Betrayal: Chapter 1

The wind whipped his hair into his face and the momentary dust cloud was choking thick. He shifted so his hair would behave and looked to the ruins of the helicopter. Reno was still missing and he could hear Elena chattering at Rude, trying to get him to leave. They were to take Rufus to the Mansion while he handled things here. Including the search for Reno. When he'd heard enough of the argument, he spoke quietly, "Rude, Elena. Onto the chopper. Now." Rude cut off whatever he was about to say, pulling on his collar instead. He followed them to the new chopper, ignoring the troops scattering in all directions. He helped Rufus inside. The other man paused a moment to touch his face and he lifted his hand to cup his.

They shared a look that said everything, said nothing. Rufus slipped into the depths of the machine and he hurried out of the launch area. The chopper was a dot in the sky when his phone beeped. He flicked it open with a practiced motion, voice stripped of emotion when he said, "Failure. Reno is down. It will make future operations run smoother." One the other end of the line, someone breathed a curse word.

After a moment, the woman replied, "Give us the information for his return trip and you'll have the other half of the money. We won't fail again."

He smiled and replied smoothly, "Of course. He would not have survived this attempt without Reno's intervention." A few moments more of discussion and then the phone was tucked away.

He looked up to see Reno looking at him with narrowed eyes, highlighted by the tattoos. His clothes were filthy, singed, and one lens of his goggles was broken. "It's all set?"

"Perfectly."

Reno smiled widely, "Let's get started then, yo! Tell me again why we couldn't tell Elena and Rude about this..."