Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait, so as a bonus I'll be uploading two chapters this time. Lets just say duty calls and next month it will call again. I'm almost finished with a certain back story and then once the original story has ended I'll create new adventures.
Carlos Inferno: To answer your two questions; yes on your review and no on your email, not that kind of story. Not to bash Jonah or anything but more often than not he looked like he had a constant Nicholas Cage type of expression all the time and his emotions swung around all over the place and in some parts seemed out of context with the situation around him. But that's just me.
pwashington: First off it's "Valmet" come on bro. And yes you are correct, her speed and agility are practically unmatched. If you recall what Lutz and Damien said, she was kicking his ass.
Vengeful Soldier: Appreciate it. And I bet like you I'm goin nuts waiting on BlueWay to get to the next chapter of "Manifest Destiny".
Chapter 13 Out of the Forge and into the Oil
June 28th 2010 0800 Hours
Near Dr. Amada's coordinates, South Africa
After the fire fight and a fifty percent guard the previous night I was hoping we'd find the doctor sooner rather than later. But I would be lying if I didn't say that the next valley over was rather beautiful. Rolling green pastures leading up to the mountains with flowers of multiple varieties everywhere. The one thing that confirmed that we were close to Amada was that there were butterflies everywhere. Only to be further confirmed by a shout.
"WHOOOHOO!"
We all heard in the distance and I took point.
"Yeah that's her. Five will get you twenty if I'm wrong."
"Easy Damien she's not alone." Wiley said behind me.
As I moved towards the sound of her voice I heard her speak. She was running right to me.
"There might be a new species out here! HA!"
As she caught one of the bugs she obviously didn't know I was standing in front of her.
"Yep you're Prof Amada."
As she fell back screaming on her ass I signaled to the team.
"Hey guys I just found Doctor Scientist."
As Lehm was ordering the crew to clear the area, Professor Amada's bodyguard Mokoena helped her regain her composure. She then looked up to me.
"Your one of Koko's men? What's your name?"
"I'm Damien. And we're heading back to Port Elizabeth now. Koko needs to talk with you face to face."
"We're a little far away it will take a day to get back. Can't it wait till tomorrow?"
"If you know Koko she can pull stuff out of her ass on a whim. Lehm!?"
He was on his own sat-phone. "ETA is 60 seconds. Everyone put on your balaclavas! Wiley pop smoke!"
I practically gave up on weird shit popping out of nowhere or benefiting us. Koko had a knack for pulling off miracles and this had to be the biggest one. From what Lehm told me during a call he received last night before we bedded down was that she managed to wrangle a chopper from the CIA and get us back to Port Elizabeth much faster. It didn't however make me feel any less nervous that I was gonna ride in a bird with the agency that wanted my head on a platter. But in a twist of good luck it was actually Scarecrow who had cleared the bird to come and get us. Considering that he was still just as empty headed as I hoped he was the danger wasn't that extreme. Koko also told me his newest partner was brand new to the agency but she said to not get into the details of who it was or how the said person managed to convince Scarecrow to help her out. But we weren't taking any chances and we all wore our balaclavas, it was also a plus that all of us knew more than one language so we could confuse the pilots. As the smoke continued to rise I heard a distinct engine sound of a UH60. But as it started to land in the field we then got an obsessive scientist to transform into a mad scientist.
"AHHHH! NO! YOUR BLOWING ALL THE BUTTERFLIES AWAY! GET THAT METAL MONSTROSITY OUT OF HERE!"
"Doctor! Calm down!"
As her bodyguard was trying to get ahold of her Professor Amada was yelling random gibberish and, for lack of a better explanation, gone totally fucking ape shit. Koko was right, her obsession with the bugs were a bit disturbing.
"That's our ride. Everyone onboard!"
Lehm gave the rallying signal and we boarded one at a time, Mokoena keeping a firm hold on the hysterical Doctor Miami.
0930 Hours
En route back to Port Elizabeth
With a cruising speed of 170 mph we were making even faster time than when we were getting to the mountain. However we had to leave our car behind since Koko had implied urgency that she kinda pissed off Chan last night from our little fight in the mountains. Well technically it was us that pissed him off since we killed his men and crippled his Lieutenant. But at least Dr. Miami had settled down, she then lit a cigarette rather but after hanging around Lehm I could tell she was not a chain smoker. The mission that took to getting this toy maker was too much time and effort, curious to a fault I needed to know what this was really all about. I learned from experience that the need to know basis spiel was always a load of shit in the end. I needed to know what Koko wanted with Amada. Seeing as how the pilots were having a problem understanding what we saying, they had to since Scarecrow was still technically wanting to bust Koko. I turned and whispered to Tojo, I figure it be best for him to ask her what Koko wanted with her.
