DEBRIEF: Leviathan

3:00 A.M. to 4:00 A.M.

3:00 A.M. EST

Somewhere Over Virginia

Jack looked out into the dark sky, observing the clouds passing them. He couldn't wait any longer; he approached the cargo door. Approaching the opening of the plane, he activated his night vision goggles. It took him a few seconds to adjust his eyes to green perspective of the sky. The little amount of light came into focus and he could barely see the plane half a mile below him. It would be one daring jump.

Taking a deep breath, he ran into the air. It was a wonderful sensation to feel that moment of weightlessness. He felt light and his empty stomach was quite twisted by the lack of gravity. But the sudden pull on his body jerked him back into reality. He quickly descended down towards the earth, gravity having its hold on him once more.

He opened up his arms and legs to reduce the speed he was dropping. But it wouldn't matter since in a matter of seconds he would reach his terminal velocity. Jack could already see a few men successfully landing on the plane while others had missed their opportunity to make contact. Then he realized the plane was starting to get farther away from him.

Even though he was catching up to Alaric's plane, it was moving faster horizontally. Jack then brought his arms to his sides and closed his legs. He started to pick up even more speed and directed himself towards the plane.

The cold air made his body numb. The sensation in his hands and feet were starting to leave him. His heart was racing, trying to pump blood through his body under all the pressure changes. The goggles were fogging up, but he could still manage to see enough. His oxygen was starting to run low, but he still had sufficient amount if he were to miss the plane. But he wouldn't, he couldn't.

The plane was getting closer, a mere hundred feet or so from him. He had managed to surpass it by about 20 yards before he was leveling with it. Tilting his head back, Jack realized this was his moment to make connection with the plane.

He pulled roughly on his parachute cord. It burst open severely: knocking the wind out of him. There was a sudden tug on Jack's back. He opened up his legs and arms caused by the pull on his back. The parachute knocked him off balance as he started to slow down. Jack looked down and saw the metal panels of the plane.

He hit the top of the plane hard. Pulling the third cord, the parachute was released from his back. He started to feel himself slip and roll from the air resistance and wind speed. Jack bent down quickly and activated the gravity supports around his ankle. He felt excessive weight build on his legs. It didn't stop him from almost falling over, but he was able to keep his ground. The wind was blowing hard: its screams and shouts roaring past his ears.

Jack bent close to the plane and turned around, facing its tail. He could see Ryan and a few other soldiers waiting for him and the others. Jack looked up and saw two more men making their landing. He moved quickly to Ryan as the others landed just as hard as him onto the plane. Ryan waved at him rather childlike and looked down at the escape hatch.

Ryan looked around, counting the soldiers who had land successfully on the plane—eight—and stared at the hatch. He nodded to one of his men and the Sgt. Meyers started to open the hatch. It was hard to open due to the wind and speed of the plane, but he managed to rip it open. Ryan quickly jumped in, followed by Jack and the other soldiers. When Sgt. Meyers managed to get himself inside the plane, he closed the hatch with great difficulty.

Jack pulled off the goggles and removed his oxygen mask. Wiping his eyes he looked around at the other soldiers. The number of soldiers who made it into the plane surprised Jack. The thing that interested him more was that they seemed to be alive with energy and anticipation. Jack was breathing hard, trying to get used to sudden drop in altitude, but he would be okay in a matter of seconds.

While the others were catching their breath, Ryan was searching the room. It was small and dark, but there were a few lights in the room. He was securing the room, making sure no one in the plane had noticed their infiltration of the plane.

After disappearing for a few minutes, Ryan came back to the group. He too was breathing harshly. "Okay," he began, "None of them seemed to have noticed our entry." He wiped his forehead with his sleeve and removed the mask covering his hair. The others did the same and removed the unneeded gear that was weighing them down.

"Good," Jack replied. "We need to move now."

"Not just yet Jack."

"Ryan, if we don't take control in the next few hours, the Raptors will shoot us down."

"I know that, Jack. But we can't rush in just yet."

"Fine. How are we going to this?"

"Okay, first we're going to set up surveillance throughout the plane with fiber optics and mini cameras. After we figure out their patrol grid, we'll flank them and take them out. By the end of the hour we will make our move. Sound good?"

"Yeah, sure. Lets go, we don't have any more time to waste." Ryan nodded. Then they started moving, getting everything ready. Jack walked into a small corner that had some light and looked down at his hands. They were shaking slightly. It was a weird feeling and it concerned him. Then he concentrated as hard as he, trying to stop the shaking. After a few seconds of seclusion, he regained control of his hands. He his head slowly—closing his eyes—and took a deep breath.

