34.- The Scouter
A liason operation with other mafia groups is always a risky endeavour, thus Vasil Borisov generally appoints a scouter to join the lower ranks of these groups to provide intel on them. Their trustworthiness, their code of honor, their hierarchies. This scouting tells Vasil how to proceed on issues relating to these operations. The next target is the Prague mafia.
Usually, there's a homely feeling to mafia groups, a latent yet not overwhelming danger, some secrecy due to side businesses, which may or may not anger the boss. But above all things, mafia members share trustworthiness, loyalty and admiration for each other. The Prague mafia is lacking all of that. Everything is lip-tight in there. Lower ranks are more like mercenaries than thugs. They execute orders, get paid, and live just another day. On paper, it seems inane, however, fear and desolation abounds in the Strahov Fortress. It seems there is a select circle, the Cabal, and then, the lower ranks which feel safer outside than inside that place.
For now, the Cabal has been quiet, but recently the head-ups have ordered a mission in Tournai. This data is scouted to Vasil Borisov, who seems to be currently allied to Lara Croft. "Do you know the Cabal?" Vasil asks her. "The leaders of the Prague mafia," Lara says. "I believe Gunderson is the last of them. I killed two of them, a friend killed another, and one was executed for treason. They, ugh… threw her into a mutant carnivorous plant. Gross..." Vasil looks quietly at Ms. Croft. If he hadn't seen the Alchemy of Light he would have laughed at her. Now, he believes. "The next mission is in Tournai, Belgium," Vasil says. "Try not to kill my scouter."
A strange mission indeed. You don't need an army to loot a single mausoleum in a public cemetery at noon. Yet, nothing is what it seems. Has he ever seen a floating assassin orange light? No he hasn't, and this strange light is a nasty looking, weirdly moving rotatory blade aiming directly at his unguardable throat.