S5: Chapter 03: Chips Ahoy

“This is Doctor Jerry Sanders. In town for a conference, he was taken in the middle of the night from his hotel room here in Bridgeport. He has a science facility near Reno and for some yet unknown reason he is being held inside of the NexTech Cooperation’s Arizona compound. This is an extraction, we need him alive,” Yvette spoke and handed out the case specs to each member.

Brett moved around the desk and flipped through the folder as she took a seat on the couch beside the door. “Dustin and Vic are going in as Engineers. Ryan you’re on guard duty. They’re expecting a transfer from their California department but Dustin has delayed his flight in. We have a window of 12 hours, we need to get in and get out before then. Now Yvette is working the front desk. She’ll make sure the elevators and security locks are ours so we can move around as quickly as possible. Any questions?”

“Yeah, uh, what exactly are you going to be doing?” Ryan asked as he reviewed the information one more time. Noticing every member of the team had been marked to a certain task other than Brett himself.

“He’s playing James Bond,” Yvette smiled and moved towards him. “He has taken over my position eight months in advance and why? Because I think he’s almost finished with that padded cell he plans on locking me in.”

“Keep talking Beautiful and you’re going in before then!” he smiled at her and lovingly kissed her forehead as she leaned closer towards him. “But to answer your question Ryan, I’m coordinating the team.”

“Oh you mean giving orders, gotcha.”

“It’s more than that. I’ll be inside the building ensuring our escape goes off without a hitch but I need to also be in contact with the CIA as we work on grabbing the target. They want to get this guy before the Belgians learn that we’re onto him and dispatch a hitter to take him out.”

“And why is that again? What exactly does this guy do for the NexTech Cooperation?” Victor asked checking through the target’s profile. “It calls him the Head Researcher and Developer for Nano Technology, Cyber Optics and Biomolecular Robotics, what does that even mean?”

“Dude, I’m gonna have to school you something heavy before we go in there! There’s no way my nerd brethren will ever buy you as one of us! Nano technology and Biomolecular Robotics is like the Holy Grail! Imagine a world where…”

“Robots rule the future, yeah I think James Cameron did that with the Terminator…a few times,” Ryan interrupted.

“I can’t work with you people!” Dustin threw his hands up and dropped face first into the sofa. Ryan snuck up behind him and roughly slapped a pillow against the back of his head. Dustin jumped up with a smile and tossed one back of his own. “Dude I’m the king of pillow fighting! You don’t want to go there!”

Taking another blow to the face the two began an all out war. Yvette quickly jumped out of the way of the dueling duo but grabbed Dustin’s video camera to record the action. “The only thing that would make this better is if you guys had your shirts off and for some inexplicable reason it was raining!”

“What no popcorn Vette?” Victor laughed and dodged a flying pillow as he came to stand behind her.

“Maybe later at home when I’m watching this again.”

“Alright guys we have a lot of work to do and a very short time to do it,” Brett interrupted their battle. “You two can settle this later. For now, I need you to work on creating convincing covers. The work of an undercover operative is only best if you can make not only your target believe you’re who you say you are but also convince yourself. We have to be flawless this time guys. It’s important that we’re not detected in or around the property because once Dr. Sanders’ is discovered missing, we’ll have an army on our asses and limited time to get him to the gates and out safely.”

Yvette checked her messages and noticed a text from Petey downstairs in the lab. Smiling she’d hoped it was concerning the note she left in his possession and quickly started towards his office. Knocking once she entered his lab and looked around at the large gadgets that made this place home for him. He was a lab rat in every aspect of the word. Never without his goggles and lab coat, he was forever analyzing this or that to make out the smallest grain of evidence most would never have been able to detect.

Knowing this, Yvette was very excited that her nightmare was coming to an end pretty soon. The last thing she needed was the stress of having someone after her for something she’d done a hundred years ago. She had no idea what event set off the man after her but she was determined to get the upper hand before he got close enough to do what he was threatening. “You rang?” she smiled and slid up beside him at his counter. 

