Title: A Case of Déjà-vu

Chapter title: King of the Mountain

Summary: Brandt's worst nightmare comes to life as he is forced to relive his demons when a kidnapping turns into a protection detail … and this time he is determined not to fail, no matter the cost.

Author's note: The final showdown is about to happen and it is not going to be pretty! And btw, in true movie style the time line is kinda funny and messed up … so if you think time is either moving really slow or really fast. But remember … everything is kinda happening at the same time! Keep that in mind, thank you! :D

And a thanks to SPN4eva556 for reviewing :)

On with the story!

Disclaimer: None of it is mine … None of it!

"Our measure of hope is in direct proportion to our ability to conquer hopelessness"

Brandt was panting by the time they reached the warehouse.

As he had suspected, it was vacant. It looked like it hadn't been used for quite some time with dust gathering in large clusters in the corners. It was one large quadratic room with a high roof from where a few short, loose, chains hung. Other than a few boxes and planks of wood, it was simply a brown empty room.

Brandt quickly closed the door they had come in of and put Claire down and then tapped his earpiece. "Ethan?" he tried. The scattering sound of static followed and then there was nothing but silence in the other end. Brandt tried again and again, kept calling Ethan, Jane or Benji, but every time he received a silent answer. His nerves started to tingle uncomfortably and he felt tiny droplets of sweat form on the back of his neck. The gut feeling he had learned the trust over the years told him something was wrong and he didn't hesitate to follow it.

He eyed the door he had just closed with a skeptic eye. He guided Claire towards a second exit to the right instead. "Stay back," he instructed her before he moved to the steel door where he gently pried it open and peaked out. Just as he stuck his head out, a bullet embedded itself barely an inch above his head. Instinctively, he threw himself onto the ground and kicked shut the door, his gun aimed in case someone decided to burst in. But after a few moments, no one did. Gingerly he picked himself off of the floor.

Well, that exit was eliminated.

His eyes scanned the warehouse for other exits they could use and found three. Every time it was the same. Three times he had stuck his head out to see if it was clear and three times he had almost been executed with a bullet to the head. And three times he had slammed a door shut for his own safety. But after door number three, there were no more options.

Brandt's uneasiness didn't settle. If anything, it grew. Because he knew that he didn't just cheat death four times in a row simply because somebody was a bad shot. No, the reason he wasn't dead yet, was because he wasn't supposed to die … at least not at the moment. He had just begun his speculations and had barely reached a somewhat terrifying conclusion, when footsteps broke him out of his thoughts. He swiftly turned around with his weapon aimed to kill at the approaching threat.

He found himself staring into the face of a laughing Antonio Giovianni.

And suddenly Brandt was glad he had decided to save some of his ammunition earlier.

By the time Ethan managed to get out of the danger zone he had no idea how far he had gone, if he had been followed, or where any of the others from his team were.

He finally stopped running and allowed himself to take a break to catch his breath. While he did so, he checked the communicator in his ear and found he could receive nothing at all. It sent a light chill down his spine. He knew the team could handle themselves, they had proved that over the time so of that he had no doubt, but the thought of them being completely separated with no possible way to contact one another actually scared the team leader. Mainly because it was his team after all and his team was his responsibility. And they had an extra team member of that moment and Ethan didn't think the Senator would be very pleased if they lost his daughter after finding her. Not that any of them would be. But he suspected it would be worse for the father.

And then there was Brandt. He didn't know how the analyst would react if they lost Claire McGregor. He didn't dare to think about it. And he wouldn't begin to think about now. He had to take it one problem at the time and right now the problem was to locate his missing team members.

He was just about to head back in the same direction he came until a familiar whisper stopped him. "Hey, Ethan!" Benji's hushed voice sounded from an alley to his right.

"Dammit, Benji!" Ethan said when he lowered the gun he had pulled when he first heard the voice, but he still had a smile on his face.

The Brit came out of the shadows, smiling somewhat proudly. He had small bruises and dirt covering his face but he looked otherwise unharmed, which Ethan was very relieved about.

"You wouldn't happen to have seen Jane or Brandt around here would you?" Benji asked and looked around on the empty street.

"Not since they left the safe house, no."

