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Chapter 7
The starry sky of Singapore
Nighthaven's Headquarters, Singapore (UTC+8)
16th of February 2023, 1943 hrs
The evening was surprisingly cold for February. Although of that, it seemed like Ace was living his best, bumping the volleyball ball up.
"C'mon, Ngũgĩ ! Don't let Havard win again!" The woman called out to her teammate. The Kenyan dropped on the sand, at the last second not letting the ball touch the ground.
Aruni laughed cheerfully, continuing to watch the game. Tucking black strand of her hair behind the ear, her eyes followed the object flying in the air.
"Aaand another point goes to.. Ace! I won!" the Norwegian flexed his muscles, grinning widely.
"Oh, c'mon, go easy on me at least once." Wamai sighed heavily, resting his hands on his knees.
"Best I can do is to tag you on my Instagram, buddy."
Apha chuckled, crossing her legs. Haugland climbed up the bleachers and took a seat next to the Thai woman. Taking a bottle out of his bag he asked.
"Ngugi and the silent Russian guy are really good friends, huh?"
"From what I recall he's Uzbek, not Russian." she raised his eyebrows. "And why are you asking? They have been getting along before Shuhrat even joined Nighthaven."
"No reason. Anyways, where is the rest of the team?" Ace asked, chugging on his bottle with water.
"No idea." Aruni shrugged, looking around. The Norwegian was right, it was just them, Shuhkart and Ngugi. She was used to not seeing Osa, IQ and James around during their free time, however Jack seemed to enjoy their company and was always more than willing to join them for some fun.
"And what's up with Kali? For the last two days she has been storming around looking more edgy than Grim himself."
"I'll talk to her." Apha sighed, standing up. "I'll go and check on them. I have a bad feeling about this."
For the answer Ace just rolled his eyes, leaning back on his seat. As always, he didn't really care about his teammates. All that mattered were money and the outreach on his social media. Although it was truly sad and annoying for the Thai woman, she didn't complain until she heard him calling Kali "the money-maker". For the first time she gave him a look that he wouldn't forget till the end of his life.
Her steps headed her towards the exit of the gym. The gray tiles were moving under her feet as she walked through the long corridor. The building was truly an architectural miracle. Although of it's modernity, Apha's favorite place was still the aquarium. Whenever she wasn't feeling herself she could just sit and watch, simple as that.
"Lera!" The Thai called out seeing Melnikova closing the lab's door. Red-haired woman raised her head and happily smiled at Aruni.
"Hey, what's up?"
"Ah, nothing new. I'm looking for the rest of the team."
Finka raised her eyebrows, giving Apha a questioning look.
"Pulse was working with me an hour ago. But then he got a text from somebody and said that he had to go. He literally stormed out of the lab looking quite upset…" she sighed. "Did something happen?"
The Thai woman bit her lip. She wished she knew an answer for that question. Shaking her head, she leaned against the wall. "I have no idea. Something seems to be off, but Kali's lips are sealed. I'm going to talk to her now and she better tell me what's going on."
Lera nodded, taking the lab key. "Good luck then."
Aruni looked at her white coat disappearing behind a corner, as the Belarussian walked away. She really needed to have an honest talk with Jaimini. Her bad gut felt like crushing her lungs as she knocked on the office door. She didn't know what yet, but something catastrophic was hanging in the air. Her mind was telling her to turn around and walk as far away as it was possible, just to avoid the upcoming tragedy. But as soon as the familiar voice said "Come in!" Apha knew it was too late to back off.
It took her longer than usually to answer. To Aruni's surprise, she realized that the Nighthaven's director wasn't the only person in the room. The American's skin was pale as never before. He didn't remind the Jack that Apha used to know. Jaimini didn't take her eyes off him, even when the Thai woman opened the door, walking in.
"Is it a bad moment?" She asked, hesitantly running her fingers on her prosthetic arm. The smooth texture of metal always calmed her down.
"It is." Jack muttered. The man's voice felt so insecure and scared that for a moment the woman wasn't sure if it really came from him.
"No. We're done here, Estrada." Kali turned her head to look at Aruni for the first time today. "Go and call everybody to the briefing room. We start in five minutes."
"Can we talk first? You were locked in your office for almost two days not saying a word to any of us." a worried expression covered the Thai woman's face.
"Briefing room, five minutes."
The woman unceremoniously stood up from her chair and left the room. The situation felt so bizarre that Aruni couldn't even stop her. She just stood there in shock, staring at the closed door. After a few seconds her glance shifted at Pulse.
