Chapter 12

Back at it again. As usual, thank you for all the support. Another show recommendation to everyone is Burn Notice. It has 7 seasons but I love all the spy quotes/sayings in there and have recently been re-watching random episodes so I'm feeling some inspiration from those quotes lol. Hope you all enjoy this new chapter. Two chapters in one week! This chapter felt long when I wrote it and I hope it makes sense.

"Everything ready," the voice on the phone asked.

"Everything should be good on my end," Reiss replied. "You shouldn't have any issues. Make sure you transfer my money. I'm putting myself on the line here."

"First, we need this to succeed and then you get paid," the voice replied and then abruptly hung up.

Reiss looked at his phone realizing the other person had hung up. "I better get my money," he said to himself. Reiss was near the cell where they had Asim al-Hazred. He nodded to the guard before being let into the hallway lined with cells.

Once he reached where Asim was he stopped and looked around before talking, "Everything is set."

Asim nodded from where he was sitting on the make shift bed in the cell. "And the woman questioning me?"

"Won't be a problem. She'll probably take another round at you."

"What's her name?" Asim asked.

"What does it matter?" Reiss replied back.

"Just curious. She doesn't seem like someone who will back down as you Americans say," Asim said.

Reiss regarded him for a moment and said, "Again, why does it matter?"

Asim got up from where he was sitting and grabbed for Reiss through the cell bars, "Let me remind you who is in charge here. All I need to do is say there is a mole and name you. So I ask again, who is she?"

"Amanda Ellis. She goes by Mandy," Reiss said and Asim let him go satisfied.

"Ellis? The one he talks about?" Asim asked.

"Who talks about her?" Reiss asked confused.

"I see you haven't met him," Asim chuckled as Reiss still had a confused look on his face. "The man you speak to on the phone," he clarified.

For a moment Reiss' mind raced with many thoughts. He didn't know who he talked to on the phone. All he knew was he was given an offer and whoever this person was they always were in control. A part of him wondered now what the hell he got himself into but quickly thought about all the money was about to get if he carried this out right.

"I have to go. Enjoy your remaining time here," Reiss said as he walked away.

Mandy hadn't gone back right away to question Asim. She went to the room she claimed as her own and got her thoughts together. She had decided to let the guy wait for her to come back. She needed to have some control over the situation. It was evening now on base and the sun had set. As she sat at the table, she looked at all the intel around her she had gathered in the previous weeks. She was so deep into her notes she hadn't noticed the figure in the door way.

"Get anything new out of him yet?" Jason asked leaning against the door frame looking her over.

"Haven't gone back yet. Decided to keep him waiting in anticipation," Mandy replied.

"Good thing I brought dinner then," Jason said walking into the room and placing the food on the table. "You have got to take better care of yourself."

Mandy raised an eyebrow at him as she reached for some of the food. "Is that so?"

"Okay, so maybe I'm not the best role model but maybe we can both just look out for each other," Jason said. "Pinky swear," he said with a childish smile.

"Deal," Mandy laughed hooking her pinky with his. "Should we do a blood pact too?"

Jason laughed while changing his hand to fully hold hers. They sat there for moment just staring at each other before they heard the noise of a door closing across the hall. They both snapped out of their daze and took to grabbing at the food.

It was quiet as they ate before Mandy spoke up, "So is this date number two?"

"Sure, nothing says date night like having terrorist intel all around us," Jason replied. "Totally sets the mood," he said wiggling his eyebrows.

"You have no idea," Mandy replied in a flirty voice which made Jason choke on the bite he had just taken. Mandy laughed again.

Nothing warmed Jason's heart like seeing Mandy's smile reach her eyes just like she made his. He loved seeing her relaxed form. For people like them, it often felt like there was a dark shadow cast above them almost constantly and in moments like these the shadow was gone and the sun shined in briefly. They both lived for these moments.

"So how was al-Hazred junior this morning?" Jason asked.

"What did Lisa say?" Mandy said looking at him.

"Nothing gets past you, does it?" Jason replied as Mandy gave him a look. "She said things seemed to get personal and you played it off as a lie. Said you mentioned your mother."

"Sometimes the best lies are the ones close to the truth," Mandy replied. "It's not like I told him anything interesting. Just trying to find a way in."

"You sure? I know you don't talk about your personal life that easily and all of a sudden you talk to terrorist, of all people, about yourself," Jason said looking at her with a little concern. "It's taken me longer to get know things about you."

"I'm-," Mandy started but wasn't sure what to say. "That feeling I had seems to be getting louder and something about sitting across from him just feels like he's looking right into me or something," Mandy admitted.

"Hey, you're Mandy Ellis. Don't let him get to you. If he's playing this game then I know you can fight back just as hard," Jason said looking into her eyes.

"Yeah, I know," Mandy replied. "Thanks. If we could just get some solid intel out of him then maybe we could all relax a little bit. DC is breathing down our necks seeing as they want keep up the public image of peace when things are anything but that."

Before Jason could reply, Lisa came into the room.

"We found his mother and a couple siblings," Lisa said. Lisa put the files on the table and took a look around the room. "What is all this?"

"Just bits of intel I came up with in the last few weeks," Mandy replied as Lisa looked at the different corkboards around the room. "Just trying to piece things together."

"What does Reiss think about any of this?" Lisa asked.

Mandy's face shifted, "He hasn't seen most of this. I don't think he's a fan of mine."

Jason didn't miss the way Mandy's body language changed when talking about Reiss. The way her eyes briefly looked at Lisa made it seem like she had more to say but didn't want to say it with Lisa around. He knew Lisa and Reiss seemed close but Mandy looked like she didn't trust Reiss. He figured it had something to do with Samin's death as Mandy wasn't happy that Reiss had burned her asset.

