Chapter 29

It was past midnight. The third day in Soviet captivity seemed to rise unfriendly.

The rain clouds cried without a break, pouring their tears on the landscape beneath them. The angry wind shook the forest, the crown of the trees bent obediently to its power. The darkness was too deep at this time of the night as if the sun and the light existed only in distant dreams. The sky became a pure of brightness only when a bolt of lightning weaved across the horizon.

The waves of thunder seemed not to end soon, it looked that everything will strike down to the living. Everybody would think the same in Moskvin's base who checked the displays of the surveillance system. The receivers and extenders wiggled in the wind, and the cables were in danger to coil themselves up.

Despite the comfort - lights, and heating - soldiers and workers became anxious, except for one person, the interception chief officer. Moskvin stretched himself out in his comfortable armchair with the greatest calmness. What's more, he seemed to enjoy the circumstances outside. He put up his feet onto the control panel, letting the nose of his boots touching the broken surface of a mirror from time to time.

"I don't envy the kids, I can tell ya," he said. The buzzing of the computers around suppressed his voice. "It's not anything new to them, though. They have that whatchamacallit..."

"Tsunami, Comrade." one of his soldiers called Pawlow helped him out.

"Yeah, yeah!" Moskvin waved his hand like it was nothing. Then he changed tone, now he sounded mighty and threatening. "But no jacking around! Back to work, ladies!"

He had a look around in the control room. His inferiors stopped for a second, then they continued working, just as they did before Moskvin yelled at them.

Suddenly, an especially powerful crash-like noise shook the surrounding. The Russian people looked up from their monitors as one person. The light went off for a second, just to return on the next. The displays also faded away for a moment.

"With respect, Comrade Moskvin." said a skinny man in a red cap, the combat engineer of the group. "Can I ask you if we have a backup for the Project?" When the clash could be heard, he jumped up from his chair like a kangaroo.

Moskvin turned toward him very slowly.

"Well, well, Comrade Boris shit his pants by hearing some fireworks!" he laughed, showing out his teeth which looked orange under the lamplight. These words were addressed to the other soldiers, and they, being loyal to their JD, started to chuckle.

Engineer Boris sat back to his place and remained silent for the rest of the time. He took Moskvin's answer as a no. It was advised to obey him anyway, legends had it that this unpredictable man was capable of anything one could or could not imagine. His co-commanders considered him like a maniac, too, was not that reason enough to be cautious? This Battle Royale show was the living proof of it.

"Comrade Moskvin," a black, long-bearded soldier from behind started to speak, maybe he regretted that he had begun afterward.

"I'm all ears, Comrade." came the answer, but the commander's expression clearly showed that he was not interested at all.

"With respect, making backups would make evidence that the Project exists. Does the Premier knows about this?"

"Cherdenko?" Moskvin left the word Premier or such majestic titles out on purpose, even though these were strictly required to use in elite companies. And he quite enjoyed it. Some of the conscripts knit the eyebrows for that disrespectfulness.

"I don't think so." finally the bearded man got the answer "Krukov, Vodnik, Agonskaya... Fedorovich..." Moskvin shrugged shoulders "I didn't tell anyone."

He often fantasized about Zhana Agonskaya, the blonde beauty from the propaganda posters all over the Union. But he liked the pretty penny, even more, what he's going to get after Kinji Ryusaki wins the game with a little deus ex machina. It would not be wise to let the leadership know about it. Even though Russia was a communist nation, Moskvin knew, these people were much more greedy than himself.

He already felt rich from the bare thought. He combed his brushy, gray hair through his fingers, then answered in a sarcastic tone:

"What if they find out? We will be killed. We will be traitors. It'd be our duty to let them know. Yeah, yeah, I know the drill. But!" he raised his finger "Don't be pussmasters! It pisses me off!"

The others were staring at him for seconds long. He could see the disapproval on their faces. First of all, Moskvin hated it when he was told what to do and how to do that. And then, these folks denied his order. They should work, work, and work, without opening their mouth once.

So he got up from his chair and kicked it away. He did not notice a sleeping attack dog next to him, so he hit the dog with the chair. The poor animal ran away whining.

"The Project will be in operation till the end! Period!" then he smacked the desk next to him, so the man who worked behind it almost fell out of his chair.

"There will be no problem! We will not fail!" Moskvin shouted. "I say this, Nikolai Moskvin!"

The soldiers stopped pulling an unbelieving face and returned to work, merely because of the JD. They had not forgotten the commander's disappearance from time to time since the game had started (like the one he did on the night of the second day to visit Kinji).

"Again! There-will-be-NOTHING-to worry about!" Moskvin said out for the last time, then something shook the building with a deafening crack.

The light went out immediately. Complete darkness ruled the control room.

[Number of students: 14]