Juliana was at peace on the warm sand, watching the turquoise sea splash on the shore. The cool shade of the palm tree sheltered her from the bright sunlight. She placed her hand on the neck of the brown pony that kept her company on her beautiful native island of Vieques.
Suddenly, the loud ringing of the phone awoke her. She was only dreaming; she was back in her New York apartment.
It had been several weeks since she returned from Alaska. Her last assignment had taken a toll on her self-confidence, as a woman and as a Federal Bureau of Investigation consultant. She thought of returning to the relative safety of her job at the Environmental Protection Agency's Criminal Investigating Division (EPA CID), where, before she had taken on the FBI assignment, she'd spent days researching documents, doing lab tests and preparing for her cases.
It was obvious that on her last assignment the FBI had overestimated her capabilities as an agent, and she'd made things worse by going out on her own without backup. She broke several FBI procedures that nearly got her killed and endangered her partner Sean. But, after her return from Alaska, Deputy Assistant Director Anna Gutierrez gave her another opportunity to remain in the FBI Environmental Crimes Unit (ECU) on the condition that she attend training classes.
The last two weeks of FBI training further eroded her confidence. It was obvious to her that she did not excel at self-defense. Gone were her arrogance, high spirits and dreams of a career in environmental law enforcement. She now regretted not taking her mother's advice and going to law school. She seemed better suited to paperwork.
The engineering and environmental science graduate degrees served her well at the EPA. Her scientific and analytical skills were well-known and she moved up the ranks quickly. But she thought it was the opportunity of a lifetime when Assistant Director Gutierrez had asked her to join the FBI Environmental Crime Division as a consultant. She would remain on EPA's payroll and try things out at the FBI. The ECU division needed people with her skills to fight the new breed of environmental criminals.
The ringing got louder and Juliana reached for the lamp on her nightstand, knocking over the glass of wine she'd sipped a few hours before, to help her sleep. "Hello" she said groggily.
"I'm sorry to wake you up so rudely but I have an urgent assignment for you, Agent Del Rio. You're going to need your FBI training. You need to fly to Wilburn, Virginia, ASAP to investigate a new case."
"Good morning Mrs. Gutierrez. Ahh it's 5:30 in the morning, ... What's the case?"
