Chapter Text
“This isn’t going to work.”
Solo glanced over at the woman who’d introduced herself Gaby. She didn’t look at him, eyes remaining fixed on the road as she talked.
“We know next to nothing about this job; we don’t even know what we’re stealing. We’ll quote-unquote ‘know it when we see it’. It could be a razor blade, or it would be a tank. What if it doesn’t fit in the car?”
“Well aren’t you Little Miss Sunshine,” Solo replied, then added, “If you didn’t think it was going to work, why did you accept the job?”
Gaby’s grip on the steering wheel tightened, and she shrugged with forced casualness. “I don’t have the money to turn down a job, and this one will pay really well.”
Ah. That was a feeling Napoleon Solo was quite familiar with.
Although she seemed capable, she was also young, so perhaps this was just a case of nerves on an intimidating job.
“Well, then, no reason to worry about it,” he pointed out, “We can’t do anything about it until we get there.”
She huffed, apparently not reassured.
The rest of the car ride was tense but, luckily, not very long. The person who had hired them – completely anonymously – had given them a meeting place, and told them a car would be waiting with a map inside. Napoleon didn’t like having an anonymous client, or any client at all, but there was, as Gaby had said, a great payout. And besides, if things went south, he could bail and be in a different country before the client realized they had been cheated. Solo wasn’t sure what Gaby would do, but it wasn’t his job to worry about her.
The location of the weapon turned out to be an empty, abandoned lot. The only things there were some small, pathetic-looking shrubs and a lot of dead, withered grass.
“Great,” Gaby grumbled, parking the car and stepping out onto the cracked pavement of the street, “Just lovely.”
Napoleon couldn’t help put silently agree. What sort of weapon were they supposed to find here? A really scary pebble?
“We’ll give it a once-over, and if we don’t find anything, well, that’s not our fault, is it?” Solo asked, and Gaby agreed grudgingly.
They fanned out, hoping to find something of interest. Solo had picked up a stick and was using it to poke at the ground, and Gaby kept aggressively kicking rocks. When he was almost ready to give up, Solo heard a metallic bang from Gaby’s direction. She was standing on an unremarkable-looking patch of ground, but as he watched, she kicked the dirt, making a hollow, tinny sound.
Solo hurried over, and crouched down, wiping away the dirt and gravel. Underneath was patch of metal, spots of rust interrupting the dull grey color.
He stood back up, and, using his stick, found one of the edges.
“Here, help me lift this,” he said to Gaby, but she just turned away and hurried back to the car. For a moment, Napoleon was confused, but then she reached into the trunk of the car and pulled out a long crowbar.
In spite of himself, Napoleon was impressed. Gaby was proving to be quite resourceful. Noticing him observing her, Gaby smirked and held up the crowbar.
“Comes in handy all the time,” she said, “I never travel without it.”
“Yeah, well, it’s not doing me much good over there,” Napoleon retorted, and was rewarded when Gaby stuck her tongue out at him and walked back to the sheet of metal.
Careful, he chided himself silently, It doesn’t pay to get attached to a temporary associate.
“Try this corner,” Solo said, gesturing to section he had uncovered. Gaby nodded once, and carefully worked the end of her crowbar under the sheet of metal, tapping it along with her foot. Satisfied, she stepped back, pulling on the top of the crowbar to pry open the covering. It took a moment, but suddenly there was a popping sound and the corner burst upward.
Gaby smiled at him smugly, and Solo nodded, saying “Nice work.”
Three more corners, and it was open. Pushing away the cover, Napoleon stared down into a dark, concrete shaft.
Gabby stepped up next to, clutching her crowbar tightly. “I don’t like this,” she whispered, and Napoleon wasn’t sure if she was talking to herself or to him.
“We should get our gear,” he said, and lead the way to the car. Gaby grabbed her jacket, a flashlight with extra batteries, and a small toolkit, not relinquishing her grip on the crowbar. Napoleon gathered his lock-picking kit, two bottles of water, and a flashlight for himself.
Returning to the shaft in the ground, Napoleon flicked on his flashlight and glanced at Gaby.
“Ready?” he asked.
She shrugged, and replied, “Ready as I’ll ever be.”