NationStates Jolt Archive

Four Brothers, all different, but with the same goals. See technically they are not "brothers", but all four brothers have the same father,

Fyodor Karamazov. The first son of Fyodor is Dmitri, a twenty five year old sensualist very much like his father but also the over protective older brother. When Dmitri was a young lad his mother, the first wive of Fyodor, died. Naturally Fyodor remarried and his second wife bore him two children, Ivan and Alexei. Ivan, the twenty two year old middle brother, was the intelligent and rationalist brother. While Alexei, the twenty year old youngest brother, was the baby of the family, but oddly enough the most religious and the romantic of the family. Like his first wife, the second wive of Fyodor died shortly after the birth of Alexei. Fyodor became disraught and soon turned to drinking.

One night when Fyodor was wandering the streets, of course drunk, he came upon an abandoned baby. Not wanting to see the baby die, like his former wives, Fyodor took the baby home. Coming to his senses in the morning Fyodor decided to adopt and raise the baby as his own, naming him Pavel, the fourth and final brother. Pavel, nineteen years old, was the silent and sullen one, but the other brothers soon accepted him as their own and formed an unbreakable bond.

The four brothers had a quiet and peaceful life in the countryside of Canadstein, until one day it was all shattered. See no brother quite knew what their father, Fyodor, actually did for a living. The Karamazovs lived quite comfortable and didn't usually have worries about money. Little did they know, but Fyodor was in fact a professional hit man, but not merely some run of the mill hit man. He was no other than the Black Jack. Black Jack was a hit man who could get any job done, but this would be his downfall. A group of shadowy characters wanted Fyodor to die. He was quickly becoming a nuisance. The group sent a team of men to exterminate Fyodor and his family.

During the night a group of fifteen men attacked the house. Stealth was the last thing on the group's minds. Fifteen against five, the odds were definitely against the Karamazovs. But the Karamazovs had the upper hand. Secret sensors were placed all over the Karamazov's land, along with cameras. So become they even got to the front door, Fyodor knew they were coming. He quickly woke up his sons and prepare for the assault. Arming themselves with shotguns and handguns they were prepared.

The attacker's cars came to a stop and poured out the cars quickly. They still thought surprise was on their side, but they were sadly mistaken. Bursting through the front door would reveal a shotgun tied to it. The shotgun went off, releasing with it a spray of buckshot. The battle continued from there. Shots were fired and blood was spilled. By the end of the battle the attackers, but Fyodor was fatality wounded. He had been shot ten times, before going down. The brothers cleared the battlefield and put their father to rest, under his favorite oak tree. But this wasn't the end.

Dmitri, eighteen at the time, was on the warpath and wanted revenge for their father's death. The other brothers agreed to hunt down their father's murders. This task wasn't easy and roughened all four brothers. They found out their father's past and his murders, the Mayfield Crime Family, along the way. Once finding this information they executed the people who gave the order to kill Fyodor, but with no mercy. Not one of the man could escape from the brothers grasp. Quickly they became known and feared as the Four Brothers. It soon ended with the execution of Friedrich Mayfield, the head of the Crime Family.

The Four Brothers had spent four years destroying the Mayfields. Now they were without a real goal. They decided to follow their father's footsteps, but took a different path. Instead of following the orders whoever paid the most, they only listened to those who wanted goodness in the world, which was hard to find.

---

So that leads us to the true story. The Four Brothers had a new mission. It was from the Canadsteiner Government. Their target was a man formally called Miles Mason. The Canadsteiners believed that he was dead, by the reports from Kahanistan, but a few months ago all of his savings had been withdrawal, then disappeared to somewhere in Kahanistan. Either he was dead or someone had stolen his account. The only problem was that Canadstein had some problems with Kahanistan in the past, especially with the former Canadstein Intelligence Agency, which Miles was a part of. So the Canadsteiner government wasn't going to send some government official to find him. Their only choice were the Four Brothers. The Four Brothers had worked for the Canadsteiner Government without any mishaps and were highly regard.

Dmitri walked into the sunlight of Kahanistan, then quickly put on his sunglasses. He was flanked by three other men, two of which bore somewhat of a resemblance to him. Their mission had begun.

"Do you smell that?" asked Dmitri to his brothers. None of the brothers answered. "That is the smell of our prey."

The four brothers continued to walk. They were on the hunt.

Kahanistan Military Intelligence was on the hunt for Miles Mason. They knew from speaking to Commander Adrian Collins of the National Police, who had been severely wounded chasing Mason, that Mason himself had been hurt and had secured records of area hospitals for men matching Mason's appearance.

The National Police had, unofficially anyway, closed the book on Mason - he had saved the commander from another former agent, but been gone by the time medical crews arrived to take Collins to the hospital to replace his knee joints. This time around, it was purely a Military Intelligence operation; the National Police allowed Military Intelligence access to its files, but was no longer actively pursuing the case - to them, it was no longer a law enforcement matter - the National Police considered Mason an informer, a pentito, to use a Mafia term, who had come to collaborate with them. Military Intelligence, however, considered the presence of a Canadsteiner agent with no proof he had left the country to be a threat to national security, especially with rumours he was linked to the President.

Military Intelligence combed the woods where the National Police pursuit of Mason had ended for weeks, searching for evidence that search dogs could track, but after this time little if anything was left. Wanted posters of Mason appeared on utility poles in Kahanistan, and in popular local establishments. The posters made no bones about it; according to them, he was a wanted terrorist.

A special forces squad of seven MI officers trolled the same general area where the Four Brothers were. They weren't actively pursuing them, as they didn't know who they were - they assumed they were just Canadsteiner immigrants or tourists taking advantage of the somewhat improved relations between the nations following the destruction of the Agency. No, these officers were looking for Mason, to capture him and put him on trial as a terrorist.

Miles had just vanished after the incident with Scott, but that was what Miles was trained to do by the Agency. If he didn't want to be found, then it would happen. For the week after the incident he wander the forests of Kahanistan; until he stumbled back onto the city of New Mazada. Now he faced with a moral dilemma, either return back to face his imprisonment or live out a new life. Miles decided on the latter since he could do more good.

The only problem Miles was completely broke. Miles remembered some a some what large sum of funds he had stashed away, just in case. He retrieved the money, then bribed himself into existence. With the right amount of money Miles created a new persona for himself. A new Kahanistani was suddenly born, but had also always existed, Carl Goerdeler. "Carl" had always been a Kahanistani citizen and had the right documents to verify it.

"Carl" dedicated himself in creating a line of bakeries, called Bäckerei. He wanted to do something that was constructive and didn't hurt people anymore, but that wouldn't take away the pain. As each passed "Carl" remembered the people he brought pain to or killed. They would always live in his heart. All those people...it was simply sick to think.

The line of bakeries were on a rise. They cooked everything from fresh ingredients and everything tasted excellent, though the creator was a shadowy man. "Carl" usually kept to himself and rarely went outside. The only times he did were to go to church. "Carl" was a devout Catholic and went to mass every Friday and Sunday, though it was usually with a disguise. He couldn't risk being noticed. "Carl's" disguise usually involved a hat or an eye patch, trying to eliminate some of his facial features. Life continued and "Carl" continued to live in the shadows.

A new line of bakeries opening up was not going to arouse a lot of suspicion, in and of itself. Citizens gossiped about Carl, wondering where he had come from, why he never came out of the shop except to go to church, and why he didn't like to show his face.

Some said he was merely a reserved person who was becoming more reclusive, as happened to all too many elderly people. Carl didn't look that old, but then, many people are much older or younger than they look. Others said that he was a Doomani assassin - that would explain the going out to church when he never went anywhere else, but that was generally a theory held to by a few right-wing crackpots. A few said that he was any number of disappeared people, or even people widely accepted as being dead.

Whatever the truth, they all knew that the most delicious cookies and cakes in New Masada could be found at his bakery.

Carl's privacy was soon to be shattered, on the same day that the Karamazov Brothers arrived into New Mazada. He was walking home for Friday's mass and night had already fallen. To top it all of it was pouring outside. Luckily Carl had brought his umbrella just in case if it rained. As he walked back to his apartment he stopped for a minute. He looked around for, then thought. Carl thought that he had heard a scream come from the dark alley to his right. It might just be his imagination or a real cry for help.

Carl made up his mind and decide to look. As he inched forward into the bad smelling alley, the picture came to view. A woman, in her mid-twenties, was pinned up against a wall, while a man held a knife up to her neck. The woman's purse was tossed to the side, so it mustn't have been money. The man was ripping off her clothing. Suddenly a stream of images entered Carl's mind, that mostly of Scott and his deeds.

The rapists noticed Carl and just grinned. "You want some action to?"

The woman looked like she was in pain. Carl wasn't going to let this scum do this. In one motion he pulled out a Colt Single Action Army, also known as the Colt Peacemaker, and gunned the rapists down. Suddenly the gun disappeared again. As he looked at the dead rapists, he just shook his head. Then he took off.

The young woman barely caught a glimpse of Carl before he disappeared. In her emotional state, her memory would likely be poor and eyewitness testimony is unreliable at the best of times.

She did, however, call a friend to take her to the hospital where the doctors administered post-exposure prophylaxis and emergency contraception just in case. The doctors filed a police report although the rapists were in the morgue, DOA - morgue personnel didn't routinely share information with the ICU, and for all they knew the perps had merely been wounded.

Cops looked at surrounding footage from surveillance cameras to ID the shooter, though they had no intention of prosecuting. It was just a matter of procedure; the cops would be more likely to pin a medal on him than bust him if they found him.

The Karamazov Brothers had settled down and formed a base of operations in a condo. The place was already furnished and would be good enough for the time being. They only suspected to be in Kahanistan for at least three days. It was a simple mission of finding one person, but also somewhat different since it was an agent. The brothers hadn't encountered someone like Miles before. Usually it was corrupt politicians or some member of a crime family, not an agent. Agents were trained to blend in. That would be the only problem or so they thought.

