I fallowed the Secretary down the back corridors to the back to the US Embassy, where a black Jeep sat waiting for us. The Secretary sat next to Mr Brandt as I got in opposite Mr Brandt.
"This is going to get messy." The Secretary sighed sounding exhausted as Brandt poured some tea. The troubled look hadn't left his face since he announced the activation of Ghost Protocol. I knew the gravity of the situation with Ghost Protocol being activated, but still I felt like I was missing something. I sat silently, my thumbs softly drumming on my thighs.
"It's the best course of action given all possible scenarios sir." Brandt replied passing a cup over to the Secretary. I just watched the pair silently. Brandt caught me watching the pair and paused. "Do you want a cup?" Brandt asked plainly lifting up his cup.
"I'm not much of a tea drinker, contrary to popular stereotypes." I said plainly, making the Secretary smile. Brandt just shrugged and continued to make his cup.
"Agent Jensen, I've read your file." The Secretary said as I turned my attention to him. He looked deadly serious as he spoke. "You've only been in one team since joining O.S. Your test results read off the charts, but you just need more independent field work."
"If that's what my file says sir." I said plainly as I drummed my thumbs on my thighs again.
"I presume you're still wanting to go after Colbolt after returning back to Omega." The Secretary asked taking a sip of his tea. I sat up straight and stopped drumming my thumbs, something Brandt noticed.
"Yes sir." I said firmly keeping my eyes locked on the Secretary.
"I know he took out your team, but you need to leave the revenge at the door." The Secretary said plainly, his eyes locking on mine. He was trying to impart a pearl of wisdom to me.
"I don't believe it's that easy sir." I said never looking away from him.
"Were you sleeping with one of them?" The Secretary asked throwing me off guard, I noticed Brandt's eyebrows raise as he looked at me too.
"No sir." I said firmly. "But they were my family, and sometimes revenge helps the healing process." I added honestly. The car fell silent as the Secretary passed his empty cup back to Brandt. He seemed to loose himself back into his thoughts as I began to softly drum on my thighs again. My eyes continued to dart around the back of the car. I would check the windows to see where we were, the rear view mirror to see if we were being fallowed, the Secretary and even Brandt. Every time my eyes landed on Brandt he was watching me, his own eyes taking in every little movement of mine. He was studying me, much in the way I studied people for a mission, it wasn't a technique analyst's used. The more time I spent with Brandt the more I got the idea he wasn't just a Chief Analyst, I thought maybe he was a personal protection detail for the Secretary. It would make sense having the best cover as an analyst. It was a question I wanted to ask, but knew it wasn't my place.
We pulled down a side alley and parked up. As soon as the car stopped the door opened and a man climbed into the car. He was a little taller than me, maybe Brandt's height, dark floppy hair and green eyes. He had a black leather jacket on and dark green trousers. It looked like he had either been caught up in the bomb at the Kremlin or had lost a fight. My bet was the bomb. He looked at all three of us in one sweep, returning his gaze to the Secretary.
"Mr Secretary," The man said with an American accent sliding the door shut. "I wasn't aware that you were in Russia." He added looking surprised for a moment.
"I'm not," The Secretary replied as the car started to move again. "Not since a bomb blew up the Kremlin. Yesterday I flew in to accept the Order Of Friendship from the Russian Prime Minister. Now I'm heading back to Washington to hand the President my resignation. " The Secretary explained, I noticed Brandt looked uncomfortable as he messed with his tea. His eyes continued to dart to the man I was sat next to. The man's eyes darted to me, then Brandt. "Agent Kara Jensen, Omega Standard." The Secretary explained as the man looked at me. "Agent Jensen, this is Ethan Hunt."
"Hello Mr Hunt." I said plainly giving Ethan a quick nod. I had heard of the great Ethan Hunt, the guy was a living legend. But I was never one to buy into hype. He was an agent, just like me. His eyes quickly darted to Brandt's again, clearly he didn't see me as much of a threat. I wasn't sure if I should be happy or annoyed by that.
"My Chief Analyst, William Brandt." The Secretary explained as Brandt looked more nervous as Ethan looked at him. Brandt held his hand out to shake as Ethan wiped his hand on his jacket.
"Pen?" Ethan asked softly, ignoring Brandt's hand.
"Pardon me?" Brandt asked confused.
"A Pen?!" Ethan asked louder and slower. Brandt went into his pocket and passed Ethan a pen. Instantly he started to draw on his hand, a sketch of a person.
"Ethan what happened in the Kremlin?" The Secretary asked as Ethan glanced at Brandt making him more uncomfortable.
"Chief Analyst you say?" Ethan asked as he went back to his sketch.
"If you're implying that I made a bad call-" Brandt started to say when Ethan cut him off.
