Chapter 3: IMF

Kat shivered. Again. She clutched her soaking hoodie closer, trying to keep it as tightly wrapped around her as possible and gain what warmth she could against the biting wind. It wasn't helping that the salty water had made all the cuts on her body burn, and the wind whipping against her face and knees only made the pain worse.

Brandt was huddling his suit jacket around himself in a similar manner, trying to gain some small warmth from the soaking and quickly freezing wet garment. How Ethan could walk around with his hands in his hoodie pockets, looking for all the world like a causal passerby if it weren't for his soaking clothes, was beyond her.

'He's not human.' She thought bitterly as she tried to keep her teeth from chattering. 'That's what it is. He's not human.'

"Ethan." Kat called softly at last as her teeth began to chatter. "How much further is it?"

"Sorry," he replied as he glanced back at her apologetically, "it's a little further, but we'll get you warmed up soon."

"I'm fine." She muttered unconvincingly.

Both he and Brandt, who'd also glanced back, raised their brows and Kat quickly tried to think of something else to focus on.

"What does IMF stand for?" She asked, saying the first thing that came to her mind.

Both men glanced at her in surprise, also noting with some small amusement that she'd blinked in shock as though wondering why she'd asked.

"Impossible Mission Force." Ethan replied, answering her question and Kat almost paused in her steps.

"'Impossible... Mission Force'?" She repeated incredulously and he nodded.

"Is that like the CIA?" She asked as she resumed trailing after them, and Ethan wrinkled his nose.

"Kind of." He answered, and Kat glanced over at Brandt. His face was impassive but she could also sense some distaste coming from the blond man.

'Huh. Guess they don't get along.' Kat thought before she shrugged it off. Brandt's face had settled back into a thoughtful expression while Kat hurried over to Ethan, and she asked softly: "He said it was being 'disavowed'?"

Ethan simply nodded once and Kat didn't question him further. She wasn't sure what it meant, but she could sense Ethan didn't want to say more and so she let him be. Silence fell over the trio once more, but as Ethan led them into a rail yard, Brandt broke it.

"Why would that work?" He asked with a thoughtful frown and Kat glanced at him curiously while Ethan asked, also looking back questioningly: "Why would what work?"

"The flare on the body. Why, why would that work?" Brandt asked, trying to understand the logic.

"It did work." Ethan replied shortly as he started down one side of the many trains before he paused. Kat stopped beside him, looking at him uncertainly as she rubbed her hands along her arms in an attempt to get warm.

Brandt hadn't see Ethan pause, and continued down the way Ethan had started while he began: "Yeah, I know, but-"

"Hey." Ethan called, catching Brandt's attention. The analyst glanced back and Ethan jerked his head in the opposite direction before leading them on between two trains, walking alongside the cars.

Kat trailed after him as Brandt quickly followed, continuing his question: "But why? I mean, how did you know that would draw their fire?"

"I didn't." Ethan replied shortly. "I played a hunch."

Kat almost stopped at his words, staring at the back of Ethan's head incredulously. He had risked their lives... on a hunch? She quickly hurried after them as there was a pregnant pause before Brandt began slowly: "Okay... All right, so what was your scenario?"

Ethan glanced back questioningly, and Brandt elaborated as they walked: "Right, there was a guy being shot at in the water. All of a sudden, he decides to light up a flare and swim around?"

His voice was heavy with skepticism and Kat had to admit, it was a fair question. Even she knew it was a dumb move to switch targets to something so obvious. No matter what logic she tried to apply, it didn't work because logic reasoned that there was no way a target would suddenly make himself a bigger target by lighting a flare.

When Ethan didn't reply, Brandt asked: "I mean, what did you assume they'd be thinking?"

Ethan turned to Brandt and Kat watched them closely from behind as Ethan repeated flatly: "Thinking?"

"Yeah." Brandt nodded, and Ethan snorted.

His lips pulled into a humorless smile as he explained at last: "I didn't assume they'd be thinking. I assumed they were just shooting at anything that moved, and I just gave them a target."

He saw Brandt's incredulous expression and he stopped walking. He sighed, that mirthless smile still on his face as he told Brandt, and to some extent Kat: "Look, these guys aren't Rhode scholars, you know?"

Brandt glanced at Kat, as he realized what Ethan was trying to say. Kat's mouth had also dropped open and Ethan glanced at her when he saw the direction of Brandt's gaze. She shut her mouth quickly as Ethan looked her way, trying to school her features to be at least neutral but she knew he'd seen it all anyway.

