Amanda entered Percy's office and the briefing began. It was just the two of them meaning that whatever Percy had to say was important.
"Crimson Moon has become a priority for Division. They're a recently founded terrorist group that is based in Saudi Arabia, but their members are from all over the Middle East. We know who the major players are, but we don't know much about their recruits. The CIA has barely heard any chatter from them since Crimson Moon is very careful to stay off the grid. That's good for us because the CIA won't be getting in our way this time. But I have sources that say something big is going down. We need to find out more about Crimson Moon and what they're planning."
"So that we can stop them or so that we can use them for ourselves?" asked Amanda dryly.
"What a novel idea." replied Percy, as though he hadn't thought of that himself from the beginning. "Let's infiltrate Crimson Moon, find out what they're up to, and use them for Division. Maybe they can take out some of our enemies for us."
"Our choices of agents are limited. We don't have very many men who look the part and who are proficient enough in Arabic."
"Who said we were going to use a man?"
"You can't be serious. These men would never respect a woman enough to tell her their plans."
"Exactly. They wouldn't even notice that she was there. Or if they did, it wouldn't matter because she would only be a woman and couldn't do anything anyway."
"Who did you have in mind?" questioned Amanda.
"Arya. She is dark enough to pass for a Middle Easterner, she speaks fluent Arabic, and she's played that sort of role before."
"Being placed in a relationship where she would have to be the submissive partner would force her to relive all of the abuse she went through with Carlos. Psychologically it could destroy her. Are you really willing to put her though that so soon after she started making progress?"
"If she can't handle it, then she isn't an asset to us anyway." said Percy tersely.
Percy explained the details of the operation. It was complicated but effective. The first target was Ahmed Soleymani, the moneyman behind the group. A Division strike team would grab Soleymani from his home in Saudi Arabia. Amanda would be there with the necessary equipment. Using powerful drugs, she would blur his long term memory from the past five years and manipulate his mind so that he believed what Amanda wanted him to believe. The best part was that Ahmed's own brain would fill in any gaps in memory that Amanda left.
Ahmed would believe that Arya had been his wife for the past five years and that they had two children together after a struggle to conceive. They would travel together to London where the Crimson Moon meeting was to take place. Ahmed's bodyguards would all be replaced by bodyguards from a security company whose head was loyal to Division. This way, no one would know that that Arya and Ahmed were not really married. The change in staff would also be prompted by Amanda who would play on Ahmed's paranoia. She would have someone from a cyber-unit steal from one of Ahmed's accounts shortly before she grabbed him. Amanda would then convince Ahmed that it was an inside job and that he needed to replace his bodyguards to get rid of the thief since he did not know who stole the money.
Messing with Ahmed's mind would give Percy and Amanda the chance to test their latest mental manipulation methods. If the plan was successful, Ahmed would be a Division spy. And the best part was, Ahmed would have no idea that he was a Division asset.
Amanda had her doubts about the mission, but Percy was her superior and she had no authority to stop him. Yet.
….
A woman covered in a black niqab and abaya drifted through the crowd at the airport as dark and silent as a shadow. She followed a man who was probably her husband, and carried two babies in a baby carrier on her arm. A second man accompanied them, holding their suitcases. He was a porter or a hired hand of some sort. Gabriel watched from his seat at the gate as the family sat down a few seats away from him. The woman adjusted her niqab, the veil that only showed her grey-green eyes, while her husband greedily wolfed down a sandwich.
Gabriel supposed that there was no way for the woman to eat in public without lifting the veil that covered her face. Even the heavy fabric that she wore could not disguise her slender figure as she was called to the front desk. Assuming that the name that was called over the loudspeaker was hers, her first name was Nadia but he did not catch her surname. Her hips swayed gracefully as she waded through the sea of people.
Her husband accompanied her. Whatever news they were told was not good because the man began shouting angrily at the airline official and gesturing wildly with his hands. Arya reached out an arm and laid it gently on her husband's shoulder, imploring him to not make a scene. He knocked her hand away violently and she cringed. Gabriel watched as she subconsciously repositioned the babies so that her body was shielding them from her husband.
