He didn't know how much he had slept, but neither Jess nor Kael were around him when he woke up.
"Jess?" he called, a bit worried they wandered off too far.
"Right here!" the FC answered, somewhere ahead of him.
He nimbly stood up and walked (albeit briskly) to her. There they were, palms and ears against the wall, as if listening to some noise.
"What are you doing?"
Feeling the rumble of his voice before actually seeing him, Kael steered the soldier into the same position, before talking rapidly in the air.
"Whoa, whoa, calm down buddy…"
Like a child suddenly aware he should not speak to strangers, the boy seemed to remember he was not Jess and retracted shyly behind the woman's legs. She laughed.
"He was trying to tell you you were right about leading us here. We can feel traffic. We're close to an exit."
Thinking back to the comms he had switched off the night before to avoid disturbing a sleep that all three had deserved, he made a motion for them to wait and went back to their makeshift cot and retrieved the devices. On his way, he couldn't help but think about the one-eighty in Jess's behavior. That should have been the first time he really saw her smile since they began their search. Well, when he thought back about last night's revelations, he could now comprehend why she had been so protective of the young child. The things they've both been through… He shook his head. Time to get his priorities straight. First thing: getting out of there. Second thing: knowing a bit more about it, without pushing neither Jess nor the little guy. Third thing: if possible without Jess knowing, finding that guy and teach him one or two things.
Definitely without Jess knowing.
He turned the devices on while going back to his two protégés (Jess would have his head if she could hear him thinking), just in time for:
"-dy hell, is no one hearing this? Becker, what's your twenty?"
Shocked, Kael jumped. With Becker and Jess smiling at their team leader's tone, the latter comforted the little boy, rubbing a hand up and down his spine, who had been surprised by the intensity of the vibrations coming out of the comm. Yes, Matt was definitely angry. And probably a tad worried.
"Matt? Matt, this is Becker."
"Bloody hell Becker! It's been more than ten hours we've tried to reach you! Where the hell have you been! We can't even detect your black box!"
Becker grimaced seeing he still hadn't turned it on. Jess laughed softly seeing him swiftly turning the box on.
"…and keeping silence radio like- wait, we can detect you now."
Bigger smile. Kael asked why, well, Becker supposed he was asking why, and Jess answered signing.
"What the hell happened Becker?" Matt's voice was still as angry.
"Just calm down-"
"Calm down? It's been half a day we've been searching for you, found the corridor collapsed with the corpse of a *insert name that Becker couldn't bring himself to care to remember* and no sign of you two-"
"Three."
"What?"
"We found the child. Ergo 'us three'"
Matt sighed loudly on the other side, as if trying very hard to restrain himself from throttling the soldier.
"Was that an attempt at humor Captain?"
"…sorry."
"What the hell happened?" Matt roared back. Obviously, not finding other words.
Becker went back into soldier mode.
"Long story short: we found the child in one of the underground corridors, were about to go back when a creature blocked our path, we escaped the other way when a portion of the ceiling gave out and saved us. We've been trying to find a way back ever since but stopped to rest for the night."
"And the fact that your black box was off until now?"
Becker cringed, trying to find a suitable lie. The truth was, understanding Jess had been about to tell him something important last night, and not wanting any of it to be heard by anyone else – as he didn't know exactly how black boxes recorded their conversations – he had turned it off to avoid eavesdroppers.
"I turned it off at the same time at the radio by mistake, force of habit, sorry." He met Jess's gaze that showed him how much she believed him. Not.
"Alright, can the whole of you three move? Injuries?" Matt seemed to buy the lie, it's not like Becker had anything to hide after all.
"Yes, we can move, no injury."
"Damn lucky you are with that collapsing. We need you-"
"-to go east for a thousand and two hundred meters, then take the right at the junction, and in another six hundred meters, you'll have a manhole over your head, leading to a back alley" Connor cut Matt, having studied the maps as soon as they got a signal from Becker.
"Right, a SF team is about to move to this location to retrieve you." A smacking sound and a 'oh' of pain could be heard while Matt took back the dialogue. Becker and Jess rolled their eyes at their colleagues' antics.
"No need for a SF team. We just need a car to get back" the soldier asked, remembering the earlier explanations about the child's fear of weapons. No doubt that seeing an entire team of geared up SF soldiers would freak him out. And there was no reason for such a development of force.
"Alright" the Irishman relented slowly after a pause. "But we'll need the child's full name to warn his parents. Can you ask Jess?"
The brunette woman, having heard the question, motioned him to give her the communication device.
"I'll take care of it, Matt."
"Jess? Is that you? Look, his par-"
"Matt, I know his parents. I'll take care of it."
Sensing the finality in his tone, the team leader raised an eyebrow, Becker's request added to hers being definitely out of the ordinary. But there was no harm in granting their wishes, so he just let go.
"OK, then I'll come and get you" he finished, fishing his own black box from the rack and making his way to the garage.
"Thanks, Matt" Becker answered, Jess having given him back the comm. to have free hands and explain to Kael. The boy interjected from time to time but seemed to understand the basic idea.
The soldier waited for his FCto finish, before motioning to their stuff left where they had slept.
After gathering their stuff, they began to follow Connor's earlier instructions. Becker almost jumped out of surprise when he felt a hand, probably half as big as his, shyly slipping in his own.
With nothing acknowledging that fact but a smile, Becker continued ahead without missing a beat, Kael secure between the young woman and him.