The Chase
Authors Note: Hi Guys, Thank you for all the favourites and follows it really means a lot. So here we are chapter 3! I really hope you enjoy it and if you want to follow my blog which will soon have exerts from my ongoing independent fiction look up hollyedolly Skye's scrapbook on tumblr.
Her breath came in sharp gasps, her lungs burned as she ran through the dense forest that surrounded the cabin. Her worst fears realised, they had been found. Only a few select agents at S.H.I.E.L.D along with the team knew where they had been placed. They had no cell phones, no tech at all which had sucked. Only the encoded com system enabled them to check in with Coulson back on the bus. There had been nothing to hack, they barely left the cabin and Ward had been obsessive in making sure they were never followed. A disturbing thought occurred to her, had they been sold out? The psycho had powerful connections and a fortune to match it was no stretch to believe that he could have paid off one of the agents to leak their location. She pushed these thoughts away right now it didn't matter how he'd found them the fact was, he had.
Grants large hand was wrapped around her small one and he was pulling her along with him, snapping her thoughts back to the here and now. The psycho wasn't alone he had two beefed up goons with him all of them armed and extremely dangerous. He'd like nothing more than to turn and face the bastards, he could barely contain the urge to carry out that promise he'd made himself but Skye was with him she was putting a brave face on it, but he knew her well enough to know she was terrified. Her nightmares had not abated, not that he was surprised it wasn't like he was affected by what he'd seen in that lab but he took the world as it was. Skye was still young barely out of her teens and although she'd been through more than most she still had a childlike naiveté about her. He had to get her out of here he couldn't risk him getting his hands on her, what she didn't know what he couldn't bring himself to tell her was that this fucker had had no intention of killing her that night. His stunt with the knife was just a sick way of torturing her; there were worse things than death and he was damn sure the sick sadist knew how to inflict every one of them. The thought turned his blood to ice; he was going to take this fucker down just as soon as Skye was safe.
A shot rang out piercing the stillness of the forest; it whizzed by them narrowly missing Ward and embedded into an ancient oak. Skye yelped but she did not slow, adrenaline and fear fuelled her now she picked up her pace so that she was no longer being dragged but matching Ward stride for stride.
Grant had had just enough time to alert Coulson before they had to flee; they had to ditch the coms. If there was any chance that they could have been compromised then they wouldn't stand a chance of escaping their enemy. The team had pulled together an extraction plan just in case the duo was discovered, but none of them had expected to use it. Their location had been classified well above level 7; this brought an array of disturbing possibilities to Grants mind he couldn't help the unease that had settled in his stomach. There was more to this, he could feel it. He would get Skye to safety and then he didn't care if he had to storm Fury's office he would get to the bottom of this. There was no way he was trusting the fate of the woman he loved to others, not now.
The tree's began to thin which meant they were close to the road that cut through the forest but if May and Coulson were not waiting for them...He knew what he'd have to do and for the first time in his life he wanted to do it, craved it. His lack of conscious on the matter took him by surprise, sure he'd killed before but he'd never lusted for it. If you were going to be bad, be bad with a purpose right? What better purpose was there than protecting the one you loved?
Another shot rang out but this one did not speed past, this one connected with Skye's leg, she stumbled crying out in pain. Grant swung round and scooped her up in his muscular arms he didn't have time to panic, now more than ever he had to get her back to the bus. He hoped to god the bullet had not hit the femoral artery or...he shook himself, she was going to be fine as long as he got her out of here. His head emptied of any other thought; he was a man on a mission. He could see the road and headlights! He ran faster than he ever thought possible barely feeling Skye's weight, he was on top of the road now and the familiar vehicle came into view it was the short bus. They were going to make it the feeling was almost euphoric. Coulson threw open the rear doors, concern etched on his face and then he saw Skye and his concern turned to fear.
They loaded her into the back of the van, and May floored it not a minute too soon as a rain of bullets hit the van. Wards relief left him as soon as he had a proper look at Skye, he'd not had time to stop or check out her wound he'd just hoped it was a graze. It wasn't his heart stopped; it had hit the femoral artery her jeans were soaked in bright red blood. She was sheet white and barely breathing, losing blood at an alarming rate. Panic struck him he couldn't move, this was not good even if they got her back to the bus to Simmons it could already be too late. Always the calm and collected agent, Coulson took over he took off his suit jacket and tie, he tied the tie tightly above the wound to form a tourniquet. Pressing his jacket to the wound to staunch the blood, Skye began to shake violently she was going into shock.
