Chapter 26

Flashback – Ben – Late night day nine – Hospital

Ohhhhh Damnnnn! I feel like shit! Where the hell am I? Shit, I'm hot as hell. Am I still in the hotbox? No, I'm lying in some sort of bed with something hot and heavy as hell lying on top of me. I heard a voice in the hallway, "Paging Doctor Douglas Pepper, Doctor Pepper please come to the third floor nurse station." I somehow found that funny as hell. I began to laugh and then I realized the nature of the heavy thing on top of me.

I heard a little sigh and knew the heavy thing was Mira, but when the hell did she get so damn heavy? I know I must be weak from the fucking torture. That reminded me there are some bastards that I needed to find who have an appointment with the grim reaper. But first I have to get out from under Mira.

I decided to have a little fun. I struggled, pulled my hands free, reached around and pinched the hell out of her ass! Then all hell broke loose!

Flashback – Major M – Hospital hallway outside of Banzai's room.

I considered and analyzed what I saw earlier tonight and wished like hell I could have seen the whole thing.

It all started the minute the L.Cpls.' two 'friends' told us where he was. Dammit all to hell! The spooks had taken the L.Cpl. to their facility located furthest from us - it was going to take hours to get to him! Ms. Sedankina made a phone call and spoke in a language I sure as hell couldn't understand; to someone I didn't the hell know.

Then she became a whirlwind of activity and the next thing I knew we were headed to the building where the L.Cpl. was being tortured. Sgt. Reynolds was driving my car. The L.Cpl.'s two friends were behind us in their car while Ms. Sedankina berated the hell out of Sgt. Reynolds.

"Sgt. Reynolds, if you do not apply maximum force to the acceleration pedal I will remove your corporeal self from the driver's location and I will apply greater locomotion to it myself."

For some reason that did motivate the Sgt. and he floored the car. But that didn't last long because we ran into one of the ever present DC traffic jams.

If I thought Ms. Sedankina was agitated before, now she was like a pressure cooker with a broken relief valve. I could sense the impending explosion and it wasn't going to be pretty ... She almost jumped out of her seat when her phone rang. She answered again in the unknown language and then it was like a switch was flipped. All her anxiety disappeared and she calmly ordered, "Sgt. Reynolds, please redirect this vehicle to the George Washington Hospital posthaste."

I queried, "Ms. Sedankina, what about L.Cpl. Blaine?"

She calmly replied, "Major M, that is the current location of my L.Cpl. and I must attend to his injuries."

I asked, "Someone rescued the L.Cpl. from that building and took him to the hospital? How in the hell did they do that and who the hell did it?"

Ms. Sedankina giggled, "Malodorous Major M, how it transpired is not my tactical concern so it is certainly not on an enumeration of your concerns. Making sure my boyfriend receives the proper medical care is now my utmost priority. Now Sgt. Reynolds, redirect the course of this vehicle to the George Washington Hospital immediately."

Sgt. Reynolds asked for confirmation, "Sir what should I do?"

Well if the L.Cpl. was in a hospital he would probably be okay, but finding out how the L.Cpl. was freed was a major concern of mine because shit like that just doesn't happen - at least not for that building and not very easily.

We were moving again, so I ordered, "Sgt. Reynolds, pull over to the side of the road." The car stopped, I looked at Sgt. Reynolds and Ms. Sedankina and suggested, "I'm taking my car to the spook building. You two get in the car with the L.Cpls. friends, head to the hospital and make sure he's safe. Sgt., have those two stand guard over him until I get there."

Sgt. Reynolds said, "Yes Sir."

Ms. Sedankina added, "Do not worry Major M, I will not let anyone hurt my boyfriend again."

I waited as they headed back to the other car, entered the vehicle, watched as it turned off onto a side street and headed to the hospital. Once they were gone I continued toward the building and made a call: Yes the L. Cpl. was in the hospital, some young woman and man carried him in. The woman wouldn't leave his side and was giving them all hell about taking care of him. He was unconscious and extremely hypothermic to the possible point of brain damage. They were warming him slowly but thought he would be fine.

The traffic cleared and I made it to the spook building in record time. As I drove up I immediately saw that all hell had broken loose! The parking lot was awash with emergency vehicles, police patrol cars and the ever present black FBI vehicles. This place looked like a fucking war zone! What the hell had happened?

