"Where is he…" Benji sing-songed as he sat propped up against the wall on the ground and tapped nervously on the floor next to him.

Nikki glanced up at Benji next to her, "Relax…He'll be here." She answered then resumed cleaning one of the guns. She remained strong on the outside but really a part of her was just as worried as Benji.

The guns she was cleaning were her solace. It was the only way she could relax herself. She couldn't just sit around and wait. She had to keep herself occupied. Distracted at least. From the thought that their team leader might not return, that he was dead.

Nikki pushed that idea from her head, no he couldn't be. Ethan's the most resourceful person I know. She thought. He got out of that explosion. He had to have.

But with each passing minute that thought slowly crept back into her mind again. Nikki would glance around the room every so often and she could see that everyone had the same thing on their mind.

*Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap*

"Benji…" Jane called annoyed from the opposite end of them. He didn't hear her. He was staring off into the distance.

"Benji." Nikki said more firmly, reaching over and clasping her hand over his, making the tapping stop.

"Right. Relax. Got it. I'm relaxed. See!" He forceful exhales his breath "Done. Relaxed."

Jane gives him a questionable look, unconvinced.

As soon as Nikki retracts her hand a buzzing sound can be heard from the other side of the door, outside of the train.

Everyone looks at each other.

The door starts to open.

Nikki shot up from her spot on the floor, her swift movement causing her ebony hair to whip back in her ponytail. She instantly shut down the lights while at the same time, Benji and Jane sprung up from the ground, grabbing the nearest gun.

Nikki instantly went for the G36C, snatching it from its mould and sitting it nicely against her shoulder. She aimed it straight at the entrance along with Benji and Jane, where two intruders now lie on the floor at their feet.

Someone shut the door. The inner door closed with a rivet and the entire compartment lit up.

To everyone's surprise it was Ethan, along with someone new. Ethan held his hand up prompting the team to lower their weapons.

"Ethan? Jeez, I thought you were dead!" Benji said shocked.

"We are." The guy next to Ethan replied standing up, causing everyone to raise their guns to him again.

"Who's this?" Nikki asked, surveying the soaking man that stood in front of her. The man was ruggedly handsome, with light brown hair and a face that somehow retained a hint of innocence. He glanced at Nikki, eyes lingering a second longer than necessary.

She forced herself to meet that direct gaze without flinching, trying not to wonder if her own eyes were revealing the intrigue building within the back of her mind. His blue eyes stared intensely into hers, sending a shudder through her body. He was taking her in, just as she was.

She shifted slightly in her stance, blaming the cool breeze for her sudden edginess. She couldn't hold his gaze any longer and looked to Ethan for confirmation.

"Agent Hansen" Ethan motions to Nikki, "Dunn" he quickly points to Benji. "and Carter." he gestures to Jane. "William Brandt, Chief Analyst." Ethan said out of breath, introducing the team.

"Analyst..." Jane said, looking at him cautiously.

Ethan got up and walked over to the side of the train, pulling down a screen mounted on the wall and making it into a table.

He placed a flash drive on top of it. "Agent Confirmed." The screen echoed as Ethan put on the headphones he was carrying.

Nikki looked back at Agent Brandt and gave him a once over. Analyst? What was a guy like him doing in an analyst position? He certainly didn't look like an analyst. But then again, what do analysts look like? She wondered

"What happened?" She asked, gesturing to his soaking clothes. He cleared his throat then spoke.

"We we're ambushed…" he replied quietly, still reeling over the events that took place moments ago. Nikki didn't pry any further, didn't need too. She already had some sort of idea in her head of the probable scenario that went down. One of Ethan's wildly executed, yet genius plans, which effectively lead to their eventual escape.

Brandt took a quick glance around and saw that the train carriage had been converted into a well-stocked cache and safe house. Weapons lockers lined silver metal walls that curved into the shape of the train; with one entire corner of the compartment reserved as a high tech operations centre, complete with computer consoles and plasma screens.