3:17 A.M. EST

Over The North Carolina Border

Alaric was refilling his glass with whine. The plane continued to shake a little but he didn't show much care. He was actually enjoying himself. His demeanor was condescending, his relaxed posture was insulting, and his enjoyment was revolting. Audrey stopped talking to him a long time. All she was doing now was waiting for all of this to end.

She was fogging her window severely. It took her a few seconds to realize that she couldn't even see night clouds through it. A weird feeling overtook her. She couldn't stop thinking about everything that had happened in the past with her and Jack. Audrey felt remorseful of how their relationship ended and picked up several times.

Then she carefully turned her head towards Alaric. Audrey studied him slowly and looked at his bandages. He was already in need of fresh bandages. Blood was starting to penetrate the gauze wrappings. Then she looked at the end of the cabin and saw a few guards posted near the bathrooms. Audrey could tell they were tired. One was having trouble keeping his eyes open while the other yawned frequently. She figured they'd be the easiest to disarm if she made an attempt on Alaric's life. But would she actually succeed?

3:24 A.M. EST

Somewhere Over North Carolina

Jack carefully moved through the cargo room. They had already left to gather information on the number of terrorists and their positions throughout the plane. Jack started to pace. It was annoying action and he found it very stupid. Pacing was not productive nor did he ever find it very helpful or educational. He never had an epiphany or a realization while pacing.

He sighed and turned towards the door. Then the rusted doorknob started to shake. Jack drew his pistol instinctively and walked towards the door. None of the soldiers or Ryan left through it, so that meant one of the terrorists was coming. He moved slowly behind the opening of the door.

The door started to open. Jack took a silent breath and held his gun as if he was going to use it for melee combat. He could see the barrel of the AK-47 behind the door. The mercenary was moving very slowly into the room. Jack figured the man was just exploring the plane and never expected a black ops team to inside the plane.

The mercenary moved into room the quietly. The barrel that was visible from behind soon turned into a weapon held by one of Alaric's men. Jack looked down and saw the man's right shoe stepping into the room. Then Jack quickly placed his gun in his holster and drew his knife. The man's left foot came up to his right. He was now standing fully in the room—unaware of Jack's presence.

Jack exhaled softly and prepared to take the man's life. But before he could, his left hand started to shake again. Jack grimaced and tried to retake control of it. The mercenary was stepping closer into the room. Soon he'd realize what was going on. It was too late; the man raised his gun when he saw the bags and equipment on the floor. Jack grabbed the man's mouth, covering it and muffling his screams. His right hand raised the knife to his throat and he slit it quickly. The blood quickly drained out of the cut and Jack carefully placed the man on the floor. He drew his gun and slowly checked the hallway. After feeling it was safe, he walked backwards into the room and closed the door.

3:30 A.M. EST

Central Avenue, Washington DC

Cassandra stepped out of her SUV. They had stopped about 3 blocks away from Aayan Kabul's hideout. She walked started to head for one the streets parallel with the intersection where the building was. Her team followed her obediently. The street started to curve around a small circular building opposite of Kabul's building. Cassandra paused for a second and she radioed Chloe.

"Chloe?"

"Yeah, I'm here."

"Can you rescan Kabul's hideout and send me the readings to my PDA."

"Sure. Give me a few seconds."

"Okay, thanks." Cassandra turned the corner, with her agents following her. She could see the lights coming from Kabul's building. It was faint from where they were, but it gave enough light to see everything in front of them.

"Cassandra, I'm sending you the image right now." Cassandra pulled out her PDA. After a few seconds of waiting, the image of Kabul's building displayed onto her screen.

"I got it." Cassandra replied. She looked down at the building schematics and studied the heat signatures. Then she turned to her men and started informing them of the situation. "Okay, I've got a final count of men in Kabul's building. There are 16 terrorists. Four of them are upstairs, eight in the back of the house, and four more spread out in the living room. I want a sniper positioned on the rooftop of the adjacent building." She pointed at a tall, red building. One of the CIA agents nodded in agreement and started to move towards it. Then she continued, "The rest of us will split up into two teams. Team B will secure a perimeter around the building to capture any terrorists trying to escape. Team A will come with me to recapture Kabul and his men. Understand?"

3:37 A.M. EST

Somewhere Over North Carolina

"What happened?" Ryan asked as he came back from collecting information about Alaric's men. There was a lot of sweat pouring down his thin face. He was out of breath from all the climbing and it was obvious that he was tired due to lack of sleep.