He was messing with a bottle of something pouring it into a test tube and checking the reaction the liquid had against the swab he’d placed in the jar. “Yes, as a matter of fact.” He placed the items on the shelf and closed the fume hood on the table before escorting her to his desk.

Taking a small brown envelope in his hand he turned to face her with a morose expression on his face. “I tried everything I could Vette but I wasn’t able to recover anything. The way you handled the note was perfect I mean you left no prints of your own but unfortunately neither did the person that left this for you. I did find small scrapings on the edge of the paper that indicates the author used tweezers to handle the note. But there weren’t any stray hairs, fibers or even a slough of skin anywhere. I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok Petey. I honestly hadn’t expected much considering if what I know about this person is accurate, they are highly trained so they would know how to get around detection. I appreciate you taking a look for me though, it means a lot to me.”

“Absolutely. I hope you catch this guy before anything happens. I hate the tone of the letter and don’t want to see you get hurt. If you need anything else you know where to find me.”

“Thanks again Petey. I owe you a lunch sometime,” she smiled and started towards the elevators. Yvette’s worries had only begun to increase. She feared that the person would make good on the threat in that letter and somehow hurt her baby. She could not bear the thought of losing another and worried that the fear of his threat alone would be enough to accomplish his mission. 

The elevator dinged indicating she’d reached her floor. She stepped off the lift and heard Ryan and Dustin laughing through the wall and it brought a smile to her face. They had been so great the last few weeks trying to ensure her all would be fine. She felt lucky to have such a wonderful team of friends and family always ready to step up to the plate.

She pulled open the door and moved towards her desk. “That’s another point for me!” Ryan growled and raised his arms in a short victory before Dustin sank another ball into his wide open goal. The frown that crossed his lips made Yvette chuckle and she dropped down behind her desk to get to work on the case as the guys went over accents and mission notes.

Turning on her desk lamp, she noticed a large white envelope on the desk in front of her. It had no return address and immediately her heart sank into her belly as she stared at it. It was another note she was sure of it. Licking her lips she closed her eyes momentarily and pulled the flap off the back and allowed the to note fall onto her desk gently.

“If you want to know where I’m going,
then you should know where I’ve been.
Check the morning paper and follow the clues!”

Yvette exited towards the front desk and stopped Roxanne as she slipped back behind her counter. “Hello Yve!” She smiled as the agent neared her hurriedly. “How are…?”

“Who sent this note?”

“Excuse me?”

“You just dropped this off upstairs. The envelope has no return information on it and I’m almost positive there won’t be a print on it just like the last one so I’m asking do you know who sent this note?”

“I don’t know Yve it came by courier about twenty minutes ago. I figured I could just drop it off to you with the regular mail when I made the rounds. Why? What’s wrong?” 

Yvette turned away from the clerk and chewed on her bottom lip. Someone was playing games with her and it was beginning to wear on her nerves. She started back upstairs and found Dustin and Ryan still playing foosball near the back of the room. “D, I need you to do something for me.”

“Sure Boss,” he laughed as he sunk another goal into Ryan’s unsuspecting net much to his dismay. “What’s up?”

“I got this note, well three of them and I want to see if you can scan the handwriting for any kind of information.”

Pulling the baggie from her hands he read over the note and looked at her. “You got three of these? What the hell Vette why are you just showing me this?”

“Because I didn’t really think much of it. I mean yeah it’s unusual but up until my car was tampered with I wasn’t getting anything else but little riddles.” He looked at her puzzled and she continued trying to explain her motives. “Look I don’t want to be stressed out over nothing. Brett and Scott know about these letters and they were taking care of it but this person seems to be getting ballsier. First they tracked me to the hotel on my wedding night, then they broke into my car though nothing was taken and now they have these things coming INTO the Federal Building. I just hate thinking what can happen next. You think you can scan it please?”

