the soldier

5^th July, 2015

Senica, Slovakia

Kovac Inc. took up a grand portion of the international shipping yard east of Senica, one of the major border cities to Sokovia, but it wasn’t where Ghost was planning to hit.

Most recently, Kovac had been making headlines due to his involvement at the border, mostly, for sponsoring the aid-camps for the Sokovian immigrants. Pictures of him posing with unsmiling Sokovian refugees, and holding orphaned children, were all that seemed to be featured on local and national news. His company owned several of the properties in Senica, and she was willing to bet she’d find him, and the documentation she needed somewhere within the small empire he had built.

She made it to the outskirts of Senica as night fell, the emergency spotlights of the camps visible through the trees ahead. She drove carefully for a little longer, spotting a dense copse of trees just off-road where she could store the car. It was cold enough for even her breath to fog, and she drew up her mask with no small relief, tugging on a pair of fingerless gloves which did little to stay the chill that settled on her skin. She started towards the camp on foot, unwilling to draw attention to herself.

There were cooking fires going, and the smell of rations reminded her she’d forgotten to eat again. Years of living intravenously meant forming habits around bodily functions and need were hard to form. The sharp bite of hunger in her gut was easy to ignore, however, as she was also used to years of feeling it. She reached the first ring of shelters without incident, and fell in behind a pair of women walking in the direction of Senica, bowing her head as three humanitarian-aid workers hurried past, uniformed in dark green shirts and pants. Ahead, where the spotlights were the brightest, where the main road began again, she could pick out men milling around who were neither refugees nor aid workers. These men were large, built by years of training, with military posture and formation still visible in their ‘casual’ stance.

To her left, the trees fell away to reveal the small mountainous range that marked the border between Sokovia and Slovakia, and even now, she could make out headlights on the roads that connected the two countries, no doubt bringing across more of the displaced.

Pretending to pause and admire the view, she counted the men. They were standing in front of a temporary shelter, three of them lounging on and around the steps, and another two lurking further in the shadows, beside what looked to be a large, black car. So Kovac was here. There was no other reason for an armoured transport and so many guards elsewise.

Maybe she’d be back sooner than she had expected. Finding Kovac so soon meant that she would save time tracking him down. Now, she just had to be patient. She had no desire to subject the people here to any more pain and suffering.

She turned, and headed for the gap between two tents, ducking down and disappearing into the Grey.

Kovac may have been a part sponsor of the relief effort, but by the décor in his office building, she suspected he could afford to put all the refugees up in hotels, and not feel the dent in his pocketbook.

It made anger burn low in her chest.

The money this man had was blood money. It was money made by sin, to sin. It was opulence for opulence’s sake, and she thought of the many lives destroyed by the man sitting at the desk in front of her and stewed.

They’d been alone for the better part of an hour; Kovac had gotten straight out of his vehicle and ridden his unnecessary elevator up to the top floor of his three story office building, and had been working through a large stack of paperwork without pause. He was a bad man, but she could admire his work ethic if nothing else. She watched him, reading his writing upside down. He seemed to be signing things, adding his signature to papers marked for it, but when he pulled a document in English towards him, she moved to see it.

From what she could tell, the other documents had been related to his trade in the EU – this, however, was an American document, as made evident by the spelling of ‘Center’ on the first page. She stepped around the desk, and leant over his shoulder, careful to watch the two dangling cords of her hoodie as she scanned the writing in front of her. In the Grey, things were a little harder to focus on, but the words on the page were clear.

It was a missive, sent by an anonymous party – a print out of an encoded fax, as evidenced by the handwritten note in Slovakian by Kovac’s secretary – calling for recruits. She read on. The author of the paper had not signed a name, but on the bottom of the page, a series of binary numbers stood out to her.

It was HYDRA code, and whoever had sent it was looking to form a team of some kind, international and blacklisted recruits encouraged to report back through the channel the fax had come from. It was almost archaic methodology, but clearly effective, as it appeared this message had not been picked up on any official channels. The author was smart, and undoubtedly ruthless.

She watched, still as stone, as Kovac began to write a letter of recommendation, naming a few men she recognized as being upon her list of potential HYDRA members. It was enough to convince her. Kovac was HYDRA, and his willingness to continue to support the cause had just sealed his fate. She stepped back a pace so that she wasn’t looming over him, and left the Grey.

It took him a moment to register her presence; she could see when he caught sight of her reflection in the polished bronze paperweight beside his desk lamp. He jumped up and whirled to face her, papers going flying, chair falling to the side as he opened his mouth to scream. She was already in motion. The sharp jab to his throat made him gasp and choke, his cry for help dying before it began. He clutched at his neck, eyes bulging as he tried to draw breath, and she kicked his legs out from under him, hearing the faint squelch of his kneecap dislocating. He collapsed with a whimper, and she crouched before him, rolling him over roughly so he was able to see her face.

