Katherine Fontaine stood in the middle of the elevator, surrounded by three armed military men, as it made its descent towards the secret unit. She was exhausted. When the elevator door lifted, a man in a suit was waiting for her. As she stepped out of the elevator, he took a step in her direction.
He looked at her. She was wearing a casual t-shirt, allowing him to realize how fit she was, and a pair of jeans that fitted her to a T. Her hair was up in a ponytail and she was wearing no makeup. It was hard to believe she was in her mid-thirties, she didn't look a day older than 30. He noticed how attractive she was. He wondered, what she looked like with her hair down as he put his hand out to introduce himself.
"Agent Donald Ressler, it's a pleasure to meet you Agent Fontaine".
She shook his hand. "The pleasure is all mine. Although I'm not quite sure what it is that I'm doing here?"
He motioned to her to follow him. "I'm sorry about that, we'll fill you in momentarily."
He brought her to a meeting room where a few other people were waiting.
A man in his late forties to early fifties greeted her.
"Agent Fontaine, I'm Director Cooper, thank you so much for being here," he said as he shook her hand.
She smiled. "Well, it's difficult not to do otherwise when you have escorts waiting for you as you get off the plane. I'll do my best for whatever you need me for and I apologize in advance if I seem a bit rusty but I've just been travelling for the past 24 hours."
"Naturally and again I'm sorry if we left you no time to recuperate but this is of high National Security importance. Let me first introduce you to Agents Keen, Mojtabai and Navabi."
She shook their hands and smiled then sat down.
"You assume you haven't been briefed?" asked Cooper.
"That is correct and my clearance level hasn't given me access to what it is that you do here."
Cooper nodded. "Well, all that is about to change. I'm more than certain that you are aware of the importance that all of this needs to remain confidential."
"I've been working for the FBI for more than twenty years. I know the drill."
Donald smiled. He liked her. The fact that she seemed fragile and strong at the same time. He reminded her a bit of Liz except that she had way more experience. You could tell she had been in front of some of the FBI's highest and biggest, there was respect, but she had a way of showing that she shouldn't be pushed either. It was subtle but determined and he found that at the same time a major turn on and intimidating.
Kate listened as Cooper explained how the special unit came about and what it was that they were doing with Reddington. As she listened, she quickly understood why her clearance level hadn't authorized her to get the details. She was flabbergasted at this collaboration between the FBI and one of the US's top ten most wanted fugitive.
They all watched Kate as she took in all the information. She seemed quiet and very professional about it and Liz being a pretty good profiler had a hard time reading what was going through Fontaine's mind as her face showed little or no expressions.
"Do you have any questions?" asked Cooper.
Kate closed the notebook she had been taking notes in and looked at him.
"In regards to what this special unit is doing, no. However, I don't quite seem to understand what I am doing here. Your team seems to be more than competent, so why am I here?"
Liz looked at her. "Reddington has given us the names of the next 8 people on his list and you have been investigating on them along with Interpol and Europol for the past 10 years."
Kate blinked a couple of times. It almost sounded untrue. Had Cooper, Keen and Ressler not proven the efficiency of Reddington's blacklist, Kate would have thought it was a joke. However, she suddenly felt eager to apprehend these 8 criminals that she had desperately been trying to put her hands on over the years.
"What is the first name on the list?"
"That would be Antoine Ginon."
Along with the rest of them Kate turned her attention to the meeting room door. It was opened and lo and behold standing in it's doorframe was none other than Raymond Reddington himself.
He took a step into the room as he took off his hat.
"My apologies for being late, I had some business that needed tending to. Thank you Harold for greeting Agent Fontaine and bringing her up to speed."
He walked over to Kate who stood from her chair. She inhaled and put her hand out to shake his. He smiled, took her hand in his but instead of shaking it, brought it to his lips and kissed it. Donald rolled his eyes, which Raymond noticed. He turned his attention to Donald as he released his hold on Kate's hand.
"Agent Ressler, when in the presence of a beautiful, charming and powerful woman, you acknowledge all those things about her, not steal glimpses of her when she's not looking."
