"The intel you recovered from the Yastreb Complex allowed us to pinpoint the exact location of the EMP warheads." The handler, Archer didn't bother to remember her name, spoke over the communications system. "Gentlemen, they've been hiding in plain sight all along. Start at the Mozdok Proving Grounds in North Caucasus." Kestrel and Archer felt the truck stop and they tightened their grip on the bottom of it. "Unfortunately," Gunshots sounded, and the two men in the truck were dragged from their seats. "...the surviving members of Yastreb have already found a buyer for the EMP and aim to fly them out in the next 24 hours. That's precisely why our asset Andriy Kobin and his men are currently securing the Antonov Cargo Plane that Yastreb chartered for their little venture. Kestrel, Archer, we need you to take Mozdok off the grid in order to prevent local air defense from interfering with our local operation. In other words, we don't want to be shot out of the sky when you fly off with their precious warheads." The two killers took the truck seats and drove off. "Once you've taken out the comms hub on the other side of the vehicle garage, proceed immediately to the cargo hangar and rendezvous with Kobin's team for extraction. By then they should have loaded the warheads onto the plane." Archer and Kestrel dropped from the bottom of the truck as it parked and the men got out of the cab, moving out into the shadows next to the truck and examined this side of the garage. "Agents, one more thing. It's imperative that you avoid contact with enemy troops at all costs. One alarm-"
Archer interrupted. "Mission goes south, got it." He was in no mood to have this unfamiliar voice blabbing in his ear about stealth, something he already knew everything about. He and Kestrel climbed up a railing and crossed behind the truck, and could already see the two men in plain view across the way. They crept forward, then rolled through the light and climbed through some unloaded cargo. On the other side was a camera, which was easy to slip past using the classic hug-the-wall-underneath technique. Finally, the two got to a sort of observation deck, thus far unseen.
Archer felt Kestrel come up behind him and they looked at each other. "Let's get to work."
Losevski Anatolievich shut off the computer's monitor, just having finished logging the arrival of the final commandeered truck. Before he could turn around, someone seized him from behind and locked him in a chokehold. A pistol appeared in the corner of his eye, then a black-clad man with a red eye-piece and an identical pistol.
These were the infamous agents, the ones who operated in silence and shadow, never seen but always deadly. He was about to call out, but the arm clamped further onto his throat, a green eyepiece showed itself right next to his face, and the six most menacing words Losevski'd ever heard were whispered.
"Not a word, not a sound." Losevski was very compelled to listen, seeing as how he couldn't breath and there were two pistols ready to drop him. They didn't kill him, though, so he thought he was lucky. The green eyepiece led him to a doorway to the next room, which held all of the captured cargo. on shelves. He was led down the stairs and towards a shelf, and saw one of his comrades. He opened his mouth again, but the green eyepiece knew his intentions. "I told you; keep quiet, and I promise I won't hurt you." He stopped, and the red eyepiece grabbed his friend and dragged him into the shadows before killing him. Losevski was led out around the shelf, then under another toward the comms hub. He knew there were more of his friends inside, but he was not the type to turn down the offer he'd just gotten.
A bullet flew from the shadows behind Losevski and his captor, taking out another of his friends, Khalsikov. He resisted the urge to choke and retch at the sight of the dead Khalsikov crumple limply to the ground. Finally, they led him up the stairs, the second guard eerily missing, and pinned him to the ground. They both plugged some devices into the ground, where the comms hub drew its power. When they activated, the lights went out and the comms died. Losevski could hear the static in his earpiece and wanted nothing more than to rip it out. He was picked back up off the ground, but he wasn't ready to go out without a fight. And now the lights were out. They might have night vision eye-pieces, but the dark was still a problem. He elbowed his captor in the gut and tried to trip him up, but the red eyepiece punched him hard in the gut. He didn't choke; didn't have the breath to. Then the pistol slammed into the side of his head, making his ears ring even more. As he fell in the blackness, he heard the two assassins converse.
"Why didn't you kill him?" the one said, his half-breathed rasp making it clear that the elbow was successful.
