Act 3. Dragovich
Here is the final chapter of my series. General Nikita Dragovich will finally have his reckoning. Drowning him in the game is satisfying but not satisfying enough. And Woods would appear in the second and third parts of this chapter. Note, some historical figures would appear here.
I. Your Own Medicine
He met him in Cuba with the real Castro. He sent him to hell in Vorkuta and almost turned him into a mindless pawn. He was the reason why Reznov brainwashed him- and set him free. To avenge the death of a brother he never knew. To avenge the loss of his friends in Vietnam. He must die. Kravchenko and Steiner are dead. He will join them in hell. Now the revenge and closure he prayed for have arrived.
0600 hours, February 26, 1968
They found him in the Yucatan Channel a few miles off the Cuban coast, aboard the a Russian freighter/spy ship named the Rusalka. From there, he planned the destruction of the United States and possibly that of the whole world. Like avenging angels Hudson's spearhead descended upon the ship to take them by surprise. It turned out the it was partially true. The welcoming committee greeted them warmly by opening up on them with triple-A fire and SAMs, taking the assault force by surprise! Still, Mason's rage is too strong for him to be deterred by the ship's heavy defenses. Like a demon, he piloted the Huey that he and Hudson were on and rained death on the Russian soldiers on deck, destroying the Triple-A and SAMs, and allowing Weaver's team to land on board.
Dragovich, however, had another surprise in store for them and it turned out to be a Mi-24 Hind A gunship seemingly appearing out of nowhere, came and attacked them. They destroyed the bastard but it crippled their Huey, forcing the two into the ship. They jumped out and instantly clung to the helipad for dear life. They moved in and joined battle. Yet, he still hadn't given up.
He sent to Hip choppers to try to kill them but he had promptly destroyed and proceeded down the lower deck. But as they went below decks, they found a more shocking fact about the ship: it was more then just a ship used more covert activities, it had a bay for servicing submarines within the hull! What's more, he realized that the broadcast station is beneath them and the mayhem he is about to unleash has already began.
Hudson made the confirmation and called in an air-strike but Mason refused to let him go.
"Not yet. We need to find Dragovich," Mason said.
"In less than fifteen minutes, the US Navy is going to blow this place apart!" He reminded everyone.
"I made the mistake of not confirming the kill five years ago in Baikunor," Mason reminded him.
Hudson doubted that very gravely, "You sure your still not brainwashed?"
"Would it matter?... The sonofabitch needs to go," He replied. Hudson ordered Weaver and rest of his team to live the ship while the their team would literally go down the depths of the abyss to eliminate him.
As they ascended, they found something that might have made it as a setting of a James Bond film: an underwater submarine supple base, no doubt, was built under their noses during the Cuban Missile Crises. It was a part of his master plan to to conquer the United States once Nova-6 cripples the country. Already, the buoys attached to it are being released to broadcast the number sequences. Messages to sleeper agents to commence them in their task of killing people in every major city of CON-US(Continental United States).
They snucked into the service bays and made their assault. The battle was fierce for they did not encounter just service personnel and token handpicked troops deployed to guard the structure from infiltration or danger but rather Spetsnaz troops, whose commando teams would be the part of the first wave assault on American soil.
The structure rumbled as the battle heated up. They realized that they must move faster as the base had begun to flood. They entered its nerve center and the Russians fought harder. They are drawing near. He finally reached the control console where the numbers are broadcast and a map of the sleepers' targets is shown on the back. As he shut it down, an explosion ripped the structure again. Clinging to whatever remained of the console deck, the bastard appeared.
"You should have been my finest agent!" He said angrily, knowing everything he planned over the years have finally came crashing down around him, "It would all have been so much simpler!" He raised his gun, ready to shoot Mason for ruining them. Hudson intervened and shot him in the shoulder.
"Dragovich!" He challenged.
Distracted, the general replied by rapidly firing his pistol at him. Taking advantage of it Mason sprung up and grabbed him.
"It IS simple! I'm gonna kill you!" He cried as they fell into the water.
