50Becker sat in the front of the Lada on the way home with Vasily and Jess sat in the back seat. Vasily, as a Russian operative, knew they could not discuss the specifics of what was happening with this assignment so he spent the short drive to his home telling them of some of his more "colorful" adventures over the years. When they arrived at the house, Vasily parked the car as Becker and Jess went inside. As they entered the door, a loud growling sound broke the silence as Jess grabbed her stomach. Becker's eyes widened.
"Wow….first the snoring and now this?" He smirked at her while she turned a bright shade of pink.
Jess grimaced and rolled her eyes. "Hey, you're in charge of security on this little adventure and part of that job requirement is you make sure to feed your charge at regular intervals. Slacking a bit on that one aren't you Becker? If you don't find us something to eat soon, I may have to document this appalling lapse on my mission report…." she said with a twisted grin.
At that moment, Vasily walked in the door and loudly proclaimed that he would fix them all dinner that evening and that his guests should sit and relax while he prepared an evening meal though both Jess and Becker had insisted on helping.. Becker sat down on the couch to study the security systems at the building where they would be meeting with their contact. Jess sat next to him, reviewing and tweaking the software she would be downloading into terrorist group, Red Line's computer systems.
Within an hour, the trio was sitting down to a typical Russian meal consisting of a cabbage soup called Shchi with a minced meat contained in crepes called pelmeni and meatballs called kotlety. Jess had eaten some of the dishes when her grandmother prepared them for her as a little girl and Becker had eaten similar food on his travels in the military. The main dishes were served with a strong black tea as Jess eagerly dug into the feast.
"Vasily, this was an amazing meal. My grandmother's pelmeni can't possibly compare to yours." She put her hand on her stomach.
Becker agreed as he put down his napkin. Vasily smiled easily as he began to talk about some of the new threats the Russian secret service was dealing with and Becker sharing what he could about some of the groups they were seeing in the UK. Jess excused herself from the table and walked over to the couch to take a few more minutes to review her software and promptly fell fast asleep. Becker and Vasily continued to talk for another hour before Becker looked over at the sleeping woman and put his finger to his lips.
Standing up, Becker walked over to the couch and gently picked Jess up as Vasily pointed Becker to the bedroom with twin beds where Jess and Becker would be sleeping. As he went down on one knee to gently placed her in the bed, the light from the living lit her face as she lay soundly sleeping and unable to help himself, he leaned down and as softly as possible, gently kissed her lips.
Jess, still soundly asleep, snuggled gently into Becker's neck as she whisper softly "G'nite Becker" and rolled on to her side facing him.
He slowly stood up and stared at her for a minute, struggling to control the flood of emotion that ran through him. Focusing on the mission and getting her back safely had to be his top priority. He'd always known that and now the more time he spent with her, the more he felt those emotions he'd so expertly hidden until now. He walked out of the room, deep in thought, and sat back down on the living room couch to continue his conversation with Vasily, though his thoughts continued to rest on the woman sleeping in the other room.
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The next morning, Jess woke early and glanced across the room in the early morning light to see Becker's still form still sleeping. She took the time once again to stare at his face relaxed in sleep and thought about what it would feel like to wake up in the morning with that face next to hers…She thought about the dream she had last night about Becker kissing her goodnight….…..She shook herself out of her reverie as she jumped up quickly and walked into the bathroom to wash her face and change into the nondescript clothing she'd brought to enter the building that contained the network and systems she would be hacking into. She heard Becker getting out of bed as she left the bathroom and went into the kitchen to make a pot of tea for them before they left the house.
Becker rubbed his face as he stared in the mirror. He was short on sleep and patience as he went over the plan for the cyber attack on the Red Line's programming. He needed to be at the top of his game. He needed to make sure she was safe. He had a plan and went to Vasily to discuss it. He wasn't sure he could sell it to Jess but it was the only way he could be sure he'd taken every precaution.
Becker walked into the kitchen as Jess approached him with a hot tea.
"Hot tea with one sugar and milk," she smiled as she handed it to him.
He took a sip and grinned. "Perfect! How did you know, Ms. Parker?" he said looking down at her while raising his eyebrow, the way he always did when teasing her.
She smirked. "Oh…..I've read your file…...and you have no secrets from me, Captain Becker….so mind your manners or I might have to accidently send one of my work emails with a "reply to all" with some of those interesting tidbits from your file attached!" she said as she tried to waggle her eyebrows deviously which, to Becker, only succeeded in making her look all the more adorable. Knowing he had to focus, he stepped back.
