Sunday, July 9th, 2017
High Wycombe, England
05:57 GMT+1 (00:57 GMT July 8th)
The two men acting as the rear guard for Miranda Frost were concerned about their colleague who had not returned from his ambush.
The pair had slowed and spread out just as they had reached the edge of the woodland and a six-acre playing field was arrayed before them, a few trees and a canal separating them from the main fight a hundred yards or so to their right. Frost took the girl and she forced Wanda to her knees behind a large enough tree to conceal the youngster and the pistol muzzle held to her head.
"Good morning!" a voice announced from the woods to their right. "I always enjoy a morning stroll in the woods."
Both men spun around to face a masked individual who held two decidedly deadly-looking ninja swords to either side of his body.
"Yes, they are sharp," the individual said as he saw the eyes focus on his melee weapons. "Would you like me to demonstrate? Oh, please excuse my manners. I am Wolf."
The masked individual leapt forwards and both men moved backwards, keeping well away from the blades which were both extended in their direction. Each man deployed an ASP which they knew would not be very suitable for the melee fight but they figured that two against one was still good odds.
For Wolf.
..._...
Carl Chapman had seen everything unravelling and he had received word that their quarry had moved on and that the only men able to intercept were busy fighting (being slaughtered by) SCO19.
The man had been outmanoeuvred by sheer bad luck and ill timing. He had not had a man inside the security services for some time – his last man had vanished one evening the year before and then turned up dead 'of natural causes' two days later. Chapman knew that the intelligence services had cleaned house in the wake of the Vengeance takedown attempt of the same year. The man knew when to call it a day and walk away which he did with his remaining men fighting off MI5 gunmen who were protecting their command van which was liberally peppered with bullet holes. Leaving a burning BMW M3 behind, the man sped off using a small trail which led through the woods and out onto playing fields to the northeast of the housing estate. From there, he was able to switch vehicles and blend into the early morning chaos of the impending rush hour.
The fight had gone out of the remaining mercenaries very quickly as they had seen their colleagues and support coming under attack, not to mention their leader retreating to safety. Then there was the mere presence of the TWILIGHT gunship which Scorpion had brought down to ground level as she assisted Debbie in the command van to escape from the constant hammering with some accurate airborne gunfire.
To make things slightly more complicated just about every household had been awoken – not surprising really considering all the explosions and low flying helicopters. With Carl Chapman having moved his men out of the immediate area, the police were able to move in and go house-to-house and check for injuries of which there were a few and the arriving ambulances and paramedics were soon very busy.
There were wounded mercenaries to sort out as well as the dead to collect and process.
..._...
Drift and Polaris emerged from the trees to find TWILIGHT on the grassy area, rotor blades spinning.
Drift was carrying the injured Noxa and he made directly for the helicopter where Goshawk had the right side door open where she helped Noxa inside and laid her down in an aluminium rescue litter. The wounded Hitchens was already aboard and strapped into a seat. His sniper rifle was held in his hands, unfired. Due to the close range, he had resorted to his service pistol – a Glock 17 Gen4 – to drop three of the mercenaries who had tried to attack him as he had remained in cover behind the VW Golf. Hitchens had tried to get a bead on Chapman but the man had vanished by the time he had managed to get his rifle up and he was out of immediate danger as his colleagues had secured the area.
The fighting was by no means over but it was in the final stages.
..._...
Part of Wolf did not want the fight to end.
He had forgotten how much fun it was to fight against a reasonably skilled opponent. It brought back some surprisingly good memories of his early days as a Predator. Indeed, as he fought the two mercenaries, his mind actually began to drift back some seven years to when he was just ten years old.
It had also been just a month after meeting his new partner.
Friday, February 19th, 2010
Colorado, United States of America
Leo was still undecided on Lucy.
She was seriously cranky first thing in the morning and that crankiness did not generally improve, if at all, until she had eaten a large bowl of breakfast cereal – usually chocolate-coated – followed by a large bowl of grapefruit pieces all washed down with a large glass of cold milk. Only then was she remotely tolerable without having your ears exposed to some of the foulest language Leo had ever heard in his short life. However, once Lucy had refuelled for the next few hours, she was all but unstoppable until it was time for lunch and then later on, dinner. That energy gave Leo somebody to train with who could keep up with his own levels of energy.
