Chapter 22

Later that afternoon . . .

"Well, this wasn't how I predicted I'd be spending my afternoon," Twitch moaned as he looked down at his ankles strapped to the front legs of a chair and his wrists bound behind his back.

"Would you rather be lying on a beach somewhere?" Carlos laughed behind him, their chairs placed back to back in the middle of a concrete room.

Twitch shrugged a shoulder as he tilted his head back and looked up towards the low ceiling, "Something along those lines would be nice."

"Hey!" One of the men shouted, leaving his group of men and walking around Carlos to Twitch. Wearing light coloured clothing and weighing no more than a hundred pounds, Twitch thought his threat felt a little wanting, "Be quiet."

"Sorry," Twitch replied, if hands weren't tied he would have held them up beside him in a gesture of helplessness, "My mother always told me that I could chat for England and I guess she wasn't wrong, in fact she-"

"-Shut up!" He shouted again as he backhanded Twitch across the face when he heard Carlos chuckling behind him and pointed a finger at him menacingly, "And you!"

Carlos pressed his lips shut but he couldn't keep the corners of his lips tilting upwards.

As his head was knocked to the side, resting partly on Carlos's shoulder, Twitch looked up and saw Carlos smirking down at him. Groaning, Twitch straightened up and stared back at the boy whose lips now held a small smirk to them as well, "Now, be quiet." With a roll of his eyes, the boy walked back to the other side of the room where three other men stood watching them. Twitch glared at them from his restraints.

"How'd that feel for you?" Carlos asked, a glint of humour in his eyes.

"Shut up," Twitch grumbled, "They've looked away now, so hurry up and get my ropes undone will you?"

"Well stop moving," Carlos sighed as he reattempted to unfasten the ropes around Twitch's wrists with his own bound fingers. Keeping his eyes on the group of men as he fiddled with the knots he could find, Carlos took in all the details he could. Four men, two of which wore traditional clothes whilst the other two wore tactical clothing, were huddled together in low conversation, their eyes flickering across to Carlos and Twitch a few times.

They were probably wondering where they had come, and if there was anybody else with them. But in the short time they had been there they hadn't asked any questions yet. They thumped and kicked them a few times as they tied them up in the chairs but nothing else.

Carlos found himself wondering what they were waiting for, but he couldn't wait to find out.

"Are you two free yet?" Jules's voice came over the earpiece.

"Give me a minute," Carlos muttered under his breath, "We've been a little busy."

"Yeah yeah," Jules replied.

Lord preserve us, Carlos thought looking to the ceiling when he felt the rope around Twitch's wrists loosen before slipping off entirely. Catching the rope quickly before it fell to the floor and alerted the others, Twitch started to work on Carlos's bindings instead.

"Ow," Carlos winced as Twitch caught his skin with a nail, "Watch it."

"Sorry," Twitch replied, frantically pulling at the rope.

"You got it yet?" Carlos strained to look over his shoulder and down between them.

"Give me a minute," Twitch complained, pausing in his attempts, "You had a good few before you got mine off."

"Yeah yeah," Carlos repeated Jules's words when he looked back ahead and saw that one of the men in his tactical clothing had started to become suspicious, his thick eyebrows furrowing in the middle.

"Hey," The man pointed at Carlos who quickly yanked his hands out of Twitch's grasp to warn him, whilst the man approached them, "Hey, what was that?"

"What was what?" Carlos shrugged, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"That," The man gestured to the space between the backs of the chairs where their hands rested, "I saw something."

Looking at the other men Carlos saw that they were watching them closely before his eyes darted to the side of him where his and Twitch's rifles were resting up against the wall. They were too far out of reach to use them.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Carlos leaned forward when the man removed the rifle that hung on his arm and aimed it at Carlos's head.

"Stop moving!" He shouted at Carlos, a layer of sweat bedding his brow.

"Okay," Carlos spoke in a soft tone as he curled his fingers around the back of his chair, his hands still bound, "Everything's fine, okay?"

Breathing heavy, the man's frantic eyes flickered between Carlos and the back of his chair. Trying to get a glimpse of his hands the man stepped forward until he was directly between Carlos and the three men huddled together behind him.

"Everything's okay," Carlos repeated again, his eyes watching the man as he drew closer, "See?"

