Chapter 102

Flashback – Masha and Tatiana – Secret location

As we left the room to search for the location where the FSB agents were killed, I totally slipped into the character of an old grandmother. I hunched over, walked with a slow shuffling gait aided by my cane on one side and Tatiana's arm on the other side. In my mind I had become an old grandmother.

Tatiana whispered, "Masha you are a master of disguise, I am going to miss you."

I replied in character, "Ehh! What did you say child? You know you have to speak up or I can not understand you."

She spoke louder, "I am sorry grandmother! I do not know where your grandson was killed."

I should have known better than to try to talk to Masha, she was gone! She was now an old woman who was looking for the place where her grandson, the FSB agent, died. Our plan was to take a taxi back to the hospital, the last known location of the stupid Major, and start our search from there. I hailed a taxi and Masha took forever getting into the taxi...

I tried to get into the taxi and complained, "These taxis are getting smaller every year!"

Tatiana was finally in character and said, "Come on grandmother, you know they are the same size as when you were younger."

She helped me into the taxi and the driver asked, "Where are you going?"

I replied, "Speak up, these old ears can't hear you!"

He yelled, "Where do you need me to take you!"

I cackled and replied, "What? I don't want you to bake me!"

He threw his hands up in frustration and asked Tatiana, "Where do you and your grandmother need to go?"

The taxi driver is kind but grows tired of Masha's grandmotherly ruse so he asked me where we need to go.

I replied, "Please kind sir, we just found out one of my cousins, my grandmother's last grandson, was killed and she wanted to visit the location of his death to pray."

The taxi driver replied, "Well, if it's the site of the huge car bomb I refuse to go there."

I forced a blush and whispered, "I'm sorry to ask you to do this, but my cousin worked for the FSB. Yes, it was an embarrassment for the whole family, but he was killed today. Do you by any chance know the location where he died?"

Flashback – Jack and Colonel Maggie – The internet café

Colonel Maggie ordered the damn lieutenant to take us to the internet café and he obeyed. We jumped out of the BTR-80 but the fucking place had a closed sign on the door. I looked at Maggie and questioned, "Well, what the hell do we do now?"

Colonel Maggie replied, "Jack, you should god damn know what to do! The building is big enough that I bet the proprietor lives here, so we knock."

Damn I hate it when and officer, even Colonel Maggie was right. I pounded on the door and we heard, "Go away, we are closed!"

Maggie turned to the lieutenant commanding the BTR-80 and questioned, "Do you think you can fire a five round burst over the top of the internet café?"

He replied, "Without a doubt, Sir."

They fired a five round burst from the 14.5millimeter cannon over the top of the internet café, Maggie again pounded on the door and said...

I was tired of the bullshit and was ready to have the BTR-80 destroy the whole damn building but we needed the intel the proprietor had. After the burst over the roof from the 14.5 mm cannon I banged on the door and yelled, "Either you get down here right now and talk to us or I will have this APC destroy the whole building."

The person yelled, "I will be right down!"

It took about a minute then he opened the door and...

Flashback – Ben – In the hospital

I was in my new room, was bored, turned on the TV for noise and was shocked at what I saw ... The damn fucking bastards!!! They were terrorizing the hell out of this village all because of me! This was bull-fucking-shit that I needed to do something about. Hell, even if the bastards caught me it would still be better for this town. But the immediate problem was my guard; I had two but earlier sent one out for vodka ... I called, "Sergey can you come here?"

He walked over to the bed and answered, "Da?"

I motioned him closer, he leaned down enough and I clocked the hell out of him! Now to implement the rest of my plan...

Flashback – Tatiana and Masha – In the taxi

The taxi driver stated, "I'm sorry to hear he was a relative of yours. Even though he was FSB the Chechens bastards shouldn't have killed him. And I know the exact spot they were killed and will take you and your grandmother there."

I had hoped that the taxi driver had the needed information. Many times if you wanted something it was better to talk first to taxi drivers...

I signaled Tatiana so she would be ready when the taxi took us to the location where the FSB agents were killed. We were lucky this was an older taxi with the mechanical meter that clicked every second. I pulled the Major's message out of my purse and anxiously waited...

Flashback – Major M – Being held hostage

The damn Chechen leader came back and yelled, "You stupid shit dick American! They have moved Sgt. Blaine. But do not worry we now control the whole town and will shortly find him and then we will kill both of you."

I laughed and taunted, "Yeah, well you stupid fucking camel jockey, at least I know how to swear. Mo-ham-head was a fucking pervert that liked to fuck pigs."

