CHAPTER 5 - Despair -

Well I didn't mean for this to go as far as it did
And I didn't mean to get so close and share what we did
And I didn't mean to fall in love, but I did
And you didn't mean to love me back, but I know you did

- Plain White T's

It was noon the next day, when they were in Murdock's room and his phone rang. Jamee was reading a book, looking up while he was going for the phone. He picked up.

"Operator?"

"Murdock, we've got a case. I'm coming to pick you up in an hour. We're gonna need Jamee's help too. Tell her to get ready. I'll be waiting outside in an hour."

"Yes sir, that'll be 5,20$ please drive up to the next window."

"Murdock!"

"All right all right, I got it. Gee, you're no fun."

"Well, YOU are crazy."

He hung up and turned to Jamee.

"That was Face, we got an hour."

"We?"

"Looks like you're needed, too missy." he gave her a wink.

Jamee was excited. It had been a while since they had brought her for a mission. Especially one where she got to go with them from the beginning on. They tried to prevent hospital staff to find out she and Murdock were actually missing at the same time, which of course, didn't work, but at least she wasn't missing as often as him. Mostly Jamee got back a little earlier or left a little later. Sometimes she didn't have to leave overnight or she could just leave again a day later. But the staff had a close eye on the both of them. That didn't stop them from ever making it to a job though. Jamee got up from the bed and closed her book with a loud thud.

„So, what's the plan?"

„Looks like I will behave even crazier than normal and Face is gonna tell them he needs to get me to this special hospital in order to get rid of the virus or something…" he took a pause, just a bit too long "about you…will you be able to find your way out on your own?"

"They've blocked my last way to escape…but of course, I wouldn't be myself hadn't I been a total pro and found a way around it." She grinned smugly.

"Genius as always." he gave her a big smile. "Okay, go get ready, he's gonna be there in an hour."

He turned around but she didn't go. Walking towards his back, she hesitantly spread her arms, as if wanting to grab him, but then, she wrapped both of them around his waist, burying her head in his back. He grabbed her hands with his, freed himself from her grip and turned around to look at her.

"…not fair..." he mumbled. He seemed nervous. Was yesterday night troubling him like their first night did?

She looked at him, with her big blue eyes, a small strand of her blonde hair was hanging over her left eye. He gently brushed it away, but let his hand rest on the side of her face. She took his hand in hers and pressed it lightly against her skin. Then he took a deep breath and exhaled with his eyes closed.

"Don't make me beg for your love." she whispered, while turning her head to look out the window. There was a definite tension in the room, a strange vibe of guilt and pleasure.

She could see something in his face was different. It was as if he had an inner fight going on which she hoped, his affectionate side would win. She gave his hand a light squeeze and then, without a moment of hesitation, he gave in and kissed her. She closed her eyes, but all he did was give her a quick smack on the lips. What was that all about? That's all? She wanted to ask but he had freed himself from her grip already, turned around and started to pack.

"Well...see you in an hour." she said, confused about what just had happened.

"See'ya" he said, continuing to pack his things.

She walked out the door and closed it quietly. How bad had she wanted to know what was going on inside him. Didn't he love her after all? Were feelings of guilt still troubling him? She was sour now. How could he regret what they had done? Was it so bad to be with her? Was night time the only time he could show his affection towards her? She wiped her wet eyes before a tear could escape them and quickly went back to her own room.

Escaped successfully, the two of them were now accompanying Face in the Corvette. And that was the light version of picturing it, because she was practically sitting on both of their laps.

"Do you mind letting me drive Jamee?!" Face's reaction to her knee thudding against his for the hundredth time wasn't quite pleased.

"Well it's not my fault you drive a car in which only two people can sit! Who does that? Doesn't make sense to me-"

"This is a supreme car Jamee, a car, that shows sophistication, a social status symbol, my-"

"You know what Templeton, I think you chose a car with only two seats, so whenever you come in the situation where a woman has friends with her, you know, another lady friend or even some other guy, you can be like "ooops sorry, only have space for one person" and then you'll take the woman with you and whatever nuisance was in the way – voilá Facenator the predator got his prey alone, once again."

