The girl burst through the doors of the infirmary and dashed to the main office floor, all while dialling the number of Fox. He had been in charge of making sure everyone was accounted for. How could he have made such an error? The number rang once, twice, three times and went to voicemail. Panic was something Chloe had learned to control, but it was a struggle. Her fingers felt clumsy and fat on the touch screen. She managed to call Jones, who picked up immediately.
"Summon an emergency meeting. Something's wrong."
"Tell me."
"I can't find Christie and Fox is MIA. Jones, I have such a bad feeling. Get everyone in one place and we can work this out."
"Meet me in the conference room," the woman said and hung up.
Several seats were already filled by the time Chloe got there. Wolf refused to sit, pacing around like the worried parent of a missing child. No doubt he felt responsible. The rest of his team waited patiently, though their taught brows and pursed lips gave away their anxiety. Chloe couldn't sit still either. Every moment they spent waiting was another Christie moved closer to death. Jones, Blunt and Alex, who was presumably still with the deputy, hadn't arrived yet. Chloe couldn't keep her mouth shut until then.
"When did you last see him?" she demanded, sounding more accusatory than she had intended.
"We split off after the initial raid, leading other teams in the sweep," said Eagle quietly.
"And you didn't notice he hadn't come back?"
"Hey- he's a grown man! We're a team, not a support group," Snake argued, fist clenched on the tabletop, "we all just assumed he'd gone back in a different car."
Chloe bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from saying something more inflammatory. She willed herself to remain calm. It was just a mistake, a lapse in judgement. For now, they had to focus on righting it.
Jones entered, shadowed by Alex. Blunt soon followed, taking the seat at the head of the oval table.
"We've got no time," Chloe began, standing at the other end of the table, eyeing the man at the head, "Christie and Fox are unaccounted for. Vaughn and Yassen must have grabbed them somehow. That is if they are even still alive."
"Calm down, Hartford," Blunt said evenly.
"And what about the boyfriends of the victims?" she added, not heeding his advice, "please tell me you've kept your eye on them."
"We left that to the police. They are more than capable."
"We need to know where they all are- now."
"Why?" said Jones.
"A bad feeling," Chloe clasped her hands together underneath the table, rubbing where the ring Smithers gave her had been.
Blunt said a few words to another agent, who quickly scurried off.
"And-" Alex jumped in during the silence, "I managed to get it out of Chapman. We suspected it before, but there are more. More women Vaughn took. Women that people wouldn't notice went missing. He didn't know how many, but it could be double what we thought. They kept them in a separate location in case one was compromised."
Chloe squeezed her fingers. It was her fault too. She should have stuck to them, made sure they were alright. Had she not promised they would be safe?
"Is there any possibility at all that Fox went AWOL?" Jones said, "or just isn't answering his phone?"
"None," Wolf assured her.
"Then that leaves us with one option. We have to find Vaughn immediately."
"The eclipse!" Alex said suddenly, "it's tonight."
Chloe swore.
"Vaughn told his followers that it had to be done at the eclipse. He's on the run and desperate. I think he's going to go through with it. I don't think he cares about getting caught anymore."
Just then, Kyra stumbled through the door. She was a little out of breath, hair falling out of her bun and wearing her custom blue-light-blocking glasses.
"What's the news?" Blunt said gravely.
Kyra breathed in and out once, then said, "the police, they don't know where they all are. They had surveillance on them, then suddenly they vanished all at once! I took a look at their records and they're telling the truth."
"You broke into the police's database-" Alex was cut off.
"Never mind that! I bet they're with Vaughn or en route to him."
The room grew silent. Everyone understood what that meant. They had two hours before an unknown number of women were ritually executed, and they had two hours to find them and stop it.
"We still need to find his location," said Blunt, "Kyra, have your team look through police records again. See if there are any reports of reckless driving in the areas that the men lived. Jones, have their landlords called, or their parents if they're living with them. See if they have any idea where they're going."
"That's going to take too long," Chloe protested, "they'll be dead by the time we find anything!"
