CHAPTER SEVEN
"I thought you said you could find them." Donald maneuvered the car while he occasionally looked out the window.
"I said I could locate them, you have to find them."
"Right." Luke and Donald drove the streets of Casablanca, Morocco. On Luke's tablet, facial recognition was running through a camera that was attached to the roof of the car.
Beca ran to the car that they had brought for their rendezvous, only to realize that her scan had not matched the system, locking her out of the car. Just then, she felt she wasn't alone.
"Where's Swanson?" The tall, well built bodyguard of Sawnos stood before her. Beca turned around to see that she was now surrounded by his men.
"He's dead."
"AGH, that really hurt!" Benji exclaimed as he got up.
"Benji, can you walk?" Jesse asked as he put some clothes on, "We have to get to her before Sawnos does."
Beca slipped into the tight motor suit that they had given her. They were now in an alley, all suited up and ready to mount their bikes. They were ordered to escort her through Casablanca and make sure that that the package will be delivered to Sawnos as planned. Beca was more than annoyed at this order but she was playing with fire here. Not only did she have to double cross Jesse, which she felt really bad about, her plan was not to be babysat by these men. She was given a task, and she will deliver it as planned. By her rules. She mounted her bike, put on her helmet and gave these men one last look.
In a split second, she made a donut, spraying whatever dust that was on the ground of the alley against the team of men and knocked each one of their bikes down with her front wheel. She sped off.
Jesse and Benji ran up the stairs and onto the street where Benji had had parked the car. His attempt at a suave move to jump over the front of the car to get to the other side failed when Jesse landed right on his ass. He got up to scan his hand on the window and the car unlocked.
"Woah woah woah, are you okay to drive? A minute ago you were dead!"
"What are you talking about?" Jesse asked as he opened the driver's seat door.
"This is not gonna end well."
Jesse backed out and drove through the alley,
"There she is!" Benji pointed out.
Beca made a sharp turn and she was met with a staircase. Jesse followed.
"We're… gonna… die…" Benji exclaimed as the car made its way down each step.
He was intent on staying on her ass. He was not going to lose sight of her again. Just then, a group of motorbikes came out of nowhere, cutting off Jesse's view of Beca. He continued to follow the pack.
"Woah!" Donald and Luke halted to a stop as a bike rider cut them off. A car followed closely behind other bikes and came to a stop. The cars were now side by side.
Benji waved through the window while Luke and Donald stared at the two.
"Well, found them."
Jesse stepped on the gas and sped through, trying to catch up with the pack of bikes.
Donald reversed and followed the crowd, "Shit! It's a high speed chase! You just had to get the 4x4, didn't ya?" He yelled at Luke.
"Oh don't go blaming me. You chose it-"
"You just had to have it!"
"Do you want me to drive?"
"This is a big ass car-"
"Look at you, look at how slow you're going. Speed up!"
Beca took a quick glance behind her, he was there. Still following her. Damnit. He needs to back off if he wants to live. Beca sped up some more and another bike cut off Jesse's car.
"Who's this guy?" Benji asked while gripping oh so tightly onto his seat.
The man in question pulled up in front of them, pulled out a gun and immediately started shooting at Beca.
"Shit!" Beca, Jesse and Benji exclaimed.
Jesse stepped on the gas and accelerated enough to cut off the back wheel, causing the man to fly over their hood.
More gunshots flew around the air, their car windows shot off. Benji yelled, "Go go go go go!" Five more bikes followed them and Jesse didn't like that they were getting closer and shooting at them. In order to protect Beca, Jesse turned the corner, which caused the team of bikes to split up. Three followed him, two followed Beca.
Jesse turned a tight corner, hitting a few of the street shops, "I'm ok, I'm ok!" Benji shouted. Jesse slowed down a tad to let them catch up to him.
Benji looked back, "Here they come!"
Jesse looked ahead and a truck was parked on one side of the road. He immediately reacted, stepped on the break and made a donut maneuver. A bike hooked onto both ends of the car, hitting the walls. It was down to one bike rider.
