Chapter 7...and then there was war....


Summary: Finally, Hannah does action, even though she's more than a little bad at it.

Rating/Disclaimer/Distribution: See before, cause it's exactly the same.

Thank You's/Author's Notes: To Emma, who is currently co-writing the maddest ER fic you will ever find with me. And that's a promise.

Gah... I start college today (it's 6 am). So this will be the last you hear of me for a while, because I'll only have an hour Net time a day unless I go on at college. But I'm still SO glad that I got into college, the novelty hasn't even begun to wear off yet! Plus...thanks to DevDev as always!

*Thanks Morgan for letting me know it went all weird... I hope this works.*

"How long will it take us to get from here to California?" Rocky asked while rubbing his eyes free of sleep. There was no time even for breakfast that morning, their plane was the first to leave the Sitka Bau colony at 7.00am.

"About four hours," Evans told them as he led them out of the campus and into the outdoors. It was the first sight of the surroundings, and the first breath of fresh air that Rocky, Jason and Aisha had experienced since being teleported to New Mexico. "When we get there, it will be about 10am local time. We expect to be able to move in to detonate within three hours of arrival."

The feeling of intrepidation in Aisha's stomach grew even more. At first she had thought that this mission wouldn't affect her in any way. Catch a plane, neutralise weapons, make a couple of arrests, then fly home. But a little over a day at Sitka Bau colony had done wonders at dispelling those thoughts and that theory.

First of all, it wasn't some tiny home-made bomb that they would have to detonate, but enough ammunition to take out the whole state of California in one swoop.

The couple that they'd be attempting to arrest weren't likely to be docile when approached, hence the self-defence training.

And none of them thought that the FBI would just set them free.

Not a chance.

The airfield was playing host to two other jets other than the one which was to be their own, for the Michigan and North Dakota crews. The first plane they walked to turned out to be their own, and Jason, Aisha and Rocky walked up the metal steps, to be directed by Agent Evans to a seated area near the back of the plane.

Aisha sank into her comfortable seat gratefully. None of them had slept well that night, thoughts racing in minds at the speed of light. "My poor brain. Two early mornings in a row is doing nothing for its ability to function."

"Tell me about it," Jason agreed. "Add the stress factor and you wonder exactly how well this operation is going to go."

Agent Wiltord, who was sitting near enought to them to hear snippets of their conversation, felt the need to make his voice heard. "I don't mean to interrupt your much-needed conversation, but please try to think positively. This mission will only work if every agent is 100% dedicated to the job in hand. However, if you do have any fears, now is the time to make them known, so that we can do our best to allay them."

Despite the long-windedness of the sentence, the sentiment came across clearly enough. Jason was shocked at the sign of humanity, but did his best to hide it. This was the first time that either of the agents who were overseeing them had shown any sort of personal approach to their work. "Well, I can only speak for myself, but it's not a specific fear...just apprehension of what we're going to have to do."

"I agree, realising how big our task actually is," Rocky put in.

"All I can really say to that is that you do the best to put it out of your minds," Wiltord told them, a grave look on his face. "I can't tell you that this isn't an enormous responsibility, because it is. I can't tell you we're positive that we're going to succeed, because we're not. But whatever happens, remember that we are doing good. You will be ridding the world of dangerous things, and capturing people who lost their rights to freedom a long time ago."

There was a thoughtful pause, which hung between the occupants of the plane like a thick fog. That spell was only broken when the plane's engines started to thunder and vibrate.

The three friends shared apprehensive glances.

This was it. No ways of turning back.

The rangers were out to save the world again.

But would they keep with tradition and still be back before bedtime?


Kim and Kat stood in yet another faceless, nameless corridor, waiting for Agent Cresswell to retrieve Agent Perry and Tommy.

"How are you feeling?" Kat asked sympathetically. "With the prospect of meeting with one of the most dangerous men on the planet, that is."

Kim smiled. The sarcastic humour of her friends was going to do a lot to help her get through the next few days, she knew. "I'm feeling a little better knowing that I have another day to wait before I approach him."

"I still can't believe that they got the time differences wrong," Kat smiled as she leant against the wall. "Approach him on his lunchbreak, and oh did we forget to mention? It's going to be about 7pm local time when you get there!"

