There's a snake lurking in the grass.-Virgil
VII. Renegade
7:00AM Saturday…Bethesda Maryland… DIA Operations Center
Frost sat in front of a mahogany wooden desk as he stared at the name plate on the edge of the desk that read 'Deputy Director Crawford'. He was patiently waiting as Crawford read over the file he produced on Jocelyn Ward.
Judging by the agitated look on Crawford's face he was buying every word of it.
"Are you sure about this? Crawford questioned.
"Positive Sir, when one of the sitters went to check in on her, that was the scene that was found."
He watched as Crawford dropped the file and rubbed his forehead.
Frost sat forward in his chair "With all due respect Sir, I think it is in our best interest to have her flagged within the intelligence community and put a kill or capture order on her before she can do anymore damage to this country."
He watched as Crawford looked at the file again and began to think. Frost had to contain his smirk, as soon as Crawford caved and gave him the go ahead he would be able to eliminate his employers' biggest threat.
"No, not yet" Crawford replied.
Frost leaned back in his seat "Excuse me Sir."
Crawford closed the file and pulled out an address book and flipped through the pages and reached for his desk phone.
"Ward was point on a vital investigation, I'm not about to blow 15 years of undercover work until we are sure beyond a reasonable doubt as to what's going on."
Frost could barely contain his anger as he watched Crawford dial out to a number.
"Emerson report to OP Center, we have a situation."
He watched as Crawford stood up and began collecting his things.
"Get a team set up in the command station. I want you and her handler, Emerson working this together. I'm heading to the capital to brief the Director."
Frost stood up and followed Crawford to the elevators.
"You have 12 hours to locate Ward and find out what the hell is going on."
"Yes, Sir" Frost replied as the elevator doors closed.
7:15AM…Saturday Baltimore Maryland
Ava rolled over in bed and sat up as she grabbed her phone as it continued to ring. She hit accept and answered. "Emerson."
"Emerson report to OP Center, we have a situation."
"Yes, Sir" Ava replied as Deputy Director Crawford hung up.
Ava hastily got out of bed and got dressed and grabbed her phone, car keys and laptop as she rushed out of her home.
7:45 AM… Saturday…Bethesda Maryland… DIA Operations Center
Frost sat at the command post as he watched the agencies intelligence analyst and communications experts ready their equipment. He watched as they pulled up video and security feeds as well as bank statement and phone records.
He wasn't worried about the information trail, his people had set up a flawless paper and electronic trail that provided the perfect set up to make Jocelyn Ward look like she was selling secrets for money.
His only problems now were to make sure that Walters and his contract killer, Ross were dealt with and convincing Wards handler Emerson, that Ward was dirty. From reading up on Emerson, he realized that he was going to have to tread carefully.
Frost leaned his head on his hand. Emerson was good at her job and she been at the game almost as long as he had. He sighed he missed the good old days, when the only females he had to deal with wore skirts and served him coffee. The last thing he needed right now was a pant suit wearing bitch with something to prove.
Ava swiped her access card and marched into OP Center. She made her way to her office to drop off her stuff and was greeted by her assistant.
"What going on Clarke?' Emerson questioned.
"Ma'am, a contract killer with ties to extremist groups was found dead in Wards apartment, a cleaner team found money and a laptop with sensitive information on it, they think she was selling secrets."
"You've got to be joking." Emerson replied
"I wish ma'am, a team is ready in the command station. Right now they are sifting through the evidence and trying to track Ward down."
"Who's running point?" Emerson asked
"You and Frost." Clarke replied
Emerson closed her eyes and mumbled under her breath.
"I know my thoughts exactly, and to make matter worse he was first contact for the sitter who discovered the situation."
Emerson scrunched her eyebrows together. "Since when do sitters contact upper personnel?"
"Apparently the sitter was one of Frosts new trainees. He said he was nervous and forgot protocol." Clarke replied.
Emerson scoffed and grabbed her phone and walked out of her office heading for the command station.
Frost watched as Emerson and her lackey walked into the command room. He stood up as she walked up to the command post.