Dmitri had woken up early in the morning for his daily run. In the mornings he needed to clear his mind, but he found a run was the best option for him. He ran down a couple of blocks, then stopped out some local bakery called Bäckerei. Dmitri got some pastries for his brothers, then ran back to condo. Before entering the main door of the building, something caught his eye. It was some cheap local newspaper. Dmitri decided to pay one.

Once back upstairs Dmitri found his brothers awake and starving. They quickly devoured the food Dmitri had brought back, though Dmitri was more concentrated on the newspaper. As he browsed through one story caught his eye. It was about a rapist being killed in the act by some unknown vigilant. Reading the physical description, the mysterious vigilant sounded a lot like Miles.

"Hey Ivan reread the physical description of Miles again." asked Dmitri curiously.

Ivan reread the description and surprisingly enough it sounded very close to the one in the newspaper. But some strange act of god they had their first led.

"Suit up. I think we might have a led." Dmitri stated.

"Where?" asked Alexei.

"The police station." replied Dmitri with the utmost confidence.

The three brothers looked at each other. What trick did Dmitri have up his sleeve?

In the police station, cops milled around filing paperwork, exchanging information with the district medical examiner on the bodies of the rapists, and they obtained evidence from the victim and the person who had driven her to the hospital and called in the dead bodies, which the M. E. identified as those of two repeat rapists and known child molesters. A cop was comparing a crude police sketch of Carl to a database of known criminals, one of the few bases of people they might have encountered before.

The station appeared busy, but if the Karamazov Brothers knew how to social-engineer one of the officers in Violent Crimes, they might be able to get an idea of what the police knew. Of course, the police weren't about to give them information if the Four Brothers were, for some reason, stupid enough to admit they were assassins.

The four brothers arrived at a police station, but only Ivan entered. It would be very odd if four men entered and started to ask tons of questions to a cop. So they were choosing the more subtle approach. The last thing they needed was a bunch of cops on their asses while hunting the elusive Miles Mason. Ivan asked to talk to a officer in the Violent Crimes department about the attempting raping and death of the rapists for the newspaper. He wanted in a nearby chair. Hoping that his excuse worked.

Officer Paul Connor sat at the desk in Violent Crimes where Ivan was. He was a fat, donut-eating cop about 40 years old but had never been promoted. Connor was more than willing to talk, and it was in many cases his willingness to talk that had been responsible for leaks.

"Well," said the officer. "Miss... Turner seems to be holding up quite well. From what I've gotten, she's medically OK. Can't say the same for the two guys that decided they wanted a piece of her. What did you want to know specifically?"

"Okay two questions. Do you have any idea who the unknown vigilant is? Second question, do you know where Miss Turner is located, so I can ask her some questions myself?" asked Ivan.

Connor looked around the room before getting up, putting on gloves, and pushing a surveillance camera in another direction with a broom from an angle from which it could not see him.

"I'll probably be fired for giving you information on rape victims," said the officer in a low voice. "Confidentiality rules and all that." He handed the Canadsteiner a police report detailing not only the address of one Christine Turner, age 24, but her physical description, a basic description of the rapists, and brutal detail on what they had done to her. He also gave Ivan a confidential internal memo suggesting some officers suspected the vigilante to be Miles Mason.

"Try to use some discretion. If they find out who gave you the information..." Connor drew a finger across his throat. "To my career."

"Thanks for the help. Also this will never be linked back to you. I will make sure of that." Ivan said as he tucked the report under his armpit. He shook the officer's arm, then left the room. Easier than he except, but easier was usually better for the four brothers.

Once looking over the information they decided to interview this Miss Turner. She was the only one who got a clear look at the vigilant. Right now it was their only lead. They drove to the current residence of Miss Turner. This time all four brothers were going to come, but Dmitri would be doing most of the talking. The three other brothers stood behind him as Dmitri knocked on the door.

A red-haired woman about 5'4" and roughly average weight answered the door. She looked fairly young and sort of plain, and was dressed casually in a Hawaiian looking dress. Having been recently sexually assaulted by two men, she had an Aequatian G101 (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=526786) carbine in her hand. Christine looked very paranoid and nervous, as if these men had come to rape her or kill her.

"May we please come in. It has to do with last night. We our police and we have a few more questions." asked Dmitri.

Christine was somewhat irritated. "You asked me all kinds of questions at the hospital," she said. She didn't want to talk much about the attack.

"You can talk to me out here." She lowered her weapon. She wasn't letting four strange guys come into her home.

"It is only a few more, than we will leave you alone. But we appreciate your cooperation. We are going to find this vigilant." Dmitri tried to say gently. "Okay, lets get down to business. Did this vigilant look at all familiar to another person you have seen?"

"I don't know," said Christine. "I didn't get a very good look at his face. I remember the shots, the guy who had his hand up my skirt falling over, then the guy holding my legs open falling over, then about two seconds of the shooter's face before he ran off. Looked to be in his 30's, probably Western European. Since then I never go anywhere without a weapon." She shook the butt of her G101.

"Of course, I don't usually walk the streets with this. I like the Hi-Point .45 myself. But for home invasions, there's nothing better than the same gun our troops use for clearing buildings."

"Any idea of what kind of gun he was carrying?" asked Dmitri as he looked down at the gun.

"I'm not a weapons expert," said Christine. "I only have this and my pistol. It was some kind of pistol, not sure of the model. You could probably figure it out from the bullets in the bodies."

"Thank you for your assistance." Dmitri said politely.

Once the door closed they walked back to the car. So seemed that this Miss Turner had no further information on her mysterious vigilant. The vigilant might not even be Miles or it might be a dead end. But for now it was the only thing that they had to follow. The next place they decided to go was the corner's office to see what type of bullet was fired. Hopefully that would lead to a gun, then the owner.

They drove to the corner's office, entered, then looked around. No one was around. That was certainly odd. Pavel saw a bell, then pressed down on it.

"Hello anyone here? We have some questions to ask." called out Dmitri.

The coroner's attendant was an uneducated black man, probably one of the Questarian former slaves that had fled to Kahanistan for citizenship and gotten a half decent job while the Ministry of Education footed the bill for his education. He spoke with a weird accent and looked to be very strong, probably from doing hard manual labour for most of his life.

"I yo' man. What 'choo wantin' to ax me?"

"What kind of bullet killed the rapists from last night?" asked Dmitri from the get go.

"I think 'choo wan' these two." The man went into the morgue and opened two drawers revealing the bodies of the rapists - a tall, robust man and a shorter, stockier man, both in their early 20's and appearing to be college students.

"'Dunno what cap did them. Boss might know. I just th' attendant."

"Can I see the bullets?" asked Dmitri.

"Bullets'is in th' forensic room," said the attendant. He struggled in vain to put four different keys in the lock before getting it open and giving Dmitri two jars with the rapists' names on them and bullets that had evidently been extracted from their corpses.

"'Choo should be able to fin'out th' gun from dat."

"Can you go get your boss?" asked Dmitri as the Four Brothers crowded around the jars.

"K. What'choo wan' her t'do?" asked the attendant.

'Oh god the attendant is one too.' Dmitri thought as he turned around. A smile was on his face to hide his true feelings. It was something he had learned since the death of his father. "Do you know what kind of bullet killed the rapists from last night?"

The Four Brothers had the jars with the bullets in them. The attendant shook his head. "I go get th' boss," he said. "She prob'ly know what kind o' piece they from." He turned to a door and knocked on it.

"That guy is worthless." Dmitri whispered to his brothers. Pavel snickered and turned back around to see the attendant. It was hard to understand the man, but at least he wasn't some beggar. Now that would be annoying.

An Arabian woman about 40 years old stepped out of the door, dressed in a lab coat and wearing gloves. "Fatima al-Amira. I'm the coroner here. Mr. Kenton, here, is my assistant. I don't think I've met you here before..."

Each of the brothers said their respective names, then they got on with their business. Ivan got the two jars and brought them to Miss al-Amira.

"We are trying to identify these bullets that killed the rapists last night. It was part of the ongoing investigation on the vigilant who fired them." Dmitri said from the get go.

"The bullets all come from the same firearm," said Fatima. Colt Single Action Army pistols were not very common in Kahanistan.

"It's a revolver, 11.43 millimetres in diameter. Probably Colt. Very deadly. Not very common in Kahanistan, so if we find the gun, we'll almost certainly find the shooter."

Ivan looked closely at the bullet. In the past five years Ivan had seen many bullets and guns. It was kind of his niche in the brother's business. He usually dealt with getting weapons and their respective ammo. As he looked at the jar he wondered. Since it was a Colt Single Action Army that means that this bullet was a .45 Colt. Now the only problem was finding the gun and the owner.

"Do you have any idea where we can find information on registered guns?" asked Ivan as he looked up from the jar.

"Unfortunately, our gun registration is modeled on that of the Allaneans," said Fatima, smiling. "That is to say, we don't have gun registration in Kahanistan. Registration is the first step toward confiscation. But this is a rare gun, so you might want to talk to Colt dealers in the area."

"Have any names?' asked Dmitri.

Fatima picked up a list of dealers. "These are all the Colt dealerships in New Masada," she said. There were four of them.

"If you're still stumped, the Yellow Pages can help out a lot. I can't count the number of crimes that have been solved with it."

"Which ones operate in this area?" asked Dmitri. It would be the best place to start since the killing took place here. Plus reading over the report it seemed that this vigilant was just walking by, so they could assume that he lived some where around here.

Fatima marked with a blue marker the four Colt dealerships in New Masada, and circled the one closest to where the shootings had taken place. "Start your search here, then expand as needed," she said. "Although... why are you chasing a man who merely defended a woman from being raped? His actions, from what I understand, are perfectly legal."

"Let me ask you a question. Why did this vigilant just kill these rapists without thinking? What scares you more a rapists or a man who doesn't hesitate to kill." Dmitri said while taking the map and other papers. He gave a signal to his brothers to leave. They got back into the car and drove to one of the dealers.

"Depends on the reason for killing. If it's defence against criminals, that's very different than killing people for their land, or their religion, or their culture or some other stupid reason," said Fatima. She sat down and watched the men leave.

