by Mike Gomes
Click.
The bed did exactly as it had been designed to do, popping up two inches and swiveled on two mechanical arms that would allow it to lock back under its place with a simple push, similar to that of the hood of the car. A design that was simple and run by a spring, and needed nothing else to interfere with it.
Checking over her shoulder, Gabriella looked for anybody that may see what she was doing. The coast was clear. The general store was off in the distance at its small outpost, and she simply looked like a woman who was checking to make sure the load in the back of the truck was being properly held down.
Placing her fingers under the lifted bed, she pulled it up slightly, looking inside, exposing all the items that Antonio had put in its place.
"You are the best, Antonio." Gabriella smiled at the vision of the Brugger & Thomet APC9K submachine gun that was first and foremost at the edge of the bed. There was no doubt that Antonio had placed it in that position for quick access if the couple had come under fire from anybody that was after them.
"First things first," Gabriella whispered to herself, pushing down again on the bed of the pickup, locking it back into place. The information she had was set to provide her with all the equipment that she needed.
Moving back to the driver's seat, she closed the door behind her, and drove off into the distance where no road was. The vehicle’s tires and suspension had been modified by Antonio, creating an ability to take bumps, giving more of a bounce to the vehicle and allowing it not to bottom out. The design was meant to make the car feel more like it was floating on rough terrain, but more often than not, Gabriella got a feeling of seasickness as the car would drift up and down with each bump.
"I always told you this thing was gonna make me puke." Gabriella smiled to herself at the thought. "This is absolutely nasty."
With the pickup hitting another solid bump in the road, it bounced up, leveling itself off as she kept the speed up at over forty-five miles an hour. Without a road to follow, she needed to take her chances on whatever happened, knowing that she was going to drive the vehicle as long and as far as she could to create the distance she needed before Victor and his KGB friends tried to encounter her.
"I need to set up some reminders for these boys." Gabriella stopped the car in the middle of an open plain that showed nothing but her tire tracks.
Removing herself from the driver's seat, she grabbed the cowboy hat that belonged to her late husband off of the passenger seat and held it in her arms. Staring down, she held the hat close to her, drawing in a deep breath through her nose, again catching the scent of the man that she loved so much. The hat brought back memories of pleasant times where the two worked together side-by-side in the fields, baling hay, building a barn, and developing the closeness that only two people can have when they are the only ones around for miles and miles. Moving the hat in front of her slightly, she looked down at it, giving it a strong smile and looked up to the sky.
"I guess you wouldn't mind if I wear it this time." Gabriella smiled at the teasing she had previously given to her husband when she’d taken the hat from his head and placed it on her own.
"That's a man's hat, not a woman's hat," Antonio’s voice filtered in the back of her mind, echoing through the chambers of sadness that she was feeling. "What, are you trying to be as rugged as me?"
"You know I am," Gabriella replied to the voice inside her head. "But nobody ever looked as good in this as you did."
Taking the hat and placing it on her head, she felt a sense of pride as she moved her way to the back of the pickup. There was no way in her mind that Antonio was gonna die in vain.
Popping the latch for the bed of the truck again, she opened it wide, far from anybody else’s view as she sat alone in the empty plain.
"Oh Antonio, you naughty boy," Gabriella whistled as she lifted the bed up to its full height, seeing the array of items that now she knew she had to work with. Moving up the right side of the vehicle, she reached over into the back of the bed closest to the cab of the pickup.
"Landmines, not bad." She nodded, sliding out a box that contained four landmines. Each one a square, one-foot by one-foot, ready to be set up to be triggered.
Removing the landmines from their place, Gabriella went behind the vehicle ten yards, and started to spread the landmines apart ten-feet from each other, intersecting the tire tracks that she had laid. One by one, she dug a shallow hole and placed the bomb within it. Covering it over gently with the sand, she allowed the metal wire that still connected it to set up the triggering mechanism to extend out of the ground. If the KBG were chasing her, there's no way that they would distinguish the small wires in the little box on the ground as they raced to try to catch their prey.
One by one, each mine was planted and set for explosion, giving Gabriella the first feeling of doing something to avenge the loss of her late husband.
"Well, this'll blow the shit out of 'em." She looked up to the sky as if being able to hear a response from Antonio. "I just hope it's the front wheel that hits it. You know what that will do, Antonio. Blow the front end off the truck and send them all into a fiery grave."
Giving a devilish grin and adding a giggle to her voice, the woman known as ‘The Mantis’ was laying her trap. Her only wish was that she would be there to see it, hoping that Victor was the first one to ignite the bombs and set himself in the position of being trapped.
Continuing her journey to the mountains, Gabriella drove a hundred and thirty more miles before reaching the base of the mountains. Stepping from the vehicle, she looked at the pickup that held so many memories of her and Antonio using it to try to build a life that they had always wanted. All of it to be snatched away in a moment by a single madman who had not a care for anything he did.
