Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes - The Novel

Word on Paz's Survival

March 4th, 1975

Snake met up with Miller on the main command strut of their base and was surprised by the serious expression on his face.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Ten days ago, we got reports that Paz was still alive," Miller answered.

"She survived?"

"She was rescued by a Belizean fisherman who found her drifting in the Caribbean."

Despite there always being a possibility of Paz surviving their battle, Snake still couldn't believe what he just heard. He felt slight relief over the news, but that feeling soon vanished the moment he realized what the news truly meant.

"So what's the plan?" asked Snake. "Silence her before we're compromised?"

"No, I've got something else in mind," Miller replied. "Our 'friends' at Cipher suspect Paz could be a double agent. She's being held for interrogation at a camp on the southern tip of Cuba."

"Black site – nice. A slice of American pie on communist soil, and out of U.S. legal jurisdiction."

"The upcoming inspection of Mother Base has to be connected somehow. The timing's too perfect."

"The UN's nuclear inspection..."

"My guess is they're trying to corroborate Paz's leak."

"We're an army without a nation."

"Word of our capabilities gets out, and we'll have the whole world out to shut us down. Having an American private intelligence agency involved's bad news. Cipher's the ones who sent Paz to us in the first place."

"She knows their true nature."

"Right," Miller nodded his head. "Paz is our only link to Cipher. If she's still alive... ...We need her on our side. If not us, who else is gonna rescue that bitch?"

"When do we do it?" asked Snake.

"The inspection comes first. We'll deal with this afterwards."

"Do the men know?"

"Word has started to spread. The information came from Cuba through Amanda. One of the base personnel used to belong to El Frente. I'll tell everyone, 'We don't concert ourselves with the survival of enemy spies.' We need them focused on the inspection. And if we get her back here and she isn't... cooperative, there's still plenty of room for her in the ocean."

"Works for me. What about Chico? He had a chance to stop Paz from hijacking ZEKE, and he blew it. He's carried that guilt ever since. Kid really did care about her."

"Chico... It's hard to say how he'll react."

"Have Amanda call him out to Cuba. He shouldn't be here right now."

"Good idea. They haven't seen each other in a while. Little time with big sis and he'll forget all about you-know-who."

March 6th, 1975

"What?" Miller exclaimed. "Still no sign of Chico?"

"What's going on?" asked Snake.

"It's Amanda in Cuba." Miller whispered, lowering his radio. "Our resupply package arrived, but Chico wasn't with it."

Miller raised the radio back up and spoke into it, "Relax, Amanda, I'm sure he's just... exploring Havana or something. First time in the big city, he could've gotten carried away..."

"Kaz, wait. The boat Chico was on – did it stop anywhere before it got to Havana?" asked Snake.

"Yeah, it had to refuel at Santiago de Cuba..." Miller was rendered silent as he finally realized what happened. "You don't think... Aw shit, you gotta be kidding me! He does this NOW?!"

"It's 60 miles from Santiago to the prison camp. Chico used to cross the mountains with the older Sandinistas like it was nothing. He'll make that in three days." Snake pointed out.

"Still, even if he does find his way there..."

"You know how reckless he can be. Chico thinks we've abandoned Paz. That's why he's doing this."

"...We'll start by having the Intel detachment in Cuba look for him. We can't let him be captured."