Toby led Nolan into Grace's room, where she sat on the floor amongst a plethora of supplies, sorting it all frantically. Her face had gained its color and her demeanor was a lot more stable, but she looked extremely worried. She wore a cream-colored leather jacket and her curly hair was tied into a messy ponytail.

"Nolan, I got some new clothes for you." She said, tossing a bundle to Nolan.

He caught it and examined the things strewn across the wooden floor. There were three cell phones, handguns, knives, earpieces, and boxes of ammunition.

"Well you sure didn't waste any time." Nolan remarked.

"Nope." Grace arranged three backpacks in front of her and began tossing the supplies inside. "We need to get out of here as soon as possible. Oh, I also bought snacks...just in case." She announced with a wink that brightened her face for half a second, displaying three packages of chocolate.

She leaned around to look at Toby behind Nolan. "Ah, they fit!"

Nolan hadn't noticed that he was dressed in new dark-colored pants and a thick long-sleeved shirt.

"Like a glove." Toby said, rolling up the sleeves and looking at Nolan. "You're up next."

He changed clothes in Grace's bathroom, happy to get rid of his still-bloody shirt and ripped jeans. He pulled on a thick-knit shirt that had two round buttons at the collar and a black leather jacket. It fit perfectly.

When he walked out, Grace was busily filling the backpacks with the weapons and cell phones.

"Let me go get my rifle." Toby said, jogging quickly out of the room.

Once he was gone, Nolan turned to Grace. "Did you talk to Howard about letting you out of the mission?"

She paused for a brief moment. "I did. He said it would be best for me to stay." She said simply.

Nolan nodded, but wasn't convinced. Something was off in that situation.

When Toby came back they made their way out of the inn as quietly as possible.

"I also rented a car in town." Grace explained hurriedly, leading the way to a parking lot located a few buildings down.

"How long was I asleep?" Nolan muttered to Toby.

"Only twenty minutes or so." He shrugged. "She's fast."

Nolan got into the driver's seat of a black SUV.

Grace scooted into the back and handed out backpacks as they sped along the road.

"James said he'd send us the coordinates to the suspected location in a few—" Toby looked down at the phone Grace had given them when a soft ding! sounded.

"The Kavala Private School. That's where they think it's planted." Toby read, tapping the screen and accessing the map James had attached.

"A school?" Grace repeated. "What day is it? Saturday? There shouldn't be any kids there...but wait, how did Colossus plant an EMP in there without getting in major trouble?"

Nolan sped up along the main road. "Maybe it's mobile. How far away is it?"

"About an hour and a half...it's all the way across Kavala." Toby said.

In a way, Nolan was glad they had a bit of a drive. "Is Howard going to send backup?"

"That's what he said." Grace replied. "I...talked to him while I was out. He told us to wait near the area until it arrives. It could be a couple days."

That didn't make sense to Nolan. "But what if it goes off between now and then? And Egor could easily leave Kavala in that time."

Grace yawned. "I don't know, it sounds pretty stupid to me. That's just what he said."

They drove on in silence for a while, the morning sun surprisingly warm outside. The sky was clear despite some dark clouds creeping in in the distance. When Nolan looked in the rearview mirror after half an hour or so, he saw that Grace had curled up against the window and was sound asleep.

He wasn't sure about her. There was something she wasn't telling them. It seemed odd for the CIA to thrust her into another mission so soon.

After all the things she'd been through, it'd almost be impossible to come out without a little PTSD. Nolan then realized that there was someone else who'd gone through a traumatic experience.

"How're you doing Toby?"

Toby gave Nolan a sidelong glance. "Why are you asking?"

"Because I'm a nice guy."

Toby laughed. "Wow. Right."

"What? I can be sensitive once and a while."

"Well you don't have to worry about my feelings, Clay. I'm not a girl."

Nolan grinned. "Seriously, though. Last night was pretty tough. Have you ever shot someone before?"

Toby looked like he was about to lie and say yes, but eventually he shook his head. "There's a first time for everything."