I parked as close as I could, exited my car and headed toward the center of activity. I was stopped by a patrolman who challenged me, "Sir only authorized personnel are permitted." I flashed him my ID, watched as he turned a little pale and proceeded into the confusion.

They were still hauling agents, in various states of injury, out on gurneys into waiting ambulances and taking them to the hospital. I walked up to a junior FBI officer and asked, "Where's the agent in charge?"

He also challenged, "You shouldn't be here."

I flashed him my badge and stated, "Answer me now."

He pointed towards the doorway, gulped and replied, "He's by what used to be the main doorway. Ask for SSA Hotchner." I almost laughed as he took off like his ass was on fire.

I understood what the junior agent meant when I approached the front of the building. I had been here before but ... The place where the front door used to be was now a big gaping hole. Someone had expertly destroyed the entry into this building.

I overheard, "I want whoever the hell did this terrorist act caught. I will personally see that they are executed for this." That had to be SSA Hotchner.

As I walked up, he gave me a dirty look until I flashed him my badge and asked, "Are you SSA Hotchner?"

He glared at me and said, "Yes Sir, but as you can see we're sort of busy. If you don't mind me asking, what is your concern in this matter?"

I smiled like a mongoose getting ready to kill a cobra and explained, "SSA Hotchner, this is my concern because I have decided to make it my concern. So how many fatalities are there?"

He shook his head in wonder, "Well that's what I don't understand. There are zero fatalities but that's just because whoever did this decided ahead of time not to kill anyone. Otherwise they'd all be dead."

I question, "Don't you mean whomever?"

He shook his head, "No Sir, while we don't have video surveillance because all power was lost to the building, the agents who can still talk spoke about a single small black figure. Several of them even shot the figure but they must have been wearing body armor because it didn't even slow it down."

I was shocked and said, "Agent Hotchner, I want all the reports you have taken. They are now classified."

He started to complain when ... What the hell! There's a hell of a noise coming from the L.Cpls. room that snaps me out of my analysis.

Dammit, what's going on now! I ran towards the door...

Flashback – Ira – Flight back to ... Many hours earlier...

Our flight to exfiltrate America had been interminably delayed by the inept customs agents. In their childish minds they were convinced we had military contraband aboard our aircraft (which we did). Oh I could have invoked diplomatic immunity, but I felt this would offer a good exercise to see if our subterfuge techniques were still adequate. And after hours of searching they found ... absolutely nothing. We boarded the aircraft and once in flight Kai questioned, "Ira san, why did you let them search our aircraft?"

I smiled and replied as a mentor to a student, "Kai san, I needed to ascertain if our concealment techniques had been compromised. In addition, I perceived in a flash of intuition that we needed to delay our departure. However it seems that feeling might be proved errant."

I then cogitated on the mistakes I mentioned earlier which concerned Mira and the L.Cpl. I had almost devised a delicate demise for the deleterious debacle when my phone interrupted my thoughts.

It was my sister Mira - perhaps she had again come into possession of her senses. I answered in our own special language, "Mira have you finally acquired reason and are attempting to apologize?"

Mira frantically replied (and I immediately surmised something was terribly wrong), "Irinka (she only used that name when the very worst had happened) the American spies have taken my L.Cpl. and I fear they will torture him to his demise."

This was a quagmire comparable to quicksand: On one hand if the inept American spies terminated the L.Cpl., I would again be sole owner of my sister's affections; while on the other side of the coin if I did not perform with my utmost ability and Mirinka cogitated my decreased enthusiasm, it would totally decimate our relationship. I made a morally imperative immediate decision.

"Mirika, we were delayed by the customs agents so we are still within Washington DC airspace. Notify me of your L.Cpls. location and I will endeavor to assist you to my utmost ability."

She informed me of the specific location. I observed the beaten and bruised Kai san and knew he would be of no use on this mission. I transversed to the flight deck and informed the pilot of our change in plans. He complained in a cowardly manner, "Ms. Sedankina that is restricted airspace. We could be shot down for even entering it."

I demanded, "I need fifteen minutes to prepare myself, then you will fabricate an emergency, inform them we are a diplomatic aircraft, enter the restricted airspace and slow to an acceptable speed at which I may parachute safely from this aircraft. You have your orders now perform them to my satisfaction or face prejudicial termination!"

