Chapter 9

Rose felt like she was going to be sick to her stomach when the principle announced that all of the students that were on the stage were now High School Graduates. When she had imagined this moment, she imagined that she would be sending her child to Ivy-League College, not the Central Intelligence Agency. DJ always loved to play with fire, but he was leaping into the big oven. Knowing the standard deployment for international field operatives, they'd be sent to the easiest regions and then the very hardest regions. That ranged from Western Europe to all over the Asian Countries.

As Defense Secretary, and, she'd admit it with pride, the Director of the CIA's favorite former Agent, she held some weight. She wasn't sure to ask to have DJ put in Domestic Branch, or not, she didn't want to interfere. There was another option for both DJ and herself. It was called the Defense Intelligence Agency. It was the Defense Departments equivalent to the CIA, except they focused their eyes on Military Intelligence. It wasn't what DJ wanted, she was sure of that, but she made a mental note to talk to him about it later, "I don't know how your feeling right now Mom, but you need to get that look off of your face before someone calls the cops on you."

Rose shook her head, "Sorry, just a little overwhelmed."

"Oh," DJ raised an eyebrow and then a pointed smirk, which was similar to her own, came across his face. He handed her his diploma and when she took it, he sounded amused almost devious, "Then how do you feel this?"

Scowling, she nudged Jake in the ribs to get him to come to her side as she unfurled the paper. As she expected, the document proclaimed that her son had graduated from High School in the top tier of his Graduating Class. Jake grinned and walked forward to hug his son, but Rose merely looked at it in adoration. This document arguably ended their son's childhood.

"Well," Rose returned the diploma to DJ and wiped the small tears that had gathered in the corners of both of her eyes, "Congrats, time to get a job."

DJ's face erupted into a bright, almost gleeful grin, "I'll get right on that."

From behind Alyssa, his grandmother, and his parents, he saw Marissa. He grin was just as bright as it was with his parents. Rushing forward, he wrapped his arms around Marissa and gave her a burning kiss on the lips. It took Rose a few years to realize this, but DJ had and in some respects, still growing up. Her son had always been handsome, his brown hair and blue eyes were an odd combination, but he had gotten his father's bone structure and all of that made a very handsome face. However, he had always been short and his lack of height had always been something of an insecurity.

But in the past two years, the little prick had shot up to six feet tall. He was just as tall as his father and he was taller than her. It was an odd feeling to look up to speak to him, she had always looked down or slightly down, but it was up now. He was handsome, tall, smart and he knew how to kill and make it look like an accident 17 different ways. But somehow, she had the feeling that he was going to end up with Marissa. She was very much similar to DJ. She was very smart, a gorgeous woman with her famous Hutchinson looks, and she could kill people just as easily and brilliantly as her son could.

Those two were a match made in Huntsclan Heaven.

And she supposed it was similar to her relationship with Jake. She had given up every single thing that she had believed in and known, she trusted him with her life and she'd go to the gates of hell to get him out. Rose would bet everything that she had that he felt the same way. And she sensed that the same thing had developed between Marissa and DJ. She wished them luck and she couldn't have been happier for them, but the little bitch was taking her son from her and she only wished they wouldn't flaunt it.

"Jesus," Jake whispered to her, "You can kill with your eyes you know."

Rose growled and turned to the window of the in which the graduates were meeting with their families before they went home, "I just cannot stand the fact that I have to give DJ up to someone else, he's my little boy Jake."

Grinning, he threw an arm around her shoulder, "He's my boy too, but we knew that this was going to happen and Marissa loves him. She wouldn't do anything to hurt him and she's going to protect him fiercely, like with me."

"I'm lulling you into a false sense of security," She commented dryly.

"What? For thirty years?" He grin was even wider.

Rose narrowed her eyes, "Shut your face."

"Why don't you shut it for me babe?" He challenged her, he didn't think that she'd do anything, even to tease him, right in this crowded area and he doubted that she would want to embarrass her son. He was very wrong.

She reached up and gripped his lower jaw and forced it against the rest of his skull. Rose grinned, "And you thought that I wouldn't want to embarrass DJ? For you information, I don't give a shit, I can still do what I want."

"He turns 18 in a few days," Jake reminded her as he rubbed his jaw, "You won't be able to shit to him then, he'll be a legal adult, get over it Rose."

She narrowed her eyes, "Easy for you to say."

"You look like your about to kill each other," Alyssa hissed as she approached them, "Stop acting like children, this is a big moment for DJ."