"Jack…?"
The American lowered his head, letting out a heavy sigh. He rubbed his temple with a shaking hand. Apha's heart skipped a beat. It was the first time seeing Jack in such a state. The man loved to joke and fool around, being sometimes jokingly called a sunshine of Nighthaven. Though now, he seemed on edge of completely breaking down.
"I… I… I'm leaving Nighthaven." he whispered.
Her pupils narrowed. What the hell was he talking about?
"What? What happened?"
No answer came.
"Jack, answer, goddammit!" They both jumped at Apha's scream. The woman herself was surprised how easily she lost her temper. She blankly stared at Estrada, trying to process everything, before taking a deep breath and speaking up. "Jack, I can't help you if you don't want to tell me what's the matter…"
In reply the American pulled out his phone and showed it to his teammate. Tawanrong took the device and scanned the screen with her eyes.
A one new text message from Yumiko Imagawa.
Seeing this the first thing that came to the Thai's mind was an argument between those two. They haven't exchanged a single word since their break up, so why did she text him now? On the other hand she knew Jack well enough to know that he wouldn't be acting like this just over love-life problems.
She clicked on the notification and read the message.
"Director Harry has been murdered."
Aruni almost dropped the phone. She quickly shifted her glance back at Estrada, praying for this to be just a really messed up joke. Just another stupid joke.
But the expression on the man's face was stating clearly- Six really was dead.
" … I'm so sorry, Jack. How did it happen? Do they know who did that?" she hesitantly laid her hand on Pulse's shoulder, hoping to comfort him at least a bit.
"That's all I know. It happened yesterday's morning."
"So that's why Kali has been acting so weird…" she sighed. "Jack, really, I am so sorry."
The man shook his head, taking a step back. Holding back his emotions, being on the verge of breakdown.
"Let's go and see what Kali has to say. After that I'm packing my stuff and heading to Hereford."
Not waiting for Apha's answer he quickly escaped the office, leaving the Thai alone. Alone with her thoughts.
The inside of the briefing room felt like a coffin. An irrational fear of being buried alive followed Aruni all the way from the Kali's office. She already knew what Jaimini was going to say, but it didn't make her any more calm. Quite the opposite- it made things just worse. Looking at the confused faces, especially of the former Rainbow operatives filled her with sorrow.
"Everybody here? Great." Kali muttered, starting the meeting. "I'm gonna make it quick and short. Yesterday's morning, Team Rainbow's director- Six, was murdered. I don't know the details, don't ask me that."
A moment of silence felt like a death sentence. Nobody saying a word,
"How did that happen…?' Lera was the first one to break the silence. Keeping her head low, letting the hair fall on her face, she looked so vulnerable and terrified. Her eyes blankly staring forward, although directed at Kali, not focusing on her.
"One shot to the chest. All I know."
"You have to know something! Don't act like you're stupid!" quickly standing up, Ela tripped the chair. "You knew it all the time, didn't you?! We should have known about this!"
"Calm down, soldier." Jaimini's tone was filled with annoyance. The last thing she needed now was a rouge operator in her own base.
"Calm down? How on Earth are we supposed to calm down?!" the Pole kept going, her voice breaking. "My sister is a part of the team! What if she's the next target?"
"Since when do you care so much about Zofia?" the Brit raised his eyebrows. James, as James, didn't seem too agitated about the news. His cold attitude was like salt poured over a freshly opened wound, making the pain ten times worse.
The woman's eyes filled with tears. "How could he say that…"
"What, don't tell me you didn't see that coming." Porter crossed his arms, continuing. "Rainbow was stepping on the thin ice ever since we left. They broke into our base, stole our documents. They probably allied with people they shouldn't have and that's the reason why Harry is biting the dust now."
"And I thought you really meant that when you said we were a family, Smoke." Ela hissed through her teeth. The same feeling of betrayal she felt leaving the training grounds in Greece, hit her again. Like a bad dream, the Brit's words kept echoing in her head, over and over again.
James frowned, just as if he felt offended. "Don't make me a bad guy here. I'll disappoint you, I wasn't the one to shoot him."
"I don't care. I'm leaving. Now."
"I'm leaving too." Pulse spoke up, following the Pole.
The Nighthaven director rubbed her face. What was she supposed to do in that situation? Stop them? Threaten them? Or maybe beg them to stay?
"What now, Kali?" the Thai's voice brought her back to reality.
"Dismissed."