Taking him out of the water, Mason shouted, "You tried to fuck with my mind... You failed!" Then he threw a punch into his face that send him back to water.
"You don't know anything...," Dragovich replied as he was lifted up again, struggling to free himself from his strong grip.
He punched him again, "You tried to turn me against my own! You tried to make me kill my own president!"
"Tried?" The Russian taunted, sneering mockingly at Mason. It seemed the Russian knew more about Mason's brainwashing than what Mason knew himself.
Mason had no time to question him now! He had to die! Thrusting him back into the water, he pinned him down to drown him. But as he did, Dragovich spat seawater into his eyes. Mason grunted, letting him go. Dragovich raised a fist into his jaw and got up. He landed several rapid blows to his chest and stomach. Being a younger man however, Mason recovered quickly and they wrestled around, trying drown each other.
"Mason!" Hudson cried as he went down. He raised his gun to get a clear shot on the Russian but another explosion knocked him on his feet and a spray of steam from the pipes obscured his view. The explosion caused Dragovich to lose his grip and allow Mason to get up. He threw rapid blows at his nemesis and threw into an unknown part of the deck. The struggle was brutal. Dragovich finally had the upper hand.
"American, you think you can defeat? I will send your accursed country to the ground!" He gloated as he walked toward Mason. "And I will be the Hero of the Soviet Union." He said proudly.
From the floor Mason noticed a gas chamber and a launching console. He turned around and saw bulging tanks. Some of their signs in Russian said FUEL STORAGE and OXYGEN STORAGE. Another set had a skull-and-crossbones symbol. He realized that he had found Dragovich's Plan B. The Russian lift him back on his feet in choke hold and said, "See Mason, you will never win! All your corruption will come crashing down your pathetic nation while Mother Russia takes her place in the sun to lead a new era of humanity."
Mason groaned silently, "You have no respect for your own country... You must die..."
"What-?" Before he could finish that sentence, Mason kicked Dragovich on the groin. He let him go and Mason punch his face, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and slammed him repeatedly against the console. He then dragged the disoriented Russian into the open door of the gas chamber and threw him in. He slammed the hatch and sealed it tight. Dragovich stood up and crashed his fist in a vain attempt to break free. It was too strong for him. Mason slowly walked to a set of valves amidst the impending destruction around him. He then faced him, his eyes burning with hatred.
"Dragovich, how do you like a taste of your own medicene?" He asked. He slowly turned them. Dragovich was frantically punching and kicking the glass now, finally revealing once and for all the strutting ambitious manipulator's cowardice. He screams were muffled by glass. Mason went on darkly, "Your time has come. You'll pay for everything. For six years of suffering. You'll pay for killing my friends. You will pay for killing Reznov. Send my regards to Steiner and Kravchenko in hell." He let loose the full force of the gas. A sickly mustard-colored cloud entered the chamber. Dragovich punched and kicked more frantically then before. He tried scream out loud but it was useless. It engulfed and seconds later, his body jerked rigidly and violently; blood came out of his eyes; he coughed hysterically and he gripped his neck. His skin blackened. Then finally, he slumped on his knees and fell on the cold hard metal floor as Mason looked on. Dragovich had finally succumbed to the effects of the very poison he planned to unleash on the heart of the West. He finally had his revenge. The three evil men have died.
Hudson peered in the compartment and shouted to Mason, "Mason, you got what you came for?"
"Yes...," he turned, "Dragovich is dead." He then followed his CIA handler out of it and into the flooding corridors and catwalks. They ran in search of an opening.
"Come on, Mason!" Hudson ordered. They finally did.
Hudson shouted, "Go! Go! Go!" They escaped out of the structure and into the blue., leaving the imploding base in their wake.
As they passed by the sinking Rusalka he heard Reznoz's voice, "Mason! You did it, Mason. You did what I could not." They swam up to the surface to see the ocean around them alive with ships and aircraft of the US Navy. The cavalry had arrived to clean up the mess.
Weaver said as he pulled him out of the water, "Mason. It is over... We won."
Mason replied wearily,"For now..." He looked over to a large battleship in the background as salvage divers and Navy SEALs jumped into the water to inspect the wrecked sub base.
