Arkangel || A Winter / Karina / WinRina Adventure

Mission VIII: Palindrome

Six months and three hand surgeries later.

Winter and Karina were sitting in a small park not too far from their home. "I was thinking that we should start using our Korean names again," Karina said. "I feel like we would become even closer."

"I love that idea. I'm not even sure why I've stuck with my Western name so long. I just never thought about it. I'd like to wait until I'm done with the CIA. Min isn't someone who kills people. Winter does that. I don't want one to become mingled with the other."

"That makes sense. You only have three missions left, right?"

"Yes. I'm meeting Parker in three days. I just want to get them over with."

"Don't lose your focus, though. Think about what's in front of you rather than what's down the road."

"You should be my handler!" Winter laughed.

"I'll handle you, babe," she winked, "Don't you worry."

When they got home, Winter did her physical rehab exercises. She was wearing a loose tank top and tight shorts. She started with some pushups, and then transformed into a yoga pose in which she supported her weight entirely on one hand - the hand that had been operated on, which felt like it was now 100% again. Then she slowly rose into a handstand, and then lifted one hand off the ground and held the position. Her shirt dropped down around her neck, revealing her black sports bra.

Karina couldn't take her eyes off of her. Winter always looked so feminine, but when she exercised, rock-hard muscles came to the surface, so strong that the striations in the muscles showed in her arms and shoulders. Her legs were long and muscular. Karina remembered when she had been helping Winter learn to walk in high heels. Once she could stand up in them, Karina had her walk back and forth.

Damn. Winter's legs were... sexy as hell.

"You're leaving in three days? That's not much time," Karina said.

"I know. Follow me, baby." She took Karina's hand and led her toward their bedroom. Both women were blushing so hard they almost seemed to glow.

. . . . .

"How are you, Arkangel?" Parker asked.

"I want to get back out there."

"Let's review your mission. There's a radical group that originated in Peru in the 1980s called Sendero Luminoso, or in English, Shining Path. Originally, they were a Communist paramilitary group, but unfortunately they didn't catch on. They were becoming irrelevant, and more disturbingly, they were becoming broke. So they went into the cocaine business and got rich while still telling everyone that they were advocating for the rights of the poor. A lot of competition popped up in the coke business and their profits dwindled, so they evolved again, into the terrorism-for-hire industry. At first it was car bombs, assassinations, kidnappings, and extortion. But they're on a whole different level now. They've come into possession of a truly terrifying computer virus. We believe that it has the ability to control major industrial systems like nuclear power plant cooling systems, conventional power plants, hydroelectric plants, levee systems like those in New Orleans, even the operating systems on planes. This virus makes Stuxnet look like it was written by kindergartners using crayons."

He continued. "We believe that the senior leadership is still holding onto the virus. It hasn't been distributed. We know this because we're not in the dark ages yet. The leadership is based in Mogadishu, Somalia, a country that has been struggling to create a legitimate government for decades. The Shining Path leadership is hijacking a commercial plane to Yemen. They need a new base, and Yemen is another country in chaos. The plane is the only way for them to get in since the border is shut down tight. You'll HALO into the outskirts of the city, rendezvous with another operator, infiltrate the plane, and kill them all. Then you'll persuade the pilots to return to Mogadishu."