"Maybe we can both bring some of this to his attention," Lisa said looking at Mandy. She felt bad realizing that Mandy was being left out and not taken seriously.

"Nah, its fine. We got Asim al-Hazred now and we know where his family is. I should probably go back into interrogation with him. I've kept him waiting long enough and it's getting late here now."

"Well, I will leave the two of you to do what you guys do best. I'm going to hang out with the guys at the fire pit. You both should come once you're finished," Jason said getting up. Mandy and Lisa nodded to him as they too got ready to leave the room also.

This time Mandy was already in the interrogation room waiting for them to bring Asim al-Hazred in. She needed to establish control and show him who was in charge. As he was cuffed by the guard Asim stared straight at Mandy and she stared back just as powerfully.

"So I have some good news. We found your mother and siblings," Mandy said as she pulled pictures out a folder showing Asim. "Well maybe not good news for you and your family," Mandy added as she watched Asim sit up and tighten his jaw. "Seems your mother doesn't do well traveling but don't worry, we'll treat her well."

"You Americans would threaten innocent lives. You say you're the good people but the reality is you're not," Asim said.

"And you're the good guy in all this? Killing innocent lives without a thought even if it means sacrificing your own," Mandy challenged.

"I do what I need to do to protect my people from you," he replied.

"So you can run around and fill people with fear for disobeying you. People who only want to live their life in peace. How do you live with yourself knowing you've put innocent people's lives in the middle of this war?"

"Tell me Agent Ellis, how do you live with yourself and the things you've done," Asim fired back. "How do you justify killing Samin? He was an innocent man living his life in peace until you came along and dragged him into this war."

Lisa was in the observation room watching the intense interaction. Things had started off with bang alright. She was worried though. How the hell did this guy know Mandy's name? She never introduced herself.

"He died a hero trying to bring peace to a country he loved," Mandy replied as strongly as she could.

"Is that what you tell yourself at night when you go to sleep? That it was for the greater good? That threatening him and his business was justified? I'm sure his wife feels the same way," Asim said leaning in as close as he could from where he was sitting at the table.

"Nobody ever said in my line of work that things didn't come with a price," Mandy replied back. "It's the cost of war. Isn't that what you said?" Mandy replied coolly.

Lisa wasn't quite sure what to do. Things in the room seemed to be taking a drastic turn. Her mind was racing. Asim knew details about things. He seemed to know a lot about Mandy specifically and Lisa didn't think Mandy had caught on that in the heat of the moment. Lisa was debating in her mind what to do. The two were playing a game now it seemed and Lisa was seeing a whole side of Mandy she never knew.

Sure the CIA had a reputation that wasn't always in their favor. They were thought to be cold blooded and their actions tended to have a price sometimes. Lisa believed the Mandy she and the team knew was the true Mandy but she was slowly realizing that maybe there was a lot to her that they didn't see. What had Mandy seen and done that haunted her?

Before anyone could say another word rumbles of an explosion sound could be heard.

"What the hell," Lisa mumbled going to the door of the observation room and looking outside into the hall.

Meanwhile Mandy felt a chill go down her spine as the vibrations could just barely be felt through the ground. She looked at Asim and he calmly sat back in his seat looking at her with a slight smirk.

"I think our time together is coming to an end Ms. Ellis," Asim said.

Mandy got up and went to the door to walk into the hallway of the building. As soon as she got in the hallway she saw Lisa running back from the entrance.

"The base is under attack," she said out of breath.

"We need to secure him. I think they're here to break them out. You and I will move him. Protocol is to protect this place and make sure no one gets in," Mandy said while her mind ran on over drive.

"Here, take this," Lisa said handing her a gun. "I grabbed some weapons on the way back."

"Thanks," Mandy said as they heard gun fight and explosions going off nearby. Mandy saw a guard at the end of the hallway, "Hey! We need to secure the prisoner. You're with us."

The guard nodded and entered the interrogation room and roughly pulled Asim up to start moving him. That feeling she had was screaming at her that now.

While Mandy had been interrogating Asim, Bravo team had gathered around the fire bit for some beers. Jason and the team were talking about all sorts of things. The team was relaxed and waiting out the last couple of weeks left of deployment at the moment.

"Any word if al-Hazred junior is talking," Ray asked Jason as they sat around the fire. The rest of Bravo paused their conversation to see what Jason would say.

"Mandy made him wait during the afternoon. Just before I came over she was headed back in," Jason replied. "Davis found his mother as well so they're probably going to leverage him with that."

"Think we'll have any more missions before we leave," Clay asked.

"Probably. Knowing Mandy and Davis they won't stop working just because we have Asim. For all we know, someone else is taking on the Tahara in his absence."

"Do those two ever sleep?" Sonny asked.

Jason chuckled, "Probably not as much as they should."

"Kind of reminds me of someone else," Ray said with a smirk as he took a sip of beer and the rest of the team chuckled.

Bravo team continued to hang out by the fire pit for the next hour. Everything seemed calm until they heard a tower guard yell.

"INCOMING," the man yelled before an explosion near the front entrance went off.

All of Bravo team jumped as they heard the explosion before a second one went off. They all got up and went into fight mode.

"Everyone head for the gear room and grab what you can," Jason said taking charge. The team made their way as the gun fight started. People were scrambling to shelter and soldiers were trying to rush to front gate to provide protection. The team quickly threw on and grabbed what they could and headed for their defense positions.

Back at command building Blackburn was calling in the attack and everyone was trying to figure out what the hell was going on. He briefly thought about where everyone on base could be and prayed they all make it out alive from this.