Day 16: Mykonos, Greece
The speeder boat bounced as it cut through the choppy waters of the Aegean Sea. The boat’s driver, a husky man from Athens who was insistent that his name was “Bob,” smiled from ear to ear as the boat rocked and bounced on the waters. At the rear of the speedboat, Aneni and [REDACTED] sat. Aneni breathed in the salty sea air while she enjoyed the sun on her face. [REDACTED] sat with his sunglasses on, the hood of his dark hoodie pulled up over his head.
“Are you always this serious,” Aneni asked with a smile. [REDACTED] turned his head to face her, and smiled. Aneni returned the gesture. “See,” she said. “Doesn’t that make you feel better?”
[REDACTED]’s smile evaporated as quickly as it has appeared, and he returned his attention forward. Aneni kept her eyes on him.
“Mind if I ask you a question?” Aneni asked. [REDACTED] turned to face her. “We’ve been working together for a little bit now and I like to think we’ve earn each other’s trust, yeah?”
[REDACTED] nodded.
“Great,” Aneni continued. “So when are you going to tell me your name?” [REDACTED] smiled but said nothing.
Aneni arched a brow. “You DO have a name. Right?”
[REDACTED] let out a soft chortle, then returned his attention to the approaching island.
Aneni sighed. “Fine. Be like that.”
As the boat cruised along the island’s western coast, Aneni looked out at the white and blue buildings lining the coastline. “You know, I’ve always wanted to visit Greece.”
“We have a job to do,” [REDACTED] said. It was the most he had said since they landed. “Let’s stay focused.” Aneni shot [REDACTED] a look before returning her attention to the coastline.
“You need to learn to relax,” Aneni said. “Before you turn into another Tex.”
The pair sat in silence for the rest of the ride as the boat headed south along the western coast, before making an eastward turn and bringing it up to a small, private dock. Aneni and [REDACTED] disembarked from the boat and made their way along the dock, where a man in a pressed suit and dark sunglasses waited for them. Aneni gives the man a nod.
“You with the agency?” Aneni asked. The man gave a slow nod in the affirmative.
The Man in the Pressed Suit escorted [REDACTED] and Aneni to a large black SUV, which took them from the private pier on the south side of the island to a small hovel on the northern side of the island. It was a short drive, about twenty minutes – just long enough for Aneni to notice that The Man in the Pressed Suit had not said a single word. Neither had [REDACTED], for that matter, but at this point she had come to accept that that was just his modus operandi.
The hovel, a rarely used Cellstrike safehouse, was situated in a seemingly perfect location. It had near-perfect lines of sight to a private resort to the east, as well as the Aegean Sea to the North and West. To the south was nothing but rocky terrain with a gravel and dirt road. Aneni and [REDACTED] looked out at the road as they watched the black SUV drive away. From this point forward, they were on their own until the mission was complete.
“Two Days,” [REDACTED] finally muttered, look over at Aneni. “I hope you brought a book.”
“So what’s the plan,” Aneni asked as she sat in front of a small coffee table, cleaning her rifle for what must have been the fifth time in the past day. She found it to be a soothing experience, even if there wasn’t a speck of dust left on the machinery. [REDACTED] sat on one of the two twin beds, is back to the wall, looking down as he read a thick paperback novel.
“We have reliable intelligence that Florian Benik’s top lieutenant has chartered a yacht and will be hosting several persons of interest,” [REDACTED] said without looking up from his book. “Our job is to neutralize the lieutenant and then signal… did you catch his name?”
“The man with the Escalade?” Aneni clarified.
“Yeah.”
“No.”
“Hrm,” [REDACTED] shook his head, then continued. “Anyways, we dial the number he gave us. He picks us up, drives us to the airport on the western end of the island, and we hop a privately chartered flight.”
“Sounds simple enough.”
“Doesn’t it.”
Aneni arched a brow at [REDACTED]. “You seem unconvinced.”
“Something about this doesn’t feel right,” [REDACTED] said.
“How do you mean?” Aneni put down her polishing rag and turned her full attention to [REDACTED].
“It’s a feeling I can’t shake, “[REDACTED] said. “This feels too… easy. Too many things have gone exactly right. Too many things have fallen into our lap. To be perfectly honest, I don’t like it.”
“So let me get this straight,” Aneni said, crossing her arms as she leaned back on the couch. “Because this mission is going well, you’re untrusting of it?”
“In not so many words.”
“That sounds like paranoia, Mr.-No-Name.”
[REDACTED] gave her a blank stare. “If you understood what I have seen over the past seven years, you would understand.”
Aneni shrugged. “Maybe.”
