Chapter 9: Catch

"I was on a protection detail in Croatia." Brandt began slowly. "Shadowing the assets."

Kat, Jane, and Benji all listened silently, sitting around the kitchen table as Brandt continued his story: "Husband and wife. They were never supposed to know we were there. Whole thing's routine. It was a milk run."

He took a large swing of his Scotch, staring at his glass as he continued: "Three days in, we caught wind that a Serbian hit squad was after our couple. But," he shrugged, "my team had it under control, we knew they were coming."

He paused, before he admitted: "But I couldn't shake this feeling that I should warn the couple somehow. I wanted to find a way to let them know. But, you know," he shrugged again, "orders are orders, so I didn't."

Brandt sighed deeply, and Kat tensed. She could tell this was where it went wrong.

"One day," Brandt said slowly, "the husband decides to leave the hotel and go for a run. So I follow him and I leave two men with the wife."

He swallowed, his eyes on the ground as he said flatly: "When I get back, my guys are unconscious and the wife is gone."

Benji glanced at Jane, but she was watching Brandt with a sympathetic look on her face as he finished: "Local police found her body three days later. What was left of her anyway."

Kat's face fell, and Brandt finally looked up at them.

"That was my last day in the field." He said quietly. "I couldn't face another life-or-death situation after that."

There was a brief silence as the weight of that statement weighed down on them. Jane finally asked carefully: "So, what happened to the husband?"

"I never saw him again." Brandt replied.

Jane began to nod in understanding when Brandt surprised them all as he continued: "Until two days ago, in Moscow, when the Secretary introduced me to Ethan Hunt."

Kat's blood turned cold and her mouth dropped open. Jane had reeled back in shock while Benji's mouth parted, and he stammered, stunned: "No, that's, that's not what happened. She left him."

"Yeah," Brandt shrugged slightly, staring back at his Scotch, "I heard that one, too, Benji. But, unfortunately," he looked back at the other man, "I was there."

He swallowed before admitting: "Just like I was there when the Secretary got the phone call that Ethan was in custody for killing six Serbian nationals in cold blood."

"An unsanctioned hit." Benji murmured. Apparently this news meant something more to him and Jane, as Kat noted absently that they had looks of horrified realization on their faces. She couldn't really focus on it though, her mind still reeling from Brandt's story as she tried to come to terms with the tragedy for everyone involved.

"Yeah." Brandt said moodily as Jane murmured: "Disavowed."

He exhaled sharply, before raising his head, looking at them once more as he said flatly: "The next thing I know, I'm on a plane to Dubai," he looked at Jane, "wondering the whole time, do I tell him? How do I tell him? That I'm responsible."

Jane's face had flooded with sympathy, all their earlier anger gone as his eyes moved to Benji as he continued: "I could have warned him. I should have warned him. But I didn't."

His eyes shifted, landing on Kat as he finished hoarsely: "And she died."

Kat's gaze was filled with sorrow as she met his eyes, and her heart tugged painfully as she read the regret and, more importantly, deep self-loathing in the ocean-blue depths. They all sat for a long time in silence, feeling overwhelmed by Brandt's admittance and the events of the day.

Jane was the first to move, standing at last and placing a hand on Brandt's shoulder in comfort before she headed for the bedroom, clearly needing some time to recover emotionally. Benji watched her leave before he too stood, nodding at Brandt and Kat as he went to wash up.

Brandt was staring gloomily at his Scotch before his eyes flickered up to Kat as she said quietly: "It wasn't your fault."

"Yeah, it was." Brandt replied gloomily and Kat chided softly: "You didn't know."

"I should've." Brandt sighed, running a hand down his face. "I had bad feeling, and I should've followed it and warned him."

"Yeah, well, hindsight's 20/20." Kat pointed out gloomily. "I should've told you guys about the computer thing, I just didn't think it was important. And I was scared I'd mess up."

Brandt glanced at her, his blue eyes thoughtful as he asked: "How did you know how to work the elevators?"

"I watched Benji, and copied what he'd done." Kat replied with a shrug. "It wasn't that hard... for someone who's had experience."

She smiled faintly, and Brandt answered it in a similar manner.

"Have you tried hacking before?" Brandt asked after a brief moment of silence. He'd noted the overly defensive tone Kat had had when Jane accused her, and he wondered if it was because the accusation hadn't been baseless.

Kat winced, sighing before she took Brandt's glass from him as she muttered: "Something like that."

He glanced at her, surprised as she took a gulp of the strong alcohol, pulling a face, before she set the glass back down and admitted: "I hacked the Pentagon before."

"You what?" Brandt asked flatly, too shocked to show any emotion and Kat winced again.

"I hacked the Pentagon before." She repeated, taking another fortifying sip of the Scotch. "It was a high school dare."

"You... hacked the Pentagon. When you were in high school." Brandt repeated incredulously. "On a dare?"

She nodded, sighing again as she admitted: "It was that or skinny-dipping in the local community pool after hours."

"And you chose to hack the Pentagon." Brandt said, a smile slowly starting to spread across his face as he watched Kat's face redden with embarrassment and the effects of the alcohol.

