by Abhishek Roy
As Romanovich’s car passed through, he hurled himself onto the SUV which was following it. He managed to attach his grappling hook to the rear bumper towing hook of the SUV as he continued to be dragged on. In spite of the enormous pain and damage that he experienced being dragged on by the speeding SUV, he tried his best to keep his head low and pull himself onto the rear of the car without the driver noticing him in the rear view mirrors. By the time the cars had reached the Castillo De La Real Fuerza, Lucas had managed to slide himself below the SUV as he continued to hold on. The cars passed through the security in the main entrance and headed to the rear of the castle.
As the cars came to a halt in front of the keep and Romanovich was being escorted by multiple viper agents, Lucas looked around trying to familiarize himself with the surrounding. He could see at least twenty five viper agents with weapons ranging from shot guns to automatic rifles patrolling around. The signal jammers and security cameras were placed all around the main keep. There was a make shift hangar located to the south which was heavily guarded. Lucas was pretty sure that something interesting must have been going on in there. He would need to visit the hangar whenever he had an opportunity. On the southern side beyond the inner walls was the draw bridge over the waterbody leading to the Gulf of Mexico. Lucas sneaked out from the car and took refuge behind a nearby watch tower. He needed to figure out a plan quickly as to how he would rescue Annie and find out what Rosmus was up to.
Castillo De La Real Fuerza
The ‘Castle of The Royal Force’ as it is commonly known, was a perfect platform for Rosmus and his associates to work from the shadows. The castle provided a defensive framework on its own apart from whatever Rosmus had set up. However, the environment and the weather was in Lucas’s favor. There was a storm brewing up and it had started to rain. The moon less sky was dark like a cup of black coffee. As the outpour increased, the guards vanished into the castle. Only the ones on the watch towers and the hangar were still standing firm. Lucas started climbing up one of the watch towers. He needed to get a good view of the surroundings and in the process, eliminate as many agents as possible to ensure a smooth escape later.
The search lights on the watch towers probing the entire section around the keep made it look like a high security prison. Lucas needed to shut off those lights if he was to have any chance of getting into the keep. The constantly lashing rain and wind was making it difficult for him to climb the walls of the tower, but he hung on to it. On reaching the top and peeking over, Lucas could hear the two guards joking about some incident that had occurred in the city. They were facing towards the keep while continuing their discussion. Their assault rifles were dangling from the straps around their shoulders while they moved the search light around the castle and continued with their discussion. Only a lunatic would think about storming the castle that night. Well, Lucas was exactly that kind of a person.
He took out his Swiss knife and slowly moved forward. He needed to eliminate the guards without allowing them to raise an alarm. As a flash of lightning blazed across the city line of Havana, Lucas stabbed the first guard on the back of his neck. The second guard shouted and tried to grab his rifle. His scream was masked by the roar of the thunder. Lucas made perfect use of the opportunity and stabbed the victim on his throat. The guards were successfully eliminated with minimal fuss. Lucas looked around the watchtower and located a binocular. He also found a few hand grenades and a walkie-talkie. He had to take down two more watch towers before he could enter the keep. However, he had a better plan.
He removed the clothes of one of the guards and wore them. He would disguise himself as a Viper agent and try to enter the keep. He took the assault rifle and spare ammo and put the rest of the stuff in his backpack. With the binoculars he could clearly see two guards in the next tower and one in the tower closest to the keep. Apart from these on the western side, four guards were closely watching the hangar. Lucas pointed the search light in the away from the keep and placed the body of the dead uniformed guard beside it so as to raise minimal suspicion. He swiftly climbed down the tower and headed to the next one.
On the second tower the guards were alert and constantly scanning the area. Lucas could not take them down using his knife without raising an alarm. He had to use his silenced M9. He used his goggles to locate the position of the guards by switching on the infrared vision. A slight peek from the edge and two quick shots is what it took to eliminate the guards. He placed the guards and the search light in the same way as he had done in the first tower. He climbed down and moved on to the last tower. He would try a different approach this time.
Since there was only one guard, he could walk straight into the tower giving the other guard an impression that he had come up to help him out. The darkness coupled with the heavy rain and the fact that Lucas was soaking wet in the Viper’s dress would make it look even more convincing. He could exploit the guard for a little bit of time before taking him out. He used the stairs this time to reach the top of the tower. As he entered the top and closed the door, the Viper agent looked behind.
‘Oni ishchutdlya vas vnutri. YA budutvoimzamena’ he said in Russian which roughly meant that the guard had been asked to report inside the keep while Lucas would take care of the surveillance from the watch tower temporarily. As the guard headed down, Lucas changed the direction of the search light and quickly headed down the stairs. He set up a C4 stick on the tower to ensure it could assist in his escape in the future.
