Thank you to those of you that read my previous story and for all of your lovely reviews and support! Please don't forget to leave a review for this as well- it does make me write quicker!

When September Ends

By Shaz

The hot dry air was broken as a clap of thunder broke the humidity, the two men huddled in the doorway as finally the storm broke and rain bounced off the ground in front of them. The rain was no hazard to them, but as the locals all ran through the streets grabbing their belongings and heading for shelter the two Americans couldn't risk standing out by casually strolling through the bouncing rain.

The taller man pushed his cap over his dark hair and pulled his hood up to cover it, his keen eyes surveying the area for any hint that their contact was waiting for them.

"See anything?" the smaller man whispered and received a head shake in return. He sighed as he stepped further back into the shadows in frustration. They had been deployed for three days and their asset was proving elusive to say the least. They were on a tight timescale as it was and couldn't afford this delay.

"He'll show" Peter Quinn stated softly, stepping further out and enjoying the feel of the rain on his hot skin. His sharp blue eyes looked around and saw a man stood in the corner of the transport station diagonally in front of him. He looked at the man and as their eyes met the other turned and began walking slowly inside. Quinn watched him move before carefully and slowly following- knowing that Rob would have his back. He followed through the now muddy streets until he found him in the corridor of an abandoned and damaged building, unsurprised to find the other man waiting for him in the darkness.

"You're late" Quinn greeted him as he leaned against the wall, ignoring the slight pain that shot through his recently healed quad and knee. Peter Quinn was a member of the elite Special Ops group for the Central Intelligence Agency, and had only recently narrowly avoided being killed whilst on mission in Syria- he had fought with everything he had to regain fitness, his main goal to be doing exactly what he was doing here and continuing the mission that had nearly claimed his life. It had resulted in him still suffering from headaches and he tired far too easily for his liking, but he was here, he was alive and he was doing what he was made to do- so he wasn't complaining.

"I am here now aren't I" the asset responded with a grim face.

"Do you have what we need?" Quinn asked, his eyes scouting the doorway to make sure they weren't overheard. The man nodded and handed him a package, waiting whilst Quinn stowed it in the back of his jeans and covered it with his hoody.

"You need to be careful- there are whispers of US agents being in this area, just rumours for now, but it won't be long before they start actively hunting you" the man warned, then with one final nod he turned and left the American alone. Quinn waited several moments before he walked to the next doorway in the building and also stepped back out onto the street- unsurprised to find his team leader casually leaning against the wall waiting for him.

They exchanged no words and Quinn walked straight past the smaller man showing no sign that he even knew him, he headed back towards the building line and took the cover that it afforded him as he made his way back to the safe house taking several side streets and doubling back constantly. Half an hour later he was joined by Rob and the two men looked at the documents they had been given.

"That is definitely him" Quinn stated as he saw the face of the man that had taken so much from all of them.

"You sure?" Rob asked as he also looked at the blurred photograph.

"Trust me- I never forget an asshole" Quinn responded as he cast the picture aside and turned to the next document in the pile reading through the details before handing it onto Rob.

"This is earlier than we thought" Rob stated with a sigh. Quinn nodded as he recognised the details of the dates being a mere ten days from now, a week earlier than they were primed for.

"Check in isn't until tomorrow- we can do some more digging, meet with Omar and update Dar after that" Quinn suggested, frustrated himself with the new information.

"I don't like this Pete" Rob stated with a sigh.

"Well if Dar would just let us take the bastard out it would be far simpler" Quinn commented with a grin.

"Play nice Peter- you know he wants Haqqani secured and downloaded" Rob cautioned him, he knew exactly what had happened in Islamabad at the hands of the terror leader- and he knew how desperately Quinn wanted to take him down, but he also knew that Quinn was professional and experienced enough to know that they had to stick to the plan- had to consider the bigger picture rather than get dragged away into an act of revenge no matter how much he wanted to. Quinn chuckled at the comment and turned away to his table where he grabbed his sidearm and placed it in his belt.

