Disclaimer: I do not own Human Target and intend no copyright infringement.

Saturday morning. The office. Conference room.

The elevator signaled and the Burke family trooped in. Ilsa awaited them and led them to the conference room where Winston was already waiting. Ilsa seated them at the other end of the table before joining Winston's side. Chastity didn't look the slightest bit worried.

Till Ames walked in, that is.

Winston couldn't hide a grin as Chastity's self-confidence visibly started to crumble, realizing that Ames must have told them about Kelly.

"Clients are not always honest with us", Winston began, putting on his glasses and opening the case file. "That's why we've made it a habit to run thorough background checks not only on eventual threats but also on them."

The Burke parents weren't worried at all by that announcement. We've got nothing to hide said their faces.

Chastity looked green.

What else did they find? said her face.

"In almost seven years of business we've encountered a lot, but I have to say, you've set new standards." Winston lowered his glasses a little so he could look Chastity directly in the eyes. She started squirming.

"I don't understand." The father was confused.

The mother, a little more informed about her daughter's life (she and a couple of other mothers had the same hairdresser) was alarmed. Every now and then someone had hinted at something… she hadn't paid much attention, children are archenemies one day and best friends the next … people tend to exaggerate… her daughter was surely not worse than anyone else's… but the look on this Winston's face, it didn't bode well…

"What is this about, Chastity?"

"Your daughter committed serious bullying against a fellow student, Kelly Walker."

"I just played a joke or two on her, nothing more! No cyber bullying, I swear!", Chastity hectically defended herself. "I've seen on CSI that that is illegal! They arrested a whole bunch of girls because they'd put stuff on the internet – I've put nothing about Kelly out there!"

"So I gather this Kelly started harassing our daughter because she bullied her?" The father tried to gain control over the situation. "In this case we won't report her to the police. If she promises she won't do it again, Chastity will promise to leave her alone. We'll talk to the parents."

"But she killed Fluffy!", mother and daughter almost simultaneously protested.

"Bullying, cyber or otherwise, is a serious offense", the father replied through clenched teeth. "If they complain about Kelly and this results in a lawsuit war, we risk bankruptcy."

"Speaking of serious offenses…" Winston continued before this could turn into a full-blown family quarrel. "Your daughter received marvelous grades in Chemistry."

"It's her favorite subject", the mother happily confirmed, glad to get away from the dreadful topic of her daughter hurting another person. She didn't agree at all with her husband's suggestion to let the stalker go unpunished. Whatever Chastity had done to this Kelly, it surely didn't justify the death of an innocent pet.

"She blackmailed her Chemistry teacher into giving her those marvelous grades", Winston informed her.

Chastity sunk lower and lower into her seat.

The father let out a sharp hiss.

"What did he do?"

"I suggest you concentrate on what your daughter did", Ilsa told him rather forthrightly.

"For we are far from over and done…" Winston flipped a page in the case file, more for dramatic effect than necessity. "A couple of months ago Chastity caught a fellow student stealing. Instead of reporting her she demanded a share of the profits. When those weren't high enough, your daughter forced her to bring in a fixed amount, no matter what. In the end the girl attempted suicide."

For a long time, silence reigned.

Chastity tried to speak up once, but a single look from her father silenced her even before she had managed to utter a word. Mrs. Burke was crying. Ilsa decided not to hand her a handkerchief. Children like that don't grow on trees – someone must have taught her the thing about the god given places.

"What can we do to keep this matter quiet?", the father finally asked. Winston could almost see him reaching for his checkbook.

"You and your daughter move away from here. Completely away. Into another state, preferably on the other side of the continent." He directly addressed Chastity now. "No internet for half a year, no mobile, no way to stay in contact with your old friends. You're going to be the new girl at a new school and for half a year the total amount of what the clothes you wear to school, including shoes, cost, may not exceed 80 dollars."

This last rule had been a suggestion by Ames.

At hearing Winston's terms, all humility on Chastity's side vanished into thin air. "You're kidding me! 80 dollars? Moving? You've lost your mind, I'm not…"

"You can prove all this, can't you?", Mr. Burke quietly said to Winston. His wife was sobbing loudly now.