When the man lowered his weapon slightly, Carlos took the opportunity to raise his leg and boot him forcefully in the chest. The first kick shocked him, causing him to teeter for a moment before Carlos's second kick sent him flying back into the group of men huddled behind him, knocking them all to the ground.

Darting up from his chair, Twitch dived for the side of the room where their rifles were being kept. Crashing into the wall, his legs spread out beneath him, Twitch snatched up his weapon and checked it was working before he began to take aim when a burst of gunfire tore through the wall beside him. Hunching over for a moment until the gunfire ceased, he realised that he was not shot and returned fire.

Their captors were fumbling to untangle themselves from each other but one man already had and that was who fired the shots at Twitch, so Twitch shot him dead first with a burst round to his chest. His blood sprayed out where the bullets struck him, his chest shaking from each of the impacts before he collapsed to the ground, his rifle clattering out beside him.

Getting to his feet, Twitch shot another two men in quick succession of each other.

"Twitch!"

Hearing Carlos shout his name, Twitch looked over to see Carlos on the floor on his side, still strapped to the chair, and jutting his chin toward something.

"Shoot him!" Carlos shouted and Twitch turned to see that the young man who had backhanded him across the face had just reached the other man's rifle and had begun to aim it at Carlos's head. Twitch squeezed the trigger and sent a single round into the side of his head.

Carlos visibly relaxed against the chair, closing his eyes in relief, "Thanks. Now, get me out of this chair."

Smiling, Twitch stepped over the dead men's bodies and headed for the doorway, pretending not to have heard him.

"Twitch?" Carlos narrowed his eyes, watching him walk away from him, "Twitch,"

Opening the doorway a little, Twitch checked the hallway outside to make sure it was clear.

"Twitch," Carlos called in boredom.

Satisfied that nobody had heard the gunshots, though not knowing why, he turned back to Carlos with a shrug, "Just checking it was clear."

"And are we?" Carlos asked.

"Yep," Twitch nodded, resting his rifle against his shoulder as he grinned down at Carlos on the ground, tilting his head a little so he could see him the right way up.

"Then do you think you could get me out of here," Carlos said but Twitch did not appear to move fast enough for his liking, "Before I decide to shoot you in the leg when I get my rifle back."

"Alright, Mr Grumpy," Twitch said as he walked over and began to hoisted his chair up off the ground as he made noises as if he was pushing a stone boulder up a mountain, "God, you're getting heavy."

"Shut up," Carlos snapped as Twitch cut his ropes off, "Give me back my rifle."

Getting to his feet, Carlos snatched his rifle out of Twitch's grasp and stormed towards the door, "Now, let's find those kids."

*

As the jeep rattled along the road, Samantha focused on typing in the correct credentials into the satellite link with London whilst she was bounced about on the back seat, her head hitting the roof multiple times.

"If you could try to not hit every ditch going that would be great!" Samantha called over the roar of the engine to the operative driving. The man, with his close shaved head, made no sign that he had acknowledged her as he turned the steering and the left side of the jeep ran over a large pothole, sending Sam's side of the vehicle dipping drastically before propelling her back up.

Sam glared at the driver when she heard the general chuckling softly from the front passenger seat.

"Thanks," Sam snapped, narrowing her eyes at the general's back before she looked back down at the tablet in her hands. As she re-attempted to enter her log in details, the jeep managed to stay level long enough for her to type the correct information in and she watched as a link to MI5 London instantly appeared.

"I'm in," Sam informed the others as she gained access to the video streaming of the drone which was currently circling the compound where they had tracked the terrorists to.

The operatives sat beside her leaned over to see the footage as the drone made a wide sweep of the compound which looked to be a single storey building made up of corridors attached to small clusters of buildings.

"Is this live?" The only female operative asked, her wide jaw jutting out slightly.

"Yes," Sam looked at her from the corner of her eye as she switched the footage to heat signature and a large red blob appeared on the screen amidst a sea of black and white, "It seems everyone has been put in the building in the centre here." She pointed to the large red blob on the screen.

As the information was passed around and they began to devise a tactical plan Sam watched the screen as the drone circled high above the buildings once more and the footage showed a wider area, and that was when she spotted something.

"Wait," Sam leaned forward and rested the tablet between the two front seats for everyone to see, "There are heat signatures coming from the perimeter. They've got people on lookouts."

