Shadows and Masks

All three of them rode in silence to the safe house, their minds racing on what and how to make sure their plan doesn't fail. They finally pull up to the safe house and get out the car. "Okay the facial reconstruction specialist will be here soon, along with the almost identical dead body to match you Sarah. Once they get here you will need to remove the tracker and the alert mechanism from your body and place it into hers. You will also need to make her fingerprints match yours along with her back teeth because that's what's gonna be tested to identity the body. Once that's done we will get the dummy car that Director Birmingham gave us and drive it to an empty tunnel and crash it. Once the cops find it they will confirm the death and rule it as an accident due to intoxication," Jake explained, as soon as they settled into the house.

"Now as you both are doing that I will tail Amanda and see if she would lead me to Mike or the Russians hideout," he added. "Okay," Sarah says unsurely, as she is scared of the thought of ripping the items out of her body along with her teeth. "It will be alright Sarah, it may hurt but you will be fine," lieutenant Johnson says reassuringly. Sarah looked at him and Jack will fear in her eyes. She's never had to do this before, and now she also has to get her face rearranged, what if she doesn't like her new look?, what if Mike cant recognize her?, will she able to go back to her old life after this? All these questions played in her head.

Jake sensing the uneasiness in Sarah, walked over to her and gently placed both of his hands on her shoulder. "You are going to be fine, no matter what you are still the same ol' Sarah Jenkins to me and Mike will understand and feel the same way to," Jack says with a sweet smile. "Thank you Jack," Sarah said as she hugged him. "Okay I need to go now, but call me if anything happens," Jack says. "Will do," Johnson replies while tossing Jack the keys. Jack quickly left and headed back towards the U.S government secret building. Johnson turned to look at Sarah, "alright now, let's get settled in and wait for the specialist," Johnson says, while Sarah nods her head in agreement.

As soon as Jack got in the car he speed off to make sure he made it back to the building before Amanda left. When Jack pulled up into the empty parking lot of the building, Amanda was just getting ready to leave. He stealthily made a U-turn and got right behind her. He drove a few cars behind, so she wouldn't realize that he is following her. Amanda first pulled into a shopping center and went to a coffee shop and bookstore. She was in there for about 30 minutes before coming back out. Once she left there she drove to get some food and went shopping.

As the hours went past, Jack felt like this was becoming futile. "She isn't really doing anything suspicious or meeting with anyone that looks like a Russian spy. This just might be a failed mission," Jack says to himself, as he watches Amanda shop. Another hour had passed, when Amanda gets a phone call. When she picked up the phone she immediately started speaking russian. "Mne nuzhno, chtoby ty kak mozhno skoreye priyekhal v ubezhishche, nam nuzhno koye-chto obsudit',"Dimitri immediately said over the phone. (Translation: I need you to come to the hideout as soon as possible, there is something we need to discuss.) Jack couldn't really hear what the person said over the phone, he just only heard Amanda's response. "Khorosho," she replies back and quickly hangs up. (Translation: Okay.) 

With Jack's interest peaked, he quickly went back to his car to see where she was going. "I hope this will lead me to their hideout," he said to himself. Amanda finished checking out and headed back to her car, looking around to see if anyone was following her, then hopped in her car and drove off, with Jack following closely behind her. He followed behind her for what seems like an hour until she pulled into an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the city. Parking a few blocks behind her, he checked the time, seeing it was pretty late, and slowly got out of the car. Jack moved closer, seeing Amanda disappear into a darkened doorway while looking over her shoulder.

Jack ducked behind a van, his pulse quickening as he realize he might have struck gold. When Jack got closer and peeped through the dusty glass, all he could see was Amanda pacing back and forth, checking her phone and speaking in hushed tones. Jack looked on in confused silence, not understanding what is going on. "Did she notice me following her?" "Is this a trap?" Jack said to himself, unsure if he should go inside or just go back to his car and leave.