That got both Rose and Jake's attention and they both folded their arms over their chests and glared at their daughter. Jake was the first one to begin, he held up a hand and pointed one finger at her, "First of all, you are the child in this situation, you may be married and you may have more children than us, but the fact remains that you are still our child, got it?"

"I'm not a little girl anymore," Alyssa scowled, "I've got teeth now."

He raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, but mine are bigger."

Rose shook her head in annoyance and pushed her in between them, forcing them back a few steps. That caught both Jake and Alyssa off guard, for as long as they had both known her, she had more strength then she appeared outwardly, "Oh enough, you're both Dragons, you both suck. I could take you both with my hands and legs tied together, so shut up."

Alyssa and Jake looked at her fading form with surprise. This wasn't normally how she acted. She normally just stood there and watched their little spats, but she never broke them up and never did it in such an insulting manner. Jake almost went after her, but he was surprised to find his daughters arm suddenly clutch his. He turned back to her and narrowed his eyes, "Do you have any idea what's going on with your mother?"

"Yeah," Alyssa said, "I told her that I wouldn't tell you, but you need to know this one. Do you remember when you went through your midlife-…"

Jake stopped her with a chuckle, "…You're kidding?"

"No, this is hers," Alyssa resumed gently, "Just be gentle with her, she's going to get a lot more aggressive, mean spirited in general, that thing."

Jake sighed, "Well, thanks for letting me in on the big cover up."

OOOOO

Her age was catching up to her and she didn't like it. If there was ever a time in her life that she would ever like to skip or to avoid, it would have been this one. For all intents and purposes, she enjoyed this part of her life, however, the looming feeling of one's mortality catching up to them was irritating, and frightening at the same time. If you had asked her the question of what she would be doing when she was 51, when she was 16, she would have told you that she would be the Huntsmistress. Not the United States Secretary of Defense, former CIA Agent and married happily with six children and even more grandchildren.

When her phone began to ring, she almost let it ring, but she had made the mistake of looking at the caller ID. Normally, she wouldn't pick up for a restricted number, but this was from her work phone and only those within the superstructure of the United States Government called her on this phone. Sighing, she answered and put it to her ear, "I'm busy."

"You have time for this Madam Secretary," A Russian Voice answered to her, "It concerns the National Security of both the United States and the Russian Government, not to mention your life and that of your President."

Her eyes widened, "Who is this?"

"Agent Gulin, Russian Intelligence," He said with a bit of a laugh, "Might I remind you that we put about a hundred bullet holes into Zhu De together?"

Rose's eyes narrowed further, but she nodded, "Yeah I remember, how I could I forget. This is a restricted and heavily classified US Government number, how in the hell did you manage to get your hands on it?"

"Let's just say, I have a friend in the CIA who let me have it," He sounded smug, hell she would be too if she had been a Russian Agent who could get a hold of the United States DOD Secretary's number, "I have some information that you might want to look at, it'll interesting."

She rolled her eyes, "Give it to Marshall Gordon over at CIA, in case you weren't aware, I'm not CIA anymore, I run the US Military now."

"You're the only one that I trust with this," He told her, "When I end this conversation, the following is going to happen in short order. First, you'll call Marshall Gordon and inform him of this situation, he's going to tell you that he knows and that he's spoken of with my superiors in Moscow. Knowing how your Government works, news will spread and until it reaches the instigator of the threat to your life, you need to keep this contained. So I am asking you to come to me and hear me out, it is important."

Rose sighed and rubbed her forehead, "I'm not making the trip to wherever you are just so I can hear a dud, you give me a general outline of what you're talking about and I'll meet you wherever you need me to meet you."

"Is this line secure?" He asked curiously.

The former Huntsgirl looked at the wall in front of her dryly, "Seriously?"

"I forgot who I was speaking too," Gulin laughed lightly for a moment before his voice became serious again, "As of this moment, there are two things transpiring within your country and one very important thing within mine. There is a group of so-called, rouge FIS Agents on your soil right now and there is a traitorous member of your Government paying them and supplying information to them on your Presidents Swearing in. Now, we have a mole inside the group telling us what they're doing, care to guess?"

Her eyes widened and she felt the breath in her lungs leave her for a long moment, "Are you saying that there is a group of highly trained FIS Agents on American Soil and they have the plans to our security grid around the President, and a traitor in our Government gave the plans to them?"

"Yes," He nodded, "I'll tell you the final details when you arrive at the lake in Central Park, North Lookout Point, I'll find you, and you have 30 Minutes."

