Time Sensitive Target

Part 17 - Conflict. Distrust. Suspicion.

"I'll speak to Ant, maybe we can all sit down." Rob replied with concealed weariness, passing it off as a determined decision. 

"Thanks," Jase had restarted his exit already, the thanks a secondary formality to what they both already knew was an undeniable appeal. 

Rob pressed his lips together in a grimace. He would have felt differently if DEVGRU had shown even the slightest interest in Paige's rescue and recovery, considering that was meant to have been the sole purpose of the assignment. Granted, it only seemed to be their Master Chief deliberately avoiding the victim, but the rest of his team obediently took his lead as if Paige was property of the SAS and not to be approached. He didn't mind it that way, Ant even preferred it that way. But it set a tone of suspicion and intrigue that was now undeniably affecting the whole camp. The obvious division between the two sides meant that Rob and Ant were even more protective over Paige, from people they should have been able to trust. 

Rob pondered on the best way to bring this to Ant without immediately getting his back up. Ant was a complicated character. He lacked the instant easy going attitude Rob exuded, but he had far more patience than people thought him capable of. In spite of that, he carried a rage about him that seemed to be constantly teetering on the edge of explosion. He was the volcano that never erupted, but simmered on the brink. 

Rob found Ant sitting on the ground outside, his back slouched against the wall. A cap was pulled down loosely across his forehead, shielding his eyes from the unrelenting rays beating down upon them. He was just taking a moment, like they all did sometimes. If there was ever going to be a good time to broach the subject, this was it. 

"Apparently al-Raheem's not been giving anything up," Rob scratched at the back of his hairline where a bead of sweat was beginning to drip. 

"Oh yeah? Not surprised. Bet they're pissed," the beginnings of a tiny smile played on Ant's lips- small victories.

"They probably saw it coming. You think Paige overheard anything being there? Might be worth the question. Maybe she'd chat to them," Rob shifted his weight and rested his fists on his hips. Ant was quiet for a moment. 

"Have they asked her to?" Ant didn't even open his eyes underneath the shade of his hat. 

"Yeah," Rob answered truthfully. There was no point in trying to diplomatise it, Ant would have seen right through him, and it would have cost Rob his senior's respect. 

"Then no." 

"You know they'll-"

"Then they can put a formal request in to me." Ant tugged his hat down a little farther, and Rob knew that was the end of that conversation. He didn't dare press the matter. 

                                                                                             *

Sonny flicked a speck of gargled spit up from his watch, frowning at al-Raheem disparagingly. Jase cinched his thumb and index finger across both eyelids and held the pressure either side of his nose. He was tired of this game, and he was livid he would have to take it a step further.

"Ok, we know about August," Jase pinched the bridge of his nose tighter. "You can reel off an entire calendar, it doesn't mean anything to me unless I know where." 

Al-Raheem spat on the floor, a pathetic show of defiance as he had regurgitated nearly everything from the pit of his belly.

"Ask her," he rasped, his toothy smile unnervingly bloody. 

"You're categorically telling me you told your hostage the time, date and location of an upcoming terror attack?" Jase made the statement with no emotion, even boredom in his tone. He needed al-Raheem to think there was no way they believed it was a possibility. 

"And more," al-Raheem raised his eyebrows and smiled even more broadly. Jase wanted to shoot him for the suggestion. With near theatrical disinterest he stood and lazily pulled the hood over his hostage's head. He strode out slowly, beckoning with a sideways nod for Sonny to follow him. The two men acknowledged the skyline for a moment. A pink and purple sunset painted the horizon through the net of the barbed wire fencing. Sonny broke the silence first, feeling his friend's conflict.

"She doesn't know anythin, can't he just die? Cardiac arrest? Underlying health issues?" The Southerner mused.

"She might know something," Jase murmured, resenting the seed of suspicion he felt. 

"Don't let that fucker get in your head, man," Sonny swatted Jase's arm with the back of a meaty hand. Jase exhaled the breath he didn't know he'd been holding.

"I asked her," he said. The statement was loaded, he knew it. It even took Sonny a moment to digest. 

"You asked? Were her guys there? What did she say?" 

"I asked. I shouldn't have under the circumstances. It was just the two of us, she asked why I brought him with us. You should have seen her face, she was so afraid to ask. I said it might be helpful if there was anything she remembered, things she saw, overheard etc... she said she remembered a lot," Jase reflected on his conversation with Paige. He was doing his best not to think of her as an actual person, and especially not as a woman he rescued and had to protect. He knew there was the possibility, however small, that she may end up next to her ex-captor in their holding cell. 

"Whoah... okay first off- we're going to have a world of problems if you spoke to her about that alone. You'd better hope she doesn't tell their Alpha. Second of all... she remembers a lot? She said that?" Sonny didn't like the sudden turn his evening had taken, he was beginning to feel a tug on his moral compass. 

"She said that..." Jase nodded, mouth pressed hard, arms crossed across his broad chest as he built the suspense for the crescendo. "...and then she backtracked," he shook his head now, looking past Sonny's shoulder to avoid his comrade's reaction. He'd said it out loud, he'd confirmed his suspicion. And now it was out in the open, it seemed more problematic than ever. 

"She backtracked, she said she couldn't remember?" Sonny's eyes were wide with disbelief.

"She saw I was interested, and suddenly said she couldn't remember any specifics so she wouldn't be able to help us with anything. The thing was, the first time she said she remembered a lot, she drifted off. I saw her reflect on it, you know? I could have been watching her replay the memories of the information she'd come across, and then she shut me down. And now I can't sit on this," now he had confided in his friend, Jase felt more resolute than ever. It watered the seed of doubt planted against Paige, and he needed to investigate. 

"We gotta talk to her, then," Sonny was sure of that much, but he was still deeply comfortable with the idea. He was a nurturer, and had deep held values on how women should be treated. Interrogating one didn't sit well with him. 

"I spoke to Rob, he's going to approach Ant. If Ant blocks us, then we'll have no choice but to treat it as an official investigation, and Paige will be a person of interest. They've everything to lose by doing that, so we hold the cards here," Jase reassured himself of his own moral position. He had a duty to his country's national security, and he had a job to do. His own personal discomfort at interrogating an already traumatised woman couldn't stand in the way of that.