Disclaimer: I do not own Human Target and intend no copyright infringement.
The warehouse.
Winston had removed the masked man's body but decided to leave the cleaning up to the pros. He hadn't slept all night while Chance had had some sort of nap, waiting at Dr. Grace's office and Guerrero had crashed on the sofa in the office, leaving Sergej to do some digging regarding the plate on his own. So now Winston was on his way home to get some rest while Guerrero and Chance were going to take care of business at Ames' place.
Ilsa was at home, too, exhausted from dealing with the aftermath of the Lombard Street disaster. Oh, she would get an earful from the Board for that one… Thank God for the time difference that allowed her a few precious hours of sleep before the bloody shit would hit the bloody fan.
Too vulgar for Ilsa? Normally, yes. And she did feel bad about using foul words. But she also felt completely drained and outworn, a state that definitely called for explicit language.
Poor Ilsa, she'd curse a lot in the days to come.
Ames had stayed behind at Dr. Grace's office who had slipped her a mild sedative. "Her husband is not the only one who got hurt in that incident", the doctor had warned Chance. "She's deeply traumatized. I know you guys see mental injuries as a sign of weakness, but if I were you, I'd look for professional help. She needs someone to talk to."
Sergej and Daisy were alone in the office. Not an ideal solution, leaving someone outside the team with access to their computer, especially someone as skilled as Sergej, but on the other hand no one than he knew better than to snoop around Guerrero's or the team's stuff. One confrontation with Guerrero uttering a thinly veiled threat had definitely been enough. The memory of icy cold blue eyes resting on him unreletingly still sent shivers down his spine.
"Any progress?", he asked his girlfriend.
"Chance is right, there is something off with the symbols", Daisy replied absentmindedly. "I wish I had the plate itself instead of just photos."
"What would you do if you had the plate?", Sergej asked and handed her a cup of coffee. He liked it when she was like that, completely focused. Her face shone in those moments and her eyes were gleaming. Besides that it was the safest time to be with her - no freak accidents lurking right around the corner when she was this concentrated.
"I'd use coal and paper to crosshatch the surface, to see if the sculptured symbols all have the same height. If some were inserted later, they'd probably differ…" She sighed.
"Baby, we're living in the 21st century. You don't need coal and paper." He made it sound like she had said "fire stone and bow".
… … …
Ames' house.
"Very sophisticated alarm system", Chance commented as they entered Ames' house.
"Thanks", Guerrero replied curtly. Ever since Chance had told him that Ames had shot Alejandro he was, even by his standards, unusually quiet and introvert.
Well, he had taught Ames how to shoot…
He should have known. Foolish thing. Nothing but trouble from day one.
"Your work and a burglar still managed to get in?", Chance frowned.
"Maybe she didn't switch it on", Guerrero shrugged. After the night's events, it wouldn't have surprised him. People who fire blindly into the dark surely forget to switch on alarm systems, too.
"Same system you used to secure the office?", Chance asked. "Then Ames and Alejandro have different codes to switch the thing off, right?" He opened the system's main keypad and pushed a couple of buttons. Stopped. Pushed some more. Knitted his brows.
"The last code entered was Alejandro's, not Ames'", he said, rather puzzled. "According to the system's protocol Ames switched the system on right after she came home. Then, about half past two in the morning, Alejandro switched it off…"
"That was way before the attack." Guerrero knitted his brows, too. "He was already in the house when the burglar went after Ames?"
"Where is his suitcase? He came home from a business trip, there must be a suitcase somewhere down here." Chance looked around.
No suitcase.
Guerrero called Sergej. "Don't care what Daisy found, dude. If you feel it's important call Ilsa or Winston. But first – and I mean first – I need you to run a deep background check on Ames' husband. You'll find the necessary information in a hidden folder, password w1985alt!er. "
"Didn't you run a deep background check on him before they got married?"
"Maybe things changed in the meantime. I've been busy with relocating… a certain someone… after the mess with Ilsa. Didn't have time to keep track on all my other projects…" Guerrero's mobile rang. The pathologist who owed him a favor. He had managed to identify the masked man. Guerrero told him to mail Sergej all information available.
"Ames said the attacker came from downstairs and forced his way into the bedroom. Alejandro must have come up behind him", Chance concluded.
They walked upstairs and entered Ames' bedroom where everything was still like she had left it a couple of hours before, minus the dead body and Alejandro, of course. Two bloodspots, however, marked where they had lain.
"Four shots are missing from Ames' gun", Guerrero said. "I'm counting three bullet holes… One in the drawer, one in the floor, one in the wall…"
Chance knew what he was getting at. "If she shot both her attacker and Alejandro, there should be only two holes…"
Guerrero pulled out his mobile and made two more calls. Dr. Grace complained she was no expert in fire arms, yadda, yadda, but finally said the bullet she had retrieved from Alejandro's wound was about 12mm in base diameter. The pathologist said the same thing about the bullet he had found in the masked man.
"Not Ames' ammunition…" Chance stated thoughtfully. "And look at the doorframe… do you see what I see?"
Of course Guerrero saw. Tiny speckles of blood. Far away from the rest of Alejandro's blood.
So there went Ames' missing bullet…
His mobile rang again. Sergej, with very interesting information regarding Alejandro…
A/N: A big thank you to niagaraweasel who helped plotting this! Hugs!