"Gun!" Benji warned as they reversed through the alley. The man was speeding up in front of them, gaining and shooting. They ducked,
"Do you have your seatbelt on?" Jesse asked. He took a good look at the rearview mirror as he buckled up.
"You're asking me that, now?!" Benji exclaimed.
Just then, the car backed up through a gate and propelled over a platform.
"Hang on!" The car went flying through, they braced the impact when the car tumbled onto the ground, over and over and over.
A bike pulled up to the overturned car. Jesse immediately struggled to unbuckle himself. All he saw in his line of sight were feet walking towards him, a gun in hand. Just then, wheels took over his view and knocked the man over to his death.
"Hey, you good?" Donald crouched down.
"Things.. got a little out of hand." Jesse breathed out.
"AGH!" Benji woke up from his temporary shock.
Luke and Donald pried open the doors and pulled Jesse out of the car. They walked to the other side of the car to rescue Benji. The sounds of motorbikes still echoed through the streets and Jesse spotted them. She was still being tailed. Jesse grabbed a pair of shades from Donald's car and sped off on the bike that Sawnos' guy had left.
Donald, Luke and Benji stood up at the sound of the bike speeding off.
"Well, shit. There he goes."
What was a high speed chase on the streets of Casablanca was now a highway problem. Jesse sped up and kept his eyes on the three motor bikes ahead of him, while dodging traffic at the same time.
Beca weaved through the highway, avoiding the civilians and the men gunning her down.
Jesse thought that if he could just get rid of these men for her, she'll stop, turn around and listen to him. He sped up closer to one of the men he was following. The man caught sight of him and pulled out a gun, Jesse looked ahead and slowed down a bit. The man was unaware of the truck that was in front of him and he was taken out. "One down, one to go" Jesse thought to himself.
Whoever thought it was a good idea to build roads on the side of a mountain was clearly not a brilliant one. Although this was a piece of cake to Beca, she'd rather not deal with this today. The long, sharp turns were a challenge, along with the oncoming traffic. She did her best to speed up but knew her efforts were not enough when she heard one of them gaining on her and shooting at her. Jesse saw this so he got smarter about his turns, his balance and speed to catch up with the bike in front of him. He made a sharp turn, causing the man to get cut off, fall from his bike and it flew off the mountain. She was able to get a bit of a lead and Jesse was both thankful and annoyed. He sped up to try and catch her but she was out of sight. He followed the roads, the twists and turns, and avoided oncoming cars. C'mon. He wasn't going to give up. Just then, as he sped and turned the corner, a figure walked out to the middle of the road. He was met with the steel blue eyes through her helmet.
Jesse swerved to avoid her and the bike glided across the road, propelling Jesse off. Laying on the ground and assured that he was alive, Beca walked back to her bike and sped off. He just watched her.
The team of four agents met up at a small bar. They sat at a table and let the silence take over.
"So, what do we do now?" Luke asked, breaking the silence.
Jesse looked at Benji, "Please tell me you made a copy of that disc."
Benji sighed, looking a bit disappointed. "Of course I made a copy," he pulled out a small flash drive.
The four agents smirked at each other, "So, where are we going?" Donald asked.
LONDON, ENGLAND
Beca roamed the streets of London in a black trench coat, her hair done in a sleek updo, the heels of her black chunky boots clacking on the pavement, and her head held high. She stopped at a bench that overlooked Big Ben. She sat next to an old man and set the flash drive on top of a newspaper that sat between them.
"It's a ledger. The Synleague's entire infrastructure- who they are, the politicians they control and where the money comes from. It's everything you want to know." She turned to look at the man.
"What makes you think this so-called ledger is authentic?"
"Why would Sawnos want it so badly if it wasn't authentic?"
"Why would he ever let you have it if it was? Did you never stop to consider he may want me to have it? Misinformation, manipulation- it's what he does… it's what he's trained to do. Sawnos lies to you, you sell his lies to Swanson, together, you both are compromised. That's his ultimate objective. This-" he points to the flash drive, "may be authentic, but there's only one person I trust to verify that information… You."
