Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters and they have manipulated themselves so that they can be worked into the story.
Author's Note: Lady Jaye is the code name of a MI-6 agent assigned to work with an international group based in the United States called GI Joe. Personnel of this top secret military organization were hand selected from the world's finest military and government workers. While most of the organization is American on the base, it employs agents based all over the world. The mission of GI Joe is to thwart terrorism and its attacks on countries that are members of the United Nations, to which it reports.
It had been an intense mission. She massaged the back of her neck as the transport landed back at the base. All she wanted was a shower and sleep, but knew the debriefing would take precedent over her own needs. Sighing, she gathered her things and followed her teammates off the plane.
"You doing ok?" murmured Shipwreck, a look of sympathy on his face as he looked at the pale, drawn woman. "If you want, I can fill in Duke…"
"No," she interrupted. "I'm the team leader, I need to do it. Thanks anyways, Shipwreck," she said, giving him a tired smile. She hated to go in there and basically tell Duke their mission was a failure, but what else could she say? It was the truth. They had been sent on an extraction, but the intell they received had been false. Way beyond false, she thought angrily. Whoever had gathered it should have his or her head rolling on the floor. It had not only jeopardized the mission, but almost cost the lives of her teammates and herself. It had definitely caused the death of the CIA agent they were supposed to rescue. Being the leader, she felt the safety of the others was her responsibility, and having to cover someone else's ass so that her team could escape infuriated her.
Gone was the idea of the shower. She was ready to tell Duke exactly what she thought of the mission! She stormed into the building and made a beeline for his office. Those that passed her in the hallway left her alone. They had seen this angry look before and no one wanted to get in the way of those flashing green eyes, knowing that not only would she curse them out in several languages, but they may also find themselves on their back as she passed them by. As it was, she was muttering in Sanskrit, of all things, and cursed everyone and everything that had gone wrong. By the time she reached Duke's office, she had found her focus a little easier, having vented, so that she could speak to her CO with a clear head.
She found the door open and Duke seated at his desk, talking with Flint. She narrowed her eyes at what she thought of as an intrusion to her debriefing. While the warrant officer was second in command at the base, she did not want to put up with his arrogant attitude nor his smart remarks on what she had to report.
She knocked on the open door and both men looked her way.
"Lady Jaye," acknowledged Duke, his tone serious. "I take it you have something to report."
"Yes, sir," replied Jaye, flicking a glance toward Flint. "If you don't mind…" she hinted.
He settled back more in his chair, not looking like he got what she was saying. She sighed and looked at Duke for help.
Duke tried to hide his smile, but was unsuccessful. "Flint, if you'll excuse us," he said apologetically. He could feel the tension between the two. While Jaye was very focused and dedicated in what she did, Flint was more cocky and arrogant in his abilities, which he knew infuriated his covert ops specialist. That, and Flint still held the belief that women should not be on the front lines in battle. This attitude did not endear him too well with the three women who were his specialists in GI Joe.
Flint raised an eyebrow, but got the message clearly. Getting up, he left the room without a word, shutting the door behind him. He didn't know what he did to get under Lady Jaye's skin, but having heard how botched the mission had been from the early reports Duke had received, he didn't want to be present to hear from Lady Jaye what had happened. While she was great at what she did, her temper had become legendary on base. When her green eyes were flashing, all the men knew to steer clear of her!
As soon as the door closed, Jaye turned to Duke. "I want to know who the source of the intell was! If I get my hands on him…." she growled, and Duke could only imagine what she might do.
"Jaye, what happened? I send you guys on a simple extraction and it gets blown to hell!"
"That's what I'd like to know! From the time we got there, everything went wrong!" She paced as she angrily spat out the words, unable to sit still. "They knew we were coming – there's no other way! Everything we were told was wrong and it led us from one trap into another. I almost had men die out there due to the incompetence!"
She whirled around and faced him. "Either we have an idiot on our hand, or a traitor. I want to know who it was. I will take care of it, I swear I will!" she growled.
Duke held up his hand. "Jaye, don't take it too far. Discipline is my area, remember?" he said, reprimanding her.
Jaye sighed and sat down hard on the chair, head in her hands. She looked up at Duke, teary-eyed. "It was awful," she confessed, her voice barely audible. "I don't think I've had a harder time than we did with this one. I almost lost everyone, including myself. It's not that I'm not willing to die for my country," she said hoarsely, "but for something stupid….it's not worth it! Just tell me who it was, Duke, please. We have a big problem. Let me help get rid of it."
Duke looked at her thoughtfully. "The intell came from one of our outside sources. Someone who's been pretty reliable with us before so either he was fed the wrong information, or he turned on us. It's not someone inside the Joe base….I think," he sighed, running a hand through his blonde hair. "Honestly, it could have been fouled up a little along the way, starting from the intell up to the team members at the time of the mission."
"Someone had to feed them the information. They knew our every move, our every safe haven. They knew who I was. They shouldn't have known that," she whispered hoarsely, sounding defeated. "Our cover was definitely blown by someone."
Duke got up and put a hand on Jaye's shoulder. "Stop beating yourself up over it. We'll find the leak, I promise. Get yourself some rest and take some R&R tomorrow." At her protest, he held his hand up. "That's an order, soldier. Get your head together by taking some time off tomorrow. I want it fresh since it seems I'm going to need your help catching a traitor."