"European male, fifties, six foot, one eighty pounds, blue eyes," Ethan rattled off his description as he held his hand up to Brandt. "Who is he?" Ethan asked as we all looked at Brandt. He took a moment to look at it, meeting Ethan's eyes again.
"Crude drawing but by your description," Brandt said glancing at all three of us. "That could be Kurt Hendricks. One hundred and ninety IQ, served in Swedish special forces, professor of physics Stockholm University, specialist in Nuclear End Game theory. Ask to resign," Brandt paused while he took a another look at all three of us. "Well, because he's crazy." He finished looking back at Ethan. I was really impressed that Brandt knew who the guy was off the top of his head, then I remembered he was a chief analyst, it was his job to know that quickly.
"Colbolt." Ethan said softly as my eyes widened.
"The third band." I added as Ethan looked at me. "You guys where in the vault, he was the third band. He alerted the Russian's, shot my team." I said meeting his gaze, nodding as it all started to make sense in my head.
"The O.S were there?" Ethan asked surprised as he looked over to the Secretary. "Why weren't we told?" He added firmly and slightly annoyed.
"We didn't know. We think the message go intercepted." The Secretary admitted as we both looked at him for answers.
"Maybe Colbolt wanted to set us both up at the same time. Two birds one stone? Taking both teams off the board would give him free reign to do whatever he wanted." I suggested looking to the Secretary who nodded in agreement.
"You have to alert the Kremlin that one of their strategists has a nuclear launch device." Ethan said looking straight at the Secretary. "And one of his operatives has the codes to activate it." Ethan added as we listened to him. I was impressed that he had found the buyer, it was the missing link I was looking for.
"And what makes you say that?" Brandt asked softly, almost moving back into his seat as Ethan turned his gaze to him. He was so threatened by Ethan, yet didn't batter an eyelid at me. I guess that's what having a legend does to a person.
"I saw him, leaving the executive armoury, bag in hand." Ethan explained before turning his attention back to the Secretary. "He set off that explosion to cover his tracks. It could be weeks before the Russian's know it's missing. Unless we tell them." Ethan added firmly.
"They wont listen to us." The Secretary replied solemnly. "As far as the Russian's are concerned we just bombed the Kremlin. The tension between the United States and Russia hasn't been this high since the Cuba Missile Crisis." The Secretary explained as Brandt looked at me. We all knew it was true, one false move on either side and we really could be looking at a Nuclear War neither side wanted to start. "And the blame, right or wrong, points to I.M.F." The Secretary added as Ethan glanced at me and Brandt. Again I noticed Brandt couldn't hold Ethan's gaze, instead he turned his attention back to the Secretary. He was really intimidated by Ethan. "The President has initiated Ghost Protocol. The entire I.M.F has been disavowed." The Secretary explained. The car went silent again as Ethan took in the news. Ethan sighed softly, his gaze becoming unfocused as he realised just what that meant to him.
"So what happens now?" Ethan asked looking back to the Secretary.
"Now I've been ordered to take you back to Washington with the aid of Agent Jensen." The Secretary said as Ethan took another look at me. I sat perfectly still as he looked me over, I had to admit, he was slightly intimidating but no where near as bad as Brandt was reacting too. "Where the D.O.D will label you as an extremist and hang the bombing on you and your team." The Secretary went on to explain as Ethan clocked the gun I had and the one Brandt was carrying. I tensed up, just a fraction and began to beat my thumbs on my thighs as I watched Ethan closer. If he was going to make a play, it was logical he'd go for me since I was closest. "Unless, you were to escape somewhere between here and the airport." The Secretary said making all of us looked at him surprised. "Having convinced the young naïve Agent Jensen to help you of course, her need for revenge clouding her better judgement, and the pair of you assaulting myself and Mr Brandt during the escape."
"Sir?" Brandt asked confused as Ethan's eyes darted to mine and back again.
"You would then illegally scrounge whatever material you could from a backup supply cash that I have overlooked, the same cash where your team are waiting for further orders." The Secretary explained to Ethan as Brandt turned to me. I gave him as small smile, throwing him slightly.
"Sir, you may want to-" Brandt started to say when the Secretary waved at him to shut up. Brandt let out a heavy sigh and met my gaze again, the smirk still on my face. Brandt frowned more at me.
"You will then disappear, and with this conversation never taking place, your intentions would be unclear. But if anyone of your team is caught, or killed, they will be branded terrorists out to in site global nuclear war." The Secretary explained before going into a small bag and pulling out a usb stick. He handed it over to Ethan. "You're mission, should you choose to accept it." Ethan took it as the Secretary let out a heavy sigh. "Ethan you are my best man, and I'm sorry it's come to this, after all the sacrifices you made." He paused as I saw the haunted look in Ethan's eyes. "If we don't meet again, I just want you to know, I've always considered you a friend."