"Hey Tojo. I know it's a long shot but ask her what Koko wanted to talk to her about. Do it in Japanese."
"Ok I'll try." He turned to Amada.
"Ishi."
(Doctor.)
"Hai?"
(Yes?)
"Koko no watashi no yujin wa kyomi ga arimasu. Koko to wa nani o hanashitai nodesu ka?"
(My friend here is curious. What did Koko and you want to talk about?)
"Naze kare wa josei no goshippu ni kyomigarimasu ka?"
(Why is he interested in women's gossip?)
"Uhh…kare wa yumoa no sensu ga aru kamo shiremasenga, shigoto o shite iru toki wa subete bijinesudesu. Onegaishimasu."
(Uhh…he may have a great sense of humor, but when he's on the job it's all business. Please.)
She turned to me with a relaxed expression and then turned back to Tojo.
"Sore wa watashitachi no himitsu no purojekutodesu."
(It's our secret project.)
As Tojo then explained his translation to me I gave up. I knew I wasn't going to get anything else out of her but at least I had something. Amada was being vague and it could have meant anything but project had to be something at least physical considering the woman was into robotics. Seeing how there was nothing else to do and we still had a long way to get back, I tried to get a nap in.
1145 Hours
We managed to arrive back sooner than we wanted to but Lehm had gotten a call from Koko to pack up what we could cause we had to make a quicker exit out of South Africa by plane. I'm guessing that Chan was a bigger threat than Koko had faced before and wanted to get away faster than leaving by ship. Granted it was a good idea, but what was a shitty idea was not keeping tabs on the professor. Not long after we touched down she said she was gonna be at her office. Koko had unfortunately gotten up a little late this morning as she drank a little too much. But what was the worst was that when Koko had gone to see her, she had disappeared again to look for some damn clam on the beach. As we were about to leave the hotel I couldn't hold in my frustration any more.
"We go through all that shit for some ingredients for fucking soup!"
I slammed the storage box I was carrying on the ground so hard the lid popped open. Mao scrambled over to close it back shut since most of our weapons were in there and we were about to go to an airport.
"Calm down man! You should know not everything goes according to plan when you finish something and this kind of thing happens all the time with Koko."
"She ever heard of follow through?" I sighed in frustration. "Anyway is she, Lehm and Valmet on their way back?"
"Were gonna meet them at the airport, our next stop is England."
1220 Hours
Port Elizabeth International Airport
Whenever a soldier uses something so often they naturally grow attached to it like a rifle that always hits its mark or a chopper that can take the punishment and keep on flying. But when you lose it the worst way it can make you feel a little empty inside. That was the feeling Ugo had been carrying around since last night, they had to get away from Chan so fast that they had to ditch his brand new Mercedes. But I remember a saying from my Uncle Frank, my dad's oldest brother, from something he learned in Vietnam. You could always get more things you couldn't always get more people. I hoped Mao was able to at least bet him away from the rain cloud he formed over his head. But it looked like he wasn't doing too well. As we were passing through the metal detector it was my turn but the strange thing is it was going off and I had nothing on me. I had no idea on how Koko was able to ship our guns with us but that was a separate issue. After passing through three times the security guard came to me.
"I'm sorry sir but we can't let you pass until we know for sure you have no metal objects on you."
I got nothing on me why the hell is the…oh right.
I had completely forgotten about a heist I pulled with the Russian Mob in Belarus. We were gonna rob the cash house of a rival family that apparently had a little more firepower than we thought, including grenades. When one came near me I scrambled like hell to get behind some solid cover but not before it blew and put a lot of shrapnel in my right thigh and leg. The guy that set up the gig personally paid for the surgery to get most of the shrapnel out of me. Keyword being most.
"I can answer that for you. I got shrapnel in my thigh from an explosion when I was in Iraq. Wave your metal detection rod along my right thigh that should pick it up."
He then looked at me skeptically. Fortunately Lutz and Koko backed me up.
"You heard the dude he's got shrapnel in his ass, don't ask him to pull down his pants."