I guess I got his attention as he yelled "Allah Akbar", then began to beat me. What he didn't realize was I used the distraction to start working on getting loose. Someone else came over and pulled the bastard off me. He yelled, "When I remove your head we will use it for a football."

I taunted some more, "Yeah, if I was free I would rip your fucking head off and shit down your neck." My mouth earned me another beating.

Flashback – Jens

I was sure by now that female dog Russian spy had received the gift and knew exactly what I thought of her. I would have loved to seen her covered in the dog poo but there was no way to do that.

I read through my magazines and came up with another great idea. This one was much cheaper than the last one and I even added an extra special surprise to it...

I walked downstairs but no one was at home. Rats, I wanted to ask Daddy about the stinky Major getting kidnapped.

I turned on the TV and while they were showing the video of the Major and I quickly recognized something odd...

Flashback – Glen

It was morning and I grabbed another cup of coffee to keep me alert. Anytime one of my Marines, even the Major, was taken hostage, it was a major situation for me. I'd been on the horn trying to get permission to send in a Recon unit to assist in the Major's recovery, but the Russian government had their hands full. The fucking Chechen terrorists were tearing the hell out of the village where Sgt. Blaine was located and the last thing the Russians wanted were more Marines who could possibly become targets.

We did have a stroke of luck as one of the spooks at the NSA figured out the Major blinked Morse code. But when it was transcribed into English it didn't make much sense and they were still trying to break the code the Major used.

I decided it was time to phone the Colonel and light a fire under her ass...

Flashback – Jack and Colonel Maggie – The internet café

The proprietor of the internet café came to the door and I asked, "We are looking for two women." Then I described their looks and as I started to describe Masha, I could see fear cross his face. Then he lied, "I have never seen either of those women. Now leave me alone!"

As he started to close the door, a shot cracked between Jack and I and hit the proprietor square in the chest. We dove to the ground and my phone began to ring...

I ordered, "Let's get back to the safety of the BTR."

Jack grabbed the wounded proprietor and we ran like hell toward the BTR, made it inside but I missed the call. I looked and noted it was from Glen - shit, he was going to be pissed off...

As Maggie got settled, the Spetsnaz medic worked on the owner of the internet café and I began to wonder how in the hell we could locate Masha and Tatiana if he was wounded.

Then it hit me. I asked the lieutenant, "Do you have a way to find the address of people in this village?"

He nodded and said, "Yes Sgt. we do."

I smiled and gave him the names of the two kids I threatened the last time Masha and I were at the internet café. I hoped they might have come back and had seen the women. He started to make some phone calls...

Jack came up with a good idea on how to possibly find the women, but I still had no idea how to find the Major. I did know I needed to call Glen back before he became even more pissed at me...

Flashback – Glen

My phone rang, it was Jennifer so I answered, "Sorry Jennifer there's an incident I needed to handle so I'm in my office."

She said, "Yes Daddy, it's on the news about the Major. Did you know..."

My aide interrupted, "Sir, the Colonel is on the other line."

I told Jennifer, "Listen Princess, I will call you right back."

She got upset, "Daddy, pleasssseeee don't call me princess and what I have to say is really important."

I said, "Sorry, but I have to go."

I hung up on her and answered the Colonel's call, "It's a damn good thing you called me back."

She stated, "Sorry Sir! We were being shot at when the phone rang."

Damn, I knew it was bad over there but I was pissed that more of my troops were in harm's way. I ordered, "Colonel, your safety and the safety of the two Sgts. are my primary concern right now. Are you getting the support you need from the Russians?'

She replied, "Yes Sir! Sgt. Reynolds and I are inside one of their APCs as we speak."

I questioned, "And where is Sgt. Blaine, because with his recent accolades he is a real priority?"

She stated, "He's being guarded by the Spetsnaz at the hospital."

I informed her, "We do have some good news, the Major was able to blink something in Morse code during the hostage video. However it appears to be in some sort of code that the boys at NSA are trying to figure out."

My aide came in and said, "Sir, sorry to interrupt, but it's your daughter and she said it's an emergency."

I thought - fuck, when it rains it pours. I ended the call with the Colonel and answered Jennifer's call...

Flashback – Jens

Darn it to heck! Daddy hung up on me and wouldn't listen to me even when I told him it was important. I decided to call back, I got his aide and demanded, "This is Jennifer and tell the General I need to talk to him because it's an emergency."

I knew he would talk to me, because that was a code word he'd given me to use. I was a little worried because I wasn't sure if this constituted an emergency or not.

Daddy came on the phone and said, "Jennifer, what the hell is wrong?"