She squeezed her hands together, sweat moistening her skin. Then she had a thought.
"My ring… it's gone," she whispered, "can anyone get the location of my ring?"
Blunt narrowed his eyes but compiled all the same. There was no time to ask why. The man pulled out his phone and tapped it a few times. An image was screened on the wall behind him from the ceiling projector. It showed a map of London, with street names and stations all labelled in tiny text. The image shifted and suddenly it was showing another location. Around ten miles outside of central London, a place called Chiltern Hill. A little red dot was pulsing in the middle of the screen Unlike central London, which had been a mess of branching roads, the screen was a sea of green.
"It's the nature reserve," Jones said, "how did it get out there?"
"We can think about that later. Unless Smithers made a defective tracking device, I think that's where Vaughn Morton is," Chloe's chest tightened in terrified anticipation. The only person that could have taken the ring was Yassen. He must have taken it during their altercation. So he was there. Chloe shivered, remembering their frenzied battle in the dark. She would have died had it not been for Kyra. She would have to thank her when this was all over.
A great crease formed on Blunt's brow as he thought. The decision would not be easy. Sending in a team would be a disaster if Chloe was wrong. Jones nodded at her superior to show her support.
"Alright. We'll follow the lead. Kyra, investigate everything I said before regardless. Better to be safe."
Wolf rose from his seat first. He was already halfway to the door when Jones told him to ready his team. His face was grim and pulled back into a grimace, as were the rest of the team. Much like Chloe, they were not going to lose one of their own.
Alex followed after them with Chloe at his heels, heading for the armoury.
"Chloe-" Jones stepped in front of her.
"Try and stop me."
"I'm not going to stop you. I was going to tell you," the woman had a confusing look of pride and fear on her features, "good luck."
The bulletproof vest Alex helped strap her into was heavy. However, it was a familiar weight. She'd run these drills before. The other trainees and herself had treated it like a game; who could suit up the fastest? First was the vest, then the ammunition belt. She hesitated before she picked it up. There was a rifle waiting for her in the locker too. There was no time to think. Clipping the belt across her chest, she grabbed the rifle and swung it over her back. Alex lay a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. Each one of them could feel the weight of their equipment.
"The only way we'll reach Chiltern in time is by helicopter," Jones explained to the team. They were riding in a huge black SUV, its windows tinted and bulletproof, "and the nearest helicopter pad is a few minutes away. In the meantime, I want to go over a few things.
"We don't know how armed they will be and we don't know their numbers. Our priority is stealth. We have to assume that any show of force will cause him to harm the hostages. You are to approach the subject undercover and subdue him with non-lethal force. Your side arms contain a potent tranquilizer. This is to be used unless there is no other choice."
"And if there is no other choice?" said Wolf in a tone that said he already knew the answer.
"Then you have permission to use deadly force. I will take responsibility. Our priority is ensuring that every one of those women survives. I trust that each one of you will make the right call when the time comes."
The words 'deadly force' rattled around in Chloe's brain. She still felt as if she were on a training mission, but the weight of her weapon refused to let her believe that completely.
The helicopter landing pad was on the top floor of the police station. The officers and other staff stood aside to let the agents pass. A heaviness hung in the air around them making Chloe feel like she weighed a ton. All eyes were on them. They piled into the lift, shifting their packs and equipment around so that everyone could fit. Chloe watched the numbers climb, her anxiety rising with each floor. The prerecorded voice announced that they had reached the top, allowing the half a dozen agents to pour out like spilt marbles. The helicopter was waiting for them, its pilot already in the cockpit. A fierce wind made Chloe fight for balance and the whirling blades of the helicopter deafened any sound. Jones had accompanied them to the roof, but this was where they'd part ways.
"Take care of them," she shouted to Wolf over the noise of the blades.
She held her coat against the cold, its tail flapping wildly. Chloe hauled herself into the cabin. All the extra equipment made the climb embarrassingly difficult. On her knees, she reached down and pulled Alex after her. They took their seats and strapped in. Headsets were passed down the line and she slipped one on.
