Rachel dropped behind the wall and pressed herself as flat against it as she could. She held her breath and strained her ears, her heart hammering against her rib cage. After several moments of tense silence she turned and peered over it to scan the area she still had to cover. It was clear and everywhere was quiet, too quiet for her liking. She glanced to the left and locked eyes with Sam, giving a slight nod of her head. He nodded back and looked around the edge of the building before sprinting forward, low to the ground. Rachel covered him from her central position before flicking her eyes to the right. Blaine gave her the barest of acknowledgements before sprinting to join Sam behind the squat, white building at the other side of the yard.
She turned slightly at the sound beside her, taking in Mercedes with her peripheral vision whilst keeping her focus on Sam and Blaine.
"I don't like it." Mercedes whispered to her. "It's too quiet. Where is everybody?"
"I don't know." Rachel whispered back. "Maybe we got lucky for once?"
Mercedes chuckled softly and started over to the left. Once she had reached the spot previously occupied by Sam and nodded to confirm her position Rachel darted to the left and took up Blaine's spot. From here she could see her three friends and had a decent view of the front gate. It was nearly time for them to make their move and she needed to know the others were in position first. She strained her ears again and looked for any sign of movement from the gate. After what felt like about five minutes she heard a low, melodic whistle and then the responding one from Blaine. She allowed herself a brief smile at their group choosing to communicate this way, a simple reminder of who they had been before all this started, referencing their last high school play. She idly wondered if they would have played it differently had they known.
Rachel took a deep breath and steadied herself for what was to come. Any mistake now and their plan would fail, they would have to find another way into the compound and she couldn't afford to wait any longer. Santana and Puck were relying on her.
She focused her aim on the edge of the building as Blaine and Sam made their move. Casually they slung their weapons over their shoulders and strolled round the corner of the building towards the one opposite, quietly chatting to each other. Rachel kept her gun trained on the door ahead of them as they walked, and took in a steadying breath as Sam knocked at it before jamming his hands into his pockets and bouncing on his toes.
"Hey," She heard him greet the guy who answered the door. "Weyland sent us to pick up the package."
"What package?" The guy snapped back, pulling a cigarette out of his mouth. "There's no deliveries tonight."
"It's a special delivery. It's in the van." Sam answered easily, jerking his head towards the vehicle behind him.
"Hey, asshole, did you hear me?" The guy said, squaring up to him. "There are no deliveries tonight."
"Come on, man, don't fuck us about." Sam sighed. "Weyland sent us to pick up a special delivery for the compound. Go check with your buddy if you don't know about it."
"Listen, you fucking idiot, there ain't no deliveries tonight, special or otherwise!" The guy yelled. "Nobody told me nothing and I'm the only one here, so…"
His rant was interrupted by Blaine stepping forward and headbutting him in the face. As his hands went up to staunch the flow of blood from his nose Blaine kicked him hard in the groin and then again in the head as he dropped to his knees.
"Dude, easy!" Sam said quietly, holding his hands out to steady his friend. Blaine shrugged him off and grabbed the guy's collar, dragging him through the doorway. Sam turned back to Rachel with a worried look and then followed him in. After a couple of uneasy minutes the two of them came back out and began walking towards the van. Rachel shot a last look around the yard and then nodded to Mercedes before jogging over to the vehicle herself.
"I don't like it." Mercedes said again as they all climbed in. "It was too easy."
"Let's just get out of here," Sam said quietly, glancing at Blaine briefly as he started up the engine. "We can discuss it on the way."
"Maybe they just weren't expecting anyone to know." Rachel suggested, desperately hoping it was true.
"Or maybe you're wrong, Rachel." Mercedes said quietly. "Maybe Weyland selling us out to Sue didn't get him invited to the party."
"It has to have done." She replied quietly. "Why else would he have done it?"
The four of them remained silent as the van pulled up at the gate. Slowly it began to open and Tina's smiling face appeared by the passenger door.
"Nice work guys!" She beamed.
"You too, Tina." Rachel smiled back as Tina pulled the side door open and jumped in, quickly followed by Jake and Ryder.
"And look what we found in the gatehouse." Mike smiled holding up a piece of paper. "You were right, Rachel."
She took the paper from him and studied it as he climbed in the back and slammed the door, then leaned her head back and let out a relieved sigh as Blaine accelerated out of the lot towards the compound.
"Okay, so are we all clear?" Rachel asked, trying to read the faces of her friends as the huddled in the dark in the back of the van. As far as she could tell they all nodded. She turned to Jake and Ryder. "And you two, don't do anything stupid. Stick with the plan and don't engage unless you have to."
"We got it, Rachel." Jake answered tersely. "It's covert, not an assault. We get in, we find them, we get out. I just want to get my brother back."
