CHAPTER 2

BOGOTA

Dianna arrived at the Naval Air Station at 0820 hours, or as she called, the 'Navy Airport', which was actually next to the Base. She wanted to come early, but not too early, so she wouldn't be the first one to arrive; and she knew the flight was long, so those extra minutes didn't bother her much. Davis alerted her that they thought this was going to be a quick op, lasting a week at most, but they were never sure, so she packed with simple usable clothes and things for the trip. Bogota was always hot and humid as fuck, so her bag was full but light. She was wearing low heel light boots, black comfortable skinny pants, black t-shirt, and an olive green jacket. She was going to wear a lot of olive green and brown, to not stand out so much. Davis and Blackburn arrived together, soon after her, and David Jefferson arrived soon after them, with a blue shirt and jeans. His blue long-sleeved shirt would be soaked in sweat in ten minutes, so she really hoped he packed something else. Sweat makes people think you're nervous, not good for intimidating a terrorist during an interrogation. She was wearing black so if she sweat, no one would notice. Probably there wouldn't be air conditioning in most of the buildings and probably at her room, too.

She stood up next to the seat she chose, which was none, because there was only a long bench there, with an ass-shaped division. For your ass. She knew that, because she googled all there was to be googled about navy planes and such, but to see it was sad. So she wanted to sit down at the last minute, so her ass wouldn't be so flat when they arrived. She wasn't getting any younger.

"They won't get any more comfortable, trust me", Ray friendly approached her, and she turned to him, nodding. Jason and Trent were with him.

"Oh, I believe you", she said, smirking.

"What, took many crappy flights in Uruguay?" Ray asked, seemingly unaware that Uruguay is not a jungle with small falling planes. She only ever took commercial flights, economic class. Both in Uruguay and the U.S., and a few other places she went, not many. That would change soon.

"Took commercial flights, economic class. That's all. Not a big adventurer, or rich" she answered Ray's previous question. She added, trying to not sound like a loser that didn't like to come out of her cave, "But it's ok. Every job has its pros and cons. I'll do more squats when I come back, to de-flatten my butt", she casually said, and apparently it was a good joke, because the three guys laughed a bit, sincerely. Maybe they weren't used to women making jokes, but since they weren't her bosses and she wasn't theirs, it didn't matter. They were colleagues, and they treated each other and even Davis and Blackburn, their superiors, in an informal manner, so she'd behave accordingly.

Davis heard the laughter and came to check on her protegee, "Guys treating you alright?"

"So far, so good" Dianna answered, casually.

"Well, watch out for her, guys. She's been interrogating tough criminals for a long time, she could squeeze anything out of you".

"Really? Since when?" Trent came closer, while Ray and Jason sat on the bench.

"I was an intern at a police station in Uruguay at 18, so, since then" she answered, still standing up.

"She volunteered" Davis added, and the guys where like 'huh'. Then she noticed she left the main information out, and complemented, "She interrogated pedophiles and victims of pedophiles at 18", and now they 'wow, seriously', almost in unison.

"That's tough" Ray sincerely was shocked, thinking about his own daughter having to deal with these types of crimes and criminals at such a young age. "It was mean of your bosses to force you".

Davis was about to explain again, but Dianna told him "I volunteered. And it wasn't pedophiles, actually", and the guys relaxed a bit, "it was sexual criminals in general. And their victims. Well, and other crimes in general", she explained casually.

Now she was gaining respect from the guys, because they couldn't imagine why would an 18 girl volunteer to do that. She realized that maybe they thought she wasn't getting paid, so she explained a bit.

"Oh, I was paid to do my job. As an intern, so it was really almost nothing. I was interrogating suspects of other crimes when I started, every intern did that, but I volunteered to take the statements of the suspects and victims of sexual crimes because the other policemen were doing crappy work, forgetting to ask important questions, and the victims were getting out of the police station traumatized after being questioned. Including the kids. So I volunteered to do that, that's all".

