Once his blood warmed up enough to sit up, Akula made his way out of the truck and began the long walk across Haven towards somewhere far away from such isolation. As soon as the double-locked door opened, he was greeted by the shrill scream of four jet engines struggling to slow a massive Il-76 transport that bore no flag or logo. Its massive size made it appear much faster than it was as brakes squealed to slow it down.
Watching it stop its roll at the far end of Haven’s runway, Akula was partly surprised to see Orchid running out to the transport herself, ebony hair blowing wildly behind her like the whip motivating the mare. Has she nothing better to do than berate everyone in sight?
Knowing that his new assignment was about to begin, and what little peace he’d had left in Haven was sunsetting, Akula turned away from the runway, and strode for a calmer environment. As soon as he’d made his way into the dwelling quarter of Haven, Akula was treated to the sight of one of Orchid’s aides sailing through the air out of Leonid’s door. At less than half of Grizli’s size, the fact that the aide then stood up again and wiped a sliver of crimson from his busted lip was a noteworthy one. “Obey orders, dog! Or I’ll have you shot now!”
Running up to the scene, Akula placed a strong hand on the aide’s shoulder and spun him around. To his surprise, the smaller man gripped Akula’s wrist and used that momentum to pull him in and bury an elbow in Akula’s side. As the air left his lungs, Akula’s vision blurred red, and he instinctually scooped the attacker up in his other arm and drove him down with all their combined weight into the matted sand. He could hear the ‘pop!’ of something internal give way and the smaller man began to writhe on the ground.
Akula then looked inside the domicile and saw Bear, a deep gash on his previously unsullied cheek and blood on the hulk’s knuckles. “What the fuck are you doing?” Akula yelled at his teammate. “There’s easier ways to get out of this contract! I could have Volk cut your tendons if you wish!”
Grizli gave Akula a snarl, before hoisting his foot locker over his shoulder with almost inhuman ease. “Little shit was ‘inspecting’ my kit…I’m sure they did the same with yours.”
The notion of some unnamed, faceless worm searching through his property made Akula’s stomach fold inward, and he nodded his acknowledgement of the warning. “Do you have what you need?”
“Everything but a papasha, in case any of these fucks tries something their ‘Dear Leader’ wouldn’t approve of.” Grizli said with a deepening scowl.
“Get a Ratnik toolkit from the armory as well. If you see Nosorog or Volk before me, tell them to each grab a blade, a sat-phone, and a multi-tool.” Akula directed. “And get the smaller caliber magazine, so you don’t depressurize the plane and kill us all!”
Grizli nodded smartly and started his walk toward the idling transport to drop off his locker. Once the Ukrainian had disappeared around a corner, Akula turned his attention to the wheezing man. “Did Orchid honestly expect that to go well? My report to Tsezar was quite clear on how to approach Bear.”
Hissing at both the pain in his side and the irritation of defeat, the suited man batted away the helping hand Aluka extended. “You should be thankful you’re all leaving Haven, I’m cleared by Orchid to kill all of you the next time that happens.”
To reinforce his argument, Akula swept the legs out from under the injured aide, dropping him again to the ground. “I hope you can afford our bill and contracted payout, little rat. You don’t walk into Bear’s cave without permission or tribute.”
The aide looked up at Akula with deep green eyes full of contempt, before spitting at Akula’s feet. “And who the fuck do you think you are? I don’t follow your orders.”
“I know, I wouldn’t take a careerist idiot like you on my squad.” the sailor scowled. “Why does Orchid feel it necessary to search us? What possible contraband were we going to find here in this rathole?”
“Not contraband, loyalty.” the aide hissed as he stood back up. “You’re protecting an enemy of the Russian state and…”
Akula didn’t let the man finish, though he’d finished the blow before realizing it. On instinct alone, Akula’s fist had flown upward, catching the unwanted interloper in the jaw. The aide’s head rocked back into the cement wall of the neighboring bungalow and the man collapsed in a heap, eyes closed and breath shallow. For a short moment, Akula kept his fists balled, and primal fury alone almost drove a more complete beatdown of the unwanted aide.
