(Here is the next chapter. Enjoy! I own nothing but Helene)
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"Okay the lens might be a little uncomfortable, but it captures images and transmits them to the printer in the briefcase." Jane tried to help Brandt get his special contact lens on.
Helene was across the room trying to help Benji get his housekeeping uniform on without making his prosthetic arm too obvious, but there was obvious tension between them in the room and everyone could feel it.
No one wanted to address it though. Especially when time was so short.
"Aw." Brandt groaned, trying to get used to the feeling in his eye.
"All right?" Jane asked bending over so she could see if the contact was going in crooked.
"Mmm...can't see out of one eye, but I'm fine." Brandt mumbled trying to refrain from rubbing his eye.
"Benji stop!" Helene hissed suddenly and flicked Benji in the wrist when he tried to fiddle with his prosthetic again.
"Ow!...What?" Benji flinched, scowling at Helene at little though she did not look up from the sleeve of his room service uniform which she was trying to hem since it was a tad long on Benji's third arm. Jane glanced warily over at them as she went to grab a sheet of paper Benji had prepared earlier from his laptop.
"Okay blink twice to activate the shutter." She instructed and held up the paper where Brandt could easily read the numbers that were printed in faint black ink.
"Notice how the numbers are in order?" Brandt nodded and blinked twice to test the lens out. The briefcase behind them started to hum and Jane turned to grab the print out inside.
She smiled. "See?...A perfect copy." She turned to show Brandt the new sheet. "But the numbers are scrambled."
Brandt nodded his head. "So uh do I need to hold the codes a certain distance or anything?" He asked blinking again to relieve the discomfort.
Jane shook her head. "It's self adjusting so just look at it like you would a normal paper." She responded in time. Brandt nodded his head. "Right of course."
"Brandt, can you hand me that safety pin on the table? I'm going to have to pin up the sleeve on Benji's prosthetic here. It's not staying." Helene called irritably from across the room.
Brandt sighed and turned to look for the safety pin as Jane set the test copy aside on a chair. "Got it." He grabbed the object from the coffee table and walked the short distance across the room to hand it to her.
"Helene," He called softly to get her attention. Helene turned and grabbed the safety pin from his outstretched hand. "Thanks." She tried not to smile, but Brandt noticed.
"Hey...I'm sorry all right?" He whispered though Benji caught it and glanced between them suspiciously.
Helene sighed and opened the safety pin with her mouth. "I know." She bent and fixed the sleeve on Benji's prosthetic knowing Brandt would understand her unspoken words through her seemingly short and meaningless answer.
"Brandt." Jane called the analyst back and he reluctantly left to see what she needed.
"Masks?" Ethan asked, finally emerging from the other room dressed in a fresh suit.
"Sixty seconds." Benji answered as Helene finished up with his disguise. "You sure I shouldn't wear a mask? You know, cause I'm not exactly Omar Sharif. I'll play it French." He started to babble, but Ethan shot him a look.
"Right. This is your tracking device." Benji handed Ethan a cellphone. "And this is what you're tracking." He pulled a stack of paper from his desk.
"The paper clip?" Ethan asked and Benji rolled his eyes. "No it's the paper! It's in the briefcase. It's coated with isotopes which give off a unique...It just means that you can track the documents even if they switch briefcases." He explained hastily.
"Good luck." Helene muttered as she passed by Jane and Brandt and took a seat at the computer.
"How's the range?" Ethan asked studying the papers for a bit. "Not that good. It's like half a mile." Benji shook his head. "Safest thing to do would be not let Wistrom out of your sight. Is that Wistrom?" He did a double take at the screen.
Helene quickly adjusted the monitor and hit the proper key combination to enlarge the cameras.
Ethan bent over her shoulder to get a better look. "Who's that with him?" He asked Benji, but the tech agent could only shake his head.
"I don't know. We don't have an uplink, so there's no facial recognition."
Ethan grabbed the laptop. "Who is that with him?" He asked again this time pointing the screen at Brandt.
"Uh that's Leonid Lisenker. Polish born, cryptographer. He redesigned Russia's nuclear security after the Cold War." Brandt idenfitied quickly as the figures he was focused on moved quickly through the lobby.
"He's here to the authenticate the launch codes." Helene realized and Jane's eyes widened.
"Yes he is. We are blown." Brandt agreed. "No, we are not blown." Ethan retorted.
"Well we will be as soon as he sees the counterfeit launch codes." Helene contradicted.
"We are not blown." Ethan repeated.
"He's in the elevator." Benji sing-songed. "Delay them!" Ethan snapped. "Benji, how long would it take you to reprogram the case?" He pointed at the tech agent again.
"A couple of seconds. What for though?" Benji asked.
Helene and Brandt both looked up to watch Ethan, tense as he paced the room. "To make an exact copy of the launch codes." He spoke after a minute.
