Sorry for the delay, been getting distracted with reading stories, watching shows and trying to get myself motivated to write.

Usual disclaimers, no rights to any characters portrayed and this is neither the real world nor a Disney Princess tale.

While Graham was determined that the CIA was not going to engage the Human Intersect team unless there was no other viable option to pull off a mission, he wasn't adverse to pointing others their way to get them sent on dangerous missions, and the DEA provided him with the perfect opportunity. They had word that a drug trafficker that Carina had been working on bringing down before she was transferred, Peyman Alahi, had been engaged to broker a major arms deal for the warlords in the Golden Crescent who used Alahi to move their opium and heroine into the United States and distribute it. Alahi was currently holding a diamond worth well over twenty million to pay for a major purchase of surface to air missiles and other heavy weapons, the Nadan-I-Noor.

The people Graham was in cahoots with in the DEA desperately wanted the Nadan-I-Noor, but they knew that they couldn't admit that to Beckman, who reported straight to the DNI, so they engaged the Human Intersect team on the basis of the urgent need to get that diamond away from Alahi to prevent him from being able to pay for the missiles etc and therefore stop the arms deal, as those missiles would definitely be used against the United States and other allied forces in the region. They also added a secondary requirement to capture Alahi if possible. While the information that the DEA had on Alahi's regular guards and security systems was given to Beckman, the information about the extra twenty ex-special operations mercenaries and the specific security systems added specifically to protect the Nadan-I-Noor while Alahi was holding it were not.

Carina confirmed most of the information that the DEA had supplied, and Chuck, Jeff and Anna dug the evidence that supported the information that Alahi was handling a very large arms deal on behalf of the drug funded warlords he dealt with out of the DEA's systems. They were amused to see that the only reason the DEA had this Intel was because Alahi had been shooting his mouth off to some women, trying to impress them with stories about how important he was. While they were in the DEA's systems they also dug out the details of the special security detail that had been added to protect the Nadan-I-Noor and needless to say, they weren't at all happy with the DEA for withholding that information when they got that proof from the DEA's systems.

Diane sent Vincent, Rick, Eyal and Mike again to extend the tactical support being provided by Bry, Ellie, Anna and Zondra to give them a better chance against those mercs. She also made a point of directly asking the DEA whether they had any intel about any other security measures that may have been added specifically to protect the diamond. Of course she recorded their response when they said that there wasn't, so she would have them over a barrel when they tried to argue against paying the penalties for placing the team in danger, the only question there was how many instances of the penalty they were going to be hit with. Part of that discussion also involved getting verbal confirmation was that they understood that they would be paying for the Human Intersect team's services, to shut down any more arguments like Graham's.

Carina still had enough contacts in the right circles to get her, Sarah and Chuck into the perpetual pool party that Alahi had going, because the little troll got his jollies off by ogling beautiful women (and men) wearing as little as possible. While she was organising that, Chuck, Jeff and Anna were putting together as much intel as they could about the security systems in Alahi's compound in Malibu, but they were worried when they saw that quite a bit of those security systems were apparently separated from the rest of the systems, which would make it much harder to get in and take control of them. Casey and the others were getting the equipment ready for the mission.

Most of the team would be going in in their two mission vans, they had lightweight composite armour that could handle fifty cal fire at close range (though the epaper camouflage didn't survive taking fire well, and portions of it generally needed to be replaced when it was hit), while a small, efficient, powerful motor supplied the batteries which in turn fed the four in-wheel electric motors. The wide range active suspension provided good handling both on and off-road, while the new tweels from Michelin had extendible paddles to provide grip on loose surfaces, and were disguised to look like normal tyres. Inside, flat screens were mounted on the walls and up to four people could work independently with lap desks (fancy trays with computer keyboards and the like) at once. The seating in the back folded up to the walls down either side to allow the vans to carry cargo and various modules could also be locked in place quickly and securely.

These vans were the end result of a long project that Stephen had been working on and they were pretty much the ultimate in command and transport vehicles, given the technology available. For that matter Chuck, Jeff and Anna had to work with Stephen to help create the technology needed to tie the concepts being used together and make them work. The e-camouflage meant that they could use the vans as their work vans, then change their appearance for missions. Their active suspension, light weight, 4WD and stealth capabilities meant that they were especially effective for missions like this, where the most direct and open access into Alahi's compound was from the beach in front of it.

