A/N: Ok, please don't kill me! I really should have posted this ages ago! But don't worry, the fic is not abandoned – I would never do that to my loyal readers :P

So yeah, Sorry. I honestly have no excuse! You still love me though, right?

DISCLAIMER: None of what you recognise belongs to me.

By the time night fell, Emily's team had found a usable manhole just two streets away. Alex was to go on a recon mission tonight with Panther, the explosives expert of the team. He wasn't quite sure why he was going. He guessed it was something about placating Yassen who, as of yet, didn't trust anyone apart from him. He could also be the obvious choice as the tracker was his to start with. And didn't he just want to kill Yassen for that? Tracking him? Honestly? Christ, what happened to just asking?

He was just waiting for Wolf to give the go ahead. The situation in the group was an odd one. K-Unit and Alex's friends from the trenches all followed Wolf's orders without question, as they had been trained to do. So did Ben Daniels to some extent. But Yassen was firmly outside Wolf's jurisdiction and everyone who hadn't been trained by the SAS followed his orders even quicker than they did Wolf's.

And Alex, of course, only listened to them when it suited him.

He sighed and looked up as footsteps approached him. It was Panther.

"Wolf finally give the go ahead?" he asked, quickly pushing himself to his feet. Panther nodded and Alex sighed with relief. Waiting had been driving him insane. He turned to the pile beside him and quickly picked up a hand drill, the selection of short metal canes and the two shaped charges that Panther had completed an hour ago.

Panther quickly gathered up the other drill and poles, binding them to his back so he could move more easily. Alex quickly followed suit.

"Ready to go?" he said.

Panther nodded.

The manhole clanged back into place and Alex shivered. It was cold down here, and only going to get colder as he descended the ladder. Sighing, he started down the metal rungs.

Panther greeted him at the bottom.

"Which way?" he asked, pulling out a flashlight as Alex unfolded the map.

"We're here," said Alex, pointing to a black mark on the map. "We need to head north."

Panther nodded and, after checking a compass, headed off up the tunnel.

It took them three hours until they got a buzz of static from the radio and brief instruction that they were there. Apparently working with Yassen was making Wolf irritable, judging from the curt instructions.

"Alright," said Panther. "Start drilling. I'll do one four feet that way."

Alex nodded once and quickly unslung the poles from his back.

Three and a half hours later, they were back. Both of them were dirty, sweating despite the chill in the tunnels and covered with a thick layer of brick dust from the holes they had drilled.

"Did it go ok?" asked Emily.

"It went fine," said Alex, swiping a hand across his brow. "Perfectly. Now can we please go and clean up?"

"Ok," said Wolf. "But it's nearly dawn so you'll need to hurry. We'll debrief upstairs in half an hour."

Half an hour later, they were upstairs but, much to Wolf's displeasure, both were fast asleep.

"Let them sleep," suggested Fox softly. "They've already told you that the plan went perfectly. It's all set up. They drilled through fifteen metres of rock each, tonight, using metal poles and hand drills. Give them a break! They're only human."

Wolf nodded. "Ok, but I'm still going to yell at them tomorrow," he grumbled.

Fox simply smiled and rolled his eyes. Wolf would never change.

In the end, Wolf didn't yell because when he tried to find something to ask them about, something they should have told him but didn't, he drew a blank. All he really needed to know was that the job had been done correctly. It had been, so they were both let off the hook.

And Yassen staring at him when he had glared at Alex had absolutely nothing to do with it.

It was Alex who brought up what they were all thinking over breakfast.

"Does this plan seem a little... basic to you?" he asked, playing idly with his food.

"Simple plans mean less chance of something going wrong," said Wolf, gruffly.

"Yeah," said Alex, "But the guards are going to run towards the big massive explosion, you know."

"It won't be that big," protested Panther. "Not from the surface, anyway."

"So you think that the guards aren't going to notice part of the floor caving away?" asked Alex, raising an eyebrow. "After all, that's what we're aiming for here."

"So what would you suggest?" asked Emily, tilting her head to the side in curiosity.

"We need a distraction," said Alex. "Nothing's going to cover it up, but if we launch a basic assault then they'll be caught up in that and so not so many would be able to come and investigate."