---

At the first dealership, an old man sat polishing a Colt M-16 as the men entered. He set it on the rack and took down a Colt Single Action Army like Miles'.

"You sell any peacemakers to anyone around here lately?" asked Pavel.

"Yeah. Guy called himself Carl. The owner of the bakeries that've been popping up in New Masada," said the gun dealer. "You guys look like the gun culture types. Could I interest you in this Colt M-16?" he asked, nodding to the weapon he had just polished.

"Do you have an address or last name?" asked Dmitri clearly ignoring the man's advances to buy a gun.

"Goerdeler, I think," said the dealer. "Wasn't too talkative. I had the gun shipped to..."

The man checked the sales record on his computer. "1713 North Cypress Drive, New Masada."

"What other kinds of guns do you have?" piped up Alexei.

"Well, we have the M-4 carbine, which is probably better for home defence... we have the M1911... we have almost any Colt firearm you can think of," said the dealer.

"Shoot something different." asked Alexei.

"I don't understand," said the dealer. He slid Alexei a list of Colt firearms. "This is pretty much all we have. Sorry I couldn't help you more with finding this Peacemaker."

"It's all right." said Alexei as the remainder of the brothers left the shop. Now it was time to find Miles and have a little talk with him. Driving to "Carl's" apartment they checked their guns, which were Heckler & Koch USPs. Of course this was only a guess that this Carl Goerdeler and Miles Mason were the same person. They were going to storm his apartment and definitely use their guns, since Miles was listed as "dangerous". If this guess proved to be wrong, then they could be in a world of trouble.

A New Masada beat cop walked alongside the street near Carl's apartment. Sure, he'd seen Carl go in and out, but neither knew he was Miles, nor would he have cared even if he did know. The cop wore heavy tactical armour and carried an Aequatian-designed G101 carbine and a .44 Magnum pistol in his belt.

He made a mental note of the four suspicious individuals with guns. Having a gun did not make one suspicious in Kahanistan, but being with three other guys in a car might. The officer spoke to the apartment security on his radio, just in case - there had been cases of violent criminals, who were generally pretty well armed given the likelihood of their victims carrying weapons.

They loaded in new magazines, then ventured toward the apartment complex. The brothers were on a mission and nothing was going to stop them. Entering the main lobby, they went to the front desk.

"Where is Mr. Goerdeler room located?" asked Pavel.

"Room 430," said the clerk. She was a high-school aged girl working part time and wasn't as astute as the police officer or the apartment security guards, and had no reason to suspect the Canadsteiners of planning nefarious deeds.

"Fourth floor, down the corridor on your right."

"Thank you." replied Pavel.

The four brothers regrouped for a little talk. Three of them would go up to Carl and pay him a visit, while one brother stayed at the lobby as a lookout. They quickly came to a decision that Alexei was the best lookout. Coming to the decision quickly the three other brothers went up the elevator.

Looking around for a bit, Alexei eyed the clerk. Might as well talk to her. Plus he didn't really want to stick out like a sore thumb, he had seen the cop outside.

"So what's your name?" asked Alexei to the young clerk.

"Leslie," said the girl. She turned to expose her nametag. She was pretty, but not extremely so, about 5'6" and medium weight with Semitic features, long dark hair and dark eyes.

"And you...?"

"Alexei." He said smoothly with a smile. "My brothers are in town to meet up with an old friend."

Leslie smiled. "Well, that seems fun." It was something she could empathise with.

"What are you going to do?" She looked at her watch. Maybe she'd get off before they found their friend. It was already 4:50 PM.

"Probably remember old times. Maybe get a drink." Alexei said casually. "See we all use to live in the same small town. We grew up together, but college came for him and my brother. It has been two years since we have seen him."

"I see." She nodded. "I'll... probably go to military school for college next year," she said. "So I drink enough for the next four years. Or did, till I heard a rapist attacked a girl in a bar and took another home and killed her."

"Would you like to come with us Leslie? I am sure that my brothers will not care if we have another person come with us." asked Alexei.

Leslie looked at her watch. "Only five minutes till five." She pulled her ID card and scanned out. "Sure."

On the fourth floor, the guards were suspicious of three unfamiliar men walking around. One of the guards walked up to the three brothers.

"Can we be of assistance?"

"Okay. I think my brothers should be down shortly." said Alexei.

Meanwhile the brothers stopped dead in their tracks the moment they heard the guard's voice. Dmitri turned around to confront the guard. "Yes we are trying to find Room 430."

Leslie sat back next to Alexei. "I'll wait here until they are."

"OK," said the guard. "I'll come with you. We've had thieves breaking into people's apartments when someone's away. I think it's a real sophisticated group doing it."

"Oh it's fine. The lady down in the lobby told us that it was on the right. I am pretty sure we can find it are selves." Dmitri replied. The other brothers were continuing on to the room. Some dumb guard wasn't going to stop them when they were so close.

"So how old are you?" asked Alexei as he sat next to Leslie. "I am twenty years old."

The guard stood where he was, about 20 metres from Miles' room. If the Brothers Karamazov came out laden with stolen booty, he would be in prime position to jump them. One can't run as fast while holding a big-screen TV or a safe with a million shekels in it.

---

"Seventeen," said Leslie. "I'll go to the Military Academy next year when I finish secondary school."

Ivan knocked on the door as Pavel and Dmitri stood in front of him. This lowly guard wasn't going to stop them.

---

"Oh I decided to take a break from school. See some of the world." Alexei stated. "So you are interested in the military?"

The guard eyed the men suspiciously. He did not make any moves for his gun, and wouldn't unless he heard signs of a struggle or shots, or had to stop the men from walking off with stolen goods...

---

Leslie nodded. "I think the officer corps needs some smart people. The people we have... well, the common soldier is well trained, and the average officer can fight well enough, but they don't know how to... organise people. Motivate people, they do very well, but we need organisation."

'Carl' opened the door and looked like he had just woken up. He yawned for a bit, then rubbed his eyes. This was the first time someone had knocked the door in a while. Getting a better view of the men, he had no idea who they are. Where they Canadsteiners sent to exterminate him? Miles had done all he could to hid himself. Was it good enough?

Meanwhile Ivan closely looked at the this Mr. Goerdeler. Remembering the picture they had of Miles, this man was a perfect match. Either Miles had a twin in Kahanistan or this was Miles Mason. Ivan turned back around and winked to his brothers. They had found their man.

"Excuse me...can I help you?" asked 'Carl', moving the door to block one of his arms. The arm was reaching for his Colt on the nearby table. Something was wrong about these men.

Within a second guns were drawn. It was as though they were in some old western movie. Miles and Ivan both had their guns pointed at each other. While Pavel and Dmitri had their guns fixed on the guard. The only man who didn't have his gun out was the guard.

"Move and you die. So you better be on your best behavior." Dmitri said as the gun was point straight at the guard's head.

"We know who you are and we are taking you with us." Ivan said to Miles.

Sweat rolled down Miles face. They had found him. Now he was going to pay with his mistake with his life. He scanned the gunmen and knew that he couldn't kill all three men. The gun fell to the floor as he put his hands on his head. Ivan kept his gun trained on Miles as they walked down the corridor.

At the same time Pavel slowly walked up to the guard, then clocked him in the head. The guard went down like a sack of potatoes. Dmitri and Pavel grabbed the fallen guard's arms and legs, then stuffed him in a nearby closet. Ivan at finished walking Miles to the elevator. The other two brothers rushed in, but put away their guns. Ivan expertly hid his gun so it was still trained on Miles, but concealed.

"Miles Mason....you have some explaining to do." said Dmitri. The elevator doors closed.

---

Alexei pulled out his gun slowly, so not to alarm her. He grabbed her hand, then gently placed it in her hand. "You ever fire a gun before?"

At the lobby, the city police officer the men had spotted outside was now in. The incompetents in the apartment security hadn't even answered his warning of suspicious people, and hadn't communicated it to the guards. He locked and loaded his G101, then walked in, calling for backup.

Leslie nodded. "Had to learn to shoot," she said. "The military can't be everywhere."

"What kind of guns do you own?" asked Alexei slightly interested by her answer.

"An M-16," said Leslie. "IMI Tavor. AK-47, too, but they suck against Doomie armour. Got an Aequatian G100 for my birthday last month. Never fired it yet, though."

---

The guard came to quickly in the closet. He cursed loudly in Arabic and began kicking the walls and door. It wouldn't be too long before he was freed and figured out what had happened...

"So what does your boyfriend think of you joining the military?" asked Alexei. This time he asked a more personal question, but it would be up to Leslie.

---

The four men were calm in the elevator. No need to create unwanted attentions. A soft ding went off as they got to the ground floor. Ivan dug the gun into Miles' back to indicate to move forward. The three brothers plus their prisoner moved forward into the lobby, toward Alexei.

"Don't have one," said Leslie calmly.

The cop closed the door behind him. He looked suspiciously at the four men. One of them looked like Miles. He wasn't sure whose side he was on this time - Miles had helped Kahanistan before, but he'd also wrought havoc there.

---

The door opened to the closet and the guard was freed. He was still a bit dazed from the blow and took some time to realise where he was and what had happened. Another guard helped him to his feet.

"What went on here...?"

"Alexei get in the car. We have our 'friend' with us." Dmitri said as he motioned to the parked car.

Alexei nodded, then responded. "Is it okay if Leslie comes along with us?"

Dmitri just shook his head. The brothers continued to the car, though Pavel eyed the cop. While the brothers were heading toward the car, Alexei got up and looked down at Leslie.

"Are you coming?" he said with a smile.

The police officer stepped out of the building to note the Canadsteiners' licence plate number. He eyed one of the cameras, as if to ensure his safety - being a bit of a coward, he was going to let his ballsier comrades do the chasing down if it came down to it.

---

Leslie nodded. "He doesn't seem to want me along," she said, nodding to Dmitri. "I could use the time out, if it's OK..."

"Oh Dmitri's just a little edgy. The last week has been very stressful for him. I am sure that he won't mind. Now are you coming along or not?" Alexei said with a warm smile.