"Emerson how nice of you to join us, so tell me how you let a traitor go so long undetected under your watch."
Frost watched as she narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't know Frost, you tell me, since you seem to be the one who conveniently stumbled upon all this information."
Before he could reply she turned away from him and began giving orders.
"Someone pull up the security feeds from the night of the attack."
They watched as a black and grey video of Wards apartment played across the screen. They observed as Ward pulled up outside her apartment at 9:15PM on Friday and walked into her building. At 10:05PM they watched as she limped out the back exit of the building heading into the city of D.C. A few hours later they watched as the sitter arrived and then watched as their cleaning crew arrived.
"What evidence was found in her apartment?" Emerson asked
One of the analysts spoke up "A laptop, money and the body of a contract killer by the name of Azar, who has ties to many extremist groups as well as arms dealers across the globe. The laptop contained information on intelligence operatives as well as subcontracting groups."
Emerson took a moment to collect all the information she was being given. It just didn't make sense. She was their when Ward first started, after 15 years of service to the DIA and all that the woman had sacrificed for her country, she all of a sudden had a change of heart and became a traitor.
Emerson was brought out of her thoughts as her phone began to vibrate. She looked down at the caller ID and didn't recognize the number. She signaled for a trace and put the phone on speaker.
"Emerson" she replied
"Its Ward" she heard Jocelyn's voice respond on the other end.
Emerson looked around the room as everything got quit.
"What's going on Emerson?"
"I was just about to ask you the same thing. Do you want to explain why there's a dead body of a contract killer in your apartment?" Emerson questioned.
"He attacked me and I defended myself." Ward replied
"This doesn't look good Ward. What were you doing with Azar and who were you selling the laptop to."
"What laptop?" Ward replied
"We found money and a laptop with sensitive information on it in your apartment. What happened? Did the deal go bad? Is that why you killed Azar, to cover your tracks?" Emerson fired off.
They all listened in silence as they waited for Ward to respond.
"I'm being set up"
Emerson raised her eyebrow.
"Set up by who Ward?"
When she didn't reply Emerson continued.
"Alright how about you come in peacefully and we can sort everything out."
"I don't think that's in my best interest Emerson."
"Ward if you don't surrender now I can't help you clear your name. If I can't help you, you'll be branded a traitor and once that happens, the situation will be out of my hands." Emerson stated.
The room was filled with silence as they waited for Ward to respond.
"I'll take my chances." Before Emerson could say anything else the line went dead.
10:30AM… Saturday…Centreville Virginia
Joss hung up the payphone, she was on her own. Whoever was behind this wanted her dead and discredited.
She had two options now stay and find out the truth or run. She removed a set of car keys from her jacket pocket and walked toward her car. She needed time to think of a plan but first she needed to distance herself from the vicinity of the DMV. She'd head west and stop at the first motel she came across.
10:40AM Saturday…Bethesda Maryland… DIA Operations Center
Emerson stared at the phone thinking.
"You can't possibly be buying that story" Frost questioned.
"I'm not buying anything, I'm doing my job." Emerson replied to Frost
Emerson walked up the command post and started giving new orders.
"I want everything on Jocelyn Ward. No one leaves this room until I know everything about her from the minute she was born to the second that phone call ended. I want a detailed report on every person she's ever come into contact with, every man, woman and child."
After she gave the orders she watched as everyone got to work pulling up everything they had on Ward.
While everyone was engrossed in their task she made her way over to her assistant Clarke.
She pulled him over to the corner of the room "Clarke I need you to do something for me"
He nodded "Go to her apartment and see if anything was left behind that indicates that Wards telling the truth, if there's a snake in our backyard I want to know."
She watched as Clarke slipped out of the command center. She turned back around and watched as all of Jocelyn's life was pulled up and categorized.
AN: *DMV is an acronym that is used to decsirbe the area that contains D.C.,Maryland, and Virgina. Id thought I'd clear that up because my friend thought I was talking about the Department of Motor Vehicles.