Interception

featuring Mikhail Andreyevitch Loskov aka "Kestrel"

Chapter Two: Details

0800 Hours

January 7 2048

Krasnoyarskaya Kraevaya Klinicheskaya Bolnista, Muz

Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, Russia

Vera Titov, the desk secretary was organizing files and shuffling papers sitting at the welcome desk when the administrator, Fedul Larionov entered. Larionov was a tall man of sixty foot two, his friendly disposition was consistent daily and he always made sure to visit every patient. "So that they feel more at home." He said to Vera on the first day he hired her.

"Mrs. Titov," Fedul said as he walked over to the desk. "Oh, hello administrator." Vera said with a smile. "How are you this morning?" Fedul asked. "Sleepy." Vera replied with a small laugh, "I just had trouble with the kids is all, they're too attached to me. It breaks my heart every morning to have to leave them with their father, poor man."

"Speaking of Nikolai, how is he?" Fedul asked as he placed his elbow on the counter and leaned up against his hand. Vera told him that her husband was fine, just drunk every morning, drunk every evening, and that the only time he was sober was when he was sleeping. Fedul didn't care about any of that, he wasn't paying attention to her words, but to her body. To him she was the most beautiful creature in the world and he wanted so badly to take her into his arms and make love right then and there. Not caring if his reputation was at risk, or the patient's sanity or what have you. The man who was generally considerate of others was now thinking about throwing all that aside and for once in his life please himself. Fedul was about to ask Vera a question that pertained to his thoughts when Evstrat burst through the door carrying a screaming and bleeding Sofia. Frantically he walked up to the administrator. I need a doctor quickly, she's dying!" Evstrat was crying his eyes out. "You have to help her!" The administrator nodded, "Of course, please, this way." He said as he rushed down the hallway.

Fedul's heart rate skyrocketed, Evstrat started cursing in Russian, telling him to run faster. Fedul searched and searched for an empty room. He passed the desk that was in the middle of the hallway, the elevators, and entered the critical wing. In this wing, were all the patients who were considered critical or worse. Fedul stopped for a second, Evstrat came on his heels. "What's wrong, why have you stopped?" He said, with urgency. Fedul turned towards Evstrat and looked at Sofia. He saw the holes in her feet, the scars on her body, the shaking, the eyes, which pleaded for help. His heart broke, "I'm sorry," Fedul said, "but we can't take her in right now, come back tomorrow."

"She might be dead by tomorrow," Evstrat was pleading, "there must be something you can do." Fedul shook his head, "Not today." He said and walked down the hallway. Just then a man in a green t-shirt and military issued khakis with matching boots approached from an adjacent hallway. In his hand was a Five-Seven, on his back was a VVS. His hazel eyes and brown hair were military perfect. His boots echoed through the hallway like a death knoll. Fedul looked at this man with fear, his heart became full of dread as he stuttered the words, "No g-g-g-guns on the prem-premi-premises."

"I believe an exception can be made." The man with the hazel eyes said with a smile. Evstrat looked at him, and walked towards him. As he passed he whispered. "Are you crazy Kestrel?" The man looked at him, "Please, it's Mikhail." he cocked his pistol and aimed it at the administrator, ready to fire. "If you kill him," Evstrat said, "you're going to answer for it." Sofia looked at her carrier, "Please help me." She said. "I don't want to hurt anymore." Evstrat nodded. "There's an empty room to the left, 147." Mikhail said, Evstrat quickly made his way to the room. The administrator looked at Mikhail with fear, his eyes darted back and forth, his hands became sweaty, his throat scratchy. "W-w-w-what do you want?" Fedul asked. Mikhail smiled, "I believe we have some unfinished business Mr. Larionov." He laughed a little bit, "Or do you prefer Orion?" The sound of that name, Orion, echoed from Fedul's past. The administrator's legs began to dash in a mad fury towards the front lobby. Mikhail calmly followed the fearful Fedul down the hallway.

Fedul frantically pushed every solitary object in Mikhail's way. Rolling beds, trash cans, and even a soda machine. Fedul reached the lobby and looked at the barricade he made of seven rolling beds, twelve trash cans and a soda machine that he leaned in a forty-five degree angle, wedging it between the two walls. For added measure, he grabbed a chair and put it under the soda machine. He took several deep relief breaths. "Something wrong Fedul?" Vera asked. Fedul nodded, "An old friend has come to visit." He said. "Oh, I see." Vera replied looking at the makeshift barricade. "Do you think he'll come into the lobby?" Vera asked. Fedul nodded, "Most definitely, this one is a trained mercenary, a psychopath."

