(So... since I divided the chapter into 2 because it had 12,000 words, this one was supposed to have 6,000 words. However, in addition to those 6,000 words, I ended up adding a lot more, some parts of this chapter here didn't even exist, and in total, the chapter was just over 10,000 words... and i didn't finished yet. So, here I am, dividing the chapter once again. The next one will be the last, I promise. Thanks for reading and enjoy).
The vehicle stopped and Ghost got ready. The slight movement of the van and a somewhat annoying whistle signaled that the vehicle was now pulling into the garage.
A few more voices echoed through the room, this time more clearly than before due to the van's engine being turned off.
The agent's breathing was calm and low, and his eyes were closed. There were footsteps moving away... two men due to the irregular noise and speed with which the footsteps echoed.
A door opened... and closed.
Two other men walked over to the van a few feet away from the one he was in, and he could hear one say something regarding a plug... something fell... a pen, not far away beside him.
Two other men walked to the back of the van he was hiding in and opened the back door. The yellowish light from the garage slightly illuminated the interior of the vehicle.
(If we add up the items from yesterday, the count should be 35.) One of the men said in Russian, and his loud footsteps entering the vehicle echoed through the deserted interior.
(Good thing we stopped when we did. Otherwise we would have lost at least five or six items). The other man, this one already inside the vehicle, said. From the position, Ghost would say four, three steps away from where he was hiding.
(Hey... was this backpack here before?) The man asked after a few moments of rummaging through the items, and Ghost squeezed lightly the handle of his knife.
(Backpack? Not that I know of.) The other man answered, bowing his head after looking at the backpack and checking the file in his hands. (Computer components, items for hospital wards, microscopes... there shouldn't be a backpack in there.)
(See what's inside there. I don't think there's anything else in here, but we have to see where this backpack came from). The man said, leaning his body forward slightly and tossing the backpack to his partner.
Both were distracted, too focused on something else to notice the shadow moving inside the van.
Ghost quickly approached from behind the man. Only moments later, his two silent steps could not be heard, much less the man's surprised and startled grunts as he grabbed him from behind, covering his mouth and pulling him into the back of the van.
Those were no ordinary workers. They were people hired by Dominik. They were not necessarily involved with bioterrorism. However, the agent knew that they acted as mercenaries.
With his left arm, Ghost squeezed the man's neck hard, and with his right arm, he stabbed his knife hard into his enemy's chest, accompanying his body to the ground as the man lost his strength, and preventing the impact from making any noise.
(It's certainly someone's backpack, which doesn't make sense. There's a camera in here, with some clothes). The man said, looking inside the backpack, with his back to the van.
He removed the knife from the man's chest, staring for a few moments at the blood-stained blade. However, his focus quickly changed, and with light, silent steps, he moved to the front of the vehicle.
To his right was the wall, the end of the garage. The power board was visible. To the left, the garage extended and the other two vans were parked next to each other, a few feet apart.
All the workers were engaged in their work, none were paying attention to where he was.
(Did you find anything else in there?) The man asked, and Ghost moved quickly. He snuck up behind the man and stabbed him in the neck. As soon as he did, he grabbed his body and dragged him into the van. Silent, fast and discreet.
His every move in there was counted.
He stepped out of the van and moved to the power box.
The garage lights went out, the voices of surprised men echoed low through the place. The agent felt at home.
That was his habitat... he vaguely remembered the times he had trained in similar situations, but at a complete disadvantage. Moving in the dark was not so different than in the light, his whole body was leading him, showing him the direction.
He sneaked to the left and stood just behind the second van, listening attentively to what they were saying.
((Again? The wiring in this place is crap.) One of them said, four steps forward, two steps to the right.
(Just go check the power board, it might be a problem again. I'll open the door to the warehouse and turn on the light there). Another said, seven steps to the right, probably between the two vans. The men started to move.
Two of them walked toward the power box, two stayed close to the van, and only one moved to the right, toward the warehouse door.
Ghost moved nimbly through the darkness, what little he could see was more than enough, his instincts more than compensated for his lack of sight.
