"Off Target"
"Are you sure you're okay to run this, man?" Weiss asked quietly. He stood off to the side of the operations center with Vaughn only days after Sydney's funeral.
"I can do my job," Vaughn answered defensively. "It's a simple operation."
"I know, but," he paused and struggled for a level of seriousness that he infrequently achieved, "No one would blame you if you didn't wanna do this right now. I mean, no one."
"Thanks. I'll be fine," he persisted. Eric Weiss was forced to accept this answer as Director Kendall approached the couple, effectively ending the conversation.
"Gentlemen," Kendall bellowed, "Are we, or are we not running an operation in five minutes? Whatever this is will have to wait."
"Yessir," Weiss answered for the both of them as they followed him to their command center for the next hour. Vaughn had not been entirely correct in his assessment. It was not a simple operation. It was, to be blunt, a termination. It had recently been proven that one of the CIA's agents in Serbia was leaking intel to a terrorist cell there. The order was to bring the agent in, dead or alive. Given this particular agent's training and record, it was more likely to be dead. One of the problems was that the only identifying mark they had of the agent was a call sign—The Raven. But they had managed to set up a meet, posing as an informant and once they had confirmed the traitor's identity they would move in and either capture or assassinate the leak, once and for all.
It was a small group of agents—Vaughn, Weiss, and Marshall—with Kendall's watchful eye hovering above all of them. Most of the work on this op would be done on the ground by the tactical team. There were snipers positioned above the outdoor cafe where the meet had been set in one of the more affluent sectors of Belgrade. Their "informant" was in position on the ground and the meet protocol had been initiated. Now they were waiting for The Raven to make contact. Marshall was monitoring the satellite feed of the surrounding areas hoping to get a head start by watching the agent's entrance, Weiss was communicating with the tactical team, and Vaughn was monitoring the satellite and several cameras directly over the meet site.
"All right, boys," Kendall admonished, "It's show time. Let's give this son of a bitch his pink slip."
Scanning for any suspicious activity within the small cafe and wondering if The Raven would show, Vaughn was suddenly struck by panic which he endeavored to conceal. A familiar face presented itself. The hair and clothes were different, but he knew the face. It was Renee´ Rienne, and he had been in this business too long to think it could be a coincidence. She had to be "The Raven." She looked relaxed, reading her paperback and sipping her coffee, but her eyes were everywhere but on the page in front of her.
Wildly Vaughn's mind raced. Surely the intel had to be wrong. Renee´ may never have been a patriot, but she was not a traitor or a mercenary. She had seen too much in her lifetime to be in league with a terrorist organization. In his mind, her termination was simply not an option. She was too valuable to his own endgame. If he was wrong, he would deal with her himself, but he had to exhaust every resource she had first. Quickly, he scanned the layout of snipers and composed a plan. He had to tip her off.
"Director Kendall, we've got some possible civilian interference in the sights of one of our snipers. I think we should reposition," Vaughn informed.
"No. It's too close to the meet time. We have three others that can take the shot if necessary. Everybody stays put," Kendall decreed matter-of-factly.
"What's going on?" Weiss asked pulling his headset off briefly to catch up with them.
"But Sir," Vaughn began again, addressing Kendall, "If The Raven enters or exits through the north alleyway, the other three snipers don't have a chance. He'll be shielded by the corners of the buildings. We need the fourth to guarantee the shot," he insisted urgently.
"Guys?" Weiss asked again. "If somebody needs to move, they need to do it now."
"Nobody is moving. If The Raven is already in the vicinity, we cannot risk tipping him off."
"Sir, respectfully, if The Raven is already in the vicinity and we haven't ID'd him by now, chances are, we're going to need that fourth shot even more. I've run everyone in the cafe through face recognition software, and haven't found a match to any of our agents that are stationed inside or outside of Serbia. We need to move now!" Kendall grimaced painfully as he evaluated the situation and uncomfortably reached a decision.
"All right, but this is your call, Agent Vaughn," he conceded while pointing an accusatory finger in Vaughn's direction, "Regardless of the outcome, it will be stated for the record that I am opposed to any deviation in the original setup," he guaranteed. "Agent Weiss, reposition the fourth sniper to avoid the group of civilians in the Southeast corner of the perimeter." Weiss began his orders to reposition as quickly as possible to avoid any detection by the incoming Raven. Vaughn watched closely, as the fourth sniper deftly packed his weapon and moved further down the rooftop. He was good, and this seemed to put Kendall at ease. Even from above, the movement was barely detectable. He doubted whether or not Renee´ would notice, but there was nothing else he could do short of admitting the truth. That was impossible. If Renee´ was captured, she would face life imprisonment under the Patriot Act. There was no way he could continue the investigation without her knowledge of the organization and contacts.
Agonizing minutes passed and The Raven had still not made contact. Kendall was growing more anxious. "Marshall, have you got anything suspicious on the outside satellites?"
"Nothing, Sir. Just a lot of old women buying bread."
"Not good enough. Agent Vaughn, run those faces again and broaden the search parameters. I want to see anyone that has worked for us directly, and any known assets, informants, pilots, therapists, receptionists, payroll clerks, delivery men, anybody!"
Vaughn set to work on the face recognition scan again. Just as he finished resetting the parameters, he watched as Renee´ calmly stood and entered a nearby shop. She wasn't going through with the meet. If she did not have a plan of escape, she could easily wait them out until she knew it was safe. As he began running the program again, he breathed a little easier, knowing that it would turn up nothing on his associate. He had run each face manually the first time and had skipped her when he recognized her, but now with Kendall watching, he would have had to run her as well.
With disaster averted, Vaughn now considered, for the first time that this would not be a shining star on his record. But that was not nearly as important as finding the truth, and unless Renee´ was apprehended later and the footage of this operation was reviewed in tandem, no one would ever be able to prove what he had done. Nevertheless, Kendall would need someone to take the blame for the failed op, and Vaughn was not in a position to be livid about being the scapegoat this time.
The meet time came and went, and The Raven never showed. Two hours later, Kendall reluctantly ordered Weiss to instruct the teams to withdraw. Without knowing the identity of their suspect, a search of the area would not be helpful. Kendall hated admitting defeat. He hated it even more when it had to be typed and submitted in report form. A thousand things could have sabotaged the operation, but the theoretical mishaps could not be submitted. Just the facts. The facts were that Director Kendall was overseeing an operation to apprehend a traitor, and the operation did not succeed.