Los Angeles
"Wait, wait, wait, you want me to do what?" The words came from her in a breathless rush and Weiss and Vaughn exchanged glances. Vaughn decided to speak slower this time. Maybe that would do it.
"We need you to run a recon. Some very important data was stolen – the key files for the Department of Defense. We need to know who might have it and we can't let DOD on to the fact that it's missing, but it's only a matter of time. You need to check out some sources and track this data down."
"I don't have that kind of training."
"Yes, you do. You don't need to understand the data, just get us a paper trail." He passed a mission folder down the table to her. "That will get you started. If I were you, I'd start with the CIA archives … it will take a while for somebody upstairs to pull anything and we don't have that kind of time."
Leticia blinked back at him. "You owe me, Agent Vaughn."
"Don't I know it," he muttered under his breath.
Counter Terrorist Unit
Los AngelesI hung up the phone on my desk and swiveled needlessly in my chair. Next to me, Lex stopped typing and looked at me with that 'I will never quite understand you, but boy would I love to' look on his face. "Breaking a date?" he quipped. I rolled my eyes. "Explaining to my parents that I got called in to work and I'll be away for a while. Thankfully, they don't ask questions."
He nodded, taking another long drink from his coffee cup. "How does somebody who's not even an adult yet work for CTU?"
"I don't know. How old were you when you started at Langley?" I shrugged. "I met his wife once at a summer school lecture. Next thing I know, he's offering me a civilian commission. And I always did want to save the world."
Lex chuckled. "Don't think we're quite there yet."
"I don't know that either," I said, pulling up another docket on my computer. I didn't want to check what Jack had told me on a CTU computer. Like him, I trusted most everyone here, but I didn't want to raise suspicion. There was a reason he had told me and only me, and I doubted that it was because I was the agent closest to his departed spouse.
"Anybody clear his office yet?" I asked Lex randomly.
He shook his head. "I assume they're waiting for us."
"Well, I don't know any better place to start," I said, standing and starting to walk away. When I realized he wasn't following, I turned and stood there staring at the back of his head.
Eventually Lex looked back at me. "What?"
"Come on, Lex. It's not that late."
"Oh. Right," he said, grabbing his car keys from his jacket pocket. "Let's go."
CIA Los Angeles Archives
The desk agent reminded Leticia of our former high school librarians. Old, difficult, and it was like they almost loved needling you to the point of oblivion. She set her warrant card down on the desk. "What more proof do you want? It's right there," she said, trying to hide the exasperation in her voice.
"Sweetheart, I don't know what division secretarial pool you're in, but you don't get the secret code," the desk agent replied evenly.
"It says right there on my badge. Operations. Agent clearance."
"You're barely out of high school, I don't think so."
"Are you blind?" She sighed. "Listen, give me the phone. I'll call Agent Vaughn upstairs and prove it to you."
"This involves Vaughn?" Now the desk agent froze. "What trouble is he in now?"
Finally, an opening. "He sent me on a research errand. Can I get into the room now, please?"
The gate buzzed and she tried it; it gave way, and she stepped inside the massive archive room with a sigh. There were days when she preferred being an active agent rather than dealing with paper-pushers. She chose to ignore the odd look the desk agent was still shooting in her direction and realized she would be here for a very long time.
Former Office of Ryan ChappelleCTU District Office
Los AngelesLex unlocked the door with his master key and held it open for me as I stepped inside. "The birthplace of Satan," I deadpanned as he closed the door behind the both of us. This place freaked me out. I had walked by it on times when Mason had asked me to come to District and help him out, but I had never wanted to see behind this door.
You don't always get what you want.
Chappelle's office still looked like a crime scene. The body had been moved, of course, but everything else remained untouched. Having learned from a lot of reading on forensic science and a good many episodes of CSI, I reached into my jacket pocket and snapped on a pair of latex gloves. I tossed my spare set to Lex, assuming rightly that he hadn't brought any.
