Annie POV

I watched as the sun slowly sank lower and lower, closer and closer to the horizon. The back of my neck felt like it had been baked in the oven at 325 degrees. I huddled behind the truck closest to the entrance, ready for when they decided to come out.

As if on cue, my phone began vibrating.

I sighed, "Bill? What's up?"

"Annie, change of plans. This is Joan, I'm fully reading you in. This group is keeping our asset for five billion dollars, and we received word that they have another target as well. The plan is you let the first group go, towards-

"Who is the second target?"

In the pit of my stomach, I knew who she was talking about but better to be safe than sorry.

"Auggie."

I nodded, my teeth clenching.

"I heard that they were going to kill our asset first, before they left and they're going to blow Jai up along with him," I told her, my eyes still glued to the door, waiting for the slightest movement.

There was a pause, then Bill came online.

"Annie, what have you found out?"

"I overheard their conversation and they said that they're going after Auggie and Jai and Abdul would be basically blown to hell after the second team left."

"Annie," there was a rustle and Joan's voice came on, "I'm not going to play games with you or sugarcoat it. You have to get Jai and Abdul out before then and eliminate the first team. Once you do that, and I know that you will be able to, Bill is coming up with your cover right now, go after the first team to Auggie and tell them that you're the negotiator. You'll give them their five billion the day after you arrive but first you have to check to see that no one in the camp was harmed. Do you read me?"

"Yes, loud and clear. I'll get them all back, Joan."

"Come back with them, Annie."

We both hung up, and I took a deep breath; there wasn't any room for error, I realized.

You have to get through this for Auggie. He deserves to live his life, even if he's going to be happy with someone else.

The subtle creak of the door and the rustle of the rug being moved caught my eye and jolted me from my thoughts. I watched as the door slowly creaked open and slinked over to the window, pressing myself against the hot cement underneath it.

"Let us go, my brothers, the second team, stay here until the preparations are made and then follow us. We will give the United States a few more days before we kill him. But Abdul and the other man are of no use to us."

I turned and watched as they came out of the building and the door shut behind them. I slinked behind the building and peered around the corner and watched as they boarded the truck that I had hidden in.

I waited until the truck was a few miles away from the building before sprinting to the window and swinging myself inside. I took a deep breath and pulled the rug aside, lifting the door slightly, I threw in one of the flash bangs that were in Austin's backpack, my heart pounding so hard it threatened to burst.

I heard the screams in Farsi and quickly jumped in, disregarding the ladder and braced myself for the landing, my feet hitting the hard cement and my ankle giving away just for a second.

My hands gripped the two guns tightly as I ran ahead, squinting against the smoke that was already fading. I saw a body to my left coming towards me, and promptly slammed the butt of my Lady Colt against the side of his head and watched as he went down.

"Jai!" I screamed, feeling my panic rise. The negative of a flashbang was that your enemy was blinded but so were you.

There was no point in keeping a cover status anymore; this wasn't a basic protocol mission, hell, there was no protocol for this. Plus, the flashbang kind of gave me away.

I waited for an answer and felt a pair of arms wrap tightly around my waist, locking my arms against me as well. My captor screamed in rage as he held me tight, almost crushing me. I kicked out with my legs, catching him in the knee repeatedly. His grip loosened and I managed to get one arm free and elbowed him in the face. I heard the crunch of his nose as my elbow made contact with it and broke free.

I quickly turned and pointed both guns at his chest, without another moment of hesitation, I pulled both of the triggers. Even from the smoke, I could see the blood spatter across his shirt and the hot, burning droplets decorated my face like acid. The sharp recoil, the acidic smell, the thud as the body fell, it all rushed towards me and smothered me with-

"Annie!"

Jai's cry broke through the fog of pain and sickening memories, and immediately, I spun into action, sprinting towards his voice. I had probably lost a few minutes already, I couldn't waste anymore time.

I saw shadows coming out of the smoke and saw a face, full of rage as he flung himself at me, tackling me to the ground, knocking my Lady Colt aside. I tasted blood as his fist connected with my cheek, making my face crack to one side.

I pulled my leg up to my chest and placed a well aimed kick to his face, doing a backwards summersault and landing on my feet just in time to dodge another punch.

You have to eliminate the first team.

I pulled my gun up and took aim, letting my finger put the slightest weight on the trigger and moved out of the way as he fell.

