The Winter Soldier and the Waitress

Chapter 7

It was strange.

Bucky felt that familiar tickle in the back of his brain. That tickle was always the last sensation before the Winter Soldier is activated.

This time, there was no code words. Ayo had proven that their hold on him was gone. And yet he felt that tickle.

Bucky held the phone to his ear, and the moment the line ended, that's when it happened. Something else crawled through his mind, clawing through his consciousness and bled into every neuron in his brain. Stronger than those words.

It was her. Grace. Creating an unspoken order.

Find her and kill anyone that gets in his way.

Bucky snapped his cell phone shut and turned to climb inside of the jet.

"Bucky?" Steve moved to follow. Bucky didn't say anything. His mission was clear and he wouldn't get distracted. Steve climbed inside of the jet as well before Bucky could leave. "What happened?" Steve watched as Bucky strapped into his seat, and he did the same. Steve glanced over to Bucky once more. "Is it Grace? Did something happen?"

Steve didn't get an answer, now sure his friend was no longer sitting beside him. It was that cold, blank look in his eyes as he started the jet and lifted off. This was the Winter Soldier and that made Steve nervous.

It took a minute for Grace to believe she was seeing what she was seeing. Colin was sitting there, strapped to some chair, his face bloodied and bruised.

"I thought you were dead." Colin said as he looked her over. "I thought-" seeing her unconscious and motionless scared him to death. "I'm sorry Grace, I'm so sorry for bringing you into this." he looked back over to the woman. "This is my fault."

Grace didn't say anything. She turned away to look around the room they were in. It was a small, dingy room. Brick walls, not much light. Her eyes looked up to the top corner of the ceiling where she spotted the blinking red dot of a camera. They were being watched.

She let out a sigh before turning and walking over to Colin to look over the chair he was restrained to.

"Say something Grace." Colin said and she looked up to meet his eyes. She hadn't seen this man in years, but she'd imagined what she would say to him when she saw him again. And yet in this moment, they'd been kidnapped and were locked in some room. Their drama would have to wait.

"Stop talking Colin." she replied before pointing to the camera. "We're being watched and everything you're saying will be used to hurt you in some way." she reached down and began unstrapping him from the chair. Once he was completely unstrapped she looked over to him. "Can you walk?"

Before he could answer, they heard the loud creak of the door opening and turned to see Faith walk in, but she wasn't alone. There were two men, both white, one wearing a dark blue suit, his hair dark brown, glasses over his eyes. He had a sense of authority about him. She assumed between the three of them, he was in charge. The other wearing a leather jacket over a tshirt, his hair platinum blonde. Everything about them just screamed bad guys. Grace turned to Faith who held a gun.

"Get away from him Goose." Faith ordered and Grace held up her hands and complied. She took a few steps away from Colin.

"You don't have to do this!" Colin yelled. "She has nothing to do with this!"

"Aw, come on Mr. Tate, be a little honest with yourself." the dark haired man said, his eyes on Grace with a smile. "Grace here may be the single most important woman in your entire life. The mother of your son Trey. He's nine, right?" Grace didn't show any inclination that his words affected her. It's what he was itching for. He wanted a reaction, she wasn't going to give him one. She just stared at him and that made him smile. He nudged his head slightly and the blonde haired man walked toward Grace, but she didn't move or back away. "Apologies Ms. Harris, you can call me Wes. You've been pulled into a tangled web, but my boss seems to think that's how they're going to get what they want." Grace still hadn't said anything and the man's smile dropped a bit. "You know I assumed you would be as big a talker as your sister."