His face was screwed up in pain, but when she pulled back her hood and bandana, his eyes widened near comically, wheezing as he tried to articulate frenzied speech. The recognition was clear, and she waited until his surprise turned into fear.

“Áno. Som tým, koho si myslíte.” Yes. I am who you think I am. She said calmly. He made another noise that might have been her title, and she held a silencing finger to his lips. “V tomto svetle sa dostaňme priamo k časti vašej spolupráce.” And in that light, let us get straight to the part of your cooperation.

His face darkened, and he made a move towards his desk, attempting to right himself. She fisted her gloved hand in his short hair, catching more of his skin than anything, and bringing his head down sharply onto the floor. The resulting thud dulled Kovac’s eyes, and she sighed. “HYDRA ma možno dobre vycvičila, ale v ich neprítomnosti moja trpezlivosť mizne.” HYDRA may have trained me well, but in their absence, my patience wanes. Blinking hard, the man affixed her with a filthy glower.

“Seru na teba, suka, smrdíš zo zvierat - neurobíš to odtiaľto živým, budem-” Fuck you, bitch, you stinking animal - you won't make it out of here alive, I will- His croaking rant was cut off again by another sharp blow to his throat.

“Nepotrebujem ťa nažive, Kovac. Dajte mi, čo chcem, a môžem vás ušetriť.” I do not need you alive, Kovac. Give me what I want and I may spare you. She reached for a blade on her belt, briefly testing the keenness of the blade, before she jammed it straight through Kovac’s hand and into the carpeted floor below. His strangled cry was loud enough to make her still, slapping a firm hand over his mouth to stifle any other sounds as he squirmed underneath her.

There was no movement from the other side of the door, and she relaxed. Kovac must have had his office soundproofed. She was willing to bet he was regretting the choice. she stood, leaving Kovac on the floor as she pulled his desk chair up and sat down. “I need your list of HYDRA contacts. Any one you sell to, anyone you buy off – your whole supply chain, and any rats associated with you.” She said idly. “You’re the first on my list, and it would make my life easier if you cooperated.” She swivelled in the chair to eye him. “You want to make my life easier, don’t you, Jakub?” He nodded faintly, face paling as she leant a little towards him. She smiled, slow and predatory. “Excellent. Will I find a list here?”

He shook his head, and she sighed. “Very well. I suppose we’ll have to go get it, then, won’t we?” she began to gather the scattered papers on his desk anyway, ignoring his occasional whimpers as she began to sweep his office, taking her time at his large filing cabinet. He appeared to be telling the truth; whilst there were plenty of contracts, receipts and general correspondence between Kovac and his customers and stakeholders, there weren’t as many names as she would have liked, and it was hard to tell which of the contracts were HYDRA related, and which were simply shady business.

She collected everything of interest to herself, and piled the rest atop his desk, and rooted through her backpack for her lighter. Kovac let out a small noise as the first flames appeared, licking greedily at the easy fuel she had provided. Satisfied, she gathered her things before turning back to him, and yanking the blade out of his hand. She waved it in his face. “Ak spustíte alarm, nájde sa iný domov. Vstať.” This will find another home if you raise an alarm. Get up.

Though he whined and shook as he stood on his busted knee, her threat seemed to have worked, and as he limped his way towards the door, the carpet began to catch fire behind them. Just as he opened his office door, she phased out of sight, shadowing him tightly so that he could feel the press of her invisible blade against his back. He was smart, quick to close his office door behind them as the guard stationed in the hallway jerked up at his approach. “Pán Kovac, pane.” Mr. Kovac, sir. He said, bowing his head slightly, the large machine gun slung across his body jerking with his movement.

Kovac waved his hand dismissively. From her position directly over his shoulder, she could see the fat beads of sweat rolling down the man’s neck. “Získajte auto. Musím ísť do skladu.” Get the car. I need to go to the warehouse.

“Áno, pane.” Yes, sir. The guard nodded, and turned to hurry before them, pressing the button of the elevator before heading for the staircase beside the elevator doors. Ghost couldn’t help but be suddenly glad for the elevator. Kovac – for all the wanton pain and destruction he had no issue dealing out – seemed to be unable to handle the pain of his knee, and she didn’t want to have to carry him down to the garage. Kovac stumbled into the elevator, leaning heavily into the wall and panting.