Her disbelief, her incredulity and then her horror. Her horror that anyone would be that numb to killing that they'd shoot anything that moved. Her horror that anyone would be willing to fire a gun to end a potentially innocent person's life. That car driver- what had he ever done? He'd just been hired to drive around the Secretary, and probably keep his mouth shut about the Secretary's secrets. Nothing worth being killed over.

Ethan's gaze softened but didn't waver as he waited for his two new companions to fully understand the situation they were in.

"This is really happening," Brandt murmured as he turned back to Ethan, "isn't it?"

"Yeah." Ethan answered firmly and Kat asked softly: "I'm not going home, am I?"

Ethan turned to her sharply as Brandt eyed her critically.

"You will." Ethan told her sternly, and as her head dipped he pulled her up to face him. "I promised you I'd get you home, and that's what I'm going to do."

She stared at him pensively before giving a small nod while Brandt watched curiously. Ethan let Kat go, just as there was a loud, bellowing honk and a train whistle blew. Ethan glanced up as Kat looked around in confusion. Brandt looked sharply at Ethan, as the man asked: "You know what that sound is?"

"That's our ride outta here." Brandt replied as Ethan quickly leapt up and over the side of the nearest car.

"I can't do that." Kat said numbly, but Brandt had already grabbed her and he said simply: "Well, you can learn another day."

Kat gasped as he hoisted her up onto the car but quickly moved across as Brandt jumped up beside her and they jumped down the other side at the same time as Ethan called: "Our ride's a green car, number 47."

He paused in front of a train as it began to move, pulling out of the rail yard. The three began to peer around, trying to find the car Ethan had described amongst all the train cars.

"I see green." Ethan suddenly called, and the other two turned to see him pointing through a gap in the moving train. Ethan quickly led them around, running passed the back of the train as it pulled away, its horn blowing loudly in warning as it did.

"All right." Ethan muttered as they reached the green train. "Number 47."

He began to peer at the nearest cars while Kat run up the train and Brandt ran down the train.

"I don't see it." Brandt called as he ran along the side as it began to pull away.

Ethan ran after Brandt as Kat called from the front: "It's not this way."

"Oh shit!" Brandt called as he ran passed a car and belatedly spotted the number '47' on it. Ethan ran passed as well, propelled by his speed, but quickly spun on his heels, racing after Brandt as the man ran for the car labeled '47'. Kat started running as well, knowing that if she fell behind the car they needed, she would probably not be able to catch up to it.

The men were running at full speed, slowly overtaking the train as it gained speed and headed out of the rail yard.

"Woah, pole!" Brandt called in warning to Ethan, the two avoiding the pole just as Kat almost ran right into one up ahead. She barely dodged it although she did still clip her shoulder on it.

Kat winced but ignored the pain for now as she continued to run as fast as she could alongside the train, glancing back every now and then to see the men's progress. Ethan was punching in, or trying to punch in, his code into the keypad while avoiding the poles that were in the way. The men were just keeping up with the speeding train while Kat was starting to fall behind.

She was about one car ahead of the two men as Brandt yelled at Ethan: "Retinal scanner!"

She glanced back to see Ethan trying to get up to the height of the scanner, jumping as he tried to run, trying to get his eyes level with the scanner. Kat turned back to the front and yelped.

"Pole!" Kat yelled and Brandt called in warning: "Watch out!"

They all ran out, dodging the pole, the time costing Kat and she was level with the men and the car as Ethan simply leapt up, grabbing the sides of the car and keeping himself hoisted up against the car as he placed his eyes before the scanner.

"Come on, Katelyn!" Brandt ordered, trying to keep the woman level with them.

"I know!" She snapped back, wishing in her mind that she had trained her body before this. But really, who thinks they will one day have to run alongside a train and hop into the car when they think about working out?

'These guys, probably.' She thought grimly, just as Ethan's retinal scan checked in. The side of the car slid up and Brandt quickly jumped in. He reached out, grabbing Kat's arms as she leapt up to the car and he pulled her in. Ethan jumped in after, Brandt helping him inside as well, just before the secret door slid shut once more.

Kat gasped as she lay on the ground in the dark, trying to get her breath back. Every breath literally hurt and she thought her knees were going to burn out of their sockets, they were so sore. She blinked as lights flickered on, before flinching as she saw two guns pointed their way.

"Ethan?" A British voice asked, and she saw the man slowly lower his gun. He had closely-cropped ginger hair and looked about Brandt's age, and was clearly close to Ethan from the sheer joy with which he'd said the latter's name.

