Nolan could remember his team being sent to Poland almost fourteen years ago. It was his first overseas mission and they'd been assigned to take out two targets that were holding American soldiers hostage at a campsite in the mountains. Marines had been sent prior to them, but had said the terrain was too "unpredictable" and aborted the mission. Sometimes Nolan felt like that was what the SEAL department was for; doing the things that other branches of the military couldn't do.

He recalled sitting on the ledge of the mountain, his uniform and vest barely enough to keep him warm in the -10 degree weather.

The organization of the mission was astounding. Everyone knew exactly what to do and how to do it. The mission ended flawlessly.

Now he was barging into a similar situation with nothing but a G19 and a kid who carried more attitude than skill. Not to mention Nolan wasn't exactly sharp himself.

They listened carefully before moving out into the hallway.

Muffled words could be heard through the thick walls. Nolan couldn't quite tell, but he thought it might be Russian.

Just as he went to tell Toby to move in, the door swung open and two men walked out.

Without thinking, Nolan stepped forward, pressed the muzzle of his gun to the first man's head, and fired.

He allowed the body to slump forward onto him and used it as cover. He swung his arm around and shot the second man in the chest five times.

"Stay behind me!" He shouted to Toby.

Only one man was left. Normally, that would be good news. Unfortunately, he was the one with the M400 rifle. Also unfortunately, he was on the other side of the room with the hostages in the middle. Nolan didn't waste time taking a head count of the people tied to the front of the table, but instead on the terrorist before him.

Nolan could see his eyes, a deep brown filled with hatred. The man immediately raised his gun to his shoulder and let loose three shots.

They weren't intended for Nolan.

The bullets struck one of the three hostages, sending a spray of blood, and adding another body to the ranks.

The other two captives gave a cry of fear.

The terrorist lifted his gun yet again, but this time Nolan knew what he was shooting at.

He ducked behind the body he was using before dropping it to the floor, taking aim, and shooting the terrorist in the left shoulder.

He barely even seemed effected.

Nolan retreated back outside the door. He leaned around the corner, fired a few shots, but missed.

Toby dove forward towards the table, keeping his rifle close to his chest. He peeked up over the metal and rested his gun on its ledge. He managed to get a bullet to the terrorist's abdomen and in that split second, Nolan came back around the corner, relinquishing a clean head shot.

The room fell silent for a beat of a moment as the fallen man crashed to the floor.

Nolan walked back in, shifting his attention to the hostages. One was a younger woman, the other a middle-aged man who had blood seeping from his nose and looked to be nearly unconscious.

The woman eyed Nolan up and down suspiciously, but the gag in her mouth made it impossible to talk. Blood was splattered on her clothes, but it wasn't her own.

Nolan knelt down next to her while Toby began untying the other man.

He carefully undid the cloth that was covering her mouth and let it fall.

"Who are you?" She asked desperately.

"Nolan Clay; we're here with the CIA."

He began untying her hands and noticed that there were deep cuts in her creamy brown skin. How long had she been tied there?

She rubbed her lacerated wrists and inched over to the other man, whom Toby was trying to help sit up.

She placed a gentle hand on his balding forehead, biting her lip. Nolan saw tears begin to fill her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away. "He has internal bleeding. They beat him up pretty bad." She said, standing up on shaky legs. "We need to get out of here; they said more were coming in the morning."

Toby and Nolan immediately leaped into action. Nolan grabbed the M400 from the floor next to the dead terrorists and helped Toby lift the suffering man.

The woman began going through the cupboards, opening and closing them in rapid succession.

"We don't have all day." Nolan said impatiently.

The woman tossed him a glare with her piercing brown eyes and continued her search. Finally, she pulled out a plastic bag of white powder.

"Are those...drugs?" Toby asked incredulously.

The woman shoved it at Nolan. "Heroin. Give Jonathan about a teaspoon; make sure he swallows it; it'll act as a painkiller and put him right out. I need to go to the next room."

She turned to leave.

"Hey!" Nolan quickly let Toby have the weight of the man and followed the woman out the door.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?' He asked, catching her arm.

She jerked away and took in a halting breath. "Look, I don't know who you are and I'm just praying you're really here to help. I'll be honest, I can feel myself about to go into shock, but there are laptops in the room next door with classified information on them, so if you'll please stop bothering me before I have a mental breakdown, that'd be great."

Nolan hesitated. "How do I know if I should let you get a hold of that information?"

She huffed and put a hand to her temple. "I've been held hostage for seven days and have watched my team get their brains blown out one by one; all for this..." her voice trailed off as she shook her head absentmindedly and exited the room.

Nolan let her go.

He turned back to Toby, who was struggling to feed the man, Jonathan, the white powder and hold him up at the same time.

"Let's go." Nolan said, shoving his shoulder under Jonathan's armpit and making his way out into the hall.

They rested him against a wall and poured some of the powder into his mouth.

"Why would there be heroin in here?" Nolan muttered. He got up and jogged to the other room. The woman was inside with five laptops open on the floor. Her hands maneuvered quickly over the keys and she moved a flash drive around in between each one, collecting more information each time.

"Almost done." She said, pulling out the drive one last time and putting it in her pocket. She gathered up the laptops in her arms and then swiftly tossed them out the open window.

That's one way to do it...

"Okay," She said, breathing in slowly.

"Are—are you okay?" Nolan asked, taking a step towards her. Her complexion had paled dramatically and she looked like she was about to fall over.