II. Wood's Intervention.
"You should have been my finest agent! It would all have been so much simpler!" Dragovich angrily said as he materialized from the steam and smoke. The Russian's elaborate plans and plotting have finally crashed all around him. All thanks to one American, Alex Mason. He aimed his gun to shoot him. A shot rang out from the hull.
Hudson appeared out of the steam, "Dragovich!" He yelled. Dragovich fired several shots at him. Mason grabbed his legs and pulled him under.
"It IS simple!" He shouted, "I'm gonna kill you!" They both fell into the water. Mason shouted, "You tried to fuck with my mind... You failed!" Then he threw a punch into his face that send him back to water.
"You don't know anything...," Dragovich replied as he was lifted up again, struggling to free himself from his strong grip.
He punched him again, "You tried to turn me against my own! You tried to make me kill my own president!"
"Tried?" The general smirked. Mason suddenly felt enraged and punched him several times but an explosion sent a strong splash of seawater crashing at them. Mason lost his hold on Dragovich. The latter quickly stood up and grabbed Mason, crashing him against a steel wall.
Mason groaned loudly. The Russian shouted, "You have destroyed nine years worth planning!" He got him in choke hold and gripped his neck like a vise, "You have brought all my ambitions into the dust! It is only fair I die with you here in my hands!" Mason struggled to to loosen his grip. The Russian locked tighter but something happened. Mason fell back into the water as Woods appeared, throwing the Russian against the steel wall. He punched him several times in the back. As he lifted him up, Dragovich spun around and kicked him. He held a rectangular object with an antenna.
"This is my final protocol." He said, "When I press this button, the entire structure will explode. You only have a few seconds to escape." Neither man tried to do anything to him. They stared at each other eye-to-eye, looking for a way to outflank each other.
Then a shot rang out. It hit Dragovich's hand, destroying the object. He cried in pain. Hudson shouted, "Now, Mason!" Mason lunged forward and threw Dragovich into the steel railings. The Russian cried 'Ugh!' as he was impaled by them.
"That's the end of that rat bastard," Woods shouted, "Okay, Mason, let's go!" The trio got out of the room to search for a way to escape.
III. Execution.
Moscow, November 17, 1969
"For exercising your authority to the point of treason and deliberately defying party directives and oversight, you are hereby the this court sentenced to death by hanging," Roman Rudenko, Prosecute General of the Soviet Union and presiding judge, proclaimed and pounded the gavel. Everyone stood up including a sullen Dragovich, who was led out of the courtroom by an unarmed KGB detail. He walked with them as Mason, Woods, Weaver and Hudson looked on, while delegates from other departments of of the US government left with everyone else. The four followed as the courtroom rapidly emptied after what had been a very secret trial.
The rogue general would have been dead at the bottom of the Caribbean if Woods hadn't stopped Mason from killing him. He received from Weaver through the base's sonar com uplink that that he was to stand down as a joint Soviet-Cuban naval detachment was sent to the area. Not to rescue and relieve the general but to apprehend and arrest him! US naval forces stood down and joined with their Russian counterparts. Mason, Hudson and Woods escaped from it with Dragovich by boarding a mini-sub. The presence of American and Russian fleets on the same spot in entire Gulf of Mexico would have screamed of another world war had it not been for the diplomatic skills of delegates from both sides of the Iron Curtain.
At the Lubyanka, everyone watched as Dragovich dropped from the gallows. "Finally, the beast is dead," Andrie Grechko, Marshal of the Soviet Union and Minister of Defense, said next to Mason. Everyone proceeded to go to the lobby and talk for while before leaving. Mason took another look at the gallows as Dragovich's dangling body was lowered from the platform. Woods approached Mason.
"Mason, someone would like to see you," he said. He turned around and followed him. At the lobby, they met Leonid Breshnev and Alexei Kosygin as they talked with Hudson. They greeted and shook hands.
"Mr. Mason," began Breshnev, "We, on behalf of the people of the Soviet Union, would like to thank you for averting a terrible conflict and bringing a traitor to justice. I personally feel my own my gratitude would never enough to repay for your selflessness."
