The scene fades in to an interior view of Theo Pryce's lavish condo. Seated at the glass table with a stack of papers several inches thick is Theo Pryce. In front of him is a picture of this man:





Hamad Odeh.

The son of Persian Royalty and a direct descendant from the Pahlavi dynasty. Now like so many others in the middle east a well known terrorist of America's own creation. Like Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein before him, Odeh rose to power on the backs of the United States mighty dollar and now that he's decided he no longer needs or wants the United States help the United States, more specifically the top secret black ops team code name "Lightning", has been assigned to take him out.

The first step in the process was a meeting held in Istanbul under the direction of Bruce Dern, Theo's boss at the CIA. At that meeting Theo was introduced to his new team and given the 4-1-1 on what his team had been working on in the weeks leading up to his hiring. Since that meeting Theo returned to the States to take care of some personal business while the rest of his team did what they do. In fact, Theo has not spoken to anyone on his team in several days, much to the dismay of his boss.


BZZZZTTTT!!!!!



BZZZZTTTT!!!!!


Theo puts the folder down and walks over to his private elevator. He looks down at the panel and sees a familiar face on there. Rather than even bothering with a greeting he hits a button allowing the person downstairs to enter the elevator and begin the 41 second ascent towards Theo's apartment. Exactly 41 seconds later and the glass door to the elevator opens up and Harper Kane steps through.





Harper's role within the hierarchy of Theo's team is a bit oof an odd one. According to Bruce it will be her job to accompany Theo on his missions to serve as his "spouse". Research has shown that a married man draws less attention than a single one. It's a completely ridiculous notion but it's the truth. The human mind is a bit of an oddity at times. The problem as Theo saw it was that Harper's presence would make it awfully difficult for him to pick up some road beef during their travels. Seriously does it get any worse than having someone assigned to be your 24-7 cock block? This is clearly something that Theo will try and work out with Harper at a later time and date. When they are a bit more accustomed to each other.


'Hello Harper. Nice to see you. What can I do for you?"

"Hello Theo, just checking up on you. Bruce was concerned."

"Was he now? Concerned about what exactly?"

"With whether you were staying on point. He is aware that this is all new to you. Following orders and the like."

"Then why didn't Bruce come here himself? He's only a few blocks away. You were in Turkey last I checked."

"I was, now I'm here. Bruce felt that it would be beneficial for you and I to spend some time together."

"It's funny..."

"What is?"

"Usually I'm the one saying that to women."

"So I've read."

"Read?"

"Yes, your file. I read it over during my plane ride here."

"Wonderful. And what exactly did my file have to say about me?"

"The Cliff's Notes version?"

"Sure why not?"

"Sarcastic, Narcissistic, has issues with authority figures, does not like following orders and is prone to violent mood swings."

"So only the bad stuff?"


Harper smiles, lets out a snicker, looks down bashfully for a second and then back up at Theo, a beautiful smile overtaking her face.


"There were a few redeeming qualities as well."

"And yet you chose to only list the negatives."

"Those were the only ones you were curious about. You and I both know that."

"True enough. Well since you're here would you like something to drink. I have whiskey, wine and water."

"The 3 w's."

"The only 3 w's that matter."

"Some water would be nice thank you."

"Absolutely. If you want you can take your coat off, throw it over there on the chair and have a seat at the table. I was just reading up on Mr. Odeh."


Harper smiles again and does as Theo requested. She removes her coat, tosses it onto the bar stool and then takes a seat at the kitchen table almost getting lost behind the stack of paper work.

Theo walks over to the fridge, opens it and pulls out a bottle of water and then upon reaching the kitchen table hands it to Harper before sitting down across from her.



"So what have you learned about our Mr. Odeh."

"That we never learn from our mistakes."


Another chuckle from Harper. "Not exactly what I expected you to say but not inaccurate either."

"I'm serious. How many times are we going to do this dance before we change the tune?"

"I don't have an answer for that. That question is well above my pay grade, and yours for that matter."

"So it is. You know I've reviewed your file as well, interesting reading if I do say so myself."

"Is that so?"

"It is."

"And what did my file have to say?"

"Nothing. It's just a collection of words printed on paper."

"Cute."

"I thought so. Took me a whole 5 seconds to come up with that one."

"Gee I wonder what you could come up with in 10 seconds?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. I guess we'll never really know."

"How unfortunate."

"That's something else your file said."

"What's that?"

"That you're a bit of a dog."

"Ouch. Your words, they hurt."

"Don't kill the messenger."

"I'll try not to."

"So Odeh. What have you figure out?"

"Not a whole lot to be honest. From what I can tell next week might be our best chance to grab him before he goes underground again. His public appearances have been more sporadic as of late. He can clearly sense what is going on around him.

"Why do you say that?"

"Well based on these documents..." Theo fumbles through the various paper work on the table before he grabs a specific piece of paper that is covered in sticky notes. "These documents right here, he has is not scheduled to be anywhere. Which based on the track record means he is planning to visit his family."

"We concur."

"We?"

"The team. They came to the same conclusion."

"Well that's great. Then what was the point of these questions?""

"I guess you could say it was a test but it wasn't. Not in the strictest sense. It wasn't a pass or fail type deal. More so I wanted to see what your deduction skills were."

"You wanted to see or Bruce wanted to see?"

"Both."

"Well then please do me a favor, the next time you see Bruce tell him that if he wants to check up on me that he can do it himself and he doesn't need to send you, or anyone else for that matter."

"We've all gone through this. One by one Bruce has tested us. Getting angry about it won't serve any purpose. Besides, you passed. You saw what we saw and you did it by yourself with a fraction of the intel. If anything this only further serves to validate Bruce's faith in you."

"Harper, don't take this the wrong way but I could built a whole fucking skyscraper with what you don't know."

"Well there's that violent mood swings I was talking about earlier. And what the hell does that even mean?"

"It means that Bruce did not want to hire me. He had no choice. He was forced into it. Short of saving the President or the world it doesn't matter what I do. In Bruce's eyes I will always be the guy that got jammed down his throat."

"So prove him wrong."

"What?"

"Keep doing what you just did, go from being his biggest liability to his biggest asset. It is 100% within your control. And you like control."

"Did my file tell you that?"

"Spending the last few minutes with you told me that. But...your file may have mentioned it as well."

"How long are you in town for?"

"Another day. Why do you ask?"

"I was wondering if you had any plans for dinner tonight? And since you have read my file you obviously know that I don't react well to being told no. So bear that in mind when responding."

"Well I wouldn't want to knowingly do something that might upset you."

"Fantastic."

"However, I don't think it would be a good idea."

"It's just dinner."

"It's never just dinner."

"Did my file say that too?"

"No, common sense did. Please understand that I think an evening with you would be truly wonderful but I think deep down inside you know that it's not smart. For either of us."

"Fine. But we will revisit this discussion one day.

"I would expect nothing less."

"Good. Now if you don't mind. I'm getting hungry so I'm going to order some take out."

"That's fine. I need to get going anyway. It was good to see you Theo. I'm sure I will see you again soon."

"I'll be in Istanbul on Thursday, so you'll see me then."


Harper gets up, grabs her coat of the bar stool that it was resting on and quickly slips it on. Theo walks her to the elevator and once she is inside turns around and grabs a take out menu off the fridge door as the scene fades to black.