Agent's House, Somewhere in the Australian outback
18 December, 2005, 0634 hours
David was at his computer, monitoring the the transmissions coming from and going to Germany. It was hard work. There were thousands of transmissions coming and going to Germany in the past month. He scrolled down the list of transmissions, ignoring those that were not relevant. Just as he was about to give up and go for his daily training exercise, one transmission got his attention:
"Missile Construction Facility to Diederich Castle: Missile's shell is ready. Virus will need more time. Missile will be ready by June."
Bingo! This was the transmission he was looking for! Rushing out of the house to the training facility (built by the agents), he hollered, "Hey! Hey! I found it! I finally found it!"
Back in the living room, all ten agents looked at the screen with a grin on their faces. Finally, after nearly a month of searching, they had now found evidence of the missile's progress! However, they did not know where the missile was being built. They had to trace the source of this transmission, a feat that only Reznov knew. The AF used a special kind of encrypted transmission. Due to his short time in the AF, Reznov knew the code. The bad news was that although Reznov escaped the UN attack on Demarque, no one knew where he went.
"I know that Reznov came from Volgograd (Stalingrad during World War Two)." One of the agents, Henrique, piped in.
"So you think we should search for him there? Is there any other possible location?" Eusebio asked.
"Well, Moscow is another possible location. He once lived there with his grandmother when he was young." Allen remarked, trying to recall what Reznov told him a few years earlier.
"That was helpful. Why don't you try to find one person in a sea of fourteen million?" David smiled sarcastically, "That's literally looking for a needle in a haystack."
"I'm not finished yet, Davy. He also told me that he wanted to go back and live with his aunt who stays near the Kremlin itself." Allen shot a don't-jump-to-conclusions look at David who was not really happy with Allen calling him "Davy."
"Okay, okay, guys. I have an idea. David, Ingrid, Ashley, Shane, and I will go to Volgograd. Allen, Matthew, Paul, Randy, and William will go search the area around the Kremlin in Moscow. We set out next week. Meanwhile, we prepare for our respective expeditions. We will need to prepare the Payload. " Eusebio said.
The Payload was a Boeing 777 plane that the agents had stolen from the UN in order to escape the island. Originally a cargo plane with no windows, the agents have added many customizations to it. It now bristled with radar domes, missile launchers, machine guns, and four revolving gun turrets, one on the roof of the plane, two on the plane's sides where the wings met the plane, and one directly under the cockpit. Each gun turret was armed with a six-barreled M134 Gatling minigun. The plane was also painted with dull black radar-resistant paint and had its transponder removed so that it could not be traced.
Airspace over Thailand
25 December, 2005, 1234 hours
The agents were having a Christmas lunch. Henrique, who was a great cook, had prepared a meal of chicken, spaghetti, pizza, macaroni, potato salad, wine, etc.
"Hey, Henrique! Why didn't you cook Chinese cuisine? Are you racist?" Wang laughed.
"Haha! No, I'm not racist. I don't know how to cook Chinese food!" Henrique tittered.
"Guys...I think we have been sighted by the Thai air force..." Ingrid, who was piloting the plane, breathed.
The agents rushed to the gun turrets to see if there was anyone on their trail. True enough, three F-16s were following them.
"You are trespassing on Thai air space. Identify yourself!" A Thai-accented voice came over the radio.
"How did we get sighted? I thought we couldn't be seen on radar?" Henrique asked Ingrid via the in-plane communications system.
"They must have sighted us during their patrol." Ingrid frowned. "Never mind. I know how to deal with this."
"Identify yourself or we will be forced to use force!" The voice came again.
The good news was that the agents used an INDF device to disguise the plane as a China Airlines passenger plane with the name B-18201.
Referring to a piece of paper, Ingrid replied in a Chinese accent, "This is B-18201 on route to Beijing Airport. Requesting permission to travel through Thai airspace. I apologize for not informing the Thai authorities earlier."