"And our best chance to do that is stay out of sight." She repeated, reaching out to place a hand on his knee. "We'll get them back, Jake. We have to."
"If we're not too late already." Came his muttered reply.
Rachel's stomach clenched uneasily but she was saved from having to reply by a knock from the cab of the van, Mike's signal that they had arrived. The van slowed and then stopped.
"You're early." They heard a voice say after an uncomfortably long pause.
"Yutani is very busy man." Mike replied in a heavy accent. "We do this now."
"Wait here." The voice came again after a few moments. Rachel glanced around at the tense figures in the small space. She tested the weight of the gun in her hand and prayed that she wouldn't have to use it. She knew the plan was risky but it was the only chance they had. It was simple in theory - Santana had told Weyland about his associate Yutani's side deal with Sue. In retaliation Weyland had sold Santana out to Sue in an attempt, Rachel assumed, to get in on the action. They had used the plans Santana had made of Weyland's lock up to sneak in and steal a branded van, taking out the guards inside and at the gate in the hopes that they could buy more time and hopefully find some sort of documentation to get them into Sue's compound unnoticed. Thankfully they had found an itinerary with a scheduled delivery from Weyland to the compound for tomorrow night, they just had to make the guards accept the delivery early. She only hoped the delivery pass they had snagged from the gate house was real and not something Weyland had cooked up as a revenge plot. And if Mike and Blaine couldn't talk their way passed the guards, well...
Blaine was her other concern at the moment. Jake and Ryder might have gotten themselves into trouble before but it seemed like Blaine was actively looking for it. He had barely spoken since she had got back and from what she had heard from Mercedes that was the way he had been since Kurt had died. Kurt. She still couldn't believe he was gone. When Blaine and Mercedes had been in Mexico it had been easy to pretend that Kurt had just been there with them but now that they were back it was suddenly real again. Kurt and Finn were gone. Quinn and Brittany were gone. Puck and Santana were…
Okay, she really couldn't allow herself to think like this, there was too much at stake. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, putting on the best show of strength she could for her friends.
"Alright, go through." The voice returned finally. "Go straight down to the end, as usual. They're waiting for you."
"Thank you." Mike said curtly.
Rachel sent up a silent prayer of thanks and allowed herself a small smile as the engine started up again and the van rolled forward.
"Here we go." Mercedes said quietly. Rachel reached out and took her hand, smiling at her softly as she realised it was shaking.
Suddenly the tense atmosphere in the van was broken by Tina trying to smother her laughter.
"Ssh!" Rachel hissed. "Tina, what's wrong with you?"
"I'm sorry!" Tina giggled quietly. "I just have the marching song from the Wizard of Oz stuck in my head! Also, I'm kind of nervous and it's a thing that happens."
"Well it's going to get us all killed, so stop it!" Ryder snapped.
"I'm sorry!" She said again.
"It's okay, Tina," Rachel reached across to her. "We're all nervous, just please, be quiet."
Tina struggled to get herself under control as the van slowed to a stop once more. They listened in silence to what sounded like a door rumbling open and then they jerked forwards again. They pulled to a stop and the engine cut out, then the front doors opened and slammed shut again. Rachel strained to hear what was being said but could just make out muffled voices in the distance followed by nothing. She glanced over at Mercedes, then Tina, then tightened her grip on her gun once more.
The sound of shaky breathing washed over them as they sat waiting. Rachel could barely stand it. What was going on? Were Mike and Blaine okay? She felt Mercedes grip tighten on her hand and squeezed back as Sam inched towards the door. He looked over at her and she shook her head quickly, everything in her screaming to get out of the van but knowing if they moved too soon they could blow everything.
Suddenly the door swung open and they all raised their weapons, blinking from the darkness.
"Woah, easy!" Mike whispered. "We're okay. It's clear."
Rachel let out a shaky breath and climbed out of the van, her eyes slowly adjusting to the dim light.
"What happened?" Jake asked quietly, looking at the three guards slumped in the corner. "Where's Blaine?"
"He went to check the exit." Mike offered, shooting a nervous glance at Rachel.
"Alright, let's go." She said quickly, returning his look. "Quietly."
She followed Mike towards the back of the garage, glancing down at the pile of, hopefully, unconscious bodies in the corner as she passed.
"Is he alright?" She asked Mike quietly.
"He's scary but effective." He muttered back. "Anyway, we're in. Let's just keep going and hope for the best. Just like the old times, huh?"
Rachel smiled at that and squeezed his arm. "I'm glad you're here, Mike."
"Wouldn't miss it." He smiled at her sadly and gave her a quick hug as they reached the door. "We'll get them back, Rachel."
She nodded to him tightly and turned to face Blaine at the door.
"Are we okay?" She asked. He nodded back and put his hand on the door knob. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. "Then let's do this."