Hondo stood there, silent, trying to make up his mind on their next move.

"We are going in, right?" Chris finally interrupted the silence.

"They disable the security cameras, we have to find another way to take a peek inside," Deacon pointed out. "We can't walk in blind."

"This is a professional job, that's for sure." Hondo sighed.
"It just seem too much for a place like this."

"Come on! We can't just sit on our hands, letting them do whatever they're here for!" Chris was seriously starting to lose her patience.

"Of course we won't," Hondo tried to keep her calm.
"But we need a solid plan first. We can't risk to get in without a clue of what led them there. We need to find out what or who they are searching for."

"Well, for that we should know who the hell they are!" Luca said, frustrated.

"I may help you with that," a man in a suit interrupted them.
"You are the one in charge here?" He approached Hondo.

"Sergeant Harrelson, and you? Who the hell are you now?" Hondo harshly looked at him.

"Agent Morris, FBI." He shook his hand.

"FBI?" Luca couldn't hold back his curiosity. "What are you doing here?"

"I think I know why those men got in there in the first place."

"We're all ears," the Swat Team surrounded him.

"There's one of my protected witness in there."

"You put a protected witness in the county correctional?" Hondo's tone was far from being understanding.

"Her agreement didn't provide for her to skip her jail time.
"We just changed her name, and transferred her to another county."

"Who is she?"

"We named her Joanna Bale."

"Real name?" Hondo kept staring at him, trying to read between the lines.

"This is a confidential information."

"Right," Hondo huffed. "And what did she do to end up in here?"

"I'm afraid this is confidential too."

"Are you kidding me?" Hondo faced him and agent Morris surely didn't balk.

"You don't have to know that to resolve the situation here."

"Ok," Hondo shook his head. "This is ridiculous! We need to know who is trying to free her."

"I believe they are mercenary."

"That make sense, but we shell also know who they are working for..."

"My target."

"Of course," Hondo huffed, "And your target is?"

"Confidential."

Deacon held Hondo from going for the FBI agent,
"So they're not here to simply free her, right?" he sighed, acknowledging that the situation just got even worse.
"They want her dead..." he assumed, staring at the building as to try to see inside trough the walls.

At that point, Chris couldn't hold back anymore.
"You said you could help identify them, but you are telling us nothing!" Frustration was clear from her voice, and her mind was clouded by the concern for her friend.

"You know all you need to know!" Morris answered extremely irritated. "Just do your job instead of complaining!"

"Okay, let's all calm down now." Hicks intervene. "You are not the only one who has someone he cares about in there."

Morris raised his eyebrows.

"We have a man inside," Hondo explained,
"If there only were a way to communicate with him..." he looked at the guard, hoping he could suggest a way to do that.

"There's one of yours inside?" The FBI agent interrupted, with his tone growing even more eager.
"That's not good. If they are who I think they are, as soon as they find out they have a cop in their hands..."

Chills covered their backs as they all looked at each other.

"We needed to move." They all agreed.

...

The sentinel on the roof was observing all the cops' movement.
'Guys, we're out of time Swat is just outside the building.'

Hearing that, Street sighed in relief, knowing his teammates were coming for him, once again.
'I knew it! They came.' He closed his eyes thinking about how he felt at the moment Hondo and Deacon appeared in that basement to free him.

"Damn it One! Where the hell are you? We have to hurry!" Two reached his boss over the radio.

'Sit thigh, we're almost there.'

"Cavalry is here," Street whispered, taking Grace's hand. "It's all gonna be fine." He reassured her.

'She's not here either! Not anymore at least...' One's voice sounded trough the radio.

"Damn it!" Two made a move toward Karen, thinking she pointed them in the wrong direction only to make them leave her son alone.

As the guy went closer to her, Street instinctively put his arm before her, praying the man would stop there.
He needed to protect her, despite the fear, despite everything. 'But how?' he thought.
'Come on, Jim, think.'

'What do I do now?' He starting shaking again, 'Come on, react! Do something! You can't really be this scared!'

Those two little seconds the man took to approach them seemed like two hours for Street.

'Come on, guys, where are you?' he thought trying to control the tremors of his hands.

'She was here a minute ago,' the radio sounded again, 'Someone must have told her we were coming.'

As he heard that comment, Two held back from hitting Karen or Street, and focused on his task again.
"We need to turn the cameras back on, we have to find her now." he suggested.

