- Encountered in the tunnels under the Sevastopol warehouse, where he was injecting the corpse of a US Operator with a product.
- Ordered the execution of Danilo Brigovic
Sunday, July 31, 2022
Doctor Dorjiev
Chapter 3: One Bumpy Ride
The discussions between l’Eboueur and Dot at the hotel circulated the fear of running into trouble, l’Eboueur insisting that if Odessa is the target, firepower is a must, where Dot was doing his best to keep the conversation on the side of staying in the shadows. Opting for surveillance rather than force.
l’Eboueur was getting more aggravated as the conversations went on, eventually realizing that the mission itself was to track and follow rather than run and gun.
The two waited for word regarding their rendezvous with Kostya and his small Russian Navy contingent, the meeting place, the town of Yuzhne, a port city 30 kilometers along the coast from where they were currently staying. Given the parameters of their meeting being in the next day or two, the information seemed scarce, hunting a Turkish Freighter named the Yelkenci, following its cargo ashore, all of this between the two of them with no designated timeline seemed like a rabbit hole they had agreed to fall down with little more than the promise of money and a clearer conscience regarding their previous operations.
Dot and l’Eboueur discussed their options for insertion into Odessa, agreeing to travel light, surveillance equipment only, sidearms and basic ‘break and enter’ equipment. Both agreed that in following some form of heavily armed mafia crew, if sighted, brandishing rifles would not look good, instead looking like dock workers, the smarter approach. The backpacks they would carry containing, Night Vision monoculars, listening microphones as the specialized equipment they would need.
Dot made his way down to the lobby cafe in the Hilton, always choosing to eat well before any ingress in country, living by the philosophy that he will never know when he will get another full stomach. l’Eboueur was close behind, his choice of French inspired cuisine leaving much to be desired. Back in the hotel room, Dot poured over all information he could gather regarding Odessa, routes in and out of town, the districts to the north where warehouses were plentiful, all information he could find to assist in staying as unseen as possible.
A call from the front desk alerted the two that a large bag had been left for them, l’Eboueur retrieving it to find inside Carrol’s contribution. NVG’s, maps, communications, all observational equipment requested, all high quality gear. Under shirt vests for concealed protection, high quality German H&K VP9 handguns and combat blades resembling Russian Vityaz blades.
*
The drive in the rented vehicle, a well presented, mid 2000’s BMW revealed the town of Yuzhne as little more than a residential town, its outskirts resembling a bare fishing village. As the two approached the docks, a single vessel rested against the wooden gantry, four men standing around it, smoking and clearly showing navy markings in both attire and body language.
The four men noticed the BMW arrive, standing taller as the car approached rather than leaning against barriers. Dot and l’Eboueur exited the car, walking towards the men, as they moved, an older man emerged from the boat, his long coat clearly showing he was in charge. Dot and l’Eboueur came to a stop a few feet from him, lighting a cigarette, the man identified himself as Kostya to the two strangers, Dot and l’Eboueur identifying themselves as Carrol’s men. Kostya explained that he had found the Freighter, it was going to be in the waters at approximately 11pm, leaving time to prepare, eat and lightly rest before needing to cast off.
As the time ticked closer to 8pm, Kostya called to his men, it was time to start preparing. Dot and l’Eboueur stayed out of the way of the sailors who were making themselves busy. The boat soon became lost in the traffic, vessels began passing them more frequently, making it easier for them to remain inconspicuous. As the voyage continued, Kostya passed a set of binoculars to l’Eboueur, pointing at a large vessel a distance off. The Yelkenci was old, rusted, it had been on the water for decades, not the kind of boat that should still be afloat according to many of the sailors. l’Eboueur wanted to be excited that they had spotted their quarry, sadly he felt his heart sink with disappointment.
Kostya took up a position in a pattern behind the freighter, it was going to be painful, the speed of the vessel at a crawl. With each pass, Dot and l’Eboueur could see that the crew were visible on deck, both noticing that the number of crew seemed abnormally small for such a large vessel, only visually sighting at the most, a half dozen men.
