Author's Note: The adventures continue and so do the views so keep it up and let others know. I've also said it before, I'm willing to hear anyone's criticism. I got thick skin so don't worry about it. But I think all of us here can agree if you go off on a tangent with nothing but profanity and statements you can't back up then you've lost your argument entirely.

Luffyx: I see that almost WAY too often there's a lot of stuff on here that dives too deep into the sexual aspects in a story. I myself see that more often than not that it gives FF a bad rep. That it's just a bunch of nerds, weirdo's and virgins writing their own perverted fantasies and all of the other stuff that's generally good reading material gets pushed aside and ignored. I'm not here to write smut, but that doesn't mean I won't dive away from aspects that make us human.

CarlosInferno: Sorry to break it to you but I've never heard of it or even want to do it. I honestly have stopped playing the COD series for the past several years because the developers just kept releasing the same thing over and over again and it turned into a bloated runaway franchise that the real fans and legit multiplayer's abandoned. Perfect example was Infinity War's 50% drop in sales with a massive spike in returns and that's not including the bait and switch tactic they used with Modern Warfare making it unable to be purchased unless you bought Infinity War too. I will say though that I think they've learned there lesson because I was looking deeply into WWII and it looks solid, WAY more solid than all their future war crap. I hope that they've learned their lesson but I remain skeptical.

Chapter 27: Product Security

September 9th 2010 1045 Hours

The Old Port, Marseille, France

The plane ride to France with Renato and Karl was unexpectedly silent. It was as if they were channeling Koko's frustration and it was still being taken out on me. I did what she said and I didn't kill Low. Honestly it wasn't like what Sophia did when she just up and left us without telling anybody. How the hell was what she did different from what I did? All I did was just let Low know not to fuck with us ever again.

Speaking of which, she didn't even say goodbye when we got on our planes. Guess this is what you would call our first argument.

As we were setting up the plans for the drop at an open air café near the Old Port we were going to do later this afternoon. I had to break the unnecessary silence that was going on since we split from the crew. Only thing we did talk about was about the deal and the product we were getting. We would meet the HCLI courier at an outdoor market and he would sign over to me a suitcase that had five newly designed microchips that would see through any type of countermeasure a plane would use when avoiding a missile. A rather rare product in which Koko had managed to procure on short notice and HCLI had intercepted them from their maker in Japan. That however was it, no talk about taking in the sights, no bar hopping in the two days we had before the deal, hell I couldn't even get them excited for when I managed to make some duck glazed in raspberry sauce.

"Ok guys before we execute this I wanna know for sure if you have my back. I mean for God's sakes this silent treatment you two have been giving me has kinda run its course. You both know what Low did to me and Valmet. Are you both seriously telling me you wouldn't have done the same?"

As they both looked to me when I got their attention they both looked to each other and Lutz went first.

"It's not what you did was the problem. It was how you acted."

"There was a reason why Koko chose each of us to be her personal guards Damien. It's cause of how well we function together not only as a unit but as a family." R followed up.

"Believe me when I say that I can understand why you wanted to personally rip Low limb from limb. But a family never lets their kin lose their sense of self."

"And unlike some of our buyers we are not thugs. All of us were trained professionals, thugs just get by on how much strength they have and they usually they don't last very long in this business."

"I've seen more than my fair share of thugs through my scope. Both from when I was with GSG-9 and with Koko. I can tell when some are scared out of their mind and don't want to die, to those that were truly mad killers. You aren't one of them, but I'm going to ask that question she said to you again. Was it all a lie?"

Only then I realized the weight that question carried. I had managed to purge a lot of hatred and anger from working with Koko and then all of a sudden it bursted out of me like it was lying in wait for its next victim to pass by. But then I realized why I acted in why I did it, the reason couldn't have been more obvious. I had another that I was going to protect and care for, and I didn't want to take the risk of being caught off guard.

"It wasn't Karl, but I'll tell you my closest guess as to why I acted that way. You can choose whether or not to believe me."

"Valmet?" He answered as if he already knew.

"Yes. She saved my life, and I will make sure that NOBODY makes her cry again."

R and Lutz then looked at each other, smirked and then looked back to me.

"You know in the last two years that I've worked with this crew, Valmet had always been the one that we had a bit of a problem trying to control but Koko always calmed her down. You however must be special." R said.

"You probably noticed but with the way she forged herself into a throat slitting killer she never really was one that wanted to be seen as a woman or even take any interest in men." Lutz said in his jackass tone.

