"Yes." Hans answered again.
"How can you say that? You are basically asking us to choose who is going to live and who is going to die!" Camilla almost shouts with anger in her voice.
Even if right now they were only four of them talking, they had kept the com on all this while. So, while Lina, Na-Yung, Lucie were busy feeding the hostages and Jon was looking at the most injured person, they all knew what the situation was, which was even more obvious by the frequent look they were giving them.
"Don't be mad at him, he's just raising a very good issue and also doing his job for that matter." He said, stopping Camilla before she started going on a rant that they were all very much familiar with. "We are still leaving no hostages behind though."
"Thank… huh?" Hans starts to say before what Nathaniel said last registered into his mind.
"We are leaving no hostages behind." Nathaniel repeated, realizing that the whole team was looking at him now. "On the boat, the essential personnel would be Lina to dodge Coast Guard surveillance and patrol for you to get back to the US. Hans in case there is a mechanical failure along the way. Jon took care of the hostages and lastly Scott to escort everyone to safety. Lucie, Na-Yung, Camilla and Me are not essential and this is why we are going to split into two teams. The first will go according to plan and get the hostages back to the states. The second team is going to escort you to the boat and then find another way home."
Taking a breath, he continued.
"If it was a more peaceful situation, I would ask for volunteers but since we are literally running out of time, I will make the call. We have a minute to take the hostages upstairs and into the van. Jon, can they walk on their own?" He asked.
"Walk yes. Run, no."
"Good enough. Alright, we need to move now! Everyone helps them to their feet and gets them out of here. Hans, you will drive the van, Jon take the five most injured hostages and get them inside with you. I saw two cars in the driveway and there are car keys near the door. Scott you take the first car with Camilla take the three last hostages with you. Lucie, Lina, Na-Yung and me will bring up the rear. Let's go!"
Putting his weapon to the side of his body, Nathaniel took a knee in front of one of the teenagers who were both boys.
"Don't worry, we are the good guys. We are going to get you to safety." He said the boy didn't look like he understood what Nathaniel said but still let him carry it.
In the way he saw Lucie picking the other boy and heard the one he had in his arms speaking in a language he didn't know which considering the number of tongues he could speak was surprising.
"Does anyone know what languages these two are speaking?" Nathaniel asked.
"That's Swedish." Lucie supplied before saying something that put the two teenagers at ease.
Arriving in front of the front door, Nathaniel took the two sets of car keys and threw one at Scott who caught it easily, pocketing the second. After that, he moved in front of the kitchen window where he had a good sight on the street outside. According to what he believed, there were quite a few people who were gazing in their direction. Thankfully, the room who blew up was on the other side of the street and so the fire wasn't visible from it.
Nathaniel wasn't seeing police yet but he was sure they were going to show up soon. Taking a pair of binoculars from his vest, Nathaniel looked at a particular position well away from them. That wasn't even the place that he was looking at who was important but if people were nearby. Making sure there was no one here, Nathaniel took a burner phone and dial the only number on it. The ring did not have the time to echo one note before there was a loud explosion exactly where Nathaniel was looking at and every light in the neighborhood shut down.
That was their original plan. Blowing up the power relay and hit the house while the whole block was in the dark. It presented risk of course and that's one of the reasons why Nathaniel finally opted for the almost cliché honey trap. Even if it was a cliché, it was one for a good reason and luckily for him he had a lot of gorgeous womens in his team. The explosion had the desired effect that he wanted, everyone's attention made a total 180 degrees and some people even started running away in fear, causing disturbance on the beach and the street.
Opening the front door, Nathaniel quickly brought the teenager inside the van. The whole team was moving swiftly and efficiently which made him oddly proud for a second. His eyes lingered for a second on Madison who looked tired but seemed otherwise okay. Her and her sister, Elisabeth, look to have been treated more fairly than the other and they were now walking together and taking place in Scott's car.
"Okay everyone, drive outside without turning your light on, only after a couple of hundred yards can you turn your light on. Scott goes first, Hans second and we will be the last car. Stay five MPH under the speed limit and don't follow you too closely, we don't want to appear like a convoy."
Finishing his speech, Nathaniel threw the car key at Lucie and took place in the back passenger seat.
"You drive."
