Thank you to those who are reading/following/favoriting/reviewing this so far! Here's chapter 2/6.


Waking up to light rattling and murmuring, William blinked his eyes open and saw the morning sun glowing against the curtains. Sitting up, he was surprised to find that he was the last to awaken; amazingly, he managed a full night's sleep on a hard floor. He stretched out the little bit of stiffness from his back and shoulders before watching the others, not quite willing to actually get up and move just yet.

Room service delivery is what had awoken him, and the other three were busy fixing plates.

"Nice of you to join us. Hope you're hungry," Ethan said without looking up.

William grunted and stood, making sure to take the bedding with him. He haphazardly folded it all together in a bundle and dropped it on the end of the couch. They all ate in silence and took their turns getting ready in the bathroom before Ethan declared it was time to go shopping.

"Alright," Ethan said once they entered the closest clothing store, "Choose a few outfits each. We meet at the registers in forty minutes."

The four nodded and Carter left them for the women's section while the other three headed for the men's. Going his own separate way, William kept an eye out for Ethan and Benji and noted with some amusement that Benji wouldn't shut up about asking Ethan how to go about picking the best outfit for a mission like theirs- of course without using the specific words in public- and he noted with appreciation that Ethan kept his cool despite the hint of annoyance in his expression.

Quickly picking out a casual outfit, two dress shirts and pants, as well as a business jacket to go along with them, William tried his selection on. The other two had their picks as well and Benji suggested ties which reminded William about their shoes. He and Ethan still had the pick from the supply cache. Ethan agreed and the three ended up at the registers with a little more than planned. Carter was already there with her picks.

Eying their armfuls, she smirked and commented, "And I thought women took longer to shop."

William didn't feel like rising to that particular bait and Ethan wasn't speaking up, so Benji replied for them.

"Well, these two did take a swim in the lake."

Carter nodded in accord but was still smirking when they left the store. After they returned to their hotel room to pack up, Carter called a taxi while Ethan checked them out. Before William knew it, they were dropped off at the airport and boarding the plane. He shifted in his seat, trying not to let the lack of his gun bother him. Thanks to I.M.F. and Benji, the agents were able to conceal their weapons and gear from any prying eyes, but it all had to go in cargo.

Due to the last minute tickets, Benji wasn't able to get them seats together, but that was fine by William. He eyed the front rows ahead of him and gazed at Ethan. The main thing about all of this was the very man who pulled him into this. To be fair, William couldn't blame Ethan for that; it was either take the analyst along or leave him to the Russian government. And William sure didn't want to stay in that country after the Kremlin disaster.

Actually, if William were to be specific, the reason he was so hesitant about being here- on this mission- was that he had to work with the very man he let down years ago. Ethan didn't know about it, which was half of the problem.

William sighed and shifted again, switching his gaze from Ethan to roam over the other flyers. His training as filed agent never went away and he always observed his surroundings, both people and environment. Does he tell Ethan?

Taking the analytical approach – surprise-, William broke it down into scenarios. Scenario one: tell Ethan and have Ethan hate him and possibly kick him off the team- if not worse- and leaving him stranded in a foreign country; Scenario two: tell Ethan and have Ethan hate him but keep him on the mission, possibly giving him a suicidal part to play. William winced as he thought of possible ways Ethan could get revenge; Scenario three: don't tell Ethan and go about letting the guilt strangle him silently.

William glanced at Ethan and thought through how he would even tell Ethan. 'Oh, by the way, I was on a protection detail with you and your now-dead-because-of-my-incompetence wife as the assets.' William rubbed a hand over his eyes, already feeling a headache coming on. That would turn out great. And really, just how do you broach a subject like that?

He fidgeted in his seat and felt the person next to him eye him, no doubt thinking that William was a nervous flyer. William wasn't by any means- he was used to planes- so he ignored the person and let his gaze wonder, this time ignoring Ethan's vicinity and watching Carter and Benji. Benji, a few rows ahead of him on the other side was fiddling with his phone and William could tell just by looking at him that the tech wanted to use it.

Carter, one row behind him on the opposite side, was casually flipping through the shopping catalogue without any real interest in it. Despite himself, William's gaze landed back on Ethan and again the question of whether or not to tell him came to mind. Then he suddenly remembered the unsanctioned hit on those six Serbian nationals.

