| "Four-leafed Clover" | ||
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Outside Petrenko's Dacha June 10, 2008, 0415 hours Sergei was right, he needed to calm down. Still, that was easier said than done. It still looked to him like his team had been set-up, and that was something that really hit a nerve. Who was behind this? He didn't think it was Sergei; he seemed just as confused and pissed off as he himself was. Sergei had told him about what Georgiev had said to him, that the two agencies where not meant to meet until a later date, but could he believe that? Could he trust Georgiev? That was the crux of it. Georgiev had been less than truthful; he knew about this American agency and he hadn't informed them, had kept it quiet. Why? He didn't buy that it was done because the agencies weren't ready. If that had been true then he would not have ended up playing second fiddle to them in the Konstantin mission, wouldn't have even had a part to play in it, and yet he had helped them out. What made it worse was the Trouble was obviously just as in the dark as he was, and he had a funny feeling that she wouldn't have as cordial a relationship with her superiors as he enjoyed with Sergei. Would that be a problem? No, it was them that had set up the meet, not anyone else, and so there was a degree of trust between them. "Team, all-clear. Resume normal duties but be advised that other threats may be looking to disrupt the evening." After all, who said that Trouble and her troop were the only ones angry with Petrenko? "Ruzhyo, we have a guest," Medved told him. "What?" Nikolai asked, not sure he had heard his second-in-command correctly. "We have a guest." "Ok," he replied, then ordered, "bring them to me. I am at Secondary." The Bear acknowledged and clicked off of the line. Nikolai was now alone with his thoughts. Maksim has somehow captured one of Trouble's team. That could pose a problem, especially after the trust between himself and Trouble had already begun to be built up. All he could do was look after the guest for now and then offer to return them when he met with Trouble later on. "She was covering the dacha when I caught her," Maksim explained. "Her weapon was loaded and she looked prepared to use it." "Another female? This better not be an all-girl team or I'll do my fucking nut. Women don't negotiate the same way as men." Maksim looked at him in a strange way. "Ruzhyo, what are you talking about?" he asked. "Ok, long story but I'll give you the highlights. Back when we were watching Konstantin I ended up working with the CIA. Contact was a blonde female. They did the take down that night and I helped their escape. Well, guess who happens to trip over me tonight and nearly put a hole in my chest. Her. Seems her team is looking to eliminate Petrenko, and no-one told her that we would be here. In fact, she thought I was FBI, so something tells me she isn't CIA. We've been played off against each other, on purpose or not I'm not sure yet. I had a good shout at Sergei, and he had an equally good shout with Georgiev. It seems that our two agencies were not meant to meet yet, and this whole thing was a cock-up. I had agreed with the girl to meet again in four hours to sort things out, and Sergei has authorized it." Maksim was silent for a few seconds. "So now we wait?" "Yeah, now we fucking wait. And I baby-sit," he said. "Ok. I will return to my position." Nikolai nodded. "Check-in team," he said into his comm. "Model." "Firefly." Silence. "Viper?" he called. Nothing. "Shit, Viper isn't answering." "I'll check it out," Medved promised, and left. He turned to look at his guest. She was about his height, maybe a touch shorter. Dark hair and dark eyes, but only in colour, not in emotion. Despite being gagged he could tell that she was an attractive women, and quite a bit older than him. She looked uncomfortable, but that couldn't be helped just yet. This was going to be a delicate situation. If she escaped and got back to her team and told them about her capture then it could tip the balance in an unfavorable direction. He needed to explain things to Trouble first."Lie down," he told her in English, then did the action himself in case she was still unsure. After a seconds hesitation she complied, and tied her feet up. "Do you understand English?" She nodded. "Good. Now, if you want me to take this gag out then you will have to promise to keep your voice down. If you don't then I will only have two options, and one of them goes `bang'." He hoped she understood him, because he really didn't want to have to explain to Trouble why he had shot her teammate. Something told him that the trust thing would evaporate very quickly if such a thing happened. Her head made no movement, though her eyes said to him that she understood and would not cause any problems. He slowly reached over and removed the gag from her mouth. "Thank you," she said. "That is alright. Who are you?" He asked, half knowing the answer and half not. She was speaking with an Irish accent after all, and not an American one like Trouble. "My name is Isabella. And yours?" Isabella? Why was she telling him her name? He didn't think it was the wisest thing to do, but each to their own. And seeing as she had asked him in such a polite tone he decided to give her an answer. "They call me Ruzhyo. To you that would be Rifle." Her eyes told him that she would have preferred his real name, but that she would be satisfied for now with the answer he had given. Besides, that was the name he was known by when in the field. "Who do you work for?" he asked her. She smiled at him. "Well now, we hardly know each other; those questions shouldn't be asked till at least the second date. I mean I may volunteer the answer before then but you shouldn't ask." She smiled again. Bitch, he thought with an inner smile. It was a good thing that she appeared to be so calm, and calm enough to make jokes. It meant, in theory at least, that she probably wouldn't cause him and problems. Well, two could play the joking game. "I