No! He’s not worth it… The passing thought forced Akula to slow his breath. No matter how much he’d enjoy bashing this newcomer’s head into the wall to earn hard-fought catharsis, it wasn’t a stranger’s bloodied face Akula looked down on right now. It was Andre’s gaze, innocent and pure. He didn’t understand why his father was so enraged, only that there was anger so palpable even a baby could feel it. The sheer depth of fear reflected in the child’s massive blue eyes pushed Akula back, forcing him to brace himself against Grizli’s doorway.
Akula almost fell to his knee, but shook his head and buried his fist into his own thigh. This is EXACTLY what Lisus was talking about…did you count on that, Orchid? Are you so intent on killing us that you’d sacrifice your own underling?
“Fucking bitch…” was the best retort the sailor could muster, driving a hand unto the blazer of the unconscious aide and relieving the man of his Makarov pistol. Examining the weapon closely, Akula noted that the serial number normally present on the side had not been pressed into the metal. Ejecting the magazine, Akula noted a weight to the weapon that shouldn’t have been there in a normal pistol.
“Unless, of course, the FSB is still supplying you… no wonder Pauk is bound to Orchid like a good little gimp.”
Tucking his new pistol into his hip pocket, Akula made his way to his own bungalow. Immediately, the tell-tale signs of search and seizure of all his belongings were obvious. Gone was his footlocker, clothes, personal tools, and even the small bookshelf he’d personally mounted. The bungalow was now just as it had been when they first arrived at Haven, as barren as the sands around them. I swear to whatever fucking God there is, if they’ve damaged Pasha’s picture or Liliya’s book, I will choke them with their own entrails…
Apparently free of the packing chore, Akula made his own way to the armory, where he met with the rest of his squad. Akula could see Nosorog eyeing the shotguns with great care before grabbing a pair of SR-1 automatic pistols and a body armor vest.
In a surprise move, Volk had chosen the non-lethal route for his primary weapon, selecting a pair of PB-4SB traumatic pistols and rubber slugs. Akula was quick to note that, in Volk’s chest holster, he carried his own Makarov for lethal force, in case things went wrong. In his main holster at his belt line, Volk still carried his fang, which looked like it gleamed with pristine sharpness.
“Learn anything?” Nosorog queried as he pulled the hammer back on a third pistol to inspect it.
“No, but I did leave a message for Kontrol. I’m sure they’ll see it and respond.” A lie Akula punctuated by tapping the satellite radio he’d just attached to his bandolier. It was enough to satisfy the Chechen for the moment, but Akula could see lasting concern still riding Nosorog’s deep brown gaze.
“How many do you think will try something stupid?” Volk asked, loading one of his pistols.
“If they’re smart, no one. The one thing true about any North Korean out there is how much they love their little shitstain of a nation.” Grizli replied, filling a spare drum magazine for his PPSh-41 submachine gun. “They’ll be climbing over each other to get out of the plane first to kiss the ground Kim Il-Kiddyfucker may have walked on at some point.”
That drew a snort of mirth from Nosorog, perhaps even to his own surprise. Looking at Grizli with a raised eyebrow, Norsorog replied, “Then let’s just drop them from the sky and be done with them. Whoever lives can go back a hero, or whatever they call themselves.”
“That’s not the contract, Chechen. If you’d been taught to read what your team lead passed you, you would know that.” Orchid announced, filling the room with an icy draft. Looking around pretentiously, their new taskmaster raised an eyebrow. “Did my order direct you to the armory?” She asked with razor-thin patience
“Standard procedure, per Tsezar’s standing directive.” Akula countered, knowing full well that Lisus would never deploy a member of Wildlife unsupported, and that order would be passed to anyone who took over Haven.
Orchid shifted her cheerless glare to Akula, and appeared to grow a few inches taller to properly look down on him. “I see the lack of education is pervasive in your squad, no wonder you were assigned call signs of beasts.”
Seemingly gliding toward him on a sheet of repulsion, Orchid stabbed a long finger into his sternum, which he felt through his armor. “I did not clear you to be armed, so you will not be armed. This is a contract of diplomacy, and you will remember what that means, unless you wish to be breaking rocks while Andre grows up.”
