The Greek (S1E11): Missing Scenes

Disclaimer:  I do not own either of the Mission: Impossible series or any of the characters therein.  I receive no compensation or any other tangible benefit from this story.  I am just a fan who enjoys taking the team out for an adventure every now and then.  🙂

*****

Even though suspended in midair by the heavy metal chain, the cube made up of concrete blocks bound together with a large strip of metal was still nearly too heavy for Nicholas and Woodward to manage.  With much effort, the two men managed to lift up the block and set it on top of a nearby bureau.

“You think this will work?”  asked Woodward skeptically.

Before Nicholas could answer him, the sound of Max’s voice drifted through the wall.  “Hell, no.  We don’t kill him first.”

Nicholas glanced toward Woodward and put a finger to his lips as he walked toward the door.

“Colonnades gets a kick out of seeing them trying to swim,” Max continued, before walking away.

“We’ve got to move fast,” Nicholas said tensely, as he positioned himself on the opposite side of the concrete cube from Woodward.  “As soon as the door goes, we go.”

Woodward nodded in agreement.

“You ready?”  Nicholas asked.

“Together,” affirmed Woodward.

“Okay,” Nicholas agreed, and the two men each took hold of the top of the bureau, light because of its emptiness, and began to rock it back and forth as Nicholas counted.  “One…two…three…”

“Go!”  They pushed back the bureau, sending the concrete cube swinging on its chain.  It swung toward the door and then busted through it.

Nicholas grabbed the chain, stopping the cube from further swinging.  He stepped outside the now-broken door, planting his back against the archway, with Woodward close behind.

“He’s got a gun!”  Nicholas cried, as he spotted Max with his weapon aimed.

Nicholas feigned an attempt to retreat back into their makeshift prison; instead, Woodward shoved the dark-haired agent out into Max’s path.  With both hands on his weapon, Max aimed squarely at Nicholas and pulled the trigger.  Nicholas promptly fell to the concrete floor.

Woodward gingerly poked his head out the door.  Seeing Nicholas fall, he made a split-second decision to make a run for it.  Max fired a second blank cartridge, which hit the doorjamb to Woodward’s left just as he took off running.  A third blank hit the archway.  As Woodward made it through the front door, Max fired a fourth shot toward him and burst into laughter.  He and Casey watched Woodward, panting and pausing every few seconds to look behind him, run across the field toward the boat dock.

*****

Once Woodward was gone, Max hastened to Nicholas’ side.  “You okay?”  he asked, as he reached his hand down toward his teammate.  Nicholas clasped it, allowing Max to help him to his feet.

“Fine,” he answered with a smile.

Max’s right hand lingered on Nicholas’ left shoulder, while his left hand lay across the shorter man’s chest, resting over the hole in the white denim jacket left by the blank cartridge he’d fired.  The dark-haired agent stuck his hand inside his jacket and extracted the tiny blood bag, as Casey emerged from the room next door.

“How was the breakout?”  she asked.

“Ran like a scalded cat,” Max said with a chuckle.

“Straight to Colonnades,” Nicholas confirmed.  He smiled at Casey, who raised her eyebrows and nodded back at her teammate.

*****

Jim reached into the inside pocket of his white suit jacket, hanging across the back of a chair, and took out his communicator.  “Nicholas?”

“Jim, the mark is on his way in a hell of a hurry,” the dark-haired agent reported, as Max and Casey were beginning to pack away the team’s equipment.

“All right, we’ll be expecting him,” Jim assured him.

Nicholas switched off the communicator and turned his attention to helping his friends.

*****

Grant put back the altered ledger, replacing the money and papers that were lying on top of it.  He closed the gray metal case and fastened it, then flipped the revolving desktop over so that it was safety out of sight once again.  He started to make his way out of Colonnades’ room, but then he simultaneously heard voices and saw shadows making their way toward him.  Quickly, he ducked into Colonnades’ bathroom and out of sight.

