The bird's opening - Criminal Minds - JJ

Prologue: Classified

Afghanistan, 2010

She didn't even bother looking up when she heard the so familiar boots walking inside the tent she had been working on. With her eyes on her file, Daniella could tell for sure that the person that had come in to talk to her was no one other than Section Chief Director Erin Strauss and, judging by the way she stomped her feet as she moved, Dani could tell she wasn't pleased at all.

"It didn't work." She said and it wasn't a question. All the better, really, because Strauss was not the type of woman to admit when she was wrong. Especially not to the person she had been arguing with in the first place. "Told you it wouldn't work."

"Agent Hastings and Agent Askari are..."

"They are good at... Whatever it is that they do." Dani interrupted the older woman, finally closing the files in her hands as she lifted her eyes to meet Strauss'. "But what they do, is not what we need."

"And what do we need?" Strauss asked, her eyebrow raising in her forehead as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Dani sighed then, rolling her eyes a little because she had explained this to a lot of people before but no one would listen to her. Well, of course they wouldn't. With her team being composed entirely by men and an uptight leader as Strauss, no one would want to try something different - especially something as unconventional as what Dani wanted to do -, so there they were, hitting their heads against a brick wall as they tried again and again to get something out of Nadia Mubari, but getting nowhere with the torturous method they all insisted on inflicting on the poor woman.

"With all due respect, Chief Strauss, you know what I think we need." Dani said, as Strauss practically groaned in annoyance.

"Do you really expect me to tell Agents Hastings, Cruz and Askari that their methods are wrong?" Strauss asked. "They have been doing this for a long time. Longer even than you and I were assigned this mission."

"And look how far that has gotten them." Dani shrugged.

"Agent Moreno..."

"I'm not proposing anything crazy." Dani insisted, interrupting Strauss again, not really in the mood to hear anymore of her lengthy scoldings. "All I'm saying is that, if she is the wife of one of the enemy's soldiers, she has been instructed not to snitch. She's probably been trained and since she's been resisting so much against Hastings and Askari, it means she's good. It means she won't break so soon. So why do we keep trying to do the same damn thing after we realize that it won't work? She won't break under torture, so let me build rapport. Let me gain her trust, let me try and break through to her with a softer approach. She's already scared of our men. If I show her any bit of kindness now, she'll most likely cave in."

For the first time in weeks since Dani had been trying to get Hastings and Askari to give up their methods on Nadia, she could see Strauss truly considering her idea. Dani wanted to smile then, but she bit the inside of her cheek and tried not to show any emotion. She didn't want to count with her victory yet, especially considering she hadn't truly won.

"Do you think you'll be able to do that, Agent Moreno?" Strauss asked.

"At the Bureau, I didn't work with people, it's true." Dani nodded. "Not victims or families... I don't have as much experience with that as I would have liked to try and talk to Nadia, but I can try."

Strauss stopped for a moment then and Dani could tell she was weighing her options again. Dani kept her eyes on the woman in front of her, her heart racing in her chest as she hoped for the best - hoped that Strauss would cave in, finally, and give her a chance; hope that she could at least try and offer Nadia some time away from the rough and careless hands of Hastings and Askari.

"Back in the Bureau, I work as Section Chief Director. Specifically, the Director of the Behavior Analysis Unit." Chief Strauss said, as Dani nodded. She knew all of that, but she had interrupted her boss far too much already, so she chose to stay quiet and let her talk instead. "I suspect you know the type of things they work with."

"Yes, ma'am." Dani nodded. "I have worked with them once or twice. Or rather... I have talked to their unit chief and their liaison a few times before... Gave them information they needed for a case or another."

"Right." Chief Strauss nodded. "My point is... In that team, they do work with people - victims, families and even criminals. They know how to talk to them because that is what they are trained to do. So, do you think that, should I bring over one of their best, would you be able to work with them to get Nadia talking?"

That was it. That was her chance. Her chance to make a difference and her chance to show Chief Strauss she was worthy of the position she had been offered for that mission. So, at her words, Dani nodded. Not only because she wanted the approval of her boss to try and get Nadia talking in a way that wouldn't endanger her life any more than it already was, but because she knew the BAU - or rather, she had heard of them. They were one of the most formidable teams at the FBI, with indisputable results and well renowned names. Having one of them there - any of them, really - to try and help her with Nadia would be nothing but good news.

"Yes, ma'am." Dani nodded, her heart skipping a beat again when Strauss nodded.

"Very well, I'll get to talking to Secretary Jackson so we can put this into action." She said, as Dani bit back another smile. "But, for now, you don't tell anything to Cruz or Hastings or Askari. If we do this, it will be another assignment inside our own - classified. Do you understand, Agent Moreno?"

"Yes, ma'am." Dani repeated, dutifully. "I understand."

"Good." Strauss nodded then. "Back to work."

And, as Strauss walked out of the tent, Dani cheered quietly before taking her seat again and going back to her file she had been reading before with a wide smile on her face. This was her chance now. An assignment for herself so she could prove herself as an Agent while doing her very best to help Nadia Mubari.

Now, all she had to do was hope she would manage to work well with whoever Chief Strauss was thinking about assigning to her in that new mission.