Just a random midnight insomnia...
It was a bright, warm and sunny day in Madrid, Spain. NCIS Agent Jenny Shepherd walked out of the airport and was immediately blinded by the sun. She slipped the sunglasses that she had luckily put in her purse, on. It had been a record wet and cold winter in Washington, D.C. so a little Spain sun was more than welcome.
She looked around the area, eyes scanning for any possible targets. She noticed the line for a taxi so she got in it. After waiting a couple minutes, she got in the cab and told the cabbie the address to her hotel. As a rule, agents in foreign countries never usually traveled heavily, so she skipped the baggage line at the airport.
The sunglasses remained on Jenny's face as she entered the hotel lobby. Her instructions were to register under the name Jennifer Dube, a Canadian national. Jenny showed her Canadian passport and the man behind the counter nodded and also handed over the credit card. After a couple more minutes, he handed her the hotel key.
All she was told was that her contact would be waiting in the hotel room. That didn't really settle the nerves in her stomach. She had a nervous feeling about this 'op.' All she was told before getting on the flight to Madrid was meet a local contact, use the Canadian passport and don't screw up and then gave her a file on PFC Jonathan Asselin. Other than that, she had nothing to go on. Jenny liked to be prepared. She didn't like to go into situations blind.
Jenny held her breath as she opened the hotel room door slowly. As she walked into the room, luggage in hand, she could see a man sitting on the bed, watching CNN. How CNN was playing in the hotel room in Madrid, she had no idea. Jenny slowly walked to the bed. "I'm going to assume you are my contact?"
"I would be," the man stood up and walked over to where Jenny was standing. "And you are?"
"You first," Jenny said, eyeing the man over. Definitely not from Spain. And definitely not a local contact.
Man raised his eyebrows. "Callen. You can call me Callen. Now, you go."
She chuckled. "Jenny. NCIS."
"And why would you think I belong to an intelligence agency from a number of different countries? Callen asked.
Jenny raised an eyebrow. "Well you are watching CNN in Spain and in English."
"FSB," Callen replied.
She laughed. "CIA."
He rolled his eyes. "You got me. So why'd they send a NCIS agent to Madrid, Spain?"
"I was told to meet a contact here. Since you're obviously not a contact, I'm going to assume you have a contact. All I was given was a file on a Marine."
"Jonathan Asselin?' Callen asked as he turned off the TV.
Jenny nodded. "How'd you know?"
"Emails to woman in Iran. We're thinking girlfriend."
Jenny rubbed her eyes. The flight was starting to wear off on her. "I don't get this. I flew all the way out here because some dumb-ass Marine was emailing a girl in Iran? What about this fucking contact?"
Callen laughed. "Oh that's a completely different story. My contact, I use contact in the slightest terms, is doing an arms deal with a Russian mafia player."
"Okay, that's what you're doing officially. What are you doing unofficially?" Jenny wanted to know what the CIA's main game. The CIA always had a different plan and not one that was often known to other intelligence agencies- even from their own country.
"We're going to show up to the meet," Callen said.
Jenny rolled her eyes. "Great. I've been sent to Madrid as your backup."
"No, my partner for a couple days," Callen replied. "You have a gun on you?"
"No. I wasn't told I was going to need one. I thought this was a meet with a contact," Jenny replied sharply.
Callen had a bag on the bed and reached into it and handed the weapon to her. "It's a .45. Just a heads up if you're used to a 9 mm."
Jenny raised an eyebrow. "If you are thinking I can't handle another weapon, you are wrong. Where are you supposed to meet the contact?"
"Half an hour at the coffee shop around the corner," Callen replied. "Want a latte?"
"Didn't take you as the latte type," Jenny replied as Callen opened the hotel room door. Before leavening the room, she checked the gun Callen had given her. She assumed it was clean and made sure it was ready and loaded. She just hoped it wouldn't jam on her if she needed to use it. She didn't like using weapons that weren't her own.
He held the door open as she walked out. "I'm not."
"Want to tell me more about this contact?" Jenny asked as they walked down the hallway to the elevator. More she knew about the contact they were going to meet, the better.
Callen laughed. "The more little you know, the better."
She rolled her eyes. Typical CIA. "Still going with the bigger fish theory?" The CIA often went by the "bigger fish theory". Meaning that they would let lesser criminals go, to be assets or contacts, so they could catch the bigger fish.
"You could say that," Callen said as they walked out of the elevator.
"I don't know if you know this Agent Callen, but I've spent my fair share of time in Europe. I'm not a green agent. I know how this game works," Jenny threatened. "And I will not be a part of the CIA assassination plot."
Callen walked down the street, Jenny keeping up with him. "It's against the Geneva Convention for the United States to authorize assassinations."
"Callen, we're federal agents. Meaning they sent us here to see if he brings a gun to the meet. If he does, well then, looks like we have plausible deniability on what really happened."
'Wow, Jen, it does look like you know your way around Washington politics. You'd make a fine director one day," Callen said sarcastically.
Jenny shook her head. "Keep up the sarcasm and I'm not saving your ass when I write my after action report."
Callen laughed. "Reports. I never do them."
"What's the contact's name?"
"I know him as Arkady Kolcheck. He might go by other names, I don't know. He left the KGB after it was disbanded but he has his hands in a few pots," Callen explained as they got closer to the coffee shop.
Jenny had heard of Arkady Kolcheck. Definitely somebody you wanted on your side of the game. He knew everything. "And our target?"
"Sasha Marinov," Callen answered sharply.
Yup, the CIA was definitely going with the big fish theory and Sasha Marinov was a big fish in today's world. A former KGB officer that was climbing the ranks steadily before it was disbanded in 1990 and became the FSB. Whether Sasha remained part of the FSB was still under question. Whatever the answer was, Sasha was now a member of the Russian mafia out of St. Petersburg. The CIA wanted him out of the picture.
Arkady was sitting down when Callen and Jenny approached him. "Hello," he said in a heavily Russian accent.
Callen replied in Russian and Jenny replied in English. She knew enough Russian to get by but wasn't fluent by any means. They sat down at the table and Jenny gave Callen a look.
"How is your partner?" Arkady asked Jenny. "It's been awhile since I've seen him."
Jenny shrugged. "Wouldn't know."
Arkady raised his eyebrows. "I see you have a new partner. You must really like men who know Russian."
"She's a friend. You told me to come meet you here so you could give me the time and date of the meet," Callen said.
He shrugged. "It has changed."
"So when is it?" Jenny asked.
"2 hours from now. In the Old District."
Callen raised an eyebrow at Arkady and then turned to Jenny. "Guess we have to go. Thanks for the tip, Arkady," Callen smiled before getting up.
As they were walking back to the hotel, to get ready aka gun up, Callen looked Jenny up and down. "You never told me you worked with Gibbs."
"You never told me you knew him either," Jenny answered.