- This article is about a fictional representation of a real world subject.
The Central Intelligence Agency, often referred to by its acronym CIA, is one of the United States federal government's foreign intelligence agencies responsible for gathering overseas intelligence and performing covert operations abroad for foreign policy and national security purposes.
Structure[]
The Agency is led by the Director of Central Intelligence, and all employees ultimately answer to the director. The second highest rank is the Deputy Director, a position that was once held by Darryl Lansing during the events of the 2nd light novel Ballad of the Sinful Wizard.[1] Additionally, the CIA's headquarters is the George Bush Center for Intelligence on the eastern coast of the U.S.A. in Langley, Virginia. There are several departments tasked with certain types of intelligence and analysis, including the Intelligence Headquarters' Second Department led by Richard Ravencroft.[2] The CIA shares its findings and intel with other intelligence agencies, with the President of the U.S.A., and with the United States Armed Forces. Case officers are usually stationed in the United States and in offices across the globe, and they give orders to field agents who carry out actions such as spying, maintaining informant ("asset") networks, and other various tasks.
Black Lagoon history[]
The Central Intelligence Agency was formed in 1947 by U.S. President Harry S. Truman. The organization has been responsible for providing support to foreign intelligence groups and governments. Moreover, the CIA has also provided support to U.S.-aligned countries, paramilitary organizations, and criminal and terrorist groups. Notorious actions that the CIA has engaged in include torture, wiretapping, drug trafficking, and toppling foreign governments.[3] In the mid-1990s, the CIA switched its priorities to economic information warfare, creating a shift from espionage missions.[4] Furthermore, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the agency retired many senior officers.[5] In their missions to keep foreign terrorism and crime in check, the CIA has collaborated with foreign militaries like the Philippines' Armed Forces[6] as well as criminal groups like the international Hong Kong Triad.
Goat, Jihad, Rock'N Roll[]
In Roanapur after a Bulgarian spy under torture gave Mister Chang's men documents relating to a future terrorist attack by Hezbollah, Chang went to visit Hezbollah affiliates in the outskirts of the city and offered to sell them the documents back, but the gunmen threatened Chang to leave due to disliking the price that he offered. When Chang and his men left and decided that they would instead sell and deliver the documents to the CIA, Hezbollah retaliated by bombing his office, forcing Chang to flee and take refuge at the Lagoon Company office. There, he told them about the job to deliver the documents to the CIA at a military base on Basilan Island. Chang told Dutch that the latter had two days to deliver the documents, but Dutch felt hesitant until Hezbollah guerrillas attacked the building, agreeing to take the job.[7]
While the Lagoon crew used the Black Lagoon to travel to the Philippines, Chang returned to one of his bases. After Revy and Rock left their boat, Rock got kidnapped, so Revy had her getaway crew, Shenhua and Leigharch, head back to the Abu Sayyaf camp to save Rock since he had the documents. Thirty minutes before the CIA's deadline, Chang was on the phone with a CIA agent and assured the latter that the documents would be delivered on time. That same night, Rock was saved, so Leigharch drove his group to the Basilan military base, where they were met by a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter carrying two CIA agents, Agent Blend and Agent Sugar. Rock panicked since he did not have the briefcase of documents, but Revy pulled out the documents from under her shirt, revealing that she had them the entire time. Giving them to the CIA agents, Agent Blend told her that they did not get paid to chase criminals like Revy but instead fight enemies of the United States, adding to Revy that she could think about that when the CIA commissioned her for a job next time.[6]
Greenback Jane[]
In the Black Lagoon's engine room after a firefight, Eda held a pistol at Russell and told him to hold his hands up. As he worried about his boss, Russell suddenly thought that he previously met Eda in the United States' District of Columbia. Eda calmly responded that they had never met, adding that she was born in Alabama and had never been to Washington, D.C. As he recollected seeing Eda in a navy blue business dress talking to a congressman (Senator Jack Bonham) in D.C., Eda admitted that she was at the French restaurant Fontainebleau talking to the U.S. senator and several men about contact with countries within the EAEC that opposed NAFTA and how to deal with them. Upon hearing Eda state that her real hometown was Langley, Virginia, Russell realized that she was a CIA agent, causing Eda to shoot and instantly kill him.[8]
El Baile de la muerte / Roberta's Blood Trail[]
George Bush Center for Intelligence building in Langley, Virginia
In Caracas, Venezuela, the National Security Agency's Grey Fox unit carried out an operation to bomb an MVR rally and killed the political party's leader as well as accidentally killing Diego Lovelace,[9] but the operation was done without consulting the CIA.[4] Accordingly, Agents Blend and Sugar went to a U.S. airport, where they saw and took pictures of Shane Caxton and his men in plain clothes boarding a plane to Thailand. Upon receiving the photographs and learning of Grey Fox's plan to travel to Thailand to interfere in the CIA's territory in the Golden Triangle, Richard Ravencroft calmly remarked in his office at the CIA headquarters that the NSA was trying to interfere in their "hard-grown little garden." As his subordinate Judway was leaving, he called for his assistant Cathy to get him another cup of coffee with enough milk and sugar in it to make a pancake. While looking at a map of mainland Southeast Asia, Ravencroft stated that he had to deal with the challenge of avoiding warfare between the intelligence agencies and figure out what he could obtain by exchanging information.[10]
In Roanapur while Grey Fox was waiting for orders from the NSA to make a move, Eda was informed by Ravencroft about the situation as well as getting intel from a Lovelace family employee about Diego's death and Roberta coming to the city. At the Rip-Off Church drawing room, she talked with Sister Yolanda about credible intel regarding Roberta and the NSA's presences in the city. As Eda finished explaining that the NSA had been trying to expand their authority regarding covert operations like they did in Venezuela, Yolanda agreed to have her informants gather information on the NSA affiliates and provide it to her based on her boss's decision. Eda told her that her boss was trying to contact headquarters, but the project was clearly an independent action of the Pentagon without CIA consultation. When the young nun said that payment for her information would come from her boss, Yolanda asked if Mr. Ravencroft was still her superior, which Eda confirmed. Yolanda remarked that she was glad to hear since she had always wanted to work with Ravencroft, and she warned her to watch out for the NSA since they would try and sneak up on her.[2]
After Yolanda relayed the Grey Fox information from her informants to Eda, Mister Chang went to the chapel to use a cellphone in the chapel's confession booth. On the phone, he talked with a CIA contact who was actually Eda disguising her voice. Beginning the call, she told Chang about the details and history of the Grey Fox team, including their names, the three hotels where they were hiding, and their intention to capture Shue Yan, a powerful general in Khun Sa's Mong Tai Army that possessed opium fields that the Hong Kong Triad's heroin refineries depended on. When Chang told her that the call was over, Eda stopped him and asked him what his plan of action was.
He replied that he was under no obligation to tell her anything, calling Eda a bureaucrat and saying that the Triad was not a lapdog of the CIA. In response, Eda laughed and told him that smack talk did not work when the receiver was stronger, calling Chang a punk and saying that the CIA was one of the many hydra heads of the United States government that could control and topple countries and governments, in contrast to the Triad only being able to control businesses. Upon hearing her comment, Chang angrily hung up the phone and left the chapel.[3]
As Roberta and Grey Fox were battling in Roanapur, Eda drove her motorcycle and met up with Rock and found out that he was going to have the U.S. troops use his boat to travel northward into the Golden Triangle. Eda agreed to contact the NSA to inform them of his plan, but not before Rock tried to ask her why she was helping him. She stopped his question, telling him not to poke the sleeping Leviathan.[11] Later, to prevent Grey Fox from capturing Shue Yan, Eda provided travel arrangements and documents for Roberta, meeting her inside an airplane at Don Mueang International Airport. Roberta tried to attack her, but Eda blocked her and told her about the arrangements for Roberta when she arrived in Mandalay, Myanmar, politely telling the killer maid that she could intercept and kill the Grey Fox soldiers. Nonchalantly agreeing to her terms, Roberta told her that she would give Eda a painless death after she hunted down Grey Fox.[12]
Soon, after Grey Fox captured Shue Yan in the Golden Triangle and brought him to the United States, Ravencroft was in his office and asked Cathy for another high-sugar cup of coffee while on a phone call with Eda. When Eda jokingly asked about Ravencroft's blood sugar level, he replied that people only live once. He then told Eda that the Director of Central Intelligence had a private luncheon with the NSA's assistant to the president, planning to draw a clear line with them at the next meeting. Looking at his coffee, he added that Shue Yan's custody rights were transferred to the CIA in front of the president, pleasing Eda. Telling her that the NSA's response could be summarized by a tirade of cuss words, Eda agreed that it was amazing and told Ravencroft that the NSA underestimated them.[13]
Eda Initial Stage history[]
Devastating New Face[]
On her first field job as a new agent of the CIA after having graduated from Harvard University, Eda was sent to a Central American country to gather intelligence on the local cartel there. Taking a taxi, she soon realized that she was being followed. Accordingly, she checked her notes to see how to handle the situation, reading that local police and counter intelligence would be following her but not actually engaging with her, so she stayed to her plan. Unfortunately, her taxi got blocked by several cars and some men ordered her to get out, irking her.
