New Discoveries {Completed}

Chapter Two - Escape

"Wait. Dad? How-what?" I say, confused. Ethan grabs my hand and stands me up. "Careful. You have bruised ribs." He says, gripping my waist tightly. "How'd you know I was here?" I ask. "Escape now, reunion later." Ethan says. He paces around the room, looking at possible escape routes. I grab my black leather jacket and my combat boots from a locker in the room. The jacket won't cover my hospital gown though. "Leah." Ethan says. I turn around and I see my father standing in the window. "You're kidding, right?" I say, crossing my arms and shifting my weight. I always did this when I was younger and he never let me touch his knives. Luther let me hold one of his pistols though. I was five. The year my dad left. The year I had to die. Do you want to be called a terrorist?" Ethan says. "Fine." I say. Ethan grabs my hand and helps me up. We inch our way across the thin ledge about three floors up. Ethan looks down at an open dumpster. "Dad, I know you've made trash jokes when I was little, but this isn't funny." I say. "Ha ha." He replies sarcastically. "Shit." Ethan mutters. "What." I ask. He nods towards the direction we came from. I see the angry Russian that spoke to us before leans out the window. "Didn't seem like a good idea now did it?" He taunts. "It seemed like one earlier." Ethan says. I see a white van down below and a man starts it up. I elbow Ethan lightly and I look at him, then the van. He gives me a slight nod and looks back at the Russian. He has a cancer stick (cigarette) in his mouth and he is trying to light it. He takes a puff and takes the stick out of his mouth. He gives us a look that basically says, "Carry on." The van starts to go and Ethan looks down at me. "Hold on to me, tight. Like when you were little. Okay?" I nod and wrap my arms around his waist. He whips out his belt and wraps it around the wire above. I look behind me and I see the Russian scowl. Ethan kicks off and we hit the van, and I fall. I cough and I'm on my hands and knees. I spit blood off to the side and look up towards my dad. "Look out!" Ethan yells, grabbing my hand and pulling me behind a building. We both catch our breath and we look up at each other. I tear up and we both embrace. "Dad." I whisper with tears rolling down my cheeks onto Ethan's bare chest. "Leah." He mutters back. "Let's get moving." He says blankly. "We can talk later." Soon I find myself, only in a hospital gown, a leather jacket, and combat boots, and my father in nothing but the army green pants he wore during the mission. We walk past a clothes line and he grabs a hoodie. One for me, one for him. He also grabbed a pair of black ripped jeans for me. We change in an alleyway. I let him look at my bruised ribs and other cuts. We keep walking and he silently grabs a phone from a vacant table. He talks into it and then we walk more, then he throws the cellular device down a drain. We walk some more, then we stop in front of a pub. I see the tv screen, it reads, Kremlin Bombing. Accident or Act? I ball up my fist when I see a happy couple, posing for a picture, then the next second the Kremlin behind them explodes. I can't believe everyone thinks we bombed it. I was just there, on a trip, taking pictures. Just like that couple was. Ethan grabs my hands and pulls me beside him. I straighten my glasses and I look up at him. He smiles and kisses my temple. "I can't believe you're here." He whispers. "Me too. I love you dad. I hate being Anna Smith. I hate it so much." I reply. "I know, honey, I know. I hated it too." We keep walking until we reach a bridge. "Our ride is here." Ethan says. An SUV pulls up and Ethan steps in. I hesitantly step in and two men pull a gun on me. I freeze and put my hands up." WOAH! I'm not armed!" I yell. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING! THAT'S MY DAUGHTER YOU'RE POINTING A GUN AT!" Ethan yells. The two men, one older, one about my age, put down their firearms down. "Sorry, ma'am." The younger one says. I buckle in and I sit uncomfortably. "Pen." Ethan says impatiently. The older one keeps talking. "Pen." Ethan keeps saying. The younger one gives Ethan a pen. He shows his hand to the younger one. I stopped listening. I sit in an awkward state. "So you're Ethan's daughter?" The older one says. "Yes. I'm Anna- Leah. Leah Hunt." I say, holding out my hand for him to shake. He takes it. "Nice to meet you, I'm the Secretary of the IMF. I bet you know what IMF stands for, don't you." "Yes, I do. Ethan told me the little kid version of the job he does. I didn't know it involved having my mother and I asked to fake our deaths. Of course I didn't have a say in it, because, you know, I was only about three years old, maybe four. I remember it crystal clear, though." I say with a slight smirk. "You are just like your father. No wonder he hated seeing Leah die." Mr. Secretary says. "No wonder I hate being Anna Smith. I'm not Anna. I'm Leah. I'm not Anna Smith. I'm Leah Hunt. And I want to be an IMF agent." I say, crossing my arms and leaning back in my seat. "Following in your father's footsteps I see. Well, we