107
Could You Do It If You Were Me?
As soon as we entered the dark corridor, Walter and I moved simultaneously. We caught one sentry each from behind and broke their necks. Though it would be better to keep ordinary people alive, this wasn’t the time to take such risks. Besides, “ordinary” only meant they hadn’t received training, not that they were innocent of charges like bombing.
As the two collapsed to the floor as corpses simultaneously, the employees covered their mouths with their hands. Walter took the hands of two of them.
“Thank you so much. Thanks to you, many citizens who would have been killed will survive. After everything is over, I’ll make sure your cooperation is reported to superiors so you receive rewards.”
The female employees who had momentarily been shocked by witnessing murder quickly regained their composure. They were survivors who had endured the three-month lockdown in Maderke. Back then, Maderke was a place where death was commonplace—truly wild in every sense. A place without law or systems. There, people had to resolve everything by the law of power.
It was all because of Canaris. Employee 1 kicked the dead man’s face with her shoe, and Employee 2 spat on the face of another corpse near her.
“Go to hell, definitely.”
Both were natives of this city. Meaning all their family, friends, lovers, everyone important to them was in this city. And this city had been trampled under thorough deception. They took their revenge, just now.
“Do you think we’re going too far?”
Had I been staring too obviously? Employee 1 asked, glaring at me with eyes brimming with tears. With eyes so serious, cold, and equally burning with life that it was hard to believe she was the same person who had been flirting earlier.
Sebastian, you must have lived with such eyes for a long time.
I smiled at this nameless person instead of Sebastian.
“No, I think it’s admirable.”
A tear finally dropped from the woman’s eye.
Walter took her and her colleague outside. The CCTV would be watching us, but it didn’t matter. We had already infiltrated, and if they came after us or devised countermeasures, we could handle it.
The two Maderke citizens who had admirably taken their revenge left on their motorcycles. Team members who had been waiting nearby for them to come out rushed in. It all happened in an instant. Team members handed weapons to Walter and me, and we quickly armed ourselves. In less than five minutes, we were ready to enter further inside.
“Operation name, Holy Grail. Beginning now.”
At this moment, numerous screens would be on in the situation room receiving my voice. The body cams on me and my team members would be broadcasting the situation.
Surprisingly, we seemed undetected. The CCTVs were installed, but those who should have been monitoring them were apparently doing something else, unable to bear the tedium, and we had luckily entered during that time. Ah, this is why you should do your job properly. No one’s coming? Why do you get to decide that? Whether someone comes or not, keep your eyes glued to those monitors!
But anyway, it was fortunate for us. We carefully entered and slowly secured the surroundings. We encountered some people along the way, but generally, they died before they could finish even one word like “Ugh,” “You,” or “Who.” There must be various reasons why they chose a laundry factory, but it wasn’t a good choice at present. The laundry factory was noisy, and it seemed those far away wouldn’t hear even if we fired without silencers.
There were unlit corridors, and the floor was sticky with unknown liquids. The portable lights attached above our heads were our only source of light. As we reached a large corridor, Jay and I split into teams and moved in opposite directions.
As we checked rooms one by one, we gradually began to hear human voices. The bustling sounds were mixed with TV sounds. Songs and talking. Walter, who had removed his earpiece to listen carefully, said, “This is an entertainment program,” and put his earpiece back in. They were definitely watching television. And they were so engrossed in it that they probably neglected annoying things like CCTV.
With a hand signal, our team split into two again. We divided left and right, pressing close to the walls. I stood on the side where the door would open. I and the person behind me would enter as soon as the door opened. Walter took out his endoscope and carefully inserted it under the door.
We were all extremely tense because the endoscope might get caught. I was ready to rush in with my gun at any moment, and the youngest member behind me was listening intently for any changes in movement behind the door. The sound of people chattering could still be heard.
“Damn, what kind of meal are they bringing?”
“Those girls there are sexy. Are they hitting on them?”
“As if those bastards have any chance. Last time I saw, they were so stuck up.”