"Geez, I thought you were dead." The British man continued as Brandt and Ethan slowly got to their feet while Kat sat up carefully.

"We are." Brandt replied a little sarcastically, and the Brit quickly lifted his gun once more, pointing it at Brandt as he demanded: "Who's this?"

"And her?" The woman who'd kept her gun trained on Kat the entire time asked sharply as she indicated Kat.

"Easy." Ethan groaned before he introduced to Brandt and Kat: "Dunn and Carter." He pointed at the British man and then the woman on the other side, before he introduced to his team as he pointed at Brandt and Kat: "William Brandt, chief analyst; Katelyn Taylor, civilian."

"Analyst?" Carter said in confusion as she lowered her gun, while Dunn repeated incredulously: "Civilian?"

Ethan ignored them, going over to a screen and switching it into a table as he activated it with his USB drive. Dunn had lowered his gun too, and Brandt glanced down at where Kat was still sitting on the floor.

"Hey, come on. Up you get." Brandt muttered as he reached down and grabbed Kat's elbow, starting to haul her to her feet. He stopped quickly, however, when she hissed in pain and as soon as he paused she sank back to the ground.

"What's wrong?" He demanded , crouching before her as Ethan glanced back once before refocusing on his screen, pulling on headphones to listen to his mission.

"I think... I might need a moment." Kat admitted as she tried to hide-

"What's wrong with your legs?"

'Busted.' Kat sighed as she hung her head. She really should've known better than to keep it secret from a spy, but she didn't want to be a bother.

"It's fine." Kat tried, but shut up quickly at the look of disbelief on Brandt's face. Dunn and Carter had joined them, kneeling beside them as Brandt carefully pulled Kat's leg out and into the light.

"Oh, shit." He muttered as he examined the deep gashes.

"We need to clean that before it gets infected." Carter muttered as she got up quickly, heading to the corner of the car to look for the medical kit.

"Why didn't you say something earlier?" Brandt demanded as he gently touched her knee and watched her wince, gauging how bad it was.

"It didn't seem as bad earlier." Kat admitted as Carter returned with the medical supplies.

"And it wasn't like we could do anything about it earlier anyway." Kat pointed out, and Brandt sighed.

"It probably got deeper during the crash." He muttered as he reached for alcohol swabs, Dunn already going to work on Kat's left knee and making Kat hiss in pain. "And the water didn't help. Neither did the running."

"Sorry." Kat apologized before reaching over to try and take the swab from Dunn.

"I can do it." She offered, but Dunn shook his head.

"It's all right, love." The man replied. "I'd probably be faster anyway."

"Yeah, probably." Kat sighed, dropping her hands and trying not to wince as Brandt worked on her right knee.

Brandt glanced at her face as he finished up on her leg, and he added: "The cuts on your face don't look too bad."

Kat sighed, before she asked flatly: "Be honest, how bad do I look?"

Dunn glanced at her while Brandt paused, appraising her with a critical eye.

"Well, not that bad, actually." Brandt answered seriously, and for some reason the words made Kat feel warmer. She blinked, surprised and a little self-conscious as she suddenly became aware of how blue Brandt's eyes were. Almost like ice, but she caught a warmth in them that made her wonder what they looked like when he was cheerful or-

She quickly shook herself from her train of thoughts, saying quickly: "Well, that's good to hear."

"Yeah, the ones on your face aren't deep." Brandt agreed, apparently oblivious to her reaction to his earlier comment. "They should heal fine on their own."

She nodded while Dunn raised a brow as he glanced between them but he kept quiet. The pair had her legs cleaned and wrapped in minutes, and when Brandt carefully helped Kat to her feet, she was definitely feeling better.

"Here." Carter added as she walked over, carrying a pile of clothes. "These'll probably be big on you," she looked at Kat, "but it'll be much warmer than what you've got."

"Thank you." Kat replied gratefully as she took the one bundle of clothes while Brandt took the other with a grateful nod.

"The toilet's there." Carter told them, nodding at a door almost invisible to the naked eye on one side of the car. "If you want to change in privacy."

"Um..." Kat glanced at Brandt uneasily and he caught it.

"You go." He nodded at her and she immediately shook her head, arguing: "No, you can go first, I can wait."

"I'll just change out here." He replied pointedly and Kat blinked.

"Oh..." She glanced around at the other agents. Carter was looking impassive while Dunn had a hint of a smile on his face. "Okay, then... I guess..."

And Kat positively fled to the bathroom to change, making Dunn chuckle as she shut the door.