Chapter 7 - One Step Closer

Water rushed into the truck and it began sinking. Barney and Christmas swam out of the open windows. Turning around, Barney looked to see if Mia had followed. Mia had her camera cross her chest while trying unbuckling the seatbelt. The sounds of moving currents, rising air bubbles and the truck's metal groaning filled her ears. He tucked back into the vehicle to help cut Mia loose. Slicing the belt with his large knife, he grabbed her wrist to lead her out of the truck. Barney still had a hold on Mia as they made their way up to the surface. Before reaching it, he stopped swimming and put a finger over his lips, signaling for her to be quiet.

They both took a gulp of air as soon as they broke the surface. Wrapping his arm around Mia's waist, Barney pulled her into him. He placed her next to the wooden columns of the pier. She scrambled to grab onto it, scraping off shells and sea barnacles in the process. Once she had a grip, he too held onto the wood. Mia felt out of breath, but tried not to breathe too loudly. A pair of boots heavily made their way on the dock before pausing right above their heads.

Where's Christmas? Mia thought worriedly.

Her eyes landed on Barney's face to see it stern and his eyes were staring above. In his right hand was his gun. Barney knew if he shot now, him and Mia would become easy targets for any of the men above. He tried recalling the number of men in the SUV and on the pier. With the number in his head, Barney's gaze went to Mia. She too was looking above. Worry was etched on her face as she continued to hug the wood. He got her attention when he leaned into her. "Stay here," Barney whispered into her right ear. In the process, his chin and lips unintentionally brushed against her wet hair. She reacted to the touch by turning for their eyes to meet. She nodded. Barney took off the large knife that sat on the waist of his pants and then lightly grabbed at the top of her shorts, pulling her closer to him. His large fingers firmly held her in place as he strapped it to her belt. His eyes went back up to the pacing feet, but still had Mia close to him. "Don't make a sound," he quietly told her and again, she nodded. Barney then wordlessly dipped under the water, leaving her alone.

Mia tried to calm herself as her nails dug into the wood. This was obviously their day to day life, but the fact death literally loomed over her head made Mia wondered how they did this. Her heart was racing as she listened to the shouting above, the waves lapping on shore, and the cawing of the seagulls. There was this moment of heart hammering silence between the two teams of men. It sent a shiver of adrenalin down her spine.

A pair of gunfire popped off and then there was return fire. Since everything was out of view, all Mia could hear of the loud commotion was shouting and the guns. The smell of charcoal and sulphur got caught in the sea breeze. It tickled her nose and reminded her of fireworks. After a few minutes, the shooting stopped for a brief moment. Mia sank a little lower in the water as an ominous feeling slipped tightly over her skin like a wetsuit. "Come on, Barney," A voiced called above her. "Since you haven't gotten on your plane yet, I'll assume Mia is still alive." Dread tickled her stomach as she pressed her lips tightly together. "Where's Mia?"

She couldn't go back with them. No. Her sanity wouldn't handle the pain and torture this time. "If you don't let us pass, it's only going to end one way," Barney yelled back from the end of the dock.

"No." There was a pause from the man. "There are two ways. She is no longer of importance to us once we have the camera. Just hand over the camera."

Mia heard Barney let out a chuckle. "You know that's not going to happen."

Again, there was a pause and Mia heard him unholster his gun. The metal weapon noisily shifted in his hand when his grip tightened. "Hm, I had guessed that," he reply with an uninterested tone. Without hesitation he began firing his gun below him, right in Mia's direction.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Mia quickly went under the water to escape. The bullets created trails of air bubbles as they whizzed by her swimming body.

The next couple gunshots were muffled by the water and turning waves of the ocean. Mia kept underwater to swim towards the end of the dock where Barney was. Beautifully colored fish littered underneath the pier; They too were seeking shelter like Mia. She strongly pumped her arms and legs against the moving water. More bullets darted around her. A sharp, searing pain bit at her left calf, but she knew she couldn't stop. Mia finally reached the end of the dock to raise her head cautiously out of the water. On the dock was Barney and Christmas hiding behind wooden shipping crates. She grabbed the deck to pull herself up, surprising both men. They rushed over to her and pulled her up. "Keep low," Barney quietly grumbled and eyed her bleeding calf as she slipped into his plane. Waiting those long seconds of gunfire was agony for Barney. He thought there was a chance that the man had killed Mia after he was the one that told her to stay. It was almost a grave mistake on his part. She would have sacrificed herself for helping his team. Sure, Barney had lost men before, but he never could get used to the feeling of self-sacrifice. To know that someone died for the same cause you're fighting for... It makes you feel a certain way.

