CHAPTER 29
Jimmy noticed that Darcy was now in arms reach, and he formulated a plan that might just work. “Name it,” said Jimmy, sounding as defeated as he could.
“What? What you going on about now?” asked Darcy, confused.
Jimmy cleared his throat, “What’s your price, what do I have to do in order get my friends out of here?” Jimmy feared the answer he could receive, but decided that he would listen to and do whatever it took, Even if it cost him his own life.
A light bulb lit up in Darcy’s head, he raised his finger with his demand. “Get your trucks out of my bloody driveway.” Jimmy’s eyes widened, this guy, as screwed up as he was, wasn’t the one who took baby Kenny.
“Ok. I can do that, only if you uncuff me.” Said Jimmy, playing along. Darcy obliged, to which he was immediately thanked with a kick to the face, knocking Darcy out cold.
Jimmy knew it would be only a matter of time before whoever was trying to find them would find this place. He hurried over to the other side of the metal table and found a machine pistol taped on the underside of the table. Jimmy noticed how Darcy was messing with something underneath the table, as it turns out; it wasn’t what Jimmy thought it was.
He turned around and shot the frail glass and climbed through the broken window, dispatching the guard with ease. He freed Sara and Gavin. “Look, I’d love to explain but we don’t have much time. Just follow me.”
He continued to free each of his friends who all thanked him unrelentingly. Now that they were all free, Jimmy slung Darcy over his shoulder and plundered his ID card. He found the observation booth to the interrogation room and found their weapons stashed within it. A monitor in the room informed the crew in big red letters that one of the silent alarms had been set off. They needed to get out of there, fast.
Jimmy turned to the group, “I’ll explain later, but shoot anyone you see through your sights, they’re all bad guys. Trust me.” Jimmy wanted to reiterate before they opened the door onto a long corridor.
The crew rushed down a corridor that lead to a helipad, bullets whizzed past them as the men in black shadow suits followed close behind, guns blazing. Gavin provided cover fire, taking out several goons at a time with each shotgun blast.
They saw the exit door ahead and Jimmy kicked it open, they spilled out onto the helipad. A tandem rotor helicopter was parked and surrounded by shadowy enemies. Without a second thought, the crew expertly dispatched everyone except for the pilot.
Jimmy handed Darcy to Matt and threw a grenade into the corridor before closing the door and sprinting back to the helicopter. Jimmy climbed into the passenger seat and held the machine pistol to the young pilot’s head and said, “ I know you’ve never heard this before but, take me back to your place.”
The young pilot was wearing a black beret and a standard camouflage suit with a Russian flag patch on his shoulder. The young Russian pilot, terrified, nodded his head understandingly. The pilot couldn’t have been older than twenty, all the while Jimmy was thinking to himself, poor kid. After all, in Russian military doesn’t enlist you, you enlist military. As the helicopter gained lift, Jimmy saw the exit door burst open form the grenade he had thrown inside a mere few moments earlier.
Jimmy noticed that the pilot was actually taking them down the mountain, Jimmy thought this was odd. “Hey kid.” Said Jimmy, addressing the young pilot.
The pilot looked over in alarm, in fear for his life, he stuttered, “Yes?” The pilot had a heavy and barely understandable Russian accent.
“Where are we going?” questioned Jimmy, suspicious.
“An installation we’ve set up down the mountain.” Replied the pilot quickly.
“Where’s that?” asked Jimmy, wanting a relative location.
“Are you familiar with Belane Airfield?”
Jimmy looked back at Darya then back at the pilot. “Yes, I am.”
The pilot looked at Jimmy, surprised to see that Jimmy was familiar with the airfield he had previously mentioned. “It’s about five miles north of Belane.”
They flew in silence for a long and somewhat awkward moment, until an idea popped into Jimmy’s head. “Say, could you fly us to Belane?” asked Jimmy, hopefully.
“No, sir. We will be immediately shot down. Russia has anti air guns positioned on the airfield, sir.” Said the pilot, frightfully. He didn’t want to give the wrong answer but he didn’t want to lie either. “Sorry.”
Jimmy felt bad for the kid; he lowered his gun, “Hey it’s alright. Do you know about a baby in that installation, by chance?”
The pilot looked more at ease without the gun to his head, “Yes I do, sir. They plan to use virus on him, to see effects of said virus on a baby, poor baby.” The pilot displayed a genuine feeling of remorse for the baby.
Jimmy noticed his remorse, so he decided to take a risk. “Kid, I want to save that baby. I’m his godfather.”