"So sue me." Kat muttered and he chuckled: "I should."

"I was caught." Kat admitted and Brandt raised a brow. "But the point of the dare was that I do something crazy before I turned sixteen and could be held 'legally responsible for my actions', so the court didn't press charges."

"You hacked the Pentagon when you were fifteen?" Brandt asked in surprise, and Kat corrected: "I might as well have been sixteen, it was like fifteen minutes before my birthday."

"And you got caught on your birthday, I'm assuming?" Brandt chuckled incredulously and Kat nodded.

"It was a lovely present waiting for me when I got home from school." She replied dryly. "Needless to say, my parents were not very happy with me."

"And you got away with it because you were underage?" Brandt asked in a mix of disbelief and amusement and Kat shrugged.

"Sort of. I was given two years of community service." She explained. "But, I mean they like that kind of stuff as long as you weren't meaning any harm. It's how I got into Stanford; the head of communications at the Pentagon recommended me."

"Huh." Was all Brandt could say in reply, and the pair lapsed back into silence for a moment, before Brandt's lips twitched.

"I was going to make fun of you and ask if you were sure they didn't accidentally mix up your IQ from 106 to 160," He began, and Kat snorted, "but I guess you are actually a nerd."

"Idiot." Kat countered, and he grinned, before pausing again.

"So." He began, and Kat glanced at him questioningly as he fought an amused smirk. "While we're spilling our deepest, darkest secrets," Kat snorted, "anything else you want to tell me, Miss civilian?"

He was grinning now, and Kat smiled as she replied lightly: "Well, I can speak four languages."

Brandt let out a bark of surprised laughter, asking in disbelief: "Are you serious?"

Kat nodded as she listed: "French, Spanish, German... and Russian."

Brandt shook his head, chuckling as he said with a hint of admiration in his tone: "You, Miss civilian, are full of surprises."

"Thank you, I try." Kat said as she fought a smile and failed miserably. "I mean, it's not the same as hiding badass, killer moves, but..."

Brandt chuckled at her light joke, shaking his head again. His blue eyes were twinkling with amusement, and his shoulders had relaxed as he shot a grin at Kat, and she smiled back. Ignoring the hammering in her heart as his smile widened into that rare boyish smile she was starting to love.

Boy, was she in trouble now.

********

The group drove to the airport Ethan had instructed them to meet him at, and Kat raised a brow as she saw the jet Ethan was waiting beside.

"How'd he score that?" She asked, and Brandt chuckled as he replied: "Let's find out."

They climbed out of the jeep, Benji asking as he noted the many bags piled up by the foot of the airstairs: "What's in the bags?"

"It's our gear." Ethan replied as he nodded at them in greeting.

"How'd you get it?" Jane asked in surprise, and Ethan smirked slightly as he replied: "I made a friend."

That made them pause, before Benji let out a sigh as he admitted: "Well, I'm glad we could help."

"You can help now." Ethan replied, and his tone clearly said he wanted to let bygones by bygones. Benji and Jane smiled, while Kat glanced at Brandt. Ethan did the same, and Brandt sighed.

"Look, Ethan," Brandt began uncomfortably, "before we..."

"Whatever happened, happened." Ethan interrupted firmly. "We still have a chance to clean this up, but we have to do it now. And we have to do it together."

Kat glanced at Brandt, wondering what he would do. Brandt paused, thinking, before he nodded.

"OK." He replied. "So, where we going?"

Ethan smiled, a wide, toothy smile that made Kat instantly know that this was going be another elaborate, and impossible, plan.

"India." Ethan replied and Kat's brows shot up. Brandt also raised a brow before he glanced at the others.

"India?" He asked them, and Jane nodded as Benji replied casually: "Yeah. Sure."

Kat smiled, nodding, and Brandt turned back to Ethan as he replied nonchalantly: "OK. Great."

He led the way, Kat trailing him as she sent a grin in Ethan's direction.

"Another detour?" She teased and he smiled, nodding as he replied: "Another detour."

"I'm starting to think you don't want me to get home, Mr. Super-spy." Kat joked as she followed Brandt up the stairs and into the jet.

Ethan grinned after her while Jane followed behind the younger woman and Benji added to Ethan as he followed Jane: "Love the jet."

Ethan chuckled, saying as he followed them in last: "Wait till you see the car."

********

"Brij Nath." Jane read slowly and Ethan nodded.

"Brij Nath." He explained to the group as the team sat in the main cabin of their jet. "Playboy. Multimedia tycoon."

Kat wrinkled her nose as she stared at the photo of the man, noting the confident smirk and the many, many rings and necklaces hanging off his fingers and neck.

"On the surface, his entire network is state-of-the-art." Ethan continued as he paced before them. "But it's built on illegally acquired Cold War cast-offs, including this."

He showed them a photo of a satellite as he explained: "The Novosti satellite. Hendricks needs it to launch a nuclear strike, and we have to shut it down before he gets that chance. And to do that we need to get the access code from him."

He pointed at Nath.