That morning, after an hour of maths (stupid girl kept calling it 'math' without the 's' which had been good for an hour of argument a few weeks previously as Lucy would never back down, ever!) they were both in the gym on the sparring mat where they had been learning the basics of martial arts. Leo had been a fast learner as Lucy seemed intent on trying to hurt him as she enjoyed hitting him – or at least the irritating smirk had made him think that. Lucy may have looked like the handle from a sweeping brush when in the shower but she could hit very hard and her strength was only increasing as their training continued.
"Okay!" Instructor Millar grinned. "Let's see how you both get on with some one-on-one. Lucy, back wall. Leo, front wall."
The two youngsters moved to the opposite ends of the gym and grinned at each other. Both were bare foot and wore just a T-shirt and shorts. From a distance, both were fairly similar and it was difficult to tell which was the boy and which was the girl – something the guards often commented on which usually resulted in Lucy questioning the marital status of said guard's parents at best or causing that guard's nose to expel a large amount of blood at worst.
Instructor Millar held up a wooden bokken as he strode to the very centre of the gym and he grinned as he dropped said wooden item onto the mat at his feet.
"Winner gets steak tonight," he said as he swiftly got himself out of the way of two very competitive ten year old children.
Lucy and Leo had both bolted from their start positions, sprinting towards the centre of the gym. Both had their eyes focussed on the three-foot bokken which lay on the mat but each was also keeping a wary eye on the other as they came together at almost the same instant but Leo had just pipped his female companion as he swept up the bokken and he took one end of the item across Lucy's left buttock which had Instructor Millar cringing as he knew that Lucy would go nuclear to recover her dignity and win. Indeed, Lucy instantly went on the offensive, dodging the bokken even as the grinning Leo tried for a second strike but Lucy was too fast. The young girl was able to move in any direction with little tell of where she was about to move. Leo was still trying to identify any tell so he could outwit his opponent but so far, Lucy had kept that tell a secret. Leo would instead be forced to use his intelligence which he preferred to use from the outset, unlike Lucy who preferred offensive strikes from the outset.
Indeed, Lucy managed to seize the business end of the bokken and she attempted to wrench it out of Leo's hands only for her to find that Leo put all his strength in throwing Lucy through the air, but he had miscalculated and Lucy's grip was firmer than his own and Lucy flew off at a tangent, crashing down on the mat with a scream of pain which soon changed to a whoop of joy as she realised that she now held the weapon in her right hand and she glared at Leo as she encircled the boy before she moved in for the kill at speed.
Instructor Millar saw it first and he groaned as he realised that Lucy had not seen the danger awaiting her as she typically chose brawn over brains. Leo's eyes never left the tip of the bokken as it came towards him, the opposite end held in Lucy's hand. Even as the tip flew in his direction, he watched and then he dodged, kicking Lucy in the chest and disarming the girl before she knew what had happened. Lucy found herself lying on her back with Leo pinning her, the bokken across her neck, partially choking the girl.
"Leo is the winner!" Instructor Millar announced quickly before Lucy could...
"Aaaah!" Leo exclaimed as Lucy rammed her knee into her victorious opponent's exposed groin.
"Enjoy your steak!" Lucy grinned as she stood up and stepped over Leo who was gripping said groin and rolling around the mat in pain.
Instructor Millar just walked away, being careful to take the bokken with him.
The present day...
Sunday, July 9th, 2017
High Wycombe, England
06:07 GMT+1 (01:07 GMT July 8th)
Wolf was toying with the mercenaries as he batted them with the sides of his ninja swords.
They were getting majorly pissed off as they tried to avoid the strikes to no avail with their woefully inadequate ASPs. They had also figured out that their opponent was extremely skilled and unless they could put some distance between them, they would die. Each was armed with an FN SCAR-H 7.62-millimetre assault rifle, the bullets of which were very lethal and just a single round had incapacitated Noxa. However, neither was suitable for such close combat so each rifle was little more than a fancy (and expensive) plastic-clad jo-staff which was about as up to the task as their ASPs.
