Emo Jack, Ch. 2

"I don't know, Jack. Just ... something about it was wrong." Serenity put down her cup and stared out the window. Snow was falling, slow and silent on the street outside.

"What do you mean, it was perfect. Nothing even resembling a mistake." Jack looked quizzically at his partner and lit a smoke. The waitress passing by refilled their cups and Jack watched as Serenity stirred a single packet of sugar into her cup.

"The hit was on the mark, yes." She placed her spoon back onto the saucer. Jack admired the grace with which she did so. He admired the grace with which she did everything. He'd often marveled that her every movement was poetry, a dancer's movement. From something as small as placing a spoon on a saucer, to something as complex as assembling and firing an AR-22k sniper carbine, everything she did was fluid and graceful.

Jack dumped a generous amount of heavy cream and sugar into his own cup before answering. "Then what's the problem?"

She didn't answer, just kept staring out the window. Jack put his hand on hers, and his Inner Eye could see the pulse beneath the skin, could feel the flutter of her heart. He could feel what she felt. Consternation, doubt, vague and nameless, it hovered at the edges of her mind. He thought back to the hit, and knew there hadn't been any technical foul-up. But he had learned to trust Serenity's instincts over the years. Since they had first been paired up by the Conglomerate, Jack had found her hunches to be just as reliable as his own Extrapathic senses.

He waited, trying to convey peace and comfort to her while she thought about what was bothering her.

"Braxton was a banker, Jack." She talked it out. "He wasn't anything important or special. He had low level access to moderate funds, no Sec-8 clearance, and nothing even resembling a grudge against him from what I could hack on him."

Jack shrugged, knowing she would come to her own conclusion, but couldn't help adding, "We don't ask the whys, Ser. You know that. If we did, we'd never be able to sleep at night." He stubbed out his cig and sipped at his coffee. It was weak.

"I'm the one usually telling you that, aren't I? I know better than to question assignments, Jack. But this is different. Something ... " She stared out the window again for long moments. "Something is wrong with this one."

Jack clicked his zippo in his free hand, the other still covering hers. He stared at her for long moments. He could feel the certainty within her. He could feel the nag of some hunch pounding at her now, and knew it would only be a matter of time before she demanded they do something about it. Something foolish, no doubt.

Jack lit another smoke and smiled. "Then we'd better start digging, don't you think, Ser?"

She turned from the window and looked back at him. Beneath an exterior that appeared as cold as the snow covering the cars outside the cafe, he could feel the wave of warmth and affection flowing from her. She was grateful that he trusted her so much, and moved that he had made the first dangerous statement of purpose.

"Going into CHQ with questions on our lips is a bad idea, J." She said, a half smile playing on the corners of her lips. "And if we get caught messing around where we shouldn't be ... "

A full beaming smile spread across Jack's homely face. "Then we'd better not get caught."