Fragments Gallery
Operative: Approach
The Rock… it was one place Shawn had never thought he'd return to. His eyes narrowed as he stared up at the fortress.
After that last time… he'd had nightmares for years. For a long time after he'd wake during the night gasping and covered with sweat. By that point he had been an operative for many, many years. By that point it wasn’t easy to shake him. He had been one of the best operatives in the agency and that spoke great volumes for his mental fortitude. One didn't get to be so well regarded by the agency if they were easily unsettled.
But the Rock… that bloody fortress had shattered Shawn. He had lost Gavin, his partner and long-time friend, there and had nearly died himself. The things they had done to him that night would forever haunt him. Now they were sending him back in.
All that because he was the only operative to have ever escaped. The figured he was the best chance they had to retrieve their asset and intel.
"Thoughts?"
Shawn tore his eyes from the Rock to glance at his companion. Like him, Sasha lay on her belly surveying the fortress before them through binoculars. Also like him she wore tight, form fitting outfit made of a combination of black cloth and kevlar and at her side hung a full face black mask. He turned back to his binoculars and forced the memories of the place out of his head. This time as he swept his eyes across the fortress he mentally marked the guard positions and cameras he could see.
They were on a ridge a couple kilometers away. But still through the binoculars the scene seemed much too familiar. It was almost as though he were lying on this ridge for the first time once more. He could almost imagine that it were Gavin there beside him.
"It looks as locked down as it was the last time I came through," he growled softly, "Last time didn't go so well."
Sasha glanced at him, her expression devoid of any emotion. After a moment she turned her gaze back towards the fortress. This was just another job to her; apparently the stories didn't frighten her.
When he had returned to base the first time after that ill-fated mission his story had become something of a legend. He had heard the whispers following him as people looked at him in awe. It had been a story of survival to the rest of them, but to him it had been a tale of death. All that was probably before Sasha had even joined the academy; still she would have heard the tales.
She was a cold one, he thought, the cold ones were always the most frightening. They would show no remorse, no humanity, no matter what happened. Beyond that she seemed capable, if a bit judgemental.
"Paint me a picture," crackled Ron through their headsets.
"Fortress locked down tight, guards patrolling the walls with still no obvious holes. The less so obvious holes we used last time have been closed off with increased security cam coverage," Stated Shawn swiftly, “The searchlights have been removed, probably replaced with night vision on the guards and the cams."
"The walls on the northern side should be scalable due to their age," Broke in Sasha, "it's true that there are no openings in the grid but the guards have also grown slacker than they were in the reports we have from previous missions. The guards no longer check in with each other as often and they have had several vehicles enter the compound and stop somewhere in the northern sector. From the floor maps that we have there is little inside space to park those vehicles so they should be parked in the open, we can use them for cover in our approach of the main building. If necessary we can take down a guard and before the guard’s absence is noticed we can get through their grid. An emp burst once we're inside their compound should give us the space we need to break out, but until then we'll have to loop some of the cameras."
"Very well, that's our plan," Said Ron as Shawn coldly met Sasha's eyes, "How long do you need to prepare?"
"We are ready. We will be inside on next opening," Sasha said as she steadily returned Shawn's stare.
"God's speed," Crackled Ron before the line went dead.
Sasha inched backwards to get off the top of the ridge, then rose to move towards their access point. Shawn grimaced as he followed her. Whether Sasha just thought him old or considered him broken from his previous ordeal here it was clear she doubted his ability to participate in this mission.
She might not be wrong, he thought, there was a reason I left this behind. They might have the wrong guy.