"I'm not blind man, but despite the way she acts around Koko she never really said specifically that she went for the other team." I then checked my watch. "But we're getting off topic here, deal's in an hour and we gotta drop you off at your perch."

The three of us stood up at once from the table and headed out. I did however take one last panoramic picture of the Old Port, but as we were leaving I saw a man out of the corner of my eye staring directly ahead with his phone to his ear. His stare though was one I had seen many times over, when someone was eavesdropping on you. But there were too many people and it was too public to just go over and "figure out" why he was so serious. But then again he could have been a guy that had a bad day.

1200 Hours

Cremone Market

The courier said to meet me at precisely this time. In between the old wooden stands between the bread and the spice sellers. Drops and deals were normally the most nerve wracking for me, there was always the fifty fifty chance that they buyer or the seller would get greedy or too nervous and things can go south very quick. I was kinda concerned that we were doing this out in public. In front of people who were going about their daily lives, not realizing that I was about to take the responsibility of caring for some tech that was worth about $1.5 million.

"Don't even think about pacing Damien. You know that will make you look suspicious."R said through my small earpiece.

"This isn't my first drop man, I ain't moving. But that courier should have been here by now." I said as looked in his direction across the street but not directly at him.

"Well you can't really drive fast on these streets. Plus we don't wanna draw attention from the cops." Lutz said as he had over-watch on us from a few blocks up with his sniper rifle.

"Plus were picking up a package from Koko that was already paid for. We just gotta hold it until Koko and the rest get back from Bosnia. It figures that Koko chose me to do this little transaction since I used to do it a lot, but I also could have been the guide over there. I know that place in and out even after they rebuilt everything."

That was something rather new to me. It also let me know that R was much older than he looked. I knew that the Bersaglieri were often part of UN Peacekeepers. But what a whole lot of people don't know is that they were some of the best shock troops for the Italian Army. They took part in Lebanon and the Somali Civil War prior to Bosnia and were also a part of the Coalition in OIF.

"Wait a minute, you fought in the Bosnian War?" I asked.

"Yep, 1st Bersaglieri Regiment. I was known as Sergeant Socci back then. My battalion commander at the time recommended me to help do some intel gathering on some of the rather unpleasant Serb field commanders in the Bosnian War. I went out, interviewed some of the locals in plain clothes, and most of what I got went to the American's. Who obviously along with NATO wanted to make sure Milosevic didn't get away with his shit."

Just then a thought came running through my head. It could have been a coincidence but then again military life is both a large and small world at the same time.

"Hey, just curious, you wouldn't have happened to have done some work with US Special Forces did you?"

There was a little bit of hesitation before he answered.

"No. I uhh…well this is a little embarrassing Damien but the intel I was handing over to the American's was strictly to the CIA. It was over fifteen years ago and I've been retired from the Italian Army for now going on ten. I never once met with US Military other than when I was on my regular peace keeping ops. Why do you ask?"

He said it rather carefully, knowing my history with them. But this was when it was also I time when I was only a kid and never even considered being part of the Army yet.

"First off you can calm down, you were doing your job back then. And second, my dad was out there during that time too. He told me he was essentially going hunting, it was the guys up top that were orchestrating all of these massacres and wanted to be tried by world. The guys that were pulling the triggers though, were considered expendable. He told me that after he came home."

"Why'd he tell you that? Better question how old were you at the time?"

"Ten, plus this was also during the time my mother died. So when he came home we just talked about anything. He wanted to get his mind off of the stress that he had to go off to fight upon losing my mom at the same time. There was a lot of things he told both of us, and not all of it was what he wanted to tell a chaplain."

R sighed over the net. "I'm sorry Damien, I bet it wasn't easy growing up."

"Mine was no different from any other American boy. Too bad that later it decided to turn into shit."

"Well it's not that as of this moment, I got your back."

Lutz then came on the horn.

"Sorry to interrupt your bromance moment but I see the courier heading to you Damien."

"Where?"

"Your nine. But somethings off."

"What's going on?" R asked.

"This was supposed to be a one on one transaction. They're not really hiding that well but the guy with the case has four others with him and they're splitting apart taking different positions along the street. They're all dressed in rather plain clothes but they are anything but that. It's way too much security for a couple of chips."