The rest of that day, Aneni and [REDACTED] didn’t say two words to each other. The hours passed, and as night fell they climbed into their separate twin beds. Sleep did not come easy but, eventually, they each drifted off to sleep.
Tomorrow, they knew, would be a busy day.
Aneni was jostled awake by a firm hand shaking her shoulder. “Get up,” [REDACTED] said. Once he saw her eyes open, he stepped away and grabbed his binoculars and black ruck sack.
“What’s going on?” Aneni grumbled through a hazy half-asleep fog.
“The yacht,” [REDACTED] said. “It’s not far offshore. They weren’t expected to be out in the waters until the afternoon.”
Aneni let loose a series of curses under her breath as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She rolled off the couch, still in her clothes from the day before, and stretched. Her back popped. In that moment, nothing had ever felt so good. She grabbed her ruck and her rifle before the two of them exited the hovel and made their way towards the cliff’s edge.
It was an uncharacteristically misty morning, which forced Aneni and [REDACTED] to relocate to a lookout spot located a short distance from the hovel. Once the pair were in position, [REDACTED] and Aneni traded the binoculars and rifle. Aneni looked through the field glasses as [REDACTED] readied the rifle and lowered himself into firing position.
“Visual?” [REDACTED] asked.
Through the binoculars, Aneni found the yacht. “Yep. It’s our boat.” Aneni kept her eyes on the boat. It was… quiet. Still. Unnerving.
“Something isn’t right,” Aneni said to [REDACTED]. “Take a look at the yacht.”
[REDACTED] peered through the scope on his rifle, finding the yacht. He stared for what felt like an eternity, slowly scanning the boat through the rifle scope. Nothing.
“I fucking knew it,” [REDACTED] muttered. “I told you this was all too easy.”
“Maybe they’re still below deck,” Aneni said. “It’s still early. They might be asleep.”
“Then how did the boat get here?”
“Autopilot? Maybe they’re meeting up with someone else.”
“Maybe,” [REDACTED] said. “Keep an eye out. I’m going to keep eyes on the boat.”
Aneni and [REDACTED] observed the yacht for several more minutes. As they did, the sun burned off the misty fog and the skies began to clear. As the visibility improved, Aneni saw that there were no other boats nearby. Nobody was coming.
“It’s clear. I don’t think anyone is—”
“I have a visual,” [REDACTED] said. “Two men in wetsuits at the rear of the yacht.”
“I see them,” Aneni said. “They look like they’re moving… holy shit.”
Through the scope on the rifle, [REDACTED] followed the two men as they carried a body onto the rear of the boat. The body was in a suit, with a bloodied hole in their skull where they had been executed. The men in wet suits dropped the body on the deck, then disappeared back into the ship. A few moments later they reemerged carrying a second body, another man in another suit with another bullet-split skull. The two men dropped the body on the deck before one of the men, the larger of the two, stepped to the smaller man and began issuing instructions. After a moment, the two men return below deck.
“Do you have a shot?” Aneni asked.
“Negative,” said [REDACTED]. “Plus, our orders were to observe and eliminate the target. That has clearly been taken care of. Now we observe and report back to HQ.”
“I don’t like this.”
“Neither do I.”
After a minute the two men reemerged, now with oxygen tanks on their backs and digital cameras in their hands. The smaller of the two men began taking photos of the bodies, while the larger of the two stepped to the edge of the yacht and looked out at the island. He lifted the camera and pointed it towards the island… and Aneni and [REDACTED].
“Shit.”
“They’ve seen us,” Aneni said.
“I’m taking the shot,” [REDACTED] said as he scoped the rifle at one of the two men. He lined up the crosshair center-mass on the larger of the two men and fired. The rifle erupted in a brilliant display of smoke and sound, and he watched as the larger of the men in wetsuits stumbled backwards and tumbled over the side of the yacht.
[REDACTED] pulled back the lever on the rifle to load another round into the chamber. But as he turned the crosshairs onto the smaller of the two men, the man was already sitting on the far edge of the yacht. The man waved, then fell backwards into the water just as [REDACTED]’s rifle exploded with another round.
“Did you get them,” Aneni asked. [REDACTED] sighed. “One confirmed. The second…”
Before [REDACTED] could declare his thoughts on the second shot, the yacht erupted in a fiery blast. In a manner of seconds the boat was engulfed in flames before being extinguished by the waters of the Aegean Sea. Aneni and [REDACTED] continued to stare out at the smoldering remains of the ship as it dipped beneath the waves. For a heavy moment, neither of them spoke. Then, finally…
“I…” Aneni was speechless.
