Chapter 5

Their next job is for Mr. Sennit. Technically, Governor Sennit, an older gentleman who has asked Relena out with consistent frequency over the years. The fact that he was married for a large portion of that time never seemed to deter him any. Relena might be being a little petty when she chooses him as their second real client, but he's also one of the loudest and most influential politicians who's for raising taxes on the colonies.

Relena arrives at the man's home at the appointed hour, and immediately has to stop herself from gritting her teeth at the look of pity mixed with condescension that Governor Sennit greets her with. Of course, he likely sees her quitting as a false cover. Most of parliament probably thinks that the speech Relena gave was a cover-up meant to hide her being demoted, or something similar. It doesn't matter to her. Relena said what she meant to, and that part of her career is over now anyways.

Now, she extends her hand and fights not to wrinkle her nose at Governor Sennit's overly-friendly handshake. He seems to take a great delight in holding onto her hand with both of his. "Miss Peacecraft, what a delight!"

Still with that damn title. It's annoying, but there's no way in hell that Relena's asking him to call her by her first name. "Governor Sennit," she greets. "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me." Like the man hasn't been constantly asking to see her outside of parliament business for years. She plays nice, though. For now.

"Not at all, my dear," he says, no doubt trying to sound solicitous, though he only manages dismissive. "I'm honored that you've agreed to help me out."

To help him out because Governor Sennit has dealt with two break-ins during the last three months alone, and he's starting to get increasingly paranoid about his home security. Especially since it's likely that proof of all of his incriminating bribes to certain influential parties that are helping to keep him in office, and of course records of his personal dalliances and the money that he spends on them, are recorded on one of his home computers somewhere.

In fact, Relena knows that they are. She had Heero check quickly while she was breaking into the man's home for the second time, just in case Governor Sennit is smarter than he seems.

Luckily, he isn't.

"Certainly," Relena says, falsely earnest. "Anything for a friend." She takes her hand back as unobtrusively as she can manage, forcing herself to make the gesture look natural, and she keeps the smile on her face through sheer force of will.

"Well then, why don't you come on inside?" Governor Sennit actually takes one of his now-free hands and presses it against the small of her back in order to physically push her along.

Relena digs in her heels and gives him a slightly puzzled look, instead of the glare that she actually wants to send his way. "Oh, but shouldn't we wait for my partner?"

She can visibly see Governor Sennit jumping to the wrong conclusion, and has to fight not to roll her eyes. Honestly. He swallows visibly, and then smiles at Relena with extreme effort. "Your, uh, partner? I wasn't aware that you'd met someone."

Relena shakes her head, laughing lightly. "Oh no, not that sort of partner. My business partner! She takes care of upgrading our client's security systems when that's required."

Governor Sennit looks incredibly relieved, though he's trying not to show it. "I see. Forgive me, but when is your business associate supposed to get here?"

Relena makes a show of pulling out her phone and glancing at it to check the time. "Actually, she should have arrived when I did." Which Heero did, since they came here in the same vehicle. "I don't know where she is." Technically true at the moment.

Governor Sennit clearly sees an opportunity, and isn't about to waste it. "I doubt she'd want you to stand here on my front step and wait. Why don't you come inside, Miss Peacecraft, and sit down for a bit? We could talk."

He definitely has little interest in actually talking, Relena knows. She nods anyway. "Yes, she'll let me know when she arrives, I'm sure."

Relena has to deal with Governor Sennit's hand returning to its position against her spine, and she fights the urge to walk faster just to get away from his touch. The last thing she wants is to appear eager. Instead, Relena forces herself to walk sedately in the direction he maneuvers her, which is down a hallway and through what is clearly a formal sitting room, and then beyond that to another room, this one filled with windows along one side that are letting in the afternoon sun.

When Relena walks through the doorway, she smiles. She quickly moves forward a couple of steps, and then turns around just in time to watch Heero jump out from a corner and tackle Governor Sennit to the floor. He doesn't even have the time to shout out before Heero's hand is squeezing his windpipe and she has a knife pressed against his throat.

The look of appalled horror on Governor Sennit's face is entirely worth the effort it takes Relena not to laugh. She takes a careful breath instead, and then delicately clears her throat, breaking the silence. "Heero, so you've arrived."

Both of them are maintaining the fiction that this altercation wasn't planned out beforehand. Heero shrugs carelessly. "Your security system is abysmal," she informs Governor Sennit blandly.

