Chapter 4
Ward looked around the room in surprise. There was a queue of men lining up near Coulson’s desk and out of the door. Peering out of the window he saw that the queue went well out into the street. It appeared Coulson was right about the people in need of a job in the town. They had only announced that they were interviewing for jobs an hour earlier but already they had lots of people wanting the job. Apparently things were worse in the town than he had realised. Maybe they could make a difference while they were here. They had agreed that he and Coulson would interview people for the jobs of bouncer and sheriff’s assistant while the girls interviewed for helpers behind the bar. They needed two people for each job, as that was all the finances would stretch to. They had only expected a few people to turn up as both jobs were long hours for rubbish pay but apparently people were desperate. They were going to have to let a lot of people down. On the upside, they would have plenty of opportunity to look for the guy who had left the jacket. It seemed like the perfect chance to do some investigation.
Moving to stand beside Coulson, he bent down and whispered:
“How do you want to do this? We have to narrow this down some how.”
“I know. Talk to everyone quickly about which job and their skills. Then we can narrow it down.”
Ward nodded then moved over to his desk and beckoned over the first guy. It was going to be a long morning.
Three hours later and they had finally got through all the people waiting. Very few people had the skills needed to become the Sheriff’s assistant, whereas there were many people who could do the job as a bouncer. Ward had joined Coulson to compile the lists and decide whom they were going to interview for the jobs. They quickly agreed that nobody had the skills for the assistant so they couldn’t pick two people. They decided on an apprentice type scheme so they could evaluate the skills of the applicants. It was probably a better way to do it than just an interview, as they would be expected to shoot and ride horses, which wasn’t very easy to evaluate those skills in an interview. They quickly selected 10 people who had potential and informed them to show up tomorrow morning. It was going to be a mix between on-the-job training and tests. It would run for as long as needed but there would be two jobs at the end of it. Everyone would get a small wage while this was on-going. It seemed the fairest system.
As for the bouncer job they had quickly been able to whittle it down to twenty people who they were now going to interview. Too many of those who had come to interview for the job had been too quick to start a fight. They didn’t want people who would jump into a fight as it would damage the bar and it was what they were trying to avoid. They wanted somebody who would try to diffuse the situation first and only fight as a last resort. Now they were going to interview these people to try and pick two people for the ladies to see. It was important for them to be seen by the ladies as they were going to have to work closely with whoever was picked. Neither of them had found anything that indicated who the jacket belonged to, but they had a plan to find out more information.
They quickly went through the interviews asking general questions about what they would do in certain situations. They also tested their situational awareness by asking about the jacket that they had hidden in the room. Unfortunately nobody knew whom the jacket belonged to. It was something that they would have to look further into. Maybe they could do it as a task for the apprentices.
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Skye looked around the room and tried not to laugh. Quite a few people had turned up for the interview for the bar jobs so they had decided the easiest way to reduce numbers was to carry out some tests. It was a good job they had decided to do this, as some of the women had no chance of working in the bar. The first group of people couldn’t carry the tray for drinks and some of them kept tripping over the chairs. Skye caught the look on May’s face and had to bury her head in her arms to keep her laughter hidden. It wasn’t fair to laugh at these people but it was hard not to. She had just overheard some of the women taking orders from May as an example of what they would have to do if they got the job. So many people had messed this up and some of the answers were fantastic. It was like playing pass the message, like in the game the orders were getting changed completely. Some of the orders had been completely changed some much so they no longer resembled a drink, just random words. Skye wasn’t sure what they were thinking as what they said clearly did not resemble anything like a drink.
May looked totally fed up with everything. Skye couldn’t blame her: it was a shambles. Very few people were going to be able to work in a bar, but they were so earnest. It was going to be hard to let them down. Having gently let down those who were initially unsuccessful they moved on to attempting to pour drinks behind the bar. Half an hour later they had two women who could actually pour drinks and take orders. However, before that both Skye and May had ended up covered in beer when one woman had accidently knocked over the beer keg. May only ended up with the bottom of her dress wet but as Skye had been bending down she had ended up covered from head to toe. Thankfully she had only had to drip for a little while as they had nearly finished with the interviews. Having agreed to see the women tomorrow May began to tidy up the mess from the beer while Skye headed upstairs.
She was hoping that Ward and Coulson had found out something about the jacket. None of the women had known anybody who had lost a jacket. She wished she knew what was going on. Finding that web address had shaken her more than she had admitted to the others. She had begun to feel like she had the last time she was in the machine. It felt like there was somebody laughing at them. Knowing that they had been targeted and put back in the machine was bad enough, but knowing there was somebody else in here with them, somebody that was likely in the machine with them was just too much. She hadn’t thought about it much before, as last night they had all been too tired and this morning too busy with interviews. It felt like somebody was laughing at them.
Skye sung down to the floor and hugged her knees to her chest and began to sob. She thought she was going to be able to deal with being back in the machine but this had just brought back all the fears from last time.
That was how Ward found her. He quickly moved to her side and pulled her against his chest. Stroking her hair he asked:
“What happened?”
“It’s just that web address. Knowing somebody else is in here with us, it makes me feel like they are watching and laughing at us.”
“Hey, we don’t know that they are an enemy. They could be in the same situation as us. We need to find them so we can find out what is going on.”
“I’m scared Grant. I hate being in here, knowing we could change things without knowing it. I just want to go home.”
“I know. I feel exactly the same. I’m sure May and Coulson do too. But we will get out of this. We did the last time and we will again. Besides do you really think either Coulson, May or I would let anything happen to you? You are like a daughter to both of them and they will both protect you, and you know I would do anything to keep you safe.”
Skye leant up and gently kissed him.
“Can you stay for a little bit?”
“Of course. Anything you need.”
He pulled Skye closer to his chest and began stroking her hair in a soothing manner again. Skye felt herself relax against him, feeling safe with him.
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“Simmons, have you seen Coulson?” asked Fitz has he re-entered the lab.
“No, not for a while.” She replied looking up at him.
“I’ve checked all over the bus, he isn’t here. Neither are Skye, May or Ward.”
“That’s strange. The last time I saw them they were heading out for supplies. But I was busy trying to improve the dendrotoxin in the ICERs so I haven’t been paying much attention.”
“Jemma that was 12 hours ago. It’s now 4 in the morning.”
“Oh. I wonder where they are? Maybe we should try tracking their phones.”
“Good idea.”
Fitz followed Jemma over to the holotable and brought up the GPS on the teams phones. None of them were online. Both of them looked at each other remember the last time this had happened.
“Did you manage to…”
“Yes, Fitz!”
Jemma took control of the system and brought up the tracker feed that they had planted on all the members of the team after Skye and Ward had been kidnapped and placed in the machine. They wanted to be able to find everybody even if their mobiles were taken from them. It showed that they were all together in a warehouse.
“We should go and look for them.”
“We aren’t combat trained Fitz.”
“We can just send in the DWARFs.”
“Ok, but we need to leave a message for someone first.”
Jemma quickly typed on the table sending an email to the local Shield base, informing them what they were doing and why they were doing it. While she did that Fitz gathered up the things they needed to go after the team.
“Ready?” She asked.
“Ready. Let’s go find our team.”
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