AN:

Thank you guys for all the kind words. Thanks to the guest who left a review and of course thanks for following and favouriting the story already. I always get a kick out of it, when I'm informed about it.

Chapter 2

It looked like they were in the middle of nowhere, and that was probably the truth. The landscape was nice. Soft hills and a lot of woods were surrounding the compound.

A tall thin man greeted them. „Welcome at Ares. I'm Greg Hunter. Walters was excited about your sniper skills Matt." Jack-Matt took the outstretched hand of Hunter and returned the smile.

„Oh you should see Kevin blow things up, that's the real deal" Jack bragged about Mac, who nodded a greeting.

„I can't wait to see that. Actually I'd like to see a performance of both of your skills, before I decide what to do with you." Jack didn't like the underlying threat, but ignored it. Hunter waved his hand. „As you can see, we're pretty well equipped." The boss was right. The place looked like it once had been a big farm. A huge house with a porch around it and a lot of buildings, where men were busy. Some obviously working on trucks, others were unloading and storing supplies and in the background several men were running through drills. All in all there were probably at least 30 mercs in the area.

Mac spoke up for the first time. „Looks well organized. I like that." He approved, hiding his uneasiness at the small army they were facing.

For the next two hours, they were shown around. The office as well as Hunters private rooms were in the farmhouse. The sleeping quarters were in one of the smaller buildings. Rooms with eight beds each, army style. It would be difficult to sneak out at night and not be noticed. There was a huge weapons store room with every weapon from a Beretta to a rocket launcher as well as huge amounts of ammo.

„I'm gonna leave you two alone, so you can get settled." Hunter was gone and Mac and Jack were finally alone in their room. Mac flopped onto his bunk and sighed. „I don't like this Jack. How are we supposed to contact the Phoenix, they'll watch us closely." Jack grinned and pulled a burner phone out of his pocket.

„What the hell, Jack?" Mac asked dumbfounded.

„Didn't you notice they were stacked in the corner of the office. I grabbed one after you and Hunter left." Jack said proudly.

Mac sighed relieved. „Good job." He looked out of the window. „Now or never, call Phoenix."

„Hey guys, I'm glad you're making contact already. I'm tracking you now." Riley greeted them.

„Ok, boys give me a sitrep." Matty ordered and Mac described the compound.

Jack added. „We've seen about 30 men, but my guess would be there are at least 50 of them. It's going to take us a while until we can get into the office to place the code. They watch us closely, so I think we need to lay low for a few days until we get a bit more room." Jack analyzed the situtaion.

„Ok, guys I've got your location. You are 100 miles east of Medford." Riley informed them. „I'm getting a satellite view of you now. Wow, that's in the middle of nowhere. Nothing but wood for miles."

„You need to get as much intel as possible about their organization. We don't know if this is the only compound they have, if there is more than one, we need to know. As soon as Riley's got access, she'll be able to secure the evidence we need to take them down in Oregon, but it is imperative that we get the whole group. Once we know everything we need, you get the hell out of there. I'm gonna send out a few teams to the area, they'll be on stand by." Matty outlined the plan.

„Understood, we'll check in with you every 24 hours. If you don't hear anything from us, send the cavalry." Mac ended the call and hid the phone.

They met their colleagues at dinner, which was astoundingly good. Most of the men sat around the large dining room after that. Some of them playing cards, others watching TV and a few were playing darts. Other than that there wasn't much to occupy themselves. The Phoenix agents split up and met again a few hours later.

„Did you find out anything Mac?" Jack stretched and Mac smiled, when he heard the familiar pop of the Deltas joints.

The blond shook his head. „I was careful not to ask too much, the guys were pretty closed up."

„Same here. What I learned is, that there aren't many new guys coming in. Obviously they got us because they needed our special skill set. They don't trust us." Jack stated.

„Well, then we'll show them what we can do. Maybe they'll warm up a bit, when they see what we bring to the table. Hunter wants me to blow something up tomorrow." Mac smiled.

