(Chapter 5. Enjoy! I own nothing but Helene)
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"Helene, you okay in there? Benji said you gotta to go with him in a minute to remake the room numbers." Brandt knocked on the bathroom door after the medic failed to emerge within a normal standard of time.
"Gah!" Ethan suddenly cried out and Benji flinched when he heard a squelch on the glass. Jane whipped her head around from the computer.
"Ethan you all right?" She asked tapping into her earpiece as Helene suddenly appeared from the bathroom barely missing Brandt's face with the door.
"How far up is he?" She asked, trying to hide the trembling in her voice as she directed her question at Benji.
"I'm fine!" Ethan barked as Brandt followed Helene to the computer. "23 minutes to door knock." Brandt remarked as Benji shrugged his shoulders at Helene.
"Okay...I'm at server level." Ethan responded after a minute. Benji nodded and brought up the connection statuses on the computer.
"That's great!" Helene answered with relief. "Get yourself in and out in one piece Ethan! I don't know much longer I can take this." She gritted her teeth and plopped onto the couch next to Jane.
Brandt frowned and picked up his phone as Jane glanced at her worriedly. "Twenty two minutes to door knock." Brandt muttered as Ethan let out another yelp and skid on the building.
Helene turned to shoot him a look.
"The countdown...is not helping!" Ethan grunted as Jane turned to glare at Brandt annoyed. Brandt just shrugged. "I'm just saying."
Helene brought her fingernails to her lips and bit down on her index finger.
"Okay I'm in!" Ethan spoke into the comm again and Helene heard him panting as he walked across the room.
"Awesome! That's great Ethan! You're halfway home!" Benji leaned forward in his seat at the computer and Jane got up to get something from the bedroom. Brandt walked back to put his phone on the table.
"Located server..." Ethan muttered after a minute. "Please tell me we're on line." He pleaded.
Benji tested the connections. "Yes! All right we're live! I now have control over the elevators and the security cameras." He stated satsified as the webcam picked up feed from all over the hotel.
Helene bit down on her thumbnail.
"Time to redecorate!" Jane picked up a couple converters from a bag and tossed one to Helene and another to Benji.
"Right. Okay now you drive and look out for Wistrom and Moreau, you..." He motioned from Brandt to Helene. "Come with us to fix up the doors."
Helene stood albeit reluctantly from the couch. "You got this." Brandt murmured as he took Benji's place in front of the computer.
Helene grimaced slightly. "Thanks." She flipped the converter in her hand and stepped around the couch to follow Jane and Benji.
Brandt sighed as he stared at the readout in front of him. "Twenty minutes to door knock."
...
"D*** it!" Jane hissed as her converter back fired on her a little. Helene glanced up sharply from her work then dropped her gaze when Benji handed her a make shift card key slot.
"Brandt, how much time do we have left?" Helene tapped on her ear piece as Benji worked above her.
"Sixteen minutes to door knock. You guys need to wrap it up." Brandt answered almost immediately. Helene nodded and leaned forward to secure the card key slot onto her door.
"Hold on! Wait a minute!..." Brandt's voice climbed in alarm suddenly. He trailed off causing Helenen and Benji to take their attention away from their work. "What's wrong?" asked Benji trying not to be overheard by Jane.
Jane frowned and tapped her earpiece. "Brandt?"
"It's Moreau! She's at the elevators ahead of schedule!" Brandt answered and Helene blanched. "Shoot!" She turned to exchange glances with Benji, but he was already communicating silently with Jane.
"Go! Give me your converter!" He hissed and Jane groaned before tossing him her sticker gun and running back for the room. Turning he threw it to Helene.
"We can't open this door, can we?" Ethan asked suddenly and Helene paused halfway down to the floor in front of the door Jane didn't finish.
"The door? No." Brandt answered blankly. "Ethan you need to get down here now!" He warned while flicking a couple switches on the webcam controls.
Helene bit her lip. "Brandt, where is Moreau?" She asked, tapping her COMM as Benji hastily tried to finish the last details on the decoy room.
"She's still climbing up the elevator. How are things going from your end, Meyer?" Brandt responded. Helene shrugged.
"We're just about good I think. I'll send Helene back as soon as she's finished with her decals so she can help you keep an eye on the cameras and Ethan." Benji picked up his tie to speak into his COMM then turned to nod at Helene.
Helene nodded back. "I'm almost done, Brandt." She said and stood after securing the last screw in place. "I'm on my way."
"Hey Ethan, is there a problem?..Ethan?" Brandt tapped on his earpiece making it crackle.
Helene felt her mouth go dry as the silence stretched between them. She picked up her pace. "Ah!" Jane started when Helene suddenly re-entered the base room slamming the door behind her.