---

Meanwhile the other brother's had gotten their "friend" into the car. Now they were waiting for Alexei and some girl. This girl would add another dimension to their plan, but it wouldn't change most of it. Anyways this girl Leslie could be useful.

Leslie stepped into the car. A nearby police officer was talking on the radio to his dispatcher...

"So whose the girl?" asked Dmitri.

Alexei quickly defended himself. "She a girl I met in the lobby. You might have recognized her from the lobby. Would you like to introduce yourself?"

"Leslie McKay," said the girl. She smiled at Dmitri. "So, what are we all doing?"

"We are going for to a resturant we know. Isn't that right Carl?" Dmitri said with a wide smile. All "Carl" did was simply nod.

Leslie looked at Carl. She hadn't become suspicious, yet. "Where to?" she asked. My god... this isn't going to be a gang bang, is it? Five men and one girl kind of suggested that to her... then again, Kahanistanian women tended to be far more liberal than their Canadsteiner counterparts.

"Balzac. It is some local French resturant." responded Dmitri for Carl. Ivan was still next to Ivan and the gun was in the exact same place.

"Don't worry Leslie..." Alexei said as he rested his hand onto her's.

Leslie seemed stunned. What is going on...? She didn't voice her concerns when Alexei told her not to worry, but somehow she felt she'd gotten into something a little worse than group sex. She waited for them to arrive at the French restaurant...

"What is wrong Leslie?" asked Alexei slightly concerned.

Leslie shook her head. "Worry about... what?" she asked. She couldn't help but notice Carl wasn't saying anything, but didn't speak up. "You said earlier not to worry."

"You just seem like something is on your mind. That is all." stated Alexei.

"I'm OK," said Leslie. She sat back and enjoyed the rest of the ride.

"So what subject are you interested in school?" asked a curious Alexei.

"I do pretty well in social sciences and Doomani Latin," said Leslie. "I plan to major in psychology at the Academy and serve as a psychological operations officer."

"Interested in the Dommani. That is certainly odd..." Alexei replied.

"You misunderstand me," Leslie replied. "Just their language, not that they'd want anything to do with me. I can't be a psy-ops officer if I can't even speak the enemy's language. It's actually one of the bigger language offerings at our universities... people wanting to be spies, diplomats, politicians, who knows what else. Some people just want to learn it to know how the enemy thinks."

"Well the only language I learned besides English obliviously is German. Though I learned that outside of school. Our father wanted to learn our ancestor's language." Alexei turned to his brothers. "Ist jenes Recht nicht meine Brüder?*"

*(Isn't that right brothers?)

"Ja" stated all three brothers.

"Though I haven't been in school since I was eighteen. I decided that college wasn't made for me." Alexei said to Leslie.

Meanwhile Carl barely even moved. That mostly had to do with the fact that a gun was digging into his side. As they drove thoughts raced through "Carl's" brain. Who were this men? How did they find out he was Miles Mason? Who was paying them? Was it the agency or the Canadsteiner government? Plus to top it all off what were they going to do with these women?

'Carl' cleared his throat, then began to talk, though with a hint of nervousness. "Für wen arbeiten Sie?*"

*(Who do you work for?)

The car suddenly stopped. Dmitri turned back around. "Was haben Sie gesagt?*"

*(What did you say?)

"Sie haben mich gehört.*" a grin appeared on 'Carl's' face.

*(You heard me)

Dmitri continued to drive but looked at Pavel, who was sitting in the passenger seat. Pavel simply shook his head. There was going to be a little change in plans. The car made a sharp left, then sped up. Suddenly the car doors locked. Dmitri expertly turned onto a highway as he talked to 'Carl'.

"Wir arbeiten für Gerechtigkeit.*"

*(We work for justice)

"What is going on?" asked Leslie. If she was concerned by Carl's silence up until now, she was definitely getting the creeps at the car suddenly acting as if Dmitri had just robbed a bank. "Non loquor Germanie," she said. "I do not speak German."

So far, she still hadn't seen the gun pointed at Miles. She was probably his only hope of escaping, if he could find a way to tell her without getting killed... and if she was willing to help the hated fugitive escape.

"Was machen wir Dmitri mit ihr?" asked Alexei. "Wir können nicht nur sie töten. Sie ist unschuldig.*"

*(What do we do with her Dmitri? We can't just kill her. She is innocent.)

Dmitri looked back at the girl. He wasn't going to start becoming a heartless murdered now. All the time before the men he had killed deserved it. They were scum and deserved to die. Leslie hadn't done anything wrong. She had accepted Alexei's flirtations and invitation to dinner, but that was hardly a reason to kill her. Sweat rolled down from his forehead. What should he do?

"Sie wird mit uns kommen." replied Dmitri. He wiped the sweat from his face. "Aber sie wird Ihre Verantwortung Alexei sein.*"

*(She will come with us. But she will be your responsibility Alexei.)

'Carl' muttered "succurro mihi" repeatedly. The phrase was Latin for help me, he hoped that this girl caught on. She was his only hope.

"Oh nothing...Leslie. We are just...awww...never mind. Just please be quiet. We aren't going to hurt you. I promise you. You just have to trust me. Can you do that, even though you just met me?" Alexei told her.

Leslie nodded. She made eye contact with Carl to signal she understood, but only for a split second. If something was going on, she had to figure out what exactly it was before something awful happened. She had a cell phone on her, but calling the New Masada Police Department from here wasn't smart. Texting wouldn't be taken seriously - they'd likely think she was some kid playing a prank, and besides, if she were seen with it...

She nodded again, firmly, as she faced Alexei. "OK..." she said warily. "Where are we going?"

"Away from New Masada. That is all I know." Alexei stated to her. Then the four brothers started to bicker in German.

These men are definitely arguing. Perhaps they can be turned against each other... Leslie knew that if someone really was being kidnapped, the last place they wanted to be was in a secluded area, where there were no witnesses. She also knew that unmarked police cars were a possibility, though not one she wanted to stake someone's life on - they would only be likely if a cop had seen something or if a citizen had spotted something suspicious and called police, and they managed to get there before the car took off.

On the other hand, with one of these German-speaking men in the driver's seat, a secluded area was probably the first place they were heading. Alexei seemed to like her, so it was unlikely the others would harm her if they wanted his help. As long as she could avoid being separated from Carl, she felt he was safe, not to say she wasn't scared - who knew what one of those men were capable of if they didn't care about alienating Alexei? So far, she knew that Carl was in danger and Alexei was a potential ally if he could be won over to her side.

She began to formulate a tactical plan in her head...

Ten minutes later the fighting had died down. Their plans had changed, but at least the police were not after them, yet. As the fighting came to an end, Dmitri told Ivan to tie up "Carl" and Alexei do the same to Leslie.

Once that was finished both brothers searched their respective person. Alexei was extra careful, not wanting to make it look like he was groping her. "Carl" was carrying nothing, but Alexei had found a cell phone on Leslie. Luck was on there side. Leslie's cellphone was soon tucked away into one of Alexei's pockets.

Boredom soon set in. Ivan was concentrating "Carl". Pavel was mindlessly looking out the window. Dmitri was driving. Alexei looked around in the quiet car. Slowly he leaned over to Leslie's ear.

"What is your family going to do if you don't show up tonight?" asked Alexei.

Leslie wasn't so eager to surrender her cell phone. She would need it to help Carl, and likely herself. Her parents wouldn't worry until she'd been gone for three days or so, but telling them that might give them time to kill her and cover it up before suspicion fell. "Probably call me," she said. "I'll need my cell." She would have to maintain a degree of assertiveness, without coming off as too arrogant and getting herself in deeper shit.

"Yeah....so you can call for help." said Alexei. "That isn't going to happen. I am sorry..."

"So, you are going to do something to me," said Leslie coldly. Logic dictated that he would - he couldn't afford having a witness come forward and expose the whole murderous enterprise. Logic also dictated that if Alexei were foolish enough not to kill her, he would have no reason to deprive her of her mobile. She remained calm, for now...

"No. We just don't want you calling the police. As you can see we have already committed kidnapping. I am pretty sure that is against the law. So the police are not going to like us. And usually when the police get involved, bad things happen." Alexei stated.

Of course, if they didn't do anything to prevent it, she'd do just that the minute she got away and found a phone. Leslie wasn't assured, but sat back and looked straight ahead. Sliding her hands behind her body, out of Alexei's sight, she began to work stealthily at the ropes, but it would take her hours to get out - hours Carl likely didn't have.

Even if she could be sure of an unmarked car being on the trail, she certainly wasn't out of the woods. Depending on these people's motivations, they could be desperate enough to kill both her and Carl at the risk of their own lives, or a hostage situation could degenerate to the point where someone was killed...

For the next two hours no words were spoken. Not one of the brothers was in the mood to speak. They seemed to be more worried about their little plan. The car had already traveled outside the city limit's of New Masada and currently the countryside was zooming past them. It was nearing sundown so they were going to have to find a place to hold down for the night. There was plently of woods around them. Finding a camping spot would not be hard.

Finding a camping spot would likely be easy enough, especially if one found a patch where there weren't a lot of hunters, other campers, or university botany classes waltzing through the woods.

The difficulty was that the four brothers had planned for five people, and they had six. Therefore, it was unlikely they would have a tent for Leslie. On top of that, they weren't sure where her loyalties were and might just leave her to the elements...

She turned to Alexei. Her hands were a little more comfortable now, but she was still basically immobile. Leslie lowered her voice. "Would I be able to fit... in your tent?"

Alexei turned to Leslie, but said nothing. The car made a left onto a dirt road, then went down it for a little while longer. Finally the car came to a completely stop. It seemed like Dmitri had found the perfect camping spot. The brothers got of the car, with their prisoners under close guard. Alexei tied them to a tree, put far apart so they couldn't talk. Once that job was finished he went off to help his brothers.

Ten minute later he returned and untied the pair. At gunpoint he brought them to the small camp. Four tents had been erected along with a small campfire in the middle. Something was cooking over the fire. Pavel sat a top of a log intently looking at the food. Alexei put his gun away, then sat down. He let a deep sigh.