At a house with the men, Eda sat in a chair calmly claiming that she was merely a diplomat, but the men's leader stated that he knew she was a trafficker and forcibly undressed her shirt, warning her that she would be in the building until she talked. Meanwhile at a CIA office, an agent named Ruggles was called for by another agent, telling him to go pick up the new recruit (Eda), saying that she was picked up by some men claiming to be secret police. Back at the house, Eda kicked the man in the face and used her excellent combat skills to disarm and knock out the other men. Soon, Ruggles arrived on the scene, realizing that it was Eda who took down the men, remarking that he could not believe that a Harvard graduate like her could pull that off. Eda responded that she tried peaceful means, and Ruggles commended her feat.
Going to Ruggles's car, Ruggles advised Eda that she should have joined special operations instead of being a case agent, but Eda replied that she truly felt more comfortable doing intelligence work instead of punching and shooting people. At the CIA office, Ruggles' fellow agent spoke to Eda and informed her that the men did not know about her affiliation and would not mess with her again. Afterward, Eda began her transfer with Ruggles, who brought her to the hotel where she was staying at. Upon entering her room, a man (with other henchmen) tried to attack her, but Eda swiftly dodged his arm and used the men's own weapons against them. Lying on the ground, one of the men pulled out a revolver and prepared to fire, but Eda disarmed him and took the gun, surprised to see that he would not wake up.
Later after Eda took the men's belongings and put their bodies elsewhere, Ruggles drove the mentally tired Eda to see an informant of theirs, Enrique Gasol, who had infiltrated the North Gulf Cartel enough to be the boss's right-hand man in a six-month period to avenge his brother who was the original informant. Ruggles told the skeptical Enrique that he would have to help Eda with experience, but Enrique initially refused. Trying to impress him, Ruggles talked about Eda's accomplishment of fighting off several secret police with ease, surprising the young boy. Finally, Ruggles in turn told Eda that Enrique would give her info on the smuggling routes to smuggle weapons and funds to places where the CIA headquarters could not immediately reach. Continuing their conversation at a restaurant, Eda wondered what Ruggles meant by "diplomatic privileges" as an American, and he specified that she could be arrested anywhere and she would be freed due to her diplomatic affiliation, especially one with the CIA.
Not totally convinced, Eda replied that she heard about an officer in 1978 in Beirut being killed after being captured, making Ruggles sternly warn her not to interrupt someone when they were talking. In turn, Eda remarked to herself that he should not have brought up dubious claims. When Ruggles derogatorily referred to her Harvard background, Eda rhetorically asked if he had something against Harvard graduates. The angered Ruggles proudly confirmed, but Eda proclaimed in seriousness that she joined the CIA to defend the honor of the U.S.A., making Ruggles burst into laughter, having to calm down while remarking that he had not laughed like that in a long time. Once exiting the restaurant, Ruggles bid her goodbye and said that he would see her the next day, leaving Eda alone. Standing in the city, Eda thought to herself that she got a job in the wrong place due to her demanding boss and her bratty informant.[14]
Later at night, Enrique met with Ruggles and was concerned about Eda's brashness, reminding the latter that he initially told him that Eda would run away upon encountering danger. Sitting down with his head tilted back, Ruggles smoked and declared that he gave up on her, but Enrique asked him if he truly did not care that Eda would take his place since he made great money from his operation. Pausing for a bit, Ruggles confirmed and stated that he enjoyed the money but had no choice to accept his relocation due to orders from his boss, surprising Enrique. Furious, Enrique angrily claimed that Ruggles had used him and his brother and was then trying to toss him aside. Annoyed by his outburst, Ruggles grabbed the boy by his collar and glared at him, asking who he thought he was to insult him. Letting go of him, Ruggles informed Enrique that his desire to go to the U.S. would be postponed due to the former's relocation, saying that the boy would have to speak with Eda to get a chance at staying in the U.S.
The next morning, Ruggles and Enrique packed their suitcases and reconvened with Eda, who would drive them. He assured Eda that they would be fine, also telling her that Enrique was merely helping him. While sitting in the backseat with Enrique, Ruggles relayed to the curious Eda that he put the large suitcase in front since it would not fit in the trunk, telling her not to worry about it. When she asked him what was in the case, Enrique snickered while Ruggles responded that it was an item that would guarantee his future, immediately smacking the back of Enrique's head afterward and ordering him to quiet down. Eda then stopped the car due to some pedestrians in front, and suddenly their car was flipped over by cartel members launching a rocket at them. Quickly acting, Ruggles got his suitcase out of the car as he, Enrique and Eda ran for their lives as another rocket hit the car, barely avoiding death. In the street, Ruggles began to use the suitcase as a shield above his head as the three ran from the gangsters firing at them from the rooftops.
Following Enrique into an adjacent building, Ruggles briefly placed down his heavy suitcase and then shot at several cartel members who were surrounding him and his partners. Aiming his pistol and waiting, the frustrated Ruggles saw from Eda's expression that she had never been in a gunfight before. Subsequently, they ran up some stairs and killed other cartel members, then exiting onto a rooftop. Checking the area, Ruggles advised the two not to stand still and get moving, but Enrique suddenly kicked Eda off the roof to Ruggles's surprise. As the vengeful secret police surrounded Eda, Ruggles pointed his gun at Enrique and asked him why he did that, but he proclaimed that he was avenging his brother since Ruggles had forced him to go onto unpredictable missions despite his lack of skill, claiming that Ruggles caused him to get murdered when he messed up. Enrique prepared to fire his pistol, but Ruggles quickly moved his suitcase in front of him as a shield and ran toward Enrique, pushing his weight down onto the boy.
At the same time, the gangsters from the other day remarked that they would get revenge on Eda, who smugly stated that she would be fine. At that point, the gangsters were shot at by several secret police, baffling Eda as she quickly shot back at the police who tried to kill her as well. On the rooftop as he wrestled with the boy, Ruggles saw a secret police agent on a nearby rooftop aim his gun at him and began shooting. While Eda started running into an alleyway, Ruggles's body suddenly fell down in front of her with his opened suitcase of money in front of her, shocking her. Seconds later, Enrique ran to the dead Ruggles and angrily shouted that he wanted to be the one to kill Ruggles. Pointing her gun at the boy, Eda ordered Enrique to get up, but he reminded her that there was a war between the cartel and secret police. Seeing through his sham, Eda remarked that she knew that Enrique wanted to use the firefight as a distraction to kill both of them.
Not caring about her deduction, Enrique snapped back that he solely wanted revenge. As the cartel and secret police continued firing at each other, Eda decided that Enrique would help her escape. Enrique listened to her characterize him as smarter than Ruggles and could see that he truly had no plans to die in Central America. To her bafflement, the boy continued to grab money from Ruggles's suitcase. Hearing him claim that dead people did not need money, Eda smirked and joked that he was rather shallow for his age. Frustrated, he furiously clarified that money was power even if it was not justice, advising her to remember that well. Guiding Eda onto the roof, Enrique stated that the area seemed clear, but he was immediately interrupted by the secret police group's leader shooting a bullet into his chest, knocking him off the roof into the alleyway. After Eda momentarily stood off with the policeman who bragged that he could pin the CIA agents' deaths on the cartel members whom he killed, she jumped to the side and shot him dead. Going downstairs, Eda ran down to the alleyway only to find a small blood trail, not seeing Enrique anywhere.[15]
MIAMI VICE[]
After only 4 days of being in the field, Eda was forced to leave her assignment. At a meeting in the CIA headquarters, several superiors discussed the impact of Eda's recent actions, and Ravencroft defended her by saying that her actions had weakened the cartel in the country and had forced the local secret police to owe the CIA a favor. For her new assignment, Eda got assigned a new partner, Amber Whinberry, to engage in domestic espionage and talk to an informant, Percy, in Miami regarding local drug deals. During the mission, Eda and Amber got into a fight at a bar, but Amber sat by and drank while Eda fought off the hooligans with another bar customer, Glenn. The next day, going to a motel to speak to Percy, Eda was held at gunpoint by the men inside and the situation escalated when the informant bragged that Eda was CIA and would save him. As she stood silent, they all heard the doorbell ring, startling them. Stokes opened the door to tell the person, Amber, to leave, but the latter kicked him aside and ordered the men not to move.[16]
Immediately, Eda saw Cutter slowly pull out his pistol, prompting her to warn Amber. In the ensuing gunfight, the two women fought off the men, with Eda having shot Hancock dead. Getting into their car, they fled the scene with the informant, but Amber noticed he had gotten shot and soon died. Eda berated her partner for pretending to be drunk so that the former would confront the men first, but the latter responded that she could handle herself fine. Finding out that the men Percy worked with were police officers of the Metro-Dade Police Department, including Hancock, the two women realized that they were actually investigating police corruption. After burying Percy's body, the two women visited a bar called Club Social, hearing it in Percy's dying words. At the club in Miami, they met Rona Hunt, an escort associated with Percy. Although they told Rona that they were not cops, the woman still wanted payment for her information concerning the key that Percy had.