"Everyone good to go?" the pilot asked through the headsets.
Wolf laid his rifle across his knees, leaning forward in the seat.
"What do you say, kids? You got this?"
Chloe looked at Alex. His eyes were alert, frightened, determined. No doubt she had a similar appearance. When they both nodded, Wolf signalled to the pilot. Within seconds, they were above the clouds.
"Here's how it's going to happen," said Wolf. His team was focussed and attentive. They had been trained well, "I'll take point. Chloe, you stay right on my heels. Snake will pair up with Alex. Eagle, you have the rear. Like Jones said; this is a stealth mission. We go in quietly and eliminate the target. When we do, I suspect the rest will panic. Be ready for that. We don't know if they will be armed, so treat them all as if they are. Treat every threat as real. Once we have eyes on them all, we take them out all at once. How's your aim?" he directed this at Alex. Wolf knew that Chloe could handle a gun already.
"I get headshots in paintball," he shrugged.
Wolf laughed, sounding more like a grunt.
"That will have to do. Just try not to hit the girls."
"What's the plan for finding Fox?" Eagle asked.
"As much as I hate to say it, eliminating Vaughn and saving the women is the priority. If we see him in the meantime- great, but we can't look for him until everything else is taken care of."
Eagle clenched her slender jaw but did not argue.
"But hey, if we do see him, toss him a gun and he can help us out."
"If he's not got himself out already," Eagle noted.
"There's one more thing and it is more for you two," he said to Chloe and Alex, "as I said, we don't know what the situation will be out there. It might be that non-lethal methods aren't viable. I won't baby you on this. I need to know if you can kill if the time comes."
"I can," each one said, both wondering if the other was lying, unsure if they were lying to themselves.
The pilot dropped them about a mile outside of where Chloe's ring supposedly was. Wolf had been given a device to track it. The red dot that marked where Vaughn was hiding was tantalisingly close. The team hopped one by one from the helicopter into the clearing. It would have been pitch dark if the moon had not been so bright. The stars were out in full force away from the smog and streetlights of London. In every direction was dense woodland- perfect cover. This area of the reserve was less trodden down than others. There were no paths leading through the trees and the earth was littered with rabbit holes and banks that could easily snap an ankle.
"Just like at the Friend's," she whispered to Alex, "playing hide and seek with Rafe."
"Let's hope they don't have shotguns too."
Wolf looked at his wrist, the device diligently showing their location, and signalled to move forward. The girl attached herself to Wolf's shadow, following through the overgrown path. As they entered the treeline, the man crouched a little lower and the rest followed suit. Though they were still a ways off from the destination, care was taken with every step not to make too much noise. It was better to be extra careful to protect the element of surprise. As they slunk through the woods, Chloe's thoughts turned to Yassen. He had to have taken the ring. Did he know about the tracking device, or was it a trophy from their violent encounter? Or was it just an accident? The girl didn't doubt that he was back to full capacity already, despite the injection of sedative he'd been given. It didn't seem possible for something like that to take him down.
Chloe was pulled away from her thoughts when she smelt fire. Thick and ashy, the scent lingered in the air like a fog. Wolf raised his fist and brought the group to a stop. They hadn't been travelling for more than a few minutes at most. The man pointed through the trees.
"You see that?"
Through the dark trunks was a strange green glow, almost white in their night vision goggles.
"They've built a fire," he said, "I guess they're passed subtly at this point. Move up."
The team didn't reach the next clearing for another five minutes. As they approached, they could hear the shouts and cheers of several men, and the shrieks of several women. Chloe tried to discern Christie or Fox's voice, but it was impossible. Then Wolf looked back on his group, one final look to make sure everyone was ready. They all nodded. Wolf got down on his stomach and crawled along the ground, his sidearm gripped in one hand. Chloe followed, the earthy smell of the forest mercifully interrupting the smell of smoke. The rifle weighed on her back and she wondered if she could bring herself to fire it. The team leader stopped as the trees thinned out into the clearing. It was on a slight hill so that Chloe couldn't quite see the top, but she could see the orange tip of the small campfire they had made. Fallen trees and branches had been used as fuel, burning spectacularly since it had not rained for weeks. The silhouettes of a half a dozen men stood around the crouched figures of the women. Chloe shivered at the eerie sight. It was as if they were being surrounded by phantoms.
