I'm My Own Hero *ON HOLD*

Chapter 28

AERIAL BASE RAMSTEIN, GERMANY

"Sir." Ethan greeted Hunley as we walked up the tarmac to meet him near the C130 we would be boarding.

"Ah Kensi O'Connell. I've heard so much about you. It's an honor to meet you. Brandt has told me many things." I smiled at him. I had hoped this meeting would go over well.

"Speaking of Brandt, any idea where my fiancé is?" I asked him raising an eyebrow and crossing my arms.

"That'll have to be a whole other conversation Kensi. Sorry to do this to you, I know you're probably worried sick." I rolled my eyes. What the hell was everyone's problem? I wasn't worried I was PISSED. He took himself out of field work no one has seemed to have heard from him except director Hunley. Hunley cleared his throat getting back to business.

"Ethan. That phone you unlocked lead us to a server in Iceland but we managed to decrypt the communicate between John Lark and this woman: Alanna Mitsopolis, activist and philanthropist whose charity work has earned her the nickname the White Widow." We both looked the file over she was pretty. Completely what I had expected from the name.

"It's all a front for her real trade: arms dealing, money laundering. Extensive political connections provide her with protection. Lark and the Widow were meeting tonight to negotiate the delivery of an unspecified package. Which we can only assume is our missing plutonium. They'll make contact in a private lounge at the Grand Palais in Paris. During her annual fund-raising event. The details are in the file. If Lark isn't there by midnight the Widow will leave. And sell the package to the highest bidder. Which gives you two hours from now to find Lark." Hunley continued as we walked closer to the plane's loading doors.

"Sir, I think there's something you need to know." Ethan started.

"I'm gonna stop you right there. You had a terrible choice to make in Berlin. Recover the plutonium or save your team. You chose your team and now the world's at risk. Some flaw, deep in your core being simply won't allow you to choose between one life and millions. You see that as a sign of weakness. To me, that's your greatest strength. It also tells me I can count on you to cover my ass. Because coming over here from CIA was a lateral move. Some say a step down. But I did it because of you. Don't make me regret it." Jesus Christ this man never stopped talking. He was nice as can be but NEVER stopped. The planes engines started to shut down the noise going obsolete.

"What do you think you're doing, Erica?" Hunley asked her. I eyed the guy behind her. He was not dressed like he was about to be skydiving out of a plane anytime soon.

"It may be your mission but this is the CIA's plane. It doesn't take off without my say-so." The woman continued.

"We don't have time for this." Hunley tried to stop her agenda. Someone must have been angry he left the CIA.

"I have a team in Paris ready to grab Lark as soon as he gets to Palais. A G5 standing by to rendition him to GITMO where waterboard is waiting." I rose my eyebrows Guantanamo Bay an interesting place to visit. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

"Spend 24 hours we don't have to pull a confession. We can't trust from a man we haven't positively identified? No. We need reliable intelligence and we need it now. This scenario is precisely why the IMF exists!" Hunley argued with the woman. I rolled my eyes.

"The IMF is Halloween, Alan. A bunch of grown men in rubber masks playing trick or treat. And if they had held on to the plutonium in Berlin we wouldn't be having this conversation." She argued back. I laughed.

"Something funny?" She looked at me. I sized her up debating how far I could get with my mind games.

"Lady. It doesn't sound like you've ever been in the field. If you had you would know the people you're close to or your team would NEVER leave you in the arms of a hostile force even if the world depended on it. Sounds like either you don't have a good team or the CIA is seriously messed up in the head... Or maybe, perhaps, a relationship gone wrong. Was that it? Were you abandoned as a child and have trust issues because daddy and mommy left you? Or did daddy want a boy and you just had to fill the role?" I asked her stepping over many lines but at that moment I didn't care.