Once getting the money, the escort confirmed that the key was to a locker near a train station somewhere. As she agreed to write down the approximate address, a couple of police cars stopped outside the bar and several cops, including Glenn, barged inside demanding to see Rona, so Eda and Amber quickly left but were still pursued by the officer who spotted them. Exiting the business, as they got into the car, Eda turned around to see that the officer pursuing was Glenn, shocking them both. With the man's frozen state, the women took the opportunity to flee the scene.[17]
Amber going to Percy's locker
Going to the storage locker, Amber opened the storage door and brought Percy's bag of belongings to the van, where Eda and Amber saw that there were money and drugs inside the bag. Calling the local Miami cops at their police station, Amber told the chief, Sommers, that they could return the drugs and money in return for all the documents that Percy had inside the motel, so the police chief agreed and asked where they should meet. As the chief and his assistant drove in a car on the way, Amber used the van to block their path, forcing their car to stop as she walked to the window wearing a gas mask and sprayed knockout gas inside their vehicle. Bringing the chief to a small field, Amber found out that the documents had little info written on them and she berated the chief, who calmly explained that Percy was not the type of person who wrote detailed information.
When Amber demanded that the chief bring them to Percy's place, Eda argued with her about the state of their mission, and Amber responded that they had to get the blame off themselves, adding that they could use the chief as leverage against his fellow officers for more information. Subsequently, the two agents were guided to Percy's house, where the chief sat with tied hands on the couch while Eda and Amber searched the furniture for important info. Although the chief explained that he got involved with criminals to get money for treating his wife's leukemia, Eda did not believe his story and showed no sympathy. Examining a small drawer, Amber discovered a ledger with a list of Percy's partners, so she returned the bag of money and drugs to the chief.
As the two women exited the house after promising to return the chief to his police station, several bullets hit close to them, forcing them back inside the residence. Outside, Glenn kept his rifle's sights on the house since he wanted revenge on the agents for killing Hancock. Preparing her pistol, Eda went to the back of the house and caught Glenn and another cop by surprise, shooting at them and successfully hitting the other cop. Rolling into his range, Eda pointed her pistol in Glenn's face, resulting in a standoff. Though Amber asked them to deescalate, Glenn proclaimed that he had nothing left to lose since his only family member was killed. Smugly smiling, Eda shot at him again but was quickly pushed down. As Glenn aimed his rifle, she pulled out her concealed revolver and pushed it right into his neck, bidding him goodbye with a single lethal shot, surprising Amber and the chief. Afterward, as they waited for backup while the chief accepted defeat, Eda sat down as Amber jokingly asked Eda how much longer she thought that she would live by lethal means, annoying the blond agent.[18]
Wandering Old Case Officer[]
At a park bench, Ravencroft discreetly met another case officer named Chesterton, who wanted a favor from him. Chesterton asked him if he knew what was the most necessary skill for a CIA agent, and Ravencroft confusingly replied that an admission test would determine one's suitability. Telling him that is not what he meant, Chesterton clarified that intuition was the best skill, stating that one should know when bad things will happen. Standing up, Chesterton told him about a retired agent named Harold Meyer, also a friend and former colleague of his, whose wife died last year and whose family died in an accident years ago, making Ravencroft remark that it was quite a sad story. Ending the story with Meyer's recent disappearance, Chesterton asked Ravencroft to take care of Meyer's possible pursuit after someone privately, with Ravencroft agreeing and replying that Chesterton would owe him for the help.
Accordingly, Eda and Amber were discreetly assigned to find Meyer. As Eda drove, Amber recalled how those at the top in the CIA had to pay off the cops and make up for the two officers whom they killed. Once learning on the way about Meyer's history as an ex-DDR official who defected to the U.S.A. and became a counter-espionage agent, the two arrived at Meyer's house and searched inside, finding nothing there but discovered newspaper articles that the old man had thrown out in a dumpster. Driving to the town mentioned in the newspaper article about Jeremy Stainton, an ex-CIA agent, they went into a neighborhood and spotted Meyer walking on the street. Pulling up to him to inform him that the agency sent them, the old man immediately pulled out his machine pistol and began shooting at them, forcing the women to flee. Eda crashed the car into a lamppost but claimed that she was all right, though she was frightened to see that Amber got shot in her right shoulder.[19]
Going to their headquarters, Eda and Amber spoke with the ex-agent, Jeremy Stainton, who was going to attend a charity meeting for disabled children as supposed atonement for his actions during his CIA time. After resting at a hotel, Eda and Amber attended the place to keep watch of Stainton as he gave a speech. While standing in the back, Amber was angry to learn that Eda did not read the case files and archives on Meyer that she offered at the hotel, so Amber explained that Stainton had participated in MKUltra brainwashing operations during his time in Frankfurt in West Germany. She also mentioned that many of the documents on the program were destroyed by former Director of Central Intelligence Richard Helms. After Stainton had finished the speech, he began walking into another room when Meyer suddenly appeared and pointed his pistol at Stainton, telling the latter to sit down. Quickly, Amber and Eda rushed to find him after Stainton had exited their sight.
While tied up, Stainton asked Meyer what he wanted, and the old man reminded him that he knew about his brainwashing actions at a mansion in Germany, shocking Stainton. At that point, Eda and Amber burst into the room, causing Meyer to point his gun at Stainton's head. Recognizing the women, Meyer calmly explained that his parents and sister fled to West Germany and were put into military custody at Camp King, the same place where some MKUltra experiments occurred. Once joining the CIA, Meyer examined the Operation Bluebird files and found out that his family had been used as guinea pigs in the tortuous experiments, but he could not do anything as he was an agent and already had a new family. Yelling in anger, Meyer remarked that it was a mockery that Stainton of all people was then praised as a good guy for his charity work despite his past.
Throwing a smoke grenade, Amber blocked Meyer's vision while she and Eda quickly charged at and disarmed him. Although Amber criticized his late revenge, Meyer warned her that she should watch herself lest she fell into the same trouble and torture. Afterward, Meyer was put into police custody for criminal trespassing, and Stainton thanked the two women for their help, saying that the United States had acted in such ways due to their paranoia about the USSR. After Amber remarked that Meyer would probably be put in a detention center but in good care, she and Eda remembered their damaged car and how they would have to personally pay for repairs since they were not on an official mission.[20]
Balkan crisis[]
The United States government had supported the Bosnian Muslim side since the Bosnian War's start, but later on some anti-American extremists appeared. To the CIA's annoyance, they were not able to convince the Bosnian government to cut ties with the extremist faction. Subsequently, the CIA concocted a plan for an agent to be abducted by militants, which would give them an excuse to force the Bosnian government to cut ties and allow the CIA to kill the extremists.[21] At the same time, Tobias's group had a female informant who was the wife of a militant in the extremist faction which used an Islamic charity as a front. Accordingly, Eda was assigned on the case and traveled to the Balkan peninsula, being driven into the border of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina by an interpreter, Rashida. Arriving at an office, Eda spoke to the CIA agent Tobias, who had summoned her because he needed a female agent but was disappointed upon meeting her. As Tobias mentioned that his men were spying on an Islamic charity group, Eda rhetorically asked if the charity was a front. Tobias confirmed, elaborating that Muslim volunteers aided Bosnian Muslims trapped between Croatian and Serbian forces during the last Yugoslavian Civil War, but a few of the groups among the many volunteers were quite extremist and began plotting trouble after the Dayton Agreement.