'No, if Swat is here they can intercept the signal. It's too risky, we'll find another way.'

"Copy that, I'll made someone talk, again." The man turned to the guards.
"Come on, spit it up! Where could she go?"

"It's your last chance. Where did she go?" Two yelled, making one of the male guards get up.

"How can I know? You held me here!" The guard stated.

"Right, you are completely useless." Two pointed his gun on his temple, and killed him in cold blood.

Horror stamped on the hostages' face as they assisted at that unexpected scene.

Grace held Street's arm with all her strengths, hiding her face in his chest.
And beside he was trying to act strong, she could clearly hear his hurt beating strong and fast, and his all body starting shivering.

He looked down at her, trying to comfort her, but he wasn't able to move a single muscle.
'Why am I so shocked? Am I really that traumatized?' He though, trying to normalize his respiratory rate.

"Please, please, let my son go..." the mother of the boy whined, hugging her son, and covering his eyes. "He doesn't deserve to assist to all this, please..."

"Shut up! You can only talk if you have useful information." Nine got closer to her. "Do you have that?"

She shook her head, crying, and hugging her boy tight. "Please... please!"

'Come on, I need you guys, where are you?' Street though, feeling totally powerless once again.

...

The gunshot sounded in the air, quickly reaching the cop's ears.

"Shot fired!" Hondo yelled, rushing to cover. "Everybody stand by."

"The sniper is not shooting, it came from the inside!" Luca pointed out, carefully inspecting the surroundings.

'The inside...' Chris froze for a split second. 'Street!'

'C'mon, C'mon...' Chris and Luca looked at each other, not knowing what to expect.
'Let not be him... Come on...'

"We have to go in now!" Chris eagerly said. "We need to do something!"

"Calm down," Hondo said as silence filled the air again.
"Street knows how to handle this." He took the map from Hicks hands, and started studying it.

Deacon nodded, then he turned to Chris. "I'm sure he's fine. Don't lose it."

"You have to do something! I can't lose my witness." The FBI agent harshly said.

"Excuse me what? What do you think we're doing here?" Luca stepped in.

"Luca back off!" Hicks intervened before the situation could degenerate.
"Excuse him, agent, but you are not the only one to have someone important inside."

"Yeah, okay." Morris decided to not pick up the provocations.
"But you have to move quick. She's a smart lady, I'm sure she has already come up with something to exit from this situation. And it won't necessary be a way to come back to me."

"I may have a way in," Hondo interrupted them. "As soon as we can't get in from where they did, we have to use this back entrance, right there."

"It's not gonna be that easy," Deacon intervened. "Even if we get our hands on the door's keys..."

"I'm already on it." Hicks said stepping away.

"We don't know where they are, or where their target is. We can't patrol the whole building!"

Hondo stared at the FBI agent.
"So? Where do you think we can find her?"

"She requested to work at the library, so she could contact us whenever she needed. She should been there now."

"But she didn't contact you lately, did she?" Deacon asked, looking him straight.

Morris could only shook his head, while he started putting a vest on, using that as an excuse to avoid eye contact with him.

"Wait, what do you think you're doing?" Hondo noticed he was clearly prepping to join them in the operation.

"I'm coming with you." Morris stated, this time looking his counterpart right in the eyes.

"No. Absolutely no way."

"She is my witness, I'm trained, and I'm coming."

"That's not your call to make." Hondo objected again.

"Listen, I'm letting you supervise the operation here, but you don't have the authority to stop me to come with you."

"You are letting me?" Hondo was a inch away to lose control. "I'm directing this because it's my job, and if there is someone that doesn't have the authority, that's you!"

"Enough!" Hicks intervened, preventing the atmosphere to grow even more explosive than it was.
"He is right Hondo, if he wants to go in with you, he can."

Hondo's expression gave up all his frustration.

"But if you go in, agent," Hicks turned to Morris, "My man is in command, and you do whatever he tells you to do, understood?"

The FBI agent nodded, waiting for Hondo to do the same.

"Hey, it's all clear?" Hicks insisted.

"Yeah, okay, we have no time to waste, let's get ready." Hondo stepped aside, making Deacon a sign to reach him.

"Something is not right, there's something he is not telling us, something crucial, I suspect."

"Agreed." Deacon supported his boss thought.

"Can you do me a favor? Take an eye on him, don't let him out of your sight, okay?"

