| CABLES �Mistakes Made, Lessons Learned |
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| Disclaimers: Okay, here goes: I don't own any of the Magnificent Seven, JAG, SeaQuest or West Wing characters. No infringements of copyrights are intended. This is a work of Fan Fiction and is for entertainment and not profit. |
| ~~~C-A-B-L-E-S~~~ |
| �Okay, kids,� Webb started softly. �We�re not children,� Ezra corrected softly. �We�re young adolescents.� Clay frowned. �Now�s not the time to argue semantics, Ezra,� he scolded. Turning to the rest of the young people he said, �This mission is a level five surveillance job. Our target frequently uses a park to make contact with his people and normal agents would stick out like a sore thumb.� Ezra nodded silently. He knew that when Webb referred to �normal agents� he meant adults. In this case he was right. What reason would an adult have to be in a playground? The members of this team, however, would blend right in since none of them were over the age of fourteen. �Can anyone here tell me what level five means?� Webb prompted gently. Last time the team had gone out on a mission of this level Shysie had been injured. Although it was only cuts and bruises, she was only twelve years old so it looked like poor planning to those highly placed within Agency. �Level five means we don�t get within five feet of the target,� Ben piped up. At Webb�s nod, Clarity added, �And we don�t tail him for too long or he might become suspicious.� �Good,� Webb said softly. �I�ll be there the whole time. If something goes wrong in any way, make your way back to the van as quickly as you can, without drawing undue attention.� The kids nodded and Webb breathed a sigh of relief. At his age, he considered anyone under twenty-five a kid. It had completely floored him when it was suggested that they use students from the Academy for some missions. Never mind that everything possible was done to ensure their safety, they were still children. It was bad enough when you lost an adult agent, Webb didn�t want to have to explain to a parent how their twelve-year-old son or daughter was kidnapped or killed. The kids in the program were extremely bright � on par with most eighteen-year-olds with their level of skill and knowledge of the intelligence game. That was how the Agency justified sending them in on these cases. In Webb�s mind, however, they were still far too young to risk so much. With a deep sigh, he herded the six kids into the surveillance van so that they could head for the park and begin gaining intelligence from their target. ~~~C-A-B-L-E-S~~~ Because she was still hurt, Shysie remained in the van with Clay and helped out by monitoring communications between her teammates. Webb removed his earphones for a moment, but kept his eyes on the video monitor showing the members of the team. �You okay with staying here, Shy?� he asked softly. Shysie nodded slightly. �Yes, sir,� she answered softly. �Did my pa yell at ya fer lettin� me get hurt last time?� Webb smiled and turned to face her. �He was understandably upset, Shy, but I�ve been yelled at by far scarier people than Vin Tanner and survived it. It�s alright.� Shysie smiled and then returned her attention to the keyboard in front of her. �Abby,� she said softly. �You oughta switch off with somebody now. You been on him for a while.� Abraham obediently turned to face his sister and called, �Hey, Clare, go deep!� In response, Clarity ran away from the person they had been surreptitiously listening to and caught the ball her brother had tossed. Abby ran toward the far end of the field, putting some distance between himself and the target. Meanwhile, the target had moved within hearing range of Ezra, who was sitting on the ground, ostensibly listening to music on a walkman. Actually, the device was just a disguised version of the same communications devices used by every member of the team. Ezra listened carefully to what the man was saying into his cellular phone, hoping to glean some intelligence that might help them know what he was planning. In fact, he was listening so intently that he stopped writing in the notebook he had brought with him. This slip did not go unnoticed by their target, who suddenly grabbed Laramie by the arm and said, �Are you eavedroppin�, Kid?� �What?� Ezra asked, pulling the earphones away from his head. �You think I can hear anything over these?� The man frowned and snatched the earphones from the young southerner. Holding them to his ear, he heard, ��got a disease deep inside, that makes me feel�� Just then a soft plastic football hit him on the head and he released his hold on Ezra, who quickly moved out of reach. �Hey, sorry, mister,� Clarity called. �The wind took it, I think.� �Nah,� Logan argued. �Yer just a bad throw.� �Hey, could ya toss it here?� Abraham asked nicely. The man grumbled and threw the ball at Abby, who deftly caught it and nodded his thanks. He turned to Logan and continued the �game.� Meanwhile, Ezra had moved to sit under a tree a good twenty feet away. Their target frowned and nodded to himself and moved off, not noticing that Ben was following behind him on a pair of roller-blades. Clay breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Shysie. �Good thing you had that music cued up, Shy.� The girl nodded and said, �You okay, Ez.� �Fine,� Ezra answered irritably. �Sorry, Mr. Webb.� �No harm done,� Clay replied. �We�ve got everything we needed now, so I want everyone to begin making their way back to the van. Clear?� �As crystal,� the southerner answered, shoving the walkman into his backpack and getting to his feet. A short while later, all five operatives that had been in the field, had arrived at the van. Clay smiled and said, �Well, I�d call the mission a success. Between the five of you, we were able to find out the name of his contact and we have a good idea what they�re planning.� �Yeah,� Ezra said miserably. �No thanks to me. I let him get too close.� Clay sighed and looked the young man in the eye. �Ezra,� he said softly. �You couldn�t have moved away from him without attracting his attention. You handled the situation the best way you could, and besides, you�re all still learning. The important thing is, you weren�t hurt and we got what we came for. Okay?� Ezra nodded. �Yes, sir. I�ll be more careful next time.� Clay nodded and replied, �I know you will. Unlike some older agents, that seem to make the same mistakes over and over again, you all learn from yours and correct the behavior in the future.� He glanced at the rest of the young people that had gathered around him and said, �Okay, now go write up your reports. If you need any help, you have my number. We�ll meet at lunchtime tomorrow to debrief with the Director.� �Yes, sir,� the junior agents chorused. As they all headed back toward their separate dormitories at the Academy, Clay marveled once again that the Agency would risk such young people in such a dangerous way. Smiling, Clay thought about when he�d been that age. He had to admit that he would have given his right arm to be able to do the things these kids did. It seemed that some people were just born into the intelligence game. With this thought in mind, Clay headed back to Langley to write up his own report on the mission. End |
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