Stuck Together Spies

Day 1 - Why?

The low rumble of the car engine felt almost soothing to Ben's racing thoughts. Almost. It was hard to believe that his longtime nemesis would reappear so soon, Murray's apparent defeats never lasted long in the first place... Nevertheless Ben had wished. He had made his amble way to Erica's cabin, collapsed in her arms, then lifted the dossier so she could see the information atop the page. Her reaction, was neutral as always. Maybe there was some eye-rolling and exasperated sighs, but Erica, holding her duties dear, notified the team of the situation. 

A team. They were a team. That made Ben feel the slightest more comforted about their mission. 

Now, the five were on their way to the local airport located a fair distance away from their camp. The snow was rather heavy, the sea of white seemed to be never ending. Erica had a hard time finding the outline of the road as the driver. Cold air was barely being kept at bay in their rather musty looking van so Ben wrapped his blankets tighter around himself while Svetlana sat in the front providing directions to Erica. Zoe spent her time nose in a book and Mike complaining incessantly about his butt not being warm. 

Ben's eyes soon grew heavy and he found himself drifting into sleep...

"Hey, wake up." A gentle shake awoke Ben and he found himself looking up blearily at Erica. 

"What's up? Are we there?" He blinked a couple of times, finding it hard to get used to the blaring white around them. 

"We can't get the car to run, and I don't think I can drive safely with all the snow and ice. It's getting dark as well. There's some cabins that seem to be for rent, and we were given some money... Lana suggested we just stop for the night." 

"Oh," Words finally register in Ben's head and he flops back onto the car seat, "yeah, that sounds alright by me."

Zoe suddenly pipes up from behind, "Just a fair warning, the cabin's not the prettiest. And there's only like three beds." 

"Dibs to sleep by myself!" Mike yells as he runs, keys and duffle bag in hand, to the cabin. 

Ben groans. The CIA was never too good at giving their small teams proper budgets. 

To his surprise, the cabin wasn't too bad. It was a two storey made with old logs and there were small windows, and they were indeed tiny. Nothing in particular stood out to them. The door was already open, courtesy to Mike and Ben hopped down from the van onto the parking lot pavement. He and Erica made their way to the cabin where they saw a small "Welcome Home!" mat placed right in front of the door. The pair tried to shake as much of the snow they could off of their boots. 

It was dark. Aside from the windows providing light, there was no apparent light switch to be found. There was also a weird musty smell in the air that even Erica couldn't tell what it was from. A fireplace was placed neatly in a corner, and there were several mismatched armchairs placed around it placed atop the ugliest carpet Ben had ever seen. A muddy green that almost looked brown. He could see his breath forming in front of him and he shivered slightly. Lana and Zoe were still busy bringing everyone's belongings inside and Erica got right to work starting the fire. Besides the living room was a kitchenette and a large staircase spiraling to the floor above. Everything seemed to be either made of wood or steel. 

Ben decided he would go check out the rooms upstairs. He wearily climbed up the creaking stairs and saw that there was a small corridor, two rooms on each side. The walls were lined with vintage looking frames, most of them held pictures of landscapes but there were faces in the mix as well. One room was a bathroom presumably and Ben saw Mike sprawled on a twin bed in another. 

The rooms were rather barren, a bed in each paired with a dresser and small lamp. Ben plopped his bag in the room besides Mike's and sat down on the bed. Probably wasn't the cleanest but  he decided that spending the night here wouldn't be so bad.