"Okay," General Ridgeway nodded, "We do not want to alert the terrorists inside to our presence so we're going to have to do this quietly. We have to eliminate those on sentry duty simultaneously before we infiltrate the building so they cannot warn each other."

The operatives nodded between them and Sam watched the woman sat beside her as she reached into a side pocket and removed a silencer which she fixed to the barrel of her handgun. The others did the same and Sam watched them with unease.

*

"Have you found anything yet?" Jules asked through the mouthpiece as she dislodged a large rock from underneath her. She could remember a time when lying face down on rocky terrain with a rifle beside her was fun, but not so much anymore.

"That's a negative," Carlos's voice replied with a slight hint of annoyance, his heavy breathing wafting into her ear, "Like when you asked me a second ago."

Jules muttered something under her breath but said nothing as she tried to settle herself in but found yet another rock, this time digging into her leg. Bloody rocks, she grumbled as she reached underneath her and moved that one over too, she heard it clatter as it rolled away before coming to a halt.

Letting out a sigh, she finally rested back on the ground as she raised a pair of binoculars to her eyes and gazed down at the compound. Set at the base of a few small rocky hills until it looked like it stood in a crater of rock was a single storey building which spread out over an impressive area. Made up of separate buildings all attached by corridors and guarded well, they knew that the only chance to get inside was to be caught. Jules had instantly volunteered but Marc had rightly said that they may not take the threat seriously if there was a woman, and they needed them to take it seriously so that they would gather all the children together into a single location. She hated it but they were right so Carlos and Twitch went in and got deliberately caught. It was a risk, after all who was to say that they wouldn't just shoot them dead, but obviously their gamble had won out.

"There's a room up ahead," Twitch spoke over the comms, breaking Jules out of her thoughts, "We're gonna check it out."

Nodding, Jules glanced down at the ground for a second when she spotted a dark patch on the rocks beside her. Narrowing her eyes at it, Jules didn't realise what it was until she heard the sound of a boot accidentally dislodging a few rocks less than a few feet behind her. The dark patch was a shadow, and as she looked at it now Jules could see the outline of a gun form above her head.

Gasping, Jules rolled to the side just as a bullet exploded into the rock where her head had been, and right back on top of the rock she had just removed from underneath her. Ignoring the jabbing pain in her shoulder from the edge of the rock, Julia looked up to see the terrorist but was shocked to find that she did not know who this man was.

He appeared to be American with dark shades over his eyes and wearing all-black tactical gear. His handgun, with a silencer attached, shifted place from where she had just been lying to where she was now. Reacting out of instinct, Julia grabbed her rifle from behind her head and threw it up into the man's face. Raising an arm to protect his face from the object which was suddenly flying at him, Julia used his momentary distraction to get to her feet and kick the silencer from his hand.

Watching the silencer fall to the ground a few metres away, she did not see the man's arm swinging towards her neck and yet something inside her told her to raise her arm to block it. She did so, surprised when she felt the force of his blow knock into her arm, when she spotted his other arm begin to perform the same motion. Raising her other arm also, Jules blocked another attack, moving his arms away from body and leaving his front open to a kick.

Following through with her actions, Jules felt something inside her click and give way to a fluid of movements she did not know she possessed, and yet she trusted them. Not thinking too much about what she was doing, Julia allowed these instincts to drive her as she spun around until her back to the man's chest. With his arm already pulled over her shoulder, Jules knelt towards the ground as she yanked his body over the top of her head. Collapsing on his back in front of her, Jules began to stand as she stared at him for a moment in shock at what she had just done.

"Jules?" Carlos's voice suddenly blared in her ear, shocking her, "Jules, I think we found something. Jules-"

"Whoa," Jules exclaimed as the man got to his feet and she narrowly avoided a swift kick to her abdomen with a leap backwards. His arms shot out at her like viper strikes, commanding her complete concentration as she blocked each and every one, until their arms ended up entangled. His shades had become dislodged in their fight to reveal strained, green eyes watching her with frustration.

Holding onto her arms, keeping her there, the man followed her own example and kicked her in the abdomen. Gasping at the painful contact, Jules glared at the man, who the hell was he!? And why did he want to kill her!?