"They take really long lunch breaks in Michigan," Kim mocked, then rolled her eyes. "Or should I say, Detroit."

"What's this about Detroit?" Tommy asked, his sudden appearance having gone unseen until that moment.

"We're dissecting the time-difference saga," Kim explained, her eyes not quite meeting his. Despite the holding-hands yesterday, neither of them were completely sure what came next.

Or whether there would even be a next stage. It all depended on tomorrow.

"And, of course, the fact way that Billy had to point out at 8pm last night that we'd have to leave at midnight to get there and keep the schedule for today lunchtime going?" Tommy asked. "From the look on Cresswell's face I felt for sure they'd have packed us off to Detroit there and then."

"Believe me, Mr Oliver, we would have liked to. But our designated pilot hadn't had enough rest hours, and there was no-one on standby. We'll just have to satisfy ourselves with an overnight stay at the FBI HQ in Detroit," Agent Cresswell said, having also made her grand entrance, with Agent Perry by her side. "Let's step along, no time to waste!" she called, marching past them down the mayonnaise-coloured corridor. "We're supposed to be leaving in ten minutes, and I don't want us delayed more than is absolutely necessary."

"If I didn't laugh, I'd cry," Kat mumbled as they hurried to catch up with their enigmatic leader. "That woman is like a walking cliche handbook."

"Well, she's not so bad once you get used to her," came Agent Perry's voice from behind her. Kat almost jumped out of her skin at the sound of his toe curling vocals, but forced her feet to remain on the ground.

Rocky. Remember Rocky. And the fact that this man is most likely married.

"I guess we'll just have to take your word for it," she said lightly, hoping that he wouldn't proceed to inform them that they would have plenty of time to get to know Emma Cresswell. Kat had no desire whatsoever to become a fullblown FBI agent whatsoever. She wasn't even ecstatic about this temporary position, no matter how much good it was doing.

"Of course," he replied, and didn't seem inclined to add anymore to his brusque comment. It was as though he'd suddenly remembered his position as senior agent.

In front of them all, Agent Cresswell had paused in front of a heavy fire door, and proceeded to shift it open. The five walked out of the oppressive building and into the massive area that surrounded it; the airfield.

"Fresh air," Kim muttered.

"Enjoy it while you can," Tommy advised. "I have a feeling a double-figure hour flight will not do much for the air on the plane."

"Let's just hope that no-one gets air-sickness," Kat said cheerfully, joining them. Her comment was met by two horrified galnces. "Relax. I personally don't suffer from it, so you've got nothing to worry from me."

"Thank you so much for maing me feels as though I'm going to be the instigator of the airsickness gathering," Kim said, her smile betraying the joke.

"There will be plenty of time for chit-chat when you get on the plane," Emma Cresswell barked as she strode past them after shutting the door, Steve Perry following at her side like a faithful puppy.

It was neither the first nor the last time that the three friends would share a round of eye-rolling at their superior's expense. Still, the fact that seh _was_ their superior remained, and they immediately picked up the pace.

Like Jason, Rocky and Aisha fifteen minutes before them, they were directed to a seating area designated for four, again near the back of the plane. As they sat down, Cresswell pulled a laptop out of her pristine briefcase and turned it on.

"It's essential we remember to make contact with Sitka every hour on the hour," Tommy heard her instruct Agent Perry. "Leave your cell phone on when we're on the stake out, Martin will be monitoring from HQ."

Any reply that Agent Perry may have made was drowned out by the engine's sudden announcement that it was ready to go. Seatbelts were fastened, and they were on their way.


*8 am*

Zack, Trini, Adam and Tanya had now been in the air for half an hour. They'd been provided with breakfast, which wasn't bad as far as aeroplane food goes, and now that was over and cleared away it was difficult to know what to say to each other. No-one seemed willing to share their thoughts.

Zack was worried that they wouldn't make it without being caught. They still didn't know who would be working on the office and who would be at the Kenward's home. Agents Williams and Robison were presumably still working on the details while seated near the front of the plane.