My instinct was kicking in again. Very discreetly I put my hand behind my back and flipped the safe off on my .45. If this was going to be a shootout it was gonna be a bad place for it as there were people everywhere. I then got a clear picture of the man coming towards me. Around six feet tall, raggy blonde hair, brown eyes, and a scar on his lip. It was not one I wanted to see, one where money was the only thing he trusted. Where Koko had rival's in her business, technically so did I. But I never gave a shit if they saw me as one or not. I just did my job and didn't care.

"Lutz, if things go south target the guy coming towards me with the case."

"Whoa hold up Damien what's going on?"

"These guys are NOT HCLI. R, is that the case?"

"Yeah the electronic lock is the same. Whoever these guys are they couldn't have just come up with something like this on the spot."

As R finished that last part the man stopped in front of me with the case. Andre Codeubuff, a man who I crossed paths with as a bodyguard during meetings of bosses in the French underworld more than once. His reputation for betrayal for the amount of money he was paid was well known. During one of those meetings of bosses, he beat his own client to death with an unopened bottle of wine and then took the payment of guy who ordered the hit three seconds later. Unlike me, he took pleasure in his job along with a crazy sense of politeness whenever he would introduce himself and then kill his target. But it was a ballsy move to try and do that to me in public.

"Bonjor Capitaine Andrushko. Combien de temps cela a-t-il dure?"

(Hello Captain Andrushko. How long has it been?)

"Not long enough, asshole." I said bluntly ignoring his faux politeness.

"Oh, allez. Ne me dites pas que votre francais a ete si mauvais?"

(Oh come on. Don't tell me your French has gotten that bad?)

"Oh, c'est toujours bon. Je ne l'utilise pas quand je sais que la mauvaise merde est sur le point de se produire. Vous n'etes pas le courier, ou est-il?"

(Oh it's still good. I just don't use it when I know bad shit is about to happen. You're not the courier, where is he?)

"Unfortunately he suffered a rather nasty case of lead poisoning. He had this case with him and a little scrap of paper to meet you here. Since I didn't feel like running the risk of breaking whatever is in here I feel that I should ask you on what is in here, if you can open it, and see what my bonus is."

Bonus? Oh shit.

Whoever he was working for obviously didn't care about what Koko was going to sell, he was after me. Then again I should have expected this. The fireworks tended to start whenever Koko and I were together not apart from one another. I should have been more weary. I just hope that he didn't finger R through the crowd.

"If I did I wouldn't tell you. I don't know how you managed to figure out where I was or why the hell you're doing this and I don't care. You've stolen something that belongs to my employer and I want it back."

"You always were the angry type. Always so quick to start a fight, but you're now at least willing to let people explain the situation before jumping into a fight. She must be something if you're that loyal-"

"I'm not gonna ask twice motherfucker." I cut him off.

Codeubuff shut his eyes, formed a smirk, took a deep breath and gave me a disappointed look. He must have thought I was alone, he didn't realize I had backup. But I was a little concerned that I didn't hear Lutz or R come on the net. I couldn't necessarily turn around though to see if he was gonna jump in, but what was worse was that I didn't want to start a firefight in the middle of a market place full of people.

"You may have your principles Andrushko but I have my practicality."

I then heard a distinct metallic click behind my back. As I turned around I recognized him, he was the straight faced guy I saw making the phone call earlier, that made six. He was standing at an angle on my left side so that he wouldn't hit Codeubuff. But a better spot for someone else to shoot.

"Either here or make it a little more private in one of the alleys. Either way you're not getting out of this one Capitaine."

Well, here we go again.

"The other one Lutz."

After a confused look from Codeubuff the suppressed shot of a Sig Sauer .338 went through the skull of the thug behind me, he collapsed and fell forward. Taking advantage of the shock I delivered an uppercut to Codeubuff's jaw sending his head into a whiplash and knocking him off his feet. He dropped the case and I grabbed it as panic was starting to fill the market. I then heard random handgun fire from the thugs as I bolted towards R, already having his pistol out and returning fire.

"R! Get outta there with Damien and the case, I'll keep these assholes occupied!" Lutz shouted on the radio.

"Got it! Damien who the hell was that?"

"Short version, another shmuck wants me dead. That's just a hired goon."

Like everyone else in the market we were running away from the gunfire and were bolting it through the alley's to our silver BMW. R hit the unlock button on his key's and hopped in the driver's seat while I slid across the hood and rode shotgun. As he turned over the engine and peeled out, I put the case in the back seat and reached into my bag in the back and pulled out my MP5. We then had to go and get Lutz from the apartment building he was in a few blocks away.