They began to chat about sports and soon their room mates appeared to turn in.

The next morning the Phoenix agents were assigned to different tasks. Jack joined the main group going through some drills, while Mac was told to blow up some stumps. After that Jack had to prove his sniper skills. Hunter had set up a difficult shot for him, but Jack passed with flying colors.

After that he walked over to Mac who was placing together another little bomb. Hunter followed and watched as Mac wired the detonator with quick nimble fingers. As soon as he had finished the device he looked up at Hunter. „What do you want to blow up with it?" The boss motioned to an old truck.

After clearing the surroundings and warning the men Mac placed the bomb and handed the remote to Hunter. The man grabbed it and pushed the button without hesitation. The detonation destroyed the truck completely and the men cheered and shouted with excitement. Mac grinned like a child on Christmas morning and Hunter clapped him on the shoulder commendatory. „Walters didn't exaggerate, when he said you two would be valuable assets for our organization."

Two days later Mac and Jack had settled in with the group and the distrust from the other guys seemed to ease. At their check in with Matty and Riley Mac announced. „We're going to place the code tonight Ri. We should finally get some good intel then. I don't want to stay here too long and risk our cover to be blown."

„I'm sorry guys, but I haven't found out much these last days. Ares is pretty careful, so we really need to get into their system." Riley was frustrated, that she wasn't able to find out anything about the mercs."

„They seem to start to trust us. We could convince them with our performance so far. I just hope we can get out of here, before they want us to go on an assignment. Would make everything way more complicated. I'm on watch tonight, so it should be fairly easy for Mac to sneak in and place the code." Jack added.

Getting into the office and installing the code turned out to be a milk run. Mac and Jack relaxed a bit. Maybe this was finally a mission, that ran smoothly.

The next morning they met Hunter, who was showing a new skinny guy around. „Kevin, Matt this is Avonaco, our IT specialist." Jack and Mac nodded and went to the track to run a few miles.

„What do you think about that Avocado dude? Do we need to worry about him?" Jack asked while running.

„Avonaco Jack. It's a native American name and means lean bear. We'll ask Riley about him. Avonaco isn't his real name, that's for sure." Mac answered. „I hope she's got enough intel, that we can get out of here real soon. We're sitting in the lion's den."

Jack agreed. „I'm totatlly with you hoss. I've got this uneasy feeling since we set foot in here. They're going for something big."

„You're probably right. The guys are really tight lipped or they don't know any more than we do. I'm not sure. I just hope that Avonaco doesn't find Rileys code." Mac shared Jacks unease.

They turned in early, to call the Phoenix. „What have you got sweetheart?" Jack asked.

„I'm still working my way into their system. I've only been able to get access to some of their financial data. Whoever set them up, is good really good. I have to work around so many firewalls it is insane." The hacker reported.

Mac said. „Yeah, about that, Hunter introduced us to a guy, he brought in today. Does the name Avonaco ring any bells?"

„Sonofabitch! He's the guy who hacked Interpol last year. Now I understand why it is so hard to get into their system. He'll find my code for sure." Riley warned worried.

Matty ordered. „Ok, that's it. You need to get out of there now. Head east, I'll have the tac teams pick you up, we're gonna track your phone and send you the coordinates for exfil."

„Understood, but we'll have to wait until it's dark or they'll spot us immediately." Jack confirmed the order.

„Ok, keep your heads down. See you at the Phoenix." Matty ended the call. Mac shut off the phone and hid it under one of the floor boards, then he pulled the foot of the bed back over it.

Jack sighed. „Crap! We should have gotten outta here right after we placed the code."

Mac shrugged. „Too late for it now. Let's just hope, we …" The blond was interrupted by the door banging open and six guys with guns at the ready storming in. Hunter was following them. „Who are you and who do you work for?" The boss demanded angrily.

Mac and Jack raised their arms in silence. Not much they could have done against six heavy armed guys. Jack felt a sharp pain in the back of his head and thought he heard Mac cry out before darkness engulfed him. A moment later Macs limp body hit the floor as well. Hunter stood over them, barking out orders.