Annoyed, Jules wrenched her arm free from his hold and curled it around the back of his neck. Yanking his head forward until he was bent over at the waist, Julia kicked her leg up behind her until she booted him the face. Throwing her arm off of him, he stood, removing the handgun from her thigh strap at the same time. Facing her, he pressed the gun against her chest and cocked the hammer back.

Looking down, Jules saw that it was her own weapon when she gave him a smirk and pressed the tip of a blade against his crotch. She saw his throat work as his eyes darted to his forearm where his dagger was missing. She had taken it.

"Who are you?" He asked, searching her face for answers.

Julia arched an eyebrow at him in absurdity at the question, "You were about to kill me."

"Alright, that's enough," A deep voice sighed, command dripping from his every syllable, and the man instantly uncocked her gun and stepped back.

Julia turned to see who had spoken and she felt only more confused because she had not seen this man for years, until she spotted Marc beside them and then her confusion turned to anger, "What is going on?"

"Hello Miss Reynolds," General Ridgeway spoke.

"It's Sergeant," Jules snapped at him, "Is this your man?" She motioned with the knife to the man beside her.

"It is," Ridgeway nodded.

"He just shot at me," Jules strode towards Ridgeway when an arm shot out and stopped her. Julia bashed the arm away and glared up at the woman it belonged to, her eyes locked onto Jules with warning.

"And me," Marc complained, stepping up beside Julia and pushing the woman back. Jules stared up at him, "Well, another man shot me, but they still shot at me."

"And you have my apologies, they were following orders. We did not know that you were here-" Ridgeway explained.

"That's because they're not meant to be," A righteous voice piped up behind Ridgeway and Jules saw his eyes roll into the back of his head before he stepped to the side and allowed a woman step forward. She was not like the other woman, she was smaller with her mousy blonde hair tied back and the look of a desk pusher about her.

"And who are you?"

"Samantha MacAndrew, MI5," She told them, "You and your renegade team were told to go back to London."

"Yeah well," Marc crossed his arms over his chest, "We must have missed that bit."

Samantha narrowed her eyes at Marc but said nothing else whilst Jules turned around her and looked at General Ridgeway. He appeared much older than the few years it had been since she had seen him last. His grey hair was thinning out atop his head and more wrinkles had appeared on his face but his eyes were still as iron and steadfast. As she watched him, Jules wondered if memories would begin popping up all over the place about her time with him in the Special Task Force, but there was nothing. The only thing she remembered about this man is that he stood across from her in Strong's tent and offered her a job.

Of course now she knew that wasn't true, Marc had told her everything that he knew about her time in his task force. He did not know much, saying that she was bound by an official secrets act so she couldn't tell him a lot, but apparently she had said that two friends had been hurt and so she left.

"I must say Sergeant," Ridgeway turned back to look at her like a wayward father finding his daughter, "It was fun to see back in action after all this time."

Jules coughed, uncertain of what to do, whilst Marc took a protective step forward. Julia looked up at him when she spotted General Ridgeway's new female operative glaring down at her and Jules realised that she was her replacement. She had left, so General Ridgeway had created a new group of operatives.

"What do you want?" Marc snapped at the General.

"We've been sent in to retrieve the children," Ridgeway said, turning to look him in the eye, "So whatever it is that you're doing here, you can stop."

"It's too late for that," Jules said as she began to hear Carlos's voice in her ear once more when gunfire erupted in the building below them and inside her ear.

Ridgeway spun to look down at the building before turning back to them, "What have you done!?"

"Jules!?" Carlos screamed in her ear, "Blow it! Blow it now!"

"What?" Jules spoke into the microphone, "No! You're still inside and-"

"BLOW IT!" Carlos screamed before his voice was drowned out by gunfire. Choosing to trust him, Jules removed a mobile phone from her pocket.

"What is that?" Samantha stepped forward.

Raising the mobile phone she had taken from the last site into the air, she and Marc moved back a few steps, "I suggest you all cover your ears."

Wrapping his arms around her, Jules turned her face into his chest as she pressed the dial button on the phone. A second later an explosion rang out not far from the building, shaking the earth beneath their feet a little.

Lifting her head slowly, Jules called out to Carlos and Twitch through the comm set but the only noise she could hear was static.

~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note: I apologise for the delay in posting this. I've experienced a bit of writer's block recently so this hasn't been grammar checked just yet cause I wanted to publish it for you all to read. I reckon you've waited long enough for it. 
Thank you for being patient.