9:57pm Paris
The group headed to the French safehouse while Dalton picked up the satellite phone.
"Patricia, there has been a development," Dalton told her, "Ephraim Khan, Jaz's father, has shown up. He was on the flight to Paris but Director Hampton wasn't." He was quiet as he listened to her response.
"You haven't really said how you know my father." Jaz wouldn't let go and confronted their host again.
"He has a habit of showing up at really bad times." Yvette concentrated on the list of passenger names, pausing on a familiar one.
"That really was vague." McG pointed out.
"I've known him for years." She glanced at the medic, "He tried to manipulate or leverage me into helping him many times and he's very good at it. He tried to turn me about 10 years ago, wanted a source in French Intelligence."
"You have that kind of clout?" Preach was impressed.
"He wants me to have that level but I'm happy where I am." She didn't look up.
"Fighting terrorists?" Amir watched her. The arrival was unexpected and he was seeing Yvette under pressure. But he was still looking for a weakness or a tell.
"And apparently Americans." She shot a glare at him.
Preach pulled the van into the driveway of the safe house and everyone got out.
"Hampton trusting Ephraim is not something I would have expected. In fact, I would have bet on the exact opposite because it puts Jaz in a very precarious position." Yvette paused a moment looking at the other woman, "When it comes to it—and it will—what will you do? Will you do your job or will you try to protect your father?"
Jaz hesitated a moment thinking about the question, "Where is he?"
"Being interviewed by intelligence." She headed inside the French safe house.
"Tortured?" Visions of her experiences in Tehran ran through her mind.
"Probably not. He's traveling on a flagged passport but was getting caught part of the plan?" Yvette's voice trailed off as she reflected. She blinked and looked at the Americans, "I'm sure your boss is already calling to get him released."
"Will they release him?" Preach asked.
"They will want something in return."
"Like what?" McG chimed in.
"How about my sister and niece?" Yvette snapped as they gathered in the house.
"Why does Hampton care about you?" Amir watched her actions.
"That is something my bosses have been asking me for a long time." Yvette revealed.
"No answers?" He followed up.
She met his gaze, "Plenty of ideas but not sure which is right."
Amir caught a slight pause before her response and wondered what it meant.
"Wait a minute. You just had my dad arrested and you still expect me to help you?" Jaz's voice got louder.
"I expect you to follow orders." Yvette looked at Dalton as he came into the room. "Is Director Campbell pulling you out?"
Dalton slipped the phone back into his pocket. "Not yet. Hampton will show up here and we are to take him back with us to Turkey."
"That will cause jurisdiction issues." Preach warned.
"France won't care, you can have him. I just want my family." Yvette responded.
"And I want my dad back." Jaz snapped.
"He had an active warrant so you're going to have an issue with that." Yvette told her.
Dalton opened their computer for a video call. Patricia's face popped up on the screen, "Yvette, why did you leave after Ephraim Khan arrived?"
"The three people after Ephraim are CIA agents." Yvette told them.
"What?" Dalton turned to her.
"Your focus was on me and Ephraim so you missed the people getting off the plane." She reminded, "Plus a woman from earlier and possibly the man right before Ephraim."
"But what about Hampton?" Preach asked, "Any leads on him?"
"Nothing yet." Noah admitted.
"What does Hampton want?" McG asked. They all turned to the Frenchwoman. She blinked gathering her thoughts, "Information."
"He is the Director of the agency, what could you possibly have that he would need?" McG was skeptical.
Yvette shot him a look, "Just because he is a director doesn't mean he is all knowing."
"What information does he want?" Patricia asked.
"I will never see my family again if I give you that." Yvette was hard to read.
Patricia pushed, "I'm not going to tell Hampton."
"You aren't ordering Dalton to leave so that tells me you don't consider me a threat and that's not a good idea." Yvette looked around the room, "I was sent to Africa to kill ISIS leaders, so don't try some stupid, "life is precious" argument on me. Hampton sent this special force unit to confront me then recruited Ephraim Khan—Jaz's father—add pressure, so I don't have any room to trust you."
"We are not on Hampton's side." Noah promised, "You helped me so much when we met. I'm trying to return the favor and help you."
"You think I helped you?" Yvette looked surprised, "You really believe that?"
Noah hesitated.
"Noah, when I met you, Hampton had a hit out on me. I had to deal with three American special ops—within a week—targeting me. Obviously, I survived. And the next American I see is you."
Noah's jaw dropped as he looked at his boss. She was not happy.
"I'm guessing it was Hampton that sent you to Romania." She prodded the technician.
Noah blinked.
Yvette caught the tell, "He didn't care if you came back alive. He just needed you to distract me so he would have time to get the next operative in the country. That one nearly did succeed."
