Cynthia quietly enters the office and waits while Jenny finishes her phone call. When given a nod to continue she hands over Jenny’s coffee and smiles, “The teleconference with Senator Dashal’s office has been pushed back to two o’clock. I moved your three-thirty appointment back to four and rescheduled the deputy director for later in the week.” She shuffles the files in her arm and hands one across the desk, “Sec Nav wants a briefing on the arrest made aboard the USS Kennedy last week. The details seem straight forward but the agent afloat can brief you directly as necessary. And Agent Reston’s weekly check-in is in five minutes.”
Jenny considers all this momentarily before nodding slightly, “Cancel my lunch with Mr. Paulson as well. And send Agent Reston in when he arrives.”
Cynthia nods, “If that’s all Ma’am…”
“Thank you Cynthia.”
Less then three minutes later Agent Reston enters the office, the charming, if bland, smile that brought him to Jenny’s attention in full force.
“You’re looking well today Danny.”
“I’m feeling well Ma’am. I believe we’re finally making some real headway.”
Jenny’s expression becomes more intent, a non-verbal ‘do continue.’
“Her father’s coming to visit. She’s asked me to meet him.”
She smiles genuinely at him, “That is good news. When are you meeting him?”
“The plan is for us to take him out to dinner on Saturday. At seven o’clock, unfortunately she plans to have him pick the restaurant so I have no influence over that.”
“That’s quiet all right Danny. Just remember he needs to like you. To trust you. To never doubt you’re exactly who you say you are.”
“I won’t let you down Ma’am.”
Jenny grins internally, a little ambition goes a long way. It’s far from the first time she’s been glad she re-thought using DiNozzo for this. There was never any chance he’d be this easy to control and despite his talent for short term undercover work he would have baulked at playing with the girl’s emotions the way Reston has.
“I’m sure that you won’t Danny. You’ve done well.”
It’s almost three hours before she finds time for her usual gossip check in with Cynthia but it’s a vital part of keeping her pet project safe and she makes the time. Obviously gathering intelligence on the private lives of her subordinates through the office grape vine makes it much easier to brush off if someone notices her interest in Reston’s new girlfriend. And the bonus of having a ready supply of information already in place when Jethro began seeing someone isn’t to be over looked. The thought of which reminds her to ask if the address she saw Jethro stopping at last night is familiar to Cynthia.
“I’m not sure,” Cynthia rarely says no, a little digging can make most answers a yes after all. “I’ll see what I can find.”
When Cynthia retreats she looks once more at the surveillance photo of Rene Benoit kissing his daughter's cheek and resists the urge for a stiff drink.
Chapter End Notes:
Just a quick little aside with Jenny. If I'm being too vague about what is happening here please comment and if there's a majority I'll address it more explicitly at a later date.