Detective Byers (English Vers.)

10) An ill-organised plan

"Joyce"

"Joyce!"

She had managed to follow Huston by leaning on him, until they were covered by the trees not far away. She had finally sat down, the pain destroying all her capacity for thought. She just wanted to close her eyes... fall into a heavy sleep... a very deep sleep.

But the policeman kept repeating her name, clutching her hands in his own. She forced herself to open her eyes, the colors around her suddenly seemed stronger, as if they were trying to imprint themselves on her retina.

Her colleague appeared in her field of vision. She noticed that he, too, had been injured, a bloodstain widening on his shoulder. However, it seemed superficial, the bullet had only grazed the skin.

"Joyce!" he said. "Nod if you can hear me and understand what I'm saying."

She nodded.

"Okay, you've been shot in the leg. I don't think the injury is serious, but you're going to need a doctor to remove the bullet. Besides, you're heavily bleeding. The most important thing now is that you stay conscious, you mustn't pass out, understand?" He combined his words with exaggerated hand gestures to get her attention.

She nodded again, too dazed by the pain to feel scared. Joyce tried to point at her comrade's wound.

"If you have a piece of cloth... I can stop the bleeding." She expressed herself with difficulty, in a pasty voice, but still managed to make herself understood.

Huston nodded negatively.

"We have to take care of your wound first."

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Hopper was stomping around, pacing back and forth in his office, while Frank, sitting at the big desk in the Chief's chair, was nervously fidgeting with a pencil he'd picked up at random and uninvited.

One of the two walkie-talkies sizzled again. There was one for each head of operations at both sites. Frank grabbed it instantly and Hopper turned to him... This little merry-go-round had been going on for half an hour already. And the news they received were always very partial, insufficient...

"Ronald to Frank, do you copy?"

"I copy. What's the news ?"

"Most of our teams have returned, the operation is coming to an end; it was a success."

"Can you estimate the damage?"

The tone of the other one dropped so low that Hopper had to listen very carefully to try to hear everything.

"The first team to shut down the surveillance video has been... neutralized, two people are dead, and the other two are in critical condition. Several doctors have been dispatched to the scene."

"I see... If the cameras haven't been disabled... How did you get out ?"

"We don't have all the information yet, but it seems that the cameras are intact... However, it seems they suddenly lost contact with their action center... We assume that one of our detachments took over from those assigned to this mission..."

Frank seemed confused, and the whole thing was starting to get the attention of Hawkins' chief.

"Hold on, hold on, hold on! You tell me again that the cameras are intact, and yet, suddenly, the Russians had no markers. It doesn't make any sense..."

"We'll investigate further later Chief... I'll get back to you as soon as possible."

He hung up and the room was silent again, and after a few seconds Frank became annoyed.