"Every single aspect. And shouldn't you adhere to the rules we set…"

"We're going to move", the father firmly said. As he turned to his daughter his face was a stony mask. "I suggest you learn how to sew."

Chastity started crying. Not just crying. Bawling.

"One more thing…" Winston flipped another page.

Both parents looked painfully desperate now. What more could there come?

"I suggest you take your cat with you." Winston reached downwards, pulled up a cat transport box, placed it on the table, opened its door and out walked…

"Fluffy!"

Purring, it strode over to its totally confused owners.

"The cat that was nailed to your backdoor was a male cat, put down at a vet's a couple of days ago because of cancer", Winston explained. "The stalker stole the carcass and mauled it so you wouldn't take too close a look at it. All you saw was the sandy colored fur and no Fluffy in sight. You drew the logical conclusion that the corpse must be Fluffy's. It took some legwork, but we found her at a shelter."

There was nothing more to be said. The Burkes got up to leave, still under shock. They had yet to grasp that thanks to their daughter, they would have to start completely new. Unless they wanted to risk several law suits.

The team was quite confident they weren't risk-taking people.

Shortly before he stepped into the elevator to join his family, Mr. Burke turned around once more: "So who's the stalker now?"

"Does it matter?", Winston replied. The elevator doors slid shut.

While Winston saw the clients off, Ilsa walked over to her private office. Ames remained behind in the conference room.

The past few days had given her a lot to think about.

After a long while of just sitting and doing nothing, she pulled out her smartphone and wrote a message to Guerrero: Could you track someone for me?

… … …

Same time. A diner.

"What were you thinking?", Chance asked Kelly. "You seem like a clever girl. All those books you've read. Fantastic grades… And then you go ahead and hire someone to nail a cat on a door? I don't get it."

Thick tears were rolling down Kelly's face. "It was supposed to be a onetime only thing. I even planned to give Chastity the stolen stuff back… I thought I'd just drop it at her doorstep or something…"

"But?" Chance just sat there, not comforting her in any way, shape or form. Hiring somebody to do one's dirty work, that was a serious issue.

"It totally spun out of control. I was just so angry. And seeing Chastity get scared… it felt so good, seeing her finally pay at least a little for all that she's done to me… and if I had known what she did to Sophie…." Her eyes were pleading for some sort of forgiveness.

Chance wasn't falling for it.

"You're going to do charity work after school", he told her. "Three times a week. For half a year."

"And what if I don't?" Behind the tears, a belligerent spark had started glowing.

She could read the answer on his adamant face.

… … …

When Ilsa walked into her office, she noticed an envelope on her desk with a note in Guerrero's handwriting attached.

Still sure about this? it said.

Just like Ames, she sat for a long time doing nothing but thinking before finally making a decision.

… … …

Same time. A public park.

"What gave me away?" Eve eyed the man who surely wasn't a Chemistry teacher watchfully.

"We retrieved a microchip from the dead cat's carcass. It led us to its owners who in turn led us to the vet where the cat was put down … where you happen to work part time after school. Together with the fact that you've got access to the school's library server because you're in the library team and that your father painted the wall of your garage in exactly the same shade as the paint in the paint bomb…and there's the long scratch on your arm that a colleague of mine noticed when you removed your blouse in school. I guess Fluffy didn't like the idea of being kidnapped..."

"I merely asked Kelly to cover my expenses. I didn't make a dime of profit in it", Eve defended herself.

"You go down that road any further, five years from now you'll kill the real cat. For a small fee. Ten years from now you'll kill people. In their sleep. For a living."

"I'd never do that!", she protested vehemently. "You're crazy! Killing people? For heaven's sake, I messed a little with Chastity's head, nothing more!"

"This is no game." With one swift motion Guerrero produced a mother-of-pearl handle knife and slammed it into the picnic table they were sitting at, right in the center of the tiny space between her thumb and her left index finger. "Don't cross my paths again."

Wordlessly, he got up. As he walked off, his mobile signaled.

Yes he texted back.