Then he spotted two bunk beds wedged into the upper half of the walls. He could really use some rest right now, he was cold and exhausted from the night's trails.

Nikki noticed Brandt looking around the room uncomfortably, keeping his hands folded close to his chest. He's freezing.

"Hey." She motioned with her head for him to follow her, then moved to the back of the train where she grabbed him a towel from the top shelf and chucked it at him.

He collapsed into one of the chairs and patted his face down, watching her rummaged through the drawers looking for some dry clothes. For some reason he felt drawn to her; it wasn't a prominent feeling, more of an inclining in the back of his mind. When he first laid eyes on her he saw strength in her that he no longer had. Fire blazed in her brown eyes that were every inch lethal, yet captivating.

He traced her frame with his eyes. Skinny jeans hugged her lithe figure and she wore a simple dark grey shirt under her black jacket; sleeves rolled up, even in the cold compartment. Her arrow straight hair was half pulled into a ponytail, while the other half fell past her shoulders. A determined look plastered her face as she searched for a suitable jumper whilst listening to the monitor overlaying a video of a conference.

Brandt looked down at the floor and continued to wipe himself down, having gazed at her for a moment too long.

"How will the world finally end?" The woman translated as the man on the screen spoke Russian. "It is my job to predict the unthinkable. To treat the death of billions as a game."

Nikki finds a suitable jumper and pulls it out from the drawer, handing it over to Brandt. He looks up and takes it from her, fingers slightly brushing over hers which sent a tingling feeling up her hand.

"Thanks." He mutters staring up at her. Curious eyes search hers for something but only for a split second. She gives him a slight nod then crosses the floor to the other end of the compartment and sits down on the ground facing the screen, listening intently.

Brant pulls off his wet jacket and slips on the jumper, grateful for the warmth it brought to his body.

Her thoughts gravitate back to Brandt's presence in the chair a few times, but she didn't know why. He's new here. It's my job to look out for him, she justified to herself. She glanced across at him, surveying him again. He looks like he can take care of himself. She concluded ignoring any more thoughts that came to mind and shifting her full attention back to the screen displaying the twisted speech.

"After 20 years of this, I was numb. Until a new question crossed my mind. What happens after the end of the world? Every two or three million years…"

For a moment Nikki hears Ethan's irritated voice speaking quietly into the phone but then looks back at the monitor.

"…some natural catastrophe devastates all life on Earth. But life goes on."

Brandt seems to pace across the room. The speech was unsettling him even though he'd heard it all before.

"And what little remains is made stronger. Put simply world destruction is an unpleasant, but necessary part of evolution."

Everyone suddenly hears a whooshing noise from the other end of the compartment. Brandt had leant against a panel that opened up the wall full of weapons, scaring both him and Benji in the process.

Jane glares holes in his head, irritated by his presence. Brandt tried to act cool about it, nodding his head to the group, but Nikki couldn't help it and smirked at his awkwardness.

"You good?" She asked amused. "Huh? Oh- uh yeah." He replied uncomfortably.

She turned her gaze back towards the screen while he takes a seat on the floor to the right of her.

"What happens then, I wondered, when mankind faces the next end of the world? I looked to Hiroshima, Nagasaki…" The woman said still translating. "…thriving cities rebuilt from the ashes, monuments to the unimaginable, dedicated to the concept of peace. It occurred to me here that nuclear war might have a place in the natural order. But only if it could be controlled. Only if it touched every living soul equally." The woman finished translating and the man on the screen looked at the camera as if he were pointedly looking at all of them. The speech was twisted and perverted.