She rubbed her forehead harder when the phone call ended and the other end went dead. Oh her life she got extremely complicated. Now she had to explain to her family why she disappeared and she'd be late for the little surprise party that they had set up for DJ back at the apartment. She was a good at lying, but she didn't know if she'd be able to get past this one all that easily.

If there was one look on DJ's face that made her sick, it was the subtle look of disappointment. She had tried to reassure him that she'd be back soon, but that look wouldn't go away. Rose had told Jake that it was a work thing, but that didn't whip the rather angry look off of his face either. It couldn't be helped, she couldn't pass this up and besides, she'd return to the apartment after this meeting. But that still didn't undo the damage that it had caused.

Combining trying to get a cab and trying to get to Central Park in less than thirty minutes at this time of the day in Downtown New York City was a feat for the ages. But she had done it. She couldn't have just gotten her driver to take her to Central Park, but then again, this had to be kept under wraps and she had a strange feeling that a clandestine meeting would be reported and she couldn't risk this being spread, "You're quick on your feet Rose."

"It helps to be blue eyed, blonde and leggy," Rose smirked as she felt FIS Agent Gulin come up behind her and stand next to her at the railing that overlooked large lake in the center of the Central Park, "What's this all about? What's the big secret that you couldn't have told me on the phone?"

She turned and looked at the clean cut and trimmed Russian Intelligence Agent. He wore a pair of thick black sunglasses as he folded his arms over his chest, "Right now, there is a silent attempt by the Russian Military to take over the Government. What my boss failed tell Director Gordon was that this rouge group of intelligence officers are not so rouge. They are in the secret employ of the Russian Federation and at the behest of the Generals that are now holding a gun to the back of President Alexandra."

"The Military is in control of the Russian Federation?" Rose asked.

Gulin nodded, "In a manner of speaking. They control all Military, Foreign Policy and some issues of Domestic Security. All of these Generals were under watch by the FIS for their Communist activates and we were ready to arrest them, but the President ordered us to back off. That was before she told us that she had those Generals threating to kill her and take control."

"What's FIS's stand on this?" Rose asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's the same as yours, we want to protect our President and secure our Government," He said in a hushed tone, "But with the Military under those General's control, we can't do that without in sighting a Civil War between the Military and the rest of us. We need to do this very, very, very gently."

Rose turned and scowled, "What did they order those people to do?"

"Nothing initially, but when they were contacted by this traitor in your Government, they saw an opportunity and they took it," He told her with a serious expression, "The Generals only informed the leader of this group, Dmitri Radliv to do whatever this traitor pay them for and then kill your President. Other than that, our informant has now other answers."

"Do you at least know where this traitor is?" Rose asked him.

"The Department of Defense, might I add that they paid this team to wound you, not mortally, just enough to remove you from your job," He answered.

Rose looked over to him and blinked, that meant that she oversaw this person and that was a failure on her part. Not to mention that someone who was working for her wanted her shot. She blinked at him again in incredulousness and put her hands on her hips, "There are 700,000 people who work for me and two million in the Military. And there are at least two hundred people who have access to those plans, but only a hand full that can actually get all of them and receive copies of them. I'm aware that it's Russian Policy to not give a shit what we do, so why are you all helping us?"

"I believe that it's called Quid Pro Quo," He told her with a smile.

Rose smiled and nodded, "Of course, you scratch our back we scratch yours, so what, may I ask, is the sort of itch that you need scratching?"

"Your assistance, the FIS is preparing to remove the Generals from their position of controlling the President," He folded his arms over his chest, "We need some sort of assistance, quelling every sort of social uprising."

"That's the CIA's specialty," Rose grinned, "So that's it?"

"Tell your President that the Russian Federation will be eternally grateful to the United States if you help us stop this attempted Junta," He looked down to her and smiled, "I convinced my boss that you are to be trusted and I anticipate that you will be told that all of these things I'm telling you is false, be aware that Military is monitoring most of our communications, except the FIS's Diplomatic line to you, but we didn't want to take any chances."

Rose nodded, "I'll convey the message."

"Good," He sighed, "You realize that this situation is dangerous, the FIS is more than capable of removing the Generals from behind the President's back, but we don't have the man power to consolidate the Military and quell the uprisings that will most definitely follow their removal. But if we fail, and that will happen if we don't have the US and CIA backing-…"

"The Military seizes power, it destabilizes the entire would, the Evil Empire is back," Rose said as the realization of the consequences of this came upon her.

Gulin smiled, "You're beginning to understand now Rose."