Costa Crew: One More Shot

Chapter 3 - Operation Godfather

Agent Goodman will lead the team, passing resources back to the main body of MI5 and ensuring security on the mission is as tight as possible.

Agent Hidgens will be the team's technical support. This involves tracing and intercepting phone calls, hacking email and bank accounts of suspects and acting as the team's eyes and ears into Agent Perkins' mission.

DCI Houston and the other detective will collect evidence gathered by the Metropolitan Police as well as working any new leads uncovered by the team. PS Monroe will be in charge of any raids taking place and should spend most of her time studying the layout of any buildings associated with the operation and working out the most effective strategy to enter.

MI5 have purchased a building which will act as a base of operations, as for security reasons the agents cannot constantly enter the police station and the officers cannot enter MI5 headquarters. To minimise movement in and out of this building the operatives will also be living there. This means that the officers involved will be unable to see their family or communicate with friends for the duration of the mission.

This mission has been classified as HIGH RISK. This is an investigation into the unknown, and as such the dangers are unknown. The Godfather is highly paranoid so will not hesitate to take action if they suspect the authorities are getting close to finding them.

Becky's heart was pounding as she finished reading. Surely it wasn't? Paul and Charlotte? She looked at Hannah and knew that she was thinking exactly the same thing. Neither of them said anything though. Goodman would probably take them off the mission if he found out that they had a history. He would take Becky off anyway, as Hannah wouldn't have contact with the officers involved. They weren't supposed to have friends outside MI5. In fact, even their phones were a special MI5 issue. They weren't ordinary phone numbers. Every Agent was on their contact list, and they could only be called from another MI5 phone.

"Any questions?" asked Goodman.

"Why me?" asked Becky.

Goodman sighed. "Because you're a genius, Rebecca."

Becky grinned. Thirty years old and she still loved it when people called her a genius. "Fair enough, but so is everyone in Cyber Security."

"You've come on more than anyone though," Goodman insisted. "Everybody's a genius here, but you're the cleverest. You're good at problem solving, you take initiative, you're always striving to do better."

Becky tried not to blush. "Thank you sir."

"That's another thing," added Goodman. "I want you to call me John while we're working with the cops. They all have a first name basis, and I want them to know that we're not the heartless robots with no life outside work that they say we are. We need to have each other's backs for this, Rebecca."

Becky nodded uneasily. "When do we start?"

"You and I are going to One Police Plaza tomorrow morning to meet our colleagues. Then I want you to go into the safehouse the next day and start setting up equipment. We'll stagger our arrivals. I'll go over that more tomorrow when the cops are there. Agent Perkins, I'm going to help you prepare for another week and then we'll send you off. Oh, and Rebecca, I'll have Amanda look after your dog."

With no more questions, Becky and Hannah left, smiled at Amanda and entered the lift. "I don't know how I feel about her looking after the Captain."

"Any other job you could have had a friend look after him," added Hannah. "You get to work with Paul and Charlotte though."

Becky sighed. "I doubt they'll be happy to see me, but I can't wait to see them again. I wish you could be there too."

Hannah nodded. "I'm looking forward to the mission, even if I'm slightly scared, but if I was working with you guys we'd just need Ted and we'd have the Costa Crew back together. Look, it'll be okay. Things might be a bit frosty at first, but you and Paul will geek out together and they'll both remember how great you are. One more shot is all you have, so if I were you I'd use it."

Becky nodded as she took this in. Then she laughed. "I know it's not really the time but you did just make a Starkid reference," she said. Then her smile widened. "Hey, I can talk about Starkid with Charlotte!"

Hannah clapped her on the back. "See? Just be yourself."

Be herself. But Becky now wasn't the same Becky that spent afternoons in Costa Coffee with her friends and went to see Starkid's Nerdy Prudes Must Die with Charlotte and Ted while the three of them were in America with Paul and Hannah. This Becky was expected to find her friends and family in MI5. The other Agents were cool, but Hannah was the only one she had a true bond with, and she was often away on undercover missions. Those times she had to make do with talking to people who she couldn't really relate to, and laugh at jokes she didn't understand. But it was her life, and those days spent in the office gave her a certain buzz she couldn't get anywhere else.

Almost anywhere.