„Search them and get them out into one of the vans. We're shutting down this site now. Follow protocol Alpha. Load all the gear into the trucks. We're heading out in 30 minutes."

Back at the Phoenix Foundation Matty asked Riley about Avonaco. „What do you know about this guy Riley?"

„Not much. I've never met him, but he's one of the best. Way better than me. He's ruthless, does every job, if the payment is high enough. I just hope he doesn't find the code until Mac and Jack are out of there." She looked at her boss with fear in her eyes.

„Mac and Jack are our best agents. They'll find a way." Matty tried to soothe her.

„I hope you are right."

„Find out as much as you can, as long as we have access to their system." Matty ordered.

„Already on it." Rileys fingers were flying over her keyboard. Suddenly she cried out. „No, no, no, no!"

„What is it Riley?" Matty wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.

„I'm shut out. Avonaco found the code." Riley typed furiously, but to no avail.

„So, they're blown. Dammit! Riley, try to contact Mac and Jack and let them know. The tac teams are at least two hours away, because we can't go in there with a helicopter. Let's just hope, it's enough time." Matty grabbed her phone to update the tac teams.

Riley fought back the panic creeping up her spine, while she set up the call. „The phone is out, damn!"

Jack and Mac needed her at the top of her game. She mustn't let them down. She was the hacker of the team. It was her job to get the intel without getting spotted and she had failed. Jack and Mac were out there in the middle of nowhere facing 50 mercs. Riley closed her eyes as images of her friends bloodied and beaten appeared in her mind. She shook her head and fixated her glance on the screen again. Focus!

Mac and Jack were gagged and their wrists cuffed behind their backs. The mercs threw them none to gently into a van without windows. As soon as the doors closed the vehicle started to move.

Matty paced the war room. „Riley where are Mac and Jack?"

The hacker shook her head. „They haven't switched on their phone yet. The last location was at the compound."

„Ok, get me a satellite image of the area." Matty was calm, but Riley could feel her concern anyway. They had spent so much time in situations like this, it was easy to tell when her boss was worried. And she was right now. Riley could see it in her stance, the way Matty leaned her head slightly to the side. A motion she only made when she was thinking hard of a solution for a serious problem. Her hands were twitching just the tiniest bit, another indication of her nervousness. Riley couldn't blame her. This group was a huge threat. Well organized, operating covertly and as far as they could tell they had a lot of money.

The images appeared on the screen. There was a lot of movement. Men running around, loading trucks and vans. „I only have eyes for about five minutes, then the satelite view will be gone for about 40 minutes."

„They're leaving. I just hope Jack and Mac got away from them in time. It's getting dark, that should help them." Matty observed.

They stared at the screen. The last vehicles were moving out of the compound. Matty and Riley were startled when suddenly all the buildings exploded. Riley covered her mouth with her hand to suppress a cry. "Do … do you think Jack and Mac got away? What if they left them behind? We need to get there now!" She was desperate.

Matty took a deep breath and laid a hand on Rileys shoulder. „I'm sure they either got away or Hunter took them with him. If they got captured he will want to know, who is on his heels and how much they know about his organization."

„That's not making me feel any better Matty. If they have them, they are going to torture Jack and Mac." Riley gulped. He had seen Jack after he had been tortured by Tassilo, his back was covered in ugly scars. She also remembered the time when she and Jack were captured and Jack was beaten half to death. He had riled the bad guys up so they wouldn't hurt her.

„I know Riley. That is why I need you to focus right now. They are going to relocate. We need to find out where they are heading. I know you didn't get much intel out of their system, before you got shut out, but go over every detail. There must be a clue. I've sending the tac team to the site anyway. Maybe they find them hiding in the woods or there are at least any clues left at the compound. We'll find them Riley. I'll get Bozer. He'll help you going over the data."

Riley felt a bit better. Matty was right. They would find their missing family members and they would bring them back.

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