22nd December 2017
IPO Headquarters,
11 am KST,
Park Shen tried to read the old man's face, and he had to admit that it was the most difficult job to do- not a single wrinkle moved, not a muscle twitched. The Head stood still as a stone.
"Sir, what is on your mind?" Shen finally asked.
"They'll reach in four hours" he replied spontaneously, "the time will move faster here, slower there."
"Yes"
The man took a step farther and placed a call. Shen blinked several times trying to understand what was happening.
The line didn't go through and the man shook his head in frustration.
"Sir, is there something else I need to know?" the junior agent dared to ask.
"Shen" the Head looked at him, "prepare yourself, you are going to Finland."
---
Helsinki private airport, Finland,
8:30 EET (3:30 KST),
The squad A members landed on the Finnish runways and filled their lungs with dry rapid winds. They had left at 6 am from Korea, and yet it felt like they travelled nothing- it was a bright 8:30 am in Helsinki. The eldest agent of the squad took out his phone, pushed the ear piece in and tried to establish contact with the headquarters. Nothing. No signal.
The other members took out digital maps and zoomed in on the location tracked down by the experts.
"Sir, it's pointing somewhere towards the harbour area" one of them said, "We have to drive there"
The senior agent nodded and made a few calls. After a while, a grey roadie van swished around the fence of the belt.
"That's our ride" the agent declared, "The illegal fares, quite cheap, quite easy. Hide your weapons."
Five of them jumped in the wobbling van that rambled with a ridiculously slow speed. The engine made a tired rusty noise the moment the van hit the sandy paths of the harbour area. The driver was no exception- a typical old bloke in gaudy attire with a withered cap on his bald head and a straw in his mouth. It was an hour-long journey, and men very easily figured out how less the distance they cut down. 20 kilometres took them more the time required, and the fare charges were extraordinary.
"A GODDAMN RIDE IN YOUR FREAKING PRIVACY, DID I ASK WATCHA CARRYIN' THOSE BAGS? SO, WHAT DO YA EXPECT EH? CANDY PRICE?" he barked in his wretched old tone and drove away.
"Amazing" one of the agents sighed, "Sir, the tracked location is here itself."
They looked around- burning heat, barren lands, far sea shore and some rusty metal ships. No people around, no houses seen. There was hardly any life in the area; everything was plain misery. There were a few shut down sheds, port houses and a small building a few hundred meters away.
"We'll have to search each and every built structure here without letting him sense anything. Divide yourselves, walkie talkies in Morse format, stay low, be alert. He might have secured himself well enough to silently execute all of us." The eldest agent said.
The agents nodded and dispersed around the area. They checked the glum damaged sheds, broke into some port houses and hiked around the area towards the shore. The place was dead- the only noises were of the soils underneath their harsh footsteps. The sheds were empty, the port houses were filled only with dust. After an hour of hopeless surveying, the squad resembled and shook their heads in disappointment.
"don't give up, we'll go a few yards away and search." The agent consoled.
The men walked around for some more time until they stumbled upon the plain small building they had seen from afar. The senior agent gestured to move towards it. The building seemed old and bizarre, there were surprisingly no windows to it, and it was situated on a steep hillock. The front side of it had about ten meters of pure brown soil lying evenly; the sight of it made the senior agent wave a hand towards the squad and made them stop.
"I don't have a good feeling about this" he murmured and looked around, "Step back everyone! They're mines in there; my experience and the metal detector won't lie. Let's take a round and search for a way in."
The men circled around the building complex and came across a rather bushy side. There were trees and a fence demarcating the complex boundary. The men climbed over the fence and crouched behind the overgrown vegetation. They were too close to the building entrance- the entire area inside the fence was covered with cement grounds, and there were unexpectedly two security cameras seen at the far edges of the entry walls.
"Ah, we're in the eagle's nest" the agent whispered, "Guns out, boys. We are going to be the hunters."
---
The security cameras were shot down through the vegetation. The ground was clear. The men advanced towards the entrance about 30 meters away. They marched cautiously, yet rapidly- they felt like they were watched even so. But there were no eyes spotted; everything looked plain and dry, or maybe things were hidden properly- BOOM
A mine blew a few meters preceding the first agent. All of them paused. The agent barely survived, his skin was almost burnt. The mine splurged up from the cement ground, breaking it into shambles. The very next minute, another mine blew up, right next to it. The agents stepped back and covered their faces. Another one exploded right in front of them- the locations were unpredictable.
"TAKE COVER, BACK TO THE SHRUBS, NOW!" the senior agent shouted.
Two more mines exploded simultaneously on either side of the previous explosion, then it all stopped. No one breathed for the next few minutes. The agent slowly stepped towards the entrance, and the final explosion destroyed the entrance itself.
The agent paused, What the heck is happening?!
The building stayed, but the there was no way in anymore. The concrete columns collapsed down like Lego pieces. There were no explosions furthermore, and the squad moved towards the random blasts again. They searched for ways around; there were only shrubs and trees covering the sides of the building. The men tried to analyse the incident, when suddenly a loud sound of a gunshot distracted them. It came from behind the building. The squad ran with panicked steps towards the tree covers and dived through the greenery to see where the sound came from. When they reached the rear side of the building, what they saw was nothing of what they imagined. It was an utter shock.
YOU ARE READING
Elixir
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