Author's note
Sorry for the short delay. College is getting hectic now that finals are coming around. Here's the next chapter, hope you like it. Don't forget to review! Thanks!
"Once we hit the ground, we'll break into teams. This is an old storage facility once used by the original KGB just before the Cold War. It was big enough to hold an adequate amount of weapons to keep the U.S.S.R. running through the whole war. That means that this place could be bigger than we first expected.
"Now, Marshall and Dixon are watching us from a satellite that is located just above our position. It's a thermal reader with the usual specs, so that means they'll be able to tell us if we're about to be under attack. Agent Vaughn, you'll be heading up team one on the Northeast point. Agent Weiss you'll be controlling team two on the Northwest point and Agent Santos, I want you on the single South entrance. This is a sweep, so you find anyone, I want them down. Shoot to kill folks. None of us want to see the KGB reform. Bring our agent home safe." Jack loaded his gun and looked out the hanger door that would allow them to parachute twenty meters west of their target building.
Vaughn nodded to Jack and then Nadia and Weiss. All he wanted was to extract Sydney as quickly as possible. They hadn't failed an extraction for her yet and he wasn't about to start now.
"Agent Vaughn." Jack tossed him the scanner to Sydney's tracking device. "Get my daughter out alive."
Tucking the instrument into his jacket, he zipped up and got ready to jump. His team would be the first to land. They'd infiltrate the building while there was still some amount of surprise and hopefully be able to find Sydney's coordinates before being spotted, allowing them time to get out while the other teams covered their escape. It was a straight forward mission that could go horribly wrong.
He unhooked his harness from the plane pole and took a leap out into the air. Yanking quickly on his parachute cords, he felt his body jerk up as the material slowed his fall to the ground. The concrete hit his feet hard and he used his knees to soften the fall. Taking the harness off, he sprinted over to the large instrument box that landed fifteen feet away.
"Shotgun, we have just made landing. Read me your position."
Pushing on his com, Vaughn began grabbing his weaponry. "Retriever, we're in position. Once we're in, I want you to move on my mark."
"Copy that Shotgun. Over and out."
"Evergreen in position. Moving on your mark Shotgun."
"Copy that Evergreen. Let's get Phoenix out alive."
The magazine in his hand locked snuggly into his M-16 that already had a silencer put into place and he took quick aim to scan his perimeter. Making sure they were secure let his mind at ease. All this to extract one key member of their team would have never been cleared if they were still in the CIA. However the black ops missions were not under the direction of Langley, giving them leeway into what they were allowed to do.
"Move in." Vaughn growled his command to his own operatives on the ground. They scurried across the empty pavement yard as all of them searched the perimeter for any movement. The whole place was so quiet that it made his ears ring from the noise on the plane. "Riley, you take point. I want Charley and Bradley to guard the perimeter once we're inside. Report of any movement. White, cover our backs. Let's bring our operative home in one piece boys."
Getting to the door of their entrance, Vaughn nodded at Riley who was a young operative just out of the military. Riley got his gun ready and tested the door. It was locked. He took out a set of lock picks and began working on the door. It took only a few moments until the door creaked open and they could see into a dark entrance.
Riley sped in, followed by five others who were about as well trained as Riley. Many of the operatives were new recruits since the CIA provided few veterans to APO. The new recruits were for backup use to any fully field classed agent that needed them, allowing the new recruits time with their families instead of spending many days out training at the military bases. The CIA allowed APO to recruit them from the military in order to get well trained men that they didn't have to train.
"All clear!" Riley growled.
Vaughn pushed down his night vision goggles and followed closely behind Riley. "Spread out."
Taking out the scanner that Jack had given him, he zoomed in on Sydney's location to find her just below him. He looked around for stairs and then motioned to three men to follow him while the others took on a mission of infiltrating the rest of the building. In the end, they should be able to meet up with Weiss and Nadia.
