„What do you want to talk about?" Ian asked Julia as they made their way back to the store, where she had left Anna and Caroline.
Julia took a deep breath and leered to Ian´s girlfriend, who walked next to him. Could she ask him about his criminal family members in front of her? Did she know that his family was part of the mafia? Unsure she bit her lower lip and thought about the right words to not get herself and Ian into trouble.
"It´s something very personal." Julia tried to start the conversation carefully.
"It´s about my family right?" Ian asked in response and smiled as Julia looked at him with her mouth slightly open in surprise.
"It´s okay. Bianca knows that my family is part of the mafia, don´t worry." He told her and wrapped an arm around his girlfriend and pulled her close.
"Well, since you know I want to ask you questions about your family, you sure know if they had something to do with the base, which got destroyed." Julia said and waited for Ian to give her a good answer.
The young Irish man let out a sigh and nodded ashamed. "My brothers blew it up."
"Do you know why they did it?" Julia kept on asking somehow relieved that she found out who was responsible for the attack.
"I don´t know exactly. My dad called me this morning and told me he was going to meet them and ask them what they were thinking. Don´t get me wrong, what my family does isn´t good in any case, but they never killed someone. My dad always kept telling them that there´s no need to kill people, to get what they want but now they are responsible for the dead of two innocent fire fighters and I´m sure my dad´s gonna kick their arses right now. I´m just here to make sure them don´t kill each other." Ian explained her and showed a tortured smile. He clearly wasn´t happy to get involved in the actions of his family.
"And you think your dad can handle with your brothers all alone?" Julia kept on asking and turned her gaze down the street, where she saw Anna and Caroline standing in front of another store.
"I hope so. He told me he wanted to convince them to go to the police and tell them what they did but I know my brothers. They´re too impulsive and act without thinking too much about the consequences. All I can hope for is that they´re listening to him and admit that it was wrong what they did." Ian told her and stopped walking as the three reached the store, where Anna and Caroline were waiting.
"Why did you run away? Were you really that bored?" Caroline asked pretty angry as Julia stood in front of her. Amused Julia smiled and shook her head, waiting for Caroline to continue her speech.
Caroline was about to continue as she recognized the young man and woman standing next to Julia. Caroline looked from the couple to Julia, back to the couple and again back to Julia. Slightly shaking her head she wondered from where Julia knew them.
"Who´s that?" Anna joined the conversation and pointed at Ian and Bianca.
"That´s Ian. We worked together in the Russian hospital and the girl next to him is his girlfriend Bianca." Julia introduced the two strangers to her friends and Anna didn´t waste time to shake their hands.
"Ian? The physiotherapist you told me?" Caroline asked as she too shook their hands. Julia nodded in response and Caroline seemed to think about something.
"Something´s wrong?" Julia asked her friend, knowing that Caroline was thinking about something.
"No, nothing. I just wonder what he´s doing here. No offense Ian but Julia told me you live in a small town in Ireland. What are you doing here?" Caroline asked suspicious.
"You act like Ireland is on the other side of the world. He´s just here to visit some of his family." Julia answered, she didn´t want to give Caro a reason to be concerned.
"Ok ok. I´m just asking." Caroline answered a little pissed on Julia´s behavior.
"Well, it was nice to meet you two but I think we should go back home. I´m sure mum´s already waiting with the dinner." Anna reminded the other two women and Caroline and Julia nodded in response.
"It was nice to see you again Ian." Julia said and hugged Ian.
"Same here. If you need something give me a call. You still have my number?" Ian asked and as Julia nodded he and his girlfriend left the three women.
Julia watched them disappear and followed the other two back to their car. Maybe the soldiers already were after Ian´s brothers. Julia just hoped they wouldn´t get into too much trouble. She didn´t want to start a war against a whole criminal institution.
Soon after the three women had arrived at Anna´s house, they recognized that something was going on. As they had entered the house they saw Ozone and Worm discuss about a serious topic and Scarecrow sat in front of a laptop and checked something, whilst he was talking to someone on the phone. Curios the women shared a look and stepped up to Ozone and Worm, who immediately shut up as they saw the women approaching them.
"What´s going on here?" Caroline asked concerned and took a look on the map the two soldiers were studying. Ozone shot Worm a look, that said he should explain what they were doing, but Worm just shook his head, as he realized what his teammate wanted him to do.