Ivan walked appeared from the darkness. His hand rested on Leslie and 'Carl's' shoulder. With no real effort he pushed them to the ground. There was no real interaction with their prisoners for the first thirty or so minutes. They talked in German, but the conservation seemed to carry a serious tone. Then the German stopped.

"Leslie you are going to be sleeping in that tent." Alexei stated, while pointing at one of the tents. "But don't think about escaping. I will be sleeping right outside of your tent."

Alexei then introduce his three brothers. While Alexei was talking, Pavel had made poured six bowls of soup. He passed them around the circle, until he was finally left with one. The brothers said a prayer, then went to eating their soup.

"Leslie....I am sorry that I got you involved in this." Alexei whispered so his brothers could not hear.

'Carl' just sat there sipping his soup with a sullen look.

Leslie nodded. "Can you... come in to talk to me?" she asked Alexei. She was going to try to win him over to her side, and so far had a decent idea of what kind of guy he was. He seemed to like her, all right, but wanted to avoid the police. She hadn't seen any guns until they arrived at the campsite, but now had a better assessment of their capabilities. Leslie would want to talk to Carl at some point, of course, but now getting Alexei on her side took priority.

"I don't think my brothers will like that. Just talk with a whisper." replied Alexei softly. Meanwhile his brothers were being boisterous and trying to have a good time. A flask was being passed amongst the three brothers. It was pretty obviously that the brothers were trying to get rid of their stress. This day had been long, too long.

Maybe they'll get too drunk... then I'll make off with him. Until then...

"I'm... scared," she said. This was partly true, but she was as scared for Carl as for herself. She didn't know what he had done, and wasn't big on capital punishment even if she had known. She certainly wouldn't want to see him killed if she could help it.

"Your friends... seem to want to get rid of their stress. Maybe you can get rid of yours, too... and mine." She smiled warmly. It was worth a shot.

"Leslie...I know that we just met, but you have to trust me. My brothers and myself are good people. We get rid of scum like 'Carl' over there." Alexei said, bring her close to him, then hugging her. "I will not let anything happen to you as long as you trust me..."

He looked over to his brothers. They were getting drunker by the minute. It seemed like he was going to be taking care of their prisoners tonight. But at least Leslie seemed to be somewhat cooperative.

"Leslie....why would you suggest that?" Alexei said slightly taken aback. "We just met and you don't even really no me. See sex, in my opinion, is for when unconditionally love each other and are both ready for it."

Alexei let go of her, then got up. He just shook his head, then walked off to go to the bathroom.

Well, now I know what they want to do. Leslie decided to wait for the other three to pass out before making her move. Of course, Alexei would have to come back to her before she could move. She would want to know more about Carl, of course - the more she knew, the more help she could be.

After getting completely drunk the three brothers decided it was time to get some sleep. Dmitri and Pavel retired to own tents, but Ivan walked over to the prisoners. He pulled out his handgun and drunkenly tired to point it at "Carl". The only problem was Ivan could not hold the gun straight, so naturally it was all over the place. "Carl" obeyed the command and followed Ivan. It seemed like both men were going to sleep in the same tent.

Now that only left Leslie. She was now all alone. The drunken brothers seemed to have forgotten all about her. The three brothers were getting to sleep, while the fourth brother had simply vanished.

Leslie poked her head out of the tent to make sure she wasn't being watched. She looked around for other tents, and shrubs or trees where someone could hide. The drunken revelry had subsided, so she concluded that three if not all four men were stone drunk - she might have a chance against one of the men, maybe two if she could find Carl, but all four of them was out of the question, especially when there were at least two guns.

Her first order of business was to find Carl; she would have only seconds to locate him when she decided to go for a gun. She slid out of the tent and crept around on all fours to reduce her visibility, poking her head around until she either found Carl or a weapon...

"Carl" was sleep in the same tent as Ivan, but Ivan was sleeping right at the foot of the door. Getting to Carl would almost be an impossible task, though it could be done. The choice was up to Leslie.

Ivan was also plastered. Leslie kept an eye on him, prepared to knock him out if he stirred, and crawled toward him, moving her hands, then a leg, then her other leg over Ivan to creep in and shake Carl awake...

Leslie almost made it through without waking up Ivan, but her last leg had accidental brushed up against his arm. Suddenly without any warning his arm got a hold of her leg. Then with all of his force he brought her to the ground. Quickly he got hold of her arms, then got on top of her.

"What...are you doing missy?" asked Ivan though with slurred speech.

Leslie thought quickly, bringing her knee hard into Ivan's nuts. She figured that he wouldn't have shared any of his booze with Carl, so he'd be stone sober and wake during the struggle. Even if he weren't, Ivan was still wasted, so wouldn't be able to hold on as tightly as if he were sober.

On the other hand, the alcohol might have dulled the pain, though it should still have been enough to startle him...

Ivan screamed in pain. His grip on the girl loosen as the pain went through his body. In a flash his hands went to his groin. Then he fell on his side to the ground. He continued to curse, while trying to recover. This would give a key few moments for Leslie to react and try to escape. Oddly enough the two other brothers were out cold. The alcohol had really done a number on them. There was no real chance of them waking up anytime soon.

"Carl" stayed motionless on the ground, though thoughts were racing through his mind. What should he do? Should he help the girl, even though it was four against two? Or should he just stay on the ground? Which option would be the best for him? Plus on the top of it all they had no real idea where they were. Somewhere outside of New Masada, but that could be anywhere.

Leslie struggled to her feet and gave Ivan a heavy kick to the head - strong enough to knock him unconscious, but hopefully not kill him. She shook Carl and searched Ivan for a gun.

Ideally, she would be able to go after Alexei to retreive her mobile, but the forest was big and she didn't have a search dog to track him - and she didn't know where he was. She would have to try to escape with Carl alone, with whatever weapons they could find.

Suddenly she would fell a hand on her shoulder. Then something touch the back of her head. See couldn't see it, but it was a handgun. There was no possibly the person wielding the game. It seemed like Leslie's little plan to escape had failed.

"Raise your hand and get up....NOW!" The voice said angrily.

Leslie might not be able to see the gun, but what else would give Alexei a reason to think she would comply? She knew it was him because he was the only one not stinking drunk. She also knew that now, her life was in Carl's hands.

The militaristic culture of Kahanistan meant most people knew hand-to-hand combat well enough to have a chance at disarming someone who didn't just come in shooting. Films were often played in these classes depicting armed police officers missing suspects at five metres because they couldn't take the time to aim. Leslie kicked at the man's knee to knock him down, knowing that in the second he would have to take to regain his aim he could be overpowered and disarmed if Carl got off his ass.

She was taking a risk, assuming he would trust her, but what choice did he have...?

Alexei went flying the ground. Now he was pissed. First Leslie knocked out his brother and she was trying to pick a fight with him. Quickly he recovered from the fall. Knowing that he didn't have the will power to fire a gun at a woman, he put the weapon. Why were his other brothers not coming to help him? Then he remembered how drunk they were. He could smell the liquor off of Ivan, who was still knocked out.

Meanwhile "Carl" just kept on laying on the floor. What was he to do? There was no way this seventeen year old girl could win a fight one on one with this guy. Plus if he helped her and they escaped, then his identity would be revealed. There was no way in hell he was going back to that cell with that insane general.

Alexei jumped and tackled Leslie to the ground. One hand held one of her hands down and the other was forming a first. He was filled with rage. The fist was brought back, then started to move forward. Suddenly the fist stopped before it hit Leslie. Alexei couldn't bring himself to hitting her. It was just wrong.

"Leslie give up..." Alexei said softly on top of her.

"I... won't let you kill him," she said. "It's... wrong."

"We aren't going to kill him. He is..." Alexei hesitated for a second. "He is coming home with us. It is where he belongs. Now are you going to listen to me or am I going to have to tie you up again?"

"Who are you?" asked Leslie. She wasn't going to let him tie her up again. On the other hand, the military field manuals she'd been reading the last few months did teach her to expect allies, Carl in this case, to pull their weight in a combat situation. This strategy worked as long as the allies in question did as they were expected; else, the entire doctrine was flawed. This was in the midst of revision, but here it could be a grave tactical error to trust in it...

On the other hand, she did feel it prudent to know who the enemy was...

Alexei grabbed Leslie's chin, then moved her head back to him. "Are you going to listen to me Leslie?"

This is hopeless. She could keep repeating herself, and he could keep repeating his question for hours without getting anywhere. Leslie delivered the same smash to Alexei's nuts that she had used to put Ivan down, still expecting Carl to take advantage of the others' drunken state to escape with her.

"WHHHYYYY????" screamed out Alexei as he fell on top of her.

He quickly recovered and fiercely grabbed both of her hands. Producing some rope he tied them together. Then he picked her up. Walking over to a nearby tree he tied her to it. Alexei just stared at her and shook his head. He was sick of this vile creature. Now she would have to fend for herself. Saying nothing he walked back to the tent.

Leslie spent an hour or so at the ropes, trying to figure out how to slip loose. If Carl was smart, with two of the men drunk, one in a struggle and one out cold, he'd probably fled during the struggle, as he had after the fight with the other Agent. If he were really smart, he'd taken the gun with him, too. If not... well, there really wasn't much more she could do for him.

After an hour and a half or so, she could no longer keep her eyes open and slumped forward, dead tired and still bound to the tree.

In the morning Leslie would awake to find herself hanging, by her hands, from a tree. Sometime during the night Alexei must have done it. She would quickly notice that the tents were gone, along with everything else. The only thing that remained was a slowly dying fire. It seemed like the Brothers and their prisoner had fled. The silence was soon shattered by some shouting and gunshots.

What the fuck? With a Herculean effort, Leslie pulled her body up so her legs were around the tree branch that suspended her, holding to a smaller sub-branch by her feet. Maybe it was the National Police, maybe it was hunters, maybe Carl was on the run...

She called out for help, loud, as she began to work on the ropes at a feverish pace. With the experience she'd had earlier, she might be able to free herself in half an hour or so, but by then, Carl could be dead. If the shooters were police, they'd be on her in minutes. If not... well, she'd rather not think about it.

