So we are finally off into the mission! The last chapter took me FOR AGES but I wanted to give everybody within the team a bit more background on their latest addition. So without further ado, let's go!
xxx
The team left Incirlik early the next morning. While Adam, Preach, Jaz and Amir took a private aircraft that would carry them was well as their gear to get to Maiduguri, McG and Elaina flew to Paris where a doctors-without-borders plane would take them to their destination. After a twelve-hour trip, they finally touched down in the capital of Nigeria's Borno province.
Adam watched as McG and Elaina walked out of the airport, following a tall man, about fifty years old with graying hair. His tan skin contrasted the typical functional clothing for somebody working in Africa – beige cargo pants and a white t-shirt as well as hiking boots. A quick glance to the file laying on the dashboard told him that is was the campsite manager, Nathan White.
To his side, Preach was taking pictures, documenting every person their team mates would get into contact with over the course of their mission.
"Audio is coming through fine." he heard Noah's voice in his earpiece.
He, Preach as well as DC were listening in on the conversation Elaina was currently having with White. She was wearing coms, hidden by her loosely braided hair. But to not distract her with team chatter, Noah had isolated her feed after a quick coms check in the ladies' restroom when she had put in the earpiece. McG was 'naked' for the time being, but carried a secure satellite phone in his backpack for emergencies.
Adam put the car into gear as they followed the small autobus which transported White, Elaina, McG and half a dozen aid workers to the camp. They followed at distance, keeping a loose tail on the car for they know it's destination all while listening in to the words spoken in the autobus.
"Damn, she's good Top." Preach breathed about half an hour into the journey.
Adam shot his team mate a brief grin. "Yeah."
He knew that his sister was good at her job as a physician. Her earlier than average promotions, citations and medals awarded to her spoke for themselves. But he had always found it hard to grasp her competences other than by the official rewards she had gained. Now that she was essentially working in his area of expertise, he couldn't help but wholeheartedly agree with his friend.
The way Elaina engaged in the conversation couldn't have been done better by Amir or Jaz. So far she had gained information about the staff size and number of patients, but also about camp security and various other valuable bits and pieces. Using her gender in her favor to ask or just subtly picking up thoughts from her fellow travelers, she really worked their assets without them even realizing. And from McG's parts in the conversation, Adam could see that they complemented each other well.
"Command, do you get all that?" he asked.
"Affirmative, Dalton. We have a full sit-rep ready for you with the drone pictures as soon as you touch down in the safe house." Noah confirmed.
They reached the camp shortly before dawn. As much as Elaina's performance had eased his mind, watching his sister and McG now vanishing from view as the heavy gate closed behind them, he could not help but worry about the two.
"Come on, let's get back to the safe house. We can still listen in on the chatter while he head over." Preach said, having read his thoughts. "They will be fine."
"Amen to that." Adam breathed and but the car into gear.
xxx
Five days into the assignment
"Noah, where are we on the threat assessment?" Adam asked, skimming through the Intel DC had provided so far. But despite the obvious topics – lack of access to healthcare, clean water and food, education and work opportunities – there wasn't much news in it.
The bespectacled man on the screen shook his head.
"We are still on it. But your requested cross-reference regarding those abductions is taking some time."
"And here I thought you could to anything in a blink of an eye – or more in a key-stroke." Jaz quipped, perched on the table edge next to Dalton.
Noah laughed. "I'll do my best."
"We know, Noah. Thanks." Top said and cut the connection. There was no need to relay the tension he felt to his colleagues at home. Nevertheless, he knew that they needed to narrow down the reason behind those abductions fast or else the mission would turn into a long one for Elaina and McG.
xxx
When McG returned from his shift, the night air was still warm and unpleasantly humid. Sounds from the vegetation outside the fence wafted in on the slight breeze that brought little relief. Moths fluttered near the lamps illuminating the courtyard the kids used to play in during the day. While he headed for the building where the camp staff was housed, he noticed that the lights in Ellie's room were still on. The curtainless window was facing the courtyard, allowing him to observe the young woman for a few moments. She was hunched over her desk, evidently reading. Her head was propped up on one hand, her usually braided hair falling loosely over her shoulders. He involuntarily smiled at the memory of their first day in camp and the children being fascinated with her blonde mane, flocking around her and asking her if they could touch it. She had sat there patiently, answering all their questions, winning over the hearts of the little residents in a whim.