A single movement, a single stab to the neck. He grabbed the man from behind and covered his mouth as he pulled him back, hiding him beside the last van in the garage, camouflaged by some boxes lying on the floor.
Without wasting any time, he went around the van and approached the one next to it.
The speed with which he acted was surprising, even frightening. Normal people certainly couldn't compare. With his left arm, he grabbed one by the neck and stabbed the other. Pulling out his knife again, he stabbed the one he was holding and brought his body to the ground.
The other two men make their way to the power box.
(How can someone with so much money, in a city that runs on solar power, not even fix his own equipment? This shit keeps bursting). One of them asked, and the other snorted in a mocking nasal laugh.
(Don't ask me. Go figure. Just keep it down next time, the others better not hear us.) The other said, laughing lightly before turning on the light.
The garage lit up, and the man sighed slightly before turning and going back to his work.
(Man, there's that bar that-) He turned around, however, he didn't see his partner there. Confused, the man blinked a few times and looked around.
(Anatolie...?) He called out to his partner as he moved, running his eyes over the vehicles in the garage.
The man made a confused face. There was no one there. None of the workers from before were there, the place was silent, and the back doors of the vans were closed.
(What the... hey! The lights are back on!) He shouted, still confused. A part of him thought they had gone to the warehouse to take a break. However, it didn't make sense.
And what had happened to his partner? He was literally on his side a moment ago.
Before he could do anything, even take a step, he felt his neck being grabbed and a sharp pain in his chest. The sides of his vision blurred, he felt something warm run down his torso, his body fall to the ground... no, he was carried to the ground by firm arms.
The man could barely process the icy sensation of the concrete against his skin. The pain in his chest dissipated, his body grew weaker, and his eyes grew heavy.
Ghost crouched down and wiped the blade of his knife on the man's clothes, before placing his blade on his waist and opening the back door of the van beside him.
He crouched down beside the body and lifted him into his arms, placing the man inside the van and closing the back door. There were no cameras there, he had checked. The van would be locked and the keys he would throw away.
With quick steps, he approached the door that led to the warehouse and slowly opened it. The warehouse was quite large, there were huge shelves scattered around the place. Some were full of large boxes, others were empty, probably to be restocked with the boxes that were in those vans.
Ghost walked through the empty place. He stared at those boxes and the words of those men echoed through his mind. Computer parts, microscopes, medical objects... hm, it sounded as if they were planning to build another laboratory or some kind of base.
He would decide what he would do with that place at the end of the mission. For now, he just focused on his goal. Ahead was a passage without a door.
The passage led to a small corridor. To the left, just the wall and some small closets to put clothes and belongings. To the right, stairs led to, probably, an office on the second floor.
Still to the right, a little to the left of the staircase, a closed door.
He would not go through that door, not yet. Quickly, but cautiously, Ghost climbs the stairs slightly crouched and with his knife in his hands.
The warehouse was empty, although a few lights were on. The second floor consisted of a single small corridor with a single entrance to the office.
Ghost was cautiously climbing the steps of the staircase, until at a certain moment he stopped. His eyes were focused on the wall to his left.
A security camera that had a view of the corridor and the office door. It didn't have a full view of the stairs, so he probably wasn't seen.
He couldn't move forward without being seen by the camera, though. He would have to deal with that.
Cracking his neck bones, Ghost raised his right arm, holding the knife by the blade. His eyes widened slightly and his breathing was calm, his hand steady and his body still.
He threw the knife with extreme precision and force, breaking the security camera, which fell to the ground. The sound of the camera, along with the knife and shattered glass echoed through the empty room.
Ghost quickly climbed the stairs and walked over to the camera. He bent down and picked up his knife. He knew that Grigory and his men would be aware of the delay of those men and the lack of image from that camera, so he would have to be quick and deal with it.
He turned and walked down the corridor, looking in the windows beside him occasionally. As soon as he was in front of the door, he turned and leaned on the closed window.
If he could get into the office, he could open the window from inside and jump to a low part of the roof of the building next door. Once on the roof, he could move over the top and enter either through a skylight at the top, or through one of the windows on the upper floors.
