Hi, me again, sorry about the gap, it's been a busy few days, but here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy it, but it's very... waffly... ah well, the next chapter will be better, i promise!! Anyway, please R&R!
Manda was waiting for Arya when she got back to the hut that evening, having been half-carried by Nate from the track. He had set her to run fifteen laps around it and her legs felt like water, scarcely able to support her weight. Manda leaping towards her, practically shouting questions at her didn't help her mood.
"Just be quiet for a minute, please." Arya said shortly, sinking onto her bed and covering her eyes with an arm. Manda fell obligingly silent, her face creasing into lines of worry as she saw Arya's pale face. It was well over ten minutes before she sat up, rubbing her face.
"Sorry, Nate made me run fifteen laps, I'm exhausted."
"Who?"
"Nate…sorry, Healey, the assassin I was with earlier." She corrected quickly, cursing herself for forgetting.
"On first name terms with the assassins now? You're doing very well," Manda's smile was a little too knowing for Arya's liking and she looked away. "But, really, what happened last night? We all heard the explosion, but you wouldn't talk when you came back."
"I was trying to follow an intruder, didn't realise that there was a trip wire in the tree, and would have been crispy barbeque if Na- Healey hadn't pulled me out of the way of the grenade." She completed. Her version was devoid of any detail at all but she was too tired to care. Manda raised an eyebrow and changed track.
"So why do you have to go around everywhere with Healey?" she asked casually. "You didn't seem very upset that I wasn't your partner any more."
"It wouldn't make any difference. He's my chaperon now, whether I like it or not," Arya replied, pulling the thin blanket over her head. "But he's not that bad, once you get to know him. He has a weird sense of humour though and he gets really stressed out sometimes." She didn't see the way Manda's face split into a smile. The older woman didn't speak again and eventually went over to her own bed, fishing out a book and settling down to read while Arya fell asleep.
Yassen, John and Alex woke late, Yassen alert and watchful as ever, while John and Alex were still bleary-eyed and only half awake. They rushed a short breakfast of fruit before piling into the car, and racing through the winding lanes to the top of the hill overlooking the training camp.
"Is this safe enough?" John asked as he drove the car a little way along a farm track.
"Yeah, we'll be ok here, it's out of sight of the road and they couldn't see us from the bottom of the hill. Plus they couldn't see us if they had a helicopter," The question had been directed at Yassen, but Alex cut across him before he'd even opened his mouth. The two men turned and looked at him, smiling proudly and Alex rolled his eyes. "It's common sense." He added defensively, getting out of the car and grimacing as his boots sank into the mud.
"Mind the mud." Yassen said, laughing, as he got out of the car, jumping lightly over the puddle to the bank at the side. Alex followed gingerly and they picked their way along the bank, while John did the same on the other side.
"Where now?" Alex asked, looking around. They were all dressed in army fatigues and their faces were smeared with paint until they were almost invisible against the wild-growing hedges.
"We're going to have a look around, find out the best way in, then come back tonight and get Arya out." Yassen said, pulling a balaclava over his head to hide his distinctive white blonde hair.
"Sounds like a good plan." This was from John who had gone back to the car and was pulling out various items of weaponry. Alex saw a small crossbow, complete with a quiver of razor sharp bolts being unloaded and couldn't help but gasp. It was easily the most evil looking thing he'd seen, sleek and dangerous, with a definite aura of menace. Yassen smiled, folded it in a few deft movements and tucked it into the waistband of his jeans, clipping the container of bolts beside it.
"Let's go." He said quietly once they were armed. Alex fingered the hilt of the knife up his sleeve and let his hand travel to the weight of the Socom .45 suppressed pistol at his hip. He nodded grimly and followed his father and the assassin down the hill, along the farm track.
John had a slim black rifle slung over his shoulder in full view. Alex had worried at this at first, but Yassen had explained. They had the rifle for two reasons, one: it would fool anyone looking that they were hunting rabbits or something similar, two: it had a powerful scope built into it which would let them get a good look at the defences.
Alex followed at the rear of the group, Yassen was in front, carrying the rifle, John followed him carrying a pair of rabbits, killed to complete the disguise, and Alex was keeping an eye out for anyone that might be following them. Yassen led them in a wide semi-circle so that they had a clear vantage point over the camp below. He ducked down behind the hedge, motioning to the others to follow suit, and trained the scope on the camp.
"What's the situation, then?" Alex asked after a few minutes of silence. Yassen sat back, his face grim.
"There are at least twenty guards, patrolling in pairs; about half that many trainers, plus the guy in charge, and about thirty or so students. Not to mention two trained assassins, that guy we saw with Arya yesterday and another one, an older man. We don't stand a chance." His voice was quiet, defeated and it chilled Alex to hear him talking like that.
"We have to try, though, for Arya." Yassen nodded.
"We'll try." He said quietly. Alex waited for him to continue, to offer reassurance, but the Russian was silent and a hard knot of fear formed in Alex's stomach as he turned his eyes back to the camp below them. It started to rain.
The rest of the day, spent huddled against the hedge in the rain, seemed to be the longest Alex had ever spent, but it eventually drew to a close and the clouds parted enough for the three of them to watch the sun sink behind the distant horizon and dye the clouds red, blood red. Alex shook his head to clear it and eased his legs out straight before standing up.
