Chapter 10- eyes on the enemy

Ethan picked up one of Brandts wrists to feel his pulse. It was racing belying the calm manner in which he had held them at gun point. Yet another façade, a chameleon stance, Brandt was complicated. He had gathered that would be the case from the moment he'd read his file. Prior to the incident at Croatia Brandt had done well on missions, yet had never stayed with the same team very long. At most there had been one or two missions then a transfer had been requested. There had been no reports of problems with other team mates or anything to indicate something else had gone wrong. Every request had come from Brandt himself. But there had never been an explanation in his file. The secretary had also avoided the topic jut asking Ethan if he was sure he wanted to take Brandt on. He had agreed to having Brandt guessing it was the only way to find out any answers.

In the short time he'd known Brandt Ethan could tell that he dwelt too much on certain things. He'd mentally go over and over any of his own shortcomings on missions no matter how minor.

That was why he had known Brandt would never betray IMF or his colleagues. He simply did not have the type of personality to deal with betrayal without guilt or remorse. Of course when he'd seen him holding the gun on Benji he had for a moment been sidewiped. But once he'd calmed down from the shock he'd been sure Brandt did have a reason for acting as he had.

Ethan thought his method of dealing with Benji had not been appropriate. Why not simply say, hey Benji things are not how they look rather than twisting things and working Benji into an emotional state. Perhaps issues like this had been the problem with the other teams. They might not make an official complaint about something like that but it would leave a sour feeling. Benji was still regarding Brandt rather like a half tame lion not sure whether to risk a pat or simply run away. He may have to intervene if the two did not work things out.

Right now untaking a physical check of Brandts injuries took priority. The bruising was now becoming more evident over Brandts torso, healthy pink skin was replaced by mottled shades of black. Some of it was very dark and ominous looking. When he touched the area around the bruising Brandts eyes flew open and he flinched away. "Take it easy", Ethan soothed as he lifted his fingers for a moment.

Brandt forced himself to stay still while Ethan gently examined his torso area. It was only when Ethan moved lower that he realized he was completely naked. He grabbed the sheet before he could be fully exposed and held it firmly like a shield.

Ethan shook his head at him, "don't be silly Brandt, we could not treat you without stripping you off".He found resistance in Brandt as he tried to take the sheet from his hands. His response almost went beyond modesty into fear, perhaps it was the memory of what his captors had done to him . This may be something else to deal with later on. For now he softly told Brandt, "hey you are amongst friends".

It was just Ethan Brandts mind told himself firmly, he will not hurt you on purpose not like…..his mind skitterered away from that thought. He forced himself to relinquish the sheet into Ethans hands and relaxed somewhat when Ethan left him partly covred.

Brandt touched the zipper like stitching down his middle and looked down at his swollen legs. Ethan was touching them gently but hot pain still ran through his body. His stomach lurched a little as he remembered when his legs had been fractured. "They laughed when they did that", he told Ethan and Benji in a flat tone. He could feel anger inside him but it was like he had no energy to express anything.

Ethan glanced at Benji as he remembered his thoughts about Brandt emotional state, he'd obviously been through something even more traumatic than Croatia. He'd have to be sent to an IMf psychologist, but before that Ethan could offer some reassurance." You only will feel better once you know who did this has been caught Brandt. I assume you know who they are".

Brandt nodded , "where they are", Ethan added as he watched Brandts face. He noted there was mixed certainty there. "Maybe", Brandt replied. "What about the actual virus, is there a shut down code for that", Benji finally asked Brandt a question. "It's complicated", Brandt told him.

He'd gone from being chatty to giving only short answers Ethan guessed that was a response to pain.

Moving away for minute Ethan filled a syringe with pain relief. He did not give a full dose because he did not want Brandt to be either drowsy or unconscious, concluding this mission was a priority.

Shooting the drug into his IV Ethan watched as the tensed muscles relaxed. "How is he", the door to the other room had opened again and Luther and Jane walked out. Both looked more rested than before though their hair was untidy and clothes all wrinkled from sleep. "He's back with you", Brandt replied to that one.

"Good', Jane came over and placed her hand warmly on Brandts shoulder. Luther meanwhile was scanning the room and noted the shot up laptop. "Well that's a novel way of dealing with a machine that was bothering you Dunn", he observed. Benji did not wait for Ethan to explain telling Luther, "Brandt did that". Luthers face immediately tightened and he took a step toward the bed.

"Stop it", we have already dealt with it", Ethan remarked firmly. Luther froze in place and Jane just stared at Brandt. "To fill you in, the bunny program is not a virus but is in fact a firewall that is preventing the virus entering IMFs systems. Our enemy was hoping that we would not find this fact out and drop the firewall hence unleashing the virus. Brandt was the only one who knew about the firewall and that is why they tried to take him out".

