The Brave and The Killer

US Military Base Incirlik, Turkey: 1pm Local time.

The high-pitched alarm sounded. Everyone turned to the computer. It was time for an assignment. Captain Adam Dalton, leader of the Special Operations Group, approached the secure computer and entered his pass code on the keyboard. The screen blinked before Deputy Director Patricia Campbell came into focus on the screen. She addressed the special ops leader, "Dalton, get your team ready."

"What's the case?" Dalton looked around at his approaching members.

"We got a call from the DPSD asking…"

"The what?" The group's medic, Joseph McGuire, had a hard time keeping track of all the abbreviations everyone used.

"The French Directorate for Defense Protection and Security." She shot the hothead a disapproving look, as he mumbled, "That's a mouthful."

The director didn't hear him and pressed of with the briefing, "They contacted us after family members of a top agent were kidnapped."

"Why us?" The Chief Petty Officer was nicknamed "Preach" for his words of wisdom.

"The agent reached out to me directly." A new voice made the crew immediately tense as Unit Director Steve Hampton stepped into the video frame, "I worked with her a few years ago."

"Her?"

"Officer Yvette Dubois; worked undercover with ISIS for several years, now is stationed out of Paris—still working terrorism as far as I know."

Noah Morgenthau, part of the technology unit in Virginia, pushed her photo onto the screen. Dalton leaned toward the computer to look at the photo.

"Director…that is ISIS sympathizer Adiva Baqri!" Intelligence officer Amir Al-Raisani recognized the woman in the photo.

"No, she is DPSD. She was undercover when you met." The director was ready for the question.

Amir's mouth dropped open. "No way. There was no indication she wasn't a supporter…"

"That only proves how good she was." The director interrupted him, "Look, I know you have a history with her and that is one reason why we need you to go. It will be harder for her to fool someone she's worked with before."

"I only worked with her thinking she was a terrorist." Amir objected, "Not someone on my side."

"But you still have a baseline and experiences with her and can read her actions." The director reminded, "Her sister and niece, Jennifer and Amanda Dubois, have gone missing and we want you to help Yvette track them down."

"Do we have any leads on what we are facing?" As the leader, Dalton had to come up with a plan.

"As of this time there has been no ransom demand and we are still scrubbing surveillance cameras to see if we can find them." Hannah Riverera, the mission coordinator and former field agent was also in the office early.

"So we're heading to Paris?" Preach, the old man of the group, thought that was a good place to start.

"Yes." Patricia was not fully comfortable with the idea of Director Hampton taking over her team. Even if it was her boss. He was not usually hand's on: he would give her the task and she was on her own to figure it out with the on the ground team.

"Do we think they are still in France?" Jaz wondered. She was a top sniper for the US and the only girl of the Special Operations team.

"They live in London." Noah, the lead analyst chimed in, "London police got a call about a break in, but when they got to the address there was no sign of the family."

"I got the call four hours ago from Agent Dubois asking if we could help." Director Hampton added.

"If there are no leads what are we supposed to do when we get there?" Dalton didn't understand this mission.

"Yvette is an ally and we are going to assist her." The director's voice was firm.

"The task right now is to meet Yvette in Paris and see if she has any leads." Patricia added.

"But the mission will change when things are clearer." McG pointed out.

"We are sending you because you are the best at improvising and coming up with plans." Patricia complimented them with a 'don't argue' look through the screen.

"Last time I improvised, I ended up being tortured in Tehran." Jaz grumbled under her breath. The computer microphone didn't pick up on her words, but her team did. That mission had been emotionally rough on all of them but she was the one who faced the professional interrogators and physical pain.

"If we can find her family, she will owe us a favor and we like collecting those." Hampton revealed.

"Wheels up in one hour." Patricia told them, "Flight is fueling up as we speak."

"Grab your gear." Dalton told his crew as he ended the call. He closed the computer to pack it up.

"I don't like this Top." Preach used their leader's nickname.

Dalton hesitated. While he agreed with Preach, wouldn't countermand their orders, "Let's work on some contingency plans."

