Chapter Text
Price sat at his desk with a cuppa and cigar, surveying the pile of paperwork, USB thumb drives and two laptops, the spoils of their most recent mission. He sighed, thinking 'I need a bloody secretary', before taking a drag of his cigar and picking up the first folder of documents. His thoughts disturbed by two distinctive, but familiar, sharp knocks at his door, his second in command Ghost. Calling him in, Ghost entered, cuppa in hand and sat in the chair in front of the desk.
The two went through a short debrief of the mission, discussing plus points and what could be improved, before Price gestured to the pile of intel on his desk, both men shared a knowing look. A look that meant lots of hours ploughing through intel, sifting through contacts, relevant information in the hope of gleaning some new information about associates of their current target, Igor Petrov, a Russian nationalist who they'd been after for some time. Neither of them relished the mountain of work, both being men of action.
Price, passed some files to Ghost 'You know, we need to find a better way to deal with all the intel we bring back, it's getting harder to file and cross reference with us having such a small team'. Ghost agreed. In the 6 months since the 141 was formed, they had been extremely successful in their endeavours, so found less time outside of missions to deal with extracting intel, especially with the increase in encrypted files they were collecting.
Several guys on the task force were computer savvy, but lacked more advanced skills needed to access a good chunk of their intel. They tended to send it on to Laswell, much to her chagrin. Laswell herself had complained to Price about the teams lack of organisation in their admin of intel.
Ghost paused reading 'Do you think Laswell could lend us an intern to help with all this, even temporary, it'll help clear some of the backlog?'. Price nodded 'I'm having a debrief with her at 1600, I'll run it past her'.
After debriefing Laswell on a conference call, Price brought up the subject. 'We're gathering so much information, surveillance footage, hardware and files, but we're not equipped to manage it and get it into a usable format', 'We're wasting time on bloody admin'. Laswell concurred, she'd been onto Price about this before.
The 141 were efficient and effective in their missions, bringing results and gaining new intel that was useful to both her team and the Task Force's. But, these men were becoming a victim of their own success and it was affecting their preparation for new missions because the intel was slow in being extracted and disseminated.
'Leave it with me John, I've a couple of ideas'. She said before they finished the call.
---
Two days later, Laswell requested another conference with Price and Ghost. Laswell greeted both men, before getting straight to the point.
'Right men, I have someone who can come and help you out, temporarily'. Both men signalled their gratitude as Laswell continued. 'Digital specialist, code-name Worm, has agreed to join you in November for four months'.
'What kind of name is Worm?' Price asked amused, interrupting Laswell.
Laswell smiled before continuing. 'She's one of my best assets, there's nothing she can't hack, she's unmatched on speed and efficiency when it comes to database systems, she's also an expert in satellite surveillance'.
Ghost's eyebrows raised under his mask 'So, what's the catch?'.
Laswell was well aware of how suspicious Ghost was of new operatives, so she took a breath before continuing. 'Worm is a bit of a ghost', she started. Both men raised their eyebrows, looking at each other as Laswell continued. 'She is an independent contractor that I've worked with on numerous missions, she's very well respected and is sought after by different task forces, however, she's extremely protective of her identity, rarely works on site, preferring to work remotely, I've been trying to get her on a team for years, but she won't have it, so it took a lot of persuading to get her to agree to come to you'.
Price nodded 'Great, appreciate it Kate, you got a file on our girl?'. Laswell laughed prompting the two men to look at each other quizzically. 'not really, she has a tendency to find and delete her own files'. Ghost ruffled at this 'you expect us to trust her, sounds like she's got something to hide'.
Laswell quickly responded 'Ghost I appreciate your concern but I can assure you I trust Worm implicitly and I can vouch for her work. You have my word she will exceed your expectations. I've agreed terms that suit her, so she'll just need clear instructions of your needs and a quiet place to work'.
Price sighed. It wasn't ideal but the task force really needed some assistance and he trusted Laswell's word. 'Ok Kate, give us an update of her ETA and anything else you think we need to know'.
'Will do John', Laswell replied. 'I'll be in touch', before ending the call.
Price turned to Ghost 'It'll be odd having a woman around, but I trust Laswell's judgement, if she says the girl's good, then we'll see soon enough'.
Ghost was hesitant about welcoming the new team member, especially a woman, but nodded in agreement.