"That's right sir. I know it might sound silly but it's true."
He looked at me in awe but finally believed us. "I'm sorry sir you can go through now."
Lutz then looked at me. "Imagine that. Only had to be told three times."
I knew where he was getting at. Security at airports around the world had now gotten to the point of being paranoid because of the terrorist attacks not only ten years ago but also all the numerous incidents that had popped up proving we had gaps in the armor. They just decided to hit all the places where the airports weren't, common sense was never part of a bureaucrats repertoire. And it did tend to cause frustration with those who flew including the guy that was behind us. An English man wanting to get back home.
"For God's sake will you hurry the bloody hell up! I'm going to miss my plane!"
"I'm so sorry sir. We'll be going." Koko said.
As I was starting to join the rest that had already passed through I heard a painful grunt. I turned around to see Valmet grabbing the guys face at the pressure point behind his jaw.
"I cannot believe you just got my boss to apologize to you. I can make it easier for you to skip the line in a wheelchair if you like."
She continued to hold her grip with a sadistic smirk and ignoring everything around her, including Koko's shout.
"That's enough Valmet! Lehm why aren't you stopping her!?"
"I don't know I'm finding this kinda funny!"
I don't got time for this shit.
I turned to the security guard. "I'll handle this for you sir. As a way of apologies for holding up the line any further. And trust me she's not the type that you wanna pat down and live."
I walked past the metal detector and broke her grip from the Englishman. Then with a little bit more force than I wanted to threw her over my shoulder like a rug.
"Come on Valmet I'm tired and it's gonna be a long flight."
"What the hell are you doing!? Put me down!"
"Shut up. You can beat the crap out of me later. Koko?"
She smiled at Valmet cruelly. "Better do what he says Valmet."
As I walked passed the detector and towards our gate and away from the rest of the crew I couldn't help but smile and wonder what Valmet's face looked like. But from the expressions on the faces of rest of the crew it had to be of utter disbelief. Nobody had been that bold against Valmet before.
"I hate you." She said with a mix of defeat and anger.
"Then you should have listened to Koko when she told you to calm down."
It then stuck me as odd considering how much more mass she had than the average woman, she was surprisingly light.
1923 Hours
Flight 2390 to London, First Class Cabin
Koko couldn't help but chuckle at Damien and Valmet. She looked ahead as they were both arguing over something trivial. Valmet said Damien spilled his drink on her. Damien said she tripped him while he was stretching his legs.
Koko turned towards Lehm. "You know I think those two are making great progress."
"You mean progress towards their next inevitable brawl?"
"That too. But hasn't Damien reached all of you guys on a personal level yet? He's not as withdrawn as he was when he first started working with us."
Lehm paused before he answered. "Answering you second question, yes. The first, not fully. You and I are the only ones who knows about what happened to him two years ago."
Koko's face then straightened, she knew that was dangerous ground for being around Damien.
"Well what did you think about it?"
He leaned his head back and looked at the cabin ceiling.
"You and I both know the shit the CIA tends to pull. Especially on how we avoid their paramilitary crews and SAD. Including that encounter we had with that woman a few years ago."
"You're not answering my question Lehm." She said with insistency.
"He took on the dark part of the CIA. Naturally and legally what he did do was make himself an enemy of the United States. He can't go back home and he hates himself for it and he even hates the things he's done just to stay alive. And if he gets pushed in the wrong way his emotions tend to get the better of him and while it makes him unpredictable, it's also a way that will get himself killed. But there's a few things I think he doesn't realize."
"What do you mean?"
"What I find amazing is that he took them head on and survived. He thinks that he took it to an extreme level but not all of it was his fault. They shot first, he just reacted. What happened to his team though was an accident, they couldn't have known what he was planning. And while yes he did ruin his life, he is making every fucking possible effort to try and make amends. You don't think he's doing that?"
Koko looked back ahead both Damien and Valmet were back in their arm lock from yesterday morning only sitting in opposite seats both had looks on their faces on wondering who was gonna quit first.
"Your right he is. I've never met anyone quite like him before. I'm gonna make sure he has a better future."