Like a switch had been flicked, Wolf ceased his toying and he went on the offensive, severing first one and then the second ASP, rendering the weapons all but useless. Wolf moved swiftly and decisively, without wasting even a single footfall. He was almost balletic in his precision. As the first assault rifle was brought up to block a strike, the sharp blade cut through the military-grade plastic like it was butter and bit into the ballistic steel of the barrel beneath with little effect. Wolf then brought both of his swords around as the second assault rifle was raised towards him, and then he brought both down with the considerable strength of his muscles and the blades struck the breech of the expensive assault rifle, rendering it useless as the weapon split in two. Then the blades were brought up into the man's groin, the upper side of the swords cutting deep and rendering the man's sexual organs a bloody mess – not that the mercenary would have any future need for said items. The mercenary yelled out in agony and shock and he dropped the remnants of his assault rifle as he clasped his wound and dropped to the ground, but Wolf was merciful as the man's head landed amidst the neck's spurting blood a second after the body.
That left but one.
..._...
Wanda Mannheim was shaking from head to toe as she was all but dragged by her captor.
The gunfire and the explosions had all scared the living daylights of the youngster and she was on the verge of collapse. Frost was not having it and she was merciless as she hounded the girl to get back to her feet. There was no time to waste and escape was but eighty yards distant.
"Move you fucking worthless bitch!" Frost swore at the girl as she pistol-whipped her across the shoulder blades.
Wanda screamed at the pain as she struggled back to her feet and she began to run, despite her legs and body telling her that she had had enough and just wanted to collapse. Frost had just looked back in time to see one of her men fall to the ground and she assumed that the other was about to follow very soon. Then she blanched as she caught sight of two people running in her direction from two different directions. One appeared to be a girl while the other was a boy and both were armed to the teeth.
"Shit!"
Frost snapped off a pair of bullets towards each but both missed as the pair expertly dodged the inbound bullets with rolling dives.
..._...
Necis rolled forward and she came back onto her feet and continued running at the pair eighty yards distant.
Over to her right, she could see Custos running just as hard having executed the same bullet-dodging roll. Neither were about to let the woman out of their sight and neither was going to stop until they had rescued the traumatised girl who was running for her very life. Indeed, Wanda took advantage of the distraction offered by the two inbound vigilantes and she kicked Frost in the side before she bolted for perceived safety.
That gave Frost a full minute without having to worry about the girl and she went down on one knee to fire off five rounds at the boy who dove to the ground and sent a burst of gunfire in her direction from his Diemaco C8-CQB assault rifle which he could freely use now that Wanda was not so close to her abductor. Two bullets struck Frost, sending her reeling backwards onto the grass at almost the same instant that a bullet struck Custos and he too was knocked to the ground. Then Necis spied trouble as a four-wheel-drive vehicle with headlights blazing came racing across the grass towards Frost and Wanda. She fired off a burst of her own before she was forced to cease fire as Wanda passed between her and the Audi Q7.
"Fuck!" she exclaimed as she ran at Frost.
The woman was scrambling back to her feet and it was obvious that she was wounded – not that Necis cared. Frost decided that it was time to leave and she ignored the running girl and the boy who was back on his feet and sprinting in her direction. Then Wanda reached the Audi Q7 and for a moment, she thought that she had found safety, at least until a woman jumped out with a pistol in her right hand and seized the girl, shoving the screaming girl into the back seat of the Q7. Frost reached the four-wheel-drive less than a minute later and she scrambled into the back seat after Wanda. The woman who had seized Wanda was not fast enough and she died with three bullets in her skull courtesy of Custos and his Diemaco C8-CQB assault rifle. The woman's blood and brains splashed over Frost and Wanda, causing the girl to scream even loader as the rear door was slammed shut and the vehicle driver stomped on the accelerator pedal.
Necis muttered something so foul it would have been worthy of Hit Girl or even Wildcat! Then she grinned beneath her mask as she realised that it was not over yet. She bolted towards a small road which provided access into the playing fields for the school beyond. It was unfortunate timing for the man who was starting his shift and moving relatively slowly along the road as he took in the display of fireworks and burning wrecks. He barely noticed the shape which flew out of the darkness and knocked him off his motorcycle.
"Hey!"
