We all fall down

[neverwrongagent]

Carrie would remember the next few days as some of the best of her life. She was living with a man she was more comfortable with than she could have imagined, working together for a common goal. Even the visit with his kids went well. She gave him most of Saturday with just them, showing up at dinner time with pizza and cookies. They played board games and chased around her little house until it was time for him to take them back. Then it all went to hell.

They finally found evidence that Walker had met someone on one of his random seeming runs around the District. Before they could act on it, a series of small bombs took out three Metro buses as they approached the city center. A half dozen people were killed, twice that were injured. Had it been one bomb, it would have been bad enough, but three in a concert was particularly frightening for the city. It also put CIA on high alert. The work they'd been doing before was nothing compared to the sudden anger and frustration everyone showed. Plenty of people looked at Brody, and Carrie, as though they'd done something wrong. Brody should have come forward sooner. Carrie shouldn't have trusted him so much. Maybe if they'd come up for air this wouldn't have happened.

Carrie though all that and more, although she never really blamed Brody. At least, not any more than she blamed any of them for missing it. They'd messed up, not gotten to the answer fast enough. For her, everything else fell away. The work was everything and she spent as many hours as she was allowed at work. She had to be shoehorned out of the building to go home and rest, but when she was there she didn't sleep. She only ate when someone put food in front of her. This was the Carrie Brody had never seen, that her family worried about, that Carrie held on a tight leash.

She paced her dining platform, looking at the notes and schedules she had posted to her wall, sure she was still missing something crucial. She had music playing, the kind of jazz that normally settled her, but it wasn't doing shit and she could feel her skin start to crawl, but she had to work, had to figure out where they'd gone wrong.

Comments

[neverwrongagent]

She felt like she was sneaking out on a bad family fight, which pleased her no end. She stayed close after the kiss, holding his hand tightly. "It's our best play. It's what we have." She touched his cheek. "I think your back up is criminally negligent, but we're in this together."

She frowned. "This is my life." She meant her work, of course, but she meant him, too.

[posterboymarine]

He kissed her again, then pulled her back into the room before anyone came looking for them.

Then it was back to work.

Brody picked up his close overwatch and spent a long time looking them over before speaking. To say that they got a lecture about how he expected his ass to be covered was an understatement. He even went so far as to raise his voice when someone contradicted him.

With a growl, he spun on the room, his voice pitched to speak to all of them. "I'm truly glad that half the people in this room are not taking this shit seriously. I am about to walk out there and do your fucking jobs for you and the best anyone can give me for overwatch are these three mickey mouse operators. If you feds cannot handle this, I will walk in there on my own and play this my way. I am not some fucking desk jockey who has no idea which way the wind blows. And neither is Walker. We are both trained operators and he's going to smell you fuckers like you've been out rolling in the shit."

[neverwrongagent]

Saul would never admit that he was impressed or pleased with Brody's little rant, but it gave him some hope for their operation. He did take the time to do another sweep of their group. At least one of the FBI, the youngest one, seemed to take it all in. Maybe he'd be useful. Watching Carrie was a little less settling. He didn't think the others could see it the way he did, but her pride in Brody showed clearly.

She stepped up and started directing traffic, getting people moving. The time for conversation was over.

[posterboymarine]

Brody spotted the kid, too, and he went to him and took him aside. They had a few private words and when Brody seemed satisfied, he left the room.

Now that he was in operational mode, not a single one of the people in that room mattered anymore. He had a job to get done.

[neverwrongagent]

For Carrie it was different. She could be as clinical as she needed, but her operational mode was more fluid and empathic. She felt her way through things which was going to make this more difficult for her. She knew she'd be quicker to anger and she worked to keep that under control. Let Saul be the bad guy, she needed better emotions.

She made a point to touch base with a couple of her people, working to get them firmly on what she thought of as their side.

[posterboymarine]

For anyone watching on Walker's end, Brody went through the motions of shaking a tail. He knew he didn't actually have one, that everyone had gone ahead to get set up.

He parked on the street and walked into the park, checking his surroundings as he went. He wanted as few surprises as he could get away with. And that included some mugger trying to rob him.

Seeing that he'd beat Walker to the rendezvous, he settled on the bench and sighed softly.

[neverwrongagent]

The one thing Carrie couldn't do on this op was go anywhere near where Brody was. Walker knew her. He had to believe that Brody was well away from her and any of her people. Living together might not have been the best idea where that was concerned. Relying on spotters had her so jumpy the guy on the camera had to tell her to sit still so she wouldn't screw up his recording.

Walker came up behind Brody, dressed for a run and looking like he'd gotten a few miles in.

[posterboymarine]

Brody heard him coming and turned to face him as he approached. He stood and regarded the other man, waiting a long time to speak.

"Did you have to do it at midday? Really?"

[neverwrongagent]

Walker shrugged, looking unconcerned. He'd healed up, too, and looked stronger. And then there was the sense of determination in his eyes. "Hard to pay proper attention late at night, when you're sleepy."

[posterboymarine]

Brody looked around, then back at Walker. "Fair enough. You definitely got everyone's attention." In a show of trust, Brody sat back down, making room for Walker to sit next to him.

"So, what do you want me to do?"

[neverwrongagent]

Walker knelt in front of him first, going through the motions of stretching. Mostly that was the way to get a quick look behind them. Then he plopped down beside Brody. "It's not about what I want. We're soldiers, do what we're told." He glanced over. "Time to follow orders."

[posterboymarine]

Brody exhaled slowly. "I think you got more orders than I did, brother."