Ryan had stepped towards Dustin’s side by this point and he too took in the message she’d received. “Why wouldn’t Brett or Scott say anything about this to us?”

“I don’t know. I guess they figured they could handle it and didn’t need to complicate whatever you guys are already working on.”

Dustin moved towards his setup and placed the message face down on his scanner. After the image was transferred to his monitor he used his handwriting analysis software to pick apart the message letter by letter, word by word. “Is this why you asked me to help track down our old teammates?” he eyed her curiously over the top of his monitor and she took a seat on the edge of his desk.

“Yeah. It has to be one of them. According to Ethan one of them was in prison in Kyrgyzstan but I never bothered to ask him who.”

“And I don’t suppose you want to contact him now to ask?” She tossed him a look that could have put him six feet under and he shrugged and smiled. “It was just a question Boss.”

“No I don’t want anything from him. He had the fucking nerve to…” she stopped herself before going into a full on rant about her father and sighed. She didn’t want to unleash that anger on one of her best friends so she simply shook her head no. “I don’t want to talk to him. It’s bad enough knowing he’s still around here somewhere.”

Brett came inside the room and Yvette moved away from Dustin’s desk and grabbed her bag. “We’re getting ready to move guys. Just got our itinerary from upstairs and we’re flying out in thirty minutes by jet. Grab your gear and let’s saddle up.”

The team landed in Arizona within the hour and Victor drove them to their hotel and connected with their mobile command unit. Ryan couldn’t stifle the laughter of seeing him dressed in his “geek gear” and did his best to avoid looking him in the glasses. “If you say one word Ry I swear I’m gonna…”

“Relax, relax. I’ve already taken pics so I can always blackmail your ass later.”

Arriving at separate times at the facility, each member of the team checked into their assigned posts and watched closely at the people coming and going within the building. Checking his watch Brett peered over his newspaper and smiled seeing his wife standing behind the front desk answering phones and assisting the employees entering the more restricted areas of the compound.

Noticing the name of one of their targets on the last badge she scanned she motioned to Ryan and he jumped to action. “Excuse me Dr. Markson? There is an issue with your last scan, do you mind stepping into my office so we can get this situation sorted out please?” he gave her his best smile and she followed behind him cordially. 

Brett watched as he escorted her towards the door the van was waiting behind and heard the small struggle. Popping up from his seat, Yvette motioned for him to remain where he was and she started for the back room. Stepping inside she found Markson beside Ryan with his head locked under her arm. Spotting Yvette moving towards her she spring stepped off the wall, sent a spinning heel kick into Ryan’s face knocking him back and charged forward towards Yvette.

She ducked the woman’s attempt to take her down and Yvette successfully pinned her arms behind her head and pulled back to add more pressure. Ryan got to his feet and rushed towards the two women. Taking out a pair of zip ties, he placed a pair on Markson’s wrists and led her towards the van. “I had her,” he smiled at Yve as she moved back towards the door.

“I know Ry. I was only here for insurance, you ARE my ride home.”  Slipping back behind the desk she noticed the note left beside her cup of chocolate milk and glanced over at Brett. He was still pretending to read the morning paper and she cautiously lifted the note to read.

Sighing a breath of relief as she realized it was from her husband she smiled at the small sentiment left at the end:

V and D are in the lab. Target located
working on extraction now.
I love you.

She glanced towards him once more and noticed the headline on the paper in his hands. Pulling a newspaper from the stands beside the desk Yvette quickly read over the story concerning the recently murdered diplomat and his daughter. The name is what caught her attention and she thought back to when she met Logan Marshall. He was the target of her very first mission with the Black Ops team. They had been assigned to watch him and steal a set of blueprints from his home safe. She hadn’t asked then what the purpose of those blueprints was but later came to find they detailed the creation of undetectable weaponry far more advanced than anything the CIA had been working on. She and her team successfully completed the mission and left him alive against orders.

