Chapter 28: Medford Lakes, NJ – August 24th, 2004 at 4:01 am

Nikolai reached into one of the pouches attached to his uniform and pulled out a pair of binoculars. He lifted them up to his grey eyes. Closing his eyes momentarily, he flipped a switch on the side, instantly lighting up the landscape in shades of green. At first he aimed the lenses towards the cabin, then the surrounding area. Konstantine could tell that the fire was behind the building by the white flickering aura around the house.

He scanned the house, looking for anything that might either give him and his men an advantage or hinder their mission. Nothing ground level, he concluded as he angled the binoculars towards the second floor. The broken window quickly caught his attention. He switched the view back to regular light in an attempt to see inside the lit room. There was no one in the room at first, until a woman who was wearing sunglasses quickly entered. She went straight to the window, pulled them off, and looked straight towards the Choctaw. Shit. She turned around and moved away from the window. Suddenly, the room went dark.

He continued to watch after changing the binocular's view mode to night vision. A few more men had entered, with one of the looking outside. He seemed to be confused for a moment before looking at the helo. Then, controlled chaos broke out in the room. Two of the other men quickly left the room. The third and final one, an older man, started using a weapon to clear the remnants of what used to be a window from the window frame. Although he shortly thereafter disappeared, Nikolai had a good idea that the man was still there, ready to fire on them.

"Here's the situation, men. We are to retrieve a sealed case that is held by two operatives of the Organization. After we have possession of the case, we are to eliminate the agents. There is nothing inside that should harm us as long as it remains closed and sealed. There is a third party that has already beaten us here. We have orders to use whatever means necessary to prevent them from obtaining the case. I've observed five people in the cabin; one woman and four men. It is possible that the operatives are among them, although unlikely. The lights in that room are now off, so it is possible that they're setting up an ambush for us. In that case, X-Ray will provide cover fire momentarily as the rest of Echo deploys. Any questions?"

No one had any questions for their leader; at least, any questions that they wanted answered.

"And remember, gentleman; we need that case. We're not leaving without it," he added with an eerie calmness to his voice. But he had a question he wanted answered: what was in the case that was so important to Laird?

The men from both Echo and X-Ray squads began to perform their pre-mission routines. One man began to crack each of his finger joints, followed by his neck, making a few of the other men wince mockingly. Another looked over his assault weapon again, making sure that there were no visible problems. One took out a picture of his wife, crossed it, and tucked it away in a pouch on his uniform as he began to pray. Some of the newer recruits began to prepare the ropes for the aerial assault.

"Thirty seconds until we're on top of them, sir," called back the pilot.

"Copy," answered Nikolai.

What the hell are you getting us into, Laird?

By the time the helicopter reached the front side of the cabin, Koralenko and Sullivan had reached the forest en route to the van. Sullivan was leading, holding his HK tightly to him. Koralenko ended up carrying Ortiz's body, even after Sullivan was told to. Holding the body on his shoulders with one arm, keeping the other one free, the young Russian tried to move as fast as he could. He was still fighting off some of the effects of his concussion, which made Sullivan's order for him to carry the body all the more infuriating.

Sullivan and Koralenko had a brother-like relationship; not the good kind, though. Since Parker was older, he would always force Evgeni to do things that he was assigned when Davis and Pistov weren't around. "You need the experience," or "stop complaining," was always Sullivan's response. It never pays to be the youngest or newest.

As Evgeni continued to think about these things, he snapped back to reality when a tree branch slammed back into him, nearly knocking him over.

"Open your eyes, damn it!" Sullivan screamed back at him as quietly as he could. "I swear, all you Russians care about are your vodka and women."

"How's that different from you?" the Russian replied, getting his balance back.

"I don't drink vodka, dumb ass. And just keep moving."

"Ten seconds, sir!"

The shout from the pilot echoed inside Nikolai's mind. He was still trying to figure out anything to explain Laird's avoidance of details. He usually told Nikolai plenty of information, including the truly classified. This time, there was something else going on; something that had personal implications.

