Session 02 (Agent Jude)

After the commotion of the strange dog had passed, Jason and I returned our attention back to the man digging in the open ground that had raised his head in our direction at the sound of the scream.  After a few quiet moments, he resumed his digging.  Jason was the first to speak, looking at me, he directed me to move down to the right, to the edge of the tree line, somewhat approaching the shovel man.  After the bite fiasco, he turned to Jasper and Jagger, handing them the rifle and instructing them to take up an over-watch position to the left.  Tactically sound, I agreed and began moving quietly down the slight slope, moving from tree to tree until I reached the edge of the dense woods.

Moving quietly, Jason soon followed me with somewhat heavy feet, I could hear him about 10 meters behind me, tracing my steps, however the man with the shovel was less observant.  As Jason made his way to a large tree just outside the dense cover of the surrounding woods, a thick Russian voice began calling out, the bearded man in a dress appeared from the cabin, somewhat conversing with the man digging, I motioned to Jason that I would begin making my way into the more dense area of the woods, concealing myself better but never taking my eyes off the pair.

The bearded man eventually withdrew away from the grave digger, I looked at Jason, it was clear his plan was to grab the attention of the digging man and try to make him come closer to investigate.

I grabbed a small branch and snapped it, generating enough noise to seize his attention.  The effect was the opposite of what we desired, the man called out loudly, "Aldric", before running into the large shed out of sight.  The bearded man returned to the sight of the digging, now armed with an old surplus M1 Carbine.  The digging man also reappeared, also brandishing what appeared to be a Winchester lever action rifle.  The Bearded man began to address us, "Hello" he called, probing for a response.

My pistol in hand, shrouded in the sandwich bag and zip tied around my wrist, I took aim at the bearded man, waiting for all hell to break loose.

Within a few minutes, the digging man, returned to the shed and emerged once again, only this time carrying a huge spotlight rigged to a car battery, he began scanning the woods.  The beam passed right over me, the thick scrub proving to provide enough cover to obscure their view.  It was simple, where they were positioned along side the shed, I needed to get behind them, I needed to keep moving through the scrub so that their light couldn't find me.

I began moving quietly again, as I did, the spotlight hit the tree Jason was hiding behind, they had seen him, calling to him to show himself.  I used the opportunity to move faster out of view, not as silently as I had hoped as I clearly was heard, the light moved to me fast and three shots from the M1 Carbine slammed into trees behind me as I dove out of their sight.

Picking myself up as their attention returned to the tree Jason was using for cover, I moved to another large tree, halfway between the cover of the woods and the back far corner of the shed.  As my body slammed into the tree, a loud blood curdling scream filled the air, we were discovered.

A single loud gunshot rang out, turning to see its source, all I could see was the portable light beam shake and hit the ground, its beam casting shadows into the hill we had descended.  Clearly Jasper had hit his target.

Loud Russian screams and orders filled the air, I took my chances and sprinted to the rusted cars behind the shed, taking cover, giving me a good line of sight to the back of the cabin and open ground between all buildings, sighting the bearded man carrying with some difficulty the digger, still alive but clearly hit in his mid section, the two men threw themselves into the shed, the small door next to the main large swing doors, their only point of entry, completely hiding them from view.  My eye line was the doorway they had entered, only seeing a slither. I needed to move to get a better view.  As I watched and aimed my pistol at the doorway, Jason came into my peripheral vision, also moving in my direction, he took cover at the back corner of the shed, his pistol also trained.

As Jason moved along the wall, a disheveled female came sprinting from the house, an old double barrelled shotgun in her hands, she took me by surprise, by the time my pistol was trained on her, she was gone, straight through the shed door, out of my view.  Scanning for other signs of movement, I caught glimpse of Jasper and Jagger, the glint of shotgun barrels and fire axe giving them away, they had began their assault and entry of the cabin from the driveway side.