William shivered, knowing what Ethan was capable of. What was the saying? What you don't know won't kill you? William decided that was a good motto to live by in this decision. Maybe he was a coward. Actually he knew he was, seeing as he had quit the field. This would only drag up painful memories for Ethan. Right? William sighed as he resigned himself to keeping his secret out of cowardice.

Because he knew that if he were in Ethan's shoes, he would want to know.

For the remainder of the flight, William sat calmly, trying to find it in himself to keep acting like he never had a past that involved the field or Ethan or his dead wife. He was- is- an analyst. Once this was over, assuming they survive and I.M.F. comes out unscathed, William would go back to his office job. He would never see any of these three again. He kept repeating that to himself even as they were exiting the plane and picking up their baggage.

"Benji, acquire us a ride," Ethan said, clearly leaving room for Benji to get them a ride in any way he could.

"Right-o," Benji pulled his laptop out as soon as the four settled down in the waiting area near the entrance to the airport.

William looked at his watch, noting the mental countdown to three hours until the meet. He was getting anxious and hoped it didn't show.

Minutes later Benji informed them that the airport's rental station was providing a vehicle for them and the four gathered their gear and headed there. Ethan and Benji approached the desk as William stood to the side with Carter.

"You seem nervous," she observed.

William looked at her quickly, cursing his luck. "Do I?" He only asked instead of commenting.

"That's normal; you're only an analyst- you're not used to this. But don't worry, we'll watch out for you."

William knew she was only trying to reassure the supposed newbie, but it was only making him feel guiltier. He was a competent field agent, sort of if you ignore his last mission in any case, and could deal with this, but they thought they would have to take care of him. He opened his mouth to assure her that he would be fine and could take care of himself but figured that would only cause the already naturally suspicious agent to be even more suspicious of him.

Instead, he blandly replied, "Thanks, Carter."

Jane eyed him a long moment. William was started to feel uncomfortable under the scrutiny when she said, "You can call me Jane."

Letting out a relieved breath that she wasn't going to interrogate him for anything, William nodded in response. Distractedly he noted that all three now accepted him as part of the team, but he knew that he would still have to be careful to keep his secret hidden.

During the long, boring drive where Ethan manned the Jeep they were provided with and Benji booked them two rooms in the hotel where the meet was to happen, William decided to break the silence. A combination of his nerves and logical, analytical mind caused him to question the plan Ethan put together. He laughed sarcastically when Benji called him the 'helper', not appreciating the thought.

Then he couldn't help but genuinely laugh when they nearly hit a bunch of camels on the road. Exactly how did Ethan not see them?

"Well, at least I can't say this is boring…" William quipped.

Jane turned to him with a grin of her own when she got over her own shock. Benji was looking out the back window with wide eyes at their narrow miss while Ethan was grinning a little sheepishly from behind the wheel.

"Sorry, guys. So, plan clear?" he asked everyone with a tone of finality, evidently getting the hint to focus on the road instead of instructions.

Everyone acknowledged their understanding and they all went back to silence, though it was a compatible silence, William noted. Before they hit the main city, Ethan turned down a narrow road towards the safe house. They would change there and do last minute preparations before arriving at the hotel.

Soon, they were at the location and setting up. Once again, they came across a problem of being disavowed; no easy access to the server. William knew he was being pessimistic- he still had his doubts that this would actually work- but part of him was really curious as to what Ethan would come up with. He knew the man's reputation for acting more on the impulsive, unconventional side.

Oddly enough, it was Benji who found the solution through crazy means- gecko gloves. William was sure that's not what they were called but the name was very fitting as he watched Ethan scale the windows, very similar to a gecko on a wall. And of course, it wasn't very comforting when Benji himself cringed as Ethan began to use the gloves. William was just glad Ethan wasn't able to witness that, because he had seen the look in the leader's eye when Benji casually said the word 'dead' when referring to when the light on the glove turned red.

And he was glad that he wasn't the one climbing the side of the tallest freaking building in the world. Ethan really was crazy. Evidently, Jane felt the same way when she came back and realized where Ethan was.

Keeping up the verbal countdown, William grimaced when he heard Ethan exclaim through the comm.'s, especially when it was accompanied with a not-so-promising thud. He gave the countdown, hoping to give Ethan a bit of grounding and was a little put out when Ethan commented that it wasn't helping. Jane looked at him and he got a little defensive.

