March16, 2007.
Rafa, Bruce, and Sebastian pushed forward. They reached a heavy steel door at the far end of the warehouse. Rafa pulled the handle; the door opened, leading them back into the unforgiving night.
As they exited the warehouse, rain greeted them with a vengeance.
Rafa stepped out first. The downpour instantly drenching his tactical gear. He drifted to the left, hugging the wall of a nearby structure. Bruce followed, positioning himself on his right, his ballistic shield raised to provide cover for the team.
Sebastian followed Rafa's shadow. Once the perimeter was clear, Bruce immediately followed from behind.
Like a predator's grace, Rafa moved with his right shoulder brushing the cold concrete. Another door ahead. As they approached closer...
It swung open.
With no hesitation.
Pfftt!
The man collapsed instantly. Blood spurting from his head. Carried by the rainwater.
"Эй! Кто там!? (Hey! Who's there!?)" another soldier shouted, rushing out to investigate the loud thud.
Pshht!
Another suppressed shot found their mark. Now there were two dead bodies lying on the mud, their blood pooled with their own bodies, swirling with the rainwater.
However, a third shadow appeared in the doorway.
Click!
He cocked his gun.
"Вра– (Enem–)"
Pftsh…
The cry was short, cut by a final bullet.
With a loud thud, consumed by the rain. Now there were three bodies on the ground. Rain fell down against the ground, washing their crimson trails across the mud as as if the rain were gathering an anthology of the fallen men.
Rafa stepped forward slowly, he stared at their lifeless, rain-soaked faces that were mixed with water and blood.
Sebastian and Bruce approached from behind. Silent.
It was Rafa that had pulled every trigger.
He then moved towards the opened doorway..., but he stopped. The entrance was slick, drenched in the deep red.
For a moment, no one spoke. Even the rain felt quieter than them.
"We should take another route," Bruce said.
"Right," Sebastian added. "This entrance is stained with blood, if we force in, we'll leave trails of blood everyw–"
"I know that," Rafa cut in. His voice pierced Sebastian's words.
No one spoke, letting the silence grow. All Bruce and Sebastian could only do was watch Rafa's head bowed low. His gaze disappeared into the darkness. Unreadable and cold.
"Your call..., Rafa?" Bruce stared at Rafa, his eyes were glowing green in his Night Vision Goggles.
Rafa looked around, then decided with weighed in their options. "Right. We'll find another way."
They continued to move forward. Eventually, they met with a side maintenance door. He signaled at Sebastian to take the opposite side of the door frame. They slowly pushed the door that were going inward. Bruce took his position at the very front with his shield.
There was no one inside, but the lighting was really dim, lit only by flickering, low-electricity bulbs. Rafa led them toward a steel stairwell spiraling downward. Their muzzles faced with the shadows ahead.
The deeper they went, the darker it became, until they reached the point where there was no light anymore. Every step they took, the cold crept up on their bodies. As the stairs turned left, Rafa hugged the wall, his rifle were already aimed.
Bruce pushed ahead, shotgun gripped in his right hand, shield in his left. Sebastian provided overwatch from the rear right.
Turns out, there were four troops.
They stared.
"Чёрт! (Damnit!)"
Psshwt! Bang! Phmiwst! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The squad's suppressed fire flew through the air. The four men fell down, their guns and bodies clattering loudly against the floor.
Even worse, Sebastian's left shoulder had been ripped open by a soldier's bullet.
"Shit..." said Bruce.
Sebastian instantly pressed his gloved hand against the wound, hissing through his clenched teeth.
Rafa moved quickly to his side, pulling a bandage from his pocket. Bruce grabbed a bottle of alcohol from his own pocket. Sebastian sank onto the nearby wall as Rafa rolled up his sleeve. Bruce poured the alcohol over the wound, and Rafa carefully wrapped the bandage around his shoulder.
"You'll be okay..., you'll be okay..." Rafa said, his voice steady but urgent. He then held Sebastian's head in his hands. "Look at me, son. Look at me…"
Sebastian kept hissing, his breaths were heavy and uneven. Slowly and gradually, his body began to relax under Rafa's grip.