"IMF now believes this man, Kurt Hendricks, is the nuclear extremist, code name Cobalt." Ethan said. "Today he was seen leaving the Kremlin, with what is likely a nuclear launch device." Ethan paused and looked at everyone. "Two days ago, Sabine Moreau killed one of our agents in Budapest and relieved him of Russian nuclear launch codes. Intel indicates she will check into the Burj Hotel in Dubai in 36 hours. Marius Wistrom is a known operative of Cobalt. Wistrom is currently en route to Dubai. For the launch device to work, Cobalt needs the activation codes. He's sending Wistrom to buy them from Moreau. The Secretary is dead." Ethan announced.

Jane gasps.

"What?" Nikki declared shocked. She spun her head around to look at Brandt for confirmation as he sat beside her. She watched him shake his head in despair. The probable scenario of what she thought had gone down flew out the window at those four words. I had it all wrong, she thought.

"The President has invoked Ghost Protocol. We're shut down. No satellite, safe house, support, or extraction. The five of us and the contents of this car are all that remain of the IMF. And as of this moment, any action is unsanctioned. So if you want out, speak now."

Everyone looked around but no one said anything. Nikki already knew everyone was on board no matter what, but Brandt, she wasn't so sure about; so she turned to look at him, as did pretty much everyone else.

Brandt opens his mouth to speak but thinks better of it and so keeps his mouth shut.

"Our mission is Hendricks. We're all that stands between him and his goal. Nothing can be left to chance. Everyone connected with this man is considered an asset with valuable information about our target. No one can know we're still on line. We lose Hendricks now, we lose him forever." Ethan finished.

"So, what's the play?" Jane asked.

"Wistrom will take delivery from Moreau in 36 hours. Now we cannot let the launch codes leave the hotel, but we need Wistrom to lead us to Hendricks." Ethan said.

"He'll only do that if he has the codes." Brandt taunted, knowing full well that that wasn't going to happen.

"Or if he thinks he has them." Nikki counters, after seeing how Brandt's comment seemed to annoy Jane.

"Our objective is to intercept the sale, replace the authentic codes with counterfeits and follow Wistrom to Hendricks." Ethan said.

"Well, that's simple enough." Benji said. "We snatch the codes, we gin up some fakes. Jane you double Moreau, and sell the codes to Wistrom and Bob's your uncle."

"And how do you propose we just snatch the codes from Moreau?" Brandt said doubtfully. Sure the plan sounded simple, but it never is simple. Something always goes wrong. He of all people knew that.

"We take her out." Jane said simply.

Nikki glances at Jane. From Jane's tone she could tell her loss was still fresh, just buried beneath a thin layer below the surface. Ethan detected the exact same thing.

"Yeah, we take her out. But, you know, discreetly." Benji established.

"Discreetly?" Brandt asked unconvinced.

"Yeah." Benji said in an obvious tone to Brandt.

As much as Nikki wanted her dead, in fact as much as everyone wanted her dead, she knew that Moreau was still an asset. There was still a slight possibility of her coming in handy and that slight possibility was still better than nothing. She sighed heavily, looking up. "Benji, we can't." she reminded him.

Benji gave her a confused expression then glanced over at Ethan.

Ethan gave Benji a look. "Right, she's an asset. Right. I get it. Sorry. Nothing left to chance." Benji said and then Jane also gave him a look. "He said- I'm spitballing. It's not all gonna be gold."

"We don't touch Wistrom." Ethan exclaimed aggravated.

"All right." Benji concurred.

"Or Moreau." Ethan continued. The comment specifically directed at Jane. "She'll answer for Hanaway." Ethan told her when she looked sharply at him. "But it has to be when I say. After we hit Hendricks."

Nikki looked from Jane to Ethan, then back again. Tensions were high and from their looks you just knew invisible words were being exchanged.

Ethan turned his head slightly to look back at Brandt and Nikki. "Get ready." He declared.

Nikki quickly stands up and nods to Benji to follow, along with Brandt. They quickly go off and start packing, leaving Jane and Ethan for a few seconds. Jane just gives Ethan a look and then pushes past him, walking off to get ready, both hurt and angry that she can't get her revenge.