Face and Murdock simultaneously looked at her in shock. Jamee never said things like this. She wasn't supposed to. She was Jamee. Not some woman. Just Jamee. She noticed that both of them looked pretty stumped. But she didn't care. 'What the hell did I just say?' She thought to herself.

"I mean…uhm…so that's why, I mean, I'm sorry but your car was not made for springing both of us out of the hospital at the same time so deal with my knee against yours."

And as Jamee had thought it would end up now, an awkward silence was present throughout the rest of the drive. Great.

They were all sitting in the client's foyer. Foyer because the place they were at, was a mansion. The woman in her mid-forties must have been really wealthy. Jamee could spot a pool looking out of window at the other side of the room. Somewhere in the background, where her mind was not listening to pretty well Hannibal explained the plan.

"So it's set. Face and Jamee go check out his company profile, the one from the FBI and look for other suspicious files they can find..."

Jamee made a face, she hated hacking in the FBI's system, especially from a different computer than hers. It was a pain in the a...butt. Oh well.

"...Murdock and B.A. go find out what's going on in that company of the man and I will accompany Mrs. Winchester to her husbands club."

"Ohhh B.A. it's gonna be so much fun, us two boys, lingering around and spyin' out this secret company, seeing if maybe he hoards alien eggs or something inside the corridors of the…"

"Shut up fool! Hannibal! I ain't gonna go with that crazy man!"

"Oh come ooon! It's gonna be great!"

Hannibal turned to them ignoring both of their attitudes.

"All set?" Eyeing them with a harsh face individually "well then, let's go."

All dressed up, Face and Jamee were on their way to Hayford inc., a company, Jamee knew, was one of the technically best equipped ones, and had some of the fastest computers of the world in their hands. It was basically a Disney Land for nerds like her.

"See the corvette isn't that bad. We'll be there in no time."

"I don't hate the car Face, I'm sorry about earlier. Dunno what that was."

"Hey, it's ok. Probably just a bad day, huh?"

"Yeah…probably." She leaned her ellbow on the passenger's door and leaned her head against it.

She was thinking about him. They had been apart a little less than an hour now and she wondered what he was doing.

When they arrived at the complex, Jamee automatically went into operational mode.

"Ok so, what's the plan?" she didn't look at Face, just asked the question.

Well I'm the new Janitor and I caught you trying to smuggle out some parts. I am going to take you to your boss and inform him of it.

"My boss is?"

"Mr. Richards."

"Got it."

Walking into the building Face put on one of his best shows, Jamee thought, and in no time, they had located a room with a computer Jamee could use.

"Okay, he does have an FBI file, but it's classified and not even accessible for upper FBI management. It will take some time."

"Alright, I'll watch the door."

Seeing her in her "operating mode" was still strange for Face. He was used to it by now but still, her face went blank, her whole posture changed. And her attitude became practically non-existent. She was a shell filled with government information on how to ruin the world if she had to. No wonder they made sure to keep her in a military hospital.

After about thirty minutes, Jamee had the files.

"I'm finished." She said.

"Okay, let's get out of here then."

Back at Mrs. Winchesters Mansion, they were the first ones, Mrs. Winchester handed them some ice tea and told them they could sit outside and relax until the others arrived, if they wanted. They gladly accepted.

They were sitting at a table on the patio which was near the pool. The patio was nice. It's floor was all made out of almost white nature stone tiles. Jamee liked it a lot. Just about three feet more the nicely cultivated lawn started to cover all of the huge backyard. She was thinking about taking off her shoes and just walking on it barefoot. She missed the feeling of those tiny blades of grass around her toes. She took a sip of the cold peach ice tea and when she put the glass down, looked at the pearls of water which had formed on the outside of the glass, glancing in the sunlight. It was a pretty warm day and even Face had taken off his suit jacket revealing him wearing a white short sleeved button-down shirt.

