East Berlin, German Democratic Republic
Feb. 24, 1981
They had tracked down Kraus in the bar across the street and ID'd the man with Bell's camera to be sure. Bell always enjoyed taking pictures and Adler made sure they were always stocked with film to make Bell happy.
"Our intel says that Kraus will meet Volkov and Reznov across the street at the bar." Adler paused in the dark alley. "Meet Hudson's contact inside, she'll have a blue umbrella."
"Got it." Bell said before walking past him.
He adjusted his hat as he casually slipped out onto the sidewalk amongst other German people. He felt the rain drop and splash onto his hat and his leather jacket covering his shoulders. He kept a casual pace, being sure to avoid distance and eye contact with any of the Stasi, some of which were dealing with citizens by holding them to gunpoint while the other shun their flashlight in the local's face.
Making his way across the street, he opened the door to reval people sitting, chatting, gossiping and laughing, all while they shared drinks and smokes.
"Adler, you'd like this place." Bell whispered into comms.
"Not when its swarming with Stasi." He replied.
"You need to stop listening to your mother. All she thinks about these days are nuclear war. Its crazy." Bell overheard a man speaking to his wife as they as he walked passed them. He scanned the room as he did so, quick to find the blue umbrella at the back of the bar.
"My friend I'm so glad you could make it!" The red haired lady greeted him as if they had known each other for some time.
"Wonderful to see you again friend!" Bell shook her hand with a cheerful smile. "You must be Greta Keller." Bell said quietly.
"Yes, and Kraus is at the table over my right shoulder." Greta lowered her voice.
Bell took a quick glimpse then looked back at Greta. He pulled out the listening device he helped Lazar construct. Bell got the idea from seeing Adler's cigarettes lying around on a table back at the safehouse.
They listened as the waitress took Kraus' order. "I'll have a Berliner Weisse please." The man said.
"Loud and clear, Adler?" Bell asked.
"Affirmative, now we wait for Volkov." Adler responded.
"Hudson didn't reveal much- he said your after Volkov?" Greta set aside her cigarete in a small tray.
"He never tells anyone much. That jackass won't give me the time of day even if I asked him." Bell remembered an encounter he and Adler had with Hudson shortly after 'Nam. "But yes, Volkov and another man, his partner in crime, Alexi Reznov."
"I can't recall a man by that name working with Volkov." She said.
"What do you know about our friend over there?" Bell referred to Kraus.
"He's ex-Stasi. The man may look innocent and wholesome, but he is a murder." She warned him.
"And Volkov? How long is he supposed to be in Berlin?"
"Hard to tell, who knows, really." She gave her drink a light swig. "The man is like a ghost. I would guess no more than a day." She said before taking a sip.
Bell looked out of the window to see German officers roaming. They seemed to infest the streets tonight. "The Stasi are out in great numbers tonight."
"Yes well... one of my informants was picked up in a random sweep, just two blocks from here. The Stasi must assume there are more nearby." She paused, reaching for hee pocket. "I would ask a favor of you. My informant, he will not hold out under torture long. We need him rescued, or.. silenced. The preference is yours." She pulled out a slip of paper and handed an adress to him. "They're holding him here.
"I'll see what I can do." Bell responded, tucking the paper into his pocket.
"Thank you."
"Heads up Bell, either Volkov or Alexi may be walking in." Adler alerted him in his ear peice.
"Where's Volkov?" Kraus asked the man over his shoulder.
"Someone's followed you. Go home and wait for our call. There'll be a new time and place. We'll take care of the tail."
Dammit Bell thought to himself.
"Bell we've got trouble." Adler said.
"You don't say." Bell quipped.
"There's two stasi entering the bar. You need to get out of there, now!"
"Pfft stealth. I'm waiting for the moment when we can just blow something to hell." Bell sighed.
"Go through the bathroom. I'll hold them off." Greta concealed her pistol close to her side.
"Thank you. Good luck." Bell gave a quick farewell before he opened the bathroom door. The room reaked with awful scents.
A man in one of the stalls could be heard throwing his insides up. Bell nearly threw his own up. He neard the Stasi marching closer to the door. By the time they opened it up, he realised he forgot to lock the door. He quickly darted out of the thin opening towards the ceiling and into the alley way.
"Im gonna need more time. Ralley up with Lazar and Park without me. I'll update you when I can." Adler sounded busy over the comms, breathing a bit quickly.
Bell felt one of the soldiers grab his foot as he landed on the ground, water splashing his dry clothes, now wet. He scrambled to his feet and ran towards the left into the dark alley. By the time he reached the deadend the three soldiers had already weasled their way through the bathroom opening. He was cornered. "Shit. Team, things have gone south for me. Greta's informer Rickter, Lucas. Find him, kill him." He panicked as he read them the address.
The gaurds charged him, one landed a bullet close to his face. Bell quickly whipped out his silenced pistol but had it knocked out from his grip by one of the charging men who met him with a left hook to the face. His earpeice fell out and one of the men stomped on it. Bell stumbled back, pulling out his knife as he did. The other two Stasi soldiers joined the fight, clearly in an effort to detain and not to kill.