"Security Service!" Necis yelled at the man as she lifted the small Honda motorcycle vertical and then climbed onto the seat.
"Hold on!" another voice called out as Custos leapt onto the seat behind Necis.
"Hey!" the man whose transport was just being stolen called out again.
"Call nine-nine-nine!" Custos suggested as Necis dropped the motorcycle into gear and they lurched off after the Audi.
The man was not happy as he yelled at the masked youngsters astride his pride and joy.
..._...
It did not take long to catch up with the Audi which was stopped in traffic at the 'Magic Roundabout', just half a mile down the road.
The motorcycle was the perfect vehicle for early morning rush hour and Necis knew what she was about, even if the motorcycle was a tad too big for the eleven-year-old.
They swerved in and out of the traffic with Custos yelling out guidance orders as he did his best to avoid them getting crushed by something very large and heavy – like a lorry! They received many strange looks and more than a few angry horns blared in their wake. Then Necis had an idea – one of her not-so-well-thought-out ideas which usually went wrong.
"Take over!" she yelled to Custos.
"You what!?"
"Take over!" she repeated before she suddenly jumped up and leapt onto a small van to their right.
"Fucking crazy bitch!" Custos exclaimed as he grasped the controls before the motorcycle collided with anything.
As Custos watched, the crazy lunatic leapt from car to van to car to car and then onto a median before she leapt onto the bonnet of a BMW and then over the roof to the next vehicle, a Vauxhall, and then onto a Ford. Finally, she was past the Audi Q7 which was trying to edge past the increasingly heavy traffic on the overcrowded roundabout. Then Necis found her target – a Volvo police car with lights flashing and siren screaming as it too fought through the same heavy traffic. However, the two armed officers inside almost jumped out of their skins when they heard (and felt) something land on the roof of their car just above their heads. Neither had noticed the youngster jumping from car to car as their attention had been on getting through the traffic. Then a head appeared at the open driver's window.
"Stow the fucking donuts!" the masked face growled. "Fucking kidnap victim from this morning's bullshit is in that goddamn Audi Q7 over there – go get the fuckers!"
"Who...?"
"I'm fucking VENGEANCE, that's fucking WHO! Now, FUCKING MOVE! And you better watch out for my colleague or so help me God...!"
The two police officers decided to trust the masked interloper and they swiftly unlocked the gun safe located behind them and withdrew their G36C assault rifles.
..._...
Necis kept low as she scuttled amongst the queuing traffic, surprising many a driver or passenger who caught sight of the masked individual who carried an advanced assault rifle in her gloved hands.
The two armed police officers followed suit, taking a slightly different route so as to come at the Audi from different directions. Custos was still edging through traffic and was just a dozen yards from the rear of the Audi while Necis was over to the right at a similar distance. Naturally, Necis arrived first and she promptly scared the living daylights out of the driver as she jumped onto the bonnet, knelt down and aimed her Diemaco C8-CQB assault rifle at the broad windscreen of the expensive SUV. She squeezed the trigger, putting three bullets into the glazing which crazed over and she then pounded on the same glazing with the butt of her assault rifle until there was a suitable hole. The driver drew his pistol but had barely raised it to fire at the compact attacker on his bonnet when he found the cold steel muzzle of a Diemaco C8-CQB assault rifle at his right temple.
"Go ahead. Make my day," an electronically enhanced voice announced from two feet away.
The passenger had brought up his own weapon but then he swiftly reached for the door handle as Necis slipped a smoke grenade through the hole in the windscreen and copious amounts of blue smoke erupted into the interior. Custos stood back as he allowed the driver to escape, coughing violently, his pistol dropped inside the vehicle and forgotten. The passenger made to bolt but he found himself slammed into the side of a van by one of the police officers who swiftly cuffed the man and shoved him to the ground. Then came Frost from the rear of the vehicle and she held Wanda very tightly even as both coughed in the smoky air outside the vehicle.
"You shoot me, she dies," Frost said, rather unnecessarily as she held a sharp blade to the girl's neck.
"Stand down," Necis directed and she nodded at the second police officer who was confused but he opted to follow instructions.
"Good," Frost began. "I want..."
