And it's been a long time hasn't it?
The main problems has been tryign to get this chapter written. The rest of the story is fine, it's just trying to get down on paper what I've already got in script form and make it interesting. Oh well, please read on.
Chapter 1: Entry Point
11:30 June 30th, 1976
A warm, light breeze blew across the Russian mountaintop. At that height and altitude, the air was generally chilly, so this rare warm breeze helped the patrolling sentries feel a little more comfortable.
Five in total, they wore some basic body armour, had their nose and mouth covered by some sort of cloth, and wore plain olive smocks with hoods covering their head. All of them were on lookout for any sort of threat or intrusion attempt. According to their sources, this would be the best place for any sort of insertion into the area – all other routes were designated as too treacherous or too long to be worth traversing. If people were trying to get to the base camp, it would definitely be through here.
One of the guards stared over the cliff edge into the trenches below, which zigzagged all the way down the mountaintop down towards a single tunnel. Beyond the tunnel, the mountain barren mountain path led into a thick jungle, which one could easily get lost in. He sighed, retracing the same patrol route that he had been walking for the last hour.
"I wish I could get some sleep", he moaned in Russian.
Barely two seconds after he said it, his body landed with a soft thud onto the ground, asleep. From the shadows, a man wearing a black balaclava and GRU woodland BDU emerged, and holding an MK22 handgun, that had been modified to fire tranquilliser darts. He walked over to the body, took the AKM that he was carrying and searched it for any other useful equipment.
"Wish granted", he said smugly. If the guard was awake, he might have worked out that the guy was British.
The rest of the guards were just as bored, so the figure had no problems slipping past the rest of them, although making it through the trenches was still quite a difficult task. Upon reaching the tunnel entrance he slipped behind a nearby rock and flicked a switch on his chest, near a radio.
"Zero, this is HOUND. I've made it to the tunnel entrance, Over." His voice was low, so as to avoid detection. He didn't want to have wasted all that effort now.
An American voice replied.
"Excellent John. Glad to hear you made it safely."
"Major, what's the point of codenames if you're not going to use them?" John seemed a little irritated.
"Oh, I don't think it'll matter too much. Besides, I doubt anyone is going to believe what your name is."
"John Doe? Yeah, real exciting name. So what am I expecting beyond here Natalie?"
A soft female voice replaced the previous American one.
"About three more four man patrols. There's one just beyond the tunnel exit, and two more a bit further down the mountainside."
"Thanks. That should be no problem."
The Major came on once more.
"Remember what we said in the briefing John. Try and get to the jungle without confrontation. It'll make the rest of the mission much harder if you set off the alarm too early."
"Understood sir. HOUND, Out."
He tightened the sling for the AKM and proceeded into the tunnel, remembering the briefing which occurred not too long ago…
"How're we feeling today John?"
"Uh-Oh..."
"What do you mean, 'Uh-Oh'?"
"Every time you use that 'How're we feeling today...' question, it means that the shit's really hit the fan. Am I right Major?"
Major Kyle Braxton and FOXHOUND commando John Doe were walking towards a briefing room at the CIA headquarters in Langley. John had just been through an anti-terrorist training scenario and was still pumped up and ready to go.
"Unfortunately you're right John. Something quite serious has occurred, and once again FOXHOUND are the ones who have to clean up the whole mess."
"Hey, it's what we're here for right?"
Major Braxton knew that John was just joking around with him. Usually it would be him saying that to the other commandos.
"Yeah, that's right."
They finally reached door with the number sixty-nine on it. John turned his head to face Braxton and raised an eyebrow. Braxton caught his glance, and sighed shaking head.
"You suggesting something, sir?" John joked.
Major Braxton rolled his eyes and shook his head in disbelief.
"Just get your ass inside John."
John opened the door and to reveal a small room, with a circular table in the middle. A slide projector was set up to one side of the table facing the wall opposite the door, and three chairs were placed around it as if it was put together very last minute. In the chair to the right of the projector, sat someone who John assumed was the technician. John sat in a chair just to the left of the projector, and Braxton stood against the wall.
"Isn't this a little low profile, especially compared to our normal briefings?" asked John.
"I suppose, but there's good reason for the last minute throw-together."
Braxton nodded his head, and the technician turned off the room's lights and flicked on the projector, projecting a large white rectangle on the wall. He flicked another switched and an image of what appeared to be a map of the U.S.S.R. was projected onto the wall.
"Ok John, here's the situation. Approximately 36 hours ago, a microfilm containing vital information was stolen from a KGB safe house, by a splinter faction of the KGB, somewhere in the Western-Russian area of the U.S.S.R. No one knows the reason behind it or much about the group that committed the crime, other than they are made up of both ex-KGB soldiers and numerous defectors from the West."
Braxton looked towards John, and for the first time in the entire briefing, was talking directly at him.
"Your mission will be to retrieve the Microfilm by any means necessary."
Lights came back on and Braxton moved directly to where the projector was aimed.
"Any questions?"
"Just two. What's the weapons and equipment status?"
"You'll be given the usual stuff, except this time you're going in with a tranquilliser weapon. However, as usual all weapons and equipment are OSP."
"And backup."
"None."
"What?!" John's voice was filled with shock. "Not even a rescue party?"
"Like I said John. This mission has to be completed ASAP. There's not time for anything else."
There was a dead silence. John knew that no backup meant that he would be on his own out there. Without any backup, and with no rescue if he was ever caught, he was screwed. Unfortunately fo rhim, it didn't seem like he had much choice in the matter.
"Alright then, best get on with the planning…"
Once John hit the jungle, he noticed that enemy troop movement had near enough disappeared. He assumed that the vast jungle was simply too big to have squads patrolling the jungle, and increased his pace to reach the warehouse destination. There, he expected to meets some tough resistance, and began to prepare himself for a potential firefight. Of course he was hoping that perhaps he might be able to sneak past the enemies, but it would certainly prove to be difficult if there was only one entrance into the warehouse.
Moving through jungle environments is always hard, and it was no exception here for John. Once or twice he lost his bearings and had to backtrack to where he though he'd made wrong turnings. After approximately half an hour of trekking though the jungle, John finally caught a glimpse of the warehouse. Getting as close as possible, within the brush, towards the entrance he knelt down and pulled out his binoculars and looked around. Quickly surveying the area, John could see no enemies, no traps and no obstacles. Suspicion soon crept into his mind, and he once again scanned the area for any sort of enemy movement. Once again, he found nothing. He hit the button on his radio.
"Major, I've checked the entrance to the warehouse and it's unguarded. It seems a little suspicious to guard an abandoned mountaintop base, but not a warehouse that's in use, doesn't it?"
"I'm going to have to agree with John on this one sir." Natalie had a hint of concern in her voice. "So far as I can make out, there are only sentries posted up on the mountain top, and about two miles the other side of the warehouse. There are no other soldiers within a two mile radius of the warehouse vicinity."
Braxton looked up at the ceiling from his position in front of the transmission equipment and sighed. John was knelt down in the grass awaiting further instruction, but becoming increasingly impatient.
"Look, I'm going to go on ahead unless anyone can give me a suitable reason not to advance. "
"Alright then." Braxton looked back at the communications equipment that was in front of him. "But just be a bit more vigilant, ok?"
Satisfied that he wouldn't be attacked, but still slightly suspicious of the fact that no one was around, John made his way towards the entrance of the warehouse and crept inside.
Hope you look forward to chapter 2. There's actually some fighting! Still, I can't wait until I get Chapter 4 on here. It's personally my favourite chapter, as it has my favourite created character in it.