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Popov's Office June 15, 2008, 0700 hours The seat felt so comfy he feared he may fall asleep on it, so to combat this he tried to organise the events that had happened in his mind. It wasn't the easiest of tasks for him as his mind had a tendency to be a bit selective in what it remembered, and not in any structured or logical way but completely random. He had worked hard at improving his memory though, and Sergei had taught him a few tricks that had helped him. It was just a matter of putting them into effect, something he was doing now in order to keep his brain working and his eyes open. After several minutes the door opened. Nikolai looked up to see Sergei walk in. "Welcome back Kolya, and well done." The older man took his hand and shook it. "Thanks Seryozha, I do try." His weary smile probably said more to his mentor/boss/father-in-law-to-be than any words could. It had been a hell of a long day, and though it hadn't been the most difficult mission he had ever been on, it had been tiresome in a way he had never anticipated. That was something that niggled him, and he didn't like it. Sergei took his seat. "You'll be pleased to know that Comrade Volkv appears to be in good health. He is resting now." A nod of head. "So, tell me what happened," Sergei asked as he pulled out a bottle of vodka and passed a glass over to his field officer. Nikolai spent the next two hours going over everything he could remember, making sure that everything he said was accurate and in order. It was easy doing the debriefs with Sergei because the man knew him inside out, and therefore he knew exactly what questions he should ask to get specific pieces of information. The drink also helped, and by the end the tension had begun to bleed off sufficiently for him to start to relax. He couldn't understand why he was feeling like this. Usually once the mission was over he just reverted back to being Nikolai without any prolonged transformation period. Missions never really affected him that much. Well, he thought to himself, things change. "Are you ok?" Sergei asked, obviously sensing that something wasn't quite right. "I'll be ok," Nikolai replied. "If you say so." Sergei paused for a second before continuing. "We have a possible situation developing." That made Nikolai sit up. It was the way he said it. "What have I missed?" "The assassination of the Chechen Premier." "No shit. Please tell me you're joking. " He wasn't though, and Nikolai knew it. "After all that man has done to restore relations with us and he goes and gets killed. What the fuck is happening to this world Sergei?" "I wish I knew Kol-" "Wait a minute," Nikolai interrupted, "didn't the deputy get sacked last week?" Sergei took a second before nodding. "Yes, I forgot about that. Why do you mention it?" he asked, curious to know what his young charge was thinking. Sometimes he saw things others didn't. Sergei hoped this was one of those times, as they needed everything they could find. This was no ordinary assassination, if there were such a thing. "Ok, this is definitely not my area, but I seem to recall someone mentioning that there would be a major crisis if something happened to him before a new deputy was installed. Think you should get that checked out, because it all smells funny to me." Sergei paused for a second. That was something that no-one else had picked up on, and for some reason he thought it was important. He would get people on to that as soon as possible. Every lead was valuable, at least until it had been run into the ground and found to lead nowhere. "I will get some people to check that out." "Good," Nikolai replied with a nod. "So what is happening with the Americans then?" He really needed to know; otherwise he would just have to cancel the trip with Yelena. Why did his work always have to take him away from her, even when he was supposedly off-duty? He knew the answer to that, but it wasn't very comforting to him right now. He knew that he was a tool of his (adopted) country, but every once in a while it would be nice to just lie back and hold his lady in his arms, to close his eyes and just enjoy her company. It was a nice thought. Return |
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