"You're awfully quiet today Jamee, really now, what's the matter?"

"Me? Quiet?" She started playing with the straw in her glass, making the ice cubes dance around it slowly.

"Well, yes. Ever since I got you guys from the hospital you were just really quiet you know. Did I get the right Jamee?"

She smiled.

"Templeton."

"Yes."

"See, I'm reading this book right now, and in it, this woman, she falls in love with a man…"

"Is that why you behave so strange? You're starting to like boys now? Hahhh but you're so young! Well you're growing up I understand but I swear if there's someone who hurt you-"

"Templeton please, it's a book!"

He went quiet. So Face thought she was too young as well. Awesome.

"Anyways…" she continued "so she falls in love with him, but he, he comes from a rich family, and his mother does not want him to date her likes. He does love her, at least he tells her, but he thinks its best for him to stay away from her. For their own sakes, you know. I'm still reading so I dunno the end but, I was wondering, you know, because it seems that love…is such an illogical thing, well I was wondering, if he is right, if it's best to separate, you know, not getting deeper in the whole 'in-love' thing. Of course, I have never been in love, so, how would I know, but…have you ever been in a situation like that?"

"Well…it's a hard decision…" his expression was serious "See Jamee, love can be both absolutely beautiful and extremely terrible at the same time. Of course it seems logical for the two of them to split so they avoid certain troubles but…as Franklin P. Jones once said 'Love doesn't make the world go round – love is what makes the ride worthwhile.'"

She looked up at him now, the straw still in her hand. He smiled shyly. That was just Face. She almost expected a quote. It made her smile.

"Hey you guys, what'cha doin' out here? B.A. and I grabbed some food so come in and have some."

Jamee jumped for a second when she heard him call. She didn't look over to him though.

"Be right there!" Face yelled back at him.

"Let's go shall we?" He turned to her and smiled. She smiled as well, taking his arm as they went inside joining the others at the table in the kitchen.

"Hey girl, how did it go?" B.A. was obviously glad to see her.

"Good good, I got all the info we need." She gave him a quick smile.

"That's good." He grabbed a burger and held it in front of her "here, eat something, you look like you could use some."

"Ah, thanks B.A. but I'm not really hungry right now, maybe later."

"Eat something kid, there might be no time later."

Everybody turned around, it was Hannibal, all torn up and bleeding from his lips.

"Hannibal!" They exclaimed in unison.

"What happened?"

"Are you okay Mr. Smith?"

"I'm fine you guys, but we should sit down and talk and work out a plan, because things got a tiny bit more difficult than before."

"We're screwed." Face complained.

"Cheer up Lieutenant, I already have something in mind." Showing them his typical grin, they all knew what was going on…Hannibal was on the Jazz yet once again.

They all sat down at the table.

"So what happened Hannibal?" Face asked.

Hannibal started explaining. Apparently the husband thought Mrs. Winchester already had people working for her, so he had this huge group of bouncers who gave Hannibal a hard time and all…

Jamee wasn't listening. Still thinking about the words Face had said, she just stared at Hannibal. When suddenly Murdocks' foot softly bumped against her leg.

She looked at him, stumped because he had snapped her out of her daydream.

He motioned to the food in front of her. Who had put it there? Was it him? She hadn't even noticed. She looked at him and lightly shook her head. The last thing she felt like was adding food to her already troubled stomach. When she shook her head he gave her a meaningful look, opening his eyes very wide and signalising her to at least have a bite. He looked serious.

'If you only knew, that looking at you makes my stomach even tighter' she thought to herself, feeling like her stomach was filled with stones.

She gave him an excusing look and blushed. Turning away she could hear him exhale the way someone exhales when he or she isn't pleased with something at all. Well thank you for showing me that it's my fault you're feeling guilty now...what am I supposed to do?!' She thought to herself, a little agitated now.

Hannibal finished his story and started telling them about the plan.

"Jamee, we're gonna need you to hack into the companys system and completely crash it without losing the data. We're gonna need them later."