[REDACTED] climbed to his feet and slung the rifle over his shoulder. He looked over at the still-stunned Aneni.
“Come on. We’re leaving.”
It did not take long for Aneni and [REDACTED] to make it to the chartered flight. Just as before, The Man in the Pressed Suit delivered them to their destination with great discretion. And, just as before, he did so without uttering a single word. It was just as well for Aneni and [REDACTED], as neither of them were feeling particularly talkative.
The pair remained silent as they boarded the flight, and each of them remained silent as the chartered private plane took off. As [REDACTED] took his seat, Aneni looked around. It was a posh aircraft with a spacious interior. One side of the aircraft was lined with widely spaced seats, while the other had tables with those same plush seats on either end. A divider wall at the front of the cabin had a large flatscreen television on it. All the seats faced the television.
Aneni let out a long breath as she took her seat, finally allowing herself a moment to relax. It didn’t take long before she looked over at [REDACTED], who was lost in deep thought at one of the small tables.
“They knew we would be there. How?” [REDACTED] didn’t immediately reply. Aneni shifted in her seat. “This isn’t the time to pull this stoicism bullsh—”
“I’m thinking,” [REDACTED] interrupted. “Not all of us choose to think out loud.”
Aneni leaned back in her seat. That was the closest thing she’d heard to an actual insult from the mysterious sniper since they were paired together. She would have been impressed if not for the fact that she was on the receiving end of it.
Before Aneni could come up with a retort, a flight attendant entered the cabin holding a satellite phone. She brought the phone to [REDACTED].
“It’s for you,” the flight attendant said. [REDACTED] took the phone from the flight attendant and brought it up to his ear.
“Sir,” [REDACTED] addressed the voice on the other end of the phone. Although Aneni couldn’t make out what was being said, she could tell by the sheer volume of the voice on the other end of the line that General Fury was livid. [REDACTED] looked at Aneni.
“General says to turn on the television.”
Aneni grabbed the remote from the seatback pouch in front of her and flicked on the television set. It flicked to life and was already turned to one of those 24-hour news networks. The broadcast was showing the smoldering charred remains of a lavish yacht being pulled to dock by several small barges. The crystal clear voice of a news anchor played through every speaker on the aircraft.
“I’m Alex Barber for GBNS,” the voice said over the footage. “Minutes ago authorities responded to a massive explosion just off the northern coast of Mykonos, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. Information is still coming in but here’s what we know so far: the yacht was registered to Emilio Borozan, the Montenegrin ambassador to the United Nations. It was believed that Borozan, as well as several guests, were on the yacht at the time of the blast.”
[REDACTED] and Aneni both sat upright at the revelation of the name.
“What the hell,” Aneni spat. The reporter continued.
“The cause of the explosion and fire is currently being unknown, however local authorities believe that foul play may have been involved. GBNS has come into possession of this exclusive photograph, said to have been taken by somebody on the yacht just moments before the explosion that killed all six men aboard.”
The image on the screen flicked from video of the smoking ruins of the yacht to a still image showing two people, a man and a woman, on a cliff edge looking out at the boat. Although their faces are partially obscured by the quality of the image, one of them is clearly holding a rifle.
“ GBNS is working with the local authorities to identify these individuals, who witnesses staying at a nearby resort have said were seen in the area in the twenty-four hours prior to the explosion.”
Aneni turned off the television.
“Shit,” [REDACTED] said bluntly.
“How could anyone at that spa know we were up there?” Aneni asked.
“They didn’t,” [REDACTED] answered. “It was a plant. We were set up.”
“By who?!”
“We don’t know,” the gruff voice of General Tex Fury said through the satellite phone, which [REDACTED] had put on speaker. “But you’ve been compromised. Your names may not be known, but if this is Redcell then they’ll see to it that your faces are on every major news network across the world in the next four hours.”
“Great,” Aneni grumbled. “What do we do?”
“I have Val coordinating with several of my Commanders to investigate any possible leads,” Fury said. “Meanwhile I’ll be trying to hold back the tide of world governments wanting your heads for assassinating an ambassador to the United goddamn Nations.”
“We didn’t--”
“I know that,” Fury barked, cutting Aneni off. “But they don’t! And we’re behind the 8-Ball on this. Just get back to HQ. Now.”
The connection went dead.
[REDACTED] tossed the satellite phone down on the table and leaned back in his chair. Aneni leaned forward, her head in her hands as she tried to not shout more frustrated curses. After taking a moment to calm herself, she looked over at [REDACTED].
“What do we do,” she asked.
“We wait,” [REDACTED] said. “And we hope the General’s faith in his new Commanders is well-placed…”
TO BE CONTINUED....
