"Are you sure you want to do this?"

Daniel stood beside me, staring out the window of the flimsy little cabin that we'd inhabited for the night. It was a few miles away from the Bavarian Alps, nestled in the middle of a clearing in the woods. It wasn't much, but Giulia assured us that it was safe before sending us on our way, stocked with food and weapons. She'd even given us her car since there was no other way to get to the Alps aside from driving from where we were.

I was sure that she thought we were suicidal, she'd mentioned it several times, but I couldn't see another way out of this predicament. If I went after my brother as things stood right now, I would be facing death. If we succeeded in this mission to break Jack Briar out of Scorpion's prison, then Scorpion wouldn't kill me even if they did manage to catch me. I would be needed for leverage, at the very least, for Jack Briar's cooperation.

"Yes," I answered. "It's the only way."

"I know," he murmured back. He didn't look at me. His eyes were trained out the window, staring into the bright afternoon. The forest surrounding our clearing was snowy despite the summer months. We were high up in the mountain range and the cool air had definitely taken us far away from warm temperatures we'd been receiving thus far.

We'd left Zermatt in the morning after getting a couple of hours of sleep in the hotel. The drive had taken us over eight hours, though it would have been less if he hadn't stopped for breaks.

"I just can't help but think that Giulia was right. Maybe we are insane for attempting this."

"We'll be okay," I assured him. "Besides, Max and the others will be here in a few hours. They'll be able to help."

It had been a tough decision to call Max. On the one hand, I wanted nothing more than to leave him and Lia and Tasha far away from my mess of a life. But on the other I knew that this would be a near-impossible feat—even with their help. Going in alone, with only Daniel for a backup, was definitely something that would get us both killed.

Max and Tasha would be arriving with Daniel's parents and a few of the MI6 agents that were trusted by the Grimes' to not turn Jack Briar in the second he was free in a few hours' time. We'd sent them the coordinates of the cabin and I'd made it explicitly clear that if they weren't here and ready to move by nightfall, we were going without them. Lia and her mother were staying behind with Brent, making sure that he was stable and cared for.

"You're right," Daniel said. He glanced down at me now, a wry smile on his face but it didn't quite reach his eyes. Those were troubled and dark.

I placed my hand on his arms. "It's going to be fine, Daniel. It's going to off without a hitch and then we'll be able to go get Wes before they even begin to suspect that we're coming. We pull this off and we're one step closer to him."

That was as close to the truth as I could manage. In reality, I'd begun to think of other possibilities, things that could happen as a result of us breaking Jack out of Scorpion's grasp. It would have to be a quick mission and a stealthy one. If they found out that Jack was missing before we could get to my brother, then it was possible that Scorpion would take their anger out on him. That's why we weren't just planning on breaking out Jack—we were planning on breaking out as many prisoners as we could.

At the very least, it would cause confusion. It would take some of the pressure off of us to get to Wes and, considering we weren't sure where they were keeping him until we were supposed to meet, we needed all the time we could get.  

"I just hope he's okay," he murmured as he turned to face me head on. His sea green eyes flashed at me. My hand dropped from his arm. "I can't imagine how scared he must be. You said that you have a contingency in case something happens to us, right? You have people that will get him out."

"I have people that will try."

This was the truth. I'd made Max, Lia, and Tasha promise that, if something happened to me, they would do everything in their power to save my brother's life. And then I'd sent out messages to Henry and Patrick, begging them for the same thing, though the messages were encrypted and would take them a while to get into. The two of them didn't know the whole situation, I didn't even if they knew about anything that was going on in my life right now but I knew that they would help me. Even Patrick, who I hadn't spoken to since we'd broken up, I knew would help to save my brother's life if I was unable to.

"Good. I'm, um, I'm going to try to get some sleep. Wake me when the other's get here?"

I nodded. "Of course."