"Hey, talk to me!" Caroline raised her voice in anger, why were they acting so stiff? She was sure that something bad was going on here and felt nervous, ´cause she was sure Toad wasn´t here.
Ozone and Worm shared another look but both didn´t seem to be happy to tell the girls that they had lost their Captain and his team. They didn´t want to admit that they didn´t had the slightest clue where they were. The only thing they knew for sure was that the mission went totally wrong; they had tried to call every single member of the team, which did the observation, but couldn´t get them into line. Burdened with guilt Ozone tried to find the right words but all that came to his mind seemed like a lame excuse. He let out a sigh and looked down ashamed.
"The Captain and the others are on a mission to observe a terror group." He began and kept his eyes down, he couldn´t look at her right now.
"That´s good, isn´t it? Why are you so sad then?" Caroline asked puzzled; why did they avoid to look at her?
"Look Caro…The mission didn´t went as we expected it would. The others probably got into trouble." Ozone continued, know with enough strength to look up at her and show her a weak, afflicted smile.
"What? So you tell me they are in danger?" Caroline asked in shock.
"We don´t know for sure." Worm added and earned an angry stare from Caroline.
"You don´t know? How couldn´t you? Weren´t you watching them? Didn´t you give them any form of back up? Why are you still here? You should go and check to place where they were." Caroline yelled in anger; she was scared; scared to lose her boyfriend.
"We had our orders to stay out of business. The Captain didn´t want to cause too much attention, he said he needed no back up." Ozone tried to calm her down with his explanation but Caro´s anger only rose.
"That´s stupid. If something happens to Chris it is the entire fault of your Captain." Caroline cried out and stormed out of the room.
"Caro! Wait!" Anna shouted and ran after her, to calm her down. Anna knew how she felt, Roach was on that mission too. Anna had the same fears as Caroline but she kept quiet. She didn´t want to interrupt the soldiers in their work and make them feel guilty for just doing their job.
"What are you up to?" Julia asked and took a seat next to Ozone, who stared at the door, Caroline and Anna had left the room. The soldier could understand the reason for Caro´s breakout but he was shocked that she blamed them that the mission went wrong.
"Hey, Sebastian. I´m talking to you!" Ozone snapped out of his stare, as he heard Julia use his first name. He shook his head and looked at her. Julia had her eye brows raised and waited for Ozone to answer her.
"We try to find out if the group has any secret hideout nearby the location the team was but we can´t find anything. I´m sure they brought them away from there." Ozone said disappointed and looked at the map, which was laying on the table in front of him.
"I see. Have you checked the place where they observed them? Maybe you´ll find some eyewitnesses." Julia asked and turned her attention to the map too.
"No, we weren´t there yet. Scarecrow is talking to Ghost right now and the General told us to wait for his instructions and we wanted to wait till you come back. We thought you wanted to know what´s going on." Worm said and smiled weakly; he knew that the women would have gotten even angrier, if they had just left the house without making the situation clear.
Julia nodded to him and turned her gaze towards Scarecrow, who seemed to go through possible hideouts with Ghost. She stood up from her spot and went upstairs, to go to her room. She knew she needed to call Ian and ask him if he could help her to find out, where his brothers could have brought them to. She didn´t like the idea of bringing Ian into danger, but he was her only chance. She also wondered why Mac told them to wait before they go to the place. It was unusual for the General, to give the orders to wait, if there was only the slightest chance that soldiers were in danger and she wondered why he acted like this. Sure she knew that he was concerned that Price would find out about Gisela and him but the situation hadn´t anything to do with his personal problems. The behavior of her General made her wonder if he kept a secret. Pushing her thoughts away she dialed Ian´s number, he needed to tell her what he knew.
"Price! What are you doing?" Derek asked the Captain as the whole team met on a car park, far away from their hideout. He watched his Superior divest his whole weaponry.
"They want me!" Price shortly answered him and continued in his doing.
"What makes you think this?" Meat joined the conversation, confused on how weird his Captain acted.
"Natasha said it. Her last statement was we all have to pay a Price. They want me." The Captain told them, as if it was the most normal in the world.
"Don´t make a fool out of yourself. This woman is crazy, she only wants to catch you off-guard." Michael replied in disbelief. Did the Captain really believe they wanted him? To Michael it was just a statement to unsettle the old man.
"No, the way she pointed the word Price out made it clear to me." Price just said serious.