"Bullocks. We need to find them before Giovianni does."

"No need to worry, boys," Jane's voice said from their right. She quickly stepped towards them with her hands slightly raised. She quickly lowered them again when she was sure the two IMF agents didn't see her as a threat. When she did, Ethan noticed the blood streaks on her left arm, coating her tan skin.

"Jane, are you alright?" he asked, concerned.

"I'm fine, it's just a graze," she quickly assured.

Ethan nodded understandingly, but he still tore a small piece of his dark shirt and bound it around her arm, stopping the still flooding blood that leaked slowly out from the cut. While he was doing so, Benji was looking around the street. "Hang on. Where's Brandt?" he asked.

Only then, did the rest of them notice that their analyst still hadn't shown up.

"I haven't seen him since he cleared the alley back at the house," Jane answered. "I think we have to circle back around and hope we bump into him."

"Wherever he is," Ethan said glumly. "We just have to hope Claire is with him and not Giovianni."

They kept out of sight the entire walk back to the safe house, sticking to the back alleys and rooftops. But there was no sign of Brandt or Claire. The only people they saw were Italians and they made sure to steer clear of them. They arrived around back of the safe house an hour later. The sound of gunfire that ceased which meant Giovianni had probably figured out that the team wasn't in there anymore and was deciding how to proceed next.

In the alley where they stood a few wooden boxes was filling up most of the exit to the street. They blocked any option of peeping in to the alley but that also meant looking out without being spotted was difficult.

But Ethan found a small slit near the ground and he lowered himself down on his stomach and peeked out from under the boxes. His eyes went wide with surprise at what he saw. Several of the mobsters were heading into their cars and driving off, while a few of men ran in the same direction. Giovianni was nowhere to be seen.

"I think they're leaving," he reported back to his team mates.

"But why?" Benji wondered, confused.

"You don't think they have Claire, do you?" Jane jumped in. She couldn't think of any other reason why they would suddenly decide to clear out.

"I hope not."

"They are defiantly clearing out," Ethan concluded, still looking through his makeshift peephole. "But they aren't headed out of town."

"Then where?" Benji asked impatiently.

Ethan rose from the ground and while he dusted of his clothes, he said, "I think they are headed that way." He pointed to the right where they could see the tiny outline of a lone building in the open landscape.

"Why would they …" Benji interrupted himself when he realized what it meant. "Brandt is out there."

"Then that's where we are headed too," Jane stated firmly.

Giovianni had his hands raised quite casually, showing that he had no weapons … that Brandt could see at least. The analyst didn't waver or lowered his gun an inch. He didn't know what exactly Giovianni's play had turned in to but he had a feeling that he was about to find out. And he was sure he wasn't going to like it or comply with it.

"Well, hello Agent Brandt," the Italian finally greeted, breaking the silence. "So you are the one who destroyed my plans."

"How do you know my name?" Brandt squinted his eyes suspiciously.

"I don't require captives without knowing at least a little about them," Giovianni smirked. "Your information was very restricted but I did manage to get your name and an official-looking photo of you. You must be some sort of agent. Who do you work for?"

Brandt didn't answer.

The Italian mobster just huffed indifferently and continued. "Where are the rest of you?"

"It's only me," Brandt quickly assured before he scooted Claire closer to his body.

"Do not play dumb with me, ragazzo. I know there are more of you out there." Giovianni's temper seemed to be rising. Though it unsettled Brandt on the inside, he was convinced not to show the discomfort he was feeling on the outside.

"Hate to disappoint you, but I'm all you are going to get," he replied with a smirk of his own. His voice sounded more confident than he felt. Just because Giovianni wasn't armed didn't mean he didn't have to upper hand. He had most of his men surrounding the warehouse, so even if Brandt and Claire managed to find a way around the Italian it wouldn't matter. They were completely in his hands. For now at least.

"Well, if you give me the girl then I might let you live," Giovianni started to bargain.

"And if I don't?"

"Very simple," the mobster said and slowly pulled away the loose covers of his coat. Inside a square device was strapped tightly to his chest. It consisted of small black blocks with small blue, green, and black wires, intertwined in each other, sticking out several places. In the middle was a rectangular screen with green numbers, reading 1:38. Brandt's eyes went wide as he realized what it was. "I press this button and then we all go boom. Or we can wait until the time runs out."

