Hereford, 1530 hours, Mac's office…
"Ultranationalist chatter has been through the roof over the last 24 hours, since the capture of Darim Al-Aran and the recovery of the hacked files." Mac said to Soap, Price, Melissa and Rook "Ursa is reportedly furious, and has ordered the hit of another target."
"Who is it?" Price asked and Mac shook his head.
"We only know a codename – The Mechanist."
"That's so cliché." Melissa scoffed and Mac's lips quirked a little.
"Because you were busy, Melissa, I asked Connie O'Toole to do a search. We were able to access CIA and MI5 files, and discovered that the Mechanist is at Camp Southern."
"Camp Southern? So the Mechanist is an inventor?" Melissa flashed back to her own experiences at the "camp", in actuality a highly top-secret facility where some of the newest toys and code cracks were created. It had to outward appearance of a corporate, glass skyscraper, which stuck out like a sore thumb a few kilometres outside of London.
"According to the documents, the Mechanist has been locked away at the camp for the past six weeks, working on classified material. As you all know, some of our most advanced equipment is made and stored there."
"If Ursa grabs the Mechanist she could force him to give up schematics or make things for her." Rook pointed out and Mac nodded.
"We assume that Ursa has an inside source, she never would have been able to gather the information otherwise. But we don't think she wants the Mechanist for herself – she wants to kill him. If that happens we lose a creative genius responsible for making some of the tools that have earned us many victories."
"Take out the brain, you take out the production line." Melissa said "What are we going to do?"
"If there is indeed a mole in the camp, we don't want to spook him, but all parties agree that we need to get the Mechanist out of there. Melissa has been at Camp Southern before, so her presence won't arouse suspicion. She'll go undercover to work as a brain again, and I'll get special passes for the rest of you brutes. Make sure to remain inconspicuous."
"When do we make way?" Price asked.
"0600 tomorrow morning. Should things go as planned, you get the Mechanist out within 24 hours and bring him to Hereford."
Soap and Melissa's house, 1930 hours…
"Come on you bastards! That was the best opportunity you had!" Soap yelled at the football on the television and he heard his fiancée giggle in the background "Pathetic wankers." He muttered and chugged the rest of his beer.
"Don't be too harsh John." He looked around to see her smirking and knew that she was mockingly patronising him "It's just a game."
"It's the first game of the year! How can they get that bad in such a short amount of time?!" he asked as she walked around the couch and sat on his lap. Melissa sighed and laced her hands together at the back of his neck.
"Not everyone can have your perfect conditioning, sweetie. Now," she took the beer bottle out of his hand and placed it on the coffee table "save your energy for dragging me out of bed at 5am tomorrow. I depend on you for getting me to places on time."
"Who else would be your knight in shining armour?" he teased and she raised an eyebrow.
"Well, I always thought that Rook was quite the gentlemen – whoa!" Soap had stood abruptly, taking her in his arms as he went and started walking to their room.
"I show you what I real gentlemen I can be." He growled and he distinctly felt her shiver before she quickly recovered.
"Well, I do like my men scruffier around the edges." He felt Melissa rub his five o'clock stubble and struggled not to smirk. "Oh, wait! I didn't finish the dishes!"
"Later."
Camp Southern, location classified, 0843 hours…
"Miss Morton, welcome back to our humble abode."
"Professor Parish, thank you for having me." Melissa smiled back at the middle aged man who Soap thought looked like Einstein if he knew how to use hair product "This is Major MacTavish, Major Price and Lieutenant Creed."
"Ah, yes, I hear you all make quite an industrious little war machine." The professor smiled, but none of the men returned it "Um, well then, should we get going?"
"Yes, please." The four followed the older man off the tarmac and into two jeeps, where they drove to an imposing seven storey glass building. The camp was a little village, with the tower at the centre and several barracks which housed personal quarters. The camp was equipped with its own airfield with five planes, enough to fly all staff away in the event of an emergency. Soap made tactical notes in his head while Price drove, noting that there wasn't a lot of cover in the event of an attack. A few minutes later everyone was in the professor's office, with Melissa being the only one of the team sitting across the highly polished oak desk. "I must admit, the message I received yesterday was rather troubling. I assume you'll be carrying out this -" Price held up his hand to quiet the professor and Soap noticed his eyes slowly searching the room. So he wasn't the only one who thought so. He zeroed in on the bachelor's award behind Professor Parish's desk and motioned Soap to move. Soap walked around and took the frame off the wall and turned it around, where it revealed a black square with a wire coming out of the side. Parish opened his mouth but Melissa shook her head, causing him to close it. Price and Rook then split, both of them finding one in the bookshelf and the console table. "My God…"
"The device says that's all of them." Melissa declared, looking at her interactive wrist mount that was hidden under her sleeve. "How did you guys know?"
