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It was nearing midnight when Ethan and Benji crouched by the two windows, watching the guards. Jane had been trying to cozy up to Vacher and discreetly watching him to learn any routines he might have. She was currently sitting in the living room pretending to read a book while keeping an eye on the guard by the front door.
By the time Jane had to give up her pretense of reading and retreat to her room, they learned that there was a very simple routine: the guards rotated and a few hours after sunset took turns to sleep. That left them with a few hours' time slot of one guard less. It wasn't much, but it was something.
The next day after the sun went down, Ethan nodded to Jane; her cue to get Vacher alone and take him out. She didn't want to have to physically hit the guy to knock him out, but she had no tranquilizers and would have no choice. She was capable of doing it, but Vacher really wasn't that bad of a guy. She engaged him in a conversation of one of the books that were in the house, knowing that he had read it as well.
Luckily for her, they knew of similar authors and he happened to have a few novels stashed in his room. She hid a smirk when he invited her in to show her one that she claimed she had yet to read. She shared a quick look with Ethan who nodded and signaled to Benji who in turn entered the kitchen.
He turned on the tap that they had sabotaged early that morning during a short rotation, exclaiming dramatically when it sprayed everywhere. The guard jumped at the commotion and, after a short hesitation, left his post to help Benji. Ethan snuck up behind the guard, knocking him out instantly.
"Now I'm all drenched!" Benji complained as he quickly shut the water off.
"It'll dry, stop complaining," Ethan said. He searched the guard's clothes for more weapons but didn't find anything. "Help me drag him into one of the back rooms."
The two carried the guard across the threshold, trying to avoid the windows. They put him in one of the back rooms and used ripped bed sheets to bind him. The guards would eventually get out of them, but by the time they regained consciousness and freed themselves, the team would be long gone. As they emerged, they ran into Jane who presented the laptop to them with a satisfied smirk.
"No problems?" Ethan asked as Benji grabbed the laptop as if he were a deprived person.
"None. In fact, it was way too easy to knock him out. It was actually disappointing…" she said, not out of a taste for violence but that an I.M.F. agent was so easily duped.
"Alright, now all we have to do is wait for the new guard to come, take him out, and then the third. The fourth won't even know what's coming," Ethan stated.
When the guard came to replace the one they already took out, Ethan and Jane were hiding on either side of the door. Jane closed the door when Ethan pounced on the guard. This one put up a struggle, but was outnumbered by both Jane and Ethan. They rendered him unconscious soon enough and took him to the back room to join the other unconscious guard.
The third guard was currently pacing the right side of the house, and Benji and Ethan approached from both directions with Benji distracting him so Ethan could jump him. Meanwhile Jane snuck up on the fourth guard and hit him upside the head in his sleep.
After the four guards and Vacher were tied up in the house, the team collected the weapons and laptop and any other supplies to tide them over. They loaded into one of the vehicles and drove off.
"Alright, now that we're rogue agents, what the hell are we going to do?" Benji questioned.
"Find a safe house, hack into I.M.F. and get some answers. Once we get a lead, we follow it to the real culprit," Ethan explained.
"What safe house, Ethan? As soon as the agency realizes something happened and that we're rogue, they'll be on the look out for us," Jane pointed out, "No safe house will be safe."
"Then we find a safe house that they don't know about."
Jane stared at Ethan. "You have a private safe house or something?"
Ethan grinned. "Or something."
Jane and Benji shared a somewhat nervous look. By this time they were used to Ethan's crazy, half-assed plans and just went with the flow. While Jane and Benji held their comments back, Brandt had no such reserve and usually questioned Ethan's logic. In the end, though, he gave up if he had an acceptable answer. They dropped the I.M.F. car somewhere before 'borrowing' another vehicle and then Ethan drove them in a completely different direction.
Before they even reached the house Ethan had in mind, Benji was working on getting into the I.M.F. server. He made sure the laptop was secure and did his best to make sure he could get in mostly undetected before even attempting the hack. He knew the I.M.F. server, which was an advantage. Unfortunately, he also knew how difficult this would be.
He used as many back doors as possible to give them time before they were detected and blocked. Once at the house, he settled down to finding the files he wanted.
After almost an hour that Ethan and Jane used to secure the perimeter, Benji informed them he had access. The three gathered around and watched the video for the second time, and then a third, and a fourth.
Ethan paced behind the other two as the video played again. "There's something that's bugging me… I don't know what it is. But something is off. Play it again," he ordered Benji.
Benji looped the video back around and hit play.
"Pause it!" Ethan shouted, causing the other two to jump. Benji scrambled to pause it, and the three stared at the screenshot of Brandt aiming for the camera.
"What do you see?" Jane asked as she scrutinized the video.
Ethan had to pause, scrutinizing it himself. "What is Will's dominant side?"
Benji and Jane looked at each other before looking at Ethan. "His… left…" Benji said slowly and turned to the video. "He's using his right!"
"Yeah…" Ethan confirmed.