"How can we be sure she's on our side?" Amir was still reeling.

"Director Hampton was pretty sure about that." Dalton pointed out.

Preach shrugged, "A friend of a friend is not always a friend to you."

Dalton tried not to wince. He didn't need any foreboding hints. Today was already not going the way he had planned. At the equipment cage, the rest of the military special ops team selected items needed for Europe and loaded bags of supplies.

"You ok?" McG nudged Amir. The intelligence officer had been quiet.

"Fine." He kept it short.

"You thought she was a terrorist, huh." McG teased.

"I'm supposed to be good at reading people, this is not what I expected." Amir's undercover past kept him from fully trusting anyone and this news was throwing him for a loop.

"Everybody makes mistakes."

"I'm just hoping this one won't cost us." Amir zipped up his bags. He watched Jaz and Preach's friendly argument about which supplies are needed before Dalton got their attention.

"Plane's on the tarmac. Let's go."

Walking to the airplane, Amir reflected on the woman he remembered. She was the niece of Zafer, an elder member of the terrorist group he infiltrated. They had been living at the compound before Amir joined and she was one of very few women there.

Within two months of his arrival, Zafar was found to have met with a police officer. The leader of the cell, Rakin, was paranoid and irate at the news.

"He was an old friend, I didn't consider that he was law enforcement." Zafar told them.

"I don't care." Rakin threatened him with a gun

"Please, don't kill him!" Adiva begged on her knees.

"He is a traitor." Rakin insisted.

Amir had to choose where he stood. Both were bad options but he theorized that Zafer was a killer and his loss would give Amir a better chance with the leadership so he chose to remain silent.

Adiva begged for him to be given another chance but Zafar looked resigned, "Adiva, it's going to be ok."

"No it's not!"

"My child…" the man had comforted her in his final moments.

"You didn't do anything wrong." She cupped his face.

Rakin gestured to Amir to move her away. He had grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back from her uncle.

"Please don't." She faced Amir, her tearful face tugging at his emotions, but he remained expressionless and held her back.

Rakin didn't even blink as he pulled the trigger. Adiva covered her face as Zafar crumpled, "No." She groaned.

Amir gripped her tightly as she went limp in his arms. She sobbed as men kicked the corpse to be sure he was dead. Exactly what he had said to her in the moment, Amir couldn't recall. Later on, he had seduced her to keep her close.

Or maybe she seduced him; looking back, he wasn't sure. He remembered their conversations and her actions and couldn't see evidence of her loyalty. Certainly nothing that made him think she was an investigator. Her Arabic was impeccable, no Western accent to give him any clue she wasn't a native. Or maybe he wasn't as good as he expected.

Now, the team settled into the military plane in preparation for their journey.

"Hampton has gotten your team cleared with France Intelligence to work with Agent Dubois." Patricia spoke to Dalton as they took off for the new country, "You will meet her at Café Basile on Boulevard Pasteur."

Dalton jotted the name down, "Roger that."

"Safe travels." Patricia signed off.

Dalton turned off the phone and slid it into his bag. "Amir." He gestured to the team member. They stepped away from the others.

"Is this going to be a problem?" The leader asked

"What do you mean?"

"Are there reasons we shouldn't trust her?" Dalton clarified.

"I only saw her as a sympathizer. I've been trying to recall anything that could be interpreted as… anything other than a terrorist." Amir went silent.

"And?"

"Nothing…I would not have picked her out as an intelligence officer."

"Maybe she's not. But with the director involved…." Dalton went silent as the plane taxied to the runway. "Anything else we should know?"

"I was sleeping with her. Not that it would come up, but you probably should know." Amir admitted.

"You identified her from a photo; I did kind of figure that," Dalton chuckled, "Do you trust her?"

Amir considered his answer. Being told that she was a French officer made him want to believe she was trustworthy. But if she was good at convincing terrorists she was on their side, her skill level was top notch and if she had fooled him before, there was no reason she couldn't do it again.

"I really don't know." Amir

Dalton sighed. He had a bad feeling about this assignment.