Chapter Seven
Oscar was fuming. Russ watched his face go from ghost-pale (worry mode) to red (anger), and all the way to purple (outta the way; he's gonna blow). Concerned for his boss and anyone else in the vicinity, Russ lit a cigar and handed it to him.
"Am I invisible, Russ?" Oscar asked as he exhaled a deep lung-full of smoke. Russ stayed silent, letting him vent. "Has my voice changed to a frequency no one else can hear? Or has it become the latest government fad to ignore Oscar and do whatever the hell you please?" He slammed a fist down on the desktop, making Russ (who was unusually adept at dealing with Oscar's anger) jump.
"Buffy, I can almost understand," Oscar continued. "She's new, and maybe a little too enthusiastic. But Jaime...Jaime knows better! Once they fitted her with that damn vest, it should never - not for one second - have been off her body! Now she's gotten herself hurt...or worse." Oscar took another deep drag from the cigar. "Russ, I had three people working an assignment together, and right now I don't know where any of them are! What's wrong with this picture?" Oscar asked rhetorically and very bitterly.
Jack Hansen came rushing into the office. "The extraction team's in place outside the compound. Six men, ready to go in whenever you say the -"
"Send them in," Oscar said grimly. "Now."
------
Buffy had chosen a back door in one of the larger buildings as the one she'd kick in, and was about to make her move. Several small explosions in rapid succession at the rear fence (directly behind her) caused her to change her mind and duck for cover. She crouched low, her sword at the ready and her every nerve on full alert.
A man with a gun was approaching in front of her and, as she jumped up to take him on, another came from behind and karate-chopped her arm, causing her to drop the sword. Before she could react, he had grabbed her tightly by both arms.
"Who might you be, Missy?" the one in front demanded. Buffy merely glared, kicking at the shins of the one behind her as he forced her wrists into handcuffs. "Never mind; doesn't matter who you are," he said. "We're with the National Security Bureau, and you're in Federal custody. Let's go."
The two men led/dragged Buffy through the hole their explosives had made in the fence and put her into the back of one of the cars.
"Wait!" she insisted, before he could close the door. "I'm OSI and I need to get in there!"
"Right, Missy - the OSI always equips its agents with swords."
"Call Oscar Goldman!" she demanded, too late. He'd already slammed the door, locking her in the car, and was already gone, back into the compound. Buffy ducked low, toward the floor of the backseat, breaking her handcuffs against a bar at the bottom of the door jamb.
The deafening sound of multiple guns all firing at once froze her in place as the cuffs fell away. Instinct told her to stay low and out of sight. It was coming from inside the buildings, and not from the NSB extraction team outside. It seemed to go on forever. The silence, when it finally came, was startling. Buffy stayed down until it was clear that the gun battle was over, then a peek out the window confirmed what she'd already suspected: all six members of the extraction team were down - permanently.
------
Steve heard the barrage of gunfire and the ensuing chaos without needing Jaime's kick to alert him, which was fortunate, since the kick never came. Sadly - alarmingly - feigned unconsciousness was no longer necessary. Jaime was completely out.
The battle outside would've been an ideal distraction to allow them to escape, But Steve was not about to leave his wife behind in the cell. Either they would leave together, or Steve intended to stay with Jaime to face whatever was about to happen. Very softly, he touched her face and gently jostled her shoulder in an attempt to rouse her.
"Sweetheart? I know I told you to stay asleep, but I really need you to be awake right now..." There was no response. "Jaime?...Please?" Silence. "Oh God - what've I done to you?" He didn't know if her injury was life-threatening or not, but he began to scramble for a plan to keep her safe and get them both out.
Then, it came to him. He knew what to do! Being very careful not to hit Jaime with debris, Steve punched a small hole in the rear wall of the cell. As he'd suspected, it was an outside wall and as he'd hoped, the tiny outbuilding was very nearby. He widened the hole slightly, saw the fallen men and recognized them as NSB. Steve realized Oscar had sent an extraction team and New Destiny's ranks had grown enough to bring them down. The situation was dire.
Shielding Jaime with his body as much as possible, he kicked a much larger hole in the wall, picked up his wife, carried her to the tiny outbuilding and forced the door open.
Inside, along two walls, there were lab coats and surgical scrubs from when they still made the effort to emulate a medical research team. The garments were hung on two rows of horizontal rods, with the lower garments brushing the floor. Steve pulled several items from the upper rod and spread them on the floor, right next to the wall. He settled Jaime on the 'bed' that he'd created for her, kissed her once more and maneuvered the bottom row of clothing so she was completely hidden from view. As soon as he'd locked up or taken down enough New Destiny members to allow them to make a clean, safe escape, he would return for her. If she woke up in the meantime, Steve hoped she'd see her unusual location as a message to stay put.
------