A silence lingered among the small circle of people, and Dianna really didn't know what to do, so she sat down.

"'That's all'", Jason mockingly murmured, nodding, and Ray chuckled softly. Dianna understood that they meant that what she did was important, and not that they were mocking her, so she ignored it and took her phone to take a look at the Instagram for a while.

After a couple of hours into the flight, Dianna was finally getting used to the movement and feeling a bit less nauseated. She hated to fly, but so far she hadn't thrown up, so that was a win. She took some medicine beforehand, just in case. She finally could read the information of the terrorist cell without getting sick, so she was highlighting the names and 'occupations' of the people related to the cell with the information they gathered. Ray was still sitting close to her, leaving two ass-shaped seats empty between them, and Trent and Jason were next to him. Clay and Sonny were laying in hammocks, and Dianna was very envious of that.

Suddenly, David Jefferson approached her, sitting in front of her on a chest. His shirt was already creasy.

"So, how's it been?" he tried to sound friendly, but seemed a bit forced.

"Good. Just checking some info. You?"

"Good. Got any ideas so far?" he sounded a bit cocky.

"About what?" she answered confused.

He chuckled, "about how you think we should lead the interrogations".

"Well, no" she bluntly answered, not impolite, just confused. "We have to wait and see who the guys bring us".

"But then we wouldn't be prepared" he argued, talking to her as she was mad.

"You mean, besides knowing how they operate from the information we have?"

"Aren't you planning the questions you'll ask them?" his voice raised a bit.

"Well, I know the basic ones, of course. But besides that, why would I? It depends on how the operation goes" she answered in her normal tone.

"But you should think of that beforehand" he was indignant, but tried to sound calm, so he lowered his voice a bit, "and trace plans of questioning every one of them".

Dianna was tired of this guy already, "No, I shouldn't".

There was a two second silence and she noticed, with the corner of her eye, a few faces turning.

She sighed, like she did when she tried to explain something to a stubborn kid.

"During an operation anything can happen. The leader might be killed, or his best friend, or his wife and his best friend, or the leader survives and the guy who was his only enemy inside the group dies. I have no idea how the event will unfold, and as far as we know, the terrorists aren't even aware of an operation happening. So the guy will be living his life, feeling uncomfortable all day because he ate too much the night before and needs to go to the toilet all day long, and then a bunch of heavily armed Americans invade his cozy bathroom and capture him while he's doing his business. He'll feel humiliated and weak, and he'll behave himself during interrogation accordingly. The same guy, on the other hand, might have just slept with the leader's wife the night before, and find out he loves her deeply and is confident enough to kill the leader to be with her, then again, a bunch of armed guys capture him and ask him who's his leader. He's standing proud and wants to prove himself for his woman, and keep her safe, but at the same time he wants to see the leader dead, so he'll behave accordingly. We can't know, and we'll never know what they're thinking. I'm not a fortune teller. I will, too, handle accordingly during the interrogation, taking his hints and that's all. Knowing their names and occupations isn't answering anything to me".

She was explaining looking at the file she had of the case, and looking at Jefferson, and when she finished she noticed it was a very long explanation, and she kind of regretted it, because Jefferson definitely would think that she was acting with disdain against him. But then again, she didn't like him either, and he wasn't her boss.

But then she glanced to the rest of the plane and, even though she wasn't speaking loud at all, almost all of the team was looking at her. Clay was sitting in his hammock, Sonny was standing right behind Jefferson, and the three guys on the bench were also staring at her.

"Oh, I'm sorry I woke you up" she quickly apologized, whispering and gesticulating.

"Well", Sonny smirked, "So is it good or bad if we take the guy while he's shitting?"