"Because," the other said, a heavy Russian accent showing through, "you told him if he kept quiet you wouldn't hurt him. He resisted quietly."
Losevski fell to the blackness.
Losevski woke up, and knew he'd been out for far longer than any other nap he'd ever taken. The door to the next room was open, the one full of covered tanks and spotlights. Losevski cautiously entered, and saw bodies strewn across the whole room. He walked down the stairs, picking up a P228 pistol on the way, and moved through into a tunnel. Through there were two weapon crates, cracked open with a few empty ammunition slots. The next room was even more terrifying than the one full of dead people and tanks. There was nobody. Not a splash of blood, not a body. Everyone was gone. Not dead, gone. The turrets were disabled, the breaker box off. There was no light, no power to anything. Losevski continued down the many staircases, and nearly vomited again when he reached the bottom. Everyone who was supposed to be patrolling there had been dropped from the railings, everyone dead and on the extreme bottom, below even the accessible portion of the room. Losevski shook his head in disgust and turned around to continue through the complex. This was the end of the line. There was no access to the other parts of the building from here. There were two more bodies here, though, and Losevski looked around. There was no-
A tunnel. There was a tunnel from here into a lab that transferred gas and wires through the building. Losevski dropped into it and started to crawl, but the spies were resourceful. He saw a camera at a corner ahead. It powered on, moved around, and then shut off.
"That Russian's pursuing us," Archer said, putting down the camera remote.
"Detonate it," Kestrel said. "I don't care."
Archer shrugged and clicked the button for detonation, and watched the static spread across the screen before it shut off. "Good idea, putting up a camera. Thanks, Kestrel." He said. They had just cleared out the lab with the EMP warheads, and Kestrel was hacking to discharge them. They went off and fried all the electrical equipment in the room, but backup lights came on and backup troops stormed in in just a few minutes. There were a lot of men, more than they'd cleared before, and these ones were alert. No way they got out of this alive very easily.
"Kestrel," Archer said over his comms. "Let's go! We need to get out of here."
Just as he finished, Kestrel appeared next to him in the shadows of the topmost catwalk, and they both threw sticky cameras in opposite directions. They hit the sound button on their remotes, then threw the remotes over there too. The cameras played old music and the sounds of footsteps, and, though they all knew it was a distraction or a trap, the soldiers figured they'd better check it out. Using that cover, Archer and Kestrel got through the lit areas, down the pipes, and out their previously-marked escape route. They'd have to be careful for this next-
"Grenade!" Kestrel shouted, and dove back. Archer looked up and dove with him, and the grenade detonated. Archer shook his head in disappointment at his sluggish response time. Four men walked into the corridor, but the two agents dropped them with a hail of bullets. They moved into the next room, killing everyone before moving on and letting the EMP warheads get through the doors. That was how they took the next five rooms until the EMP got through to the cargo hangar, where they saw Kobin and the plane waiting.
"Took your goddamn time getting here!" Kobin said, none to their liking. "Another ten seconds, and you would've been walking home, money or no money."
"They will rush the hangar soon," Kestrel told him. "How long must we wait?"
"We got the engines lit, okay?" Kobin said, in an obvious panic. "You just keep these goddamn Russians off long enough for us to get the EMP strapped down. Then we're out of here."
The doors to the cargo hold busted open, and two machine gun trucks sped in.
"i'm heading up the the flight deck," Kobin yelled over the noise. "Cover me!"
There was no way they could stay hidden here. Kestrel and Archer drew their submachine guns, and started firing. The lights shattered, men dropped, and gasoline jerry cans exploded. But as one man died, two rushed in from outside, and the turrets on the trucks didn't break, and they had lights. Archer and Kestrel saw a room above, and they knew that there was a power source inside. They could plug in their portable EMPs and magnify the blast, frying the turrets. They rushed for it, dropping men until they were out of bullets. When that happened they threw their guns in front of the automated turrets as a distraction, drawing their pistols and rushing upstairs. There, they plugged in their EMPs and discharged them in only a few seconds, then jumped from the window and sprinted toward the cargo plane.