"So basically you want me to freeze the whole thing?"

"If you want to put it that way…yes." He gave her a grin, a cigar in his mouth.

A while later they had planned out all the details. Hannibal gave them an hour to get ready. Jamee went and got her equipment out of the van with B.A. helping her. Back inside she asked the woman in her mid-forties for her help.

"Mrs. Winchester, I'm going to need a room in your house which has an outlet for the tv-antenna cable."

"Oh sure, let me show you where it is."

Following Mrs. Winchester with B.A. behind them, Jamee looked around. The house was beautiful. Wide corridors, the nicest paintings she had seen in a while, family photographs and here and there some nice potted plants. They passed a dresser with a mirror on the wall behind it, she took a quick glance – she really did not look too well. But she wasn't feeling that bad, she thought.

The room suited for her needs was actually one of the guest rooms. A nice one, with a big bed in it, a dresser, a desk and a chair and a painting of the ocean, in which the beach seemed almost to be completely of white, powdered sand. The walls were painted a light yellow shade and the floor was brown carpet. The lamp was one of those that were integrated in a fan. It really was a nice room. She spread her equipment partly on the desk, partly on the floor and allowed herself to open the window, in order to let in some fresh air.

"Well, I'll be fine on my own from here, thank you very much." she told them.

"Just let me know when you need something."

"Thank you Mrs. Winchester, I will."

B.A. and Mrs. Winchester left the room.

'Okay, I got this' she thought to herself 'I'll just need to prepare the crash here and then it should work fine when I'm there with the guys.'

Everything went smooth, even the cracking of several passwords for the system that controls the whole company. The plan was that she would get the info, prepare the crash and then wait. When the call came she would make her way to the company by taking the Corvette. Good thing that B.A. taught her how to drive, and even Face had let her drive the Corvette on a couple of occasions – though she knew it was only so she wouldn't crash it in situations like these.

She felt numb. As much as she loved being around the guys and being able to help them, there was always a strange feeling in her stomach. She decided to go get a glass of water.

She quickly checked if the computer was still running ok, then opened the door to the darker corridor and took a few slow steps when

"hhh!" she was startled and realized she had run into someone. Quickly she tried to push. That's when that somebody grabbed her forearms, spun her around and led her back into the room.

She stared into his brown eyes. He smelt good. The leather of his jacket, the detergent of his shirt, his breath, and even some remains of his aftershave…they all mixed so nicely when she breathed them in from is warm body.

"I dunno how to start." He said.

"Then don't" she replied, slightly in trance of his presence, putting her arms around his neck and pulling him closer.

"Don't" he said, softly but determinedly pushing her away.

She hesitated for a moment. But then she let go of him and sat down on the bed. He kept on standing in front of her, a very strange look on his face.

"Look…I'm sorry about last night, I-"

"Ohhhh no, not again." She interrupted him. He gave her a questioning look. "I knew it. I knew it. Is it so horrible to be with me? Why do you even bother to come here to tell me?"

"Listen! You haven't even let me finish!"

The mood was tense now. Within seconds it had swung from affection to anger.

"Well of course not because I know what's coming!"

"What makes you so sure of that?"

"Oh only about the last ten-thousand times you did this!" tears started swelling up in her eyes again, but she would sure as hell not let a single one run down her face in front of him. That stupid idiot!

He walked towards the window, then back to the bed again.

"Listen Jamee…" he was much quieter now. "…I-…We…just can't do this. I have so much going on in my head and this is giving me quite a hard time but…I don't want it to affect you. Not the way you are right now. The drive here, not eating again and all that is…I don't want that happening to you…and especially not if it's my fault. And don't say it's not because I know it is…I know it is…" he put his hand on the back of his neck, gripping it, while looking down on the ground.

"We can't and we shouldn't is all I ever hear from you, and yet we end breaking all the can'ts and shouldn'ts and rules and whatever it is that concerns you so much more than us just being happy by being ourselves over and over again!"

"This isn't about the damn rules Jamee, it's about your well-being!"

