took me forever to write this chapter. hope you R&R!
Chapter 3: Coincidence
Heero was no longer sleepy. The fresh air that hit him when he got out of the building suddenly prodded him awake. He was himself again and he stretched his arms.
They were heading out of the Agency to go to grab a bite to eat. He watched Rei walk ahead of him, her wallet in her hand, her arms freely swinging at her sides. Unwilling his eyes migrated to her butt. It was round and puckered out from her track pants in a not-so-obvious way.
What the hell? Why am I thinking about that?
He switched his gaze to the store that sold antiques across the street, but he was interrupted by that very girl who had got him distracted.
"Heero? Shall we eat here?" Rei asked, pointing to the small coffee shop.
Heero heard his stomach disapprove. Stupid stomach, he thought to himself. Now I have to talk.
"Uh, can we eat somewhere else?"
"What's the matter with this place? They have such good cheesecake!" Rei commented, "Though, I must say that I don't really like coffee."
Rei let go of the door handle and they moved on.
"How about this place?" Rei asked as they stood in front of acommonplace restaurant.
Heero gave a small nod and Rei opened the door.
The pillows were piled high against the wall and Duo was comfortably propped up against them. He looked like he was basking in the bright, shining sun instead of the dinginess of his room.
"Well? What's our plan?" he asked Amy.
Amy booted up Duo's computer and said, "I don't know. I suppose that if we want to get to the bottom of this mission we'll have to think of something fast. There are other agents on this case, too."
"What's there to worry. We're gonna be better agents than everyone else."
Amy laughed. "We'll only know that if we beat them. Anyway, any ideas?"
Duo chuckled. "I'm only good at thinking on my feet. I'm definitely not on my feet," he pointed out, waving his arm at the mattress he was sprawled out on.
Amy started the media player and randomly clicked on a track in Duo's play list. As she went through his music choices, frowning at some and smiling at others, an idea was conceived.
"Do you think that Exeter will be doing any hiring right now?"
Duo's foot stopped tapping to the music and he opened his right eye. "You mean, snoop on the job?"
"Yep," Amy replied, a hopeful smile spreading over her lips.
"But why would they hire us if they are on the point of bankruptcy?"
"We could pretend we're gonna be able to fix all of their financial problems. We could fudge our credentials."
"Credentials? What credentials? I don't have any credentials! I don't even look like I've got any credentials!They'll sniff me out!" Duo exclaimed.
"Janitor?" Amy raised an eyebrow.
Duo sighed. "Fine."
He could live with that. Besides, he could be able to find hidden exits, areas of minimal security, and times when Exeter has the most and the least traffic within the building. And he could always smuggle Amy in a janitor's cart. And then he was out like a light.
Amy, on the other hand, was not sleeping the afternoon away. She was frantically typing up and synchronizing a resume and cover letter. She was just glad that there was a database full of dummy companies registered under Elwin that she could use to pretend she was the wonderful employee she portrayed herself to be. She would make her entrance in Exeter with style. Shewould tell them that she wouldbe the one who would save Exeter from drowning in debt. It was too bad the whole thing would be a lie. Exeter would not be able to cash out on this promise. But once all the charges are laid and all the arrests are made, Exeter may just be able to recover.
"Oh yes, um, could I have a lemon for my water, too?"
"Alright," the waiter said, collecting the menus.
Rei gave a smile. "Thank you."
"No problem."
Rei turned back to the table. She took a sip of water and looked at Heero. He was playing around with his communicator. She knew that he felt awkward. She assumed that he had never dined with a girl before. I mean, he certainly doesn't seem to be the type who dates girls. Actually, he how can he? He never talks. Let alone ask a girl out. She was slightly taken aback at her thoughts. They were so caustic. She didn't mean to be so caustic—even if it was only in her head.
She backed off the mental commenting. Instead, she just observed him. He had very messy brown hair—sticking out everywhere. He looked so cute, with his lips slightly pursed into a scowl and his big blue eyes so deep. She sighed and stopped sipping from her straw. She wanted to reach out and touch his hair, run her hand through it. She stopped herself of course, by reaching into her purse. Looking purposeful, she took out her lip balm and put some on her lips. It stung her chapped lips and the tingling woke her up a bit.
She decided that she had to break the silence. Racking her brain, she tried to come up with a purposeful question. She hoped that by doing this she'd be able to get him to talk. And if he didn't talk to everyone, he should be able to talk to her at least.
"So, what do you think we should do after we eat?"
Heero paused for a moment. He had run into his daily word quota at least five hours ago. It would have to take time to put together more coherent sentences.
"Well, all the research is done."
"Yeah, but other than that," Rei said, stirring her straw in her glass, even if there wasn't anything to stir but water and ice.
