Disclaimer: I do not own Homeland, or any of its characters or plots. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners.

Quinn could not believe he was back working for Dar Adal. Almost three years yearning for full normalcy in his life had only led him to be part of his Special Ops team once more. At least he was only doing it only to get to Carrie, to protect her, he kept saying to himself. He still wanted to have a life outside the Agency, the life he and Carrie had fought so hard to have with Franny, but, in order to get back to it, he needed to bring her home first. And for that he had to find that damn helicopter…

And there was more… Guilt and remorse kept washing over him every time he remembered that he had lied to her, hiding Dar Adal's threats to make her go back to work for the CIA, and, even worse, pretending to support her decision to help track Haqqani down and reaching a deal with Dar to spy on her in order to keep her safe. "Oh, I really fucked up," he thought. Quinn had always gone to great lengths to protect Carrie; once he even shot at her in order to do so (it still amazed him how deep his feelings for her had already been back then), but he felt that this was much worse. He felt he had dishonored their deal to be a family, and, in addition to his own sense of disloyalty and betrayal, something was telling him that she would never forgive him if she ever found out. But now her life was at stake and finding her as soon as possible was a priority.

He wished she had never quitted her job as a US History teacher. Yeah, maybe she found it boring after risking her life in multiple missions in some of the most dangerous places on earth, but she was good at teaching and he was certain that she would have learnt to like it with time. All this was so Carrie... After years of working for the CIA, and then working out of the Agency, after everything she had gone through, she still thought she could save the world on her very own. It was only fair to say that Quinn had fallen in love with her for things like that, but now, as his husband whose main concern was her wellbeing, it was annoying him to no end.

Although he knew most of the Special Ops team operatives he had flown in with, as he had served along most of them over the years since he was a teenager, as he joined them in setting up a post in one of the hangars to start working on the chopper location, he could not help but think that now they were like strangers to him. During the long flight he had been thinking about Carrie and Franny non-stop, wishing their little girl was having a great time over at her aunt Maggie's. Deep down, he had no doubt she'd be having a great time, but guilt washed over him because it felt that both Carrie and him had abandoned her. She couldn't be in better hands, but when they had come back from Islamabad and planned to leave the CIA together, to live as a family with Carrie's child, he had promised himself he'd do anything to protect and take care of Franny and it felt like he was failing her, very much like her own mother did when she was born.

Now that feeling had only intensified after knowing that Carrie's helicopter had gone off the radar somewhere on Afghan soil. It was obvious that all the operatives he was surrounded by were totally focused on the task at hand while he was personally invested in finding that location. He was starting to doubt he could be of any assistance under those circumstances.

As he was studying the map of the area he noticed Dar Adar waving at him from the other end of the hangar, and he headed towards him with no hesitation. He liked to remind himself that he was not at his beck and call anymore, but he might have news about Carrie and he didn't want to make him wait if that was the case.

Dar addressed him with no further ado. "Peter, there's something you should know. But, first, I need your word that you'll fully cooperate with us no matter what…"

Quinn scoffed. "You'll never change, won't you?"

Dar sighed, tiredly sitting on a chair he had behind him. "Your word, Peter…" he insisted.

"Do I have a choice?" Quinn asked, crossing his arms on his chest. Something in Dar's usually unreadable expression was telling him that he was not going to like what he was about to share.

"Not really, if you want to find Carrie…" Adal shrugged, certain that the mere mention of his wife would do the trick.

Quinn smirked. The bastard knew him, and his weaknesses, too well. "Then you have my fucking word..."

Dar shook his head in disgust. "No need to be so rude, Peter… We have reason to believe that the chopper diverted its scheduled course on purpose…"

"What?" Quinn placed his hands on his hips. Surely he had not been expecting this kind of news.

"You heard me, everything indicates that they deliberately chose to go off the radar…" Dar patiently elaborated, carefully assessing his next words. "You think Carrie could be working for the other side?"

"What the hell are you implying, Dar? As I remember it, you're the damn one who likes to play both sides. Always had, always will, uh?" Quinn blurted out. To think that this man had been once like a father figure to him… Unfortunately he showed his real face soon enough and young Quinn had learned fast to shield himself from him. How could he think Carrie could be working for Haqqani? It was them, the CIA, who had called her back with dirty tricks, for God's sake!