He turned into an open room and found a set of metal staircases at the Far East corner of the room. The air was stale and he figured that it was probably because the room was totally enclosed except for the staircase and the door that he had gone through. There was only one exit point, making their escape more difficult. He spotted four targets at the other side of the room. They were sitting at a table while smoking unfiltered cigarettes. Only one light lit the men as they played poker, leaving the outer walls in shadows.
Confident bastards, he thought as he took aim. Motioning to the other three, he told them to shoot at the same time. All four were down within a matter of seconds and all that could be heard was the slight whistle of the bullets splitting the air. Checking the rest of the open room, Vaughn walked to the middle of it with caution. The three men behind him spread out checking the rest of the corners as he made his way to the staircases.
"All clear." One of them told him just as he began going down the stairs. Taking each step with quiet precision, he kept the sight of his gun close to his face. Any mistake and the whole mission could go awry. Sydney's life depended on their ability to surprise their enemies. From past intel, the KGB was nothing to take lightly and rivaled the CIA in technology and skills. Hell, Sydney's mother had been a KGB agent without her father even knowing.
The bottom of the steps led to a large basement which was fully lit. He pulled down his night goggles off his face to find himself in an aisle of ammunition. There were several isles that were lined up making it difficult for him to tell if there were any enemy targets within range. The place seemed so quiet that he felt a sense of suspicion rising within him. Holding down his comm in his ear, he spoke quietly. "Shotgun to Merlin, do you copy?"
"Hear you loud and clear."
"I'm in the northeast corner of the building, basement floor. My vision is blocked and I need to know if there are any enemy targets near my position."
"Shotgun, we've lost view of the target building because of the heavy cloud cover. I'm sorry, but we haven't been able to get any visual as of yet."
"Copy that." Vaughn crouched down and kept close to the left side of his aisle.
"I'm getting tired of these games…" A voice, deep and raspy, broke the silence. "We've just ID you as Sydney Bristow, one of Irena Derevko's daughters. You quit the CIA a year ago… However what we don't know is who you're working for now. If you tell us, this can all be over. We could end you life just as easily as we began your life. Or we can induce more pain on your body then you've ever felt in your entire existence."
A shiver ran down his spine and he swallowed hard, getting his gun ready. Irena Derevko. She had brutally murdered his father and all he had gotten was a small star on a large wall to commemorate his work for the CIA. The same thing Sydney had gotten when they thought she had been killed.
"Somehow I doubt that." Sydney's voice croaked.
He heard two solid thuds that made his insides freeze and his eyes grow narrow. His hands gripped his gun hard and he had to force himself not to go tearing into the center of the room. These bastards would pay.
"Who the hell do you work…?" The voice stopped and a few whispers told Vaughn that they had been interrupted by something. Sneaking closer to the end of the aisle, he looked around the shelves to find a Sydney, bloody and bruised, on the ground with her arms tied behind her and her legs tied together. A man… wait he recognized the man. It was Andrew. He worked at the CIA training camp.
"Son of a bitch." Vaughn whispered to himself.
Andrew stood next to another man who was whispering into his ear. All Vaughn had to do was shoot him right between the eyes. But the best thing to do, at least what his training told him, was to wait until the other man left again. He noticed another set of stairs just opposite of the ones he came down.
"Tell him I want a report on that immediately." Andrew nodded and then turned back to Sydney. "Now where were we again?"
Just as the other man left the room, Vaughn took aim and pulled the trigger. The bullet took its mark right in the middle of his chest. The man's eyes went wide and his mouth opened as if to yell only he could not find his voice. He crumbled to the ground.
He signaled to the other three to check the perimeter as he stood up and jogged towards Sydney who looked up at him in surprise.
"Vaughn?" her voice asked softly. She looked terrible, bruises marred her light skin and her bottom lip was still bleeding.
"Hey." He quickly untied her bonds. "Can you stand?"