"Hey! What don't you drive?" Lucie asked in displeasure.
"Because you are better at it than I am. Not mentioning the fact that even if I have a driver license, the age limit to drive in this country is 18 years old and so it's illegal for me to do so." Nathaniel answered calmly, putting his seat belt.
"Yeah, it's not like what we already did tonight did not warrant a life behind bars, we really can't afford a misdemeanor on top of it." Na-Yung adds with an invisible smirk in her voice.
Nathaniel laughed at her intervention before cutting the com and looking at Lina who was beside him. She had been oddly silent the whole time and even though she had been doing her job correctly, Nathaniel knew it wasn't going to last. That was also one of the reasons he told her to get in the same car as him because even a dumbass could know what was going through her mind right now.
"Killing for the first time is never an easy thing to do Lina, for anyone."
"It doesn't appear to bother you, in fact, you act like it's nothing more than a formality." Lina added, her eyes still lost on the road they were passing.
"You say that because you never saw me the first time I had to kill someone. At that time, I was the same as you, I had learned to kill but I have never done it before and then something happened. Bad guys happened and I had to act to save people. Like you did tonight, right now there is a van and a car full of hostages alive because you choose to act."
"How do you do it? How do you justify taking a life?" Lina asked, finally looking at him.
"Let me ask you a question by asking one of my own. In your opinion, what would the men you killed would have done if you decided to not push the trigger?"
"I don't know, how can someone know?"
"Let me tell you what I think would have happened. He would have found the dead guard, triggered the alarm and in the process killed some of those hostages and even members of our team. After that maybe he would have been killed, maybe he would have fled the house. And after that he would have kept doing what he was doing previously, killing and kidnapping people for money."
"You can't know that for sure Nathaniel." Lucie said, Nathaniel knew that she and Na-Yung were listening in on the conversation but didn't really care.
"Of course I can't, I don't have the ability to see someone's future but I know people. There was an old man and two teenagers in there. I believe some time good people can get themselves into problems but nothing justified being complicit in taking childs away from their family. There are things beyond redemption and that's one of them. You asked me why I justify taking a human life and that is it. I kill to protect people who would otherwise be in danger."
"I understand." Lina said.
"There is one more thing."
"What?"
"I'm proud of you." Nathaniel finished almost sweetly, patting the top of her hood. "We will talk more about it when we are back into the city."
The ride took them twenty minutes to go to the creek where they had hidden the boat. Surprisingly, they never saw even one Police car on the way and so the twenty minutes it took to get there was quite peaceful even with a little nerve wracking. Once he arrived, Nathaniel took Hans in private to ask him to get him some things. Hans quickly nodded before running in the direction of the tree line. Helping the hostaged to get on the boast, some of them too weak to walk in the water, Nathaniel took the team in private minus Jon who still tended to the wounded and Hans who wasn't back yet.
"Alright, this is where we are splitting guys. I know that none of us want that but we don't have a choice. Well, that's not true we have the choice but I believe we are on the same page on this issue." He said, looking at them, receiving nodd all around confirming what he was saying.
"We were trained for this, they were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. This is an easy decision to make." Scott interject.
"That's right. Now, Scott and Lina, memorize that number and take this. Once that's done, destroy it." Nathaniel said, giving a sat phone to lina and a piece of number on it. "Call that number when you are one hour away to get back to the states, people will be here to take care of the hostages."
"Understood." Scott nodded.
"Good and there it is." Nathaniel said, seeing Hans coming back with two bags in hands.
"You have a plan to get out of this island." Lucie said, looking at the bag in Hans hands with interest.
"Of course, you really think I would start an operation on an island without a second or even a third way out? I'm the one who is putting you in arm's way, my responsibility is at least to get you off it. Lucie, Na-Yung, Camilla take your gears off and hand it to the rest of the team. We can't be caught with that equipment for that plan. Thanks Hans." Nathaniel said, taking the bag from him and giving him his HK416.
Seeing him taking his gear, they follow his lead, dropping all of their equipment to their teammates. Even if they were harboring some doubt, they all knew to trust him when he was an idea, especially in the middle of an operation. Once that was done, the rest of the team took their equipment and got on the boat and with a last goodbye, the engine turned on and the team finally split.