From the atmosphere, it didn’t seem like the endoscope had been discovered. If we could hear this well with earpieces in, the youngest member, who had removed his earpiece and was listening for movements, could hear even better. Walter carefully pulled out the endoscope and handed me the screen. There were two types of saved images: one taken with a camera and another with an infrared lens. There were six people inside. Seeing that there weren’t many, there were probably people for Jay’s team to deal with as well.
I nodded and gave instructions with hand signals, and Walter took out a card—more precisely, a smoke grenade in card form. We were already wearing gas masks, but judging by their behavior, they clearly didn’t have gas masks or even cloth masks. Walter tore off the top protective vinyl of the card and pushed it forcefully through the door crack.
“Huh, what’s that?”
“A card? Paper?”
Along with these stupid remarks, there was a popping sound.
“Smoke! There’s smoke!”
“Hurry, run away! Open the door!”
About 5 seconds is enough for the smoke to spread. I counted to 7 in my head, then went in and knocked out everyone I could see. We gagged each unconscious person, bound their wrists and ankles with cable ties, and threw them in a corner. After confirming all six, we came out again and ran to the opposite side. Unfortunately, this room was at the end of the corridor.
There were stairs at the end of the corridor.
As we jumped up several steps at a time, we heard shouts from above.
“Team Leader!”
The sound was ominous. Damn, something had gone wrong. Walter and the youngest both looked at me. Ah, hell. Why do I always draw the short straw! I should have gone to the other side! After running like crazy, we reached the rooftop. Team members were grinding their teeth, unable to get out from inside the rooftop door. Someone was firing an automatic rifle from the rooftop.
“Oh, fucking Kalashnikov.” (AK-47)
Jay gritted his teeth. Unable to get a good angle, he tried to shoot by leaning against the window, but when bullets barely missed him, he finally ducked back down below the window. As I slid next to Jay, he shouted:
“Yudorov is trying to take off in a helicopter!”
Wow, this fucking bastard. So he had a backup plan. Launch a helicopter? I cursed, “Fuck, fuck,” and loosened part of my gear. Let’s trust my luck, damn it. Jay, who noticed what I was trying to do, shouted, “Are you crazy?!” but I had no intention of backing down. Being a laundry factory, there was some cover. There was enough possibility. I just needed to leave behind the really heavy guns and take only the light ones.
“Just cover me, damn it.”
“If you get hit wrong this time, you’ll really…!”
Jay grabbed my arm, and I roughly shook his hand off.
“He’s the bastard who kidnapped my fiancé! The bastard who broke my fiancé’s limbs and tortured him! He was only fourteen then! Could you stay here like this if your fiancée had gone through that?!”
At my words, Jay’s lips trembled. He wanted to tell me to stay put because he could do it, but it seemed he couldn’t bring himself to say he could.
Team Leader Schnieke, this is Director Andrea Dill.
An urgent voice came through the earpiece.
This is an order! Secure your safety!
I knew this kind of shitty situation would happen from the moment I came here.
“I was granted full authority. So I will act according to my judgment. I wish you good luck, Director.”
And I took out the earpiece and threw it on the floor. Simultaneously, I rushed out.
Ah, fucking hell!!
The guys behind me cursed but all rose together to provide covering fire. I ran toward the cover and jumped up on it. The enemies, surprised by the covering fire and then by my jump, hesitated with “uh, uh.” That’s 2 seconds. And another 2 seconds to turn their guns toward me. But my 100m best record is in the 11-second range. And the helicopter and I weren’t even 50m apart. Moreover, Jay is a sniper. If enemies 50m away hesitate for 2 seconds, he can kill two people.
As Jay blew the heads off two men in the center, blocking the view on both sides, I reached right in front. That’s when the helicopter started to take off. I grabbed onto the helicopter’s landing gear and climbed up like a ladder, then dragged everyone holding guns at the open door and threw them to the ground.
As I boarded the helicopter, I saw a man.
A middle-aged man. Hair that was once full but now somewhat sparse. Eyes that once must have overwhelmed people with their gleaming gaze had now become those of a cowardly petty man. A polo shirt with a messy collar, wrinkled cotton pants, and one hand heavily bandaged from some injury.
I know this man.
“August Kuno.”
And his presence here means Yudorov abandoned this man as bait to us and escaped. I had missed him.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