June 29th 2010 0100 Hours
7 hours till landing in London
I never really could sleep well on planes. In fact in the last two years I never slept at all it was more along the lines of being unconscious. I often found it fascinating on how you can find out more about a person based on how they sleep. Some that are stressful often toss and turn. Those that are a little too relaxed tended to drool. Those that snored really loud often smiled cause they knew they were getting better rest than those around them. I was also regretting not bringing ear plugs with me on the plane, while some heard it as white noise I heard it as just noise period. While it drowned out the other senses, one sense I never pick up much on a plane was smell unless a mother was changing her baby's diaper or some asshole didn't stay puckered. The smell was smoke, cigarette smoke, and that meant one thing. I headed towards the source, it was where the flight attendants kept their carts.
"You know this is a non-smoking flight?"
"Save it. This has been my most expensive cigarette ever. Can't sleep again?"
He must have bribed the flight attendants. I then stretched my arms behind my head.
"I managed to catch a few hours. But you know these whole day flights never allow anyone to sleep well plus my legs are pretty numb."
"I'd figure your arms would be more shot with what you and Valmet were doing again." He teased.
"Hysterical. But on a serious note, when you were at Professor Amada's place did you happen to catch anything that could give you a clue that could have any indication on what she and Koko are doing?"
Lehm put out his smoke and gave me a look as if he was telling me to ease up.
"I thought Koko told you it was her secret."
"If she says it's nothing bad I'll believe her. The reason I want to know though is because every time I got placed on shit that included "need to know basis" it always ended up with someone getting fucked over or nearly killed in the end. Most of the time it was me and once was from an employer I kinda liked and he ended up seeing me as just expendable."
"Alright alright. The only thing I noticed when Malin was apologizing over and over to Koko was a note from Dr. Miami that said something about a theory and it works."
Really? A theory? We went through all that shit to see if a theory was wrong or not? That also even broadens the picture even more.
"Ugh. I don't think I wanna know anymore." I said as I ran my hands through my hair and pulled on it. I then glanced over to the unguarded mini bottles of liquor.
"Think anyone's gonna notice I need liquid courage to get back to sleep and forget about yesterday?"
July 8th 2010 0945 Hours
East Sussex County, United Kingdom, HCLI Training Facility
Even though it had fantastic architecture and history that dated back at least two thousand years the places you sometimes wanted to see in Britain were often tourist traps. I was a little disappointed that Koko didn't let me take in the sights that were the better places. But she at least let me, Lehm, and Wiley celebrate Independence Day at one of the local pubs provided we didn't get too plastered. We managed to drink in a place that allowed smoking so I decided to one up Lehm with a Cohiba. But unfortunately unlike Dubai we weren't on vacation this time, despite the beautiful summer scenery. Though we were far from it we still operated like if we were in a military unit and that required practice drills so that we didn't lose our edge. Fortunately we skipped all of the FNG crap and got to the good stuff that we needed to brush up on. Field ops being one of them, and we were in one of the seven different training sites around Europe where HCLI trained their security teams. I as I sat and listened what we were gonna do today, Valmet spoke up first. Holding up what I thought was an M4.
"This is a high velocity paintball gun. We got these on loan today from SCO19."
She then tested it out and pink paint splattered on the target down range. The sound was about as quiet as a typewriter. But nowhere near as annoying as Lutz's cockiness.
"Yeah yeah I know all about them. I suppose these are what we're training with today?"
"Your damn straight Lutz! As I recall you were the only one that got hit by hostile fire!"
Why do I have a feeling she just wants me to react?
"And as I recall you were the only one to break cover needlessly and rush out just so you fight a duel with Low. Also tell me who was it that prevented her squad from giving you a fucking lead enema? Koko with your permission let me partner with Lutz on this exercise."
Koko looked toward Valmet. "Once again, better listen to him he does have a point."
The look of agitated defeat appeared on Valmet's face again. She didn't bother responding cause she had nothing. Then Lehm spoke up.
"Ok guys were gonna do a little old school here, capture the flag. First one to take the flag or first one to take out your opponent wins."
"What's the prize?" Lutz and I asked, then Koko spoke up.
"I'll tell you both what it's $50 for each time you hit your opponent and $100 for taking the flag. I'll throw in a bonus if you get both."
We both stared at each other and sneered.
"Your mine blondie."
"Fat chance muscle head."
Unbeknownst to him I had a brought along one of a soldiers favorite field tools, 550 cord.