As 10pm approached, a police boat began approaching the Yelkenci from shore, getting close enough to make contact via the men shouting on deck. The police boat then turned and returned to port, leading the Yelkenci towards the larger docks. Dock 22 seemed to be the place where the Yelkenci would make its birth. Kostya moved the vessel further along the docks, pulling into a smaller docking yard a short distance further along so as not to draw attention.
As the boat pulled into shore, Kostya arranged a car for the two, with every gesture, rubbing his fingers together for payment. Advising he will be in the area for the next 48 hours, Dot and l’Eboueur made their way through the nearby dock warehouses to find a good vantage point to watch the unloading of the Yelkenci. Watching the boat being unloaded, forklifts and what looked like legitimate workers began shifting containers in an orderly way, nothing looking suspicious to the eyes of Dot and l’Eboueur.
As time rolled on, a truck covered in a loose filling tarp cover passed the warehouse Dot and l’Eboueur were observing from, flashing its lights as it got closer to the freighter. As the vehicle approached the dock workers began to slowly disperse, moving along to the next vessel or disappearing entirely from view. Dot and l’Eboueur chose to split up, keeping in constant communication, l’Eboueur would sit in the car Kostya had provided around the corner from the warehouse, the tracking node on him to detect if any cargo came close enough to track, while Dot would remain inside, keeping a sharper eye through binoculars of what was unfolding.
The occupants of the truck and passengers that exited the back all brandishing rifles as they spread out around the unloading area, within minutes a second truck arrived on the scene, more armed guards emerged. At the arrival of the second truck, any remaining dock workers had completely disbanded, leaving the armed men to begin unloading themselves. A third vehicle, a car also approached, the passenger of the car exiting, chatting to the armed guards, his face familiar, glanding at his profile and glimpsing half a view of his face under the dock lights, l’Eboueur was the first to say the name, Danilo Brigovic, one of the heads of the Serbian Mafia who had orchestrated the exchange of the laptop.
l’Eboueur kept his eyes fixed on Danilo, his concentration disrupted by the beeping of the radio frequency detector in his pocket. Whatever was being unloaded, it was triggering the radiofrequency tracker. Alerting Dot to the news, the two kept their eyes on the crates being unloaded, small, large and oddly shaped. Able to be carried by a variety of men, sometimes two or four, however a longer crate, almost the same shape as a coffin, only designed as a crate was being loaded into one of the truck by six men.
As the remaining boxes were transferred to the trucks, Danilo re-entered his car, the armed men all moving back to the trucks, all satisfied that their work was done. As the trucks roared to life, Dot moved from his position in the warehouse, moving down the ladders fluently and approaching the car where l’Eboueur was parked. As the trucks began to move, each was flanked by one of the armed guards hanging from the side rails, his rifle in hand, often shouldered as if to intimidate anyone in front of the vehicle.
Observing the extra set of eyes from the trucks, Dot remained hidden in the shadows of the warehouse as the trucks sped past l’Eboueur in the car, doing his best to look as lost and confused as possible.
As the vehicles passed, Dot entered the car quickly, l’Eboueur calmly turning the car on and performing a 180 turn to follow the trucks. Rain began to fall gently on the windshield as the convoy increased their speed, heading away from the docks.
Dot unpacked the night vision equipment, ready to react if the need came to kill the headlights. l’Eboueur began taking side streets and alternate routes out of the dock complex, doing his best to remain obscured from view as barely any other vehicles were moving in the area. The constant beeping of the radio frequency tracked alerting the two that they were within range of the trucks.
Taking the side streets proved a mistake, the road in front of l’Eboueur blocked by orange flashing lights and workmen digging on the road. As their car stops, the radio frequency signal stops beeping, they were losing ground. Turning sharply around l’Eboueur picked up speed, desperately wanting the signal to beep, after a few minutes of reckless driving, ahead of them, two trucks came into view, more traffic obscuring the view slightly.