never knew this was a date. You should have told me, I'd have brought a picnic along for us. Much better than eating lead, or so I've heard." She smiled at that, and he returned it. "I don't suppose you would untie me would you, this is mighty uncomfortable, and you have my weapon." Again the way she said it told him that she wasn't going to try anything. "Ok, but be careful with me." He gestured to his bruised face. "I don't have much luck with women." "You'll be fine, I'm not like other women," was her reply. "I know that. Most women don't carry guns around and hide in bushes," he shot back good naturedly, and was rewarded with a further smile. The rope around her hands came off first, allowing her to bring her arms round in front of her body, and then he tied them back up again. She appeared to understand that that was something he had to do and didn't question it. Then he produced a small knife and cut away the rope around her ankles. "Better?" he asked. "Yes, thank you." She rubbed her ankles with her tied hands. "So why are you protecting Mr. Petrenko?" "Comrade Petrenko is an influential member of the Politburo," he informed her in a mock serious voice, then changed into his normal tone, "and as dirty as a pig in a pool of mud. We are actually trying to find out who else he is working with, so we can take the whole lot down in one go, rather than just nibbling away at the edges." He had explained his position without giving away any operational details.She nodded. "It sounds like a good idea, but there is one problem with it." "What's that?" he asked her. "Us," she replied. "The US want him dead." "Yeah, I know that. So do we, but first we have to find out how deep this thing goes." He sighed. "Anyway, I'll sort this out with Trouble when I talk to her." "Trouble?" Bella enquired. "Your leader. The blonde one. I only know her as Trouble." "Oh right. Sounds like a good description," she said with a grin. "Yeah, I thought so too." He realized that she wasn't going to tell him Trouble's real name, but he didn't press. Maksim's voice came onto the comm line. "Viper is missing. I have found signs of a struggle and presume that your friends have apprehended him." "Shit," he said, reverting back to Russian, hoping that Bella didn't speak the language. "Ok, looks like I have something to exchange our guest for then. Ok Medved, back to the dacha. Looks like I'm going to have to render out guest unconscious when I go to the `meeting'. Tell Model that I will put our guest where she can keep an eye on her from the roof." "Ok Ruzhyo." Maksim clicked off. "Well, it looks as if you aren't the only one enjoying new company tonight. Seems as if your friends have gotten their hands on one of my team. I just hope they treat him as well as we are treating you." There was a slight menace in his tone, but only slight. "I'm sure they will," Bella replied, defending her teammates. "Good." He smiled to let her know that he wasn't going to do anything to her, and she got the message because she relaxed again. "So what exactly do you do?" "I look after the Russian people and protect them and the country from harm." Well, that was the official spiel out of the way. "Mainly it is dealing with terrorists operating within Russian borders, or those of our allies, along with those who either threaten Russian interests abroad or who are funded by Russians. Also we deal with the Russian Mafia, Intelligence information, weapons sales, computer hacking� all the usual stuff. My team is the sharp end; we do all the shooting." "Sounds a lot like us, except without the Russian bit." "I had a feeling we were of a similar design." He flicked his eyes down to the sleek watch he had on his wrist and was surprised that it was almost time to meet Trouble. Shit, time really did fly when you were having fun. But not this fast, surely? They hadn't been talking for that amount of time, or so he thought before he reasoned that they must have. He tied more rope around her hands and then around a tree. She could break free of it in a matter of minutes but he was only going to be one at most. He told her he would be back and headed off to see if Maksim had dropped of the package. Sure enough it was right where he had said it would be. Nikolai picked the small bag up and took it back to where Bella was. Unzipping the bag he opened it and found a few medical items within it. He turned his back to Bella and took out one of the syringes. He shuddered as he held it, remembering that needles were his weakness, his one real phobia. In an ideal situation he would have gotten someone else to do this but there was no-one else around. Shit.He filled the syringe with the contents of the small bottle that was in the pack, making sure there were no bubbles, then stood and turned back to Bella. As he approached her he apologized for having to do this, explaining what it was and why he had no choice but to do this to her. She looked tense. Very tense. He realized that maybe she had the same fear of needles as he had, and suddenly he felt a bond created between them, simply borne out of that fear. She was trying to keep still but he could see how uncomfortable she was, the sweat starting to appear on her pretty face. Maybe she hadn't heard what he had been saying. Fuck, this wasn't meant to be like this. He had to do it. Time was running out. As carefully as he could he inserted the needle into her arm, making sure that he didn't cause her any extra pain other than what the needle had already done, and injected the contents. The syringe was removed with great care and placed down on the bag. He turned back to her but she had turned away. He stood, not doing anything except watching her. Fuck. He went over to her and found that she was sleeping now. He had seen her fear but had made her endure it. That he had had no choice was of little comfort to him now, and a small tear began to appear at the corner of his eye. He wiped it away. It was time to meet Trouble. Return |
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