"That's all? We won't do anything?" Aruni raised her eyebrows.
"Dismissed." the Hindi repeated, leaving the still shocked operator inside the briefing room. She needed time to think through a lot of things. Alone, on her own.
Her steps headed immediately towards the roof. If she needed some rest that was the place where she went. This time was no different. The sky was already dark, when she opened the door.
She squinted her eyes, looking at the figure sitting on the cold concrete.
"Come here. Let's talk, Jaimini."
Kali knew that voice too damn well.
"Zero. What do you want?"
"To talk, like I've said." he stretched his hand handing her something. Rolling her eyes, the Hindi hesitantly took a seat next to Fisher and grabbed the object.
"You know who did that?" Kali asked, opening a can of Coke she got from the American.
"Deimos."
"Who's Deimos?"
"That's where the shoe pinches." Sam clenched his hand on the aluminum surface of his own drink, looking up at the sky.
"Damn it. At least you're not blaming us."
"No, not this time." Sam said in a calm voice. "Though declining participation in the UN summit was a shot at your own knee."
"I don't care."
"You should." The man shrugged. "Nighthaven is at risk of being suspended and disbanded. All of this…" he waved his hand, pointing down at the building. "... will be gone."
Jaimini went quiet, staring at the stars. One thing he had to admit- she didn't lose her ability to be intimidating. If not Fisher's years of experience he probably would feel degraded, pushed to the lower, less safer position. She always did that, even when she used to be a part of Rainbow.
"So, I have an offer. That's actually the reason why I came here." Zero continued. "Get back to Rainbow and help us track down Deimos. In exchange I'll talk the UN out of locking this place down."
"And?"
"You have a week, Kali. I won't wait longer."
"And what if I won't come?"
The Hindi's face was missing her usual smirk. It always appeared whenever she had been teasing somebody. Not in that case. Her expressions stayed still, like a cold stone.
"Then I want to wish you a nice trial for violating security procedures. I bet that after that Nighthaven will be disbanded."
"You son of a bitch."
"Just call me Zero."
The words were the last thing that could be heard, before a slam of the door pierced the cold, night air. Kali was left in the dark, staring blankly at the starry sky of Singapore. Zero left, leaving her lying on the cold concrete of the roof. It was really in Sam Fisher's style, she couldn't lie. But that was not the thing that was on her mind right now. The question was- what should she do now?
Seattle, Washington, United States of America
23th of February 2023, 2113 hrs
His steps felt weirdly heavy. With every pace he was taking, he felt like he had less and less control over his body.
"Captain…?" the woman's voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
Bruno's head turned after a few seconds. The last thing that the man wanted to do right now was talking with Bayrus. The phrase "You're too old for this shit." echoed in his brain with every situation update he was getting from his proteges.
"Report, Léja." he sighed, getting ready to hear the news, he was sure it was bad. Which city was next? How many casualties this time?
The White Mask's actions were ruthless. As soon as on 16th of February 2023 the clock's hit 1:45 p.m. in Massachusetts a series of explosions took place from the east to west coast of America. Boston, New York, Philadelphia, through Kansas City, Denver and all the way to Phoenix and San Francisco. In total nine cities suffered severe chemical and bomb attacks.
Every other day was bringing worse news. The first big cities were just a warning. Throughout the next four days other metropolises were hit. Albuquerque, Austin and two days ago- Seattle.
Though the attacks were mostly focusing on singular buildings or crowded places it was enough to bring down hundreds of casualties. Quick actions, a van loaded with explosives, from ten up to fifteen terrorists. Each laden with chemical weapons. Terror in the purest form.
"The casualty toll after the attack in Seattle went up to fifty six civilians and four police officers. Lieutenant Reynolds died from the injuries two hours ago. The girl and her dad we pulled out from the debris later didn't make it either." the Lithuanian lowered her head.
"Any other info?"
The woman visibly hesitated. Her blue eyes lost their sparkle with the day they landed in the USA. Being oddly quiet Léja wandered around the base like a ghost.
"Sir… you're tired." She slowly put her phone on the table of the office. "I think that a walk will let you relax. At least a little bit."
"A walk?" the man frowned, giving Léja a questioning look. Instead of an actual answer she gestured to the Czech to do the same thing. Her mouth soundlessly uttered one sentence. Leave your phone.
The evening was chilly. Just like you would expect it from the end of February. Wind gently caressed Bruno's face, making his hair fall on his face. Rubbing the skin on the cheek's made Sykora realize that he went almost the whole week without shaving. The sharp, but still short hair pinched his hands like an army of rose thorns.
