"The lack of money is the root of all evil."-Mark Twain

IV. Dagger

Location Roslyn Station…11:00PM Friday

Joss cradled her side and wiped the blood from her nose as she limped down the stairs into the Metro Station. As she reached the platform she hastily made her way onto the train and moved to the back of the car and sat down. Once the doors closed and the team started to move she allowed herself to relax. She took a deep breath and rested her bruised forehead and cheek against the cool glass. She closed her eyes and slowed her breathing as her mind took her back to the events of the evening.

Kingman Park Washington, DC…..9:15PM Friday

Joss pulled her car into park and shut the engine off she grabbed her gym bag and made her way to her apartment building and got on the elevator. After a few moments the elevator opened up on the fifth floor and she made her way down the hallway to her apartment.

As she was pulling out her keys, her phone vibrated. She pushed open her front door and made her way into the apartment as she spoke into the phone.

"Ward…Hello?" she pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at the caller ID as she made her way to her bedroom. She raised her eyebrow as the screen on her phone displayed the word 'Unknown'. She was about to hang up when the sound of static and a automated female voice came through the other line.

"Can..You..Hear...Me?" "Detective…Carter…Imminent…Danger…Intruder…9'oclock."

She immediately looked to her left and dropped her phone as a man dressed in black barreled out of her bathroom.

He engaged her as he started throwing haymakers at her, she moved backwards and she extended her arms blocking his fist from hitting her in the head and face. When she saw an opening she extended her left foot in a low kick aimed at his knee, as he buckled from her kick she reached her left arm out grabbing his shoulder and bringing her right knee into his stomach.

As her knee connected with his gut, his fist came up and connected with her cheek sending her stumbling into the wall. She didn't have time to brace herself as his hand slammed her forehead into the wall while his other fist connected with her ribs. He tossed her to the ground onto her back and pulled out a syringe. As he made a move to stab her with it, she brought her feet up and pushed him back causing him to let go of the syringe. She turned around and got to her feet to make a dash to her dresser where she keeps her gun. Before she should get three feet away her attacker grabbed her by the waist in a bear hug. She leaned forward with all her weight and looked over her shoulder as she threw her elbows back into the sides of his head as many times as she could. As his grip loosened she spun around bringing her knee into his face multiple times before he caught her leg and lifted her off the ground before slamming her onto her back. While she was on the floor he punched her in the nose. She blocked his next punch and brought her legs up wrapping them around his neck. He rolled over trying to get her legs loose. She dropped her left leg and braced it on the ground as she brought her left hand up grabbing her right ankle locking him in place. Using the added leverage of the ground she reared her body up and twisted swiftly to the left causing a popping sound as she broke his neck.

She quickly detangled herself from the man's limp body as she got to her feet and surveyed the room. After establishing that she was alone she made her way to her dresser pulling out her gun and a golden key. She looked around her room and noticed the pills on her night stand, she moved back over to the dead body and searched him for ID, but only finding a phone. She turned it on and the first thing she saw was a picture of herself. Scrolling through the document she realized that she was the target of a hit and someone had taken pictures of her government file and given it to a hitman. She tossed the phone and grabbed a hat and jacket out of her closet before she made her way to the front door. She looked out the peep hole to see if her uninvited guest brought friends.

She slowly opened the door and made her way down the side staircase and out the back exit of the building and headed toward the city. She ditched her phone in the apartment so she couldn't be tracked, at this point she didn't know who was behind her attempted assassination. Now all she had to do was make it to the metro station, and get on the orange line.

D.C. Metro Orange line….11:45PM Friday

She was brought out of her thoughts when the announcement on the train came on

"Virginia Square GMU Station"

She got up from her seat and made her way to the doors, once the doors opened she moved quickly to the bike lockers. Once in the locker section she made her way to the last locker and pulled out the golden key she grabbed from her apartment. She unlocked the locker and pulled out a stash pack, she unzipped the bag and put her gun into it and pulled out a set of car keys and made her way to the parking garage a block away. Once she got to the car shed get out of D.C., find a motel and clean herself up. Then she would make contact with her people and try and figure out what the hell was going on. All she had now were questions, Who wanted her dead?, Why?, and Who was that voice on the phone and how did they know her old identity?

Kingman Park Washington ,DC…6:30AM Saturday

James Frost looked on with dissatisfaction as his team surveyed Wards damage. The plan was simple, kill Jocelyn Ward and make it look like she committed suicide. He turned to the short man next to him and asked what went wrong.

"Sorry Sir, we didn't expect her to be as skilled as she was."

Frost replied "Do you know where she is now and if she has contacted the agency yet?"

The young man replied "She was last seen heading into the city and to our knowledge she hasn't contacted anyone with the DIA yet."

"Alright then we are moving to plan B, bring in the laptop and money and set up the trail" Frost ordered as he turned and walked out of the apartment.

Frost ran his hands through his white hair as he made his way out of the building. All this incompetence was giving him a headache. Now he had to go through the process of making it look like she was a traitor to her country. Once he was back at the office he'd make sure she was flagged as a high risk threat to security and once that happened, Jocelyn Ward was as good as dead.

He watched as the sun began to rise as he enjoyed the silence of the early morning. His reprieve was cut short as his phone rang. He looked at the caller ID and smiled before he hit answer and accepted the call.

"Hello Walters, I sure hope this call is in relation to what we discussed about you finding your dog and putting it down." He listened as Walters updated him about his other problem.

"That's good, as soon as you have Ross in your sights kill her." He hung up the phone and got into the black Escalade that pulled up in front of him.

As he settled himself he turned and looked out the window as his point man approached. "Walters just informed me that Ross is in New York and wants to meet with him, I want you to take a team and go up there and make sure the job gets done." "Once she's dead, kill Walters too. Is that clear?"

The young man nodded to him and made his way to the car behind him. Frost smirked as he sat back in his seat all the pieces were coming together and at the end of it he was going to be a very rich man. He turned his head toward his driver. "Driver take me to the DIA operations center." Once Jocelyn Ward was branded a traitor to her country and when Walters's lapdog was put down, he and his employers could rest at ease knowing that the loose ends were finally taken care of.