He had watched, surprised at how she good was with kids. But then he remembered that her current deployment had her in this kind of interaction quite frequently. She was breaking the ice in ways he would have never been able to and for the first time he was truly glad that Director Campbell had put her on the mission. Not only her interaction with the kids but also how she had slayed the task of Intel gathering during their ride over. If he hadn't known better, then he would have thought that she did this for a living and had not only had done basic training at the farm. Maybe it ran in the family. Top was the same way. Inconspicuous when needed, bold on other occasions. But in contrast to his team leader, who often carried the weight of the world on his shoulders in terms of responsibility – for them, for the mission, for the world – there was a lightheartedness around Elaina she still seemed to possess despite her demanding task.
He observed her for a few more moments. Back at Incirlik they had rarely stopped working before 8 PM in order to be prepared for the op as best as possible. But now that he came to think about it, ever since they had arrived in Nigeria, he hadn't seen the lights turned off in her room before midnight once. And she was usually the first up at around 6 AM. But his earlier recollection of her in the courtyard did not match the picture he was seeing now. She looked pale and somewhat strained. And he had a pretty good guess where that was coming from. He had experienced it on several assignments himself.
He closed the distance to the building doors, walking towards young woman's room. He knocked and was asked to enter a second later. Opening the door, McG was surprised to find her not sitting at her desk like just a minute before, but standing next to it.
Anybody else wouldn't have noticed, but to his trained eye he instantly saw that she had chosen a place in the room from where she could take cover from threats as well as engage an attacker. One hand was hidden behind her back. It looked like she was casually leaning against the desk, but McG knew that her hand had been reaching for a gun or knife which was most probably concealed in a holster in the back of her waistband.
"Who did you expect?" McG asked, eyebrows raised.
Ellie gave him a weary smile and waved him inside. "One can never be too careful."
He entered the room, closing the door, taking a look around. Like his room, Ellie's was sparsely furnished with a bed and nightstand, a desk and a wardrobe as well as a sink with a mirror. She had taken the effort of pinning some of the drawings the kids from the hospital had given her on the walls as well as a colorful shawl. It looked much homelier than his. He walked over to the bed, sitting down the edge while Ellie took the chair, turning it away from the desk, so that she sat facing him.
"You're up late." he said casually, observing Top's sister as she stretched out her legs and folded her arms across her chest, a noncommittal smile playing around her lips.
"I thought I'd catch up on some reports." she replied.
"Don't waste your energy just yet."
"I got plenty."
McG shook his head in amusement at her quick-witted reply. Clearly, she wasn't making it easy for him.
"They say less than 5 hours of sleep over a long period of time can seriously damage your brain."
"I'll keep that in mind – if I can." Ellie grinned, not giving in an inch.
McG smirked, throwing up his hands in defeat. So much for the gracious doctor. Apparently he had caught her on the combat medic side of things.
"Just saying."
He felt her watchful look lingering in him for a few more seconds before to his surprise, he saw her loosen her stance, stroking back her hair with a soft sigh.
"I know what you are doing." she said quietly. "And I appreciate it, I really do. It's just…" she faltered, searching for the right words. "I don't sleep well on the first couple of nights in a new place."
McG held her gaze. Although she wasn't saying overtly what was bothering her, he very well understood the meaning in her words.
"I hope it passes?" he asked.
Ellie smiled, this time more warmly.
"It does, eventually. And if it doesn't, I let you know."
"Fair enough."
They sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments, McG still pondering Ellie's reaction. Although his suspicions at been confirmed, he didn't feel overly agitated about it. He was just glad that Ellie trusted him enough to confide in him and ask for help should she need it. Like her brother, she was a team player after all.
The young woman's voice roused him from his thoughts.
"You are up late yourself."
"Emergency at the hospital. They needed an extra so I stepped in."
"Ah." Ellie nodded, then sat up straight.
"What?" McG asked, having noticed her look.
"Since they don't pay overtime, I think we have earned another reward."
McG watched as she walked over to the closet, opened it and a second later, and produced two bottles beer from it. He stared at her in disbelief.
"Where did you get these?"
Elaina didn't answer his question, but merely shot him another mysterious smile, opening a bottle and passing it to him.
"To sleepless nights." she said.
"To sleepless nights." he replied with a soft laugh, taking a swig from the bottle.
He looked at Ellie, who was obviously very pleased with herself. Ever since deputy director Campbell had announced that she would be part of the op, Dalton's sister had been up for a surprise. And it didn't seem to stop here.
"We had these in a small local store back home." she said, leaning back in her chair. "I don't know why they sold it in Pennsylvania, but it always reminds me of one evening, when Adam and I were still in school…"