Deacon nodded, taking his task very seriously.

"Alright guys," Hondo took the map back in his hands.
"It's the only lead we have. Let's go."

...

Two started impatiently wondering around the visiting room.
"I know one of you know something useful." He started watching everyone straight. "Come on, sooner we complete our mission, sooner we get out of here, and you will be free as birds.
"Well, except for the inmate here," he chuckled looking at his mates.

"No one knows nothing here." The female guard interrupted him.

"Sorry, what did you just say?" Two stopped in front of her. "Do you feel like having a private chat with me?" He reached out for her.

"Two stop! Remember why we are here for. We don't have time for this!" Nine prevented him from going further with her.

"Yeah, right." Two stepped back, looking his teammate, than he turned to the guard. "It seems to be your lucky day girl." He huffed.

"And you? You have nothing to say?" Nine turned to the other guard, who was staring at him in the eyes, without saying a single word.

"You're right, he has never emitted a single sound this whole time. Either he is a coward or he his hiding something." Two looked him straight, trying to catch his reactions.
"Which one? Uh?" He pointed his gun on the guard's head. "And before you say anything remember the end of your colleague." He said, glancing at the dead guard's corpse.

...

"Alright guys, let's go!" Hondo's team started to move toward the back entrance, trying unsuccessfully to not draw the sniper's attention.

The first bullet hit the ground right at Deacon's feet, giving him the urge of moving faster toward the door, with Luca and Tan trying to cover for him.

They started shooting up, only assuming where the sniper could be by the trajectory of the bullets. He was good at his job, hiding well, and not making any sound. Fortunately for them his shooting was not that perfect, so Deacon could reach his destination on one piece.

"Stay behind me." Hondo made Morris follow him closely, and throw a few smoke bombs, to confuse the enemy. They were shooting blind anyway, so that could go only at their advantage.

That way all the team members and Morris could safely reach Deacon.

"You okay man?" Hondo asked checking on his second.

He nodded, focusing on opening the door so they could get in, freeing themselves from the danger of the sniper.

Luca entered first, "Left side clear."

Then was Chris turn, "Right side clear."

They all got in, and Deacon shut the door behind them.

"Alright guys, follow me," Hondo took the lead, heading toward the library. "Fast and quiet."

...

'One, this is Ten, Swat is in the building, I repeat, Swat is in the building, I couldn't stop them.'

'Yes, I knew that!' Street thought overhearing the radio.
"Swat is coming for us, don't worry guys," he said, trying to maintain the other hostages calm.

"Damn it!" Two took the radio. "One, we have no time, where the hell are you?"

'I'm on objective's traces, I'm almost there. Stay put, and prepare for evac.'

"Copy that, but you make it quick!"

"Damn it, this is not gonna end well." Nine objected, approaching Two.

"I know, but you heard what One said, right?"

Suddenly Street's attention was caught by a slight movement of one of the guards, the one who remained silent for all that time.
'No, no, no, don't do anything stupid!' He thought, trying to send him a silent message. 'Please, please, don't!'

The man carefully looked around, to make sure his captors were distracted, and started to sneak out of the room.

'What the hell has he in mind?' Street asked himself, trying to not think about what was going to happen when the bad guys would discover this reckless move.
He wished he could say him to stop, and be patient. Tell him that the good guys were coming for them, but he couldn't. He knew that drawing the bad guys' attention on them would probably sign the guard's end, and he could not be responsible for that.

"Hey!" Nine pointed his gun toward the guard. "What you think you doin man? Uh? You want to taste my gun, won't you?"

He lifted his hands, sitting back, silent, praying to not be shoot.

'No, not again! Please...' Street closed his eyes for a moment, trying to figure out how to prevent another pointless death, but he could do nothing. Once again the fear held him back.

Fortunately the guard got away with only a few bruises, and not with a bullet in his head as they all expected.

"Okay... okay..." Street sighed in relief, praying that anyone else would try anything before his teammates could appear and rescue them.

"Hey, listen up you all, the next who tries something stupid like this," he pointed at the beaten guard, "Well, he or she won't be able to try anything else, for good! Understood?"

The hostages all nodded, knowing that their holder weren't kidding.

Street looked at his mother, then at Grace, and then at everybody else, trying to pass them his confidence in his Swat friends.
"Hang on, this is gonna end soon, you'll see." he whispered, trying to not draw the bad guys attention on him.