The team lined up side by side, still lying on their stomachs. Eagle alone had her rifle drawn. It was equipped with both tranquilising and lethal ammunition. She retrieved the tripod from her pack and set it up, resting the gun on its stand. The women peered through the scope as Wolf used binoculars.
"I don't see him," Wolf said," have you got eyes?"
"No. I can't see Vaughn either."
"Is Christie there?" Chloe held her breath.
"Yes. I can see her. She's in the circle with them."
"Thank God."
"Five minutes until the eclipse. I can't believe we made it," said Alex, looking at his watch.
"Focus. Vaughn's just come out of a car. He's got a weapon, maybe a knife, it's too far to tell."
"What's he doing?" Chloe asked and Eagle shushed her.
"He's… giving commands, he's- oh shit. Wolf, you seeing this?"
Wolf snapped his binoculars to where Eagle was indicating. He grimaced and swung his rifle from his shoulder. Chloe braced her own on the ground, leant on her elbows and looked through the scope. She could see Vaughn waving the knife, he had grabbed a girl, gripping her hair in his hands. The other men, eight or so, were doing the same.
"Move up everyone. On my command, we shoot to kill."
Chloe stumbled trying to keep up, her foot caught in a rabbit hole. As she pulled herself out, her heart was beating just as quickly as a rabbit's too. There had to be another way. Those men needed to face punishment. Not to mention the panic shooting would cause. The women might try to run, get caught in the fire.
"Wait!" she hissed at the team leader, driving her legs up the slope, "Wolf!"
"I have an idea. Give me two minutes and no one has to die."
"Do as you're told, agent," said Wolf, not taking his eyes off the scene ahead of him.
Chloe realised she would never convince him. She had to take a shot in the dark and do what she thought was right.
"Wait for my signal," she said and ducked behind a blackberry bush. Vaguely, she was aware of the man's furious stare boring into her back, but she ignored it. She had said two minutes, but in reality, she had made that number up. When she got close enough to the car, she crawled on her belly to get underneath it. A dozen pairs of ankles shuffled around as men struggled to keep hold of their victims.
"We're so close brothers!" Vaughn all but screamed, his voice shrill and reverent like a fire and brimstone preacher, "you're moment is here. You were powerless before- take back that power now! Everyone in your life has beaten you down, made you feel worthless, made you feel less than human. With this final act, you will reach a plane of enlightenment you never dreamed of," Chloe could see Vaughn's black boots a few meters in front of her. She guessed a minute had passed. Wolf was waiting for her, him and the team invisible in their black uniforms and pressed into the ground. She had to see this through. Unclipping her sidearm from her hip, she poked the barrel from under the car. She would have had a clear shot at his neck, but from this angle, it wasn't possible. The dart would reach his calf but no higher. The difference in the time it would take for him to go down was as little as one minute to as many as ten depending on where she hit him. That's when she noticed who Vaughn had grabbed as his 'sacrifice'. It was Christie, and she had noticed her. The women stared wide-eyed and silent at the figure underneath the car. Her hands were tied with a white plastic zip tie. Her hair was matted and covered in dirt, but her eyes were blazing in the fire. Vaughn held the knife lazily against her neck. Christie looked from Chloe, to her gun, to the knife, and then bit the man's arm as hard as she could.
The first thing he did was scream. Not a surprised scream, but a pure and razor-edged shriek of pain. Christe threw herself against his legs and Vaughn toppled over. The next thing Chloe knew, the back of his neck was facing her as he hit the ground. She fired a dart into the flesh before she could think twice. Smithers had made the thing so quiet that, as the dart left the chamber, a person could have mistaken it for the flap of a hummingbird's wings. Chloe bit her lip as one man cracked Christie across the face. Another helped their leader to his feet. He hadn't noticed the sting in his neck, too focussed was he on the burning pain in his arm.