"But you didn't kill me so you can't be all that bad." Noah reasoned.
"That's a very naive view." Yvette sighed, "Your assignment in Romania was finding Caleb."
"Yes."
"And why was I looking for him?"
Noah though back, "You didn't say."
"I wasn't." The room was silent at her words. Yvette met Dalton's gaze, "You really need me to spell it out?"
Noah looked at his boss. Patricia knew where this was going and closed her eyes.
"Caleb was one of the operatives who came after me before Noah arrived." Yvette revealed.
"So you killed him." Joseph realized. She didn't respond.
"But why stick around afterward?" Preach asked.
"How else could I deflect America's investigation?" Yvette shrugged, "If the US was going to trust a rookie operative to look into it, why would I NOT stick around to screw things up?"
Hannah stared at her keyboard partner. He was at a loss for words.
"If they were trying to kill you, why didn't you target Noah?" Dalton asked.
Yvette was expressionless, "My life depends on reading people—quickly. He was an inexperienced field agent, what's the point?"
"You're a killer—that's the point." Dalton argued.
"Never said I wasn't." She retorted, "But I am smart enough to pick my battles and that was not worth the risk."
Noah winced.
"So what now?" Jaz wondered.
"I have reasons to kill most the people in this room, and I believe Hampton knew that. That has to be his reason for choosing your team." She exhaled.
"What do you mean?" Patricia questioned.
"When this team arrive, I think you are all on Hampton's side. Probably here to kidnap or kill me. So I react." Yvette gestured with her hands, "What would happen if you were all out of contact or missing or presumed dead? The DIA would throw all its resources into finding out what happened to you—which means sending more operatives to find me. In the meantime, Hampton's kidnapping of my family would get lost by the wayside—and if he was lucky, an American would kill me and then it would be over."
"Why would your first reaction be to kill any of them?" Patricia wondered.
"Years ago, Dalton tried to kill me."
"What?" Dalton was floored.
"You really don't recognize me?" Yvette faced him.
He blinked.
"You attacked so many people you can't remember three unarmed women you tried to kill?"
Memories came flooding back from his first military deployment. Dalton's army friends and teammates had died in targeted attacks against the American military. The rumors were all over the unit as to the truth but Dalton had some contacts who could separate fact from fiction. They said that intelligence had narrowed the acts to a terrorist family who were trying to make waves in the new country. Dalton recognized the daughter of the family with some friends when he was in town.
"That was you?" Dalton blanched.
"Your training was better than mine and if that officer hadn't stepped in and pulled you off, you would have killed me." Yvette recalled.
Dalton had cornered the three women in an alleyway. He remembered his rage as he reached for them. The images focused as he remembered their faces, "You weren't the daughter…you were one of the friends."
"Oui."
His mind went through the situation, "The one who fought back."
Yvette nodded, "I was there working with American intelligence to track down the mastermind and then attacked by you, an American. Maybe you can see why trusting any of you is not something I do."
"That's only one of us." Jaz pointed out.
"Dalton is your leader; you would follow his orders."
"Not if we were ordered to kill someone without a reason." Jaz argued.
Yvette glanced at Dalton. He swallowed.
"Orders are orders and you follow them. You'd have grounds even though they are flimsy. I asked my country for permission to kill Hamid Khedani while I was in Africa. Everyone seemed to look to him as a leader and I thought that if I took you out of the equation then the ring would dissolve."
"Why not Rakin, he was the leader of the group." Amir really objected to the way things were going.
"Rakin was angry and unpredictable. You were the moral compass who kept him in line. I theorized that without you Rakin would crash and burn." She told them.
Dalton closed his eyes; this op was going from bad to worse to terrible.
"Not that I want to be killed, but why didn't you?" Amir wondered.
"I was told you were protected," Yvette paused, "I figured it meant you were cooperating with someone. I didn't translate it as 'American intelligence. But someone on your side knows about the request." She turned to face him, "Considering what's happening now, Hampton had to be involved. Was he the on the ground supervisor?"
Amir knew not to respond, but Yvette's skill at reading body language was sharp. "Hampton it is."
In America, Hannah entered the observation room but stayed out of the camera's view. She held up a folder and motioned to Patricia.
"We need more intelligence on Hampton. And we will keep trying to locate him." Patricia told the team, "We will call when we have something. Dalton be careful and watch for Hampton's people." She cut off the call and moved toward the other woman, "What is it?"
"Are we disconnected?" Hannah looked worried as she looked at the screens in the room.
Noah confirmed they were, "Yes."
"A body was discovered. There were security cameras so there is a video of the murder. They are double checking and triple checking everything right now but..." Hannah trailed off as she handed her boss the preliminary information.
Patricia read over the report, "This is not good."
