Divisions

Part 1- Chapter 1

Two Months Later//National Intelligence Forces briefing room

"Let's go over the mission again, Ms. Hayes," Sterling Raymond said.

"Okay..." Natalia said. "Cornwall Auditorium, an Internal Defense Agency official press briefing. Pose as Rachel Marshall, a guest with Mr. Jeffries. Survey the present IDA members; source out any necessary Intel..."

"And who do you look out for specifically?" he asked.

"Agent. Patterson, head of the task force investigating the murder of the late Tobias Sheldon."

"Why?" 

"To watch out for any suspicious behaviors and ensure no assassination attempts are made against Mr. Jeffries, sir," she said.

"Are you sure you can handle this, Hayes?"

"If I can say this, sir, we've planned this mission out for weeks. I have trained under the NIF for years as a junior agent. I'm sure I can handle my first surveillance mission just fine,"

"We're putting our faith in you, Hayes." Mr. Raymond said, "You are our youngest agent, the only one of us who would be able to pose as an just another pretty face to make Jeffries look good. Many of the people there are likely to be senior officials, so do not speak your mind, as I know you are likely to do. Allow people to assume you are there to be his... let us just say, his display case... 

"You are a young agent and you're fresh so no one will know your face." he continued. "If it were not for that any of us could take this one there are likely to be other rival agents there. This is a crucial mission, do not forget that. You are dismissed,"

Natalia nodded curtly, gritting her teeth as she walked out of the briefing office, clutching the mission file as she read the pages again. 

This would be Natalia's first mission as an established, graduated NIF agent, and she could not screw this up

This, as her handler had just reinforced, was a crucial mission, one that could not be failed. 

Following the death of the JSAA president, an unspoken feud between the opposing NIF and IDA agencies had tainted the smooth running of our surveillance endeavors. A race to expose the truth of the murder lead to faction formation within the JSAA.

Real "alliances" between the two institutions ceased to exist, and this separation caused a lack of collaboration between the two investigative bodies investigating the murder. This press conference would be the first the NIF has heard of the IDA's progress in the probe into the murder.

 This was valuable to the NIF, particularly to Mr. Harrison Jeffries, who needed the upper edge in his campaign for the replacement position. The NIF needed to be further on, to have more leads, than the IDA does.

They would need to ensure that.

~~~

IDA briefing room

"Mr. Dunn, the case?" 

"Cornwall auditorium, IDA official press briefing. Pose as Michael Rodham, bodyguard of Mr. Raymond Patterson." Jarred replied, disinterested.

 He was sure that knew what he was doing; he did not need to be there.

"You're watching out for?" 

"Agent Harrison Jeffries, head of the NIF, guest of the evening, accompanied by Ms. Rachel Marshall, his "escort". Observe movement and gain Intel from Ms. Marshall. This is one of the easiest cases I've ever had, may I just add," he finished, rolling his eyes. He was impatient.