38.HS




"Lucas Rebecca Hobbs," A man says as he walks over to them, causing Luke to freeze mid bite which confuses Gabby. "I haven't seen you in forever."
"Rebecca?" Samantha asks as she looks at her father confused, causing Luke to shake his head.
"Do you even age? How long has it been?" The man questions as he reaches the booth, causing Gabby to be able to see who it is.
"Six months," Luke answers him with a sigh as he drops his fork onto his plate.
"Time flies," The man says with a smile before he takes notice of Gabby.
"When we're apart," Luke retorts with an eye roll.
"That it does," Victor Locke says as he winks at Gabby. "G, you are looking more beautiful than ever." Gabby shakes her head with a small smile on her face, knowing that Locke is all talk. "Rebecca, seriously, what is your skincare regimen? Because you look like a young Shirley Temple." Locke motions for Gabby and Samantha to scoot over by Luke since they are in a rounded booth. "Go, go, go, go, go."
"Daddy, who is this guy?" Samantha asks confused as she sits beside her father.
"Well, this guy is, uh, is Locke. And he works for the CIA," Luke explains as he motions over to the man, known as Agent Victor Locke.
"Well, you must be wondering why I called me here," Locke says with a smug smile.
"Not really," Gabby says with a shake of her head while Samantha says, "Doesn't make sense."

"Your dad, Aunt, and I are old friends," Locke explains as he looks over at Samantha while changing the subject.
"We're not old friends," Luke quickly corrects while shaking his head.
"Actually, we're, um, we're best friends," Locke says with a nod as he pulls a necklace out from under his shirt. "Here's the half heart."
"I don't know what that is," Luke says as he glances over at his daughter, while Gabby quickly covers her mouth as she attempts to not spit out her drink from wanting to laugh.

"We got some ink together," Locke says with a shrug as he looks at Samantha as well.
"We did not get ink together," Luke argues as he tries to look everywhere but at Locke while Gabby continues to try not to laugh.
"Oh, we didn't?" Locke asks as he flips his tie over his shoulder.
"No, we did not," Luke answers as he shakes his head.
"Oh, interesting. Well, I seem to remember getting a little something like this..." Locke explains as he unbuttons his shirt to show the same tattoo as Luke's which causes Gabby to look at him in shock. "At one point on my body."
"Jesus," Luke says as he pulls his shirt down to look at his own tattoo, finding it an exact match.
"Christ," Locke says with a smile as he attempts to finish Luke's sentence. "I miss our playful banter."

"You have one minute to tell me what you want before I knock one of your lungs loose," Luke tells him with a glare, causing Gabby to roll her eyes.
"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?" Samantha 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 she is.
"She is nine!" Luke tells him with a glare, causing Gabby to shake her head since she knows that there are worse things on tv.
"I've seen worse," Samantha says with a smile as she shrugs.
"Where?" Luke asks as he raises his eyebrows in surprise.
"Game of Thrones, Janet's house," Samantha simply answers him as her smile grows.
"I've never heard of it," Luke says as he tries to place the show.

"A Lannister always pays his debts," Locke quotes from the show.
"You're never going over there again," Luke 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 Luke quickly grabs it. "She's ready, Becca."
"She's nine," Luke 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 Luke begins to go through the file before coming across the picture of the MI6 operative. Luke 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, causing Gabby to try to look at the picture.
"No, she is unusually attractive," Luke answers as he looks over at his daughter.
"And deadly," Locke says as he stares at Luke before explaining while Gabby steals the file from Luke. "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," Luke 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 Gabby to roll her eyes. Gabby couldn't help but notice how the women bared a resemblance to Queenie, Deckard's mother. Gabby starts searching for the woman's name in the file, since she remembers that Deckard does have a sister.
"Get to the larger point," Luke demands as he slightly glares at Locke.
"She stole the Snowflake then went totally off-grid," Locke finally explains the current situation as Luke takes the file back from Gabby.

"Who's this?" Luke 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?" Luke 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," Luke 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 Luke.

"Oh, no, no, no, no. I'm DSS, you're CIA. I don't work for you," Luke 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?" Luke 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. "They are even allowing Gabby to be a part of this. That's how high risk this is." Gabby and Luke look at each other with looks of shock. "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," Luke says as he shakes his head which causes Gabby 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," Luke says as he leans back while quoting from Game of Thrones, causing Samantha to lightly laugh as Luke winks at her.
"So, what's it gonna be, Becky? You gonna partner up?" Locke questions as Luke looks back over at him. "G, are you coming out of hiding?" Luke and Gabby look at each other before Gabby shrugs her shoulders. She had to admit that she misses the action.
"I'm in," Luke and Gabby both answer him with a nod.
"Course you both are," Locke says with a smirk.

"Do you remember what I told you in Rwanda?" Luke asks as he slightly glares at Locke.
"It still burns?" Locke asks as he tries to remember.
"No. The other thing," Luke 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"," Luke repeats what he had said in Rwanda.
"Best friends," Locke corrects him in a whisper.
"And to watch your..." Luke tries to give him a chance to get it.
"Wash your back," Locke says as he interrupts Luke. "Yeah. I remember."
"Watch your back," Luke 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," Luke says with a smile before they do a handshake.

"All right, who's on the case?" Gabby asks as she shakes her head at her brother and Locke.

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