Carefully Ethan opened the office door and snuck inside. His target was right there in front of him, in the middle of the clean light room, exactly where he was supposed to be. Lane stared through the large windows over the Thames and at the computer screen in front of him in turn, hands clasped behind his back.
Once Ilsa had gotten him inside, finishing the security guards had been a breeze. The two of them working together had been a lethal combination. Now he only had to knock out Lane -
Ethan stopped in mid-movement, his gun with the tranquillizer darts already raised, when his eyes grazed the screen behind Lane. It was a video feed showing Skye in a strange slightly shaky close-up, in a corner a timer was counting down steadily.
"Two pounds of semtex," Lane rasped. "Five hundred thirty calibre ball bearings. Your friend is sitting on a highly sensitive pressure trigger..."
A cold shiver ran down Ethan's spine when he leaned back against the wall for a second. He didn't know who this 'friend' was, but considering Skye was there the options were very limited and none of them was good.
"Where is Ethan Hunt?" Lane demanded, arms still behind his back.
I'm right here, Ethan wanted to shout. Wanted to knock him out right there. But from where he was standing he couldn't tell, how the explosive device was controlled. There had to be some kind of remote trigger and deactivation mechanism, but it could be wired to the computer or it could be a stand-alone system. He wouldn't have the time to figure it out on the go. He would have to wait until Lane deactivated it himself. Hunt looked back around the corner
"Where is the disc?" Lane asked harshly.
'This disc?' he read Skye's lips. There was no sound, apparently it was exclusive to Lane's headset.
Ethan straightened when he saw Skye holding the flashdrive. Had they really unlocked the disc? Or was she playing an elaborate game of poker? He wouldn't put either option beyond her.
Anxiously he watched her face talk silently. From where he was hiding it was hard to read her lips, but when she was speaking slowly he could make out the words. 'Let Benji go.'
Benji. He felt a stab of guilt. He should have stayed with his team, then none of this would have happened. At least he was here now, but he felt helpless, unable to do anything before Lane deactivated the bomb first. And the countdown was coming dangerously close to zero. What if he didn't...?
'Or you let us blow up. The disc is destroyed. You get nothing and you lose your leverage as well as the only person left to bargain with. Is that a risk you're willing to take?'
Ethan quickly ducked into the corner when Lane turned around sharply. There wasn't much space but he hadn't been seen. Ethan saw Lane's eyes twitch dangerously. He was boiling with fury. But almost immediately the man returned to his computer. He stabbed a key.
The countdown stopped.
Ethan pulled the trigger.
/\/\/\/\/\/\
Point one nine seconds. That was how close they had come. Benji let out a shaky breath of relief. The countdown had stopped. They were still alive. So now what?
He looked at Skye, at Vinter, both waiting for further instructions, then back at the countdown to make sure it had stopped for good.
Then he heard a voice in his ear. But it wasn't Lane.
/\/\/\/\/\/\
Lane collapsed over his desk, almost taking his computer down with him. Before he hit the floor, Ethan had already covered the few meters distance. He ripped the headset off the other man's ear with little care.
"Hunt," Lane hissed with slow recognition from the floor.
"The deactivation code," Ethan demanded. In reply he got a disgusted glance, but the drug did its work.
Lane swallowed, but had no choice. The drug was already working. "One, three, nine..."
Ethan repeated the code into the headset, quickly but clearly. Then he added: "Benji, it's me. Don't worry about Lane."
/\/\/\/\/\/\
Involuntarily Benji's mouth formed a word before he stopped himself, but Skye could have sworn it was a name. Out of the corner of her eye she could see movement to her right, but Benji's reaction had warned her. While he frantically typed in the code, her elbow smashed into Vinter's nose. Their chairs toppled backwards, some of the other patrons shouted in annoyance at the disturbance, but when they saw the knife catching the light it turned into panicked screams. Skye dodged his next attack and the knife's tip lodged itself into the table. Red wine spilled like blood over the white table cloth.
Benji had wrapped the vest into the coat they had given him, just to be safe. He saw the two other henchmen approaching them quickly. "Look out!"
Skye followed his shout, saw the approaching threats. She jumped onto her chair to gain an advantage in height and rammed her elbow into the back of Vinter's neck. In the same motion she reached into her inside jacket pocket and retrieved her gun. She fired twice, solidifying the panic of the other patrons around them for good. Now it was just a matter of minutes until police showed up.
"Run!"
It wouldn't have needed Benji's shout, the two of them took off at top speed, followed by Lane's men.
/\/\/\/\/\/\
It was true that Ilsa hadn't wanted to face Lane again. As a matter of fact, she never wanted to see him ever again, and part of her just wanted to trust Ethan to take care of him. And if not... well, she had done her part. She had given everything she had and she knew it. She was done. Except for one last thing.
Janik Vinter, the man who had helped make life hell for the past two years. That was something she could not leave to anyone else. And she knew exactly where he would be. She was in place long before things escalated and watched as the fight started and Holt fired the first shots.
Ilsa Faust followed them.
/\/\/\/\/\/\
Skye had made two mistakes. One was running off blindly, without a planned escape route. There just hadn't been enough time, and she had been hoping to lose them in the smaller streets a little off from Embankment. Now they were in a dead-end street, terminating in a wall too high to scale, and they already heard the heavy footsteps.
The second mistake was that she had miscounted. They only had the one gun. And it was out of bullets. Skye swallowed. She had been so close to getting him out of there. She looked up at Benji, shook her head and showed him the empty magazine. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
Vinter found them first. He had stocked up – the knife was still in his hand, but now he had a gun as well. He sneered at them. "Nice try."
Benji pushed himself in front of Skye in a pointless attempt to cover her. She reached for his hand.
Vinter loaded the bullet into the chamber. It echoed a little.
And then a shadow was on top of him and rammed his own knife into his chest before he could react. His gun clattered to the ground and the shot came loose, firing into the wall. Benji and Skye ducked reflexively. When they looked up again, Vinter was dead on the ground. They were alone.
They hugged each other like there was no tomorrow.