can test you and, well..." Mr. Secretary trails off. "What's wrong?" I ask. "Ethan, you should hear this too." He says. Ethan leans over and his brows furrow. "What is it? Is she asking to be a field agent right away?" He says. "Well, yes, but we've initiated Ghost Protocol. If any of your teammates are caught or killed, they will be branded terrorists. Including your daughter." Mr. Secretary says with a long face. You know the sinking feeling in your stomach that you get when your in trouble? That one? I have that right now. The thought of never becoming and Agent for the IMF is painful. I look behind the Secretary and I see a man with a sniper rifle. "What the..." I get cut short due to a gunshot. "GET DOWN GET-" Ethen yells. He gets cut off by a bullet going through the once alive and well Director of the IMF's brain. I start gagging. More blood gets splattered because the driver got hit. I grab the pistol off of the Director and I grab some magazines. The car suddenly veers left and we fall into the water. The air level is going down fast. I hear bullets zip around above us and into the water. "Are you guys alright?" The young man yells. "Yeah! Who are you?" I yell. "William Brandt! Call me Brandt for short! Who are you!" Brandt yells. "Anna Smi- Leah Hunt!" I yell. "WAIT HERE!" Ethan yells. "It's not like we have anywhere else to go." Brandt yells back. I roll my eyes and smile. Ethan drags the body of the Secretary out and lights a flare. The line of fire goes to the floating body of the once living man. We swim behind the bridge pillar and try to catch our breaths.
~
"So how'd you know the flare on the body would work?" Brandt asks. I choose to walk in silence. It's best to right now in my situation. What do you mean?" Ethan asks. "How'd you know it would draw their fire?" "Well, I could tell that they were firing at anything that moved, so I just improvised." Ethan says. "Whatever." Brandt says. "It's a green car with the number forty seven printed in white. I look around and I point. "There." We all look at each other and we run. I jump on the train and I press myself flat against it. "RETNAL SCANNER!" Brandt yells. Ethan presses his eyes into the control board. He keeps running. "THE CODE!" Brandt yells. Ethan runs alongside the train, swerving when the occasional pole comes by. A door opens and Brandt jumps in, then me, then Ethan. I look up, brushing my hair out of my face. I see a blonde haired man, and a dark haired woman. They both stand above me, guns drawn on Ethan, Brandt, and I. "Ethan?" The blonde says. "Who are these two?" The woman says, gun still trained on me. Ethan slaps the gun down out of the woman's hands. "That's my daughter!" The man lowers his gun a laughs nervously. "He. My bad." He says. I stand up and brush the dust off of me. This isn't a normal train. It has to be a safe place for the IMF. Well, used to be. I stand up and adjust my glasses. "Leah, you need contacts. Badly." Ethan says. "Will, Leah, I'd like you to meet Jane Carter and Benjamin Dunn. And on behalf of Benjamin, he'd rather be called Benji for convenience." Ethan says. He smiles and shakes my hand. "Hello, Benji. I'm Leah. Leah Hunt." I say with a smile. "Wait- Ethan? Is this, your daughter? Like Julia and your daughter?" Benji says. "Yes, Benji. I'm Ethan's daughter. We've met, once. When I was three years old. You coded a game for me to play when my father and my mother were planning our deaths." I say with air-quotes. Ethan hands me a duffel bag with extra clothes. "That's enough, Leah. Go change." He says sternly. I purse my lips and go to the small bathroom. I put on a black T-shirt, black jeans, combat boots, and a leather jacket. I brush out my tangled hair and I put it in a quick, messy side braid. The door opens up and I see Brandt standing in the doorway. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" He says. "Brandt. I'm fully dressed and I'm just getting finished." I say with a little laugh. "I'm still really sorry, though." He says. "No worries." I reply with a smile and a nod.
~
We watch a tape. It's horrifying. It's a leader, of something. He speaks that death is a good thing, that killing millions of people will benefit billions of more people. I sit crossed legged on a table in the corner. Ethan starts to speak, but Jane stops him. "Wait. She isn't an agent. She shouldn't be hearing this." She says. I roll my eyes, jump down from the table, and walk into the bathroom and lock the door behind me. About five minutes pass and a hear a knock on the door. I open it and I see Benji in front of me. "Sorry about that, Jane doesn't really like outsiders. But anyways, pack up. Bring only the things you think you need." He says. "What for?" I ask. Benji smiles. "We're going to Dubai."

NOTE: Oh my gosh! Sorry that chapter took so long! I wanted to make it longer  because the first chapter was so short. If you haven't done so yet, check out my new Peter Parker fanfic! It's called Three Doors Down, I'm currently writing the first chapter of it. I wrote the prologue already. But I really hoped you liked this chapter! -FairlyNewPotterhead