Chapter 12

The Final Countdown

A/N: This was actually extremely forced. I wanted to get it out but I don't know if it's awkward or not so… Let me know.


All Chelsea could say to the gun barrel in her face was… nothing. Absolutely nothing, and that scared her. She always imagined that she would have something snide to say when her time came. She wasn't afraid to die; right? But then again, she found her people worth living for, if she couldn't live for herself she could live for them.

Aisha's bad attitude, Pooch's concern, Clay's fatherly ways, Jensen's laugh, and Cougar… his smile. His voice and touch were enough to make her melt and his expressions made her laugh.

The man holding the gun stepped back as she started to giggle. "What the fuck are you laughing at!"

Chelsea started to laugh so hard tears formed in her eyes.

"What the hell…" The man figured she had lost it in her final moments and raised the gun again.

"Whoa there cowboy!"

Jensen grinned wide as he kicked the gun across the room, "That's not very smart."

Chelsea slowed her laughing and looked up as the guy hit the ground, "C'mon…" she whined, "You guys don't need me anymore."

Jensen frowned as he undid the chains around her wrist that were stringing her to the ceiling. "That's not true."

Her vision swam as warm arms grabbed her and somewhat gently threw her over a broad shoulder. She heard Clay's voice, "We need to get the hell out of here."

She chuckled, "I figured I'd buy you losers some time. But you waste it saving me."

Aisha rolled her eyes, "Shut up."

The other woman smirked, "Ha ha. You care…"

Pooch glanced over at her and nodded, "And she's out. So how do we blow this joint?"

Jensen peeked around the corner at the end of the hall, "Flip a coin?"

Footsteps were heard at the other end of the hall. Pooch took off running, "No time! Right!"

They hooked a right and kept running, blasting through the doors at the end and… "Holy shit."

Pooch stared at the large screen in awe, "Is that?"

Clay took a step closer, "Every major country who is an enemy to the United States."

Jensen pushed his cracked glasses up on his nose. There were numbers running next to the names of the countries. "Prices. These are prices. He's auctioning off the other bombs just like we said."

Aisha nervously tapped her foot as she stood at the door, "As interesting as this is we can't do anything if we all die!"


"Does anyone want to tell me how they all got out of locked cells with fucking lead bars?"

The men in the room with Max shrunk back slightly as he yelled and brandished a gun. They knew the person to answer would get shot, and none of them wanted to die.

Max's assistant rolled his eyes and pushed his glasses up his nose, "Somehow they got a hold of the keys."

"Who was in charge of the god damn keys?"

"He's already dead sir." Someone in the small crowd of men spoke up and Max trained his eyes on him and shot.

"And who was supposed to kill the CIA girl?"

The room went silent for a minute. Not even his assistant knew the answer to that question. "Somebody better answer me."

The group parted and one man stepped forward, "Please don't kill me sir they came up from behind I had the barrel in her face! They-!"

The gunshot almost echoed and Max passed the gun to his assistant. "I'm tired of chasing them. I want eyes out in this city do you under stand? Call the President's people and gather our buyers. We don't have anymore time."


"I like waking up to your face."

Cougar smiled at the woman and brushed back her hair. He kept her gaze for a bit loner before going back to cleaning her wounds. She heard Clay talking to the others in the next room and listening silently, "Why did you guys come after me?"

"We need you." He said simply.

She chuckled painfully, "You guys are great. You'd do fine without me."

"Is that so?" Clay stepped into the room with everyone else trailing behind him. "We wouldn't know anything about this operation if you hadn't told us."

"Or stolen the information." Pooch added.

Aisha folded her arms, hesitant to say anything but she looked down at her feet and sighed, "You could have killed us that day."

Chelsea kept her gaze on the ceiling, "Right…I could have done my job and right now I'd be out there killing someone else on Max's order."

Jensen smirked, "Now don't you just hate the thought of that?"

She smiled, "Yeah, I do actually."

Clay lit a cigarette and sat on a nearby fold up chair, "At the most we have two days to mobilize a whole plan to take him out."

Pooch sighed at the small radio in his hand, "We have a day. Stations are broadcasting a televised unveiling of a plan to end war and bring all the countries of the world together tomorrow evening on the stairs of Congress."

"Damn."

Aisha started to pace the small room, "A day? We have a day to figure out how he's doing this and put a stop to it all at the same time. We don't have any Intel or anything, we're not prepared."

Cougar helped Chelsea sit up on the table and she bit her lip in pain, "I am not backing out. You guys keep saying you need me; well I need you. This country needs you. Max can literally move mountains as he is now, imagine what he could do with the whole country and many others on his side."

Jensen put his elbows on his knees, "We saw that room, the auction. He's gonna have to hold that at the same time as he announces the weapon to the president."

Pooch nodded, "If we can get eyes in there and broadcast the auction…he'd be done."

Aisha sat back down, "We're still missing something. Money and power are the main factors here. Money from the highest bidder, power from the President. But why stick yourself in the middle of a war that will happen? He has no control unless…"

Chelsea sighed, "Unless he betrays somebody."

Clay nodded, "He has to betray the person who gives him something he will need more than the other…"

The group sat in silence for a while longer and Cougar spoke, "He's going to assassinate the President."