Chapter 9

Balalaika reclined in her chair, weary from the oppressive amount of paperwork she was facing. She briefly considered someway to trick Rock into doing it. However that would depend on whether the Lagoon was in port or at sea on a job. As it was Dutch would prefer she not use his employees as conscripted labor. It was tempting, but ultimately not worth the effort. If only one of the Desan'tniki was a secretary instead of just a soldier, it would make things so much easier.

Despite the paperwork her mind kept wavering over to Mag, or Ethan Haines as he now called himself. Why, she had no idea. There wasn't any attraction, sexual or otherwise, and why would he want to sleep with a scarred up old cow like her when there were more appealing women walking the street wearing next to nothing. She had only offered herself to him in a moment of weakness since he saved her life, and that was what a woman was supposed to do for her savior, right.

Shaking her head she went back to the paperwork. On the top was her oh so favorite subject, money brought in by sales of hardcore pornography. The paperwork could wait, she could not remember the last time she had taken her rifle to the range for some practice. The time would give her a chance to think of a solution to the mountain on her desk.

A sudden noise in the hallway outside her door caught her attention. It wasn't the usual sounds made by her men moving around. It wasn't gunshots either. It sounded more like someone being thrown against a wall at a decent speed. What ever it was it needed to stop, otherwise there was going to be some major trouble and she was already pissed off.

Before she could stand though her doors flew open and one of her men went skidding on the carpet. Her first action was think that there was no way that could have felt pleasant, her next was to look up. In the doorway stood her current mental problem.

"Mag, sweetheart, is there a reason you have broken into my office instead of calling ahead," she asked calmly.

Ethan stood there somewhat stooped over breathing heavily, " Give...me...a...minu...te. Little...out of...shape."

Shaking her head she motioned to a couch. Not giving it a second though Ethan walked over and fell face first on the piece of furniture.

He then began brokenly, "Needed to talk to you. Uhhhh. Thought handing guards an AN94 would distract them, didn't. Asked how they would let me in. Said if I could beat everyone of them in the building I could see you. Needless to say I am here. They are really well trained."

She examined him from where she had moved to during his explanation. He looked like he had been hit by a truck. There was blood coming from his nose, a busted lip, and a couple of cuts on his face. Either he was meaner than an entire division of the VDV, or he was highly motivated to get to her, maybe both.

"What is so important you put yourself through this kind of abuse. Willingly," she asked.

"Fucked in the head Spetsnaz Colonel wants my head. His brother hired me to head up a security contingent. Some really high grade backstabber got through and did him in. When I found out I found a boat here. That was close to ten months ago now. The Colonel's name is Bugakov. I can't handle an entire regiment of special forces, no matter the country. I am going to need high grade help to survive this, and you want to pay me back for Afghanistan. This is how, a life for a life."

"How do you know he is after you. When the Spetsnaz do a job it gets done?"

Ethan looked up, "He sent a hit squad of three of his soldiers. Tried to run me over, ventilated the driver, vehicle hit the building and killed the front passenger, and the last managed to climb out and tell me what he thought of me and who was after me before I put him down."

This left Balalaika with a dilemma. She did owe him and this would be a fair trade. Her biggest hang up was that only a handful of her men were capable of standing against soldiers of this caliber. And with them getting older she had no clue how many were physically able, especially with Mag being able to layout all of them that were there at the moment. These soldiers would be younger and fresher, and were being led by an experienced commander they were unwaveringly loyal to. It was a big risk. It was also what she had been searching for all these years. A battle that would give her and her men a chance to die with their honor.

"Ok, let me get this straight. You met big sis in '86. You were working for the Mujahideen. The cell you were assigned to captured her, was going to rape and kill her, and you murdered them and helped her escape. How the fuck is that supposed to make sense. You capture someone you weight their head and leave them rotting," Revy said through the door to Ethan's room.

"My better side got the best of me. Let's leave it at that alright. Despite most of the shit I've done I still have something akin to a man in this shell. I got her back to the Russian line and she owes me," Returned the subject of interrogation.

"So you didn't fuck her head off as a reward. What a limp dick you are. She couldn't have looked too bad in those days. Besides you were nineteen, every guy that age I've encountered was hornier than a dog all the time."

