Disclaimer: I do not own Human Target and intend no copyright infringement.
24 hours before, the warehouse, rather early in the morning.
Chance pressed the stop button of the answering machine he had placed on the table and looked at the gathered members of his crew: Winston, Ames, Guerrero.
Guerrero had just received a text message: new s/w avail
prc?, he texted back, then returned his attention to Chance and the effects of the answering machine's message on the others.
Winston didn't look happy.
He didn't look happy at all.
"So what do you think?", Chance asked, deliberately addressing everyone, not just Winston. It wasn't that difficult to guess what he was thinking.
Ames gave the answering machine a quizzical look. "What is this?"
"Chance got a number reserved for family and friends", Guerrero explained. "Leads directly here." He nodded at the machine.
"So you know her well?" Ames arched a nosy eyebrow at Chance.
Winston snorted. "Name's Emma Barnes. FBI Agent Emma Barnes. We ran into her on a job or two." He gave Chance a meaningful look.
"Sounds like she needs help", Ames stated.
Not exactly what Winston wanted to hear.
"Yeah? Did you hear her ask for help? I didn't."
Chance shifted in his seat. He had known from the beginning this would be a tough one to sell on Winston. "Well, technically not, but…"
"She sounded like was asking for help", Ames chimed in.
Chance made a "See?" gesture pointing at Ames, but looking at Winston. Winston opened his mouth, but before he could give his friend the answer he felt he deserved – one of the yelling kind - the elevator signaled. Chance hectically grabbed the answering machine, apparently to make it disappear.
"Dude, don't."
Chance gave Guerrero a puzzled look.
"If you really wanna go through with this partnership thing, you can't keep on hiding things from her."
Now it was Winston's turn to give him a puzzled look.
"Who are you and what did you do with Guerrero?"
The distinctive click-clack of expensive high heels approached. Chance hid the answering machine.
… … …
Ilsa entered the kitchen area and found herself face-to-face with four way too innocent-looking team members: Ames was texting on her mobile, Winston was reading the newspaper, Chance was stirring his coffee and Guerrero was sipping his tea. She took in the scene for a long moment. Whom were they trying to fool? She'd definitely been around them long enough to deserve more than such a lame attempt of pretending everything was perfectly normal.
"What is going on here?"
"Nothing!", came the unison reply from Chance, Winston and Ames. Guerrero merely continued sipping his tea in silence.
Oh yes, very believable.
She kept resting her eyes on them, aiming at making it very clear that she was the boss and wasn't buying any of that BS.
The men could have ignored her attempts at intimidating them for hours – once you've been through real torture a couple of times, a pissed off woman's stare somewhat loses its impact – but Ames grew uncomfortable and finally spoke up: "I've got… a problem… it's a sensitive issue. Maybe you could set some time aside? I could do with another woman's opinion…"
Ilsa rolled her eyes.
"If you had a problem, Ms. Ames, sensitive or otherwise, I could read about it on twitter."
"You're reading my tweets?"
"It's a great way of keeping track on people without having to rely on illegal measures such as bugs..."
She looked pointedly at Guerrero.
"´...and also often a lot more effective than having to listen through hours of secret recordings. How is the house purchase going, by the way? You and Alejandro decided against the condo in South Beach after all?"
The corners of Guerrero's mouth twitched. He looked at Chance who was fighting a smile, too. After a short non-verbal debate he caved in, produced the answering machine and pressed the play button.
Emma Barnes' voice spoke up once more.
"It's me. It's been a while. I just wanted… I'm… It's nothing. Everything is alright, I'm just… Oh, forget that I ever called."
Ilsa stifled a sigh.
"Another Maria?"
Chance opened his hands in a placating gesture, giving her his most innocent facial expression.
"We never had a relationship."
"Did you want one?"
Whoa, this one came out of the blue.
"Excuse me, when did you start asking such indiscreet questions? That's private!"
"Since someone stole my jet for nothing but private reasons."
"Hijacked. When you force the pilot to fly an airplane somewhere, it's hijacking, in contrast to stealing, which would mean taking the plane without the pilot. And besides that…" Chance made a dramatic pause."…we saved the life of a major peace activist."
"…who happened to be married to your ex-girlfriend. Are you planning to hijack the jet again? Shall I have it refueled?"
Ames made waving gestures with her hands.
"Excuse me, but there's a woman out there who might need our help."
Pursing her lips, Ilsa hit the button of the answering machine again.
Emma Barnes' voice replayed.
Ilsa hit the stop button.
"Well, she does sound distraught."
A/N: Thank you, ladybug, for leaving a comment! It means a lot to me!