What Happens in Vienna {ManxMan}

CHAPTER 3 (Carter)

Despite how I wasn't at all looking forward to this mission, I at least had enough sense to enjoy the ride, looking down at the landscape of Austria and admiring the beauty of it. Even the cities we passed over were miraculously intact despite how the bombings had gone on all over the globe. There were areas of charred black from the fires and ruined buildings, and each scar on the earth had my stomach jumping, but the country was still absolutely stunning.

It made me homesick, closing my eyes and trying to remember the rolling fields and the sheep that grazed  just across from my old home, but returning to Wales was all but a dream. I don't know why Bay did it, but when he got his hands on the necessary equipment, right at the peak of the bombing, he figured no one would know the difference and ordered my hometown to be destroyed entirely.

Maybe because his mother died there and it was a painful wound to him, but to me that town was hope, and now it was gone. Even if I returned to Wales one day like I wanted, I would never be able to go back to my hometown, and that hurt. It should have been the first sign to me that Bay was crazy, but I was so blind, I didn't want to accept it.

"We're gonna drop you here," Vinet said from the seat beside me, one hand on the right side of her headset, talking into the microphone in front of her painted lips so her words could be easily heard in the similar set of headphones I was wearing.

She tossed me a black bag and I stared at it while she explained what it was, "There's money, food, extra clothes and water in there. A gun and a few cases of extra bullets, and a control to contact us when you're ready to be picked up. Take whatever time you need, but don't stay here for the rest of your life, we need periodic updates."

"How about I update when I have something to tell you?" I muttered, standing up and pulling the backpack straps over my shoulders, "If you want information, then you're going to let me do this my way and not try to control me. I'm not one of your experiments, Ivanov, so don't treat me like one," I grabbed onto one of the straps hanging on the ceiling to keep myself standing, giving the young woman a dark look, "It would be a shame if Bay decided you weren't useful."

A mix of fear and resentment flashed in her blue eyes and she grit her teeth in a snarl. She and Rupert so obviously despised me, but I wasn't surprised. Besides those times when Bay got extremely mad at me, he treated me better than he treated anyone else in that hell. I figure the others were jealous for some reason, though I can't imagine why they would want to be treated well by that man. I just wanted to be left alone.

The helicopter barely touched down before I felt a hand slam against my back and shove me out of the door. I hit the ground and rolled over to glare up at Vinet, who was standing in the opening with her dyed red hair whipping around her pale face from the force of the spinning blades.

"Bylo by obidno, yesli vy umerli zdes'," she snarled, then looked towards the front and gave a thumb up to get the copter moving again.

I laid there in the dirt with my bag beside me for a long time, my arm raising and my eyes pinching closed to keep the dirt out until the sounds died off and the dust settled, then I stood up, glaring at the helicopter as it disappeared in the sky and dusting my clothes off, heading towards the nearest building.

Our sources said that the warehouse and the mansion were both located near the middle of the city, so I had to somehow navigate the streets to get there without getting caught by the small military I'd heard so much about. I wasn't aware if they were any good, but the smart thing to do was to assume they were some of the best. It may have been giving them too much credit than they deserved, but until I knew more I had to be cautious.

Walking through the streets of Vienna was like walking through a ghost town. I didn't see anyone, or any sign that the buildings were occupied. For all I knew they evacuated during the bombings and it was a ghost town, which would be unfortunate, because it was a beautiful city. The only noise came from the hesitant wind and my shoes hitting the ground as I walked, it was secluded and peaceful and I was starting to wonder if there were people in this area at all.