Ilsa's advice

The way back

On his way out, Benji nearly stumbled over a chair – the beer was making his walk slightly wobbly. But he didn't care – the need of getting back to Ethan was all that was present in his mind right now.

Maybe that was the reason why he didn't noticed the figure standing in the shadow and staring greedily at the bulge where his purse was, when he got to the crossing of a small side street not far from the diner. Nor did he saw the foot sticking out right in front of his way until it was too late and he was already crashing down, painfully landing flat on his face. He felt blood running down his nose and dizzily looked up, when someone grabbed at him – no at his wallet – belatedly recognizing one of the guys who had been standing in front of the diner earlier.

Luckily, his field agent skills weren't for nothing and despite his rather drunken state, he managed to grab the arm of the offender before he could run away. Or maybe it just was his adrenaline caused by the panic rising at the prospect of losing his fake papers and having to explain that fact to Ethan.

The offender tried to free his arm, pulling at him strongly, but Benji wouldn't let go and used the force of his opponent to get himself up on his feet again.

Seeing that his tactic didn't work, the man now seemed to remember that he got legs as well and started kicking him viciously. Gasping from a mean hit to his stomach, Benji momentarily loosened his grip, causing the criminal to tore himself free, still holding the wallet in his hand. Cursing, Benji immediately set after him as he started to run down the side street. He wasn't Ethan Hunt and his thief had a small head start, but he did have a lot of training, so hopefully he would be able to wear him out soon enough.

Racing around a corner, the thief looked behind him to see if he was still being followed. That was his mistake since it slowed him down just enough for Benji to being able to spring at him and pull him down forcefully, letting him taste some of his own medicine.

Loosing no time, Benji tore his wallet out of the culprit's hand and quickly put it away in the inner pocket of his jacked (just to be sure), while still keeping him on the ground like a cop would hold down a criminal. "If I ever see you again, I will not hesitate to call the police!" Benji threatened him in his darkest voice before jumping up and hurriedly making his way back to the safe house. After some meters, he checked whether the thief would dare to follow him, but thankfully the latter seemed to have changed his mind, just staring after him mournfully and brushing the dirt from his trousers.

Shortly before arriving at the safe house, Benji took out a tissue and dabbed at his nose, trying to rub away the blood as much as possible. Thankfully it wasn't bleeding any more. Finally standing in front of the door, he took a deep breath to sort his thoughts before entering.