Root watched the monitors with a satisfied smile. As always, Samaritan was running smoothly. That was the thing about machines. They were perfect, rational and didn't make the same mistakes humans made. She watched Samaritan work as it monitored, predicted and targeted. All this power and knowledge; she really was in the presence of a god.
Root's smile widened as Greer approached her, file in hand. Another problem for her to solve, just the kind of thing she'd been waiting for. "What can I do for you. Sir?" she asked as Greer arrived.
"Your next target, Miss Groves," he replied, handing her the file. "This particular case requires a certain level of finesse that I trust only you can achieve."
"Absolutely sir," said Root, opening the file. Her smile vanished when she read the name, though it reappeared just as quickly as she did her best to disguise her shock.
Sameen Shaw. She'd been following her progress for quite some time now. She'd planned on recruiting her, in fact she was one of the only people in the world Root actually thought she liked. But yet here her name was, printed in the file. There was no obvious explanation, although there very rarely was, just another person for Root to eliminate. Was Shaw really a threat to the programme?
"Miss Shaw is one of our top field agents," explained Greer, dragging Root away from her thoughts. "You should expect significant resistance when you go after her."
"I'll take care of her, sir," assured Root with as much certainty in her voice as she could muster.
"I trust that you will, as does Samaritan." With that, Greer left Root standing alone, staring down in disbelief at the file in her hands.
Once Greer was out of site, Root immediately took the file and left. She found an empty room, one where she would hopefully not get disturbed while she tried to figure out what to do. She'd worked for Samaritan for so long now and she'd never once doubted its judgment. But there was something about this mission, something about Shaw, that made her question it just this once. She'd never needed a reason before, but just this one time she needed to know why Samaritan wanted Shaw gone.
Root placed the file on the table and began scanning the pages. She'd read it countless times before and practically had the entire thing memorised. Root had wanted to complete her own background check before she attempted to recruit Shaw, which for her meant going through every single little detail of Shaw's life to make sure she was the right person for the role. What frustrated Root the most was that she had been certain that Shaw was the perfect candidate.
Shaw was a sociopath, which frightened most people and put them off, but it had drawn Root to her. Root wasn't exactly a sociopath herself, but she didn't care too much about other people, although there were a few exceptions. In that sense she'd felt some connection to Shaw in a way most people wouldn't understand.
Beyond a shared disregard for others, Root had also chosen Shaw because she was exceptionally talented. Even before she'd joined the ISA, Shaw had been a successful surgeon. Well, she could have been successful if she hadn't been fired for her personality disorder. Root couldn't help but feel disgusted by that injustice. From what she'd seen in the file, Shaw had been a technically brilliant surgeon, but all the talent had been wasted by the narrow sighted decisions of others. As far as Root was concerned, Shaw did her job and she did it well, which was all the mattered.
In some ways Shaw losing her job as a surgeon was a good thing because she'd proven to be an even better agent. She was highly skilled, efficient, and her lack of empathy meant she didn't ask too many questions. She'd seemed to be the ideal choice for Root, and to be honest she'd been quite looking forward to working with her.
The truth was Root didn't want to kill Shaw. It wasn't just because she was a good agent or because Root liked her, there was something else. Root couldn't pin it down to just one thing, she just felt uneasy about the whole thing. This wasn't the usual problematic politician or even a disruptive agent with a history; this order seemed to have come out of nowhere. It was the timing that bothered Root the most. Why now, right as she was planning to approach Shaw? It all seemed like too much of a coincidence.
Maybe she was just reading too much into it. How could she possibly doubt Samaritan, the perfect machine that saw and knew everything? Maybe it had given her this task deliberately, because it knew she'd been looking to recruit Shaw. Maybe it wanted to give her the opportunity to deal with Shaw herself.
Even with that reasoning, Root still couldn't shake the feeling of unease. What if Shaw hadn't done anything wrong? Could Samaritan be wrong, or worse, had it deliberately targeted an innocent woman? Was this some kind of twisted test of loyalty? Root didn't like any of those possibilities.
Root let out a long sigh of frustration. All of these thoughts were completely hypothetical and as a result, utterly useless. Somehow, she had to find out the truth. The file, which she'd hoped might include at least a hint of explanation, had given her nothing. She couldn't act without knowing, so she needed to find a way to figure out what was going on. Root took another look at her mission details. She had seven days to eliminate Shaw, that gave her some time to work with.
Root spent the next few days putting her plan into motion. She'd decided that the best way to find out the truth would be to ask Shaw directly, but she'd have to be discreet if she wanted to communicate with her without Samaritan knowing. All she had to do then, was isolate Shaw somewhere far away from Samaritan's eyes and ears.
Root chose an abandoned, derelict building on a street with no street cameras and which she hoped contained no technology. Once that had been chosen, it hadn't taken her long to fabricate some documents which she sent to Shaw along with instructions for her to investigate the address two days before Root was due to kill her.
Just as she'd hoped, Shaw turned up to investigate the address as instructed. Shaw checked the building and the surrounding street thoroughly before entering. She seemed on edge, so Root waited a few minutes before following her in.
When Root reached the apartment, she was somewhat surprised to find the door closed, but when she listened she could hear Shaw searching around the place on the other side, so at least she was in there. Quietly, she pushed open the door which had thankfully been left unlocked, despite being closed.
By the time Root realised her mistake she knew it was too late. There was a small, subtle blip as she entered the room, one which most people would either not notice or ignore. To her, however, it was unmistakable. As she took the taser out of her pocket, she didn't know whether to be annoyed or impressed. Either way, she thought, it meant that Shaw now knew she was here and given her skillset, it was going to make this part of the plan much more difficult.
"If it helps," she called out as she moved slowly through the first room, "I am only here to have a chat."
"The taser in your hand tells a different story," replied Shaw from the room to her left.
Root smiled, slipping the taser back into her pocket. She raised both empty hands into the air so that Shaw could see from wherever she was. "How about now?" she asked.
"Not interested," answered Shaw, emerging from what seemed to be the bedroom. She held a gun at her side, pointed straight at Root.
Root's eyes swept over Shaw. This was the first time she'd seen her in person, and the pictures and videos just didn't do her justice. Shaw wore a practical attire, simple black trousers and top over which she wore a long jacket whilst her hair hung in strands over each side of her face. Despite the situation, Root couldn't help but notice how good she looked.
She couldn't admire Shaw for long though, as Shaw moved closer, the gun trained on her at all times. Shaw pressed the gun firmly against Root's side, reaching round to remove the taser from her pocket. Root smiled as she inspected the taser, causing Shaw to narrow her eyes in an annoyed frown. "Why the hell are you smiling?"
"You should have checked the other pocket," replied Root, grabbing her spare taser and shocking Shaw before she had the chance to react. Root caught Shaw's unconscious body before she hit the floor. Things may not have gone as smoothly as she'd planned, but at least she could question Shaw now and find out what she needed to know.