A/N: Big thanks to everyone who has reviewed!
Mesmerizeme is my totally amazing beta! Love ya bb!
Twilight is not mine, nor is the CIA. :(
When a business or office has no name, the employees of said office find that their names disappear with it. Such are the employees of a small office space in downtown Seattle, Washington. An office space labeled "Central Infrastructure Authority" is actually a cover for a highly trained, and extremely secret, team of CIA agents. It is designed to take out the scum that the justice system just can't seem to pin down, or doesn't have the time to. To protect themselves, and their family, each member is known only by their first and last initials as well as a code name. This team is comprised of a team leader, Agent CC; a communications expert, Agent EP; Gadgets expert, Agent AB; interrogation specialist, JW; and three field agents, Agents BS, EM, and RH.
Agent EP, or The Musician as her fellow agents call her, is not normally the sort of person to rush down the corridor, pushing people out of her way. Then again, she does not normally have to deliver a message of such high importance. EP walks as fast as her legs can carry her without breaking into an all out run. Her shins are burning and her thighs are begging her to just run already and end the torture. EP has never been a big fan of speed walking, but she is beginning to have a new appreciation for the sport.
The door at the end of the hallway finally comes into contact with her outstretched hand and the door gives easily under her force. There, behind a simple stained oak desk, sits Agent CC; more commonly known as The Doctor, or Doc for short. Doc was putting away a large book filled with newspaper clippings showing the success of his team members. He smiled brightly as he acknowledged his guest.
"Hello Muse." He had long ago shortened her nickname as a form of familiarity between them, however, she allowed no one but him to use that particular version. "What can I do for you?"
Still a little out of breath from her rush to get to his office, she wordlessly places a printout of their next assignment in front of him. Picking it up, his smile quickly fades as he scans the terms of the new mission.
"Are they nuts?" He asks aloud, a rhetorical question that he has no answer to. "I have no idea where she is. Besides, there hasn't been any down time from her last mission." He looks back up at his Muse, as if she holds the answer to his problem.
"Can we send The Red Queen instead?" he asks her, desperate to find a way around what is being asked of him.
The Musician slowly shakes her head in response. "I've already asked; they specifically want Queen Bee."
The Doctor pulls out a dossier on the target. He knew that this mission could eventually come, in fact he was surprised that it hadn't come sooner than now. Maybe they were waiting for Queen Bee before they sprung this on him.
"It says here that the mark usually dates tall blonde women. Queen Bee is nothing like that." He rationalizes to himself.
"He also doesn't stay very long with any of them, which is why The Red Queen won't work," the Musician tells him. The Doctor stands and paces his office, tugging at his hair as he does a long-standing bad habit. The Doctor always imagines that he is making room for his brain to grow and have an easier time grasping a particular situation. It never works, but that does not stop him from trying.
Finally, after searching his brain for some sort of answer, and finding none, The Doctor retakes his seat and stares up at his Muse.
"When do they want to start?" he asks.
"They want the initial meeting to take place within the week, and for the job to be complete in nine to twelve months," she relays to him, knowing that he will find this news highly unsettling.
"Less than a year for the entire job? I don't think we've ever taken out a target in less than eighteen months!" he exclaims, allowing his head to fall into his hands. This job just gets worse and worse the more he hears.
"It's a small target, really; she could probably pull it off in less than six months if she needed to," EP reasons. He knows that she is right; a small target like this is much easier to eliminate, but that doesn't mean that it will be any easier, or take and less prep work. If anything, this particular case will take even more prep work that usual, and The Doctor is not sure that a week will suffice.
"I'll start prepping a briefing on the finer points of this particular target," he finally tells her, giving in to the reality of the deadlines set. "Queen Bee is going to kill me for this."
"Do you want me to call her?" The Musician asks. She knows that The Doctor hates calling his team members in early from their R&R time.
"No, I'll do it." He gives her a small smile and she takes it as her cue to leave him alone with the dossier files.