“I don’t have time for your vapors, Serena,” the Greek was saying.  “You don’t understand – someone aboard this ship is a spy,” he continued, waving his hands for emphasis.

“You never have time for me,” Serena whined bitterly, as Colonnades walked toward the other side of the room away from her.  “You treat me like a…a wife!”

Serena turned away from her lover, took a couple of steps, then turned back to face him.  “I’ll leave you, Soshi,” she threatened suddenly.

Colonnades, who had been pacing the floor, abruptly stopped and stared at her.

“I’ll go back to Naples, where I’m appreciated,” she challenged, her arms crossed resolutely.  She walked into the bathroom, glancing at the hot tub which was full of bubbling water.  “I’ll get an audition.  You’ll see,” she promised him, picking up a tube of lipstick and stopping to put some on.  She looked at Colonnades, putting her hands on her hips.  “Someone will see me, and take me to La Scala,” she predicted, lifting her left hand up into the air.

Colonnades walked into the bathroom.  “Good,” he responded.  “I’m delighted.  Then go today, go now.”  He placed both hands on Serena’s shoulders and pulled her towards him.

“Soshi….”

“I don’t care.  Leave.”  He pushed her out of the suite and toward the stairs.

“Soshi, please,” she begged.

“Will somebody find her bag, please?” Colonnades called, still pushing Serena toward the exit.

Grant, unable to hold his breath any longer, popped up from beneath the water in the hot tub, gasping for breath.

“Soshi?”

Water dripped down Grant’s face.  He closed his mouth and rubbed his face with his left hand.  Then he began to cough, putting his hand over his mouth in an attempt to stifle the noise.

“Please!  Soshi!”  Grant could hear Serena, still pleading, in the background.  “Please!  Soshi!”

Grant scrambled out of the hot tub, still sputtering, his purple dashiki soaked and dripping.  He continued to cough, gagging at the pungent taste of the chemicals used to disinfect the water.  He reached for one of the white towels in the shelf beside the tub, putting it against his face and coughing into it.  Still slightly weak from holding his breath for so long, he leaned against the wall briefly to steady himself.  Then, he quickly left the room, still coughing and gagging as he went.

*****

Jim heard a scuffling noise coming from outside his cabin.  He was expecting Grant to return from Colonnades’ suite, but what he was hearing didn’t sound like his teammate.  Cautiously, he peered through the peephole, and was shocked by what he saw.  Immediately, he opened the door.

“Grant!” he exclaimed, as the drenched Black agent stumbled into the room, still sputtering.  “What happened?”

“Colonnades almost caught me,” he managed to report between coughs.  “Had to hide in the hot tub.”

Jim tried his best to look serious, but he couldn’t completely stifle a grin.  “You all right?”

“Got a belly full of nasty water,” Grant grumbled, wrinkling his nose.  “Otherwise, I’m fine.”

“You’d better get changed,” Jim advised.  “I just heard from Nicholas.  Woodward will be calling us any moment.”

Grant nodded, grabbed a fresh dashiki out of the closet, and disappeared into the bathroom.

*****

Jim was looking out the window, watching Serena and her possessions being loaded into a taxi, when the telephone rang.

“Lawrence.”

“Woodward?”  Jim feigned surprise.  “I thought you were dead.  Everybody thought you were dead.”

“Yeah, well, not everyone,”  Woodward muttered bitterly.  He gasped slightly.  “Look, Lawrence, I think I can trust you.  Bring Salud to the taverna.  It’s time we cut a deal.  Just the three of us.”

“All right,” Jim agreed.  “I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m starting to get edgy about our host.  Give me 15 minutes, I’ll round up Salud.”

“Right,” Woodward acknowledged, then hung up the phone.

Jim followed suit, looking at Grant with a slight smirk.  “He trusts me.”

“Of course,” Grant grinned, donning a hat to match his red striped dashiki, then he followed Jim out the door and toward the taverna.

 

The End.

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