Bruce squeezed his hand. He carefully helped him to his feet.
"Alright… let's keep moving." Rafa rose up, his eyes softened. He shouldered his rifle, looked around and heard. The footsteps.
"Take cover behind the wall! Move!" Rafa commanded.
The sound of frantic, heavy boots stomps from the floor above echoed through the building. "Что это? (What was that?)" those words could be heard faintly.
Rafa aimed his rifle toward the upper landing while Bruce braced the front. Suddenly, their ECDs chirped.
"Permission to take out the lights?" That voice..., it was Fox's.
"Time it with the thunder." Rafa replied, pressing the comms unit in his right ear.
"Copy that."
Rafa exhaled his breath. Long. Mentally tracking the approaching footsteps.
BOOM!!!
The thunder. And at that exact moment, the lights died. Total darkness swallowed the basecamp.
"Блин, почему свет погас? (Crap, why did the lights go out?)"
"Должно быть, они выключили свет (They must have turned off the lights.)"
"Надень ПНВ, брат. (Put on your NVGs, brother.)"
They approached the stairs, now with NVGs in their sights. Rafa, Bruce, and Sebastian tightened their grip on their weapons.
As soon as the Serovians stepped into the kill zone...
Psswh-Psst-Pffts!
A rhythmic burst of bullets sent the soldiers tumbling down the stairs. Rafa ascended slowly, carefully avoiding the crimson blood coating the steel steps. He cleared corners, ensuring no stragglers remained.
From deep within the basecamp, a faint alarm-like shout broke through the air. "Враг уже здесь! (The enemy is already here!)"
Rafa keyed his ECD. "Fox, status?"
"We've seized the control room," Fox reported. "The missile is in the sublevel. The entrance is at two o'clock from the warehouse we breached."
But then, "Arnold and I are moving there now." it was Ethan's voice.
"Fucking idiot! Why did you leave Fox alone!?" Rafa immediately shouted.
"Relax, Capt. I'm the one who told them to move." Fox answered. Rafa could imagine the cocky smirk from his voice.
"Sebastian, get to Fox. Now!" Rafa ordered him.
"Copy that!" Sebastian quickly sprinted. His footsteps muffled by the rain as he exited the stairwell.
"Tell him where the fuck the damn room is, Fox!" Rafa barked, almost like an insult to Fox's pride.
"The warehouse, second floor," Fox replied quickly.
"On my way," static sound, Sebastian confirmed over the comms.
Rafa tapped his ECD off. He held his temple, then slowly turned to Bruce. "Let's go find Ethan."
They sprinted back toward the warehouse, Rafa leading the charge. Halfway across the yard, they passed Sebastian heading the other way.
"Tell Fox to guard you with his own life, Sebastian! You matter." Rafa shouted without slowing down.
"Count on it." Sebastian yelled back, disappearing up the warehouse stairs.
Inside the control room, Sebastian found Fox calmly monitoring a bank of CCTV screens flickering with green night-vision feeds.
"Sebastian, over here." Fox said, not taking his eyes off the monitor.
"What've you got?" Sebastian asked.
"They've got a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) in the basement." Fox explained.
"And?"
Fox slid a map toward him. "Do you think they have a secondary control center for the ICBM?"
Sebastian analyzed the map. "Probably. If the main grid is down, that's where they'd be." he replied.
Fox pressed the ECD on his ear. "Rafa, you need to turn off their UPS first."
"A UPS? You sure?" Rafa's voice crackled.
"Yep. Go to Ethan, he has the map." Fox replied. Meanwhile, Sebastian was staring at the ceiling of the dark room without lights, there were several CCTVs that had been shot.
"Copy that."
"I noticed the cameras went dark earlier. Your doing?" Sebastian asked.
"We have the hacking rigs for a reason, don't we?" Fox replied smoothly.
"Fair point." Sebastian replied.
Rafa kept running with Bruce on his tail. In the distance, the silhouettes of Ethan and Arnold appeared through the rain, waiting for Rafa and Bruce to close the gap.
#2 End.