CHAPTER 14

5:30 pm

Knightsbridge

Already suited up and ready to leave at a moment's notice, Marella strode into Michael's office. "I have a really bad feeling on this one and it'll still take nearly five hours to get there. If possible, I'd like to leave now."

The deputy director nodded his approval. "I'll send for final preparation to be made and you can leave within twenty minutes."

"Thank you sir."

"I wish you the best of luck."

\A/

Nhu rocked the baby gently back and forth, cradling the infant that was so precious to her closer, but she couldn't get the agonizingly long minutes to go by any faster. Finally she had her baby boy again; she and Tommy were safe. Maybe. From the attitude around the FIRM recently, she would say something wasn't going so well, especially with the mission Hawke, Dominic, and Caitlin had taken on because of her.

He had said not to worry, to stay at the FIRM safe house like she had been asked to, and they would catch the one responsible. He had made it sound so easy, piece of cake, so why weren't they back and why the sudden forlorn atmosphere here?

"Marella," she called out, trying to catch her before her determined, quick stride carried her all the way down the hall and out of sight.

Marella paused for a brief moment and turned to face her.

"I know you all already said you can't tell me everything that's going on, but how are things looking? I mean, are they alright?"

"Dao Van Quan has made it out of the country, mission failed," she answered succinctly. "I'm going to find out what happened. Sorry I can't stay and tell you more, but I have to catch my flight." And with that she continued down the hall to the elevator on a solemn streak of white.

\A/

"Fine, since you aren't talking anyway, I'll give you some time to think about your long and painful future tonight. You can stay here and when I come back you're going to sing like a bird, guarantee it."

He only received a silent scowl.

"Do you hear me, Hawke?" he threatened. "I guarantee it."

Hawke spit in his face, narrowing his eyes into a look that could have killed, still completely silent.

It earned him another cold blow, but he knew it was worth it from the disdainful look on Quan's face.

At the moment the all too familiar bamboo railed cage would be a comfort, but no such luck. This time he had a crudely made wooden chair he was tied to in a concrete walled room, completely bare other than the dirty smears and the sticky red blood splattered across the wall and floor, much of it his own.

Finally satisfied Quan was gone for good, he attempted to free himself - pulling and tugging at the ropes around his wrists unsuccessfully, only accomplishing rubbing them raw.

"Damn," he sighed in frustration. He had to get out of here for a multitude of reasons, but the ropes remained firmly in place.

\A/

Marella smoothed the immaculate white flight suit as she climbed down and walked away from the F-14 on the runway, careful not to draw any unnecessary attention to herself. A white-clad agent didn't exactly blend in, and she didn't need anything else going against her. The threesome she was after were supposed to be somewhere around here, assuming of course Quan hadn't changed his plans again.

Purposefully striding away from the airstrip, she decided it would be best to ditch the all white getup for the time being and find something more suited to the region. Then she'd have to see what information she could dig up because the sketchy facts she had read over from the intelligence reports wouldn't be near enough, but she knew just the place to start looking.

\A/

The chair crashed into the wall solidly, but remained intact. Again, Hawke slammed it into the wall, attempting to free himself. Trying to reposition himself as well as he could, he used all the strength he could muster to launch the chair, himself included, at the concrete barrier. Finally he heard the satisfying splinter of wood as he hit the hard ground in a mess of broken wood and ropes. Almost free. His wrists remained fastened to the mostly intact chair arms and his ankles were still bound together with a tangle of thick rope, but he was a lot closer than when he had started. He fought with the rope, pulling it with his teeth and banging the leftover slat of chair arm on the ground. No such luck.

At last, the chair arm split and he was able to wrestle one arm free. Now that was a step in the right direction, he though with a fleeting glimmer of hope. The other refused to break as easily though.

Suddenly he quit pounding against the wall, ears keenly tuned to the noise he thought he had just heard outside his temporary prison. All was silent now, but he knew he had heard something. Somebody was our there.

\A/

8:35pm

Somewhere in the Jungles of North Vietnam

Stepping out of the musky bar and back into the cover of the night, Marella followed her informant's directions. The FIRM might not have any agents posted here at the moment, but that didn't mean there weren't other ways of getting information when necessary. He hadn't known much about Hawke's or any of the rest of the crew's whereabouts, but he did say that he knew the Boss was back in the country and had brought a few people in with him. And last he knew, the ex-Vietnamese warlord had been seen at an abandoned building along a rough trail nearly a mile back. So that was where she was headed, hoping it this wasn't a trap even as the concerned feeling in the pit of her stomach grew.

Even with her silent quick stride, the path through the dense foliage seemed to lead on endlessly, winding through the underbrush aimlessly until she finally came upon a lone concrete building comprised of only a windowless room well concealed by the lush green moss that grew up the sides of the old walls. She had no need to come any closer to hear the constant clawing and banging against the walls, only left to wonder who or what was making all the ruckus.

Suddenly the noise stopped and she wondered if she had been caught. Not intending on sticking around long enough to find out, she slid back into the darkness to see what would happen.

For several long minutes nothing did, even the constant chirping of insects faded and silence reigned. Then a booted foot came from nowhere, heavily landing mere inches from her own, dark almond eyes glaring down at her.