Moments after, Gabriel's name was also called. The flight was overbooked, so he had to catch to next flight from Saudi Arabia to London. Apparently, the woman also had to give up her seat. The husband was clearly not happy about it, but there was nothing he could do. He glowered in his seat until the passengers began to board to plane. The woman relaxed visibly once her husband was gone.
Several hours later, the next flight was scheduled to take off. Struggling with the babies, the diaper bag, and her suitcase, Arya arrived at her row and saw a man sitting in the aisle. Arya had the window seat. He was slim with dark hair and bright green eyes. The man stood up courteously.
"Why don't you take my seat?" he offered in Arabic. "That way you can have more room for the babies."
"Thank you." she replied demurely, settling into her chair.
She placed the baby carrier in the empty middle seat. Gabriel did not mind. He figured that she would be more comfortable with some space in between them. The babies were a boy and a girl both with olive toned skin, green eyes, and wisps of dark hair. Gabriel smiled at them, eliciting a toothless smile in return from the boy, which displayed the dimples in his plump cheeks.
"He likes you." said Arya, smiling under her veil. "His name is Jibril." (The Arabic equivalent of Gabriel)
"Oh, really? My name is Jibril, too. What is your daughter's name?"
"She's Jalilla."
Jibril began to cry, so Arya pulled out a bottle from her immense diaper bag. His crying made Jalilla start to cry as well.
"Do you want me to hold him?" asked Gabriel.
She hesitated. He was a stranger, after all, and she was not supposed to talk to strangers let alone let them hold her children. Then again, her husband wasn't there to rebuke her. The other passengers shot her dirty looks, and Arya did not want to draw too much attention to herself.
"That would be very kind of you, thank you." said Arya finally.
She handed Jibril to Gabriel and picked up Jalilla. Within seconds, both babies were quiet.
"Wow." said Arya. "He must really like you. Jibril is usually my fussy one."
Gabriel had not held a baby since his son Dani had died. Seven years ago, Dani and Leah - Gabriel's wife - had been killed by a car bomb meant for Gabriel. He had gotten his revenge on the terrorists who had tried to kill him, but his heart had not healed. Jibril fell asleep on Gabriel's chest, his small body snuggled into the soft fabric of Gabriel's shirt.
Arya smiled at the sight and continued to feed Jalilla until she too was sleeping soundly. When the babies were first brought in in preparation for the operation, Arya was completely clueless as to what to do with them. She had no idea how to change a diaper or even how to hold a child properly. Luckily, she had learned fast and Arya had grown attached to Jibril and Jalilla. They had come from an orphanage and were selected specifically because of their resemblance to Arya.
These babies seemed to fill the whole that was left inside of her after she miscarried Carlos's baby many months earlier. They were utterly helpless on their own and depended on her for everything. It was nice to feel needed.
They sat in a comfortable silence for several hours until suddenly, the plane lurched violently. Everything seemed to shake with the turbulence as the plane plummeted through the air. Here was her chance to solidify her cover for Gabriel. Arya clutched Jallila with one hand and gripped the armrest with the other. If her knuckles were visible, Gabriel was sure that they would have been white.
She muttered a prayer under her breath, the words almost inaudible. Gabriel could barely make out her chant.
"Ash-hadoo a'ana lei elleha ella Allah, wash-hadoo a'nna Mohammedan rasulu La." (I affirm that there is no God but Allah and that Mohammed is His prophet."
People reveal their true selves when faced with danger or possible life and death situations. Some cry out to their deity while others cry for their mothers, yet Gabriel was silent. The Israeli Mossad agent knew that there was no one to turn to.
He tried his hardest to do what needed to be done, to do what was necessary to protect his homeland, while taking pleasure from life's comforts along the way. However, when his time came, Gabriel would walk patiently through the doors of heaven and into the arms of the loved ones who awaited him. Gabriel's acceptance that death was a natural part of life made him the successful agent that he was. He tried his hardest to successfully fulfill each mission as it came, but Gabriel had no fears except the fear of failing his country. The innocents of his homeland were the ones he lived for and the ones he lived to protect, since his own family was gone.
