Splinter Cell: Shadow Walkers
"Ahh, damn it all. This had to be the day I wore a light-coloured shirt."
The frustrated growl came from Col. Irving Lambert, Operations Coordinator of Third Echelon, a division of the National Security Agency. He had just spilled coffee on himself. The heavyset man sighed, grabbed a wad of napkins from the middle of the table and began to blot at the brown patch on his sky-blue shirt. Lambert was middle aged and balding, and had the kind of physique that indicated that he liked cheeseburgers too much.
Seated across from him, Anna Grimsdottir looked up from her laptop and smirked. Grimsdottir, or Grim as she was often called for short, was the polar opposite of Lambert, at least physically. She was tall and slim, with pale skin contrasting to his dark skin. "I have one of those stain-remover pens in my purse. Would you like to use it?" she asked.
Lambert held out his hand. "Might as well give it a try."
Grim bent down and dug through a small purse at her feet, retrieved the pen, and placed it in Lambert's palm. He pulled the cap off and began rubbing the pen on the coffee stain.
"You know, he's not going to like it," Grim mentioned.
Lambert sighed again. "I know he won't like it, Grim, but I've made up my mind."
"Have a little accident there, Lambert?" came an amused, deep voice from the doorway. Lambert glanced up to see Sam standing there, arms crossed, leaning casually against the door frame.
Sam Fisher was the first, and one of the best, field agents that Third Echelon had ever had. He had begun his career as a Navy SEAL and his physique showed it. Just shy of 50 years old, he was solidly built and muscular. His face was beginning to show his age, with some fine wrinkles developing around his eyes, but otherwise he looked like a man at least a decade younger. He had a deep, booming voice that he was capable of making soothing one moment and intimidating the next. His salt & pepper hair was cut short and spiky, and he had a perpetual 5-o'clock shadow. The sleeves of his black t-shirt were stretched by his well-developed biceps, and he had a set of pecs that almost looked bulletproof. He uncrossed his arms and strolled into the room.
"Fisher! Thanks for coming so soon. Yeah, the day's barely started and already something's gone wrong. It's all downhill from here." Lambert groused.
Sam grinned, pulled out a chair at the head of the table and sat down. "I hope that doesn't apply to my briefing as well."
"We can only hope," Lambert teasingly remarked. He looked down at the stain which wasn't quite as bad now, recapped the pen and passed it back to Grim. "So, you ready for a new assignment?"
"Hell yeah," Sam exclaimed. "I mean, that was a nice couple of months I had off there. And it was really great to spend some quality time with Sarah. It was about time the poor kid could hang out with her dad for awhile. But you know me, Lambert, I don't like to be idle for too long – I get fidgety."
Lambert smiled. "Well, I suppose if idle hands do the devil's work, then busy ones must do the government's work. Although there is a fine line between the two. But anyway, Fisher, we're just waiting for the new operative to show and then we'll get down to business."
Sam raised an eyebrow. "New operative? He gonna be helping us behind the scenes?"
"She," Corrected Lambert. "And no, she isn't."
"Then what is – " Began Fisher, when he was interrupted by a soft tap on the door.
A timid-looking girl with short brown hair cut in a bob and greenish-brown eyes peeked in. "Sorry to interrupt," she said softly, "I hope this is the right room. Is one of you Col. Lambert?"
"That'd be me," Lambert said. He stood up and crossed over to her, shaking her hand vigorously. "Glad to finally meet you in person." He turned around and announced, "Grim, Fisher, this is agent Kestrel Sterling. Kestrel, this is Anna Grimsdottir and Sam Fisher."
Kestrel blushed a little. "Please call me Kess."
Grim and Sam stood up to shake her hand. She was petite and wore a kind but nervous smile. As Sam took his hand in hers he was mindful not to administer his usual crushing handshake – her hand was tiny and he imagined it containing bird bones. He grinned at her and said, "Kestrel – that's an unusual name."
She looked a little embarrassed and responded, "Yes, I know – when my mom was pregnant with me she was sitting outside one day trying to come up with names for me, and she saw a kestrel fly over her head."
Sam looked bewildered. "What's a kestrel?"
"A little falcon." She explained. "And please do call me Kess."
"No problem." Sam said, and sat back down. Lambert motioned to an empty seat beside him and Kess settled herself into it.
Lambert seated himself, folded his hands on the table and looked at Sam. "Sam, Kess is a hacker and weapons expert and -"
Sam glanced at the petite, nervous creature beside him and snorted.
Lambert stopped speaking and glared at Sam. "You find something funny, Fisher?"
Sam composed himself. "No. No, Sir."
Lambert frowned. "Good. Now, as I was saying. She's going to be accompanying you on this particular mission, Sam –"
Lambert was again cut off by Sam slapping his palm down on the table. Kess jumped a little.
"No. No, no, no. I work alone. I thought we've always been clear on that, Lambert! I don't do well with others." There was no hiding the anger in Sam's voice.
Lambert leaned in towards him. "Look, Fisher, this mission is going to involve a lot more system hacking than you're used to, and a pretty tight security system to boot. You can't hack a computer and be fighting off three guys at the same time. You're our best operative, but you're only human, Sam. You're going to need help with this one. Kess was the best the CIA had to offer us."
Sam let out a short, angry laugh. "Good God, Lambert, the best? Are they hiring just anyone these days? Look, she's a nice kid, but she'll just slow me down." Kess looked like she wanted to crawl underneath the table.