"Lutz! We're coming to get you! Get out of there!" I shouted with my finger pressed against my earpiece.

"Already moving! I'll be coming out the front door towards the main street!"

When the adrenaline starts pumping, minutes can seem like eternities. It was a very short drive to grab Lutz and I kept watch for any other hostiles along the way. We came to a screeching halt outside the front door but we were taking too much time.

"C'mon Lutz! Hurry up!" I said scanning the street and sidewalk.

"I'm coming! I see you guys!"

I saw Lutz running towards us with his bag that had his rifle in it but then I saw a black Jaguar sedan coming at us rather fast and out from the sun roof stood one of the thugs with a G36 rifle. I looked back to Lutz.

"GET DOWN!"

Lutz hit the sidewalk just as he came out of the door and the gunman opened fire obviously not caring what he was aiming at. Karl then scrambled into the back seat and Renato slammed on the gas. We had to shake them before we could head back to the safehouse. The tight roads and sharp turns of Marseille were not ideal for speed if you wanted to get away. That black Jaguar was still on us, Renato was doing his best to shake them while also not hitting any pedestrians in the process. The constant tight turns weren't helping and you didn't know what nasty surprise would be around the next corner, which was another black Jaguar. But I noticed someone in the front seat, Codeubuff. He must have really not wanted for me to get away.

We were caught in a pincer move and the other Jaguar was about to ram us. R then threw the BMW in reverse and sped backwards down a narrow alley towards the main street.

"Hang on guys!"

"Where the hell are you going!?" I shouted.

"We gotta get them away from the people! We'll head towards A50!"

"The freeway!? Are you nuts!?" Lutz said as he was loading up his MP5K.

He got to the main road and then floored it.

"Less chance of collateral. The cops are probably already on their way so we gotta put some distance between them and us. Just relax and trust me!"

"Trust you?! You drive worse than Ugo!"

"No way!?" R said being surprisingly glad.

As we then headed out of the city more gunfire opened up on us from behind, the two Jaguars were still on our tail and shot out the back window and glass sprayed everywhere. R then swerved the car around traffic taking out street signs and parking meters along the way. Lutz then returned fire from the back seat and I did as well from the passenger side. As we were weaving through cars trying to get away from them we were about to blow through an intersection I mentioned to R that the light was changing.

"That's a red light man!"

"It's green."

"IT'S RED!"

"IT'S GREEN!"

We blew through the light and two cars were coming at us on both sides. The one on our left turned left to avoid hitting us and the one our right drove straight into it with a crash. The car following it rear ended it. As R looked in the rear view mirror the look of "Oops" on his face he admitted that he should have slowed down.

"Ok fine it was red."

"It was yellow. And they're still chasing us!" Lutz said in his bitching tone.

After winding through a few more streets we got closer to the freeway. But then I heard what I didn't want to hear, police sirens. Two of them came up on our right and the freeway was in sight. However they immediately came under fire by Codeubuff and his thugs and veered off. Now two groups were chasing us as we got onto the onramp and R kicked into high gear.

"Ok tell me how we are gonna be able to get away from them now?" I asked in my classic sarcasm.

"Shut up Damien I'm working on it!"

"Urgh. Lutz how many clips you got left?"

"Plenty, but that won't matter if we can't get away from the police."

As I was weighing the options, there was always one that worked but I wondered how long we would have to wait until she got us out of this one.

"Not much of a choice. Call Koko, tell her things went FUBAR and we need help."

As Lutz made the call, we continued to speed down the highway veering around cars and trucks. I then noticed an oversize load up ahead with a yacht on the back of it. Then an idea came to me just as Lutz got off the phone.

"R, go faster. Get alongside that oversize. Lutz when we get close aim for the tires, straps, anything that will knock that sucker loose."

"Uhh Damien what are you planning?" Lutz asked and obviously scared of what I had in mind.

"Use that boat as a big wall for them to run into. It'll stall the cops as well."

R sighed deeply and pulled out his pistol. Looked like he wanted in on the action too.

"We're already this far ahead. Makes no sense to turn back now."

R then hit the metal and then led the two Jaguar's behind him behind the boat. Once we got to its end he slowed down slightly so that we could get our shot's in. I leaned out of the passenger window with the heavy wind blowing my long hair into a mess Lutz took aim from the back seat and R pointed his pistol while driving with one hand.