He would also need the security access codes to get through the main door of the keep. So, he used his grappling hook to slide down the wet outer walls of the tower. As the Viper agent slowly went towards the main entrance, Lucas followed him like a shadow. The agent went through the outer wooden door to the entrance which had a two-step security setup to get through it. The agent put up the security codes first and then got his palm scanned to open the main door. At this point Lucas sneaked up from behind and eliminated his target. He lifted the body and walked along the corridor. The corridor was surprisingly empty and the Viper agents seem to be missing. Lucas located a store room nearby and dumped the body there. He also set up a C4 stick there. Next, he needed to find out the surveillance room to cut off all form of surveillance and also locate Annie. He had his head down while he walked along the corridor moving by the security cameras. The Viper agents would not be able to see his face as he had switched on the infrared beam on his goggles.
As he reached the end of the corridor and sneaked past a room, he noticed five Viper agents enjoying their drink and watching soccer on television. The Euro qualifiers were in progress and Russia was playing in the qualifier against Belgium. Lucas quickly went ahead and progressed to the next corridor. To his left he could see signs pointing to an exit possibly towards the hangar. From the other side two agents were heading towards him. Lucas headed towards the agents with his head down.
‘Have you seen Blanco?’ One of the agents asked him.
Lucas quickly directed them towards the room suggesting that he was probably watching soccer with others. The agents walked by heading towards the room while Lucas briskly walked away from them.
On the next corridor Lucas could finally locate the surveillance room. Three agents were busy with the radar and radio when he entered the room. No one seemed to bother looking at the CCTV footage.
‘Can I help you?’ asked one of the agents.
Lucas calmly replied, ‘Well Blanco headed out some time ago towards the hangar and he is not back yet. Can you please check if he is still waiting there or has he come back’?
One of the agents now turned towards the screens to locate Blanco while the rest of them continued working with the radar. Lucas stood behind the agent and made sure no one was looking towards him. He quickly grabbed hold of head and with a turn of the head eliminated his target. He turned around towards the other two who were still busy with the radar. Lucas took out his silenced M9 and killed them both. He quickly moved the bodies to a corner
of the room to hide them from the agents who would pass by. He made the dead surveillance operator sit in front of the CCTV screens to create an illusion to the agents passing by that he was busy with surveillance.
Next Lucas went through the security cameras looking for Annie. The first floor housed the dormitory for the agents and the dining room. Apart from that the electrical systems room and backup generators were also located on the first floor. On the second floor, he could see a large number of Viper agents standing in guard in front of Romanovich’s room. The big Russian was restlessly moving around his room and talking to someone on his cell phone. Rest of the rooms on the floor seemed to be empty. Lucas checked the footage from the third floor. There were multiple cells on the floor which had been built so that captured pirates could be held temporarily. Most of the cells were empty except one where a couple of guards were standing guard. He could see Rosmus moving up to the third floor. Lucas was pretty certain that he had located Annie’s cell.
Outside the keep, the footage from the hangar was quite interesting. A number of briefcases were stacked in the hangar. It also contained an armored truck where multiple armed agents were checking and loading the briefcases. Lucas could not waste any more time. He would need to get on with his plan. He set up the security footage in an endless loop so that his exploits would no longer be recorded. He also shut down all security systems to ensure an easy passage during his escape. He used the radio to send a SOS transmission on all frequencies. Next he would need to disrupt the electrical transmission and bring darkness over the land.
Lucas headed towards the electrical systems. First up was the backup generator. He attached a C4 stick below the generator encasement and turned off the voltage regulator. He punctured the container holding the generator fuel. His exit would now literarily lead to a big blast. Next he went to the electrical transmission room. Two agents were sitting in the room talking to each other. Lucas entered the room in a flash and shot both of them with his M9. He attached the last stick of C4 to the main control panel and turned the power off. The backup generators did not start and hence darkness prevailed across the castle leading to utter panic among the agents. Lucas had to use this opportunity to quickly get hold of Annie and get out of there.
He turned on the night mode on his goggles and quickly headed towards the stairs. He could hear the guards coming over from the hallway. Also the ones from the dormitory would head in direction of the electrical transmission room. He reached the stairs and quickly headed for the third floor. He could see flashlights on the second floor on his way through. He got a glance of Rosmus who was heading to Romanovich’s room. The Russian tycoon had started to panic and was looking for safety. Lucas did not have time to visit them immediately. He would take care of them soon. But first, he needed to rescue Annie.
On reaching the third floor, he could see that the guards were missing. They had entered Annie’s cell. Lucas decided to cause more panic among the guards. He took the couple of grenades that he had collected from the watchtower and threw them in front of the gate of the cell. Around five seconds later with a huge explosion, the door gave through. He stormed into the room taking down the first guard with his M9. The second one hit back making him drop his gun. However, Lucas managed to overpower him and quickly kill him off with his Swiss knife.
