𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 - Mitch Rapp

Twenty- calm before the storm

The little time they had in their hotel room went quicker than either of them would have liked. It felt like they were being sent to a death trap- never being able to see one another again. It wasn't true, of course. Instead, they had to endure at least eighteen hours apart. If nothing went wrong, that is.

"Londel, coffee order?"

Ava sat behind a large computer screen, absentmindedly fixated on numbers and sequences scrolling down the left side of the screen. Oblivious to her name being called. One of her colleagues, who happened to be head of surveilliance, was now stood directly beside her, arching his brow as he contemplated waving a hand in front of her face.

"Ava?", he called again, which seemed to work as she swiftly turned her head.

"Sorry, Raffe. Did you want something?", she replied, unsure how long he had been standing there.

"Just doing a coffee round, can I get you one?", the suited man asked kindly, his eyes averting to the screen briefly.

"Uh, yeah, that'd be great. Thank you", Ava countered, smiling politely.

Her eyes observed the man as he strolled out of the large office-like room, immediatley recognising Irene walking through the open doorway. Ava was surprised to not find the woman waiting for her when she arrived there over an hour ago. It seemed as though everyone was more relaxed than they were in Paris.

"Evening, Ava. How are you finding the set up?", Irene questioned, keen to know if this sector would suit the agent.

"It seems pretty straightforward", she retorted, hesitating on telling the truth. "It's just, the codes that are kind of putting me off".

Irene rolled a chair over to Ava's desk, her eyes instantly observing the screen. "It can be a little tricky to pick up. See how they're rotating every couple of seconds? Its keeping track of the other team's wherabouts. So if they move location we immediatly know when and where. Your main job is to keep tabs on their location, and notify us when they're on the move. You think you can scan the codes okay?".

Ava subconsciously exhaled through her nose. This was the last job she wanted. She enjoyed the thrill of being on the scene with Stan and Mitch, the adrenaline of catching their targets. Scanning codes on their location wasn't exactly 'thrilling'.

"Yeah, I think I got it, thanks Irene", she smiled assuringly, unaware that Irene could see right through her.

The head of director knew how much the action side of the case meant to her, but she seemed to take Stan's opinion very seriously. The opinion which deemed Ava too fragile for anything remotely similiar to her work in Paris. Not it was too far fetched to believe, since her injuries were almost fatal. Nevertheless, Irene would make sure to keep a closer tab on the brunette, to make sure nothing like Paris happened again.

"Come in agent Hurley, do you copy?", Irene's voice spoke from the other side of the room, catching Ava's attention.

She subtly peered her eyes over the computer screen to get a closer look at the woman, and tried listening for anything suspicious. After a short minute of hearing what turned out to be mostly sound testing, she leaned back in her chair and stared blankly at the screen full of codes. She felt uterly miserable working behind the scenes. There was no adrenaline. No action. And more importantly, no Mitch. So, keeping the assassin in mind, Ava leaned further back into her chair, and begged for the night to be over.

-

"On our way inside, over", Stan replied to the head director, taking his finger off of his ear piece.

Mitch, following Stan's orders, steadily crept behind his form, his gun firmly gripped in his right hand. It had been easier to find a location on their target unlike Paris, but it still didn't make the task any simpler or satisfying. Because of her.