The plane finally landed at whatever the airport's name was, and a few jeeps were waiting for the group to drive them to their hotel, or whatever place they'd go. She didn't ask. They were really good jeeps, they'd stand out in Bogota. "Fancy" she mentioned, to herself, while walking with the group. Dianna, tech guys, CIA people and similars were going separately from the Seals, and they arrived at the very hidden hotel they'd stay. She greeted a few workers there, because some of the rest of the group did it too, but her perfect spanish stood out from their very american spanish. She got in their place and it was a whirlwind of tech guys installing computers and tech crap, people opening maps, interns or whatever those Gen Z were, installing TV crap, and she basically didn't know what she was supposed to do, so she pretty much followed Jefferson and Davis. She left her bag near theirs, then she opened the file she already read a hundred times on a computer, and Jefferson just kept talking crap to some of his colleagues and highlighting his plans to decipher the terrorists minds, apparently knowing more about them than they knew themselves. Deep.

Then Davis came by and asked if she wanted to leave her stuff in her room, and she gladly accepted, passing by a big room where the team guys were unpacking some crap, then by the officers' rooms where Blackburn was placing his fancy crap on a fancier bed than the team guys, then a few closed rooms, then Davis said that this was her room, and then almost in the end of the hallway, it was Dianna's room. Small, but ok for her. There was just another bigger room after hers, where three Gen Z girls were unpacking their weird crap. Then Dianna proceeded to unpack her crap and came back, passing by the team guy's room, where a few of them were sitting on their beds, with the room open, so anyone could hear their conversation.

"I'll think about it, man" Clay was saying.

"Nah Clay, come on, you always say that, but you never go" Sonny argued with him. Then she didn't hear anything else.

She made her way looking for Davis, trying to not seem lost about what to do, exactly. But she was a blunt person, so as soon as Davis came by, she had to ask.

"Hey. Do you need help with anything?"

"Not right now. But if you want, you can stay with us when we plan the op, and the guys plan the assault".

"Oh, that seems fun. Sure".

Davis was a bit suspicious, not understanding if Dianna was as good as they said she was. "Don't you have something to prepare for the interrogation?"

Obviously she didn't hear her explanation at the plane earlier. "Oh, I've already prepared what I could. I wrote everything down. Now I just need the operation to happen".

"Oh. Good. We call it 'op', usually", Davis smiled, trying to give her hints so she'd fit in, but still not sure of her skills.

"Ok. Good. I'll wait for the op. I'll see if Jefferson needs help now" she quickly said, noticing that Davis wasn't confident in her skills. She walked by him and he wasn't saying anything interesting or new, so she stood close to the tech people, to figure out how to do stuff in those fancy computers and use the bigger screens. She hated technology, but it might be useful to learn. Then she glanced to the side and saw the team guys and the officers heading to another room, with another big table where nobody put anything over it, to plan for the op. She asked politely if Jefferson needed her help at that moment, he said no, obviously, and she made her way to the planning room, glanced at Davis and she nodded, officially authorizing her entrance. She had her notepad and pen, just in case, and sat at one of the two only available chairs in the room. She chose to sit next to Sonny, obviously. The other one was next to Jason, but he wasn't as fun, so she walked around that first empty chair and made her way to the other one, sitting joyfully next to the funniest guy, who joyfully greeted her.

The guys suddenly focused on the information given, even Sonny, and Dianna tried to not even move her pen, because she was afraid it would disturb their focus. She knew the guys were intelligent, because after all, they were the crème de la crème of the Navy, but still, they were like, really intelligent, talking about technological stuff and battle organization, maps and wind and rain. Very wise. She heard a lot of acronyms at once. She hated acronyms, could never memorize them. After much debate and information traded, Jason decided something, then Blackburn asked if they really could do it, because apparently no man alive roaming the Earth has ever done it, and Jason essentially smirked and said they could. Then everyone just trusted his word for it and stood up, smiling and confident as fuck. Dianna could feel their confidence slapping her face, so she couldn't wait to see.

"So", Jason was still in the room, while Dianna was writing some observations of the type of building and neighborhood where the terrorists were staying and having the meeting, she didn't see him there. He was tapping a pen on the table, and she was the only one there, so obviously he was talking to her. "Something important you concluded so far? To help us out?". He was standing up while talking to her, making his way slowly around the big useless table towards her.

