Fort Meade, Maryland. 2014.
The gate to Fort George G. Meade was like any other U.S Army Base. Armed officers lined the check in booth and controlled barriers let cars in and out. Sam was in the back of the truck tugging uncomfortably at his dress uniform.
"I'm starting to feel like this was a bad idea."
"Too late to back out now." Natasha commented as I examined the officers conversing between themselves. They looked young, most likely soldiers who were given gate duty as a punishment for back chatting or some other broken rule.
"What do I even say?" Sam questioned.
"Nothing." I stated turning from the passenger seat to face him. "They are so below you in terms of rank they aren't worth the time you'd spend speaking to them. Walk with purpose, you know exactly what you're here for and you are not going to leave without it." Sam nodded and we both exited the vehicle.
The yellow visitor pass was shining brightly on my chest as we marched through the gates and into the official territory of Fort Meade. My new short hair made it much easier for the blonde wig to stay in place, the green contacts were hidden behind the sunglasses they'd asked me to take off at the gate.
"Where did you learn how to lie like that?" Sam questioned as he headed for the secure unit the Falcon kit was being kept in.
"Soviet Russia." He laughed and then stopped when he saw the neutral expression on my face.
"Remind me how we are going to get it out of here without it being noticed?"
"Whilst you were panicking in the truck I was watching the gate. They conform to security protocols when letting people in, but when they're leaving, they don't even look inside the cars. They just flag them through – we are literally going to walk out of here with that thing strapped to you."
We approached the gate and Sam pressed his fake ID card (courtesy of Yuri) to the scanner. It beeped us through without a problem and we began to approach the second gate where an armed soldier was getting ready to meet us.
"Remember, you have every right to be here, on behalf of Senator Warren. You've been requested to inspect the Falcon kit."
"And you?"
"I'm his secretary, here to make sure everything runs smoothly."
Sam breathed a sigh of relief as the second soldier flagged us through. Suddenly my earpiece crackled to life and I heard Steve's voice on the other end.
"How are you guys doing? Sitwell has lunch in a couple of hours and we've got to be back in D.C by then."
"One second." I whispered as the third solider waved us through, not even stopping to look at me. Sam once again pressed his ID card to the door of the building and we were in. As the door sealed behind me I spoke up again.
"We're in. I might lose you for a couple of minutes, but we'll be back within ten."
"Got it."
I checked my watch as Sam began to undo his khaki jacket, it had deliberately been a size too big, the machinery we were stealing was compact but still bulky and we didn't want attention being drawn.
"What time is the shift change at security?"
"09.15 on the dot. It never changed."
"And how long does it take roughly?" I asked as I spotted the door that I would have only moments to break in to before the security cameras would spot us.
"2 minutes."
"So, 2 minutes to get in there, steal the kit, get it on you and get back out before anyone notices something is wrong."
"Shouldn't be a problem." Sam noted as I counted down the seconds. As soon as it hit 09.15 I ran towards the security look, pulled off the front and short wired it, the doors opened, and Sam slid in before they quickly sealed shut again.
"1 minute, 30 seconds." I called, keeping my head down from the cameras. I kept my eyes fixed on the watch as the seconds ticked by.
"45 seconds Sam. Hurry up." Seconds later there was a bang on the other side of the door, I once again short wired the system and Sam slipped out, quickly concealing the mechanical wings he was now wearing under his military jacket. I slipped the face of the security code back on the front and joined him at the front door just as our time ran out. Sam exhaled, and I couldn't help but smirk as we walked straight out of Fort Meade and got back into a different grey car that Natasha was driving.
"Where's Steve?" Sam questioned.
"Just down the street, it would look obvious if we arrived and left in the same car, we'll the truck and then this when we get to D.C. She pulled away from the curb and as I looked back at the gate to Fort Meade, no alarm seemed to have been raised.
"So, whose Sitwell's lunch with?" I asked, Natasha shrugged as I opened my laptop and began the process of hacking into his phone.
"Senator Stern." I stated, knowing I'd seen the name somewhere before.
"Isn't that the guy who tried to get Stark to hand over the Iron Man suit to the senate?" Natasha questioned.
"That would be the one." I remembered as I brought up a picture of his face. I found the coordinates of the hotel they were meeting at and put them into the machine just as Nat pulled over and Steve jumped in the back of the car.
"Where are we headed?" He questioned as Nat pulled onto the freeway, taking us back to D.C.
"To disturb Sitwell's lunch with Senator Stern. Occidental Grill."
"So, are we gonna do this?" Sam asked.
"Well, given that you're the only one of us who isn't actively being hunted by SHIELD, it's probably a good idea if you're the only one in the open until we have Sitwell secure." Natasha stated.
"He is going to be surrounded by a security detail." Steve noted.
"True. So, we get him to drop his guard, Sam pass me your phone." I asked and plugged it into my laptop for a few moments before handing it back to him.
"When you call him, he'll see the ID as being Pierce. He'll most likely send his detail to the car, that's how we'll get him alone."
"What's to stop him from running?" Sam asked.
"Sitwell may be an agent but he's arrogant, vain and fundamentally a coward. He's a fall guy. He's part of HYDRA most likely because it's easier that way, Sitwell lives by 'if you can't beat them, join them.' Besides I'll find a nearby rooftop to make sure he stays put."
"We don't have a rifle, Leyna."
"I don't need a rifle, I just need binoculars and a laser pointer."