Chapter two
Face to face

The cab pulled up to the office the team used. Julianne let out a deep sigh, watching Elizabeth paying the driver, both them got out of the back seat. Watching the cab drive away into the darkness, Julianne's eyes focused on Elizabeth's face. "You could have gotten dropped off home."

"And leave you with a complete stranger, hell no," Elizabeth kept her tone serious, she never trusted cab drivers, her eyes kept looking to the building. "So what do you do here anyway?"

Julianne exhaled, "It's a task force," She kept thinking if she should be telling her sister this, "It's a catch fugitives thing," finishing off the sentence, Julianne quickly breathed onto her hand, sniffing quickly, her eyes on Elizabeth's for a brief second. "Does my breath smell?"

Elizabeth leant into Julianne's personal space, leaning closing to her mouth; she sniffed a few times, "you smell like vodka."

"Damn it," Julianne glanced into her purse, then to Elizabeth's. "Do you have a mint? Gum? Anything!"

Elizabeth reached into her bag, "I have, gummy bears, fruit gums and, Mentos!"

Julianne held her hand out, "Mentos," she quickly snapped, "Quick…"

"No gummy bears," Elizabeth sighed, handing over the small pack of mints, her sister smiled, placing her hand into the bag taking out the bag of gummy bears, opening them and started to eat.

Julianne popped a few of the mints onto her hand; she glanced around placing them in her mouth. "No, I just need to not smell like booze," her eyes looking around, "I gotta," she pointed to the door, opening it.

Elizabeth kept behind her walking in, the lights were on, walking into the elevator, pulling the door down, she watched as Julianne pressed the button, "So, what do you do here?"

"I'm the computer, person," Julianne watched the elevator going up, her eyes looking around, her hand playing with her hair carefully, "I'm in so much trouble…"

"Relax, it's," Elizabeth glanced to her wrist, "Ten thirty five," her voice serious, "plus it's a Friday night." The elevator stopped, the door pulled up.

Julianne was now face to face with Charlie, he didn't seem happy, his eyes going from her, to Elizabeth. "Julianne," he kept looking from Julianne to Elizabeth, "who's this?"

"Erm, well," Julianne felt her throat tighten up, her hand kept playing with her other hand, "See, me and my sister," she paused for a few seconds, "Charlie this is my sister Elizabeth."

"Hi," Elizabeth raised her hand, her eyes kept on the man who seemed to be serious business. He kind of reminded her of her old gym teacher, her hands kept by her side watching him.

Charlie inhaled quickly, "Why did you bring her here?" He kept his tone serious, it was his life, he wanted this task force to work, but he trying to keep himself calm.

"We was out, we were…" Julianne felt her hands playing down her coat.

Charlie narrowed his eyes, for a second, "This isn't a good time," he kept focused, "Call a cab and leave."

Elizabeth placed a hand on her hip, "I don't do cabs," Her voice serious, a fact she didn't really like the way this man spoke to her.

"What!" He kept looking to her.

"I. Don't. Do. Cabs." Elizabeth kept still, "also, I am not killing anyone here," she finally found a chair sitting down.

Julianne felt herself shifting from one foot to the other. "I'll go start," she pointed to her desk where her laptop was; she slipped into the chair opening the laptop. Her eyes avoiding looking at Elizabeth still sat on the chair, her eyes going over her fingernails. "So who is the escapee?"

Charlie shifted his gaze from Elizabeth to Julianne, "Marco Vasile, escaped from Rickers Island three hours ago," He inhaled, for a moment he needed to get this figured out. "Right now, we've got no motivation of where he'll be head, we need you to start the research." He glanced to Elizabeth who was now standing beside him.

"You said Marco Vasile, the mobster?" her eyes kept looking from Charlie to Julianne both staring at her. "What, I watch news…"

"So when is the team going to be here?" Julianne glanced to her clothes, her hand in her hair feeling nervous. The fact was Julianne didn't like the idea of being seen wearing this, her eyes scanned her clothes, feeling herself more aware of her body, when before she was covered up, now she was vulnerable.

Charlie glanced over Julianne, slowly his eyes going to Elizabeth, he could tell it was obvious they were in fact having a night out, he exhaled, "I am going to pick Erica up, Ray's getting Shea and Lloyd," his tone dry, he reached into his pockets for his car keys. "I won't be too long." He glanced from Julianne to Elizabeth, "don't touch anything." He walked away now.

Elizabeth kept swinging around on the chair, her face staring at the ceiling. "I'm so bored." She exhaled while slowly wheeling herself over to Julianne's desk, "Entertain me…"

"I'm trying to get a profile together," Julianne exhaled, "Work," she finished typing, but her hands going into her hair, a little grunt escaped her lips.

Elizabeth glanced over the small screen, her eyes focused on the things Julianne's been doing for the past half hour. "I could help you out."

