AN: This plot's a little farfetched. With lots of character whump. It'll be a little slow on the update. I have the next chapter done, but I may rewrite it so it's pending. I have this horrible habit of brutalizing characters I love.

CHAOS

Show Me How To Lie

"We are the ODS, last of the old-school spies."

The young Rick Martinez was on his way to the ODS office with his morning coffee in one hand, an arm full of manila folders in the other. But as he rounded the corner, nearing his destination, the three members of his team brushed past him. Billy hooked an arm around him, dragging him in the other direction.

"Come along, laddie." Spoke Billy Collins in an uplifting tone.

"You're late." Added Casey Malick dryly.

"You also never went home last night. That made it a little harder to find you." Of course, Michael Dorset would know where he was at all times. Vaguely, he wondered if their leader kept tabs on all of them as closely as he did Rick or if Rick just got that privilege because he was the new guy.

The new member of their team squirmed until he managed to get himself free of Billy's grasp and turned around so he could walk properly. "Sorry I—wait. No I'm not. How would you know—?" But Casey cut him off abruptly.

"Haven't we already had this talk, Martinez? This is the CIA. It's what we do."

"Wh—I don't know where the three of you are twenty-four seven. I happen to respect your privacy." The young spy countered, getting a little ruffled.

"And that's what makes us the best and you the new guy." Malick shot back, killing any further argument from Rick, making him stare disbelievingly, mouth slightly agape.

"Don' worry." The Scot clapped him on the shoulder affectionately with a winning smile. "You'll ge' used to i'." Billy winked just before they rounded another corner. And it was at that point that Rick realized he had no idea where they were going or what exactly was going on.

"Hey, where're we going, anyway?" He let the first subject drop, but Michael was quick to respond.

"You were late." He reiterated Casey's earlier statement. "We've got a mission and permission to leave immediately. Time is of the essence. We'll explain on the way." Mike slapped a folder against Martinez's chest. The dark haired man stumbled a bit, trying to grab at the folder without spilling his coffee or dropping the other folders in his hand.

OoOoO

They were now packed and ready to go, heading down the halls of the building to rendezvous with their transport when Michael began explaining to Martinez's right. "Radim Moravec escaped from his holding cell sixteen days ago. The Feds have been all over it for the past two weeks but as it turns out, one of our contacts spotted him outside the country."

"Which means he's out of the hands of the Feds and into ours. More or less." Casey informed from his left.

"On that note, we've dealt with him before. This was a closed case that's opened back up. We almost had him the last time until he pulled a fast one on us and wound up back in the states. Made it difficult for us to continue our mission when the local authorities were alerted in an attempt to round him up at the airport. And, as you know, the CIA is not authorized to operate within our own borders."

Casey picked up again where Michael left off, "Some obnoxious brat actually got lucky and turned him in when he saw him meeting with a known felon."

"In other words," Michael picked up again, "some kid stole our imaginary thunder with a five minute phone call to the cops. We'd dedicated months to carefully tailing this guy and keeping tight surveillance on him to have some nobody who was in the right place at the right time show us up." To any onlookers, Martinez likely looked as if he were watching a tennis match as they alternated speaking on either side of him.

"I thought you said it wasn't about the glory." Martinez queried.

"I's no'. Bu' we do have our pride!" Billy chimed in, almost startling Rick, who nearly forgot he was there. "When you spend months trackin' someone an' ge' soooo close t' nettin' him that you can nearly taste his aftershave, i' tends t' pu' a wee bi' of a damper on your mood t' see someone with no trainin' whatsoever take down your targe'."

"Speaking of tasting aftershave, Billy, you're going to have to lay low in this one." Michael spoke smoothly, not a hint of regret or sympathy in his tone for telling his teammate that he'd have to virtually just watch as they did all the work.

"Aye, I know…" Billy noted the quizzical look from the newest member of their team and smiled brightly. "Y'see, I was in contac' with our good friend Radim for the duration of our mission."

"That is, until the foreign operative we were working with turned Billy in as a spy." Casey added in his usual dry tone. "You were lucky he didn't shoot you on the spot."

"I like t' think my rugged good looks an' dazzling charm were t' thank for that." That earned Billy an eye-roll from Casey and a smirk from Michael.

"Radim Moravec is an arms dealer. He sells weapons to anyone willing to point them at his enemies. We were close to shutting him down before Billy was exposed and Moravec fled." Michael continued.

"Why ge' your hands dir'y when you can have someone do i' for you and pay you in the process." The Scot sounded far too chipper for the content of the sentence.

"Even if they fail, you still end up with a wad of cash. It's a win-win situation." Casey added.

