Hidden Betrayal

Disclaimer: This story is based on Characters copyrighted by Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon Productions. This story is meant for enjoyment purposes only and cannot be redistributed without permission from the author. I retain the rights to the plot, not the characters. No infringement is intended

Author's note: This story takes place 25 years after the story Ready Or Not.

Thank you to Sue who edited all my punctuation mistakes and gave suggestions. Any mistakes are mine. Also thank you to Tracey and Karen for their technical help,suggestions and encouragement.

Chapter 1

January 2013 : Somewhere in the Middle East

The terrorist training camp and its soldiers were preparing for their latest mission to attack the United States. The men were talking very excitedly to each other regarding their leader's idea of working loosely with some other cell groups inside the US. For the last four months They had formed a plan to try to attack the Pentagon. Among the discussions was that one way would be to attack the Joint Chiefs Of Staff. Since September 11,2001 security was very tight in the United States and it would be especially hard to penetrate and attack the Pentagon. If they could cause some damage to the mightiest military in the world,what a great victory it would be for them! It would also bring special honor on their group and each individual's family. There had been a lot of coded messages exchanged between groups on social media, phone relays and secret meetings during this time. After surveillance and research had been done,plans were approved for the second in command,Jaza Bukhari,of one of the Al-Qaeda splinter groups was given the authority to gather a team to accomplish their goal.

February 2013:

For the last 7 years Lee and Amanda Stetson were heading up the recruiting and training dept of the Agency. Their skills as field agents and partners had earned them great respect within the agency and Lee's determined persistence and passion to find and train agents had given him a renewed sense of purpose in his job. When his section chief Billy Melrose retired,Because of his reputation Scarecrow was asked to replace him. At first he was hesitant to accept the job. He just didn't think he was cut out for a desk job. But Amanda had encouraged him to try it since the physical aspects of the job were putting a strain on his body. Lee had one hip and knee replacement. Soon he would have the other knee replaced. The mighty Scarecrow was finding it hard to accept the process of aging. Amanda had urged him to slow down and with her help they were making the necessary changes inside the agency. After a year as section chief he couldn't stomach it anymore. Too much bureaucracy and politics from the top.

So Francine Desmond took over. She had not been happy when she was passed over for promotion but when Lee resigned as section leader the Agency heads decided that it was time to endorse a woman for the position. The natural good looks of his youth was still evident,that always caused women to do double takes in public and go out of their way to meet him. His hair was still thick and full but there were now large streaks of gray in the once brown hair. His face showed the normal wear of aging that had crows feet outlining the eyes of his chiseled face.

Francine Desmond was disturbed over the reports she had been hearing from the different intelligence communities. She'd been informed there were a few small Al-Qaeda splinter groups with sleeper cells in the US. She was directed by the Agency heads that a top priority was to be given in apprehending these cell groups. She called a meeting of all the field agents in the Agency. They were crowded into the small auditorium which was usually reserved for inter-agency conferences. As Section Chief, Francine loved to be the center of attention, so she made sure she wore her best outfit that day for what she thought was one of the most important directives she would give in her career. Her signature Blonde hair which covered her natural gray color was swept up into a loose bun. She wore her power red skirt and jacket with the black Louis Vuitton heels. As she stepped up to the microphone, she looked across at the vast sea of agents,took a deep breath and spoke.

"Thank you all for your cooperation in attending this meeting. I was asked by the President's office, the State Department and our Agency board to have you all personally attend this important meeting, so you may hear this directive. We believe there could be some type of terrorist attack on the Pentagon and the Joint Chiefs sometime in the next four or five months. All federal security agencies will be on alert along with the military. All agents will be focused on finding the terrorists, and any cases or assignments you are working on is to be put on hold. Francine paused to take a breath.

"I have asked Scarecrow to be a consultant in this operation. As you know,he and his wife Amanda head up our Recruitment and training division of agents. Even though he is no longer an active agent out in the field, he has a lot of experience in terrorist activity. So we will be coordinating together. You are to consult either him or I. Now,he has some things to add, Scarecrow please come up."

As Lee walked to the podium the audience of agents gave warm applause and the younger operatives suddenly sat a little straighter in their chairs at rapt attention because they had heard stories of the legendary agent and they believed this was a unique opportunity to hear from him. The renowned agent began to address them.

"Thank you Francine. Now from our reports from various networks and chatter it is thought that these are Al-Qaeda splinter cells that have no more than four to six people in each one. In addition there are maybe three or four of these cells loosely working together. I would like to emphasize everyone needs to contact their sources if they have heard anything. Check out any minute detail. This is a major breach in our security that somehow these splinter groups somehow got through major security checkpoints. Reports are to be made of your actions and findings and be on Francine's desk by every Thursday. If you have questions or need help with any leads I am available 24/7 I can't emphasize to you enough we need to find these groups ASAP. We are not the only intelligence agency to be working on this. The FBI, CIA, Homeland Security, and the National Security Agency has every available agent working on this. I know with everyone's effort we will be successful. Inside folders that were on your chairs are some pictures and bio's of known terrorists that could be involved. Also a list of those on the No Fly List. Show these pictures to your contacts. Thank you."