Giada: Widowmaker Ch. 02

"We decided to bring in someone Giada isn't familiar with. A new recruit to The Board who can operate without fear of their cover being blown." The Board made a unanimous decision on this.

"You want to turn a case of this magnitude over to a new agent with absolutely no field experience?" Diane was dumbfounded.

"This agent has tested incredibly well in simulated scenarios... even matching some of your results that had stood as the benchmark for female agents; all agents, for so long," The Board announced to Diane.

Diane didn't initially agree with the decision, but it was all that they could do. Giada would be more alert than ever for potential attempts on her life, being certainly on high alert for Diane Sawyer. Throw on top of that the knife wound Diane suffered in their last encounter, and the decision to use a new agent to bring Giada down all but made itself. Widowmaker had to be neutralized fast and it would take an unknown entity and a physically healthy one to get it done.

The Board told Diane; "This agent has been working on a probationary basis with us and has performed quite admirably."

"Who is this new agent?" Diane asked.

"You can meet her right now."

The large chamber doors swung out wide. Light beyond the doors and behind the new agent set them against a wall of radiating light. Heels tapped on the hard tile floor of the large room, echoing softly off the walls, as the agent approached the interior of the chamber. Behind the agent, the doors closed and their silhouette morphed into a flesh and blood figure. Diane recognized who they were instantly. Dressed in gray, knee high, four-inch heel boots, with tight blue jeans tucked in them. The untucked blue-green, scoop neck, form-fitting blouse, exposed her tanned chest, accentuating and hugging her ample cleavage. The half-length sleeves reaching just below the toned biceps, and above the elbows. Blonde locks reaching down past the shoulders, the brown roots slightly grown in. Standing next to Diane, her eyes looked up to the gloomy shapes of the Board members.

"Diane, we believe you know who this beautiful young woman is?"

Diane looked at the agent. "Of course I do." She extended a hand. "It's good to see you, Jessica."

"It's good to see you, too, Diane. And let me just say, that I'm honored to be working with you." Jessica Simpson's eye gleamed with life and sincerity. She bounced a bit excitedly. "I can't tell you how happy I am to be part of the team!" Jessica bubbled, hardly able to contain her excitement.

"Jessica was on a special mission to undermine the 2007 NFL season for the Dallas Cowboys. We sent her in to seduce quarterback, Tony Romo, distracting him and his team enough to lose in the playoffs."

Diane eyed Jessica curiously, still unimpressed. "What was so vital about the Dallas Cowboys losing in the playoffs?" Diane wanted to understand.

She was told; "The Board had been interested in securing the services of New York Giants running back, Tiki Barber. Part of the deal was, after his retirement from pro football, we would do whatever was in our power to help The Giants reach the Super bowl for the 2007 season. Tiki was adamant about The Dallas Cowboys losing to his New York Giants in the playoffs as the determining factor of his decision to join us and they did. Well, The Giants beat the New England Patriots in The Super bowl, and Tiki will be joining us, thanks in quite a large part to the efforts of, Miss Jessica Simpson."

Diane looked to, then away from the glittery singer/actress, still not impressed. "Tiki Barber is retired, why would he care if The Giants reached The Super bowl? He won't get a ring."

The Board stated; "It seems that Tiki is still very close with his ex-teammates, Michael Strahan, and Amani Toomer, specifically. His loyalties to them and his former team run deep. Just the kind of character traits we look for in Board operatives. Tiki wanted to see them have a chance to get the ring that they were denied by The Baltimore Ravens in 2000."

Diane shook her head, finding the explanation to be utterly insignificant and inconsequential to the Giada DeLaurentis case. "So let me get this right; she," Diane motioned toward Jessica, "managed to distract a quarterback enough to lose a football game and now you're willing to let a complete novice handle a dangerous woman, like, Giada?"

"Jessica isn't part of the knowledge that Giada has about Board agents. We can send her in with minimal risk to her personal welfare," The Board said. "And Jessica has expressed that she is willing to do whatever it takes in the performance of her duties to get the job done. The Board believes that Jessica is someone that can be a very successful agent."

Diane was obviously annoyed. "Well, then I guess we're done here."

"Diane, you are an extremely valued asset and highly respected by The Board. If you take some time to think things over, we think you'll see it really is for the best."

"I have no doubt that you believe that. But I couldn't disagree more with your decision," Diane asserted. She knew full well that Giada was aware of agent identities. There was really no other viable choice in the matter. "We could send in a cleaner team to take down Giada," Diane tried. She knew full well that was a bad option, but said it anyway.

