Captain America Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier Steve Rogers Fan Fic - The Constant

Chapter Forty-Four: A Week In The Life Of Eduard Marinov

A Week In The Life Of Eduard Marinov

Tuesday

Eduard Marinov feels his stomach clench as he nears the first checkpoint gate. He has returned to somewhere he doesn't want to be. He has spent the last few days with his wife but has been called back in a whole twenty-four hours earlier than he was due.

Which can only mean one thing. They are bringing the Winter Soldier out of cryo.

Marinov knows Jackson Caldwell will be arriving the following day, and so he knows he will be briefed then. Meanwhile, he will need to make sure everything is running as it should be. He had left his trusted number two, Serge Zolnerowich, in charge so he has no worries there.

He just doesn't want to be back here.

They check his papers on the front gate even though they know him by sight, and he would not expect anything less. He then drives the car into one of the empty bays, removes his bag from the backseat, and throws it in one of the camp's Jeeps. As he passed the first guardhouse, he will have been scanned. The scan will show he has no weapons, no bugs nothing to warrant a break in security. He has one of the top three highest clearances on camp within Hydra yet they still do not fully trust him - because Hydra trusts no-one; not even its own. Not many people know of the advanced security the Hydra camps have; most would be amazed by the technology. But Marinov stopped being amazed a long time ago. Whatever it is that powers this advanced technology frightens him to his very core.

Because Eduard Marinov is not one of Hydra's own and it is luck and perseverance on his part that he has kept it hidden for so long.

About a mile into the camp he hits the second checkpoint. Up to this point the camp has included housing quarters, admin blocks, a cinema, and a small shop which stocks an awful lot of things for everyday life. Many of the same buildings can be found in any military camps all over the word. Even soldiers need the necessary day to day things for living.

Beyond the second checkpoint is where things begin to change. Only Hydra personnel get past this point.

He pulls the Jeep over and two guards emerge to meet him. A third stays in the guardhouse behind a screen of bulletproof glass. Marinov's papers are checked again and he is asked to exit the vehicle. A wand is waved over him whilst another guard checks the Jeep inside and out. It takes about ten minutes in all.

"Good to have you back, sir," one of the guards says as he waves him through.

As he drives through the camp he begins to see the familiar Hydra uniform and insignia, and by the time he pulls in to his parking bay he knows he is home.

Only this will never be home for him.

He grabs his bag and runs up the stairs to the building that houses his office and quarters. The guardhouse have already advised Zolnerowich that Marinov is back, but Eduard phones him from his rooms.

"Give me half an hour and then meet me in my office," Marinov says and then puts the phone down. He is sat on the edge of his single bed and dry wipes his face with his hands. This time yesterday he was with the people he loves and now he is back here. How things can change in just a day.

*

Neither man trusts that Marinov's office is clean.

After all, both of them are fully aware of the listening posts set up within the camp. They discuss the day to day things that need Marinov's attention now that he is back. He advises Zolnerowich that Caldwell is due to return on the morrow.

The last six years have seen a lot of changes under Caldwell. Changes that for Hydra are for the better. The camp is well-organised; despite Caldwell's young age he knows what he is doing. The Winter Soldier has been pulled out for four successful missions and three training sessions.