Taking up a position several cars behind the trucks, Dot and l’Eboueur could see the men hanging from the side of the trucks pointing their rifles at vehicles in an attempt to clear a path. l’Eboueur taking his foot off the accelerator slightly, in order to blend in rather than catch the eyes of an itchy trigger finger.
l’Eboueur did his best to stick with the trucks, following the vehicles in a northern direction towards what seemed like an old industrial area. As the trucks continued along the main roads, they quickly made the turn into what looked like a warehouse district that had been forgotten to time. Every warehouse looked old, run down, as if bombed in a war with no desire to rebuild.
As l’Eboueur followed slowly, no other cars were visible, shadowing the trucks, Dot and l’Eboueur could see the trucks stopped at a loading dock of a warehouse, armed guards on foot outside. Parking down the street and around a corner, Dot and l’Eboueur decided to exit their car, taking surveillance equipment, Dot went high, moving up the scaffolding of another derelict warehouse, l’Eboueur stayed on the ground, concealing himself in the shadows of the same warehouse Dot was scaling, observing that more guards exited the warehouse, waiting for the delivery.
From the roof of the warehouse he had climbed, Dot could see guards on the roof of the warehouse the trucks were unloading at, another two guards patrolled the roof of the adjacent warehouse. Communicating with l’Eboueur, both of them felt remarkably unprepared for this type of incursion. The two men could see roving patrols, circling the building. After nearly an hour of waiting and watching, the two trucks emerged from the warehouse and sped into the distance, the beeping of the radio frequency tracker continued to beep. l’Eboueur made out at least six guards on site, plus the almost dozen that arrived with the trucks, this was like going to war with a BB gun, beginning to rethink the situation.
Dot continued his watch, as the two trucks disappeared, his vision was focussed on the weapons carried by the guards, the patrol patterns, the lack of military discipline. These were not professionals, making it harder to breach as no routines were set, the guards would stop and talk to each other, the staggered and random nature of their patrols determining that windows of time were constantly changing.
Headlights came into view, driving past the warehouse and turning around before coming to a stop some 30 meters from where l’Eboueur and Dot were posted, the reflecting fiberglass of the red and blue lights giving away their vehicle. Police watching the street, smoking and observing, nothing more.
As the chimes of early morning filled the air, Dot was focussed on the two sentries on the rooftop of the warehouse adjacent to the target building. Watching to see if they leave the roof, any patterns, any way in. As time past, l’Eboueur and Dot continued to communicate in low tones, waiting to see if the weapons were going to be picked up by another party, or if this is where they would stay. l’Eboueur was convinced that this was as far as they would go, Dot on the other hand, constantly looking for any vehicles either coming or going.
After another hour of waiting, both Dot and l’Eboueur regrouped with each other on the ground, deciding the best course of action was to move against the two sentries on the building parallel to the warehouse, the furthest point from the observing police.
Moving silently from their position around the back of the warehouses, the entrance to the building where the two men were posted seemed abandoned, Dot making entry as silently as a breeze. Looking around in the dimly lit skeleton of a warehouse, the steel scaffolding leading up to a small office that had the yellow glow of a single lamp. His pistol leading the way, Dot began his ascent to the office, l’Eboueur right behind him, evidence of food and drinks on a small table, a radio playing softly, this was the break room, seldom used, but active. Looking around the office, it was another flight of stairs to what looked like the exit to the roof. Dot and l’Eboueur began to formulate their plan for taking the two men silently, the steel stairs a key ambush point, drawing one in would be the hardest part, discussing if using the radio or breaking the light would be the best option, as the two of them discussed the issue, the tracker in l’Eboueur’s pocket began to beep again.
Surprised by the sudden beeps, the two men headed silently back down to the ground floor of the building, rethinking their entire plan. l’Eboueur began to slowly walk around the ground floor of the warehouse, the beeping becoming more constant as he approached the wall closest to the building where the trucks had unloaded their cargo. Dot caught the eyes of l’Eboueur, Dot pointing at the ground, his thoughts leaving in the direction of tunnels underground, it was the only explanation, they needed to be within 50 or so meters from the cargo for the signal to track, looking at the distance, the strength of the signal meaning that the tracking signal was close, not the 60 to 70 meters from their current position to where the signal should be coming from.
