Unexpected
The sun shines through the windows at the CIA rotunda. Vaughn introduces Sydney to a new member of Marshall's Tech Squadron: Brie Santiago, a pretty, energetic thirteen year old with curly blonde hair and shining blue eyes.
"Sydney, this is Brie, our new Junior Tech Crewmember to help Marshall out a bit."
"Hello, nice to meet you."
"Hi… ditto!"
"I hear you're only thirteen. How'd you end up here?"
"Well, it's a long story -- I'm and orphan, so I've been thrown around the governmental system for a while now, but after my foster parents died, they decided to bring me here and make some use of my computer skills."
"I'm sure you'll like it here."
"Thanks! See you later!"
Vaughn and Sydney look after the girl as she bounds across the room towards Marshall's desk, where he is waiting with a project. Vaughn and Sydney chuckle to themselves.
"She's cute, isn't she?"
"Yeah… really hyper, too."
"So what was that about her foster parents dying?"
"Poor kid… she's been adopted nine times. Can you believe that? Nine times! Her real parents died when she was four, and ever since then she's been shunted from family to family, each one mysteriously being eliminated after a couple of months. Apparently, no one wanted to adopt her anymore because they thought she was cursed-- so now she's staying at a CIA safe house and helping us out here."
"What about school?"
"Turns out she's a hyper genius… younger Marshall or something. She's smart enough to go through high school already, but she's being tutored anyway. I think Marshall's gotten quite attached. Hope he doesn't die."
"Don't joke about stuff like that! I'm sure it's just coincidence with that family dying thing! Poor girl! Imagine having to live with THAT hanging over your head!"
"And I thought that report due in a couple of hours was bad…"
"Oh shut up."
"So what's up, Marshall?"
"Well… uh… it's this thing… we got this transmission from Echelon and I don't have time to decode it… got a… meeting… thing… You can come to the meeting too, get acquainted… but I'd like it if you could get a head start on that message thing."
"Sure, Marshall. I'm on it."
"Thanks."
Marshall goes off to the presentation room while in the meantime, Brie takes the thick folder and sits down at her desk. She carefully opens the folder but its contents spill out anyway. She hums as she arranges the papers in a pile. Her cell phone starts to ring, and she answers it. "Hello? Hello?? Is anyone there? HELLO???!!!" Confused, she puts down her phone and begins to work on the message.
Kendall paces around the briefing room, waiting while Marshall plays with the projector. Around the room are seated; Jack, Sydney, Vaughn, Weiss, Marshall, Brie, and a couple analysts.
"As you all know, in a recent mission Agent Bristow managed to get Sloane's cell phone. These analysts have been analyzing the cell phone and making use of its call log and contacts list. We have been able to trace a great number of supposed allies of Sloane and Sark. Marshall?"
"Uh… ally number one… heh, because that's what they are, allies, you know? Because, uh…"
"Marshall?"
"Ok yeah. Right. Focus. Okay, well here's the first slide. I pass it on to you, Minerva!"
A middle-aged woman in a maroon business suit stands. She waits until Marshall finds his seat, then begins.
"Parajua Mararujan, pronounced Parra-way-yah Mara-roo-hoo-yahwn, is a dangerous terrorist suspect. We believe that Mararujuan has made a deal with Sloane and Sark that will enable them to have access to millions of dollars in funds. Mararujuan was last contacted via Sark's cell phone a week ago. We believe they are planning a meet for tomorrow at the San Mirandez Bay in Southern Mexico."
"And you'll be there. Please proceed, Minerva."
"Thank you, Kendall. Anyway, there are a number of other suspects that are not of immediate importance. Most were last contacted more than a month ago, and while we still are tracing them, they are not the highest priority. However, there are some contacts who we were not able to identify. One is located here in Los Angeles, by the area code. For some reason we have not been able to find any records for this number."
"Well why don't you just, uh… call them on a secure line or something?"
"Marshall, that would be highly impractical, it would not only let them know that we are on their trail, but they might let Sloane or Sark know as well."
"Miss, why do you care about this one person? You said it was not of high priority."
"Well, Agent Bristow- this one is. We have recorded a call that was made the day we -er- apprehended the phone, which I believe was Wednesday."
"Brie? You alright? Brie?"
"Yeah, yeah… Sure, I'm fine, I just read this wrong, something about an elephant… Makes sense now…"
"You sure?"
"Yes… go on, I'm going to keep reading this, here… Try and make sense of this Echelon gibberish…"
"So anyway-- I agree with Marshall, if the number's in this area, I think we ought to know who they are… soon! And if they're nothing more than an asset, then there's a good chance we can nab them before they have a chance to contact either Sark or Sloane!"
"Yeah, Syd… you know that is starting to sound like a good idea…"
"Thank you, Weiss."
"But it's against protocol! We might let them know we're following them! They'll change the number! We can't take that risk!"
"Well too bad! Risk or not, we've got to call them before this problem gets any worse!"
"What problem??"
"9... 8... 7... 2... 6..."
"Wait!"
"Okay, here it goes…"
"What the hell?!"
"Holy shit…"
A little surprised, Brie looks up from her paperwork at everyone else as she reaches to answer her phone. "Yes?" Sydney hears Brie's reply through the phone, and she blinks a bit as she sets down the phone.