"You're insane," Brandt spat.

"I am only insane if you choose wrong. Choose right, I suddenly look like a genius," Giovianni said and smiled knowingly. "So what's it going to be?"

"No."

"Now, look who's insane. You are aware this is your only way out. Alive, anyway," Giovianni added the last one so casually that if a stranger walked by he or she would have dismissed it as a regular conversation.

"I am not handing her over. You want her, you have to go through me," Brandt said and stood his ground. He was not going to hand over the innocent girl behind him to this madman. He vowed to himself that he would protect her and the time had come for him to fulfill that promise. He was not going to fail on this one.

But Giovianni just shook his head. "I do not play that way."

"Too bad, because I do," Brandt said.

"Claire," he then said, though he never removed his eyes from the mobster, not even for a second. "I need you to start walking towards the exit behind us. Don't worry I'm right behind you."

Claire still had her small fingers entwined in Brandt's jeans when she started moving backwards, him only a step behind. His gun was still aimed directly at Giovianni's head and he didn't move it away.

But they had only made it ten steps before Giovianni's threatening words interrupted them. "One more step and we all die!"

Both Brandt and Claire stopped. The analyst didn't expect it to work anyway, but he had hoped that getting a hold of Claire again meant more to the mobster than he portrayed. Clearly, that wasn't the case. Not when he was screaming with his finger hovering a hairs breadth over the trigger button in his hand.

"I give you one more chance. If you value her life, you give her to me," Giovianni said.

"I do value her life. That's why I am not giving her to you," Brandt shot back. He was starting to realize that their only chance of making it out of here was to wait for Ethan and the team to arrive. If that were to happen, he had to stall. "Why is she so important to you that you are willing to kill yourself for her?"

"For years I have only ruled the underworld of Italy. I am destined for greater things. I was born to rule this world and with her help I can."

"No one will grant you that. Like you said, you are only feared in Italy. Outside of the country, you have no jurisdiction," Brandt argued.

"That is true. But you forget that I have powerful friends. Friends that can help tip the scale quite suddenly. You will never see me coming. Not before it is too late."

"Well, I'm sorry to ruin your plans. But without the girl you have nothing."

"You are right." Suddenly a mischievous grin ran over Giovianni's lips. It bore resemblance to that of a man who would die without letting any of his secrets out. He grinned like he knew something nobody didn't and that he was content with that never changing.

He raised the button in his hand slightly; making sure Brandt saw it clearly. "Arrivederci," he smirked before he pressed his finger down.

"No!" Brandt shouted and before the limb could press down, he instinctively pulled the trigger of his gun. Claire screeched at the loud sound as the bullet travelled from the barrel and hit Antonio Giovianni right between his eyes. The Italian mobster fell bonelessly to the ground. A small trickle of blood trailed out of the wound and down his forehead and into his slick black hair.

Brandt moved cautiously forward with the barrel of his gun still trained on the lifeless body. He bent over and only when he could see that the broad chest was no longer moving, did he lower his weapon and holstered in the rim of his pants.

Just as his shoulders started to slump down when he felt he could finally relax, did his eyes land on the timer on the bomb Giovianni had strapped to his own body. It was still counting down. But what scared him the most were the actual numbers on the screen.

00:05.

His eyes widened as his brain realized what it meant. Quickly he retreated and stumbled back towards Claire. They wouldn't have time to move out of the blast site. He scooped the small girl up in his arms and ran to the pile of wood planks that he had noticed on the way in.

00:03.

He dived over it and curled Claire against his chest.

00:02

He made sure his own body shielded hers completely and lowered and covered her head with his hands before he dipped his own head down, hoping it would provide enough protection for the small girl in his arms.

00:01.

"I tried my best and I failed again."

00:00.

A light, tiny, 'clinck' sounded and then a large echoing 'boom' followed immediately after. Pieces of wood hit Brandt's back and heat tickled his neck. There was a loud crash followed by Claire's terrified scream before everything went black and darkness took over Brandt's mind.

TBC.