Who Killed Jack Thompson?

Chapter 9

Isaac Kuznetsov was still imprisoned at the S.S.R., and he greeted every guard with a horrendous crooked sneer. The agents were sure that they wouldn't get any more useful information from him, but they kept him just in case.

There were still no leads, but the Commandos went back to Russia in search of more information about Pейс, and now, the Red Room. They were now sure that the two had a direct association.

The person who killed Jack obviously didn't want to be found. It was going to be extremely difficult to find him or her, but the S.S.R. had all of their agents on deck.

One day in particular, Peggy was the last in the office and was in charge of taking Kuznetsov his dinner. Even when she slid the metal tray under the bars, he continued to stare at the ground. An evil grin spread across his tanned, scarred face as he said, "You'll never find him." Peggy leaned her hand against the cold metal bars of the cell, and asked, "Who?" "They call him Zima Soldat. Mother Russia's worst assassin." He said, slipping into Russian. He never looked up; he just continued smiling at his feet. "How do we find this man?" Agent Carter quipped. Finally looking up, moonlight illuminating half of his face, Kuznetsov said, "You don't. He finds you."

She left the office with Kuznetsov's words still racking her brain. Was another World War on the horizon? What did this Zima Soldat want with Jack? Peggy took a cab ride home to avoid the city streets at night. The entire ride, she turned the thoughts over in her head repeatedly. "He finds you," she remembered Kuznetsov saying. What could that mean? Perhaps Zima Soldat was one of their own, or maybe just waiting for the right time to strike.

She phoned Howard when she got back to her apartment, but made sure to use the payphone outside so no one inside would hear her talking to big time romancer Howard Stark. He picked up, and Peggy said, "Howard, I have some new vital information I need you to radio over to the Commandos. Kuznetsov told me who killed Jack. Zima Soldat." "It's a little late don't you think—" Howard said, yawning. Peggy rolled her eyes, appalled at his opinion toward such a pressing matter. "Send it over to the Commandos. I have a gut feeling about this," She said, and hung up before the machine could tell her she was out of time.

---

The gang met the next morning at the office to discuss the case. They were calling it the Jack Thompson Case, in his memory.

"How do we know Kuznetsov was telling the truth?" Daniel asked. He was sitting on a desk in the back of the room with his crutch leaning against the same desk. The young chief had stress written all over his face. "I can tell when someone is lying. Call it a woman's intuition," Peggy said with a slight smile on her face, "Just like I can tell Howard is lying when he said he didn't have a lady over last night." Howard smirked, shaking his head. "So now we have them chasing after a Zima Soldat, whatever that is, and we don't even have a description of the man." said Daniel, shifting his crutch over in front of him and slowly spinning it with his hands. "I'll get you description," Peggy said, and sauntered over to the metal door that lead to the small prison ward. She punched in a code, the light above the door turned green, and the heavy steel doors slid open with a screech. Daniel followed closely behind, along with Mr. Jarvis and Howard. A mother goose and her goslings.

There would be no description of the Zima Soldat, though. Kuznetsov had escaped. All that was left was a crude drawing done in his own blood.

Inside a perfect circle was a menacing skull, which gave a piercing stare to everyone looked at it. Spreading from the skull, like spilled milk from a ceramic bowl, were six tentacles that curled in towards each other.

Peggy exhaled, trying to process the information. Their only link had somehow managed to escape, and left only one thing behind: a crude etching of the Hydra insignia. She clenched her fists and grinded her heels into the cold cement floor. It was her who last saw the prisoner, and now he was gone.

"Now there is a Russian mad man on the loose in New York City. Possibly two." Peggy frustratedly said. It was back to square one.