In his mind, there was too much room for failure, too many areas where they could easily go wrong, where mistakes could be made. All four of them could now destroy computer-held information in their sleep, but Charlie Kenward was obviously some kind of technology guru. It was near impossible that he wouldn't have some sort of built-in protection to guard the maps and plans he had stored there, for events like these.

Trini's thoughts were half an hour behind them, still back in Sitka Bau. There had been no time or opportunity to say goodbye to Billy, he had still been asleep when Adam and Zack had been summoned at 7am.

There could be no doubt that Billy could handle himself work-wise. One of Trini's beliefs was that they had only summoned all the former rangers so that Billy's presence would be assured. His knowledge and deducing skills were too good to abandon.

She was mainly worried that the pressure of being the only one of his friends left in that expansive building for most of the day would get to him, and rightly so. All of them had agreed in the fact that the Sitka Bau series of buildings was extremely un-nerving while there en masse, how would Billy cope with the endless corridors and nameless agents while alone?

Adam and Tanya's thoughts were running along parallel lines, as so often happened. Both of them had been pre-occupied even before their arrival in New Mexico that they were not wanted for just this one mission.

That they would not be set free once this was finished.

Adam believed that they shouldn't pull their weight once the true heart of the mission got underway. Tanya, when told of this, had rightly argued,

"Adam, whether we're set free or not, we have to complete the mission, and complete it well. There's simply no other way. It's so important to eliminate the threat that those two pose, we can't let whatever we feel stand in the way of it."

Despite her courageous words, Tanya felt the same infliction of fear as Adam did.

Her life meant a lot to her. Her college career, her life after that, her friends and family.

How would it feel to be asked to give them up? Tanya hoped she'd never have to find out.

The four in their deep reverie were interrupted by Devon Williams getting up out of her seat and coming to join them. She perched on the arm of a seat across from their enclosure, and began.

"I'm sorry that it's taken so long, but we've been trying to place you four in the right battle areas, so to speak, and it's not an easy job." She left room for a dramatic pause, and looked at each of them in turn. "Zack and Trini, we've decided that I will accompany you to Charlie Kenward's office, to destroy the computers, and take away any paperwork he may have there. Adam and Tanya, Agent Robison will be your supervisor when we storm the house."

"What's going to happen when we land?" Trini asked, the first of the four to find her voice.

"When we land in North Dakota, it will be something like 2:30pm local time. Zack and Trini, you'll come with me to find out whether Kenward is in his office, we'll wait until he's gone before entering of course. We'll do what we have to do and make our way back to the airfield.

"Adam and Tanya, your work with Agent Robison will start immediately. You'll go directly to the Kenward's residence and destroy everything there that you can, except vital things that we may need to use for evidence. Then you'll leave the house, stake it until they enter, and one of the agents will need you as back-up as they make citizen's arrests."

"Are they going to come back to New Mexico on this plane with us?" Adam asked curiously. Agent Robison, who had just joined the group to introduce herself, replied to his question.

"I doubt it, it all depends on whether they become violent or not. If they seem docile upon arrest, then it's likely they'll come back on this plane, yes. If they're violent. we have another plane on standby which can hold more armed guards than this one can. It goes without saying that this mission needs to be completed without bloodshed, as far as possible."

"How long do you see all this taking?" Zack asked.

"If everything goes to plan, we should be back in this plane at 8pm latest, getting us back to Sitka Bau at around 3am tomorrow morning," Agent Williams told them. Then, without another word, the agents turned back to their seats, knowing that the four would now have much to discuss.

"When they put it like that, it all seems so straightforward," Tanya mused. "Fly in, kill a couple computers, burn papers or stash them in our backpacks, arrest two people, fly out. It's only when you lay aside time to think about it that it becomes so scary."

"I think we have to restrict the deep thinking for today," Zack advised. "I can't see it doing anyone much good, to be honest."

"We need to do something to take our minds off the fact that we still have seven hours to go before we even get theer," Trini decided. "I somehow doubt they'll have an in-flight movie to keep us entertained."

"How's about a nice game of I Spy?" Adam suggested. "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with... sky."