"Not this time, Peter, not this time… " Dar tiredly admitted. There was no point in pretending to be someone else in front of Peter; he knew him too well. His star assassin, like he liked to think of him, had witnessed many of his actions over the years, both on and off the battlefield. As a matter of fact, he had even been on the receiving end more times than he would like to remember.

Quinn frowned. "So you're suggesting that someone else is playing your game? Well, sure as hell it's not Carrie…"

His former mentor and boss sighed again. "Peter, if memory serves, your beloved Carrie's got quite the service sheet, she's done multiple undercover and off the record operations, and who knows what she'd be capable of doing if she goes off her meds…" he trailed off.

"She's not a traitor, Dar," Quinn quickly interrupted him, closing his hands into fists and shoving them into his cargo pants pockets. He was finding it pretty difficult to control himself and not punch Dar as he heard him say those things about his wife.

But Adal kept on explaining his suspicions. "Well, someone among those who boarded that helicopter is, Peter. And we won't hesitate to…"

"To what?" Quinn muttered as he tilted his head in disbelief.

"Peter, you're starting to sound very much like a rookie… You already know, to make sure that rat is exterminated. It wouldn't be your first rodeo," Dar explained, holding his hands in front of him.

By the time Dar finished his line Quinn could feel a lump in his throat, and his voice came out hoarse. "Dar, at least seven people were on that chopper. You've got nothing solid… I'm sure you're not gonna put them in danger on a fucking hunch…"

"You seem to have forgotten certain things about this job. Let me remind you it's called collateral damage…" Adal stated before quickly turning in his chair and answering his ringing cell phone, leaving a stunned and terrified Quinn behind.

More than a hundred miles away from them, Saul was also mentally reviewing the events of the last week in order to get some clarity on who the mole could be. As all his group slowly walked to a safe house in the middle of nowhere, under a torrid sun, he was replaying his interactions with all of them, and by the time they reached the gate of the house, he had grown to the conclusion that the mole was not bound to be found inside his team. "This just looks like something coming from Dar," he suddenly thought. There was no doubt that it was an inside job, but it also fell into the category of the inside job Dar would be behind. And it would not be the first time he'd be part of a conspiracy like that. They had both served together for a period at the CIA station in Nairobi, Kenya, mainly on classified and covert operations in neighboring Somalia, and since then Berenson had known that Adal was an outstanding CIA Black Operations Director but also had a deep dark side.

Meanwhile, after reviewing all the evidence his Special Ops team had gathered, Dar had come to a similar conclusion: he was beginning to think his long life colleague Saul Berenson could be behind the leak. He was positive that if he said it out loud it sounded really crazy, but he was the only one that could have the means. And purpose? Why would Saul want to cooperate with Haqqani? What would it be for him? Maybe it would just turn into a fishing expedition, and it was certainly difficult to believe, but it was worth looking into. After all, he had his most experienced men with him on the field, and, most importantly, he had his best soldier back working for him. No better time than the present.

So, a few hours after they had both landed in Afghanistan, and unbeknown to both of them, Quinn and Carrie found themselves working against each other's team, as Saul intended to expose Dar Adal's position in the Agency, for once and for all, and the Special Ops Director was exploring the idea that Saul was behind all this messed up operation.

It did not take long for the Special Ops team, Quinn amongst them, to analyse the last minutes the chopper had been in the air and estimate the probable crash or landing location. Once they cross-referenced all the intelligence they had on the area and noticed the secluded safe house where Saul and his agents and analysts were now hiding, Dar thought that the possibility that the course of the flight had been diverted and they had actually landed instead of crashed was a real possibility. It could not be a coincidence that a safe house happened to be at a walking distance from the point where the helicopter was last spotted by the radar. Following that lead, Adal moved heaven and earth and they also had access to new intel, according to which Carrie's old CI Ali Hadd was on his way to that location. That could only mean that Carrie and thus Saul, was indeed there. That was all he needed to order his Special Ops team to storm into that house.

"Henderson, Mills, get the blueprints of that house from Langley asap. I don't fucking care it's 3 a.m. there. Wake up whoever you need to wake up," Dal barked his orders without delay. He then turned to face Quinn, who was looking at him astonished. He had been out of the business for almost three years, but asking for the blueprints of a safe house could only mean one thing, and Adal's next word would only confirm his worst fears: "Peter, get together a small team to enter the house under your command. The target is Saul Berenson. And don't hesitate to use force if someone stands in your way. Don't look at me like that… collateral damage, remember?"