Brandt whirled from the window. "Is he okay?" Helene asked making sure not to cross all the way across the room. Brandt just shrugged.
Jane sighed and rolled her eyes at the couple before going to the bathroom to change clothes.
Helene sat down in front of the computer and leaned over to zoom in on a couple cameras.
"We're not going to make it." Brandt softly murmured. Helene snapped her head up from the monitor. "We HAVE to make it!" She shot at him before bringing the screen back to normal view.
Moreau was just about to reach her floor. They were running out of time.
"Where is Ethan?" She gritted her teeth and started to tap her foot incessently while Brandt paced from the window.
Jane started to walk out from the bathroom when a loud crash sounded overhead making all three people in the room jump with fright.
Brandt and Jane were the first to collect themselves though Helene quickly followed suit and followed her two companions across the living area to the open window.
"Don't look down." Brandt warned before looking up to see where Ethan was. Helene nodded and followed his gaze where Ethan was dangling by some kind of rope just inches from their location.
"Your line's not long enough!" Brandt shouted over the growing noise of the wind. Ethan turned an annoyed look in his direction. "No S***!"
Helene bit down on her lip. "How the heck are we going to get him in here?" She wondered aloud while Jane tightened her jaw.
Ethan leaned back on his line a little. Looking back over his shoulder he swung back against the wall using both feet to balance himself and turned his body around instantly in the opposite direction of their base room.
Helene gasped as his brisk footsteps echoed through the walls. "What's he doing?" She asked though neither Jane or Brandt could answer her.
Suddenly Ethan reappeared on the other side of the hotel pushing himself off from the building just enough to propel him right toward the open window. At the last possible second he released his line making everyone's stomachs drop to their feet.
Brandt recovered first and immediately put his arm out gesturing for Jane and Helene to get back so they could give Ethan some entry room.
Helene started to obey when Ethan smashed into the top of the window head first and plummeted back toward the ground.
Brandt made a lunge for him and grabbed him by the ankle falling straight out of the window in process.
"Will!" Helene reacted at about the same time as Jane, both quickly grabbing onto each of Brandt's legs to prevent him from falling out with Ethan.
Helene gasped when their combined weight started to pull them over, but at the last possible second she grabbed onto the underside of an armchair at the same time that Jane dug her nails into the rug.
The falling stopped, but they were stuck and Helene could feel her grip slipping. Jane let out agonized grunt as Brandt and Ethan's combined weight started to drag her over a bit. "Guys!..."
Helene bit her lip. "I can't hold on!..."
Ethan moved first. Slowly without throwing Brandt and the girls off balance he reached upwards towards the window and climbed carefully over Brandt to get into the room.
Brandt followed once Ethan's weight was no longer heavily relying on him and managed to get inside without much trouble though Helene started panicking the minute he collapsed on the floor.
"Will!" She started to check him over for injuries, but Brandt stopped her. "Ethan hit his head." He nodded at the exhausted agent next to him, but Ethan shook his head.
"Don't worry I'm fine. How much time till door knock?" He asked struggling to get back on his feet. Helene walked over and pushed her hand against his chest preventing him from doing so.
"Follow my finger with your eyes." She directed, holding up her index finger. Slowly she moved it back and forth across Ethan's direct and peripherial vision.
Ethan reluctantly complied though he was clearly annoyed at having to subject himself to this.
Benji walked in just as Helene finished checking the slight bruising that was near the middle of Ethan's forehead and laughed to himself.
"Whoo! Haha, that was not easy but uh...I did it!" He announced beaming proudly at himself before noticing the group at the window.
Brandt and Ethan turned to glare at him as Helene got up from her examination.
"What'd I miss?" Benji asked and Jane rolled her eyes. Brandt stood and smiled a bit when Helene walked past him passing him a towel from his still open bag on the table.
"Hey thanks." Brandt grinned and started to wipe himself off. Helene glared and smacked him in the chest.
"Ow!" Brandt winced and stumbled backwards almost dropping the towel from the impact. Helene sighed and rolled her eyes at the bewildered look on his face.
"If you ever scare me like that again, I will kill you! Do you understand me?" She attempted to tower over Brandt, but he was easily four inches taller than she was.
Jane and Benji stared confusedly between them.
"Guys, we need to move." Ethan went to grab his shirt from the chair and put it on while Benji started and went to monitor the computer.
Jane narrowed her eyes at Helene and Brandt before going to change into her disguise for Moreau.
"Brandt! You need to get suited up." Ethan called from the other side of the room. Brandt sighed and glanced back at Helene.
"Helene, could you come here for a second?" Jane asked and Helene immediately left to take up her new post. Brandt sighed and turned to go join Ethan.
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