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. 🙂
*****
The scraping sound of the lock being jimmied told Jim that it wasn't one of his teammates trying to get inside. These were Christie 's goons. But how could they have found the team's headquarters?
The communicator. Of course. Once Christie made contact with him, from Nicholas' communicator, he had traced the signal.
There was no time to try to escape. Stealthily, Jim headed for a small closet, locked the door, and hid behind some clothing, just as the front door popped open.
"Come on out, Phelps!" one of the men called. "We know you're in here!"
As the men searched the building, Jim listened quietly. He didn't know how many men there were, but judging by the number of voices he could hear, he was sure he likely didn't stand a chance against all of them. Not without his team.
Jim could hear them approaching the closet in which he was hiding. He stood still, hardly daring to breathe, planning his next move.
If they did come in and attack him, he would do his best to try to fight them off. The best that he could hope for would be for them to not find him, then after they left he could make his escape.
There was another scraping sound, and then the closet door swung open. One of the men half-heartedly ran his arm across the hanging clothes, but when he did not find Jim at first glance, he assumed he was not there and turned away from Jim's hiding place.
"He isn't here," Jim heard one of them say in a heavy Italian accent.
"Where could he be?" asked another. "The car's still outside."
"He probably bolted out the back door when he heard us," replied the first man, "which means he's on foot."
"Well, if he is, he won't get far in the darkness," the third man chimed in. "Have you seen the woods outside this building? If we don't find him, the animals will probably beat us to it."
And then Jim heard them exit, and the door slam behind them. He waited for several moments before emerging, in case they were looking around outside. Finally, he heard a car engine start up and take off. Only then did he move from his hiding place.
Jim's first instinct was to get the key and get in the car. But after he had done so, his heart came up in his throat as he realized that he didn't have any idea where to go.
If he knew for sure that his teammates were gone forever, he thought with a shudder, he would catch the first flight home, then regroup with a different set of agents to avenge their deaths - just as he had done with Tom Copperfield.
But how could he leave Italy, when it was possible that one or more of them were still alive over here and looking for him?
He knew he couldn't go back to the team's base - Christie knew where to find him there, and he was a marked man. But he didn't know how to let the others know where he would be.
Hell, he didn't even know where he would be, he thought, as he realized he was still talking about his friends in the present tense.
Jim was not normally a drinking man, but tonight seemed like the right kind of night. Perhaps a little drink would help to clear his head. Jim put the car in gear and headed for the nearest bar.
*****
(c) 2016
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