Part 3 – Safehouse

The C.I.A. did know where Magnus' home was, being as it was no secret he supplied weapons to the Viet Cong and NVA they had been keeping tabs on him.

With the Cold War heating up, the C.I.A. had set up safe houses all across U.S.-friendly and neutral territory.

By the time Trevor's headache was significantly reduced, Alucard had made a call to Langley, and they had information on Magnus.

"Well it seems you were right," he said as he walked back into the room to see Trevor eating what appeared to be fried pastry with white powder on top, "We do know where he is. And what the hell are those unhealthy things?"

"Beignets," Trevor said taking a sip of his coffee, "One of New Orleans' many pleasures," he held up the one he was eating, "Fried dough with powdered sugar," he then held up his coffee, "And black coffee. Nothing better for a hangover."

"Especially one as big as yours," Sypha said as she took a beignet from the box in front of Trevor, "They never told us you were an alcoholic."

"Alcoholic is a strong term," Trevor said, "And you came in today, so you saw the mess Mardi Gras leaves this town in."

"Most of the town isn't lying in their office in the dark," Sypha said as she took a bite, "That's really good."

"You're right," Trevor said, "Because fifteen percent of them are still passed out on Bourbon Street. At least I came to work today."

"What were you going to do once your hangover ended," Alucard asked.

"Hungover or not, I've never let it affect my performance," Trevor said, "Tell me, where'd you find Magnus?"

"We have word he's about to sell more arms to an unknown buyer," Alucard said.

"That's good," Trevor said, "But where?"

"That's where it gets tricky," Alucard said, "Activity can't pinpoint a location yet, but they believe somewhere past the Iron Curtain."

"Great," Trevor said, "I get back into service only to possibly encroach on Communist Sovereignty."

"Possibly," Sypha said, "Right now that doesn't matter. We need to get to the safe house."

"We have a safe house," Trevor asked.

"Temporary one," Alucard said, "Since we're in an unsecured building, we're not going to talk about it until we get there."

"Let me grab one thing before we go," Trevor said as he walked over to his desk.

"What," Alucard said, his annoyance permeating through his voice.

"Something I promise myself I'd use if I found the men that killed mine," Trevor said as he opened the top drawer of his desk, and pulled out a wooden case.

What he pulled out was a 1911 with what appeared to be ivory grips and a small length of chain meant for a pendant welded to the slide, "That yours," Elder asked.

"It was my father's," Trevor said, "Carried it during his service in Africa, Sicily, and Italy. He brought it home, welded the chain onto the slide, and placed these grips on them."

"Mammoth," Sypha asked.

"Walrus," Trevor said as he checked the chamber, "A gift from my great-great-great-grandfather."

"Right now we don't have any time for long stories," Alucard said, "We have to get on the plane and get flying."

The plane they were leaving on was as basic as you could get for 1974, cloth seats, no security, and no privacy so talking about the mission was out of the question.

Arriving at their destination was something Trevor didn't expect: they were in the Socialist Republic of Croatia.

"Why the fuck are we in Yugoslavia," Trevor asked as they drove through Zagreb in a black 1970 Renault 16Ts.

"Yugoslavia is not aligned with either NATO or Warsaw," Alucard said, puffing on another cigarette, "Not to mention since it was a former ally of Warsaw they have unrestricted access to the train routes that crisscross Communist Europe."

"It also receives constant aid from the U.S. so it can't deny outside help, even if it means they have to deal with foreign spies," Sypha said.

The area they pulled up to was in one of the older neighborhoods in town, and the building they arrived at looked like a garage.

As they pulled the car inside, two male individuals were waiting on them, "I thought they were going to be late," Elder said.

"They're never late," Alucard said, "I told you, they're good."

As they stepped out of the car, Trevor saw a pale man with gray hair and pale skin and another with tan skin and brown hair.

"Alucard," the pale man said as he walked up to him.

"Lyudmil," Alucard said as the two of them hugged, "It's good to see you again my old friend."

"And you as well," Lyudmil said as he looked over his shoulder to see Trevor stepping out, "That the soldier?"

"Yes," Alucard said.

"You going to introduce me," Trevor asked.

"Belmont," Alucard said as he turned his attention to the tan individual, "This is Grant Danasty, former Royal Marine, current MI6," he then pointed at the man he hugged, "This is Lyudmil. He was my best friend back when I was in the Vampires. When Vlad tried to kill me, he was the only one that fought back, and defected with me."

"Loyalty is always important," Trevor said.

"Indeed," Lyudmil said, "You must be Major Trevor Belmont."

"It's Agent now," Trevor said, "I work for the Bureau of Investigation."

"Of course," Lyudmil said, "Shall we begin?"

"Let's," Elder said as he walked up to the evidence board Grant and Lyudmil had set up, pulling out the file that Trevor had in his office, "Information given to us by Major Belmont has given us a lead on the Vampires," he pulled out the picture of the AK Trevor picked up in Cambodia, "This rifle, according to Major Belmont was used in the ambush of him and his men," he pinned the picture to the left side of the evidence board.

"Where'd you get the rifle," Lyudmil asked.

"I took it off a Soviet soldier I pumped full of bullets," Trevor said.

"Comedian isn't he," Lyudmil asked.

"Lock it down," Elder said before continuing, pulling out the picture of Magnus, "Major Belmont did some digging on the rifle, and discovered the rifle was sold to Colonel Ţepeş' army by a Ukrainian Arms dealer named Magnus Kovalenko, bought by his man Godbrand."

"Very canny Mr. Belmont," Grant said.

"Thank you," Trevor said.