The pilot stifled a gasp of sadness, “Sir, I want to help.” Said the pilot, unexpectedly.
Jimmy narrowed his eyes, suspicious, and he asked, “What’s the catch?”
The pilot looked Jimmy dead in the eyes and said, “Get me to America, take me with you.”
Jimmy knew that he had to take this kid under his wing. “Hey kid, what’s your name? I’m Jimmy.”
The pilot grinned with joy at the idea of his new life in America, he chuckled, “Hello, Jimmy. I’m Anton.” He offered his hand.
Jimmy didn’t take his hand, “Nice to meet you Anton, get your hand back on the wheel.”
Anton smiled, “No need, we’re here.” Said Anton as the helicopter descended, parting evergreen trees in its way. From the air, the installment was nothing but approximately a dozen green tents situated around a small pond. There were several covered trucks and semi trucks, as well as shiny, metal fuel tanks. The installment was set on a cliff that overlooked Belane airfield. On the opposite side of the pond as the tents stood two one story concrete buildings. Anton said that one of the buildings was where the commander was quartered, and the building was the armory.
They touched down in a cleared out area of the woods where several other helicopters were parked. There was no one else there and they could see the tents about a hundred yards away through the cluster of evergreen trees.
Anton informed the group that Kenny was most likely in one of the dozen tents on their side of the lake, probably in the medic’s tent. Anton advised the group that they should ambush the camp and the go in full force.
The crew followed Anton to a makeshift shooting range where he equipped himself with a shadow suit and an AK-47 assault rifle.
“This way, tread quietly.” Whispered Anton in the quiet night as they snuck into the medic’s tent. Anton quickly and quietly dispatched the medics with his suppressed assault rifle and with trained tact. They searched the tent for little Kenny; they checked the empty recovery beds, drawers, and every possible crevice worth checking.
After it was evident that Kenny was not here, they set out to search the rest of the camp. They must’ve mowed down a couple dozen Russian soldiers in the process.
They quickly determined that, after ruling out the armory out of common sense, they determined that the baby must’ve been kept in the commander’s house.
The concrete building before them was a simple concrete rectangle with two windows; it was accented with potted plants, making it look like a literal concrete jungle.
Anton and Jimmy quietly assassinated the two guards who were guarding the entrance. They took the guards out in a way that didn’t alert the security detail inside.
Anton opened the front door with a shrill creak. The inside of the building was far from luxurious. The floor was covered with simple shag carpet and the walls were unfurnished and made of concrete just like the outside.
After scanning the kitchen and dining room, they entered the last room in the house by kicking in the locked door.
They were met with the commander dressed in his forest green coat that was embellished with medals and patches. He wore a red beret decorated with medals. The commander had a pointed goatee and mustache combo, his face was worn but still very youthful.
The commander was sitting at an ornate wooden table that was decorated with various intricate swirls and shapes. A look of surprise formed on his face as he threw his hands up in surrender. The crew infiltrated the office with guns drawn like a SWAT team; they spotted a wooden crib in the corner of the room with Kenny, crying inside.
Sara cradles the baby over her shoulder while her husband carried a knocked out Darcy. The commander muttered something incomprehensibly, anger brought out the creases in his face.
“Come on, we got what we came for.” Said Eddie as he started for the front door and the others followed closely behind.
Outside, they found a canvas-covered truck that was painted to blend in with the evergreen forest. There were two more identical trucks parked in front of two silver cylinders that held gas that used to fuel the trucks.
Jimmy took the wheel and started I while Anton sat in the passenger seat. Meanwhile, seated in the back, Eddie noticed that soldiers were quickly filling into the other two trucks parked by the gas cylinders. Eddie knew what he had to do. He opened fire on the gas cylinders, emptying an entire magazine before the cylinders exploded in a fiery inferno that consumed both trucks and the commander’s house.
Sara and Gavin looked away in horror, they could hear the screams of agony before they faded out. They drove away from the crackling fire and down a bumpy dirt road, almost like they were going down the way they had come up. In the scenic and quiet night drive a couple things came to Jimmy’s mind, most notably, Ariel. He was about to propose towards the end of the trip, he was kind of glad he had lost the ring.
They collectively, excluding Anton, noticed the absence of their fallen friends. So for this beautiful winter’s, just as Darcy said, they found solace in each other and what they had in that very moment. Friends and family.
After a bumpy ride downhill, they saw an old and cracked concrete airstrip with an airplane hangar that was made of rusted metal siding that was extremely weathered, it was miracle the hangar was still there. At the beginning of the strip, stood a shiny, luxurious private jet. That was there ticket off this mountain.
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