"So you think if you sacrifice yourself they will let the girls go? That´s simply ridiculous." Michael yelled in frustration and rolled his eyes. Sure, he wanted to save the women too, but he couldn´t approve Price´s plan. This was suicide.
"It´s the only chance I see, I won´t let them torture them or kill them just because they want me. I don´t care if you agree with me. I made my decision." Price stated; he was ready to go.
He took a look around only to see that every soldier seemed to be unhappy with his plan. Meat and Royce looked away from him, Paul and Daniel just shook their heads and Michael looked at him as if he had lost his mind. The last one Price looked at was Archer and he could tell that the sniper was fighting with himself. He had knitted his eye brows and played nervous with his fingers. Price also noticed that Archer bit his lower lip in deep thoughts. Price took a deep breath and stepped up to his teammate. He laid a hand on his shoulder and told him it would be okay if he wouldn´t take part in his plan. Archer just watched as his Captain walked back to one of their cars and turned his comms on.
"Natasha?" The Captain asked in a rough voice.
"Nice to hear you again Captain. What do you want from me?" She answered and Price heard her chuckle lightly, but right now he didn´t care what game she was playing, all he wanted to do was to save the two women.
"We have a deal!" He answered her coldly and waited for her to response. The comms went silent for a few seconds, before he heard her laugh and she answered him.
"Good to hear. Not far away from the town is an old aerodrome. Meet us there in half an hour and don´t try to play a trick on us. Otherwise one of the girls is going to die." Natasha answered amused.
"You let them free right?" Price asked hopeful but as an answer the comms just went silent again. Natasha had cut the connection.
Full of anger Price mumbled some curses and opened the driver door of the car. He was ready to go there and deal with them. He didn´t care that he was all on his own; maybe it was for the best. He couldn´t need the others there, if they didn´t approve his plan. He was about to climb into the driver´s seat as a hand was laid on his shoulder. Snorting Price turned around, keeping a straight face. He looked in the pair of blue eyes in front of him and couldn´t stop himself from thinking about Soap. The eyes in front of him reminded him a lot of his friend; they had the same color and the same sparkle of volition in them.
"I´m coming with you." Michael told the Captain as he faced him. He couldn´t allow himself to let the older man go and didn´t do anything to support him. Price nodded to him and settled down on the driver´s seat, followed by Michael, who sat next to him. Price started the engine as the back doors got opened and Meat, Royce and Archer took a seat. Price looked into the rear mirror and nodded to his teammates.
"We´re coming right after you." Price heard Derek speak over his comms, turned his head to the right and saw that Derek, Paul and Daniel had boarded the other car and were ready to go.
"Good." Price shortly said with a smile and the car slowly started to move.
"I´m gonna give Ghost a call to inform him about our plan." Archer pointed out as he dialed his Lieutenants number.
Ghost and Angela were sitting in the mess hall and ate their dinner, as Ghost´s cell phone began to ring. Curious, who called him Ghost pulled it out of his pocket and was surprised to see the caller was Archer. Puzzled he stared at the screen for a sec before he answered the call. At first Ghost talked in a calm voice to him but as the call went on, Angela could feel the Lieutenant tense up. Wondering what they were talking about she got closer to Ghost and tapped him on the arm, to sign him he should turn the speakers on. Ghost shot her a quick glance and did what she wanted. Now Angela could hear Archer´s voice clearly.
"Ghost? You´re still there?" Archer asked as he hadn´t got any response from his teammate, to his last statement.
"Yes Archer. I just put the speakers on." Ghost explained him and smiled weakly at Angela.
"Oh…okay. Is the General near you?" Archer asked in a low voice.
"No, he isn´t here. Why do you ask?"
"I think he´s not satisfied with our plan." Archer replied concerned.
"What plan?" Angela asked, they didn´t get any orders from their General. Sure they knew that Chrissy and Mandy got captured but the General gave them the order to wait for Natasha to call them again and tell them what she wanted. Equally to that the General had told them to not tell the groups that both observations went wrong and that some of them got captured.
"Natasha wants me." They heard Price join the conversation.
"You? Why?" Angela asked surprised and heard the Captain sigh deeply.
"I told you she wanted an offer from me and that her last words were that we all have a Price to pay. I´m absolutely sure Makarov wants me." Price continued.
"And you give in? What if this all is a trap?" Ghost raised his voice in disbelief.
"I don´t care. It´s our only chance to save the girls." Price told them and Ghost shook his head.