Finishing the explanation, Tobias said that their insider among the suspects was a woman, clarifying that he needed Eda since the Muslims in the group were less suspicious about same-sex friendships. Soon, Rashida helped Eda don a hijab, which the latter was hesitant to wear since she saw plenty of women throughout the city without one. She assured Eda that the hijab would suppress suspicion about her. Once donning it, Eda listened to Tobias explain that the female informant would go into town every three days to buy food, and contact would be established via a passphrase. On the day, Eda went to the market and confirmed her part of the passphrase, relieving the hijab-clad informant. Walking together, Eda whispered to ask about her intel, but the woman replied that she need to buy something first to ease the situation, annoying Eda. When the woman continued buying food, Eda grabbed her arm and sternly told her that they were not accompanying one another to have fun.
Glad to hear that Eda was a CIA agent of influence, the woman quickly slipped a piece of paper to her and walked away. Confused, Eda then got bumped into by an angry man, and she apologized but could not understand his language. Eda tried to awkwardly walk away, but the man pursued her, so she ran and eventually took cover on a railing beneath a tall bridge. Returning to Tobias, Eda removed her hijab and threw the small paper at him, furiously asking what was wrong with the woman since she was a bad agent. Examining the paper, Tobias casually warned her to be careful how she spoke to her superior, saying that she would not die in the field so long as she followed instructions. After the meeting, Eda poured some alcohol and expressed to herself her dislike for Tobias. Sitting down next to Eda, another male agent joined her for a drink, with Eda commenting that she thought her job would be finding and arresting war criminals. Responding that war criminals were already assets to the CIA, the man told her not to give up since each agent had a role to play in their missions. He then fell asleep drunk, angering Eda since she still wanted to drink more alcohol.[22]
Eda meeting with the contact.
Deciding to play a role, Eda then met the informant again and received another envelope, giving it to Tobias. She then asked if the information was actually useful since he only spent a short time reading the intel, but Tobias told her to mind her business as she left the room. Eating food with Rashida, Eda asked her why she took the interpreter job, and the woman explained that she wanted to see what happened in her own country during the war since she was born in Bosnia but she grew up with her exile parents in Germany. Re-donning her hijab, Eda walked through town and got another envelope. Later during the next contact, Eda saw the woman with a bruised face after her husband had beaten her, and the woman calmly grabbed Eda's arm and told her to come with her. As Eda followed the contact, she thought to herself that their meeting was too long, and they arrived at the bridge.
Although on edge, Eda listened to the contact speak about her late husband being killed in the VRS's bombings during the war, saying that she dreamed of going to the U.S.A. Angered at her lack of info and thinking that she had been spotted, Eda put out her own cigarette and noticed several men walking toward them from both sides, with the strangers ordering the women not to move. Thinking fast, Eda shot all the men and fled, and she got to an empty part of town. As she reloaded her pistol and lamented her lack of bullets, a ninja-like woman suddenly appeared and attacked Eda, who was quickly disarmed by the assailant. The woman then spoke in Serbian about Jesus Christ having mercy on Eda and then shot her, knocking her down a hill as she was consequently surrounded by a few armed men.[23]
After having her face covered and taken into a small house that night, Eda was tied up and her captors removed the bag from her head. Eda denied that she was a CIA agent, but the leading interrogator punched her several times, not fazing her. Pushing her onto the ground, the man told her to prepare herself when his leader would arrive, and he left. As Eda wondered why the Serbian Christian assassin let her be captured by Muslims, she moved her tied hands from behind her back to her front. Entering the room, the informant found Eda and clarified that her superior Tobias planned for her to be captured in order to create a spying opportunity, angering her. The woman then assured Eda that she would rescue her, asking in return for herself and her daughter to be given U.S. citizenship since she wanted to escape her current husband who was a mujahideen fighter.
Remembering Amber showing her a picture of the former's daughter, Eda wondered why that came to mind, and she agreed to help the informant, subsequently being given a pistol. As the two women exited the house, the extremists surrounded them and told them not to move. Seeing her daughter at gunpoint, the contact pleaded with Eda to lower her gun. In the crowd, Eda was surprised to see the group's "emir" Osama bin Laden among them. As Eda watched the husband order one of his men to kill the daughter, the man's head was blown apart by a sniper, and Tobias and several CIA agents killed several of the men, but two enemy cars managed to flee the area. Eda herself got up and quickly shot several men near her, and she checked on the contact and her daughter's well being. Once the area soon became secured, Eda reconvened with Tobias and demanded to know the full story, which he relayed in full to her. Although greatly frustrated since she was used as bait to force the Bosnian government to authorize the CIA's attack, Eda requested that Tobias give asylum to the Bosnian woman and her daughter in return for her help.[21]
She promised to pay him after the mission, and he agreed. Thanking Eda, the contact smiled and embraced her daughter, but Eda looked away and advised that they leave. At that moment, the contact and her daughter were shot by an enemy sniper, killing them. Shocked, Eda froze as Tobias ordered her to take cover. Furious at the women's murders, Eda took one of the agent's cars and pursued the husband and his men, catching up to them and shooting their back tire in the process. As the enemy car crashed over, another extremist got out and asked the husband if he was all right. Stealthily walking, the Serbian Christian woman appeared and killed the extremist and was about to kill the husband when Eda pointed her gun and ordered her to freeze since she wanted to kill the husband. In response, the Serbian woman stabbed her sword into the husband's leg, taunting Eda to try and stop her. Eda shot at her, but the assassin evaded her bullet and attacked. In the tangling, Eda managed to push the woman's arm away and shoot near her head, pushing off her head covering. Eda then tackled the woman down a hillside while the husband tried to flee.
As he dragged himself along the grass, Eda pointed her pistol at him, and he responded that divine justice would befall her. Not concerned, Eda shot him once, killing the terrorist. Catching up, the blonde Serbian woman asked if the mother and daughter were dead, which Eda solemnly confirmed. Eda then found out from the assassin that she was the contact's collaborator as well as the collaborator trying for three months to track down the husband's group in vain. Finding out that the woman was trying to track down the "rich Arabian guy" (bin Laden) and his group al-Qaeda, Eda asked her what her affiliation was given her Serbian background, but the woman only told Eda to try and find out, greeting her goodbye. The next day, Rashida drove Eda out of the small city, speaking about how Tobias reprimanded the latter.
Suspicious of Rashida, Eda ordered her to stop the car and then put her pistol to Rashida's head, rhetorically asking her if she was linked to the Serbian Christian woman. Even though Rashida denied the association, Eda elaborated that she knew her group of Serbian women was trying to use the CIA to rid of extremists in her country, baffled as to why a Bosnian like her would team up with a Serbian due to the latter country's hostility toward Bosnia. Speaking seriously, Rashida admitted to being half-Serbian, clarifying that she had a home in Yugoslavia until the country's collapse and subsequent re-stigma of having two nationalities. When she said that the peace after the war allowed her to live again, Rashida posited that the extremists wanted to change that and thus she did not want foreigners to determine the country's destiny. Eda sarcastically thanked her for using the CIA for her own benefit, but she sheathed her pistol instead of shooting Rashida, declaring that she was tired and that Tobias still could use Rashida's help.[24]
A Savage Place[]
When Eda returned to the United States after she caused a mess during her previous mission in the Balkans, Ravencroft was ordered to decide if she should continue being an agent. In his office, as he sat in his desk chair, he listened to Eda's partner, Amber Whinberry, claim that Eda's chaotic behavior was because he put her under Tobias's command. Replying that it was too late to point fingers, Ravencroft remarked that he only acquired his own job with Chesterton's influence. Smiling, Amber rhetorically asked if they did anything wrong, reminding him that they had been successful in all of their previous missions. He reminded her in turn that she and Eda left scorched paths behind them, joking that it was mainly why he found it hard to make a decision. Sighing, he declared that he would give them a short time to allow himself to think about his final decision. Hearing that she would be assigned as Eda's caretaker, Amber joked that she liked the idea, asking if she would receive a bonus. He jokingly commented that she was getting greedy, but she clarified that she needed money to pay for child support in order to see her child. Ravencroft recalled that the CIA would become just another government agency if they did not make a move soon, reminding himself that the Soviet Union no longer existed.[25]
The Spy Who Came in from Cold[]
When an FSB agent, Yevdokiya Skachkova, defected to the United States, the CIA agreed to give her asylum in exchange for her intelligence information. Accordingly, Bill and other agents escorted her from Europe to Johnston Regional Airport in North Carolina, where Eda and several agents waited for the Russian woman's arrival. Among the agents, Eda wondered why a Russian would need to defect given that the Cold War was over. Skeptical of the woman's motives, Eda emphasized that she could have come to the U.S. at anytime if she truly had access to important info. Speaking behind her back, her two male colleagues wondered who exactly Eda was, to which one of them claimed that she was Ravencroft's favorite agent.
