Author's Note:
*Attempts were made by the author to update every weekend*
I'd update everyday if I could! For those interested, check back here every Sunday.
Wish me luck XD
【Chapter 3: Работа не волк—в лес не убежит】
ー Rabota ne volk—v les ne ubezhit. ー
ー Work's not a wolf—it won't run to the woods. ー
Northern Altai Mountains 9:21
Despite the fact that it was a sunny day, cruel cold winds blew endlessly over the snowy mountaintops. On the outskirts of a forest, a pack of wolves snarled and growled ferociously at each other, fighting over the fresh juicy meat of a reindeer who had been unlucky enough to have become their prey. Life was harsh in the peaks' eternal winter.
The sudden loud roaring of rotor blades that tore through the still air surprised the savage animals, making them run into the nearby trees for cover.
A white and blue helicopter, the Russian letters for 'Politsiya' painted clearly across its side, flew over the wide expanse of virgin snow and wilderness, still beautiful, unmarred by human hands. A few more helicopters, carrying Natalya's SOBR troop, followed closely behind.
In the first helicopter Evan had, as usual, chosen the 'window seat', leaning out a little to take in the breathtaking panorama below. However, his face had telltale signs that he wasn't enjoying the ride at all. Naturally, Giorgio noticed, knowing Evan well enough to read him like a book. Natalya, who was sitting on his other side, seemed to have noticed something off about him as well, so to relieve their worries, Giorgio called out.
"Hey, Evan. You were the most excited of all of us last night. Where did that go? Didn't sleep well?"
"...Yeah," Evan replied, rubbing his tired eyes. A yawn escaped him as if to prove his point.
He had had a delicious, fulfilling dinner last night, topped with Giorgio and Natalya spoiling him a little more before leaving him to rest. Evan thought that he was sure to have a nice, comfortable sleep. But oh, how mistaken he was!
Sergei Volkov, murderous eyes brimming with savage killing intent, plagued him throughout the night. From the moment Evan had fallen asleep up until the second he woke up, he had been continuously chased by Sergei's wolves. If he recalled the fuzzy dream correctly, they had even bitten and torn him up a few times before Sergei walked up to him menacingly to shoot him in the head.
As a result, Evan had slept enough, but he could barely say that his exhaustion was gone. He pulled himself in and leaned back against his seat.
It wasn't the first time that this sort of thing had happened. Considering his line of work, near-death experiences during missions had become something like an old friend. He had had various job-related nightmares before as well. Evan wondered if his tiredness was just getting to him.
"Hey, tonton, are you not afraid?" He asked offhandedly.
"...?" Giorgio raised an eyebrow in question.
"To die," Evan continued, "I know that of course, every VSSE agent's ready to lay down their lives if it's for the good of the world. Someone needs to finish the job, come what may. But when you really think about it, aren't you scared...?"
"...Strange of you to be thinking so deep," Giorgio replied to the usually carefree young man. He paused a little before continuing, noticing that the question had also gathered Natalya's attention.
"Well, any living thing would value survival instinctively, so it's just natural. But just because we're ready to die, doesn't mean that we'll just let anyone die off if we can help it. That's why we're trained and sent in pairs to increase chances of survival," he assured, "As your partner, my job is to make sure that you return safely."
He looked at Evan and Natalya, satisfied that both of them seemed to have received a new sense of reassurance.
"I think you're just tired," Giorgio told Evan, "It's still going to take awhile before we arrive. Take a nap."
Evan grinned at him, his cheerfulness returning. "Okay, tonton!"
He leaned back and shifted a little to settle into a comfortable position. But finding the back of the seat too straight and that any position felt somewhat awkward, he decided to just let himself borrow Giorgio's shoulder.
Giorgio was about to protest the moment he felt Evan's weight, but then he saw how Evan's earlier worried look had dissolved away back into his usual innocent expression. He sighed and decided to just let him be. At least Natalya seemed to approve of his patience and kindness.
Evan napped peacefully.
Hidden tunnel entrance, Northern Altai Mountains 9:47
The hidden tunnel towards the gold mine was in view, carefully fenced off as if guarding some legendary treasure. Inside the fence, a small building served as a guard outpost. Several heavily armed men guarded the fence's entrance gates.