After a few minutes, Amanda raised her hand to signal something. She moved from the warehouse and slipped away into a side street. Jack instinctively followed, as he moved in silence making sure he didn't get caught. He shadowed her through the narrow, uninviting, pathway until she approached a run-down building, masked by overgrown shrubbery. As Jack crept closer, he caught snippets of her conversation: words like "Mike," "home," and "oil." He didn't need to eavesdrop further to understand he was on the brink of a breakthrough. His heart sank at the mention of Mike, Sarah's ex-boyfriend, "I just hope it isn't too late and you are still alive," he said to himself.

Looking around Jack notice an entrance at the back of the building. Moving in slowly to take a closer look, he could see no guards were guarding the area. He quietly walked through the door looking around to see if there was any traps, or cameras to alert them that he was there, but to his luck he didn't see none. Jack walked further into the warehouse hoping to find Mike. Jack quickly ducked behind some bins as he heard footsteps coming. He couldn't really make out what they were saying as they were speaking russian. Jack waited until they passed to move further down the corridor.

As Jack was moving he could see Amanda talking to Dimitri. He pulled out his phone, silently taking a picture to see if this was the man Sarah was talking to. He then proceeded to head further down the hallway to see if he could find Mike. He finally stumbled upon a door, but when he tried to open it, he found it to be locked. Cursing to himself, he looked around to see if there was any way to get into the room. While searching, he spotted a small window, while walking towards it, his eyes widen as soon as he seen what was inside.

It was Mike, he was badly beaten, bloody, and looked like he was clinging on to life. Jack stumbled backwards at the site of Mike's condition, walking into a box and knocking it over. Jack jumped at the sound and quickly ran back out the warehouse, just seconds from being caught by the Russians himself. Jack ran back to his car, quickly making a mental note of the location and drove off. As soon as he turned the corner a few of the Russian spies were coming out of the side street. "I need to hurry up and get back to them, so we can come an rescue Mike before they kill him," Jack said to himself, as he pressed his foot harder against the gas pedal.

Both Sarah and Johnson settled into the safe house and waited for the specialist to come. "Do you really think we can pull this off?" Sarah asked while nervously bitting her nails. "I think we can. Everything seems to be going just fine. Once Jack gets back with the intel on Amanda we will be ready to strike," Johnson responses reassuringly. Sarah stared off into space, as she let her thoughts take over. She was worried about Jack. "What if he doesn't make it back?" "What if he is captured and killed?" "What if Mike was already dead and we can't find him?" Her mind was a whirlwind of questions, that she was desperately needing the answers to. While Sarah drifted further into her thoughts, there was a knock at the door. Johnson slowly got up and looked through the peephole. "Who is it?" He asked authoritatively. The person behind the door started to speak the code that navy's use to identify themselves.

"The water flows like a river through the mountains and the sun shines in the east." Johnson looked at Sarah confused, "what did she just say?" What is she even talking about?" Johnson said, looking to Sarah for answers. When Sarah finally snapped out of her thoughts she looked at Johnson, "huh? What did you say?" She asked him. "I said what is that person going on about," he said, still having a look of confusion spread across his face. Sarah slowly got up and walked towards the door. "What did you say?" She asked. The person repeated the saying one more time, "the water flows like a river through the mountains and the sun shines in the east." "And the light shines upon me," Sarah quickly responded and opened the door.

A beautiful woman, with an athletic build, walked through the door with two very large suitcases, passing by both Johnson and Sarah, to set up her surgical items. Johnson still looking on confused, "You understood that yoda gibberish?" He asked Sarah. Sarah heartily laughed and said, "It's Jack's navy saying to identify his people. I was very confused when I first heard it to." Johnson closed the door behind him, as he and Sarah walked over to the lady.

"Hi my name is Sarah and this Lieutenant Johnson,"Sarah says with a smile, as she points at Johnson, to introduce him. "Hi nice to meet you, I am Ashley Evans, the facial reconstruction specialist," she says, as she returns the smile and shakes both of their hands. "Sarah I was told by Jack that you are the one needing the facial reconstruction,right?" Ashley asked, Sarah to confirm the details. "Yes that's correct, but I don't want to change my face where I'm unrecognizable to myself," Sarah said. "Oh we don't have to, I have just what we need to minimally change your appearance without needing to completely reconstruct your whole face," Ashley said sweetly. "That's wonderful," Sarah said returning a smile. "Ok perfect, how about you lay down on the table and I'll get started," Ashley said, as she pointed to her setup in the living room.