"Right now we're waiting on word from Langley for word on his whereabouts," Elder said as he pinned the picture of Magnus to the evidence board, "Right about now he's the only lead we have on the Vampires."

"It's interesting you should mention that," Lyudmil said as he walked over to a telegraph machine, "We received a telegraph right before you arrived," he handed the telegraph to Elder, "Encrypted of course."

The letter was cryptically written that used the Vigenère Cipher but also combined the use of Enigma.

The letter went:

Ewexqy vaskcxn
Kvck chkp mqlcnyjoh
Vskaxygr: Ikmxgamo

If it were using the standard Vigenère Cipher it would have gone:

Weexyq vsakxcn
Kvkc hckp qmlcnyjoh
Vsakxgyr: Ikxmgmao

"Let's run it through the machine," Elder said.

The machine that Elder took the slip of paper to appeared to be an old Burroughs Accounting Machine, he inserted it, typed in a few keys, and pulled the lever on the side.

The machine began ringing, there was a faint sound of grinding gears, then a piece of paper popped out on the top of the machine, and it dinged once before shutting down.

"That fast eh," Trevor asked.

"That fast," Grant said.

"We have a location," Elder said, "It seems Magnus is meeting a client at a remote farmland just southwest of Katowice."

"Katowice, in Poland," Trevor asked.

"Yes," Elder said, "You're going to need recon photos and an entry and exit strategy."

"You're not going with us," Trevor asked.

"I'll be there for extraction," Elder said, "In the meantime, why don't you go over our equipment," he pointed to a weapon cage on the far wall.

After walking into the cage, he found they had divided the wall into categories: American-made, European-made, and Asian-made.

The American-made side contained two M16s, an M14, an M60, an Ithaca 37, a MAC-10, and a few other things Trevor recognized from his time in 'Nam.

On the European-made side, he instantly recognized the MP40 and MAS-38 as both the VC and NVA had fired at him with both of those guns. The MAT-49 is something he saw during his training exercises with the ARVN, during his operations with the New Zealand and Australian forces he saw his share of soldiers using the L1A1. What he didn't see was the L42A1, primarily because the British never fought in the war.

The Asian-made side primarily contained Soviet and Chinese weapons, AKs, a PPSh-41, a Mosin-Nagant, an RPD, RPK, and a few others that he spent time on the business end of during his service. But there was one thing in there that Trevor was very glad to see: an Israeli-made Uzi.

Twelve hours later

The images from the SR-71 showed the area was a farmhouse surrounded by a rye field with a grain silo.

"Not a lot of cover," Alucard said.

"Reminds me of Ia Drang," Trevor said.

"Hopefully we don't have a repeat," Sypha said.

"We won that battle," Trevor said.

"Not the time," Elder said, "I've managed to secure your passage in and out of the country. But having a plan for getting to Magnus is another thing."

"No word on enemy numbers," Trevor asked.

"No," Elder said.

"Magnus usually travels with a small number of guards," Alucard said, "Four men armed with Kalashnikovs, all ex-Spetsnaz with engagement history ranging from the Prague Spring, the Damansky island, and aiding North Vietnamese soldiers."

"Any intel on the buyer," Trevor asked.

"Intel has nothing," Elder said, "Right now it's a guessing game."

"Speaking hypothetically," Trevor said, "If we find out the buyer is Colonel Ţepeş, what then?"

"Then you have a kill order," Elder said, "Until then, your objective is to leave the buyer alone."

"Our insertion method," Sypha asked.

Elder pulled out the blueprint of a train car with small cutouts in the ceiling and floor, "We have the schedules for trains coming in and out of Poland," he said, "We usually slip one of these cars in all trains passing through the Iron Curtain in case this kind of situation arises."

"So we're going to smuggle ourselves into Poland," Grant asked.

"Yes," Elder said, "And the weapons. Which is why I was hoping you would share some tactical advice."

"Why him," Alucard asked.

"Did you spent eight years planning raids against hostile soldiers," Elder asked.

"Continue," Alucard said.

"Please, do you have a plan," Elder asked.

Trevor examined the map for a minute before pointing at the grain silo, "This is the key to controlling the field," he said before looking around, "Any of you have experience with long-range engagements?"

"I was a sniper in Her Majesty's Naval Service," Grant said, "I was inch-perfect at five hundred yards."

"Fan-fucking-tastic," Trevor said, "Grab yourself a suppressible system, you're on overwatch," he then looked around, "Anyone has experience as a spotter?"

"I knew how," Lyudmil said, "I was a rifleman in the Soviet Army."

"Grab something compact that you're comfortable with," Trevor said before drawing lines to the back and sides of the house, "If you can get on top, and get a good view you should be able to cover these three sides, and the field itself. Communication will be limited, but we should be able to tell you if we see anyone."

"And us," Alucard asked.

"You two will be making the main assault with me," Trevor said, "How you want to do it is up to you, but we need suppressible weapons," he then pointed at the rye field, "We're going to approach through the rye field. So long as we don't disturb the crop too much, we should be able to approach the house without arousing suspicion."

"You know this well," Grant asked.

"My men and I used to conduct stealth operations in waist-deep water and rice fields that were barely above our knees," Trevor said, "And we were only caught once."

"There's also the fact that rye plants grow taller than rice," Sypha said.

"Thank you, Sypha," Trevor said, "Now the question is what we do about our weapons and us? The Soviet Border Guard searches each train that crosses the Iron Curtain."

"The cutouts in the cart are designed to hide your weapons," Elder said, "And we have a few special disguises to get you in and out of the country."

"What disguises," Trevor and Alucard asked.

"You'll see," Elder said.

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