This is the third story in the Spooks series that I started just over a year ago. The first story is The Reluctant Spy with The Blacklist as its sequel. My fanfiction series picks up in the Spooks series 7 episode 3. My stories will have multiple plots that conclude at the end of each story, much like the episodes of a television show. The real plot that began in the first story will carry over into the continuing stories for the mystery to contiinue. For those who are reading this story for the first time, there is no need to start from the beginning, but to understand the original characters and their relationships to each other, and the continuous plot thread of the first story, it is recommended to read them in order.Note: These stories are for fun and practice. I do not own any of the characters that I mention from the BBC spy series, Spooks (MI-5). My original characters are actually inspired by another spy series that aired a few years ago in America. This is my idea of what happens when you take the American spies and combine them with the British spies. I hope you enjoy this story.
The Secret Service (Part 3 of The Reluctant Spy)
By Crazygirlg
Chapter 1: Working Together
Nyssa sat in Jack's Honda Accord trying (without much success) to explain the plan to the 19-year-old asset that MI-5 had turned to help track down the Al-Qaeda cell that was responsible for the market bombing a few months ago. He was the only bomber of the four (not including Ben Kaplan) that was captured alive without incident. As soon as CO-19 brought him into the interrogation room of Thames House, he started to crack. When he realized that what he was doing was the real thing and not a rehearsal, he folded under the pressure. Apparently, life for him on this Earth was far more important than the 72 virgins in Paradise.
The boy, Josef, had contacted a member of the cell and scheduled a meeting. Harry's team wanted to use this boy to lure the group out of hiding and try to get their hands on a bigger player in the game. They wanted to find the Mister Big that Marlin, Adam's Pakistani asset, was referring to before he committed suicide in front of Lucas.
Harry was already using Lucas and Ros for another operation, so the mission was dropped into Nyssa's hands. Nyssa would lead her team along with Ben and Jo and try to find the safe house where the Al-Qaeda cell was operating. It was a simple enough operation. All they had to do was find out Josef's contact, monitor the meeting, and follow the handler back to his base. What could possibly go wrong!
If only Josef could understand his simple role in the plan. Nyssa had spent a good half an hour trying to explain what he needed to do. Each time that Nyssa had to repeat herself, she thought back to her military days and wished that it was mandatory that every child in school must go through nine weeks of boot camp training like the army.
"Josef, I'm going to explain this one last time. Do you understand?" Nyssa asked speaking like she was explaining simple math problems to a seven-year-old.
Josef nodded his head but still seemed very nervous. Lucy sat in the front passenger seat of the car with her head leaned back and her hand over her eyes. She could already feel a headache forming.
"Okay, you walk toward the center of the marketplace where your contact said that he would meet you. You wait for him there. When you see him, you do what he tells you, and you walk away when the meeting is done. We will be watching you," she said. "Is that perfectly clear?"
"So, I walk back to the car," said Josef.
"No, you walk away after the meeting is done. Jack will follow your contact when he leaves the marketplace. You just walk away. Go home. Whatever. Do you understand?" asked Nyssa, the frustration in her voice was becoming obvious.
Josef still looked very confused and nervous. Lucy lifted her hand from her face and turned in her seat to face him. She was getting just as annoyed as her sister, but she tried not to express how much she wanted to choke the breath out of this kid.
"Josef, you talk to your contact, do what he says, and then you leave like we were never even there. Got it?" she injected.
"But, you will be there?" he asked again.
"Look, just don't worry about us. You worry about what you need to do. Go meet your contact and walk away. Okay?"
This time Josef nodded his head like he understood, but Nyssa could tell that he was still nervous. They were losing precious time, and there was no other way to do this. Nyssa smiled and patted his shoulder before turning him out into the street. She had hoped that the gesture was enough to reassure him before she sent him out there, but deep down, she felt like this would not end well. No matter how simple the operation seemed to be.
Josef reached for the door handle but was so nervous, he had trouble leaving the car. Nyssa took a breath and calmly reached across from him to help him open the door. Once he was outside, he closed the door and stood by the car like he was contemplating what to do. When he finally walked away toward the marketplace, Nyssa let out the breath she was holding and dropped her head in her hands.
"This is such a bad idea," said Lucy shaking her head.
"If you have a better idea, I'd love to hear it," said Nyssa as she raised her head from her lap. Jack rested his head against the window glass looking bored.
"Remind me again why we are doing this, luv?" he asked.
"We need to find the link to the Al-Qaeda cell. Josef is our best lead," said the voice from the comm-links in their ears.
Jo Portman sat in a surveillance van a block away from the marketplace with a small team and Ben Kaplan. They had been listening to the conversation in the car and monitored Josef's movements after he exited the vehicle. Ben left the van and started walking toward his planned position to watch the meeting while it took place. Jo smiled as she witnessed Nyssa prep Josef for the operation. She could relate to the frustration that Nyssa was feeling trying to prepare this kid. Everything was riding on him to follow the plan to the letter. Maybe Lucy was right, and this was a bad idea.
"Let's just get this over with. We all have our assignments. Let's get to it," said Nyssa as she exited the car with Lucy. Jack drove around to the opposite end of the marketplace and parked.
The market was crowded as it was on the day of the bombing. The service managed to thwart the attack to this market on that day.