Each mission became the most important thing in the world to Gabriel until its completion, and this one was no exception. Gabriel was going to infiltrate and then destroy Crimson Moon.
…
The turbulence ended and the rest of the journey to London was smooth. Arya and Gabriel disembarked from the plane and walked through the terminal at Heathrow Airport, Gabriel chivalrously carrying the bags and Arya carrying the children. Her husband was waiting with the bodyguard. Ahmed frowned with displeasure when he saw Gabriel and his wife walking together. His irritation turned to fury when he realized that the man was carrying Nadia's bags.
Gabriel started when he saw Nadia's husband. He had been sent in blind to London without being briefed on the operation except to be told that he had to take out the terrorist organization Crimson Moon. The director of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, had literally told Gabriel to pack his bags and handed him the file with his instructions. Contrary to Mossad's usual diligence, this operation was pieced together completely last minute because they had just found out the intel on Crimson Moon and that its meeting was in less than two days. Gabriel did not even have a chance to look at the contents of the file until he was on the plane. Ahmed Soleymani, the moneyman of the organization, was standing right in front of him.
"What is this?" Ahmed hissed in Arabic.
"I'm sorry." Arya said timidly. "There was just so much to carry and Jibril was helping me out."
Gabriel stuck out his hand for Ahmed to shake it, but Ahmed merely looked at Gabriel contemptuously.
"Nice to meet you." Gabriel said in English, handing over the suitcases to the bodyguard. As Gabriel passed over the bag, his hand brushed against Ahmed and he casually dropped a bug in Ahmed's pocket.
The bug was tiny and hidden inside a button. Even if Ahmed found the button, he would not be able to recognize what it truly was unless he knew what to look for.
When Gabriel left and was out of earshot, Ahmed berated his wife harshly in Arabic.
"What do you think you are doing socializing with that man? It is completely inappropriate. Who knows what could have happened between the two of you while I was not there to watch you? Get in the car, you filthy whore." he spat.
They flagged down a limousine and loaded their bags in the trunk. Ahmed and Omar the bodyguard had been waiting at the airport for Arya to arrive. They were all tired and headed to the house which was located in a suburb of London.
Omar took care of the luggage while Arya hurried inside to put the babies to bed. Once she was sure that they were sleeping, Arya went to the master bedroom to take a shower. Ahmed was waiting for her when she finished. He was still wearing the same suit that he traveled in.
Upon seeing the look on her husband's face, Arya clutched the towel around herself. Ahmed pulled it away, staring at his wife with a newfound passion.
"Come here." he ordered, his voice husky with desire.
"Please," she began, "I'm so exhausted from the trip. Can it wait?"
"Now are you going to shirk your wifely duties in addition to embarrassing me with your lewd behavior in public?" Ahmed demanded.
Gabriel winced as he listened to the conversation. He now regretted that the bug was transmitting loud and clear, but he had to listen in case he came across any valuable intel. He would never forgive himself for missing something important.
Nauseated, Gabriel threw down the earpiece after an hour. He could not take any more. His resolve to kill Ahmed, though never shaky to begin with, had been strongly reinforced. Gabriel had seen and experienced more violence and sadism than he cared to recall, yet he could never imagine what possessed a man to violate a woman the way Ahmed did to Nadia. Gabriel would give anything to be able to hold Leah in his arms one more time and tell her how much he loved her. He wouldn't dream of hurting his wife in any way no matter how small, yet Ahmed had no qualms about abusing his power and stature as Nadia's husband to bully her into submitting to him.
Gabriel had his orders, but he also had to save Nadia and her children. He had to. For the sake of his own wife and child that he had lost, Gabriel would save this woman and her children.
Author's Note: The characters from Nikita don't belong to me, and unfortunately Gabriel is not mine either. He belongs to Daniel Silva, but I've taken some artistic license and modified him slightly. Please review!