January 6, 1981
4:40 P.M. local time
General Leonidovich's Headquarters
Moscow, Russia
"How do you men like your tea?" The general asked his two guests.
"Oolong," Colonel Yuri Zaitsev responded.
"Earl Grey," his rival, Major Serjik Dragunov, replied.
"Otlichno! Excellent! " The general smiled. He turned and said something to his attendant, who in turn nodded and left to make the tea. Leonidovich turned back to the two men. "You want to know why I called you here?"
The two attendees were greatly eager to know. Zaitsev's eyes gazed around the general's guest room as Leonidovich smiled. There were carpets adorning the grounds while the wooden walls were garnished with Soviet flags, propaganda posters, and finally pictures of Brezhnev, Stalin, and other Soviet leaders. The bulky general's smile widened as he noticed the KGB and GRU officers marvel at the room.
" Yes, those are Persian carpets," he informed them. " I was on a clandestine mission in Iran at that time and had entered a shop that was selling them. These three had caught my eye and I could not just leave without them."
Both Dragunov and Zaitsev mumbled approvingly. Feigning interest, they really wanted to know why they were called here of all places.
"You both want to know why you are here rather than the cozy offices of Soviet officers," the general began as if reading their minds. "I have approached you both with offers neither of you can refuse nor resist. Gentlemen, both of you have agreed to let me borrow your cream of the crop operative in your organization and you have agreed. Now, since this mission is classified and is urgent while you both have signed your consent to hand over the chosen operative to me, I have decided to make this assignment fun. How would you enjoy a bit competition?"
The officers exchanged amused glances.
"Please explain," Dragunov goaded the general on with his gruff voice.
" I will get to that, but there is something you both should know." The general paced around them."Do either of you know what the mission even is?"
A moment of awkward silence ensued.
"It is time to enlighten you then." Leonidovich chuckled like a kid ready to unveil a project to his teacher. " This mission, Operation Slender, has the objective to search and recover a biological weapon of ours that went rogue and evaded our forces. In order to deepen the incentive, I will reward the department that captures it first. Will it be the KGB or the GRU?"
Both officers exchanged determined glances. The competition would be stiff as both officers would try to outdo each other.
"Um, does this biological weapon need to be captured alive?" Zaitsev asked.
"For right now, yes, but if there is no other viable alternative, I can't penalize you," Leonidovich replied.
The Colonel nodded. " Understandable then."
"I have another question for you." The general spun around to look Zaitsev directly in the face. " Are you related to the sniper Vasily Zaitsev?"
"Net, not at all," he admitted.
" Ah, what a shame," Leonidovich murmured as he stopped pacing and sat back down. "It would have been an honor to have anyone related to the legendary Hare working with me right now."
Yuri blinked as Dragunov just snorted.
"Now , that leaves us to one more question before I dismiss you."Leonidovich eyed them both. " How soon can you get in touch with your agents?"
" I can do it right now," Major Dragunov replied nonchalantly.
"Well, my agent is in the middle of a mission in Afghanistan with your forces at the moment," Yuri responded.
"That's fine, you can have him reassigned, yes? " Leonidovich bore a smile that meant that his request wasn't optional.
The serving woman entered with a tray of tea."Your tea is ready, gentlemen."
"Thank you, Aliena." General Leonidovich took one as did his two guests.
As he sipped his tea, Yuri glanced at Serj, who returned his gaze. The game is on.
---
That same day
Helmand Province, Afghanistan
5:12 PM
Maxim Fyodorov lay in the dark reeds, keeping his sniper rifle trained around the small grey building. His objective was to take out any mujahideen threatening the strike team who were preparing to raid the bomb-making compound of the enemy. He may have been seen as part of the team, but in actuality he was a KGB agent embedded with the strike force to root out any dissent for the Soviet government and the mission in Afghanistan.
"Any sign of enemy activity, Comrade?" the team leader's voice crackled through the radio.
"Negative," Fyodorov murmured into the radio. As soon as he said that, he noticed a flurry of movement around the building. Looking through the scope, he spotted a couple enemy insurgents on the roof while some were positioned outside the building. "Scratch that, the enemy has the building surrounded."
"Can you take them out?" the voice crackled again.