Grant snapped out of it as Coulson snapped orders at May "How Far?"
"2 minutes" even May, ever calm May was worried this was not good.
"Tell Simmons to be ready, she's going to need a blood transfusion at least"
"Got it, as soon as I get the wheels up we'll get her to the nearest field hospital"
"How the hell did he find them" it was almost a whisper.
"I don't know" her tone was clouded with worry and suspicion.
Meanwhile Grant was beside Skye hand grasping hers tightly "Come on baby, hold on, please hold on" he didn't care right then who heard him or what they thought. He pressed his forehead to hers "Please don't leave me" he whispered his voice thick with tears. Coulson used his spare hand to comfort the heartbroken agent squeezing his shoulder.
"She's going to be OK Ward" he almost sounded confident but not quite.
The bus came into view Fitz and Simmons had lowered the cargo hold, the young scientists were full of nervous energy. They'd already prepped their lab as best they could, luckily they kept O- on board for just such an event but they'd never had to work on one of their own before. Simmons especially knew that her friend's life was in her hands, a steely resolve settled over the young Brits pretty features.
May zoomed right up the ramp and stopped the van next to Lola, she was quick to leap out and head for the cockpit. "Wheels up in 2" she shot at FitzSimmons. They nodded at her and she was gone. Ward scooped up Skye she was barely clinging on to consciousness she'd not said anything coherent in the van at all, she was out of it.
"Oh god" Fitz and Simmons said in unison before they started barking orders at the others. Grant laid her down on the steel table and Simmons immediately pushed him out of the way and began working on Skye. Grant looked on helplessly as the young scientist hooked her up to tubes and machines. He was instantly transported back to that lab, the last time Skye's life had hung in the balance only this time the cavalry may have come too late.
"I'm going to have to transfuse her and try to remove the bullet, it looks like it's embedded in the bone so she may need surgery" Simmons said to the room at large her tone matter of fact.
"Jemma her sats are dropping" yelled Fitz panicked
"Squeeze the blood in faster Fitz and for goodness sake calm down, we can't help her if we panic"
Grant moved to the top of the table pulling up a chair, he began to stroke her hair and for the first time in a long time he prayed to the universe. He'd come too far to lose her now "Come on rookie we're nearly there now, just hold on". A fat tear rolled down his cheek, the young scientists were shocked they'd never seen the big, bad Agent Ward so vulnerable. Simmons patted his shoulder "She'll be OK Agent Ward, her injuries aren't life threatening. Once we get her blood topped up and that leg fixed she'll be good as new. She's lost a lot of blood it's true, but you got her here in time. See her blood pressure is coming back up and she's breathing on her own, all excellent signs" her smile was a reassuring one but Ward would not, could not relax till he knew she was out of the woods.
"Jemma's right mate" Fitz chimed in.
Grant just continued his stroking of her long chestnut waves. Coulson who no-one in all the excitement had noticed slip away, popped his head round the lab door. "How's she doing Simmons?"
"She'll be OK sir, but we really need to get her to a proper hospital stat. She'll need a surgeon to remove the bullet it seems to be imbedded in her femur"
Coulson winced at that "Well May says we'll be there in 20 luckily we aren't too far away from the nearest S.H.I.E.L.D facility" Simmons nodded.
"Agent Ward as soon as Skye's out of the woods we need to talk about what happened"
"Yes Sir" he mumbled too concerned about his rookie to muster anything else up. Coulson nodded and left to check on May.
It was the early hours of the morning when Agent Coulson decided it was time he had a little chat with Ward. They were both sat in the surgical waiting room at one of S.H.I.E.L.D.S secret facilities.
"Do you have any idea how they found you?" he shot at Ward.
"No Sir"
"Did either of you use any cell phones or laptops?"
"No you guys took all of that before we even got to the cabin and before you ask, no Skye didn't get any by you. She knew the risks"
"It wouldn't be the first time she'd disobeyed a direct order" Coulson pointed out but there was no accusation in his tone. "Look I don't believe that Skye would put either of you in danger, but I have to ask. This was a top secret location there was no way for them to find you unless they could hack into your tech or..." Coulson paused staring into space.
"Or someone leaked our location"
"Yes that is looking like a possibility"
"Well it wasn't Me and it sure as hell wasn't Skye, after what that freak tried to do to her there's no way she'd want to be anywhere near him" without realising it Grant had jumped out of his seat and was towering over his superior.
