Vladimir Makarov
The Inner Circle
Kandahar, Afghanistan
Site Hotel Bravo had fallen. He knew that he could count on the Task Force 141 to renege on their former superior once Shepherd's betrayal had been revealed to them. Combatants who had naught but their lives at stake were the most dangerous, particularly those fools who served under the insignia of the winged sword underneath a laureled skull. Yes, even she was one of them. Anya… her name was already a ghost on the tip of his tongue… So familiar at first, but the sweetness was already gone.
"There were reports that Shepherd's Pave Low was shot down downriver," Alexi reported to him as they prepared to move out to their other safehouse, deep in the mountains. "However, we don't know if there were any survivors of the crash. Hopefully, Shepherd's roasted with the lot of them."
Makarov would not leave anything to chance. "Make sure that there aren't any," he told Alexi sternly. No one must live, especially the Task Force 141, who now had evidence that he and Shepherd collaborated to create this new Russo-American conflict, because if Vorshevsky's detractors knew the truth, his attack on the United States would no longer have the support of the people of Russia.
"Sir, we have a visual on the crash," one of his agents reported, and Makarov immediately headed towards the console where the agent was working on and saw Anya lying down on the riverbank, clutching at her bleeding arm. There was no doubt that she had been shot right there, and MacTavish was doing all that he could to stop the bleeding for the time being.
However, Makarov did not place the order to have everyone at the site killed. "Let them finish each other off," he told his men. Anya was already wounded, and MacTavish looked worse for wear. He was almost certain that the two of them would surely bring Shepherd to his death, no matter what the cost was, and at their condition, it seemed that exchanging their lives for Shepherd's was almost a surety.
Cpl. Maria "Anya" Allen
Task Force 141
Kandahar, Afghanistan – Somewhere downriver
"We've got to get out of here before Makarov's men find us," Anya told MacTavish as they walked towards the crash site. They knew that Shepherd would not be far from where they were. "Now, we have evidence from both him and Shepherd, this war will end and no one would trust them any longer."
"But who will trust us?" MacTavish asked her. When Shepherd had turned against them, all of the 141 were named as traitors, and even their own countries had spoken against them. They were as sought after as Makarov himself. "What we've got is nothing if no one wants to hear us out."
"They will hear us out," Anya replied. "The first man who will even try to listen to us will be Boris Vorshevsky. Makarov bought out all his generals, and they will be crushed when we give Vorshevsky what we have…"
Sighing, MacTavish put a hand on her shoulder. "Slowly, Anya, first, we've got to make sure that Shepherd's dead."
Anya nodded, and they both continued forwards. They first saw one of Shepherd's Shadow Company men, one of the survivors of the crash. He was bleeding heavily, and was crawling away from the site of the crash with his bare hands. Anya passed her knife to MacTavish, who quickly slashed his throat, giving him a clean death, which was the only thing that they could have given him. Soon, they encountered another, a man who was aiming at the both of them with a G18, only that his weapon was already empty. MacTavish stabbed him and Anya closed his eyes.
"Where the hell is he?" she asked, and soon enough, they heard the rattle of moving steel, and then, Shepherd revealed himself, pushing Anya out of the way, running towards the distance, causing her to land on her wounded arm. "Just go, I'll catch up to you!" she exclaimed, and MacTavish gave chase after Shepherd while she struggled to get up.
Hissing in pain, she summoned all her wits about her to stand up, and when she could, she made sure that she got to Shepherd and MacTavish as fast as she could. By then, MacTavish had already caught up to Shepherd, and both of them were catching their breaths around the car.
"You know what they say about revenge?" Shepherd asked MacTavish, who did not respond. There he stood, just staring at the fallen general, not knowing what to say. "You'd better be ready to dig two graves…" Even as Shepherd answered his own question, MacTavish still had not acted. Anya knew that there was an intense debate going through in the depths of her captain's soul, whether or not he should kill the general, the one that had led them from the time when Makarov was merely the Shadow of Zakhaev, to the world-renown terrorist he was now. Her sapphire eyes continued to watch MacTavish and Shepherd, as they silently moved towards each other, each, trying to guess the other's next move. "You're a good warrior," Shepherd continued. "But you could never take that extra step to do what is necessary… Anya, on the other hand, she gave everything she had."
"Anya gave everything she had and you sold her out," MacTavish replied. "All of us did." He moved in for the kill, with his knife perfectly aimed. He would hit Shepherd in the neck…
"No!" he heard Anya shout, but he did not know why. But when his eyes turned back towards Shepherd, he realized that his stroke had been blocked, knocking the knife out of his reach. Using his own knife, one of similar make and design, Shepherd stabbed him right in the chest. Black temporarily overcame his vision, but when he could see again, Shepherd was emptying his Magnum, and reloaded it with three bullets: two for him and Anya, and the other, for Price, no doubt.
By that time, Anya had already limped close enough to be in MacTavish's field of vision, and definitely close enough for Shepherd to notice her. "Five years ago, I lost 30000 men and the world just fuckin' watched," Shepherd told the both of them. With her left hand, Anya also held a pistol, but Shepherd just laughed at her effort. "Sweetheart, I don't think that you can do much as you are now, so why don't you give up."