Beca shook her head, "No. My orders were to deliver you information regarding the Synleague-"
"Your orders were to infiltrate the Synleague that we may learn more about them first hand. This isn't proof, it's a test, like everything else. The only way to pass, is to go back."
"I can't do that! I betrayed Sawnos' trust too many times."
"And in every instance, you did so on your own volition-"
"He was going to torture and kill an American agent!"
"And you should've let him! You would still have Sawnos' trust. This is the trade. Swanson understands that."
"I wasn't going to let him die. He is our ally."
"There are no allies in state craft, Beca. Only common interest. As it stands, Jesse Swanson is a man without a country. This makes killing him decidedly less complicated."
Beca looked away from the Big Ben at the sound of the words coming out of his mouth. Her eyes became wary, "Are you ordering me to kill Swanson?"
"Good god, no. Nothing so crude as that, no. Sawnos will order you and to regain his trust, you will do it."
Beca was now both visibly uncomfortable and visibly pissed, "You sent me to do a job. I did it. Now, you bring me in." Her voice was low but stern.
"Might I remind you, Mitchell. You're without a country of your own," Beca glared and stood up to leave, "The director and Chief of the CIA called me inquiring about you personally. Of course, to protect your cover, I had to lie. So, as far as the Americans are concerned, you're a rogue assassin, a target of opportunity." Beca's insides turned, "A precious few people know about your true identity. It would be unfortunate if we forgot. You see, there really is no choice, Beca. You're going back." Beca stood over him with flame in her eyes, that could be seen as borderline tears. She was angry, so angry. She grabbed the flash drive and made her way, "Glad to know you're still with us."
Beca walked away with as much dignity as she could gather, whatever's left of it. She was dropped. She had no agency, she had no one.
"What? What's happening?" Jesse asked Luke who was trying to hack the flash drive.
"I can't open it."
"What do you mean you can't open it?" Jesse walked over to Luke's side and looked at his screen.
"I mean, I can't open it- ever."
"That's a red box." Benji informed.
"A what?" Donald asked from where he was standing, overlooking the window of the emptied out studio loft.
"It's a red box," Jesse answered, "The British government uses it to transport state secrets."
"Doesn't sound good," Donald said.
"That means it's triple encrypted," Benji chimed in, "You don't get into that thing unless you have fingerprints, retinal scan and a voice phrase spoken by a specific individual."
"The Prime Minister of Great Britain, himself." Jesse said.
"Yes, him."
"So," Donald started, his arms crossed, leaning against the window, "what you're saying is, there is no ledger- which means we have no proof that the Synleague even exists. So, basically, we're back to square one. Only now, we're all wanted by the CIA. I'm so proud of us."
"What I don't understand is why there's a red box set in a private data vault in Morocco?" Benji pointed out.
"And why would Sawnos want it if he can't open it?" Luke asked.
"If Sawnos wants it, you can bet that he has a plan to open it…" Benji rubbed the back of his neck, "And we just helped him steal it." It was silent before Luke turned to Jesse,
"He's going to take the Prime Minister."
"Yes," Jesse sighed, "he is. The question is, how?"
"Well, we have to warn the British government." Benji said.
"Yeah," Donald pulled out his phone, "And the FO."
"Don, put down the phone." Jesse ordered, "Let's think about this-"
"We have a responsibility to warn the British government and not gamble with the Prime Minister's life, Jesse, just so you can beat the guy that has beaten you at every turn."
Jesse looked at his friend, "Is that what you think this is? Donald?" Jesse looked at the others, "Is that what you think this is?" Luke and Benji just stayed quiet.
"I think right now, you're incapable of seeing that there's another way." Donald said.
"And sometimes Jesse is the only one capable of seeing the only way," Luke chimed in.
"And if he's wrong, then we have Vienna all over again!" Donald yelled.
"No, you don't know him," Jesse stood up, "if he wants something to happen, there is no preventing it!"
"That's why we have to warn the British!"
"Maybe that's exactly what he wants us to do!"
"Are you listening to yourself?! We're going to warn the British-"
"No. We're going to find Sawnos, we're going to get him before he takes the Prime Minister."
