Chapter 4 – Complications

"Come on, we gotta move!" Brandt screamed as he ushered his IMF team towards a set of hallways to escape the un-timely bomb blasts. "The building has already been evacuated."

Both Ethan and Jane tensed up at the comment. It didn't take any genius to figure out that the whole commotion was planned. A very well planned route to get the mole out of IMF before he gets caught. Benji on the other hand was entirely focused on the analyst that he has come to accept as a close friend. A friend who was all a pretend. A lie. Over the years, he had always been proud of working in a secret spy agency. Never, once in his life, he ever thought that the consequences of trusting the wrong guy would be worse than being stabbed to death. He had all these questions in his head that with due time will explode soon enough.

"Where are we going?" Benji croaked out, trying to keep his emotions in check. Brandt looked at him in question.

"Through the stairs" Ethan spoke up before Brandt could. "The ground floor is closer to us. There will be an IMF vehicle waiting outside for us." Both Benji and Jane knew why they have a special vehicle waiting downstairs for them. Ethan must have informed the IMF about Brandt through the emergency com lines. "Let's go." And with that, everyone followed after Ethan, making sure that analyst was infront of them. That way they can keep an eye on him.

They were just few floors above the ground floor when the first bomb gave out. The whole building shook just as the four agents held onto the railings for the support. They were in the fire exits. The lifts weren't working so they had to rely on the stairs to reach the ground floor.

"Come on! Hurry up!" Brandt yelled at Jane and Benji who had stopped few steps above him due to the loud tremor of the building. Benji quickly pulled himself up and stirred Jane towards Ethan and Brandt. But they were stopped by another shaking of the building, just barely avoiding being crushed by a large chunk of the stairs above them. It had fallen right infront of Benji's body.

"Damn it, Nat!" The analyst screamed in frustration as he pulled something out of his ear. Probably his ear comm. But no-one paid attention to his words or what he was doing.

"The building's falling apart, Ethan!" Jane screamed as she pulled Benji up just before the technician could fall through the empty space between the stairs. They leaned onto the side wall just as they tried to balance themselves. They looked at the gap. It wasn't that big. Jane can do it but she wasn't sure about Benji. "Can you do this?" She whispered to Benji who was scared but none-the-less functioning.

"Yes." The technician nodded. He had to. There was no other way.

"You guys gonna have to jump through this!" Brandt screamed over the noise. Benji looked at Jane in worry before he decided to do it. Now that he knows Brandt is the mole, he doesn't trust Brandt to be able to catch him. What if the analyst drops him?

"Don't worry, Ethan's there. He won't let anything happen to you." Jane assured him. He nodded before taking his stance. "Remember, keep your eyes open. You need to see where you're landing. Grab anything that comes in your sight." He took a deep breath and jumped. Luckily, it was Ethan who caught him. Apparently Benji had landed right on top of Ethan. The impact left them toppling down few steps away from the analyst. They both groaned at the pain.

"Are you guys okay?" Brandt's worried voice reached in his ears just as he saw Jane make her jump. Benji wasn't worried about Jane because he knew she can take care of herself. It was the analyst who was now looming over his head.

"Yeah… we're fine." Ethan croaked out just as he pushed the technician off him.

"Sorry" Benji apologized before they un-tangled themselves and quickly stood up, only to see Jane landing behind them.

"Benji! Ethan! LOOK UP!" Everyone looked up at Jane's scream. What they found was a some sort of fire balloon from the explosion making its way down towards them. Each floor's explosion giving the fire a more energy boost.

"MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!" Brandt screamed as he pushed his team mates down the stairs. At this point, no-one cared where Brandt was. The only thing that mattered to them was getting to safety. They all quickly toppled down the stairs. But the descending fire of the explosion was too close to them. So they did what their instincts told them to do. They separated.

Both Ethan and Jane jumped through the empty space between the stairs while Benji took the safe route. He opened the door to the 2nd floor and ran through the corridor just as the fire reached his floor and exploded. The only thing he remembered after that was being hit in the head and his name being screamed out.

"BENJI!"

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Jane woke up with a start as she felt someone shaking her. She opened her eyes to see Ethan starring down at her.

"Are you okay?" Ethan asked as he helped Jane up from her groggy state. It took her few seconds before the flashes of the past hour came back to her. She looked around her surroundings to find people running and screaming on both sides, trying to escaping the falling debris.

"What happened?" She asked Ethan who himself looked worn out by the explosion. She could see few injuries here and there, just like her. As far as she remembered, she had jumped into the empty space between stairs to cover the distance. She had managed to land on the ground floor perfectly but before she could move, she had felt the explosion behind her. The last thing she remembered was heat and then blank.

"I pulled you to safety when the fire was only few inches away from you." Ethan explained as he tendered to his slightly burnt hand. "The impact of the explosion threw us here, in the lobby."

"But I thought the building was evacuated?" Jane said as she looked at all the civilian screaming around her.

"They were. This is the last of the crowd on this floor." Ethan said as he winced at the pain. "Where's Benji?"

"I don't know." Jane looked at him in horror. "He wasn't with me when I jumped." The look on Ethan's face made Jane's insides freeze. She quickly looked around for the accused analyst.

"Jane, he's not here." She heard Ethan say. She shook her head at his words.

"He's with Benji!" She exclaimed while Ethan sighed and looked at the destroyed fire exit.

"Every other way to the upper floors are blocked." Ethan started. "Benji will have to find his own way."

"No.. Benjii…" Jane cried as she looked at the growing fire. There is no chance Benji is coming out alive.