"So that's it! That's our proof!" Benji said excitedly, glad they found something. When Ethan and Jane stared at him with sober expressions he said, "But… it's not exactly proof, is it?"
"No, it's not… But it is suspicious," Ethan pointed out. "There's nothing to go by on the other guys, their identities are completely hidden. What about that cell phone that was dropped by one of them? What do we know about that?" he asked Benji.
Benji pressed some buttons and switched windows, pulling up a few files. "Not a whole lot was reported on that besides what Delany told us: the phone was traced, and it led back to one of the contacts Will supposedly had."
"Oh his personal cell," Jane added.
"Benji, can you hack Brandt's number and find those contacts, and possible locations?" Ethan asked.
"Sure I can, but it will take time to run."
"Well, we can let that go all night while we get some sleep," Ethan said.
The others agreed and Benji set the trace up, choosing to crash on the couch next to the laptop. The small house only had one room which Ethan let Jane have, opting for the recliner in the living room.
"Good night everyone," Benji yawned as he stretched out.
"Night, boys," Jane said in parting.
Ethan nodded to them before checking the windows again. He finally settled down and fell asleep almost right away.
MISSIONIMPOSSIBLEGHOSTPROTOCOL
The next morning, Benji woke up to the laptop beeping quietly. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he read through the findings. Some of the names sounded familiar, so he ran them through the database as he brought up the locations.
Most of the contacts were out of country and too far to be traced, but a few were closer to home. One in particular was very close by so he mapped that one out first. The trace beeped and he turned his attention onto the database to see some profiles pop up.
"Ethan!" Benji yelled out when he recognized a man.
Ethan jerked awake and sat up, looking around. "What?"
"You might want to see this…"
Ethan frowned and hurried over. "Shit," was all he said when he saw the profile.
Benji nodded. "My thoughts exactly."
The two men stared at the profile of Harold Quentin, who was known to sell secrets, specifically those of organizations. It didn't matter what kind of organization, Quentin just liked to stir up tension between competing companies and then, when the two parties were at their weakest, he would swoop in and take control of one or both organizations.
The man had no problems using any means necessary to gain that control: blackmail, murder, it didn't matter. He had a gift of using the smallest of leverage to accomplish his goal. And now he had I.M.F. in his sights.
"Do we know what archives were stolen, Benji?"
Benji answered by pulling up the corresponding reports and the two quickly read through them.
"That is not good…" Benji stated the obvious.
"Wake up Jane. As soon as we have a location and get put together, we're heading out to find this guy."
Benji nodded and Ethan sat down at the laptop reading the report and mentally listing the archives they needed to reacquire: mission logs which included agent and enemy names, weapon data and lists, technology research, and financial status.
He was running multiple scenarios in his head when he heard a sound from the front entrance. Glancing around, he realized that Benji and Jane were at the back of the house still. Ethan quickly pulled a gun and aimed at the intruder when he crept around the corner.
The man raised his own gun and stared at Ethan.
"Jesus! Brandt!" Ethan exclaimed.
Benji and Jane heard the shout and rushed into the room to see Ethan and Brandt standing with their guns aimed at each other. Ethan eyed them before looking back at Brandt who had yet to say anything until Ethan told him to lower his gun.
"We're not going to shoot you, Will!" Benji laughed nervously but threw Ethan a dubious look.
Ethan looked at him before refocusing on Brandt. He tried to read the man's body language but couldn't until the two locked eyes and Ethan saw his answer there. He nodded and lowered his gun. The whole room gave a sigh of relief when both guns were lowered.
Brandt grunted and slid down the wall. "I actually thought you were going to shoot me, Ethan…"
Ethan rushed over to Brandt and looked him over as he replied, "Nah, not today." The two shared a grin before Ethan's hand found Brandt's side, causing him to grimace in pain. "You're shot."
"Really? Had no idea…" Brandt muttered sarcastically.
"What happened, Will?" Jane asked as she joined them in a crouch. Benji stood just behind her with a worried look.
Brandt looked at them all before sighing. "I've had one hell of a week, that's what..." He slid his eyes closed in exhaustion before Ethan tapped his cheek.
"Stay awake. Benji, go grab the first aid kit from the bathroom. Jane, help me move him to the couch."
Brandt gasped in pain as the two pulled him up and helped in to the couch. Ethan struggled with Brandt when he tried to pull the shirt off.
"Stop it, William!" Jane ordered and lightly smacked Brandt's arm. Brandt made a face before allowing Ethan to pull his shirt off, revealing a bloody bandage.
After removing it and examining the wound, Ethan said, "Through and through. At least we don't have to deal with a bullet."
"Yeah, lucky me…" Brandt mumbled as Benji offered the already opened first aid to Ethan.
"Blehck," was his comment when he saw the bloody mess.
