She was sitting in a coffee shop, a cup of very strong black coffee in her hand, as she looked out the window at all the busy people passing by. She went by the name of Irene Le-Faye, and had worn many others in her time as a member of 'the agency'. She had never been able to determine her real name, though she had always known that there was something missing. She had been raised by a quiet little Russian woman in Baja California, but she knew that Baba was not her real mother. She had few memories of her early childhood, but she remembered the faces of her parents. She knew that her mother had died, she had watched it happen, but she never found out what had happened to her father. She never found him after the murder of her mother.

She had a rare gift, but it had not manifested itself until after the accident. She hated it sometimes, like when she was having a nightmare, but it was very helpful in her job for 'the agency'. She had almost perfect recall of detail. If you asked her where she was on any given day at a specific time, she could tell you almost any detail that you could possibly want. What she was wearing, what she was doing, where she was, who she talked with, what they were talking about, almost perfect recall. Her Baba called it a blessing, like a living photograph, but she was not sure what she thought of it. Some days it was good, others it was bad. Her only wish was that it had started earlier, so she could find her father, or find out what had happened to him.

Her mother had been killed in a shooting. She had witnessed a murder and was going to testify when they found her. The Mexican drug cartel had shot her mother right in front of her and her friend Irene Le-Faye, but she had gotten out of the car in time to run away. The car had been torched, along with her mother and friend, so that identification of any kind was beyond the realm of possibility. She had run for hours, when a policeman found her. When he asked her what her name was, she said, "Irene Le-Faye." Irene had been an orphan living at the Catholic mission, but there were so many children there that they couldn't tell all of them apart. She was sent to the mission and continued to live as Irene, sent from one foster family to the next until she was twelve when she was sent to Baba's house and decided to stay.

Shaking her head, she took a sip of her coffee. She had a job to do and getting distracted by the past was not going to help her accomplish it. She was currently in a coffee shop in downtown L.A. waiting to meet her contact. She had recently left 'the agency' and was trying her hat as an NCIS agent. She did not know why it appealed to her so much, but something just felt right about it, so she followed her gut to Henrietta Lange. Hetty had put her on an assignment to see if she was going to be an asset. She smiled at THAT thought. She had known Hetty since Philistia where they had an undercover assignment together, but that was several years ago. While Hetty was excited about having her on board, she wanted to make sure she was still as good as ever.

She had beautiful red hair and dark green eyes. She was tall and thin, like a model from a magazine, but under all her outward glamour was a strong woman who wouldn't take pain lying down. There he is she thought to herself, smiling. She was tasked with following one of her fellow, future fellow, hopefully, she reminded herself, OSP agents. She was supposed to keep tabs on him for as long as possible, without him noticing. If she was successful, then she was in. She was a little worried. He's a trained field agent isn't he? He shouldn't be this easy to follow. It wasn't until day six that Hetty finally admitted that he was an LAPD cop who worked for them as a liaison and not an actual agent. She had laughed pretty hard over that one.

She looked out the window again and immediately knew that someone was watching her. She kept her gaze casual, but she swept her eyes through the crowd until she saw him. A tall black man was walking through the crowd, but for some reason he gave her the creeps. She smiled, he was a SEAL. She could tell by the way he carried himself. Her smile grew wider as she recognized him. His name was Sam Hanna and he was one of the OSP team members. He's probably following me to see if I can evade as well as I can spy. Well, I think I want to make this interesting. I have already made him, which means his partner is around here somewhere. Once I tag him then I can have some fun with Marty.

She looked around for the one known as "G". She was impressed by his skills, because over the last week while she had been following Deeks, she had been keeping an eye on the rest of the team, to make sure that none of them were suspicious. She had always been VERY impressed by his ability to become anyone on command. He was very good at undercover work and he obviously knew it too. There he is…

She saw him up the street a little way doing some shopping. It was hard to tell, but he was not actually interested in anything that he was looking at, except for her. She smiled. He is a VERY good operator. If I wasn't trained to lose people, I would have missed it, but I know you, G, you cannot fool me. She reached into her bag and pulled out her cell phone. Dialing Hetty, she waited. Sam and G were slowly making their way over to her, but then she saw Deeks. He was going to get to her a lot sooner then they were. Ok, I have one shot at this. They are going to take about fifteen minutes to wander over to me. Deeks will be here in less than two minutes. Ok, babe, how do you want to play this?

Before she could answer herself, Hetty picked up the phone. "Isabella. What can I do for you?"
"Hey, Hetty, I have two questions. First, am I compromised?"
"No, Deeks has not figured out that you are tailing him."
"Ok, good. Second, I have compromised your two agents. Mr. Hanna was first, but only because I felt him looking at me. Mr. Callen was harder, but I found him. I did not identify either of them by their faces, but by the way they followed me. They were watching like they were trained."
"Oh. And how is that Isabella?"
"They were not looking directly at me for more then three seconds at any given time, but through peripherals."
"I understand, but I will not tell them you have seen them. I want you to break their tail and still keep an eye on Mr. Deeks. I will contact you when you are finished alright?"
"Alright, thank you Hetty."
"No. Thank YOU, Isabella."

Hanging up the phone, she sighed. She was getting tired of following Marty Deeks around like a little lost puppy, so she decided to make this a little more interesting. This time, she was going to "run into" him, as literally as she could.

