RAGNAROK. | simon riley/ghost

015: TRIAL AND ERROR

       It took over six months of fighting.

      Six months since they released a suspected murderer, who was the last living person of their target's team of mercenaries, and used her as a pawn in hopes to bring her down. Six months of constant planning and execution of cartel hotspots. Months-long undercover operations in a foreign country with little to no contact with the two people who were sent undercover.

      Six months of fighting, and at last, Task Force 141 brought Alexei down.

      Cornered him and captured him and stuck him in a place he'd never be able to escape, a hellhole where someone with his convictions would be subjected to the worst things imaginable. Where he'd endure inconceivable pain more and more each day, pain that would not cease until he finally agreed to tell them all he knew– and then, there still remained no promise of peace after that, no guarantee that he'd ever leave that place regardless of if he talked or not.

      Once they had boarded that helicopter with Alexei and reunited with Laswell, they practically rushed out of the country, handing Alexei off to some of the CIA officer's contacts at the border between Russia and Latvia for him to be hauled off to Red Iron. The team hopped back on the helicopter for a few hours after that, landing at a secure location, a temporary base in Poland. There, for the first time in over six months, members of TF-141 were finally able to rest, while Laswell's men got right to work on breaking into Alexei's phone and the other devices and materials he had brought with him. It was hard at first, but after two weeks, finally they were able to crack into the phone, exposing the identities and locations of many of his associates; Bratva and other Russian mobsters, Las Almas cartel, and many others suspected of being associates of both Alexei and Hassan.

      Over six months of fighting, and finally they were getting close to shutting everything down. If things continued the way they did, this was soon to be one of TF-141's biggest successes since their creation. The win they so desperately needed, a win that was well deserved.

      As the men surrounding her grew comfortable during their short vacation in Opole, enjoying the temporary break from constant warfare and enjoying the southern city and good news and breakthroughs that was delivered daily, Zero struggled to feel the same way as the rest of them did. She couldn't. How could she? Gus was dead. Maria was dead. Venus was dead. And it was all her fault. There was nothing to celebrate.

      Alexei may have been rotting in Red Iron, going through the same hell that she went through, but he was alive. And as long as he was alive, the promise she had made to her brother as she held his hand while the light left his eyes in front of her and the house they were in went up in flames, it had yet to be fulfilled.

      She would not stop until Alexei was dead. She would make sure of it.

LOS ALMAS 

TWO MONTHS LATER

      "Breaching!"

      The heavily armoured soldiers moved out of the way for the sledgehammers that rammed through the door, knocking the wood off of its frame and sending it flying down the hallway. Canisters of smoke were tossed next, and the soldiers surrounding the outside of the building shoved on their gas masks, rushing inside the moment their leader gave the go. Gunfire rang in the halls as the soldiers cleared room after room with brutal precision; they were met with aggression, cartel members popping out of doorways and from behind furniture and attempting to meet fire with fire but to no avail. Every single person that attempted to stop their raid was shot down like an animal.