"Well my so called well-being gives a polite fuck to be quite honest!"

"You just don't understand…" he looked at her very sternly, but his body language showed his weakness. The fight within him had always been so much worse than the one within her.

"No…" she sniffled, the damn tear winning the race with her hand and rolling down her cheek, "no, you don't understand H.M.. And at this point…I don't think you ever will."

She didn't look up to see him being torn between leaving and pulling her as close as he can to comfort her and make her tears stop. She also didn't see the desperate look on his face when he left the room. But through the irritably fast heartbeat in her ears, she heard the dragging of his footsteps. A monotone sound, which could easily be mistaken for someone who had just gotten up and left the room for breakfast.

But it didn't matter. Always place the mission first. That was something the both of them had learned a long time ago. And it was an unspoken rule between the two of them especially when they were on them.

The boys had left and Jamee was sitting on the bed of the guest room, waiting impatiently for her sign. Her arms around her knees, she dropped in and out of reality, leaving blurry images projected on the wall in front of her.

It was as if her brain randomly threw different scenes from her life on the wall. They all seemed to be in a backwards order though. She saw what had just happened in the hallway and in the room, she saw herself kissing Murdock in the VA, drawing in the VA, talking to Dr. Richter, talking to her favorite nurse Jenny, she saw herself crying helplessly in the shower and remembered the headache she had after crying for the first time in years, she saw their last mission, and the mission before that, and some more before them, she saw their first dinner together at one of Face's places, she saw herself entering the van, meeting the team for the first time since Vietnam, she saw Murdock, playing with the wheelchair and seeing her for the first time since Vietnam, she saw herself move to Los Angeles, leave Texas, leave the hands of the government run project, leave Vietnam, she saw herself saying goodbye to Murdock at the hospital in Vietnam, talking to him at night, seeing him being rushed in the hospital, bleeding, she saw her dad telling her about going to Vietnam, a few scenes from nicer days, with grandparents, a tricycle, a ball being tossed over the greenest grass she had ever seen and the last image she saw, was her mother's face, bent over her, smiling opening her mouth to say something that seemed like –

-beep beep beep beep-

She looked up, ripped from her strange daydream, she took the device that made the unnerving sound in her hands and turned off the alarm. It was 6:30 pm.

She took a quick glance over to the computers and other equipment, reassuring her that everything was still set as before. Then, she took her jacket with a few small pieces of equipment in the pockets, the car keys and, with her mind switching to operating mode, left the house.

It was a peaceful drive to the premises. Sometimes, she was glad her brain could switch into this state of mind, her military mind, so easily. No feelings, no worries, nothing. Just the job that she is about to do.

Arriving at her destination, she parked the Corvette outside the premises and made her way around the building. It didn't take long for her to find a way in, causing a short disturbance in the security camera nearby by using a transmitter. Thank god for her ability to climb, and thank the fence industry for making fences that could be cut easily with the right tongues. The next step was opening one of the emergency exit doors. Lock picking had gotten harder these days, she noticed. It took her a little while until she could successfully open the door without the alarm going off.

Inside she found herself in an almost dark hallway. The lights were out but there were some tiny windows here and there. She quickly pressed a button on her control device she had built especially for this mission, giving the others the signal of her being inside the company now. Then she made her way down the hallway, up some stairs and, faster than she'd expected, found the room with the servers for the company's network. She did her thing, mechanically, switching on an off, unplugging, and plugging chords into different outlets than before. Step one seemed to have gone pretty good.

Step two, basically was to find the computer room she and Face had been to before and do the rest it took to save the data yet to make the network and servers useless for as long as she wanted.

On the way, she only had to hide once, because somebody apparently was still working at this time. Everybody else was gone. She opened the door to the room she was looking for. Inside she gave her second signal to B.A., letting him know she was at the final point.

It was 7:31 pm, when she routinely booted up the system. It was 7:33 when the door to the room was violently kicked in, she quickly pressed one of the abort buttons on one of her devices and looked up to see a gun pointed at her.

