Gimme Shelter

"There seems to be no middle ground with me, unfortunately. I tend to either reassure people or set them off like a bomb. The HRT are the FBI's hostage rescue team. They're like military-grade SWAT Teams. But they're HQ is all the way up in Virginia. So we don't need to worry. And for what it's worth - I was a Delta," Caleb responded, scratching his chin as he considered what to say next, "And a damn good one at that, til I got discharged. And Deltas are better than Feds."

“So a Delta huh? That is great…. “ Lenna looked confident at Caleb. “Okay I have no idea what a Delta is, except that it is a letter in Greek. Do you know that I speak fluent ancient Greek?”

Lenna closed her Laptop she looked from Caleb to Georgie.

“I don’t know about you two, but I am going to sleep now before I forget the manners I have. Feel free to use the other beds.”

Lenna didn’t them that she was lying in Rome’s bed. She missed the boys.

“Delta right. And I am an Alpha.” Lenna chuckled quietly while she went to bed. She didn’t care anymore what the other two did. All she wanted was to sleep and wake up with her two best friends still with her. Screw her stupid loyalty to people that protect her.

"Sleep tight," Caleb replied as he turned and headed back to the common area of the room, clearing the plates back onto the Room Service tray for housekeeping to pick up in the morning.

He sat down at the table for a few minutes, finishing up his drink and staring at the wall, going through a few worst-case scenarios. He had to admit, this did not look good. But then, that was what made it possible. After a failed break-out attempt, with the raised security, they had the element of surprise. And with a careful infiltration plan, as long as they kept up the momentum of the operation, it was doable.

The last think Lenna thought before she did something she was told never to do, fall asleep when a stranger is in the room you can't be sure you wake up again, was the last memory of Rome she had.

"You did good today, you know. You looked after everyone. Looked after me. Saved all our asses more times than I can count. I owe you big time for that, okay, sister? I'm proud of you."

She knew that this wasn’t his quick, salesman patter. This was genuine. He said it quiet, tender, only for her ears.

Only for me! I have no idea what the hell I am doing here.

A silent tear run down her cheek before she fall asleep.

"Rise and Shine!" Georgina opened the curtains and sunshine floated into the room. She turned to Elenna who mumbled something. "Get up, get up!"

"I hate you!" Elenna tried to hide underneath her blanket.

"I like getting up early. Besides, there is so much we have to do, so you better get your lazy butt out of the bed."

Elenna didn't react, so Georgina grabbed her blanked and threw it in the corner of the room. Elenna looked at her both bewildered and angrily. "God dammit, give me my freaking blanket, psycho Barbie!"

Georgina smiled at her while throwing her long, blonde hair over her shoulder. "I assume you don't like to get up early, hm?"

"Give me any gun and I'm going to shoot a Barbie today!"

"You sould save the bullets for the dudes of the FBI." Georgina walked to the window and opened it. "I can't believe I slept in a bed of somebody I don't know. I don't want to know how clean it..."

"Oh, shut up!" Elenna slowly got up and sighed. She raised one eyebrow at the sight of Georgina's bright pink outfit. "Jeez, I'm blinded!"

"Excuse me?"

"I said I'm blinded by your freaking pinkness!"

Georgina shrugged her shoulders. "Hey, grumpy, I want to order breakfast. What do you want?"

"Everything that has at least 10 percent transfat!", she replied sarcastically.

"Lenna..."

"No, seriousy. Don't expect me to eat that healthy oatmeal crap or something like that. I want scrambled eggs and bacon."

"But..."

"No but, I want the damn eggs and bacon."

"Okay, okay, grumpy. Destroy your liver, that's fine with me." Georgina grabbed the phone. "Is Caleb already awake?"

Elenna glanced at her without any emotion on her face. "How the hell would I know? You're the one who just woke me up, remember?"

Caleb was wide awake. He'd even been to his pickup and back, carrying a "bag of tricks" up to the room. He lay the pistols out over the table, his old favourite, the Glock 20, set to one side with his knife, and his backup pistol, a Glock 22. Hopefully, the knife wouldn't see any use. For a combatives and hand-to-hand instructor, he really didn't like fighting with knifes. Gruesome work.