Alexei returned to the campsite,then saw Leslie was up and about. Quickly he scaled the tree, then shimmed his way to her. With one sweeping motion he knocked her off the branch, so she was once again hanging. Dangling in the air, Alexei looked down at her. His face just held the expression of disgust. Producing a knife, he cut the rope. Leslie went straight down to the ground. Alexei soon followed and walked over to her. Standing above her, he looked down.

"GET UP! We don't have all day." Alexei said coldly.

Leslie was damn pissed off at being knocked down. She was also worried about Carl, so she struggled to her feet and followed Alexei. "You still haven't told me who you are, or what you want," she said.

"We are the Four Brothers. You can say that we are hired guns. Bang Bang people die, though we still have morals. We just don't kill people randomly. Only the scum shall die." stated Alexei as he walked alongside Leslie. "What we want is this so called 'Carl Goerdeler' or better known by his other alias, Miles Mason. The Canadsteiner government hired us to find him. They knew he was still in Kahanistan, but where was still a question mark. Well we found him. Anything else you want know?"

Carl is Miles Mason? The same Miles Mason that came in and tried to kill two generals...? Leslie wouldn't shed a tear for the damage heaped upon the Anti-Catholic Party due to Miles' actions, but she rather liked President Sklenova.

"Then their government hasn't changed," she said coldly. "They still kill people when it's in their interests. Right now they think that murdering Mason will repair their reputation. He needs to be given a fair trial and sent to prison, not just gunned down by some rogue with no accountability."

"You still have it all wrong, Leslie. We aren't murders. Our father was killed in cold blood. He was gunned down by a bung of mafia thugs. From that point on we swore we would kill our father's murders and bring justice to this world. We accomplished the first thing, but we are still working on the second." Alexei said. "The Canadsteiner government gave us specific orders to bring him back unharmed. As for why? I have no idea, but we are going to follow the orders word for word. So that means Mason doesn't get hurt. He isn't in any danger. The only problem is that I involved you in this mess..."

Alexei stopped, then faced Leslie. "Can you forgive for the actions I have committed? I thought you were attractive and that weakness brought you into this."

Leslie smiled, weakly. "Thanks," she said. "Our government has tried for years to be crusaders for justice. It's a laudable goal... but we ended up biting off far more than we could chew. Now, we've got some bad relations with nations that could have been our allies, had our land plowed up by superior forces..."

She wasn't entirely sure she could trust the Canadsteiners, now that she knew that that was what they were. She had no love for Miles, but didn't really want to see him killed. Leslie decided to continue the conversation with Alexei.

"I... have to confess something. I tried to seduce you for information last night. I wanted to know the real reason you were here. Why not simply ask our government to help grab him?"

Alexei kissed her cheek, before she could continue. "Leslie just know that we aren't going to kill Miles. We are actually suppose to protect him. The only problem now is getting him out of this country."

He continued to walk and listen to Leslie. "Our government probably thought that the Kahanistanis would just take him for themselves. I mean he is a criminal in this country. Why would you want him to just slip away without facing his crimes?"

"I don't. I didn't know who he was, I thought you were thugs out to kill him. If he really is Mason, he should stand trial and go to prison," said Leslie. She didn't know anything about the National Police decision to more or less ignore him - he had saved one of their commanders and cooperated with the police for reduced charges.

"Well that is not part of our orders." admitted Alexei. "So there is no chance of that happening anytime soon."

"So you want to arrest him for... just ruining your country's reputation?" asked Leslie. She could think of quite a few of her own country's politicians she'd like to see arrested for hurting Kahanistan's reputation. Fat chance.

"I wouldn't know. Just following orders and trying not to ask too many questions. In my opinion knowing less is generally better." Alexei said. "So Leslie tell me about yourself, since I have pretty much told you my life story."

This is no way to operate.

"I finish secondary school next year," she said. "Then I go to the military academy for four years. The academy does have an eight-year programme for secondary school students to get their secondary and university education and be commissioned, but I chose to get a civilian perspective for my secondary education. I'm really interested in how the human mind works. I play football but probably won't this year. I speak Hebrew and Latin."

"Anything else you want to know about me?" asked Alexei as they continued into the forest.

"What made you decide to go into intelligence?" asked Leslie. "For me, I was always interested in psychology, and a military officer, a really nice lady came into my school last year. I think she was recruiting or something, she said it would be a good idea for me to go into psy ops. I told her I thought it was a good idea, and here I am, about to go to the Academy."

"I'm not in intelligence. I'm a hired gun. Never had a real day of training in my whole life. Everything that I know I have learned a long the way. I guess I was born to wield a gun." Alexei admitted. "That goes with my brothers too. It must be in our genetics. See our father was also a gun for hire. He was murdered, so we murdered his murders. Kill everyone last of them. We had some difficulties along the way. Sometimes we almost died, but we learned. We learned quickly."

"The only problem with this way of life is normalcy. Haven't had it in over two years. That was the year of my last formal education in high school. I finished up high school and got my diploma. After that I went back to shooting up stuff." Alexei said with a wide smile.

"I understand your desire for revenge," said Leslie. "If it were my parents, or my sister or brother... I'd probably want to do the same thing. I never really understood people who would kill for money. As, hopefully, a future officer, I would consider myself as fighting to protect Kahanistan, and being compensated for it, not being paid to kill APOC soldiers. How much is a human life to a hired gun?"

"It depends on the person. Scum like someone from the Mafia deserve to die. But on the other hand someone like you, from what I can tell, is innocent and is off limits." replied Alexei.

"Have you ever thought about just going back to a normal life?" asked Leslie. "You're... 20, right?" She was making the assumption he'd finished high school at 18, two years earlier. "You're still young. Certainly, you would rather have a more normal life...?"

"I don't known if I can return to normal life. The things I have done and seen, it has changed me." Alexei stated. "Plus my brothers need me. We are a family and must stick together."

Leslie nodded sadly. She went alongside Alexei, waiting to find out what the gunshots were from...

Finally catching to the group they found Miles leaning against a tree. His hands were no longer bound together and seemed to be in a completely different mood. Miles walked over to Leslie, while the other brothers looked on, and extend a hand toward her.

"Miles Mason...you probably know who I am." Miles said with an uneasy smile.

"Leslie McKay. I'm not sure I introduced myself earlier," said Leslie. She took Miles' hand and nodded.

"Sorry that I didn't help you back there....I just....there no excuse." Miles admitted.

"You're safe. Me too." She didn't want to make him feel worse.

"You might be, but I am wanted criminal. There are people in this country who want me dead or worse. Just because I wanted to save this country and the....other thing." Miles seemed ashamed of what he had done. He walked a little bit away, then turned to face Leslie. "What am I to do?"

Leslie made eye contact with Miles. She didn't seem to have any answers. "I... don't know. I can't tell you what to do." He had pissed off a lot of influentials, by attacking what would become the leadership of the Anti-Catholic Party, and then pissing off their enemies, the Communists, by abducting their leader.

"Well, if I recall correctly, you would have had a lot of the charges against you reduced after collaborating with the National Police," she said. "Or... you could apply to your own government for a pardon, say you were just following orders, that you were just a cog in the Agency's wheels..."

"I know you wouldn't know the answer. No does..." Miles sighed then walked back over to the tree. "What I did was for the most part, was right. I stopped a madman from taking over your government. Malakov is a war-monger and a psychopath. Without me Kahanistan might be a nuclear crater right now. I said I would do anything to stop him, including kidnapping him."

"As for my other act...it is just wrong. I was blindly by the ignorance of the Agency, but I still love...Nadia. But now I can never be with her." remarked Miles.

"Now my only hope is them." Miles pointed toward the Brothers.

"I thought they wanted to kill you, or take you to prison, or... I don't even know what." She sat down under the tree.

"What do you want to do... what do you expect them to do with you?"

"They already told me everything. I guess the Canadsteiner government wants me back home for some odd reason. The only problem is getting there. There is no way I can take any public form of transportation out of here." Miles replied. "What I want to do? I want to go with them, but there is one more last thing I want to do before I leave, that is see Nadia."

"Well... if she wants to see you, your best bet is to just call directly, and pour out your heart to her. If she feels the same way... great. Otherwise... it was never meant to be. I think the Palace's phone number is in any phone book. You'll probably get some secretary, but if she knows you, she'll probably respond."

Leslie took a deep breath. "I... don't know what your government wants. I know that our new Foreign Minister doesn't like Canadstein. He's probably been pressuring your government."

Miles sat and leaned up against the tree behind him. He thought for a few minutes then came to a decision. Honestly he didn't care if a the whole country of Kahanistan hated him, especially some lousy Foreign Minister. That wouldn't stop him from loving Nadia. His love for her was unconditionally, even she never returned it. Getting from the ground, Miles had made a decision.

"Does anyone have a cell phone?"

The four brothers shook their heads.

Leslie nodded to Alexei. "You have mine," she said. "May I?" She seemed willing to help Miles, at least here. She personally felt he belonged in a prison cell, but no worse...

Alexei retrieved Leslie's cell phone from his pocket, then handed it to her. The three other brothers watched Leslie closely. She was still sort of their prisoner and might call the police. Once the police knew Miles was with them, then they would be dead fish in the water.

Leslie handed Miles the phone. She let him make his call, figuring by now the Brothers would not kill him or her, and that they'd just take him back to Canadstein.

Miles was carefully collected the phone, then looked at for a while. He hesitated for second, then dialed Nadia's private cell phone number.

Nadia didn't recognise the number on her caller ID, but picked up anyway. Somebody probably had the wrong number, and being rude never helped anyone.

"Hello?"

Miles seemed to be stunned when he heard Nadia’s voice. It had been a long since he had last seen her; actually it was back in that dirty and dank jail cell. As he stood motionless he wondered what he would say. Was there anything really to say? He had inflicted some much pain and suffering on her. That was all he was good at doing. But then he thought of that night he had held her in the pouring rain. Hesitantly Miles tried to form a word, but couldn’t. It was just too hard. So nothing but silence was heard.