"Isn't that what you used to be?" Vera said.

Fedul nodded, "I used to be yes, but this one, Mikhail, is one who gave this country a big fuck you when he aided The Third Echelon Splinter Cell." Movement from behind the barricade. Fedul's heart sank and his face grew pale. "Vera, if I don't make it out of this, tell my wife I love her." Vera smiled. "Alright Fedul." Fedul looked at her, "I'm serious." He said. Vera looked at him and saw that he wasn't kidding, he was being very literal. "Alright Fedul." She said, in a more serious tone as Fedul backed away from the desk and ran towards the door.

Mikhail vaulted over the soda machine through the triangle hole that was made with the ceiling, the wall, and the back of the soda machine. He executed a barrel roll as he landed. He raised his Five-Seven and pulled the trigger. The bullet whizzed through the air, screaming for justice as it hit Fedul's left leg, right underneath the kneecap. Fedul collapsed. Mikhail stood, sheathed his pistol, and walked over to him. "Mikhail, please, don't kill me." Fedul pleaded as he tried to catch his breath. "It's Kestrel to you," Mikhail said as he grabbed the back of Fedul's shirt, and hoisted him up with one hand, carrying him to the middle of the room. When he let go, Fedul caught himself with his hands, as he was on all fours, like the dog he was. He coughed up blood. "Say it," Kestrel said, circling him. "Say what?" Fedul asked. "My name, say my name!"

"Mik-Mik-Mikhail." Fedul said. Kestrel kicked him hard in the stomach, causing Fedul to fall to the floor. Kestrel aimed his Five-Seven at Fedul's head, "Try again you miserable piece of shit!" Fedul nodded again, coughing up blood once more. "K-K-K..." cough. Blood splattered on the floor and Kestrel's boots. "K-K-K..." Kestrel readied his pistol. Fedul looked at him, holding out his hand in mercy, "Please, don't do this, K-K-K..." Kestrel his weapon and fired. Shooting Fedul in the right leg. "Jesus Christ!" Fedul screamed, "Kestrel you bastard!" He grabbed his legs, trying to numb the pain with movement. Kestrel smiled and crouched down next to him. "You really think I would let someone like you get away?" He said. "That was a long time ago Kestrel, please just let me go!" Fedul pleaded, looking at Kestrel with hope. "I've been looking for you, for ten fucking years." Kestrel said. "Do you think I'm going to let you get away with murder you bitch!" Kestrel aimed his weapon at Fedul's head. "Kestrel please, that was a different time."

"Different time? We're still fighting the same fucking war, the only difference is the enemy." Kestrel said. "It's not the same war." Fedul replied. "Aren't all wars the same? Aren't all wars fought over the same stupid shit? Man hasn't been able to figure out what humanity means without going through war first. Hell, we still don't know what it means. It's the same war moi droog. It's the same fucking war."

Kestrel looked at Fedul with dark, sinister eyes, who thirsted for blood. His hand was firm on the Five-Seven, in one moment, his heart was going to kill Fedul right on the lobby floor, but his mind told him to wait. He had a few more words to say. "You betrayed me Orion. You betrayed my family."

"I did not betray your family Kestrel." Fedul said.

Kestrel snapped, his eyes turned red like the goggles he was so found of. He stabbed Fedul's head with the pistol barrel. His mind replayed haunting memories, voices of his distant past called back to him. He saw his father, his mother, the friends he knew. He saw his whole life come back to him, all the pain and misery poured into him at once. He looked down at Fedul, voice calm, trigger finger ready. "So killing my family wasn't betrayal to you. Nikiv, Sopron, and Viktor. They were my friends and you killed them. What about my son and daughter? Killing them wasn't betrayal?"

"Kestrel, I was just following orders." Fedul said.

Kestrel laughed sarcastically, "You fucking raped wife and shot her dead in the street, and you say that you were following orders?" He said, he got into Fedul's face, he wanted him to see the misery and feel the pain. "That's the worst bullshit I've ever heard."

"I thought we made amends for this Mikhail!" Fedul shouted, trying to get his former friend to reason with him. Kestrel beat him with the butt of his gun. "Don't ever say that name again! The man you knew as Mikhail is dead." Fedul nodded. "I'm sorry, if there is anything I can do for you."

"Yes there is actually." Kestrel said.

"What is it?" Fedul said. "I will gladly do it to make peace between us, just say the word."

Kestrel stood up slowly, like a King Cobra about to strike its prey. Kestrel aimed the Five-Seven at Fedul's head again, "You can go to Hell you fucking bastard." He pressed slowly on the trigger. "Wait!" Fedul said. "Before you send me there, there's something you deserve to know."

