Ok, so this is going to be kind of a long author's note, but please read it. It's important. I haven't been able to sign in on my FFN account on any device other than my phone since the day the account was created. Unfortunately, my phone has now decided to not want to ever charge, so I have to get a new phone. This means that after tomorrow, I probably won't be able to access this account anymore.
I will continue to post this story on my new account: CakeLovrForLife (yes, I just took out the "e" in "Lover"). Please check out that account!!! I will post a comment on this story with my new account as well, to make it easier to find.
I am really upset that this has happened. I have posted multiple stories on this account, and have worked really hard to do so. Starting over sucks, so if you would just take a minute to go follow my old stories on my new account, that would be really great! Thanks!
Nadine looked up from her computer screen, looking first at Jay, who had settled himself on her office couch, then at Blake, who was situated in the wingback chair in the corner of the office. Both men were surrounded by mountains of file folders, and both were busily typing and reading on their iPads. She let out a sigh. This was not how diplomatic emergencies were supposed to get solved.
Jay looked up from whatever he had been reading. "Figure out anything yet?" he asked, though he could predict her answer before she gave it.
"No. We just don't have enough sources inside of the Iraqis government to get credible intel. I'm at a loss."
Nadine saw Blake shift his eyes away from the tablet and towards the mountains of paperwork. "Seriously?" he asked incredulously. "All of this intel and none of it credible?"
"Pretty much," Nadine confirmed. "We're back to square one."
"So where do we go from…" Blake was cut off by three knocks on the window that seperated Nadine's office from Matt and Daisy's office. Both men quickly shut their tablets off, pushing the stacks of files under the couch and chair, and moving some behind Nadine's desk. Nadine changed the webpage that her browser was showing, handing the men their coffee mugs, and picking up one of her own.
They managed to be seated, nonchalantly drinking very, very cold coffee by the time Deputy Cushing let himself into Nadine's office. The three knocks had been a signal from Matt and Daisy, letting them know that the Deputy Secretary was approaching.
"Can I help you?" Nadine asked in her diplomatic voice. She was none too fond of Cushing.
"I sure hope so!" the disgruntled man bellowed. "You were supposed to have the Iraq report on my desk three hours ago! Where is it?!"
Nadine was silent, trying to come up with a viable excuse. The truth was, they had absolutely no desire to hand an honest version of the report to the easily ignited Deputy Cushing. The situation in Iraq was, well, tense to say the least. One wrong move, and Nadine and Jay were worried that the world would be plunged into another world war. That was why they were all holed up in Nadine's office to begin with; they were trying to solve the crisis without involving the Deputy Secretary.
"Deputy Cushing," Jay interrupted, emphasizing the word deputy,"we were having some problems getting the WiFi to work late last night, and it wasn't fixed until earlier this morning. We have been working here ever since."
"That is strange… I had a good WiFi connection this morning…" Cushing sputtered.
That put Jay at a loss. Luckly, Blake stepped in. "You were using the secure WiFi in the main office. That server only has room for a few devices, and the other WiFi server was down." Oh, thank God for Blake. Nadine wasn't sure if Blake was making all of that up or not, but it seemed to work.
"Well… if you say so," Deputy Cushing relented. "But I still want that report before I get here tomorrow morning."
"Of course, sir," Nadine quickly found her voice, nodding as Cushing turned and left her office without so much as a goodbye. She turned to Jay and Blake. "Any ideas?"
"None," Jay admitted, and Blake nodded his agreement. She let out a sigh, turning back to her computer screen. Where on earth did they find more sources inside of Iraq? Who would have those kinds of contacts. Nadine's stomach sank when she realized exactly who would have the connections to get another source inside of Iraq. Unfortunately, that person was… preoccupied at the moment.
"And this is why we need Secretary McCord," she heard Jay speak, more to himself, then to any of the others in the room. She almost laughed at the similarity of their thought processes. Almost.
"The secretary is still on leave, Jay," Nadine reminded him, also attempting to remind herself. Life had become a lot more difficult for all of them since Elizabeth McCord had been shot. Not that their suffering compared in any way to what their boss was going through, but… that didn't mean it wasn't hard! Nadine was honestly tempted to pick up the phone and call the Secretary, but she attempted to talk herself out of it. "We can't ask for her help until we know she is well, and I don't know about you guys, but I haven't heard anything from the McCords in a couple of weeks."
"I heard from Dr. McCord," Blake piped up. At the eyes that shot up to him, he continued. "He said that things were getting better. Sort of. She's still getting used to, well, everything… but he said that it's better than when she was hiding in her room for like a week…"
"She hid in her room for a week?" Jay asked in shock, his words parroting Nadine's thoughts. Wow, that was happening a lot today!
"Oh, you guys didn't know that?" Blake's face suddenly went pale, and he stammered, "Um… please don't tell Dr. McCord… or… or the Secretary that I told you guys that? He's a former Marine and she's a former CIA agent… I don't want to be on their bad side…"
"Relax, Blake," Nadine reassured him. "We won't tell them that we know, will we, Jay?"
It took a few seconds for Jay to take her hint, but he straightened his back from his slouched position and looked towards them. "Oh, yeah, of course we won't!"
"Promise?" Blake hesitantly asked.
"Promise," Nadine replied sincerely. "Now, what can we do other than contacting the one person we literally cannot call?"
The trio stayed in Nadine's office for hours, trying to come up with a solution to their Iraq problem. In Nadine's opinion, they were trying to accomplish the impossible. Without reliable intel, they couldn't do anything about the escalating situation across the world.
"Are you sure we can't call MSec?" Jay asked for the fourth time, earning a groan from both Blake and Nadine.
"Fairly certain, yes," Nadine muttered.
"You know…," Blake started, only pausing because both sets of eyes in the room began boring holes into his brain.
"Keep going…" Jay prodded.
"We can't call the Secretary directly, no. If she didn't have any problem with that, Dr. McCord certainly would. But what if we called him? He would probably be okay setting us up with a few minutes to talk to Secretary McCord, if we play our cards right…"
"Normally I would be adamantly opposed… but I don't see any better ideas. Blake, you have Dr. McCord's number?" Nadine inquired.
"Who do you think you're talking to?" Blake shot back, and she let herself smirk. Of course Blake had the phone number. The boy probably had the phone numbers of half the residents of DC.
"Call Dr. McCord. See if he can get the Secretary to do… well, at least to talk with us for a couple of minutes. Okay?"
"Yes, ma'am," Blake agreed, rushing off to his desk.
"Well," Nadine muttered, turning to Jay, "we'll see how this goes!"
I was going to post another part of this chapter from Elizabeth's perspective, but I wanted to get this chapter out before tomorrow, when I lose this account. Please go check out my new account!!! Thanks!!!