Ethan managed to pull the gecko climb off and got into the room, giving Benji access to the server and, by extension, the elevators and cameras. As the tech and Jane went to re-number the doors, William saw another problem.

He warned everyone that Moreau was already there and told Ethan he needed to get back to the room now if they were still going to pull this off. When Ethan didn't answer him he grew anxious again and moved from the laptop to the window to watch for the silent leader. Jane entered and he couldn't hide his nervousness. She tried to reassure him but questioned where Ethan was, only for William to see him jumping out the server level window.

"Jesus!" he yelled and leaned out the window.

"What?!" Jane asked and rushed over. "Oh my god…" she muttered when they saw Ethan running down the side of the building with a jury-rigged line.

"Crazy son of a bitch…" William said and he felt more than saw Jane nod wordlessly in agreement.

And then of course the line didn't reach the window. Still in shock, William pointed the obvious out and Ethan shouted at him, un-amused. Before he could question Ethan's next move, the man was scurrying out of their sight horizontally. Jane and William barely had a chance to exchange looks when Ethan was back in view, only this time flying through the air.

"Oh shit…" William blurted out as he realized what Ethan planned to do. He gestured Jane back to give the man some room, only when Ethan disconnected himself from the line he didn't quite have the aim right.

William could swear his heart stopped when Ethan hit the top of the window and started to fall down- from the 119th floor. Without conscious thought, he leapt forward and grabbed at Ethan, managing to latch onto the man's ankle. He only realized it wasn't a brilliant plan when he felt himself slide forward.

Luckily, Jane also had quick reflexes and had grabbed his pant's leg, anchoring him to the room as he held a dangling Ethan. His eyes slid from Ethan momentarily to look at the horrifying drop. Refraining from cursing and allowing the disorienting feeling of expanse to affect him, William reached out his free hand for Ethan to grab onto as the leader began reaching up.

Heart stopping seconds later, the three were safely inside and William breathed out a sigh of relief. In a horribly comedic timing, Benji appeared and took in the sight of them.

"Ethan tried to fly…" William provided dryly and pushed himself into a sitting, half kneeling position while making sure to steer clear of the window.

"What?" Benji asked.

Ethan glared at Benji. "Your gloves malfunctioned. And then I had to get down here in a hurry." He switched his glare to William but then his expression softened in gratitude. "Thank you, for catching me…" he trailed off and looked out the window towards the ground.

William nodded before looking at Jane. "And thank you, Jane, for catching us both."

She gave them a grin, still in slight shock but was quickly getting over it. "Just don't try that again…"

"Bloody-" Benji cut off his curse. "You fell?!" He looked between the three with wide eyes as he realized exactly what happened and how close Ethan, and possibly William and Jane, were to falling to their deaths.

Ethan sighed and pushed himself up. "I'm gonna get cleaned up. Keep track of Moreau and keep an eye out for Wistrom."

As Ethan disappeared into the other room, William stood up and held a hand out to Jane. She gave him a small smile and accepted his help up. Benji shook his head and checked on the masks before taking a seat in front of the laptop. Jane grabbed the tech lens and approached William.

"Ready for the lens?" she asked. He eyed the thing dubiously and she picked up on his hesitance. "It's really not all bad- I've had to wear one once."

He consented, knowing there was no other choice. His part in this plan was to basically be the go-between guy; Benji meets Moreau, acquires the launch codes and passes them to William who uses the lens to duplicate the launch codes- incorrectly, of course- which will then print into the decoy suitcase to track Wistrom to Hendricks. Jane meets with Wistrom, acquires the diamonds and passes them to William who in turn passes them to Benji to give Moreau. All the while Ethan is hiding behind scenes, ready to follow Wistrom.

"It's easier when someone puts it in for you. Take a seat and look up," Jane led him to the couch and he followed orders.

She held the lens out, about to put it on his eye when she froze. "What's wrong?" he asked her.

Shaking her head, Jane smiled at him, but William noticed it looked a little sad. "Nothing, ready?"

He decided not to push the issue and nodded. She put the lens in and William immediately could tell that it was going to irritate his eye. He blinked, looking around and tried to accustom himself to seeing out of only his right now that the lens was blocking his left eye's sight. He stood behind Jane and rolled his shirt sleeves back down as she showed him how the lens and printer worked. She looked back at him before stepping away, acting like she was grateful to be doing so.

