Richard, this one's for you.
Lock and Load
"Where to?" Benji asked cheerfully when Jane joined them. The moment she let herself fall in the seat opposite the Brit, the bus started moving.
"We're going back to D.C."
"Oh." Benji sounded a bit disappointed.
"They skipped Australia?" Skye asked, more than disbelieving. "How did they manage that? And the States of all places. Maybe we underestimated them, if they involve Washington."
"You don't understand," Jane said hoarsely. "We're going back to HQ. I'm not going on this mission."
"What?" Benji asked. "Why?"
Outside, the harbour of Sydney sped by. It looked pretty amazing, with the sailboat-shaped opera house fanning open and the sun just coming up, but none of them was paying much attention to the view.
They had met up again after splitting up for the night, going after different tracks. Only now Skye realised how pale the other woman looked. She'd blamed the night spent investigating for that before, but clearly there was more. Jane Carter wouldn't abandon a mission like this without a compelling reason.
"We're going back to D.C.," Jane said quietly, and kept looking out of the window, staring through Sydney's morning traffic without actually seeing it.
Benji and Skye exchanged a glance, worried and confused respectively.
"Jane," Benji began and reached over to her, but she flinched away.
"I'm not discussing this, Benji. I chose not to accept this one." She was upset, he could tell, and probably needed the shouting to get over it, only Skye didn't seem entirely okay with it.
"What's the mission, Jane?" she asked.
Their eyes met, and Benji was aware of a strange tension that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It was broken by the too cheery voice that announced the next stop. They had to get out.
/\/\/\/\
Benji had to hurry to keep up with Jane's pace. Both he and Skye had given up asking her questions. As they ascended the wooden stairs to the seedy little apartment that functioned as their base, he thought he saw Jane run a hand over her face, as if to brush away a tear. She ripped the door open in a way that made it clear that she'd rather have kicked it in.
"Finally," Ethan greeted them, but his features changed from slight annoyance to surprise when Jane rushed past him to the kitchenette. He saw her pour herself a drink, and looked to Skye and Benji, who closed the door behind them, wordlessly asking for an explanation.
Benji just shrugged, but Skye had already followed the other woman, completely ignoring Ethan's glance.
"What's this about, Jane?"
The question hovered in the air like an accusation, and Jane Carter hesitated a second, then downed her drink and slowly turned around, not without smashing the glass into the sink. Surprisingly it didn't break.
/\/\/\/\
Jane looked at the three people staring at her.
Skye Holt, expectant, demanding, standing closest to her but keeping her distance. She'd better.
Benji Dunn, worried, but also curious, making his way from the door to stand next to their team leader.
Ethan Hunt, eyebrows raised, still waiting for some sort of explanation.
"I can't accept this mission," she said again. She wished her team would just leave it at that. They could get to the airport within twenty minutes, and next time she woke up she'd be back in Washington, at HQ, preferably with a mission waiting for her that involved beating someone up. And if not, there was always the gym. She felt uneasy, being scrutinised like this, and knew she owed them.
She pushed herself off the sink, walked past Skye – resisted the urge to accidentally bump into her shoulder – and took a seat on a run-down armchair.
"We were right about Sydney," she said. "They're here."
Ethan crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"We can get them tomorrow night."
"But that's terrific," Benji blurted out before a warning glance from Ethan silenced him.
"IMF has already infiltrated their gang once, a couple of years ago, before they disappeared," Jane continued, either ignoring the interruption or not realising it. Her gaze was fixed on some point in front of her. "I was part of the team. It was a good operation, by the book. Plant the mole, wait until they trust him, get information, and take them down. IMF got most of them before the rest vanished to pick up the pieces. The best part was, they never found out who it was that crossed them, so in theory we can do the exact same thing again now."
Benji had decided to shut up, and Ethan was still waiting for the catch. So it was Skye who filled the silence.
"Who? Who infiltrated them?" she asked, but Benji noticed something in her voice that made him believe she already knew the answer.
Jane kept her eyes fixed on the far away point when she answered.
"Trevor Hanaway."