In the corner of the warehouse Dot and l’Eboueur found themselves in farthest from the location of the truck drop site, a small trap door to some form of maintenance area came into view to l’Eboueur, it’s steel edges catching the dull light against the wooden slats. l’Eboueur lifted the door, Dot holding his pistol firmly as he pointed it at the new opening.
It was a five foot drop to a walkway filled with pipes and smog. Pulling their NVG’s on, the two disappeared inside the passageway, lowering the trap door behind them. A series of tunnels revealed itself, an underground network leading in every direction. Choosing to move in the direction of the main target warehouse, the two followed the pipes along the wall, the smell of corroded metal filling the air. The tunnel opened up into a small open area, the far side of the room showing a boiler that lay on it’s side, rusted through and cracked open. Moving across the space, Dot took the lead and made his way through the broken boiler, the other side revealing more tunnels and catacombs that trailed off into the blackness.
Moving silently through the catacombs, Dot in the lead, his pistol in front of him, his knife braced against it in his off hand, after several wrong turns, a faint light revealed itself down a passage way. Approaching the light, a grate above their path leading into the warehouse they were looking for, the dull sounds of voices echoing through the air. Looking further down the corridor, another maintenance room came into view, the slight uphill pathway coming to a large wooden door leading into the warehouse at surface level.
Dot took up a position against the door, checking its handle for potential locks and rust so as to not make noise when he began to turn it.
l’Eboueur was stacked behind him, his pistol raised in the direction of the door, doing his best to control his breathing as the constant dark of the catacombs seemed to have put him even more on edge that he was comfortable with. Satisfied that the door was safe, Dot opened it gently, peering inside, a large stack of wooden crates blocked his view into the main floor of the room. Dot moved silently to the crates, the old wood covering his position. l’Eboueur remainied in the darkness inside the doorway, scanning the gantries he could see above them along the walls of the warehouse.
The crates Dot had taken cover behind were old, the wood splitting, paint faded and falling off. His eyes darting along the walls, looking for movement, to his surprise, the only sound that took his ear was that of a zippo lighter flicking open and being sparked, it was almost above him, the shadow of the unknown owner of the zippo standing with his back against the same stack of crates Dot was hiding behind. As the man took a deep drag of his cigarette, Dot focussed on what he could see, the corner of the man's shoulder. The man turned, taking a step towards Dot, l’Eboueur held his breath as he raised his pistol to take aim. As the man took another step, Dot moved swiftly, his knife in his right hand slamming into the man's throat while his left hand took hold of the back of the man's head. Dot stared into the shocked eye’s of his victim, watching the light in them go dark as the body went limp, Dot holding firmly and dragging the corpse towards the doorway where l’Eboueur had lowered his weapon. Taking a closer ook at the corpse, the bald headed man showing clear markings on his skin, the tattoos of gang and mafia depictions revealing themselves. Both Dot and l’Eboueur recognised the markings, the Lisky Brotherhood, a large mafia syndicate, run by Josef Lisky (an old-school mobster), not to be taken lightly.
Looking into the first office, Dot could see plates, empty bottles of water and alcohol, at least two dozen used sets of crockery. The next offices showing neglect and misuse. Turning his attention back to the main room, the sentry at the front roller door seemed to be staring into the distance, the signs of boredom setting in. Dot looked back at l’Eboueur who raised three fingers, signalling that there were only three more occupants. Dot moved back through the shadows to where l’Eboueur was waiting, the only way they could see to get a good look at the crates was going to be through force, they were not going to be able to look inside any crates while the three other occupants were conscious. The plan was set, the front sentry would be first, then they would take the two together.
Dot made his way back through the shadows towards the front of the building, the numerous crates and dark spots making his movements almost invisible. Closing in on the sentry, Dot could see the vacant stare on the man's face had not changed, his attention clearly not in the present moment. From the darkness of the shadows Dot moved like a phantom appearing behind the sentry, his knife burying itself down through the collar bone area as Dot’s other hand wrapped around the sentry’s mouth, muffling any sound of alarm. Again holding firmly, Dot lowered the body gently to the floor.
