Kate tried not to feel nervous and anxious as she sat on the bus with Alejandro, Isabel, and Sasha later that night. She kept feeling like they were being watched, and she kept thinking they weren't going to get out of here alive, not with Carlos hunting her down.
"Relax," Alejandro murmured, resting his hand on her jiggling knee. "You'll blow it."
"How are you so calm?" she asked. They hadn't spoken to each other much since they left the others earlier that day. She was still feeling angry at him.
"I have to be," he replied, not looking at her.
She said nothing else but clenched her jaw tightly. She wanted this to be over. When a man approached them, she felt her heart sink, for she did not like the look on his face. Then Alejandro was grabbed and yanked up, and another man pointed his gun at Kate and the girls, gesturing for them to stand. She knew the gig was up, and she worked hard not to cry. She gripped Sasha's hand tightly as they moved.
They all walked off the bus and were immediately apprehended by cartel members. Sasha was screaming, as was Isabel. Kate did her best to fight but got punched in the face for it. Her mind was racing as they taped her hands. She didn't want to die like this.
But it seemed it was just meant to be.
...
Lee bounced from the bumps on the road as they drove, the darkness falling around them. Barney was quiet and thoughtfully smoking his cigar, one hand on the wheel. His phone rang, and he answered it.
"Hey, Tool," he said. "What's up?"
Lee watched as Barney listened carefully, his face changing.
"All right," he said. "We're on it."
"What's happened?" Lee asked.
"Carlos has moved," Barney answered. He pulled up his GPS. "Tool is sending us the new coordinates."
Lee felt unsettled for some reason. He didn't know why. He just had this sense that something was wrong. He hoped it wasn't Kate.
...
Kate was crammed in the backseat with Sasha, Isabel, and a cartel member, their faces duct taped. Alejandro had been taken out and was being half carried, half dragged towards a circle of cartel members. Kate knew it wasn't going to be good. Even though she was angry at him, she didn't want him to die.
Sasha was still crying, and Kate didn't know how to console her when she herself didn't even know what was going to happen to them and felt terrified. She watched as Alejandro was thrown to the ground and a boy was handed a gun. She felt sick to her stomach. How could they make a boy kill someone? She kept watching, unable to stop. When the boy couldn't do it, the cartel member shot and killed him. Kate couldn't help but make a noise of shock, and the cartel member beside her chuckled.
"I think we'll keep you around for a bit," he said to her, touching her face. Kate jerked her head away. He kept laughing as she watched another boy come forward, take the gun, and aim it at Alejandro's head. The gun blast went through her heart, as did Isabel's muffled screams. The men all laughed and dispersed, and the cars got started up. Kate felt a tear go down her face as they tore off into the night. She couldn't get the sight of Alejandro's still body out of her mind.
...
Lee's bad feeling wouldn't leave him alone. They'd been driving all night. Tool changed the coordinates for Carlos twice. The man was clearly on the move and fast. Lee didn't know where he was going.
"Can we check on Kate?" he asked. "She hasn't texted me to let me know she's okay."
"She still have my phone?" Barney countered.
"She should."
"All right. Toll, track it," Barney instructed. Toll did so, and he made a noise of concern.
"What?" Lee asked.
"She's still in Mexico," he said. "Moving back into Mexico, in fact. I thought she was going to the border?"
"Shit," Lee said. "Something's wrong."
"How far are we from it?" Barney asked.
"Not that far," Toll replied, surprised. "It's on the same road as us, actually. Coming up behind us."
Barney hit the brakes, and everyone jerked forward. He pulled over and took the screen from Toll.
"They're going to Carlos," he reasoned. "They're on the same path we are. They're taking Kate to him."
"We'll be waiting for 'em," Doc said from the back. "Right?"
"Yea," Barney agreed. "We gotta put Carlos on hold for now. Again."
"Bastard," Lee growled. The man just seemed to keep getting lucky. He hated it.
"I'll pull up here," Barney said. "We'll wait for them. We'll get her back."
Lee certainly hoped so. The sun was coming up now, and he was tired, but the adrenaline was keeping him awake. He just wanted this to be over.
...
They had driven all night. Kate was still beside Sasha and Isabel. The tape had been removed from the girls during the night. They left Kate's hands bound, though, but at least she could talk again, not that she wanted to. The cartel member that had been beside them was now sitting in the hatch watching them. She had no idea where they were going, but she knew it wasn't going to be good. Then, a helicopter passed them very low to the ground.
The driver started speaking rapidly in Spanish. When the helicopter landed on the road in front of them, Kate knew something was about to go down. When the driver got shot, Kate did her best to push Isabel down out of the way. Sasha buried herself behind Kate, hiding from view and crying loudly. The guy in the back was shouting and waving his gun when the back door was yanked open.
Matt Graver killed him instantly.
Kate looked at him, and he stared back at her with eyes that were empty and void of emotion. He moved on to the truck behind them, and yelled at the men in the box to stand up. Kate flinched and gasped when he shot them all unarmed. He stormed back and went to grab Isabel, who was shell shocked at this point and didn't protest at all.
"What are you doing?" Kate demanded. He ignored her.