"Calm down Ward no-one thinks either of you are responsible for the leak, but I have to ask these questions"
Grant slumped back down into his seat "I'm sorry sir, I'm just on edge this is the second time in a week I nearly lost her" his tone dejected.
"It's not your fault Grant" Coulson's tone was full of sympathy.
"But it's my job to protect her and I've fucked it up twice now"
"Don't take that kind of guilt onto yourself Grant, it solves nothing. Yes Skye has been in danger a lot just recently and this time she got shot but you got her too us. She's alive because you did everything right, stop looking at the negative and focus on the positive. I know Skye well enough to know that she would never blame you, you didn't hold that knife and you didn't shoot her" all perfectly reasonable comments but Ward still couldn't shake the sickly feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"Who knew our location?" he asked deflecting.
"Well Me and May, Hill, Fury and a select few agents all with Level 7 and above clearance"
"Could anyone have hacked the servers? The rising tide?"
"Doubtful, there's no indication of a breech. That and your location was classed above top secret, it wasn't stored on the system"
"So we have a double agent?" growled Ward
"It's starting to look that way. If that's the case then we have a big problem our adversary seems to have developed an unhealthy interest in Skye. Could be that he's pissed at you both for releasing his victims or test subjects as he calls them but the lengths he's prepared to go, to get to her seem too extreme for that." reasoned Coulson.
"If he could get to her in the middle of nowhere with no tech or gps to hack how the hell are we supposed to hide her?"
"We can't, there's no playing defence anymore Ward. We have no option but to take him out, Fury will have to make do with the info we can pull from his labs servers."
"Will Fury go for that, he was pretty serious about questioning the guy on project X" Grants tone took on a bitter edge, he knew full well that it would not be the first time S.H.I.E.L.D had sacrificed an agent for the greater good as they called it. It used to be that he believed in that, but now that it was Skye they would likely want to use as bait, everything he'd once put his trust in was blown to hell. He would not allow her to be used like a toy by anyone, Fury could suck it. This guy was pure evil he tortured women for the hell of it; he was a sadistic killer even if the mutations he carried out on his victims held. Which they rarely did, the result was not pretty. He shuddered at the thought; he and Skye had managed to free his latest batch of lab rats but how many innocent women had he destroyed. The guy brought new meaning to the word mad scientist, he didn't even think Loki was this deranged.
"At this point I don't care what Fury wants, I will not sacrifice a member of my team just so he can have a chit chat with Dr Hyde" there was a steely resolve in his tone.
"Then it's settled, I'll take the mother fucker out as soon as I know Skye's safe" he rethought that "or at least as safe as she can be with a rat lurking in the background".
The agents ceased their conversation as Skye's surgeon pushed open the doors to the waiting area. Both men stood, both tense with worry and unease. "The surgery went well" the doctor smiled "We were able to remove the bullet from her femur and repair her artery, she's not going to be mobile for a while and she'll need physio and plenty of rest to fully recover. She's awake and in recovery if you want to see her quickly"
"Thank you doctor, I think Agent Ward will take you up on that offer but I have to get back to the Bus" The doctor nodded and left. "Ward we'll talk more about this tomorrow"
Ward nodded, for the first time since they had been discovered Grant let himself relax just a little. Skye was going to be OK physically at least "Thank God" he whispered. Coulson paused at the door "You love her don't you Ward?" his face nor his tone gave anything away.
"Yes" he answered no hesitation, no doubt "I know it's against regulation sir but I do" his tone was pleading.
Coulson nodded "I knew there was something there, there has been for a while. It happens Ward look at Barton and Romanoff. If you're worried about me turning you in for it, don't. I'm not; I'm just going to say this. Make sure you don't let it affect you work, either of your work the minute it does I'll split you up. Understood" his voice was level but he was deadly serious.
"Understood, Sounds like you've been where I am"
"That information is classified" he winked and smiled and with that he was gone. Not the best time to have that conversation but it had gone better than he could have hoped. His elation was short lived as he remembered the events of the night, his blood boiled when he realised that somewhere in S.H.I.E.L.D there was a traitor someone had sold them out. He hoped to God that Coulson had kept their current location a secret as he found his way to Skye's bedside. Tomorrow he was going to kick some serious ass, but for right now he needed to be with her, to see for himself that she was OK.