"How?"
The sun shines through the windows at the CIA rotunda. Vaughn introduces Sydney to a new member of Marshall's Tech Squadron: Brie Santiago, a pretty, energetic thirteen year old with curly blonde hair and shining blue eyes.
"Sydney, this is Brie, our new Junior Tech Crewmember to help Marshall out a bit."
"Hello, nice to meet you."
"Hi… ditto!"
"I hear you're only thirteen. How'd you end up here?"
"Well, it's a long story -- I'm and orphan, so I've been thrown around the governmental system for a while now, but after my foster parents died, they decided to bring me here and make some use of my computer skills."
"I'm sure you'll like it here."
"Thanks! See you later!"
Vaughn and Sydney look after the girl as she bounds across the room towards Marshall's desk, where he is waiting with a project. Vaughn and Sydney chuckle to themselves.
"She's cute, isn't she?"
"Yeah… really hyper, too."
"So what was that about her foster parents dying?"
"Poor kid… she's been adopted nine times. Can you believe that? Nine times! Her real parents died when she was four, and ever since then she's been shunted from family to family, each one mysteriously being eliminated after a couple of months. Apparently, no one wanted to adopt her anymore because they thought she was cursed-- so now she's staying at a CIA safe house and helping us out here."
"What about school?"
"Turns out she's a hyper genius… younger Marshall or something. She's smart enough to go through high school already, but she's being tutored anyway. I think Marshall's gotten quite attached. Hope he doesn't die."
"Don't joke about stuff like that! I'm sure it's just coincidence with that family dying thing! Poor girl! Imagine having to live with THAT hanging over your head!"
"And I thought that report due in a couple of hours was bad…"
"Oh shut up."
"So what's up, Marshall?"
"Well… uh… it's this thing… we got this transmission from Echelon and I don't have time to decode it… got a… meeting… thing… You can come to the meeting too, get acquainted… but I'd like it if you could get a head start on that message thing."
"Sure, Marshall. I'm on it."
"Thanks."
Marshall goes off to the presentation room while in the meantime, Brie takes the thick folder and sits down at her desk. She carefully opens the folder but its contents spill out anyway. She hums as she arranges the papers in a pile. Her cell phone starts to ring, and she answers it. "Hello? Hello?? Is anyone there? HELLO???!!!" Confused, she puts down her phone and begins to work on the message.
Kendall paces around the briefing room, waiting while Marshall plays with the projector. Around the room are seated; Jack, Sydney, Vaughn, Weiss, Marshall, Brie, and a couple analysts.
"As you all know, in a recent mission Agent Bristow managed to get Sloane's cell phone. These analysts have been analyzing the cell phone and making use of its call log and contacts list. We have been able to trace a great number of supposed allies of Sloane and Sark. Marshall?"
"Uh… ally number one… heh, because that's what they are, allies, you know? Because, uh…"
"Marshall?"
"Ok yeah. Right. Focus. Okay, well here's the first slide. I pass it on to you, Minerva!"
A middle-aged woman in a maroon business suit stands. She waits until Marshall finds his seat, then begins.
"Parajua Mararujan, pronounced Parra-way-yah Mara-roo-hoo-yahwn, is a dangerous terrorist suspect. We believe that Mararujuan has made a deal with Sloane and Sark that will enable them to have access to millions of dollars in funds. Mararujuan was last contacted via Sark's cell phone a week ago. We believe they are planning a meet for tomorrow at the San Mirandez Bay in Southern Mexico."
"And you'll be there. Please proceed, Minerva."
"Thank you, Kendall. Anyway, there are a number of other suspects that are not of immediate importance. Most were last contacted more than a month ago, and while we still are tracing them, they are not the highest priority. However, there are some contacts who we were not able to identify. One is located here in Los Angeles, by the area code. For some reason we have not been able to find any records for this number."
"Well why don't you just, uh… call them on a secure line or something?"
"Marshall, that would be highly impractical, it would not only let them know that we are on their trail, but they might let Sloane or Sark know as well."
"Miss, why do you care about this one person? You said it was not of high priority."
"Well, Agent Bristow- this one is. We have recorded a call that was made the day we -er- apprehended the phone, which I believe was Wednesday."
"Brie? You alright? Brie?"
"Yeah, yeah… Sure, I'm fine, I just read this wrong, something about an elephant… Makes sense now…"
"You sure?"
"Yes… go on, I'm going to keep reading this, here… Try and make sense of this Echelon gibberish…"
"So anyway-- I agree with Marshall, if the number's in this area, I think we ought to know who they are… soon! And if they're nothing more than an asset, then there's a good chance we can nab them before they have a chance to contact either Sark or Sloane!"
"Yeah, Syd… you know that is starting to sound like a good idea…"
"Thank you, Weiss."
"But it's against protocol! We might let them know we're following them! They'll change the number! We can't take that risk!"
"Well too bad! Risk or not, we've got to call them before this problem gets any worse!"
"What problem??"
"9... 8... 7... 2... 6..."
"Wait!"
"Okay, here it goes…"
"What the hell?!"
"Holy shit…"
A little surprised, Brie looks up from her paperwork at everyone else as she reaches to answer her phone. "Yes?" Sydney hears Brie's reply through the phone, and she blinks a bit as she sets down the phone.
"How?"