" I can, but the question is will I?" Fyodorov joked.
"Comrade..." the voice came as a warning though it was spiked with some humor as well.
" I am just jesting." Fyodorov chuckled. " Just give me a second and the enemy will no longer exist."
"Ok, I am counting on you," the voice crackled before radio silence ensued.
Maxim went back to his scope, scouting out the hostiles on the roof and around the building. The late afternoon sky gave the enemy a shadowy silhouette look. Through his scope, the KGB agent decided to take out the rooftop insurgents first. Easing his fingers on the trigger, he took a deep breath before pulling it. The bullet tore through the heads of both rooftop insurgents, downing them. The fallen enemy's comrades shouted to each other as they patrolled the area, searching for the attacker. Maxim took out an insurgent brandishing a rocket launcher as the others scattered.
Dammit, this is going to get tough.
He spotted a couple or so insurgents close in near his spot so he concentrated on taking them out. As soon as he sniped the last one, he had realized he made a terrible mistake. They can now pinpoint his location by seeing where his bullets came from.
A group of screaming insurgents ran through the reeds toward his direction. Thinking quickly, Agent Fyodorov threw a hand grenade in their direction before retreating deeper into the brushes. A fiery explosion signified that his attack was successful.
"Comrade, we have taken the compound, " the voice of the team leader crackled through the radio.
"My pleasure," Fyodorov replied with a goofy smile.
" You did a great job with the guards," the other man's crackling voice responded. "My men are keeping small pockets of them at bay while we set the charges."
Sure enough, he looked up to see occasional flashes of gunfire in the fading blue sky. Then, something else caught his eye. The rumblings of vehicles came from both ends of the road that separated the compound from him. He noticed vehicles consisting of civilian trucks to even World War 2 era Soviet tanks converge on the road in front of them. From his spot, he watched what he correctly deduced to be Afghan and/or foreign insurgents pour out of the vehicles with weapons raised and head to storm the Soviet-held compound.
Drisnya! This isn't good. They are outnumbered!
Thinking quickly, Fyodorov picked up the rocket launcher from the fallen militant and fired it at one of the tanks. It had exploded in a bright orange flame, taking out a few insurgents near it. Before they could react, the KGB agent had fired the second and final round to where the vehicles were concentrated the most, causing a fiery chain reaction.
He had heard a shout as one of the militants had spotted him.
Drisnya! I hadn't thought this through!
Maxim turned and started to retreat hastily as the militants had begun to tail him. Ditching the spent launcher, he drew his sidearm and fired a shot or two at his pursuers, hoping to delay them.That was when a deafening roar was heard as a fireball shot into the sky where the bomb-making compound originally stood. It had seemed that the strike force had done their job well. Gunfire snapped him out of his reverie as he saw his pursuers get mowed down. Agent Fyodorov whirled around to see two olive green APCs arrive. The door of the left one opened and a crew member stepped out, motioning to the KGB agent.
"Comrade, step inside. Enemy reinforcements are heading here as we speak!"
As the agent did what he was told, he spotted the team he was assigned to huddled up as well.
"Nice thinking there." The leader smiled as he acknowledged Maxim's courageous venture. " If you hadn't distracted the enemy, the mission might have went up in smokes instead of the compound."
Everyone laughed at the pun.
"Sorry to break you out of your camaraderie, but we have a problem," the APC operator stated.
The leader sighed. "What is it now?"
"Enemy vehicles have blocked our path!"
Maxim gazed out of the hatch and sure enough, the enemy had their vehicles blocking the APC's path.
"Drisnya! How did they get here so fast?" the team leader grumbled.
"The question is how do we get past them?"Fyodorov cut in.
As if to answer his question, low howling sounds were heard. A few seconds later, two warplanes materialized in the sky in front of them. Fyodorov's eyes grew wide as he recognized the Su-25 Frogfoot planes coming to their rescue. With loud booms, the enemy vehicles took the onslaught and were soon no more.
"Just in time," a Soviet soldier muttered.
" Tell me about it," the APC operator said with a chuckle.He turned to Fyodorov. " We have orders to transport you to Command HQ after we drop off these men." He motioned to the team.
What could they want from me? he wondered. Is it that serious?
Finally, the Main Character is introduced. What do they want from him?
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