"Thank you, sir," He quietly said.
"Commander Mason," Kosygin said, "I congratulate you for doing the most heroic deed in history. You deserve to be honored along with our heroes from the Great Patriotic War."
"Thank you, sir."
Yuri Andropov, head of the KGB, appeared. He also shook hands with Mason, "Mr. Mason. I would like to shake hands with for your effort in bringing him down. I assure that this crisis will go straight to to the grave and will not." Mason felt his stomach tighten. Here before him is the man who was the head of the most massive intelligence bureaucracy and secret police apparatus in the world. A man who most profitably had condemned Reznov to Vorkuta under Dragovich's urging and was also responsible for the destruction suppression of Czechoslovakia's liberalization. He does not know what to say for a while.
"Thank you..., sir," he said. "I appreciate your gratitude."
"And oh yes," the KGB head said, "And we also apologize for letting this go out of hand. We assure that nothing of this scale would be allowed ever again." Mason felt angry towards him. He knew about how much he had suffered. He knew why Reznov hated the leadership of Soviet Union, how they corrupted his beloved Motherland. They would revel in the limelight as enlightened 'heroes' who helped averted to a nuclear catastrophe while they persecute the more helpless and the more deserving. They treat many of their returning heroes like rats. Ungratefully subjecting them to suffering while they hypocritically harangue on equality and brotherhood. The gulags and dachas... embody such hypocrisy.
He remembered Reznov's words, "Mason. Listen to me... Can you trust your leaders...? The flags may be different but the methods are still the same. They will use you as they use me..."
"And Mason, please forgive any inconveniences that we may caused you. I very much apologize for that," Andropov added. He then left to join other Russians. Mason knew those 'inconveniences' meant his hellish imprisonment at Vorkuta and the brainwashing he had endured. Andropov had the nerve to say that. Woods landed a pat on his shoulder.
"Let's go, buddy," he smiled, "we had a hell of a day."
"You're right, Woods," he replied, "I feel tired." They went out.
Later in the night, the four walked around Red Square to enjoy the winter. Weaver looked apprehensively over his shoulders.
"What's the matter, Weaver?" Hudson asked.
"It's the goddamn KGB," he said coldly, "their predecessors destroyed my family back in Purges. Those rats always snoop on us."
"It's standard procedure here," Hudson replied.
"To hell with it," Weaver said sadly. Mason knew that his hatred for Communism stems from personal loose, just as much as he joined the Marines out of conviction to stop them from landing on the shores of his home state of Alaska.
"How do you like it?" Woods asked him.
"Hmm," Mason mused, "the winter here is more pleasant than in Alaska."
"Yeah, this is the first we actually had been here." He smiled as snow floated down to the ground. It was quite beautiful to behold.
Mason looked over to his shoulder and noticed Yuri Andropov in the distance talking with some acquaintances he couldn't identify. He felt disgusted of their power play. They are like vultures fighting over a corpse. They are no better than the triumvirate of Dragovich, Kravchenko and Steiner, who are now in hell, who have always opportunist.
"Mason, my friend...Tell me...What is left to believe in, when you are betrayed by your own? When all that you are, all that you have done, is buried beneath the lies and the deceit of corrupt men. I will die in this wretched place..
He knew Reznov is dead. Yet he still hears him. And he is right. He must decide what should be worth fighting for. In the end, the only loser is the one who does the fighting and the only winner is the one who stays at the sidelines and behind closed doors, directing the conflict thousands of miles away. They stood to gain from something like this. He realized something he thought about before leaving Dulles Airfield.
"A lie is a lie. Just because they write it down and call it history doesn't make it the truth. We live in a world where seeing is not believing, where only a few know what really happened. We live in a world where everything you know is wrong."
He said to himself, "We won... For now."
This the finale to my three-shot story of revenge. The third featured significantly many historical figures in the context of the Cold War. I wanted to elaborate this further but I have no idea about the conflicts within Soviet politics so there it is. Enjoy.