| "The Waiting Game" | |||
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June 10, 2008 Staging Area 8 miles southwest of Savvinskaya Sloboda 0400 hours "Tac 1 from Alpha 2, approaching the nest," Paige said calmly over her mic as she approached the hidden van in the darkness. Her movements were steady but her thoughts were racing. Running into the Moonlighter was the last thing even her creative mind would ever think could happen. "Gotcha Alpha 2, welcome back," Simon said amiably. Paige approached the small clearing where the van lay under a tarp of camouflage. There was enough tree cover so it couldn't be spotted from the air, but enough open space to give them room to move. She moved to the back of the van where the doors were open and Simon was inside studying something in his hands intently. "Simon," she said to him pulling off her backpack and unzipping her jacket. He looked up after a moment. "You have Gray on line?" "No, what's up?" he said putting down whatever he was studying. "Get me a line with him...and get Wellington on, too, if you can," she directed him. "Why?" he asked simply. Paige stopped what she was doing to throw him a 'don't question me' look. "Alright, I'll get a line," he said after a second before he began tapping at his laptop. Paige pulled her comm off dropping it and one of her weapons on top of the jacket. She looked around seeing Jaime and Jordy. She beckoned for Jordy over and they stood a few steps from the van. "You remember the DJ from Samovar?" Jordy looked at her curiously, "I do, but why are you asking me this now?" Paige looked at her evenly, "cuz I just ran into him." Jordy almost spit the water out she just gulped down and Paige took the bottle from her. "You're shitting me?" Paige took a gulp of water and shook her head, "Nope. I was just walking the perimeter and I tripped over him. Damn near shot each other but then I recognized him." "The DJ," Jordy said almost not believing her. "From Samovar." "Yes, the DJ. He was the one I met up with when I exchanged the sniffer for the floor plans, and then as you know, helped us out in the hallway." By this time both Simon and Safara had joined the party and Jaime was on his way over. "The guy that set the sniffer? Did what?" Simon asked crouching inside the back of the van. "How is he here?" Jordan asked. "He's here?" Simon echoed. "Who's here?" Jaime said finally coming over. Paige took another sip of water. "We were on a mission in the city and I had a meet with an alleged CIA agent who's cover was the DJ at the club we were staking. Well...I just ran into him." "The CIA's here?" Jaime asked. "No, he's definitely not CIA," Paige shook her head. "Then who is he?" Safara asked. Paige shrugged, "that's what I plan on finding out...who's that?" Paige asked spying a figure tied to a nearby tree. Safara and Jordy turned to look at him. "That was our bogey. We took him in," Saf said. "Go figure," Paige said looking around some more. "Where's Bella?" "She hasn't checked in," Jaime said. "Last transmission she was heading back here," Simon added. "They take her?" Paige asked. "I'd assume," Simon said. They stood for a moment as Paige watched the prisoner who watched them intently. Well this certainly evened out the odds, Paige thought. "You check him for comms?" Paige asked anyone. "Yeah," Jordy said, "got two. Simon has them. You think we should send someone out to look for Bella?" Paige shook her head, "No, if they have her she'll be alright..." Simon grabbed his headpiece, "Yes sir, one second," he interrupted Paige. "Ok," she said to Simon then turned to Jordan and Safara, "get him up," she gestured to the prisoner, "cuff him into the front seat of the van." Paige then climbed into the van taking the headset from Simon. She sat down and took a breath as Gray and Wellington both waited on the laptop screen. Gotta love technology, Paige thought, nothing like delivering bad news face to face. She relayed the story and the conversation with the DJ, the Moonlighter, to Gray and Wellington who sat silently listening. "So, I'm meeting him in about three hours to discuss Petrenko and now a prisoner exchange. I need to know what you want to do." Paige fell silent waiting to hear what either men would say. "You did well, Paige, making the second meet," Wellington said. "But we still don't know what we're up against. Let me make some phone calls, see what kind of criteria I can set for you. We'll be in touch." "I've only got three hours and it will take me about 20 minutes to get to the meeting point," Paige reiterated. "I understand. We'll be in touch well before then, ok?" Wellington said calmly. "Yes sir," Paige said quietly as both Gray and Wellington disconnected. She looked to Simon. "Have you been monitoring the thermals?" Simon nodded, "no change in numbers." "So Bella's not in the Dacha," Paige concluded. "I would say probably not. But I'll go through the scans again and track the signatures. Maybe something will pop up." "Ok, keep monitoring them, too, make sure they are't moving anyone out of there, and call me as soon as Gray or Wellington call back." Simon nodded and Paige stepped out to the back of the van. "So?" Safara asked. "So nothing. They didn't seem very impressed," Paige said clearly disappointed. "But you'll meet the DJ again?" Jordan asked. "I dunno. It's stupid to send us against them if we can avoid it," Paige said. "Not that they wouldn't get a fight...but they're certainly trained," Safara said. "I know. But they won't let Petrenko go," Paige said. "What I don't understand," Jaime said quietly, "is that if you've met this...DJ...before, and Gray sent you to meet him...doesn't that mean that Gray knows who this fellow is?" They all looked to Jaime. "Gray doesn't," Safara said, "I doubt that. But Wellington...he might know." "That's exactly what I was thinking," Paige said stretching. "So, what do we do now?" Jaime asked. Paige shrugged, "we wait." Return |
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