"Jess, I need to talk to you about how this "cyber assault" is going to happen today. I know you're not going to like this but, to make this as secure as possible, I am going to play the part of the tech asset and you and Vasily are going to play the part of my tech assistants." Jess opened her mouth to protest as he continued. "It's by the book, Jess, and you know it. If something goes wrong I need them to think that I am the asset so that you can complete your part of the mission. They would focus on me and ignore you. Vasily would then step into the role of your security escort and make sure you can safely complete your part of the mission."
Jess jumped in immediately. "No, Becker, no that's just too dangerous! If they took you into custody you wouldn't even have the knowledge to give them fake information …..they would see very quickly that you don't have the computer knowledge and they'd KILL YOU! No….Becker," she said visibly upset.
Becker took her hand sat her down in the nearby kitchen chair as looked at him worriedly. She tried to speak again but he quickly cut her off.
"Jess" he said more softly, "Listen to me. This is what I do. This is what I've done before. You told me that we NEED to complete this mission or people will die. We need to protect them and I'm doing my job…..a job that I'm good at, that I need to do. You told me back at my commander's office that I needed to trust you…..you know I do…..and now I need you to trust me. Can you do that? Because if you can't follow my instructions in the my field of expertise then this mission WILL fail. I trust you in your skills and I need you to trust me in mine…."
Jess looked into Becker's eyes and knew he had already won the argument. Without even realizing it he was gently stroking her hand as he talked, until he realized what he was doing and swiftly pulled his hand back and put it on the arm of the chair. She let her breath release and put her hand on his arm.
"I do trust you Captain Hilary Becker…...and I WILL follow your orders…...but don't make me say that I like it" she said ruining the effect by smiling softly at him.
Vasily walked into the room. "My friends, I have cleared my participation in this assignment with my commander and now we walk into the fire and take down a very large dragon, yes?"
Jess and Becker stood up and walked to the door. Picking up their equipment they followed Vasily to the car and put their items into the boot as they climbed into the car. On the ride to the facility, Becker and Vasily discussed scenarios as Jess stared pensively out the window. There was so much riding on the trustworthiness of the inside Red Line contact. Jess just prayed that upcoming events followed their timeline and not someone else's. She thought about their work at the ARC and frowned as she thought of how often things went exactly as planned there….and the thought of it was of no comfort to her at all.
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The tech center was a non-descript building on the outskirts of Astana. Vasily pulled up to the front gate and flashed a security badge at the bored guard who lazily waved them past his post as Vasily pulled into the rather run down parking area and found a parking place for the Lada. As Jess got out, she reached into her jacket and felt for the small thumb drive she had hidden inside a tiny pocket in her bra. In her drab military style clothing, with grey skies and a cold wind blowing, she felt an uneasiness as if she was in some dreary melodramatic spy movie and she knew those never ended well for the good guys.
Becker picked up her bag and they started toward the door. The guard at the door casually glanced at their paperwork and then let them pass as he listened to a Russian football game on his radio. To the right was a long hallway with a set of stairs going up and they turned to walk toward them. The elevator just before the stairs bore an ancient "Out of Order" sign on it attesting to the attrition of the building itself during the hard financial times recently.
Jess knew the terrorist cell was working inside this building posing as a Russian Tech Company operating within the umbrella of the Soviet government. It's cover was a tech company called "Yandex, RU." Contained on different floors of the building were different legitimate companies operating in within a few yards of the terrorist organization. The threesome quickly walked up the stairs and into a small office contained on the floor of the Yandex company. Sitting at a table was the same young Russian she had seen sitting in the bar. He didn't look older than eighteen years old and he looked up nervously as they walked in.
"You need to hurry. I have a one hour window where I have access to the system. Which one of you is the tech asset?" he said hurriedly as he looked down at his laptop. Becker stepped forward.
"I am. Show me where I can do my work," Becker answered swiftly.
The young man directed Becker to another laptop in the corner of the room.
"I need to make my rounds so that I do not arouse suspicion. Be quick about it. I want to make sure when they discover the virus that I am not the one they suspect," he said as he pointed toward the laptop and rapidly walked out the door.
Becker walked to the table and gestured to Jess. "Ok, tech specialist, do your stuff. Vasily and I will stand guard at the door."
Jess quickly sat down and began to log into the system. She was rather surprised how quickly her password was accepted but grabbed her thumb drive and began her download immediately.