Annie was in really bad shape. She was dangling in thin air. Her arms and legs were tied with ropes and they were attached to hooks attached from the ceiling and the ground. The bastards had wanted to stretch her and rip her open. She also had a thin rope around her neck which the guards were fastening to suffocate her. She didn’t look good, but she was still alive. Lucas cutoff the ropes as Annie’s body fell on the ground. He slowly lifted her up and patted her cheek as she slowly gained consciousness.
‘It’s about time you woke up and helped me’, he smiled. Annie gave Lucas a very faint smile. She was too weak owing to the harsh treatment she had been subjected to.
Lucas picked up the pistol of the fallen guard and some ammo and handed them over to Annie. He also picked up the army knife which the guard had been using. He had spent enough time with the Swiss knife; it was about time that he used something bigger. They could not take the stairs and go through all the viper agents. So Lucas used the chain to pull himself up to the ceiling and opened up the vent on top of the cell. He assisted Annie up first before following in the same direction. They used the vent and slowly moved towards the top of the building. When Lucas came out of the outlet of the vent on top of the roof, he could see five Viper agents running around frantically looking around the edges to figure out if someone was trying to evade the watchtowers and get into the keep. Little did they know that Lucas had already entered their stronghold and messed up their security arrangements.
He asked Annie to wait near the vent outlet with the pistol and to ensure complete silence. Lucas meanwhile lifted his assault rifle and headed towards the guards. The guards were alarmed by the presence of a new person. However Lucas was still dressed as a Viper agent which made identification really difficult in the dark. Before they could decipher his identity, he eliminated all of them using the rifle. The shots that had been fired had drawn attention of the guards who were either on the ground or guarding the hangar to the roof of the keep.
To create panic, Lucas turned the dial of his watch and detonated the C4 sticks that he had planted in the store room, the generator and the electrical control panel. The explosion rocked the building as smoke filled up the area. The generator fuel had ignited resulting in a big fire on the first floor as multiple Viper agents had caught fire. He had to take the opportunity to escape the keep. He dropped his rifle and bag pack to the ground. After that he attached the grappling hook to the side of the terrace, grabbed the other end and lowered his body to the side of the terrace. He would need to swing himself onto the watchtower where he had put up the last C4 stick. He asked Annie to come up and latch onto him firmly. He would get only one shot at this since the grappling hook might not be able to hold on to the weight of both of them. When Annie held him firmly, Lucas took two big swings before jumping off the grappling hook towards the watch tower.
He barely managed to hold on to the side of the tower with his hand as the grappling hook snapped. Annie safely lifted herself into the tower and provided her hand to assist Lucas. However owing to the slippery surface Lucas’s grip gave away as he came sliding down the outer wall of the watch tower. He landed with a thud fracturing his left arm. Annie rushed down the stairs to help Lucas stand up. He had been hurt really bad. It would take some time before his arm would be numb. Till then he would be in terrible pain. Lucas’s left arm was useless as of now.
Annie and Lucas headed for the hangar as Lucas pressed the dial of his watch once again. The C4 in the watchtower exploded. Annie took out a few guards with her first few shots at the hangar. The armored truck had its engines turned on as it headed out of the hangar. Annie and Lucas fired their guns in desperation. The truck needed to be stopped. Lucas could see Annie running down the hangar all guns blazing in her last bid to stop the truck. Lucas could now see Rosmus and Romanovich heading towards the hangar along with a bunch of Viper agents. He needed to take care of them. As he looked for cover to figure out an escape plan, he noticed a briefcase lying near him.
He needed to know why the briefcases were of such importance and why were they loaded in the armored truck. Lucas pulled the briefcase towards him. It was locked and he did not know the security code. However he had been trained to pick locks and crack combinations such as these. Lucas managed to crack the code with ease. Annie was still nowhere to be seen. The contents of the briefcase included a small black rectangular box of the size of a portable hard drive. Along with it a small black sealed metallic cylinder was also present. The briefcase was well padded and the contents were securely strapped to ensure that it did not move around while the briefcase was in transit. Lucas removed the rectangular box to check its contents. He was so engrossed with che
cking the contents that he did not notice a presence behind him. A heavy thud on the back of his head silenced him.
The Bleeding Sun
Lucas felt as if a grenade had exploded inside his head. He tried to slowly open his eyes, but his vision was blurred. He could see the gray ceiling on top of his head. The light in the room was shining brightly hindering his vision. Lucas slowly lifted his arm trying to prevent the light rays from falling into his eyes. His senses were slowly starting to respond. He was lying down on a bed in a cabin of some kind. The steel door was locked from the outside. The room had a chair and a table apart from the bed. There were no windows in the room. A single bulb located on the upper left corner of the room lit it up brightly. The only means of air flow, a ventilation shaft on the ceiling had been sealed off; a direct outcome of Lucas’s exploits on the previous day. Strangely Lucas had not been tied up. He was still wearing the uniform of the Viper agent. His boots had been removed. He checked his pockets to figure out if he had anything with him that could come handy.