Part IX

Part IX

Astapkovich sat in his undershirt on a short metal table, his uniform shirt and jacket hanging on a nearby hook. One of enemy’s bullets had grazed past his shoulder. A doctor was working on stitching the wound together.

The guard, who had quickly reacted in order to save his life, had died while trying to supply fire at the enemy. Astapkovich admired his strength, and reaction time. “If it weren’t for him,” he thought, “I’d be dead.”

That didn’t take away from the fact that Aleksandr was pissed. In through the door came the point of where most his anger had gathered up upon, Colonel Ostakovich.

He entered the door, slowly, almost solemnly. Aleksandr asked, “Did you catch him?”

“No, sir,” the Colonel said softly. “We can’t find him anywhere. We believe he has escaped.”

The anger rose higher in Aleksandr. “Any way in knowing who he is?”

“We believe him to be an ally of the man who we captured earlier, but there’s no way to verify that. He left no clues as to who he was, who he worked for, nothing.”

His blood continued to boil. “And the manila folder, the program is it safe?”

“I’m sorry Lieutenant General, the program and the other contents of the folder are nowhere to be found. Gone along with the intruder.”

“You’re telling me, a solitary man, working with no additional support, was able to escape with a near one million dollar investment, from a building that is near impenetrable inside and out, which is also crawling with hundreds of troops?” Aleksandr’s voice grew angrier as he concluded the speech.”

Ostakovich hesitated, “I’m afraid so, sir.”

Astapkovich said nothing. He waved away the doctor, and stood up off the metal table. He walked towards his subordinate till he was inches from him, stared him deep in the eyes.

Aleksandr smiled before sucker punching him in the jaw, sending Ostakovich to the ground. He pulled out his Tokarev, firing five bullets in succession into his subordinates head in torso.

He looked at the dead body on the floor, “You and this place disgust me.” He turned around to find the doctor taking cover behind a table. Aleksandr paid no mind to him and gathered his shirt and jacket, returning them to his body. He walked out the door, thinking about how he could explain this to his government.