Dmitry Orlov checked his watch. The commercial airliner he was on was making it's final approach to Reykjavik, Iceland's capital. This was the final leg of his trip. He crisscrossed Europe using three different passports with different names. Perhaps it was over kill to change planes and airlines so much. But habits die hard.

He reviewed his notes mentally. He was to meet Ms. Kensington at Frostbloom Café near the airport. She was an American of all places. He didn't like American women. They were always so bossy and pushy. Why couldn't she be French? He always found French women more to his tastes, more submissive. Never mind that. He had to focus on their mission.

They had to find the Swiss scientist, Dr. Alaric Weissmann. If they were late, millions of people would die. Not finding him in time could trigger world war 3. Dmitry didn't understand the science. Just that Weissmann had cracked the code to creating some super virus. It was Kensington's job to know the science of the virus. They were to work together to find Weismann and determine if he has created any of the virus. Dmitry's superiors let him know he could work with the American woman, but at the end of the mission, he was to bring the code and any created virus back to Russia. The Americans couldn't be trusted to have them.

He retrieved his small checked bag from luggage claim. Then off to the cafe. He didn't see the American woman. He had her picture, he could only assume that she had his too. He sat down and ordered some soup to wait for the American.

The dark circles under her eyes were a sure tell that she had gotten practically no sleep during the long flight, despite her being the only passenger. The small plane stopped on the tarmac just shy of the hangar. Sophia pushed the table tray aside and grabbed the duffel bag not too far from her feet, gracing the pilot with a quick wave as she made her way to the exit. He in turn offered a mock salute with a smile. Funny guy that one.

Someone else from the flight crew had already opened the exit door, and Sophia went down the steps, the sudden chill practically cutting through her. As previously discussed in the briefing, she made note of the black vehicle waiting a couple of hundred feet from the plane. The small sheet of paper with the address to the cafe was in her back pocket, and she’d hand it to the driver so he could drop her off at the location. Sophia could only hope this Dmitry guy was already there as she certainly wasn’t in the mood to sit around and wait.

The 10-minute drive was non-eventful. She was looking out the window at the scenery, noticing certain features in the different buildings they passed. Sophia recognized some of them from before. She’d never been to Iceland, but she took it upon herself to take a virtual tour beforehand. One could never be too prepared, after all.

A few moments later the vehicle stopped in front of the small, cozy cafe. It was slightly busy inside, but that was expected as it wasn’t lunchtime yet. Sophia grabbed her bag and stepped outside the vehicle without saying a word. She closed the door behind her and just as quickly, the driver made his way back into traffic. Sophia then walked inside, taking a look at all the male customers sitting alone. She spotted him on a small table by the large glass window and made her approach.

“Hope you had a good flight,” she smiled, as friendly as if she were meeting a long-time friend. Needless to say, the two were the furthest thing from friends.

Ah, there is my American Princess thought Dmitry. He could always spot the Americans in a crowd. He wasn't too proud, most Europeans could do it. However, Kensington blended in better than most Americans.

He stood up and smiled. He shook her hand and kissed her cheek. It was agreed that they would play as friends for their cover. Perhaps the American supervisors hoped if they pretended to be friends, they would feel like friends. Using an English accent, Dmitry said, "Sophia! It's so good to see you. Yes, I had a relaxing flight. Please have a seat. You must be hungry." He could fake an English accent fairly easily. However, he still has a lousy American accent.

After he sat back down, he spoke with a smile, "We have so much to talk about and catch up on. I'm sure we can find your uncle soon. But let's eat, and get settled before we start caching up." It was Dmitry's job to locate Weissmann. He didn't think it would take too long.

“Don’t mind if it do,” she pulled out the chair directly across from him, placing her duffle bag on the empty one next to her. Sophia grabbed the small, one-sided menu that all tables had instead of standing across the counter to look at the choices up on the wall. Honestly, she wasn’t all that hungry. She was used to not eating for extremely long periods of time, not that she was a fan of that.