I motioned for Jason to meet me at the last main source of cover between myself and the barn door, a large tree at the front corner of the shed, big enough to use as substantial cover, its thick trunk acting like a barricade.  I moved fast, my path took me wider of the shed door, the slither turning into a man sized opening.  As I slammed my body into the tree, pistol raised, I quickly ducked as the sight of a rifle barrel in the door to the shed opened fire at me, sending bark from the tree's trunk into the air.  As if startled by this, Jason changed course, instead of coming to me, sprinting behind me to the cars on the outskirts of the clearing, disappearing behind them where I had recently found cover.  Taking cover behind the tree, I looked for him, seeing a dark silhouette moving past the first car I had used for cover and crawling under the next one along, giving himself a good position to return fire.

To give him a chance to get settled, I leaned out of cover and returned four shots at the barn door, my shots, although not perfect, close enough to bring forth a shout of panic in Russian as chunks of door frame turned to splinters.  Jason had also joined the fight, his shots, although slow, were precise, causing splinters to puff through the doorway from the inside, yet somehow, we both hadn't made contact with the Russian inside.  Who ever was shooting back at me was out of luck, the distinct click of an empty magazine met my ears, taking the opportunity, I returned my gaze to the door, breathing deep and holding as true as I could with my pistol pointing at the door.

Coming from the cabin, loud thuds and crashes filled the air, clearly the boys were having trouble getting through, most likely boarded up, the sound of axe on wood was unmistakable.  We weren't the only ones to hear it, unannounced, the girl with the shotgun emerged from the shed, blasting both barrels of the shotgun in the direction of the cabin, running towards it as she fired.  Jason's revolver rang out, as did my Glock, his shot hitting her first in the mid section, sending her into a spin, my shot slamming into her chest, sending her spinning to the muddy ground, lifeless. My thought, she was dead before she hit the ground.

Jasper and Jagger must have broken through, the loud booms of shotgun blasts filled the air, whatever they were doing, they were engaged.

My attention returning to the shed, the sound of a loud engine came to life within, clearly the men thought escape was their best option.  The barn door opened slowly, one side flung open, the door leaning slightly so that the base never touched the ground, the other side, dragging in the mud, being pushed, a visible hand exposed on its edge.  Without thinking i fired more shots at where I thought the torso would be on the other side of the door.  My bullets slamming into the timber door, not penetrating, only hurried Russian cries following.  Jason had begun to move, reloading his revolver, I followed, flanking him for a shot at the windscreen rather than chancing a tyre shot.  We moved around the front of the shed as a beaten up muscle car began to roll out through the doors, both men inside, the driver, the bearded lady, was my target.

Jason fired first, sending three shots into the bonnet and centre of the windshield.  I took my time, took aim and squeezed, sending my bullet straight through the drivers side, a spurt of red mist spraying on the interior of the glass, centre mass, just below the neck, he was done.

The car then rolled sped up as if the driver had lost control of his legs, pushing the accelerator and spinning the wheel, sending the car into the small swing set along side the cabin, rolling as it became entangled.

Jason called for me to move to the cabin, the noise within dying down, insisting he would finish the other man in the car.

I ran to the porch of the cabin, looking through the windows I punched on the door calling out to my team inside, making sure they don't think I was a hostile.  Looking inside, my mouth went dry, the dim light revealing Jagger, huddled in the far corner, shaking, my immediate thought was that he was down.  Jasper on the other hand, standing in the centre of the room, covered from head to toe in blood and muck, a corpse on the ground in front of him, his fire axe embedded in its head.  Looking at me, he gave me a slow thumbs up.  Hearing more Russian cries, followed by Jason's revolver barking, I turned to see the digging man climbing out of the car, his rifle in hand, Jason missed, twice.  I raised my Glock, as I did, the man raised his rifle at me, beating me to the punch, we fired together.  My shot missing his head by millimeters. His shot, felt like a sledgehammer against my chest, my vest absorbing the brunt of it.  Winded, and in pain, I knew a rib or two were broken, I raised my pistol again and as if together, Jason and I both hit the man in the chest, sending him back, slamming him into the car that Jason's 38 had painted red with the exit wound of his shot through the chest before he slumped over, gurgling blood and bile.  Looking at the body briefly, it was good to see Jason and I had the same idea, centre chest, two holes, a centimetre apart.

I stumbled back into the cabin, ripping off the zip tied bag around my gun and pocketing it with all the bullet casings inside, along with the nearly empty magazine.  I reloaded, yet didn't bag, as far as I knew, that was four, three outside and the mess Jasper had done in here.