Lambert drummed his fingers on the table for a moment, and then said, "Sam, can I talk to you outside for a second?"
"Yeah," Sam growled. He shoved back his chair and exited the room. Lambert followed, slamming the door shut behind them. He then faced Sam with hands on his hips. "Goddamn it, Fisher, can't you even fake being pleasant for once? I've given this a lot of thought, and the risk is just too great this time to send you in there alone. We can't afford to lose you."
Sam crossed his arms and his green eyes darkened angrily. "I appreciate your concern, Lambert, but I've never had trouble before. It's just a little more effort. If I wanted to be part of a team, I would have joined SHADOWNET. Next thing I know you'll be shipping me off to the nursing home. That little thing in there couldn't have gotten out of highschool before yesterday. If you send me in with her, we'll both get killed."
At the same time, back inside the room, Kestrel and Grim sat awkwardly listening to the muffled sounds of Lambert and Fisher arguing in the hall. Grim lowered the screen of her laptop to look across at Kestrel.
"Sorry about that," she said sympathetically.
Kess shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Is he always like that?" she asked in hushed tones.
Grim smirked a little. "Not all the time. But you have to understand, Sam's been doing this work for years. I guess a lot of lone field operatives are like tigers. They thrive in solitude, but come to the defense whenever someone else steps into their territory. Y'know?"
Kess mulled over this. "Yeah, I can understand…but he's not even giving me a chance."
"Give him time. He'll get used to you and warm up, in his own way. Just let him lead, and things should be alright."
Simultaneously, Lambert and Sam continued their argument outside.
"Christ, Fisher! This has nothing to do with your age, or hers!" Lambert nearly bellowed. "Kess looks younger than she is, anyway – she's 29, for your information. When I called the CIA for recommendations, she was one of the best. She's got some serious credentials, Fisher. She knows far more than you're giving her credit for."
Sam glared at Lambert. "I'll believe it when I see it. I want to have some proof that she knows what she's doing before I take one step out there with her."
Lambert flung his arms in the air in frustration. "Fine, Good, Done. I'll have her modify some of your weapons tomorrow and I'll have Grim set up a system test for her. Will that make you happy?"
"I can deal," Sam growled.
"Good. And treat her nicely, will you?"
"No promises." Sam muttered.
Lambert gave an exasperated sigh and opened the door again, and they re-entered the room.
Lambert and Sam went to take their seats once more. As Sam sat down, he folded his arms and looked straight ahead as if Kess were no more than a sack of clothes that had been placed in her chair. Grim gave her an understanding look before going back to her laptop screen once more. Not about to let herself be stepped on by Sam's attitude, Kess sat up straighter and crossed her arms as well.
Lambert shuffled a small stack of papers in front of him for a moment. "Okay, let's get down to business. There's a pharmaceutical company in New York called Viomax. New, but big drug developers, worth a lot of money. About a week ago, the FBI dragged a body out of the Hudson River with an I.D. card in his wallet showing him as an employee at Viomax. They probably wouldn't have found him, considering he had cinderblocks tied to all his limbs, but seems some animal chewed part of his leg off and it had drifted to the surface like some morbid signal buoy. Guy walking his dog saw it. Anyway, the stiff was carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey. His laptop had gone down with him, too. Police divers found it on the bottom. The Fed geeks were able to recover enough info off the hard disc to decrypt a couple emails he'd had on there. From what they could piece together, it seems that Viomax is up to something that's in serious violation of the FDA. We're guessing this guy was going to spill the beans, and that's how he ended up at the bottom of the river. FDA agents were sent over to Viomax HQ to do a thorough inspection, and found nothing unusual. But the FBI has been collaborating with the FDA and they're in agreement that something's going down that could be a serious threat to National Security, so they want to bring out the big guns. Which is why we've been contacted."
Lambert paused for a moment and glanced up at Sam. Sam was weaing the same poker face he'd sat down with, arms still crossed.
Lambert cleared his throat and continued. "We've been informed that Viomax has an unusually tight security system for a pharmaceutical company – Armed guards in many areas of the building, cameras everywhere, alarms, retinal scanners – kinda weird, don't you think? Now, we've only got one shot at this. We cannot risk even one alarm. Viomax is powerful, and if they know they've got more than the FDA breathing down their neck, I don't doubt they'll move their operation internationally, where it'll be harder to investigate. This is why I'm sending Kess in with you, Fisher, to minimize the risk as much as possible."
Sam said nothing. Kess nervously chewed her bottom lip.
Lambert grimaced a bit, then turned his attention towards Kess. "Kess, we're going to run you through some training tomorrow. It's not that we doubt your abilities; however, we need to be absolutely certain that you're 100 ready to perform considering you'll be dealing with issues involving national security. Sam had to go through the same training when he first came to us. We'll begin at 08:00 hours tomorrow."
Kess nodded. "I understand. Not a problem."
Lambert glanced from her to Sam, who was still sitting like a statue, then back again. "Well, if there's nothing further, you're dismissed."
Sam pushed his chair back, stood up and stalked out of the room. Kess watched him leave, then looked questioningly at Lambert.
Lambert gave her a sympathetic look. "Don't let his behavior bother you. He'll sulk for awhile, but he'll come around. Just stay out of his way for now. He's the kind of man who needs his space when he's angry."
"I told you he wouldn't like it," Grim muttered from behind her laptop.
Chapter 2 coming soon... Please review for faster chapters!