Mia quickly climbed into a seat and strapped in while Barney sealed the door. They were luckily a step ahead of the men since they didn't know Mia and the camera were now safe. Barney fired up the engines and a commotion rose outside. They began firing at them as Barney guided the plane out of the water and into the sky. He knew the plane could take the heat; it was a tank. He turned the plane around to face the dock head on. Christmas slipped into the nose of the plane where two 50 calibers waited for him. The guns cut loose and begin spraying the men below with bullets. There were misty clouds of blood when Christmas hit his targets. Some jumped out of the way to take cover.

When flying over the dock, Barney flips a couple of switches to let gas rain down on the dock and men. One last time, Barney circled the plane around, giving Christmas a clear shot. Christmas leans out of the hatch and fires a flare gun. The pier ignites, sending men and parts of the dock into the salty water. As the structure begins to crumble, Barney glides the plane out of danger and into the horizon.

Christmas closes the hatch and reenters the cockpit. Both men were out of breath and soaked down to the bone. The plane was silent as Barney tiredly reached for an unlit cigar. He lit it and set the aircraft on the course it needs to be on. Taking a long drag, Barney exhales the smoke out of relief. He flipped a couple of switches on the control panel before speaking up. "Mia has an injury on her leg. Could you get it while I get this thing on autopilot?"

Christmas nodded. "Sure."

He exited the front and went back to where Mia was. She lifted her head as he entered. Mia's stern expression faded and a small smiled grew on her lips. "Hey," she greeted.

"Hey, I need to bandage you up," he told her, nodding towards her bleeding leg.

She looked down at her leg. "Oh," she replied in a surprised tone. Christmas got the first aid kit and sat next to her.

Christmas patted his legs. "Put your leg up here." She listened and turned herself towards him. Carefully setting it on his legs, Christmas adjusted her leg to get a better view. "You were shot, but fortunately, it just grazed it. Still took out a small chunk though."

Mia took a glance at her calf to see it bleeding freely. There was a split in her skin that was almost an inch wide. The bullet had cut through what fat she had on the back of her leg and exposed some of the muscle. "I didn't think I had gotten shot. It didn't hurt that bad."

"It's your adrenalin. That's why you're still shaking," Christmas commented as he cleaned the wound. Mia's blue eyes fell on her trembling fingers before clinching them. "It'll wear off soon. Give it about twenty minutes. " His voice was soft and reassuring. Christmas wrapped the gauze around her calf after it was cleaned.

"How did you get use to them shooting at you?" Mia asked as he finished up.

Christmas shrugged while fastening the gauze."I guess after so long, you just get used to it. I don't really think about it anymore." He gently put her leg back down on the floor. "Just rest until we get back," Christmas told her and then got out of his seat to leave her.

"Oh, wait," Mia called and Christmas turned back to her. She snatched her camera out of the seat next to her. Water dribbled out the lens as she open a side compartment. She pulled the SD card out to hand to him. "I'm hoping the water didn't damage it."

"We'll have to see when we get back. Thanks," he replied and placed it into a pocket on his vest.

After about an hour, Barney grew restless and got out of the pilot's seat. "I need to stretch my legs," he commented. Christmas was in the other seat, whirling his knife between his fingers. He nodded before Barney exited.

When he first saw Mia, she was angrily pressing the buttons on her camera. Small droplets fell on the floor and she sighed in frustration. The screen of the camera was black and continued to stay black even when she flipped the 'on' switch.

On.

Off.

On.

Mia gave her camera one last glare before letting it fall from her hands. The device loudly clattered on the floor and the glass in the lens cracked. "Dead?" Barney piped up.

"Salt water always kills electronics - especially expensive cameras," she replied with a bitter tone.

Barney took a drag from his short cigar and leaned against the metal wall. For a fleeting moment, he was unsure what to say. Guilt still scratched at his gut and it was hard to find any words. "How's the leg?"

"It just hurts. Nothing I didn't expect from being shot," she said lightly

Barney nodded as some of the tension faded. "Yeah, that's a given," he said trying not to smile.

Mia adjust herself so she could rest her head back against the seat. "How much longer until we get back?"

She watched him glanced at his right wrist. "Around a hour and a half. A little after two o'clock."

Mia's eyes widened and her tired face showed surprise. "Holy shit. Only half of this day is over," she groaned with realization."And you guys do this all the time, right?"

Barney shrugged "Yeah. It depends on the mission though. Some are harder than others."

"Why do I feel so out of shape around you guys?"

"Because compared to us, you are," Barney laughed and a playful smile grew on Mia's lips. She then turned to stiffly lift her leg up on the seat to rest it. She begins to roll her ankle in a circle to stretch her calf muscle. "Christmas said the bullet got some of the muscle?"

"Barely," she replied.

"It's going to leave a hell of a scar."

"At least I get something cool out of it then," she joked.