She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Shock." She murmured. "Get me downstairs."

Baffled, Nolan helped her out into the hall. Her skin felt cold and clammy and he noticed he was supporting more and more of her weight and they went.

"Toby, we've gotta get them out of here." He called. "There's no telling when we're going to get more company."

Toby struggled, but managed to get Jonathan upright.

They began making their way down the stairs slowly and carefully and were soon back outside in the fresh air.

"I'll call an ambulance." Toby said.

"Good idea." Nolan glanced next to him and saw that the woman was staring off vacantly. "Hey." He said, giving her a small shake. She was unresponsive. He leaned her against the wall and Toby did the same with Jonathan.

He waved his hand in front of her face. "Can you hear me?"

She nodded slowly.

"What's your name?"

She blinked several times. "Grace Evans." She replied, resting her head against the old brick and closing her eyes. "I just need a minute and I'll be fine."

Nolan turned on his earpiece. "Maddie? Are you still there?"

There was silence for half a minute before James spoke. "She's trying to contact Howard, he's not answering his phone. Are you boys okay?"

"We're fine. We rescued two hostages, but one's in pretty bad shape and the other went into shock. Toby just called an ambulance."

"Do you know who they are?"

"No. They've been captive for seven days, but that's all we know. She said there was classified information on the terrorist's laptops and was able to download it all on a hard drive."

"Who's 'she'?"

Nolan sighed. "I don't know. She said her name was Grace Evans and the man's name is Jonathan."

"Let me look into it. Wait for the ambulance and be careful; as soon as we get a hold of Howard, I'll let you know."

"What's he doing that's so important? Does he know what's going on?"

"Maddie gave him a rundown, but he's in a meeting. Anyway, I'll find out who these people are and get back to you."

The earpiece shut off.

Great.

"Clay, he's looking pretty bad." Toby said, kneeling next to Jonathan. Nolan looked down and saw that Jonathan's face was swollen and a deep gash oozed on his temple. I'm not a doctor, but he has a lot more problems than internal bleeding...

"We need to keep them both warm." Nolan took off his jacket and laid it over the older man and Toby gave his to Grace.

She took it gratefully and pushed her arms through the sleeves. "Thanks." She said.

She'd gained some color to her cheeks and her eyes were clearer.

"Where are you from?" Toby asked.

"Virginia." She replied quietly. "I work for the CIA."

Toby raised his eyebrows. "Wait, really?"

She nodded. "We were on a spec ops mission in Turkey and..."

"And what?" Toby prodded, but Grace wasn't paying attention.

"Jonathan?" She murmured, sitting up.

Nolan looked over and saw that the older man had grown very still. Grace lifted two fingers to his neck, then dropped them.

"He's...he's gone." She whispered.

Something in her face broke. The thread of calm she'd been holding onto for who knows how long snapped. She pressed a hand against her mouth as tears filled her eyes and her body began to shake.

The sound of sirens rounded the corner and a yellow ambulance came into view.

Nolan watched as paramedics hopped out of the truck, unloading oxygen equipment and two yellow gernies.

Two of the medics rushed to Jonathan while one went to Grace.

Nolan used his cell phone and tried to call Howard, to no avail. Why wasn't he answering?

Toby came up next to Nolan. "Should we stick around to be questioned by the police?"

"No, I think Howard would be the best one to explain four dead hostages and three assassinated terrorists. It's the least he can do."

The paramedics were already spreading a white sheet over Jonathan's body and Grace was breathing into an oxygen mask, sitting in the back of the ambulance.

Nolan was about to leave the scene when another car tore around the corner of a building, flying at a dangerous speed.

He knitted his brow together. It's not gonna stop...

He watched as it suddenly slammed on brakes and spun a complete 360 on the pavement.

Nolan grabbed the M400 he'd leaned against the wall just as four men hopped out of the SUV.

"Oh, come on." He growled.

They all wore familiar black hoods and carried impressive machine guns.

They opened fire on the paramedics first.

Bullets came a lot closer to Nolan than he would've liked as he jerked Toby to the side. They dashed to the ambulance as an echo of gunfire rang through the air.

"Get in the driver's seat!" Nolan yelled, ducking behind the left side of the ambulance and checking the magazine of the rifle he'd taken from the terrorist. Taking a quick breath, he swerved around the corner and managed to take out two of the men

Toby started the engine.

Nolan was about the leap into the back of the ambulance but pain suddenly exploded across his shoulder and he fell to one knee.

A hand reached down to him and he quickly took it. Grace heaved him up into the ambulance with a grunt and slammed the two doors closed. Bullets ripped through the vehicle's tin as Toby made a jerky maneuver to back out.

Nolan placed a hand over the back of his shoulder and felt the sticky substance oozing from the wound.

"Go faster!" Grace called.

Toby took that advice to heart as he punched the gas. Grace stumbled, but managed to steady herself on a padded couch.

The lack of windows in the truck was almost maddening. They hung on in silence, waiting for more shots to make their way inside. Toby didn't let off the gas for a full ten minutes, but eventually slowed a little.

Grace half crawled, half slid towards the door and opened it a crack. "I don't see them." She breathed. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

She scooted closer and examined the wound, causing Nolan to wince. "Mmhmm..."fine" is exactly the word I would use to describe a bleeding hole in your shoulder."

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Hello everyone! Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! =D

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What do you think of Grace?

What information do you think was on the terrorist's computers?

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