Chapter Eleven: A Dangerous Job

Mascherano District
Ignacio, Costa Luna
5 October 2013
1750 hours Costa Luna time

"I think I lost them," Yelena Abashina said to whoever was at the other end of the number that she had just called regarding the mess that had been the earlier shootout. It had taken a lot of effort, but she had finally managed to shake off the Sinaloan gangsters chasing her. "Da, I have your cargo at the backup drop point."

A Ferrari 599 and a Ford Crown Victoria drove up to the spot where Abashina had parked her SUV. Two men got out of the Ferrari, and two women got out of the Ford. "What the fuck is going on, Yelena!?" the white man asked her as he got out.

"Some desk you're driving," the black man added.

"Get over here; I'm undercover," Abashina replied. "And please call off any hounds you might have. FSB is watching my back, so don't blow my case."

"What exactly is going on here?" Carter asked Rosie.

"Damned if I know," Rose replied.

"We saved your life, Yelena," Vyacheslav Klimov told Abashina once they were all in a sufficiently secluded place.

"Da, and I appreciate that," Yelena snapped back. "What I don't appreciate is the fact that you four followed me and nearly blew a case that took me seven months to set up!"

"Oh, so now we lie to each other? Is that what we do now, Yelena?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean, Vyacheslav?"

"Dude, you need to calm down, man," Leo Argus said to Klimov.

"Calm down!?" Vyacheslav asked Lev. "I'm calm! This is my calm voice! My calm face!"

"Just relax, you Russkie!" Leo turned to face Yelena. "Are there drugs in your car?" he asked her.

"I have cash," she replied noncommittally.

"Where are you taking it?" Vyacheslav asked. "Who's receiving it?"

There was a short but noticeable pause before Yelena replied. "I can't tell you that," she said.

"Why not?" Vyacheslav asked.

"Because I have orders which say that under no circumstances should I, an agent of the Federal Security Service, share information with the Foreign Intelligence Service, because you have too many leaks!"

"Oh! So I'm SVR now! You forgot that I'm your boyfriend now, huh? You know what, Yelena? That shit you did was reckless, stupid, and dangerous! And…" Vyacheslav trailed off, "…it actually makes me proud to be your boyfriend."

"What now?" Yelena Abashina was definitely surprised at Vyacheslav's sudden change in tone.

"Okay, you two lovebirds," Leo said, "I'll be leaving you two to settle your differences." And with that, he walked to where Carter and Rosie had been watching the exchange.

"What's going on, Leo?" Carter asked him.

"Those two need some alone time together," Argus replied. "And we're giving that to them."

"What does that even mean!?"

Now that Yelena and Vyacheslav were properly alone, they could finally let their inner feelings come out. "Look, Yelena, I love you," Vyacheslav told her in Russian. "You know that. And there's this thing called professional courtesy. If you're playing around in someone else's backyard, you should probably let them know about it before they go around looking for whoever broke the lawn gnomes."

Yelena nodded silently, her gaze focused on somewhere on the horizon. Vyacheslav took her hand and asked, "First time using your gun on the field?" She nodded silently again.

"Hey, you handled yourself very well for an FSB agent."

"I guess so," Yelena replied. "Thanks."

"Now, you think that I'm letting you off that easy?" Vyacheslav asked, now with a smile on his face. "You've been working on this for seven months? Why didn't you tell me while I was in St. Petersburg?"

"And what would you have told me, Slava?"

"I would have told you that this job is rough; it isn't easy. It's not something you take lightly. The people you're up against are some of the most ruthless there is, and if they found out that you're an undercover narcotics agent, who knows what they'll do to you?"

Yelena shushed Vyacheslav with a finger on his lips. "This is exactly why I didn't tell you anything," she said. "I knew that you would go ballistic if I told you what I was really doing in Piter." Piter was the Russian slang for St. Petersburg.

"You know me very well, Yelena Nikolayevna Abashina."

"That I do, Vyacheslav Ilyich Klimov." And Yelena and Vyacheslav were just about to share a kiss when an old car pulled up beside Yelena's SUV. Two men got out of the car, took the suitcases loaded with cash from inside the car, threw them into their own vehicle, and then got back in and drove away. The entire operation had taken just about a minute.

"I think someone just stole your money," Vyacheslav told Yelena.

"The drop's done," she replied.

"Really? How can you be sure that those are the ones who should be receiving the money?"

"Because they came here in an Oldsmobile, which is what they told me to expect. And that is what you just saw drive away from this place."

Vyacheslav let out a deep sigh. "Yelena, I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but the guys who just took your money are high-ranking soldiers of the Army of Socialist Revolution. Those guys have ties with the Ultranationalists."

"Well, then, I guess I just funded their movement indirectly."

"Yelena, this is not a joke! I've been sent here to keep an eye on the ASR, and to make sure that they don't try to overthrow Queen Rosalinda and her government."

"That's your job, Slava; not mine. Anyway, I have to go now. My boss is expecting me. Oh, and, thank you, once again, I guess."

"You're my girlfriend, Yelena," Vyacheslav said. "I'm supposed to protect you, right?"

"Da, I guess you're right." Just then another SUV pulled into the "abandoned" parking lot, and Yelena gave Vyacheslav a kiss on the cheek before walking over to the FSB SUV and getting in. The SUV drove off in a cloud of dirt and dust.

"So that's your girlfriend, huh?" Vyacheslav turned around to see Carter walking up behind him. "Vyacheslav Klimov, I never would have pegged you for a romantic."

"She is a fine woman, Vyacheslav Ilyich," Rosie added. "You made a very wise decision when you chose her."

"So I've been telling my Russian friend for some time now," Leo Argus told them. "Now what do you want to do with this mess we just left behind in Uzocarriaga, Nueva Sinaloa, and Mascherano?"

"Once the city government finally comes up with a monetary figure to all this destruction, an anonymous donor will be giving the exact amount of money needed to fix all this damage to the government," Rosie said with confidence and quiet certainty. "All she needs to know is how much she should pay."

"In the meantime, I want to get out of here before the Sinaloans find nothing but an empty SUV here," Vyacheslav said. "Oh, and by the way, it looks like the Halcon Syndicate is paying the Army of Socialist Revolution large money. It could be protection money, it could be payments for services rendered, but I'm gravitating towards the former. But we'll have to dig deeper if we want to learn more."

"We'll take care of that, Vyacheslav, trust me," Carter told him. "Meanwhile, I am going back to the Emerald Palace for some iced tea and a bath to get all this gunpowder out of my hair."

"And I will be going with you," Rosie replied as she followed Carter into the Ford Crown Victoria.

"Hey, girls, what about us!?" Leo asked in mock despair.

"Da!" Vyacheslav chimed in. "All I have waiting for me in the embassy is some black bread and a bottle of cheap vodka!"

"They're not gonna let us come with them, are they?"

"No, I don't think so."