Again l’Eboueur stripped the man of weapons and gear, Dot whispering to l’Eboueur regarding the possibility of taking one alive to determine where the rest of the men were. Both Dot and l’Eboueur witnessed over a dozen men enter and never leave. There had to be another way out that they had missed. As the two of them moved towards the two guards who were still smoking, their voices became
less muffled, speaking about a doctor and medical experiments. One turning from the other in an attempt to make his way to the restroom. Nodding at each other, l’Eboueur and Dot launched themselves at their chosen targets. l’Eboueur led with his knife, driving it at the guards chest, to his surprise, the knife immediately came to a stand still as it crashed into the plating of a stab vest. In shock, the guard grabbed at the blade and hand of l’Eboueur in an attempt to turn it towards its owner. Dot again came from the dark, his goal of taking his opponent out without killing him starting badly, striking for the jaw for a stun and knock out blow, his slight misjudgement sending his opponent back as his fist slammed into the side of the man's face. The response from the slightly dazed guard, the wild swing of a rifle butt that narrowly missed Dot’s temple. l’Eboueur Continued his grappling struggle for his own blade, elbowing the guard in the side of the face in an attempt to stun him long enough to take control. The guard took the blows as if being annoyed by an insect, his attention solely focussed on the blade. Dodging the rifle butt, Dot again pressed against his target, his peripheral vision catching his struggling companion, Dot loosed his knife from its sheath as he sliced upwards at the guard’s neck, catching it up the left side, the spurt of blood cut short by Dot immediately coming back down with his free hand and elbow across the wounded man’s face and head. Feeling bones break in his opponent’s face and seeing the blood free flowing from his neck as he lay unconscious, Dot darted towards l’Eboueur.
l’Eboueur groaned as the large guard ripped the knife from his hands, slicing at l’Eboueur’s face. Dodging underneath the wild slash, l’Eboueur sprung upward with his fist, the uppercut almost lifting the guard off his feet as two teeth left his face.
Dot appeared over the two, looking at l’Eboueur, the slight look of frustration on his face. l’Eboueur disarmed his guard while Dot returned to his, confirming that he was dead, dragging him into the shadows. l’Eboueur dragged his unconscious guard into the office filled with dirty plates, tying him to a chair before returning to the stack of crates. Using a crowbar that was next to them, l’Eboueur cracked open a crate that displayed ‘US ARMY’ stencilling on the side. The crate was full of specialized equipment, high end night vision, body armour and weapons ranging from pistols, rifles and grenades. Paperwork showing it belonged to a company named ’Overwatch Security’, private military contractors tasked with delivering the items to the Iraq militia in Bagdad.
l’Eboueur moved to another crate marked with Russian stencils. The crates contained canned food, blankets and outdoor survival gear. He then moved to crates marked in Arabic stencils, containing books, papers and plastic wrapped clay items.
l’Eboueur returned to the tied up guard where Dot had taken up a guard position. Discussing the contents of the crates, Dot traded places with l’Eboueur to inspect the crates. Starting with the Arabic discoveries, Dot could see that this was all some sort of museum exhibit or reference material from the time when the British Mandate in Iraq was prominent, between 1918 and the 1930’s. Dot could see from the documents, most were written in English regarding exploration, mapping and investigation, as if a filing cabinet had been broken into and stuffed into a crate. Dot could see that most of the paperwork showed that the contents of the crates had been taken from the national museum of Iraq.
Moving to the Russian crates and examining the paperwork, Dot found that the shipments all seemed to be handled through a company named ‘Baldak Shipping’, manifest’s dictating that these crates were bound for Romania, the town of Dragovir and Hungary, a similar location named Debrecen. The manifest revealing that the crates are also supposed to be accompanied by shipping containers.
l’Eboueur took hold of the guard's finger, bending it backwards, the guard coming back into consciousness as the pain took over. Interrogating the guard, l’Eboueur asked questions regarding the overheard conversation about the doctor, the guard acting as tough as possible before pointing towards the other offices. Dot entered the mess to see l’Eboueur’s knife being wiped clean, the guard buckled over, blood pouring from his neck.
l’Eboueur informed Dot of the information, the two moving through the offices, discovering another door leading away. Dot stopped l’Eboueur from pressing forward. Explaining the mission was done, they had found what Carrol wanted to know, shipments of humanitarian goods heading for Hungary and Romania, the weapons not leaving this place, no documentation of them traveling further on. Then again... thinking about the crates with humanitarian gods, they just seemed to be a bit 'light' to be for an NGO doing humanitarian work. It just seemed more plausible, given the Bratsky's involvement, that these were shipments to be sent to human traffickers and people smugglers.