While keeping his eyes locked into hers, Akula caught a sidelong glance of Nosorog’s finger ‘click’ the safety off the pistol in his hand.
Effortlessly, Orchid turned toward the Chechen and swept in like a vile breeze close enough that Nosorog could’ve buried the weapon inside her ribs. Yet her voice didn’t break its glacial resolve when she spoke. “Do it, and the last thing your mother will see will be Bagradov’s favorite knife splitting her eyes in half.”
Much to Akula’s surprise, Nosorog stepped back and was noticeably lighter in complexion than normal. Not waiting for a response, Orchid slapped the firearm from the Chechen’s hand, sending it clattering to a corner.
With her back turned, Akula caught a glimpse of Volk taking his fang from its holster and tucking it under his armored vest. Aklua kept himself from lingering on the motion so he didn’t draw focus to it. Instead, he kept his eyes fixed to Orchid, who glared through Grizli while the titanic Ukrainian disarmed himself with a snarl.
A fury which Orchid simply wrinkled her nose at, “Should I let Ukrainian spies know that your little brother is a vatnik, just like you? I’m sure their loyalty enforcement branches would love to add another separatist to their kill lists? I wonder which one of you they will get first…”
The sound of an ejected magazine sailing across the room and crashing into a wall echoed in their ears, and Akula noted that he’d never seen Grizli turn so deeply crimson. Satisfied with his capitulation, she turned her wilting gaze to Volk, and only gave him a curt nod. “At least one of you has enough sense to listen and understand. Of course, it would be the criminal and not the disgraced sailor, the exiled guerilla, or the man-whore.”
“And when these don’t work? Or the cargo, figures out they can overwhelm us?” Grizli snarled, massive arms folding over his chest. “Hard to imagine they don’t hate us enough to try and get more ‘Dear Leader’ praise.”
Akula was quick to pick up on the insincerity of the question, since the quartet had already discussed the matter. But did you consider that, Orchid? You know-it-all bitch…
“Then you’ll have failed the simple task of escorting restrained detainees back to their destination, and you’ll enjoy living in that failure until you hit the ground or are shot for your incompetence.” Orchid countered, pulling a pistol-gripped taser from a wall rack. “None of you were part of my negotiations to make this happen, so don’t pretend you understand the intricacies of strategic moves. Even if they despise you, your cargo is also wanted back in their nation, and they know it. They won’t resist.”
“Who’s in command of the transit?” Akula asked bluntly, already sure it wasn’t going to be him.
“Overall command is mine, followed by Nightshade, assuming his ribs aren’t too brushed after your morons tossed him around…” Orchid replied dismissively.
To which Grizli barked a cheerless laugh. “I’m sure we can find the little shit a stepladder to crawl up so he can suck the prisoners off. Unless you’re too busy doing that yourself.”
To this, their new boss had no glib response, and Akula could see how much she hated the point. It gave the ice in his stomach a burst of pious warmth. You’re gambling on the prisoners remaining locked up, aren’t you? If they fear dishonor and disgrace, they’ll kill us all. Then what? Does the pilot plow us all into the ground and call it an accident?
Instead, Orchid simply tucked the taser into the inside pocket of her blazer. “He will receive certain remedial training when we return to Kontrol as will you all. Let that be on your mind through the next year, unless you want to remain there permanently.”
Grizli cracked his knuckles, a sound that could’ve been mistaken for trees snapping in half. “Oh, I promise you, I will break one juche-fucker’s skull each and every day we’re there.”
Orchid gave a light shrug at that threat. “That’s not company business. Do that work how you see fit, but the better trained and equipped they are in a year’s time, the better you’ll be paid.”
“Trained in what?” Volk chimed in, curiously focused on Orchid’s gracefully arrogant hair and forbiddingly teasing hips. Akula’s scowl became a mixed expression of disgust for her and sympathy for the young pup. And if Pauk sees that his mistress has a new follower, he’ll make your life a living hell.
“Covert operations, close-quarters combat, and assassination of national targets.” Came her flat reply. “Exactly what the company hired you for.”
************
Part 3 of my on-going tale of soldiers, blood, and sand. Soon to drop one of the three, it would seem. But will it be replaced with anything better?
I hope you all enjoy.
shadetheraven 