Some time passes before the voice came again, "Affirmative. We have confirmed your identity. Please proceed to your destination."
Ingrid smirked cheekily at his co-pilot and fellow agent, Shane, who simply smiled.
Flying at a speed of 850 km/h, the Payload continued its flight towards Russia. The plane did not encounter any further interruptions during its flight.
Field 2km from Moscow, Russia
25 December, 2005, 1928 hours
The Payload descended vertically on the field like a helicopter, courtesy of its underside thrusters that were installed by the agents. Since the area was deserted, there was no one who witnessed the event.
The ramp descended as a Toyota Fortuner SUV shot out, hitting the dirt road. It was last seen headed for Moscow.
Field 3.2 km from Volgograd, Russia
26 December, 2005, 0021 hours
Again as before, the Payload descended silently on the field. This time however, a Toyota Sequoia zoomed out of the ramp onto the road. Ingrid had been left in the plane and was tasked with flying around the area and looking out for anything suspicious until the agents in Volgograd came to the pick-up point.
Wang was at the wheel of the SUV, cringing as it bumped up and down on the dirt road.
"Urgh! I haven't driven on roads this bad for a long time!" He grumbled.
The agents decided to spend a night at an inn to save costs. The Red Crescent Inn was picked because it had the lowest cost.
Entering the inn, the agents noticed that the first floor was a bar filled with many unsavory characters. Thankfully, the agents had their weapons concealed so they were ready if anyone dared to pick a fight.
The agents walked towards the stairs to get to their rooms to spend the night. Accidentally, Eusebio knocked into one of the dangerous-looking men. The man swiveled around and swung a punch directed at Eusebio's face. Due to his fast agent reactions, Eusebio caught the arm in midpunch and twisted it before brutally giving the man a kick that sent him sprawling to the floor. Eusebio was about to continue walking when he heard a clicking sound, the sound of an AK-47 being loaded.
"BLAM!" The gun went as the man fired a shot into the ceiling. All activity stopped at the bar as everyone stared at the man.
"There is no need for guns! Put the gun down, sir!" Eusebio warned in Russian.
The man did not heed and instead pointed the gun at Eusebio.
"BLAM!"
Eusebio reeled backwards, falling to the ground.
People screamed but no one ran. They were curious for what was going to happen next. Was the foreigner going to rise? The agents smirked, pitying the poor man for what was going to happen next. However as a precaution, their hands went to the guns hidden in their jackets.
Grunting, Eusebio got back on his feet. His INDF bulletproof vest had come in handy. Lifting his hands up as if he was going to dust himself, he sent two quick punches to the man's face. The force sent the man crashing into a table. Recovering quickly, the man touched his face.
Broken nose.
Growling furiously, the man got up and raised his gun, only to see......the barrel of Eusebio's HK-416 assault rifle pointed at his forehead.
"Put the gun down!" Eusebio said again in Russian. This time the man knew Eusebio meant business, but he still held the gun his hand.
"Put the gun down or I'll fire!" Eusebio bellowed, fingers curling around the trigger of his HK-416.
The man reluctantly complied. Putting the gun on the floor, he was not prepared for what happened next.
While the man stooped down to lay his gun on the floor, Eusebio squeezed the trigger.
The man was knocked backwards but no blood sprayed. Eusebio had loaded his gun with rubber bullets.
"Another time and you will be filled with metal." Eusebio growled in Russian as he pulled out his Brügger & Thomet MP9-N, filled with live ammunition. The MP9-N was a machine pistol that could fire 1100 rpm and had an effective range of 100 meters. Putting both weapons back inside his jacket, Eusebio walked up the stairs, drawing frightened looks from the crowd. Since the crowd did not know that Eusebio was wearing a bullet-proof vest, they assumed that he was an alien or nonhuman of some kind. The man stared at Eusebio, apparently intimidated by his fighting prowess and advanced weaponry.