*10am local time*
*Los Angeles, CA*

Their plane landed after a four hour flight, during which Jason, Rocky and Aisha had been given breakfast, much to Rocky's delight, then the ever workaholic Agent Evans gave them each a replica of a different weapon and told them to detonate them. It was a good thing all three of them had been such apt pupils the previous day, and also that the weapons were fake, or who knew what could have happened?

Looking out of the window alongside him, Rocky noticed that although they had landed in LAX, their plane had come to an eventual halt in one of the few deserted areas of the airport. A few people had come to mill around the plane now, some airportw workers and others so standoffish and impeccably dressed they could only be fellow FBI agents.

"Come along," Wiltord pressurized, standing up himself as though to set an example. "We have to get moving, there's no time for thinking."

And so were Rocky, Aisha and Jason thrust into the hands-on work of the FBI. Ushered by Wiltord and Evans, they were almost thrown down the aeroplane's stairs and into a waiting car which had previously been out of sight.

Wiltord sat in the front seat next to a uniformed driver. Evans slammed the door after him, and almost ran to the car behind their's which he entered.

"Now what happens?" Jason demanded. Not having the symapthetic supervisors that the two other groups had been provided with had rendered them almost clueless.

Wiltord twisted around in his seat to face them. "We go to the Conners house, they'll both be at work by now. We force entry as subtly as possible, there will be about twenty agents there including us, who will either detonate, neutralise or store the weapons."

"Who's going to bring in Mr and Mrs Conners?" Aisha asked. "Will we wait at the house for them?"

"No, that will be Agent Evans's job, that's where he's headed right now, to bring them in. He's accompanied by some of our more- shall I say, imposing agents based here in LA. They'll be taking a different plane back to Sitka Bau, we believed it would be safer that way."

"How far is it to their house?" Rocky asked, turning his head to regard the familiar sight of California streets whizzing by.

"About thirty minutes," their driver remarked, "If the traffic's clear."

"How are the roads looking at the moment?" Wiltord asked.

"Pretty clear, sir. No appearance of major delays," the driver replied.

"Good. That means we could be back at the airport at around three, four-ish."

"It's only ten now," Aisha mouthed to the two men sitting one either side of her. "And they said there was a whole load of ammunition in their basement. Four hours to get all that sorted?"

Rocky couldn't provide an answer, only a sight shrug of the shoulders. Jason mouthed back,

"I wouldn't be surprised if they're keeping some to explode in the desert. It would be easier than trying to neutralise."


*12:30pm local time*
*Sitka Bau, NM*

Billy sat in the control room of the colony, next to a fellow agent of roughly the same age. They were by the telephones that the outside teams would ring into, either to provide or ask for information, also there were computers nearby where the information needed to be stored.

Billy had been in the huge room ever since he had finished his breakfast four hours previously. The real busy period was not expected to begin for another couple of hours, still Billy and Agent Martin still had plenty to do.

Agent Wiltord of the California team had only just rung in moments before to inform the home base that they had arrived safely, and that they were now on their way to the Conners residence. The driver of the car where Agent Evans was had also made contact to say that the group headed to the workplaces of the couple were on their way.

All other contact with the Michigan and North Dakota teams had been restricted to the regular required hourly checkins. And, barring that, it was really a case of exploring the information on the computers, and chatting to Bryan Martin, surreptitiously pumping the junior agent for all the information he was worth.

"So, when is everyone expected back here?" Billy asked casually, adjusting the position of his computer keyboard so as to avoid meeting Bryan's eye.

"The California group at about 9m tonight. North Dakota between 2 and 4 early tomorrow, and the Michigan group won't be back until the day after tomorrow sometime."

"What will I have to do after we know that everything has been completed safely?"

In other words, is there any point in me hanging around?

But Agent Martin was more on the ball than his jock exterior betrayed. "Sorry bud, but I wouldn't have a clue. The only people who would know are off on missions, so I'm afraid I can't help you."

Billy sighed exasperatedly. It hadn't helped that the Michigan group weren't going to be back until almost two days after everyone else. That was an error that could so easily have been avoided, and only when he had made the discovery did Billy realise what Agent Cresswell had meant about incompetence in certain areas. It seemed the area of organization was one of those areas.