"Little bitch!" he spat at her and hit her again, "I should kill you right now. But why waste such a good moment? Your death will come."
It was exactly one minute and thirty seconds until the eclipse. Chloe backed out from under the car and crawled to her team, who were still posted beneath the cover of the blackberry bush.
"What the hell was that?" Wolf said, "forget it. Team, take aim. There's no time to wait. We have thirty seconds."
"No-please!" Chloe begged, "I got him with the sedative, he'll go down any second now!"
Wolf could barely hear her. Sensing the end was near, the women had begun screaming and thrashing with frightening intensity. No doubt they had themselves been sedated to some capacity, but even so, their captors had to fight white-knuckled to keep them still.
"Ten seconds men!" Vaughn tried to muster his previous lustre, but couldn't. His voice was sluggish and thick.
Chloe relented. He wouldn't go down in time. Her plan had failed. Hands, slick with sweat, she aimed at one of them. A short man who would have been average had he not slumped over like a hunchback. She refused to take note of anything else about him.
"Ten! Nine!" the men cried out in chorus. The moon was passing in front of the sun. The late evening had been dim, and the moon began to blot out the remaining light, "eight!" they cried.
Then Vaughn fell to the floor.
Chloe almost felt bad for the other men. They all looked to see what had made the dull thud, and why they could no longer hear their leader's voice.
"He's down!" one shouted as the moon's celestial form completely covered the sun. It became much darker all of a sudden, not pitch black, but Chloe struggled to see the shapes move. Most simply looked around, waiting for someone to take charge, to do something. When no one did, they panicked. Wolf hadn't missed a beat. Already, he had told his team to switch to non-lethal. Eagle had landed three darts into three men's necks before Chloe even knew what had happened. Alex got another in the arm, Wolf and Snake each got one in the temple. Soon, they were joining their leader on the ground. An elevated heart rate made the sedative work that much quicker.
"There's one missing," Eagle said, looking down the top of her pistol, "I counted x before we got here."
"Alex, Snake, Chloe. Make sure no one is hurt and untie them," then he said more loudly, "don't panic. We're with the police. You're safe now."
Many of the women were already helping each other out of the ties when they reached them. Chloe found Christie struggling to right herself. Vaughn was lying like a rag doll on top of her. Chloe pushed him off.
"You alright?"
Even in the half-light, the blood around her mouth and on her forehead was visible.
"I'm fine," she struggled to say, her voice hoarse from shouting and screaming, "but quickly- the car…"
Chloe tackled the women just as the engine roared to life and the four-wheel-drive surged it forward. Hard, dry clumps of the earth the tires had upset pelted them. The high-beams illuminated the woods at the bottom of the hill. Chloe couldn't see who was at the wheel, but she pulled out her rifle anyway. She fired one shot at the rear tires and missed. The bullet hit the earth with a thunk. There was already another bullet in the chamber so she aimed again, but Alex hit her mark before she did. The car skidded as one of the rear tires burst. It swerved like a pendulum, racking deep gashes into the dirt. The left side collided with the truck of a thick tree. Glass exploded from the windows, weaker branches snapped and came free, hitting the roof. Chloe approached, looking down the lens at the wreck. A man all but fell from the driver's side door. It was Sanderson, his bulk stood out against anything. There was something in his hand- a gun. He pointed it at Chloe.
Two shots fired at that moment. Neither came from him. One had missed his head by half an inch and punctured the front right tire. The other had hit its target. The man grabbed his chest as if overcome with emotion. But red blood spilt from the hole and covered the hand. With the slowing beat of his heart, the liquid pulsed in a pathetic diminuendo until finally, his heart stopped and he collapsed.
"Is anyone hurt?" Wolf shouted.
The negative came from a dozen voices.
"Chloe?" Wolf came up behind her.
"I'm fine."
"Was that your bullet?" he asked, sensing the veil of shock the girl was looking through.