"So we have my men attack the building from the ground?" said Emily, incredulously. "It's suicide."

"Arm them with long-ranged weapons," grunted Wolf, ever the tactician. "And explosives. The buildings have only been cleared for thirty metres either way. They didn't have the resources to do more. Your men can shoot from the cover of buildings."

"So we have a plan?" said Emily.

Alex nodded.

"We have a plan."

Alex glanced quickly around the corner, one hand pressing Graham back against the wall beside him. They were in the middle of enemy territory here and it paid to be cautious.

"Looks like Wolf and the others are doing their jobs," he hissed, turning the corner and finally allowing Graham to do the same.

They say a good plan only lasts until the first clash with the enemy, and theirs had been no different. Had everything gone to plan, they would all be in one large group about now, but when it became apparent that the enemy had a lot more guards than they expected, Graham and Alex had hidden while the others led their unwelcome visitors away. This left the two of them free to discover the prisoners and to get them out. They had to be close now.

Ahead, the corridor turned again.

Alex held up a hand to halt Graham and repeated his precautions. He quickly jerked back.

"Do you want the good news or the bad news?" he asked, his voice barely audible.

"How about both?" suggested Graham, impatiently, but just as quietly as Alex.

"Well, the good news is that we've found the cells," said Alex. "Unfortunately... they're rather heavily guarded."

Graham leant around Alex and peeked around the corner. The corridor ahead was indeed lined with very secure looking doors and each was guarded by a very intimidating man dressed all in black.

"What do we do?" asked the soldier.

"Stun grenade," muttered Alex, reaching into one of his pockets. "Maybe a few more than one."

The stun grenades were noisy, but hopefully with Wolf and Emily's respective groups both causing diversions, it would go uninvestigated.

Alex threw three grenades down the corridor with a smooth underarm throw, glad that MI6 had at least ensured he was well equipped.

Five seconds later there was a flash of light and three loud bangs and the two invaders ducked around the corner.

"You take that side, I'll do this," said Alex, calmly, surveying the unconscious guards and secure cell doors. "The bubblegum should work on the locks."

"Right," said Graham, eyeing the brightly coloured packs dubiously.

Alex found Mathew Starbright in the fifth cell, after several American politicians and high ranking soldiers. He had red hair – the same colour as Jacks – and was slumped in the corner of the bare cell.

"Who are you?" he asked, sullenly. It was obvious he had been fairly badly beaten, but was still coherent and – from the way he was standing up – relatively mobile.

"I'm here to get you out," said Alex. "Everything else can wait until later."

"How do I know I can trust you?" he said.

"You don't," said Alex shortly. "Why, do you have a choice?"

"Guess not," said Matt. "Let's go then!"

Alex nodded and pulled out into the corridor, just in time to see Graham open the last cell on his side and help out a series of soldiers in various states of healing and three tall, graceful women, one with wine red hair.

"Sabina?" Alex blurted in shock.

"Who are you?" she quavered.

"No time," said Alex, curtly. "Come on. We're breaking you out."

They found Tom, Steve and Eagle in the tunnels and began the long trek back.

But the soldiers followed them, which was how Alex found himself separated from the group with just Mathew and Graham, and a host of soldiers behind him.

"Quick!" he hissed, leading them down a service tunnel, almost invisible in the dark. They ran, sprinting as fast as they could, and slipped out of the manhole at the end.

Alex knew they were still being followed and took off down the street. His heart was pounding in his ears and he knew that if he couldn't keep up this pace much longer, then Graham and Mathew would be even worse off.

Time for a change of tactic.

He stopped outside a house and bent down by the lock. Graham and Mathew had gone a few feet past him then turned, staring incredulously.

"What are you doing?" hissed Mathew.

Alex didn't respond, simply working on the lock. It clicked.

"In here," he whispered, leading them through and shutting the door, just as their pursuers rounded the corner.

So what did you think? Did I do good? Or am I failing at being an author, slowly going insane and need to be carted off to the loony bin? Review and tell me! (And yes, Sabina is necessary to the plot. No flames and no death threats, please! If it makes you feel better, this is most definitely not a romance, in case you haven't already guessed.)