Daniel gave my hand a rough squeeze as he walked past me back towards the little bedroom on the other side of the cabin. I watched him go and then went to sit on the couch that I was sure was going to concave any minute. On the coffee table in front of me were the blueprints of Scorpion's prison and the prisoner file. Giulia had pulled both of them off of their database when she'd hacked into Scorpion and had given Daniel and I the information as a parting gift.

My father was located in cell block F. If it were up to me, we would enter through block B and then plough our way through block D to get to block F. We wouldn't even need to go near blocks A, C, E, or G. I knew, though, that everyone else who would be joining us soon would have their own input and the planning would ultimately be left in their hands.

I could hear Daniel snoring softly in the next room. He'd always been able to fall asleep quickly. He was just one of those people that could sleep anywhere no matter the situation. I used to tease him that he fell asleep every time he blinked which had only made him argue that it was my job to make sure nothing happened to him while he slept, even if it included blinking.

That was my job as a best friend, he'd always said. We looked out for each other, had each other's backs. Even when everything seemed bad, we could be the light for each other.

The memory caused a thick lump to form in my throat and I swallowed it back roughly. The instinct to protect Daniel was one that had never really gone away. Even when I'd been young and wimpy, unable to hold my own in a fight and more likely to run away than actually do anything about the situation, I'd always felt the need to protect him. Whether that had been from asshole teachers or girls trying to get his attention—girls I had known were only interested in him because he was the cutest guy in our grade and not because they actually liked anything personal that made Daniel who he was—I'd always done my best to keep him safe.

It was especially strong today. I wanted nothing more than to keep him here in this cabin while I went with the others to break Jack Briar out of prison. I was hoping that his parents would somehow force Daniel to stay behind, even if it meant handcuffing him to the kitchen table, but I knew it would never work. If there was anything that I knew about Daniel, it was that he was stubborn and pigheaded and would definitely not stay behind for anything.

I wasn't quite sure where I stood with Daniel anymore. The past few days had been particularly difficult for me. Back when I was at Oaks and Daniel was no longer a part of my life, it was easy to say that he meant nothing to me. Our lives had been on separate tracks then but now I wasn't so sure that this was the case. His parents were CIA. Even if we went our separate ways after my brother was safe, we could never go back to like it was before. No matter what happened, no matter if we were in the same city or half a world apart, Daniel would always know that I was alive somewhere. I couldn't decide if this was a good thing or not.

There had been a time that I was in love with Daniel. I'd never told him, never told anyone, but it had been something that I'd felt in the very depths of my soul. I'd lied to myself and everyone else for a long time, saying that it was just a crush, something that had passed with time. The truth was, it was more than a crush. I'd loved him, more than a 'friend' type of love. But I'd buried those feelings a long time ago, so long that I wasn't entirely sure that they still existed in the way that they had before.

However, I couldn't deny that there was nothing between us. It was like there was this magnetic pull that kept pushing us closer to each other, no matter how much we resisted it. I could feel the energy of this pull, could see it in the air as a palpable entity. It was in every passing glance and brief touch and I was beginning to feel stirrings of those long-buried feelings emerging in the pit of my stomach, like the wings of a lone butterfly was beating against my insides, beginning to be let out.

It made this all the more difficult. Daniel being here with me was one thing. Me having feelings for Daniel, any kind of feelings for him, whether they were friendship or something more intense, was dangerous. It meant that I wouldn't do my job right. It meant that I would be too worried about protecting him than I would be about completing my mission. It meant that, for one of the first times, I had a certifiable weakness heading into a dangerous situation.

Having feelings for Daniel was different than having feelings for Max and Lia and Tasha and bringing them into the same situation. They were all trained. They knew what they were getting into and could handle themselves in most situations. While it always helped to have something there watching your back, they knew how to get out of a difficult situation on their own.

Daniel, for all intents and purposes, was a civilian. Sure, he'd been decently useful up to this point, but he hadn't gone through years of rigorous training like the rest of us. He was a liability, someone I had to worry and fuss over. I couldn't just give him a gun and send him on his way as I could do with someone else and it was a terrifying thing.  The best I could do was to plan it out, wait for the others, and let things happen as they were meant to happen.

