"What the hell is going on? Its been four hours since we lost contact with Nadia" Thom complained
Everyone of them looked puzzled, no one could offer any explanation
"Joel, can you trying tracking her comm device?" Victoria asked drumming her fingers on the table
Joel shook her head "Can't...." She grabbed her laptop trying to get a bead on Nadia's last location "...we lost her at the alley between 25th and 27th"
Thom glanced at Victoria "let's check it out"
Victoria took a hold of her blue jacket that was carelessly laying on one of the chairs. As they were about to leave ...
Thom exchanged looks with Victoria "Did you hear that?" He asked her as they both got out their service weapon
Victoria signalled at Joel to hide because she wasn't a field agent. She and Thom cautiously walked towards the door with their guns pointed. The door slowly creaked open, Victoria and Thom fully alerted hid behind a pillar waiting for whoever it was
"Take another step and I - WILL -DROP -YOU" Thom warned, emphasising on his words
Victoria went behind the lady, her weapon aimed at the back of her head
"Who are you?" Thom questioned
The lady slowly put a hands up in the air
"Easy there tiger. My name is Ruth Standford and I have been sent by the CIA to clean up your mess and shut this miserable excuse of an operation down" She explained without any care for the weapons pointed at her
Thom's phone rang
"You might wanna take that" She rolled her eyes
"Victoria?" He called out to her trying to make sure she could handle the situation while he answered the call
"Yeah, take it. I got this covered" she affirmed
The call lasted for about two minutes before it went off.
"Stand down" he ordered Victoria
Standford cat walked her way further into the safehouse
"What the hell was that?" Victoria asked in irritation
Thom pressed his lips together, trying to contain his irritation "Langley"
"Okay?..." An uncertain expression played on her face "...What's up with them?"
"They are shutting us down. Our orders are to return to Virginia and await further instructions"
"Virginia?!" Victoria asked in shock
Joel's angry voice distracted them
"What in the world do you think you are doing?!" Angry Joel questioned Standford who was searching through her laptop
Standford ignored her and continued searching through her laptop
"Hey! Can you hear me? That's mine lady!"
Everyone's attention soon focused on five men and a lady who burst into the safehouse carrying in heavy black cases
"Can someone tell me what is going on here?" Joel asked in frustration
"Move aside dork!" The lady commanded dropping one of the heavy black cases she was carrying at one side with the assistance of one of the men at the other side beside Joel's feet
"Hey Joel" Victoria made a come sign to her
She strode towards them in a hurry
"Thom what is going on?" Joel asked in whispers
"We've all been order to return to Virginia and await further instructions, they are sh...." Victoria tried to explain
"Virginia?!" Joel interrupted, her voice laced with shock and horror
Victoria tilted her head in a kind of I was just as shocked as you are way
They remained silent trying to sink in what just happened
"You need to leave, now" Standford broke their silence
Victoria sighed in frustration "We can't..." She shut her eyes and opened it, trying to keep calm "...we have an agent who is MIA"
"Yeah, we can't just leave her out there" Joel backed her up
Standford raised an eyebrow and gave a sarcastic smile "You mean Nadia Hussein? She's not a CIA agent, she's a terrorist"
"You know that's not true" Thom retorted
"It doesn't matter what's true or not. The world thinks she's a terrorist, the decision to put her out there was your call so whatever happens to her is on you. The CIA has no business with her whatsoever " she seethed
Victoria scoffed "The CIA ordered us to extract her from the FBI "
Standford Chuckled "your choice of words is quite interesting Miss Weller. It would have been an extraction if she was part of the CIA. What you were ordered to do was to capture her and drain information out of her not to put her into the field"
"Whatever we did, we ran through the Director. Besides it was all a play to get closer to the resistance and identity Al-Owal!" Thom defended his team angrily
"And have you been able to do that?"
Joel laughed dryly
"We just sent her to meet with one of them. The plan was to get her to get them to trust her and bring her into their group" Victoria explained
"And where is she?" Standford questioned
"We don't know but we can find her" Joel answered rather too sharply
"Oh..." Standford exclaimed mockingly
"This is our best shot at identifying and capturing Al-Owal" Thom reasoned
"The CIA is not interested in capturing Al-Owal, he is a big threat that cannot be afforded to be left breathing" she gritted through her teeth
"...you might wanna start going, your flight leaves in an hour. By the way, good luck with your desk jobs"
With that she walked away from them and began barking orders to her team members
"The CIA wants Al-Owal dead? This doesn't feel right" Victoria stated
Joel heaved a sigh. Victoria noticed Thom's quietness
"Thom!..." She tapped him not too gently "...you've been awfully quiet, what's wrong?"
He adjusted the collar of his jacket "Nothing, let's leave..." He checked the time on his wristwatch "...We have less than an hour"
* * *
GLADYS P.O.V
This interrogation was going nowhere, Rasheed kept on stonewalling me
"If you are not going to tell me who you were working for then can you at least tell me who shot you"
As expected, he didn't respond.
"Mr Amir I can't help you if you don't tell me what I want to know"