Josef walked toward the north end of the place like he did that day and waited for his contact. Nyssa, Lucy, and a number of MI-5 officers were scattered all over the area, each taking a tactical position where they could see Josef and the patrons from several angles.
Nyssa took a high position stopping at a vendor selling sunglasses and jewelry. She pretended to be engaged in a conversation on her mobile while shopping for glasses. Lucy took a ground position opposite her sister. She was several steps away from Josef looking at hooked rugs. Several minutes went by without a word. Then, Nyssa had a call from her sister.
"So, you think he's going to show? My money's on this faction giving Josef up for dead," she said.
"Maybe, give it another few minutes. If he doesn't show, it's no great loss."
"Are you taking your boyfriend to see your new client tomorrow morning?" asked Lucy in her usual smug way.
"No, and why do you keep referring to Lucas as my boyfriend?" Nyssa asked as she rolled her eyes at the comment. Lucy loved to dig under her sister's skin about her relationship with Lucas.
"Well, he is, isn't he? Sister dear, let me educate you on a few things about relationships and life. When you date a guy, sleep with the guy, move in with the guy...he is generally referred to as a boyfriend."
"I did not move in with him. I am merely staying at his place temporarily. I'll be moving back into my apartment by the end of the week."
"Yeah, right!" Lucy said with a smirk.
Nyssa grew tired of explaining herself to her sister when it came to Lucas. Even her mother was pestering her with questions over this sudden change. Marilyn was very insistant that Nyssa and Lucas came to the house for dinner later in the evening which Nyssa counted as strange. She hoped that her mother was not planning an advance wedding.
"Can we focus on the mission at hand? I can't see everyone from my angle. Can you see Josef?" Nyssa asked Lucy.
"Yes I can. Poor guy. He's so scared right now, it looks like he might wet himself." Lucy glanced around the various people as they strolled passed the promenade. Her eyes fell on an interesting character at a small café across the area. He was a young guy with thinning dark hair, athletically built, Middle-Eastern looking, wearing a tan sports jacket and matching trousers. He glanced at Josef at various times, trying not to seem too interested. Yet, to a trained operative, one could see that he was watching pretty closely.
"There's a guy at the cafe who seems like a good candidate," Lucy said to her sister.
Nyssa slowly spun around and scanned the café until she saw him.
The team waited and watched both men for ten more minutes until Josef's mobile rang. Josef answered the call and nodded his head. He said nothing, just rang off, pocketed the phone and looked up in Nyssa's direction.
"No, no, no, don't look up at me," she said to herself.
When Josef spotted Nyssa, he smiled and gave her a thumbs up before heading to the east exit. Nyssa turned toward the man at the café who was also looking at her with more surprise and anger combined. He stood and started walking toward the nearest exit.
"Lucy, Ben, he saw me. He's heading toward you, Lucy," Nyssa nearly shouted with excitement as she hurried toward the stairs to the main level.
The man turned the corner and stopped when Lucy approached him. What made him take notice of her was the taser gun that she carefully pulled out of her shopping bag that she was carrying.
The man quickly turned and doubled back to the café where he was also met with Ben Kaplan and a couple of officers behind him. The suspect did not slow down. Instead, he approached Ben and grabbed him by the shoulders. Before Ben could react, the suspect shoved Ben into the other two men who fell on top of another table and chairs behind them. All three men fell like dominoes. The suspect picked up speed and was racing out of the marketplace.
By the time Nyssa made it to the ground floor, the suspect raced past her into a crowd of onlookers curious to see what the commotion was about. Ben was the first to recover and was on his feet chasing after Nyssa and the suspect.
The suspect sprinted across the busy street and entered an alley. The traffic slowed the pursuing party down a little allowing the suspect enough time to pull his mobile from his pocket to dial a number. Nyssa knew that they had to get to him before he alerted his bosses that their foot soldier was compromised.
The suspect was ready to hit the call button when Ben took a leap and grabbed the man by his knees to bring him down. The mobile phone went flying out of the man's hand and landed a few meters ahead of him. He turned and kicked Ben in the chest to get him off then pulled his gun from the shoulder holster under his jacket.
The man recovered and was on his feet before Ben could stand and pointed the gun at his head. Ben held his hands up in surrender and took a deep breath. Ben's mind was racing with all sorts of thoughts about this moment being his last.
Suddenly, the suspect's body contracted. His face showed immense pain. He fell to his knees, and the gun fell to the ground. Lucy was behind him with the taser gun already firing enough voltage to subdue him completely.
Ben looked at the blonde and smiled.
"Thanks," he replied and nodded. Lucy returned the gesture with a smile and a wink.
After what Ben and the team had been through with these two women over the past year, he never thought he would see the day when he was grateful that they were there to save his life. Lucy took another route to head off the chase and caught up with them on the other side of the alley. She saw that Ben was in trouble and took her chance.
The other MI-5 officers arrived to take the suspect away while Nyssa collected the mobile phone and gun off the ground where they were dropped. Ben took a moment to calm himself before he turned and headed back toward the street. He stopped to nod at Nyssa after she placed her hand on his shoulder.
The last to leave the alley was Nyssa and Lucy. Nyssa turned toward her sister and sighed.
"Just another typical day for us," she said.
"Oh yeah, totally!" said Lucy.
Both girls walked casually in the direction of Jack's car.