Donald looked down at his phone and fiddled with is, "Okay. Alright, Jesse. We're going to find Sawnos." He dropped his phone onto the table, "But, please tell me, how're we going to do that?"
Before Jesse could come up with an answer, his answer beeped. Luke's tablet had spotted Beca with the facial recognition still running. They all looked at the tiny screen.
Beca walked across the graveyard in broad daylight, the place she was to meet with Sawnos and his men. His right hand man came out first, retrieving her gun and the flash drive.
Sawnos stood a couple feet from her, "All is forgiven."
"That isn't a ledger, is it?"
"You didn't take a look for yourself?"
"Of course I did. But the file was encrypted."
"And why would I lie to you?" One of his men had pulled out a laptop onto the hood of the car and tapped away.
"So that I would lie to Swanson." Sawnos had started to walk towards her, until they were face to face.
"But he wouldn't have stolen it if he knew what it was. And you wouldn't have helped him." He started to take a walk, in the middle of the cemetery.
"What is actually on that disk?"
"I'll be honest with you when you start being honest with me. You and I, we both know why you've come back. Don't we? Hmm? You're still alive because I believe in your potential. But I'm growing impatient. Why do you continue to resist?"
"Well, if we're being honest, you're a terrorist."
"If that were true, then my goal would be to spread fear, but my… method is far more surgical."
"You kill innocent people."
"I help my government kill many innocent people and more, so much more. Killing to keep things as they were. And now, I'm killing to bring about change."
"I think Jesse Swanson would disagree." Beca muttered to him. They had stopped walking and were face to face again.
"Jesse Swanson is a gambler. And one day his luck will run out, and thousands of innocent people will pay the price. Where do you think he gets it from?" Beca's brows furrowed. She kept her mouth shut as one of Sawnos' henchmen had reached them, holding the flash drive.
"There's nothing here. It's empty." Sawnos became distraught and roughly grabbed Beca's face,
"I'm interested to see who you blame for what happens next."
Walking amongst the crowd in the train station, Beca, with her black trench coat flowing down her figure, wearing a short but loose black dress and her signature chunky heeled boots, stopped in her tracks when she saw a familiar face standing a couple people before her. She turned her head to see Benji waving at his position a couple feet behind her and then turned to her right and found another man, in shades and standing not so subtly with a newspaper in hand. Once she was back facing Jesse, she noticed another figure a few feet behind him, at a phone booth, of course, pretending to be on the line with someone else. She smirked at Jesse as he raised an eyebrow at her, a challenge. As if it was to say, "I've got you surrounded, you're not getting away again." She eyed the table to her left at a cafe and made her way to it.
"So, that's her?" Donald asked through their intercoms.
"That's her." Benji confirmed.
"Hmm, she's pretty," Luke commented.
Jesse followed and sat opposite her, "I have to say, you sure can ride." He smiled at her.
She smiled too, but then it faded as she muttered his name, "Jesse-"
"You were just doing your job. That's all I'm going to say about it,"
She took a second before she responded, "Atlee said you'd understand."
"Atlee? Your handler at British Intelligence?"
She nodded.
Jesse shook his head, "And he didn't bring you in? Even after you gave him the disk."
"You knew perfectly well it was blank,"
"That's a lie!" Benji exclaimed through the intercoms, "The disk she took from me was an exact copy, I'm sure of it."
"Was it in your possession the entire time?" Jesse asked her.
Beca's brows furrowed. No. Damnit. She had set the flash drive down on the newspaper between her and Atlee on that bench they met at. She figured he had a device under the newspaper that deleted the files when the flash drive had sat on top of it.
Beca closed her eyes in frustration. "They don't care if you live or die." She muttered to herself but Jesse still heard her. She leaned in closer on the table, "But you knew I was going to take it to him."
"I hoped you would. I hoped it'd be enough to get you out."
"Woah woah woah, that means Sawnos doesn't have the disk, only we do." Benji clarified.