1016 Hours
After managing to place a little something special next to a tree, I managed to find Lutz again. Being a designated marksman in the GSG9 I never needed to worry on how he handled himself. The anti-terrorism tactics that he and his fellow members were trained in were designed to be laser sharp. They were also experts in MOUT, military operations in urban terrain, and damn near anything that was close quarter. However they were still a rapid deploying rescue team that had the utmost regard for the preservation of life and to end a standoff as quick as possible. They were not grunts that stayed out in the field for days or even weeks on end. He was an excellent shot but a bit of a novice when it came to field combat. It really wasn't much of a fair fight since Green Berets were normally one with nature. We were taught not to be seen or heard and to use the environment to our advantage. I was a little concerned that Lehm and Wiley had not taught the crew some of the aspects on how a Delta Operator performs. But then again they were bodyguards not a spec ops team, our jobs were to keep Koko safe. That was abundantly clear while I was watching Lutz from under a bush.
Wide open. This is gonna be embarrassing for one of us.
I fired off a single shot and it was followed by a painful scream. These paintball guns were more accurate than I thought.
"DAMIEN! ICH WERDE DICH TOTEN!"
(Damien! I'm going to kill you!)
Now that he was angry all I had to do was get him back to the tree. I kept a pace in which he could stay behind me but I had to avoid the paint. I ran carefully over the trap and Lutz followed right behind. The snare did the rest an as he was upside down wondering what the hell happened I stood up and I took aim.
"You're only the world's greatest sniper…until someone sees you."
"Scheicce."
I didn't even need to aim.
1025 Hours
When we got back to the range Wiley then counted the number of times I hit him. Koko had her arms over my shoulders while I was sitting down. Her getting close to me didn't seem to bother as much as from before. I never let anyone get close to me emotionally or physically for the last two years cause of my curse that in which people around me tended to either suffer or die. Despite on how my life turned out she made me feel welcomed. It even eased my tension on how I acted with more emotion than I normally did. Like on how I smiled sadistically at Lutz as he was covered in paint and the look of humiliation on his face.
"You didn't have to use the whole clip."
"Shut up I'm trying to count. Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen." Wiley finished counting and Koko pulled out some cash.
"That totals up to $850 but no extra bonus since you didn't get the flag."
She held the cash out in front of my face and I grabbed it.
"The look on his face was good enough."
"Fuck you Damien." Lutz snapped back.
"Sorry. I'm not a big fan of blondes."
It had also seemed that I had also scored the title of the crews comedian. While the rest of the day went rather smoothly I was focusing on the schedules for what we were going to do tomorrow. Since the British were gonna start pulling out of Iraq and Afghanistan earlier than the US was it turns out that the Iraqi's were interested in buying UAV's to counter a growing insurgent group along the Syrian border. HCLI was offering an American Predator and the Euro Groups French Neurons at Iraq's Embassy in London. As over shot as they were already, I could at least add some of London's landmarks to my scrapbook.
July 9th 2010 1100 Hours
Iraqi Embassy, London, United Kingdom
I had to clean myself up properly for today fresh shave and hair in a ponytail. We were gonna be with a bunch of diplomats and other legit arms dealers after all. Since everyone was going to be dressed formally for this kind of event I had nothing to wear. Since we left South Africa so quickly most of my stuff was still on board the Fruition. So I had to buy a new suit, a navy blue Armani with a gold tie and with Crockett and Jones derby's all together worth about $5,000. These at least were the places I could show off my garb and not worry about something crazy going off unless it did. I took rear guard position today while Valmet and Tojo were flanking Koko.
"Looks like they've got major players here today. Check it out on the far left, Amalia Tolokhovsky, an actress turned arms dealer." Tojo said.
"Wow she's actually really beautiful."
I was glad I wasn't looking at the rest of them cause my expression and reaction could only be matched by Homer Simpson and his catchphrase of "D'OH!".
Oh no. This is rather awkward. Please don't notice us.
That hope was quickly dashed as she made her way towards us.
"Koko Hekmatyar! What a pleasure! I had a feeling there would be a fresh face here and I had to see for myself. I hope you will go easy on me I just…wait a minute."
Crap.
"Something wrong Ms. Tolokhovsky?" Koko asked.
A mischievous chuckle followed by a question. "He definitely is not the one for wearing suits but I'd recognize him anywhere. It that you Mr. Andrushko?"
I awkwardly turned around and decided to be formal.
"Zdravstvuyte g-zha Tolokhovsky. Chto eto bly god?"
(Hello Ms. Tolokhovsky. What's it been a year?)