The Brothers watched as a painful expression formed on Miles’ face. It was certainly a sad site.

"Hello?" said Nadia. She wasn't going to scare the caller by saying who she really was if it was a wrong number, or risk giving away her private cell, either.

"Who is this?"

Miles then did something none of the brothers had expected. He said one word. "Nadia..."

"Miles," said Nadia calmly. She seemed to be under a fair degree of stress, though it apparently had little to do with Miles, and she wasn't angry, more... confused. "Why are you calling me now?"

"I just wanted to say....." Miles took a deep breath, then continued. "...bye."

"Why now?" asked Nadia. "Where are you going?" She was beginning to wonder if she was completely insane. It was one thing to forgive someone who had tried to kill her, to want to believe he was truly contrite... but welcoming him with open arms?

There had to be another reason he was calling her, a reason he would turn to her now of all times...

"Nadia you probably already know this, but I..." Miles paused again. "...I love you."

Nadia smiled. "I know." She would never feel the same way about Miles that he did about her. She was still open to being friends, though she wasn't interested in a relationship, especially when she had to focus on running the country and keeping out of dangerous unwinnable wars without compromising her ideology.

"I survived my encounter with Scott, but decided to start a new life. It wasn't much of a life after all. I had to live in total seclusion, since I was a wanted criminal in this country. But now a shining beam of hope has come." Miles said slowly. "I am finally going home...back to Canadstein."

"Be careful," said Nadia. "Your government may not welcome you with open arms. They've been working against the Agency for some time. Our Foreign Minister hates the Agency, and he's been pushing your government incessantly to prosecute former Agents. From what I hear, the National Police consider your case a low priority."

"Well there is no way I can stay here. Too many people hate me and know my face. I bet some Kahanistanis would want to tear me to pieces or burn me at the stake." Miles said jokingly. "None of that really mattered. I was glad to be alive and have your friendship back."

"Nadia...I have a question for you." Miles gathered his strength to ask the question. "Can I see you before I leave?"

"All right," said Nadia. "I'll have someone pick you up. Most of my security staff won't trust you, so I'll have to be very secretive about it. I'll have someone from Intel pick you up in a tank. Can you give me your location?"

"That's the problem. We are in a forest somewhere north of New Masada. The men who are suppose to get me out of Kahanistan kind of kidnapped me, along with another girl. I trust them though. They seem like pretty nice guys, but we are pretty much lost because of them." Miles replied.

Pavel, Ivan, and Dmitri walked off back into the woods. They seemed to be going in the direction of the car. Meanwhile Alexei walked over to Leslie and stood by her side.

"So what do you think of your President...is it Miss Sklenova?" asked Alexei.

"I'll have the tank driver remain in contact with you. They should be in the forest in about half an hour. They'll call you when they get into the forest, to trace your position. Stay put," said Nadia.

Leslie nodded. "She's... more peaceable, not as militant as a lot of previous leaders. I can't say I approve of communism, but as long as she's keeping the Doomies off our doorstep, she's fine with me."

"I will always love you..." Miles said before he hung up. For a while he just stared blankly at the cell phone's screen. Finally coming his senses he handed the phone back to Leslie. "Thank you..."

"Do you think your parents are worrying about you?" asked Alexei as he looked up to the sky.

Leslie nodded. "Maybe... I don't normally go this long without checking in. Probably won't be in trouble, though."

---

A lone tank lumbered through the woods, frightening wildlife and crushing vegetation in its path...

"You should probably call them then. Tell them that you are fine. The last thing we need is a your parents worrying about you. They could think that you are dead or something even worse." said Alexei.

A short while later the three other brothers returned. They talked over the situation with Miles and agreed upon a plan. The brothers would make a campsite here and hold down the fort, while Miles ventured back into New Masada. Once discussing the plan Dmitri walked over to Alexei and informed him of it. Alexei shook his head, in agreement, and waited for Leslie to be done with her conversation with her parents. The brothers soon returned into the forest to get their supplies.

Leslie put away her cell phone. Ten minutes later, it rang - the caller ID on Nadia's cell had picked up her number and the tank crew was now tracking her position.

So that's what that rumbling sound was... She walked after Miles so that it could track him when they found her.

Alexei stepped in front of her. "Leslie you are going to have to stay here until Miles comes back. So that means this is your new home. I know that it isn't the best decision, but we are kind of criminals. We have kidnapped you..."

Off to a distance the other three brothers were setting the camp up. Two tents were already pitched, so they still had some way to go. The brothers were hard at work, but had noticed that Leslie's cell phone was ringing. They were not as trusting as Alexei was with this Leslie. She might be up to something.

"Do you still trust me, Leslie?" asked Alexei.

"Can't stay. The military is probably tracking by the cell to find Miles. I did hear her say something about sending a tank." She felt safe enough around them to walk around... for now.

The tank crew, while they couldn't see anyone, was certainly making enough noise to be heard from over three kilometres away. An 86-ton vehicle that destroys everything in its path and from which wildlife flees from sight will attract a lot of attention...

Alexei shook his head and just smiled. He walked back over to his brothers to help them set up camp.

--

Meanwhile Miles had walked away from the camp and found a place to sit. After that little talk with Nadia; Miles needed some place to think. Sitting down, Miles leaned up against a tree then sighed. So much had happened in the past two years and that merely dealt with Kahanistan.

He though back even further to when he first came an agent. Why did he blindly follow Director Harper? Did he honestly think that Director Harper was doing the right thing? Yes, but he never questioned what exactly he was doing. Especially with the attempted kidnapping of Nadia and Andrea. He loved them both, but had betrayed them. Now they had forgiven him. That would never get rid of the pain. Nothing would...

The tank rolled up to Leslie's position. By now, everyone probably at least had heard it. It was the most enormous tank she'd ever seen, with a monstrous 140mm gun, several other weapons, and a loud engine. It appeared to be looking for Miles...

The four brothers looked at the tank, then went back to work. They didn't seem worried at all by the tank. As long as it wasn't shooting at them; they were not the least bit worried. Alexei noticed that Leslie was just standing there with her mouth wide up. He chuckled then called over to her.

"Hey Leslie aren't you going to help us?"



---

Miles heard the rumble of the tank. It had broken his concentration and silence. Slightly annoyed Miles got up and walked toward the tank noises. Slowly he walked up to the tank, but kept himself hidden. His eyes scanned the scene. The tank didn't seem hostile. Nonchalantly Miles approached the tank.

"I guess you are the people Nadia sent?" Miles shouted to the tank crew inside.

Leslie snapped out of it. She ran after the brothers. A man came out of the tank, a young man with a colonel's rank insignia of some sort, and spoke to Miles. Two vaguely familiar women also stepped out, also in uniform.

"Senior Colonel Aleister Beckett," said the man. "Director of the Presidential Security Detachment. This is Lieutenant Colonel Christi McDaniels, and Major Malena Neil. Are you Miles Mason?"

"Yes...I am the one and only infamous Miles Mason, Colonel." Miles said jokingly. He looked at the two women and gave them a smile. "I already familiar with both Lieutenant Colonel McDaniels and Major Neil."

--

Christi was a very familiar face to Miles. For about a week Christi and some others, along with Miles, had stayed in the countryside of Canadstein, while fleeing from the Agency. Of course the Agency found them, but luckily Miles and another fellow, Peter Amherst, saved Christi and the group from danger, then successfully escaped to Kahanistan. But that had occurred a few months ago.

Malena tried to help capture Scott Lang, but that was just a brief meeting. If Miles' memory was correct, then Scott had raped her in some cave. Hopefully she wasn't too emotionally scarred by that event. A sense of pain came over Miles as he looked at her. A fellow agent had taken something very personal away from her. It was simply sick to think about. At least Scott was dead and buried in some unmarked grave.

Malena seemed to have warmed to Miles since their first meeting. She smiled sadly and helped Miles in the tank. Christi and Aleister followed them and closed the hatch. Christi put the tank in gear and started it.

"Malena....I am sorry that I couldn't have stopped Scott sooner. I had a chance to kill him. I thought the Kahanistanis could take of him." Miles said with sadness. "Obliviously they couldn't hold that demon, but I should have known. I know how the Kahanistani military is like. I should have killed him on the spot. Malena can you forgive me?"

Malena smiled softly. "It's OK." She took Miles by the hand. She didn't seem to notice that he'd just ripped on the military.

Miles just looked at Malena with shame. Another person he had let down. This special ability seemed to come naturally to Miles. There was no escaping from it. He let go of Malena's hand, then kept to himself for a while. Miles was back to thinking. Then out of nowhere he started to talk again.

"Christi...what have you been up to?" Miles asked innocently.

"Nothing much," said Christi. "We haven't been promoted. My rank's changed since we abolished the rank of Captain in the Army. Malena was a Captain, so her rank was changed to Major. I was a Major, so mine was changed to Lieutenant Colonel. We created the rank of Senior Colonel as the sixth officer rank. I think it had something to do with the use of Captain in the Navy."

"As for the home life... well, Robert's been transferred to a cruiser as first officer. It's got some long Hebrew name I can't remember." Robert was her husband, a naval officer who was rarely at home.

"Have you talked to Peter since our last encounter?" asked Miles. While they were hiding out, Miles knew that things were pretty hot and heavy between the two.

"No," said Christi. "Haven't heard from him. For all I know, he's got another girlfriend back home."

Malena seemed to be interested in talking to Miles. "What have you been up to the last few months?"

"I did what any man trying to hide would do, start a bakery. I started a local chain of bakeries in New Masada called Bäckerei. My business is fairly successful, from what I have heard. I didn't really keep track of it mostly because I am wanted criminal. So that example why Mr. "Goerdeler" is such a shadowy character." replied Miles.

"You mean those German-sounding pastries I've been stuffing my face with for the last three months are... yours?" asked Malena. "Well, we should be at the Palace in about an hour. This thing crushes bridges that aren't specially made to handle it, like the ones on major highways. We're in the process of reinforcing all of our bridges, and setting up CIWS batteries on them just in case."