"Prepare for deployment, Echo!"

Members of Echo squad stood up from their seats and tried to gain their balance, fighting the urge to fall back from the rocking of the S-58. The red lights inside the main area lit up each man's face a crimson hue. For a brief moment, a few men could see a look of confusion or uncertainty on their leader's face. The lights went off. When the red lights came back on, however, the confusion was gone.

After a few more flashes of the red lights, they turned to a yellowish gold. Three more times after that, the cabin was illuminate in a lime green glow.

"Now!"

Before he could finish his command, two members of X-Ray tossed out ropes through the open doors of the plane. As the cords' ends spiraled down to the ground below, the first two men of Echo Squad prepared for the trip down. The wind created by the helicopter's propellers created waves in the branches and leaves of the surrounding trees. Shadows danced around the landscape from the ongoing fire.

A voice spoke into the ears of Echo Leader Konstantine through a radio ear-bud.

"We've been keeping our ears open, listening to local police scanners and radio frequencies. It is confirmed that local law enforcement will be there in ten minutes. Be out of there in seven."

Of course.

He glanced around the interior and noted that two of his men were already gone, with two more soldiers already prepping for their descent. A smile would've normally formed on his face, but this time was different from the rest. Nikolai Konstantine was never a fan of secrecy, especially when lives were on the line. This time, there were so many. As he looked back towards the open doors, he watched the two soldiers slip into the night.

"Do you hear me, Jim?"

The pilot quickly responded. "Loud and clear, chief."

"Do you have enough room to land down there?"

Jim just snorted through the mike. "I can land anywhere I feel like, chief. You planning on a quick exit?"

"Just preparing; and I'll take that as a yes. Land after all of Echo is on the ground."

"Copy that, chief."

Nikolai slowly moved to the rope before turning around to face the leader of X-Ray. "You're in charge up here." He was answered with a solid nod and 'affirmative.' Nikolai briefly readjusted the placement of his M16-A2 across his chest and tugged on the cuffs of his gloves, his fingers pressing against the tips of the fabric. He glanced over to Echo 5, the final man from Echo to descend. After nodding, both men leaned out of the S-58 and began to lower themselves to the earth below.

I'm getting too old for this.

Pistov watched the each of the soldier's descents through the scope of his weapon, keeping track of how many came down. He made a note on each man's technique, using that to help decide his first target. With his logic, the better the rappel technique, the more experienced the soldier, and the more dangerous that soldier would be. The first two came down at the same pace; however, nothing special stood out. Both were obviously well trained. The second two came down shortly after the first two. The third one, who Viacheslav nicknamed "stumpy" for his short stature, came down the rope quickest out of the other three. He would also be a harder target to get later on.

Well, stumpy; you are the prime candidate for first to perish.

When the former Spetsnaz agent watched the world through the scope of a weapon, everything else drifted away. He focused solely on what was in the lens; where the target moved, what he did, how he breathed. This is why Viacheslav had joined the Russian Armed Forces in his younger years; not because of the lies and politics that it had become.

After a few seconds without any more soldiers, he tilted the scope over to the cockpit of the Sikorsky. Nothing of interest. He continued scanning the helicopter, looking for additional information. He could see additional men, thanks to the angle of the Sikorsky to the cabin. Two more men began to rappel down, one obviously a rookie.

Well, well. Sending a rookie into this fight.

He put his focus and attention back onto Stumpy, keeping the crosshairs on the soldier's skull. It was only a matter of time before he would officially announce his presence to them.

Author's Notes:

I really feel the need to apologize to everyone for the extreme delay in an update…However, I hope you all feel that the wait was forth it…My summer job is nearly finished, so I plan on trying to get back to this…Besides, we wouldn't want to leave this undone, would we? So thanks again for checking back and, as always, reviews are always welcomed!


Bobb Shank