A better option than entering through the back door as he would have a much wider view.
Ghost turned to the door and placed his knife between the door and the contrast on the jamb a few inches above the knob.
Slowly, he slid the knife in until he found the latch and pushed it in. He forced himself forward a little, and the door opened with some force. Quickly he ran his eyes inside and, without even setting foot inside the office, he finds the security camera just above the door, at least nine, ten centimeters to the right.
Turning his body around, he jumps up and grabs the security camera with his hand, pulling it out of place and throwing it on the ground. As soon as he had done so, he inspected the interior of the place once more in search of some other security camera.
Satisfied that he found none, he walked over to the window and opened it. The agent ran his eyes over the area below. There was no one around, but he could see some men in the background, he could hear some voices in the distance, and a few moments later they entered the building ahead.
Leaning on the wall, Ghost jumped onto the roof ahead, landing successfully on the concrete.
He stood up and ran his eyes along the small wall in front of him. Climbing to the highest part of the roof would be a bit tricky, but no big deal.
He didn't move for a few moments, focused on the various voices he heard. There were not many, but not a few either. It made no difference, anyway.
Placing his knife at his waist, he ran toward the small wall ahead and climbed it, taking two long strides on the flat surface and clinging to the metal tiles and pulling his body up.
He could see a few skylights scattered around the place, and walking carefully so as not to make any more noise than his steps were making on the roof, he moved to the nearest skylight.
As he looked down, he focused his eyes on two men who were in a room, apparently also an office, with something that appeared to be a radio system on the side.
Turning, he made his way to the next skylight. The place was a factory of some sort, or at least it once was. Below was a large area with some packaging devices, probably. Deactivated.
Nearby, a few men, these, different from the others he eliminated, were wearing different clothes. A set of black clothes, not exactly casual, but also nothing too similar to some kind of uniform. All were armed. A total of five men.
(Be prepared for when we receive orders.) He heard Grigory say, a few steps ahead of the group of armed men, and his blue eyes focused on the man below.
Grigory said something to his small team and then walked away, followed by the group to a corridor in the corner of the place.
Ghost opened the skylight and let himself fall onto a metal beam. He was high, at least 17, 19 meters off the ground. But that didn't stop him from moving nimbly through the beams below the roof, hidden from the eyes of the remaining workers.
He looked around for a few moments, making sure that no one would see him in peripheral vision or be facing in his direction, and after waiting a bit for the remaining men to turn around so he would not be at any risk of being seen, he jumped from one beam to another, then from the beam to the top of a shelf, and from there he jumped from shelf to shelf until he reached the floor.
Quick and silent. Only seconds were needed.
On the ground, he turned into the corridor and followed the same path he had seen Grigory follow moments ago.
The corridor was relatively long, and divided at times into other corridors or some room they used. No cameras... curious.
Until, after some time following that way, he heard some voices coming from the room ahead, just before some stairs going down.
Ghost remained crouched just beside the entrance door to the room, his back glued to the wall as he listened to what the men were talking about.
(We're not moving, apparently. If Dominik makes it, we'll stay here indefinitely.) One of them said, and his footsteps echoed through the place, indicating that he was approaching the door.
Ghost turned quickly and ducked into the next room. One of the changing rooms, those men were probably in the other.
(This isn't so bad, the wine here is pretty good.) The other answered, now standing in front of the door.
(That's all you think.)
(Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let's just get to the boat.) The man said, a step or two away from the changing room door that Ghost was hiding in.
And the moment they were near the door, the agent acted. He threw himself towards the first man, hitting him extremely hard in the face, and quickly stabbed the second man in the neck. Both were taken by surprise, the agent was too fast for them to react, and in moments, what was left of their strength could see them being pulled into the changing room and having their bodies hidden in one of the lockers.
Ghost looked at the two pistols in his hands. Those men also had some knives, which he put in his waistband, and were using MP - 443 Grach pistols, 9x19mm. Each with a spare clip, 12 bullets for each clip. Total of 48 bullets.
