3 Chapter 2

LANGLEY, VIRGINIA

Mitch Rapp was currently busy preparing for his next mission in Istanbul. He was packing his bag, taking all of his belongings and necessity. But before leaving for the airport he has to make a stop at the headquarters to collect the file on Asad Shaikh and some debriefing from Stansfield before leaving.

GEORGE BUSH CENTER FOR INTELLIGENCE

Mitch reached the headquarters and was greeted by Irene Kennedy.

"Rapp, great to see you all packed up and ready, I know this was on such a short notice but I'm glad you could make it" Kennedy said

"Yeah well can't say no to a mission now can I" Mitch replied, before he could say anything further, Thomas Stansfield appeared and said "Rapp can I have a word with you?" Mitch nodded and they both went to the conference room, which was empty.

Stansfield began "Now Rapp, here is the file on Asad Shakih and everything you need to know about him for this mission. You have a 15 hour flight to Istanbul, might as well read this"

"Okay got it" Mitch said

Stansfield body language now told Mitch that he was going to get to the serious point of this conversation and so he did "Look Rapp, the last time you went to Istanbul, you completely violated our orders and ended up killing Hamdi Sharif instead of observing him like we told you to. You could've been kicked out of the Orion Team if it wasn't for me but I cannot always save you Rapp"

Mitch was not at all surprised hearing this, he knew he was going to get this sooner or later especially now since he was going to Istanbul again

Mitch asked "What are you saying?"

"What I am saying is that I don't want you to repeat this mistake again. This mission is purely observation. You just have to observe, the key word here being observe. Do not kill anyone there, not unless you get our orders. You violate our rules this time and you are out of the Orion Team, we cannot lose an agent like you Rapp" Stansfield explained

Mitch knew how serious this was. He couldn't risk getting kicked out of the Orion Team and get stuck behind the desk for the rest of his life and grow a potbelly, become bald and throw away his life like that. No no no he couldn't let that happen.

"You know I'm not stupid enough to get myself kicked out" Mitch reassured

Stanfield had a smile on his face and said "That's what I thought"

There was a knock on door to which Stansfield answered "Come in!"

Hurley entered the room with a grin on his face along with Agent Rupert Grant.

Mitch instantly knew something was wrong the second a smiling Hurley entered the room.

"Hey Rapp guess whose gonna be accompanying you on this little adventure" said a very enthusiastic Hurley with a smirk

Mitch was startled "Wait what do you mean?"

Stansfield replied "Rapp meet Agent Rupert Grant, he's going to be your partner for this mission"

Agent Grant held out his hand for a handshake with a wide friendly grin but Mitch completely ignored him and furiously turned to Stansfield "A partner!! Why the hell do I have a partner?"

An embarrassed Rupert put his hand down while Hurley stepped in "Hey watch the tone kid we are trying to help you. We figured you might need some assistance and Agent Grant was more than happy to accompany you"

Rupert snapped his head back at Hurley and then at Mitch who had an extremely annoyed look on his face. Rupert wanted to furiously shake his head and tell him that he did not sign up for this at all.

Mitch knew Hurley had something to do with this but before he could say anything, Stansfield put a hand on his shoulder and said very calmly yet with a very edgy and threatening tone "Rapp I'm not asking you, I'm telling you that Agent Grant will be going to Istanbul with you. That's an order"

Mitch sighed in defeat. He had no choice or say in this. Soon they were all standing outside a limo that was going to drop them off to the airport.

Mitch and Grant sat inside the limo, neither of them saying anything for the first few minutes until Rupert spoke up with a quiet happy and enthusiastic tone "So I'm Rupert Grant but well you already knew that. I have just heard so much about you, I heard you beat Stan Hurley in combat on your first day of training, that's so cool"

Great, Mitch thought. Not only was he stuck with a partner but also he was one of those bright smiling happy guys

A scoop of sunshine and a drizzle of darkness going on a mission together in Istanbul. Fantastic.

"It was nothing" Mitch shrugged

Rupert understood Mitch wasn't in a mood to talk so he left him alone.

They were in the flight. Rupert fallen on asleep as soon as the flight took off with open mouth and drool on his chin while Mitch who was sitting next to him was going through the reports and Asad Shaikh's file.

The file had all the information he needed.

Asad Shaikh

Age 45

Works as a Forensic Scientist at the Istanbul Police Department

He has access to the Turkish Armed Forces

He lives alone

His parents died 5 years ago in a car accident

He is single and has no kids

He has a pet a dog

Mitch chuckled at that. He never heard of any terrorist having any love for pets whatsoever.

There were a lot of pieces of information before Mitch read the last piece of information where there was a picture of a girl next to it.

Asad Shaikh has an intern that works under him in the CSI department

She is 21 years old and studies in Istanbul University.

She is majoring in forensic science and minor in biochemistry

Her name is Aayat Sadik

This is going to be an interesting mission, Mitch thought to himself.