Disclaimer: I don't own Human Target and intend no copyright infringement.
"Thank you. Thank you soooo much for getting my brother out of prison." Brax' smugness accentuated his Portuguese accent even more.
"Ambushing the ambulance was a nice extra bonus. You hired good people. Pity my men had to terminate those who took their job too seriously." He was grinning at them so broadly, they could see some of his teeth had gold caps.
"Freeing my brother once he was outside the supermax walls would have been a piece of cake. But I never managed to get my hands on one of the prison staff members. Neither bribe nor threat worked. I'm deeply impressed with your Mr. Guerrero – his knowledge of other people's secrets seems to outweigh mine by far." Brax started digging around in the pockets of his jacket.
"Really nice gadget, too." He took out the device Ames had explained Emma only minutes earlier, the one that would have forced Brax' helicopter down. It was so small, they could barely see it with the grainy picture the camera was transmitting.
"I'm not holding this against you." He destroyed the device right before their eyes, stomping on it with his Italian shoe. "In fact I would have been disappointed with the famous Christopher Chance, hadn't you tried anything. Setting a highly dangerous criminal free just like that, that wouldn't have been you."
He giggled. This chunky, golden chain wearing, old fashioned mafiosi looking thug giggled. The sound sent shivers down Ames' spine.
"As a reward for your remarkably good work and since I'm a man of my word…"
Winston snorted.
"What? I never promised not to collect my brother a little before the agreed meeting…"
Even Emma felt the urge to wipe the smug smile off Brax' face with something heavy, made of metal.
"As a man of my word I herewith promise to leave your little pet snitch alone. He can lick his wounds at Sibley Memorial Hospital, room number 223b, in peace. I won't harm him. Nurse Whitman has already been notified that she can put the poison away again. I won't harm her little daughter either."
The screen went blank. Apparently Brax had ended the transmission.
For a long while nobody said or did anything. Finally Emma started nibbling on one of the carrots Ames had brought her. Despite this unexpected turn of events she somehow was not in triumphant mood. Didn't stop her from making another plan, though. With B. Brax free, she suddenly had regained some leverage on Chance and his team…
About an hour later the jet went down for an intermediate landing, letting Ilsa and Guerrero board. Emma didn't even notice they were landing till the wheels touched ground. She had been so wrapped up in an argument with Ames about the importance of proper breakfast for a pregnant woman ("That IS proper breakfast." – "If I was a cow, then yes." – "Well…"), she had not caught where exactly they were picking them up, but she assumed they weren't that far from San Francisco.
"There must be something we can do", Ilsa started right away, wasting no time on niceties. Apparently Guerrero had already briefed her on what had happened in Colorado. She was shaken. "We can't just let him walk. B. Brax is even more dangerous than his brother!"
She slumped down into one of the seats. "Murder, human trafficking, drugs, extortion, you name it, he's in it. And we helped him escape…"
Guerrero took the seat opposite from her, produced a bottle of scotch and poured her a generous amount. "Taking him on would be suicide."
"So that's it? We're just giving up?" Ilsa didn't touch the glass.
"For now, yes." Chance came over, poured a glass, too, and handed it to Ames.
"But who knows? Maybe one day down the road…" Winston accepted a half-filled tumbler from Guerrero.
"In this business, nothing's ever really over." Guerrero downed his drink and so did the others. Ilsa was the last one to take a swig.
"I could surely negotiate something for you with the Bureau", Emma helpfully offered from her seat.
Guerrero looked at Chance. Chance nodded.
"What makes you think you'll ever talk to the Bureau again?", Guerrero asked, getting up to face her.
"Well, since you won't kill me I don't see how you're planning to stop me from testifying that you freed B. Brax." Not it was her turn to wear a smug smile.
Guerrero snorted, took the remote control for the plane's monitor from one of the tables and switched it back on. Digital copies of all sorts of documents appeared. Before he could explain anything, however, Winston chimed in: "You're looking at a paper trail that proves without doubt that you blackmailed the prison doctor into sending Brax outside the supermax walls in that ambulance. It also proves that you hired the crew that ambushed the ambulance. Together with the telephone conversation in which you told your contact person that the release operation would go down three days later instead of 24 hours, this looks really bad."
"With the alibis Ilsa and Guerrero have, they'll think you fabricated our involvement to keep your position with the FBI", Ames added.
"You're sunk, dude." Lightly punching another button on the remote control, the electronic copies of the documents disappeared, leaving nothing but blank space.
For the moment.
"You are making me a fugitive!" Emma was so shocked, she was violently pulling at her handcuffs. In a long row of catastrophes, this was the ultimate MCA. "How am I supposed to raise my child when running from the government? What kind of a life will that be?"
Guerrero punched another button and Emma's face appeared on the screen – passport format, with signature in the lower half. They were looking at a driving license. It was blue and there was a white flower on it, a trillium, to be exactly, but for the moment Emma's attention was completely captured by the name on the card: Mildred Endicott.
"You're giving me a new identity? That name sounds like I was eighty!" She squinted. "Hang on, is that…?
"Perfect Ontario driving license, dude."
"CANADA?" Emma almost tore the armrest off her seat. "Are you KIDDING me?"
"The town of Collingwood, Ontario, has been trying to hire a Russian-speaking librarian for a long time. They're looking very much forward to welcoming Ms. Mildred Endicott into their community." Ilsa had finally recovered from the Brax shock. "A very picturesque place right by the Georgian Bay and the mountains not far off, too. Lots of fresh air, cute raccoons…"
A smile flickered across Ilsa's face as she remembered Marshall one morning coming out of the lodge they had rented there for a weekend, finding a whole family of raccoons raiding the garbage can. It seemed like a lifetime ago. Emma's fiercely protesting voice, however, quickly shooed the memory away.
"It's in CANADA!"
"Effectively working healthcare system, worldwide renowned educational standards, low crime rate…", Ilsa continued, completely ignoring her.
"It's a dull country! If not for the USA's economic power they'd be STARVING up there! Look where they all settle – right along the borders! And is there a job duller than librarian? I didn't work my ass off to…"
"We're offering you a way out of this whole mess here, Emma. Take it or don't", Chance interrupted her impatiently.
"But know one thing, dude." Guerrero switched off the screen. "If you go after one of the Brax brothers to somehow get your position with the Bureau back, you WILL die. They won't care." Guerrero nodded pointedly at her stomach area.
Emma froze.
The pilot announced that they were approaching Toronto airport.