Knowing that there were at least two people who spoke Arabic watching them, he switched over. "بعد انفصالهما لنا، وكان يعامل مثل فطر. كنا قد التقطت قبل أن يصل عائدا الى لي."

(*After they split us, I was treated like a mushroom. We were picked up before they got back to me.)

[neverwrongagent]

"أوامرك بدأت بشكل جيد قبل الألغام." There was the very slightest edge to Walker's voice, way less than he deserved to have for being nearly beaten to death by his teammate. He shrugged slightly and his tone eased. "We'll play the cliche, play into their expectation."




(*Your orders started well before mine.)

[posterboymarine]

Brody had to think back. There had to be something he'd missed. Or something he couldn't remember, thanks to repeated head trauma. But he kept coming up blank. Could he tell Walker that? Would the other man give him any hint at all?

All he could do was try.

"شقيق، وتعلمون ما حدث لنا. كنت أعرف أن تعليماتي كانت ذات طابع مستمر. عليك أن تعرف أن شيئا من هذا القبيل لا يذهب دون أثر. على الرغم من كل ذلك، لا يزال لدي الثغرات التي ليست سوى الضباب."

Brody shrugged again, then bowed his head slightly to show one of the scars near the base of his skull. Walker had not, after all, been there for every blow, just as Brody had not for Walker.

(*Brother, you know what happened to us. You know that my instruction was of a more continuous nature. You have to know that something like that does not go without effect. Despite it all, I still have gaps that are nothing but fog.)

[neverwrongagent]

All Walker had meant was that he hadn't known that beating was coming, the one Brody thought had been a killing. It was still something that Walker's handlers were using to convey Brody's seriousness to Walker. He looked at Brody's injuries without emotion. "تحتاج الرسالة إلى أن يكون أكثر وضوحا وتحديدا. لقد كانت دائما سلاح أكثر دقة."


(*The message needs to be clearer, more specific. You have always been the more precise weapon.)

[posterboymarine]

Brody thought for another few moments, then nodded. "Than that's what we do." Now he had to trust that Walker had been given instructions.

"في شكل ما هو الدرس التالي؟ وقد تم اتخاذ قرار؟ لا أستطيع القيام بدوري من تحت صخرة. أقول لهم وأنا على استعداد للدخول من البرد."

(*In what form is the next lesson? Has a decision been made? I cannot play my part from under a rock. Tell them I am ready to come in from the cold.

[neverwrongagent]

"Then that's what we do." Walker stood and looked down at Brody for a long moment. "يومين. الفجر. حيث اتخذنا من القافلة مع الماعز." He stretched again, careful not to touch Brody in anyway, then was gone, jogging off into the woods.



(*Two days. Dawn. Where we took out the caravan with the goats.)

[posterboymarine]

Brody nodded, then watched Walker go. He stayed in his seat for a long time, then walked back to his car. He didn't immediately go back to the safe house, instead driving around for an hour to throw off any followers.

He then took the time to eat breakfast at a dinner and find a mosque. Since he was quite sure he was being watched, and would be for a few more days, he decided to put on the show.

He did not pray, but he sat in silence and paid his respects. Only after all of that had been done did he check in.

[neverwrongagent]

His choices brought on a whole new round of discussion of just who Brody belonged to. In large part, Carrie stayed out of the conversation because the answer she could give wasn't going to go over well. And then there was the useless speculation of just what the next target was going to be. Carrie was of the opinion it was an assassination, but there wasn't enough evidence for that yet.

When she finally saw him again, she smiled gently. "I like hearing the poetry better."

[posterboymarine]

He smirked slightly. "I like reciting it better, believe me." He looked around at the gathered people. "So, who's going to shoot me first?"

[neverwrongagent]

The young Feebie, the one with a drop of common sense, raised his hand. "But I'm a crap shot, so you're fine." There were a few chuckles, then Saul broke in.

"I think we can all agree our goal here is for no one to get shot." Not even Walker, Carrie reminded herself.

[posterboymarine]

Brody wasn't sure if he should be reassured or not. But it was the hand he had. "Give me a map."

Once he had it, he got his field journal out and looked at that for a while. Then he marked a spot on the map. "It'll be here. But you are going to have to super light. These guys are not fucking around." And if anyone doubted that, he'd just take off his shirt to remind them.

Then he sat down and waited for the questions to come.

[neverwrongagent]

They came in a rush. The first batch were about the operation he'd just referenced, how he was sure he'd found the right one, and why did he think it was that one. Then came the ones where he was clearly meant to be reading the minds of people none of them knew. Some of the questions were good ones, others not so much.

[posterboymarine]

Whereas Brody trusted Carrie enough to explain the logic and logistics behind the mapping, he didn't trust these people. And he certainly wasn't about to give away a ton of operation intel from DIA or USMC to a bunch of civilians. Still, he put enough of it out there to shut most of them up.

As for the rest, mostly he stared and rolled his eyes at them. Surely they had to know how idiotic they were being. Finally, Brody called a halt to the whole thing. "I'm going to get some sleep. You can continue my interrogation later."

He stood up and headed back toward one of the safe house's bedroom. He'd sleep there, to make them happy, but he was going to sleep.

[neverwrongagent]

Some of them knew, but had to ask anyway. Others didn't care and somehow thought they were entitled. For Saul it was another chance to watch them all. For Carrie it was just exhausting. She wanted to really work. Or really do. And she couldn't do either. After a look from Saul, she left the others to bicker and followed Brody into the bedroom.

"Wow, yeah, that's our crack team."