Part 6 – Extraction
The extraction method would have to be performed two-at-a-time, and being as Magnus was the principal, he needed to go up first.
Grant and Lyudmil quickly strapped him into a harness as Alucard, Trevor, and Sypha did the same, and then inflated the balloon, sending it up to the designated height.
The team then picked up their weapons and formed a perimeter around their equipment while they waited for their extraction.
"You ever use one of these in Vietnam," Sypha asked.
"Many times," Trevor said.
"It hurt," Sypha asked.
"It'll feel a little disorienting at first," Trevor said, "But once you're in the air, you'll feel much better, despite the sound of wind rushing past your ears."
"How long will it take to get in the aircraft," Sypha asked.
"About six minutes," Trevor said, "The winch will be a little slow, but it'll do the job."
"Then we'll be fine," Alucard said, "How much time?"
"About half an hour," Grant said as he checked his watch.
"Keep an eye out," Trevor said, "It'll be a long half-hour."
Trevor wasn't lying when he said it would be a long half-hour, by that point Magnus was already awake and was screaming profanities at them.
Trevor was very close to seeing if he could replicate what Sypha did to him back at the barn when the team heard the engines from the MC-130s that would extract them come flying in low.
"You might want to save your breath," Alucard said as he walked over, and hooked himself into the line.
Alucard then sat next to Magnus and smiled as the plane caught the skyhook. Within the next few seconds, there was a sudden jolt as the two of them were suddenly yanked off the ground, and were about a hundred feet in the air.
"Really cool," Grant said as he strapped himself in, followed by Lyudmil.
"Keep an ear open," Trevor said, "It'll take them at least ten minutes for them to make the second pick up."
"Then we better get ready," Lyudmil said as he raised his AMD-65.
What they didn't know was that after they had left the farmhouse, more of Magnus' men came back to the house, found the bodies, and called for help.
As Alucard and the CIA agents on the plane were securing Magnus into his seat, Alucard looked at him and said, "We'll see how well you hold up after me and my team are done with you."
"Your team is done for," Magnus said, "You didn't get all my men, and by now they've found the bodies and are coming for your team."
Alucard knelt to be eye-level with Magnus, "You don't know my team," Alucard said before bracing himself as the plane began to bank, "I'll bet you by the time we leave Poland, all of us will be making the ride out of here."
As the plane was coming back around, and the balloon was in the air, Trevor saw the headlights coming down the road, "We've got incoming," he exclaimed.
"Any idea who," Lyudmil asked.
"Try your binoculars," Grant said as he focused his scope to see them coming down the road.
Lyudmil and Grant focused on the cars coming down the street, "I've got weapons in view, and they're dressed the same as Magnus' men back at the barn," Grant said.
"Looks like he brought backup then," Sypha said.
"How could they find us," Grant asked as he lowered the tripod on his rifle, and went prone to get a good shooting position.
"You're really going to ask that," Trevor asked, "We left in a Land Rover that left tracks heading this way, we're in the middle of an open field, a plane just flew overhead, and we have a giant-ass mylar balloon almost five-hundred feet in the air. We might as well have written them a note saying where we were going."
"Not the time," Sypha said, "If they do work for Magnus, we have to hold them off."
"We'll hold them off," Trevor said as he checked the magazine count on his Uzi, "Save your ammo, if you don't have a clear shot, don't shoot."
"Thanks for that," Grant said.
"I've been in these situations before," Trevor said, "Shoot now, talk later."
As Magnus' men got closer, one of them leaned out the window to let off a small burst from his AKMS, only to have his shots go right over their heads, and for Grant to zero in on him.
The shot pierced the window in front of his torso, and the next thing that happened was his rifle fell out of his hands, hitting the pavement in front of him, and he slid back into the Land Rover.
As the plane came back into view, Grant raised the tripod on his rifle and retreated to take his seat in front of the line the balloon was attached to.
Lyudmil also ran over to the line, but not before firing a few times at the Land Rover, hitting the side of the vehicle, but not stopping it.
"See you on the plane," Grant said before emptying the remainder of his magazine at the Land Rover, not thirty seconds before the plane snatched him and Lyudmil off the ground.
Trevor and Sypha quickly began to inflate their balloon before running to take cover behind the Land Rover they stole as the one Magnus' men were using stopped on the edge of the field. The man in the front seat stepped out, raised his Skorpion vz. 61 SMG, and fired a single burst before Trevor's Uzi dropped him against the side of the car.
The one in the car stepped out and fired a few bursts before Sypha got one of his knees, and finished him off with the remainder of her magazine.
As she reloaded, one of the hostiles fired a round from his AKMS that bounced off the car next to her, Trevor returned fire, and the bullets shattered the Land Rover's windows, but only sprayed him with glass.
"This remind you of any of your missions in Vietnam," Sypha asked as she reloaded her MP5, the rear window and back-left window exploded in a shower of glass.
