Her Hidden Past

- Chapter Five -

"You're certain it was him?" Fury frowned at the revelation.

"As certain as I can be, Sir," Natasha replied. "I only saw him that once."

At Fury's frown, Clint shrugged, "Garrett transferred before I brought Nat in." He reminded them, "She never met him at SHIELD."

"It's definitely not in his service history," Fury frowned again, searching his computer screen.

"SHIELD was never successful in getting anyone undercover in Lisov's operations," Clint frowned.

"If Garrett's connected to Lisov, could it all lead back to him?" Fury mused.

"If it does lead back to him, that's where it stops," Natasha offered. "He works for no one."

"Problem is how deep in SHIELD it goes," Fury replied. "There's no telling how many people are involved."

"What do we do about Garrett?" Clint asked. "I mean I never liked his methods."

"Stay out of sight for now," Fury sighed. "Especially you, Romanoff." He paused, "Do you think he would expect you to recognise him?"

"I don't know," Natasha sighed. "I never had anything to do with him. Just saw him leaving after a meeting he had with Lisov." She paused, "I'm not even sure he would have seen me."

"Play it safe, stay away from him." Fury repeated, "Start with his files, see what you can find. If anyone is going to find a link to Lisov in them, it will be you."

"Sir," Natasha agreed.

"Research every agent thoroughly, ensure nothing is missed, go over them twice if you need to," Fury ordered. "Contact me immediately, if you find anything suspicious."

"Yes Sir," Both Clint and Natasha nodded, accepting the dismissal. 

"Natasha, Clint?" Coulson called from his office.

"Phil," Clint answered as the two of them paused in the doorway.

"Shut the door, have a seat," Phil waved them to a couple of chairs.

"Phil, I'm sorry," Natasha started as he moved around to lean on his desk.

"Natasha, no, you were right to say it," Coulson brushed her apology aside. "You know how protective I am of my teams."

"Even when we do something dumb," Clint smirked.

"I could've thrown you under the bus," Phil sighed.

"You jumped under the bus with me," Clint chuckled.

"Because I realised you were right," Coulson agreed. "However, if Nat and Mel are right that there is a traitor on my team..."

"Do you want to be the one to drive the bus?" Natasha asked softly.

"Something like that," Coulson sighed again. "I know I can't ask you to bring anything you find to me first. I know he'll have you watching my team and probably researching them too, but please don't let Fury lie to me about this."

"We'll do our best," Clint sighed. "You know that's all we can promise."

"You should talk to Fury," Natasha suggested. "Be honest with him."

"I will," Phil nodded. "I guess you'd better get started."

"Let us know if you find anything, Phil," Clint sighed as they left the office. 

"There you are," Agent Hill greeted them as she joined them outside the lab.

"Sorry, Coulson stopped us on our way down," Clint replied. "We were going to set up in Natasha's room, if you want to join us there?"