M. Bourne
Vanessa, Matthew, Darla and Bourne himself spent most of the night figuring out a plan. Bourne was on his fourth cup of coffee by the time they came to the point of knowing what they had to do in order to finish strong.
"All we have to figure out now is when this is all going to happen," Vanessa leaned back in her chair. Bourne gazed at each of them, they all looked at the point of crashing.
Bourne walked around the board room and focused on looking out the window, watching the busy city at night. "Okay, here's what we have to do," Bourne was determined for everything to work out, he turned to face the three of them, "we're going to have to split up."
He gave each of the instructions. Darla was going to find the group of teenagers, Vanessa was going to have to find Giselle and Charlie.
"I'll go with Vanessa. Matthew, you stay here and man the ship."
Matthew faced him, his eyebrows showing his confusion. "What?"
Vanessa's head popped up as if she was just paying attention.
"Problem?"
Matthew looked back down at the table, he began shaking his head. "No, no problem."
Bourne knew what was really going on. Matthew thought he was going to be heading down to save Giselle and Charlie. But under his condition, Bourne couldn't let that happen. Plus, he had already lost Adam, why did he have to lose Matthew too? Bourne's heart felt heavy.
Darla immediately headed out, leaving the three of them stuck in a silent room.
"So, when do we leave?" Vanessa asked, rubbing her eyes.
Bourne sighed, finally sitting down. "We have to prepare first."
Vanessa looked up at him, nodding. None of this felt comfortable, it never did. This was the part everybody hated: facing the bad guy.
Bourne sat leaning back for a moment. Closing his eyes, he started praying in his head.
"We need to rest first, I'll set up our equipment. We have to get out there tomorrow, first thing."
Without any more ounce of hesitation, Vanessa nodded, packed her folder full of papers again and said her goodnight's.
"And then there were two," Bourne looked over at Matthew and grinned. Although he smiled back, Matthew still looked uncomfortable.
"I can't lose you, Matt," Bourne leaned further back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling, "I hope you understand where I'm coming from."
He couldn't see Matthew directly, but he could tell his eyes were on him.
"I know," Matthew said quietly, his tone dripped with bitterness, "I'm just here until this is finally over with. Then we all move on."
Bourne didn't know how to respond. There was hurt in Matthew's words, he could tell that much. But what he didn't understand was why Matthew was feeling this way. There was already too much going on that Bourne didn't want this to be the time to bring up heavier topics.
Bourne had this mission to do. If he wanted to take down Warner he had to do it himself. Seeing his own uncle in the flesh lit a raging fire in Bourne that not even he could explain.
They sat in silence for a few moments until Bourne had to get up and start moving forward. His heart started beating at a faster pace as he tensed. All of these years had led up to another opportunity to finally take down Warner. Bourne couldn't help but feel nervous.
"Hey Bourne," Matthew called out as Bourne was about to leave the room.
"Hmm?" He turned to face him.
"Remember, Joshua 1:9," Matthew's face didn't change. He didn't show sympathy or even try to smile. It was just a quick reminder.
Bourne looked at Matthew. What he really wanted to do was sit back down and tell him everything. Instead, he smiled his thanks and hesitantly walked out.
Joshua 1:9... of course.
No going back now.
~~~
Vanessa Vaughen
"You ready for this?" Vanessa looked over at her boss.
Bourne didn't look at her. Not once did he look at anybody today. Vanessa had her guesses as to why, but she kept quiet. All she had to focus on was her mission.
But it wasn't the same without Matthew, she had to admit.
In short, anxiety-driven hours, they flew from New York to South Carolina. Vanessa didn't the fact that it all went wrong the minute she had to be brought back to New York.
Some sort of guilt was easy to feel when she found out Giselle and Charlie went missing almost right after Bourne had ordered her to abort the mission. If only she had stayed, things could have gone differently.
But of course, she couldn't dwell on what could have happened. The most important thing for her to focus on was to undo what actually happened. And then some.
A sudden change of plans from her boss meant he and Vanessa had to split up, taking two different vehicles with the same destination printed on their GPS. Vanessa didn't know why, but she went with it. She had no other choice anyway.
When the GPS blinked new directions on the screen and told her to head down a particular road, the same guilt and anxiety started to creep up on her. Suddenly the GPS stopped giving directions and told her that she had arrived at her destination. Vanessa sat still for a second, her breathing heavy.
She sent a message on her special device notifying Bourne she was here. She awaited out front a few blocks from the building for the signal to continue.
Minutes went by. Bourne didn't send anything.
Vanessa sent one out again, looking around the sketchy part of town, hoping nobody saw her. The task was to seem invisible.
She awaited a response. Finally, a notification buzzed, but it wasn't from Bourne.
M.P.B: tech team that's tracking Bourne said his service was interrupted. he with you?
Vanessa tried to not start panicking.
Vans: no, he said to split up. I have no idea where he is.
She waited for what Matthew was going to say.
M.P.B: don't worry. stay focused. the team will keep you updated through your in-ears so have them in.
Vanessa desperately wished Bourne had let someone go with her. She rarely did these things alone. Her number one teammate was all the way in New York, she wondered what he was doing right now. Panicking? No. Praying? Most likely.
Vans: I was supposed to wait for him, he didn't give me the signal.
She tried buying some time. Maybe Bourne could contact Matthew or the tech team if something was really wrong.
She got no response back from Matthew but knew he saw it.
Her anxiety only seemed to rise as she sat waiting for someone to do something. That's when she remembered she couldn't wait on somebody else to do her own work.
Jesus is with me, that's gotta count for something.
She grabbed her gear and made sure her weapons were with her. She headed out with the most confidence she could, her gun trembling in her hands.
It was time to face the sharks once again.
A/N
here we go...