"You better say it before this bullet hits your brain." Kestrel said as he slowly continued to press on the trigger.

Fedul nodded. "The orders I took, to kill your family, they were from Trifon Kyznetsov."

"Why would Trifon tell you to kill my family?" Kestrel asked, knowing that it was too late to back out of the bullet firing so he aimed the pistol at the floor. Kestrel pulled the trigger. The bullet went through the floor, destroying the white tile.

"It was during the first outbreak, the zombies," Fedul said, "you were."

"I know what I was doing." Kestrel said, interrupting, "It was eliminating those fuckers." Fedul nodded, "Yes well, one of those little fuckers just so happened to be Trifon's wife." He said. "How could Trifon know I killed his wife, when all zombies look the same?" Kestrel asked. "You were in town, you were working with the government were eliminating the infected. Anyway, there was a boy, being attacked by one of them, his mother. A man, the boy's father, was struggling to get her off. Then she attacked her husband, you came over and blasted her head off. The guts, the blood, and the brain matter splattered everywhere."

"That's doesn't tell me much of anything." Kestrel said.

"Then you're an idiot." Fedul said. "That woman, that zombie, was Trifon's wife."

"So, I saved their lives." Kestrel replied.

"Then you're a bigger idiot for thinking that. Trifon was working with a German scientist, Josef Spires. Two days after you shot his wife, a cure was found." Fedul said. "When you left to aide Third Echelon, Trifon approached me, he knew that we had a friendship."

"Friendship is an overstatement." Kestrel said.

"I know it is, but, he came up to me and said that if I kill your family, perform his revenge, then he would give me a vaccine, a cure. I accepted." Fedul said.

"So you're telling me, that you betrayed me for a fucking needle?" Kestrel said, lifting Fedul up off the floor. "A fucking needle meant that much to you!" He walked Fedul towards the nearest wall. "A needle Orion, you traded the fucking world for a needle. I ought to skin you alive." Kestrel's brow lowered, his eye twitched. He was sixty milliseconds from committing murder, but something in his gut told him otherwise. "Something else you're not telling me?" Kestrel asked. Fedul nodded, "One more detail, Kestrel, just one more before you send me out." He caught his breath and swallowed his saliva. "Andriy Kobin, I'm sure you know him well." Kestrel nodded. "The bastard killed many friends of mine, I'm just glad he's finally dead like the dog he is." Fedul nodded. "He was a cover up, Andriy Kobin may have been a mole, and he may have helped Sam in the end, but Trifon was the real mastermind. He was the one Andriy took orders from."

"So you're telling me, that Trifon is behind everything?" Kestrel asked. Fedul nodded. "Everything moi droog, he was the one who told Andriy to drive that car, the one who told him to kill you and Archer. All he wants, is for the world to fall to his knees. All he wants is his family safe. All he wants, is for you to die, he will stop at nothing to kill you." Fedul closed his eyes, willingly accepting his fate. "I am sorry moi droog, for all the pain I caused you, but please consider your request for me." He looked at Kestrel, with watered eyes, "I do not want to go to your forsaken place!" He embraced Kestrel out of mercy. "If it makes you feel any better," Fedul said between his pitiful tears. "I closed their eyes. I pray for their souls ever night and I say their names every morning. Regret plagues me every day, if you wish to kill me, I wouldn't blame you," He let go of Kestrel and slid down to the floor, burying his head in his knees. "but please don't send me there. Please dear God, don't send me there!" He said. Kestrel checked his magazine. One bullet. He removed it and put it in his pocket. He sheathed his weapon and held out his hand, waiting silently as he watched Fedul cry his grief out. When Fedul was finished, he looked up and saw Kestrel, offering his hand. Fedul took it and Kestrel helped him up. They embraced. "You are forgiven moi droog." He quickly ended the embrace, he wasn't much of a hugger. Fedul nodded, "Thank you, if there's anything you need please, let me know if I can help."

"There is actually," Kestrel said, "but it's a different matter I assure you."

"What is it?" Fedul said.

"A girl by the name of Sofia, she's in need of your attention." Kestrel said. "Of course," Fedul said as he made his way to his makeshift barricade. "Help me with this won't you?" Fedul said as he moved the chair that was underneath the soda machine back into its original place. Kestrel walked over and scaled the soda machine, landed on the other side and quickly cleared the pathway. When that was done Kestrel walked over to the soda machine and tried to lift it, "Jesus Christ, this thing is heavy, Fedul, how did you manage this?" He asked. Fedul laughed as he grabbed the other side, and lifted, "Adrenaline makes you do crazy things." Fedul said as he and Kestrel put the soda machine back in place. "Now, the patient?" Fedul asked. Kestrel motioned for him to follow as he made his way to room number 147.

