The trip to Duke's office seemed to take forever. Snake Eyes walked with Jaye, a hand at her back for support. Scarlett had gone on ahead to find Duke and Hawk.
All five met in Duke's office. Taking a deep breath, Jaye explained her theory of the two Flints, simply saying that she felt that the officer was displaying two different attitudes as well as contradicting statements to her. She knew General Hawk knew of her background, the man having recruited her in the first place.
"I have reason to believe that Zartan, a Cobra agent, has infiltrated the base, imitating both Flint as well as other personnel, for the last week. I also suspect that it was aimed towards me, since no one else seem to notice anything wrong, and," she paused, "he imitated the face of my former partner for MI-6." She explained her different encounters with him.
The two commanding officers were quiet, nodding their head at times. Lady Jaye wasn't sure what they were thinking.
Finally, Duke spoke. "Why do you feel that this was targeted towards you?" he asked quietly.
Jaye blushed. "Well, sir," she began, embarrassed, "Zartan is basically a mercenary that is used by Cobra. However, I feel that my uncle hired him to target me because I refused to sell out my shares of the family business."
She looked at Hawk for help, not sure how much she was allowed to reveal.
Hawk nodded. Turning to the rest of the group, he filled in the blanks. "Lady Jaye's family owns MARS Industries, so her uncle, who we know as Destro, aligned with Cobra against the family's wishes." He turned back to Jaye. "I wish you would've come to me when your uncle approached you. We need to be apprised of such things."
Jaye nodded, embarrassed again. "Sorry, sir. I thought it was a family matter that was solved. I should've known better, and not underestimated my uncle," she said angrily, her fists clenched.
Snake Eyes put a comforting hand on her shoulder and she smiled at him, loosening her fists. She was grateful for the ninja's presence. He invoked a calm in her at times that was almost magical, she believed.
Hawk nodded. "I can understand that, and your need to keep your family business private. However, since it has compromised the base, we need to decide what to do about it."
"We need to set a trap," Scarlett said, speaking for the first time since entering the room.
"You have an idea?" Duke asked, eyebrows raised.
She nodded. "We need to somehow get Flint to come to your office. We'll have to decide if he is the real or fake, and if luck is with us, both will respond." She shrugged. It seemed pretty simple to her.
"Question is," Duke mused, stroking his chin with his hand, "how will we tell the real from the fake?"
Snake Eyes stepped forward and signed something. Jaye nodded and turned to the group. "I think with Snake's help, we could do it, as well as some questions that only the real Flint would know, like something that happened on a mission that wasn't in a report, for instance."
The group nodded in agreement. Hawk turned to Lady Jaye. "It might be best if you're seen in the building when he's called in here. That way, we're not raising suspicion. We also need to be provided with a photograph of your former partner, if available, so we can catch him if this doesn't work."
Lady Jaye looked pained for a moment, but nodded. She turned to Scarlett. "I think we can run a check on him and find something in the database." They hurried to the intell office.
The three remaining men looked at one another. "Okay, men, let's do this," Hawk said gruffly. He felt sorry for Lady Jaye. Unlike the others, he knew her entire history and had known her family for years. He knew what a shock it was when the current head of her clan, James McCullen, had decided to align with Cobra, how her former partner had defected, and how much it still probably affected her, although most of her teammates would never know. There were many things she had to overcome in her life that made her into the person she was today. He was proud of her. He knew how hard it was for her to come to them about this, knowing she would have tried to solve it by herself and take care of it. He sighed. Sometimes the self-sufficient, independent spirit she had could be detrimental.
Shaking his head, he focused on the job at hand – outing Zartan. Duke had already sent for Flint, and they were awaiting his arrival. Both men stiffened when they heard a knock on the door. At the same time, Duke's email chimed and they saw Scarlett had sent the picture. There was no time to open it before Flint entered the room.
He looked at both men and smiled. "Did I forget a party?" he joked.
"Come on in and have a seat, Flint," gestured Hawk, indicating a chair in front of Duke's desk. Flint looked puzzled by the tone of voice, but did as he was asked.
Duke looked up from the email he had been reading. He almost sighed aloud at the slow download time that was preventing him from seeing the picture in full. Scarlett had found a picture and had used an age progression program, since the picture they found was at least 10 years old.
Duke sighed, looking at Flint, wondering exactly who he was looking at – his friend, or his enemy.
"We seem to have a traitor in our midst," he sighed. "We need your help capturing him."
Flint's eyebrows raised. "How do we know this?" he asked cautiously, not sure he liked Duke's tone.
"Let's just say we have some evidence that recently revealed itself. I can't divulge anything more than that," he said cryptically.
Hawk interjected. "What we need is your help ferreting out the traitor, or spy – we are not sure which it is. However, we have reason to believe it might be Lady Jaye."
Flint jumped up, startled. "Are you sure, sir? That's quite an accusation to make! What evidence do you have that proves that?"
Hawk played his role well. He placed his hand on Flint's shoulder. "At ease, soldier. Let's just say her recent actions have been rather erratic and we believe she might have associations with Cobra. I'm surprised that you reacted in that way. I heard that she has been acting rather strange with you as well."
Flint looked thoughtful. "Now that you mention it, she has acted strange, but she attributed it to a headache." He shrugged. "I thought it was one of those female things."
"Just keep an eye on her, and report to us anything suspicious," Hawk said, ignoring his last remark.
"Yes, sir!" Flint said, saluting, then leaving the office.
Snake Eyes stepped out of the shadows.
"Well?" Both men looked at the ninja. He shook his head.
"That's what I thought," Hawk said. "Follow him. We'll have backup as soon as possible." He turned to Duke. "Find out where Lady Jaye is immediately and alert Scarlett not to leave her side! I think we might have caught our guy!"