Moscow, Russia
26 December, 2006, 0046 hours
While Eusebio was having the fight with the man, Allen and the agents had finally found an inn opposite the Kremlin that had any vacancy.
"Huh! Those 'red' things never do die in Russia, eh? Almost all the other inns we tried had 'red' in their name." Randy raised his eyebrow as he looked up at the sign.
"Yep! The Communists left a huge impact on Russian society. Them Russians are not about to forget them easily. Those were hard times." Allen murmured as he stepped into the inn.
Unlike the Red Crescent, the Red Army Inn was relatively quiet and cosy. A fireplace was at the far corner of the room and there were comfortable chairs and tables surrounding the fireplace. There was a counter that sold food and hot drinks. Approaching the booking counter, Allen paid the fare and collected the keys.
When safely inside the room, the agents prepared their search. William and Paul went outside to ask for information about Reznov, scour the streets, and stick posters of Reznov on any suitable surface. The rest stayed in the room. Pulling out his agent computer, Randy hacked into the CCTVs installed on the streets, running every face through the INDF face-recognition program installed in the computer. Allen set up the communications device to contact Eusebio while Matthew prepared a hologram map of the city. At exactly the same time, Eusebio and his team were doing just that.
Red Crescent Inn, Volgograd
26 December, 2005, 0738 hours
David was rudely awakened from his sleep by a loud beeping sound coming from his computer. He got up quickly and rushed to the computer. Had they found Reznov?
Seeing the results, alarm bells went off in his head. He awoke the agents sleeping in the room. Dashing towards the computer, they saw what was wrong.
Since the INDF face-recognition program recognized faces only from the INDF face database, the program could only detect the faces of those in the INDF and those who were enemies of the INDF.
The program had detected ten AF operatives, all armed with Mexican FX-05 assault rifles. Apparently, they were trying to find and eliminate Reznov. Although the FX-05s had a 750 rpm rate of fire (which was lower than the minimum rpm of the agents' guns), it had an effective range of 900 meters. The maximum effective range of the agents' guns was only 550 meters. Eusebio got on the phone and contacted Allen.
Red Army Inn, Moscow
26 December, 2005, 0739 hours
True enough, Randy's computer detected another ten AF operatives heading towards the direction of the Kremlin. Like those in Volgograd, they were armed with FX-05s. Grabbing his radio, Allen ordered William to stalk the AF operatives while Matthew would stand outside the Red Army Inn and act as a lookout. Paul was to continue searching for Reznov. The priority was to find Reznov and get him back to the agents' hideout in Australia.
Streets of Volgograd, Russia
26 December, 2005, 0757 hours
Henrique stood in the middle of the street, asking about the whereabouts of a guy named "Reznov." For added accuracy, he showed a photo of Reznov to those he was questioning. He tried not to attract attention although he was a bit comforted by the fact that Shane was stalking the AF operatives.
Henrique's heart skipped a beat when a man looked at the photo and nodded, saying in English, "Yes, I saw that man at the bar down the road last week. It is the only bar there so you should have no problem finding it. Good luck finding your man."
Henrique was about to call Eusebio when Shane's voice exploded into his earpiece, "Henrique! AF operatives headed in your direction! Don't draw attention to yourself!"
Henrique cursed in Spanish. Now he had to wait for his enemies to pass before he could call Eusebio.
Hearing people gasping in shock, Henrique spun around. The AF men were walking down the street in his direction. People jumped out of their way, frightened and wary of the guns they were blatantly carrying. Shane walked behind them, observing their every move. When the AF men had passed, Shane stopped beside Henrique and secretly slipped a piece of paper into Henrique's hand, saying, "Tell Eusebio to contact Allen."
After looking through the paper, Henrique contacted Eusebio, "Hey, Reznov's not in town anymore. He went to Moscow two days ago. Inform Allen."
"Got it. Come back here and pack your stuff. I'm getting Ingrid to land on the same field. Moscow, here we come."
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