Some toast and a bowl of fruit, that’s what she’d decided on. “I’ll see you in a minute...” And with that, she got up to place her order. Even with both of them sitting down, Sophia could tell he had at least half a foot on her. She was agile, and had been trained plenty of times in self-defense, but this one particular job had her slightly doubting her own abilities, especially after reading his file, if all that was even true. The Russians couldn’t ever be trusted to play nice, but she had this one all planned out, now it was only a matter of executing said plans

A few minutes later she was back at the table with him with what could be could be confused for a child’s snack. “Hope you had a good flight, mine was long. Didn’t get much rest.” Sophia bit into the toast, appreciating its warmth.

Dmitry smirked when he saw her small breakfast. "I thought you would have a large breakfast with eggs, pancakes and bacon. Not such a little bowl." He had to admit to himself that the bowl of fruit was more colorful than his breakfast of earlier today.

"My flight was long, but I could sleep well." he lied. Since the changed planes (and names) so many times across Europe, he felt like he spent his whole time boarding and exiting planes. From his younger days in the Russian Army, he learned to sleep almost anywhere and to take many cat naps when he could. But still, the plane flights today were too short.

He pointed vaguely to her breakfast, "When you finish your ..er.. snack, we can go get settled. we can talk and catch up then, yes?"

A quick nod before she spent the next 5 minutes or so eating her food silently. Sophia found it slightly irritating the way he was acting overly friendly. She by no means knew the man, but the personality he was fronting was definitely not his.

Once she was done, she put whatever trash on top of her plate and started getting ready to leave. It wasn’t until they were outside and away from people within ear’s reach that she spoke again, this time her tone not as friendly; there was no need to play pretend anymore. “I’m sure you’ve been briefed but as a reminder, you’ll be on the same floor as me in the house. What you do is your own business, and it goes without saying that you should handle whatever you need to handle away from the location. No loud music, no disturbances, and don’t leave the site without letting me know. It ain’t a prison, but you know, OPSEC and all. Any questions?” She looked in his direction, adjusting her bag.

Dmirty smirked a little as Sophia spoke. He got out his pack of nasty Russian cigarettes as he listened. He lit one up and blew smoke up into the air. The American Eagle stretches her wings, good, I like a woman with some fire.. He dropped his phony English accent as he spoke. "Da, I understand op-er-a-tion-al security." He stretched out the word. "Before we go to the house, I need to go by the bus depot for a minute. It's only a block that way." He nodded down the street. "I need to pick up a package there."

“You smoke,” Sophia arched an eyebrow, eyeballing him. Great...that shit’s gonna linger. Her expression turned even more solemn at the thought. “Thought you’d be the type to keep yourself in top shape, unless they’re cutting you slack...” Sophia was being facetious with that last bit, her expression softening as a small smile formed.

They both crossed the street, and for a moment she contemplated staying behind and wait for him, but decided against it. “Lead the way, we’ll get to the house after and make a game plan, then eventually we’ll settle in."

Sophia remembered how she had practically begged to get a partner she knew; someone she had worked with before. But such decision was beyond the control of her superiors.

"Da, I smoke." He looked at the cigarette before taking another drag. "I started when I was younger. Most soldiers and many field agents smoke. It gives us something to do as we wait and wait for something to happen." He shrugged and flicked the butt away as they approached the bus depot.

He switched on his English accent as they entered the bus depot. "I must pick up a bag here. I will be done in a jiffy." He led Sophia to a bank on lockers on the wall. He went to the center console of the lockers and entered in a code from memory. One of the lockers popped open.
He grinned as he pulled out a small pouch from the locker. Almost like a fannypack. "There we go. Now, I will feel less naked and more like myself." He buckled the pouch around his chest. "Yes, it's an crude old fashion way to deliver packages, but it still works well. Shall we go to our house now?"

"Yes, let's go," she responded, wondering which type of firearm was in the pouch.

Sometime later, the two found themselves in front of the safehouse. Sophia unlocked the door and waited for Dmitry to walk inside, eyeing her surroundings before locking the door again. The house itself was medium-sized, sitting on a few acres with a small gravel path lined to the small dirt road. The nearest neighbor was roughly five minutes away on foot.

"Make yourself at home. The pantry and refrigerator have been stocked up with all the essentials. Your room is upstairs to the left, at the end of the hall. Mine will be on the opposite side." Sophia sidestepped so he could see the alarm panel by the door. "I'll turn this on every night; a copy of the code is in your nightstand just in case you forget." She put her bag down, walking past him to the kitchen.