"But you must know what we're meant to do until everybody is back here?" Billy persisted. He had to know as much as he could so that everything could once again become straight in his mind. At the moment his head was filled with rando facts, thoughts and worries that he had picked up over the days, which did not bode for a happy Billy Cranston.

"I can only guess that you and your friends when they return will be asked to help with tasks that require minimal training," Bryan told him. "But I couldn't tell for sure."

Billy could do nothing except nod his thanks and turn his head back to the flickering computer screen.

It was the most frustrating feeling in the world to know that your friends were walking into potentially life-threatening situations, and all you could do was sit back and wait for the inevitable explosions to take place.


*226 Western Street, Hillside*
*11am, local time*

The house was deathly still as the worked, the only sounds emanating from the basement were those that could not be prevented. No-one had feared to make any attempts at anything other than essential conversation, such as "Please pass the bag," and other such pleasantries.

Jason, Aisha and Rocky were working side by side on a desperately minimal task, ridding what seemed to be thousands of guns of their quota of bullets, then placing them into huge containers which lay at their feet.

It seemed that Jason had been right when he'd guessed there were plans underway for a controlled explosion. Out of the corner of their eyes, all three had noticed suspicious items being held as though they were made of the finest silk, and being placed delicately in seperate sealed containers.

For what seemed like years, the basement of 226 Western Street was envelpoed in silence. Guns continued to be brought to Rocky, Aisha and Jason, in readiness for destroying. Bombs continued to be handled like fragile antique relics.

Until there were no more guns to rid of ammunition, and no more bombs to find in the house.

And still, once the realisation came over them that their job was done, there was no room or time for jubilation. Jason and Rocky were enlisted to help carry heavy boxes out to the waiting secure van, leaving Aisha to wait by Agent Wiltord's side for their return.

At 3:38 pm, 33% of the threat ceased to exist. Just ten minutes after the FBI agents left their home, even though the Conners didn't know they had been there in the first place, Scott and Mary Conners were arrested.

And no-one's smile was bigger than Agent Evans.

His work was done.

Let the others begin...

*4.43pm, local time*
*Sitka Bau*

The phone sitting next to Agent Martin began its insistent shrill ringing. He picked it up, and said, "Agent Martin."

There was a pause while he intently listened to whoever was on the other line, then he said "Okay, thanks for checking in," and hung up the phone.

"California's clean. Both parties -your friends, and Agent Evans- are on their way back to the airport. Evans had to call in extra guards, but they're not overly violent."

They shared a tentatively jubilant smile.

One down, two to go.


*3:30pm, local time*
*Fargo, North Dakota*

An hour had passed since Zack, Trini, Adam and Tanya had landed in a faceless, nameless city inNorth Dakota. Agent Robison had taken Adam and Tanya to the Kenwards house, and Agent Williams herded Trini and Zack to 226 A 33rd Street.

The building where Charlie Kenward worked.

"How are you two getting on?" Agent Williams whispered. Upon entry to his office, they had discovered three computers, luckily that mean there was one each for them to rid of information. A piece of luck had fortunately gone their way, Mr Kenward was out of the building at a chairman's meeting, which meant no cause for suspicion from his area anyway.

"I'm doing good," Trini said. "I would say about three-quarters of the way through."

"And you, Zack?"

"Same," Zack mumbled, intent on the task in hand. Williams rose from her seat in front of the computer, and said,

"While you finish up with the computers, I'll start on the paperwork."

Her efforts to begin were interrupted by a sharp rap on the door.

Trini and Zack broke off work to exhange terrified glances. To come so close and then be discovered? That wasn't part of the plan.

Yet still Agent Williams's cool facade wasn't rattled. She motioned for them to keep working silently, abandoned the drawer she was about to open, and opened the door to the office instead.

"May I help you?"

A middle aged woman stood there, a suspicious look on her face. Her confident stature showed that she was not someone to be messed with.

"I think it should be me asking you that question, miss. This is Mr Kenward's office, and he is currently in a meeting at our partner office. Would you like to explain why you've decided to move in for the day?"

"I can assure you that we have no intention of moving in here," Devon told her, her expression showing none of the apprehension and fear that she must have been feeling then. "My colleagues and I were called yesterday by Mr Kenward. He informed us that something was wrong with his computer system, and that it would be advisable for us to come today, as he would be out of the office. He wouldn't be around to get in our way, and this will take us quite a while."

