Cold War: Before The Bell

Chapter 12

December 16, 1969.
England

"Get off your ass Commander." Anthony teased Stitch, tossing the man over his shoulders.

"Just shut up and get us out of here. More authorities will arrive soon." Stitch winced, Anthony's shoulder slightly pressing into his wound.

"I'v got Kuzmin, rendezvous with us back by the vehicles." Anthony ordered the others over comms.

"Copy." Fuze responded.

They all regrouped back at two seperate vans. Driving away from the scene and down the road, he watched as people ran down the street, some fearing for their lives, others fearing for the lives of others. Sirens blarred through traffic.

"Will someone shut him up!" Anthony's hands gripped the steering wheel, looking into his rear view mirror at the others. Stitch laid on the cold metal flooring of the van, painful cries escaping here and there.

"We might have to remove this one our selves." Fuze suggested.

"Then get to it." Anthony tossed him and Jackal bis knife.

"But we have no alcohol." Jackal protested.

"Then we don't use any. Remove the bullet now and we'll let the real doctors take care of him later." He said over his shoulder, trying to make his friving blend in with the other cars in the crowd.

December, 1969
Verdansk
Bunker #: Classified

Removing the bullet only made the man scream louder but not for very long, making the rest of the ride much more quiet. Kardivar had follwed them back in a separate vehicle to their plane.

"I got him." He told the others once they reached back to base. Grabbing the heavier, unconsciouss man, he lut him over his shoulders. The others began walking back towards the entrance, Anthony keeping a flow pace behind them. All was subtle and calm until he felt a strangeling grip on his throat. He felt one of his knees go down as Stitch's feet landed. He used Anthony as a tool to lean his body on while he choked the life out of him.

He looked down on the younger man, grabbing the side of his head with his free hand. His eyes were desperate and pleading for the slightest breathe of oxygen. "Still just a child." Stitch chuckled, observing the blue orbs in front of him.

Anthony felt a trigger inside of him. Removing the grip from his neck he threw the arms back and stuck his thumb deep into the man's wound. Stitch responded with a loud hiss. He grabbed the older man's arm, bending it until he heard a loud crack.

He said nothing. As Stitch groaned in pain he grabbed the back of his uniform and dragged him inside the bunker and down the halls until they reached the med bay. "Fix him up." Anthony opened the door to see a doctor attending to another patient as he slid the injured man across the floor.

"Nobody gave him any authority sir. He risked much taking control. Our men could have died!" Kadivar argued with Perseus during their debreifing.

"Your so caught up about what could have gone wrong... your not even concered about how easily your life can be altered in this very room." Perseus said, glancing at Arash.

"My... apalogies sir." He responded, glacing accros the table to give Anthony a look of distain and hatred before sitting back down.

"Sir if I may speak, Petrov seemed to do well enough for his first time taking command. Not everything can be perfect but we made in and out with our mission accomplished." Fuze spoke up about the matter.

"Yes. With our success forensics should also soon discover "the cause" and background of the attack. We'll see once word gets through the media." Perseus stood tall, overlooking the long wooden table.

"Sir, Thomas Park was eleminated. I saw to it that he was taken care of." Anthony said, sitting close to Perseus.

"Good. That fool was becoming quite the obstacle for our organization. With him out of the way we can begin setting up more safehouses in more territories."

"And what if his father finds out who really did it? Isnt he a man with power?"

"Finding a quarrel with us wouldn't any way be beneficial to his underground bussiness. Plus to the world we don't exist. And the media will just blame it on the IRA."

"Of course."

"Well is there anything we missed?" Perseus was a out to wrap up the debreif."

"No sir." Jackal said, everyone looking at each other for a moment.

"Good. Report outside by the entrance by 7 tomorrow morning, be sure to pack a bag." Perseus told all of them.

As they left Perseus took Anthony to the side to speak.

"You did quite well this mission Petrov. Not only did you execute the mission but you took a massive prick out of our sides. You took control when nobody else did and that is one of the reasons why I picked you." He poured each of them a small drink. "Seeing that Commander Kuzmin is physically incapable of weilding a weapon you will be responsible for this crew." He gave Anthony a glass cup.

"Really? But I don't know if I'm ready yet." The young man said, confused.

"Theres only one way to be ready and thats to get ready under pressure." He drank. "Theres a reason why I am in such a position of power, and its not because anyone gave it to me." He patted Anthony on the shoulder. "Rest up Commander, you and your crew have a big day tomorrow."

"Thank you, sir." He drank, a smile on his face as he walked out of the room. It seemed so soon. Too soon in fact that he be promoted. It didn't feel right, but he trusted the older man's judgement. If only Antonov could be here to celebrate. Not that he himself would be celebrating at all. Nothing other than just a smile.

The next day Perseus had arranged for them to endure underwater training out in the seas. He tossed each of them off the massive metallic boat and into the water. They stayed there all day, drilling in the water. Anthony succeeded much better at water than he did with his snowy mountain trials.

1981

Years had certainly gone by. And so had his men. After splitting under different command it was just Arash, Stitch, himself, Volkov, Aldrich, and Rudnik who would meet when Perseus deemed it necessary to gather everyone. Back in '69 Perseus had established a bunker in Vietnam. One of their more important missions such as their Brazil op from '77 was breifed there. The bunker wasn't as gaurded as people would expect. Part of the reason being that nobody even knew of its existence. And those who were knowledgeable about it weren't sure if it was a myth or not.

"Turkey? I feel like I've already been there." Anthony said to Perseus as they walked the halls to load up in their vehicles.

"You probably have with all the missions we run in that area." The older man let out a small laugh. They walked outside, to the humming jeep.

"Commander Petrov, once you return there is something you must see." Perseus said, shaking Anthony's hand.

"Yes sir. We'll make this a breeze." He said with a smile, getting into the backseat, next to Kadivar.