—xXx—
Chapter 5: The Truth…Well Sorta...
—xXx—
The head of Hotel Moscow was a cold and ruthless woman who wouldn't hesitate to start a war to further her ambitions. If she thought you were against her, she was against you, inviting you to a sweet, violent and painful death.
In a nutshell, she was dangerous.
Which is why Rock was nervously standing in front of the powerful woman.
"You have peaked my interest Rock." Balalaika stated evenly. "Quite frankly I have never encountered someone like you." She opened a folder on her desk and pulled out a few papers. "I took the liberty of having a background check done on you."
"I suppose that it's not terribly impressive to you, Ms. Balalaika." Rock replied.
"On the contrary it made me even more curious about you which is why I have called you here." The scarred head of Hotel Moscow replied with a cruel grin.
"You have had no previous experience with firearms in your previous life, not even so much as a gun club membership." Balalaika started to list off the discrepancies between his old life and the skills he now possessed after being with the Lagoon Company for years. "You have no previous experience flying helicopters either real or simulation and yet you've managed to pilot a Mi-24. You've had combat experience where our very complete records don't even show any connection to even a slightly dangerous situation."
"If you are a spy or plant here for some government or other organization, you have the worst cover in the world." Balalaika closed Rock's folder with a decisive snap of her hand and entertained her fingers under her chin, staring at the young man with her cold eyes. "One word and you're dead. You know it yet you aren't afraid. Why?"
"Because then you'd never get to the bottom of your little mystery." Rock casually replied. "You are right in that I'm not what I seem, but at the same time I am."
"You should know I prefer straight answers, Rock." Balalaika stated. "I really—"
"You're going to light your cigar." Rock stated seemingly out of the blue, causing Balalaika to momentarily loose her composure, her eyes widening as the thought of reaching for her lighter crossed her mind a millisecond before Rock spoke. "I know admittedly little about your past, Ms. Balalaika, but I am far from underprepared for the life of this city. It's like waking up and finding the answers to all your life's questions are sitting in front of you, asking to be taken and understood. I have found my home, and I simply wish for life to continue unimpeded."
"You really are one of a kind." Balalaika light her cigar relaxing after hearing Rock's words. "Few have the audacity to speak in such a manor to me, and fewer are allowed to live to tell about it."
"A mutually profitable arrangement is always the preferred option in business." Rock replied. "I am not adverse to the idea of working for you through Dutch and so long as both parties realize that more money and power can be gained together, I am content."
"You insinuate that you have some power to come bargaining like this, Rock." Balalaika's cold voice returned. "I fail to see where such power comes from."
"What is worth more than military might?" Rock replied rhetorically. "Armies and businesses require a constant flow of information to survive in this world. If that information is worse than the competition, you loose. You may have an army, but you do not have all the answers, Ms. Balalaika."
The former Captain didn't say anything immediately. "You know certain things that can benefit my organization." Rock nodded affirmatively. "And I have the power capital to keep certain groups from unnecessarily affecting your desired way of life."
Balalaika blew a ring of smoke from her mouth. "You propose an exchange." She contemplated the unspoken deal in her mind, while keeping an eye observing Rock's relaxed posture and noticed his lack of visible tells. "Very well, I'm sure we can iron out the details in the future. I hear that you four have a job coming up."
"You are well informed." Rock replied simply.
"But seemingly not as well as you." The head of Hotel Moscow replied a tad irritated. "This has been a most enlightening conversation, Rock. I look forward to more at a later date."
"I wouldn't wish to get Chang angry at me, but I'm sure a few meetings would not cause much trouble." Rock casually replied as he stood and left without another word. As he closed he saw the scarred woman's eyebrows scrunch in a frown. His insinuations disturbed the woman and put her on edge.
Knowing that he was in the clear for the moment allowed the former businessman, now pirate negotiator, to stretch his neck and loosen up stressed muscles. His walk down to the Lagoon Company docks left him ready to face the next cluster-fuck that was bound to come his way.
True to his worries, he found Dutch working a dock-side crane which was holding the 20 millimeter auto cannon from the Helicopter. The dock was filled with piles of components and tools spread around the nose of the aircraft.
"Rock, glad you came back early. Bring the arm counterclockwise a few degrees." Dutch waved him towards the crane controls attached to the crane via a heavy cable. There were several controls for bringing the hook up and down, left and right, and in and out along the arm of the crane. Dutch waited until Rock had the controls in his hand before grasping the base of the cannon mount. "I need it 10 centimeters aft so I can fix it to the old mount."