Soon, Yevdokiya arrived, so she informed the other agents about the defector's name, birthdate, and how she was the daughter of Vasili Skachkov, himself a Soviet Embassy security guard who defected to the U.S. in 1985 and changed his name to Maynard Sears upon settling down in Baltimore. Another agent requested that Eda take over the identification process, so she brought Yevdokiya to a private room in the airport. Eda nonchalantly told her that she needed to undress as part of verifying her identity, particularly her physical description. Once taking off her jacket and turtleneck dress down to her undergarments, Yevdokiya wondered if the CIA checked on her father, but the American woman clarified that she was only called in to aid in transporting her. Eda then ordered her to raise her hands, and she examined Yevdokiya's body.
When she checked out the back of Yevdokiya's pelvis, she became surprised, so she asked for her hand. Eda put down Yevdokiya's arm, causing the latter to ask what was wrong. Brushing it off, Eda sternly denied any abnormality. Putting her clothes back on, Yevdokiya asked for her name, but Eda in turn rhetorically asked who knew. Being politely prodded, she stated her name, making the Russian woman smile and respond that she would remember it. Preparing to leave the airport, Yevdokiya waited in a car as Eda confirmed to Bill that she had verified the defector's identity, asking him to sign a paper. Handing it to him, Eda admitted that she had a question, wondering if the defector was truly a desk worker for the FSB. When Bill answered that she did paperwork at their headquarters, the suspicious Eda noted that the calluses on Yevdokiya's fingers, as well as her muscles' shape, indicated that she was a trained human being and not merely a documenter. He rhetorically asked if he should care, causing Eda to warn him to think it through. Sighing, Bill agreed to keep it in mind, heading to the car.
In the backseat of the vehicle with two agents, Yevdokiya asked where they were going. The skinny agent answered that she was going to a facility for asylum seekers, elaborating that she would be subject to a full-scale interrogation. Disappointed at the thought, she reminded them that she had already been subject to several "interrogations." Bill clarified that the real work would begin soon, smirking and pointing at her head to state that he would ask her for all of the information inside of her mind. Advising her not to worry, he rubbed his hand on her thigh and assured her that she would be treated better depending on her attitude. Annoyed by his colleague's behavior, the skinny man warned him to stop it, reminding him that she was a defector.
Calmly retorting that he should not be so harsh, Bill claimed that he was only trying to persuade her to cooperate. Scolding him, the skinny agent yelled that he was sick, but the unconcerned Yevdokiya feigned attraction and crossed her legs, asking if he knew anything about her father. Ignoring his colleague's warnings, Bill told her about her father's presence in Baltimore and his real name Maynard Sears. Kissing his cheek, Yevdokiya thanked him and promised to see him again. Infuriated at their behavior, the skinny man told them not to get carried away, but to his surprise, she elbowed him in the face and subsequently subdued both men and the driver, leaving the three men in an alleyway.
After Yevdokiya escaped custody and headed to Maynard Sears's house, Eda and another agent found Maynard, or Vasili Skachkov, as he was heading home, asking to speak with him privately. Off the road, she mentioned Yevdokiya's name and mentioned that she escaped in transit, shocking him. Puzzled, he wondered why she would defect, and Eda relayed to him that she had been looking for him since the beginning. She elaborated that the car was found only a further bit away, indicating that she stole another car and lastly noting that Yevdokiya was not willing to kill the men whom she subdued. The astounded Maynard truly wondered if Yevdokiya's purpose was to find him. Remembering the story, Eda asked him if his daughter was approximately 10 when he defected, smirkingly concluding that she probably wanted to see him to get revenge for being left behind. She proclaimed that she would need his help either way, at first calling him Maynard Sears but remembering his real name.[26]
Arriving at Maynard's house, they found out from his second wife that their daughter Lottie was abducted by a couple of men. As Vasili pleaded with his wife to calm down, Eda coldly replied that the CIA was no longer in a position to help him. When her fellow agent tried to explain that the circumstances had changed, Eda told him that she knew what to say. Announcing her leave, she requested Vasili to call her when his daughter was returned. Later, sitting in her car with the male agent, Eda reminded her colleague that their primary objective was to detain Yevdokiya, not get involved in Maynard's family troubles. Seeing the papers that she had organized, the man asked her if it was the additional FSB information. Confirming, she added that it came through the embassy since they wanted Yevdokiya brought back, assessing that the Russians likely did not want to make a bigger mess. Recapping the files, Eda stated that Maynard's first wife was the daughter of a KGB deputy chairman. Noting that Maynard came from a civilian background, she guessed that his association with the nomenklatura must have been a bone of contention and possibly made him defect. As a result of his exile fiasco, his wife's father was removed from office. Accordingly, the wife and daughter Yevdokiya began to hold a grudge against Vasili, especially the mother.
Her colleague assessed that her revenge guess was right, but he was still baffled as to why Yevdokiya used the CIA because she could have smuggled herself into the country to achieve her goal. Eda posited that time was her primary factor because the Russian woman needed to move fast, even if the CIA knew about and chased her. Hearing her coworker joke that the "rumor" was not as bad as he thought, she asked what he meant. He professed that he heard she was working with "Drunken Amber," but Eda nonchalantly confirmed it as fact and claimed that she had been sober as of late. Smiling, he admitted he was surprised to hear that about Amber, causing Eda to ask if her drunkenness was truly famous. Chuckling, he replied that one could not count the number of mistakes on both hands that Amber had made. He also recalled to Eda that Amber's worst incident took place when their hard-earned puppet government in Central America was on the verge of being overthrown, and he also remembered the incident that led to Amber being placed on administrative leave. Annoyed by his hearsay, Eda insulted him as a gossiper who needed to keep his credibility by not spreading rumors about coworkers. Soured, the colleague kept silent and heard her sternly ask him about any rumors concerning herself.[27]
Around the coming night, Eda accompanied Maynard Sears to his business to retrieve the ransom money, with the former tagging along since her objective was to capture Yevdokiya. He opened his safe containing a lot of money, surprising Eda. Hearing her speak about the large quantity he owned, he sternly asked if she was trying to get some. Denying the idea, the field agent remarked that she was never short for money even for work, making Maynard mutter that the CIA was truly a den of the establishment. Eda asked how he could leave such a large amount of money in his office, jokingly asking if he expected his current situation to happen. When she implied that he kept the money at his office instead of home because he planned on leaving his family, Maynard denied it. Disagreeing that he would never want to, Eda reasoned that someone who abandoned their family once could do it again and again. Eda also asked if he even brought close to $100,000 despite his bag of cash. Maynard claimed that Ives and the other two captors knew the amount they asked for would be insufficient. Denying that he was buying time, he clarified that how they proceed would determine the outcome because he still had a reasonable amount of money to make it look convincing enough that Ives would bring Lottie.
Silent in thought, Eda finally realized that Yevdokiya had visited the Sears residence earlier. Additionally, her partner called her and confirmed her suspicion by informing her about what Lottie's mother told him. She relayed this fact to Maynard, making him wonder if "Duša" used the men to get to Lottie. Eda claimed that it was probably a coincidence given that she knew the CIA has been watching her. Guessing that Yevdokiya would use Lottie to meet with him, Eda rhetorically assumed that Maynard would still cooperate with them, explaining that they would use the ransom deal to lure Yevdokiya out. Slightly hesitant, Maynard smiled and said he would not do it totally for free and wanted something in return.[28]
Accordingly, Eda agreed to give Yevdokiya the Barbie doll which he promised to buy for her as a child but never gave her.[29] Soon, at night, she sat in the passenger seat of Maynard's car as he drove for them to Patterson Park. Receiving a call from her CIA partner, Eda listened to him say that he was on his way. She specified that she would give him further instructions when they get to Patterson Park, also mentioning that Maynard asked for a favor. Agreeing to the plan, he relayed a brief report from the Russian embassy to her. Finishing the call, Eda explained to Maynard that her headquarters received a report from the Russian embassy but she would brief him later.[28]
Once they arrived at Patterson Park, Maynard requested that Eda act as a sniper for him. Disgruntled, she responded that using the CIA as a hit squad was not only out of line but brazenly ignorant. Maynard clarified that he was fine if she only acted as a distraction to intimidate the gangsters. Rhetorically asking if she wanted to lure "Duša" out, he claimed that it was probably easier for her to come out if a big fuss was made. The confused Eda asked if he thought she would expose herself, causing him to state that he already pondered on that question. Smiling, he assured her not to worry about Yevdokiya being a no-show because she was his ex-wife's daughter. Speaking about his old family history, Maynard elaborated that his ex-wife's pride in her nomenklatura family was shattered when he defected. Admitting it was easy to imagine how Yevdokiya was raised to hate him after he left, he joked that he was surprised his wife was not the one who came to hunt him down.