From behind the trees, Giorgio secretly peered at them, carefully observing the area to find any weak spot. Evan and Natalya followed quietly right behind him. A little further back, the SOBR men awaited further commands.
The helicopters had dropped them some distance away earlier and they had quietly walked here on foot, using the trees as cover so that they weren't spotted. Everyone was glad that it wasn't snowing that day, or else the mission would have been more than twice as difficult. So far, so good.
When Evan suddenly felt some fur brush against his leg, he jumped and almost made a scene. Reminded of his dreams and thinking that it was some wolf come to get him, he was relieved when he looked down only to find Natalya's German Shepherd, also ready for action as he squeezed in between them.
"Myesto (Stay)!" Natalya commanded the police dog strictly in a hushed voice. The dog obeyed and moved quietly to her side, where she rubbed his head playfully. Evan smiled in amusement, Giorgio watched with interest.
"You haven't told me the little guy's name," Evan whispered.
"It's Maksim. You can call him Maks. He's one of our best police dogs," Natalya introduced proudly. "You can pet him. He's quite friendly to allies."
"Bonjour, Maks!" Evan whispered as he petted the dog, who panted and wagged his tail at him happily.
"So what's the plan?" Natalya asked Giorgio. They looked back at the guards.
"Volkov should still be at his outpost away from here, unaware that we know this tunnel's location," Giorgio said. "I'd prefer that we keep it that way for as long as possible. If we're lucky, we can keep him out of this until we've captured this area."
"...Alright, I'll get Lieutenant Sokolov to block the signals to their communication devices," Natalya replied, "If we can somehow get past those guards at the fence, my men will capture the ones inside the outpost building and open the road for us."
"We'd appreciate that," Giorgio said, "As for how we're going to get past the fence guards..." He turned to look at Evan, who was obviously distracted as he continued playing with Maksim.
"We'll use the dog."
The weather was cold. One of the men guarding the fence sneezed. His fellow guard chided him a little, telling him to stay alert. Even so, he couldn't say that he too was happy with the job himself either.
When told about the handsome salary that they would be receiving just to keep watch over a small outpost, all the men here had jumped in immediately. But when the real job actually started, none of them had expected how balls cold, lonely and boring it would be out here in the middle of nowhere. That, coupled with the hidden location, meant that they had been staying here for months guarding the place against practically nothing.
A wild animal would pass by every once in awhile, but not a soul that would be interested in their gold or their activities. Some of the men had begun to grow tired from the boredom and wondered if their salary was actually worth it.
One of the guards was nodding off, on the verge of falling asleep out of lack of things to do, when he suddenly heard barks. He snapped back to his senses, holding up his gun. The rest of the entrance guards did the same.
From the trees in the distance, they saw the approaching form of a running dog. It stopped a little ahead of them, panting and wagging its tail playfully.
The men lowered their guns. Just when they thought that they finally had something to do, it was just a dog. Annoyed, one of them walked forward to shoo the animal away.
It was only then that he noticed how the dog seemed to be a pretty tame and well-bred German Shepherd, not a wild animal. Something like this shouldn't be wandering around here by itself...
His eyes widened when realization hit him, but he was too late. He turned around to see his fellow guards shot down. A moment later, he felt a sharp object prick him on his back. The guard's consciousness faltered as he fell down into the snow, revealing Giorgio with his gun standing a little behind him.
"Good job with the tranquilizers!" Natalya cheered, walking up next to Giorgio.
"Thanks to Maks, the job's cleanly done," Giorgio replied, looking across the field. Evan was there with some of the SOBR men behind the snow-capped bushes, giving him a thumbs up.
All clear. Natalya immediately signaled for more of her men to follow up. They followed her orders, rushing past the gates to surround the outpost, forcing the remaining guards inside to surrender.
"Zdorovo (Great)! We've managed to capture the outpost!" Natalya announced triumphantly. "We'll bring the captured guards in for questioning. Some men will keep watch for us here while we proceed through the tunnel to the factory."
"Sounds like a plan. Let's hope that the rest of the mission goes as smoothly as this," Giorgio said, promptly spinning his gun and sheathing it back into its holster for the time being. He walked over to the entrance of the tunnel and saw that they had quite some distance to travel.
Today would probably be a long day, but he'd see to it that the job was carried out properly.