Chapter 10

When Jake stepped in the commissary he almost wanted to step back out and make sure he was in the right place. Barbara saw his hesitation and stopped what she was doing. She nodded to their new arrival and said, “please come in Mister Barton. Glad you could finally join us.”

Jake still hesitated. He thought the matter over and then finally he drug someone else in with him. Tony, leaning on a table at the side of the room, stood up straight. His jaw opened wide as he saw who was walking in with Jake. Norm recognized her too but, he simply remained annoyed. Cal gave a whistle and Garcia actually had to punch Bob and make him look.

Barbara saw the reaction this woman was getting and had to wonder why. Barbara thought the woman looked familiar but, could not quite place her. So Barbara asked, “excuse me but, who are you?”

Jake nodded to the woman and said, “this is Jessie.”

Jessie smiled and gave a polite wave before giving full disclosure, “Jessica Walsh, nice to meet all of you.”

Jake explained, “she gave me a ride back from the consulate. She was over there looking for… what was it?”

Jessie perked and said, “bytes!”

Norm’s eyes shot up, “bites?”

Barbara said at about the same time, “Jessie?”

“Yeah,” Jake just nodded and then he realized how it sounded. He directed a nasty look at Norm and said, “bytes. With a Y, dumb ass.”
Now Jessie was just a little embarrassed, “um, sound bytes. It’s a… whatever. You know, with the UN commission here there’s lots going on.”

Barbara was not sure what bothered her the most about Jessica Walsh. The one thing that Barbara was pretty sure of, making it near the top of the list, was the woman’s cheerleader like demeanor. Barbara smiled politely at the reporter and said, “well, Miss Walsh. If you will excuse us. We are having a staff meeting at the moment. I’m afraid what we say here is classified.”

Jessie gave another perky smile, a little waive, and then excused herself. As she walked out the door she did leave a parting thought for

Jake, “rain check on the shower.”

“Absolutely. Call you later,” Jake replied politely enough. The woman then hugged him and she left.

When they all heard her car pulling off, Norm had to say it, “rain check?”

Cal followed with, “shower?”

Tony concluded the thought with, “you sorry bastard.” Danni promptly reached out from her seat and whacked Tony, in the back of the leg, with her open palm.

Barbara growled at all of them, “can we please get back to the business at hand?” When it was clear she had their attention, Barbara said, “we’re going to work this from four basic angles. The reserve team is going to be Cal, Garcia, and Bob. You’ll be here for back up but, more importantly, you’ll be providing protection for Miss May. Tony and Amy, you two get to check out her apartment. Norm, I want…”
Jake walked to the front of the room, stopped right next to Barbara, and then he pointed to the only person in the room he did not recognize, “I take it she’s Miss May? What happened?”

“Well if you’d been here Barton,” Barbara said. She made his name sound more like an insult.

So, Jake cut her off, “you know, Uncle Sam did not exactly give me a choice in the matter.”

“Tell me Jake,” Barbara replied in a smug way, “who are you working for? Us or them?”

Jake locked eyes with the woman, “why is it I get the feeling that is more an insinuation than a question?”
Barbara put her hands on her hips, “take it anyway you want it.” Jake held up his hand and then raised three fingers. At first, Barbara was almost afraid the man was about to slug her. Then she looked as his three fingers and asked, “what is that supposed to mean?”

“You called me Jake again,” now he looked at his fingers, “that’s how many times you’ve done it, since I got here.”
Norm stood up from his seat and walked around to the front of the table. He tried sounding reasonable, “Barbara, why don’t me and Jake go check this…”

“No,” Barbara replied. Her eyes never left Jakes. “You and Barton are our two most experienced field personnel. We’re going to spread it around, I don’t want you two bunched up. You‘ll take Danni and I want you to see if you can track down our hit men.”

Norm did not appear very happy about it but he seemed to acquiesce, even if he did not quite get the word, “Ok” out of his mouth.
Jake, on the other hand, was not so happy about it and did not keep his mouth shut, “and you want me to do what? Go solo or do I get to stick around here and buff the floors?”

“Oh no,” Barbara told him, “You’re coming with me to check out her office. I’ll brief you on the way over there. Don’t worry Mister Barton, I have your back. I won’t let you out of my sight.”