It kind of reminded him about Dobromila's garden. Sometimes Bruno joked that his wife cared more about her stupid flowers rather than about him. Though, he couldn't deny- the view was breathtaking. The line of bathed in sun sunflowers, marigolds and zinnias always allowed him to catch a breath and relax, sitting on the wooden chair and rocking like an old man.
His wife knew that the place under the small birch was his beloved spot. When last time Bruno got back from the deployment he found his chair repainted and the birch surrounded by freshly planted snapdragons. He wasn't really sure how Dobromila found out that it was his favorite type of flower, but appreciated it anyway.
"What's going on, Léja?"
"We have been bugged."
Sykora's pupils narrowed as he glanced at Dvasia with a stunned expression painted on his face. Bugged? Did he hear it properly?
"Bugged as…?"
"In the meaning that Deimos and White Masks have been tracking us since the beginning!" she snapped.
"Hajzl! Are you sure?" Bruno made a step back, still in shock.
"Yes. I found it by accident, going through the files. It wasn't really hidden, just…" she stopped, taking a deep breath. "Ah, I'm sorry, Captain. I'm just angry with myself, how could I've been so stupid to not see that! The spying program was hidden between old archival files, nobody was checking it until now."
"Don't blame yourself, soldier." the Czech spoke up, trying to calm down Bayrus. It wasn't the time for breakdown and knowing the impulsive nature of Léja, Bruno had to do everything to not let her melt. If she was right it meant that they were in deep shit. As if what they had now wasn't enough.
"Thanks, Bruno… I'm just… pissed."
"How is it possible anyways? I thought that we had quite good security to prevent situations like this."
"Well, we do have security. But… the security programs came from a third-party company."
Like somebody switched a switch in his head. Everything suddenly started making sense.
"Yahata Data Security. We started cooperating with them right after their CEO got murdered. God, we let them in by ourselves…" Sykora felt like his heart was about to rip his chest apart to break free.
"I'm not saying I'm certain but my theory is that Deimos swapped out Yahata for his asset and then bugged us."
Bruno rubbed his face, letting out a loud sigh. His worst nightmare was just coming true. Their unit started rotting from inside and it was their own fault. A whole year. They have been cooperating with that company for a whole year. Whole fucking year of sharing their all secrets to their enemy.
"Okay, but then what about the files? Is there a chance that he could edit it remotely and that's why we couldn't find any trace of him?"
"I doubt that. But again- I can't be certain about anything. Those are just my dumb theories."
"Dumb theories which brought completely new light on the whole case, Léja." he laid his hand on the Lithuanian's shoulder. "But those theories at the same time might mean that we were wrong the whole time…"
"What are we supposed to do now, Captain?"
"Does anybody else know about it?"
"Just you and me. I found out about it in the morning."
"Good."
Bayrus frowned immediately upon hearing that. "Is he completely out of his mind?"
"Good? Sir, it's not good at all. They have access to our whole database. It includes our personal data, information about our families. Do you understand how much of a risk we are at right now?"
"I do. But it also gives us an advantage. They don't know we found the virus. We can feed them false information." a slight smile lit up the Czech's face. For the first time today the man looked like he actually had some hope and motivation.
"It won't take long before they'll realize, though…"
"But it's enough time to think about a new plan. Anything else that you found and could help us?"
"Actually…" she scratched the back of her head. "... Yahata Data Security has a facility in Montana. It was renovated six months ago and now it has surprisingly a lot of traffic around it. Mostly one kind of delivery vehicles. The same as the ones used by the White Masks."
"Bullseye." The shine in the man's eyes made him look like a maniac. "Get everything you can about that facility. We'll raid it."
"Okay. I'll go to Thermite and ex-..."
"No. You don't understand."
Léja just stared at him with her mouth wide open.
"No? What do you mean no?"
"We have an advantage right now. We can just tell Trace now, we'll blow it. Firstly, keep it quiet. We'll get inside, collect intel and get out. They won't even know we were there. Then we hit both Deimos and White Masks."
"It's a suicide mission, Captain."
"No, if we do it quietly. We'll send fake info about Thermotouch team leaving and then do it."
"You're fucking crazy, Bruno!"
"Not more crazy than people who started this shit!" he muttered. "I'll do it even if I'll have to get inside on my own. So you're either with me or against me in this case."