From what she was reading now, it seems that whoever is sending her the notes has taken into his hands to clean up after the team. That only meant that he was walking in the footsteps of all of their missions. Follow the clues, she repeated thinking about her latest communication from the unsub. He was leading her in a trip down memory lane and she wasn’t so sure it was something she wanted to experience again.

“Can you hand me the flask of sulfuric acid,” Sanders nodded towards Victor.

Grabbing the glass item from the cabinet, he started towards their target and slowly slid the container towards him. He eyed the number of armed guards around the room and cleared his throat as he leaned forward. “Don’t make any sudden movements Doc,” Victor whispered as he assisted the man with the project he was working on. “I’m a Federal agent and I’m here to get you out of here. We have a van waiting nearby for your extraction and are preparing to incapacitate the guards and move.”

“And my wife?” he asked and pulled the glass from Vic’s hand.

“Excuse me?”

“These men, they have my wife. They said that if I don’t finish creating the projects they’ve given me by Wednesday, they would kill her why else do you think I’m still here?”

“Don’t worry; we’ll take care of it.” Holding the tube for the doctor, Victor motioned towards Dustin and scribbled a quick message on a Post-It note that he slipped him as he started back to his station.

Dustin clocked out of the small keypad near the door and headed to the lobby to have Yvette check his badge once more. He nodded to Brett as he sat reading a paper and noticed him step outside the door of the lobby and pull out his cell phone. He pretended to check his watch every so often as though he was waiting on someone else in the building to meet with him. “Hello Dr. Serizawa,” Yvette stumbled over the name as though they weren’t friends. “Very unusual name. Should I remember to bring my very own oxygen mask to work tomorrow? ”

“Ah ha, no I don’t think we’re close to creating the Oxygen Destroyer just yet so no worries. And please feel free to call me Daisuke; my parents were fans of the movie but I doubt we’ll be invaded by a giant lizard anytime soon. How about yourself?”

“No actually I have a friend who’s very much into that kind of thing and TRUST me I’ve heard my fair share of random trivia over the years.” She smiled at him and scanned his badge through the remote reader as he slid the yellow sticky note onto a stack of papers he dropped onto the desk for examination. “How was your day so far?”

“Oh not bad. Do you know when the next shipment will get here? I swear I think I’m on the brink of discovery but you know how those spots of genius can be. There’s always a glitch when you think the situation is under control.” She followed his eyes to the note and read over it quickly. Her heart fluttered as she realized the severity of their situation and nodded slightly acknowledging it to her teammate. 

“I’ll check on that shipment for you and let you know right away Doctor. Is there anything else I can get for you in the meantime?”

“Uh no not at the moment but just know we’re pretty pressed for time so if you want to bark at the manufacturers for lack of punctuality, I’d very much appreciate it.”

“Of course Doctor, I’ll take care of it.” She watched Dustin head back to the lab and signaled to Brett as she stepped away from her desk.

“I’m taking a quick lunch break Daniel, please see to it my desk remains secured?”

“That’s my job Ma’am,” Ryan grinned and winked as she started out to Brett. 

Grabbing her purse she moved towards a small green car near the front parking lot and started speaking into her phone as Brett remained close to the building. “We ran into a slight complication.” She leaned against the car and looked back towards the front doors. The guards were watching everyone’s actions coming and going and she did her best to shield her conversation from their prying eyes. “Dustin just informed me that they’re holding Sanders’ wife somewhere and plan on killing her if he doesn’t come through on whatever they are having him build for them.”

“Great,” Brett hissed in his cell. “Just what we needed. Do we know where she’s being held?”