Sarah shakily walked towards the table, scared out of her mind. "This won't be painful right?" Sarah asked, as she looked back at Ashley. "No not at all, you won't even feel anything," Ashley replied. Sarah taking Ashley words as bond, holstered herself onto the table and laid back. "Okay, first we will need to remove the tracker and anything that the government put in you," Ashley said, as she walked over to Sarah with a weird looking machine. Sarah jumped back, "What the hell is that?" "Oh this?" Ashley said lowly laughing to herself. "This isn't going to hurt you it just to detect any devices that have been implanted within in your body," Ashley added.

Sarah relaxed and laid back down, "okay." Ashley walked over to Sarah, waving the device over her body, there was a beep when Ashley went over her a stomach and behind her head. "The tracker is in your stomach but the awakening alert is embedded into your brain stem," Ashley said. Sarah looked in shock, "is it possible to remove it from my brain stem?" Sarah asked with fear in her eyes. "It's possible with the device I have, but you will need to reman very still or it will paralyze you," Ashley replied looking into her eyes, to show her how serious this is. Sarah gazed back into her eyes becoming uncomfortable, "okay, let's get started," Ashley said while excitedly clapping her hands together.

Ashley started by removing her tracking chip in her stomach, placing it in a tin on the table. "Okay Sarah I'm need you lie on your stomach and remain very still, this device will do all the work, but if you move an inch it will paralyze or worse kill you," Ashley says. Sarah nervously turned to lay down on her stomach, taking deep breaths in and out to calm her nerves. "Are you ready?" Ashley asked. "As ready as I'll ever be," Sarah says laughing nervously.

Ashley carefully moved her hair out the way and placed the device on the top part of her neck, and pressing a button. The device made a little incision, using the clamps to open it up further. It then took the attached tweezers and carefully found the device and took it out. Once it was done the device closed her up with some small stitches, then sprayed it with antiseptic, and beeped to signify that it was done. Ashley carefully took the device from Sarah's head and placed it in the tin with the tracking device. "Okay now turn around so I can get started on your face." Sarah carefully turned around and laid down on her back, as Ashley began to work on Sarah's face.

When Ashley was done she gave Sarah a mirror to look at her herself. "Omg I look almost unrecognizable," Sarah said shockingly. Ashley laughed, "we still need to change your hair and then we will be done," Ashley added. Johnson walked over to Sarah to see her transformation. "Wow, you really do look like a different person," he replies. Ashley does the finishing touches on Sarah and proceed to place the devices into the dead body she brought. "I've never seen a dead body up close like this before," Sarah says in astonishment. Ashley proceeds to lay the body on the table and input the devices.

Ashley then takes a device to match the person's fingerprints and dental records to Sarah's. "Okay now, Sarah you will need change into these clothes and I will put the ones you wore today on her. Sarah nodded in agreement, as she turned and walked into the bedroom next to them to change. Sarah came out a few minutes later handing over her clothing to Ashley, "here you go," she says. Ashley took the clothes and placed them onto the dead body. "Ok Johnson imma need you to take the body to the tunnel on 5th and Maine, as there is no cameras over there and no one will notice you." Johnson holster the body over his shoulders and walked out to place her into the dummy car out front.

"How did she die?" Sarah asked. "She died from alcohol poisoning," Ashley replied. "Oh," Sarah says sadly. Johnson placed gloves over his hands, and proceeded to place the body in the car along with empty alcohol bottles, Sarah's drivers license, and a few other items that pointed to Sarah. He then got in the car and drove to the tunnel by 5th and Maine, carefully getting out the car, looking to see if anyone saw him as he placed the dead persons foot on the gas pedal causing the car to immediately accelerate and crash into the concrete wall. Johnson then quickly ran away, getting into the get away car that was placed a few blocks up the street and drove back to the safe house.