The tactical and technical support team would slip onto the beach in silent electric mode and use the ecamouflage to (hopefully) escape notice. Meanwhile, Casey would bring Carina, Sarah and Chuck in via the main entrance in the Towncar that they picked up for the art auction. Given the fact that lightweight throw over dresses Carina and Sarah were wearing over their bikinis had no pockets and they might have to take off those dresses in front of others at the party, they had to go in with no weapons other than the knives hidden in their shoes. Chuck was marginally better off, in that the loose, lightweight summer suit he was wearing over his board shorts had pockets and was designed to carry a Stechkin silent revolver and Glock 29 without detection in both the jacket and pants pockets, so he would be carrying the weapons for the three of them inside. Casey would have an AS VAL suppressed assault rifle, a pair of Glock 20s and a silent revolver with him in the Towncar, but he wouldn't be able to come into the party.


On the day, they had no trouble getting in with the invites that Carina had wrangled, and they managed to slip away long enough to surreptitiously clip wireless remote access devices to the security and computer network wiring to give Jeff and Anna a way into the systems. Between the internal security cameras, satellite imagery and their own cameras, they guided the two vans in close to the access path from the beach to the compound without anyone spotting them, and set the e-camouflage to blend the vans into the background and reduce the chance of them being discovered. Once they were in place and covered, Jeff and Anna concentrated on getting into the compound's systems and trying to locate where the diamond was being held.

While Jeff and Anna were doing their thing, Chuck, Sarah and Carina were circulating at the party, trying to pick up what titbits they could. The girls stayed close to Chuck and used the story that they were there with their brother to ward off the more aggressive guys who were trying to crack onto them. Carina had warned Sarah about Alahi himself before they got there, so they kept an eye out for him and subtly moved away whenever he got closer, because the disgusting little troll was worse than the rest of those bastards there.

They'd been there for over twenty minutes before Anna called to tell them that they were fairly confident that they'd located the diamond and directed them to it. As they slipped away to head there, she explained that the reason they were sure it was there was that it was an area with a lot of security around it, but nothing was showing for inside it, which almost certainly meant that there was a separate security system in place there.

Jeff got them through the nearest door to where they thought the diamond was while he and Anna tried to prevent the security system or cameras showing that they were there. Once they were inside, it didn't take them long to find the sealed display room where they could see the diamond through the glass. Chuck quickly got behind the access panel to clip another remote access device to the wiring so that Jeff and Anna could disable the alarms and monitoring and give them access.

As soon as they were in, they headed straight to the diamond, because if they could grab it and run they would have fulfilled the primary objective of the mission, and they would happily leave the DEA to round up Alahi for themselves. Sarah and Carina were worried about how intense Chuck was as he searched for wiring or even some indication of what the security controls for the diamond itself were, and they dropped the ball on keeping watch for anyone else approaching because they were concentrating on him.

That unfortunately meant that they were all taken by surprise when they heard the sound of rounds being chambered behind them. When they turned around, it took all of their acting ability to hold in their disgust at the sight in front of them. Alahi was standing there with what were obviously two of the 'special' guards, going by their gear, military manner and the MP5Ks that they were holding as if they knew what to do to them, but it was Alahi who turned their stomachs.

He was almost naked, but he wasn't uncovered, because he was so hairy he looked like a scrawny chimp in a tiny bikini bottom standing there in front of them. What was hard to comprehend was that he was obviously oblivious to how ugly and stomach turning the image he presented was, because he obviously thought that he, and the way he was leering at the girls was attractive.

While he was trying to process this, and settle his stomach, Chuck surreptitiously checked for the cameras in the display area that must have given them away. He could only find one, and when he caught Sarah and Carina's eyes they nodded infinitesimally in agreement. It looked as though they might have caught a break there at least because that camera was pointed at the diamond, so it must have only picked them up when they were walking around the diamond, looking at it and the pedestal it was mounted on. By Chuck's calculations, he, Sarah and Carina were out of range of the camera at the moment, and so were the monkey and his guards. That might give them a chance to deal with the situation without the rest of the security force coming running.

They were thankful for Alahi's ridiculously overblown ego actually, because when he launched into what he obviously thought was a charming banter and Sarah engaged him, it took the guards' attention off them enough for them to prepare to take them down.

Alahi started with. "You shouldn't be in here you know." and Sarah countered with a ditzy valley girl. "But the room was open, and we saw all these pretty things in here." She finished with a wave at the Nadan-I-Noor.

That encouraged Alahi and he grinned at her. "You like my diamond do you?"

"Really? This is your diamond? Oh yeah, it's really pretty!"

"And who are you lovely ladies?"