Jane dropped the revolver she had been tucking into her belt. "What?"
"Whoa whoa Ethan! You can't do that!" Brandt exclaimed springing forwards towards the briefcase at Ethan's suggestion.
"Wistrom's on 22." Benji chimed in.
"Slow him down!" Ethan ordered.
Benji threw his hands up in the air. "I'll do what I can." He leaned back over his laptop just as Ethan reached for the case. Brandt got there first.
"Wait wait! Ethan hang on now! Hang on! You're talking about handing over active nuclear launch codes to Wistrom?" He asked setting his hand on top of the briefcase before Ethan could grab it.
"Yes. Reprogram the case." Ethan nodded, directing his last order at Benji. Benji started to comply when Brandt snatched the briefcase.
"Listen stop stop! Just listen to what you're saying! You're fixating! You're not thinking clearly!" He started backing toward the open window. Helene's eyes grew wide as she realized what Brandt was about to do.
"Will wait!" She sprang up from the sofa.
"It's not going to happen, Helene! I won't let it!" Brandt interrupted holding the briefcase out through the window.
"Thirty Three and climbing." Benji chimed in.
"Will," Ethan lowered his voice his tone taking a firm yet understanding timbre. "Use your head now. The mission is not the codes, the mission is Hendricks." He tried to talk him down.
Brandt did not move from the window.
"Then just let it play out! Give him bad codes! Neutralize him!" He retorted. Ethan shook his head.
"You know that won't do it. Failure to a terrorist is just rehearsal for success."
"41!"
"We lose Hendricks today, he shows up somewhere else tomorrow. He finds another way. WIth fresh codes and no IMF to stop him! It's now or never. Now Brandt, give me the case." Ethan held out his hand.
Brandt shook his head. "Nothing can be left to chance. You said that." He edged closer to the window. Helene and Jane started to approach him.
"Will, give him the case." Helene tried to sound firm, but she was afraid he wouldn't listen to her. Ethan reached for the briefcase again.
"You're the analyst, Brandt. Now tell me there's not another way for Hendricks to get those codes."
"50!" Benji shouted over Ethan.
"You tell me that this is his only avenue right here, right now today. You tell me that. I'll walk away." Ethan swore.
Brandt started to respond when a horrible screeching sound came from the mask making machine making everyone including Benji jump.
Helene hurdled around the coffee table to check the masks and groaned when she saw the mess. Jane bit the inside of her cheek.
"Please tell me the masks are okay." She muttered without much confidence. Helene sighed after checking the cutters and the spray devices.
She looked up at Ethan and he understood instantly without her having to say anything. "We go without."
"What without masks?" Benji sounded shocked.
Ethan signaled at Jane. "Jane needs to go." He ignored Benji's statement.
"Ethan." Jane started to voice her discomfort with the new plan, but he cut her off. "We have no choice." He told her.
"Ethan, you'd be walking in on Moreau unarmed. Face first! Literally! It's suicide!" Helene protested looking up from the remains of the prosthetic masks.
"How do we know they've met?" Ethan asked, turning his gaze towards Helene.
"Well how do we know they haven't?" Jane countered.
"It doesn't matter!" Brandt cut in, frustrated as he pulled his arm back into the room. "D*** it. We have no choice." He reluctantly handed the briefcase back to Ethan.
Ethan took the case and tossed it to Benji who immediately began to program the printer.
Jane grabbed her jacket off the couch and Helene went to grab Brandt's from the armchair. "Catch!" She tossed it at him and he caught it before slipping it on.
"Benji, how's the case coming?" Ethan asked impatiently after a few minutes had passed as he fixed the cuffs of his shirt. "Just a second..." Benji tapped his fingers on the table until the lights flashed green again.
"Okay done!" He passed the case to Jane who took it with her to the room redone for her. Benji got up to find his tea cart as Ethan and Brandt prepared to leave.
Helene started to follow them.
"No, Helene you stay here and monitor everyone on the computer. If anything happens radio in okay?" Benji instructed her quickly before going into the spare bedroom.
Helene nodded her head. "Will do." She turned to glance at Brandt as he nervously fixed his tie. "Here goes nothing." He murmured in a low tone of voice.
Helene sighed and quickly crossed the room. Pushing Brandt's hands aside, she straightened his tie then set her hands down on his shoulders. "You got this." She said firmly before kissing him swiftly on the cheek.
Ethan's eyebrows skyrocked to the ceiling at that while Benji's jaw dropped at about the same time his hat did from his hands.
Brandt barely concealed his smile. "Time to move." He directed the remark at Ethan, but he was looking at Helene.
Helene immediately averted her gaze. "You two better get going." She said without missing a beat. Ethan nodded.
"Good luck." He pulled the door shut after himself and Brandt with a quiet thud.
Benji sighed completely flabbergasted as he bent to retrieve his hat.
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