"I know nothing of this agreement, and being Mr Kenward's secretary I can assure you I would have been informed if outside visitors were expected."

"He rang us himself, at about six o'clock last night. Maybe this misunderstanding comes from that you'd already gone home by that time?" Agent Williams suggested. From the look on the older's face, it was clear she'd hit a nerve in her assumptions.

"Hmm... well, whatever it is that you've been asked to do, please be quick about it." With a perfunctory flounce, she whirled around and left the office.

"That was really good!" Zack said admirably.

"Thanks for the compliment, Zack, but we came too close there. The more lies we tell, the harder it will be to remember exactly what we told everyone." She sighed, and returned to her place by Charlie Kenward's desk. "Quicker than before, we need to get out of here ASAP."

The desk drawers were thrown open, and everything inside quickly placed inside a huge canvas holdall bag, which to all outside appearances could hold computer-fixing equipment. Trini and Zack redoubled their efforts to rid the computers off all their software, and ater a seemingly endless quarter of an hour, it was done.

The three agents strode out of the office, and ran straight into Mr Kenward's secretary.

"All done?" she asked, mouth pursed so dramatically it looked as though she sucked lemons for a pastime.

"Yes thank you, everything in perfect order," Agent Williams replied politely.

"Hmm..." their nemesis said, but despite her continuing suspicious expression she continued past them and into an office opposite her employers.

"Where do we go now?" Zack asked once they entered the lift, which provided them with relative security and privacy.

"Straigh back to the airport. We'll have about a two hour wait before Robison's team return and then we can get back to Sitka."

The lift doors opened at the ground floor, and Devon Williams led Trini and Zack through the lobby and out into the busy streets of the city.

It was only when the driver pulled up outside and they were safely cocooned within the safe confines of the FBI car that either Zack or Trini could feel any kind of relief.

"Is there any way we can find out how Adam and Trini are getting on?" Trini asked concernedly.

"I can put a call in to Sitka, actually I have to anyway, to let them know that we've finished. I'll ask whoever answers whether Robison's checked in lately."


*Sitka Bau, 4pm local time*

"Hello? William Cranston."

"Billy, this is Agent Williams. Let whoever's with you know that we've destroyed all software and all paperwork is safely in my possession."

"Noted," Billy said, his fingers flying over the keyboard of his computer.

"Have Agent Robison's team checked in recently?"

Billy pressed a few buttons, quickly read what he had displayed, and replied, "Agent Martin was called about 15 minutes ago. The house has been 'evacuated of all threat' - her words, not mine - and is surrounded. They're going to wait until the Kenwards get home before any arrests are made."

"Make sure that next time one of them checks in they're told that Charlie is in a meeting with his company's partner office. It will probably affect what time he gets home."

"Okay, thanks. Check in again within the hour."

"Will do. Goodbye."


*46 Santa Maria Road, Fargo, ND*

"My back hurts," Tanya whispered.

She and Adam were one of twenty FBI agents surrounding the residence of 46 Santa Maria Road, awaiting the return of its second occupant. Liz Kenward had made her way inside her home fifteen minutes ago, but so far there was no sign of her husband's arrival.

Tanya and Adam were crouching in the back seat of the car they had travelled from the airport in. Agent Robison was in the front seat, talking on her cell phone so as to avoid looking overly suspicious.

"Don't think about it," Adam advised, conveniently forgetting he had also been preoccupied with the fact that his back was also about to break. "Think about how in a couple hours this will all be over."

A sudden movement from the front seat of the estate car alerted the occupants that something must be happening.

"5 minutes til we move in for the kill," Robison said, as though there was someone on the other end of the phone line. Adam and Tanya didn't need to exchange glances to know that the comment had been made for their benefit.

The next five minutes passed in a haze of fear, anticipation, excitement and observation. Through the side window, Tanya could see people gradually stepping out of cars and walking around the side of the Kenward's house.

"Those are the agents who are going to surround the rear of the house, the windows and doors et cetera. We'll join the main group at the front door."