"NOW!"

As I shouted over the wind we lit up anything that would knock the boat loose. We then sped towards the truck pulling the trailer and aimed at the trailer hitch and brake hoses. The truck then began swerving violently and the yacht was leaning toward us. R got out of the way and speeded forward, the boat then fell off of the trailer and then skidded down the highway with sparks and debris flying everywhere. Codeubuff must have never seen it coming cause I looked back and saw a black Jaguar run directly into it and rolled end over end and side over side in a violent crash. Our victorious whooping and hollering was short lived however it was only one, the other one swerved around it and was coming up fast. I then noticed we weren't going as fast as we were earlier.

"Why are you slowing down?"

R pointed ahead. "Traffic. Some kind of construction."

I then quickly looked around for any openings. But then again we weren't really concerned about the traffic laws at this point. I motioned to R to make for the shoulder and the Jaguar followed us. I then noticed who was in the front seat, Codeubuff, the bastard didn't want to die so easy. As they followed us into a bit of a bottle neck as we were speeding past the other cars I motioned to Lutz to light the car up. We both smirked fiendishly and let him have it, or so I thought.

"Shit! Armored glass! Now what Damien?"

"R! Get off the shoulder! We'll have to ram him!"

Traffic then started to lighten up and he got off. He then hit the brakes to let Codeubuff get alongside us, and then he'd hit him with the PIT maneuver. If that didn't work, Lutz and I would blow out his tires. R made his move but the Jaguar just slammed back into us.

As R and the Jaguar kept hitting each other I then noticed more construction up ahead, an exit ramp being built into a commercial district with no ramp. We had to get him off of us or else we both would crash. Both cars started to speed up cause there was thicker traffic on our opposite sides and one of us was gonna hit the divider on the unfinished off ramp. We then ran over cones, warning signs and narrowly missing construction workers but as I feared it was too late as the Jaguar forced R over.

"OH SHIT!"

"WHOAAAA!"

"OH MY GOOOOD!"

Going about 90 mph we hit the unfinished ramp that had a slight incline that caused us to fly directly into a building that was right off of the freeway. We crashed through the glass side of the building screaming like crazy but the car landed and kept going. Then we were driving through cubicles with freaked out office workers everywhere and hoping we didn't hit any of them. The car was still intact and we were still alive, that much I was managing to register. But I then realized that we would soon run out of floor to drive on. The car was also fishtailing badly, R was having problems trying to steer and stop. It looked like this was another time to bet all or nothing. I reached over with my foot and stomped on his while it was on the gas. I then looked up and saw that the other side of the building was coming up fast. Facing the possible inevitability of death again we screamed as loud as we could.

We blew through the other side of the building and landed back on the freeway hard. I heard a simultaneous blow of air and a clang. We definitely blew some tires and something else but the car then started to make a few unhealthy noises. Since I wasn't wearing a seat belt I slammed my head on the dashboard, Lutz flew in between the front seats shoulder first into the console and R planted his face into the steering wheel. After reeling back and gripping my head I then noticed two things; one I was bleeding and two who was driving in front of us.

"Oh great now were chasing him!"

"R! I am never getting into a car with you again!" Lutz said gripping his shoulder hard.

"You might not have a choice! Cops are back!" He said with blood coming from his mouth and nose.

I then turned around and even though they weren't directly behind us I could make out the blue lights in the distance. We had to get off the freeway and ditch the car. Luckily a complete off ramp was up ahead but Codeubuff was still in front of us. I then noticed him appear out of the sun roof with a rifle, our BMW's engine was starting to crap out. As I stumbled around trying to find my SMG or my pistol the blonde bastard took aim. But before he could fire, the moment he got off the ramp a semi-truck slammed into the Jaguar and some speed. R then slammed on the brakes and the car fishtailed into the end of the trailer, but not as hard as we thought it was gonna be.

"Aw shit! You guys alright?" R asked both of us groggily.

"Ouch. Still breathing somehow." Lutz said as if he just got up from a hangover.

"Alive? Yes. Ok? No. I think I'm concussed." I said gripping my head which was in throbbing pain.

As I was trying to get my bearings straight I then heard the police sirens which were getting close. We had to get the hell out of there.

"Shit! Lutz, you got the case? We gotta go."

"Got it right here man." He then held up the case, scratched up but still intact.