Sarah flashed a look at Chuck and Carina and got the signal that they were ready, because Carina had slipped the Silent Revolver out of Chuck's pants pocket while Alahi and the guards were distracted by Sarah's bubbly valley girl act and jiggly bits as she was bouncing with excitement. "I'm Suzie…." Carina picked it up there as she rested her hand on Chuck's back. "And I'm Hope, and this is our little brother Bobbie! And who are you? Some friends gave us invites to the party, but they never told us who lived here?"

Alahi grinned, lapping it up. "Pretty girls call me Peyman…."

Sarah beamed at him. "Hi Peyman!" As she said that, Carina whipped the Silent Revolver out from where she whad been hiding it behind Chuck's back and put a bullet between the eyes of both of the guards, before bringing the revolver to bear on Alahi's face and holding a finger to her lips and saying "Hi Peyman!" in the same tone Sarah had. Chuck quickly pulled the other Silent Revolver from the hidden holster in the jacket and handed it to Sarah before she moved to where Alahi and the guards were, dragging the guards' bodies out of sight from the door as she kept up the banter. "I guess a humongous diamond like that must have quite a story, huh Peyman?"

When he didn't respond, she went up to him and jammed the revolver in his side, so he squeaked out.

"Yes, they say that he who holds the Nadan-I-Noor can rule the world." in fear. He was almost wetting himself and his words sounded obviously strained, so Sarah had to try and cover up in case there were microphones in there as well. Laughing breathlessly, she gasped out. "Oh Peyman, stop that! I hardly know you!"

She was hoping that anyone who knew Alahi who heard that would presume that he was getting off from taking advantage of the situation to ogle and grope the women they'd found in the display room like he usually did, that was after all why he hosted this perpetual pool party. The security people would be wanting to get down there to determine why the hell the display room door might have been open when all the indicators were showing that the display room was properly sealed. The problem with that was that while Alahi was nothing but a joke, a retarded monkey, the Warlords who set him up here to oversee shipping their product into the United States because they were related to him weren't, so they'd have to wait until he'd finished playing with the stupid party girls who'd wandered in there to do their jobs.

Even the head of security, who the other warlords who weren't related to Alahi had insisted be there to ensure that everything was handled properly and safeguard their interests, didn't have the power to override the retarded monkey, so they had to just wait for him to finish playing and leave, as soon as they saw him leave they'd move in.

Of course, anyone who might have heard what Sarah said would have missed the real message in her eyes as she looked at Alahi over the sights of the Silent Revolver in her hand, but even someone as stupid as Alahi had no trouble deciphering that message. 'Say or do anything I don't like and you're dead!'

While the girls were watching Alahi and the door and stripping the weapons and gear from the two dead guards, Chuck was trying to determine what controls there were in place on the diamond. The fact that the camera was focussed on the diamond complicated things as it meant that he couldn't get too close, but he'd picked up on something just before Alahi and the dead guards arrived that had triggered an Intersect flash, and he knew that they were pumping heat through the diamond as both an alarm and anti-theft device. Grabbing that diamond would burn your skin off, and as soon as the heat transfer was cut off, something else was bound to be triggered. What that was he didn't know, but he was sure that it wouldn't be good for them.

Looking around the room, he spied a fire extinguisher which should be able to blow the diamond out of its mounting, and an ancient Persian bowl lined with one of the dead guard's shirt to cushion the impact should do the job of catching it quite well. When they were ready, Chuck had Sarah hold Alahi over by the door because he was certain that something would go wrong, while Carina had the fire extinguisher.

As he'd expected, as soon as the diamond left the setting, alarms went off and the door starting coming down. Sarah did as Chuck asked and ducked out the door, dragging Alahi with her, while Carina kicked over a pedestal near the door, smashing an almost certainly priceless bust in the process but successfully stopping the door from closing. When Chuck gave her a nudge towards the door, she got a run up and did a picture perfect little league slide under the door, the bowl with the diamond in it coming out at the same moment. Chuck's slide was hampered by the fact that he was bigger and therefore caught himself on the door as he went under it, but he still got out OK.

By the time he touched the diamond, it was cool enough to pick up, so he stuffed it into the pouch they'd brought for the purpose and put it in his pocket. With that, they shoved Alahi out the door and called for Jeff to lock it down and then keep it locked to slow any pursuers coming from inside the mansion, because the security force would have been on their way as soon as the alarms went off. They were hoping that the guards would head straight through the mansion to the display room, so that they could use that locked door to hold them up.

Casey was waiting outside with a pile of dead guards when they came out, he handed the AS VAL to Chuck and slung Alahi over his shoulder, taking off at a run with Chuck, Sarah and Carina on his heels. Ellie, Bry, Vincent, Rick, Eyal and Mike were providing covering fire and they were dropping the guards who came running with the suppressed assault rifles as soon as they showed to keep things quiet as long as possible.