"I have a question. If the disk was blank… why is she still alive?" Donald looked at the two seated at the table. Jesse made a side glance at him and then back to Beca, "Unless, of course, Sawnos wanted us to find her." Luke, Donald and Benji started their walk to keep the two in close proximity.
"So, who are you working for now?" Jesse asked her.
"Sawnos, Atlee, your government, my government- they're all the same. We only think we're fighting for the right side because that's what we choose to believe."
"Where does that leave us?"
"The way I see it, you have three choices. One, you hand me and the disk over to the CIA. I'm proof that the Synleague exists, Sawnos becomes their problem and… your work is done."
"My thoughts exactly," Donald commented.
"Works for me," Benji chimed in.
"But you know they're not going to believe you. And you'll all be tried for treason," Beca gestured to Jesse's team, "And Sawnos goes free."
"I'm afraid she has a point," Luke said.
"Two, you let me walk away to an uncertain fate. You use the disk as bait to trap Sawnos. But, some part of you suspects you've met your match. And being a gambler, you'll probably end up handing Sawnos that disk whether you want to or not."
"That is entirely possible," Benji said.
"And option three?" Jesse asked.
Beca looked directly at his warm, brown eyes, "Come away with me," Jesse's mouth opened to answer her but nothing came out, "Right now."
"Oh boy," Luke murmured.
"And what about Sawnos?" Jesse asked.
"Forget about Sawnos, Jesse." By now, Beca wasn't speaking in her full voice, she had gone quieter. She had no idea where that option even came from. In fact, she was unsure there was even an option three. In the back of her mind, she remembered the realization that hit her when she was speaking with Sawnos. Could it be? She did not run it through the system, even though something told her it wouldn't even be in the system. Sawnos was old enough to have a twenty something year old son. Their features were similar, but there was no way. She couldn't believe it and neither would Jesse. "There will always be another Sawnos. There will always be people like us to face him."
She didn't know what was to happen but she knew she wanted Jesse out of there. Call it some sort of protection thing. Of course, thanks to their profession, they had just met within the boundaries of this mission. But there was something more that Beca wouldn't like to admit. She had been doing this for a long time now and to say she was exhausted was an understatement. There were times that she'd think of her life, whether she had made the right decision or not. She knew that something was lacking. She was lacking people. She had always been an individual, always been the independent one. But, the longer she had stayed with the job, the more she longed for some sort of connection. And she hated it. The qualities that Jesse had portrayed were the qualities she had always hoped to find in a man. In someone. But, her life was complicated as is. Whether she could tolerate him outside of her work, she didn't know, but Beca knew she just wanted him out of there. Beca's eyes traveled down to the table between them,
"We've done our part and we've been cast aside. We can be anyone," She looked up at him again, "We can do anything. It's only a matter of going."
Jesse was a little surprised by the emotional reveal. He would never peg her to be that type of person. He let her words sink in for a while until he got it. He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket. "Sawnos sent you to deliver a message… didn't he?"
Beca's eyes softened. It was then that she new she had been more compromised than before. Her years of training were failing her at this very moment. "I saved your life twice. I won't be able to do it again, Jesse."
Jesse knew it. He knew it.
"What's the message?" His voice was stern.
She shook her head slowly. He had made his decision. The one she didn't want him to make. She pulled out a phone and slid it across the table. As he reached for it, some sort of frequency had affected their intercoms and they all cringed at the high pitch noise in their ears.
"Agh!" Donald exclaimed.
Beca's head shot up to look at Jesse's team and he turned around to see that Benji's spot was empty.
"Benji," he muttered. He turned to grab the phone and tapped on it to find a camera surveillance stream. Whoever was behind the camera had shown that he had stuffed Benji's unconscious body into the trunk of a car. Then as the person got into the driver's seat and adjusted the rearview mirror, Sawnos' henchman winked at the camera, then the screen went black. Jesse quickly stood up and started to walk, "Parking garage." Donald started to make his way and Jesse yelled at Luke,
"Luke, stay with her!" And he and Donald ran off to the parking garage.