He locked back the slides of the five pistols he'd laid out on the table, two 9x19 Parabellum Glocks - a Glock 17 and a Glock 34, two .40 S&W Glocks - a 22 and a 35, and the obligatory Hand Cannon - a matte-carbon Desert Eagle XIX .44 Magnum (he guessed either he'd be using that or he'd be putting it back in the car). He set down their magazines next to them, then picked some choice hand to hand weapons from his bag. Tazers and telescopic batons.

Just about everything arrayed on the breakfast table was illegal. All unregistered, with forged serial numbers - courtesy of Tex.

"Welcome to the crash course on pistols, ladies," Caleb announced as the girls came in arguing about breakfast.

“Frak.”

Lenna stopped abruptly and stared at the table. She didn’t know if she wanted to start laughing, crying or just turn around and run.

I am fine. I am fine. I am… so far from being fine.

“Great.” Squeaked Lenna she hoped that the other two don’t see how scared she is. Of course she was in the room when Rome or Raws were cleaning or whatever they did with their guns, but that was different. She was never supposed to use one of them.

"Okay. Let's start with the smallies," Caleb announced, nodding towards the Glock 17 and 34, picking the Glock 17 from the table, "This is a Glock 17. Nine-millimetre. Seventeen round magazine. Accurate, and very easy to control. Glocks work on a series of internal safety mechanisms that are disabled by pulling the trigger back with enough force. Just point and shoot."

He put the 17 down and picked up the 34.

"This is a Glock 34. It's a match-grade pistol. Same calibre and same capacity as the 17, but a longer barrel and longer sight plane," Caleb stated, setting the Glock 34 down on the table. He picked up the Glock 22 in his left hand and the Glock 35 in his right, "These are the Glock 22 and the Glock 35. Standard pistol and match pistol, just like the last two. The difference is the bullet. These pack the 40 Smith and Wesson. It's a bigger bullet than the nine-mil, and its recoil is a little harder, but it makes up for that with stopping power."

He set the pistols down and picked up the Desert Eagle.

"This, is a Desert Eagle XIX. It's chambered in .44 Magnum. This thing is big, and heavy. Almost to the point where it defies the whole idea of carrying a pistol in the first place. How it makes up for that is being more powerful than a .44 revolver, and easier to handle. It's also capable of a higher rate of fire, and the recoil's absorbed by the weight of the gun," Caleb stated.

He set the gun down and picked up the tazers.

"These charming little things are tazers. Simple little contact stun guns. Jab 'em into someone's side and squeeze the little trigger on the side. He'll drop like a sack of potatos," Caleb announced, squeezing the trigger on one for show, letting Elenna and Georgie see the spark jump between the electrodes before setting them down.

"Firearm rules. Even when it isn't loaded, you treat a gun as if it is. You never point the gun at anything you're not willing to destroy. Your fingers stay away from the triggers until you have the target in your sights. Don't shoot til you've identified the target and anything behind it," Caleb stated authoritatively, "With that in mind, make your selection of weapon. The FBI are probably gonna be wearing vests, so I took the liberty of loading teflon-coated armour-piercing rounds."

Caleb pulled his own ballistic vest on over his t-shirt before putting on his shirt.

"I don't have vests in your sizes in the pickup, unfortunately. They're not hard-top military vests, so you could try them on to see if they work out, but that's up to you," Caleb added, straightening his collar in the mirror and loading his own equipment up.

The Glock 20 in a shoulder holster, and the Bowie Knife and Glock 22 nestled in their holsters in the small of his back. He ensured the positive fastener on his Bowie's sheathe was secure - it wouldn't do to have that monster slipping out of the sheathe at no warning.

"Any questions?" Caleb offered.

Lenna looked at Caleb and back to the guns. She was now not only scared of the guns but also of Caleb. She didn’t understand half of the stuff he just told them, but didn’t dare to say that.