Thankfully, I didn't have to wait that long.

It was only two hours later that three large Range Rovers pulled up into the clearing. I woke Daniel quickly and stepped out into the doorway. The first person I saw was Max as he jumped out the back seat of the first car and walked with long strides towards me.

"You're scared the ever-living shit out of me," he said as he pulled me in for a hug.

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and hugged him back. "I'm sorry."

"You ever do that again and I will kill you myself, you understand? I mean it, Mel. No ditching me in deserted nightclubs with a dying man." Max let me go and leaned back so that I was looking into his face. His blue eyes were dark and intense, a mixture of anger and relief.

"I know. Never again." I looked over his shoulder as Tasha climbed out of the same car that Max had appeared from. She was shouldering what appeared to be a heavy laptop back along with another metal briefcase that I knew happened to hold some of her very high-tech equipment.

"Melanie!" She squealed at me in her small voice. A blistering smile lit up her face.

"Hey, Tash."

"I'm so glad that you're okay. The both of you," she added as Daniel appeared in the doorway behind me. His hair was sticking up in every direction from sleep. "We were all so worried. Your parents are in the third car." Tasha looked at Daniel and then nodded with her chin back in the direction of the trio of cars.

"Thanks," he muttered as he passed by Tasha and Max to go find his parents. I watched him go, freezing as another familiar head of hair jumped out of the front seat of the car that Max and Tasha had appeared from.

I slipped by my two friends, walking out of the cabin and towards the cars. "Lia? What the bloody hell are you doing here?"

My best friend with her doe blue eyes turned to stare at me. Her brown hair was disheveled as if she hadn't brushed it in days. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm here to make sure that you don't get yourself killed."

"But what about your dad?" I asked as I reached her. I pulled her into a rough hug.

"He's okay," she assured me softly. "He's stable. And mum's with him. The two of them wanted me here with you. Mum was going to come but I convinced her to stay with dad, just in case, you know?"

"Yeah." I let her go and leaned back to look her in the face. She seemed tired, dark spots beneath her eyes and face crumpled, like she hadn't slept properly in a few days, which, I supposed, she probably hadn't. "I'm glad you're here, though, Lia. I always feel a hell of a lot safer knowing that you've got my back."

"Me too." Lia smiled faintly and then handed me a large duffle bag. "Here, help me carry this stuff."

She handed me another bag and then pulled a third out. The two of us walked back towards the cabin where some of the other agents had begun to congregate inside. I saw them leaning over the blueprints on the coffee table and flipping through the pages of prisoner profiles that Giulia had sent. Most of them didn't even acknowledge us as we walked in.

Lia and I sat the bags down near them and went over to where Max and Tasha had set up a makeshift communications station in the kitchen. The two of them were sitting at the edge of the round table on two rickety chairs, speaking in quiet tones. Max's eyes flickered to us as we walked in but Tasha's never left her computer screens.

She had set up a series of three laptops set up in front of her. The one on the far end was throwing up a digitized image of the blueprints that Giulia had sent while the second was showing off Jack Briar's complete history. The third, which happened to be the closest computer to me, was running some sort of code, the writing flying by at a speed that I couldn't decipher.

"What are you doing?" I asked, nodding to the computer.  I bent down, braced against the back of Tasha's chair, and stared at the monitors.

"Hacking into the prison's security cameras. I'm staying here with one of the MI6 computer analysts that came up here with us. We're going to be your eyes and ears when you guys get inside." Tasha glanced at me with the flash of a smile before she turned back to her coding.  

"Who are the strike teams?"

"You and I," Max said as he turned to me. "We've also got Agent Mariano. He's the big blond guy with the tattooed sleeve." He nodded towards the other room where, sure enough, there was a large man with a series of tattoos running down his left arm.

"I'm going in with Malcolm Ortiz and Rachel Trotter," Lia said. "Rachel was glad to hear that your father, that Jack, was alive. Apparently, the two of them were close. She was telling stories about Jack and Elizabeth the whole ride up here. She said she went to school with Elizabeth and met Jack through her."