I then tried to open my door but it was jammed shut, we couldn't get out from R's side cause it was pinned in place by the truck. I then pointed to the back window which was shot out, Lutz scrambled through first with the case. But as he got out I noticed two black SUV's pull up from in front of the truck and stopped in front of Lutz. He then pulled out his pistol but then a pair of hands appeared from the rear seat window of the first one and a Russian voice then emanated from it.

"NYET! Don't shoot! Koko sent us to help you!"

Lutz then lowered his pistol with a surprised look on his face.

"Wow that was quick. Help me get them out of the car!"

He pointed to our smashed BMW and two men in suits then came over and shattered the windows of the car and R and I climbed out more easily. As R and one agent grabbed the rest of our stuff so as not to leave evidence I still had a problem trying to bearings right. I wasn't lying when I said I think I had a concussion. Lutz and R got into the first one SUV and moved out. The other suit let me lean on his shoulder and we made for the second SUV and apparently the driver of the truck was coming over to help me and the other suit. Before I got into the truck though I saw a body lying on the road, bleeding out and with two limbs bent in the way that they weren't supposed to. I then noticed the blonde hair and open brown colored eyes of my would be assassin, he had failed.

As we mounted up and departed I noticed the blue lights arriving at the scene, just a little too late. I then leaned my head back and sighed deeply, it was over. I then noticed the suit that helped me pull out a first aid kit and the truck driver take off his hat and brown jacket he had a Beretta underneath his left arm I knew this was Koko's help. As I took my hand off of my bleeding scalp I then heard beep from a cell phone a woman's voice from the passenger side of the SUV, a very familiar one.

"Oni v poryadke?"

(Are they ok?)

…

"Ya ne imeyu v vidu produkty! Ya imel v vidu yego druzey."

(I don't mean the products! I meant his friends.)

…

"Harasho. Pozvoni Koko, skazhi yey, chot oni poryadke."

(Good. Call Koko, tell her they're alright.)

The lady then turned to the back seat to face me, amber brown hair, violet blue eyes, red lipstick, and beautiful as always, Amalia Tolokhovsky.

"Good to see you again Damien, are you ok? I got here as fast as I could."

I looked back at her and smiled. "I'm alight Amalia, matter of fact you came in at the right moment. And I take it you're the buyer?"

She leaned back further and placed her hand on my knee. Then addressed me in the quaint motherly tone she first used when we first met in that hospital in Belarus.

"As of now I am not here on business. I'm here to make sure what is precious to Koko is ok, though I regret that I cannot say unharmed."

I held my hand up to her. "Relax they, along with R's very bad driving, did this to me. I've been hit with much worse, believe me."

She then let out a soft laugh. "Well I'm not running the risk of the same thing happening to you twice until Koko gets here. For now you and your friends will stay at my hotel. I'll send some of my men to get your things, but for now you can relax. It's all on me."

2100 Hours

Carre Vieux Port Marseille, Amalia's Suite

Although it wasn't really a smart way for the buyer to have the seller's product in their possession without paying for it, the relationship between Amalia and Koko was an exception. Plus since we still had eyes on the microchips they technically weren't with Amalia anyway. And she was actually paying for them, with Lutz, R, and myself ordering the most expensive things on the room service menu. Not to mention Lutz got one of the masseuses up in the suite to massage his shoulder back into its socket. R however was a bit more liberal with his treatment and was just sitting around sharing his preferred brand of brandy with Amalia's men. As they were inside enjoying themselves, Amalia and I were out on her balcony overlooking Marseille cityscape. It was slightly cool out for the night but fortunately for us there was no breeze. A few hours earlier we were discussing about the cash exchange we would do with Koko tomorrow morning and we'd be done here in France. But after that we kind of got back to where we left off in London, after we were done with that deal with the UAV's. We just spoke about anything, her beginnings in theater, my fishing trips with my uncles, and the silliness of the politics of both East and West during the Cold War. That however led into the discussion of the enemies I had made over the last two years. But this one definitely stood out as anything but a coincidence. Someone was tracking me, I just didn't know who.

"Whoever this asshole is, he's either extremely desperate or he's got some serious balls if he was willing to hire a nut like Codeubuff to not only to kill an HCLI employee, steal from Koko, and try to kill me."

"And with both of you having so many enemies it would be hard to narrow that list down."

"However these attacks that have occurred in the last few months haven't been sporadic, they've been rather frequent but consistently whenever Koko is making deals or when we were not expecting an attack. Someone is watching us, hell maybe even right now."