"I'll do some research for the remainder of the day and maybe you can work on our approach so we can do some recon. Unless you've been told something different..."

Sophia reached for a glass in one of the cabinets and poured herself some water. She said she'd do some research, and maybe if she found herself with nothing to do afterward she'd go ahead and take a nap as well.

Dmirty watched punch in the alarm code, deactivating the alarm for the day. He nodded, "Da, I have the code now. I'm impressed; the house is much larger and nicer than I am used to."

He just ate some soup at the cafe, so he wasn't hungry, but he could use a drink. He opened and closed all of the cupboards looking for something. He couldn't find what he was looking for. Then he opened the freezer door. "You people are freaking barbarians." He pulled out a bottle of vodka from the freezer. The vodka didn’t freeze due to its high alcohol content. He poured himself less than half a glass and quickly drank it. I closed his eyes a second and enjoyed the drink. He tells Sophia, "Vodka should never be stored in the freezer." He then put the bottle in a cupboard.

"I might need to do some field work. My contacts narrowed down where the target might be. But I need to check some things before we are ready to act. I do need to look at some photos that have been sent to me. Maybe they will shed some light on where the target is."

He got out a laptop from his bag. He sat down at the table with Sophia and booted up his computer. "Will you want to come with me this evening as I check out some things? Do you wish to stay here when I go?" He wouldn't mind teaching her a thing or two.

She chuckled at his reaction; as if they were long-time friends. The stereotype was true; Russians loved their vodka. And this one in particular fit that stereotype to a tee, with his smoking and whatnot. Sophia was impressed with how easily Dmitry downed the amount he had poured, and that told her he had been drinking for a long time, probably since his early teens. The fact that he didn't think twice about having a drink would certainly work to her advantage later on.

"Yes, I'll go with you; it's an advantage we'll have on top of the element of surprise."

Sophia had been leaning against the counter, though as soon as she finished the glass of water, she placed it in the sink. "I'll be in there," she motioned towards the front room, that which she had chosen for a multitude of reasons. She would be more comfortable, and she'd be able to see outside. The intel she was briefed on was vague; for all they knew the target was extremely connected and heavily prepared, and it was up to the two of them to figure that out prior to the takedown. Unlike the majority of her previous missions, there wasn't going to be any back-up if things took a turn for the worse. It was just them two; and in the end, just her. Eventually, whatever they managed to extract would go back to the states with her; there was no way in hell the Russians were getting their hands on it.

A few moments later and she was on the couch, laptop positioned over her crossed legs as she began to type.

Dmirty sat at the kitchen table and opened his laptop. He pulled up the folder of satellite photos that has been sent to him. He zoomed into the pictures. He looked for and counted the number of parked cars near the suspected locations of their target. He searched the photos for other details and made mental of notes of everything. After a couple of hours he rubbed his eyes.

He wondered into the living room to see Sophia still working on the couch. "Well, I'm pleased to see you haven't changed into your pajamas. I've seen you Americans everywhere in pajamas. It's good to see you still working professionally."

He sat down on a easy chair, but did not sit back or relax. "I have it narrowed down to two places where our target is. I have been able to cross off a few places from the list of possible locations. They were all wrong or showed no traffic there. Just two places to check." He looked at the window. "It's still much too early to leave. Later tonight we will conduct our re-con-nais-sance. Are you still wanting to go with me?"

"You're lovely complimenting me all the time," she responded dryly to his comment without bothering to look up from her screen. She then continued to passively ignore him as she typed away on the keyboard but did listen for the updates. This time, Sophia looked up at him.

"Yes, I'm still going with you. That is my job. That, and make sure you don't fuck up," she shrugged before turning her eyes to the screen once more. Her lack of sleep combined with his shit attitude was working her last nerve, but Sophia would never give him the satisfaction of seeing her worked up. She finished up what she was doing at the time and closed shut the laptop, figuring it was as good as time as any to stop. "I'm going to take a nap for an hour or two. Wake me if you need to and don't do anything stupid."

And with that, she tucked the laptop under her arm and headed upstairs.