At Exit B1, after several failed attempts to reach Nikki, Owen realized something was wrong. He called her a few more times to no avail, then decided to move out.
If he couldn't contact Nikki, something had definitely gone wrong—there were no coincidences in their line of work. Whoever was behind this was clearly after the plutonium. But as long as Owen still had it, Nikki's life was likely safe.
After orienting himself, Owen headed for the station's exit. As he moved, he caught sight of someone in his peripheral vision—a young man approaching from behind. Owen recognized him immediately: William Brandt, a member of the IMF. So, Nikki's silence was the handiwork of the IMF as well.
William was closing in, and Owen increased his pace, putting more distance between them while carefully watching everyone around. With William here, Ethan Hunt couldn't be far.
There were on-duty police officers in the station, so neither Owen nor William made any sudden moves. Owen kept walking quickly toward the exit. Beyond the doors was open space—more room for maneuvering.
Just ahead, an elderly white man in a white suit reached the exit doors at the same time as Owen. Both of them reached for the door handles simultaneously. Owen had been focused on William, and while he had noted the old man earlier, he hadn't given him a second thought—until he suddenly felt a sharp prick in his hand, like a needle.
A chill ran down Owen's spine. He'd made a misstep. Looking up, he saw the old man smiling at him. A wave of dizziness swept over him.
He tried to speak, but his mouth wouldn't move. Before he could fall, the old man caught him.
Ethan Hunt's plan had been brilliant. After the locator in the plutonium case activated, the IMF team quickly locked down Owen's position and arrived in Belgrade to prepare an ambush.
Ethan had figured Owen wouldn't be acting alone and had Luther re-screen the suspect list from earlier. The process was simple: cross-check the original suspect list and see who else had arrived in Belgrade.
Nikki was flagged. Ethan didn't harm her—he simply had Luther sever her communications with Owen. So even if Nikki realized something was wrong, she couldn't warn him.
Then, Ethan had William appear without disguise. Given Owen's background, he'd definitely recognize him. While William drew his attention, Ethan—disguised as an old man—made the actual move.
The plan wasn't complicated, and it worked perfectly. Owen's focus on William allowed Ethan to stab him with a tranquilizer ring as they opened the door.
Ethan then sat Owen on a bench like an old friend catching up. To anyone watching, it looked like nothing more than two acquaintances meeting. The police nearby glanced over briefly, then looked away.
Owen understood everything, but CIA tech wasn't for show—his brain's commands weren't reaching his limbs. The only part of him he could still move was his eyes.
Seeing Owen's furious glare, Ethan mouthed a silent "sorry," took the plutonium case from his hand, patted him down, found the USB-like unlock device, then turned and walked away.
From her monitoring station, Nikki panicked. She didn't know if Owen was dead and didn't care if someone was watching—she bolted down to the lower level.
Having monitored for so long, she had a good idea of Owen's location.
No one tried to stop her. She found Owen on the lower level.
Seeing his eyes still moving, Nikki finally exhaled in relief. About a minute later, the powerful sedative wore off, and Owen regained control of his body.
"Owen, we have to leave—now. People are starting to take notice…"
Nikki glanced around and whispered in his ear. She'd noticed a nearby police officer glancing in their direction repeatedly. Owen could barely move, but with Nikki's support, he stood up and staggered away.
An hour later, their cab stopped at an inconspicuous house. After some fiddling by Nikki, the two entered. It was an NSA safe house in Belgrade—unauthorized access, courtesy of Nikki's hacking.
"Who was it?"
Nikki hadn't dared ask in the cab, but now that they were safe, she couldn't hold back.
"IMF team," Owen replied firmly. After a pause, he added, "The guy who distracted me was William Brandt—he's with the IMF. The one who actually made the move was probably Ethan Hunt. He was in disguise, but I recognized his eyes…"
…
On the streets of Belgrade, a nondescript van cruised through traffic. A police officer might've noticed that the ignition didn't have a key—just exposed wires.
William was driving. In the back, Luther ran a scanner over both the plutonium case and the USB-like unlock device. No alerts.
"We're clean."
Luther nodded at Ethan. If Owen had tampered with the case, their scanner would've caught it.
Minutes later, the van rolled into the garage of the IMF's local safe house. The doors closed. The van vanished from view.
Inside, Luther took the unlock device from Ethan, opened the case, and inserted it. The team watched as the red light blinked—then turned green.
"Luther, make a replica. We need it to trade for Benji—but we're not giving both the plutonium and the unlock device back to Makarov."
"Got it. I'll give it a shot…"
Luther headed to the workshop with the plutonium and the unlock device. He didn't need to understand how Pavlovich's mechanism worked—he just needed a convincing duplicate.
…
Back in the NSA safe house, Nikki's laptop let out a loud beep-beep. She dropped her half-eaten apple and started typing rapidly.
"Owen, I've got them!"
Owen had been gearing up—selecting weapons and loading spare magazines into his tactical vest. He rushed over. Nikki pointed to a location on the screen—a confirmed address.
Ethan had taken the real plutonium, but the unlock device he'd snatched was fake. Owen had switched it beforehand. On its own, it did nothing, but once connected to the plutonium, it activated as a tracker. The signal Luther triggered during testing had just exposed their location.
"I'm going to get the plutonium back. You'll support me."
Owen grabbed an MP5 and a P226, strapped on his vest, and sprinted to the garage. Seconds later, a Fiat sedan roared onto the street.
Ever since the IMF team had stolen the plutonium right in front of him, Owen had been seething. Even knowing how skilled Ethan's team was, and even having taken every precaution—he'd still been outplayed, right under his nose.
In a straight fight, Owen believed his Quick Response Team could beat ten IMF teams. But in asymmetric warfare? He couldn't deny IMF's brilliance. As much as he disliked their methods, they were undeniably effective.
But Owen wasn't discouraged. The QRT and IMF were two very different animals. Ethan Hunt was a master of subtlety and deception—he always preferred tricks to brute force.
The QRT was different. They dealt with armed robberies and crises. Direct confrontation was inevitable. That's why Owen had chosen every member of his team for their combat prowess first—everything else could be supplemented with the vast resources behind them.
Where IMF operated like a spy cell, handling intelligence, the QRT functioned more like a special ops unit—focused on power and rapid crisis response.
Now it was time to show Ethan Hunt how they got things done.
(End of Chapter)
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