Jane and Luther exchanged glances obviously still coming to terms with what they had heard.

"Brandt has not fully explained things yet", Benji told Luther and Jane in a tone that sounded peeved.

Jane frowned at him, "whats the matter with you", she asked pointedly. Benji opened his mouth but Ethan got an explanation out first, "lets just say Brandt chose an unusual way of explaining things to Benji". "Yeah I guess that does kind of explain it though I still don't understand it", Benji made sure he pitched it high enough for Brandt to hear.

Pain, he was always causing it Brandt reflected to himself , he gone and sabotaged another team. Now he'd have to move on again. With a deep sorrow he told Benji," I am truly sorry Benji, I am just an idiot and you deserve to be treated better" . It came out almost choked and that actually got to Benji.

Before an emotional scene could happen Ethan gripped Brandts head with both hands and stared him in the face. He did not want Brandt thoughts to get too distracted and away from what was important, "Just tell us what we need to know for this mission Brandt."We will deal with other things later , he told him firmly.

The pain relief was coursing through his body and making him feel better but he knew it was only an illusion, he was broken in more ways than one. Concentrating on the story would help.

"This is not the first time IMF has been targeted in a computer based attack", he told them. "it happened before a few years ago ."

"I never heard anything about that", Benji stated in a surprised tone. The others were equally as shocked. "That's because of how you just felt", Brandt told them," shocked, unsettled and afraid"."Agents don't need those type of feelings in the field. So they were never told that for a few minutes IMF systems were compromised".

"How come you know about it then", Jane asked. "You would have been an agent then as well".

"I know because the mission I was about to undertake at the time was compromised by the attack", Brandt replied."All details of the mission were released ,hence the enemy would have known what were were planning. So it had to be cancelled and consequently some very bad people got away".

" Naturally some suspicion fell on the agents on that mission. It was of high importance and other parties might have paid us big money to sabotage the whole thing. Unleashing the virus might have been a safe hands off way for us never to be suspected".

"We went through this exhaustive investigative process that included some pretty hard questions and a complete investigation of our lives." Do you know what its like to have eveything you do under a microscope, nothing was scared ,my life and those of the other agents was laid completely bare. Nothing was ever found to implicate any of us and we were cleared for active duty. It was not a pleasant experience". Brandt could hear the tension in his voice and remembered that he had almost quit IMF at that time. But quitting woud be seen like an confession of guilt and he knew he was not responsible so he had stayed.

"That was not in your file", Ethan remarked. "Because nothing was proven Ethan, agents also can't afford even being a suspect, their career would over. Tell me would you have taken me on if you'd read I'd been suspected of sabotage", Brandt asked him.

The question hung before them and Ethan knew he had to give an honest answer, "no, I suppose not", he admitted.

"So that why nothing was mentioned", Brandt confirmed. "Now back to the attack. "Naturally it freaked the secretary right out and he realized IMF needed more defenses against computer warfare. Defending against something often means we have to understand what we are up against. To do this the secretary authorized the programming division to begin work on creating our own infiltrating virus as well as a means of defense against it."

Ethan had never been sure that he liked the idea of creating a weapon to learn about preventing attacks from that weapon. It was always too easy for someone to unleash that weapon upon you. It looked very much like this had been the case with the attack on IMF.

"So presumably this first attack is linked to the recent one", Luther mused. "Why wait so long to make another move."

"There was never any sign of an outside infiltrator so either they were very good or the attack had to have come from within. Myself and the other agents on the compromised mission were not the only suspects".Whoever it was would have been foolish to launch another attack so soon after the first. They would wait until things settled and suspicion lifted."

Ethan could feel himself getting angry ,"more betrayers within our own ranks. Why don't people show loyalty any more", he demanded. "Money and lots of it", Brandt told him.

"So was that what your mission was about ,trying to find who was responsible ", Benji asked. "It seems strange to me that they chose an agent who had been a suspect themselves".

Jane was pacing up and down as she listened and turned toward them, "he can't have been on this mission for years. You would have been returned to the field after the incident."

"Thats right Jane and I more than proved my loyalty to IMF. Going through that whole suspicion thing left me wanting to find out who was responsible rather badly. So years later when the opportunity arose I was a natural choice". I was a transfer to IMF main headquarters and everyone believed I was just the chief analyst. All records of my field work had been erased. So I could hide amongst the supects and clarify which of them, if any were responsible. Naturally the secretary also wanted to find out if they were working for someone else",Brandt told them.

"So I watched but it appeared nothing was happening. There was no move to contact anyone suspicious or activate another virus. I guess part of me wondered if an another attack would happen, if our suspects were in fact totally innocent."

He was getting closer to the point when he'd have to tell them about what happened in the IMF car. It was something he would rather forget. He looked down at his beaten up body and remembered the blows, he also remembered the mind games.