She winced as she sat up, but nodded to his question. The bonds around her wrists had left deep bloody wounds that looked slightly infected. As she stood up, she leaned heavily on him for support.
"Shotgun, we're under heavy fire. You have to get out of there stat!" Weiss voice said on his comm. In the background he could hear shots go off and a few murderous yells.
"Ready?" He asked.
Taking a step, she recovered her legs quickly and nodded. She led the way towards the staircase that he had come from and waited to let two of the other agents go before her. One of them tossed her an extra gun.
As Vaughn got back to her side, she smiled quickly. "Thanks for the save."
"I agree… we need a vacation." Vaughn replied grinning.
They took the stairs quickly, knowing that any surprise they had was now gone. As they reached the first floor, they had to duck for cover because both the enemy and the other operatives were under deep fire. The shots lit the room and allowed them to spot an overturned ammunitions chest. They all ducked behind it.
"Retriever, Evergreen, give me your positions." Vaughn fired a few shots over the chest and ducked down again not even waiting to see if he hit his target.
Sydney did the same, her face grim and her eyes looked as if they were on fire. Anger had set into her usually placid face. The blood on her lip had dried and cracked again, though she took no notice of it as she grabbed a new magazine and clicked it into place.
"We're closing in on your position Shotgun. ETA ten minutes. Do you have Phoenix?" Weiss sounded haggard as the shots from his side could be heard in the comms.
"We have Phoenix. There are too many. Merlin, is there any other way out of here?" Vaughn gasped as a bullet grazed the side of his arm.
There was silence, which worried him. "Merlin, do you read me?"
"Sorry Shotgun, no other way out other than the way you went in. KGB built that warehouse so that it had a sort of failsafe. They made few exits just incase of insurgents."
"Great." Vaughn grumbled and fired a few more shots over the chest. Until one of them ran out of ammunition, they were in a stalemate. That was unless the other teams got there in time.
"Hey, Jamison, go around back. Let's see if we can hit them from behind." Sydney nodded over to the agent right next to him. Vaughn glanced over at her, wondering what she was thinking. It was a risky proposition and at best they may be able to kill a few before they got caught.
Opening his mouth, he was about to protest when he stopped himself. He trusted her instincts. If she thought this was the best course of action, then she usually was able to pull it off. He nodded to her so she knew he was on the same lines and got ready to cover her if need be. Riley had the other side of the room covered.
As she crawled away another bullet just barely missed him. Cursing, he turned around and shot over the chest again. There were more enemy targets entering the room and if they didn't get the room under control soon, they all might end up dead.
"Shotgun, Retriever's unit is down. Repeat, Retriever's unit is down. My team has met up with them and only… oh my god, Weiss!"
"Shit." Vaughn felt his heart speed up. Something had gone wrong. What did they do wrong? He tried to trace back to everything that had happened and couldn't think of any better way to have run the mission. "Evergreen, give me your status. Evergreen do you copy?"
"Weiss, he's been shot. We need a med-evac stat! Merlin, get another team on the ground now!"
Then shots from a different corner brought his attention back on Sydney who had found her way to the other side of the room. She had a small group of targets already down while Jamison had just made his own accomplishment of getting his targets down.
Within five minutes the room had grown quiet.
"All clear!" Sydney proclaimed. Jamison stood up from behind a large rusted steel tank and grimaced. "What's the status on Weiss and Nadia?"
"We need to get out of here. Jamison, Thompson, Riley, good work. We need to rendezvous both Retriever and Evergreen at the Southeast corner. Thompson, get ready with med supplies. They got hit hard." Vaughn stood up, keeping his gun trained on the door. They all went out of the room cautiously. Sydney was by his side as he exited the room. "Weiss is down. Nadia's with him. We have to get over there."
Sydney nodded and the team headed southeast going from room to room. The closer they got to Nadia's position, the more force they hit. Sydney was now leading the group and Vaughn noticed how she cradled her left side slightly. He knew how adrenaline could keep a person from feeling their injured body. How hurt was she really?
