Laura Messier is an agent with the CIA.
When we first meet her, we learn that while she is working out of the Paris office of the Agency, she has proven to be "a constant irritant" to the Station Chief there. "The CIA had embedded her inside the French Foreign Ministry in Paris where she worked directly for the Minister himself." On the plus side, "She was brilliant in that role and her information was some of the best material that came out of Western Europe" while on the other side of the ledger, "she was a bit rebellious at times which gave her boss .. something of a challenge. Laura Messier didn't play by the rules [a fact that] often put her in conflict with her boss".
Messier is a former runway model with exceptional charm and grace. Hailing from "a lower middle class background in Des Plaines, Illinois", she is "stunningly beautiful and had one of the best minds at the agency". Her skill at speed reading and retaining tremendous amounts of data was exceptional, her abilities with languages top-notch, and her interesting knack at being able to read upside down all made her a danger to the other side in any meeting.
Dealing in a largely male-dominated world of espionage, Messier has learned long ago that most men saw her captivating beauty and not the keen intelligence behind her lovely eyes. She also knows that just because they do not recognize it, that does not stop her from making the best use of it that she can. They also frequenly fail to realize that her rebellious nature was not coming from pique at not getting her way but from the fact that she often saw a much faster or better way of achieving the goals given her.
One of the more interesting aspects of Messier's time with the Agency is that despite her having accomplished a good deal in her few years with the CIA, enough that the KGB knew of her and dubbed her the 'She-Wolf" for the trouble she had caused them, the top floor at Langley, i.e., Director William Casey, chafed at her presence in the Company and insisted she be fired. It is her supervisor who, knowing how good she was, fought to keep her in. Conversely, she will bristle at the attitudes she faces and eventually will decide enough was enough. Even after she makes the move to get out, the need for her will pull her back in.