"Something like that can shake a guy up." Nolan offered. "I would know."

Toby rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you would. But killing people doesn't bother me; especially if it's a bunch of murderers. It's no big deal."

It sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

"I remember the first time I shot someone." Nolan reflected.

"Yay, story time with grandpa." Toby muttered. "Back in my day..."

"Oh come on, man. You don't want to hear my old war stories?"

"No, I don't, actually." Toby replied, trying to hide a smirk.

"I don't blame you." Nolan agreed. "But anyway, it's rough decided when someone lives or dies. Whether you want to admit it or not."

Toby didn't respond, but didn't disagree either.

Nolan silently patted himself on the back. That was good, wasn't it? He'd made a social effort with Toby, and he couldn't say he was faking caring about him. Over the past week, he'd almost grown softer for the punk kid...even though he was still a punk. Nolan shook the sappy thoughts away as quickly as they came.

He set his mind on the task at hand. It didn't make any sense to wait around while an EMP was about to go off and Egor was possibly hanging out next door.

His first notion was to go ahead and at least look around the high school.

No, he told himself firmly, not again.

~~~~



Toby held out the smartphone for Nolan and Grace to see, the screen displaying both Howard and James.

Technology is so weird. Nolan decided.

"They're going to have to go in now." James said to Howard. His blue eyes were tired and worn. "The radio waves coming from the EMP are rising. If we wait for aid, it'll be too late."

Howard ran a hand through his thin, wiry hair. "They can't do it on their own."

"We're right here, you know." Nolan interjected. "And I agree with James. It's either strike now or allow this thing to take out Kavala."

Howard sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's a suicide mission. And how do you expect to shut it down?"

"Actually," Grace interjected from the back seat, "I've read about large EMP devices. Since they don't have a fuse or internal switch to set a timer for, EMPs of this size have to be activated manually. Of course, someone can do it from a distance, but it has to be within range of the device itself. So if we're able to take out the operatives, the EMP won't go off."

"What she said." Toby agreed. "It'll technically be an assassination mission. History can tell you that a few snipers can take out a whole army. We can sneak in quietly and get rid of everyone who could operate the EMP."

Howard stared at each of them hard. "There could be hundreds."

"If so, then we can retreat and wait for backup." Nolan suggested.

"It's your call, Howard." James said.

"Alright. But I'm not responsible for your lives." Howard said. "But only because this is the absolute last resort, do you understand?"

All three agents nodded.

"If only I'd known..." He mumbled. "I would have sent you better weapons, better training, better tactics." He released a defeated breath. "I'll have James keep in contact with you."

With that, he left the conference call.

"I guess it's up to us, then." James said, trying to sound upbeat, but he was obviously perturbed by Howard's offhanded attitude. "Good luck, team. Keep in touch."

He then left the call also.

Toby shut off the phone and rolled his eyes. "Howard's such a jerk sometimes. What else did he expect us to do?"

"He had some kind of plan in his head that wasn't working fast enough." Nolan said. He turned to Grace. "How'd you know about the EMP?"

"I did some research on it back in 12th grade." She replied.

"They teach you about disarming electromagnetic pulses in high school?"

She shrugged. "I was homeschooled."

"Oh. That explains it." Nolan put the car into gear. "Here's the plan..."

~~~~

Nolan knelt behind a student's desk in a classroom on the first floor. "Is everyone ready to move?' He whispered into his earpiece.

"Yep." Grace replied. She and Toby were located on different wings of the school to be able to cover more ground quickly, hopefully with less of a chance of getting caught.

"Shouldn't we have codenames or something just in case our communications are tapped?" Toby asked.

Nolan rolled his eyes. "Like what? Fluffy Bunny and Twinkle Toes? I mean, if you really want to..."

"No! I mean like the military alphabet or something." Toby retorted.

"Okay then Juliet, are you in position?"

Grace giggled while Toby swore.

"Yes." He grumbled after calling Nolan some unfriendly names.