Subsequently, Maynard walked into the park and at midnight, he came face-to-face with Ives, his men and Lottie. Hiding in some bushes and keeping her pistol's sights on the men, Eda wondered how precise she could be with her pistol at her concurrent distance, believing that she could get closer if there were more hiding places in the park. She additionally told herself that she would have an easier time shooting them if time had not hindered her from getting better weapons. Despite thinking she lacked the confidence to avoid hitting Lottie, Eda decided that it might be ideal to aim when the delivery occurred but complained that she lacked a firearm scope. When one of Ives's men examined Maynard's duffel bag of money, he began walking back toward Ives when Eda shot the henchman in the knee, immobilizing him. This allowed Maynard the opportunity to struggle against the men, and though he immobilized the other henchman, Ives shot him in the left shoulder. Seconds later, Yevdokiya finally showed up and shot at Ives, knocking him to the ground.[30]
At that point, Eda continued observing the situation as Yevdokiya confronted her father and relayed her mother's revenge wish to him. Surviving the gunshot because he wore a bulletproof vest, Ives restrained the Russian woman and demanded the duffel bag be given to him. As he took the duffel bag and ran away, Eda shot him in the head as he turned around, instantly killing him. Grabbing the duffel bag, the CIA agent stated that their mourning period was over and ordered the three to stay down, asserting that Yevdokiya was coming with her. The Russian woman retorted that her business was not finished, prompting the frustrated Eda to warn her and insult her as a nuisance. Without hesitation, Yevdokiya kicked at the left side of her ribcage, but the CIA agent blocked her leg with her arm. The Russian woman recalled that her name was "Eva," causing Eda to angrily correct her own name and insult Yevdokiya's memory and FSB training.
She swung the duffel bag at Yevdokiya, who took the blow and quickly pushed Eda's arm out of the way and grabbed it. The FSB defector slammed her palm into Eda's chest and then elbowed her in the face. Angered and injured, Eda fired a few shots, and the casings flew into Yevdokiya's eyes, so the former grabbed her collar and flipped her onto her back. As Yevdokiya laid on the ground, Eda pointed her pistol at her and ordered her to give up and stop giving her more trouble, joking that she was slammed onto concrete, not a gym mat. To the Russian woman's surprise, her father tossed a pistol to her and told her to shoot Eda so that she could run away and gain her freedom. For a few seconds, the two women shot at each other until Eda managed to shoot and graze the defector's left elbow, disarming her, but not Yevdokiya grazed her in the left shoulder.
Glaring at Maynard, Eda chastised him for interfering instead of going to a hospital to treat his wound. Grasping her own arm, Yevdokiya quietly called out for her "dad," prompting the CIA agent to clarify that she had something to tell her. Elaborating that the information she received earlier that day was from the FSB, Eda informed her that her mother Tatiana passed away three days ago, saddening Yevdokiya. Calmed down, Yevdokiya asked Maynard why he did not take her with him when he left the Soviet Union. Maynard answered that he did not have the courage to bring her with him because she knew nothing about the foreign land. Interrupting them, Eda bluntly opined that Maynard was a selfish man who merely thought of himself and no one else, which Lottie ardently disagreed with.
Some day later, Eda and her partner went to Dulles International Airport, Virginia to make sure that Yevdokiya went home. Waiting for the Russian woman's flight to arrive, Eda said that her father asked her to give something to her, handing the Russian woman a wrapped present. Opening it and seeing a Barbie doll, Yevdokiya was shocked and briefly imagined a different timeline where she actually received the doll from her father as a child. Getting up, she walked to a trash container and threw the doll away. Stating that was an unnecessary thing to do, Eda claimed she took the effort to bring it to her and asked if she still wanted the gift a decade later. Responding that the item would probably be confiscated anyway before she boarded the plane, Yevdokiya reasoned that it was better that she threw it away herself. Smiling, she additionally affirmed that she was not a kid anymore. Smoking a cigarette, the tired Eda retorted that she still looked like a child with her happy expression. At that point, the Russian agents had arrived to pick Yevdokiya up, and Eda claimed that it would be a thorny road for her. Smiling again, Yevdokiya bid farewell to her, departing from the United States and returning to the Russian Federation.[29]
Little King of The South[]
Sometime later in Peru in South America, President Duarte became uncooperative with the U.S. government as well as becoming more unpopular among the country's populace. Enrique Gasol, who had arrived in the country and previously did informant work for the CIA in Central America, learned from left-wing guerrillas about the country's parliamentary opposition being connected to the CIA. Accordingly, he decided that he would be a point of contact between the guerrillas and the opposition while the CIA would help him in exchange for helping topple the uncooperative government.[31] The American ambassador Alcock requested the CIA's assistance for providing internal support to the opposition. At the American embassy in Peru, Eda and her new partner Jaden listened to the elderly ambassador inform them of the situation and how Duarte needed to be replaced with someone easier to handle. Although acknowledging that the parliamentary opposition movement was strong, he pointed out that their claims and objectives were scattered, summarizing the situation as one without a strong leader to unify the various anti-government factions. Standing up, Eda smugly told Alcock that he had a very passive policy for someone who had been urging them to increase their staff. Before leaving the building, she asserted that she would get the job done.
Afterward, Eda left the embassy and had Jaden drive for her since he was a rookie agent. She hesitantly listened to him assess that as long as the CIA continued to provide financial support to the opposition, they would not have to pull off any "tricks" and the regime would be overthrown. As he continued speaking about the debt-ridden president and how the opposition had been gaining momentum from public support, Jaden wondered if their superiors truly did not trust him enough to fill other positions, asking Eda what she thought. Thinking to herself, she believed that it was Jaden's fault as to why the ambassador was very irritated. Knowing that they were both rookies, Eda guessed that Jaden was sent to her because her higher-ups thought it would be a good opportunity to train new recruits. Addressing their partnership, he asked her why he could not be sent on his own if she wanted him to gain experience. Sighing, Eda responded that he was quite confident despite his shyness, to which Jaden politely joked that she had a big attitude for a rookie.
In a short time, the two agents arrived at a Popular Action (AP) office, where they waited inside. Coming to them, Farias Cordero, a parliamentary representative, grinned and greeted Jaden. He wondered if Eda was a secretary, prompting her to introduce herself as a case officer. Shaking her hand and joking that he did not meet many beautiful women from the CIA, Cordero introduced himself as the head of the Peruvian opposition coalition, exclaiming that he would be honored to work with them. Jaden confirmed that he was going to brief Eda on their discussion for future plans of cooperation, pleasing Cordero. The representative said that he would be frank on his goal: the assassination of the president. Speechless at what he said, Eda and Jaden asked if he was joking. Realizing that Cordero was serious, the latter emphasized that the CIA was forbidden by executive order from conspiring to plan assassinations.
Undeterred, Cordero told him that the behind-the-scenes loophole would be providing military support and having the Peruvian military stage a coup d'état. Concerned about his idea, Jaden opined that there was no way such a violent method would go unnoticed. Confused, Cordero rhetorically questioned what the CIA's purpose even was in his country. He assured Jaden that the assassination would be carried out by left-wing guerrillas, pleading with him to give financial and weapons support to the opposition. Worried at the revelation, the CIA agent asked what had happened since last time, to which Cordero bluntly elaborated that the change in policy was due to their country reaching bankruptcy if they played it easy any longer. Reasoning that they had to take some risks to prevent it, he asserted that the coalition had made up their minds. Eda stated that she understood his intentions but wondered how they were in contact with the guerrillas. Snapping his fingers, Cordero ordered Enrique Gasol to come in, introducing him as the bridge between the coalition and the guerrillas.