Within five minutes of the download, loud footsteps sounded down the hall from the room they were working in. Becker and Vasily immediately recognized the threat and sprang into action.
"Vasily, get her out of here. Take her to the safe room we set up. When the way is clear…get her out of the city. I have exit transportation set up at the airport. Get her on it," Becker shouted. He took one last look at Jess before he pulled open the door and ran down the hall. Jess sat for a moment, stunned by the turn of events until Vasily pulled her out of the chair she was sitting in and pushed her out a side door and down a set of staircases that led to the basement of the building.
Jess found her voice and suddenly stopped in the middle of the stairway. "Stop, Vasily, Stop….what happened? We can't leave him! I can't leave him! Where is he going?" she asked, panic in her voice.
Vasily stopped for a moment breathing heavily. "He is leading them away from us. They will follow him because they think he is you."
"But they couldn't have detected the virus that quickly! How did they know? " her words were coming out in a rush and she bit her lip to slow down and calm herself. She was no use to him in this panicked state.
"The contact betrayed us. He might have been a plant. Becker noticed it immediately but we were already inside. This is why he has asked for my help today. If this happened I am to make sure you are safely to the plane back to your country. You are the tech asset and it is his job to protect you, yes?" he looked at her with resignation. He was also a soldier and knew the risk each time he walked out the door. She at him for a moment before her decision was made.
"Becker said you were taking me to a safe room, right? Is there computer access in that room?" she spoke rapidly as her brain whirled with options that would allow her to help him.
"Yes" said Vasily curiously. "All rooms in this building are wired for this. It is a tech building."
"Good," Jess said as a determined look crossed her face. "because we're going to get Becker out of here and then I'm going to make sure that little bastard and the person who paid him off is going to regret meddling with me."
Vasily looked at her surprised and started to protest but seeing the look on her face he took the lead and led her down to a small room under the bottom of the stairs. Jess walked into the tiny room and grabbed her laptop. First she needed to access the CCTV to see where Becker was and if he was in their custody. Vasily slid into the small room and sat down next to her. She was quickly able to call up the security cameras and within a few minutes was looking at a room on the third floor where Becker was sitting against the wall with his wrists behind him. Three guards were in the room with him and the contact who had betrayed them was smirking as he recounted in Russian the ease in which he had captured this valuable tech asset. He walked to where Becker was sitting and kicked him in the stomach. Becker bent over with pain but quickly sat up again so as not to give the contact the pleasure of seeing him show any emotion. Jess grimaced but focused on her task.
This would not be easy. She could see the smug look on the Justin Bieber lookalike's face and she wanted more than anything to wipe the smirk right off his face. First, though, she had to make sure she could get Becker by himself. After checking that her software had loaded correctly and was running, she accessed the heating and cooling system, which was run by an old soviet program she was very familiar with. She quickly set in motion a complete overload of the heating system and within a minute smoke was pouring from the room where the main system was contained. At that point, Jess, with a rather evil smirk on her face, turned the direction of the smoke into the venting unit so that smoke would begin to pour through the entire building. At that point, it was as simple as turning on all the fire alarms.
"Oh look…." She looked up at Vasily with a lazy smile… "They actually have a radioactivity monitoring system here. Guess they added that after Chernobyl…why thank you old soviet regime. I think we need one more facet of our emergency to make people clear the building." She casually hit the button and a blaring alarm and green flashing light began to sound.
"That should make them think twice about staying in the building. Vasily, this chaos should work nicely for us to mount a rescue attempt, yes?" she smiled at him.
"Ahhh, young Jess, what you mean is for ME to go to the rescue. YOU will wait for us here. This you must understand. I can blend in but I think you will not. "
Jess started to protest but knew he was right. This building was full of mostly men right now and Vasily would not be noticed in the confusion, besides, this would give her time to finish the rest of her plan. She nodded resignedly and watched as he slid out the door and up the stairs. She nervously sat down at the computer and prayed he would be returning quickly with Becker. She felt a tear slip down her cheek and she wiped it away. There was no time for that. She prayed Vasily would be back in a few minutes with Becker and both of them safely on their way home.
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Oh my! One more chapter to go! Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter, especially Prawn Crackers! This originally didn't have a kiss between Becker and Jess in this chapter, but I added one for her! I have already written the last chapter so I should get that done by the end of the weekend. Oh and by the way, the inspiration for this story was the episode "The Hub" from Agents of Shield…..it just didn't follow that story as much as I thought it would originally! Have a lovely weekend.