The woman never got to finish her sentence as a large gloved fist cannoned into the very centre of her back and she arched backwards, the knife moving from Wanda's neck allowing Custos to snag her and pull her away. Frost barely had time to turn before the same fist struck the side of her head and she collapsed to the ground. Wolf knelt down, his left knee in the centre of her lower back and he raised a hand into the air. A pair of rigid handcuffs were passed over and Wolf cuffed the woman.
"If I had my way, I would fucking gut you, but apparently you have rights – not that I give a fuck about those goddamn rights. You and me, I am going to find you, and I am going to make you suffer for every hand you laid upon that girl. You understand me?"
Despite the electronic distortion, the voice was stone cold and Frost shivered despite the humid morning.
"I understand," she growled.
"Good."
"You guys can go back to your doughnuts now," Necis said to the two police officers with a wave of her gloved hand.
"You've just dumped a week of paperwork on our desk," one responded with a chuckle.
"The name's Necis – make sure you spell it right."
The roundabout was soon filled with MI5 and Police allowing Vengeance and Solitaire to simply fade away.
The Arctic
09:44 GMT-5 (14:44 GMT July 9th)
It was the first accident of the mission.
Mindy, in Tango Hotel One, was the third vehicle in the convoy, driving fifty yards behind Tango Hotel Two which in turn was driving fifty yards behind Tango Hotel Eight. Travelling fifty yards behind Mindy was Dave in Tango Hotel Three.
One moment the vehicle ahead of them was manoeuvring around small hummocks of ice and the next Mindy was aghast to see the rear end of the large off-road vehicle rise up and up until she could see the underside and the fuel tanks, the rear wheels lifting clear of the icy snow. Mindy instantly stomped on the brakes, the Hilux slithering to a halt on the slippery surface even as she stabbed the radio transmit button.
"Upset! Upset! Upset! Tango Hotel Two, repeat, Tango Hotel Two!"
The 'upset' codeword indicated a vehicle overturning or otherwise encountering an event which meant urgent assistance was required. Mindy froze for a moment as she watched the rear end of the other truck rise and then stop, quiver for a moment, then Mindy's eyes followed the rear end as the vehicle tumbled over to the left, rolling onto its left side with an ominous rumbling sound which could be heard some fifty yards away.
"Tango Hotel Two! Tango Hotel Two! Respond, over!"
Mindy moved slowly forwards, closing the gap even as she could see the front vehicle, Tango Hotel Eight turning and then disgorging two of the three crew to check for outside interference, weapons raised. It was highly plausible that what had prevailed upon Tango Hotel Two had been caused by their enemy. When they were fifteen yards off, Mindy stopped and they all dismounted, their own weapons raised as they checked out the barren surroundings, their eyes seeking out anything which should not be there. They could hear yelling coming from Tango Hotel Two as the vehicle lay partially inverted with the nose pointed downward into what had to be a crevasse. Stephanie and Mindy moved closer while Abigail and Jamie kept watch to each side of the incident.
As far as Mindy could tell, the crevasse must have been covered over by a thin layer of snow and ice which had supported Tango Hotel Eight as it had crossed over, but then the layer had collapsed under the weight of the front axle of Tango Hotel Two. The vehicle was precariously resting with its nose against the far side of the three-metre-wide crevasse while the rest of the vehicle was prevented from plummeting a few hundred metres into the Arctic Ocean below by the left end of the reinforced-steel rear bumper which had caught in a chunk of thick ice.
Inside the vehicle, the crew did not appear all that happy with their current situation.
..._...
Marinette hung in her harness and her eyes were transfixed by the sight beyond the window to her left.
The crevasse seemed to go on forever before vanishing into a greyish mist. She knew exactly how long they would survive should they plummet downwards into the waters below the icecap and it was not a large number when measured in just seconds. Beside her, Dakota was wide-eyed and stunned by the very sudden and quite literal turn of events which had quite literally turned her world upside down.
"Ça a mal tourné si vite!" Yvette muttered from the back seat.
"Fuck yeah!" Tommy acknowledged from beside Yvette where he too was staring down into the crevasse.
"Nobody move!"
"I have no fucking intention of moving, Mindy!" Tommy responded sharply.