Still cautious, I kept my pistol up.

Looking at the mess around me, the body of an old woman, black and red blood everywhere, on the walls, on the ceiling, on the floor.  I starred blankly at Jasper who wasn't taking his gaze from the woman, moving past him to Jagger, he was a mess, his hands bubbling with blisters, his eyes white and glazed over, babbling nonsense. Jasper finally rendered aid after shouting at him for help, he calmly told me that the building was not clear, at that news, I left him to tend to Jagger and spun around to see two closed doors on either side of the room we were in.  Jason soon joined me and we opened the first door, a small bathroom met us, no hostiles, clear.

We opened the second door to reveal something even worse, Jason vomited as I looked at the small room, its walls covered in fluid, the stench overpowering, Russian orthodox symbols littered the room, all inverted and defaced.  On the far wall, a large depiction of some strange fertility goddess, the words "Death to Spies" written in Russian above it, Jason, with his mild knowledge of Russian told me as much.  Something about this room reminded me of my past, the body I had seen, the way it was drained of life, something was very wrong, grabbing my arm, Jason instructed me to go and get the van. The cabin was clear, it was time for me to breath.

I took off down the driveway, clutching my chest, I broke into a run, I knew the surrounding buildings were not clear, I needed to get back there as soon as possible.

Within 10 minutes I was driving up the driveway to see Jagger, somewhat better, his eyes bloodshot, his hands bandaged, shotgun in hand standing at the back door of the house.  He informed me that Jason and Jasper had cleared the shed and were now inside the house.  I entered without thinking, finding the two of them in a putrid kitchen. I joined Jasper at the doorway to the dining room, what was now a makeshift bedroom for the adults from what its contents revealed.  Sounds of movement came from the next room, a large sheet hung in the entry way. Pulling it back, my pistol raised, 14 children huddled on the floor in front of us.  As I looked over them all, it was clear they were afraid, the closest child to me, a teenage girl, starred at me with hateful eyes.  I took a step towards her, as I did, she pulled a large kitchen knife from behind her back and lunged at me, narrowly missing my throat. I launched a swipe at her head with my free hand, she ducked under my arm.  Jasper also lunged with the handle of his axe, also missing, she sliced his mid section, his groan of pain obvious as she cut his flesh.  Moving in on her, I was too slow, Jasper already swinging his axe again, striking her on the side of the face, sending her to the ground.

Before another move could be made, Jason was next to me, his pistol firing and blowing out half of the girls face.  His words harsh and damning as he stood there waiting for our answer as to why we hadn't acted immediately with deadly force.

Jasper and I withdrew to the hallway as Jagger entered the living room, we moved from room to room, the bedrooms and bathroom all covered in filth, this is where the children had been staying, every room a mess of blankets, mattresses, urine and vomit, this was not right.

We herded the rest of the children into one of the bedrooms, most of whom stopping in the hall, a large wall of caged animals crying and screaming as they passed.  As some of the children tried to grab some of the animals from their cages, Jagger let a blast of his shotgun burst eardrums as he placed his shotgun against the cages and fired.

Jason lost it, screaming at him and taking his shotgun from him.  At this act, the children filed to the bedroom, locks on the outside making it easy for us to seal them in.

Looking again, at the centre of the cages, the ferret the bearded man had brandished earlier was hissing at us. Ferrets. Disgusting.

The master bedroom was strange, not a bedroom at all. In a disused closet space, a large charcoal drawing on the wall, depicting children surrounded by adults all worshiping some sort of animal head - a ferret head, why ferrets? Disgusting.

Once we were done, Jason told u to start the clean-up, he would join us shortly, he needed to make a call.

It was time for the clean-up, the next half an hour went fast, collecting the adult bodies, Jagger, the medical examiner, as far as I could tell began stripping the bodies, all of whom had been altered, their genitals, even the woman, were gone, heavy scars remaining, not wanting to linger, Jasper and I began wrapping them in tarps and loading them into the van.  The corpse of a small boy lay wrapped in a tarp also, it was what the man had been trying to bury when we arrived.  Now came the worst part, the body of the old woman, covered in muck, I used a shovel to scoop her body parts onto a tarp, Jagger had requested I try to collect some of her brain matter, I tried, filling one of my small plastic bags with the goo that had been blown out of her head.  It was messy.