"We have two more teams," Tasha added. "You'll all be getting in through different parts of the building. You really shouldn't cross over at all. If you do, its' because something's gone wrong."

I nodded grimly. "They have it all planned out then?"

"For the most part. They left a little wiggle room for things we couldn't prepare for. The information you got is good. It will help us get in easier. Where'd you get it, by the way? And how did you learn that Jack was alive? You never said when you called."

Three pairs of eyes turned to me. As per Giulia's request, I'd left her name pointedly out of the conversations that'd I'd had when telling my friends and the other agents where to meet me. I'd promised her that after I left the Vögelchen Hotel, she would never hear from me again unless it was absolutely safe. Daniel and I had even made a last minute trip to the library and the town hall in Zermatt where we signed a few books with the fake names we'd checked into the hotel with. That way if anyone went looking for our source of information, they would assume that we'd gotten it from the library or town records and not the dumpy little hotel in the woods.

"Confidential," I told them apologetically. "I can't give up my source. But they were legit. Got a lot of information we hadn't planned on." 

"As long as your sure that they weren't feeding us shite," Lia murmured.

"They weren't. I'm positive."

"You better be sure about this, Clarke. I'm missing my daughter's fourth birthday party for this."

I turned just as the large blond man with the tattooed sleeve walked in. He was scowling but it looked almost as if it were a permanent expression on his face. "You must be Mariano," I commented.

He grunted in response and I took that to be an affirmation. Agent Mariano maneuvered his way over so that he could see the computer screens. "You almost in, Fischer?"

"Another few minutes and I should have it cracked," Tasha answered.

"Good." Mariano turned to look at me. Up close, I could see that his eyes were brown, so dark that they were almost black. "You better be as good as everyone here says that you are. I'm not putting my life on the line for some stupid kid."

I bristled at his tone and mine was less than friendly when I replied, "I'm not stupid, nor am I a kid, sir."

It surprised me when the corner of Mariano's lips curled upwards in a half-smile. "You've got spunk, at least. That's good."

"What's your relation to Jack Briar?" I asked. I folded my arms across my chest and shook the hair out of my eyes.

"No relation." Mariano looked back towards the screens. "I've never met the fucker in my life."

"Then why are you here?"

"I'm here because Scorpion is one fucked up group. They've screwed me over more times than I can count and I've lost too many friends to those shitheads. I don't really give a damn about your father but if breaking him out of their stronghold up there means that I get to fuck up Scorpion and their plans," he shrugged, "then you can bet your ass that I'll be there. Capiche?" Mariano raised a thick eyebrow and stared at me darkly.

I nodded once. Mariano was definitely an acquired-taste kind of guy but I appreciated his bluntness and his crude style. I was glad that he was on our side because he was definitely not the sort of person I wanted to run into during a fight.

Mariano looked out the window. The sun was just beginning to set. "Wheels up in an hour," he said and then he stalked out of the room without a backwards glance.

"He's something," I commented.

"You have no idea," Max muttered. Then, he reached for one of the bags he'd carried inside and smiled as he tossed it at me. "We brought you some clothes and you'll probably want to gear up before we go."

"Yeah, thanks."

As Tasha finished hacking into Scorpion's security cameras in the kitchen and everyone else finalized the plans out in the living room, I snuck into the bathroom to change. There were low voices coming from the bedroom that was on the other side of the wall but I paid them no mind as I unzipped the duffel bag and pulled out the clothes my friends had brought me.

It was attire that was simple enough. Black cargo pants with plenty of pockets for me to store equipment and extra clips of ammo, and a dark t-shirt. They'd also packed me a bullet-proof vest, which I slipped on underneath the t-shirt, a pair of sturdy boots and a thick black jacket. Once dressed, I put my hair up into a bun. If it came down to a hand-to-hand fight, the bun would make sure that it was more difficult for my