"Watch, it, Kestrel!" Archer said, and a frag grenade exploded in front of them. It caught a large container of gasoline, and that exploded as well. The two agents were thrown back, their pistols lost. Now they were limited to only their karambit, Archer a green one and Kestrel a red. They rose and kept running, their vests catching bullets and their blades catching flesh. Finally they reached the plane and found cover.
"Dammit!" Kobin said. "They hit the hydraulic chamber. I can't raise the ramp. We'll have to do it manually."
Archer and Kestrel closed the cargo hold door, and the plane took off.
Archer washed his hands, just having finished stripping his gear. He wore only his pants and boots, and his gray shirt and earpiece. It beeped, and Archer clicked it.
"Go for Archer."
"Why aren't you answering your OPSAT?"
"I don't have it with me. What's wrong?"
"Where's Agent Kestrel?"
"On the cargo deck sleeping, why?"
Across the plane, Kestrel awakened and saw Archer's OPSAT, and it was ringing like crazy.
"Archer! Answer your comm, moi droog!" he said. When Archer didn't appear, Kestrel looked at the OPSAT for him. It said three simple words.
ELIMINATE AGENT KESTREL.
"Terminate him," Archer heard over his earpiece. He shut it off, but he already knew what he had to do.
Kestrel rose, pulling his karambit from its sheath. He snuck across the cargo hold, knowing that Archer would've received his orders. As he slunk, though, he saw someone out of the corner of his eye. He dove forward and came up with his karambit, finding the point at Archer's throat.
"You're not really going to do this, are you?" Archer asked him quietly.
"No. And you, moi droog?"
"Absolutely not. You're no double agent, no threat. Voron and Third Echelon have no rivalry. It's a conspiracy."
Kestrel smiled. "Whoever wins this battle is going to be killed. Kobin's in the shadows."
"All right," Archer said. "Follow my lead."
He pushed Kestrel's blade down and swung, but it was slightly more telegraphed and less swift than he usually fought. Kestrel dodged the knife and made a stab of his own, but Archer rolled under it and stabbed. Kestrel's short blade miraculously caught Archer's, and he pushed him back. Archer gave ground, backing toward where Kestrel had been sleeping. They kicked and stabbed and punched, but all strikes were dodged or blocked. They backed up further, and Kestrel let Archer slam him into some crate of cargo. They were very near Kobin now, and he no doubt thought he was unseen. Finally, Kestrel stabbed at Archer and he dodged, right into Kobin, then placed his blade against his throat.
"How-" Kobin started, but Archer wouldn't have it.
"SHUT UP!"
Kestrel approached from the side and took Kobin's pistol, while Archer dragged him to the EMP warheads. There, they tied him up and knocked him unconscious, then entered the cockpit.
"Archer, Kestrel. What can I do for you?" the pilot asked, and that helped convince the two agents that they weren't in on the conspiracy.
"Lower the altitude. We're diving."
"Afraid I can't let you do that," the copilot said, rising with a pistol in hand.
"Colin, what-" the pilot asked, alarmed. Archer stabbed the copilot before he could do anything else, so the pilot calmed down slightly.
"It's a conspiracy, Frederick," Kestrel said to the pilot. "We need to dive, now."
"Frederick?" Archer asked over his comms, once again getting rid of his extra equipment and stripping down to just the shirt and pants.
"Yes, sir?"
"Did you already get the plastic surgeon on it?"
"Yes, sir." Frederick said.
"Thank you, Frederick."
Archer shut off his comms and turned to Kestrel.
"So tell me what it is you did," Kestrel said.
"I had Frederick hire a surgeon to work on some bodies from the Mozdok grounds. They were made to look exactly like us, and are being delivered to Kobin by some agents, those who escaped the corruption. In a few minutes, he'll think that some Third-Echelon goons killed us after we escaped. We're in the clear."
"Good. Now, what's the plan?"
"Well," Archer said, looking over the small abandoned Third Echelon hideout they'd captured and reactivated. "First we take down the FBI."