Snake heard the door open and his breathe caught. He was cornered by the blackbellies. "Fuck." The word was formed slowly by his lips but he didn't actually say it aloud. His eye scanned the room. One open window lay on the far side, too far away to run. Snake's eye turned back toward the sound of the footsteps.
"PLISSKEN!"
Snake froze. He knew that voice. "Hauk." He mumbled softly moving in the shadows to get a look at the commissioner. Snake peered from the dark shadow he was crouched in, getting a good look from between the stacked crates. Hauk's pistol still sat securely in its holster. Snake took a quick look at the rest of the room. It was silent, Hauk had come in alone.
"Plissken!"
Snake edged out of hiding warily and into the light. Both of his revolvers centered on Hauk's chest. Snake wondered what was up. Something was going on, Snake could feel it. What was this bastard up to this time around? Snake's one eye narrowed on Hauk as he stopped just barely out of the shadows.
"They want to send you to LA, Plissken." Hauk stated dryly tossing his cigarette aside.
"I fucking know that." Snake retorted his eye roving between the door Hauk had used to enter and the man before him. Snake was nervous. His eye throbbed out the burning fire of his pulse sending streams of flame through his body. He was a cornered animal ready to lash out the second something got too close. Hauk's radio hummed. Snake's eye snapped to it and fixed on that small black box. He watched Hauk pull it out to answer it. Snake paced looking around the room for any means of escape. The window still stood open but Snake could now see it was ten or more feet off the ground. He couldn't reach it.
"No target in Sector 5." The voice came across the radio followed by buzzing static that made Snake's bad eye twitch. Hauk was staring at Snake and his eyes seemed to pin Snake to the place he was standing. Snake obeyed the older man's commanding eyes and met his gaze with an equally dangerous stare.
"Target just escaped Sector 10 from a back window. Move toward Sector 6 to attempt a pick up." Hauk answered quickly. Snake's brow rose and he looked over at the window again. Obviously Hauk had seen it and knew what to expect from Snake in the way of escape.
"On target chief." The voice cracked again before falling silent. Hauk hooked the radio on his belt and looked back at Snake.
"What the fuck is going on?" Snake asked leery of Hauk. He could almost imagine him trying to offer Snake another job.
"You wanna get out of here Snake?" Hauk was lighting another cigarette as he finished the sentence.
"What the fuck do you think?" Snake hissed. He didn't have time for this nor did he have the patience for Hauk. Snake watched Hauk's lips curl into defiance, defiance against what Plissken couldn't tell until he spoke.
"They're heading north; suggest you get to running south." Hauk replied taking an impossibly long drag from his cigarette. Snake's eye flickered to the still open door and then back to Hauk.
"Why? Why do this?" Snake had to know. Curiosity was something he rarely expressed but at a moment like this, with an "enemy" letting him go for a second time he had to have an answer.
"They're dogs Plissken, a bunch of black fucking dogs." There was venom in Hauk's words, pure unrestrained disgust and a faint hint of anger. Snake nodded. That answer he understood. The blackbellies were dogs. They only sought blood and the kill, more animal and less human. Hauk was like a lion tamer in a cage, the animals barely under control and always looking to go for the throat. Plissken knew what he meant. Snake looked back to the door and broke into a trot. "Get going while the gettin' is good." Snake thought.
"Plissken." Hauk called quietly just before Snake hit the door. Pausing he turned back to look at Hauk. He was still standing in the same place he had moments ago, still looking at the place where Snake had stood be for he broke for the door. "Find Cronenberg in Atlanta."
"Why?" Snake wasn't sure why Hauk would send him to the bastard who'd injected him with the nukes in New York. Plissken looked out into the rain slick darkness. The voices were far off.
"Your arm hurt?" Hauk asked finally turning his head to stare at Snake.
Snake touched his arm. The bicep was still tender from where they had hit him with a dart the day before. "Why the fuck do you care?" Snake shot back feeling taunted by Hauk's boldness.
"It's a tracer, Snake. Lodged in your muscle, just like your neck in New York. They're seeing you even now so you better get to running." Hauk turned away examining the crates in the dimly lit warehouse. Snake glared at the little red welt.
"Fuck!" Snake muttered. Plissken broke for the darkness and headed at a full run south. He knew what Hauk was saying. He hated the blackbellies, hated their tactics for "disposal" as they called it. Cronenberg had hated it too. All three of them were at war with the insanity. Snake knew now he wasn't fighting this war alone. He still had the "Texas Thunder" for cover fire when the enemy got thick and just like Leningrad he was running for the doctors with death nipping at his heels.