Author: Sirius
Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize from the West Wing doesn't belong to me, but the plot is mine. Also, any JAG, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, The American President, Air Force One and Highlander characters belong to their respective creators, although the only one I'm borrowing from Highlander is Joe Dawson, without any knowledge of Immortals or Watchers. Immortals don't exist here. He's still a Vietnam Veteran and a jazz musician, but… well, you'll find out. The Connor MacLeod mentioned here has no relationship to movie or series, as you'll see. Rynna definitely belongs to me, and yes, there are people this intelligent.
Rating: PG-13, for now. There are harsh words, but nothing that would bump up the rating too much, yet.
Characters: C/Z pairing – as soon as I get the French guy out of the way – with C/OC friendship. OC/Well, I'll be asking for opinions on that.
AUTHOR'S NOTE 1: The timeline for this is as follows: Jim Marshall was elected in 1982, and served from January 1983 to January 1991. For the purposes of this story, the hijacking of AFOne took place in his second term, sometime in 1989 (and yes, I know the movie said it was his first term, but for this story, 2nd term works better). Andy Sheppard was elected in 1990 and served two terms, from January 1991-January 1999. And, in accordance with the West Wing timeline, Jed Bartlet was elected in 1998 and serves from January 1999-Present. The other little quirks in the timeline will become apparent as the story progresses.
AUTHOR'S NOTE 2: This is the first installment of a proposed "Project Prodigy" Series. It is set in a different AU than my "Tempered by Fire" Series, but some of the original characters are the same. This is also something of a mega-crossover AU, with the shows previously mentioned in the disclaimer. Also, this contains spoilers through the episode "Commencement," and begins where that episode ended (meaning that this will be completely off-track for cannon as soon as Wednesday rolls around with the season finale). Also, I am still working on my other stories, though they have been slightly delayed by a full-time job and my concentration on a work of original fiction, as well as my West Wing muses having a temporary hissy-fit. They won't let me work on the others until I at least get this one started. Anyway, the next chapters of "Retribution" and "Something Evil…" should be up soon.
AUTHOR'S NOTE 3: I'm presuming that Charlie is 25 at this point in the series, as he looked like he was having a beer in the whole first season bar scene (I can't remember the episode name, but I'm betting that it sticks in the heads of most C/Z fans) – which would have made him 21 when Zoey was 18 (she was just starting her first year at Georgetown).
Summary: "When you say sister, you're not talking about Deena, are you?"
In the midst of the chaos that had erupted after Wesley had become aware of Bookbag's kidnapping, after he called Ron Butterfield and shared a (very) quick word with Charlie about what was going on, but before the President had time to close Washington, the agent found himself slightly distracted by a light hand on his shoulder.
"Sir."
He turned quickly, catching sight of one of the young agents – new, as well – who had been sent down to help secure the scene.
"Yes?"
"Sir," she repeated, "there's a DEA agent who's insisting on speaking to you. She says that she was in the club and was close enough to hear some of what was being said between the First Daughter and her boyfriend… and that it's relevant. She's got a bit of an attitude problem, but seems fairly certain about the information."
"Bring her over here," Wesley said, in the midst of coordinating the scene and issuing orders to the assorted personnel. "Make sure she's got her ID where I can see it and tell her if she says anything about a jurisdictional dispute, I'm going to be less than happy."
"Understood." The young, nameless Agent went away, and Wesley took half a second to draw in a deep breath. He'd already dealt with local police and glory-seeking FBI agents all wanting to offer their input… to the extent that he could barely hear anything else. DEA would just be the icing on the damn cake. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Charlie pacing and knew no one would be able to get him away from the scene unless they knocked him out first. Josh Lyman had gone straight back to the West Wing, though, knowing that Leo would be distracted enough trying to keep the President from … well… being Jed Bartlet, Father. It would be up to Josh to run the country… and up to Wesley to find Zoey Bartlet. In the meantime, he'd sent a couple agents to keep Charlie from doing anything rash while he was here.
Out of the corner of his eye, Wesley caught sight of the still-unnamed agent, and the woman he presumed to be the DEA agent in question – average height, ash-blond or light brown hair done in what looked to be a French braid, slim, athletic, and walking toward him with a casualness that belied the sense of urgency in her request to the other woman. When she got closer, he nodded.
"What do you have?"
"Are you the agent in charge of the scene?"
"Yes. What do you have?"
"DEA agent Corinne de Valle." Sounds Spanish, he thought. She handed him her ID, which he inspected and handed back with a nod.
"Should I ask why there was a DEA presence here, tonight, Agent de Valle?"
"I'm not official," she responded. "I'm technically on vacation, but I was sitting close enough to the First Daughter to hear some of what was being said over the music – fragments, but I believe it has bearing. I also have a way to find her."
"Tell me. NOW."
"The first fragment I heard implied that the First Daughter was rethinking the idea of going to France, to which her boyfriend was offering varied suggestions… come for a few weeks and then decide, et cetera. She started looking a little woozy, and a bit later asked him if he had slipped Ecstasy into her drink. He said he had."
"WHAT!?" Corinne spun to see Charlie standing right behind her, eyes burning. The look on his face all but screamed, Where is that bastard?
Corinne spoke before Wesley had a chance. "Charlie, calm down. You won't be able to help her if you're in jail for beating up on her sleazy soon-to-be-ex boyfriend. Let the Secret Service do it; they can actually get away with that."
"Cori? Why are you…? You know what, I don't think I want to know. I'm gonna go find…"
"Charlie! There will be no beating up of the Frog Prince." Her tone of voice made Charlie stop in his tracks. He turned and looked at her, glancing toward Wesley – who was watching them both.
They know each other, he thought. Somehow, I don't think Agent de Valle chose to be here tonight for the nightlife. "You had something else to tell me, Agent?"
"Yes, sir," she replied, still paying attention – as were the two men – to the surrounding chaos. "I don't believe it was a coincidence that he chose tonight to drug her, sir. The Ecstasy would have slowed her thinking process and reaction time enough that pressing her panic button would not have occurred to her. I think he was in on it. However… I do have a way to find her."
"How?"
"Agent," she paused for a second, then continued, "I used to be part of a CIA covert ops team. When the team – as a whole – was… retired, we kept a few of our favorite toys. When she got up to go to the restroom, I slipped a small tracker in her pocket. Then I went to find you to let you know about the boyfriend. Unfortunately, all hell broke loose first." At the rather incredulous look on his face, she took a piece of paper from her pocket and wrote down the frequency of the tracker, handing it to him without comment.
He acted immediately.
TBC…