Chapter 187 - Tomorrow Is Kidnapping Time
Chapter 187 – Tomorrow Is Kidnapping Time
BAM.
Mira slammed the command center door as the winter blizzard was raging outside. Her whole balaclava was covered in snow, her shotgun was frozen, and her body was trembling from the minus temperature outside.
Anna was reading the newspaper while Del was looking at the computer while analyzing the data he had gathered for several months. It was close to December, but Del still hadn't made any significant movement yet.
In particular, whatever he was trying to do always end up with a very low profile and creating insignificant progress to the main goal. There wasn't even any green light to kidnap Aveline and Daniel yet. So far, it was waiting and waiting for something that might come or not.
There would be a blizzard tomorrow. The temperature might hit up to minus 100. It was the perfect time to kidnap Daniel in his sleep while Anna kidnapped Aveline. Mira was back from the nearby military installation to get the patrol schedule.
Yeah, she managed to pull that off without killing anyone or noticed by anyone. That was Mira for you. Although quite pricey, she could get the job done. Anna wouldn't be able to pull that off, nor Del.
"Ah, you're back, did you get the item I am looking for?" Del asked.
Mira gave Del a little camera. It was the same camera that spy would use back in the cold war. It was tiny enough to be hidden but it still provided with sharp enough image that would be usable for future operation between Del and the intelligence agencies. Still, this was for tomorrow.
It was the modern version of the camera. You just needed to plug the camera into the computer and browsed into the folder of the camera. It was that simple, to be honest. Del opened the folder containing the pictures.
"Hmm? Anna, take a look."
Mira took a photograph of the soldiers stationed in the installation. As expected, they were armed with submachine guns instead of bolt-action rifles. It might look nothing important for naked eyes, but in terms of someone who knew military knowledge of Ilbistirum, it meant something else.
Special forces were stationed in the region, probably as a response to the rising threat of terrorism due to the constant lost that the imperial government had. It also provided extra security for Sneggor, the kind of security that neither Del nor Anna wanted.
"Hmm, not good, these are special forces," Anna commented at the picture.
"Special forces? How do you know?" Mira asked.
Anna pointed at the submachine gun that one of the soldiers held on his hand, "This. Regular infantry rarely used submachine gun as their weapon. They always used bolt-actionr rifle."
"You sure?" Mira was not sure.
Del then pointed his hand at the clothing that the soldiers wore. "This is not a regular cold weather uniform that is used by federal military. This is the kind that is used by flying soldiers."
"Alright, you convince me. Will there be any change of plan?" Mira asked.
"Probably not. But we might need more supporting personnel than we previously expected. Three of us wouldn't be enough, we need someone standing by on the sky," Anna said. "Del, how's your piloting skill?"
"Are you nuts?" Del only had been studying it for three weeks ever since he held the stick of the helicopter. Flying it in the middle of a blizzard was right out of his safe zone, and the helicopter ability.
"Sorry, my bad. Hmm, well, I guess we need an air support from above. I think I'd feel safe if there's an F-15 watching me over from the sky," Anna sighed, knowing that the request might be too much.
"Not really. We can convince Zastava that it was important while Mcnamara will arrange it. Basically, Zastava might be able to provide us with ground support while Mcnamara will provide us with air support."
"You make it sounds easier than it should have been," Anna commented.
"Well, it's rather easy, to be honest. If you ask me, we only need to give enough reasons for Zastava to care and we'd be safe. Mcnamara loves flying, and in case you don't know, he always fly with a B-1 to bomb those imperial bastards, right?" Del said.
"You are right. Still, with what we have right now, shouldn't we be worried?" Mira was skeptic about the situation. "We have the equipment, but the odds are against us, aren't they?"
"They are against us, well, yeah." Thanks to Mira, now the group had a sense of doubt on their planning. They didn't have the best plan in the world, but they didn't have the worst plan in the world either. It was fairly balanced.
"Anyway, here's the guard duty."
Del opened the guard duty for tomorrow. He wanted to search whether there was a security gap that he could use or not. If there wasn't any, then there wouldn't be any change of plan. If there was one, then they would kidnap Daniel and Aveline at that specific time window.
[Patrol Team A] [03:00-08:00]
[Patrol Team B] [08:00-11:00]
[Patrol Team C] [11:00-15:00]
[Patrol Team D] [15:00-16:00]
[Patrol Team E] [16:00-20:00]
[Patrol Team F] [20:00-21:00]
[Patrol Team G] [21:00-02:00]
"Weird, but good for us, I think?"
"Huh? What do you mean? They cover an entire day. There wouldn't be any day without any patrol," Mira became even more skeptical.
"You're right, but also, please, they are regular demons, too. What makes you think that soldiers wouldn't have any problem guarding the town for five hours straight in the middle of a night blizzard while half asleep?" Del pointed out the gap.
"Huh?" Mira still didn't get it.
Anna tapped Mira's shoulder, "Let me explain it. So, Mira, Patrol Team G would probably be exhausted in midnight. Plus the blizzard, I don't think security will be as tight as Patrol Team D or Patrol Team F that only guards for one hour or so. As a result, we'll go after them at 01:00 tonight."
"Solid plan. Prepare the tranquillizer and thermal blanket, we'll have a long night to go."
"Aye sir," Anna said.
Anna went to the cabin to prepare while Mira went for the coffee machine. It was still six in the morning and they would do the kidnapping at one tomorrow. There was still a lot of time to prepare the kidnapping.
Mira would be sleeping here again, probably. It was Saturday, and tomorrow would be Sunday. So far, there was no suspicion against them and their operation. The intelligence agencies were to blame for that. Every single bit of action against them was terminated swiftly.
To be honest, it was rather scary to know. If they got on the wrong side of the intelligence agencies, they would be more than merciless in hunting them down. And to account that several members staying in the base were former special forces from back on Earth just gave Del and Anna chills.
Del returned to the cabin after looking at the pictures in the camera. Del opened the door of the command center. The heavy snow was pilling up in front of the door. He would clean it later, it was not thick enough to be scraped using shovel.
The helicopter wasn't in the cabin, Morris was outside to help the others to commence another military operation on the west. Well, if he needed a helicopter, it would be tomorrow. Right now, he needed a bed more than anything.
Anna was mindlessly walking around the front of the cabin while kicking the snow every once and then. She also mumbled something weird from her mouth, "Two plus two is five, two plus two is five."
Del approached Anna, he knew where that sentence came from, "Orwell, 1984, isn't it?"
"Yeah."
"Why are you saying that?"
"The irony of working for military. You have to keep reminding yourself that you're doing something for the better, even though the method is usually morally disgusting if not downright wrong."
"Since when you become a thinker?" Del asked.
"I'm not a thinker, I just happened to remember that quote. I like to think about stuff, you know, connecting one thing to another, and bam, something new came out. It's interesting and exciting. Especially in this world of ours."
"You know, Anna, you seem to be happier, in comparison with 6 months ago."
"Really? I don't realize that, I'm not really observing myself. But one thing though, I get used to my own pain and that's a good thing. Truthfully, past is the past, I don't even think of what's going on in Elbanian anymore. This is our life now, better get used to it."
"No more nukes?"
"Not against them anymore."
"Alright. I am just worried if you mindlessly wander like that. I just want to check on you, I hope you don't really mind it. After all, there are only two Moore's left in this world."
"Hahaha, that's a good one."
Del left for the cabin, leaving Anna behind.