A/N: All of the places, weapons, etc in this story actually exist (except Ashkovich's compound, which exists only in my mind.) I expect to get a call from CSIS inquiring about my sudden interest in Russian weaponry and middle eastern geography momentarily. =)
Search and Seizure - Chapter 2- infie
Recap: (Tuesday)
494 remained silent, but turned and looked at 529 with empty, impassive eyes. 511 put his hand on 494's shoulder, making him blink. Humanity slid back into his expression, and 529 began to breathe again. 511 waited calmly for a moment, then started purposefully toward the helipad, drawing 494's attention. "0100, men. Time to head out."
(Wednesday, 1200 hrs)
They came off the plane at the airport in Bukhara to a ferociously beaming sun, groaning and arching their backs. 494 paused to make a full body stretch, starting at his toes and ending with his fingers. His burnous returned back into its loose folds as he let his arms fall with a heartfelt moan of release. 511 and 529 stared at him.
"What?" 494 asked, sliding on his sunglasses against the glare.
511 just shook his head. "Ahmad, it freaks me out how you can make something so normal sound like sex."
494 grinned, white teeth shocking in his dark face. "I guess I've just had a lot of practice, Habib."
511 made a rude noise. 529 smiled, but looked around watchfully. "We need to get going."
494 nodded, running a hand through his black hair. "Yeah. I'm sure there's a car waiting for us here. Let's go steal it before the owner comes back."
The three men strode off of the paved airstrip, careful not to walk in sync. Dust puffed up from their boots with every footstep, only to be swirled away by the swaying of their robes. True to 494's prediction, several small cars were sitting in the rutted dirt parking lot, their drivers waiting inside the building for new arrivals. 511 chuckled and headed for a dusty tan Citroen. "This one looks like ours." He rocked the car with his hip as he moved up the driver's side, feeling the weight of the car and listening closely to the slosh of liquid inside the body. "Lots of gas." he commented. He reached through the open window and popped the trunk for the others to drop in their duffels. They piled in as 511 cracked the steering column and hotwired the car effortlessly. "Look... the key works and everything."
494 was sitting shotgun, drumming his fingers against the window frame. He stared intently at the door to the airport, eyes watchful behind his dark lenses. "Enough chit chat, Habib. Let's go." He tossed their handheld GPS into 511's lap without looking. "Head north. I want to be in position before dark."
529 was keeping an eye on the airport exit, too. "More importantly, I want to be out of the parking lot before the owner of this car comes back." 511 glanced at him in the rear view mirror and nodded with a grin.
They headed out.
(Wednesday, 2100 hrs)
494 lay prone on a tiny outcropping of rock overhanging the target site in full dark, night vision goggles providing him a view of the encampment even his enhanced vision couldn't match. The goggles included some bizarre collapsible bumps and ridges, designed to break up the telltale sillhoueete of the human head, making it easier to blend in with his rocky surroundings. He surveyed the compound again, as he had been doing for the past hour. {Twelve buildings. Random layout.} A new player left one of the west-most buildings, shouldered a rifle, and headed towards the western perimeter. {Seven guards on watch.} A lighter flared off to the east, deep in shadow. The light illuminated a face that 494 had missed on his earlier sweep, lighting a cigarette and taking a deep drag. {Eight guards on watch.} He concentrated, focusing on the perimeter guard first. {SKS carbine, 30 round magazine. M6-446 Viking pistol times 2. Six... no, seven fragmentation grenades, one smoke.} He moved his attention to the guard in the shadows. {ROMAK AKM, 30 round magazine...Is that?} He squinted in disbelief, blinked, looked again. {A GM-94 pump action grenade launcher? What the fuck?}
Wriggling carefully, 494 reversed himself off his rock until he was safely out of view of the compound. He flipped the goggles off and rolled onto his back, staring up at the star-studded sky. {A GM-94 grenade launcher is not a standard bad-guy home defense system.} He blinked again, lips compressed, as he thought. {There is something very wrong here.}
494 rolled fluidly to his feet and made his way back to his unit's post, deep in a rocky crevice and safely away from the view of any casual, or most purposeful, investigation. 511 looked up as he dropped softly to the ground beside 529. "How'd it go?"
"They have grenade launchers." 494 replied curtly, his mind still obviously elsewhere. {Why the fuck do they have GM-94s?}
529 blinked. "That doesn't jibe with our intel at all. We were only supposed to be seeing small arms."
494 frowned. "I know. Double the personnel that was projected. And, they all have SKS rifles and ROMAK AKMs. Not unusual for this area, but also not quite qualifying as 'small arms'."
511 stood and began pacing the length of their small grotto. "I don't like it. This is way outside the mission profile. And all we have is the pistols. We're way outgunned."
"But our lot's lethal enough without weapons." 529 quipped, with a flawless impression of armoury sergeant Jessin.
494 smirked and closed his eyes, assessing. "We'll proceed with the mission." he decided firmly. "We'll continue surveillance until we're sure what we're up against. Habib, find us alternative exits. If this goes south, we'll need options for bailing." 511 nodded and immediately bent his head over their satellite maps of the region. "Saleh. Are the comms up yet?"
529 nodded. "Full satellite link available. I've flashed arrival, but otherwise stayed comm silent, as you ordered, sir."
"Good." 494 tapped his lips with his thumb. "I don't like it either. There is definitely something wrong here." He paused, then sighed faintly. "But we don't have to like a mission to get it done. Now that I'm back, Saleh, how are the personnel transmitters coming in?" He rubbed his finger over the faint itch behind his ear that told him that the subcutaneous transmitter was in place. He looked up and caught 511 doing the same thing. They exchanged a grin and sheepishly dropped their hands.
"Coming through loud and clear." 529 caressed his receiver station with one loving hand. "Not even a hint of static. And we managed to stay close enough that we can use whisker communications. Virtually impossible to detect."
"Good, good." 494 found himself rubbing behind his ear again and forced his hand back to his side. "Nice to know something about this mission is going according to spec." he smiled at 529. "Good job, Saleh."
"Nothing but the best for my CO!" 529 replied happily. 511 stiffened where he stood hunched over the maps, turning to look warily at 494. 494 stilled, and the smile on 529's face began to fade.
"And, your CO thanks you!" 511 interjected quickly. "I made a good choice for comms on this trip, didn't I, Ahmad?"
494 relaxed visibly. "Yeah." he said, smiling at 529 warmly. "You did." He turned and sprang up to the top of the rocky cleft that made up their hidey hole. "I'm heading back out. I'll be back in a few hours." He faded into the shadows, and 529 and 511 exchanged a long look.
"Jesus, they sure did a number on him." 529 said plaintively. "I miss the old 494."
511 pinned him with a glare. "494 is the same person he's always been. He's just a little sensitive about some things, like how he's not our CO anymore. You know better than to make comments like that. You know why he likes to work alone."
"He doesn't like being responsible for the safety of his unit." 529 nodded. "Because..." he faltered.
"Because they die." 511 finished for him baldly. "And 494 hates to lose family."
"Maybe it's time for someone to tell him how much his family hates to lose him." 529 retorted.
511 stared at him consideringly. "Maybe." he conceeded, turning back to his maps. "But I'll tell you right now, knowing how much he hates to think about all that stuff, it won't be me. Now get back to work."