"One of Alaric's mercenaries walked in," Jack explained, "I had to silence him. If he found out about us, we'd all be dead." He sat down, cleaning his knife.

"It's okay Jack, I understand. Well, we're getting the cameras set up and then we'll have a clear idea of what we're facing." Ryan sat against the wall—opposite of Jack—on a small cardboard box. He pulled out one of the small water containers on his side and poured the cool, refreshing water down his faces and head.

"When will everything be done?"

"In about 20 minutes. Then we'll create a plan that will best suit the situation."

"Are you sure we can waste that much time?"

"It's not wasting if we can devise a plan that will work."

"I know, but we just don't have enough time. In less then an hour, those F-22's will shoot us down over the South Carolina coast."

"Don't underestimate us, Jack. We'll get the job done." Jack didn't say anything else. All he did was stare deep into Ryan's eyes. The awkward silence between was broken when one of the marines entered the small room from one of the opened air vents. He dropped down to the floor quietly and pulled out a small monitor out of one of the side pockets on his leg.

"Okay, sir. We'll have the cameras in the first cabin online in a few minutes. Number two, three, and four are still getting fixed. When they're done, we'll be able to see all the main points of the airplane all at once."

"Good," Ryan responded as he walked over to the marine. "Lets see if the cameras are working, get me a visual from Camera 1." The marine nodded and started to tweak the back of the monitor. Jack saw the marine type in a code, 1-5-3-2, and then he turned it back around. He pulled out a small antenna from the side of it and pressed the screen. It was a touch screen and the digital monitor split into 4 different screens. The marine then pressed his index finger on the top-left screen hard. Then the video being transferred from the Camera 1 was displayed.

Jack pulled out a similar monitor from his backpack. He studied the back of it and realized he had to open it. He pressed the lock mechanism and the slid slowly off. Jack then entered the same code, 1-5-3-2. Flipping it back around, he also turned it on like the marine did. The same split-screen displayed on to the monitor and he softly touched the top-left part. Then the same video appeared on his monitor.

"Okay," Ryan spoke to the marine, "What are we looking at?"

"Well, this is as close as we could get to the pilot's cabin without being detected. It's the cabin where Alaric Amery is currently located." Hearing this, Jack studied it carefully. He could see everyone in the small cabin, but it was hard to distinguish faces. Then he saw her. It was Audrey. She was sitting opposite of Alaric.

"It's Audrey." Jack said to himself, but it was loud enough for Ryan and the others to hear.

"What?"

3:45 A.M. EST

Kabul's Hideout, Washington DC

Cassandra paused before crossing the street. She looked to the right of the street and then the left, making sure it was cured. Gripping her gun tightly, she quickly ran across the street. As she ran, her team of agents followed her quickly.

The narrow alley behind Kabul's hideout was dark and smelled of something rotten. The odor was enough to almost make Cassandra gag. To stop her self, she took her left hand and covered her both, biting hard on her glove. When they approached the windows, she started bent down and reduced her speed to a fast walk. Her men copied her exactly. She stopped under one of the windows, light was protruding through the window curtains. Voices could be heard through the thin walls, however they were muffled to understand.

Two of her agents kept their positions, waiting for Cassandra and the others to get into position. Cassandra continued to move through the alleyway and finally came to its end. She looked to the right and then the left to make sure it was clear. Cassandra then turned to the left and moved carefully along the wall.

The front door was about 10 yards away from their current position. They moved quickly and silently to the door, light could also be seen piercing through the glass windows. She turned around and saw the other agents moving into their positions around the building.

"Okay, are the teams ready?" she whispered softly through the radio. There were quiet responses through the radio for about three or so minutes. They were all finally ready. Cassandra pulled the radio closely to her mouth. "Chloe?"

"Yeah?" She responded.

"Have the terrorists moved at all in the past 10 minutes?"

"No, Cassandra."

"Okay, get ready to turn off the electricity to this block."

"I'll be waiting."

"Everyone, activate your night vision."

3:57 A.M. EST

Somewhere Over North Carolina

Alaric swirled the whine in his glass slowly, admiring the curves and ripples created by the friction with the glass and the motion of his wrist. He was quite amazed by the affects produced by the simple twisting of his hand.

"So," he began playfully, "we'll be over South Carolina in about half an hour, I heard its beaches are quite beautiful during the sunrise."

"Why would I care?" Audrey asked sarcastically.

"Oh, don't be like that Audrey. Soon the sun will be up and the show will begin."

To be continued...