The next few moments fell into slow motion. There was a large bang from the side of the car. It threw everyone left and I landed nearly on top of Ethan. And in a blink of an eye things were back to normal speed. Bullets started to hail in through the back window as Brandt tried to cover the Secretary. I tried to keep my head down, as I reached for my gun.
"Stay down! Drive! Drive!" Ethan yelled as the Jeep picked up speed. More bullets hailed in as I tried to time it right to return fire, but there was no let up. I figured that we had shooters surrounding us. The Secretary moved as more bullets came in and one shot him right through his head. I'd seen people shot before, shot people before, but there was something so terrifying as I watched the bullet rip through his head. I gripped my gun tighter as I waited for the right time to shoot back.
Again everything fell into slow motion. The bullets zipped past us as we all took cover in the Jeep, a hail started close to me. Ethan grabbed me, pulling me closer to him as the bullets hit just where I had been. I felt a few skim past my upper arm and lower back, I felt the impact as it ripped my jacket to pieces. Unfortunately the bullets that missed me hit the driver instead, killing him instantly. The tires screeched as the Jeep took a sharp left again off the side of the bridge. I let go of my gun as the car dived over the edge, my body becoming momentarily weightless as I grabbed onto anything I could to prepare myself for the impact. If there was one situation I hated the most in the world, one position I never wanted to find myself, it was crashing over the side of bridge, trapped in a car.
Time jumped back to normal as the car sank deeper and deeper to the bottom of the river. I had practised this a million times in training. I knew exactly what to do, but sinking I really had to fight the blind panic. I was thankful for the small air pocket that formed in the Jeep. I swam up, taking in a deep breath as Ethan and Brandt surfaced too, it looked like we were the only survivors.
"You ok?" Ethan asked looking at the pair of us.
"Yeah." Brandt replied taking a few deep breaths.
"I really need to get out from under here." I coughed out looking around the small air pocket.
"Take a deep breath, stay with me. Ready?" Ethan asked taking a deep breath.
"Yeah." Brandt replied as I just nodded, my heart pounding out of my chest with a mixture of fear and adrenaline. We glanced at each other before taking a deep breath and fallowing Ethan under the wreckage of the car. We swam under the car, getting out through the smashed passenger window. As soon as we were clear Brandt tried to go to the surface. Suddenly bullets started to hail down on us, Ethan pulled Brandt back and we went back under the car for shelter. As we surfaced again I felt the fear out weigh the adrenaline. The air pocket we were using was getting smaller.
"Would this be a bad time to mention that I have a major fear of drowning in a car?" I tried to joke but it came out so flat and full of fear as Brandt and Ethan looked over at me.
"What do we do now?" Brandt asked, moving closer to me. He tried to give me a reassuring smile, but it really didn't help. I just wanted to get back to the surface. Ethan looked around and his eyes landed on a flare.
"We're going to be ok." Ethan said grabbing the flare as he looked directly at me. "Wait here." He ordered before taking a deep breath and disappearing under the water again.
"Where else are we going to go?" Brandt asked after Ethan disappeared.
"The one thing..." I muttered as Brandt looked at me.
"We're going to get out of here." Brandt said firmly. I just raised a questioning eyebrow at him.
"I'm going to drown in Russia, there's not going to be a body to bury. It's going to be like Benji all over again." I muttered as I shook my head. The fear taking control over my rational mind. I just didn't want my parents to have to bury someone else without an actual body. I knew how hard it was for them to bury an empty box for Benji. We were told there wasn't enough of his body left to bury.
"Jensen. Jensen! Kara!" Brandt snapped at me, shaking me a little. "We aren't going to die." He said looking into my eyes. His bluey-green eyes locked on my chocolate ones as he spoke with so much conviction.
"You really believe that?" I asked biting back as I looked around the confined space we found ourselves in. I knew I had to calm down, but the fear was gripping tighter and tighter by the second.
"Yeah, I ran the variables. We are getting out of here, just trust me." Brandt said sounding so sure of himself. I blinked, looking straight into his bluey green eyes, his eyes looked like oceans as I met his gaze. I felt the fear start to slip away slightly as I looked into his eyes. Brandt gave me a small smile and I smiled back.
"Ok... Ok." I said softly, "Ok I believe you." I muttered nodding to myself as Ethan reappeared.
"Ready?" Ethan asked as we heard the shift in the bullets. It sounded like they were aiming somewhere else. We all took a deep breath and dived under the water again, I fallowed Ethan as he led the way through the window and down stream from the shooting. He took us a few lengths away from the Jeep before surfacing the other side of the bridge. As I surfaced I caught Brandt looking over at me, making sure I was ok. I gave him a quick nod as we swam to the embankment.