| "The Bear and the Kitten" | ||
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Petrenko's Dacha June 10, 2008, 0302 hours Tarasov had been walking along one of the long corridors when he heard the fireworks explode. His mind instantly went into battle mode, shutting out any unnecessary thoughts and letting his training and experience take over. Ruzhyo had not given any warning that he was going to deploy the traps, nor had he issued any commands to the team, and so Tarasov was forced to take command on the assumption that Ruzhyo was either dead, captured, or otherwise unable to fulfill his command duties. His first order was to Nelli. "Model, roof," was all he said. He heard her confirmation and turned his thoughts to his principle. "Firefly, guard the principle," he told her. Olesya would now be guarding Petrenko, staying with him until the all clear was given. That left himself and Kirill. His head snapped round as he heard a door opened, but he relaxed ever so slightly when he saw it was just one of the staff that Petrenko seemed to have an endless supply of. The poor women look scared and confused, doubtless wondering what all the explosions were outside. "Are we safe?" she asked him. "Yes," he replied. "Go back to your room and look the door. Do not come out until I tell you to." The women nodded and disappeared back from where she came, and once more he was alone in the corridor. The roof was covered, as was Petrenko. That meant that his primary concerns were establishing what the threat was and aiding Nikolai. When they had last spoke Nikolai had been at Secondary, so that is where he would go first. No, he thought, I'll send Kirill. He was closer after all, being on the ground floor. "Viper, check out Secondary and assist Ruzhyo. Call in if there are hostiles in the vicinity. Model should have your back from the roof. I will check out the other side." "Acknowledged Medved," was Kirill's simple reply. Now it was time for the Bear to go hunting. He brought his weapon up, gave it a cursory examination, then headed for the stairs at the far end of the corridor. He raced down them as fast as he could without risking injury, then headed straight for the front door. Before opening it he flicked off the lights that were on just outside of the dacha in an attempt to confuse any hostiles who were potentially just outside the door and allow him a chance to get to cover. The sudden change from light to dark should disrupt their vision, however briefly, and that should be enough for him. The door opened and he broke into a sprint, heading for the tree-line fifteen metres away. He reached it in a few seconds, braking to a rapid stop and getting down on the ground. He controlled his breathing as he listened for any sounds that could mark the position of a hostile. The fireworks had largely finished, though one did go off about fifteen seconds after he had reached cover, causing him to wince inwardly as his most important sense was taken away from him for a number of seconds. He waited until the sounds of the explosion had faded before listening once more. Satisfied that the immediate area was clear he slowly rose and began stealthily moving around the trees that dominated the landscape. The full moon offered a goodly amount of light, enough for him- He stopped in his tracks and cocked his head. His hearing strained, trying to pick out the sound he heard a second ago. Silence. Fuck, he could hear his heart beating more than he could hear anything else. Silence. Then it happened. Barely louder than a whisper, but it carried over the distance and entered his ears, setting his mind racing at about the same speed as his heart would have been had it not been for his training and experience. His brain immediately told him the sound was that of a human breathing, which immediately begged the question: who was it? He localized the breathing, sensing that it was close, and began to move off in an attempt to come in on the potential hostile from behind. If it was Ruzhyo then he would be lucky, or fairly so; Nikolai would not shoot him because of the firearms ban. If it was a hostile though then things would be a lot different, and he would have to time his assault carefully in order to catch them unawares.He moved without sound, testing the ground before he took each step, making sure that there would be nothing to create the noise that could signal the end of his life. He was confident though, and cool. He smiled at that. They used to call him Ice Cool back in his Spetsnaz team because he was always the one who could keep his head no matter what was going on. It was good to see he still had that ability. Yeah, like he would ever lose it. The he saw the figure. Dressed in black the figure was watching the dacha quietly. He saw the weapon in her hand and noted that it was not what Nikolai had with him. A few more fireworks went off in the distance. How many of the things did you put down? He asked Nikolai in his mind, whilst at the same time using the distant explosions as cover as he edged closer to the figure. He eased his way past another tree and the stopped, watching the figure intently. Then, moving away from the tree he raised his weapon and cocked it, letting the sound travel to his target. The target's head moved slightly, registering the sound and its meaning. Turning around slowly the figure faced him, then spoke. At first he was surprised to hear a language that wasn't Russian. He recognized it was English, but it was female, and with a strange accent. He could speak English well enough, a tribute to the days when it had been something required of his team because of the threat that the West had posed to his country, and so now his mind translated the foreign words for him into his own language: "Would you like a saucer of milk?" He didn't even question the strange phrase, merely gesturing for woman to drop her weapon. She complied. He took some of the utility rope he had in one of the pouches on his top and bound her hands and feet, then removed the woman's mask and used it as an improvised gag. He made sure she was comfortable, then sat down with her, weapon still pointed, and waited for Ruzhyo to call in, or Kirill to report the worst. Return |
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