I did not really have the intention to terminate his life, but extreme missions call for extreme measures. I ran to the posterior of the plane and began to extricate my gear from hiding. Kai approached and questioned, "Ira san, do we have a mission?"

I continued acquiring material and answered, "Incorrect Kai san, you are too damaged from Mira's ministrations. So I am performing this mission individually. The American spies have absconded with the L.Cpl. and are in process of terminating his life using methods of torture. I must stop this debacle."

Then Kai made an astounding statement, "Ira san, not to be disrespectful, but you are choosing incorrect weapons. If you terminate even one of the American agents it will cause an international incident."

I observed him with renewed respect and agreed, "Kai san, thank you for your expert and accurate analysis. If you did not work for me I would kiss you."

He shook his head vigorously and replied, "Ira san, I have noted what happens to the men you kiss and would prefer to continue enjoying my miserable existence."

I ignored his comment for now, changed my choice of weapons and also loaded up a very large supplemental bag with additional equipment.

The pilot continued a caterwaul, "Ms. Sedankina, we now have a fighter escort and they want me to leave the area. They are threatening to shoot us down."

I looked at Kai and ordered, "This pilot is a female training orifice (pussy) and I can no longer trust him to follow my orders. Co-locate your corporeal self on the flight deck and apply whatever force you deem necessary to aid in this mission."

Kai nodded his head and clarified, "Ira san, you will use the same technique as we used in Mozambique?"

I replied, "Yes Kai san you have deduced correctly."

As he turned and left, I descended, gear laden, into the bowels of the aircraft and awaited the signal. The green indicator flashed and I steeled myself...

The landing gear door opened in front of me, the red indicator flashed, I dove into the night sky and was temporarily blinded by countermeasure flares Kai had released. There was a flash directly in front of me! I maneuvered with my arms and swerved, just missing one of the fighter aircraft pursuing our airplane. Then I opened my parachute and drifted toward the ground surrounded by the other countermeasures, the aluminum foil chaff.

Yes the countermeasure flares blinded the pilots of the fighter aircraft and the aluminum foil chaff would render radar tracking of my corporeal self useless until I was below the event horizon of the radar.

I cut the supplemental carrier loose and smiled as it hit the end of its tether with a comforting yank. I fought back a giggle because it reminded me of one of my first weapons instructors Lyudmila. Her nickname was Lyudmila the man killa and she instructed Mira and I, "Squeeze the trigger don't yank it. It's not a male tool." It wasn't much later when I discovered how truly easily a man could be subdued by even the slightest injury to his tool. One good hard yank on their tools or a firm application of pressure to their lemon made them cry like babies. God truly did create a superior being when he created woman, our reproductive parts were not foolishly flapping in the firmament, but were conveniently contained within our corporeal selves...

I guided my descent toward my target and pushed all other thoughts from my mind. This mission would not be my most difficult because the inept American spies would never suspect the attack I had planned. They incorrectly assumed their building was an impenetrable fortress. The problem with impenetrable fortresses was that if someone breeched the fortress, it quickly morphed from a fortress into a torture chamber for the original occupants.

The supplemental carrier touched the terra firma, I flared my parachute and lightly landed beside the carrier in the exactly perfect location. I dropped my parachute, opened the supplemental carrier and pulled out four 40mm sticky grenades. I set the timer on all of them for 10 minutes. Then I acquired the 40mm grenade launcher and quickly fired the rounds to their designated locations. The first one stuck on the transformers providing power to the building; the next on the power pole holding up the transformers and the last two at critical locations on the external backup generators for the building.

I unloaded the rest of the gear and stored it on the many locations of my tactical vest until it was full, even storing some in spent ammo bags located on the belt. I slung my many weapons over my shoulders, acquired three U locks designed for bicycles, picked up the breeching charges, planted a time delayed WP grenade in the supplemental carrier and stealthily slipped toward the building. If my calculations were correct, and they were almost always correct, I should have half again as many weapons as this mission required. However, this feminine operative just desired to capture enjoyment, so what is a few more violent explosions to supplement the humor.

This is a mission Mira and I had practiced many times and I was finally going to perform it. My sister would be incredibly upset to miss this experience. I observed the surveillance camera and when it was facing away I scurried to the building's perimeter and slipped along the wall to the first side door. I reached the door, took one of the U locks, placed it through the external handles and locked it tight. One door down two more to go...