Chapter 2 – The Team

Christmas and Barney were in full sprint when they exited the building. They hit the dirt as soon as they went over a large embankment of soil to escape the blast and debris. The two men tumbled in different directions and Mia went toppling with Barney through the tall grass. Mia's body silently cried out the each time their bodies bounced against the ground before coming to a sudden stop. Barney rolled himself over Mia's body and she clung to his vest. Mia's world was spinning. She had no idea who these men were but they saved her life. Barney and his friend, complete strangers, were putting theirselves in harms way to save her. There was no reason not to trust them. Barney laid on her, tucking his head next to hers, and covered both of their heads with his arms. The explosion from the C-4 was loud and a small shock wave kicked up dirt and small pieces of rubble fell onto the both of them.

Once it fell quiet, Barney popped his head up and scouted his surroundings before he climbed to his feet. Mia laid on her back with her arms over her chest, breathing heavily. Barney shook his head, sending dirt in the air. He turned to his left and then barked, "Christmas! You good?"

A British voice called from the distance, shouting, "Yeah! You good?"

"I'm fine!"

"How's the girl?"

Barney turned to her and stuck out his hand for her to grab. "You okay?"

Mia didn't say anything as she reached out to grab the hand. There was this soft ring in her ears as she stumbled to her feet with Barney's aid. Barney held her wrist with one hand and while the other had her bicep. The ring became suddenly louder and the setting sun in the distance became brighter. Barney watched the girl struggle to pull herself out of a daze. He knew she was shell-shocked. As he held her up, she blinked rapidly before focusing on Barney. "Mia?"

"I'm okay," she whispered and her eyes trailed up to Christmas as Barney let go of her. Christmas reached the two and was also covered with dirt.

"We need to find the others," Barney spoke and Christmas agreed. Barney turned to Mia. "We're going to get you out of here, but we first have to meet back up with my team." Mia nodded, understanding. She didn't bother brushing off any of the dirt as she followed the two men into the surrounding woods. Again, she struggled to keep up with the men, but Barney knew that he couldn't carry her the whole way back. It was going to be at least a three-mile walk before they would reach where their team agreed to meet back up at. They'll just have to lose some time because of Mia's injuries.

It took them an hour and a half before Barney finally saw three familiar figures sitting on a fallen tree. Christmas waved at the rest of their team. All of them were surprise to see a woman with her arm around Barney's shoulder – holding most of her weight up. "You guys okay?" Caesar asked, as he and Toll were the first to reach them.

"We're fine, but she's hurt," Barney said wearily and Caesar picked her up from his tired comrade. Mia didn't say anything as the man carried her back where they were sitting. He gently placed her in front of the tree and she sat, watching him grab a first aid kit from his backpack. The rest of the team was talking to Barney and Christmas or glancing at the newcomer. It made Mia nervous when she couldn't hear what they were talking about.

"What's your name?" the man asked when he returned with medical supplies, making her jump. He paused before he started to wipe away the blood on her face.

"Mia Brooks," she replied and let him tend to her wounds.

"I'm Caesar." Caesar watched Mia stay quiet besides the occasional grunts of pain as he stitched up her eyebrow. He then pointed out who was who on the team to her. In totally there, were five men on their team. They were in a small clearing in the woods as the heat and humidity seeped into the heavy air. Mia started to feel queasy. "I have to reset your broken nose," he said, setting down the bloody rag. She let out a shaky breath and nodded.

Barney observed Caesar reset Mia's broken nose. The cartilage crunched and popped when he applied pressure to both sides of her nose. Tears formed in her eyes and she squeezed her jeans. She looked pale and exhausted. When Caesar was done, she cursed underneath her breath. Barney grab a canteen of water and brought it to the woman. She quickly thanked him before taking a couple of gulps of water. "How long where you held captive?" he asked.

Mia took another gulp of water before answering, "I don't know." She handed him the canteen back. "I tried to keep track of the number of sunsets to count the days, but they would blindfold me or keep me in a dark room." Leaning her back against the tree, Mia took a couple of deep breaths. "I don't even remember how I got there," she told them and Barney squatted in front of her.

"Does the name Pressmen ring any bells?" Christmas asked over Barney's shoulder and Mia shook her head.

None of this made sense to Barney. What would Pressmen need her for? "Did they ever say anything to you?"

"They kept asking me where my camera was," she replied. "But, I couldn't tell them where it was. I can't even remember the night before I woke up there. I have no idea where it is." Mia shifted uncomfortably. "They kept beating me when I couldn't give them the right answers."

"A camera?" Caesar spoke up and sat on the fallen tree. He was wiping his slightly bloody hands with a rag.

Mia nodded and turned to Barney. "I'm a photographer."

"What kind of photographer?"

"I do any kind of photography actually, but my last shoot was in Puerto Rico for a wedding."

Barney's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Puerto Rico?"

And again, she nodded.

Pressmen was like seen in Puerto Rico almost two weeks ago. A couple of days ago, Barney and his team stumbled on a lead to this location. She's probably been held hostage for at least a week and a half. "Where are we? The last thing I remember is being in Puerto Rico," she told the men and Barney stood to his feet.

"We're in Tate's Hell State Forest in Florida."

Mia looked at the man in shock with her mouth open. "I'm back in the states?"

Barney didn't know what to say to her. He was just as confused as she was. They were nowhere closer to finding Pressmen and now they had another mystery to solve.