Title:                A Shock to the System

Author:              Dreamscape (Shelley)

Type:              Action/Adventure/Angst

Spoiler:              Hunting Armando

Summary:            Jake and Frank head to Colombia to rescue an undercover DEA agent from certain death...but unexpected complications arise.

Disclaimer:    UC:Undercover and its characters belong to Shane Salerno and formerly NBC.  All original characters belong to me.  Whoopie.  No infringements intended.

Chapter One

"A copy of this arrived at DEA headquarters in Miami less than an hour ago."  Thomas Renquist slid the envelope across the table.  He knew convincing Donovan this assignment was worth the risk was a long shot, but he was ready to fight tooth and nail to get him to agree.   If worse came to worse, he had the authority to order him to do it.

Donovan slapped his hand down on the thick manila envelope before it had a chance to slide off the edge; his eyes never wavered from the stern looking silver haired man that stood at the head of conference table.  "Why bring it to us?"

"Just watch it," he insisted.  He waited while Donovan worked his fingers over his mouth and stroked his goatee, deciding whether or not to give him any more of his time. 

"Cody."

"Already on it," Cody said, picking up the envelope and popping the tape into the machine.

"What the hell?" Alex commented as the video focused.

"Who is she?" Jake asked, horrified.

"Undercover DEA would be my guess," Donovan commented, watching the screen.  Inwardly his stomach churned and he felt the urge to vomit; outwardly he showed no signs of caring what was happening on the screen.

"You would be correct.  Her name is Fallon Dumas.  She infiltrated the organization of Jorge Espinosa four months ago.  Jorge has an affinity for redheads."

She sat in the middle of an empty room, tied nude to an oversized wooden chair with wide, flat arms.  Her ankles and knees were tied to the legs of the chair, whereas her wrists and elbows were tied to its arms.  Her head hung low, chin pressed to her chest, causing her long auburn tresses to hide her face and cover her exposed breasts.  Her arms and legs were covered with blood from cuts inflicted, possibly by knives, during the interrogation she had received.

"Why show you this? Why not just kill her?" Cody asked, running a hand through his wiry brown curls.

"A show of superiority by an egomaniacal personality," Monica presumed.

"So, my dear Larissa," a voice said off camera, "or should I call you that?  I am sure it is not your real name."

Her head lifted slowly revealing her badly bruised cheeks and chin.  Her left eye was swollen shut and her bottom lip was split open.  Defiance gleamed in her one open sky blue, bloodshot eye as the man moved closer to hunker down in front of her.  He ran a lazy hand along the inside of her thigh as he laughed hatefully.  "Tell me what I want to know and I'll let you live."

She spat in his face for his answer.

"If I had known what a resilient woman you were, perhaps our lovemaking would have been more...how should I say...interesting, hmm?" he mocked as he stood to walk away.

"Jorge," she croaked through her dry throat.

He turned just enough to see her smile wickedly through her pain.

"I faked it every time."

"You beech," he yelled, taking a step toward her, backhanding her across the face with enough force to rock her head back in the chair, blood spattered the wall as a new cut opened above her temple.  "Perhaps you will feel differently if I were to offer you to the men, eh?"  He waited for a reaction but all that was received was another cold look of defiance.  "Tell me who your contact is and you will live."

"You lie," she accused and dropped her head back to her chin. 

The screen turned to white snow as the picture cut off and Cody stopped the tape. 

"What do you want from us?" Donovan asked without emotion.

"I want to get Fallon out of there," Renquist replied.

"You think she's still alive?" Jake asked.

"As of an hour ago she was.  Our informant got word to us just after the tape was delivered.  She's being held here," he said, spreading an overhead map of Espinosa's compound on the table.  He pointed to a building at the edge of the compound.  "At Espinosa's compound in Bucaramanga, Columbia.  The building she is in is an abandoned barn they use to store supplies."

"Still, why come to us?" Donovan asked again.

"I need the best and you're it, Frank.  You know the area and you're the man for the job," he insisted.

"I'll go," Jake volunteered quickly.

"No," Donovan replied.  "My team will not risk their lives on a suicide mission."

"So, you would leave her to die," Renquist asked.

"She's already dead," he replied coldly. 

"Harsh," Cody commented, shaking his head.

"Frank, you have no choice.  It's a direct order."  Renquist slapped a folder on the table in front of the special ops leader.  "Be ready to leave within the hour."

************

Alex remained at the conference table, studying the file Renquist left behind.  Her emotions were churning; she had never felt such outrage against her boss in all the time they had worked together.  She watched him closely, spouting orders to Cody and Monica.  She often wondered what happened in his life to make him so cold and unfeeling. She had her suspicions that his nature was not to be this way, but he forced the outward appearance to protect himself as well as those around him.   And at this moment, she didn't care if he was putting on an act or not.   His attitude toward Fallon Dumas' situation had hit a nerve and she was fuming mad.

He stood across the room, tall, swarthy and provocatively handsome, as his intense chocolate brown eyes studied the aerial views of the compound that he would have to sneak into in order to extract the captured agent.  His long tapered fingers continually rubbed his chin or nervously ran through his short black hair.  He looked up slowly, catching Alex scrutinizing him.

"What is it, Alex," he asked, catching her off guard.  She literally jumped in her chair, and looked down at the file she was studying.  Her short brown hair framed her face, as her silver-blue eyes grazed the pages of Fallon Dumas' file.

"If it were me," she asked, lifting her head and locking her eyes onto his.  "Would you come for me?"

"It isn't you," he reminded her.

"It could be," she said, troubled.  "It is me."

"That is an entirely different issue," he insisted, turning his attention back to the photo.

Alex stood noisily, grabbed the file and tossed it over the photo he was examining.  "Look at her, damn you.  Just look!"  She steeled herself against the inevitable cold anger she would find in his brown eyes.  "If she were one of yours, how would you feel if you knew another agent went in under orders he didn't wish to follow and could care less if she lived or died?"

"Alex," he started, but was cut off.

"No.  No excuses, Donovan," she said, slapping the desk.  "If you go in there with the attitude you have, you might as well hold a gun to her head yourself.  Pretend you give a damn, you self-righteous son-of-a-bitch."  She didn't wait for the storm to hit; she turned on her heel and headed to the gym to work out her frustrations.

"What the hell was that all about," he asked, perplexed.  Alex's usual calm demeanor had been replaced by an irrational facsimile.

"She's never completely gotten over being held captive during that prison riot," Monica explained. 

Donovan looked up at his profiler.  He saw a flash of her white teeth, brilliant in contrast to her dark skin, when she smiled sympathetically as she sat down beside him, her long black braid falling over her shoulder as she leaned forward to pick up the file.

"Pretty lady," she commented, looking at the DEA agent's photo.

"Yes."

"Alex came close to dying in that prison.  If Carlos hadn't protected her, God knows what would have been done to her," Monica rationalized.

Donovan nodded.  "She's too close to the issue, she'll stay here."

"She won't like that," Monica insisted.

"She'll get over it.  Jake will go with me."

"Good luck, Frank,' she said, laying a hand on his arm.

"We'll need it."

To be continued...