Kate didn't have to turn her attention to Donald, she knew he was slightly blushing. She hadn't been stupid, she had seen that since the moment she had stepped out of the elevator that his eyes were all over her, even if she hadn't let anything slip about it.
Raymond turned his attention back to Kate. "It's a real honor to be in your presence Agent Fontaine. Your expertise and reputation precedes you."
"As does yours."
"The good or the bad?" dared to ask Raymond curious for her answer. It was as though what she was going to say next, was going to determine the type of relationship they would have in the future.
"All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride."
They all stared at Kate then at Raymond who at first seemed impassive. He then smiled and laughed.
"Sophocles was right. It's all about pride and ego trips and you will find, if it isn't the case yet that this is something all criminals have in common."
He tilted his head to the side and looked at Kate again. He liked her and that was a good thing. She seemed to believe in redemption, something he was striving for more and more. He nodded to Harold as he sat down in the chair next to Kate and Donald.
When Harold finished explaining what he had to, he turned to Kate.
"We have set up an office for you, Agent Mojtabai will give you all of your access codes, if you need anything else, let me know. I want to make sure that you feel welcomed here. That being said, we have to move fast, do you think you could give us a full overview and presentation on your findings about Antoine Ginon in an hour?"
"Absolutely, if I can access the server where all my information is kept than it shouldn't be a problem."
"Agent Mojtabai, make sure that Agent Fontaine has no issues."
Aram nodded and stood. He walked over to Kate. "I'll show you to your office and help you."
As Kate stood and followed Aram out of the meeting room, so did Liz and Harold. Raymond stood in turn.
"Thanks for putting me on the spot." Said Donald.
Raymond gave Donald a sarcastic laugh. "Put you on the spot? Agent Ressler, I did no such thing. She already was aware."
"That's impossible."
"You have to understand that Agent Fontaine is in a whole different category of agents and may I go so far as to say women. She is not Agent Keen. A woman like Kate Fontaine has way more experience both professionally and personally than any woman you have ever met. And if my calculations are right, she knew the minute she came into your sight. Therefore, if you think I put you on the spot and sabotaged any attempt at you wooing her in the future, you needn't worry, you're not in her playing league."
"Why? Because I eyed her before even speaking to her?"
"Oh no. Simply because you won't be able to challenge her in any field possible, but who knows maybe I'm wrong."
With that he turned heels and headed towards Kate's office.
Aram was hanging over Kate's shoulder as she tried to access her server. He lifted his eyes and saw Raymond. Raymond cocked his head to the side, quietly asking Aram to leave the room.
"If you need anything else, just let me know." He said as he stepped away from Kate and her desk and headed out the door.
Raymond closed the door and looked around as Kate leaned back in her chair and watched him. He pointed to an empty wall.
"I see a beautiful Delvaux painting on this wall, Nuit de Noël perhaps. It would make you feel more at home."
She smiled slightly. "I see you've done your homework and I'm sure you've done it very thoroughly."
"You were born on June 6th 1977 in Belgium to an American father and Belgian mother. You lived there till you were 7 then you moved to the US and aside from occasional vacation visits to your Belgian family, you never returned. You had both nationalities and yet, you gave up your Belgian one to join the FBI. You were the top of your promotion with amazing language, profiling and shooting skills. Your dedication, hard work, quick thinking and assessment of information and outstanding negotiating skills landed you a joint collaboration with Interpol and Europol. Thanks to you, they have managed to prevent terrorist attacks throughout the world and catch some very very bad people. As I said, your reputation precedes you. And you are right, I did do my homework, I like to know who I collaborate with."
She nodded in agreement. "As I said, thorough. But there is one thing you are mistaken about."
"Please do enlighten me if my intelligence is wrong."
"I wouldn't choose Christmas Night by Paul Delvaux. I would choose The Promise by René Magritte."
She looked at him with a glow in her eyes that sent him to a place he hadn't been in a long, long time. He quietly nodded and exited the room, knowing too well, that he was eager to be in her company again and discover things about her that no intelligence could give him.