Chapter Six: Change of Plans
Melanie's POV
A loud knocking sounded at my door startling me, as I was deep into one of my books. Grabbing my gun from the side table, I cautiously approached the door and peeked at the hole. Barney stood on the step, I tucked away my gun before I quickly opened the door for him and he came inside closing the door behind him with a slam.
"Barney, what's going on?"I asked confused about why he was here at my house.
Barney ignored me and watched the streets through the window as I heard several motorcycles which parked in my driveway. He opened the door and the team came in; Lee hurrying to my side.
"What the hell is going on?"I burst out at Barney.
"Take a seat Cole."He said his tone sounding like he was on automatic. I sat as the guys all stood around the room, seeming rather anxious to me.
"We have a problem, Hunter isn't the top guy. He is a lackey for someone bigger and the big boss is real interested in you Mel."Barney explained actually looking worried, they all did.
"So we're not dealing with him at the moment, our focus is on Nicole."I argued not too worried that we had an extra player in the game.
Barney nodded, "You're right but we can't risk losing you while we're rescuing Nicole so you're going to a safe house with Toll, no arguing about it Cole."he told me sternly.
I rose from the chair, "I can take care of myself Barney, I don't need a safe house besides Nicole will need some proof that you guys are the good guys."I told him, he came closer to me trying to get me to back down, but I wouldn't until I was satisfied.
"Cole you're pushing it, you can still have radio contact with us but we need to be extra careful here. We don't know who this guy is and if you do you'd better tell us right now."Barney said his tone more commanding now, wanting me to give in to his orders.
"I don't know who he is, and right now I don't care!"I screamed at him, "All I care about is getting Nicole away from Hunter and keeping her safe."I said my voice still loud but I wasn't screaming.
Lee put his arm on my shoulders but I shrugged it off, I was making a point to Barney plain and simple.
"Stand down Cole, I make the decisions for this team. The best choice for you is a safe house with one of the team with you for protection."Barney said his voice rising a bit but full of authority.
If I said anything now I'd be challenging him and I didn't have that in me so I nodded.
"What do you say?" he asked, I knew what he wanted me to say to acknowledge that I would listen to him and he was my leader but I didn't say anything and went to my bedroom locking the door.
"Think on it Cole, I'll be waiting."Barney told me through the door, he didn't try to stop me from coming in here so I figured we were kind of giving each other a break.
Barney's POV
'Melanie sure has a thick head sometimes.'I thought as I moved back down the hallway to the team.
"Why were you being so hard on her?"Lee asked me, I sighed because I didn't like explaining myself to him but the whole team probably wanted to know.
"I was hard on her because there's a new threat to her specifically now and she doesn't care. She only cares about rescuing Nicole; this is no time for recklessness."I replied sinking into a chair.
"She does care Barney; it's just that her primary focus is the mission just as she was trained to be."Toll told me.
I guess he was right and Mel was just doing as she was taught but still it bugged me something awful. I shook it off and told them the new plan for getting Nicole out of Rocky's.
Toll's POV
I listened to the plan as Barney spoke but I wouldn't be with them I'd be with Mel. I wanted her to be calmed down so we wouldn't fight and argue the whole way so I went to the bedroom and knocked on the door.
"Who is it?"she asked rather softly but I heard her thanks to my hearing.
"It's Toll, I'd like to talk to you."I told her, she opened the door and stood in the doorway looking at me.
"Look I know it's hard sometimes with this job but Barney is the best leader and he's only interested in what's best for you."I told her, she hugged me.
"I know, I'm worried for Nicole and I'm scared."she told me her voice low but she was crying and coughed once or twice as I held her.
"I got you Mel, it'll be alright."I told her as footsteps sounded behind us. I felt her head pop up and she let go of me backing away, I turned around.
Lee's POV
Toll turned around when Mel let go of him, seeing me he said, "Lee, I was trying to get her calmed down."
I nodded and tilted my head towards the living room dismissing him, Mel backed up into the bedroom. I followed and closed the door behind me.
"Lee, it wasn't what it looked like. Toll was just-"she tried to explain but I quieted her by putting a finger to her lips, she looked at me.
"I know babe, I'm not mad just a little shocked. I didn't know you two were close."I told her not moving my hand from her face.
"How are you doing?"I asked taking my hand away but put it on her shoulder.
"Better, I get it now what Barney means and wants to do. I need to tell him I'm sorry."she answered, I moved my hand to the back of her head and kissed her.
Mel kissed back tenderly for a bit before we stopped smiling at each other before returning to the living room.
Melanie's POV
I walked straight over to Barney who stood beside Toll, "I'm sorry Barney, I trust in your choice and will go to the safe house sir."I told him.
"Good, again what do you say?"he said and this time I answered military style.
"Sir yes sir!"I said loudly with a salute, he chuckled a little.
"Go pack your bags soldier, you leave in an hour."he ordered and I went back to my room packing a couple of bags for my trip.
Later Toll and I got in the SUV and said goodbye to everyone, Lee leaned through the window.
"Keep her safe Toll, and you listen to him."he told us before he kissed me and I kissed him back before he got off and we waved as we backed out the driveway and headed southeast.
Lee's POV
I went home to change clothes after they left because we moved up our time line. I wore dark blue jeans, a black t-shirt and my leather jacket, with my boots.