The discussion veered in the direction of further investigation, l’Eboueur interested in the mentioned ‘Doctor’. Something was not sitting right with him, he needed to know more. Deciding to take the investigation further, the two men took a few moments to return to the American crates. Dot turned his phone back on for one quick phone call to Kostya, expressing the possible need for extraction within the next hour. Both l’Eboueur and Dot took plate carrier vests with spare magazines for the M27 Assault rifles they also lifted from the crates. Dot strapped several flash bang grenades to his belt, l’Eboueur choosing the more violent fragmentation grenades.
Feeling more comfortable in their chosen equipment, the two stacked on the second door in the office, stairs heading down. Dot leading again, the stairs led to a small basement revealing two doors, light coming from underneath one of them. Choosing to inspect the dark door first, Dot tried the handle, the old lock revealing it had not been opened in some time. Breaking it open quietly, the room contained nothing more than storage boxes covered in cobwebs. Satisfied that there was nothing to discover, Dot came to the side of l’Eboueur who was waiting by the lit door.
Pushing it open, the two moved into the room containing nothing more than another set of flood lights pointing at a large hole in the floor. A small ladder leading down and a pulley system set for moving heavy items, perfect for moving crates.
Dot moved down first, resigned to being the first man through every door, holding at the base of the ladder, one storey down, a long corridor rigged with lamps, as if in a mine shaft stretched out for a distance. As l’Eboueur joined him, the two moved slowly down the corridor, both discovering other pathways branching off in different directions without lights. The two reached what seemed to be the end of the corridor, a wide open space opening up ahead of them, from where they stood, they were at the top of a wooden staircase leading to another landing and an open circular room at the base. Almost like being at the back of an amphitheatre, the two of them could see several pathways leading off in different directions from the central space.
The two men observed that the space was a hive of activity, dozens of crates and dozens of men working under floodlights. Concealing themselves as best they could, both of them watched the activity in the centre of the room. Voices filled the air, one in particular rising above the others, the familiar tone of Danilo Brigovic in what seemed to be an angry and somewhat panicked state. Focussing on him, Both Dot and l’Eboueur could hear the raspy voice of reply, unable to make out what was being said, however able to see the respondent, a man standing over the Coffin they witnessed being unloaded from the trucks. The coffin was open, the American army uniform and insignia showing the body of a deceased Special Forces Operator.
The man standing over the coffin, responding to the angry tones of Brigovic was accompanied by a steel trolley, vials and injection guns spread out across it. The man was injecting the body with unknown substances, l’Eboueur doing his best to focus on the strange character who was clearly disinterested in what Brigovic was trying to say.
Listening more intently to Brigovic, Dot could hear that he was explaining and apologizing for some sort of shipping error enroute through Baghdad, something he planned to fix. As the two listened intently, a third dominant figure came into view, a large man, similarly dressed to what l’Eboueur and Dot had encountered before. Tall, broad, black fatigues, mask and heavily armed. The giant, striding towards Brigovic as the man he was referring to as ‘Doctor Dorjiev’, continued with his work although clearly getting frustrated by the annoyance.
Stopping his work, the Doctor turned to look at Brigovic, with a gesture of his hand, Brigovic’s body was lifted from the ground. Dot and l’Eboueur watched in silent horror as the black clad figure grabbed Danilo by the throat, lifting him from the ground and crushing the life out of him with a single hand. Within seconds, the lifeless corpse of Danilo Brigovic was dropped back to the floor. At the moment of the incident, a strange buzzing and beeping filled the air, first a watch alarm rang out, then a cell phone, then another, as if a wave of alarms had come on, phones were ringing, computers chiming, all in an instant. Watching the wave of ringing phones expand, as if observing a ripple from a single drop in a cup of water, l’Eboueur and Dot both felt their phones come to life, phones that they had turned off before entering the basement of the warehouse.
