245 :

"Is he messing with us in order to get back at me?" Camilla asked, unsure.

"No, he would never make the whole team pay because you let your temper get the best of you. That's simply not his way of doing things. Maybe it's an exercise?" Hans said.

"No, he seemed genuinely surprised that we weren't aware of what he figured out. So whatever it is, we should be able to find out what it is." Jon interjects.

"That's easy for you to say but the only two who can keep up with him are Lina and Lucie, also Scott some of the time when it's connected to his special expertise. Me? I need an explanation." Camilla added.

At that point Nathaniel took place in the other booth and a man among the crowd, seeing that he was beaten to the punch, deftly turned around and went back to his table with his other two buddies. The movement was done smoothly and the little people who would have caught it would have thought nothing about it. Unluckily for him, the two facing that direction were Scott and Lucie.

"Scott." Lucie called.

"Yes, I got them." He answered. "We are still missing two based on what the boss saw."

"There is no way to find the others among so many people. I can't even fathom how Nathaniel picks up these three and the two others even less." Lucie observed shaking her head.

"Okay team, the fun is over, we are now on a level two mission." Scott said sternly, locking eyes with every team member. "First we need to know on what we had just walked, Lina do you have something to help in identifying who all these people are?"

"I have my tablet but there is no way I can establish a secure connection with what I have on hand and I will not try unless we are at death doors." She answered.

"I have something in my car that could help with that but I'm parked five minute away. I also have these on hand." Hans said, taking a box from his jacket, opening it and showing earpieces.

"This is going to be handy." Scott said approvingly, taking one for himself.

"I was working on them to reduce the noise input from gunshot that's imprered or faculty to hear each other during gunfights. This is not perfect and very much a working project but we will be able to understand each other. I also advise you to avoid going underground with them as they are connected by satellites."

"Noted." Scott nodded. "Ok, now, do you all have your knives?"

That was one of the things that Nathaniel was the more adamant about and it was that whoever with who they were or where they were, always had a way to defend themselves. That was also why one of the first assignments of Hans was to design a way to hide them on their body without being at risk of being discovered by a pat down or a metal detector. Even if a few of them were not happy about it, after seeing what Nathaniel could do with knives and the way it helped Lina to neutralize her aggressors, they had quickly come around. Seeing all of them nodded, Scott still hid his satisfaction.

"Gun?" He asked.

This time only Jon, Camilla and Lucie nodded.

"I have one in a hidden compartment in my car." Hans said.

"Good, once you are there, Lina will take it. Okay, everyone we need to know what is going on there and determine if these guys are the bad guys or a unit like ours who are after this man."

"Woman." Lucie corrected.

"What? How can you tell?" Scott asked, taking a second take of the form in the hoodie facing Nathaniel.

"Shoes." Na-Yung and Lucie said at the same time.

"Alright, woman then. For everyone's assignment, Hans and Lina, you are going to hurry to his car and wait there in support. Na-Yung we need you to sneak around, get one of these earpieces to Nathaniel without these dudes noticing it and then try to take a good enough picture of them for Lina to run a face recognizing software and figure out who they are."

Nodding, Na-Yung untied her hair before letting them fall around her head. After that she took one of the straps of her dress and lowered it to the side of her right arm and followed it by unbuttoning two of the top buttons, showing a fair amount of skin and a part of her chest.

She took one more earpiece before getting to her feet and walking away under the stupefied stare of the entire team.

"So much for sneaking around." Scott said with a weird expression on his face.

"She's too attractive to not be noticed and she knows it. At least by doing that, she's going to make sure that nobody is going to look at her hands." Lucie said.

"As long as it works. Jon finds a place near the entrance and reports everything weird or people who are a little too aware of their surroundings. Lucie, stay here and keep an eye on Nathaniel and be ready to provide help if the three guys start to get any ideas, Na-Yung will assist you once she's done. Camilla, you are with me, we are going to go to the bar and try to find the other ones. Everyone has their orders so let's go people."

*****

"Hi."

Now that he was closer, he could see the woman much better and he noticed a few things. She was a simple looking, ebony skinned woman with thin eyebrows, brown eyes and short brown hair. Despite her simple appearance, there was an intensity about her in the way that her eyes moved and the posture of her body that made him take a double look at her. On her side, the woman was doing the same exact thing.

"Listen, you are cute and at another time I would be flattered that a young man like yourself was making a move on me but I'm waiting for someone right now. Sorry." She said, giving an apologetic, thin smile.

Nathaniel was surprised for a moment before he started laughing.

"You have no idea who I am, do you?"

"I confess that I don't, wait! Are you one of those online celebrities like that Swedish youtuber?"

"Something like that." He laughed again.

"Good for you but I'm still waiting for someone."

"You don't have a ring on your hand so a boyfriend maybe?" Nathaniel probed.

"Oh no, it's an old friend of mine. He's a reporter for the NewYork times."

"That's interesting but as a public person, reporters are not one of my favorite people like you can guess." Nathaniel said with a smile.

"I understand you as I'm not a fan of them myself but he belongs to the good ones, the ones that do real investigative journalism. A breed that is dying out in this day and age."

"I see, what if I stay and keep your company until your friend arrives? I promise to not bother you much. By the way, my name is Nathaniel." He said, extending his hand.

"Gabrielle." She answered, shaking his hand. "For the rest, I don't know about that. My friend is already late."

"Oh? Is it normal for him to be late?" Nathaniel inquired.

"No, that's why I'm starting to get worried. He's the type of guy who likes to be at least ten minutes early for each of his meetings and he is already ten minutes late. More so, he's not answering his phone." She said, concerned.

"Maybe he is just late and driving here so this is why he's not answering his phone." Nathaniel offered even if he didn't believe it for a second.

"Maybe." She answered non commitaly but not looking really convinced.

At that moment, a ravishingly beautiful asian girl passed near their booth and with an idle movement of her left hand, and earpiece slid on their table who Nathaniel caught easily. Moving his hand to the left side so that it could not be seen from the outside of the booth, he turned his hand upside to show her what he had caught.

"What was… Why do you have that!?" She asked hotly, her stare going from the earpiece in his hand to his face.