"One way or another." Ethan finished, looking at Jane. The woman was biting her lip as Brandt was frowning thoughtfully while Benji pursed his lips, peering with Kat at the plans Ethan had distributed as he'd talked. As Ethan continued to look at Jane expectantly, she abruptly stood up, leaving the cabin and heading for the bedroom at the rear of the jet.

Kat glanced at Jane as she left, watching with worried eyes but she stayed where she was as Ethan got up and followed Jane, softly closing the bedroom door behind him. Kat turned back to the others, to see Benji and Brandt looking in the same direction she had.

Brandt turned back, catching Kat's eye and giving her a small smile. She returned it sympathetically as Benji also turned his attention away from Jane, saying loudly: "Right. So, let's get started, hey?"

********

"OK, to shut down the satellite we have to manually tap into the central server." Benji was saying as the three sat around one of the booths in the main cabin. The table was littered with the blueprints of Nath's building as well as all the notes for their plan and all the information on their equipment. Kat was going through the plans again while Brandt stared at the shiny metallic suit that was hovering over a small, wheeled device.

"Now," Benji continued as he pointed at Brandt, "you'll enter through the exhaust vent wearing this under your suit," he indicated the floating suit, "uh, drop down into the computer array, and I'll catch you," Kat glanced at Brandt at that, taking in his heavily skeptical expression, "then move you along to the relay room, and you jack into the panel."

He switched off the rover as he spoke, and Brandt watched the suit fall with an ominous clang. There were many things he could see going wrong with this plan, and it appeared he had drawn the shortest stick of them all. Kat was looking at him sympathetically as he cleared his throat and began: "OK, so we enter the party separately as guests. Ethan quarterbacks while Kat gets the chip into the mansion server and Jane gets... the codes..."

He trailed off, clearly not wanting to go on, but Benji continued impatiently: "Gets the codes from the billionaire, I switch off the fan thanks to Kit-Kat's hacking, you jump into the computer array and I catch you, you plug in the transmitter," Brandt lifted a finger but Benji continued over him, "then Ethan feeds me the codes, which I then use to pinpoint Hendricks's location."

"OK, yeah," Brandt began nervously as he twirled his finger in the air, "but you, um, just breezed over something I think is really important."

Kat sighed as Benji looked up blankly while Brandt pointed out uncertainly: "The computer array part, where I just... jump?"

"And I catch you." Benji finished, nodding.

"Yeah." Brandt muttered hesitantly, and Benji demanded: "I don't... Why is that so hard to grasp?"

"Well, yeah," Brandt said sarcastically, "why... it's a 25 foot drop. And we're using magnets." He nodded at the suit.

"Yeah." Benji nodded, not understanding what the problem was, while Kat grimaced at Brandt sympathetically. She knew exactly what he was thinking about.

"In light of our recent efforts," Brandt said pointedly, "uh, the technology is kind of..."

He trailed off suggestively and Benji said defensively: "The science is sound. All right? I'd be more worried about the heat."

Kat winced while Benji turned back to the plans and Brandt raised a brow.

"And then there's that." Brandt said flatly before he demanded: "What heat?"

"Well, it's like any computer, isn't it?" Benji replied impatiently as he looked back at Brandt. "If you switch off the fan," he suddenly seemed to realized what he was saying, "it's gonna get," he avoided Brandt's eyes sheepishly, "really hot."

He chuckled nervously and Brandt chuckled sarcastically as he replied: "Of course."

"Relatively, you know." Benji said quickly as Kat shot him a reproachful look.

"Of course it will." Brandt groaned. "So, I'm jumping into a..." he trailed off as he tried to find a word, "an oven, essentially."

"Yeah. Essentially." Benji admitted sheepishly before he added encouragingly: "But, um, I'll catch you."

He smiled tentatively, and Brandt just gave him a look.

"Great." He deadpanned.

"You'll be fine." Kat tried to encourage the agent, but as Brandt sent her an incredulous look and she turned to Benji quickly.

"So, um, just to go over my part again." Kat said, and Benji quickly took her attempt to change the topic with a grateful look at Kat.

"Right," he began as Brandt folded his arms across his chest in annoyance, "so Kit-Kat, you'll go to the party with Brandt. He'll head towards the kitchen-"

"To jump into an oven apparently." Brandt muttered sarcastically, and Kat grimaced again while Benji ploughed on determinedly: "-And you will head for the restroom. Or rather, the emergency stairwell near the restrooms. You reach the powerbox, clip in this," he lifted their wire clips, "and wrap this wire around the mainframe cord."

He held up the wire attached to the clip and Kat nodded.

"This will grant you access into Nath's server," she took over pointing at Benji, "so that you can control the fans..."

She trailed off, glancing at Brandt sheepishly as her attempt to steer the conversation away from Brandt's part of the plan failed. Benji also winced as Brandt deadpanned: "And then I get to jump, wearing a magnetic suit."

"Yes." Kat said apologetically. "But, um... at least Benji'll catch you?"

"Lucky me." Brandt said monotonously, and Benji finally glared at the 'analyst' while Kat lifted her eyes to the heavens in a silent prayer for patience and desperate plea for luck.