Agents Or Criminals?

101.HS

"You and I are after the same thing," Locke starts explaining while holding up a paper from a file. "Say hello to the CT17 virus. It's a programmable bio-weapon of biblical proportions. Affectionately codenamed the Snowflake."

"What does a Snowflake do?" Skylar asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, nothing much, just, uh liquifies your internal organs. Basically, it turns your body into a giant bag of hot soup," Locke answers her with a straight face, not even batting an eye at how young Samantha is.

"She is nine!" Hobbs tells him with a glare before glancing at Samantha concerned.

"I've seen worse," Samantha says with a smile as she shrugs.

"Where?" Hobbs asks surprised.

"Game of Thrones, Janet's house," Samantha answers him as her smile grows.

"I've never heard of it," Hobbs says as he tries to place the show, causing Skylar to roll her eyes because they talk about it every time they call each other. It actually happens to be one of her and Brian's favorite shows.

"A Lannister always pays his debts," Locke quotes from the show.

"You're never going over there again," Hobbs tells his daughter.

"But there's a new wrinkle in the case, Rebecca," Locke says as he gets back on topic. "The specifics... are all in the brief. There you go." Locke goes to hand the file to Samantha but Hobbs quickly grabs it. "She's ready, Becca."

"She's nine," Hobbs repeats with a glare.

"This is the only unit of CT17 in existence. And this Snowflake is now in the hands of a rogue MI6 operative in London," Locke explains as Hobbs begins to go through the file before coming across the picture of the MI6 operative. Hobbs raises his eyebrow because of how beautiful the MI6 agent looks.

"Dad, are all spies that pretty?" Samantha asks as she takes notice of the picture.

"No, she is unusually attractive," Hobbs answers as he looks over at his daughter, causing Skylar to lean over so she can see the picture.

"And deadly," Locke says as he stares at Hobbs before explaining. "Last night, she was part of an MI6 team tasked with securing the virus. She then proceeded to kill her entire black ops squad." Locke looks over at Samantha as he explains the next part. "She stabbed one guy in the chest using a brick. Do you know how hard that is? To stab someone using a brick?"

"Get to the point," Hobbs says since he doesn't like Locke telling his daughter these things.

"The point is there's no sharp edge. How did she get an entire brick into another person's chest? She either had to be really strong, or the other person had to have been, like, born without like, bones," Locke explains which causes Hobbs to roll his eyes.

"Get to the larger point," Skylar says as she shakes her head at Locke.

"She stole the Snowflake. She went totally off-grid," Locke finally explains the current situation.

"Who's this?" Hobbs asks as he pulls another photo out of the file.

"That's the scientist who we believe created the virus," Locke answers as he looks at the surveillance photo of the man.

"Great. Where do I find him?" Hobbs says as he puts the photo back into the file.

"He's off-grid, too. Impossible to find. Maybe dead," Locke answers with a slight shrug.

"You're very helpful, Locke," Hobbs says sarcastically with a frown.

"And you're the world's best tracker. I'm sure you'll figure something out," Locke says as he leans towards Hobbs.

"Oh, no, no, no, no. I'm DSS, you're CIA. I don't work for you," Hobbs quickly says as he shakes his head.

"Your boss loaned you out. You do now, dickface," Locke says with a smirk.

"What did you call me?" Hobbs asks as he slightly slams his hands onto the table, causing Locke to shrink back in his seat.

"Hey, hey, hey! Let's just settle down. All right?" Locke says as he tries to get over the scare. "I've already got a black site running in London. There's an operative there. Top of his game. He'll be your contact."

"I don't need anybody else. I work alone," Hobbs says as he shakes his head, causing Skylar to roll her eyes.

"We got bigger problems than your fragile ego. Or the fact that a moment ago, I most definitely shit my pants," Locke says as he lets his panic leave his body. "The entire world is at stake here, all right? This thing gets out, we're looking at a lot of liquified organs. And I mean, like, everywhere. And not just yours and mine."

Locke points at Samantha while trying to use his other hand to hide the finger that is pointing.

"Uh, he knows I can see him, right?" Samantha asks as she looks at her father confused.

"He knows nothing, Jon Snow," Hobbs says as he leans back while quoting from Game of Thrones, causing Samantha to lightly laugh as Hobbs winks at her.

"So, what's it gonna be, Becky? You gonna partner up?" Locke questions as Hobbs looks back over at him.

"I'm in," Hobbs answers him with a nod.

"Course you are," Locke says with a smirk.

"Do you remember what I told you in Rwanda?" Hobbs asks as he slightly glares at Locke.

"It still burns?" Locke asks as he tries to remember.

"No. The other thing," Hobbs says as he shakes his head.

"Stop watching me sleep," Locke says as he raises his eyebrows in excitement because he thinks he got it.

"I said "We are not friends at all"," Hobbs repeats what he had said in Rwanda.

"Best friends," Locke corrects him in a whisper.

"And to watch your..." Hobbs continues.

"Wash your back," Locke says as he interrupts Hobbs. "Yeah. I remember."

"Watch your back," Hobbs corrects him.

"A lot of back. I gotcha," Locke says with a nod as a smile grows on his face. "Hey... Same old Hobbs. Huh?"

"Same old Locke," Hobbs says with a smile before they do a handshake.

"Skylar can join you if she would like," Locke says as he looks over at Skylar with a smile.

"Sorry, boys. I'm retired," Skylar says with a smirk.