As their phones sang out, the figure in black twisted his head, his eyes staring at the two men perched at the entrance to the space, Dot and l’Eboueur. Within an instant, the figure in black landed a meter from where l’Eboueur had taken up in position, the flash of black crossing a vast gap within a single moment, his hulking physique casting a shadow across both Dot and l’Eboueur’s faces.
As fast as possible l’Eboueur compressed his trigger, dumping a full magazine of 5.56 ammunition at 3000 feet per second into the giant’s torso, the figure extending his arm, as if he hadn’t even felt anything, grabbing l’Eboueur by the shoulder strap of his vest. Dot reacting in a similar fashion, raising his rifle and putting two holes through the giant's head, the smoking exit wounds clearly visible.
Turning his head to face Dot, the giant swung his arm, sending l’Eboueur sailing through the air across the room, slamming into crates and rolling across the dirt floor of the circular space. Reaching out towards Dot, the figure in black lunged again, Dot ducking as fast as he could to avoid the grip, Dot throwing himself off the edge of the staircase in the direction of l’Eboueur. The confusion of the events sent the guards and workers who were on the floor of the cavern into a frenzy, like roaches scattering under a light. Guards had seized the coffin and were following the doctor towards the mouth of a tunnel. Workers dispersed in multiple directions, as if choosing a direction at random and heading for the nearest exit. l’Eboueur rolled onto his back, watching the carnage as he desperately tried to catch his breath, pulling one of the grenades loose from his vest. Pulling the pin and hurling it with as much control as he could manage towards the guards carrying the coffin.
The explosion was deafening, fire, dust and debris engulfing the area. The hum of the generator that powered the lights cut to stunned silence as the flood lights cut out, blanketing the space in complete darkness. Dot rushed to where l’Eboueur was still on his back, lifting him as quickly as possible in an attempt to start moving again, both pulling their night vision back over their eye. Looking around, Both Dot and l’Eboueur both raised their rifles, l’Eboueur stopping mid reload as his gaze was captured by movement above, Dot also taking his eyes off his sight to look up. Crawling across the ceiling, the Black clad soldier was moving like a spider across the rocks. As the two of them watched the figure, it clearly saw them, however its actions seemed laboured as if torn between launching at them and following the coffin down the dark tunnel. After a moment of hesitation, the figure began its descent down the wall towards where the Doctor and Coffin had vanished.
Both Dot and l’Eboueur refused to blink, watching the sight and barely remembering to breathe. Snapping back to reality, l’Eboueur shoved Dot back towards the way they made entry to the cavern. As the two made their way up the wooden stairs, voices rang out from the corridor towards the hole with the ladder they had descended down. Throwing grenades and flash bangs back towards the open area, Dot and l’Eboueur moved adjacent to the main corridor they had entered, taking one of the dark tunnels that split from the main entryway. The tunnels resembled an ants nest, crossing paths with each other in an endless series of loops and twists. Seconds turned to minutes before both Dot and l’Eboueur were able to make sense of where they were. Coming to a collapsed wall, a series of pipes appeared, similar to the pipes in the tunnels below the warehouses they had traversed under.
Pushing their way through the collapsed rock, the two followed the pipes until the surface world appeared. Bursting through a door that branched off the tunnel they were in, Dot and l’Eboueur were standing in an abandoned warehouse two doors up from where they entered the subterranean tunnels. Through the windows the flashing of red and blue lights filled the air. Catching their breath, Dot and l’Eboueur decided to dump their gear, choosing to resemble dock workers once more, carrying their phones and pistols only, the two began their escape, Dot calling Kostya to arrange a pickup from the docks.
As they exited the warehouse, police cars were patrolling, spot lights traversing the abandoned buildings, the high pitched engine roar of motorbikes could be heard in the distance behind the sirens. Dot took the lead, cutting through buildings and alleyways, doing their best to avoid the searchlights.