"It hurts, please make it stop!" Sofia cried as she lay painfully on the hospital bed in the gray, boring room. Evstrat sat helplessly in a chair, next to a bedside table. "The doctor will be here soon." Evstrat said. "That's the third time you've said that!" Sofia yelled, her eyes glowed like fire, her voice became demonic, as if possessed by the devil himself. "I need help now!" Just then, a highly intelligent humanoid robot by the name of Axel walked past.

Axel wore a white doctor's coat and carried a clipboard. He had the capacity for human emotion and was a favorite among the patients. At first, the human doctors, even Fedul, feared that he would replace all of them, because he is that efficient. Over time however, he proved himself to be a viable resource of infinite medical knowledge. He has a total of four doctorate degrees from four different universities. A medical degree from Cambridge, a law degree from Harvard, a philosophy degree from Yale, and a liberal arts degree from NYU. His resume was impressive, his character was admirable. In short, Axel behaved more human than the real ones at times, and when this does occur, he says, 'I am a machine, made by man, I understand everything about you, and I'm not acting like an idiot. If you can't pull your act together, then I guess we're now living in a backwards world.'

"Please help me!" Sofia cried to no one in particular. Axel peered his head in, "What's wrong child? Have you been taken care of?" He asked with all the warmth in the world. "No," Sofia said, in the same demonic manner. She looked towards Evstrat as if she were about to kill him. "He's been sitting there like a fucking dumbass watching me die. You're doing nothing!" She screamed at Evstrat who just took it all in and said nothing. "Now, there's no need to swear." Axel said, in a fatherly voice. "Let's see what the matter is shall we?" He said as he kneeled down beside the bed. He placed his hand, which was skeletal in nature on the bed. "Just tell me where it hurts alright?" He said. "Everywhere!" Sofia barked. "It hurts everywhere!" Axel nodded and lifted his hand over her body, as if he were a puppeteer. He moved his fingers in a piano playing fashion and slowly moved his hand towards her body. The closer he moved his hand, the faster he moved his fingers. He touched Sofia's torso, still moving his hands in this manner. The pads on the bottom of his fingers began glowing yellow. Axel was performing a diagnosis. The pads on the bottom of his fingers are sensors that are specifically designed to the human skin. If he touches someone, then he can tell what's going on in your body by moving his fingers around in a piano playing manner. When he was finished, Axel stopped moving his hand and looked at Sofia. "My, my, you are something." He said. "A real life vampire, well I say I've never treated one before."

"So you can't help me?" Sofia said.

"Just because I haven't treated someone like you doesn't mean I will." Axel said. "I just need to-" he paused to look into Sofia's eyes. Through the human eye, Axel could know everything about a person. Their past, present, and future. "Oh no." Axel said to himself. "He's involved." Footsteps approached. Fedul and Kestrel entered. Fedul turned and saw Axel, he smiled. "Ah, Dr. Axel, I was hoping you'd show up." Axel nodded, acknowledging the administrator, but kept his eyes on Kestrel, who kept his eyes on him. Kestrel looked at Axel warmly, while the robot looked back with a death stare. "If you'll excuse me administrator Larionov, but me and Mr. Loskov have some business to discuss." Axel said, not taking his eyes off Kestrel for one moment. "Of course," Fedul said. "I can handle this for now, I'll call you when I need you." Axel nodded and made his way for the door. Kestrel followed.

"What's this about?" Kestrel asked. Axel answered by pinning him by the neck up against the wall. "You listen to me Mikhail, I don't know what is it you're doing and I don't plan to, but I what I do know is that whatever it is, it isn't going to end well. Especially for the girl." Axel said with the tone of a commander. "Aren't you going a little paranoid?" Kestrel said. "Don't you understand," Axel yelled, "if you so much as try to save her she'll die." Kestrel looked at his friend, confused. "Axel, what are you talking about?" Axel sighed, looking down at the floor a moment. "Axel what's wrong, speak to me moi droog?" Kestrel said, a bit concerned. Axel looked up at his friend, his eyes spoke of fear. Fear for the world, fear for Sofia, and fear for Kestrel. "You know this new epidemic, vampirism?" Axel asked. Kestrel nodded, waiting for Axel to continue. Axel looked left, right, and peered in the room, when he was sure no one ws paying attention he said "She's the source."