"My spidey senses tingled." Price quipped and crushed the last bug under his shoe "So know we know for sure there's a mole. As for your earlier question, Professor Parish, we aim to be discreet, though if it boils down to it, "quiet" can't be guaranteed. Where is the Mechanist located?"
"On the top two floors, where we have the prototypes in final development before they go to other labs for construction. The Mechanist is only here for another week, how do the Ultranationalists even know -"
"Their numbers may be diminished but they have eyes and ears everywhere. Do you have any idea who the mole may be?"
"None! The security guards are rotated every six weeks and the most of the permanent staff have been here before the beginning of World War Three!"
"Well, someone is squealing, otherwise we wouldn't be in this lovely establishment crushing bugs. We need to get the Mechanist and move as soon as we can."
"Unfortunately, you can't right now." Parish took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose "I have three developers, including the Mechanist, on a bender."
"On a what?" Soap questioned.
"It's when they trap the brains in a box for 72 hours to squeeze the brilliance out of them. More or less." Melissa explained "I'm not doing one of those again, that's for sure."
"Miss Morton is correct, though somewhat exaggerating. We place our developers on the sixth floor, which is locked down for 72 hours so that they can concentrate on bringing out new ideas and improving old ones. Some of our best tools have been made because of this."
"When do they get out?" Melissa asked.
"In about two hours."
"Price, the Mechanist will be exhausted after his little tech orgy. We can't afford for him to be lagging behind." Rook pointed out and Soap saw Melissa roll her eyes at the "orgy" comment.
"We'll make sure he keeps the pace. In the meantime this gives us an opportunity to plan our escape. They'll be onto us now that we've cut off their ears." Melissa took a bug off the floor and examined it.
"This is a transmitting bug, not just a recording one. Someone was definitely listening in. Oh shit."
"What?!" Price demanded.
"The bug can transmit in real time and has a warning system in case of damage." Soap and Price looked at each other. The mole could have received instructions the moment they destroyed them and could be on their way to the target.
"Could someone have been warned?"
"With this model? Most likely."
"Alright, change of plans, we're stopping the bender early and getting the Mechanist out of here. Professor, call ahead and tell the ground crew to fire up the plane and make sure there's transport ready to get us to the tarmac."
"Take this." The professor took a grey card out of his top desk drawer and handed it to Melissa "It will allow you to access the sixth floor."
"Soap, Melissa, go ahead, Rook and I will make sure the arrangements are made properly." Melissa nodded and didn't wait for her fiancé as she walked out of the office and down the hall towards the elevator. She pressed the call button and the doors immediately opened and she stepped in, but was startled by Soap's voice –
"Mel, wait!" she thought that he was right behind her, but he must have been held up by Price giving him instructions. Melissa hit the door open button but it did the exact opposite and the doors closed, no matter how hard she hit the button. She heard Soap curse loudly and felt the adrenaline begin to rush through her body. The lights suddenly shut off which made the rush worse.
"John!" she shouted, pounding the doors.
"Melissa! Are you okay?!" his voice was muffled by the doors.
"Yeah, but no matter how hard I tried the doors closed on their own! The emergency lights are on and the elevator's not moving!" she heard another voice calling out faintly and she heard Soap call back to it, relaying what she told him. There was a small moment of conversation before he called out again.
"Parish thinks someone's disabled the elevators and the emergency stair doors are locked! The mole's probably in the security office a few buildings over!"
"I'm heading up through the elevator shaft!"
"No, it's too dangerous!"
"You would do it!" there was no response to that "There could be another mole on his way to kill the Mechanist right now, I have to get there before he does!"
"Alright! But be careful!"