"How can you possible help me out?" Julianne glanced over to Elizabeth, her eyes focused to her sister's eyes.

"I'm being completely serious." Elizabeth kept her tone straightforward.

"You're being serious," Julianne nodded once, "well, I have to get a profile, get something to give the team to help, I have." She pointed at the screen, "He's incarcerations for the past thirty years," her voice dropped, "But it's hard for me to get anything helpful."

Elizabeth sighed, "you know, for a computer wiz, you're not getting whimsical with this position." She pushed her sister to one side. "Let me show you something." She quickly typed about on the computer.

"So you're going to do something illegal," Julianne tone dark, her hands pushing her sister away from the laptop, "Charlie told you not to touch anything."

Elizabeth sighed, "Well I wasn't going to do something illegal, but hey," she held her hands up, "I was offering my help," she kept looking to Julianne. "You want to get something, two heads…"

"Better than one," Julianne now moved a little so the both of them could both looked to the laptop, "so, what is the not illegal search?" her eyes side glancing to her sister's.

"Nope, just go old fashion short cuts," her eyes were focused on the screen while tapping away at the keyboard, "I am pretty much lucky."

"Lucky, I spent days, months, learning the things I learnt about computers," her face focused on what her sister was doing, "how?"

"A gay housemate who taught me what I needed about computers, I taught him about shoes and cleansing…" She waved a hand, "Long story."

"Long story," Julianne placed a hand on her shoulder, "One day, you ever going to tell me one of them long stories?" her voice soft, as much as she loved her sister, there was so much she didn't know.

"Maybe," Elizabeth replied while keeping her attention on the screen, "one day," her face turned to look at Julianne's, "Maybe the same day you remember you're amazing."

"Amazing," Julianne smiled softly, "So, you better get moving, Charlie and Ray should be back, you'd need to make yourself gone…"

Elizabeth laughed, "Hell no," she finally finished clicking, "there, all you need on Marco Vasile…" her face bright while moving away from the screen.

For a few seconds the silence was broken with the sound of the elevator moving up, Julianne quickly snapped her attention from the laptop, a flash of panic washed over her, hearing his voice making her quickly pull her coat on, she didn't want Lloyd to see her like this, her hand going for her purse rushing away to the rest room.

Elizabeth blinked watched her sister disappear away, her attention to the opening lift seeing someone she'd not see in a long while.

"Lizzie!" Ray saw the long red hair, wearing a dress sitting at Julianne's desk, he didn't understand, he watched as she got to her feet, she smiled.

Elizabeth broke into a grin, "Ray!" she rushed over giving him a hug, "I didn't know it was you Jules was working with."

"Yes," Ray paused for a second remembering that Shea and Lloyd were right behind him, he exhaled, "where's Jules?"

Elizabeth took a step back, her head tilted towards the hall, "She did a Houdini," her eyes slowly going to the two other men who were staring at her.

From the second the Elevator door open, Lloyd was looking forward to seeing Julianne, it was one of the perks of being on the team, well as much as getting out of Maximum security prison, into a minimal one, also knocking months off his bid, then seeing Julianne, but he was looking to a girl with long red hair sitting at Julianne's desk.

Lloyd glanced over the girl's face, Ray knew her, she shared common facial features of Julianne, so he could only assume a sister, the lack of frown lines, her eyes, he assuming younger sibling. He didn't know why he was so focused on taking in body language, posture, everything this girl was, didn't seem at all like Julianne, but Lloyd inhaled. "Introductions?"

Ray stepped back, he looked once more over Elizabeth, "This is Elizabeth, she's Julianne's kid sister, I've no idea why you are here."

"Erm, me and Jules, big karaoke night out, she got a call," Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders, "She couldn't drive, got cab, you know what I'm like with cabs…"

"You're still on that don't trust anyone?" Ray hadn't known Elizabeth long; he knew that when Julianne had her nervous break down two years ago after being expelled from the academy, Elizabeth was there.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes, "Still, always," her voice dropped a pitch, quickly watching the man who was watching her, "What?"

"Sorry, you're hair," Lloyd felt on the spot as Elizabeth was focused on him, he could make all the features out that matched Julianne's, but little details set her apart from the other girl, "It's not naturally that colour?"

For a few second Elizabeth side glanced to Ray, "Is this guy for real?" her tone annoyed, mostly the fact she didn't know him, he didn't know her, but somehow worked with her sister.

Ray sighed, "Lloyd, she's a civilian, don't ask her dumb question," his attention back to Elizabeth, "Lloyd is one of the team, and that is Shea," he pointed the man out who'd not spoken.

"Hey, Elizabeth," Shea finally spoke, for a few moments he wasn't sure why she was here, then his attention going to Julianne walking into the room, her hair pulled up, her face slightly red. "So heard you two getting freaky in the club."