Once the bodies were loaded, Jason had begun pouring fuel all over the shed and cabin. We were going to burn it all down.  Instructing us to take the bodies to the reservoir we had chosen as a rally point, Jasper and I were uneasy about what was going to happen to the children. Jason had spend much of the last 20 minutes dodging the subject, my only thoughts, he was going to kill them.

We arrived at the reservoir and began gathering stones to sink the bodies.

Another 20 minutes past and Jason's car arrived, its only occupant, Jagger.  I questioned him as to Jason, he replied that he needed to take the van back to the house.  Convinced Jason was not there for the benefit of the children, I instructed Jagger to help sink the bodies and I would take the van back to Jason.

My drive back was fast, I arrived to find Jason in the house, petrol everywhere, he was ready to burn it all down, the children included. My hand went to my sidearm. I let him speak, he clearly saw I was not going to let him burn these children alive.  He told me we were going to put the kids in the van. I made it happen, squashed in, the kids were secure. We got in the van, the drive far longer than the previous one. All I wanted were answers.

We pulled up a short distance from the reservoir entrance, we needed to talk.

Jason was pissed, he mentioned an Agent Clove, known to me as Miss Green, this mission was somewhat personal to her, the agency didn't want it, she did.  Jason had been inactive with the agency for three years, this was his comeback tour.

Clove had studied the book that had put Jagger on board, Jason had looked at it, it effected him strangely, she wanted the children killed, that is what he was going to report.  We were to take them off the grid, something was wrong, something was off, until he knew what that was. Jason wasn't ready to kill these children, maybe I was wrong, maybe he wasn't as cold-hearted as I thought.  He also left out one rule, one that contradicts all others. Never tell the truth, to anyone.  He was to contact A-Cell, the kids were to be handed off to them.

Jason expressed his concerns about Clove. Was she now a target, having gone off book, even for a shadow agency, he told me she was strange, not herself, not at all.

Satisfied with this answer, I dropped him off to the others to explain while I waited with the kids in the van.  We arranged blankets, and essentials, along with food, which I told Jagger to sprinkle with the animal sedative he had picked up for the guard dogs.  However to Jasper's fright, another mangy dog appeared at the clearing we had decided to stop at to feed the kids.  Without a word he struck it with his axe. He wasn't taking any chances this time.  After a while, the noise of the kids faded away, the sedative had kicked in, Jasper and I took the van, our plan, head to the warehouse where everything had started. Jagger and Jason were to contact A-Cell, meet up at the warehouse and go from there.

On the drive, Jasper filled me in on the bodies, Jagger had done everything, puncturing them and weighing them down, all our clothes had been collected and burnt, Jason was going to the green box with all our gear to drop back there, also to collect our bags of personal belongings to be redistributed at the warehouse.  I let him sleep, he was exhausted, the drive was boring, he needed the rest.  My mind however wouldn't shut down, all I could think about was the mission, of the five targets that we put down, I had killed three of them, was this right, the two men, shot dead, the girl with the shotgun, I had put them all down, was Jason backing me up, or was I backing him up? It was clear that he was not used to this style of blunt force entry, at times I felt he was more of a hindrance than anything else, I guess because it took me getting shot for him to put someone down on his own.  Stress, I'll put it down to stress and nerves, having told me he has been out of action for three years.  The other two obviously unlucky in having to deal with the old woman, something was wrong with them, they were different. Was I lucky, or not, I don't know.

At the warehouse, we parked the van with its rear doors against a wall, the kids should be out for a few more hours, enough time to take some rest.

Jason and Jagger arrived within an hour, handing out ID's.  Jason informed us that this was it, A-Cell was on their way to take over, time to go home.

The book was placed in the van, the children were still subdued, why did this not feel like the end. Were we really done?

At the airport, I booked my flight at the desk, the trip back was going to be interesting, I didn't expect to find much sleep on the plane.

It was Sunday morning, Work tomorrow, back to reality, chalk this all up to a bad dream.