Draft version - Russian Roulette - Family secrets

Ch. 148: Any news?

It was late morning already. There was a constant buzzing around everywhere.

All teams had made it back to The Mansion.

Except for Vasili, Cracker and Roarke. They had terminated communications at some point after it had been confirmed that Gareth had safely arrived at The Mansion.

They had not been heard from since.

Phoenix had officially closed the operation when he had reached The Mansion. Thanking everybody for their part in a successful retrieval of both Mackenzie and Gareth. He had dismissed everybody, ordering them to take a break, allowing them to shower and sleep.

Though he had done that, it had been no surprise to him that people had ignored his orders and kept working to get all the details over with.

A successful operation was fine and dandy. But there was a lot to be done in the wake of an operation of that scale.

People had divided into groups across their usual areas of expertise.

Weapons, explosives and ammo had to be gathered and returned to the caches and checked in for storage. Comms and equipment returned.

Some had gone to Natalya in the kitchen and helped with food and beverages which had been brought to the common room in a steady flow and placed on a large buffet table for people to help themselves when needed. Funny enough many of those helping in the kitchen had been Vittorio's men. They had not said it openly, but they were probably afraid they would have to eat borscht for days.

Italian men needed Italian food.

Natalya had been ecstatic with the help and new recipes.

Others had helped set up a new command central in the corner of the common room for Richard, who had left the hotel and joined them at The Mansion, where he, though drop dead tired, sat at the computers and kept in contact with all the hackers, who still refused to sign off and sleep.

They were going through all the devices collected from the compound. Richard was handling the physical documents, scanning them and putting them into files to be looked at.

A large group of men helped bring in the dead from the cadaver trucks and carry them to the morgue in the basement. They had helped identify and prep them. Getting them out of their clothes and washed while logging cause of death for the doctors who were to sign off on death certificates.

The deceased had been put into cold storage to await funeral arrangements made by their families or friends.

Never had the morgue been filled like that. Of people helping as well as passed warriors of Gareth's group. There had been a sort of solemn approach from all of them. A massive respect for their fallen friends. Giving them the treatment their sacrifice was worthy.

There would be a ceremony for all to pay their respects and tell stories of the good times they had had.

All in due time.

The still needed to know if their leader would be among those to be mourned.

All the injured men had patiently sat outside the hospital ward, waiting to be treated. None had complained about the wait. Triage nurses had assessed their injuries and labeled them for treatment. Some needed immediate attention where others would be able to wait. Most, even the ones in dire need were willing to wait if it meant having enough staff to treat Gareth and Mackenzie.

Luckily, Gareth had employed enough medical staff to handle the unending stream of injured men flooding the hospital ward. Usually, they worked in pre-planned shifts and had many days off and while working they were rarely needed for more than normal check-ups, a broken bone here and there and sore throats.