His first shot went to Anya, and although MacTavish could not see where she had been shot, he knew that she was on the ground the very next instant. Next, Shepherd went for MacTavish. Locking the hammer, and pointing the Magnum at the captain, he said, "Tomorrow, there will be no shortage of volunteers, no shortage of patriots… I hope that you would understand…"
Shepherd could have made the shot. He could have killed MacTavish then and there, but fate intervened. Price emerged out of nowhere, and knocked Shepherd off the ground. Without any usable weapons, the two of them turned to their own fists. Both injured, and aged beyond both Anya and MacTavish, it was a wonder that they could hold out against each other for that long. The other two, on the other hand, each made their way towards Shepherd's Magnum which was not far from them; him crawling, and her limping, despite her new wound… MacTavish had almost reached it when Shepherd kicked it away before turning his attentions back to Price.
"Anya… get the knife, now!" MacTavish told Anya.
"I'll kill you, you idiot!" she objected as she limped towards him. Deep down inside of her, she knew that there was no other choice. If they waited any longer, not even Price could overpower Shepherd…
"Just do it, woman!" MacTavish shouted, and Anya began to pull the knife out of his chest. So much blood came out when she tried to remove the weapon from his body, his grunts and hisses of pain did nothing but deafen her little by little, drowning out the sounds of the fight not far from them. Price was losing… she could not waste any more time.
With one last pull with all her strength, the knife was out, and she pressed the weapon into MacTavish's hands. She did not trust her aim at all. "Shepherd!" she called out to the traitorous bastard of a general, when Shepherd looked towards her and MacTavish, the captain sent the knife flying, and fly it did, right into Shepherd's left eye, killing him instantly.
The deed was done… he had killed Shepherd. "No, MacTavish, you can't sleep now!" Anya exclaimed shaking him awake. "Wake up!"
Soon, Price pushed Shepherd's dead body off himself and quickly came to MacTavish's aid. "You've done well, the two of you," he told Anya, and bound MacTavish's wound the best he could. "Anya, call you stand, lass?"
"I can manage," Anya coughed, and looked at MacTavish. At that moment, a Little Bird approached them, and they waited with bated breath, wondering who would emerge from the Bird. Luckily for them, it was Nikolai.
"I thought I told you that this was a one-way trip!" Price yelled at Nikolai, clearly relieved that he was there.
"It looks like it still is!" Nikolai replied, slinging MacTavish's arm around his shoulder while Price helped Anya up. "Now, both Makarov and Shepherd's men are after you…"
Anya sighed. "Nikolai, do you have a safehouse somewhere?" she asked their friend. He was still working with the Loyalists, and during her days with Makarov, she knew that they were still active, scattered around the world in various safehouses, but they were all known by Makarov, who had his men destroy them one by one, and she hoped that wherever Nikolai was bringing them was not still untouched by Makarov.
"We gotta get Soap outta here," Price pressed on, knowing that there was not much time left for MacTavish. "Anya's not that hot either…"
"Da, I know a place," Nikolai said as they moved ever closer to the Little Bird. "It's right in the mountains, about 624 miles east of here, in Dharmsala, India."
That answer was not one that Anya liked at all. "Makarov knows about that place," she warned Nikolai, who told her that they had no other choice, because if they even dared to make the journey to the further one, MacTavish would bleed to death before they even arrived at their destination.
"Anya, we've already stationed our best men there," Nikolai reassured her. "Don't worry, my boys won't let you down."
Anya could only hope that Nikolai was right. Upon reaching the Little Bird, they laid MacTavish down on Anya's lap, which was the only way, due to the limited seating space of the helicopter. "I'll take care of you, Captain," she told him with a forced smile, drawing his eyes towards her. "Don't you dare close your eyes on me, or I'll…"
MacTavish wheezed, and took her hand. "I'm just afraid that I can't look at that pretty face of yours forever," he muttered softly, squeezing her hand as he said those words, making her blush to no end. The boys in the 141 used to tease her like this, but she knew that it was all good clean fun, but when MacTavish said them… she could not even determine if he meant it, or he was just making a smart retort like she was doing.
"You'll be alright," she retorted, with a genuine smile this time, and placed her free hand on his hand as well.
Vladimir Makarov
The Inner Circle
Kandahar, Afghanistan
"If they survived, they would have to find a safehouse far enough from US forces to recover," Makarov said to his subordinates, all waiting for his next orders. Thanks to the Loyalist dog, Nikolai, who was once their prisoner, the Task Force 141 managed to escape him. There was a huge map of the Indian subcontinent before him, and on it, were markings of possible hiding places of their enemies: Loyalists, the NATO Armies… every one of them. "There," he said after several minutes of silent pondering. He pointed at a spot in India known as Dharmsala. It was not only the seat of the Tibetan government in exile, but was also a one of the largest and most important Loyalist safehouses in the region.
Alexi as always, picked up his train of thought quickly. "We have also discovered several months ago that they have a weapons cache there," his right-hand said. "Running this safehouse to the ground will not only tie loose ends, but will also bring more weapons back into our fold."
Makarov nodded. "Send your best men there at once," he instructed. "None must survive."
HAN: Hello there! It's been a long, long time since I've updated heh heh! Did anyone miss me? *Cricket chirps* I guess not. My explanation would be that real life caught up, and I was for a time diverted to the Assassin's Creed fandom, heh heh heh! ^.^ So I do hope that you enjoyed this chapter, which brings the Modern Warfare 2 part of the fic to the end! Here's to the beginning of the end of the series and this fic! YAY!