Leaving the office and returning to the American embassy, Eda, Jaden and the ambassador discussed Enrique's reliability, with the female agent recalling that he was used by Ruggles, who was killed in the line of duty in Central America. Jaden asked if Enrique was even involved in that since he looked like a child. Eda advised them not to take him lightly since he was more than meets the eye. Brushing off the warning, the ambassador stressed that he was the connection to the guerrillas. In complete disbelief, Jaden warned them that the president was not stupid, opining that he could not imagine the left-wing guerrillas successfully pulling off the assassination. In response, the ambassador retorted that it did not mean they were to do nothing. Finally, he commanded the two agents to negotiate and cooperate with the guerrillas, all the while doing it discreetly and confidently. To Jaden's surprise, Eda agreed to see what she could do.
The frustrated Jaden began to drive and rhetorically asked Eda if they were really heading to the guerrilla stronghold, deriding the mission as absurd. She claimed that the ambassador was an old-fashioned cowboy who would get restless if he did not take the initiative on the situation. Worried again, Jaden suggested that they pretend to listen to him, reasoning that they did not need to prove themselves by crossing a dangerous bridge. Intrigued, Eda confessed that she was curious and wanted to know what else was going on in the South American country. Angered, Jaden muttered that he already wrote a bunch of reports about it. Smoking a cigarette, Eda claimed that she respected his report but asserted that because she was in charge, she needed to be in direct contact with the environment.
About a minute later, Eda spotted Enrique, making Jaden stop the car. Walking up to their car, the boy greeted her and professed that he never thought he would see her again in South America of all places. Reciprocating the acknowledgment of his survival, Eda told him to get in. Relaxing in the backseat, Enrique assumed that she would have lots of questions for him but clarified that he would brief her on everything once they arrived at their destination. She denied that she had anything to say, making him curious. Noting that the opposition had changed course, Eda asked him if he prodded them into the plan. Noticing Enrique's bafflement, she explained that Cordero seemed like a show-off who would not directly step into the fire himself. Feeling lost, Jaden asked where he needs to go, and Enrique excitedly informed him that they would continue following the road straight the entire way for another twenty kilometers.[5]
Soon, Eda noticed someone spying on them behind them when the three arrived at the town which Enrique claimed was a lifeline for the guerrillas whose stronghold was elsewhere. Bringing Eda and Jaden into a bar, the boy greeted the bartender and rhetorically asked if they should sit in the back. Seeing Enrique interact amicably with the patrons, Eda rhetorically commented that he seemed popular among the townspeople. Enrique agreed and showed them to their table, telling them to have a drink and wait there because he had to contact his headquarters. As he left, he assured them that the drinks were his treat. Jaden admitted that he could not believe the child bought him a drink, whereas Eda joked that she would accept the drinks without a second thought. He complained that he could not drink too much, causing Eda to say he was moody. Soon, after only one drink, the drunk Jaden ranted about how the CIA needed a drastic change in policy, particularly a focus on economic intelligence.
At that point, Enrique returned and shared Eda's surprise at seeing Jaden drunk. Relieved, she grumpily stated that he certainly kept them waiting. Confirming that they reached an agreement, the boy specified that he would take the agents to his headquarters the next day. Eda asked why they could not go that night, reasoning that she did not see any motels in the small town. Enrique answered that they could stay at his place but requested that they help him carry some luggage there. Going to an apartment, Eda walked with them while Jaden and Enrique rolled a cart with a rocking chair strapped to it. Before they entered, Enrique spoke with Luciana as she left the house to go to the guerrilla stronghold. Eda deduced that she was a guerrilla, which Enrique confirmed. In the living room, a young girl, Mayte, welcomed him back. As Enrique gave her a gift and told her about the rocking chair that her grandmother Casilda wanted, the girl noticed Eda waiting. Mayte apologized for not attending to her and asked if she wanted something to eat. Eda politely declined since she already ate but asked that Jaden be given a place to sleep due to his exhaustion. After Mayte helped him out, Enrique sat down to eat and agreed to tell Eda the entire story of what happened since their last encounter.
Enrique attributed his life being saved to Casilda and Mayte's care for him, making Eda assess that he had set up shop and helped the guerrillas in the countryside due to his obligation to pay his debt to the two women. Specifying that was not entirely the reason, he mentioned that everyone in Peru had a grudge against the concurrent government. In particular, Mayte and Luciana's older brother, as well as Luciana's boyfriend, were killed by the military. Nonetheless, Eda joked that dying was to be expected if one was a guerrilla, causing Enrique to say that he could not exactly tell that to their faces. Speaking about his own situation, he claimed the guerrillas were his best customers, also stating that it came up during their business dealings that the parliamentary opposition had ties to the CIA. Smoking a cigarette, Eda asked him if he thought the CIA knew what they were doing, to which he reasoned that he sought out their help since they were the most powerful agency that he could contact.
Eda smirked, prompting Enrique to sternly ask what was wrong. Denying she had any thoughts, she replied that it only sounded like a fantasy a kid would have. Speaking directly, Eda admitted that she did not dislike Enrique and, on the contrary, appreciated his help. But because she appreciated him, she claimed that she had some advice for him. Eda opined that the government and the criminal underworld might seem the same at first glance, agreeing with Enrique's sentiment that money is power was true at face value. Concerning power, she emphasized that the power within both worlds was entirely different, especially their respective qualities. Reasoning that power was one thing for protection, Eda retorted that a country was not always his friend in times of trouble, especially not the United States that did not tolerate indiscretions. Grinning, she warned Enrique that if he thought he could use the U.S. that easily, then it would cost him a lot of money. Smirking back at her, he replied that he was content with that, making her smile in amusement.
The next morning, Enrique headed out with Eda and Jaden to bring them to the guerrilla stronghold, but not before accepting a lunchbox from Mayte. When he entered the car, Eda teased him for hiding his feelings for Mayte, angering him. Suddenly, Jaden's face turned pale, gaining Eda's attention. She asked if she should drive so that he could recover from his hangover, but he stopped the car to vomit, irking Eda. Immediately, the three of them heard and saw two military helicopters fly toward the guerrilla stronghold, which the military began to destroy with missiles and gunfire. To Enrique's anger, Eda turned the car around since she believed that they had to flee and negotiate with the guerrillas later. As they returned to Casilda's town, Enrique noticed that the military showed up in the town at the same time.[31]
Worried about the attack, he pleaded with Eda to let him go to the village. Holding him back, she angrily reminded him that they would be in the middle of the attack if they went forward. Unconcerned, the boy demanded that she let him go because he had people in town, the same place where he would "build [his] kingdom." Annoyed with his stubbornness, Eda let him go. Although Jaden called for Enrique to come back, Eda advised him to drop it since it was no longer their business. He tried to dissuade her, but she reasoned that they were not friends with Enrique merely because they ate together, reminding him that his primary allegiance was to the "Stars and Stripes." Jaden asked what they should do, and Eda proposed that they not make any moves until the fighting subsided in order to discover what was happening.
Some minutes later, Eda continued watching the town from a distance and informed Jaden that the fight would likely not stop for a while. He asked what they would do given that they would need to go through the town to get back to the city. Jaden added that they could talk to the soldiers since the two of them were basically diplomats. Rejecting the idea, she responded that it was not a good idea to talk to a soldier focused on battle, saying that it would be too late to regret the idea when the soldiers pull the trigger. Revealing that she had firearms in the car's glove compartment, Eda emphasized that Jaden would need to protect himself when things got tough. Seeing his reluctant face, she asked if he really could not shoot a gun, to which he confessed that he was somewhat trained but did not receive good grades. Jaden clarified that he did not like bloody work, but Eda retorted that preference did not matter in their situation. Hearing a loud noise, the two agents immediately pointed their guns toward the nearby forest.
Yelling that it was only himself, Enrique pleaded with them not to shoot. Nonetheless, Eda commanded him to put his hands up, so Luciana agreed while Mayte helped her grandmother. Enrique pleaded with them to hurry since the soldiers were close by. Behind the surrenderers, Eda spotted two soldiers and quickly took them both down with her pistol. Several more soldiers showed up as reinforcements, creating a firefight that ended in Eda's group winning uninjured. Mayte pleaded with them to get Casilda to a hospital, so Enrique asked Eda and Jaden to help him out. Pointing her rifle at Eda, Luciana threatened to kill her if she refused. Explaining that it was an exchange, she claimed to know a detour up the mountain road, demanding that Eda get them out of town without going through the village. Subsequently, Eda begrudgingly agreed.