As soon as Casey and the others were down the path to the beach, the others started falling back as well, and none of the guards from the compound had shown up down there by the time the two vans left the beach. Alahi had been strapped in place with his hands secured, a gag in his mouth and a hood over his head before the others removed their masks, but even though they stuck earplugs in his ears, they didn't trust the little troll enough to talk in front of him. Luckily, they had already planned out exactly what they were going to do with him and the diamond before they went anywhere near his compound, which was why they were currently heading for LAX.

At LAX, they had the paperwork and government credentials to smooth the way to take one of the vans in to the waiting C-21A jet transport. Once they were on their way to D.C. the rest of them went back to Pasadena to report the results of the mission to Diane. There would be another briefing with the DEA representative who had engaged them in the morning, but this was to go over all the details.


Chuck had checked the faces of as many of the guards as he could, and the Intersect managed to supply details for two thirds of the two dozen dead guards. This was part of the evidence to support the charge that the DEA had put them in danger by deliberately withholding the intel about the twenty ex-special ops operatives who had been added to the security force and the additional security systems that had been added as well.

They were having a good laugh when they agreed that the bill for this operation would be five hundred and twenty thousand. This was made up of the hundred and fifty thousand engagement fee, plus another thirty thousand for a second day or part thereof, thirty thousand to replace the Towncar that Casey had to leave behind when he came to assist their escape, ten thousand to cover the cost of the support staff flying to and fro between L.A. and Washington, and three instances of the hundred thousand penalty for putting the three active members of the Human Intersect team on that mission at risk by withholding the intel about all the extra security that had been added for the diamond.

Diane had a Blackhawk waiting when the C-21A set down at Ronald Reagan Airport, and the four agents, Alahi and the Nadan-I-Noor were being secured in Joint Base Anacostia–Bolling ten minutes later.

At the DEA's insistence, Sarah and Casey had to be up for a video-conference with Washington at 0600 L.A. time. The DEA's representative waved off the issues caused by the additional security systems and ex-special ops guards that the team hadn't been told about, he just wanted to know whether they got the diamond. His happiness at being told that they indeed had both the Nadan-I-Noor and Peyman Alahi was short lived though, because Diane cut him off when he said he'd be right over to take delivery.

"Mister Alahi can be released to you as soon as you provide the necessary paperwork, but when my people were gathering the necessary intel for this mission, they discovered that the Nadan-I-Noor had been stolen from its rightful owners nearly eighty years ago. When I discussed this with the Director of National Intelligence, he took the matter to the President to get a ruling on what should be done with the diamond, and the President has directed that the Indian government has the strongest claim to the diamond, so State Department will be returning the diamond to them in a formal ceremony."

"You, you can't do that! We engaged you to retrieve that diamond for the DEA! Without the diamond, you have failed the mission and the contract we made with you!"

Diane didn't bother trying to hide her amusement. "If you care to check your copy of the paperwork for this engagement Mister Johnson, you will find that the agreement specified that we prevent Peyman Alahi from using the Nadan-I-Noor to buy a large amount of missiles and other armaments. The secondary objective was to capture Peyman Alahi for the DEA. Therefore the Human Intersect team has achieved both objectives, we have recovered the Nadan-I-Noor to prevent its being used to fund the arms deal, and we have captured Peyman Alahi for the DEA. If you wish to argue about the disposition of the Nadan-I-Noor, you will have to take it up with the President, as it was his decision. With that, this part of the briefing is concluded and we will be moving on to the charges for this mission. As you know, the initial engagement fee was one hundred and fifty thousand, plus thirty thousand more for the second day of the operation and another thirty to replace the Towncar that Agent Casey had to leave behind when he came to assist the other agents' escape, ten thousand to cover the cost of the support staff flying between L.A. and Washington, and three instances of the hundred thousand penalty for putting Human Intersect Team members at risk by deliberately withholding the information that twenty ex-special operations operatives and additional security systems had been added to protect the Nadan-I-Noor while it was in Mister Alahi's possession. That comes to a total of five hundred and twenty thousand for the mission."

Her smile enraged him. "Are you insane woman? The DEA isn't going to pay over half a million dollars when you failed to deliver the prime objective, and we certainly won't be giving in to any attempt to extort three hundred thousand from us on some made up story! We'll be taking that to the Attorney General, see how funny you think it is when you're indicted for attempting to extort a federal government agency Beckman!"