Then it occurred to me what shouldn't have been more obvious, I then let out an annoyed grunt and then sat down on one of the balcony chairs. Gently pressing the bandage on my forehead from my skull bash on to our BMW's dashboard. Amalia then took a seat next to me and handed me my ice bag.

"Then again, I'm still a wanted man by the CIA. Koko even said it herself that while in Egypt she was targeted by a group that claimed was hired by them."

"If you think you are responsible for Koko's life being in danger you're wrong Damien. Our business of dangerous things attracts all sorts of people and you must not think that it's the same one over and over. Normally the ones that are obsessed end up getting themselves killed or are killed by those that they try to kill."

"Hmpf. Well they failed again, so whoever it was, obviously will try to take us head on themselves next time. Cause they're running out of options. They tried ambush, hit us when we're divided twice, and sent in expendable goons to try and probe us when we were all together."

"I'll ask Koko herself when she gets here tomorrow morning but I'll ask you first. Has she or any of you done anything untoward recently?"

Just then my thoughts came racing back to Ethiopia. I couldn't hide the embarrassed look on my face.

"Uhh…her no. Me and Soph…I mean Valmet, yes."

"You and the Finnish woman? What happened?"

"Well…uhh…crap this is a bit of a story. You see-" I was then cut off by the opening of the balcony door by one of Amalia's men with his phone to his ear.

"Viktor? What is it?" she asked.

"Apologies madam but there's a woman at the front of the hotel asking our men if she can speak face to face with Mr. Andrushko. An American woman."

"Who?" She asked as her eyes slanted.

"I don't know, she said she can help determine the cause of the attacks that have been happening to Miss Hekmatyar and what happened to Mr. Andrushko today. That she won't speak to anyone but him and it must be face to face."

I raised my finger. "Just curious, she wouldn't happen to be in her mid-twenties, blonde, blue eyed, well endowed, kind of hungry, and ditzy is she?"

Viktor, confused on who I was talking about, then asked the question to his men downstairs at the entrance in Russian and then looked back to me.

"No, none of those. She is a rather attractive woman but from what they said there's some sort of viciousness in her eyes."

Hmm. This may be a bad idea but if she knows anything about the attacks I gotta know something rather than nothing.

I stood up and checked the clip of my .45. "Tell your men downstairs to search her thoroughly and then escort her to the closed bar downstairs in a few minutes. Tell her I'll be waiting in one of the booths in the back. Have them posted outside the bar just in case she tries anything stupid."

"Are you sure about this Damien. What about Mr. Lutz and Mr. Socci?" Amalia asked.

"Don't tell them anything yet Amalia, this is my problem and they've had enough for one day."

2123 Hours

The bar slash restaurant was closed for the night and after a little bribe, the hotel staff opened it up for a private meeting between me and whoever the hell this woman was. The only lights what were on were the two lamps at the door and the one row of lights at the set of leather cushioned half circle wood booths where I was sitting at. It was no coincidence that something like this just "happened" to fall into my lap after the day I had. This woman knew something more than what she was letting on. I checked my .45 one last time as I heard the doors to the bar open in the distance and tucked it behind my back. The steps she took were rather slow but she stopped when she saw me in the light, I then stared directly at the figure in the dark. She then walked over to the bar and grabbed two glasses and a bottle of cognac, essentially stealing them. She then spoke in a soft but seductive tone, and not the carefree one that Koko had used. It was more along the lines of playful.

"Goodness. You want to meet with me here and you don't even offer a girl a drink?"

"Skip the pleasantries lady. I'll get right to the point, how did you know I was here and how the fuck do you know about all the shit that's been raining on me?"

She then approached me slowly and her figure became more highlighted when she approached the light.

"Ahh…there's that classic, rough, young, voice of authority with that famous scowl. With a pinch of limited vocabulary. But calm down Damien, I didn't come here to start any type of fight. I'm more than willing to tell you what you wish to know. But for now let's be social."

She then sat down next to me and began to pour the cognac in both glasses, she wore a peculiar brand of perfume, rather light and not overwhelming. Viktor wasn't wrong, she was rather attractive. She wore a dark blue button up shirt with dark brown pants that highlighted her obvious curves and she was probably in her late thirties. She had fair skin with light green eyes and long thick mahogany colored hair. She then offered me one of the glasses with a gentle smile, I didn't even move or change my expression. She then set the glass down and continued to stare at me with her smile. It looked like she wasn't getting my point.

