Vladimir Makarov

The Inner Circle

The Boneyard, Kandahar, Afghanistan

So, it had already come to that day… the day when Shepherd was going to "uphold the end of his bargain". He would be a fool indeed to actually believe that the wily American general would not try to destroy every remaining loose end that day. He, on the other hand, would be an imbecile if he did not burn every last form of resistance in the form of Shepherd's forces to the ground. He knew that this was the opportunity both him and Shepherd needed to make sure the other had no chance to remain standing on the battlefield.

Whatever the case was, he had come across Intel that Shepherd has already managed to amass some force like his own personal army, known as the Shadow Company, which was a very apt name indeed. This organization, like the Task Force 141, was recruited from the best of the best of Shepherd's already elite subordinates, the only difference would be that all of its recruits were American, and were loyal only to Shepherd himself. They would be a difficult foe indeed, but they were predictable, not like the 141, whose members were regarded as individual assets to form a greater whole. Their members had the brains and the power and they could think it all through. He knew that the very moment the Shadow Company fired upon both his forces and whoever from the 141 was sent there to Kandahar; those of the 141 would immediately turn their backs on their former master.

"Sir, we have received information that Shepherd intends to send the Task Force 141 to the safehouse in the Caucasus Mountains," one of Alexi's subordinates told him as he looked towards the span of abandoned vehicles, mostly forgotten planes and tanks.

He nodded, and processed the warning in his mind before sending the agent back to his work. He had already prepared for that outcome. His men, on the other hand, had located the site of Shepherd's main operations, and it was right there in Kandahar as well. In fact, the discovery of this site, known as Site Hotel Bravo, was done partly by Anya's hand. But during the time when she was with them, they were only able to guess that it was a mere US safehouse for one of its various military organizations due to the lack of supporting information.

With the possibilities of him being in two separate places, the Task Force 141 would have to appear separately as well. With the amount of their operatives that would show up halved, it made the job easier for both Shepherd and himself. The only question that remained to him was: who was going to Kandahar?

Would it be Price, whom the 141 so successfully removed from the Monastery, along with Anya? Or would it be Captain MacTavish, the man whom he knew as Price's protégé in all forms of the word, the equally capable white knight of the Task Force 141? More importantly, where would Anya be headed to?

"Alexi," he told his right hand man, "We cannot come so far only to lose everything here. We cannot allow Shepherd to destroy all that we have built with our own blood. Make sure that you do not show any quarter, and kill anyone who stands in your way."

His men cheered at his words, and he excused himself from that area to think, because he knew that unless Site Hotel Bravo was destroyed, he and his men would never be able to progress to the next part of his plan… What would be the best alternative?

His thoughts were then interrupted by Anatoly, who told him, "They're here".

Cpl. Maria "Anya" Allen

Task Force 141

The Boneyard, Kandahar, Afghanistan.

From the very moment Shepherd ordered her to go with Price and MacTavish, Anya knew that something was about to go wrong, very, very wrong. It almost seemed to be the most convenient way to get them killed together, and at the same place, what with this new faction, the Shadow Company that was assigned to move them from their landbase to Kandahar…

"Something is wrong," she gestured to Price, using their own unique sign language when she knew that no one was looking. But she could not tell him anything more because by that time, someone from the Shadow Company was already watching them.

Price took note of what she told him and nodded his head. The fact that Shepherd split the 141 into half, and the fact that he actually allowed for him and MacTavish to be in the same mission together as active combatants, really meant that he was prepared to have two of the 141's captains and Anya to be killed with the rest of the team. That, added with the fact that Anya was the one who definitely knew everything that went on between Shepherd and Makarov… He was only thankful that Nikolai was once again their transport operator for this mission.

MacTavish, on the other hand, could not help but heave out a sigh of relief. He had taken Anya's anxiety as her worries over the possibility of meeting Makarov again, while Price's expression was unreadable as ever. He saw this mission as the end to all their struggles, to end all the fighting and suffering that they had done for the past five years. He knew that they had to carry that mission out to the best of his abilities to ensure that all of them succeeded.