“No, but you have to get in contact with HQ and let them know we can’t move on Sanders until she’s secured.” Yvette grabbed a candy bar from her purse as she paced the area near her car and watched the traffic patterns on the street near the facility. She laughed into the phone as one of the guards approached her and yelled louder so he could hear her conversation. “Ha! No Diana I swear every time I see her in that large truck I simply turn down a different street. I swear that woman cannot drive to save her life and I’d rather not get a ding on my little hunchback to prove it to her.”

Brett looked towards the area she faced and noticed the white truck she was referring to. The large semi wasn’t there on their original scouting of the area but now it seemed to be a fixture near the fence. “So they are keeping her mobile?”

“Yeah it looks like it so things are gonna be so interesting when those people come for her for sure! Haha yeah I bet she has NO idea how loud the music can get inside of that thing too.”

“I have HQ on the other line Babe they are already on top of this. She’ll be out of there before long. Let them know the mission is still on schedule and let’s get the hell out of here.”

“Ah ha, ok, well that’s good to know! Reunions always bring a smile to my face. Anyway I better get back to work I’m only on a short break so I’ll catch up with you later ok? Alright Hon, alright. I love you too, bye.” She smiled at the guard who was still standing beside her and started back towards the building.

“Excuse me Miss,” he spoke as she stepped towards the car again. Yvette froze in her tracks and slowly turned to face the man. With a smile he picked up a small item from the ground and handed it to her. “You dropped your pen.”

Not recognizing the blue ballpoint item she smiled politely and removed it from his hand. “Ah thank you so kindly! Can never have too many of these with my job that’s for sure.” 

She slipped back into the building and tossed the item into the trash bin behind the desk without a second thought. Motioning to Ryan to let him know they were on top of it he hurried back to the lab on his rounds and let Victor and Dustin know that they were taking care of the other extraction and things were still on as planned.

Dustin moved to the door when the guards above them exited the room to switch shifts. “Now’s our chance,” he addressed Victor and tossed him a bag. Victor removed a flak jacket from the top and tossed it over the doctor’s head and pushed him towards the electronic doors. “When you hear the explosion, take off for the lobby. There’s a guard in there, his name is Ryan, he’ll move you to the back entrance and into an awaiting van.”

“What about my wife!?”

“We’re getting her out as we speak. Now I just need to secure you out of this building. You ready?” He nodded and waited at the door.

Dustin watched the men enter back onto the catwalk and tossed a large jar above his head in their direction. An explosion rocked the tiny room and Victor smashed his hand into the door panel and released the lock for Dr. Sanders. He rushed forward through the blinding smoke and into Ryan’s awaiting arms. “Are you ok?” Ryan asked and placed a gas mask over his face and escorted him out of the building. 

The men fell to their knees choking on the concoction from the Mason jar. Dustin grabbed his gas mask and weapon and together he and Victor held off the guards within the lab as they destroyed the Bioweapons Sanders had been forced to create. “This place is gonna blow, we need to move!” Dustin warned and ran after Victor quickly.

Yvette and Brett started for the entrance as the gas began seeping into the lobby from the laboratory. He placed his arm beneath hers and helped her towards the front door hitting the fire alarm on their way out to alert the authorities and protect anyone else from entering the premises. 

Another explosion sent the couple flying forward. Brett caught his wife in his arms and held her tight against his body as the flames reached higher behind them. He looked over his shoulder and noticed the front desk was on fire as well as the lounge he was seated in. “That makes no sense,” he coughed and pulled himself from the ground rushing forward again. “That fire should have remained behind the blast doors and not create another detonation unless…Yvette! You set a charge in the lobby?” Brett asked as he helped her towards the awaiting van.

“No! I didn’t have any explosives on me.” She looked up and saw the guard that had spoken to her earlier smile, slide behind the wheel of a dark sedan and speed from the lot. A sudden realization hit her and she felt sick as she became aware of what the pen he’d handed her actually was. “Brett, it was him; he was here…” He followed her gaze towards the speeding car and frowned. The taillights faded around the corner as her only link to the man after her quickly sped away.

Continue ---->