"Once," Trevor said as he popped up to fire another burst at the hostiles hitting the tire of the hostile's Land Rover, deflating it, and causing the car to sink a bit, "During the Tet Uprisings in '68."
"Hue or Saigon," Sypha asked as she fired again, hitting the rear tire attached to the hostile's Land Rover.
"Khe Sanh," Trevor said as he reloaded, "My unit was stationed there before being moved to Pentagon East at Tan Son."
"That must have been hell," Sypha said.
"You don't know the fifth of it," Trevor said as he fired, barely missing one of the hostiles, "We knew the VC and NVA were desperate, but we never expected they'd do something like that."
"Maybe you just didn't know your enemy," Sypha said as she went to reload her MP5 before realizing she had just spent her last magazine, "I'm out."
Trevor reached down to his belt and saw he only had one magazine left, "I got one," he said as he turned toward her, "Here," Sypha turned as he tossed her his Uzi, and the last magazine before pulling out his 1911, "Try to fire as little as possible."
"Got it," Sypha said as she took a few shots at the hostiles.
As Trevor saw one of the hostiles reloading, he heard the sound of the plane coming back around, and exclaimed, "Let's go!"
The two of them ran back to the line and emptied their magazines at the hostiles before retreating to attach themselves into the line.
The hostiles saw them strapping themselves in, and were very quick to the run-up to the second Land Rover as Trevor and Sypha were hooking themselves in.
As they sat down, one of them popped up to shoot, only for Trevor to fire first, nailing him once in the shoulder.
As the second popped up to fire, Sypha unloaded her magazine at him, and when he ducked to avoid the fire, the plane snatched her and Trevor off the ground, and they were out of his rifle's effective range before he could even fire a shot.
The sound of wind rushing by his head was something Trevor had become accustomed to whenever his unit would do skyhook extractions, the only difference this time being his unit didn't have to go one-at-a-time, and he had a beautiful woman riding on the same line as him.
When the wind is rushing by them, they couldn't feel the winch pulling them toward the plane, they only knew they were back in the plane when the fuselage of the plane created a boundary layer that allowed them to breathe easier.
Alucard and Grant helped the two of them into the plane, and the back gate of the plane shut behind them.
"So nice of you to join us," Alucard said over the roar of the engines.
Being as there's no soundproofing on the inside of cargo planes, if you're going to have a conversation, you'll either have to yell or write down what you're saying onto a note pad, or use hand signals.
"Thanks for having us over," Sypha said, "Love what you've done with the place."
"The floor-bearing new," Trevor asked as he holstered his 1911 which he just realized he had been holding the entire time.
"No, I just polished it," Alucard said before sitting next to Magnus, "I think the gun-runner is a bit much."
"No, not at all," Trevor said, "Quite a nice addition. Especially considering what he is to us."
"And what am I," Magnus asked.
"Then answer to a small problem of ours," Trevor said before his fist came crashing into the man's jaw, knocking him out cold.
"Nice punch," Alucard said as Trevor walked over to the other side of the plane, and sat down.
"Thanks," Trevor said, "Today felt good."
"Remind you of Vietnam," Sypha asked.
"Never thought I'd miss it before today," Trevor said, "The feeling of an automatic weapon, the adrenaline high. It brings back memories."
"Good ones," Sypha asked.
"Some of them, yes," Trevor said.
"Hold onto that feeling," Alucard said, "We're going to need that kind of dedication in the future. This is just the beginning."
"I'm in it," Trevor said, "To the end."
"Fantastic," Alucard said, "Now let's see if we can get pale, purple, and sleepy here back to the safehouse without him giving away what we're doing to the police."
"I wouldn't worry about it," Trevor said, "What we do need to worry about is whether or not we can get this asshole to talk."
"He's an arms-dealer," Alucard said, "Not KGB. He's not trained to withstand methods of interrogation like I am."
"You ever witness one of these KGB interrogations," Trevor asked.
"A few times," Alucard said, "I have a few techniques that I've saved up. What about you?"
"I captured a few VC and NVA during the war," Trevor said, "Along with several others. I never sat through one, but I do know of a few things."
"You tortured people," Sypha asked.
"No," Trevor said, "By I did do one thing I know we can use that's not torture, but it is troubling to some."
"Then we'll see how well it'll do against this one," Alucard said, "Right about now, any lead on Colonel Ţepeş is a step forward."
"And if he has nothing," Sypha asked.
"He'll have something," Grant said, "A guy like this doesn't forget a client that helped him provide weapons to someone whose killed Americans."
"Damn straight," Trevor said as he sat back, "It's an hour and a half back to Zagreb. Might as well get comfortable."
"Easier said than…" Sypha said before hearing something, she looked over to see that the adrenaline high Trevor had been riding had worn off, and all the energy in his body had suddenly been expelled from his body along with his ability to stay awake because he was snoring.
Sypha smiled, she hated to admit it, but Trevor was a handsome man, and despite the scar, she could see how he had a few girlfriends during his time during the war.
How's that…