"Give us a few minutes to figure things out, 'kay?" Mindy offered.
"Will do!" Marinette called out, careful not to shake the vehicle in any way as she peered behind her left shoulder but found her view blocked by the towering icy side of the crevasse.
She knew that there was a plan for just such an eventuality, so she knew that they would just have to wait it out.
..._...
Swiftly, Jennifer and Patrick brought the two Vikings up to the crevasse, stopping a dozen yards back while Andrew and Craig marked out the edges of the crevasse with fluorescent tape.
Lucy, Willow, and Freya were busy with straps, anchoring the stricken Toyota to the ice with steel hooks in an attempt to prevent any slippage. It was dangerous, difficult work but none of them cared about that; their friends were in danger.
It was soon obvious that enemy forces were not involved and were in fact nowhere near them, therefore, the two tracked Vikings were brought closer in at very slow speed so as not to shake the ice too much but the Vikings put very little pressure down on the ice itself due to their wide tracks. Swiftly, chains were secured between the inverted Toyota and the APC Viking to prevent any slippage while the HIAB-equipped Viking went to work. Once the HIAB crane was unfolded from the rear of the Viking vehicle, the jib was extended out over the precariously-perched Toyota and Electra, as one of the lightest on the team, volunteered to climb up said jib to then be lowered down to the Toyota and hook onto the vehicles reinforced front winch assembly.
Stephanie found herself cringing as she watched her friend scuttle up the jib with ease and then hook herself onto a steel bracket via her safety harness which was built into her arctic clothing.
"She dies and I'll fucking kill her!" Stephanie muttered to Abigail.
"A little redundant, don't you think," Abigail responded bleakly.
"Barrel of laughs you are."
"Time and a place."
"Since when were you so damned philosophical?"
"Torture changes a girl," Abigail responded darkly.
Stephanie did not know how to respond to that – she had seen her friend's injuries; the vicious burns on her thighs. It had been sobering for Stephanie to see the results of the torture while the dressings had been changed. When asked, Abigail had simply shrugged off the injuries which she had received in the desert and she had refused to talk about how they had been inflicted although the shape of the injuries told most of that story.
As the pair watched, Electra was lowered on the cable to where the front of the Toyota was embedded in the opposite side of the crevasse. Once there, Electra carefully hooked two smaller hooks dangling from the main hook onto the two towing eyes fitted to the front winch mounting. Once that job was completed, Patrick pushed the lever on the HIAB controls to reel in the cable all while Electra scuttled back down the jib and into the rear body of the Viking. The rear body was braced on the ice by four hydraulic legs which had extended out, one pair to each side of the rear body. Slowly, the crane cable wound in, taking up the slack before it then took the weight of the Toyota's front end upon the uppermost hook. Together with the steel hooks at the rear, the Toyota Hilux was as stable as it would be, therefore, the crew rapidly scrambled out of the uppermost doors and then down onto the ice where they sagged down onto said ice with relief at being alive and not vanishing down a crevasse to their deaths.
Once the crew were clear, Patrick manipulated the HIAB controls to twist the Toyota around and then lower it back down onto the ice a few feet away. Directly, Dave, Mindy, and Andrew leapt into action as they began to check over the vehicle for damage and to see if the vehicle could still be made use of. In the meantime, Jennifer saw to the crew of Tango Hotel Two and she confirmed that nobody had been hurt in the accident. Lucy and Willow were busy a dozen yards away, sounding out the ice to see how far the crevasse extended and where it might be safe to crossover with the relevant equipment they carried with them.
Everyone else took the time to rest and avail themselves of a hot drink.
The Arctic
12:10 GMT-5 (17:10 GMT July 9th)
The accident had cost them two and a half hours which had been unavoidable but at least nobody had been hurt and Tango Hotel Two was functional if a little battered.
The incident had unnerved some as it had made the hitherto icy wilderness seem so much more dangerous due to the hidden nature of such deadly obstacles as the crevasse. It had rattled Mindy somewhat witnessing directly what could have been the death of four members of her team. They could not afford to lose even a single person if they were to successfully complete the mission and leave the desolate icy wilderness in which they were currently ensconced. At least in the jungle, there had been endless creepy-crawlies and other creatures to enjoy (endure) and ceaseless vegetation to enjoy (cut down) but seeing nothing for endless miles all the way to the distant horizon was just depressing – even more so than the desert where at least you were not encumbered by seemingly endless layers of thick clothing.