"I had a little more self control. Five years of getting shot at will do things like that to a person. Besides she literally made me search through twenty or so piece of crap Dragunavs until she found hers, otherwise she was going to stay at the camp. I wanted no other attachment to her. Besides at nineteen I was looking for girls that were sixteen or seventeen. I have always gone for younger women."

The door to the room opened to reveal a very different man from who Revy was used to. This man was clean shaven, wore all black with a tac vest with six holsters filled with three paired sets of handguns of different chamberings, his hair was drawn back into a short ponytail, and he was holding his M4 as if it was an extension of himself. He was the most beautiful sight she had seen in her life.

"My god, has that always been hiding underneath the disguise of some random fuck head," the female gunner asked somewhat breathless.

"If I try I could have almost any woman fall over me. I have had confessed dykes fall head over heels for me. Wait, something is different," and it hit him.

While she had carried twin chrome plated Berettas with faux pearl grips, instead her holsters contained a paired set of INOX Beretta 92Fs with 5.9" barrels, real pearl grips with an inlay of a Jolly Roger, and 9mm Sword Cutlass Special written on the slide along with some Thai script. They were a true work of art.

"I finally got my boys back. I had been carrying a set I had for emergencies until I had a new one made to replace one that I lost before you joined up. I would have had them sooner, but old man Prichyat was swamped with custom orders. How do you propose to explain this to Dutch though."

Ethan laughed, "Disgruntled former employer."

"Disgruntled former employer. That is really what you are going with," the Lagoon's captain asked deadpanned.

"It's the truth. His brother hired me as head of security, and someone got by me. I got out of there and hoped to disappear, I failed. I don't plan to die without a fight or run away, so I called in a favor and am going to do a little bit of ass kicking," Ethan replied.

He had not told a straight out lie to anyone since the intervention a while back. While he wasn't the most popular on the team, he wasn't hated anymore. Revy still wanted to kill him at times, but that was her view on most of the world.

"And the favor was owed by Balalaika. This isn't going to ruin our relationship with Hotel Moscow is it?"

"Unlikely, it may actually strengthen it. She has been looking for battles since she and her men were drummed out of the Soviet Military. She wants to fight, and I gave her the chance to."

Dutch sat back and did something he did more and more due to his newest employee, he considered his words. Balalaika had felt that the honor of the Desan'tniki had been infringed when they were discharged and she was looking for the perfect fight to restore it. And if Ethan saved her she would definately owe him a favor, though most men in the same situation would have screwed her brains out, he might have to watch the man.

"If you die I am giving your share completely to Heidi," the black man said after a while, " And Revy is going to take your guns."

"That is fair. Don't have enough to justify writing a will, and I don't even think that there is a lawyer in this hellhole of a city. Guess there is a chance I don't get to die of cancer or the like," Ethan mused dowerly.

Before he could leave the room Dutch caught his attention, "Where did you find a vest like that? And why are you carrying six handguns like that?"

"I had it custom made while I was in Romania. I wasn't doing any fighting and I had more money than I needed. It seems like I always do, and whiskey and women don't make a big enough dent in that. As for the number of guns it is to be prepared. I carry two Colt Delta Elite Variant II 10mm autos, two Beretta M9 9mm Parabellums, and two IMI Desert Eagle Mark VII .357 Magnums. They allow me greater flexibility. I chamber FMJ ammo in the Colts. They work well against large dudes wearing little to no armor. I chamber a special teflon coated round in the 9mms. They penetrate middleweight armor easily and have a high capacity magazine. I use hollow points in the .357s. Against a close in unarmored opponent they are devastating. I carry two of each to give me an advantage in firepower and to be able to engage two targets at once. I have spent the last twelve years perfecting using twin pistols. I have never done it because it looked cool though."

"You sound like you've had explain that before."

Ethan nodded as he exited the room.

A/N: Not a very long or action filled chapter. The next one is going to have a very sizable gunfight though. It may take me a while to get everything perfect without Ethan falling over that very fine line of actually fitting in, or becoming an overpowered gary stu. Now, and this is probably a long shot, if Rei Hiroe is reading this, please give me an idea of how well I am doing and my life will be somewhat more complete. Actually maybe not. Probably not, more important things override that. DAMN YOU REAL LIFE, YOU FOIL ME AT EVERY TURN.