"You better not move a single inch lady, or I'll blow your brains out."

A tall man, wearing a grey suit was standing across her. He must have had black hair when he was younger, but most of it was already flecked with gray. He had a mustache, too. Behind him, were 2 men, even taller and much more muscular than him. They were carrying guns as well.

"Hand over the device!" the older man in front of her said.

"They are all behind me, why don't you go get it yourself." She calmly said, crouching on the floor in the same position she had when they entered the room.

"You know what I am talking about." He motioned his gun to her pocket.

'Damn it,' she thought 'How does a person like him know what this is?'

"I'm telling you lady, hand over the device. If you have trouble finding it, my friends here will be glad to assist you."

She looked at the two big guys again. And when she calculated all the options of a possible escape, she realized that right now, there was no way out of this, except maybe to jump out of the window.

"Go get it." the old guy said.

The two of them came towards her.

"Stop! I'll…give it to you…." she said. The thought of being touched by those freaks sent unpleasant shivers down her spine.

The old guy put his gun down and came closer. She unpacked the control device and slowly brought it in front her. When he almost had it in his hands, she quickly threw it out the door, and when he turned around she quickly pushed against his legs with her whole weight, making him fall on his back and slightly against her. The impact was dull. But it gave her enough time to run and dive out of the door and into the hallway, running again after stepping on the device purposely. She hated crushing it, it was her best tool so far, but being in the hands of those idiots, it could really turn out to cause huge damage. She could hear shots and the old man screaming:

"Don't shoot! We need her you idiots!"

This was about the hundredth time in her life where shots were actually fired at her. But it was quiet while she kept running. She was fast, and she even was able to run around the next corner, but then she crashed into yet another person. When she got up and realized who it was, she was shocked for a second.

'Mrs…Winchester?!' she thought.

"That's right dear, it's me" she obviously had seen her eye twitch for a second. Then she pointed a gun at her "and you better give up running away now, or I WILL shoot you."

Once again Jamee started running, the bullets did seem to be fired at a closer range to her now and when one of them hit her, she screamed and landed on the floor. Jamee writhed in pain. It felt like her arm was on fire. She didn't even notice the two big guys coming around the corner and the old guy and Mrs. Winchester following them.

"I told you not to shoot her! How are we going to get our FBI Files deleted now!"

The old man yelled at Mrs. Winchester.

"Oh come on, I'd rather have her do it with a bullet wound than her not doing it at all."

Jamee still held her arm.

"That's if she makes it, you stupid cow!"

"Don't talk to me like that Gregory!"

"Ah, just shut up and prepare what I told you to."

She left. Jamee heard her heels clicking and clacking down the hallway.

"Get the girl to the other building!"

She felt one of the man slide his arms under her and automatically started to resist him by trying to punch him.

"Gah, come on and gimme a hand her willya?" he asked his buddy.

The other man came and held her arms down, while the one holding her grabbed her legs. They had her in a tight grip now and tied her up. When one of them, it must've been the bigger one, put her over his shoulder to carry her, she almost wanted to vomit from the pain her arm had given her. Was she getting weak?

The walk seemed too long. She remembered being in an elevator, getting out and then being in a system of supposedly underground tunnels, which must've led to "the other building". There, they went to yet another elevator, bringing them to the highest floor of the building. She saw stairs once again and then a gray steel door, which they locked behind them. The man put her down, well, it was more like just letting her fall but right then she didn't care.

When her eyes adjusted to the dim light that came from the boarded up windows she realized they must've been in an attic.

He then proceeded to drag her across the room and put something cold and metal like between the rope on her hands.

"Okay." he said.

And then she felt herself getting pulled up by the rope on her hands. The other man must've activated some kind of lifting mechanism to which the metal was attached to.

The old guy came walking towards her.

"Look at this…even in this light I can see, you're still pretty young lady." He tried to put a hand on the side of her face but she turned away. He then grabbed her under her jaw.

"You better cooperate, miss, or Dexter and Bill here are going to give you some extra lessons in how to behave around grown up men." He grinned.

