Fingers flying across the keyboard, I make my way through firewall after firewall as quickly as I possibly can. As expected, security's been tightened. This may take too long.
"Two minutes, Nat," Clint whispers as he clicks away at random things on the screen in front of him, trying to look busy to any potential onlookers.
"Okay, I'm in their main network, but it doesn't appear they've uploaded the file. Either they're doing things old school, or someone sent it from an outside source," I respond quietly. "I guess this only leaves me one choice. I have to hack into Putin's emails."
"Are you sure there's no other way? We're down to ninety seconds, and you know he's good at making people disappear."
"I know, but this is the only way we're going to get what we need. Did you bring the flash drive?"
"Of course."
"Okay, on my signal, I want you to plug it in, and I'll transfer the document. As soon as I do, pull the flash drive back out. I'll have to cover my tracks, and then we're out of here."
"You aren't going to print it?"
"Not here, I don't have time. They may have tracers attached to the link, so as soon as we plug it back into a computer to print it, they'd be able to find us. Okay, I'm into his email server, and would you look at that, countless emails from his security and staff. Alright, terror threat, where are you?"
"Forty-five seconds."
"Come on, come on, where are you? Here! Okay, go!"
Clint slides the flash drive into the USB port. I copy and drag the file, careful to take the duplicate instead of the original. Tracers could have been programmed to still be attached to copies, but there's always the chance that they weren't smart enough to think of that. Clint pulls the flash drive back out and tucks it into his pocket.
"Get out of there, Nat. We're down to thirty seconds," Clint whispers urgently.
"I know, I know. Covering my tracks as we speak." Just as I go to delete the last shred of digital evidence that I was ever here, something pops up on my screen. "Oh no."
"Oh no? What's wrong? Nat, what does that say?" Clint rests a hand on my wrist, his fingers instinctively curling around it.
"Shit, we need to go. NOW." I flip the switch on the power strip hooked up to our row of computers, grab my purse, and head for the door.
"What just happened?" Clint calls after me, worry and confusion saturating his voice.
"Not here, not now!" I hiss back, attempting to avoid the unwanted stares from the people around us. "We'll talk about this at home." We need to play this off as a fight, not a breach of national security that could get everyone here killed. There's no sense in causing a panic or compromising our true identities.
We step out into the sunlight, temporarily blinded as our eyes struggle to adjust. The first thing I see as my vision clears is a line of black cars headed our way.
"No time to explain, follow me." I turn away from the cars, frantically searching for somewhere we could hide. We walk to the end of the block before breaking into a sprint around the corner. Down side street after side street, we backtrack to our hotel, our serpentine route the only useful defensive tactic I can currently think of.
"Please tell me you're keeping track of all these turns," Clint huffs from just behind me.
"I'm pretty sure I know where we are." I slow to a light jog, my heart still racing.
YOU ARE READING
Return to Russia
Fanfiction[Sequel to The Mission] Natasha's years of training never prepared her for the things she's experienced lately. Despite her initial resolve to stay home, she finds herself being called back to Russia, only this time, she won't be going alone. With a...