He eyed her, wondering what that was about, and what could have possibly happened for her to act that way. But he didn't have much time to dwell on it when Ethan came back in looking for all the world like he hadn't just almost fell to his death. And then yet another problem presented itself; the cryptographer.

And after that everything went to hell. William and Ethan were figuratively locking horns over the altered plans when the mask creator malfunctioned. William was insistent that Ethan re-think this, not willing to let a psychopath have access to active nuclear launch codes. Ethan clearly laid it out and William admitted that they didn't have a choice. He hated it, but they had to work with it.

He handed the briefcase over from where he was threatening to toss it out the window and Ethan shot him a look before passing it on to Benji. Ethan turned to him and gazed at William's lens covered eye. William was quickly learning to be weary of that expression Ethan showed when he was thinking up a plan.

"What…?" he sighed out.

"How are you with computers?"

William glanced at Benji, who looked up in surprise for a second before returning to altering the briefcase.

"What?"

"Can you, for certain, activate the tracking device once Wistrom leaves with the launch codes?"

William only had to think for a second. "No." He was decent with computers, but wouldn't trust himself with something this important. Not to mention, with their luck, something else would come up and Benji would be needed to fix or alter the technology.

The other two were now eying him and Ethan. Ethan glanced back at them before turning to look at William, his expression completely serious. "It's now more important than ever that we get the tracking device set immediately, and only Benji can do that."

William's eyes widened as he realized what Ethan was suggesting. "I'm sorry," he started in disbelief, "You're saying you want to put an analyst in the field?! In direct contact with an assassin?"

Of course, with William, this wasn't an issue. He was just more surprised that Ethan was even suggesting, much less willing, to put who he believed was an unqualified and inexperienced person so close to danger. Was the man just absolutely crazy?

"Ethan!"

"Wait a second!"

And apparently Jane and Benji shared his thoughts.

Ethan held is hand up to get everyone's attention. "Jane is playing Moreau and Benji has to be able to man the computer at any moment. That leaves you or me. I would face Moreau alone, but you already have the lens. Who's to say we both can't go, though? I'll be Wistrom, you be Leonid; I'll be right there."

There was a heavy silence as the three stared at William. Of course, he had to agree. He nodded and Ethan breathed a sigh of relief. The other two, however, weren't satisfied.

"Ethan! This is insane! Brandt isn't a field agent!" Jane protested.

William grimaced but quickly hid it. "It's fine. It has to work," he nodded at her, repeating her own assurances back to her. "I'll be with Ethan." he tried to make that sound like it was the solution to everything but seeing as how crazy Ethan's plans have become it wasn't comforting to him and it apparently wasn't to Jane either.

Benji nodded. "Right, he'll be with Ethan. Ethan will take care of this."

William eyed Benji before nodding in assurance. But Jane's words were right, this had to work. Pulling themselves together, he, Ethan, and Jane left for their respective meeting places. When they reached Moreau's room, William couldn't help but to question if the two parties had in fact met. He looked at Ethan and felt the lens shift, causing his eye to twitch.

Ethan looked at him but didn't answer, not having one to give. When the door opened, William glanced at the three body guards- which was another factor they learned about when they were setting up- flanking the door and swallowed nervously. As a field agent, he was used to tense situations, but there was a lot riding on this meeting alone being successful and he hadn't been face to face with hostile- or potential hostile- enemies in quite a while. Perhaps his life as chief analyst was making him too soft and comfortable…

Moment of truth; Ethan and William stood face to face with Moreau.

If he could have, William would have let out a giant sigh of relief when Moreau asked who was who. He felt the sentiment throughout the entire team and overheard Jane on her end mimic Moreau's question to the real Wistrom and Leonid. Then they were each checked with another tense moment as the body guard checking Ethan handed the tracking device over and Moreau eyed it carefully before inviting them to sit.

Trying to still his beating heart, William made himself look as at ease as possible. He glanced over and saw that Ethan was looking far more comfortable than him. It's a good thing he was playing the boss and not William, because he would have failed at looking in control.

Then Ethan and Moreau exchanged an easy jibe about the codes and diamonds before Moreau grew impatient and ordered one of the bodyguards to kill 'this one', meaning William. She said it so casually that William was nastily reminded that she was a cold blooded assassin.