Brandt gave Benji a tired grin but hissed when Ethan cleansed the wounds. Ethan barely uttered an apology before applying some antiseptic to the areas while Benji cleaned up the split lip and small cut above Brandt's brow. Ethan re-bandaged the wounds before feeling Bradnt's visibly bruised ribs. He pulled out a roll of ace bandages and, with Jane's help, wrapped Brandt's chest. Jane pulled out pain killers and handed Brandt a couple with a glass of water.
"So, care to explain how you managed to get shot, break at least one or two ribs, and gather all those cuts and bruises?" Ethan asked as he stepped back, allowing Brandt space to relax.
Brandt sighed and shifted to get comfortable, which wasn't easy. "The day after our mission was completed I was ambushed. I didn't know where I was taken, they blindfolded me but I could tell it was somewhere far out of the city. Their leader is Harold Quentin. I recognized him from our profile on him."
Ethan and Benji nodded, already having realized his involvement. "Was he the one who impersonated you to steal the files?" Ethan asked.
Brandt nodded. "I wasn't sure at first if I was specifically targeted or just randomly chosen, but the man likes to boast. He revealed that he had this long planned out. He has a mole inside I.M.F., watching and waiting; he reports back to Quentin. He figured if I was blamed, they would focus on the traitor. And, apparently, your reputation precedes you," he nodded to Ethan. "Quentin knew that if he was to act, he didn't want you, or your team, to be after him."
"So, why wasn't Ethan the target?" Benji asked.
"I'm an analyst, or used to be," Brandt reminded them. "They knew I could give them information, while at the same time frame me in hopes that the whole team would be suspected and taken out of the picture."
"Well, it worked…" Jane said.
Ethan was staring at Brandt and taking in his injuries. "Did they try to get information out of you?" He asked, already knowing the answer.
Brandt gave them a morose grin. "Tried- not very hard, to be honest." The other three relaxed some in silent relief, glad he wasn't tortured. "Then, when the majority of them had gone to carry out their plan, I took advantage of the lack of guards. I managed to get out of there, but not without paying for it," Brandt gestured to himself.
"You know where their base is?" Ethan asked, but made it more of a statement.
Brandt nodded tiredly. Ethan noticed and ordered him to get some sleep, betting that he hadn't gotten very much in a while. He and Benji helped Brandt up and into the bedroom so he would be more comfortable in the bed. Jane pulled out some food to prepare for everyone and the other two joined her in the kitchen.
They were silent for a while before Benji shook his head. "I can't believe this is happening. We can't catch a break, can we?"
Ethan gave Benji a sympathetic smile. "Guess not." He looked down the hallway to the bedroom. "We're staying here until Brandt regains his strength. We pull as much information as we can from Quentin's file and the other numbers that were planted in Brandt's phone. We have to be one step ahead of I.M.F. Our advantage is that we have Brandt, who knows where their base is. So, as of now, Will is an asset and needs to be protected; the enemy will most likely be after him since he's seen their faces, knows their hideout and their plans."
"Right," Jane agreed. Benji nodded before returning to the laptop to do his job.
The three ate and then spent the day in the living room. Thanks to Benji's hacking and computer skills, they accessed all the files they needed to get as much information as they could. Benji also did some research to see if any of the stolen I.M.F. information had been leaked yet or put up for bid and thankfully didn't find anything.
"He may be waiting since Brandt unexpectedly escaped. Either he has to bide his time to make sure his trail is safe, or he gets desperate and acts fast. Just keep an eye out, Benji. Also, pull up our status- see where I.M.F. is at in trailing us," Ethan said.
Benji did just that and found the report of their rogue status. "We, the four of us but specifically Will, are currently at the top of the list for most wanted," Benji stated.
Ethan nodded. "Of course."
"This is going to be more difficult than when I.M.F. went into Ghost Protocol…" Jane warned.
"What would our jobs be if not impossible?" Ethan smirked before standing to check on Brandt. His comment elicited eye rolls from the other two.
Ethan quietly opened the bedroom door and peeked in. Brandt had been sleeping since that morning and still showed no signs of waking up. Ethan frowned, knowing that it could mean nothing, or it could mean something bad. With light steps he approached the bed and looked Brandt over carefully. Only when he saw that Brandt was breathing fine and looked comfortable did he relax.
When he returned to the living room, Jane was cleaning the weapons and taking stock of ammunition while Benji was still immersed in the virtual world.
"How is he?" Jane eyed Ethan.
"Doing fine, still asleep."
Benji snorted. "Injured or not, that man can sleep."
Ethan and Jane grinned in response, knowing this was true. On a mission, Brandt was a light sleeper. But after months of working together and learning to trust one another, it was revealed that Brandt could be a heavy sleeper when he wanted to be.
"You know, I was just thinking," Benji started. "How did Will find us?"
Ethan frowned. None of them had thought of it because they were too relieved that Brandt was here and relatively safe. Ethan, though, couldn't help but feel a nagging suspicion. He shook his head to try to get rid of it, telling himself that Brandt was not their enemy. "We can ask him that when he wakes up," he said instead.