"I… I don't know. Maybe."
But that wasn't true. In her gut, she knew it was hers. Forensics would come later. The bullet would be retrieved. Maybe it was still lodged in his chest, maybe it was sitting buried under the soil. An analyst would match the marks in the barrel of her gun with those left on the bullet. It would show that she had killed this man. Chloe consciously wished never to learn his first name. Maybe it would be easier that way.
"Get it together. We need you."
Somehow, Wolf's unsympathetic orders were just what she needed. There was still work to do, and she would do it. As they waited for their support to arrive, the team untied the remaining captives and tied up their captors. One by one they were dragged into the centre of the clearing, hands and feet bound so that they looked like oversized worms. Alex was speaking to the released women, reassuring them that they would be out of here in no time, to stay together and wait for transport. Some were crying, some were laughing, some had sunk to the floor with their heads between their knees. Chloe found Christie standing above Vaughn, who had been taken to the pile just like the rest of them. She spat on his face and kicked him in the gut.
"Piece of shit."
"I tackled you earlier, you okay?"
"Better than I would have been if you hadn't."
"Have you seen the Russian?"
"He took off ages ago," she sounded tired, "about an hour ago in the other car."
"What about Fox? The man who took your names back at the estate?"
"I think your friend's already found him," Christie said, pointing towards the wrecked car.
Eagle had run down to inspect the wreckage. She put two fingers to the dead man's neck and determined he was indeed dead. Next, the agent pulled open the rear door.
"He's here! It's Fox!"
In a moment she was pulling his limp form from the back seats. He was too heavy and he landed in a heap. Eagle drew his head onto her lap and took his pulse and checked his breathing.
"He's alive!" Chloe had never heard her so energised.
Snake pumped his fist into the air and cheered. Wolf allowed himself a private smile. That left Yassen as the only loose-end. Her skin crawled, thinking about him lurking around in the woods like a ghost.
"Everyone else is safe at HQ," Chloe told Christie, "they were worried sick about you."
The red-head smiled gently, "a bunch of idiots. But I love them. How could they not notice I was gone?"
"Where did you go?" Chloe was genuinely curious. Anything to take her mind of the image of blood pouring from a chest wound.
"I was being led somewhere by Ben- Fox, after a paramedic had looked at me. Everyone was either in the gallery or outside- you remember? I followed him through the hallway and was grabbed by Sanderson. Yassen took Ben. Then I guess they hit me with something because I only woke up about an hour ago. I guess Ben hadn't come-to yet."
"So he was collateral damage then," Chloe realised, "they wanted you but they had to have him too. Why didn't they just kill him?"
"I convinced them he'd be better as a hostage. Can't believe they actually listened to me."
"Make sure you tell Eagle that. She'll owe you for life."
"I'll pass. I just want this all to be over."
Chloe and the rest of the team were quickly sidled out of the way when the helicopters descended. Jones was helped out of one by an agent. Her heels sunk into the dirt when she touched down.
"Good work everyone," she tried to smile, but couldn't hide her grimace as the pointed shoes sucked free, "leave the rest to us. I'll meet you back at HQ shortly."
Wolf gripped Chloe's hand as she climbed over the landing skids of the helicopter. When her headset was on and her belt fastened, she took one last look over the scene. Huge black vans had arrived as well. Agents were piling the girls onto one, the men strapped into seats in another. At least three people were checking that everyone was present and accounted for. At least MI6 learnt from their mistakes. Eagle stayed with Fox as a paramedic knelt beside him. Chloe couldn't see Vaughn, she guessed he was already hauled away somewhere. Hopefully, she would never see him again. She caught Christie's eye before the helicopter's blades began to churn. Chloe waved and the woman waved back. Alex was beside her and she took his hand. It was all she would allow. If she buried her head in his shoulder as she really wanted, she was afraid the tears wouldn't stop. Chloe wasn't even sure she was upset. Not even scared. She felt like a rain cloud over the desert, slowly gathering vapour until she had to burst. But not yet. She could last a little longer.