"Well" she thought for a second, "Not really. You guys definitely have everything under control. You talked fast, so I didn't understand very well what was decided. I'm just taking notes because things like the neighborhood they are staying, the clothes they wear, the maintenance of the building, could make us find out something important, maybe later on".

Jason chuckled when she said she didn't understand anything about the op, then raised an eyebrow to her, apparently impressed. He stood beside her, but not too close, and sat a bit over the huge table. He took the pen and explained the op to her, even though she didn't ask him to.

"Since it's going to be an afternoon meeting, we won't have the benefit of the night to hide us. But there's a lot of helo… helicopters moving around the sky in Bogota, so they won't find it strange if we arrive there in one. The meeting is going to be on the top floor, but it's only four floors, so part of the team would go from the street up and part will helo there on the roof and come down, so we'll squeeze them between those two groups".

Dianna nodded, finally understanding the op. Very efficient. She noticed that they called helicopters 'helo', so that cleared a lot for her.

"Efficient" she said, because she didn't know how else to call it. "So you're arriving when everyone's there already?"

"Yep. We'll confirm it by visual. Drone".

"Drones from above?"

Jason smiled, confused. "Yes. From the sky"

"But how we'll confirm their identity then?"

He stood silent for a while. "I guess the asset will also confirm who is arriving there. Or someone from CIA".

"Ohh, great. Good. Didn't know that. Important".

"Yes. Very". He thought for a while.

"Will the guys from the CIA be able to see if they're armed? The guests to the meeting", Dianna was curious, and Jason just looked at her. She tried to explain. "Because in favelas and surroundings, most of the guys are always armed, no matter what, and leave their guns at the entrance or out of the rooms. But if the meetings are with people they don't completely trust, they still will have concealed weapons".

"Would you just give me a second? Stay right here" Jason suddenly left, and Dianna stood there, a bit paralyzed, sitting on her chair. He came back with Davis moments later.

"So, what was the question?" Davis approached her with Jason beside her.

"My question of what?" Dianna was confused, and Jason stood beside Davis, with his arms crossed.

"That, what you said. I don't know. I think we should know that, Davis. We'd be more effective for capture if someone from CIA or the asset could provide us with that information". He looked at Dianna, serious, and finally she understood what he wanted.

"Oh, yes. I mentioned that the guys from the CIA, or lookouts, whatever they are, should be able to see if the guests of the meeting are armed" then she repeated what she said before to Jason, "because in favelas and neighborhoods like that, most of the guys are always armed, no matter what, and leave their guns at the entrance or out of the rooms. But if the meetings are between people they don't completely trust, they still will have concealed weapons with them, and it would be harder for the lookouts to notice. And I know if they're armed, the team will shoot to kill, and not capture".

Davis heard that and turned to Jason, serious. "Okey… I'll check that with them, ok".

Jason whispered to her, a bit annoyed. "U-hum, make sure they do their jobs".

Davis left and Dianna thought Jason would leave too, but he uncrossed his arms and put his hands on his jeans pockets, swinging his body a bit towards Dianna. He unconsciously wanted her to look at his groin, while being casual. A sign of dominance, but she knew that he'd be dominant already. So she stood up, to show him she wasn't submissive.

"Nice tip there" he said, smiling a bit, with his lips closed. He almost didn't smile.

"Hmm.. thanks", she muttered, she was thinking about walking away, but she realized she had nothing to do until the afternoon of the next day. "Do you think I could watch the op? Even not being CIA" She used the correct term 'op', feeling very military, and asked him because everyone there was always agreeing with what he said, so if he let her watch, probably nobody would say no. And she apparently just helped him with something important.

"Sure", he said, grinning, and she almost fell down with the sight of his smile. It was gorgeous. That's why he never smiled, he would charm everyone too much, probably.

"Ok. Good" she smiled back, because, who wouldn't?

.