"Nadia?" Sydney called out just as they got into another room. Rolling to the side, Vaughn tried to get Sydney to duck down. But she didn't, she stood in place staring at her sister who cradled Weiss in her arms. Weiss had been shot in the chest twice.
A shot rang out and the bullet came close to hitting her. As if waking from a startling dream, she dived to the ground and crouched down. Vaughn followed her as they moved closer to Weiss and Nadia. He shot at the two nearest targets, trying to give them as much cover as possible.
"Sydney…" Nadia cried, tears sliding down her cheeks.
"He'll be okay." Sydney reassured her. "Thompson is here. Let me see your comm."
Nadia handed her comm over and moved out of the way to let Thompson get closer to Weiss. Her dark strands hung loose around her face and her eyes were wild with fear.
"Merlin, this is Phoenix. We need an escape plan." Sydney said as soon as she put the comm into her ear.
"Oh Phoenix, you're okay… Sorry, uh, do you see the door on the southeast side? It should lead you to a hallway. You go all the way down it until you get to the last door on your right. It should lead to the outside. A chopper will be there ETA five minutes."
"Copy that." Sydney brought up her gun and began shooting. "Thompson, can we move him? The door over there will lead us out."
Thompson nodded. "It didn't hit anything critical. If we can just keep pressure on his wounds, he should be fine. Nadia, can you help me get him to his feet? Agent Bristow and Agent Vaughn, give us some cover. Riley, lead us out."
"Hey Mike." Weiss croaked with his eyes glassy. A familiar humorous smile stayed on his face. "Nice of you to join us."
"Hey buddy. Thompson, we've got your cover." Vaughn replied.
It took them a bit to get Weiss on his feet. They shuffled over to the door as Vaughn and Sydney backed their way out and shot at few open targets. The room looked like a blood house with bodies lying everywhere. Some of the agents in there he knew and he pitied their families. They had fought for their country and died doing it. They died in honor… but that would never seal the wounds of the family they left behind.
Sydney fell to the ground and he looked down to see her get back up quickly. She raised her gun and kept a steady fire as they walked backwards. Popping out the empty canister in his gun, Vaughn grabbed a new magazine from his pouch that was strapped on to his leg and clicked a new one in.
As soon as they got to the door, the two turned and ran to catch up with Nadia, Thompson, and Weiss. Vaughn turned to see the rest of the team falling back with them. There were only five left out of the twenty that had come with them. Swallowing, he jogged outside to find himself on the roof of the building. The chopper spun cold air at them as they began to load.
Both he and Sydney covered the rest of the team as they got in.
"Come on!" Riley called to them.
Vaughn allowed Sydney to get in first before he jumped in. Everyone was silent and they tried not to look down to see the graveyard that they had just left, the companions that would never come back. There were men who lay still on the ground, cold and unmoving. "How is he?"
"We need to get back. He's bleeding out, which could lead to organ failure. If we can manage to stop the bleeding, he should be fine." Thompson replied from the other side of the chopper.
Turning his attention to Sydney who had her head resting on the back of the seat she sat on. Her hand was bloody, covering a wound that he had not noticed before. Even her skin looked paler than it did under the artificial light of the warehouse. She smiled slightly looking tired. "I'm okay."
"When did you get sho… Syd, why didn't you tell me?" Vaughn ripped off his sleeve and moved her hand to find the deep wound bleeding profusely. She winced as he put pressure on it. Breathing in, she rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.
Thompson rushed over to look at the wound. Feeling her pulse, he looked over at Vaughn, his face matching the graying sky. Then looking back at Sydney, he noticed she wasn't moving. "Agent Bristow?"
"Syd!" Vaughn tried to shake her gently awake. Her eyes didn't open. "Sydney!"
To be continued….Say tuned for new Chapters coming soon!