Martinez shook his head, a look of disbelief etched into his features. "Ok, so wait. If your cover was blown last time, what makes you think this'll work again?"

"Billy was the face of a larger group of terrorists. One Mikhail Dratshev happens to be the head of the organization."

"Played by our very own Michael Dorse'." Billy grinned, patting Michael on the shoulder.

"Why don't we just let the local authorities take care of him? He's an escaped convict, right? So he's on someone's most wanted list. They'll bring him in." Rick rationalized as they stopped at a sealed door.

"Because, even while he was in jail, his business was still in operation. He doesn't need to be there to sell weapons to terrorist groups. Until we catch him with hard evidence selling guns to known terrorists, we can't shut his operation down. He was our only lead to the organization, but that kid at the airport shut down our operation for two years." Michael slid his badge over the magnetic reader and the door beeped, opening. He pushed the door open for himself and his team, picked up the mission details and continued right back out.

Rick nodded, absorbing all the information that had been thrown at him. He understood, now, why they had been so hostile towards the guy who turned Radim in. It wasn't out of pride like Billy led him to believe, it was out of a sense of duty. That kid effectively put the man into a sort of protective custody and put his business back under CIA radar. But one thing he didn't understand was how they managed to arrest Radim without shutting down his business, unless his arrest was completely unrelated to his work.

OoOoO

The flight to Liège, Belgium wasn't bad. Rick had slept through most of it, until Michael woke him up for a quick briefing about what their objectives would be. Billy and Rick were ordered to stay back and lay low. Surveillance and backup would be their key focus while Michael and Casey would pose as terrorist leader and bodyguard respectively. Rick wasn't fond of sitting back and doing nothing, but he noted that Billy seemed relatively relaxed about the idea. He relived the meeting in his head several times, dwelling on that fact. That, and when he'd opened the folder, he had recognized the face of their target. Radim Moravec. He recognized that face and realization dawned on him.

Back then, there had been a known murder and gang leader waiting in the airport. How ironic that such a man would just be hanging out at a place so full of security. He found it equally disquieting that with all of that security, he'd been the only one to recognize that man. The first thing he did was phone the police and tailed the man until the cops arrived. The felon met up with someone who had recently landed. They were speaking Czech, but Rick didn't catch what they'd been saying. He was more focused on trying not to lose them and hoping the police got there on time before something happened. In the end, both men were arrested. Two dangerous gang members were put away and all was well in the world. Or at least, that's what he thought back then. That was two years ago. He had no way of knowing he had been tampering with a delicate CIA mission, or that he'd be helping Radim by putting him away.

Right now, he was sitting in a hotel room with Billy, both wearing headphones while they sat in front of respective computers, analyzing and listening. Both Michael and Casey were wearing a wire and earwig for the time being. Their contact had arranged a meeting with a member of Radim's gang to order a large shipment of weapons. Billy had explained that standard procedure for Radim was to have someone meet and judge the client to compare his motives with Radim's. If they matched up, the deal would commence. If not… they would be fishing Michael and Casey's bodies out of a ditch somewhere. Billy had done this once before, so their chances of getting in were pretty good. They knew exactly how to answer the questions provided and how to persuade the man that they were on his side.

For now, it seemed things were going smoothly so Rick wasn't too worried. Billy had said that this wasn't really the part they needed to worry about, since it'd been done before and Michael was a smart cookie. So, Rick covered his microphone with one hand and pushed one side of his headphones away from his ear.

"How'd you escape?" Martinez asked, breaking the silence between them.

The Scotsman's clear blue eyes flicked up from the screen to lock with Martinez's deep chocolate eyes. Rick could see something calculating in those eyes. Weighing his options, picking his words carefully. From this, Rick could tell Billy knew exactly what he was referring, but The Charmer had always been rather tight-lipped when it came to his past. He was expecting a carefully diluted story that would consist of a long drawn out speech and no actual information whatsoever. Or maybe one of those irrelevant stories that seemed like it should have some moral in the end given the way it was presented with such conviction and flair, but ending up, instead, to be completely unrelated to the current situation.

Instead, all he received from the brunette was a disgruntled, "What?" This was slightly less frustrating than the other dodging the subject entirely with colorful words.

"When the foreign operative disclosed your CIA status. Casey said you were lucky he didn't shoot you. How'd you escape?" Rick clarified, pointedly pushing one of Billy's headphones to the side as well to clear up any miscommunication.

Billy just flashed him a coy grin and put his headphones back on. "Head in th' game, Martinez."

The hotel was supposed to be secure. They were staying under aliases. They were very careful to make sure nothing traced back to the CIA but it wasn't enough. It was something they wouldn't realize until after the bomb went off.

TBC