Chapter 17

The next morning Kowalski was glad that he wasn't subjected to whatever horrors Private had been. It seemed like whatever had occurred last night was continuing to carry into the mission if Private's face was anything to go by as they listened to the Skipper and Hans squabble.

"Damn it, Hans! When I say I'm always point, I mean I'm always point!"

"Ugh, I forget what a power bottom you are," Hans sniped back. "It wouldn't kill you to give up a little control of the situation, you know."

Despite the awkward air that had settled after the night before Kowalski and Rico shared a knowing look at the other man's reply.

"Giving you any amount of control has nearly gotten me killed." There was a loud thunk that reverberated throughout the floor below them. "Are you sure this is the right way?" Skipper asked.

Kowalski continued to half-listen to the conversation as he looked over at Rico who was looking through the various shelves as they waited. He tried to ignore the pang of guilt and hurt as it felt like Rico was somehow slipping further away from him even after their conversation last night. Although perhaps Rico had been slipping away from him for some time and he was only just now realizing it.

"I still don't understand why Skipper didn't have you or me go with Hans," Private commented as another bang echoed on the other side of the wall. "Or see if you could bypass the bio scanner entirely."

"I don't have an answer for the first part of your statement, but for the second," Kowalski eyed the bio scanner with uncertainty. "I'd rather not find out what type of defense system Blowhole rigged especially if there's a chance it could wipe out everything."

"Needed an excuse," Rico answered as he wandered back into the conversation tired of looking at various boxes telling him that Francis and Doris were just kids once.

Private gave him a perplexed look, "An excuse for what?"

Kowalski understood exactly what Rico was trying to say and couldn't believe that he hadn't seen it first, especially with what he and Rico had witnessed yesterday. "Of course, that would make sense,"

"What makes sense?"

"It's an excuse for Skipper to be near Hans." Kowalski explained, "Obviously neither of them is over whatever happened in their past together."

"Wait are you two seriously suggesting that Skipper and Hans were actually a thing? They can barely tolerate each other. Besides Skipper is with Marlene," Private argued.

"Doesn't mean he couldn't have had a relationship with Hans," Kowalski answered while Rico shrugged. Then another thought occurred to him, "Did you think that the dialogue was just to rile each other up?"

As if on cue Skipper's voice rang through the ducts. "If we make it out of here, I'm going to strangle you with my bare hands!"

Private gestured at the wall, "Honestly, yes, because I was under the impression that they hated each other."

Rico met Kowalski's eye and grinned, signaling that he'd take over answering Priate's questions, but only to further the youngest teammate's embarrassment and frustration. It was easy to tease Private and rile him up and on lulls in missions a great way to pass the time. For a second time in the last two days, they had achieved a sense of normal, as if they could safely forget about the mission.

Seeing Private pout made Rico chuckle and answered with a simple, "love can make you act stupid. Remember Shawna?"

At the name, Private turned red in embarrassment. "I suppose that does make sense. I haven't thought about her in years, I didn't act too much different than Skipper is now. I'd make any excuse to see her." He turned on Kowalski then, "I still can't believe that you thought Rico was trying to kill me."

"I will admit that was not some of our best investigative work," Kowalski replied, feeling his face flush with embarrassment at how quickly he had jumped to a conclusion. He also felt ashamed at the sharp reminder that this was not the first time he had caused a problem for Rico. Actually thinking about it now, he had been the cause of a lot of Rico's misery in the last few years. He was even to blame for how Skipper had found out about the secret relationship with Julien.

"Fuck me!" There was another loud bang that sounded from the other side of the wall. "And don't even say it, Hans!"

"Is everything all right, Skipper?" Private called as they all jumped to their feet and rushed to the open vent ready for orders.

"No," Skipper snapped. "There is no way to override the system from this side. It's a dead end. All the wiring is on your side. Kowalski you're going to have to try to override it."

Dread flooded Kowalski's veins, but he kept his voice even, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I know it's a major risk, but it may be our best option. Hans and I are going to see if the other duct runs anywhere, but I have a gut feeling that it's not. Hopefully, one of us will get lucky."

"Only if you play your cards right…."

Kowalski shuddered as he could practically hear the purr in Hans' voice before he forced himself to tune out the commotion of Hans.

"Anything we can do Skipper?" Private asked.

"While Kowalski works I want you and Rico to check in with Alice, we're coming up close to the check-in time and I know if we are late even by a minute CENTRAAL will be coming after us."

"Rodger that!" Private then turned to Kowalski who had moved back over to the bio scanner. "You got this, K'walski, you've outsmarted Blowhole dozens of times. This will be a piece of cake for you."

"No pressure," Kowalski replied and waited until both of his teammates were out of sight to open the panel on the side of the scanner again. He had opened it briefly after Hans had been denied access and made the decision to go into the ventilation with Skipper, but now he could confirm what he already suspected. It certainly looked like the scanner had been tampered with and that Hans's biometrics being erased wasn't a built-in failsafe.

With a sinking feeling, it occurred to Kowalski that he may have been able to outsmart Francis, but Doris was a different level of genius who had learned from all of her brother's mistakes.

He moved to put his hand over the bio-scanner and hesitated long enough to make sure that Rico and Private were still out of sight and weren't on their way back yet.

The screen was cold under his hand and he waited just long enough for his hand to be read before pulling it away.

ACCESS GRANTED.

WELCOME BACK, KOWALSKI