The Story of Us

Chapter 8- A Serious Threat

Carlos Ramirez has a slightly different backstory. His father left when he was a baby so his tío was the only father figure he knew. It messed him up seeing him kill his mother and tía and it rerouted some things in his brain. It allowed him to become a sort of chameleon which allowed him to make sure that he and Hector did well enough in college and high school to get to the CIA despite their less than perfect education from crappy, underfunded public schools. His ability to adapt to any scenario and penchant for different weapons made him the perfect assassin. No one could see him coming or going.

Finally, we have Zach Adams. Despite being the son of the director of the CIA, Zach spent most of his life as a screw-up. He was always getting into some kind of trouble. To anyone else, it looked like he was just bad at being a troublemaker from how often he got caught. To Amanda, it was obvious that he wanted to get caught. He knew exactly what answer to put to ensure it was wrong, meaning he had to have the right answer in the first place.

Exactly which teacher cared most about which thing and what other teacher would be most likely to report him knowing who his dad was. Zach was a planner and smart as hell, he just used it for the wrong thing. His job on the team was to come up with the plans and then clean up any mess that came along the way as well as to ensure there was no evidence the team was even there.

None of the team had much in common. It was just their collective objective and their love and respect for Amanda. She had saved all of them in one way or another. Jenny was good with computers but she can't sit still long enough to work a desk job. The agency wasn't even going to hire her until Amanda pushed it through.

The same could be said about the Ramirez cousins. They didn't score high enough on their total qualification test but Amanda taught them the rest and honed in what they were best at. Kyle's sniper unit never finished training because there was an accident with one of the trainees and no one admitted who so they were all dishonorably discharged and Zach was just throwing away his future for attention he never got until Amanda gave it to him.

They would all give their lives for her and each other because of her. But no matter how much they loved her, they were no profilers and she wasn't particularly easy to read so they detected nothing wrong when she came to supervise their mission. Zach had decided to send Kyle to take the target out. He knew any up close and personal kill would cause trouble within Italy as the inner circle cousin of the victim would want revenge.

A sniper attack with a special bullet that Amanda had made and taught to Kyle to pass on her reputation would let them know that the victim had stepped out of line. It was clean-cut and went just as planned. They had perfected their rhythm with Amanda's help and they knew it. Soon, if she decided to stay with the CIA, the jobs would be split and they wouldn't get to see her anymore. It was the one reason some of them wished she would go back to the FBI.

It was when they were celebrating that they finally realized something was up with Amanda and it was Carlos to call her out on it. "Penny for your thoughts, chica?"

"Just some mail I received."

"Is something wrong?" Kyle immediately asks, not trying to hide his obvious affection for her that he had even admitted to Amanda as he knew it would never be returned.

"No. It was just a sort of token from my past. Something I don't talk about and there was no return sender. And this note talking about 'saving her' and 'she needs your help' but it gave no reference as to who she was. Plus it was sent to the CIA headquarters. I just, I don't know. The whole thing is throwing me for a loop and I hate not knowing things."

"We know," Zach jokes, prompting Amanda to throw a handful of candy at him. Everyone laughs as the phone rings.

"I got it," Jenny calls, walking into the other room where all the team's satellite phones are charging. She notices it's Amanda's phone and knows exactly who's calling. "Sorry, Dr. Reid. Amanda can't come to the phone right now for your fake therapy sessions and yes she has discovered that your nightmares are no longer happening," she tells him as a couple weeks ago Amanda had complained to the team that Spencer had been playing her.