And of course he jumped a little when the man reached for his gun. He silently cursed and yelled at himself to get it together when Ethan prevented the order from being carried through. William gained control of himself enough to add onto Ethan's bluff but Moreau laughed, informing them she killed the best. There was a short silence after that before he overheard Benji making an inquiry in his role as room service.

As Ethan made a suggestion on the way they carried this out, William took a moment to adjust the lens into a more comfortable position, making it simply look like he was itching under his eye. Finally, Moreau ordered one of the men to get the codes and he overhead Jane finish her small talk when Wistrom insisted on getting the deal over and done with.

Moreau handed the launch codes over to Ethan who in turn passed them to William. He tried to pace himself to make it seem like he was being thorough and he could feel the damn lens irritating his eye again, making it twitch. He could overhear Wistrom verbalize his irritation at their locked suitcase. Jane threw out an apology and delayed the opening of it until William could copy the codes and they were printed into the empty case.

He couldn't help but glance at Ethan a couple times in nervousness when he could feel Moreau gazing at him as if she wanted to snap his neck- even without a reason. He heard Benji was on his way with the diamonds and knew that a quarter of the meeting had been successful. That gave him some breathing room as he used the lens to copy the codes.

Finally, he finished copying the codes and told both Ethan and Jane that they were good to go ahead with the next step. He watched as Ethan contacted Benji about the delivery of the diamonds while he overheard Jane giving Wistrom access to the briefcase and codes.

Benji delivered the diamonds and Moreau checked them over while Jane informed them that Wistrom was on the move with the launch codes. When Moreau accepted the diamonds and handed the papers back to William, he thought that they were finally in the clear.

Until she pulled the papers out of his reach. William looked up at her and saw that she was gazing into his eye- the eye with the lens. With dread, he realized too late that she knew. Suddenly she was shouting an order to kill him- because of course it was one of the handful of languages he knew- and Ethan quickly acted by kicking the table over and into the body guard that was closest to William. In the resulting chaos, William noticed Moreau escape.

The second body guard nearest William pulled a gun on him. Before he could think about it, his instincts kicked in and he disarmed the gun, tossing the piece into the face of the first body guard who was recovering from being knocked over with the table. He didn't even spare a second's glance at Ethan but knew he was taking on the third bodyguard.

In an odd simultaneous move, Ethan and William used nearly the same maneuver to drop the body guards they were fighting before Ethan smashed the table into the first body guard's head, effectively knocking him back out of the fight. As his opponent came back up to fight William, Ethan knocked out the third, yelling at Jane in between punches to take Moreau in alive.

As Ethan tried to get Jane to acknowledge his command, William dodged punches and took the opportunity to grab his opponent's leg when he tried to kick him. Spinning and twisting the guy's leg, William quickly moved to knock him out with a single punch. Breathing heavy and feeling a little rusty but extremely satisfied, William stood and looked at Ethan.

Who was giving him a look that said he figured William out. Shit. Ignoring it for the moment, Ethan ordered him to find Leonid- because he now obviously didn't need to be babysat- and declared to everyone that he was going after Wistrom.

As the two moved out of the room and separated, William heard a shot over the comm.'s and hoped it didn't hit one of his team members. After a long moment be could hear Jane ordering Moreau around and he breathed a sigh of relief as he continued his search of the cryptographer. Soon, all of their comm.'s were crackling in static and William remembered the approaching sand storm and figured that was to blame.

Unfortunately, when he found Leonid the man had been shot twice in the chest and the situation was not looking promising for him. William cursed and tried to encourage Leonid to not die on him. Why would Wistrom kill the cryptographer?

But William wouldn't get the chance to ask the poor guy because he died and then multiple shots rang out, reminding William of his teammates. He spared a second glance at Leonid before racing down the hallways towards their room. When he burst in, gun at the ready, Jane and Moreau were fighting over the gun- very close to the non-existent window, he noticed with horror. Waiting for a clear shot, William closely followed the two women. Then Jane let go and dropped as Moreau aimed.

William yelled out at the same time Jane kicked up, right at Moreau and the assassin went flying out of the window with a scream. William stood in shock as Jane stood up, looking half satisfied and half surprised at herself.