Caliente

By Rita

"Michael you have 10 minutes to get your team moving and in the air. Walter is prepping your gear." Operations said from the perch.

Michael looked up in surprise at the announcement coming from the speaker. Yet neither his voice nor face betrayed any of that. "Of course." Was his only response as he began tapping at the keys on his computer to see who was available on site that could make the five-minute deadline. He did not like this as his core team was mostly on downtime, which meant he had to get team members from the general pool.

A knock at the door did not distract him from his task. Someone entered the light floral scent alerted him. It was unmistakably she. "Rita get ready we are going live in 5 minutes get your gear from Walter." He said curtly.

Rita who was once smiling in greeting now wished she had not come to pay a visit to entice Michael to go out for lunch. "Fabulous Michael. Where are we going?"

"Brazil. Now go get ready I will meet you at van access."

These short notice protocols sucked she thought as she walked out. She wondered who else was going on this mission as she made her way to get her gear. Then she looked at her clothes she would not even have time to change into mission gear until they were airborne. The blue summer dress was not appropriate gear.

"Hey Walter. I am here to get my gear for the mission that had no advance warning it seems."

Walter was moving frantically back and forth packing the dark duffel bags full of potentially dangerous items. "Hey lovely Senorita Rita. Looking forward to that hot Brazilian sun?"

"Nope I was looking forward to a leisurely lunch with a certain individual."

"Here. Get a move on Rita." He said as he handed her the bag. Rita moved to grab the bag and run to van access at this rate. "Wait I almost forgot." He handed her a small black knapsack. "Open it on the plane."

"Thanks Walter. You’re a doll." She said as she grabbed her bag and ran.

**************

Once on the plane it was time to see what mission was of such importance. Rita was sitting waiting for lift off. She looked around and noted she did not know any of the other operatives. There were no CLHQ members either on this mission was a new occurrence for her.

Then Michael began to speak and the briefing began. "A Center messenger carrying vital information stored in his mind has been taken hostage. He has a photographic memory and was on his way to report to Mr. Jones. We are to retrieve him at all costs. The terrorist group Punta Blanca is responsible. We have the coordinates and will be landing close to the site. They will be expecting us. The rest of the details are on your panels." Michael moved to the back of the plane to work on the computer that was located there.

Rita pulled out her panel and began looking at what else the mission entailed. She looked at the profile and realized this mission would not be easy. A couple of hours had passed when Michael sat next to her. "I am sorry."

"Why?" Rita said as she scrolled up the screen.

"I know that is not the reason you paid a visit." He said as he touched her arm to get her attention.

She looked up and saw some remorse for the kind of life they were living. "Don’t worry Michael we will be home before you know it. And then you can make it up to me." Rita said as she smiled.

"Of course. I already have the perfect thing in mind." Michael said as he rose to go work on the mission. "Get some rest after you finish studying the panel."

"Is that an order?" She said mischievously as she watched him walk away in this black mission pants that fit him so well sometimes she thought he was born in them.

"Yes and I can make you rest." He said as he continued his way to the back of the plane.

"Well I can only think of . . . " She called after him. The rest was unsaid as the plane suddenly was jolted from position with a redounding thud and it quickly began to lose altitude. It seems an anti aircraft missile had punched a hole through the plane but missed the engine but the sudden loss of air pressure was causing the plane to careen into the rain forest.

**********

"Sir we have a problem." Birkoff said.

"What is it Birkoff?" Operations replied quickly.

"Michael’s plane has gone down. It was attacked and has crashed in the rainforest..

"Do you have a location on the team?"

"No not yet the dense foliage and wildlife are making things difficult. We have to reroute a satellite to get a better picture and that will take about hours. It is because it is such a densely unpopulated area that makes triangulation very difficult from the lack of electronic devices we can use in the area."

"Call in a team to go after the messenger. And then they can rescue Michael and his team as soon as you register that there are survivors."

"Yes, Sir." Birkoff said as a silent prayer went up.

*******

The CLHQ living room was full. It was movie night. The girls were lounging around while watching The Princess Bride. Curlly and Sinjn were cozily seated in the loveseat tucked away in the corner. Curlly was whispering in his ear. "Please Sinjn."

"Curlly no you’ve had enough." Sinjn said.

She smiled at him. "You know I not satisfied yet."

"Darlin you might as well let her have it." Daine called out from the floor.

"See Daine agrees with me." Curlly said.

"Daine agrees with you because you share the same addiction. And you have already cleaned out Christopher’s stash."

Curlly looked suitably chastised and then said, "Well I guess we have no choice. Road trip!"

"Hush Curlly! Some of us are not lusting after cheesecake some of us are trying to watch the movie." said Jenni from her seat.

"Wait a minute did someone say Road Trip? I’ll drive." DragonLady volunteered.

"You can drive me anywhere." Damien said seductively.

DragonLady’s eyebrows raised in challenge. "Really?"

"Yes, right to the insane asylum you have led me to. Although you did get us lost getting there." He replied as he started to laugh. DragonLady took offense and elbowed him in the ribs. Which only made him laugh harder.

Brenna who was trying to avoid the whole discussion and was busy watching the screen where the couple was now tumbling down a rather long hill. Looked up and said, "No, I’ll drive."

"What is the deal with driving around here?" Anedella asked perplexed.

Avillion sat up eagerly to relate the tale of the Toronto mission. With several interjections from the girls that participated on the mission as she was getting to the pertinent part of the tale she was interrupted.

North walked in her comfy pjs looking as though someone had awakened her from a sound sleep with a look of pure concern on her face. Whisper first saw her approach and inquired, "What’s wrong North?"

North took in a deep breath. "The plane carrying Michael’s team went down in the jungle."

Silence filled the room quickly. Then Sherry voiced the question that no one else seemed to want to say, "Is the team all right?"

"We have been unable to contact the team. So it is uncertain whether they are alive or dead."

"Who else was on the team?" Nabiki asked as she looked around the room to see who was missing.

"There was only one CLHQ member on the team."

Sherry knew the moment North said that, who it was. "Rita is on that team."

"Yes, Sherry. It seems it was a flash mission. Rita was supposed to be on downtime but you know whom she would rather spend her downtime with and she got corralled into the mission due to a personnel shortage. So we will be sending out two teams one to complete the mission they were sent to do and one to find the team and bring them back."