“I don’t want a vest, I can’t breathe in them. Seriously when could chose my weapon I would choose a lighter and that is all I needed. But you want me to carry one of them. I have no idea what to pick. They look all scary as hell. So um just give me one. I am not saying I really want one but I also don’t wanna explain why I don’t want one.”

Lenna couldn’t stop to think of the green eyes, the eyes she knew so well and it was her fault that the sparkling in them went out.

She hoped that neither Caleb nor Georgie saw the symbol was on her right hand. She would dare to hurt the FBI and she wasn't even sure if it was smart to use her powers in front of the FBI and hunters she didn't know. But she needed her protection.

"Okay, well, you've got pretty small hands, so let's go with the Glock 17. You've only gotta carry it. Stick close to me and you won't have to use it," Caleb reassured her, sliding the Glock 17 into a holster and handing it to Elenna, "Take a tazer too - they're only lethal if the victim has a weak heart."

He handed her a tazer too and turned to Georgina, handing her the Glock 35 and the other tazer.

Of course Lenna knew the gun would kill herself or anyone around her as long she didn’t make it, but she handled it as if the gun could bite her every second her head off.

With a trembling voice she said, a little struggling with the holster and the gun. “So now that we talked about that, when do we go?”

Playing cool, that was her tactic of the day. Not to show that she was terrified.

“Um Caleb? The last one who said that I just should stick close to her is now in the hospital, in a pretty bad shape. Not sure if you should offer me something like that.”

"I spent ten years in the Army and the last four years hunting paranormal monsters ... I'd hope I'm a little tougher than an FBI Agent," Caleb laughed as he packed the leftover guns away and headed for the door, "So now we get going, and all we need to do is act like plain-clothes Feds. The hospital staff won't know any better. We get to the Break Room or Nurses Station and lift a few maps of the floors and emergency exits. Then the plan is for us to get out the window. I'll handle making a distraction - just bust open the nearest fire escape door."

Caleb opened the door and held it for Georgina and Elenna, locking it behind him and leading the way to the elevator. He was already getting psyched up for action by the time they reached the car park.

“Seriously, I hope so that you are tougher. To know two people are because of me in the hospital is something I don’t wanna experience.” Said Elenna while she climbed Caleb’s car.

I still like his car. If I wouldn’t had the Mustang I would want a car like this, maybe.

“Georgie, what the hell are you doing with my hair?”

“You didn’t brush it in the morning and I thought you might want to.”

“Gosh Barbie! Hands off me. My hair is fine, I don’t need make-up or anything else you think is necessary to survive the day. And just that you know it, I did brush my hair. Don’t you think we have more important things to do?”

Wind den ich rufe.

It was small and not really to see but on Lenna’s palm was a tiny tornado dancing. Not really long just some seconds, but it let her feel the power and strength she had.

I can do that. We get Danila. I will scream at him that this was the stupidest idea of a plan I ever saw and we will get Aly back. I can say thank you for protecting me and then I so don’t care what the rest is doing but I gonna find Rome and Raws and never leave them again, ever.

"Gotta look respectable, we're imitating Federal Agents, after all," Caleb joked, slowly approaching the hospital.

He'd changed the plates on the pickup that morning before bringing the guns up to the hotel room, but guessed the Feds would be on the alert for a large black pickup anyway. He engaged the handbrake and cut the ignition, letting the turbo spin down before sliding the pickup back into gear to really secure it - not that anything could move it if it hit it anyway. He stepped out and held the door for Elenna and Georgina, locking up once everyone was out.

"Any final questions or suggestions?" Caleb asked as he began walking towards the hospital.

“No I am fine. Barbie?”

“Couldn’t you wear a nicer shirt then this plan grey shirt? Some color would suit you really well like….”

“You are kidding right?”

But Georgie’s face made clear she wasn’t kidding. Lenna rolled her eyes and followed Caleb.

“I am the way I am, so stop trying to make me to a friggin Barbie 2. Come on we have work to do.”