"Give it another couple of hours, Alex. It's not dark yet." John said, leaning out of the hollow in the hedge where he was resting. It was the first time any of them had spoken in hours.
"I know, I was stretching."
"Shush, I don't want them to hear us." Said Yassen, almost inaudible against the rustle of leaves around them; the other two fell silent instantly. Alex sighed and sat down again, crossing his legs and leaning against the hedge. He closed his eyes and tried to get some rest as the sky darkened overhead.
Finally Yassen stood up, looked at the sky and nodded shortly. Alex was on his feet in a second, suddenly tense and alert. John stood up too; his face was drawn and pale in the sickly light being reflected down from the clouds that had closed over the starlit sky once again.
"Let's go." Yassen said quietly, lifting the rifle onto his shoulder and walking back towards the car. They had decided to go in by the running track, where there were a few tracks beneath the wires where badgers and foxes had slipped inside.
Moving silently, it took the three of them almost a quarter of an hour to walk the four or five hundred yards to the fence on the far side of the compound. Yassen ducked down and rolled underneath the fence, followed closely by Alex and John.
"Ok, it's a shared hut so we'll need to be absolutely silent. John, can you stay outside and keep watch? I'll go in with Alex and get her out." John nodded and followed them to the door of Arya's shared hut, then remained outside while his son and friend went silently into the darkness of the hut.
Alex led the way, listening for Arya's breathing among the sounds that the others were making. He heard her let out a moan and quickly headed towards the sound, squinting into the blackness until her white blonde hair swam into view, fanning softly over the pillow.
"She's here." He hissed to Yassen who was still standing by the door. The Russian was at his side almost instantly, his gaze fixed on the dim outline of his daughter.
"Wake her up, we don't have long." Yassen said quietly, stepping back slightly. Alex complied, placing his hand over Arya's mouth and shaking her gently. He saw her eyes flicker open, filling with fear as she realised that there was someone next to her.
"Arya, it's me, Alex. We've come to get you back." Her face relaxed under his hand and he removed it, somewhat reluctantly. She sat up quickly, her gaze travelling quickly to where Yassen stood, half hidden in shadow. She opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by a whispered shout from John, halfway through the door.
"They know we're here!" Alex and Yassen were by the door in an instant and Arya saw that Alex was a spy, just by watching his reflexes and how he moved. She must have been blind to miss it. No, said a small voice at the back of her mind, just untrained. She got up and made her was silently over to the door.
"Arya, go back to bed," Yassen said quietly, it was the first time he'd spoken to her, but Arya hardly noticed, her eyes were fixed on the figures moving towards them. "Go. Now." This was accompanied by a quick push back into the hut.
"Arya, go, if you're still in bed then you can't be blamed for anything. And we need you to be safe. Just tell them the truth, we'll be back." Alex said gently, steering her away from the door. This time she complied and dived back under the duvet, closing her eyes tightly.
"There are eight of them; the two assassins, and the rest are probably guards," Yassen said, apparently thinking quickly. "John, go left, me and Alex will go right and meet you at the car in an hour, maximum. If we're not there, call for back-up. Good luck."
"You too; take care of Alex, Yassen." John replied, turning and vanishing into the darkness. Yassen cast one more look back towards where Arya was lying and then turned right, Alex close behind him.
"Why did you want me with you?" he asked in an undertone as they crept along the wall of the dormitory hut.
"Because they still don't know that John's alive and if you were with him then you'd be twice as likely to be seen," Yassen explained, stopping briefly, "So we'd lose our secret weapon. And we have more involvement with Arya, so it makes sense for us to be here, and they won't suspect that we had anyone else here, but if you and your dad were caught, they'd wonder where I was." He started moving again, keeping low.
"Stand up and drop your weapons." The voice rang out over the grass as they reached the corner of the next hut. Yassen cursed in Russian as guards raced towards them, the two assassins at the front.
"Rider, Gregorovich, drop your weapons and we won't hurt you…much" the last word was almost inaudible, but Alex heard it and let out a feral snarl of rage.
"That's enough, Cleaver; we're not here to torture them," Said another voice, more youthful that the first one. Alex looked up at the owner, a shaft of light fell across his face and he felt a jolt in his stomach, it was the man that had been walking with Arya the day before. His eyes were fixed on Yassen and he looked slightly perplexed. "Do as he says, please. I don't want to kill you both." Yassen snorted, amused as he slid out the crossbow and three knives, along with four handguns, the rifle having been left under the hedge. Alex did the same, but he was only carrying the Socom.
Once the two assassins were sure that they were unarmed, they were grabbed by the guards, one on each arm, with one behind aiming a Maverick M4A1 Carbine between their shoulder blades.
Yassen caught Alex's eye and knew that the boy was feeling the same fear, and dark expectation as he was as they were dragged through the camp to the head trainer's hut. With hard jabs from the barrels of the guns, they were forced inside.
Does anyone have any ideas about how Alex and Yassen can get out? oh, and K-Unit's going to be in this fic, just so you know Anyway, please give me any ideas about the great escape in a review... XX