She just looked him in the eye and snapped. "Check your email Mister Johnson! You'll find that we have all the evidence to show that the DEA had the intel on both the extra guards and the additional security systems over a week before you engaged the Human Intersect team and that this intel was accessed from your office at that time! I've also included the information we have unearthed on those ex-special ops guards that my people managed to identify, I am told that these only represent about two thirds of the two dozen combatants they were forced to kill in the fighting to cover our agents' escape. The Attorney General is well aware of the terms and conditions for engaging the Human Intersect team, because the FBI makes use of our services, so by all means do so, I'll be sending a copy of what I sent you to them as proof that the penalties are justified. Those penalties haven't been required to date with the FBI but they are aware of the criteria. I would strongly suggest that you discuss your threat to refuse to pay with CIA Director Graham, as he was recently made aware of what happens to those who try to do that after the Intersect team has delivered the objectives of the engagement by the DNI. Now, do you want Mister Alahi or shall we just hand him over to the FBI? Your verbal advice will be sufficient as we record all communications, something that you would have known if you'd read the terms and conditions for engaging the Human Intersect Team, which you confirmed that you had in the recording of another conversation we had."

He looked furious, but decided to try and call her bluff. "I don't know what you're trying to pull Beckman, but you're not going to get away with it, I'll see to that!"

"I would warn you to be careful about going down this path Mister Johnson, but I can see that you are not inclined to listen, so one last time, will the DEA be officially accepting Peyman Alahi into their custody today, or shall we be turning him over to the FBI?"

He went to shout at her, but stopped himself with an obvious effort and disconnected the link without a word.

Diane looked at the screen as Johnson was replaced by Chuck, Carina and Zondra and smirked. "Well, that was fun! I guess the FBI are getting another high value prisoner to process. So, do we have anything to discuss before I notify the Attorney General and the FBI of what came out of that meeting?"

When they all said 'No' she cut the link and got on with what she had to do with a smile on her face. What Mister Johnson didn't know, because it was way above his pay grade, was that she'd had a good working relationship with the Attorney General for many years now, because the Special Projects Group supplied much of the intel that made the operations of the agencies under the Department of Justice's banner a success, not to mention Chuck and John working with them on many, many missions. While she reported to the Secretary of Defense, and the Director of National Intelligence now, she also had a direct line to the Attorney General to support Law Enforcement issues, so she probably had more pull with the Attorney General than the Administrator of the DEA had and she wasn't at all worried about what someone who reported to the Administrator could do. Having a close relationship with the Secretary of State and handing her a major coup with the return of the Nadan-I-Noor just strengthened her position.

The Director of the FBI was the most powerful person under the Attorney General and she was on good terms with him as well through their long history of working together, and on top of that, they were handing them another prize in Alahi. As much of an idiot as Alahi was, he was in charge of the import and distribution of drugs coming in from the Golden Crescent, so he was bound to have a lot of names and contacts buried in that thick head of his, so handing over Alahi would only improve their standing with the FBI.

Diane was expecting issues to come out of besting the old boys club rather seriously twice in little more than a month, so she had assigned Vincent, Rick, Eyal and Mike to shadow her protection detail for a few days. This was simple enough for her to do as the paperwork had already gone through to have the nine transferred to the Special Projects group after the group showed how well they could work together on the first mission for the Human Intersect team. For now, she was generally seconding them to other groups she worked with or oversaw, but as their commander she could assign them where she wanted.

As usual, she was proven correct a couple of nights later. Johnson had been suspended without pay while an investigation was launched into what he had been trying to pull with the Nadan-I-Noor, and the idiot had thought that the investigation would be dropped and he might keep his job if she disappeared, so he sent a hit team after her. The dozen men who tried to take her as she arrived home were all ex-military with special ops experience and were quite competent, so if she'd only had her regular protection detail there was a good chance that they might have been successful, it was the shadow team that defeated them. While her regular protection detail held them up, the other four hit them from behind and wiped them out. They would have been able to take them in a straight fight as they were at a whole 'nother level to the attackers, but Diane's protective detail certainly helped.

A couple of the attackers lived and their testimony meant that Johnson and some of his buddies who helped him went to black sites for the rest of their lives. That didn't make Diane any more popular than she'd been before, but the rest of them got the message that you have to be stupid to come at Diane Beckman head on, so they faded back into the shadows and tried to destabilise her position through political measures.

A/N: Yeah, I know, This is neither as long or as polished as I'd like, but I'm just not feeling this one at the moment, I think I might take a break for a few weeks and see if I can get past the current block that way.