"You seem to be really high right now," Anya teased as she sat next to him. "You're really psyched that this is all going to end, aren't you?" At that moment in time, she finally understood why Makarov deemed her as such a good "actress". She could see her reflection on the helicopter's windows, and her face was contorted into this… ecstatic mask that mimicked MacTavish's own.

"Yeah," MacTavish replied, looking out the window nearest to him. "What about you, aren't you glad that you can finally go back to New York?" He had always known that her dream was to further her studies. In fact, she enlisted with the US Army Rangers so that she could cover her college tuition fees. By joining the Task Force 141, Anya was only able to pay off her college debt, but was even able to take home more to support herself should she wish to get herself back into school again.

She smiled and looked down at her feet, wondering how in the world that he could even remember her telling him that. "Sadly, I don't think I can," she answered him. "Shepherd told me that I was declared KIA in the media coverage of the attack on the airport. My parents already received my coffin with a flag."

MacTavish grimaced. It never occurred to him that she was never to see her family again, and to add salt to the wound, she was an only child… "I'm sorry," he apologized. He was silenced by her smile.

"Well, at least they don't have to worry about me anymore," she added. "My only regret is that they would think that their daughter was the one who instigated WWIII…"

Her words were cut short when Nikolai announced that they had already arrived at their destination. "This is where I'm going to drop you," he called from the cockpit. "Good luck everyone!"

Without further ado, they all moved towards the back of the plane where the hatch was, and they of the 141 jumped first, followed by those in the Shadow Company.

Once their two feet were on the ground, everyone became silent. The mission had already begun. "Come on, boys," Anya told the Shadow Company men, "Try to keep up."

Vladimir Makarov

The Inner Circle

The Boneyard, Kandahar, Afghanistan.

"I see Anya, Price, and MacTavish," Anatoly told him, looking through his binoculars.

"Clearly, Shepherd wants to kill us all in one place," Makarov commented, taking the binoculars from Anatoly. There was… something different about Anya. Her head was held up high, as though she had regained the spark she had lost when she discovered that she was betrayed. Did she not know that she was walking into a trap? He also managed to note that she dyed her hair, but why, he could not fathom; it was a question to be answered at another time, anyways.

He watched as the intruders slowly entered the Boneyard. As he had predicted, they brought the Shadow Company with them. How… convenient. Even more convenient was that those that came to fight against him and his men clearly outnumbered his forces. It was a miscalculation on his part. He had failed to anticipate the sheer force of Shepherd's new faction... "We have their frequency," Alexi reported, and gave him a set of headphones. Whatever they said would be only for Makarov's ears, and he knew that there was not a thing that Makarov wanted to miss.

"Captain Price, any luck in Afghanistan?" a voice that Makarov did not recognize asked after confirming that there was no sign of him in his Caucasus Mountain estate.

"Plenty… at least fifty hired guns here, but no sign of Makarov," Price mused. "Perhaps our Intel was off?"

Makarov harrumphed silently. They did not know how right their Intel was. No doubt, Anya contributed to their progress.

"Well, the quality of our Intel is about the change," the other voice clarified. "This safehouse is a bloody goldmine."

At that point of time, Makarov heard Anya's chuckle over the radio. "Of course it's a bloody goldmine," she interjected. "If you're lucky, you can even find a gold bar or two there."

"Copy that," Shepherd butted in. "Ghost, have your team collect everything you can for operations playbook. Names, places, contacts… everything."

Ghost, the newcomer in Makarov's eyes, apparently did not need Shepherd's orders to proceed to transfer all the information. "Already on it, sir," he replied, "Makarov will have nowhere to run."

"That's the idea. I'm bringing up the extraction force, ETA five minutes. Get that Intel, Shepherd out."

Makarov took off the headphones and immediately, his men started to prepare a mobile receiver for him. "They have a DSM, and they're going to extract everything we have…" he told Anatoly and Alexi, who did not seem worried at all. He did not only have one safehouse, and all his information was not stored in only one computer. Even if they did manage to extract the data, and if he failed to get rid of Shepherd in any way, that data was already old. It would not amount to anything in terms of bringing Shepherd closer to getting rid of him.