"Okay, just look for something that resembles the EMP, but be careful. We'll try to take out whoever's in control of this thing." Nolan took out his phone and pulled up a photo James had sent. Apparently they had recreated what the EMP device might look like by viewing the pieces of machinery Egor had bought and metaphorically putting it together.

It was actually smaller than he'd been expecting. By the graph displayed behind the model picture, the device measured about three feet long by two feet wide. It was flat on the bottom and stainless steel metal overlaid on top of each other to form a dome on top.

Nolan slid his finger to the side, switching the picture to an image of Egor. Howard had gotten a visual on him two days ago at a political rally near Turkey.

Dark eyes, fair skin, thin mustache.

The last time Nolan had looked at a picture of Egor was ten years ago, and it hadn't been the real Egor. The image in his hands was of the man who'd destroyed his life.

Nolan checked his watch. 8:30 PM. He quickly opened the comm line to allow access for James.

"Are we a go?" James asked.

"Ready." Toby confirmed. "I'm moving out."

Nolan could tell something wasn't right. They'd snuck into the school without seeing anyone near the premises. Perhaps the operator of the device was controlling from another building.

He crept out from his hiding place underneath the desk and exited the classroom.

"I have eyes on a suspect." Grace whispered suddenly. "He's wearing a mask."

Nolan's heartbeat quickened as he picked up the pace along a hallway.

Grace was located on the third floor.

"If you can get a good shot, go for it." He instructed.

He heard two shots crackle through his earpiece...followed by return fire. He waited five seconds. "Grace?"

"Target down." She replied. "We've gotta move, I'm sure there's more. This guy doesn't have any control systems on him, so I'm sure he was just security."

"Good."

Where could they hide an EMP where no one else would see it?

Nolan's guess was either somewhere up high or down low.

"Toby, rendezvous to Grace. I doubt there would be anything on the middle floor."

"Got it."

Footsteps echoed from around a corner.

Nolan stopped and moved against the wall, cocking his handgun and waiting.

A man dressed in normal clothing came around. Nolan almost hesitated to shoot him, but then noticed a black holster on his side.

Nolan raised his gun and fired, downing the man. He jogged toward a large door, hoping it would lead him to the basement.

"I can't find her." Toby huffed. "I'm on the roof...oh wait..."

"What?" Nolan demanded. "Toby!"

"She just took someone out with a knife, it looks like she's out of ammo."

"How many are up there?"

"I don't see anyone—"

"Toby! Get over here, what are you doing just standing there?" Grace grunted.

Nolan assumed more terrorists had come, but he couldn't wait around.

He opened the door and ran down a flight of stairs that were only lit by the emergency lights. The mental image of the EMP and the face of Dimyan Egor was engraved in his mind, although he didn't expect to find Egor. He'd be too smart to hang around here for long.

"Wow, good job Toby." Grace muttered over the radio. "Your aim is about as good as a drunk chicken. If that guy was about fifteen feet to the left, you would have shot him."

Nolan smirked as Toby defended himself with a string of excuses.

"Have you found anything?" He asked.

"Not yet." Grace said. "We're heading back inside to have another look. You?"

"Nope." Nolan reached the bottom of the stairway and went through the next door. He entered into the parking garage, where a large metal machine sat.

"I see the device." Nolan said. "But there's no one else here."

"We'll keep looking around up here, then." Toby replied.

Nolan scanned the area as well as the EMP. It wasn't impressive by any means; it was strange to think how much damage it could cause.

He detected movement behind one of the concrete pillars and froze.

A man stepped out of the shadows, hands in his pockets, a daring twinkle in his eye.

"I've waited a long time to finally meet you." He said.

Nolan's blood ran cold.

No, it can't be...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello everyone! I wasn't feeling too great about this chapter, so if you have any critiques/input/spot any plot holes, let me know! =D

What are your thoughts on the chapter?

Why do you think Grace was kept on the mission?

Do you think they'll be able to find whoever's operating the EMP in time?

Thank you SO much for reading, your comments always make my day! ^_^

{Don't forget to comment, vote, and share! *hugs*}