"Matt!" a guy shouted. "You're screwing us all! She said clean it up!"
"Screw them. I'm putting her in WITSEC," Matt retorted. Kate managed to get out of the SUV, urging Sasha to come with her, and stood watching. Sasha hid behind Kate, holding her shirt tightly in her hands.
"What about her?" the guy called after Matt, who set Isabel down inside the helicopter before turning and coming back.
"What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded, glaring at Kate.
"I got caught up in your mess, yet again," Kate replied hotly.
"Do I need to kill you, Kate?" Matt asked, pointing his gun at her.
"No," Kate shook her head.
"You tell a soul, and I mean one soul, I will find you and kill you and anyone you told," Matt threatened.
"I won't," Kate said. "I have to get a kidnapped girl back to her mother. I'm an FBI agent, Matt, you can't just murder me!"
"What girl?" Matt demanded.
"This girl," Kate said, moving to reveal a cowering Sasha. Another CIA agent had his hand on the girl's shoulder now. Kate hadn't seen him come up behind her. It startled her a little.
"Sasha?!" he exclaimed.
"Daddy!" she shrieked.
Then Kate realized what Carlos had done. He'd kidnapped Matt's daughter to get his revenge if anything happened to Isabel. No wonder he was hanging onto her and making sure she was easily tracked.
Matt was clearly beyond furious.
"What the f*** is my daughter doing down here?" he asked, outraged.
"Carlos Reyes kidnapped her," Kate answered. "Then me because he thought I knew where you were with his daughter, Isabel, since I've worked with you in the past."
"How could this have happened?" Matt asked, the question directed at no one in particular. Sasha moved out of the agent's grasp and towards him now, arms outstretched. He grabbed her and lifted her into his arms, and she started to cry.
"Dad," she sobbed.
"Oh, baby. I'm so sorry," he said, rocking her. He shot Kate a look and started to walk away.
"Hey!" she called after him. "I have to take her back to her mother! No one mentioned a father, let alone that it was you!"
"Just because I haven't seen her in six years doesn't mean I'm not her father," Matt shot back. "You want to stop me? Go ahead. I'll make you regret it." Kate stared at him, and he turned away from her once more and stormed towards the helicopter. She realized he was abandoning her down here, making her find her own way home. She didn't know where her phone was. One of the cartel men had taken it from her. She dreaded searching the dead bodies for it.
The helicopter left, and she started to walk to the dead men. She heard another vehicle approaching, though, and she felt scared. Who was coming after her now? Then, a van she recognized came barreling towards her.
"Kate!" Lee shouted, jumping out before it barely stopped and running towards her. She started to cry as he pulled her into his arms. She had never been so happy to see someone in her life.
"We tracked your phone when you didn't check in with me," Lee said. "We were waiting up ahead to rescue you, but when you stopped, we came to investigate. What happened?"
"Graver," she said. "He took the girls. He left me here."
"Why did he take the girls?"
"He's putting Isabel into WITSEC, and Sasha is his daughter," she told him. He was blown away by that news, like she had been.
"He just left you here," he said then, angry.
"He doesn't like me very much," Kate reasoned. Lee noticed her hands were still taped up then, so he pulled out his knife and cut her loose. She rubbed her wrists tenderly, looking back at all the dead bodies.
"What the hell did he do?" Lee asked, looking as well.
"Cleaned up a mess," she answered. She gave Lee a meaningful look, and he seemed to understand she wasn't going to say anymore about it.
"We didn't get Carlos," Lee said, changing the subject. "He's fled the country. Tool just told us."
Kate felt more emotion bubbling up, but she kept it down. She was so tired. She wanted to go home. She wanted to put it all in the past.
She wanted to recover.
"Come on," Lee said, putting his arm around her and escorting her to the van where the Expendable team was waiting. "Let's get you home."
She couldn't get there soon enough.
...
Lee looked back at the now sleeping Kate as Barney flew them home. She had gone out instantly as soon as he'd gotten her settled on the makeshift cot. Toll was keeping an eye on her as well. The others were either sleeping or sharpening knives/cleaning guns.
"That was some real hardcore bullshit," Barney commented. He sipped his beer after.
"Has Tool figured out where Carlos has gone?" Lee asked.
"No."
"Shit," Lee muttered. He didn't want to have to keep looking over his shoulder for that guy.
"He'll pop up on our radar again one day," Barney said. "And when he does, we'll get him."
"I worry he's going to come after Kate," Lee confessed. "I don't want her to be alone right now."
"So stay with her," Barney suggested, looking at him. "I know you two have a thing going on right now anyway."
"She might not want me to," Lee said.
"Oh, I think she will," Barney argued. "You've been the only constant since this shit started. She'll need that comfort right now."
"You'll be fine without me for a while?"
"I know where to find you," Barney replied with a grin. Lee nodded slowly, smiling a little as well. Of course he would.
"All right. Then it's settled. Just keep me in the loop," Lee added.
"Will do."
Lee looked back at Kate again, and he felt himself falling hard for this woman. He didn't know what the future was going to hold for the two of them, but he was just going to take it one day at a time because it was all he could do.