'This isn't good. This really isn't good.' she thought, closing her eyes to forget the pain the rope and the hands of that old guy gave her. She was trying to figure out a way to get of there, but with old Gregory and Dexter and Bill, a rope around her hands, a bullet wound on her arm and her control device destroyed…she couldn't think of any way out at the moment. She just hoped that B.A. had gotten some kind of signal from the device before she crushed it.

Old Gregory took a step back. He looked in her eyes, her face, down her body and up again.

"I'm coming right to the point…maybe that will change your mind about cooperating. We need you for hacking into the FBI's system, and deleting, for good, all files that are there about me, my wife and our company. You will clear us. Not after you have restored the system in the company of course."

"It's not very nice to shoot and tie someone up whom you need something from, don't you think, Mr. Winchester?" She said.

"Smart girl. Your other friends got fooled easily. They think I'm there with them, giving them a hard time." He chuckled.

"I swear to god if one of your guys hurts them I'll ruin your life!" She yelled, angry now.

"Go for it kid! In case you haven't noticed, there is no way out of here except through the door, which you will pass through dead if you won't work with us!"

"I know they can handle your guys, you're just trying to mess with my head. But I'm sorry Mr. Winchester, I'm smarter than that."

"Oh I know you are smart, very smart. It wasn't easy to obtain information on you, let me tell you that, but we got some, and I only had to read it once to convince me that you were exactly the person we needed. And when I found out that you were with the A-Team…I was more than pleased that things went so well."

"Up until now, you pathetic blockhead." She spat in his direction.

"How dare you insult me!" He slapped her across the face. "Dexter, Bill, show her what we do with little girls who don't know how to behave"

And with an evil grin on their faces, Dexter and Bill, walked towards her, with something in their hands that looked like black clubs.

"You wouldn't….." she said, her eyes wide open in disbelief, but they had already pulled them.

She was weak from the blood loss. She couldn't free herself. And the guys didn't even know she was here. It wasn't the first time she was in a situation like this, but it was the first time, the guys didn't make it in time. Somehow, it seemed she had switched out of her operational mode. She realized it when she became worried. Worried for the guys. And scared, for her life. Emotions that didn't fit into this kind of situation.

And then she felt the first blow, right to her arm. Then another one right on her back. She fought the scream and the tears, trying to hold back. She was taught to survive ordeals, to never give up and to always put the mission first. Another blow, this time to her stomach. She was actually glad now, that she hadn't eaten anything in a while, because she was sure she'd have thrown up otherwise.

They stopped and she felt a warm liquid running down her face. Running down from her eyes to her nose, and over her lips. It tasted like metal and salt...blood. The taste made her gag.

"Ok miss insert family name here, what about now? Did you remember something, you wanted to show me?"

She didn't look up.

"Eat dirt, you pathetic excuse of a human being."

"Ah, I see. Well lady, I will tell you what the next hours, days, weeks and months for you will look like, should you not choose to cooperate with us. See, Dexter and Bill here, are very loyal men. And they have more tools than just two plain clubs. And from now on, every hour, they will try a new one of their toys on you-"

"I'll die within the next 24 hours if I keep bleeding like this." she grinned.

"Don't interrupt me, brat! Of course, a very good friend of mine, Doctor Howard is already on his way here, to tend to your wounds. We don't want to invest so many hours of torture with the only result being that you will end up dead."

He turned around, starting to walk out of the room.

"Well you better hurry, because my friends are on their way here. And when they arrive…"

she looked up at him, still grinning smuggishly "…you're the one who'll end up dead."

He stopped, but didn't turn around.

"Your friends are dead." he said in a very stern voice only to burst out in laughter afterwards.

Then he left the room.

Well, I'm back…took me long enough right? Yeah I know…this story is getting a bit out of hand, seriously. I have sooooo much more chapters, but they all need a little detail and fixing here and there. The end of the story is already written but the inbetween is taking quite a while. I hope you guys enjoyed it :)