Luke being the tall man he was, surprisingly had a hard time making his way to the cafe. The crowd of people, walking to and fro in different directions had made his small commute difficult. He kept his eyes on her until a few people had bumped into him.
Then she was gone.
The car sped off as soon as Donald and Jesse had gotten to the garage. Luke followed a couple minutes later,
"She's gone, I lost her." He rubbed his forehead in frustration. The three men stood in the middle of the parking garage.
"She set us up, Jesse." Donald said.
"No," he defended her. When was he gonna stop defending her? "No, she delivered a message."
"She set us up!" Donald's voice echoed. "She knew this would happen!"
"Only Sawnos knows what's going to happen!" Just then, the phone in his hands started to ring. It was an unknown number. He answered it and put the phone up to his ear but stayed quiet.
"I have a job for you, Jesse. And for the sake of your friend, you will do it."
"I'm listening."
"Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to bring me the disk by midnight tonight. Unlocked. Now, say the words, please."
"I accept."
"Yes, I knew you would." Sawnos then hung up.
Pulling the phone away from his ear, "He wants the disk, unlocked, by midnight." At his words, Donald started shaking his head.
"Jesse," Luke commented, "there's only one person on Earth who can unlock that disk."
"We have to take the Prime Minister."
Donald chuckled, this was crazy. "Let's just think about that for a minute."
"That's the only way to get Benji back." Jesse wasn't facing any of the men. Instead, he was fixated on the ground, "It's the only way."
"Jesse, that's exactly what Sawnos wants you to do."
"Which is why it has to happen." Jesse looked up to Donald, "This is how we beat Sawnos. This is how we make everything right. Can't you see it?" Donald gave him a questioning look.
Chief Allen was perusing through his tablet, reading through all the files they had gathered on the rogue team. His plane was en route to California when his assistant had handed him the phone,
"Donald Faison, sir. He says it's urgent."
"I had a feeling you'd come to your senses, Don."
"Look, I'm only calling you because I have no other choice. I'm trying to prevent a catastrophe." Donald looked around the telephone booth he was in, making sure no one had followed him or was listening in.
"I can understand that. Where are you?"
Donald sighed. Was he really doing this? "London." Well, that answers that.
"Reroute us to London, now." Bumper Allen ordered his assistant. "Where in London?" He asked Donald.
"I'll tell you when you land, not before."
"I'm not interested in playing games, Faison."
"And I'm not interested in seeing my friends get killed, either. So, if I'm going to betray them, you're going to do this on my terms. And my terms only. Do you understand? Keep your phone on, instructions will follow."
Donald walked back to the loft and started to gather his equipment.
"You okay?" Luke asked.
He sighed, "We're supposed to take down the Prime Minister of Great Britain tonight. So…" Donald had picked up his bags and made his way to the door,
"Don," Jesse stopped him, "I can't see another way."
"Neither can I. What we do, we have to do for our friends, right?
Author's Note: Yo, my recovery took so long. I was told that during the surgery, I was moving a lot and shaking- so they were worried they had given me too much anesthesia but it turns out, they had to give me more for me to actually slip into oblivion. I don't remember any of this and also that day, hahaha. It took me more than three days to recover though. The amount of meds I had to take was insane and they said that the size of my body affected that. (4'11 and proud... ish) Anyways, I'm starting to finally get back to eating normal food (hallelujah because food is bae.. next to Kendrick.) but it's still weird and I have to be careful not to infect the gaping holes in my mouth. Other than that, I'm finally looking and feeling normal. Except, I'm eating more ice cream than usual, hahahah no shame. Anyways, thanks for those that asked how I was doing and wished for a good surgery. Thank you. Now, here I am... sitting in my digital video class, uploading fan fiction. LOL at my priorities. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I'm tellin ya now, shit's about to go down. I'm changing up the plot (if you've seen the movie) and yes, there will actually be Jeca fluff in the upcoming chapters but c'mon, we gotta let them be badass first. ALSO, just letting you all know, I have about five Jeca stories lined up. I'm preparing for the holidays. And also, stocking up on as much Jeca as I can because we all need more Jeca in our lives because this fandom sucks. Okay, bye.