The man makes a sort of wheezing noise, and Heero glances up at Relena questioningly. She sighs regretfully, but nods. After all, they're not here to kill the man. Heero takes the knife away, and is on her feet an eye-blink later, the knife no longer even in sight. It's impressive, and Relena can't really blame Governor Sennit for staying right where he is and not even attempting to move.

Relena walks forward to stand beside Heero, and smiles down at the man apologetically. "This is my partner, Heero Yuy," she introduces. "I'm afraid that she can sometimes have a rather… hands-on approach to proving why her assistance is required, but she's also not wrong. Are you hurt?"

Neither of them makes any effort to help as Governor Sennit slowly climbs back to his feet. Relena is highly amused that he makes sure to keep her between himself and Heero at all times. "Yes," he says, voice a little hoarse, "well, that was certainly… informative." He clearly struggles to regain his composure, taking a moment to brush ineffectually at the many wrinkles now in his clothes.

After he straightens back up, Governor Sennit awkwardly clears his throat and tries to smile at Heero. It comes out as a slight grimace. "Lovely to meet you, Miss Yuy."

Heero nods at him briefly. "Where's your main home computer?" she asks bluntly. When Governor Sennit falters and only stares at her in response, Heero adds, "Someone has broken into your home multiple times, correct? But nothing was taken. It's more than likely then that what they were really after is information. I need to check your computers and make sure that nothing has been tampered with."

This idea clearly hadn't occurred to Governor Sennit before, because now he looks very alarmed. Perfect. "Heero also needs to use your computers in order to install a few apps for the new security system," Relena adds helpfully.

"Ah," he says faintly, obviously feeling off-balance from everything that's happened to him in the last five minutes. Which is the reason why they ambushed him like that in the first place. "Yes, of course," he agrees hastily, when Heero starts to glare at him. "Right this way."

Governor Sennit leads them into his office, after he types in the password and holds his thumb to the scanner in order to unlock the door. Relena has to hide her look of disbelief. She can't believe that he actually let them inside so easily. He really doesn't see Relena as a threat at all, even with Heero here as well. What a mistake.

Heero's already breaking into the man's computer files; no doubt memorizing, copying, and stealing data faster than it can scroll across the screen. A USB drive is plugged into the computer, downloading everything she deems potentially incriminating.

"Is this your only computer?" Relena asks. It definitely isn't. She watches Governor Sennit briefly weigh the option of keeping quiet vs. angering Heero if she finds out that he lied before he eventually reluctantly shakes his head. "No, I have a personal laptop."

He stresses the word personal, as though that's going to stop them from asking for it. Heero doesn't even turn around. "Bring it here. I can install custom spyware on it while I'm doing this."

What Heero's doing isn't really clear even to Relena, but she knows it's damning. Governor Sennit looks askance at Relena, and she makes sure that her answering smile is supportive and guileless. He eventually nods and leaves the room. The second he's gone, Relena runs to the files on his desk, pulling out her phone and taking photo after photo of anything that looks interesting. Then she quickly browses through the books and files covering the shelves around the room.

"Do you think he has any hidden spaces in the walls?" Relena asks, because she wouldn't necessarily notice something like that but she knows that Heero would.

Heero shakes her head. "No. The walls are too thin."

It takes several long minutes for Governor Sennit to return and hesitantly hand over his laptop. Heero opens that up as well, while Relena makes sure that her phone is safely hidden away.

Heero installs the new security system, along with some apps that will automatically download all of Governor Sennit's computer activities into a folder on one of Heero's own computers. The two of them leave an hour later knowing that they've uncovered all of the man's current secrets, and even have the means now to immediately find out about any new ones.

Governor Sennit tries to keep them there longer. Or, at least, he tries to keep Relena there longer. Both of them cite a previous engagement, but Relena promises to get in contact with him some other time. Although he attempts to look disappointed, Relena knows that Governor Sennit's very relieved to see the last of Heero. The entire time that they were in the man's home, he barely looked away from Heero while they were in the same room, as though he was afraid that she was going to tackle him again if he dropped his guard for even an instant. While this was an excellent distraction, not to mention highly entertaining for her, Relena knows that his constant attention irritated her paranoid friend.

Sure enough. "He was annoying," Heero says when they finally leave.

Relena snorts. "You didn't have to deal with his hands."

And with that, they've got Governor Sennit completely in their pockets, even if the man's too oblivious to figure out this fact just yet.