Caleb put on a swagger as they entered the hospital grounds. Part of working in Delta was being able to vanish in any warzone - mimicking people was automatic to him. He stepped through the front doors, glancing around to pick out anyone who looked like they were blending in like he was. It wasn't that they were bad - they were Federal Agents, if they were bad, they'd be out of a job - he was just better. He had to blend in on foreign soil, possible, no, probably, in a country at war with America or at the least, extremely hostile. He was trained to spot other operators while avoiding being spotted himself. He counted four in the foyer. He moved up to the reception desk and leaned over to the nurse manning the station.

"Excuse me, hi, I'm Special Agent Gracie, this is Special Agent Sands. I believe you're familiar with our CDC Consultant. We're part of the security detail for Agent Wesson and her accomplice. We were contacted by the Albuquerque Field Office last night about an attempted breakout. We were told to meet Special Agent Dansen in the Break Room. Something about Fire Escape Maps and Emergency Exits Wesson might try to escape through?" Caleb rambled, bombarding the nurse with information that clearly made her uncomfortable - she thought she shouldn't be hearing this stuff. The plan was working.

The nurse led them through the clean, too-bright corridors of the hospital to a quaint room with two sofas, a TV and a small kitchen. the nurse awkwardly indicated a small box containing emergency exit maps.

"And these include the ICU?" Caleb asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Yes," the Nurse answered, clearly trying to get the hell out.

"Thanks. Have a nice day," Caleb finished, winking at her before she turned to leave. He closed the door and turned to Georgina and Elenna, grinning broadly, "We're in."

“That was friggin awesome. That was better than any actor I’ve ever seen. Did you notice the agents in the foyer? Not sure if I counted three or four. But you know that already, so never mind.”

Elenna looked with glowing eyes are Caleb.

This could actually work.

“I can’t believe how easy this was.”

"Civvies are easy to handle. The Feds are gonna be tough. Life'll get a lot easier once we find a scrubs machine - they have dispensers in some hospitals in case someone gets covered in blood or puke or whatever. They're usually in the break rooms or locker rooms," Caleb replied, glancing around the room, "And I'm guessing this place keeps its dispenser in the locker room or doesn't have one."

“I know where it is. I saw it when I was here the first time. It is on this corridor on the right.” Lenna grinned finally she knew something that Caleb didn’t know.

Lenna leaded Georgie and Caleb to the room where all the scrubs were stored.

“There you go, was it that you were looking for?”

"Bingo," Caleb answered, grinning and paying his money to get a clean set of crisp blue scrubs from the machine. He pulled them on over his street clothes, sidestepping to let Elenna and Georgina get at the machine, "Now all we need to do is find your friend Danila and bust him out. Any suggestions as to where we should start?"

Caleb checked he could reach his backup pistol and knife easily while Georgina and Elenna sorted themselves out.

“Last time Danila’s and Aly’s room were on the second floor. And they well at least Aly’s condition wasn’t that great. So Maybe they stayed on the same floor? Or they moved them because of the first attempt to escape. I don’t think that the FBI knows that they have more friends in town. But I guess they are still on the same floor and maybe even in the same rooms, just because the hospital is not really big.”

Lenna didn't bother to check if she could reach the weapons she got from Caleb. She actually couldn't care less and felt safer knowing she might can't easily reach them.

"Right, we'll start with the second floor," Caleb stated, following his emergency map in the direction of the nearest stairs, "Here's hopin' this stays easy enough - never thought I'd regret not being a Medical Sergeant."

Caleb strode confidently along the hallway, nodding at anyone he passed. He stopped at the stairs access door and made a quick double-take to make sure no one saw them enter the stairs. Once they were clear, he stepped through and headed for the seconds floor. He checked the corridor for any watchers before leaving the stairwell, then stopped at a vending machine. Stopping in the hallway to talk might look strange, but stopping at the machine made it look normal when he turned to Georgina and Elenna and started talking.

"Right, where's Allison's room from here? Danila's probably in a separate room, but he won't be too far away to make moving them as easy as possible," Caleb said.