"Listen lady, so far today I've been shot at, flown through a building, gotten into a car crash, and had my brain rattled. I'm in complete anti-social mode right now. You said you had answers I want some answers, now."

She then sipped her cognac and stared back completely unafraid of me. She then tilted her head as if she was analyzing something.

"Urgh Christ. Ok what is it?" I asked in a demanding tone.

"He wasn't as large and he didn't have that much hair but you are the spitting image of your father when he was younger."

"Alright I've had enough, tell me what I want to know or this conversation ends now."

I cut her off at the very end of the sentence, but she finally got that I wasn't gonna be one of those idiots that got seduced by a femme fatales charms. It was also no secret that I was the only son of one of SOCOM's senior officers. And I already have a woman that was far superior to her in every way and I wouldn't betray her.

"Ok since you insisted. All I ask is for you to hear me out first. Because I do believe that you are about to fall into a rather complicated situation." She then turned to me and put her legs up on the seat and began.

"Damien Hannibal Andrushko, twenty five years old, Captain in the United States Army's 3rd Special Forces Group. A distinguished graduate of the United States Military Academy at only twenty with a double first in History and Sociology. Officially declared missing in action in Afghanistan by the US Army in 2008."

She definitely had done her homework, she was anything but thorough. She then leaned closer to me and put her head on my shoulder. I kept my eyes directly on her hands.

"Of course that is not the real story of what happened. Upon the completion of successful mission, you aided in the escape of a Pakistani ISI agent. Not long after that, the black site Anvil you were at was mysteriously attacked and you were the only one that was not among the dead. A few months later, the CIA found out you were still alive in Pakistan working as a body guard for an arms dealer that was supplying weapons to be used against US Forces there. From there your reputation grew, as the worst case scenario of what would happen if one of our nation's best went rouge. The incidents in the criminal underworld as well as certain proxy battles around the Middle East and Asia let the CIA designate you with your well known code name: Nightmare. And now since you've decided to join up with Koko Hekmatyar and HCLI, you've unknowingly stepped out of the shadows. That's why you've been targeted as much as she has."

The moment she mentioned "Anvil" I knew without hesitation that she was CIA and Koko's hunch had paid off. It was also in that moment that I knew who she was as well, the one who despised Koko more than any other, Hex. But why was she letting me know all of this? Why would she put herself directly in the line of fire like this?

Our eyes did not lose focus on each other but she then reach for my hands taking them both and then moved her leg over me and straddled my waist. I kept an even tighter grip on her hands, whatever she was doing, I wasn't going to be caught off guard. I would just let her think she get an upper hand.

"You don't need to grip so hard Damien. I said I wasn't going to do anything, plus I'm all by myself. If anything happened to you, your friends and that Russian would kill me."

She was either crazy or really wanted to let me know what was going on. But she did have a point, she had no advantages what so ever. She couldn't get to my gun, so if the worst happened I'd just push her across the table and empty the clip into her. So I eased the grip on her hands a bit.

"Alright lady, how do you know so much about me? Why are you letting me know I'm being targeted? Why are you here?"

She then leaned forward and placed her head and both her hands on my chest, while playing with a strand of my long hair.

"Your heartbeat is so calm. You truly aren't afraid of anything are you? Not even death. Not to mention you're also very solid." She ended with a giggle.

I let out an annoyed sigh. "I'm getting real tired of repeating myself…Hex."

She then looked up to me with her head still on my chest and wrapped her hands around my shoulders. I very subtly moved my hand back to where my pistol was.

"If you figured out who I am then you are as skilled as I expected. I wanted to see you because I wanted to see if you were as good as you claim you are. Naturally a lot of people see you as a terrorist. But I see you as a challenge. Sun Tzu said ultimate excellence lies not in winning every battle, but in defeating the enemy without ever fighting. That's what I did when I had to put a hold on my terrorist hunting to find you. I found it rather ironic that two years ago I found the opportunity to curse the life of one to get back at another."

I then raised my eyebrow at her. "What are you talking about?"

She then raised herself up, shut her eyes and kissed me softly on the lips but I did not return the favor. I shouldn't have let it go that far. But as long as she wasn't taking off her shirt I was in the clear and I still needed to get more info. But what came next came as the ultimate shock.

"I'm the one who bestowed upon you the name of Nightmare."