As he walked in the door, she walked out, but spun into him and spilled her coffee all over the both of them. "Oh my…I'm so sorry…did I hurt you? Oh I'm so clumsy, I didn't mean to…" she stammered, forcing herself into a flawless French accent. When she finally looked up at him, she saw that he was staring at her slightly dumbfounded. "No," he said finally. "It was my fault. I wasn't looking where I was going…Here let me help you…" He picked up the cup off the floor and threw it away before walking back to her. "Hey, since I spilled your coffee, the least I can do would be buying you another one," he said smiling. "That would be wonderful," she said, accent still in place, "but you did soak my clothes, and I am afraid that I do not have anything else to change into. I just flew in from Milan, on my way to New York for the latest season, but my luggage does not arrive in L.A. until tomorrow…I am afraid I must get back to my hotel to get a bathrobe and wash my clothes…" she trailed off waiting for her comment to register. She saw the wheels in his head turning and almost laughed when he understood. "Well, I could lone you a bathrobe if you are willing to wash your clothes at my place." Success, she smiled to herself inwardly, in about thirty seconds. I think that's got to be a new record. She smiled, "that would be wonderful. My name is Irene Le-Faye, what is yours?" "Mar…cuss…Finley. I'm, uh, well, I'm on my way to the peer to go sailing, if you want to come with, I'm sure we can find you a bathing suit while we get your clothes dry cleaned…" Wow, somebody is bored, she thought. She put on her best smile and said, "Coffee and a boat ride? What more can a girl ask for?"

Smiling she put her arm through his as he walked up to the counter and ordered one of the most girly drinks she had ever heard of. She smiled up at him and ordered a large soy milk, non-fat, café-mocha latte without whipped cream and with a shot of cinnamon. She absolutely hated the thing, but had discovered long ago that not only did it make her seem like she was a 'princess' type girl, but it also helped her focus on her cover. If she ordered black coffee then she was herself, but if she ordered that drink, she was in full on 'damsel in distress' or 'femme fatale' mode.

Once their drinks had arrived, he escorted her out to his car and they drove to a boatshed on the peer. She knew that this was an NCIS building because she had followed him here after he and his partner had apprehended a suspect. She smiled, Oh, is Hetty going to kill you. And if SHE doesn't then I'm sure that pretty partner of yours will…

Once they were inside, he showed her where the storage lockers were. He showed her where Hetty kept some of the extra swimming gear and pulled out a tiny green string bikini. She smiled. It's a good thing I just got my wax done this morning. I'm so glad he sleeps late…

She kept smiling as she took the article of clothing (if you could call it that) and thanked him before asking where the bathroom was. He pointed her in the right direction and then proceeded to strip in the locker room as she turned around to leave. Okay, let's hurry this along shall we…

Changing her clothes as quickly as possible, she walked out of the bathroom and back into the locker room. There was Marty Deeks in swim trunks, lathering up with sunscreen. She smiled. "I am all done. What would you like me to do with my clothes?" He looked up at her and did a double take. "Man, you have some awesome abs. Look at you, sexy thing. I was not expecting that…" She smiled and looked down at the floor like she was blushing.

She had expected a reaction similar to that and was prepared. She was tall and thin, but she was definitely well toned. She had a beautiful six pack and the rest of her body was muscular, while still being feminine. It was a look few women possessed, but was damn sexy. As she slowly turned in a circle for him, he noticed her tattoo. It was a beautiful fake that she had done just for this mission, but no one could tell that it wasn't real, it was that well done. Her tattoo was in French, fitting with the cover she had chosen. It said "It's always the quiet ones." As she turned back to him, she saw he was still staring at her. She smiled to herself but forced a cough. He jumped.

"Oh, yeah, your clothes, let's see. You can stick them on a hanger and I'll call to have them dry cleaned by the time we get back." "That is marvelous."

An hour later, she was on the ocean, pretending to be amused by Marcus Finley…aka Marty Deeks. She was not sure how that Kensi girl put up with him all the time. One sexual joke after the other and he was definitely hitting on her hard as they drove around the ocean on what was obviously not his boat. It was named the "Kelly" and for some reason that disturbed her. She couldn't figure out why, but it did not sit right with her. She stroked the wood of the bow as she lay basking in the sunshine. It was obvious that this boat had been built by hand and not by any machine. She loved the feel of the wood, so soft and smooth, as if it had been carved out of love and desperate longing. She loved this boat.

Suddenly her cell phone rang. Looking at the screen, she saw that it was Hetty. She smiled sadly at Deeks and said, with her wonderful French accent still in place, "I am sorry, I must answer this call." He nodded and she answered. "Bonjour Henrietta," she said laughing.

"Hello, Isabella. You may come back to the boatshed. I know you have already been there as Mr. Deeks has had your dry cleaning sent from there. I will be waiting for you and Mr. Deeks, so do come quickly. Don't tell him what is going on. I will explain everything to him and the rest of the team when it is time."
"Of course, I would not deny you that pleasure. It is your prerogative as the boss to do as you please."
"Oh it is so nice to be understood. I look forward to seeing you again Isabella. See you soon."
"Adour, Henrietta."

As she hung up the phone she smiled at Deeks. "I am sorry, but I must ask that you take me back to your boatshed. I have a very important meeting that we cannot miss."

He looked a little worried. "That might be a slight problem. Your dry cleaning won't be ready for another hour or so." "Oh, that won't be a problem. I am sure we will find something for me at this meeting."He looked confused, but steered the boat back to the boatshed.