As Agent Robison informed them of this, a tall agent leant down on his way past the car and, very casually, tapped on the windscreen. Any passer-by would have believed it to be someone touching the glass for the sheer hell of it. For Robison and her young charges, it was the signal that they'd been waiting for.

Ignoring the painful cricking noises their bones were making, all three scrambled out of the car and followed the small cluster of people to the front door.

The man who had tapped on their windshield moments before, stopped them a few steps away from the door to issue instructions.

"I do all talking. You're all armed-" Adam fingered the gun hidden inside his jacket, "but please don't take that as an incentive to fire off shots at the drop of a hat. We want them alive, and preferably unharmed."

The group of people all nodded. The man glanced at them one by one then, apparently satisfied by what he saw there, raised his hand to ring the doorbell.

There was no need. The door swung open to reveal Charlie Kenward standing there, gun in hand and smile on face.

"Now, who do we have here?"


*somewhere over America*

There are only so many things you can do on what promises to be over a ten hour flight.

Kat had had the same brainwave as Adam on the North Dakota flight, and for a considerable time the three of them had played every single game they could think of that required no apparatus. But that phase had ended well over an hour ago.

Tommy was staring out of the window, trying to get to work in his brain. While everyone else had been complaining about the possibility that they would be asked to stay and work in the FBI, Tommy Oliver would relish the chance.

This was what he had missed about life, the chance to actually change the outcome of the world. Working in racing had been fun, but if he had the chance to change his career to something like this, he would.

Tearing his glance away from the expanse of space outside the window, his gaze came to rest on Kim, sitting oppsite him, her feet casually entwined with his. She wasn't looking at him however, her focus was on the list of instructions and questions she had been given the previous day. But eventually she realised that he was looking at her, and she raised her eyes to stare back at him, unable to stop the smile from spreading all over her face.

The romantic moment was spoiled by the insistent ringing of Agent Cresswell's cell phone, and Agent Perry escaping her clutches to take the free space next to Tommy. Kim rolled her eyes, and turned her attention back to the papers in her hand.

"We should be arriving in about two hours," the suave agent informed them. "We can't stay at the FBI base, it's full, so we'll be staying in ahotel about five minutes away from where Kyle Hicks works. Tomorrow morning we'll be meeting with the other agents at about ten o'clock, to finalise some details and also work out our strategy for arrestion Sarah."

The three juniors nodded, but Steve Perry's attention was drawn away by Emma Cresswell joining them.

"I just checked in with Sitka, or they checked up on me, because I didn't call them. The California group were successful and are on the plane back to base, with the Conners in tow. Half the North Dakota group have completed their task."

"Half the group?" Perry interrupted.

"Williams, Taylor and Kwan have cleared Charlie Kenward's office and are on their way back to the airport. There's no news yet on how Robison and her entourage are doing, back at the house." With that, the superior agent pivoted on her heel and stalked back to her seat. The pressure was on for her to succeed.

"I'm glad everyone's okay so far," Kat said quietly.

"We've got backups for everything," Perry assured her. "There's nothing that could go wrong..."

*5:30pm local time, Fargo, ND*

But it seems that some things can easily go wrong.

"Charles Kenward, you are arrested on suspicion of plotting crimes against humanity..." the ringleader, Agent Enfiel began.

He never got the chance to finish.

"There's no way in hell that I'm going down," Mr Kenward practically snarled, and showed no hesitation as he calmly pulled the trigger.

Agent Enfield dropped to the ground, and everything seemed to happen at once...

Agent Robison grabbed Charlie Kenward as quickly as lightening, produced a set of handcuffs from her purse and proceeded to arrest him whilst restraining the larger man.

Two agents dropped to the floor beside Enfield, attempting to stem the blood flow from his collarbone, which was where the bullet had struck. Another whipped out his cell phone and called for an ambulance.

Inside the house there were definitely sounds of a struggle. Adam's quick glance inside showed the agents who had previously been staking the rear of the house forcing entry and arresting Liz Kenward, who had been watching from inside.

Amongst the chaos, Adam and Tanya merely stood, arms around each other. The calm inside the storm, each secretly glad it had happened so quickly.

But who knew what the next day might bring?