Gabriella took as much as she could carry from the bed of the pickup. The .45 caliber Smith & Wesson tucked neatly into her pants. The semi-automatic machine gun strapped over her shoulder. The host of MREs, rope, and survival materials all placed out in perfect order, able to be put in the backpack until it was overflowing.
All that was left were more of the bombs that Antonio had placed in the truck. Packages of C4 and fuses that could either be set for lighting or for being setup with trip wires. As Gabriella looked back at the road she had traveled, the general store at the outpost was long behind her. There was no signal of a soul anywhere and she knew that from this point on, that being on her feet was the only thing that was going to help her survive.
Looking through the bottom of the bed, Antonio had left one surprise for her that she knew was his way of taking care of her in his afterlife. A satellite linking telephone. There was no need for cell towers or a landline, the phone would directly connect into the satellites and then move its way down. But the phone wasn't general issue and didn't just go with the average campers and hikers. The phone was more detailed, more developed, it held the ability to connect to the internet through the satellites, and also give her the ability to use encryption to keep her hidden from the people on the move. There was no doubt that they would be watching transmissions coming out of the area and trying to link on them as quick as possible.
"You do think of everything, Antonio." She smiled as she placed the phone into the front pocket of her jacket.
Leaving a few alterations to the pickup that would surprise anybody that decided to open the doors or look into the bed, Gabriella felt satisfied that she would increase her odds by trimming down the number of people looking for her with her simple set of planned explosions in different areas.
"They'll be lucky if three of them make it to me alive," she muttered to herself, knowing that not just Antonio’s weapons would swing the tide in her favor, but also her expansive knowledge of creating weapons in the mountains and the woods. Extensive training on developing life-saving measures on the go was what she specialized in, and now she had the perfect opportunity to fulfill it.
"The alarms probably have been set for me worldwide," Gabrie
lla mused, standing at the base of the mountain, trying to see which way she would go. "If I know the KGB, they've already alerted the CIA, MI6, and everybody else that I'm a mad, rogue agent who's just trying to kill everybody they can."
Taking a moment to compose herself, she saw the route that she wanted. At the bottom of the mountain, the trees were thick and developed, but as she moved higher and closer to the frost line, they became more scattered and spread out, until finally, she would simply be hiking through wide open expanses that would allow vulnerability to anybody going through them.
"Okay, Victor, let's see how good you really are."
Chapter Nineteen
The homestead had been preserved by Victor. Other than the burning barn, he kept everything exactly as it was. He knew the KGB would be arriving in moments, waiting for the opportunity to inspect everything. They loved finding the needle in the haystack that would lead them to their victory. But Victor already knew the path that Gabriella was going to take. Her training would expose her, just as he knew his training exposed him. They received the same training from the same people at the same times. The idea that their tactics would be different from one to the other held no real possibility for the man who was waiting to make his check-in and allow the KGB to know exactly what he thought.
Moving into the central home, Victor slowly walked from room to room, making sure not to disturb anything. His eyes glanced over the fireplace and the logs of wood that waited to be burned. Seeing the rustic chairs and sofa that the couple had, it was clear that their design was to keep with their environment rather than making it lavish and out of place in such a rough terrain. They were hardened people who were ready to live a hardened lifestyle that they appreciated and loved.
"Not exactly the Ritz, but I understand," Victor said to himself. "And surprises, surprises around every turn."
Making his way to the far end of the small home, Victor inspected the bathroom and the bedroom, noting that there was only one. No bassinet, no items for a child. The couple had obviously either not had a child or had anything that distinguishes a child removed so that the KGB would not try to track it.
Moving to the front of the home, Victor stepped out onto the farmers porch and sat down in one of the two rocking chairs that were side by side. Unbeknownst to him, his unintentional picking of the chair happened to be the one that Antonio had sat in. The man who he had killed, he now held his place on the front porch of his home.
"I can see why they liked it here." Victor reached down into his duffel bag and removed a bottle of water. Opening the top, he took a long sip and immediately put the cap back on. He knew that if he was going to track the Mantis, that she would head for the mountains or another location, and that water would be at a premium.
A plume of smoke held on the side of the home, Victor looked down the road to see three vehicles, all in black, racing up the road. The unstable ground under the men driving was evident, bouncing the cars from side to side, they had obviously been designed for city driving and not the outback of Northern Chile.
Sliding to a halt as if they were in an action movie, the three vehicles stopped, and six men stepped from the cars, all dressed in black suits with white shirts.
"What? Are you guys here for a party?" Victor joked, slightly rocking in the chair and smiling at the men in front of him. As if on command, the men darted behind the cars, drew their weapons, and began shouting at the man to lay down on his face, ready to apprehend him.
"I'm KBG, you fools, Victor spoke in flawless Russian. "I'm the one who called you. Who's in charge here?"
"I am," said an older man as he stood up from behind one of the cars, still having his handgun trained on Victor. "If you are the man I am supposed to be in contact with, maybe you can tell me why there is no satellite contact in Northern Chile?"
"Really? We're going to do this? We're really going to do the code words?" Victor rolled his eyes and looked up to the sky. "There is no satellite contact, because it's a desolate place where no one wants to live."