The mount on the boat originally held a single machine-gun when it had left the boat yard in the later years of World War II. Decades of smuggling had seen upgrades until Dutch simplified the weaponry on the boat and swapped out a soviet, crew-served machine gun for twin fifty-caliber M2 Machine-guns from the US. While the ammunition was more expensive, the increase in firepower, and the proven weapons improved the old PT boat. In truth they were rarely needed, as Revy generally preferred the flexibility of hand-held weaponry. On the other hand, the M2's were more effective at long range and projected a fearsome image when employed against softer targets.
"The cannon is going to have a harder recoil than the M2's." Rock commented as he made the adjustments to the crane. "Have you reinforced the decking?"
Dutch bobbed his head towards a welder on the dock. "There already was some reinforcement, but I added a few supports to be on the safe side." Satisfied with the work in front of him, Dutch began to thread a dozen thick bolts through the holes in the cannon mount and through a series of matching holes on the deck mount. He had been working for hours to retrofit the cannon, and had machined an adapter from hard, stainless steel. It allowed the dis-similar mounts to be joined and let the cannon swivel.
In the three weeks after Dutch upgraded Lagoon's weaponry, the Lagoon Company had only a few minor, one-day, or overnight jobs. That was until a shady call about a long-lost submarine.
—xXx—
"I'm sure you are more familiar with diving this time around." Dutch stated as he helped Rock prepare his tanks.
"A few missions and vacations helped get me comfortable with all this stuff." Rock gestured to the welding equipment and scuba gear.
"Yo Dutch!" Benny called from the cockpit. "You got a moment? I wanna go over a few things with everyone."
"Sure thing." Dutch called back. "Alright you two lets hear what Benny-boy wants to say."
The three gun-wielding members of the Lagoon Company trooped into the interior of the PT boat. Rock and Revy were mirror images of each other as the leaned against opposite sides of the room while Dutch stood across the table from Benny who had a laptop opened to a webpage with a picture of a painting.
"This is what The Twelve Knights Lead by Brunhilda looks like." Benny started. "Our client is a collector of Nazi artwork and this sub is supposed to have carried the painting from Germany, on it's way to Japan. Unfortunately they ran across the entire US 6th fleet and were sunk. Last year a French company discovered the wreck while laying underwater cables and found that most of the ship still had air in it.
"We'll go in thru the forward torpedo tubes and weld them shut then open the bulkhead that's holding back the water." Revy stated the plan in a bored tone. "Let's get going Rock!" She kicked off the wall and started for the door.
"Hold on a minute Revy." Dutch's voice held her back. "We need to talk about why Rock wanted the Torpedo tubes checked over."
"Our client hired a second organization to retrieve this painting." Rock said. "If you guys stay directly over the U-1324, you can force another ship away from this point. If you are going to sink another boat, it would be best to ensure that nothing lands on us while we're underwater."
"Benny, you'll need to broad cast that recorded Navy chatter from the buoys we dropped, ASAP." Rock instructed the Lagoon Company's computer wizard. "It will make our ruse as a Taiwanese PT boat more effective."
"We'll fire at anything that comes within 1500 yards of the sub with the 20 mm cannon from the chopper, and sink anything that comes within 1000 yards with a torpedo." Dutch vocalized the surface action plan should, or rather when, another boat came within sight.
"Fine, now that we all know what's going to happen, let's get going Rock!" Revy grabbed Rock's wrist and marched him over to their tanks and fins. in short order, Rock and Revy slipped below the surface.
—xXx—
"Hey Dutch!" Benny called out from his computer room as he gathered his portable radio so the two topside members of the Lagoon Company could recline on deck.
"What's up Benny?" Dutch asked from the galley, pulling a six-pack
"We got a radar contact, 10 miles out and coming right toward us." Benny replied as he started to run analysis programs on the radar signature. As his instruments interrogated the incoming ship, he gradually raised the volume on his bootleg Navy transmissions.
"Looks like Rock was right again." Dutch muttered to himself. "I'll go pack up what we broke out already." He called back to Benny.
Benny didn't say anything in reply as he busily entered commands into the Black Lagoon's onboard computers. The programs he started running came back showing a large vessel with a large superstructure. It classified it as wither a research vessel or fishing boat. Seeing as there wasn't any fishing in this area of the South China Sea, it had to be a research vessel, which usually had the capability to use a small sub.
On deck Dutch finished storing the deck chairs and umbrella and began to prep the cannon. Originally the Black Lagoon sported a single .50 caliber, M2 machine gun on the conning tower. After acquiring the Soviet Mi-24, Dutch took one of the two 20mm canons from the gunship and mounted it on the foredeck, using a custom-made adapter. It hindered his view while driving, but the added firepower was worth the tradeoff. It fired at a rate of 120 rounds a minute and Dutch had added a box on the side that held 50 of the large shells. Firing in three round bursts it was both accurate and delivered a lot of lead.
