(Next Chapter. Enjoy! It's almost done. I own nothing but Helene)
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"Helene where are you?! Are you okay?" Brandt asked, more like demanded as he and Benji searched the nearby hallways for his wife.
Helene tapped on her COMM. "I'm in a girls' toilet. East Wing." She muttered and pressed herself against the wall of the bathroom.
"Okay. Stand by! We're approaching the public lavatories on the East Wing. Come out in five seconds." Brandt responded and Helene nodded her head.
"All right." She stood carefully on her heels and pulled back the latch on the stall door. Glancing at herself in the mirror, Helene bent over to pull off her shoes before making her way to the exit.
"Helene, we're at the toilets. Are you here?" Benji's voice came over the COMM and Helene used her fist to shove open the door almost walking right into Brandt who was leading Benji down the corridor.
"Will!" She forgot the mission for a minute and threw herself into Brandt's arms, startling him and Benji effectively.
Brandt became worried though at her reaction to seeing him. "Are you all right? What happened to you?" He asked and pulled away slightly to look her over.
Helene shook her head at him. "Next time...I get to jump in the computer array." She muttered, reaching up to fix Brandt's shirt collar. Brandt rolled his eyes at that. "That bad huh?" He asked, grinning despite himself.
Helene snorted.
"Uh, I'd hate to break up the happy lover bantering, but we kinda have a terrorist to catch if you both forgot!" Benji piped up pointing towards a door that led out of the building into a side parking lot.
Brandt and Helene immediately returned their focus. "Right! Let's go get him!" Brandt nodded and grabbed Helene by the wrist.
Benji turned to lead them out to the second escape vehicle.
...
"Okay! We're here Ethan!" Benji called as he sped to the TV station with Brandt and Helene in the back seats.
Helene sighed as she tossed her ball gown into the trunk.
"You sure he didn't do anything to you?" Brandt asked for what seemed like the hundreth time since they'd gotten into the car.
Helene sighed and pulled on a button up.
"For the last time, yes. Hand me my boots, will you?" She asked and Brandt nodded before turning to rummage through the bag again.
"Are you sure?...I mean up until I was in the array I could hear everything he was saying and I didn't like what I was hearing." He shuddered suddenly. Helene bit her lip.
"You think I did? Feel free to kick Ethan in the nads for me after this is all over." She muttered glaring at the traffic as she zipped up her jacket halfway. Brandt started to respond when Ethan came over the COMM.
"Hey! How long until Hendricks can launch a missile?" He asked and Benji glanced down at the monitor.
"Less than 30 seconds!" He responded and glanced back at his passengers. Brandt tossed Helene her shoes before looking out through the window.
"We need another route!" Ethan responded and Helene grabbed onto Benji's seat to brace herself after pulling on her boots.
"You can turn left on the next street! Take the alley on your right!" She shouted hoping Ethan would hear her and bent to tie her last boot as Benji took another turn.
"Ethan, Hendricks has started the launch sequence!" Benji started to get ancy.
"How much time until the missiles are flying?" Ethan asked.
"Three minutes!" Benji responded.
"D*** it!" Brandt cursed. Helene frowned at the traffic.
"We can make it." Ethan said almost as if he had heard Brandt curse.
"Next left." Helene heard Jane and exhaled tensely.
"Ethan?" Benji's face fell. "We're too late. The missile's in the air." He frowned when the car's computer system showed him a fatal message.
Helene felt her heart jump into her throat. "What?" Brandt asked, more like demanded.
He heard a noise on his COMM that sounded like Ethan had hit the steering wheel.
"There has to be another way to abort the warhead." He said and Benji nodded his head. "You may be able to do it from the launch device, but you'll need to find Hendricks to do that!" He responded.
"Then we're going to get that case!" Ethan said with renewed determination and Helene heard him pop the locks on his car just as they pulled up right behind them.
Ethan and Jane sprang from the vehicle just as a man Helene and Brandt quickly realized was Hendricks fled from the scene.
Ethan waved at Jane to go inside while he chased Hendricks down the street.
Benji parked the car and the three of them jumped out, guns drawn and ready to go. "Shouldn't one of us try to help Ethan?" Helene asked when both men went for the TV station, but no one heard her.
Sighing she followed Brandt and Benji until they reached the relay room where Brandt kicked the door open startling Jane who turned her gun on them instinctively.
She sighed and rolled her eyes when she realized it was her teammates.
"Wistrom destroyed the relay." She grunted, while standing shakily to her feet. "Ethan went after Hendricks and the case but-."
"It doesn't matter if he has the case. We can't transmit the abort codes." Benji cut her off.
Brandt shot him a look. "Well can you fix it?" He asked as Helene ran her fingers over the damaged wires.
Benji nodded his head. "Well yeah..." He started to say when the power went off. Helene whipped her head around.
"Well it's going to be pointless if we don't have any power." Benji grumbled.
"Wistrom!" Jane raised her gun and started to walk towards the electrical closet. Brandt and Helene raised their flashlights and started to follow her when Jane suddenly stumbled sideways into one of the monitors.
"Jane!" Helene cried out, but Jane shook her head.
"I'm okay." She muttered, but Helene didn't believe her.
"Oh my God, you are not okay." Helene blanched when she moved Jane's hand and saw the bullet lodged into her side. "She's been hit." She told Brandt and Benji.
Brandt reached for his gun. "Then I'll go get the power back on." He said. "You stay here and patch her up and cover for Benji." He told Helene. Helene nodded her head.
"And you be careful." She retorted. Brandt turned to face Benji.
"You can get this thing rewired right?" He asked looking for a confirmation. Benji nodded his head. "Yeah, we just won't be able to do anything until the power comes back on." Brandt nodded his head at that.
"Right. We can do this." He turned to Helene for reassurance. She responded by nearly crushing him in her arms.
"You better come back out of there...no more than five minutes, you understand me?" She asked pulling away abruptly. Brandt nodded his head. "You bet." He murmured, not dropping his gaze as he reloaded a fresh bullet into his case.
Helene narrowed her eyes at his complacency while Benji ignored them and turned to get to work on rewiring the computer.
"I'm serious. If you die I will go straight to the afterlife and drag you back by the skin of your teeth." She threatened and glared seriously at Brandt.
Brandt responded to her by kissing her just as forcefully as she had hugged him. "I will be back." He spoke through clenched teeth before turning to run for the power closet.
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