know that I fought CENTRAAL every step of the way to have him on my team and keep him on this team." Skipper looked over at Rico and watched as the man wordlessly slipped away to the kitchen with his and Kowalski's mugs before continuing, "I have never forgotten seeing him in that warehouse sliced open like a frog on dissection day. I'm sure Kowalski remembers it just as well as I do. We carried him out with his blood soaking through our uniforms, praying that the stitches we put in would hold long enough to get him to a hospital. And as much as I hate needles I gave him 2 pints of my blood without hesitating that day. So don't think that there isn't anything that I wouldn't do for Rico or any of you for that matter, but it's not going to do any good if we get caught and this ends with us in Hoboken while Rico takes his last breath." One of the last things Skipper wanted to do was have one of his men die alone if saving him wasn't an option.

Private looked down and blinked rapidly to keep the tears from falling. He had read the files, but none of the others ever spoke candidly about how Rico came to be on the team despite the odds.

Hans cleared his throat hoping to break some of the tension, "I agreed with Skipper that the risk is too much, but if Doris is willing to trust me then, then I can feed the information that puts us at an advantage and lets her think that she has one. I also happen to know a location that Francis used to store many of his prototypes and backups of his plans that neither CENTRAAL nor Doris knows about. There is a chance that there is a copy of Project Collar which we do need to convince Doris that we are making a legitimate trade."

"You'd give her enough so that she believes it is the file she's asking for," Kowalski reasoned as he watched the kitchen for Rico to return. It felt like he should have been back by now.

"Precisely, you would then alter the file, botch it so that she couldn't properly replicate it."

Kowalski nodded in understanding before he excused himself from the table to check on Rico in the kitchen. As he turned the corner he saw Rico sitting on the counter, texting away with a fresh cup of coffee next to him. "Are you texting Julien?"

When Rico nodded but raised his eyebrow in curiosity at how Kowalski knew who he was texting.

"I wanted to talk to you earlier yesterday, but I saw that you were with Julien so I went up to the roof to clear my head instead," Kowalski rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"So we have to break into one of Blowhole's hidden lairs without CENTRAAL knowing or suspecting that we are acting against orders?" Private's voice carried into the kitchen cutting in before Kowalski could ask how Julien was doing with everything that was going on or if he had even told Julien everything.

"That's the easy part since we have all been put on leave for the time being there is nothing requiring us to stay here. I even ran it by Alice," Skipper explained, " and was told that we could take a road trip, go on an extended camping trip, just as long as we remained in touch with a base and continued to monitor Rico's health."

"I just needed to make sure you were okay." Kowalski gestured towards the door awkwardly, "I guess, I'll go listen to the rest of the plan then and don't take too long, or else Skipper's going to be the one to come looking for you next."

Rico smiled. "Sí, estaré allí en un minuto."

Kowalski rejoined the table just as Private was commenting on how brilliant the plan was, while he could only hope that his own plan would still work.