The Lithuanian face got a color of bright red, as she tried to restrain her emotions. She was upset, Sykora could tell it just from the look in her eyes. At the same time he couldn't blame her. If he was told the same thing just a week ago, before Harry died, he would smack the author of this plan without hesitation. But taking into account current circumstances, it seemed like their only option.
Deimos kept being one step ahead of them, shredding their every action into pieces. Rainbow couldn't afford to lose any soldiers. Viperstrike operation was a close call. Too close… Their one of the most experienced operatives almost got killed, while Deimos escaped again without any effort, waving them goodbye.
Every next operation was putting them in danger. And now, they got a chance for a surprise strike. For revenge.
"I'll get as much intel about the place as I can without raising an alarm. If your plan has to work out, we can't remove the bug yet." she sighed, lowering her head.
"You have a point. Like I said, keep it quiet, find info. I'll figure out the rest. I also think that the whole team will make too much noise there. Three people already make a crowd, but we could use some help. Thought about Lawson and Skowron."
"Artyom is out. He won't agree with this for sure."
The Czech rubbed his chin. Léja was indeed right, with the Pole's strong sense of righteousness it would be hard to get him to take part in an off-records operation.
"So the Çağlar siblings are also out. Too much of perfectionists and the mission is borderline illegal."
A moment of silence arose between the two of them as they looked at each other. The man was right, although the Turks would be the best choice for such an infiltration operation, they both were more "following the rules" type of militants.
"Dima then?"
"Soarele will do. The only former PMC on our team." Bruno nodded. "So it's resolved. Me, you, Cheet and Soarele."
The Lithuanian let out a long sigh, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. She couldn't believe what she had just signed up for. It was insane. Harry's death, Deimos, the bug and now this. A suicide mission. No, she shouldn't think about this like that, it was going to bring nothing but just bad luck.
"We better not fuck it up, Captain."
"Right. We better not."
Léja for one more time looked at the Czech. The confidence emanating from him somehow was calming for her. Like a promise, that everything was going to work out. Bruno never brought her down, neither as a soldier nor friend. Recently she started to catch herself thinking that the man was a kind of father figure for her.
She really tried to drive those thoughts away, feeling that it was wrong. Maybe it was all caused because her own, real dad never had enough time for her? A job as a politician always made him give up everything. First protesting during the fall of communism in early 90', then almost 25 years later standing by the newly forming country and ending up as a political prisoner.
Imprisoned in foreign country without even a chance for fair trial, he left her, barely out-of -college girl and sick mother. At that point she was sure she wasn't going to see him ever again. Until one day she got a call from a grumpy soldier with a funny accent, saying that Herkus Bayrus was released and he was on his way to Alytus.
Sykora never got rid of neither his funny accent nor grumpy attitude. But those were the things that made Bruno the man he was. A decent man. He was the one to bring Léja's father back home. And he was the one who made Léja choose military over the office work for some huge company. She wanted to make a change, just like her father did. But not from behind the desk. And the Czech was the right person to help her out with that.
"We really can't fuck this up, Bruno." she whispered to herself heading back to base.
Bruno looked at the leaving woman. Letting the wind carrase his body for one more time, before following her, a thought crossed his mind.
"I'd give anything to relax in Dobromila's garden again."
Portland, Oregon, United States of America
26th of February 2023, 1221 hrs
He missed Marcel. The guilt kept crushing him every time he reminded himself of the boy's face when he left. When he left in a rush after all the promises he had made. All that was broken because of one bullet. One bullet, which pierced Pandey's chest. And he couldn't even explain it to his nephew.
"Licho."
He wasn't the type of person to get angry easily. But now? He was bursting with rage. Running on just a few hours of sleep, with no gas in his favorite lighter and eating the tasteless American food. And now, they threw him in the middle of the gunfight and told him to defuse a bomb.
"Licho."
Artyom's glance shifted to look at the Turk. He didn't mean to come out so hostile, but he couldn't help it. Looking back down, in his thoughts he counted down. Three, two… one.
The cable cracked in half, being cut by the pliers. The whole body of the Pole tensed up, as he watched the numbers on the electronic clock stop.
2:12.
His heartbeat was louder than ever.
2:11.
The sound of the pliers' blades hitting each other felt distant.
2:11.
He closed his eyes, again making a countdown. Opening his eyelids and looking at the clock, he let out the air from his lungs.
2:11.
His chest burned from inside from holding his breath for so long. He didn't even realize it until now.
"We're good! The bomb has been defused." Artyom called out, standing up from the van's floor.