Julianne froze to the spot, her heart stopped a few second seeing Lloyd, his attention on Elizabeth before onto her eyes, "Club, no," she had the face of a doe in the headlights of an on coming truck, "Bar, I," her breathing speeding up, her hand missing the scarf, her eyes to Elizabeth for support.

"My idea, I'm just here for a year before back to school," Elizabeth kept her calm placing a hand to her hip, "also, no one calls me Elizabeth, Lizzie or Liz is fine." Her attention going to Julianne, "What you done to your face?"

Julianne hated this, her eyes going from Elizabeth's face, to Lloyd who seemed to be watching her carefully; she knew he could tell she was far from her comfort zone. "I washed, I," her words a stutter, "I need to carry on my work," quickly she rushed to her computer sitting down, pretending for a few seconds to be indulged into her research.

Lloyd felt his heart drop, he'd completely forgot that Julianne was young, she had a life away from this, so he turned to Elizabeth, "so Liz," he felt the need to be nosy, "what school you go to?"

Elizabeth kept her focus on Lloyd for a moment, her eyes focused on his light blue, taking the time to register the expression, "Yale, pre med," she answered him blunt, walking away.
Shea laughed, "Dude, seriously," he now focused on Ray, "so, you get us here ASAP! What is the fire?"

Ray kept looking to Elizabeth, finally onto Julianne, he wasn't quite sure what was going on, but knew it was his time to shine, opening his mouth.

"Marco Valise escaped from his cell four hours ago," Charlie walked into the office with Erica by his side, she moved quickly to watch Ray, going to the new girl sitting with Julianne. "What have you got so far?" Charlie kept focused on Julianne.

For a second Julianne felt all eyes on her, her face falling slightly, quickly Elizabeth cleared her throat. "Marco's been in and out most of his young adult life, mainly for gun charges, GBH's and some armed robbery," for a second Elizabeth turned to Julianne.

Getting her voice back, "He's on a life sentence for murder," feeling better, going to Charlie, "right now, there isn't much on where he'll go, but there was a report of a man," she kept focused on the screen, "killed, stolen car, clothes and wallet." Her eyes focused on the screen feeling sick.

"We're looking at a man who's desperate," Charlie stated, "First we'll need to figure a…" he trailed off seeing Elizabeth raise her hand in the air, "what?"

"Sorry, I know it's not my place," she got to her feet, "but he's not desperate, he's not doing this willy nilly," quickly turning the laptop around, "He killed this man clean," her finger pointed out, "He's got a plan, but right now it's working out what."

Erica raised her eyebrow, for a moment feeling confused, "So, you are?"

"Lizzie," Her voice cool, "I am just here to help Julianne out," she smiled to Charlie, for a second every ones attention going to the boss of this wall.

Ray folded his arms, he was enjoying this, "Yes, why is that?" he was being smug, he liked the idea of seeing Elizabeth work her own way onto the team, plus the idea of Julianne having some help wasn't too bad either.

Charlie for a heartbeat kept still, his attention on Elizabeth, "right now that isn't important, for now, we'll need to scope out his…" he paused again, Elizabeth again.

"Well, you would say talk to people who know him, it's a waste of time, they won't say anything out of fear," she quickly glanced to Ray, "but if you want to get truth," her eyes to the laptop, "Twelve miles from here, his first wife lives," she write the address, "she'll be more likely to help."

Lloyd laughed, "I like her…" he shut up.

Charlie took the address, giving Julianne a small glare before walking, "right, Lloyd, Erica, Shea." He nodded, "Lets move it." He headed for the exit, quickly turning to face Elizabeth and Julianne, "We're going to talk when I get back." His tone dead serious as everyone left.

Ray kept watching Charlie, the sun was rising in the sky, it was a long night, talking over everything with Gina Taylor, re married. Wasn't much help, now they were making their way back to the office. "Don't be too hard on Julianne," Ray started, the fact he felt for Julianne, like a brother would feel for a little sister, his voice light.

"Hard, she brought someone to the office, someone who could compromise everything." Charlie's voice tough, he wasn't going to be made out to be a push over, his attention on the road.

"Or an asset," Lloyd chimed in, "I mean, she's…" he paused seeing the expression on Charlie's face from the front seat, "I'll just." He zipped his mouth.

"Look, it's not like she's a bad person," Ray kept on track, "Jules needs the help, plus with two, it's more quicker work done…"

"We all like work done quick," Lloyd chimed in, but winched when Erica slapped him on the chest knocking him back. "Ow!"

"Well, shut up," Erica kept her tone cool, watching Ray and Charlie carefully, "My opinion doesn't mean much, but, what harm is it really?"

Charlie gritted his teeth, all this was not going to be good on his heart, but he pushed through it like always. "Fine, I'll give her a shot," he held a hand up, "One, shot." He now went back on focusing on the driving, he was hoping not to regret this.