"They need to ditch their current SATCOMMs and pick up new ones. Have them find a shady spot and a landline and we'll go about arranging the rendevous. In the meantime..."
Nightengale gathers his things and pulls out a silenced PPK from his overcoat pocket, handing it to Brian.
"Agent Hummingbird. Terminate the call. We need to leave, now. Agent Osprey, you lead the way. Anyone that is not us that gets in our way...well, you know want to do."
Nightengale ushers everyone out of the tent with Brian taking point. They rush for the waiting van as Brian *pwip* *pwips* a couple of SMP policeman in their path.
Jess climbs into the driver's seat, turning the engine over and accelerating away.
"Until then." Artis snaps his phone shut and tosses it to Peter.
"Collect everyone's SATCOMs. Pete, you're our talker. All right, I'm going to look for a spot to ditch this flying target. While I do that, Mr. Goon is going to call Illiavic. Ayumi, you watch him - he tries anything, you toss him the hell out the chopper. Peter, once we can confirm we're on with Sam, you make sure she hears her kid's voice, you tell her we will call this number at a later date, and you hang up. Understood?"
Then, craning his head around to speak to the aforementioned Mr. Goon: "You are going to be taken into custody. You will be questioned, and more than likely, you will survive if you cooperate. Do we have a deal?"
"Deal. I place the girl's life in your hands, Agent. If anything should to her, I would not be in your shoes when Ms. Illiavic comes after you."
Artis looks for a nice spot to ditch the chopper while the bodyguard calls Illiavic.
"It's ringing."
(looks down at the screen then up at Peter)
"She's called twenty times since we've been airborn. She's going to be a nervous wreck when she answers. Do you wish me to talk to her first or would you to?"
The guard hands Peter the phone, the sounds of a hysterical woman are heard as she puts it to her ear.
...been calling for the past ten fucking minutes! You were supposed to keep constant contact with me as soon as you took off! Where the fuck have you been? Why did I dare let you be in charge of my daughter? When I see you next my daughter better not have a scratch on her head or I'll have Fyodor feed you to the pigs! Well, are you going to answer me...you fucking lousy excuse for a bodyguard!...."
"Listen, and listen good. I'm not repeating myself. We have your daughter. She's alive and well, and will stay that way unless you try to get smart with us."
"Well, not resisting your imminent capture would be a start. You might want to give your personal guard detail the pink slip. We'll call back with further instructions.
Oh, and Miss Spiner called. Sounded a bit angry to me."
"This has been going south since hour 1...a very complete internal review might be in order."
"Agreed, Agent Osprey. The Agency has been torn asunder by this travesty and I, for one, will see it through to the end. After you and your colleagues went off the grid and the reports of shady dealings in the region were become more widespread, I had all field offices closed and sent out a priority alert recalling all operatives. The fact that you did not reply to the alerts nor return to London threw up quite a few red flags. The GSRN footage of you and Agent Falconet plain as day on the satellite feed was the icing on the proverbial cake. A few phone calls and a plane ride later, I'm bribing an SMP detective with $300 and a carton of Camel Non-filtereds in exchange for taking over the roadside proceedings."
Nightengale looks out the side mirror to check on their egress, seeing nothing but an empty, slush-filled road.
"You'll find replacement gear in the back luggage area. SATCOMMs, clean clothes, weapons. Had I known Agent Hummingbird was going to be joining us, I would have brought her a new MP7. You are still using the PDW, aren't you, Jessica?"
The fight's over for now, but Ayumi's still breathing hard. She's not been hurt this bad in a long time. Still clutching her arm, she looks around and asks, "Is anyone going to help me splint this?"
"Sorry, business is business. I hope you understand."
Ayumi double-taps the Katarina's bodyguard, then kicks the body out over a deeply forested area.
Artis lands the chopper in a clearing miles from any sort of civilization. The Team ditches their gear and secures Katarina, hoofing it through the wilderness. A few miles into the hike, they find a small town containing various sundry stores and a payphone.
In dire need of medical attention, Artis tends to Team's various wounds and broken body parts. Fortunately, the chopper had a fairly decent medkit, so the bindings and bandaging are a bit better than they'd normally get in such primitive conditions.
Ayumi's left arm is wrapped and placed in a sling. She's going to need a proper cast at some point, but it does help. Peter's extensive wounds are medicated by a bottle of Vodka found underneath the pilot's seat. It's meatball surgery at best, but the shrapnel is left inside him as the risk of infection is too great without proper medical facilities.
Artis' own wounds are more superficial, requiring more butterfly bandages and gauze.
In lieu of current injuries and lack of language skills, Moten and Peter volunteer for phone duty. Peter's pretty beaten up, but they need someone with a mastery of Russian if the locals get edgy.
Moten and Peter arrive at the small Russian hamlet finding a payphone outside what appears to be some sort of post office/town commissary.
A few locals give them suspicious looks as Peter dials Nightengale's number. He responds after two rings and begins the search for a nearby Agency dropbox.
"There is a one located approximately 10km north of your current position in Vyshgorod. Given the age of the location, it probably going to have outdated equipment, but the phone and gear should be able to keep you above water until we can rendevous. We're going to be catching a flight in (checks watch) ninety minutes. That should put us in Kiev by this evening. Stay off main roads and try to avoid contact with the authorities."
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