As the three men attacked him with flying fists and kicks, he found a moment to grab his pistol as knocked them all off their feet. He shot two of them dead while and nearly shot the third when Bell heard his pistol click. The other rose to his feet gun im hand, aimed at Bell. With no time to think, he threw his knife deep into the man's thigh. The soldier fell back to the ground, shouting and wincing in pain.
"No no no! Shhh! Shut up!" Bell urged him to be quiet, he knew dozens more were just around the corner and behind the gate. He placed his hand over the man's mouth and yanked his blade free from the flesh. But it was too late, four other soldiers had opened the gate and appeared infront of him.
"What's going on here!?" One of them demanded, the dark alley concealing the bloody mess Bell had on his hands. The soldiers inched closer, their weapons raised until they saw the sight before them.
"He fell." Bell said casually. The men instantly detained him.
"Make sure the American is sent to Kraus, and the woman." The soldier on the ground cried out in pain.
"Yes sir." One of them responded.
"Don't touch me." Bell told them as they placed his hands behind his back.
"We can do as we please." One of them twisted Bell's shoulder, nearly popping it out of place.
"If you say so." Bell freed his hands lose from their grip, swinging for the soldier nearest to him. He fought the four of them off for quite some time before one of them kicked the back of his leg. Bell fell to one knee. He felt someone grab him from behind, sending the other knee down. Seeing how he infuriated he had made them, it didn't suprise him that they all laid in punches and kicks to his body. One man gave the final blow by ramming a plank of wood from a nearby trashcan into Bell's ribs.
They finally released him, allowing his body to collapse to the ground. He manuvered himself to roll over. As he did so, he smoothly pulled the tracking device Park had given him and activated it, placing it a hidden pocket in his pant leg. He coughed up drops of blood, fractured ribs is he was lucky. His consciousness faded in and out after that. He felt two men pick him up dragging him through the gate. The next he awoke he was getting in a car.
"Hey, make sure I get that back.." Bell slurred, feeling someone remove his hat from his head and placed a bag over his eyes. Black again.
This time he woke with a startle, feeling someone touch his foot. The bag was still over his head and when he tried to speak he realised he was gagged. He felt his wrists and ankles were tied together as well. He heard Greta try screaming for help, she too must have just regained awareness. Bell leaned his head down to pull the tip of the bag and pull it off his head using his feet. As he did so he heard angry footsteps approach the small closet they were in.
Bell inched closer to Greta who didn't seem to have a bag on her head. He muffling sounds, trying to get her to remain quiet before they caused themselves even more trouble.
Unfortunatly Kraus became annoyed and snatched the door open. "If you don't shut up I'll have my men cut your tongue out!" He placed a bullet into her shoulder using a silenced pistol. Great leaned into the corner, tears burning her eyes. The blood was coming at an unsetteling pace. Bell waited for Kraus to leave before he broke his zipties. The German was dumb to think he couldn't manuver himself free from such restraints. He used the thick cloth around his mouth to apply pressure to Greta's wound.
"This isn't going to feel well. But keep the pressure applied. I'm going to get help." Bell applied the presuure, clearly causing her more discomfort but she would have to battle through it for now. He took her hand and had it cover the cloth. He opened the door and shut it, leaving her in an tight and uncomfortable position to hold pressure to her wound.
His head was pounding and his ribs ached even more. He didn't even want to look into a mirror to see his reflection. He pulled down on the string that rubbed against his face. Pulling it, the room turned red. "A red room.." Bell mumbled to himself. He investigated around, finding a breifcase that could only belong to Kraus. He recognized it from earlier.
Hoping his friends knew where he was now he took the tracker from his pocket and slipped it inside the breifcase. He glanced at a picure. A nuke of some kind. He didn't even hear the door entrance to the room slide open.
Feeling a hand clasp to his mouth, he instinctivley grabbed hold of their arm and pivoted on his heel to toss them over on their back. As he did so his attacker countered. Bell saw the world nearly by a 360 degree angle as he flipped. He was pinned on his back, wincing in pain.
"Bell." Park noted.
"What the hell.." he complained.
"Sorry." She helped him to his feet.
"Kraus caught both me and Keller. She's wounded, nothing fatal but she needs assitance immidiatly."
"We'll handle it. You yourself don't look great either." She saw spots of damp, sticky blood on his face and clothes.
"Still look better than Lazar." He joked. "I placed the tracker inside of Kraus' breifcase." Bell placed his hand ontop of the black case. "There was a picure of a nuke of some sort."
"We'll figure it out when we get back to the safehouse." She said
Bell looked over her shoulder and into the hallway. "He's coming back. Don't play superhero yet 007. Follow us to the meeting and then get us out." He had a glint in his eye, one she had a bad feeling about. Bell took a glass vase of flowers and threw them to the ground, trying to get his attention.
"You idiot!" Park scolded.
"Don't worry agent Bond, I got this." He said with a sly smile. "Now, go hide."
His smile was contagious as she returned it before hiding away in a nearby closest.
"I will not miss my meeting for this!" Kraus burst through his apartment door with six other soldiers.
"Take him and the woman with us. And be quiet. My family is sleeping upstairs." Kraus told his men who was fast to knock Bell to the ground. He felt the handle of the pistol meet his skull. The world was black.