Disclaimer: I do not own Human Target and intend no copyright infringement.
Even before they actually found the bug, Guerrero knew he would need assistance and placed a telephone call.
Sergej was only too happy to get a break from meanwhile pregnant Daisy.
"She keeps throwing up all the time! And she suddenly can't stand smells anymore. Any kind of smell! The mustard on meat sandwiches is enough to send her running!"
"Told you not to make babies with her, dude", Guerrero replied drily in an "it's all your own fault"-tone.
With Sergej's and Guerrero's abilities united, they were able to track the bug's signal back to its source within two hours of the abduction.
Two hours in which all sorts of horrible things could happen to Chance and, yes, Emma too.
The fact that the kidnapper hadn't called again didn't bode well.
They were all well aware of that, but even Ilsa, new to this game, didn't voice it. It would have made no sense. They were doing all they could. Chance was tough, so was Emma. All they could hope was that they'd somehow hang in there till they found them.
"It's a house in a rather remote area outside San Francisco city." Guerrero showed them a satellite photo of the area and pointed out the building in question. The house was beautiful, according to streetview a craftsman house, white facade, dark red frames, with stained windows.
"Ilsa and Sergej create a diversion on the street to draw the guards' attention. Judging from the photo there'll be at least two. Let's hope they take the bait. Ames takes them out with the taser gun, Guerrero will mousehole his way in from the adjacent home's garage on the right. Thank God it's vacant right now. I take the back door."
The fact that Winston and Guerrero devised that plan in such consensus, without a single disagreement, no shouting, yelling, accusing whatsoever, gave them all the creeps.
Including Winston and Guerrero.
"So it'll be a FISH and CHIPS operation…", Ilsa mused, staring at the photo.
They all stared at Ilsa.
"I grew up in Belfast…", she said quietly.
"Just the FISH part, hopefully", Guerrero said, locking eyes with her. He had suspected before, from the expression on her face and the way she absentmindedly rubbed her shoulder, that the whole operation was bringing back some sort of bad memories. The mentioning of Belfast confirmed his suspicions. Ilsa had seen urban warfare.
Will you manage?, said his eyes.
She blinked once. Yes.
"We have to be really fast and really silent", Winston continued. "We cannot have the cops on site. It's important that once the guards are unconscious you lock them up in the car quickly. Ames can't help you, we need her as backup for any guards that didn't take the bait."
Sergej and Ilsa nodded. Sergej rather reluctantly. He was a computer guy, so not into this whole face-to-face confrontation thing. But they couldn't possibly let Ilsa create the distraction alone and since Guerrero had helped him out of more than one tight spot…
Ames took a deep breath of the uneasy kind, too. Since the Alejandro incident she hadn't touched a weapon. She would have really preferred to quietly sneak in through the attic window or something, but there was no time for subtlety. Time was running out, this had to go down fast and hard.
And down fast and hard it went.
... ... ...
The guards smelled the trap. Ames was quick with the taser gun, but not quick enough. Sergej got hit in the stomach area and it looked bad. Everything in Ilsa screamed to get an ambulance, but Sergej was on more than one wanted list, including the Russian Secret Service's, it would have put Chance and Emma at risk, calling for outside help was not an option.
With the two unconscious thugs crammed into the trunk of Guerrero's car, bleeding Sergej riding shotgun and her hands sticky from his blood, she raced off in order to get to the medical contact Sergej had told her about through clenched teeth.
Leaving the others behind, leaving Chance behind, was the hardest thing she had ever done, but there was no chance for Sergej except her getting him to an underground doctor as fast as possible.
"We'll make it, Ilsa", Guerrero told her via earpiece. The next thing she heard was an explosion, then muffled gunshots, the bursting of glass, wood, a single scream.
Ames?
Running footsteps.
Forcing herself to adhere the speed limit was almost killing her, but she couldn't risk being waved down by cops right now. Sergej was gurgling, blood was coming out of his mouth, he couldn't talk anymore and barely breathe, but he had pulled out his cell phone, desperately trying to write a text message.
Daisy.
The shooting sounds had subsided, but that didn't make anything better. What she heard next made her blood freeze.
"He's not here!" Winston shouting via earpiece. "Chance is not here! They're not here!"
"DUDE! DON'T TOUCH THAT!" Guerrero's voice.
A single gunshot.
"What's going on? What's going on? What the bloody hell is going on?"
The car swerved.
Ilsa barely managed to get control over the steering wheel again. Sergej had fallen unconscious. She wasn't sure he was still breathing. More blood was coming out of his mouth, it look thick and dark.
"Chance and Emma aren't here. Guerrero shot the caller. He was sitting at some kind of computer table and when we came in he pressed a button. Guerrero is looking at it right now." Winston sounded very concerned.
Ilsa brought the car to a screeching halt in front of a veterinarian's back door. She dashed to the door, banged against it and when the door opened, she grabbed the vet by his wrist and dragged him over to the car. When she opened the passenger's door, Sergej limply sagged against them.
... ... ...
Smeared with Sergej's blood, crouching on the floor of the vet's office while the vet was frantically trying to revive him on a table meant for dogs, she pressed her soiled hand against the earpiece and whispered: "Please tell me you've got good news."
It took a long while before anyone answered.