"What are we going to do about them?" Alexi asked, clearly referring to the 141 in his safehouse.

"We don't have to move a finger," he answered as his aides strapped the mobile receiver on him. "All we have to do here is to hold our ground here, and make sure that Shadow Company does not kill us"

Already, the frontlines of his men had already engaged the Task Force 141, and he heard Anya covering MacTavish while he advanced forwards. Her time by his side was more… conceptual than practical, but he knew from the precious few times when they were in the field together, he realized that Anya was the perfect soldier. If fate would have allowed it, she would not be a mere corporal, but perhaps a captain like Price and MacTavish.

It would not take long before the Shadow Company started to attack the 141. He was sure of it. "Spread out," he told his men, and headed into the Boneyard with the rest of them. Ten minutes passed, and still, there was nothing. They were still looking out for him, and suddenly, he heard Anya's voice.

"Captain, I spotted Makarov's second in command!" she exclaimed, and shot Alexi in the shoulder, pinning him down. "Where is Makarov?" she asked him, but he did not speak at all. Instead, he kicked her and ran off to a corner. "I'll kill that god-damned coward if it's the last thing I do…"

"What about Makarov?" MacTavish asked her, and she gave him a negative answer. However, she stopped in her tracks, and to Makarov's ears, her voice could not only be heard through radio, but also real time. He hid behind a fallen tank, and saw a hint of a feminine body at the corner of his eyes.

"No… no sign of him," Anya replied. "I'll be snooping around, so I'll have to go quiet for a while."

"Alright, Anya," Price told her. "Be careful. Tell us if you see anything."

Makarov heard Anya approaching, and quickly pulled her towards him. "I have been waiting for you," he whispered into her ear as he had her pinned against the tank. However, her reaction upon seeing him was not as he expected.

"You shouldn't be here!" she hissed. "You should be in your safehouse!" He raised an eyebrow when he heard those words. Was she concerned for him? "Do you know that the 141 was split in two just to hunt you down? Why can't you be there?"

In her anxiety over the fate of her friends at the Caucasus Mountain, she started to strike him, but he caught her arm mid-air before she was even able to hit him. "I do not think that it is that simple, Anya," he told her behind gritted teeth. "You know that Shepherd will try to kill us to cover his deeds no matter where we are!"

Anya knew what Makarov was talking about. "You told me in the gulag that I would have to work for you… You already knew that this would happen," she told him, defeated. She remembered how vehemently she had protested against his request… How could she have known that whatever he had predicted would come true?

"Trust me, your forces and mine will have to work together for the day, if all of us are to survive," Makarov told her. "You know what the Shadow Company is. You know full well that neither of us are able to overcome such a force today… I am more concerned of preserving the lives of my men as of now."

Anya was confused. "Why are you telling me this now?" she asked him, looking into his heterochromic eyes. She knew that he was a ruthless leader, but she also understood that he was a dedicated leader as well.

"The time for us to kill each other will come, my dear," he said, tipping her chin. "It is not now." With those words, he brought his lips to hers. He longed to taste her lips once again, and once he did, he let her go. "I hope that you are well until that day comes."

She did not let him go. "I'll be the one who will kill you then," she told him, getting on her tip-toes to kiss him as he did her. "Keep yourself for me." It was her body's natural reaction to his presence, and the look of disbelief on her face that she would even actually do it… it furrowed her brow, and he could only smile at her antics.

"Face it Anya," he whispered to her once more. "We cannot escape one another… But I promise you, that I will be the one who will end your life as well, after all the loose ends have been tied…"

Anya understood what Makarov meant. He would not meet her in a time when both of their forces were at the brink of death due to the acts of a traitorous US General. "When all the loose ends have been tied then," she said to him, taking one last look at him. She waited for the day when that day would come… only then… only then when she would be free of him.

Before that time had to come, there would have to be no loose ends.