"Price! That´s ridiculous. You should wait for the General´s instructions. You put yourself and the whole team in danger." Angela screamed into the phone but Price just chuckled.
"They all decided to come with me, if you have to tell the General about this, feel free to. It´s already too late to stop me….." Angela wanted to reply at the Captain´s words, put suddenly the line went dead.
In horror Angela looked at Ghost, who tried to call Archer back, he wasn´t satisfied with this plan either. Was the Captain out of his mind? He was about to risk the lives of his whole team, that wasn´t like him. In anger Ghost throw his phone down to the floor, Archer didn´t answer his call.
"What are we going to do now?" Angela asked nervous and shot up from her spot.
"I don´t know. We can´t stop them." Ghost shortly answered, stood up from his spot and laid his hands on Angela´s shoulders, to stop her from walking up and down nervous.
"There must be something we could do Ghost. The missions already went wrong. We can´t risk to lose Price. What if they´re going to kill him and the others?" Angela asked him sad, she didn´t want to think about this.
"I don´t know. Damn, this is fucking annoying." Ghost said and shook his head.
"Why does Price think they want him? Okay, it might have been easy for them to find out they were watched and maybe they were able to track our team or bug them but they couldn´t be sure that Price is in Russia. Makarov surely had known that we would split up and send a group to the UK and one to Russia but he couldn´t know that Price would be a part of the Russian team." Angela tried to explain to Ghost how wrong the Captain must have been.
"Yes, you…" Ghost wanted to affirm her statement as a misgiving came to his mind. Could this be? He knew Price for years, would the Captain risk the life of his teammates? No, definitely not. Price only did this ´cause he was sure that Makarov wanted him. There could be only one chance how Makarov could be sure that Price was in Russia. There was just one person, who could assert that Price would be there.
Without thinking Ghost stormed out of the mess hall, hearing Angela yell after him but right now he didn´t give a shit. Anger had taken the better part of him. He cursed; he had a bad feeling since they were in this base. Why hadn´t he listened to that feeling? If something would go wrong now, he would blame himself the rest of his life. On his way he felt that Angela was coming after him but right now he didn´t care that she was here. He knew that his actions could show her his bad side, the side he only let out in battles, the side that helped him to get the information he wanted.
With a loud bang he crushed through the door and fast approached the General, who was talking on the phone to someone. Ghost could hear his superior yell at him what he was doing here but Ghost was too angry to give a fuck about it. In a fast move he punched the General straight in his face, making his phone crush to the floor. The General stumbled back in surprise, feeling the pain of the hard punch on the left side of his face. The General tried to raise his hands, to protect his face from any more harm, as Ghost grabbed him by the collar of his uniform and pushed him onto the wall.
"Wha…." The General tried to speak but was cut off by Ghost´s hands, which he had laid around the General´s neck and squeezed his throat, making the General gasp for air. Mac hardly could keep his eyes open, the pain on his throat was simply too much. In fear he tried to push Ghost away from him, but the Lieutenant Didn´t move an inch, he only squeezed tighter.
As Angela entered her General´s office she saw Ghost standing in front of Mac, strangle him. Terrified to see the Lieutenant in such a violent way she needed some time to act. Angela´s whole body tensed as she stepped next to Ghost and yelled at him to let the General go; but to Angela´s disappointment Ghost didn´t react. Angela looked into Ghost´s eyes and all she could see was pure hate. Frantically she kept on yelling at him and tried to push Ghost away from the General, but the man didn´t move. Getting desperate Angela saw no other chance then to slap Ghost into his face. With a shaking hand she slapped Ghost on his cheek, only to get a slap back.
Recognizing what he did, Ghost looked at Angela with wide eyes. She stood in front of him, holding her cheek and trying to hold the tears back which formed in her eyes. Shocked he reached out to her but as he was about to touch her she stepped back and shook her head.
"Angela! I´m sorry. I didn´t want to do this." Ghost apologized pitiful.
"What´s wrong with you? Why did you attack the General?" Angela didn´t response to his apology, she was more interested what made Ghost so furious.
"He betrayed us." Ghost shortly answered her and glanced back at his General, anger rising up in him again.
"He send Price to Russia. He was the only one who could make sure that Price was there and not in the UK. He works for Makarov." Ghost continued staring at Mac.
"What? Is this true? Did you betray us?" Angela now asked and looked shocked from one man to another.
The General still affected breathed heavily and kept his eyes on the floor. "Yes, I did."