"I will!" Melissa walked to the corner and pulled the emergency manual latch. A panel in the roof opened and small metal ladder slid down. Melissa wasted no time climbing out of the metal box to the shaft and looked up. It seemed like a bit of a climb, and the dark grey concrete only made it look less appealing. With a huff of breath she re-adjusted the satchel on her back and walked to the ladder on the wall to begin her ascent. By the third floor she noticed frantic voices echoing into the shaft. The employees had caught on that something was wrong and were now like rats trapped in a maze. "Come on, faster!" she mumbled to herself and continued to climb until she reached level six. Melissa was wondering how she was going to pry the door open when she noticed a card access slot, like one she noticed in the elevator before Soap got locked out. "They're so paranoid." She muttered and pulled the access card Parish gave her out of her pants pocket. She pushed it into the slot and was rewarded with a green light and the doors opening. Melissa climbed into the hallway and noticed red lights blinking on the walls. Parish must have triggered some kind of alarm. Melissa pulled her sidearm out of her satchel and looked around in time to see a man dressed in black security fatigues rounding the corner and before she knew it they were pointing weapons at each other and sizing each other up.
"Stand down! I'm with the SAS!" she called out and she saw something flicker in the guards' eyes.
"You don't sound like it." he replied in a rough voice. There was a pause before she replied.
"That's what they all say." And she shot twice, sending him to the floor. Melissa remembered that nobody, not even security, were permitted in the hallways during "benders". They were only allowed up to the fifth floor. Melissa walked to the bullet-proof glass door at the end of the hall and pushed in the access card in another slot. The doors swept open and Melissa cautiously walked in, gun ready. The room was cluttered with parts on benches and computers. "I'm not here to hurt anyone." She called out to the developers she knew were hiding "I'm with the SAS." It took a few beats but she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She whirled around and aimed but almost immediately dropped her gun. "Jamie Rice?"
"Melissa?" a small statured Asian girl mirrored her shocked expression. Melissa walked over and pulled her friend into a tight hug. "Oh my God!"
"I should have known the Mechanist was you. That's your favourite Jason Statham movie." Melissa laughed. Jamie giggled.
"What are you doing here?" she asked and pulled away a little so that they were looking at each other properly.
"Rescuing you. The Ultranationalists have you on their hit list." Jamie's eyes boggled.
"What?!"
"I'll explain more later, but we have to get you out of here."
"But the others -"
"Will be fine, they aren't being targeted." Melissa cut her off and Jamie's eyes widened. Melissa quickly turned and shot the security guard who was about to take them out.
"There's more than we thought. We can't go out in the hallway."
"Then we go out the window." she heard her friend say in a-matter-of-fact voice and Melissa turned to her with a confused look on her face. Jamie was standing next to a bench, grabbing things and putting stuff in a satchel like hers.
"Okay, I know how tough benders are but you've clearly lost your mind."
"Nuh uh." Jamie pulled up what looked like a grapple gun. "We can take a five second trip down to the ground floor."
"I'll cut the glass, you get them ready." Melissa ordered and Jamie nodded. Melissa heard her scurrying around the lab while she cut an "X" into a floor-to-ceiling window. After that was done Melissa glanced around for…perfect. Locking her core and making sure her stance was firm, Melissa hurled one of the nearby computer monitors out the window, effectively creating an opening.
"Stand back." Melissa turned around to see Jamie holding a black tube in her hands and didn't question her, rather moving back a few steps before Jamie threw the tube, which made a loud "pop" sound and Melissa was amazed to see thick black rope shoot out of it in both directions. "The top should be latched on to the roof, we can slide down now."
"How did you – never mind, you can tell me all the juicy details later." Melissa motioned Jamie to go first and she obeyed. Melissa poked her head out to see her friend slide down the rope safely and quickly followed. Once they were on the ground Melissa grabbed her phone and called her fiancé.
"Melissa! Are you alright?" was his immediate question before she could get a word in.
"John, I'm fine. I have the Mechanist, where are you?"
"We're heading back to the main block, whoever shut off the elevator is long gone but they left a few bodies behind. Parish is waiting for you at the front of the building, he'll be taking you to the plane." That made Melissa pause and she held Jamie back with her.
"What about you?" she heard Soap take a prepatory breath, and she knew that he was going to say something she wouldn't like.
"Price, Rook and I are staying behind."
"WHAT?! John, no! What the hell -"
"Mac just gave us orders! You're needed back at Hereford!" That made her quiet. It must be urgent if Mac was pulling her "The boys and I have to stay and clean up the mess. If all goes well I'll see you the day after tomorrow."
"Okay. But I don't like it."
"I know. I love you."
"I love you too. Be safe." And with that Melissa closed her phone, and she felt her facial muscles contort against her will. She saw Jamie examining her out of the corner of her eye. Before she could ask anything, Melissa said – "Let's go." She pulled her friend along to the front of the building where, true to Soap's word, Parish was pulling around in a BMW.