As Jaden drove, Enrique had to stay in the trunk and complained about it, to which Eda yelled back that their vehicle was already over seating capacity. Whispering to her, Jaden wondered how Casilda would fare, but Eda silently told him that she probably would not survive. Traveling further, Jaden assured them that they were finally on a paved road, but Casilda soon died from her wounds. The group stopped on the side of the road to quickly bury the elderly woman. To her protest, Mayte shouted that they could not just bury their grandmother in the ground, with Luciana also opining that she wanted to give Casilda a proper burial. Rhetorically asking if she had a particular place in mind, Eda reasoned that it was better to bury her at that time than to just leave her corpse on the ground. Climbing out of the car trunk, the boy assured them that he could handle the matter, specifying that there was a safehouse in the area where they could bring Casilda's body and then find a mortician whom he knew afterward. Accordingly, he asked Eda to help him move Casilda into the car trunk.
As they resumed traveling, Enrique asked Luciana about the state of the fort. Recalling what happened, she told him that it ended badly and the fort was burnt to the ground. Angered, Luciana cursed General Tovar for carrying out his sudden heavy attacks. Unfamiliar with the name, Eda asked who he was. Luciana elaborated that he was a hawkish military general who advocated for crushing the guerrillas at every turn. Enrique additionally stated that Tovar was quiet for a while ever since Duarte took office but he heard rumors that he was approaching the president in recent times. Having a new plan, Jaden drove the car to the city so that he and Eda could report the crackdown to the American embassy as soon as possible in order for a proper response to be formed. To Enrique's chagrin, Eda announced that the plan to leverage with the guerrillas would be put on hold. When they arrived in the city, the five noticed the traffic up ahead and were surprised to see a roadblock, where several soldiers ordered them to stop the car.[32]
Jaden showed the men his diplomatic papers, so they informed him that the country was under martial law and all foreign diplomats needed to return to their embassies supposedly for their own safety. However, Eda and Luciana prepared their firearms and quickly shot a few soldiers, causing Jaden to slam on the gas pedal to flee the checkpoint. The women took out a pursuing machine-gunner, so they were able to get to Enrique's safehouse. There, Jaden called the U.S. embassy and learned from Alcock that President Duarte was carrying out a self-coup. To aid him, Alcock advised Jaden to meet up with one of his American contacts for further instructions. After the call, however, Luciana and Enrique forced Eda to drive them to a funeral home to arrange for Casilda's burial while Jaden left to meet with the contact. When the five people reconvened, Jaden relayed to everyone that their plan was to evade the military and flee into the mountains and into a bordering country to the east.[33]
Once everyone gathered their supplies, they departed from the hideout and Luciana drove for them in her van, but she sped past a military vehicle, arousing their suspicion. As a result, Eda had to shoot at the two soldiers, incapacitating them and causing them to crash into a tank truck which exploded. Melgar and his intelligence officers heard about the incident and deduced that it was likely the CIA and the guerrillas' point of contact, so they pursued them. Enrique mentioned that they needed to get as much distance as possible while they had daylight, making the others agree. As the CIA agents were driving up the mountain road, Celino and his partner attacked their van and tipped it over. During the accompanying firefight, the group agreed that they could steal the enemy's vehicle to continue their journey, but Eda shot one of the men as he was deploying a grenade, causing the car to explode.[34]
Since they could no longer use cars to continue onward, Eda and Jaden helped the others gather the remaining supplies and began their journey up the mountain. On the way, Jaden was the only one who did not feel tired because he enjoyed hiking and the outdoors. Throughout the remainder of the day, Eda became more fond of Luciana, with whom she had argued with earlier. At night, when the group set up camp and ate stew, José, Lobbe and Víbora attacked everyone, with Eda and Jaden having to take cover while Víbora beat up Luciana and Enrique. To everyone's shock, Víbora broke both of Luciana's arms and stabbed her in the chest with her own weapon, fatally wounding her. At that point, Eda killed José as Jaden continued to provide suppressive fire.[35] On the other hand, the distraught Mayte grabbed a stray pistol and shot Víbora several times as he was beating up Enrique. Because more intelligence officers would arrive, Eda advised that Mayte leave Luciana behind, which she did.
The next day, after they had arrived at a town near Peru's eastern border, Jaden stayed in a forest with Mayte and Enrique while Eda went to the adjacent town, disgusing her appearance and head using clothing from a clothesline. Entering a store, Eda bought a few items and requested to use the payphone.[36] Calling the CIA, Eda frantically called for backup and reasoned that they could use Enrique's testimony about the military's massacres of civilians as leverage against President Duarte's government. Unknown to her, Ravencroft approved of the request and sent a helicopter to pick her group up.[37] Before she could leave the store, Melgar and several intelligence officers surrounded the building and ordered her to surrender. As she assessed the number of enemies, Jaden came to her rescue and drove a stolen truck toward the place as Enrique shot at the officers. Acting fast, Eda jumped into the cargo bed. Up ahead, however, the surviving Víbora stood on the road and pushed against the car hood as Jaden attempted to ram him.[36]
The large hunter then wrestled with Enrique and Eda in the backseat, with the latter having difficulty countering Víbora. When he punched her in the abdomen, she managed to punch him a couple of times and ducked, allowing Enrique and Mayte to jointly shoot the hunter out of the van. Once they got further away from the pursuing officers, Jaden's group took a brief break and then utilized a side road to throw off the enemy. When they were close to the eastern border, the CIA agents were forced to stop their truck since the military blocked off the border. Mayte initially refused to surrender because she did not want her family members' murders to be in vain, but Eda sternly warned her to follow along since they would not be killed yet.[38] To their surprise, several missiles fired from a helicopter hit the military trucks, killing all of the soldiers. Coming to their aid, Amber urged the four of them to climb aboard. Before Mayte could be helped up, Víbora appeared and attempted to drag her down.
While the helicopter continued ascending and resuming its flight, Eda shot at him, which forced him to cease his grip on the child. Víbora swiftly moved and punched Amber, who quickly deployed a flashbang to blind him. Immediately, everyone else fired at him and greatly injured him. Nonetheless, Víbora still ran and charged at Mayte, allowing Eda to shoot him in the head, causing him to fall into the canopy below. As the helicopter traveled, Enrique and Jaden were surprised at the real reason the CIA came to their rescue. At the same time, the U.S. threatened to depose President Duarte if he did not end his self-coup, so he did. Afterward, the president met up with the U.S. ambassador and Eda, who forced him to accept the deal of ending the repression of civilians in exchange for remaining in power. In the end, the ambassador was pleased with the CIA's help.[37]
Groovy Guy Russell[]
To be added.[39]
References[]
- ↑ Black Lagoon 2: Ballad of the Sinful Wizard (Edith Blackwater)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Chapter 53: El Baile de la muerte Part 10
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chapter 56: El Baile de la muerte Part 13
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Episode 26: An Office Man's Tactics
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Eda Initial Stage Chapter 21: Little King of The South Part 1
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Episode 12: Guerrillas in the Jungle
- ↑ Chapter 16: Goat, Jihad, Rock'N Roll Part 1
- ↑ Episode 18: Mr. Benny's Good Fortune
- ↑ Chapter 44: El Baile de la muerte Part 1
- ↑ Episode 25: Collateral Massacre
- ↑ Chapter 64: El Baile de la muerte Part 21
- ↑ Episode 28: Oversaturation Kill Box
- ↑ Episode 29: Codename Paradise, Status MIA
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 01: Devastating New Face Part 1
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 02: Devastating New Face Part 2
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 03: MIAMI VICE Part 1
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 04: MIAMI VICE Part 2
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 05: MIAMI VICE Part 3
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 06: Wandering Old Case Officer Part 1
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 07: Wandering Old Case Officer Part 2
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Eda Initial Stage Chapter 10: Balkan crisis Part 3
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 08: Balkan crisis Part 1
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 09: Balkan crisis Part 2
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 11: Balkan crisis Part 4
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 12: A Savage Place Part 1
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 16: The Spy Who Came in from Cold Part 1
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 17: The Spy Who Came in from Cold Part 2
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 Eda Initial Stage Chapter 18: The Spy Who Came in from Cold Part 3
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 Eda Initial Stage Chapter 20: The Spy Who Came in from Cold Part 5
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 19: The Spy Who Came in from Cold Part 4
- ↑ 31.0 31.1 Eda Initial Stage Chapter 22: Little King of The South Part 2
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 23: Little King of The South Part 3
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 24: Little King of The South Part 4
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 25: Little King of The South Part 5
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 26: Little King of The South Part 6
- ↑ 36.0 36.1 Eda Initial Stage Chapter 27: Little King of The South Part 7
- ↑ 37.0 37.1 Eda Initial Stage Chapter 29: Little King of The South Part 9
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 28: Little King of The South Part 8
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 30: Groovy Guy Russell Part 1