"That avenue has been considered and it's deemed too potentially messy, especially after your recent attempts in New York. If anything goes wrong, it could create a huge mess that would play out in the media. We wouldn't be able to control it."

Diane knew there was no alternative, but to send in a new agent. She was still hesitant about it. "I'll respect your decision and I'll do whatever I can to help her (Jessica) be successful."

"We wouldn't expect anything less from you, Diane."

Inside a small conference room, Diane was briefing the newest agent, Jessica Simpson. The young starlet sat eagerly listening, absorbing all the information that Diane imparted to her. They went over every crucial aspect of Giada's habits and personality traits. Diane making sure Jessica was well versed in those traits and rehearsed in her response to many different scenarios. She made sure Jessica understood the importance and seriousness surrounding her assignment with, Giada DeLaurentis: Widowmaker.

Though Jessica seemed to understand the gravity of the situation, Diane became concerned with Jessica's next question. She wanted to know, "what is my code name going to be?"

"Agents earn their code names with their performance in the field," Diane said. "It usually takes a bit for that to come about." She saw Jessica's body noticeable deflate, her smile lessen, brow get heavier and her shoulders shrink. "You'll get a call sign though. It'll be something we use to identify each other over radio communications."

"Really?" Jessica brightened. Diane smiled a bit, nodding. "What's my call sign?" Jessica asked excitedly.

For Diane, the call sign was obvious, though she would never say, "Bubblehead." Diane pondered the question, then said, "how about, Dazzle?"

Jessica brought her hands together to form a finger gun, which she held close to her face. She pointed the finger gun at an invisible adversary, while softly and dynamically said, "Dazzle!" Diane let her eyes roll upwards to the ceiling. "What's your call sign?" Jessica asked, putting the finger gun away. Before Diane could answer, "how about, Razzle?!" Jessica blurted out.

She seemed to like it and instead of turning this into a bigger issue than it needed to be, Diane said, "I like it; Razzle, Dazzle."

Jessica bubbled and bounced in her seat, golf clapping energetically. Diane smiled wryly at the young starlet. She could feel that there wasn't a nasty bone in her body. Jessica seemed to possess an almost childlike innocence, dare Diane say, a seemingly moronic intelligence. But Diane knew Jessica wasn't as dumb as she seemed, or let others believe. The thought quickly occurred to Diane that this seeming dumbness might actually be an asset.

Diane considered that what Jessica did to Tony Romo, in service to The Board, must have been difficult for the bleach blonde starlet. Diane felt a pang of sadness, recalling things she had done in service to, The Board. Those things were the kinds of things that she would not have done in her normal day-to-day life. Jessica was having that same sense of duty and honor for a higher purpose that Diane had when she first joined. However legitimate it was, or wasn't, Jessica was being manipulated by an organization with objectives that were not altogether altruistic. The Board wasn't corrupt, not by any means. But there always existed gray areas, in any organization, where decisions and the motives behind them, were not always in line with unselfish pursuits. The saying, "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely..." echoed in Diane's mind. She was hoping that Jessica wouldn't end up jaded, a cynical casualty of the shadowy world of espionage. A world where right and wrong went from existing in a side by side contrast of black and white, to a blending and bleeding mass of mottled grays that were hard to distinguish from one another. Ultimately leaving a head-swirling picture that made even the slightest in field decisions intricately complex and potentially catastrophic.

Diane had let her thoughts absorb her attention. Her knife wound ached, a sobering reminder of how quickly things could turn bad in the field. A reminder of how easily that could have struck a more vital area on her body. A stark reminder of how quick and dangerous Giada DeLaurentis was. When the pain commanded her attention, the seasoned newswoman and agent grabbed at the bandaged wound. Taking a pill from a small bottle, she washed it down with water from the room's water cooler. Diane stood by the cooler, watching as Jessica used a pen and pencil as puppets in her own little brief puppet show. She hoped that Giada wouldn't eat this girl alive. But Diane saw a serious and focused side to Jessica. A disciplined side that the bleach blonde southern starlet must have tapped into to become the pop culture icon she was. It was a more intense aspect to her personality, which greatly allayed some of Diane's fears. She was beginning to believe that the pop tart, turned Board agent, very well may have the stuff it took to get the job done.

So Diane made it a point to pass on as many pearls of wisdom to Jessica as she could. One that she couldn't stress enough was, "it's always best to neutralize a target with as little physical confrontation as possible. Especially when confronting someone as dangerous as, Giada DeLaurentis."