Ch 1, Dos Culichis, Two Texans and Oдна Pусская

"He is an enemy of the state! The same state that you have moved to illegally and where you have prospered and gotten rich!" Finch's tone had changed slightly.

James looked like he was about to intervene, and so Teresa glanced furtively at him. Then she lowered her eyes and said: "With all due respect, the state cannot expect a criminal organization to do its work. And I have put two and two together to know you didn't leave me to expand…or protect my growth. "At this she cast another furtive look at James: "…but my team is not prepared to take on a Russian gangster - diplomat!"

Finch chuckled: "You're resourceful, Teresa. All members of your teams are!" he pointed to James with his chin.

"It takes a lot to impress me…when I make a compliment, believe me, it comes from the heart…it's quite amazing how dos Culichis, two Texans and одна русская…can topple the greatest gangster only if they put their minds together!" It seemed to Teresa that Finch actually smiled at her.

"What does that mean?" James interjected.

Finch did laugh this time: "It means 'and one Russian woman"…As a CIA operative I had to know a rare language….if you had stuck with me, you could have transferred to the Agency soon and be on your way to learn Arabic or Russian, or Mandarin…but you're here, my dear friend, and as such I suggest you use your impressive skills and…fighting spirits…That's why I bet on you two."

James only wrinkled his forehead more at Finch's words, while Teresa cocked her head: "Hmm…your pawn Castel told me the exact same thing…that she betted on me!"

"She is an extremely smart woman... It's my privilege to work with her, and I feel great respect for her…as much as I feel for you." Finch said.

"So, we are supposed to take this blackmail as a complement?" James's voice was flat.

"It is! I will assist with whatever you need…intelligence, tactical, documentation and transportation…I am loyal to this mission and to you! Are we in agreement?" Finch responded as if he had not noticed the jab in James's remark.

James looked at Teresa's stern face, her hair pulled tight in a low bun, her make up almost nonexistent, her white outfit making her pale and serious. Finch understood the gesture that the final word was Teresa's.

"My two other associates are out of the game because the war your had Boaz declare on us…ahh…unsettled one of them." Teresa saw the change creep over Finch's face.

"If Kelly Anne got scared and ran off to a hide in a motel again…you bring her back…or at least bring back her firepower of a man because you may end up infiltrating an embassy and you'll need all the firepower you can get! I mean it!" Finch sounded a little upset as he added after a second looking at James: "Should I have passes for the Embassy prepared?"

"Not yet!" James hardly moved his lips: "We need to see what Oksana can do for us first!"

"It's a suicide mission, James! I'm not letting you go in there. You'll be dead before you know it!" Teresa's eyes flashed with anger.

"Like I said Kostya moves only with heavy security from his condo to the basement of the Embassy to his fortified tearoom in Brooklyn. Not many opportunities to gun him down." James felt no excitement about infiltrating an Embassy, but Oksana had said many times that Kostantin Federev was not meeting anyone personally.

"I have to insist he meets with me. I will shoot him then and you must get me out after that!" Teresa was staring at the wall behind James as she said it and he almost felt like waving at her to make eye contact.

"Oh, yeah? How long do you think you'll live in this scenario?" James countered.

"You'll get me out!" she repeated.

"What if I can't? Whose life is worth more? Yours or mine?" He was getting antsy and worried as she seemed not to think clearly. "Besides, it might be easier to get out if a get him in the Embassy when he is not expecting a hit…rather than at a meet with you…when he will be heavily guarded and prepared!"

Teresa kept silent, just sighed nervously and looked like she didn't know what to do with her hands. She looked like an addict trying to control herself. Then she finally met his eyes: "My life is not worth it…if you get killed. I can't have that. Do you understand?" She sounded serious and despondent.

James was caught by surprise, which washed his soul with a pleasant warm feeling, but at the same time scared him because he wasn't certain how close he could get to her. He had been pushed away to work towards 'another life' and now her words, voice and posture were crying out 'hold me, comfort me."

"We wait for Oksana. We don't make any decisions now! Okay?" he got up from the couch, shut the laptop down and briefly squeezed her shoulder before walking out of the room to prevent himself from doing or saying more.

As the nicotine calmed him down a bit, he began to swim up to the surface of awareness, and he let his mind wander. He had begun piercing some of this case together, the case of what Finch was really after, that was when he had worked for the man. But now it all felt like a damn dream which he hoped would turn out to be utter nonsense when he awoke.

But he could see no other option is the nicotine from his second smoke relaxed him even further. He would flash a fake Embassy identification and stick it back in his pocket. He realized that impersonating an Embassy employee or a contractor was not only breaking the law but was breaking logic as he spoke no Russian... but here was the thing about being supported by a rich and powerful entity: he wouldn't go to jail for crimes like this, if he survived. Even if the Russians got him, as long as they didn't know he was after Federev, Finch would send a bunch of attorneys who will twist reality in a thousand different ways until reality was made irrelevant. They'd claim he did have business there, or that he had been confused where he was providing services. They'd deny he ever flashed anything at all, or if he was on tape, they'd say he flashed a photograph of someone he had an appointment with, or that his secretary made a mistake. Finch would get him out because he had worked for him and he knew things that the CIA would not want the Russians to know and neither would the CIA want anyone else to know that they were operating on US soil, which they were forbidden to do. Or would Finch do that for him at all? Maybe not! Maybe he'd let him be shot or rot in a Russian prison if he got caught.

He was getting lost in his thoughts. His mind wanted to jump to conclusions of what would be the safer way to approach the mission, but he kept resisting the temptation.

He knew he needed information about the Embassy and its workings to make a determination. Teresa's forte would be to make the decision fast - spontaneous, disorganized, sloppy and brilliant. She could keep dozens of ideas in her head. He could not. He slowed himself. He needed to have backed documentation, to see things visually, on the page, before it would make sense; he would need a timetable and a map. James was big on due diligence.

He could even find documents in the Embassy as to Kostya's entire operation…. James would not feel intimidated, as anyone else would, by the sheer amount of detail and risk. In fact he felt at home there. One reason Teresa and he made such a great team, was that she was a big-picture girl whilst he was more detail oriented. She was a dreamer, he a realist. She had an uncanny way of seeing the end game. He was more of a plodder who didn't take shortcuts and did grunt work.

So, Finch had not made any promises today, just that he was being loyal to the mission he had tasked them with. Two of the biggest delusions were that "loyalty" and "keeping promises" were admirable qualities. James doubted that. They were often an excuse to do the wrong thing and to protect the wrong person because one was supposed to be "a man of one's word" or have a bond with or allegiance to some idea that deserved neither. He didn't feel any loyalty to Finch and he knew loyalty was too often used as a replacement for morality or ethics, as he had done with his loyalty to Camila. But his loyalty was to the woman he loved, who had been thrown in this life and continued to be exploited. And that was all that mattered at this moment.

"You can't save her now James!" He inhaled smoke as the breeze came at him and gave him chills. Camila's voice sounded again and again in his head.

That's when he realized Teresa had walked after him on the balcony and he turned around to her: "You can't save me now, James! You did so many times before…but now…" her voice was low, and her eyes were red.

He felt some sort of energy get hold of him and as he abhorred powerlessness, he heard himself say:

"I can, and I will. Watch me! I am getting in this damn Embassy and getting this fucker cold…and then we're getting out!"

She smiled a sad smile as she walked back inside and pulled the sliding door shut.

He wanted to tell her to toss her own coke out; that he had seen traces of it on her nose a few times now... and to come have a smoke with him, like before...but he had not dared speak his mind as he wasn't sure she was ready.