Dawn Again

Seventeen

"Quinn. Sending you details on the whereabouts of your wife during the past 24 hours. A heads-up. She was seen with one of your ex spec-ops buddies, Nathan Rawlings' man, Richard Ballantyne." This was a very fast turn-around, even for the director of FBI, but John was not about to complain. This was the second time today that he had heard of Ana with another man! 'She's better not have slept with any of them,' thought John. "Thanks, Ted. Appreciate it. I may call you again if required. Good night." He ended the phone just as his email pinged. The first thing he saw was Ana's image with two men. One he knew to be Richard Ballantyne. The other black man, he'd have to find him and take care of him too, along with the toad Charles.

John called his trusty Bruce and forwarded the information to him. "Bring my wife here after you've found her," he ordered Bruce and ended the call. Ted had got Ana's address, as well as the work and residence addresses of the two men she was seen with, along with a bunch of other information. So Bruce had enough to go on to find Ana and put her on his jet. John was confident she'd be with him within the next 48 hours. He was relieved. It had been far too long since he'd seen her.

Bruce was already in Seattle with a dozen of his most trusted men. He split his men into three groups to cover the woman's apartment, the office address and the man's apartment. He hoped he found the b***h at one of these places so he did not have to chase her. At the same time, he almost felt bad for the woman. He had seen Quinn's obsession with the girl, and it was not pretty. Regardless, he was not in the business of feeling sorry for people. He had a job to do, and do that he would.

Bruce was with the team that went to the man's apartment. Just as they got there, he heard back from the other two teams, both reporting no activity at their respective sites. Which mean that they were likely to hit paydirt here! Bruce was excited. He loved the chase, the battle and the heat always turned him on. He ordered the other two teams to meet him at the man's apartment and continued to study the schematics of the building that Quinn had provided him with. The man that Quinn's wife was with was an ex spec-ops. Which meant that he had to be extremely lethal. That was not a problem for Bruce though. Becoming a SEAL was no cake walk either, and he had graduated at the top of his class. The building where the target was probably located was a good one in terms of the security and finding an entry point would not be easy. Rather than try a mission-impossible-esque stunt, he decided to go the traditional way. Take out the power and walk right in. He'd soon have the entire team with him, twelve tough, battle-hardened men against one man and a tiny woman. Should be a walk in the park. So, Bruce set Tim on to taking out the power, and continued trying to hack into the surveillance cameras. it wouldn't be long before the others got there and the power was out. The game would then be on!

Richard ended the call, grabbed Sophie's wrist and started going inside. "What did he mean by there's people?" asked Sophie as she hurried to keep up with his long strides. Richard did not answer, but continued through the sitting area into another room. "Richard..." Sophie tried again, but trailed off as she took in the inside of the room. It was an armory of sorts, with guns of different sizes and the appropriate ammunition. There were some explosives and grenades (at least she assumed that is what they were based on her little knowledge from movies) and other mean looking machines. But what hooked her attention was a Browning 1911 pistol. Although she was way more confident of the Sig Sauer P238 which James had taught her to use, she could certainly work with its bigger cousin in a pinch. She desperately wanted the pistol, but wasn't sure how Richard would react if she asked for it. Even after two years of freedom, she still had trouble asserting her needs...it did not help that even before John's harsh conditioning she was not assertive at all! She wrapped her arms around her middle and was contemplating how to ask Richard when his harsh voice made her jump. She realised that he had asked her something, and in her preoccupation with the pistol she had not heard him. She took a couple of quick steps back and asked, "I am sorry...what were you saying?"

"It looks like you want something from here," Richard asked her again.

"Ummm...no...it's okay. It was nothing," Sophie looked Richard's tense face and decided she did not want to take a chance of upsetting him further.

Richard tapped his impatience down and lifted her face to him. "Sophie...don't fear me. I may be upset, but I will never raise my hand to you. Tell me. Do you know how to use a gun? Do you see something here that you would like for yourself? I would be so happy if you are also armed for your own protection." The hope and relief that Richard saw in Sophie's eyes broke his heart. And then she whispered, "I am not afraid of you, per se, Richard. I am just....afraid. Can I please have the Browning? I am good with the P238...but can work with the Browning." Richard took the pistol, checked it was loaded, and handed it to her along with a couple of spare magazines.

He then led her the next room. At the far end of th room, there was a huge bookcase. Richard pushed something on tbe bookcase and Sophie gasped as the bookcase started sliding aside, revealing a door behind it. Just as he went to open the door, the power went out. "It's begun." Richard muttered and quietly led Sophie through the door into the room beyond. He had just closed the door when they heard a boom and crash. 'That must be the door crashing open,' Sophie thought and shuddered at how close she was to falling back into John's clutches. Richard ordered her to be as quiet as possible and follow him. He had a firm hold of her hand and she took courage from that contact. Richard opened another door, poked his head out and then stepped outside when he was convinced that they were okay. From the change in the temperature, Sophie realised that they must be outside the apartment. Silently, they made their way to the stairs and were just inside when men rushed out of Richard's apartment. They did not seem to be too upset, as if they were not aware that they had missed their targets. 'Probably they were not sure that we were here' thought Sophie as she followed Richard down the stairs. The stairs led straight to the basement car park and Richard did not step out into the car park for the longest time. After what felt like the whole of the rest night has passed, they heard men outside.

"The bastard must have run in another car. His truck is right there!" one voice said.

"Put the tracker on it Tim, just in case." said another voice which made Sophie gasp.

After the voices had died down, and the bootsteps had gone, Richard stepped outside and walked over to a nondescript box of a car. Only after they had got in the car and driven some way did he say, "Did you know the man?" Sophie knew he'd heard her gasp on hearing the second voice. She nodded and said, "I think the second man was one called Bruce. He is a South African and is nearly as bad as John." Just the thought of being so close to Bruce made her shudder. Richard reached across and took her hand into his; his large hand entirely covering her small one. They were out of the woods.

For now.