Dutch loaded a full compliment of explosive ammunition and keyed in the sights to 1500 yards. "You in uniform yet Benny?" Dutch asked over their onboard short-range radios.
"Just a minute," Benny replied, "I still have to get the flags out."
The next couple of minutes were a scramble for the remaining crew of the Black Lagoon as they prepared their ship to look like a Taiwanese Naval vessel. On the horizon, a large ship steadily grew larger.
—xXx—
150 feet underwater, Revy and Rock quickly moved through the german U-boat, remembering their last visit to the underwater grave. Rock still didn't feel right taking the medals of the crewmen, but at the same time he realized that once they were done here, they would be completely lost to time as their exit would likely flood the ship with corrosive sea water.
"How much do you think the family of these guys would pay for their medals?" Rock asked his partner.
Revy grinned. "You're learning, Rock. But how the fuck could we ID which skeleton the medals came from?"
"At worst we just take the Captain's picture and medals." Rock replied. "It wouldn't be impossible to find his family, and having evidence of their grandfather's last moments would be nearly priceless. The other medals we take could be sold off if we can't find the family."
"The guns would fetch a good price." Revy contemplated.
"Why do you think I brought these diving bags?" Rock asked as he opened his back pack to reveal large thick waterproof bags that could carry a large volume of stuff.
"I like how you think Rock." Revy grinned, grabbing the bag Rock offered her and started filing it with all the weapons she came across, mainly pistols and rifles, with the occasional sub-machine gun. By the time they reached the resting place of the Captain and the SS officer, Revy's bag was nearly bursting at the seams.
Rock spent the trip collecting more sentimental items like medals and hats from the officers. He had enough space in his bag for the painting and a few other items that were still in good condition and could be easily sold to collectors. Rock took a lot of pictures using a high-resolution underwater camera, documenting from where on the ship the items were taken from.
"Do you have the case for the painting?" Rock asked Revy, who wordlessly handed him the bullet and water-proof hardshell case. With the skill of a surgeon, Rock extracted the delicate painting from the SS Officer's leather bag.
A few moments of grabbing items later, Rock and Revy trucked back to where they entered the sub. "If we weld this door closed, we could keep everything preserved." Rock said as the began to don their Scuba gear.
"You sure you want to waste the time to do that?" Revy asked. "Those Neo-Nazi fuckers are going to be here before too long."
"I'd rather make it possible to recover the bodies if some deal ever gets made by the government." Rock replied.
"You're still a big softie, aren't you Rock?" Revy sighed as she handed Rock the wielding unit. "Just make sure we have enough to cut our way out."
"Thanks Revy." Rock appreciated Revy letting him soothe his conscience even just the tiniest bit. In short order Rock had secured the bulkhead and began to cut a hole through his patch on the torpedo tube. Practically the moment he put the cutter to his patch, water began to jet in. Rock stood back and put his mask on and began to breathe from his tank. When water completely filled the compartment, Rock completely cut off the door to the torpedo tube and they made their exit.
On their rise to the surface, they paused at the normal decompression levels to prevent the compressed nitrogen in their blood stream from turning into gas and leaving them in unimaginable pain.
Looking straight up, they saw the Black Lagoon with it's engines idling, ready to make any evasive movements necessary.
—xXx—
Dutch and Benny watched as the vessel came within two miles of the sub.
"Pass me the radio Benny." Dutch commanded. As soon as he got the microphone, Dutch cleared his throat and spoke into it. "Attention, unidentified research vessel. You are about to enter waters restricted by the Taiwanese Navy for military exercises. If you continue your course you will be fired upon without further warning. I repeat, you will be fired upon if you come any closer."
"You think they'll buy it?" Benny asked.
"Only one way to find out." Dutch replied as he hung up the microphone. "Man the gun, Benny, and aim for the bow."
"Your seem to be acting alone, where is your mothership?" An arrogant voice came over the airwaves, interrupting Benny chambering the first 20 mm shell.
Dutch angrily snatched up the microphone. "That is classified information. Turn to heading 320 and proceed out of the immediate area. If you continue on your present course you will be sunk."
"I'm ready up here Dutch!" Benny called out.
—xXx—
"After analyzing the radio transmissions in the general vicinity, it appears that this ship is not acting alone as we had first believed!" A man in a Nazi uniform reported to his commanding officer who sat behind a large desk surrounded by images of Hitler and the Third Reich.
"Then we shall have to be swift and decisive in our efforts!" The commander rose to his feet in excitement. "Prepare to launch a powerful strike upon the degenerates who dare to defy our glorious mission!"