Disclaimer: I don't own Human Target and intend no copyright infringement.
It didn't take Guerrero long to get the keycard copy.
"Is that blood?" Ilsa held the card against the light of her desk lamp and eyed a tiny dark red speck suspiciously.
"Dude thought he could renegotiate our terms of agreement", Guerrero replied drily, took the card from her hands and wiped it clean. "Sharp eyes", he murmured appreciatively before handing it to Ames.
"There goes my evening", Ames sighed and tucked it away.
At least Guerrero hadn't promised too much. Getting into the building was a piece of cake. The keycard let her ride the elevator right up to the 36th floor where CasGrov's offices were located. Chance and Winston had a ball distracting the watchman in the lobby with a couple of prank calls from the van.
… … …
Guerrero might have enjoyed this, too, but he had an invitation. He had made it a habit to give Isamu karate lessons whenever it fit into his schedule and Akemi had invited him to dinner as a way of saying thank you.
She welcomed him in a long red dress with thigh high slit, hugging her petite figure very agreeably, not to mention her matching red pumps and varnished nails. Damn, she reminded him of the girl in Osaka.
"Isamu sends his greetings. He just loves your lessons. You're doing him a great favor." She led him to the living-room and motioned him to take a seat. The table was laid perfectly in colors of gray and white, with shiny black tableware. One look and Guerrero knew it was the same brand as Ilsa's pears.
"Isamu's not here?"
Akemi smiled at him and raised one of her eyebrows in mock imitation of his signature expression. The answer was indeed quite obvious. She would have never dressed like that with her son around.
"Sleepover at a friend's." She poured him sake. The scents from the kitchen, subtle, almost like perfume, were very promising. She excused herself and walked into the adjacent room. Guerrero could hear her opening what was probably the oven. He took his glass and weighed it in his hands. The clear liquid sloshed back and forth. It was perfectly chilled and would surely taste excellent. The temptation to just take it, drink it, enjoy it, was great.
But… he kept staring at the table in gray, white and black. The glass pear Ilsa had given him in that dark night when his whole world had been turned upside down was still stored away in his locker at the office, the safest place he could think of. After her night with Chance he had thought about giving it back, but in the end had held onto it.
The tattoo on her back. Kizuna.
Jeez, who was he to throw the first stone?
In the kitchen Akemi was apparently getting ready to present him the first course. Judging from the scents she had actually prepared sashimi with daikon and shiso. She must have spent hours getting the food ready.
Guerrero made a decision. He put the glass back on the table, drink untouched, got up and joined her in the kitchen.
"Got to go."
"But dinner?" The smile she had given him only moments earlier first froze, then vanished.
"Sorry, not hungry."
He really was sorry. But out he walked nevertheless, leaving a crestfallen Akemi behind.
… … …
Back at CasGrov's office's, Ames was glancing at her watch. The safe had posed no problem at all. She was in possession of the all important documents and no alarm whatsoever had been triggered. Thirty minutes from now this whole thing would be over and done.
The night was still young. Theoretically she could go home and watch a movie or two with Ken after all … or share a drink with Winston and Chance… Maybe Winston would want to call it a day early and she could stick around a little longer… With Chance drunk he might finally want to talk properly about the Scotland disaster…
San Francisco is built in a, from a geologist's point of view, very interesting area. The Pacific and North American tectonic plates meet right there, all along what's known as the San Andreas Fault. When they get stuck, the resulting strain energy builds up until the frictional resistance becomes greater than the shear stress. Then the sudden release of energy causes an abrupt movement of the plates, resulting in seismic waves.
On the surface, these seismic waves create elliptical ground movements, known as earthquakes.
"Whoa", Ames, trained Californian, commented the slight tremble that briefly shook the room. "Strongest one in weeks. Hope they don't close the Bridge again. Hate the other route."
"A four on the Richter scale, no need to worry", Chance read from the screen as Winston checked the news.
Just then the building where CasGrov's offices were housed, the very building in whose 36th floor Ames was currently doing business, made a long lasting, painfully drawn out groaning sound.
… … …
Guerrero was about the last person on earth Ilsa had expected to come calling this late in the night. What surprised her even more was the fact that he had actually rung the doorbell instead of simply breaking in as he had done more than once in the past.
"Weren't you invited to dinner?" She had overheard Akemi's invitation. Quite frankly, she had spent half the evening thinking about it.
He shrugged his shoulders.
What did that mean? Bloody hell, sometimes he drove her crazy with his enigmatic silence.
"But you must be hungry. I didn't see you eating much at the office." Unsure what to make out of the situation, Ilsa fled into the kitchen area. "I'm going to fix you something."
She started digging in the fridge, but of course came away pretty much empty handed. She ate at the office or in restaurants. Her fridge contained hardly more than a cucumber and an easily perishable face cream.
"Let's order in", she suggested, grabbed her phone and started dialing La Rosalia's number.
Still silent and frighteningly smooth, Guerrero crossed the distance between them, took the phone from her hands and put it on the kitchen counter.
"Aren't you hungry?" Ilsa was definitely unnerved by the situation.
"Yes, Ilsa, I am hungry." He made one last step towards her, slightly pushed her backwards against the kitchen counter – Ilsa could have sworn the ground started to tremble – and kissed her.
She answered the kiss immediately, deepened it, gave it more force. He pinned her against the furniture, his hands slipping underneath her blouse, claiming what should have been his a long time ago, while she pulled at his clothes in return...
… when the telephone rang.