The older man commanded his men to drop their guns and place them back into their holsters. The signal was sent to Victor and the response was accurate to let him know that he was the person that was there.
"It's my pleasure to meet you, sir. You have an outstanding reputation," the older man said as he walked over extending his hand to the man that sat on the farmer's porch. "We'll start inspecting the home now."
"If you do, you'll die." Victor didn’t bother to make eye contact with the man or shake his hand. "What is your name anyways?"
"I'm called Yuri," he answered, still waiting for Victor to give him eye contact. "I've been working with this team for several years. We always sweep the home."
"You're wasting your time. She's not here." Victor shook his head at the man. "Is it safe to say, you know who I am?"
"Your name is Victor, correct?" Yuri said, nodding his head, looking to have Victor agree with him.
"You must have missed the first day of spy school," Victor snarled. "You're asking me rather than telling me what's going on. If you have a question of who I am, should you really be letting me act this way, and should you really allow me to be armed and standing here in front of you?"
"You responded to the code word in an affirmative way. There's no reason that you would know that information if you weren't the man we were in contact with."
"Unless I'm one of the people he called about. I could’ve tortured Victor until he gave me the information so I could draw you all in and kill all of you," Victor said, finally turning his head to make eye contact with Yuri.
Standing in silence, Yuri looked at Victor trying to find out his motivation. Was it simply that he was trying to gain control of the operation, or was he marking his territory as being the leader in the situation?
"Gentlemen, inside. Sweep the home."
"That's a mistake," Victor said again. "I've walked through. You can guarantee there's booby traps in there. Your men are going to have to be quite vigilant."
The team of five men moved by Victor and entered the front of the house. Room by room, they swept through as Victor sat still on the front porch, looking at Yuri, and trying to understand what the man's motivation was for not taking his advice.
"You're not the trustful type are you, Yuri?" Victor asked. "That can be bad in this line of business."
"I beg your pardon, Victor, but I know all about you and your history. I've studied the work you've done, and it seems to me that more often than not, you weren't the trusting type of guy either. You wouldn't allow someone to just tell you who they were or tell you not to inspect something. You've always been much more rigid than that."
"That's true. Unless I was standing face-to-face with an acclaimed KGB agent who had done everything that there is to do, including attempting to capture his partner who frauded the KGB for many years."
"You speak of Nikolai," Yuri said, nodding his head. "Obviously in my studies of you, Nikolai was mentioned many times. He seems like he was an outstanding agent before he decided to steal."
"He still is a great agent. That's part of the problem. We can't go running in on this man and just decide to do whatever we want. It needs to be thought out. It needs to be processed. It needs to be taken one step at a time."
"And what does all of this have to do with the Mantis?" Yuri asked, becoming frustrated with the tone of Victor's voice. "We're here for the Mantis, correct? Not Nikolai?"
"Yes, the Mantis. She was once Nikolai's lover." This statement caused a blank expression to sweep over Yuri’s face.
"That isn't documented anywhere," Yuri finally managed to speak, trying to pose some disagreement with Victor. "How would you know that?"
"Because I was the man's partner for years. I knew him when he fell in love with her. He tried to pass her off as an accountant, but it was clear that her skills laid somewhere else," Victor explained. "So, when he got himself into trouble, she's the one he contacted. He attempted to have her com
e after me, but it was so obvious that I needed to track her to this place to try to eliminate her, but I got her husband first."
"Was that also in regard to what happened in South Africa," Yuri asked, attempting to take some of the swagger out of the Victor’s attitude. "It's our understanding that you had her contained and she still got away."
"That is true." Victor smiled. "She got lucky. Someone came to the door of the hotel room. I had to make the decision to not murder her and everyone in that hotel at that time. I think I made the right decision because eliminating that number of witnesses would have caused a worldwide manhunt for a serial killer."
"I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean to place doubt on your actions."
"Yes, you did. You're doing the same thing that I'd do with someone. You've done your homework on me."
Crack, boom!
An explosion shook the house as the bedroom for the couple that had once lived there blew out its windows, and smoke billowed from the home that was now quickly catching on fire. Within moments, four men ran from the home, coughing and wheezing with the smell of smoke in their eyes and lungs, falling to the ground, trying to catch air for themselves again. Yuri had thrown himself to the ground and covered his head, thinking that there could be possibly more fallout from the explosion, but all the while, Victor sat in the rocking chair, slowly moving back and forth as he brought a cigarette out of its pack and lit it in his mouth.
"Don't tell me they sent me the coward division," Victor smirked.
The men on the ground pulled themselves up and dusted the dirt off their bodies that had now stained the suits that they were wearing.
"I think this is hardly a sign of weakness to say that we covered ourselves up from being exploded," Yuri snapped. "Some may think it's even a fool who didn't."
"No, it's a fool who doesn't listen to another agent that tells him that he had already been through the house and that there are booby traps. The death of that man under your command sits firmly on your shoulders. I hope that you will report it accurately."