Quietly shifting out of the room, she is partly aware of The Doctor's eyes on her hips as she walks out the door. She gives her walk a little umph before turning and closing the door behind her, sealing The Doctor in with his work.
The Doctor opens the file on the main target, one Elizabeth Sanders, the next Presidential hopeful.
That explains the need to get this done so quickly, he thinks as he thumbs through the file. Inside are photos of Ms. Sanders speaking with leaders of a known religious extremist group who call themselves 'The Burning Path.' Others show her at gatherings for this particular group, and others show snapshots or a certificate showing that she is an ordained minister with The Burning Path. Enclosed as well is a CD marked only with her name and a sticker that reads "Top Secret." He pops the CD into his computer and searches the files.
The CD contains only audio and video files and he clicks the first audio file as he skims over her psychological profile.
"Of course, you know I haven't forgotten." Ms. Sanders' voice comes through his headphones perfectly clear. "It's why I began this campaign in the first place."
"Just remember that as you make your campaign promises," a gruff voice replies. This mystery man must be one of the leaders for the Burning Path. "I don't care what you promise them, as long as you make it into the office."
"I already have my feelers in place. If I do not win the primary, the Democratic candidate will take me on as his Vice President. It won't be as high as we want, but it will be high enough I think."
"Yes, especially if we take care of him shortly after he assumes the office. It will put a delay in our plans, but not enough to cause a major problem. Very good thinking, Elizabeth."
"I am more that capable Caius." She snaps at him. Ah, Casius, we have a name to go by. The Doctor scans the file for anyone names Caius as the recording continues.
"We have gathered more money for the cause and you will have it added to your personal bank account within the week. Use it to purchase more air time for your commercials."
"Of course. Is there anything else?"
"No. Farewell, Elizabeth."
"Until next time, Caius." The recording ends and The Doctor sits back in his chair as he considers what he has just heard. Do any of these other recordings talk about her actual plan? Is this why they want us to take her out? Because they know she is planning 'something,' they just don't know what?
He finds Caius' name in the file and discovers that he is Elizabeth's half brother. So far, the evidence is not too damning and maybe that's the problem. She can fix damage caused by baseless accusations, politicians do it all the time; apparently the big bosses feel that the risk of her downplaying this is too great to just leave it to chance.
He tugs at his hair again before clicking on the next file.
It takes less than an hour to go through the entire file and everything on the CD. He can tell that Ms. Sanders is planning something, but has no more idea what it is now than when he started. A phrase from a recent movie he watched pops into his head, unbidden.
"Let me bring you up to speed on what we know. We know nothing; there, you are now up to speed."
The Doctor smiles briefly at how fitting that line is right now as he grabs for the phone. Opening his contact list, he selects his recipient and lets out a long breath as he waits for someone to answer.
"The Zombie apocalypse had better of started this morning or else I'm hanging up," comes the curt answer through the phone. He had promised her two weeks to relax and recuperate. His broken promise is already being met with hostility.
Better to get it over with quick.
"You've been requested," he says quickly, waiting for the furious answer sure to accompany his serious message.
"Bullshit!" she yells into the phone.
"I'm sorry, Bee, but you're mother is ill and needs you," he tells her, using the code to indicate a new mission.
The only answer is a click and then the dial tone, signaling that she has ended the call. He is not worried though, knowing that she will never turn down a mission, he has every confidence that she will be standing before him this time tomorrow.
He turns to the other dossier, the one with the mark; Ms. Sanders' son. Ms. Sanders decided to keep her maiden name as a sign of feminine strength in the political field and so her son carries a different surname than she does.
The Doctor quickly scans the file and tosses it down on his desk before standing up to go get some more coffee. He takes one last look before he walks away. There, staring up at him is the smiling picture of a young man named Edward Masen, the next man to be seduced, and then killed as collateral damage by Agent BS, the Queen Bee.
A/N: Thoughts?
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