"I've got the feeling we're the ones who need to bring the lemons, H-Bird. Can we gear up and sober up here, or do we need to go somewhere?"

"I need a drink," Heron declares loudly and to no-one in particular, then starts looking for one.

Philpott intejects,

"Don't tie one on, your plane leaves in an hour."

He begins giving you the low-down on the mission. It involves taking a commercial plane from Stockholm to St.Petersburg. You are to then take a taxi into the city, meeting up with Jack Wade at Sadko's bar, located in the Grand Hotel Europe. Your password phrase will be You needn't be afraid of a barking dog, he will answer but you should be afraid of a silent dog. Mr. Wade will have the up-to-date intel of the situation as well as your required gear.The hotel is also where you will be staying the first night while you're in town. Questions?"

20 minutes and 37 seconds later...

A knock on the door is heard as all the agents ready their weapons. Anja leisurely walks over to the closed-circuit monitor panel. She holds up her hand,

"Easy, it's you know who."

Anja walks over to the door and opens it. In walks a rather weasely man with a cheesy-looking goatee, probably in his late thirties and wearing a bad suit. His two apparent associates stand behind him wearing coveralls, both carrying large duffel bags.

"Woah! Hey guys, check her out! I honestly have to get to Sweden more often. So, what's going on? I hear you have a few unpleasantries you'd like for us to look at. (putting on rubber gloves)."

Anja, reluctant at first, but after a subtle knod from Philpott takes the man and his two associates upstairs. All the way up to the room the man can be heard putting the moves on Anja. At this point Jakob could be seen putting a fist-sized hole into one of the wood panels inside the cottage while muttering Swedish obscenities under his breath...something about goddamn American scumbag.

The man's weasely voice can be heard even from one floor below.

Woah! What did you people do here? I would have thought you would have at least put down some plastic! Ok boys, bring up the rest of the gear so we can get started. Hey babe, why don't you do us a favor and trot that firm bod of yours downstairs and whip us up some coffee?! Thanks sweetheart, you're a peach.

While Anja trudges down the stairs with a truly pissed-off look on her face, Jakob begins to walk up. Philpott momentarily stops the briefing and gestures Jakob over.

"Let them do their job, but not before you do something shall we say...juvenile to their car?"

Jakob smiles and pulls out a switchblade from his back pocket. Philpott begins again.

"As I was saying...any questions before you leave?"

"What Agent Goose asked - when do we get the equipment for this ? Our current arnament has been demonstratably ineffective, and we don't know how well equipped the captors of Agent Nighthawk are."

"Like I said, Jack Wade will be in charge of equipping you when you arrive in St. Petersburg. Mr.Wade has significant influence with the local arms dealers, so getting what you need shouldn't be that big of hassle."

About 45 minutes pass between the time D7 arrives and when they wrap things up. The weasely looking guy takes a seat as his associates are taking the last of their duffel bags to their van. He continues to ogle Anja when he sees Jessica pass in his peripheral vision.

"Jesus...this place is crawling with some fine specimens, would you say so....Jakey-boy?"

Jakob moves intently for his sidearm as Anja motions for him to keep his cool. She seductively struts up to the weasely man with a sly grin on her face, looking over his head and motioning for Jess to play along with her act. Anja mimes to Jess pull out your gun come behind him and put it to the base of his skull...all the while distracting the weasely man with some bodaceous cleavage.

The rest of the team is bewildered by Anja's mastery of innuendo.

Meanwhile...in a cellar somewhere in St. Petersburg, Russia

Harry comes in and out of consciousness, finding out that all those interrogation survival classes the Agency gave don't even come close to the real thing.

What he does know:

-He's blindfolded.
-He's definitely in some dank cellar-type room.
-The room smells of mold, rat droppings, and expensive cologne.
-A female, presumably Hanna from her voice, comes in about once an hour. A male voice, presumably her husband, talks to her for a bit then goes back to laying the smackdown on Harry.
-He can hear the occasional rumble of mis-firing and decrepid old vehicles, presumably coming from a street nearby. Occasionally someone yelling in what appears to be Russian is also heard from the streets outside...that is interspersed with the chatter of semi-auto to bursting gunfire.
-Harry is being continuously questioned about who he works for, why he was carrying what he had and what is the password to his Agendy phone. So far Harry has held up pretty well, but his chances of holding out deminish by the hour.

Jessica switches to tiptoe mode, then tries to walk up behind Buscemi while freeing the gun from it's holster as silent as possible.

Anja about to literally get in Buscemi's face while he feels the not-so-pleasant feeling of cold steel at the base of his skull. Anja moves back but not before backhanding him across the base.

"Damn! I was hoping the gun would go off in the backlash. Oh well, I suppose this (axe-kick to the head) will have to do."

Buscemi is about one step away from unconsciousness when Philpott intercedes.

"If you're done with him Anja, I think him and his men need to be getting back to base."

Buscemi wipes the blood away from his mouth and checks to see if he still has all the teeth he came with. He then slowly gets up out of the chair and notices that his two associates were witness to his beat-down.

"What the fuck are you two idiots looking at?! Let's go before I lose my cool. (looks back at the ladies) Jesus, you ladies can't take a freaking joke! Lighten up and defrost the hunk of ice between your legs."

Just then, a bullet narrowly avoids Buscemi's head, going into the front door. The origin can be clearly scene by the smoking barrel of Jakob's silenced pistol. Anja looks at Jakob then back at Buscemi.

"I would leave while you still can...he doesn't give anyone a second warning shot."

Buscemi and his men hastily file out, get into their van and leave. Philpott walks up to the front door to see them off. As the van is almost out of sight, Philpott turns to Jakob.

"What exactly did you do to their van? I noticed that all four of their tires seemed inflated when they left."

"Their tires?", Jakob says.

"Yes, I thought you were going to slash their tires."

Jakob looks a bit apprehensive about answering.

"Hmm, their tires may have been the better alternative to their brake lines."

Philpott shakes his head is disbelief.

"We can only hope one them took the supplemental defensive driving course. Anyway, Buscemi..should he survive the crash, will get back to me about the toxicology reports of the ladies upstairs. As for you, (looking at the team) I believe you have a plane to catch. Jakob and Anja will drive you to the airport. Go to the guest services counter and ask for Lara. She will have your tickets and proper visas to get into Russia. Good luck."

Meanwhilst, in a rat-infested stankhole in St. Petersburg...

A round of beatings had just ended, and Harry was glad he learned how to slightly disassociate his consiousness during congressional hearings.

"Can I ask a--" Harry pauses to cough up some blood. "--question?"

"Of course. I'd hate to be considered an inhospitable captor."

Too late, Harry thinks. "What happens if you don't get any information out of me?"

"Depends. I probably kill you in the morning."

"And if I told you the information, you'd want to tie up loose ends, and most likely kill me in the morning. That puts a bit of a damper on our relationship. Anyway, why are you so keyed on getting agency information out of me? I'd probably be more willing to give up some dirt on American politicians."