Those pistols were used by the Russian armed forces, and from the model, they were not the version available for civilians. Getting that kind of weapon was not exactly easy.
He also picked up the radios they carried, now he would hear everything they said.
Turning, he continues on his way down the stairs at the end of the hall.
As he descends, he blinks a few times in mild surprise to see an elevator. It wasn't going up, there was nowhere to go. In other words, it was going down. A secret base underground, what a surprise.
He ran his eyes around, realizing there were no emergency exit stairs. Strange, he doubted that people like Dominik would be that careless. That kind of person always had something extra hidden.
However, considering that there was no room near the elevator, he would say that the emergency exit was outside. Behind that factory was the sea, and they were at a considerable height. In other words, the chances were considerably high that there was some way out that way, discreetly.
He turned and went back up the stairs. The agent walked down the corridor and turned right into another corridor that turned to the right at the end, but had a window ahead.
He checked to see if the place outside was clear and, upon making sure that there was no one close enough to see him, he jumped out the window and landed nimbly on the floor.
To his right, up the ramp that was probably used by cars heading to the back parking lot, was a single man. This one had the same dark clothes as the ones he had seen before. But unlike the two he had eliminated, this one had a rifle in his hands.
Even from a distance, he could see that it was a black AK-74M with a probably elongated clip.
Ghost moved towards the man, and once he had climbed the small ramp and had a better view of the small parking place, he hid behind a silver car to his right and checked his surroundings. Apparently, that man was the only one there.
Grabbing one of the knives at his waist, Ghost stood up and held the knife by the blade, raising his arm and focusing his eyes on his target.
A simple movement, just the throw of the blade, strong, precise and fast. The man fell to the ground in a silent thud, and a knife in the back of his neck.
Ghost moved to the man's body and took the knife back, wiping the blood on the dead terrorist's clothes. He then took the rifle and the spare clip and hid the body below the car he was hiding in earlier.
With quick steps, he approaches the metal railing ahead.
The view of the sea was incredible, the vast ocean could be mesmerizing if one looked long enough. There were no boats around.
There were three pipes below, each a few feet away from each other. Anyone looking would say it was the factory sewer. However, Ghost already suspected that this was not the case.
Each of the pipes were under water, which made them a little more hidden.
Ghost sighed slightly and jumped over the fence, falling head first into the water. The noise was loud, but it spread across the open area.
He turned and swam in front of each of the pipes, analyzing which one was most likely to be the right one. Two of them were completely covered by bars, with no way to open them except with some kind of blowtorch.
The middle one was the only one where the bars were locked by a small gate that was opened only with a key. Good for him.
With his knife, he did the same thing he did with the door to the warehouse office, and moments later, the gate opened and he stepped into the pipe. Air was not a problem for him. A large part of his training was done underwater. No matter where, no matter the conditions... water would never be a problem.
He swam down the long pipe, turned left when he saw that there was no passage to the right, went down and up some more. Until he arrived in a different place. The ugly gray concrete greenish with moss gave way to white walls. The water became clearer and much less salubrious.
Ghost turned his still submerged body. Above him was a metal catwalk. Next to the catwalk, about five meters, was what appeared to be a metal fence with an open gate that led to stairs down to the water.
He was in.
Ghost swam close to the stairs and rose to the surface. The sound of voices rang in his ears, and he could recognize Grigory's voice quite clearly.
(Have you told them to go to the boat?) Grigory asked one of the men, who responded with a nod. (Good. Get a bottle of wine. Dominik's meeting is about to end, we will get new orders soon) Grigory said, walking around the room and sitting down in an armchair in the corner of the room.
The place looked more like a VIP wing of some bar than anything else. The elevator was to the left, just behind a few steps of a small stairway.
However, there was another elevator there, on the opposite side from where the one coming down from the factory was. This elevator went a little further down, and from the few boxes scattered in front, probably the laboratory they planned to build, perhaps.
Grigory picked up his glass of wine and took a sip. Some of the men with him stood in front of the elevator, others also sat and took a sip of wine, and others remained standing with their backs to the wall and radio in hand.