"Good job." the Turk patted his shoulder. "Two other SWAT teams just arrived, they will clear out the rest of tangos. Let's stay here and secure the explosives."
The gunshots felt the same like the pliers' clipping. Distant. Just like it wasn't happening here. Or maybe it was him, who wasn't entirely here. At that point even he wasn't sure.
The time passed quickly, machinally. Securing the explosives, then the whole place. Going over dead White Masks's bodies then again securing chemical weapons. All of this was so distant…
He didn't realize how quickly it got dark. Sitting with other Rainbow operators in a military tent, he stared blankly at the floor, taking slow sips of water.
"This all is non-sens. When will Bruno join us?" Thomas tapped his hand on the table.
"Tomorrow morning." Batu rubbed his face, stretching his hand to get a bottle. Although happy, he was at the same time extremely tired, just like the rest of the team. At least today they could call a day successful. No civilian nor military casualties. A true celebration.
"Splitting up was a terrible idea. It feels… like he did that on purpose." the younger Çağlar shook her head.
"So I'm not the only one who felt like it was done on purpose?" Garcia raised his eyebrows, giving a questioning look to his teammates.
"Yeah… Dvasia staying with him makes sense, but Cheet and Soarele? We could use both of them here. Especially Del, medical support would be invaluable."
"Tommy, did he tell you anything?" Sel turned her head at the American.
"I don't know more than you do. He said that Bruno ordered him to stay and they will join us in two days. I was surprised to hear that, because I thought he would totally question the reasons behind this." he shrugged, leaning back on the chair.
"Or maybe they are just doing their jobs? Stop looking for drama when there isn't the slightest sign for that."
Everybody's eyes turned at the Pole, who till that moment was silent. Sitting at the corner of the room, his arms crossed, head low. The man wasn't the most talkative person in the group but it was still slightly odd for him to be in such a grumpy mood.
"Artyom, c'mon. What's the matter?" Selin decided to speak up.
"Nothing. I'm just annoyed with that bullshit."
"We all are, buddy. But that's the job."
Without another word, Skowron stood up and headed towards the exit of the tent, muttering something under his breath.
"What's wrong with him?" Garcia raised his eyebrows.
"I'll go and check." Batu reluctantly stood up and followed the man.
The cold breeze hit him immediately after leaving the tent. Making the Turk shiver, as if it wanted him back inside. The Pole didn't seem to mind it, struggling only with the lighter and a cigarette.
"Obviously he went to smoke." Batu thought, approaching him. Past few days Licho spent most of his free time smoking. It wasn't anything new, though him, Batu, Thomas and Selin had been smoking together ever since he could remember, but it felt different now. Sure, it was an addiction, but it seemed like now it was taking control over the Pole.
"Artyom. Talk to me."
"If you think I'll share a cig, sorry, that was the last one. I don't have any others to spare." he huffed, finally getting it on fire.
"Don't bother." Çağlar waved his hand, as a sign that he wasn't in the mood to smoke "So?"
"Nothing, like I said. It's been just a bad week." Licho rolled his eyes dismissively.
"It was indeed a terrible week. But this time we caught White Masks in time, before they could harm any civilians. It's a small victory, but at the same time a great victory."
Artyom kicked a small stone, which rolled somewhere behind a truck. The Turk patiently waited for an answer, not seeing any sense in pushing or rushing the man. They all had bad days and under those circumstances it was hard to blame anybody for being sharp-tongued.
"Is it enough to win this war, though?"
"You're asking surprisingly tough questions today, Licho." Batu let out a long sigh.
"Well, the Captain should be able to answer them." in answer Artyom chuckled lightly. Çağlar's reaction visibly amused him.
"Don't call me like this, it's just a temporary thing. Sykora gets back here tomorrow and I'm getting back to being the one who follows, not the one who leads."
"You'd make a good team captain."
"Stop being such a lickspittle." he shook his head "Listen, when it's over we're going drinking."
"Vodka?"
Artyom's eyes lit up. Çağlar knew perfectly well how to cheer up the inner slav in his friend.
"I'm more of a whiskey guy."
"Deal." Skowron waved his hand. Obviously, the only thing that mattered was voltage, not the taste. Batu laughed, tapping his shoulder.
"It's getting cold. Don't stay here too long."
While stepping back to the tent, a single thought crossed his mind.
"If we'll have a chance to drink."
Author's notes:
Hey guys, sorry for longer break, but I got kinda burned out. Well we're getting back I guess. Over and out, guys!