Barney had to admit, she was taking things a lot better now. In the beginning she was a little shellshocked and reserved, but now, he was starting to see glimpses of her personality. She's a little tougher than he realized. While snooping, he found records of her parents' death when she was at the age of twelve. She went to live with her grandparents who ran a farm in rural Georgia. She has already been married once, but divorced after two years. One year ago, she inherited all sixty acres and a beautiful farm house after her grandmother's passing. Mia probably grew up helping out with the farm; Which means her life wasn't shy of pain. "You probably got used to that on a farm, huh?"

Mia's eyebrows creased together ever so slightly and a flash of confusion swept over her face. It then dissipated. "Ah, right. You're a mercenary. My information was probably pretty easy to find then."

Barney wasn't going to lie. "Fairly easy," he admitted.

"Yeah, that's a given," she said, repeating his words from before with a chuckle. "Anything you didn't find during your search?"

'A lot actually,' Barney thought. Reading files on someone only gives a glimpse of their life - not who they are. He didn't even know who Mia truly was. Why was he so interested? Maybe her mystery was something new for Barney to figure out. He had only pulled back the first layer of Mia. "Not that I'm aware of," he said and took a drag of his cigar.

"Hm," she hummed and peeked out of one the windows. "At least, I make your job easy." Barney studied her face as she curiously stared out into the horizon. The sunlight lit up her eyes to an icy blue. The color reminded Barney of winter and it's blue hues.

"Why did you stay on your grandparents' farm? Most people try to get out of small of towns when they can," Barney asked.

She turned back to him. "It's paradise for me. I don't like being around people too much. It's just myself and nature. Well, my cousin lives on the property too. She's my second hand on the farm. But I prefer the solitude and peace that I get," she explained as a satisfied smile grew. "There's wild blackberries, deer, all the room to grow our own food, flowers, and silence… That's the one thing that we don't get enough of now. Just peace and quiet."

MIa's bright face reflected how passionate she was about her family's home. Again, more of Mia was slipping through the cracks. "I can't argue with that." Barney was always the kind of man that like time to himself and didn't understand why most people weren't home-bodies. There's nothing like relaxing with a beer, cigar, and nowhere to go."Wait, won't your cousin be looking for you soon?" Barney asked.

She shook her head. "No, I normally go hiatus after being on a big business trip. I have a small cabin in The Smokey Mountains that I like to escape to every now and then. It was my parents' before they passed, but my grandparents gave it to me when I turned eighteen. She won't know I'm missing for another week."

"Hopefully, everything will be over by then," Barney told her. He brushed his fingers tiredly through his hair and glanced at the doorway to the cockpit. From this angle, he could see Christmas' feet that were propped up.

"Do I need to worry about them going after my cousin?"

Barney crossed his arms and shook his head. "I don't think so, but I'll let you know if I think she's in any type of danger," he reassured her.

She nodded. "Thank you."

Like always, Barney brushed her appreciation off. "No problem. Just get some rest before we land. We'll need to go through your pictures when we get back. I need to go back to the front and see where we're at," Barney told her and excused himself.

When they finally got back to Tool's shop, everybody was there. Tool, Caesar, Yin Yang, and Toll Road sat around a table that Tool and Caesar were playing pool on. "Hey," Barney greeted and all of them eyed the three soaking adults.

"Well, I'm hoping you got what you went for," Tool threw over his shoulder and took a shot at the ball. The heavily tattooed man cursed when he missed the shot.

"Thankfully," Barney said and Christmas tossed the SD card to Yin Yang.

"Would you mind if you start going through those?" Christmas asked. "I need to get to out of these sticky ass clothes and shower." Yin yang nodded and slipped away to find a laptop.

Barney agreed and left to begin unloading the truck. By the time he was done, Mia had silently slipped away. His gazed lingered on the loft's elevator for a moment before Caesar pulled him out of his thoughts. "What else did you guys find out there?"

"The bride's brother is involved somehow. We need to pull the names from the venue and see if it's just him or his entire family that's involved," Barney explained. He rested against one of the building's support columns and instantly regretted it when his clothes stuck to the metal. "He was the one that drugged Mia before kidnapping her. There must be someone with access to the hotel also. It took less than twenty hours for them to know we were there."

Toll Road spoke up from across the table with his arms crossed. "Do you think they're still keeping tabs on her?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "Now that we have the SD card, I expect their attention to now be on us."

"Do you think it's okay to let Mia go then?" Toll Road asked.

Caesar turned to the table and took another shot. "I could see them using her against us. They're already capable of keeping tabs on her. I don't know if she's completely out of danger just yet," he said.

Whether Barney liked it or not, Caesar had a point. Until all of this was over with, danger loomed over Mia's head. Hopefully they can figure out what clue is hiding in her photos before Pressmen makes his next move.

Author's Note: I hope you guys had a good New Year! Thank you for keeping up with this story. Please leave your thoughts! I love hearing them!

~FriedPeaches