A radio in the background echoed low music, and Grigory drank the rest of his wine. His expression was neutral, but it was somewhat clear to anyone paying attention that he was a bit nervous. Dominik's meeting was rather important because a lot of money was at stake. More money than he had seen in his other businesses.
Meetings with a millionaire were like that, it seemed.
Seconds passed, minutes that seemed like hours, the almost complete turn of the hands of the clock and the noise they made, although low at the same time, became annoyingly loud.
The radio showed signs of life, and a male voice made itself present.
(Grigory, do you copy?) Dominik was calling him. The man lifted the radio to the front of his lips after leaving his wine glass on the table in front of him.
(On the wire. So...?) he asked.
(Tell the men to bring the boat in at these coordinates. The meeting was a success. You can now go to the cruiser. I'll be there in at least four hours.) Dominik said, and Grigory shook his head with a small smile on his face. In other words, they practically won the lottery.
(Roger. Over and out.) He said and stood up, nodding to the man who was leaning on the wall with the radio in his hand. (Tell them to get the boat ready. The coordinates are with me. Me and another group will go to the cruiser.) He said, and from one of his pockets, he pulled out a tablet-like device.
A digital map.
The man nodded in response and brought the radio up to his mouth. As soon as he did so, however, the lights suddenly went out.
Grigory muttered something in surprise. He blinked a few times in the dark, but remained calm and waited until the generators turned on the backup power.
However, he was somewhat confused to see that the generators were not turned on.
(What? What the fuck is going on? The generators should have been on by now.) He says around, now a little irritated by the low quality of the equipment there. They were in a city powered by sunlight, dammit. Power was what they should have had to spare. Lack of power could only mean malfunctioning equipment, or, if someone had cut the power on purpose.
A noise made itself present to his left, toward where one of his men was sitting earlier.
(Has anyone checked the damn power board, or at least the generators, for fuck's sake?) Grigory asked, but there was no response other than the sound of something falling to the floor.
He remained motionless for a few moments. Something else fell, something grunted, a voice made itself present, footsteps echoed near him...
His hand went immediately to his gun. He called out for someone else, but again, received no answer.
Suddenly the lights came on, causing him to blink his eyes due to the sudden illumination. And before he could even open his eyes and look at the situation around him, he felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder.
Grigory cried out in pain and surprise, dropping the radio he was holding. He didn't even have time to process what was happening, and again, a sudden wave of sharp pain hit him in his right arm, causing him to drop his weapon.
Grigory fell to the ground, startled, eyes wide and in pain. His eyes stared in confusion at the two knives that were embedded in each of his arms.
Huh? What the...? How did...?
Many questions, no answers.
Another noise made in front of him. In his line of vision, even with his head down, he could see a pair of wet gray sneakers in front of him. Slowly he raised his head. His brown eyes stared deep into the cold blue eyes above him, his face covered by a mask with a skull design.
In addition, that man was pointing a gun at his head. In his other hand, another knife. This one different from the other two he had thrown. It was larger, with a silver blade and a handle with gold details.
How did that man get in there? There were guards in front of the elevator and there was no other way to get inside... except...
His clothes were wet, soaking wet... which meant he came in from below. How? The entrance was locked and the keys were in a drawer in the desk.
It was then that he realized what had happened to his men. They were all lying on the floor, with small pools of blood forming below their bodies... all dead.
Grigory could barely breathe... how was this possible?
Still pointing the gun at Grigory's head, the agent bent down and picked up the teblet from the ground. The coordinates sent by Dominik were marked. So was the location of the ship called the cruiser.
A little less than an hour from where he was.
Which meant... he didn't need to ask Grigory any questions.
He put the tablet in his back pocket and, with his knife, killed Grigory with a stab to the chest.
He crouched down to the man's body and wiped his blade on his clothes. The agent then took the two other knives and placed them in his waistband.
He searched the bodies of the other men for some extra ammo, and after checking everyone, he walked to the elevator and pressed up.
Dominik was waiting for his men with a boat... it was time to take care of him. Then he would set sail for this ship called the cruiser.