“Um Aly’s room is the next corridor left the 4th door and Danila’s is the corridor to the right his room was the very far end.”

Gosh I hated hospitals before, but now I will never ever go in one again as long I am conscious. Not even for Rome.

“Caleb, do we just go in Dan’s room and say we are doctors or what is your plan? Because this time I would like to know what the plan is before it turns out to be seriously crap.”

Georgie couldn’t stop grinning, it appeared as Elenna and Caleb both tried to lead the job. But she was sure Elenna didn’t really had a chance to compete with Caleb. He seems to know exactly how to do this job. He simply was better or appeared to be better in the tactical things.

"The plan is to try and walk in. Then we subdue the guards to stop them busting in on us while we climb Danila out the window. We need someone on watch to deal with anyone who walks in on us," Caleb stated, "We'll split 'em as easy as possible - we need to watch each others' backs for this."

Caleb rounded another corner, passing a few guards at a room that were very obviously FBI Agents, and carried on down the corridor, following Elenna's previous directions towards Danila's room. He stopped at the door and looked at the two guards. The two heavily armed guards. Goddamn submachine guns. He cleared his throat and looked them over.

"Hello. I'm Doctor Raymond Gracie. I'm here to check up on your suspect in case he needs to be moved? Something to do with the umm ... incident last night?" Caleb asked, his awkwardness made all the more convincing by the Fed's steely "I don't believe a word of that" stare.

Caleb made his "this is a face you can trust" face and tried to step past.

"Where's your ID?" the Fed demanded.

"We're the new interns," Caleb mumbled, "Our IDs aren't ready yet."

"Then I can't let you go in there," the Fed stated.

"Okay, if you insist, but the Doctors are gonna be pretty pissed," Caleb answered, wincing for emphasis.

The second Fed gave the other a pleading look and nodded sharply towards the door.

"Look, usually, we try to do checkups in private, you know, for the patient's confidentiality and dignity and whatnot, but this guy's a criminal. I don't think anyone would speak out if you two were to supervise us in there," Caleb continued.

"Aright - make it quick," the second Fed ordered, unlocking the door and stepping inside.

Caleb led the girls in after the agents, nodding for Elenna and Georgie to handle the one who had let them in, while he'd go for the one who wanted to send them on their way. He turned and locked the door. The Agents turned sharply towards him.

"Sorry, thought you might want the doors locked, you know, like they were before you let us in?" Caleb said awkwardly.

The Fed who'd let them in nodded and shrugged at the other, who just sighed. Once the Feds turned their backs, Caleb nodded to Elenna and Georgie. He lunged forwards, delivering a stunning punch to the Agent's kidneys as Elenna and Georgina went for the second one. Caleb then caught his hair and pounded his head against the wall. The man's gun fell, landing with a nerve-jangling clatter before Caleb kicked it out of reach.

As he kicked the gun away, Caleb wrapped his right arm around the Fed's neck from behind, reaching the whole way around and grabbing his own left biceps. He slid his left arm behind the Fed's head, cupping the back of the man's head in his left hand and pushing forwards. Caleb squeezed the choke together, cutting off the blood to the Agent's head until he went limp in Caleb's grip. Caleb held a little longer just in case he was playing possum, then pulled the cuffs from the Agent's pocket and slapped them on the unfortunate man as he turned to check on Elenna and Georgina.

Lenna didn’t know what Georgie was doing; the blond girl suddenly didn’t look at all like a Barbie anymore. Okay maybe like one of the army Barbie but not the pretty pink dress Barbie. The girls didn’t know why it worked but they perfectly worked together as a team, Georgie tazed the other FBI Agent and Elenna kicked him a second later against his knee so that he couldn’t stand up that easily again. Georgie took the handcuff from him and cuffed his hands behind his back.

“That was nearly fun.” Said Lenna smiling. “And so much better than your weirdo plan Danila. By the way, hi how are you? Did you miss us?”

Lenna could feel that Caleb was checking how the girls did and she hoped he was at least a little impressed how well they did.