"Where are you going now?" Rob asked him in confusion.

"Grab some food" he replied, heading out without a backward glance. Rob watched him leave and sighed, he knew his friend was still suffering the effects of his horrific injuries and he couldn't help but worry that this mission may have been too soon for the other man. He knew his friend was more than capable but he was also nowhere near full strength physically and was without thinking of the mental issues he had to still be experiencing. He wasn't too worried- Quinn was operating effectively and they were getting the job done, they just needed to continue their way through.

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Quinn moved quickly, he knew where he needed to go and he had already plotted his route in his mind. He moved through the bleakness of Damascus- a city wrecked to pieces by war but felt little sadness. This was the environment he was used to working in, it didn't mean he was immune to the effects of war, he was just good at not dwelling on them.

He kept his head down but his eyes up as he moved through the streets, his natural stealth and experience allowing him to blend into his surroundings and move without being noticed.

He got to his destination and looked up at the eight foot wall surrounding it- he sighed, six months ago we wouldn't have hesitated he would have been straight up and over, but that was before his head injury and damaged leg. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and leapt up, just managing to grab the top of the wall with his right hand he hauled himself up and over and dropped down on the other side- only wincing slightly as his weakened leg hit the ground.

He moved around the side of the building and found himself climbing up a drain pipe and pulling himself through the open window.

"You could have just used the door Peter" a familiar voice greeted him with a slight air of amusement.

"Old habits" he replied with a grin and a shrug. "Besides I really don't want to get noticed" he added.

"What on earth have you been doing to yourself?" the German woman exclaimed as she finally got a good look at her long term friend as he took his cap off. He sighed, he had hoped she wouldn't notice his less than healthy appearance.

"I had a mishap in Syria" he told her honestly and she rested her head in her hands at his comment.

"And what? Got the next flight to the next possible warzone?" she asked with her traditional sarcasm.

"I'm fine Astrid" he told her with a smile, she shook her head- well and truly used to the handsome American having no regard for his own safety.

"Like hell you are Peter- but I know better than to bother arguing with your stubborn ass" she stated with a sigh. "What was the damage?" she asked as he took in his thinner than usual features and pale face.

"Dislocated knee, shrapnel to the ribs, bullet through the bicep, torn quad, and a head injury" he told her and she shook her head as he reeled off the list.

"And let me guess you have been out of hospital less than a month?" she stated with a raised eye brow. He couldn't help but laugh at how well she knew him.

"Five weeks actually" he told her playfully and she rolled her eyes.

"So what do you want from me?" she asked, knowing that he had to be there for a reason.

"Any whispers that you have heard?" he asked her.

"About who exactly?"

"Haqqani" he replied and she groaned out loud.

"Oh Peter when will you move on from him?" she asked in despair.

"When he is rotting for the rest of his life in a cell or has slowly and painfully bled to death" Peter replied honestly. "He's either here or due here" he told her quietly. "We just need to find out exactly where, when and with who" he told her as she handed him a coffee.

"You don't wish for much then! We have heard very little about him Peter" Astrid warned. "The last we heard was that he was in Aleppo" she added.

"That was his last hide out- so he could stir things up at Raqqah" Quinn stated suddenly feeling tired.

"You out here by yourself?" Astrid asked her concern increasing.

"No- but I didn't think you would appreciate an extra guest" he told her. "We are only due to be here for another week- how long can you stay?"

"In Syria?" she asked in surprised. "I am getting out of dodge as soon as you leave here Peter- this is no place for games at the moment" he nodded, glad to hear that she would be out of harm's way- or as much as she ever was.

"Can you run some sources and let me know if you find anything?" he asked her his eyes locked on hers. She knew without question how much this meant to him and how very important it was to him to draw a line under Haqqani.

"I thought you were getting out?" she asked him with a smile, reminding him of just about every meeting they had ever had.

"I think we both know that is never likely to happen" he responded softly. "Will you do it?"

"Like there is ever any doubt" she sighed. "How do I reach you?" she asked, and took down the number of the burner he reeled off.