"Keep talking, Jai," I yelled, the smoke was already clearing but there were several corridors branching out.

"You alright?" He cried, his voice cracking and hoarse.

I made a quickly sprinted and made a right, running towards the one door at the end of the corridor. I grabbed the handle and to my frustration it was locked. I took a few steps back, my breathing heavy as I fired twice at the lock, finally kicking in the door afterwards.

Immediately, I was met with a surprising sight. Jai was tied up to a chair and behind him was Abdul. I ran to him and began to untie his legs.

"Hang on, Jai, you're getting out of here soon," I whispered, watching as his head lolled forward.

"I'm fine, Walker, what about you?" His voice was softer than usual and as I worked on his hands, he grimaced slightly, "Did you get my message?"

I nodded, "Yeah, found the phone. It lead me to you, thank God you left it there."

I turned towards our asset to find his face badly beaten.

"Hello, my name is Annie, I'm here to get you out and safe," I told him in Farsi.

He nodded, "Thank you, for coming here."

I untied him as well and to my surprise, despite the pain he was in, he smiled and nodded his thanks once again.

Suddenly, the subtle sound of ticking greeted my ears and jumped.

"Shit," I whispered, "the bomb."

"Yeah, it's in the corner of the room," Jai whispered, getting to his feet. We shifted Abdul in between us and ran from the room, closing the door shut behind us.

We didn't need to communicate to know that we had to get out soon. I felt sweat dripping into my eyes from my hair and quickly bruised it away. The latter came into view and I gestured towards Jai.

"You bring him up first," I told him, giving him his phone back, "call Bill and tell him that we have Abdul."

He nodded and swung Abdul over his shoulder beginning the climb up. I followed immediately after him and slammed the door shut, running out of the building as quickly as I could.

I saw Jai a little ways ahead getting into a truck.

"I don't have keys!" I told him, climbing into the trunk anyways.

"I took the keys off of one of the guards," he ground out, and I felt the truck roar to life. I grabbed onto the sides of the trunk as he sped away from the building just as there was a deafening noise.

I turned to see the building burst completely, pieces of hot cement bouncing off of the truck's metal frame. The noise left my ears ringing and I could only hope that our truck would still keep going.

I climbed towards the window that separated me from the front seat. I pulled the window open.

"-I got him, Bill, I need you to get a direct fix on our spot right now and pick him up. I don't care how hard it seems."

Our eyes met in the rear view mirror and he gave me a nod, a small smile on his bruised face. I nodded back, job well done.

I handed him a bottle of water and he gaped at me for a second before taking several sips. I looked at Abdul to see that his head bobbed along with the truck and caught Jai's eye, shaking my head.

Jai slammed on the brakes, making me lurch forward a little.

"Yeah, Billy, right here, thanks," he hung up and looked at Abdul, "listen, we have people coming to get you very soon, alright? But you have to stay in this very spot. Don't move, or they won't be able to find you."

I handed Abdul a bottle of water and one of the granola bars as he nodded and got out of the car.

I traded places with him and to my surprise, he grasped my hand in his.

"Thank you, kind stranger," he choked out, giving me a toothless smile.

I smiled back, "Stay safe, Abdul."

With that said, we sped away from him.

"Jai, you alright?" I asked, watching as his eyes unfocused slightly.

He nodded, "I'm fine."

"What did they do to you in there?"

"Nothing I couldn't handle. Annie, what's the plan here?"

"We go to the Peace Corps Auggie is in; he's their real target now. I'm posing as the negotiator, saying that they're going to get their money a day later after I check on the hostages."

"Seems alright, but a few flaws; where the hell do I come in and how the hell do we get them out?"

I looked at my bag and took out a grenade, "I was thinking we could improvise how about you hide in the trunk and while I'm speaking to them you get out and when I give you the signal, at night, throw this into the meal tent."

"That should give us enough time to get everyone out," Jai pondered, thinking aloud, "but the trunk . . . that was an issue before, wasn't it? Austin's plan didn't exactly work."

I nodded, "But who could resist a blonde?" I joked, making him crack a smile.

"Annie," he said after a few minutes, "I don't want you throwing something new into this, ok? I want us all to get out safely and I want you to listen to me this time, alright?"

I nodded, "As long as you promise me that you'll be coming out with me."

He looked at me and gave me a smile, "I got your back, Walker."