Cold War: Aftermath

Chapter 2: Head in the Clouds

Daniel Folten: Military Plane
March 12, 1981.   2300 Hours

     The plane ride was nothing special. It was quite small, but then again why use a bigger transport than you need. Bell sat alone on a crate against the wall of the plane while the others conversed among themselves. He heard Mason and Woods discussing how bad Mason was at his Spanish accent. "I swear this guy sounded like he was speaking backwards!" Everyone laughed except Bell. He was too distracted by the note he found. He thought he could resist the urge to stop thinking about it but he couldn't shake it. Without another thought he pulled out that same note and read it over and over again trying to make sense of it. Eventually after reading it for what had to have been the tenth time, he got a familiar image in his mind for a split second. The feeling of fear and exhaustion became familiar to him. While he had experienced these feelings before, something about this was different. Along with this feeling, he thought he got a glimpse of a TV playing some sort of footage. His recollections were interrupted when Adler approached him. He slid the note up his sleeve while Adler wasn't looking.
"Kid" Adler addressed Bell.
"Adler" Bell replied. "Whats up."
"I just wanted to make something clear with you. This mission is either a win or lose situation. If we don't come out of this the way we anticipate then we might as well surrender the entire country to Perseus." Adler leaned up against the crate across from Bell.
"I know."
"Then you know to not let your personal feelings get in the way. We can afford zero setbacks." Alder lowered his tone. "Wearing these sunglasses may hide my expressions, but I can see your close friendship with those two." Adler nodded over in the direction of Lazar and Park.
Bell looked down fidgeting with a bullet he found sitting on the crate. "I understand." He looked up at Adler. "But you can trust me, I'll do whatever is necessary to get what we came for."
"That's what I like to hear, rest up, we've got a few hours before landing" He patted Bell's shoulder and walked away towards the others.
Over the course of the past few months Bell grew to call his teammates friends. Most of them that is, except for Alder and especially Hudson. He just couldn't bring himself to like either of them, much less trust them as much as he could the others. However that didn't mean that there wasn't some level of trust between him and Adler. After all they did go through the hell of Vietnam together. But the same couldn't be said for Hudson.
"Hey Dan why don't you come join us, Mason needs to learn how to do actual accents and not speak stupid."
"You can't call me out for that when you suck at driving. He nearly drove us into a funeral home one time."
"Can't wait to hear about this one." Bell said as he took a seat between Parkand Lazar.
     After about 30 minutes of exchanging laughs everyone decided that it was a good idea to catch some time for themselves and rest up. Nobody wanted to admit it but everyone knew that this was their last shot to get back into 'game' with Perseus. If they failed this op then they will have let their country down along with others. After learning about the nukes through audio recordings Woods and Bell found while infiltrating the Soviet's fake USA, everyone had been on edge, more than anyone likes to acknowledge. This didn't help Bell and Hudson's co-working relationship at all. There had been several times when fights almost broke out at the safehouse in Berlin. Luckily someone had always been there to stop the rising tensions. For Bell, knowing that Hudson wasn't operating in the field was a relief for him. Had he been, Bell might have 'accidentally' shot him thinking he was the enemy.

"You want me to tell him about my time in Vietnam?" A male voice scoffed, questioning the advice of the other person in the room.

"Do you want this to work or not. You can command him all you want, but unless you develop a strong bond with him who knows how reckless he'll be. " This time a female voice spoke, in response to the man.

Bell looked down, seeing his arms and legs were strapped to a chair. His shirt was covered in spots of blood, he assumed to be his own. Feeling exhausted and confused, he didn't have enough energy to even try and break free.

"Run another trial, I want him sharp." The man spoke again, in a commanding tone.

Daniel Folten: Havana Cuba
March 13, 1981 1500 Hours

"You'll get a sore neck like that you know." Park nudged him awake. "Always the last one up eh Dan?"

Bell had fallen asleep sitting up on the wooden crate with his head leaning against another. While it wasn't the most comfortable position, what mattered is that he was able to rest his mind. Or at least he thought he did. Thinking that sleeping would ease his curiosity was a mistake. His dream he had on the way here was bugging him at the moment. Everything felt so real. As if he had actually bled the blood on his shirt, felt that intense level of fear, or experienced that heavy of a wave of exhaustion that suppressed his body from trying to flee it all. This was the worst time for his dreams to make themselves known. The voices he heard sounded nearly identical to that of Adler and Park. What he experienced, it had to be more than just a dream. Right?
     When he saw Park he looked at her in confusion, still thinking about how sure he was that it was her and Adler's voice he heard. Realizing that he was staring at her he snapped back into real time focusing on why they came here. This was not the time to get answers to what he liked to refer to as his, premunitions.
"What are you looking so stunned for?" She asked

"Nothing, I just forgot where I was." Bell replied, rubbing his eyes. "Where's everyone else?" He looked around with nobody else in sight.

"Adlers up front speaking with the pilot while everyone else is waiting outside. Lazar woke you last time, he said this time it was my turn."

Before Bell could reply Adler came approaching. "Let's  get moving Bell." He handed Bell the Tundra sniper and a Magnum pistol. "We've got a job to do." It was in that moment that a feeling of Déjà Vu overcame him. It had disappeared as quickly as it came and Bell loaded his weapons and put on his vest.

Once outside the plane everyone gathered together as Adler explained the next step. "Just as we went over before, Park take your team and wait for us outside the church. Once I give you the signal we'll rendezvous outside the main gate and proceed to infiltrate. Alright everyone lets move!"  Bell put on his green balaclava and got in the driver's seat of the jeep while Adler took control of the other vehicle. As they arrived at one of the entry ways they were able to take out a few guards
without trouble.
     It seemed like a lifetime until Adler finally responded over the comms. They swept through the abandoned church and breached through the doors and found Adler and his team shooting at enemies. "Reinforcements incoming!" Adler informed everyone. With how smooth this op was going right now, nothing could prepare them for how things were about to be turned upside down.

Authors note: I dont plan on having a consistent update schedule but expect at least 1-2 updates per week. Also if you have any suggestions or anything you would like to see in the story, go for it. I'm open to suggestions.