"Thank you" he told her.

"Take care of yourself Peter- you aren't invincible and the locals aren't too friendly here" she warned him gently. He nodded with a smile, before turning and climbing back out of the window. She watched him leave and shook her head, she had never known anybody quite like Peter Quinn. He was the softest and most caring man she had ever known- but with one flinch we could kill you with his bare hands or plot an assassination in his sleep. She didn't watch him climb down the drain pipe- she didn't want to draw attention to him by leaning out of the window. She didn't hear his feet hit the bottom either, but she knew he would have made it.

She grabbed her bag and pulled out her phone, sending the message to secure her own extraction. She knew that she would go to the ends of the earth to help Quinn, he would do the same for her- she just hoped he would keep himself alive along enough to let her.

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Rob was not happy, not happy at all in fact. It had been two hours since Quinn had just popped out and yet no sign of the younger man. Rob sighed- he couldn't even go out looking for him, couldn't risk them coming under the attention of the locals. His thoughts were interrupted by the door swinging open and the object of his thoughts stepping through the door.

"Where the fuck have you been?" he demanded.

"Good evening to you too" Quinn replied with a quirk of his brows.

"Where's the food?" Rob asked noticing his friend's quite clearly empty hands and Quinn paused in his steps realising he hadn't even grabbed them any canned food.

"Sorry" he muttered as he stepped down into the main area of their shared room and perched on the step. "I went to see a contact- got them putting the feelers out to see if any there are any whispers" Quinn explained, leaning back against the wall and stretching his aching leg out in front of him. Rob sighed, he had expected this, but hoped that Quinn would be honest with him and tell him what he was actually up to- but as usual the sneaky bastard was just running around as he always did.

Rob grabbed a bottle of water and handed that and Quinn's pain medication to him without comment- recognising that he clearly needed them.

"Nothing current, last they were aware he was in Aleppo- which matches our earlier intel or their camp set up and deploying from there, but my contact is going to do some more digging" he told his friend, closing his eyes against the newly forming headache.

"We'll feed it into Dar tomorrow and see if they have anything new or can deploy a drone" Rob replied, equally unhappy with the development. He sat down beside Quinn and handed him a tin of tuna the standard food of their deployments.

"You doing ok?" Rob asked his friend softly, a rare display of concern. Special forces didn't speak about their feelings- it was an unspoken rule whilst on a mission. To mention weakness made the possibility real and that was a dangerous direction to head in. The group cared for each other, they looked after each other and they were always there if the others needed them- but they didn't talk about that, it just was.

"I'm fine Rob" Quinn replied with an edge of danger to his voice.

"Good- because I am so over having to carry your scrawny ass out of warzones" Rob stated with a grin. Quinn snorted.

"Let's not compare score cards Rob" he warned, reminding the older man of the number of times it had been the other way around.

"Fair point" Rob conceded with a matching grin. "I don't know how you do these missions Pete- all this luxury- flushing toilets and running water, it's all so extravagant" Rob teased, far more used to just being part of the strike forces or fighting force rather than part of the advance team doing the intelligence work.

In fact Rob rarely worked as part of such a small team, and certainly had only deployed as a single operative a handful of times. That was where Quinn excelled- sure he was an absolute must on the unit – and a natural soldier, but his mind worked in such a way that he thrived on this kind of work. Building explosives and tailing terrorists came as naturally to the other man as making a sandwich came to others. He had known the man for more than ten years, yet sometimes he still asked himself if he knew him at all.

"I can go and dig you a hole in the yard if that would make you feel better" Quinn quipped as he finished his tuna and dragged himself to his feet. "I'll take first shift" he stated as he headed towards the window and grabbed the sight of his weapon, making it perfectly clear that the conversation was over. Rob sighed, and recognised when his friend was shouting him out. He got up and headed towards the bed roll- stripping to his boxers, his gun by his side and he laid down. They were on a mission and he knew he needed to grab rest whilst he could- knowing he could trust Quinn to watch his back.

End Chapter One