"Maybe some investigating?" Heero suggesting, flipping the communicator closed.
"Okay…" Rei let go of the straw for a while. "Should we start with the kids? And like follow them around a bit?"
Heero gave a small nod again. "Okay," he added, to evade Rei's "talk-you-moron-talk!" glare.
Just as he said that, the waiter reappeared with a salad and a small soup.
Heero reached eagerly for his spoon. He hadn't had any real food for what seemed like forever.
"Who should we start with?" asked Rei, as she poked about her salad with her fork. It was a very nice looking chicken salad but she was hunting down the bits she didn't like. Like the celery bits. She hated celery.
Heero flipped open his communicator and opened the text file in which he had saved profiles of the Bentley kids. "Maybe Abigail Watson."
"Abigail Waston? Does she live close to here?" Rei wiped the salad dressing off the corner of her mouth with her napkin.
"The closest one," replied Heero between spoonfuls of his clam chowder.
"Okay, sounds good. Pic?"
Heero pulled it up and pushed his communicator across the table.
"Don't do that! You'll scratch the paint off the back!"
Heero shrugged. She cared too much about the details. That's when he noticed that nails were longish, even, and unpolished. She also had slender fingers. They looked almost too bony. Fragile even. Like when you have to be careful with some things because if you weren't, they would be bound to break. He watched her fingers reach for his communicator and inspect the photo of Abigail Watson.
"Hmm…she has red hair. Shouldn't be too hard to track down," Rei observed. Heero watched her neatly-plucked eyebrows furrow a bit.
Hell! Why am I always looking at her like that? I never used to pay attention to any of this crap!
Just then, the waiter came to their table, setting down a huge plateful of spaghetti. Heero was somewhat please to have more food to distract him. He was hungry anyway. His stomach had been rumbling quite a bit.
The printer spat out warm print-outs onto the tray and Amy collected these, tucking them into a manila envelope. Grabbing her well-organized briefcase, she put the envelope on top of her papers and snapped the case shut. Getting up, she smoothed her black pantsuit to get rid of any of the wrinkles. She was ready.
"Duo?" she called, as she peeked into her partner's open room.
She got no answer. She stepping in and found the young man in the same position he was in a few hours ago. He was snoring loudly.
"Duo," she said again, shaking him. Duo did not budge.
"Duo!" she yelled, shaking him more vigorously.
"Ah! Back!" Duo exclaimed, waking suddenly, his arms flying in front of him to protect himself from unknown danger.
"Relax! It's just me," Amy said, crossing her arms.
He gave a light chuckle. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."
"S'okay. Just that we've got to go now?"
Duo checked his watch. It was a little past four.
"Are you sure they'll be okay with you being there so late?"
Amy shrugged. "I made an appointment with Desmond Exeter."
"The CEO?" Duo asked, incredulously.
The girl nodded.
"Well. That'll definitely speed things up. How'd you do that?"
Amy shrugged. "Called them up. Made a big fuss and the people at HR handed me up. And I just kept on going through everyone, all the way through to the top. I've been on the phone for two hours!"
Duo laughed. "Alright, let's get going then."
The spaghetti was very filling. But that didn't stop Heero. It tasted great, and that's all that mattered. It had been a long time since he ate something at a decent eating establishment. Before, when he had been making his money at a computer repair shop, and during the time he had first landed his job at the Agency, the only hot food he knew how to make was instant noodles, so if he had wanted anything hot, it had to come in a package.
But mid-mouthful, Rei's hand slapped on his arm.
"Heero," she hissed, "I think that's her!"
Heero nearly spat out the spaghetti. He managed to regain control of his mouth quickly swallowed the huge lump of spaghetti. Turning, he saw what Rei was making a big fuss about.
It was Abigail Watson, alright. She was herding her three-year-old son, who was clinging at her pant leg and trying to retrieve car keys from her the little boy's iron grip, through the open door while the babyin her arms was busy wailing at the top ofits lungs.
"Wow…what a bunch," Rei murmured.
A tall man walked in behind the red-haired woman. He was very thin and it showed because of his baggy suit. Heero assumed that this was Abigail's husband. He watched Mr Watson take off his thick glasses and wipe them with a handkerchief.
"Well, it looks like we can take our time," Rei said, putting down her fork to reach for a lemon wedge.
She squeezed the juice for it, and as she watched the pale yellow drops fall into her glass, she realized that she was really excited about this. Her new job wouldn't be one that would lead her into a dead end like the one she had in Japan, selling cosmetics.
Things were looking great. The person they were going after had coincidentallyappeared in the same restaurant as they had. They had a great body of research to work with. She had a cute partner. She smiled to herself.