I hid some knives in case things turned bad, I took a quick glance at the mirror before grabbing my keys and heading for Rocky's.
I entered the bar shortly after five walking past Hale and Gunnar to the bar for a beer.
A woman came up to me and whispered in my ear, "A friend of yours said you want to have a good time."
I grinned and wrapped my arm around her waist heading for the stairs, my beer in my other hand.I nodded to Yin signaling to start the distraction in about ten minutes.
Upstairs the young lady held out her hand, I gave her a handful of cash for her to pretend we were having fun. I exited the room quietly and moved down the hall for room number four. I tried the handle it was locked, I waited until I heard the fight brewing downstairs before picking the lock and opening the door.
Nicole's POV
I laid on the bed with my arms and legs tied up, with a blindfold over my eyes. I moved backwards as far as I could when I heard the door open afraid it was Hunter.
"It's alright, I'm a good guy here to rescue you." a man told me before he removed my blindfold.
"How can I trust you?" I asked shrinking away from him as he brought out a knife. He cut the rope from my legs and then my arms.
"Say hello." he told me holding out a radio. I tilted my head then confused but something about his blue eyes told me to trust him.
"Hello." I said into the radio, "Hey Nicole, this is my friend Lee, he and my other friends are getting you out of there." Melanie said.
I smiled happy to hear from her, I looked to Lee and he took the radio back.
Lee's POV
"We'll see you soon sweetheart, Lee out." I said knowing we needed radio silence from here on. I took Nicole by the hand and left the room stopping at the stairs to listen.
The fight was still raging as I heard glass being broken and loud thuds of something being thrown across the room, I looked to Nicole.
"Stay down and stay close." I told her, she nodded and crouched next to me as we made our way downstairs.
We ducked low reaching the bar itself as beer bottles just missed us and hit the wall.
I moved for the door same time as some guy with a bloody nose did; we collided and I swore under my breath at him. He fell to the floor as I pulled her along behind me, Barney pulled up and we jumped in the truck.
Barney's POV
I kept watch on my mirrors catching a couple of trucks were following us and they started shooting. "Stay down." I ordered to Nicole; she ducked down on the seat as Lee opened his door and climbed into the bed of the truck.
I saw the guys fall one by one with a knife stuck in them somewhere, Lee opened the window for the back as Nicole sat up looking shaken up.
"Bet you couldn't do that." Lee said teasing me.
"Sure I could, guns are more accurate than knives." I told him, he laughed.
"Who are you guys?" Nicole asked us.
"We are a team of guys specially trained for missions like this, and Melanie is our team mate." I answered before hitting the brakes.
Three trucks blocked the road ahead with several pistols and shotguns aimed at us; Hunter stood in the middle of them grinning. I glared at him.
Hale's POV
I could see Barney's truck stopped up ahead and motioned to Gunnar to slow down, he did so and we caught sight of the trucks and men up ahead.
"Does this mean we use plan b?" asked Gunnar a smile playing on his lips.
"Hell yeah." I answered and got out of the truck to climb into the truck bed with big momma.
I crouched down and slapped the truck with my hand getting him to drive ahead, he pulled up beside the guys and I could see Lee grinning at me from Barney's truck bed.
I stood up with the rocket launcher balanced on my shoulder, "If you want to run, go now!" I yelled to them.
Some of the men went wide eyed seeing my gun before running but a few stayed including the head man. "Alright." I said loudly and lined up the crosshairs on the middle truck.
I fired hitting the target, there was a big explosion and the men were thrown forward.
Lee and I jumped out to look for Hunter but he was gone, the other men were knocked out so we jumped back in the trucks and left a heavy dust trail behind us.
Nicole's POV
"You guys are insane!" I exclaimed after seeing what they did at the road block.
The driver chuckled and said, "Sometimes we are but it gets the job done."
"What is your name?" I asked wanting to be able to address him properly.
"Barney." he replied and picked up the radio."How is it going back there?" he asked.
"All clear, no one's following us." someone answered.
"Good, we only have a little more to go." Barney told him and put the radio back on the seat.
I sat there amazed that these men had just saved me and were Melanie's teammates. I remembered Mel and asked, "Can I talk to Melanie?"
"No sorry, we need to keep the radios open." Barney answered.
I turned my head to look through the windshield at the road ahead, "Are you hurt?" Lee asked from the back.
"No." I told him and put on a smile.
Lee's POV
I relaxed in the back, knowing we would be back at Tools soon to take a short rest before taking Nicole to Melanie.
"Look out!" Nicole screamed as an explosion sounded in front of us.
Barney hit the brakes hard slamming me into the cab of the truck before swerving wildly throwing me into the side of the truck bed.
My head made contact first before the rest of my body causing pain to shoot through me, the truck slowed again and I rolled to the cab again.
I was in a considerable amount of pain but I had to check on Barney and Nicole,I pushed myself up to look through the window. Nicole was in her seat but not moving I could see blood in her blonde hair.
I turned to Barney, he looked back at me with bruising on his face and some cuts on his arms but he looked alright.
"Lee, you alright?" he asked me.
"Yeah, just hit my head pretty hard. How is she?" I said ducking out of the window and slumping against the cab.
"She's just knocked out, she'll be alright." he said.
I meant to ask what to do next but the words didn't get out because I passed out.
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