12:17pm Paris
Yvette's phone buzzed with an incoming message. Preach watched her closely. She sighed.
"What is it?" Dalton wondered.
"France has just issued an arrest warrant for Jaz." She looked up.
"Arrest? For what?" Jaz wanted to know.
"Espionage." Yvette read the words again to be sure, "Which I am pretty sure mean you will be handed over to Iran."
"This can't be…" Dalton was reeling.
"Sam's still in play, so he must have finally made it through to Tehran Intelligence so France is co-operating. You've got to get Jaz somewhere safe." Yvette realized.
"This is a safe house." Dalton told her.
"And you stopped here before meeting me at the café." Yvette faced them, "I had no idea what you would do: were you here to kill me or string me along or something else? I didn't know. Intelligence was all over you when you cleared customs. There's a tracker on your car and it was noticed you stopped here."
The guys all exchanged frustrating glances.
"Just because it looks like I work alone doesn't mean there aren't dozens of people monitoring me." Yvette pointed out.
"You wearing tracking devices?"
"No but security has been following since the plaza."
"What about your phone?"
She shrugged, "GPS is off, but they can ping it and find which tower I'm closest too."
"Ditch it."
Yvette faced Dalton, "If they lose contact with me, they'll rush in. I've got to time it right. Director, you are going to need to contact the embassy and let them know this could be a hot entrance. It all depends on how fast France moves. Considering the warrant just went out, they are pretty close. Patricia, if you have any contacts in France who might be able to help, you should get in touch. The rest of you grab anything you want to take and we've got to go now."
"I have this feeling of deja-vu." McG was still not won over by the Frenchwoman.
"You won't turn me in?" Jaz was skeptical.
"No." Yvette didn't look at her.
"What about my dad?" Jaz wondered, "Will he be coming with us?"
"He's not going to be released easily. Your boss will have to handle that."
"That doesn't sound so good." Preach murmured.
"Any chance you have changed your mind on the defection?" Dalton wondered.
"No." Was Yvette's immediate answer.
Dalton looked at her, an idea sprouting. He turned to Jaz. His eyes then moved back to Yvette, "You and Jaz are pretty close in appearance, what if we have you two switch?" Everyone looked at the two women. He was right. They were similar size and build, their dark hair close if not the exact same shade. Even their faces were similar shapes.
That is interesting.
"Maybe they'll follow Yvette thinking she's Jaz. Then Jaz can sneak out dressed like you." Dalton suggested, "I go outside, look around like I'm trying to see if it's clear." He looked at Yvette, "You'll come out with me dressed as Jaz and we head for the embassy but slow and make sure French Intelligence will follow us. Then Amir takes Amanda and Jaz dressed like Yvette and head a different direction."
Yvette rubbed her neck thinking through scenarios, "That could work or it could go horribly wrong."
"Will they confront you?" McG asked Yvette.
Yvette shrugged, "I don't think so. But you don't want them to get too close to you, realize it's not me and then arrest you for impersonating an officer."
"But would they ditch you and follow who they think is Jaz?"
Yvette nodded, "They'd follow her."
"Or we could have an embassy car pick us up?" Preach wondered.
"That works too, provided they make it here before we're confronted." Dalton realized.
"So we end up at the American Embassy with Jaz safe but we also have Amanda." Amir pointed out.
"After you get some distance away from here, Jaz breaks off and gets to the embassy solo, you double back, meet me after Jaz makes it and I get Amanda. Everyone else heads for the embassy." Yvette suggested.
"Not thrilled at the idea of playing cat and mouse with the French." McGuire pointed out.
"Sometimes the simplest plan is the hardest to counter." Preach reflected, "The French will be pulled in different directions and if we can disorient them enough Jaz can slip through safely."
"No one has asked for my opinion, "Jaz spoke up, "I can handle myself."
"If you get grabbed, everyone loses. It's that simple." Yvette crossed her arms, "Tehran wants you: France can stop any of the guys and Tehran won't care. They want you. As long as they can't get Jaz, you will have an advantage."
"If France arrests me, you can get me out." Jaz argued.
"I don't have that kind of pull," Yvette told her, "I could probably get in to see you before you are sent out of country…get you the key for your handcuffs—maybe—but with my history in Tehran, they won't let me anywhere near the exchange. I will literally be under guard because they don't want to expose my Tehran alias."
"So should we do it? The switch?" Dalton brought their attention to the matter at hand.
"I like the plan." Amir stated and the others nodded in agreement.
"Fine." Jaz could see she was outnumbered and turned to Yvette, "I guess we need to change clothes or something."
Yvette nodded, "Ok."
"Bedroom is this way." The American led Yvette to an inner room. She was still mad and Yvette could feel the tension.
"I'm not going to apologize for doing my job. But I am sorry for what you went through." The Frenchwoman spoke up.
Jaz glanced at her but didn't speak. They exchanged their clothes as silence stretched between them
"You and Amir were close huh." Jaz noted.
"It was an extended op." She shrugged, "I had to get close to someone, Amir was it."
"Did you love him?"
"Do you fall in love with every guy you sleep with?" Yvette retorted.
"If I've been sleeping with him for two years, it's probably crossed my mind at some point." Jaz rolled her eyes.
"I thought he was a terrorist, not exactly the kind of guy an intelligence officer should fall in love with." The other woman chuckled as she adjusted the new shirt over her bandage.
"You do realize that wasn't a denial." Jaz pointed out as she exited the room. Yvette paused a moment before joining the Americans gathering to leave.
"We are going to keep radio silence until Jax reaches the embassy." Dalton told his crew, "Patricia will call it out if she can confirm Jaz at the location. Here," Dalton handed Jaz an equipment bag, "This backpack can help block your face. When you split with Amir, leave the bag with him so you can be quicker on your feet."
"So I get a baby and a bag to haul around." Amir grimaced.
"And she gets all the danger." Yvette pointed out.
"Would it be better or worse to let McGuire and Preach go first and hope they take some security with them or have them wait?" Amir asked.
"We don't know how much security they have out there." Jaz pointed out.
Yvette checked her watch, "It hasn't been long, I'd say only my tail, MAYBE a second."
"Let's have McG and Preach wait until last so if something goes wrong with us, they can react. Let's go." Dalton started with his part of the charade, heading out to look around suspiciously and went back inside.
Yvette adjusted Jaz's hat, pulling it low in an effort to hide her face as they headed down the street. Dalton walked nearest the street to block anyone's view of Yvette as she kept her head down. He knew Yvette was good but he noticed she adjusted her stride to be closer to resembling Jaz's. She also carried Jaz's knapsack. Every little bitt helped with the act.
Dalton threw his arm over her shoulder as another way to block her face.
Yvette tensed at the movement.
"This is what I would do with Jaz." Dalton told her.
"You are awfully comfortable around her."
"She's a part of my team." Dalton prayed they all made it safely to the embassy. He certainly didn't want Tehran to get Jaz again. They barely got her back alive the first time.