"Be very careful," I said needlessly. One of my other duties was evidence processing. I didn't want to be the one screwing up my own job.
"Where do you want to start?" he said, still creeped out.
I blinked. "Where do you want to start?"
"Obviously we're taking his computer?"
"Yeah."
Lex carefully walked over to the desk and reached down to unplug the computer, then hesitated. He decided to turn it on instead and check it out first. Following his logic, I walked over so I could look over his shoulder. Chappelle's computer was airtight, but Lex is an expert hacker and it was no problem for him to walk right in.
"Check his history files," I suggested.
We did.
I scanned the data looking for anything interesting. Most of it was District or within the CTU system. A few were CIA, obviously. I had a feeling that Chappelle was never happy working for a small but growing subset of the Agency and he would have preferred working for the main Agency.
"I don't know what any of this means," I said, leaving the door open for Lex.
But the Langley vet didn't know either. "Can't help you there."
I sighed, rubbing my temples. "Wait … the Agency's got its research facility maybe ten minutes from here, right?"
"I think so." He shut down the computer and unplugged it. "You want to head there?"
"Yeah. Remember the names."
"Just wrote them down," he said, pointing out the steno pad in his shirt pocket. "You want to do this now or later then?"
He grabbed the computer and started for the door without me having to tell him. I looked around at the blood on the walls and the fact that I was going to need dinner soon.
"Later. Definitely later."
With this in mind we started driving again.
"We won't be too long, will we?" I said as we pulled into the Agency facility parking lot.
He checked his watch. "Should be back before the dinner break."
I nodded, sated with that fact, and ducked inside. Obviously it took me about twice as long to pass the security scan as it did for Lex to get through. One of the hang-ups of being a younger agent. That and the smirk on his face as he watched them wave that little wand over me repeatedly.
"Don't," I quipped as I finally got through. "Find me the archives."
"If I can read a map of Langley, I can find anywhere," he proclaimed triumphantly.
I started the stopwatch function on my watch.
"It only took you sixteen and a half minutes," I deadpanned.
"So sue me. I'm getting used to working on this coast."
We walked up to the agent working at the desk and flashed Agency identification. The desk agent kept giving me the evil eye. Finally I just couldn't take it anymore.
"What?" I said as she was running our ID through the computer. Lex was half-smirking at me again.
"So what are you? A secretary or a runner?" she said without looking back at me.
My eyes narrowed.
"You may not want to say that," Lex deadpanned needlessly. Too late.
"For your information, ma'am, I am the Assistant Technology Operations Officer, Civilian Commission, Counter Terrorist Unit, Los Angeles, Central Intelligence Agency, Southwest Section. My supervisor is Special Agent Jack Bauer and I don't think that needs any explanation. I have a job to do, and I'd like to protect my country if that's all right with you."
She just blinked and pushed a little button. Lex and I walked in, staring at the sheer size of the place.
"You want to take one end and I'll take the other and meet you in the … middle?" he suggested.
I shrugged. "Sure. You might want to phone Tony. And phone for take-out," I suggested. "Keep your phone on. I don't want to be running around in here looking for you, no matter how distinctive you are."
He smirked. "Chinese good for you?" he said.
I nodded. "Good luck," I replied, and headed off with half his list of file names.
I vaguely assumed these were alphabetical, at least I hoped they were. Lex's list was, so I started with 'Archer triple-zero-seventeen-four' and headed to the back wall. I love libraries and big rooms full of cool stuff, but this was ridiculous. They could've at least had a 'you are here' map. It took me another ten minutes just to find the file and I grabbed it and walked back to a table. I figured I'd get them all and look at them rather than the long way round, so I set it down and looked at the dark-haired agent at the table.
"Mind if I leave this with you? I'll just be a sec … or an eon."
"Yeah, no kidding," she said, chuckling as we made eye contact.
My heart literally stopped as I stared back at Leticia and she stared back at me. In a room that size our mutual next sentence must have echoed off the walls and Lex probably heard it. Things were about to get crazy.
"You work for the CIA?!"