“I cannot go on…” he said in heavily accented English, eyes searching the reflective metal of the elevator doors for her, as he buckled to clutch dramatically at his knee. “please… have mercy.”

She stayed invisible. “Vieš koľko životov si si vzal?” Do you know how many lives you have taken?  she asked him, watching as he flinched at her disembodied voice, pressing the knife a little harder into his back, and making him freeze.

“Nikoho som nezabil!” I haven't killed anyone! He spat, straightening slowly.

She shook her head. “Maybe not with a gun in your grip, but there are bodies in the earth because of you. Because of HYDRA. Sokovia alone puts so much blood on your hands you should be drowning in it. I have no mercy for you, Jakub. I have no mercy for HYDRA.”

There was silence then, broken only by Kovac’s faint panting and the dull jingle of the elevator’s music. When the elevator doors opened, it was to find Kovac’s armoured transport awaiting, engine purring and with two guardsmen waiting to assist him into the back seat. She was forced to phase out of being entirely as they took the seats beside their boss, and perched uncomfortably on the divider between driver and the passenger’s seat.

They made their way out of the main township again, moving past the refugee camps, and towards the shipyard she had initially ignored in her research. She tried not to grow too annoyed with her assessment; it was unlikely she would have found what she was looking for without Kovac, and there was a certain satisfaction in capturing him anyway. Besides, there was the new matter of the encoded American transmission. She filed away the errant thoughts in favour of regarding the present with clarity. She was better than regret; on a mission, there wasn’t time to analyse past mistakes, and distraction could cost everything.

The car began to slow as they approached the gate of Kovac Inc.’s shipping yard, and it didn’t take long for the gate to be opened for them. It didn’t take them long to come to a stop in front of a large blue shipping container, and even through the snow that had accumulated across the whole yard, she could still see that this container showed signs of age that the others did not have, that there were bolts in the block of cement it rested on. This was no ordinary container.

The driver got out first, moving around to open the doors for the passengers, and Ghost filed out with them, quick to shift back into her position behind Kovac, leaning forwards to whisper in his ear; “Sám.” Alone.

“Počkaj tu. Na chvíľu sa vrátim.” Wait here. I will return momentarily. Kovac announced with a surprising amount of strength to his voice. He even had the gall to hold his head high as he limped towards the storage container. The door itself was padlocked, and she eyed the keyhole curiously. Kovac didn’t produce a key, instead pressing his thumb to the flat of the padlock. The faint chirping of a machinal acceptance lit up the key hole in green, and as the padlock opened, she could see the disguised biometric pad where his thumbprint had heated the metal. He opened the door, and she moved inside with him.

“Close the door.” She told him, and waited until he had reluctantly done so before she reappeared, still invisible to Kovac in the darkness of the container. He fumbled for the lights for a moment, and let out a sound of surprise as he registered her again as a line of LED lights in the ceiling lit the space.

“It is there.” He said, pointing over her shoulder, and she turned to look at the pedestal in the centre of the space. It was empty save for a single hard drive no bigger than her hand. “Now – I give you what you want. Now, you say, I live-”

She held up a hand, turning to quell his nervous speech with a killing look. “This is it? Everything?”

He nodded. “HYDRA nemá rád netesnosti.” HYDRA doesn’t like leaks. She tilted her head, watching his manufactured earnestness with dull interest. “Môžete si byť istí, že nikomu nepoviem, čo sa stalo, pretože by to znamenalo-” You can be assured I will not tell anyone what transpired, because it would mean-

“Je zaujímavé, že si myslíte, že ma zaujíma, či HYDRA vie o mojich plánoch.” It is interesting, that you think I care if HYDRA knows about my plans. She turned, and headed towards the hard drive, picking it up and slipping it into her backpack. Kovac was watching her, and when she took a slow deliberate step back towards him, a terrified realisation spread across his face. “HYDRA likes to feel powerful. HYDRA is used to being the predator. I’m simply turning the tables.” Kovac turned them, and bolted for the door. She moved after him with no desperation. He wouldn’t escape her, couldn’t get far enough away to matter.

She raised her gun, and fired a shot at him as he pulled open the door, his silhouette outlined as a perfect target. She was not her partner, not gifted with his brilliant eye and aim, but she wasn’t unfamiliar with her weapon, and it was a clean shot, and he crumpled – dead before he hit the ground.

The sudden chaos outside didn’t worry her, and she phased into the Grey as machine gun fire opened on the shipping container. She exited, invisible and intangible, and walking deliberately towards the men trying to avenge a man they only valued for his pocketbook. She dispatched them quickly and cleanly, leaving the three men bleeding into the pure white of the snow, and headed towards the armoured transport.

One name crossed off her list. She had only just begun.