Come to think of it, Mindy thought to herself as they motored along, how many continents of the world had she fought upon? Africa: check. Antarctica: not yet. Asia: a distant part of. Europe: several times. North America: for most of her life since she was five. South America: a desirable location. Australia: also a desirable location and very intriguing. Their current location was not a landmass and therefore not a continent despite the sheer size of the icepack which floated upon a gigantic ocean which itself spread across the entire top of the planet.
The sheer scale kind of made Mindy feel a little bit insignificant.
..._...
Early that afternoon, Dave came up on the radio.
"If you all look over to your left, you should see mamma polar bear with her two cubs."
The larger polar bear was strolling a few hundred metres distant and was accompanied by two pint-sized versions which trundled alongside. The mother turned towards the distant rumble of diesel engines and gave a look recognised by many who had faced down Hit Girl herself.
"So sweet!" Jamie declared.
"Yeah, mamma bear's a bit like Mindy," Stephanie offered darkly. "Soft and cuddly on the outside but she'll rip your head off without a moment's thought."
"Creepy bitch!" Abigail commented as Mindy chuckled.
"She has a point," Jamie confirmed.
Stephanie grinned.
"For once," Jamie clarified.
Stephanie scowled as Abigail laughed.
The Arctic
19:18 GMT-5 (00:18 GMT July 10th)
The Canadian intelligence services had found something.
"What have we got?" Mindy asked Abby.
"A small facility, about thirty-two kilometres north of Alert," she replied. "Ostensibly, it is a facility licenced to investigate global warming and the shrinking of the icepack. In reality, it seems to be funded by Eidolon. It took the Canadians a while to follow the financial trails of a few dozen ice camps and projects which are based out on the Arctic icepack. This one started to look dodgy and then dodgy became dirty which then became a target for us."
"Where?"
"About here," Abby said, holding out her tablet.
"There's nothing there – just fucking white shit!" Mindy complained bitterly.
"There's very little satellite coverage up here in the polar region and most of what there is, is tuned for identifying Russian missile launches from their submarines. The facility is small and well-placed to avoid casual observation. We can be in place for an attack tomorrow night."
"Finally!" Mindy grinned. "Some fucking action!"
"What are we hoping to find there?" Dave asked as he smiled down at his wife.
"We hope to find the location for the primary target," Eric replied.
"If you guys can get in there before any data is destroyed, then we stand a damn good chance," Marty confirmed. "This facility is probably a support site for the main control facility."
"Okay," Mindy said, still grinning.
"Let's brief the troops," Dave suggested.
The news that they finally had a target increased morale no end.
Thirty-two Kilometres North of Alert, Canada
Tuesday, July 11th
Still in The Arctic
22:40 GMT-5 (03:40 GMT July 12th)
The two shapes trudged through the snow which reached past their knees and almost to their crotches.
The temperature was approaching (descending to) minus twenty-five, and the two eleven-year-old girls were almost buried in their Arctic clothing with not a single piece of flesh visible. Suddenly, they both dived down into the soft snow and the girl on the left raised a set of binoculars to her googles. For a full minute, she studied the view before her. A large structure was visible, some four or so kilometres distant. The structure was typical of those built on the icepack, making use of curved surfaces to protect from the blistering winds which would howl into being with barely a moment's forewarning. The structure was also elevated in parts so as to be insulated from the ice below. To one side of the structure, a nearby communications farm full of satellite domes and antennae confirmed that they had found their target. After taking several high-definition images with a camera built into the binoculars, Stephanie nudged her colleague and both girls slithered backwards in the snow before they turned around and clambered to their feet. As they turned towards the west they laid goggled eyes on another set of structures, these much smaller than the main structure, and much closer. After taking some more images, the girl stowed the optical device securely within her jacket.
Stephanie checked her watch.
"Damn!"
"Told you!" came the chiding response from her colleague.
"Bite me, Abigail!"
They were overdue, and both girls knew that they would get it when they returned to their transport.