As l’Eboueur moved forward, the distant headlights of a police car flashed across his frame, freezing for an instant, the roar of the engine flared and Dot called l’Eboueur into another warehouse. Any attempt at stealth had to be abandoned, the sounds of screaming voices echoed in the air as the two men scrambled through rubble to escape the industrial area. Several minutes of turning in any direction to put distance between themselves and the police cars seemed to keep them a step ahead, if only for a spare moment. Coming to the edge of the industrial zone, Dot and l’Eboueur came to a large stature of a military figure, the square appearing to be the boundary between industrial and residential areas. Running past the statue, l’Eboueur grabbed Dot by the shoulder, pulling him towards the line of parked cars on the residential side of the street. l’Eboueur ripping the door of a modest sedan open and hopping in. Within seconds the engine roared to life, Dot climbing in the passenger seat, l’Eboueur slamming his foot down and speeding down the street towards the water.
Turning down the main road, l’Eboueur released the accelerator in an attempt to blend in, coming to a red light, l’Eboueur stopped, looking out his window, he was met by the gaze of two police officers in their car, directly next to them. l’Eboueur looked back at Dot, who was cursing their luck. l’Eboueur gunned the engine, the police car doing the same, the brief chase leading l’Eboueur to the water's edge, the police car pushing them from the right hand side, forcing a left hand turn. l’Eboueur swore loudly as the car bounced its way down the Potemkin Stairs, slamming into the stone barrier at the base. As the car began smoking at the base of the stairs, Dot’s phone rang, Kostya screaming down the line that he was on the other side of the bay, and that the price for extraction keeps rising. Shaking off the grogginess of the car impact, l’Eboueur and Dot made their way along the water’s edge. Ahead of them, the flashing lights of police vehicles came into view. Dot immediately deviated towards the closest pier. A small fishing boat, the only cover in sight. Climbing into the boat, l’Eboueur looked over the engine, taking a deep breath of relief as he brought the boat to life. Dot took up a position on the back of the boat, his pistol drawn, ready to drive anyone back who got to close. Looking to the sky, the searchlights of helicopters came into view. Circling the city and moving towards the coast.
Calling Kostya again, the Russian naval officer found the small boat within minutes, transferring the two men to their vessel. As Dot and l’Eboueur debriefed each other on the sequence of events that they had experienced, l’Eboueur was the first to state that the eyes of the giant were dead, not like a shark, but like a corpse. Recounting that whatever it was, some form of electricity is generated, setting off phones and devices. Dot scoured his brain as to how bullets didn’t work, thinking that some form of Electromagnetic device would be required. Having put some distance between themselves and the now dull flashing lights of their pursuers, Dot reached for his phone, Carrol being the next call on his list. l’Eboueur frantically engaging Kostya in conversation regarding his payment and that Carrol would pay him the rest as soon as they made port.
Dot’s phone was loud in his earpiece. Several rings passed before Carrol’s voice boomed down the speaker. Carrol was in a panic, something was happening. Demanding to know who was after him, Carrol was angry that Dot and l’Eboueur had stirred a hornet's nest bigger than previously anticipated. Carrol listed the terrible things that would happen if captured by the Lisky Brotherhood, the size of the players in the drug and arms market.
The sounds of Carrol getting into his car, giving directions to the safest meeting place, a safehouse in Vienna the most prominent place, Carrol explaining the neutrality of Vienna and how whoever was after them would not pursue them that far. Upon getting to Vienna, of Dot and l’Eboueur were not met by Carrol, they were to go the airport, find Left luggage locker 827.
Suddenly there is a bang, followed by screams of Martha and loud cursing from Carrol, then the sound of the vehicle crashing into something solid and coming to a standstill. Listening down the phone, Dot and l’Eboueur heard Carrol moaning in pain, and the sounds of approaching footsteps on gravel, stopping nearby. Next, the sounds of buzzing phones and smart watches all began to beep in the background for a few seconds. A shifting of feet on the gravel as someone picks up Carroll's phone. A slow and deep voice mumbles in the speaker:
"We will kill you if we can..."
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