His silence had gone on too long now and the others were all looking at him and waiting but typically it was Ethan that prompted, "go on".

"It was that day in the car that the betrayal finally happened. It is something I rather forget", Brandt confessed. Jane brought him over a glass of water but noted that his hands shook too much to hold it steady. She put her hands over his and held them firmly while he drank. "What we know is that Markus Drey had planned a mock holdup for Xanders birthday surprise", Ethan prompted. " It obviously turned out a little different than he expected".

"It was different", Brandt remarked sadly as he forced his mind to recall those events.

FLASHBACK- IMF car

He lay on the floor with two heavy soled feet pressing him down and holding him firmly pinned. Above him on the car seat Markus was jammed behind one gunman. Brandt could not see him with his face pressed against the floor but could hear the soft whimpers like some poor whipped puppy dog. There were also sniffing sounds as though Markus was trying to clear something from his nose. In the front of the car Xander lay half off the passenger seat his hand dangling limply. The third gun man drove the car away from the city and to somewhere where the gunman had said all of them except Markus would be disposed of. It was night and the dark tinted window would prevent anyone from seeing what was happening so Brandt knew he could not hope for outside help.

At the moment he was not causing any problems just laying still and quiet. His senses were fully attunded to the sounds around him. He coud hear all three gunman breathing harshly and smell the oil on their guns. They all had 45 calibre weapons, the type that'd cause a lot of physical damage. Any action would have to take out their weapons quickly.

The sounds of traffic were becoming less and less frequent and he could feel his heart rate speeding up in response. "Give it another 20 minutes then pull of the road", the gunman holding his feet on him remarked. He was still not speaking in English.

Brandt braced himself and prepared his mind for the battle that he knew must come. He could perhaps rely on Xanders help if the man regained consciousness. Markus though would be a major liability. On the positive side, the gunman were not looking to kill Markus so would not try and use him as a shield or leverage against him.

That next twenty minutes felt like the longest of Brandts life . Finally the movement of the car changed from smooth to rough bounces,an indication they were off road.

Since he was so low to the ground he could feel evey jolt racing through his body. It was actually almost painful but he guessed the gunman would not care how he felt. His stomach churned and nausea rise up into his mouth as the car swerved. He stopped focusing on the swaying movement. The car stopped 5 minutes later.

All was silent for a moment. Then Brandt heard the distinct sound of a hand hitting flesh. "I have a laptop here so I want you to unleash the virus you developed upon your own people then give us the firewall", one gunman told Markus.

There came a small whimper then sound of a gasping breath. Markus was not used to being treated in this manner .Was he going to break, the anwser came in soon with the firm "no". Smack, this sound was alot louder, a harder hitting punch. "Just do it geek before we have to start breaking pieces of your body", a gunman growled. It was a threat that would even scare a trained agent, though they were always prepared for beatings. Markus was not prepared but Brandt still could do nothing to help him. He just waited for the answer.

"I won't do it ", Markus's voice sounded really firm and insistent, he was being a hero. It would do him no good and Brandt could tell from the almost undetectable quaver that Markus knew that. Typically the gunman were not impressed stating,"right then we are going to start breaking things, you only need one finger to function to push a button".

Brandt heard whimpering again as Markus anticipated what was about to happen. He tried to move upward a little but the two feet forced him back down. "Time enough for you soon analyst', his captor growled.

So he had to lay there and listen as fists pummeled into flesh and Markus's whimpering changed into screams. "That's enough for now, you don't want to kill him", the driver firmly stated.

"Get the other one up off the floor lets deal with him". "Up, now, slowly", the man shifted his boots from Brandts back only to replace it with the hardness of a gun barrel.

Brandt slowly raised himself knowing he would have to act soon. Soon he was upright and facing the two gunman in the back and Markus Drey.

He stared at the programmer, blood ran down his face from both his eyes and mouth to drop onto the seats of the car. His jaw looked distorted and broken. It looked both painful and nasty yet something was wrong about it. If he looked closely he could pick out small flecks on Markus's face.

When one gunman reached up behind him to flip the small hidden switch of the cars internal camera Brandt knew everything he'd heard had been an act.

"Its makeup", Brandt found himself spluttering as he studied Drey. "Yes it is " Markus replied calmly, "now guys be careful because I got things a little wrong. Hes not just an analyst, he's an agent. Of course he probably suspected something all along. But then he was fool enough to come in this car. So I guess the jokes on you Brandt", Markus Drey told him in a growl.

"You were just pretending to be my friend and it hurts that I actually fell for it. But I am going to make you pay Brandt and its going to be very painful." Malrkus started to grin, "strip him off boys and get out the knives. Lets have a little fun".

Brandt kept himself impassive not showing the fear that was rising up within.

"How long can you keep that poker face Brandt", Markus asked as he watched the other men stripping off Brandts clothes.

Brandt wondered that himself.