"Yeah...those German pastries. I had some money stored away and decided to increase it. So why not start a bakery?" replied Miles.

"I can't bake," said Malena sadly. "I... mostly rely on Army food. Even off duty, I still prefer Army food, no preparation or any of that."

Miles thought for a minute. Suddenly he pulled out piece of paper. Quickly he retrieved a pen, then wrote down a bunch of numbers. Grabbing Malena's hand, Miles opened it up, then put the piece of paper in it.

"Here is a number of a person who can help you with your cooking skills. I hired her especially for her pastry skills, but she is truly a master of cooking. A few lessons from her and you will be a top chef."

Malena smiled and put the slip in her pocket. "Thanks," she said. "I'll look into it." She probably wouldn't give up her career to be a chef, but she might like something besides prepared Army crap some time when she didn't have a date to take out.

She took Miles by the hand again. "So, have you... seen Andrea recently?"

"What do you think? The only three places I went to where my apartment, a church, and the grocery. I didn't want to be sent back to that jail cell again. So nothing was going to make me come out my other "persona"." replied Miles. "But how is she doing?"

"She's fine," said Malena. "Physical therapy isn't helping her much anymore. She's still a bit slow, but way better than she used to be."

Miles just sighed as it brought back memories.

Malena put her arm around Miles. "I'm sorry. Well, if you see... Miss Sklenova, tell me how things turn out." She smiled and looked ahead.

"Christi, how far are we from the capital?"

"Outside the city limits, about ten minutes from the palace," said Christi.

Miles turned toward Beckett, then extended his arm toward him. "Colonel Beckett right? What do you think of Nadia?"

"She is... very idealistic," said Beckett. "She believes that we can make peace with any enemy, as long as they are still human. I think she is naive, but I don't think she'll harm the country."

"Hmmm...and your opinion of Malakov?" asked Miles.

"He is a good commander," Beckett replied. "As the man in charge of defence of this country, of fighting our military enemies, there is none other I would have. As a man who aspires to the leadership of the civilian government... he is a racist bigot who would destroy the nation's soul to save its body."

"Tell me a little about yourself Colonel Beckett; since you know who I am, though most of those stories are produced by Kahanistani media." stated Miles.

"Well... I'm 27 years old, a bit young for a senior colonel, but I was promoted pretty heavily when the military ruled and lucky enough to stay alive when the Presidential Palace was hit. I'm fairly moderate politically, don't really believe in the communist idealism or the nationalist fanaticism. Think we should learn how to get along, but I either get called a prag or a bigot. I'm interested in tanks and pretty much anything to do with them. I speak fluent Chinese and Greek and have a degree in mechanical engineering."

"What's your opinion on Catholics?" asked Miles.

"I am one. We aren't all pro-Doomani," said Beckett. "In fact, only about one fourth of one percent of Catholics in Kahanistan are members of Doomani-modeled churches. Most of us are as scared, as hostile toward the Doomani as any Jew, or Muslim, or pagan. Our mainstream churches, for the most part, want nothing to do with that bastardisation of our religion... any more than the average Jew would support a synagogue where they baked the blood of Christian babies into matzoh."

"There is so much hate within this country. I am surprised that this country still even exists. I would have thought that a civil war would torn this country apart by now, when I first arrived here. One of the key reasons your country is floundering is that the different groups aren't working together. Nothing will get done by just having senseless bickering." Miles looked at Beckett and shook his head. "People will never learn...will they?"

"I hope we do, before we end up electing some maniac to office. That does tend to happen to countries that have been repeatedly fucked over. It's not like we didn't already have our share of nutjob candidates."

"Welll Kahanistan is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. Something bad is going to happen and one group is going to get really pissed off. Next thing this group is trying to take over the government. This leads to civil war..." Miles remarked.

"When that happens... I just hope I don't get kicked out of the country," said Beckett. "We're in the main part of the city now. Should be about ten minutes from the palace. You won't recognise it, it's being remodeled. Sklenova was against it, but the Senate doesn't want a three-story mansion for the Presidential Palace. Said it makes us look poor."

"What a waste..."

"I agree," said Christi. She turned onto another highway. "We need weapons to deter invasions, who cares how poor we look? We have food, we have working infrastructure, we have... more than most nations that have been through this many wars do. They said it was something about international respect."

Malena sat in the back of the tank. She looked depressed, somehow. Her head was lowered as if there were something interesting on the floor.

Miles closed his eyes and thought. Kahanistan was certainly in a rut, but hopefully one day they could move on from all this war and death. Reopening his eyes, Miles scanned the tank. He saw that Malena was sitting in the back all by her side. Also it seemed as though something was wrong. Miles moved to the back of the tank and sat down next to Malena. He grabbed her hand, then leaned close to her.

"What's wrong?" He whispered into her ear.

"I'll... be all right," said Malena sadly.

The tank pulled into a parking lot. Huge cranes surrounded what looked like it had been a three-story Victorian mansion but was now surrounded by framework. A fourth, probably fifth, story was being added to the building, which was also being widened into a foundation some twenty metres deep. A giant backhoe exhumed vast amounts of dirt with each thrust, dumping it into eighteen or thirty-six wheel monstrosities weighing dozens of tons.

"Here we are," said Beckett.

"You guys go ahead. I want to talk to Malena about something." Miles said to Christi and Beckett. There was something wrong with Malena and Miles was going to get to the bottom. It was the least he could do. After all he felt that he still owed something to her.

Once the others were gone Miles put his other arm around Malena, then brought her close to himself. Of course Miles wasn't trying to do it in a sexual manner, but a friend manner.

"Malena...you can't fool me. I can tell that something is wrong. If you want to, you can tell me." Miles said carefully.

Christi stepped out. Beckett nodded back to Miles. "We're getting out. We've got to arrange for your quarters while you're here. Should be a disguise under one of the seats, else you'd be shot on sight getting in."

Malena shook her head and got up. She walked toward the exit hatch.

Miles quickly got up and blocked the exit. A serious expression now was on his face. It seemed as though he wasn't going to let Malena by.

"Malena...tell me or I walk out there without wearing that disguise. The moment I walk out I will be turned into Swiss cheese. Do you want that to happen to me?" Miles said with a monotone voice.

"It's... a personal matter," said Malena. She put her arms around Miles. "Maybe... we can talk about it tonight, after you've done what you need to do here."

"Malena..." Miles eyes closed, then his face changed into sheer pain. He put a hand on his forehead, then started to mutter something. For a few seconds he seemed as though Miles might finally crack. Coming to his sense, he opened his eyes and his face returned to normal. He stepped out of her way; his eyes looked down at her. They showed only pain. Miles just hoped that she spoke the truth. It was unbearable to see her sad.

Once Malena had left, Miles walked over to one of the seats to find his disguise.

The disguise was a Kahanistanian military uniform with the rank insignia of a Major in the Kahanistanian Army. It had an ID with Miles' face on it, but a fake name. He was El-Hajj Mohammed al-Haram bin Uthman. Apparently Beckett wanted Miles to be able to get past a guard checking ID. A standard issue G100 also lay next to the uniform, as did a fake mustache. Nothing like a fake 'stache to fool one of the rooftop snipers...

"El-Hajj Mohammed al-Haram bin Uthman? Are you kidding me? I can barely pronounce that name. I guess it is better than nothing." Miles said, looking at the ID. He shrugged then put on his disguise.

Once the disguise was on, Miles put on his final touches. Mostly it was correct his mustache in a nearby mirror. A crooked mustache was definitely out of the ordinary and Miles did not want that to happen. He was heading straight into the hornet's nest. This was probably the last place any Kahanistani would look for him. Miles grabbed the G100, before one last look in the mirror. He straighten up his uniform, then walked out into the open.

Subconsciously he raised his hand to block the glaring sun. It sure was a nice day. A clear blue sky. No clouds at all. He reminded him of his childhood. Well it was time to act like a Major in the Kahanistani Army. Quickly he remembered all the Kahanistani officers he had seen, then copied their form. Luck was on his side.

Christi was on his side, too. She stood about one hundred metres in the direction of the palace, as if watching the construction. It might be easier to slip in alongside her. There was no sign of Malena. Maybe she was already in the palace, or maybe she'd walked off.

Beckett was talking to one of the entrance guards. At that distance, it was impossible to hear him, but he was likely getting the sentries to lower their guard, just in case the disguise slipped.

Miles continued to walk until he reached the entrance. As he walked Miles let off an air of confidence. It was as though he had always been this Major Uthman character. He must have done this thing before. Once he reached the entrance he looked at Christi.

"What now?" He mouthed.

"Just getting you in, in case all else fails," she said. "Malena's inside. She's probably telling Ms. President everything. So... how's your uniform, El-Hajj?"

"Mohammed," said Beckett as he walked toward Christi. "'El-Hajj' is an honourific for Muslims that have completed the trip to Mecca. A lot of Muslims use it in their names. He would properly be addressed as Mohammed."

"OK. Mohammed. Let's get you through," said Christi.

Miles just shook his head in amazement. He couldn't believe he was just going to walk into the Presidential Palace. Sure he had a disguise on, but somebody should have caught on. Oh well, at least he wasn't shooting his way in. Suddenly he remembered that he was Mohammed not Miles Mason, at least for now.

"Lets just say that I haven't worn a uniform in a long time." Miles stated.

Christi took Miles by the hand. Nothing suspicious about that - fraternisation was very common among Kahanistanian officers, though relations between officers and enlisted were frowned upon. She passed her ID to a desk guard, who nodded casually.

Miles looked down at Christi's hand, then up to her face. He wondered why at first, then swiftly came to a conclusion. It would be better not to ask. Silently he watched as he handed over his own ID.

"OK... Mohammed." The guard seemed a bit uneasy, but made no issue of it. If he tried anything Christi could probably handle him. "President's office is on the third floor, big room on the right."

Miles followed the directions, but stopped in front of the door. He took a deep breath, then entered.

Malena stepped out of the office. She headed towards one of the guest rooms.

Nadia sat behind the desk. "Miles," she said. "Nice to talk to you again." She was dressed modestly, in her favourite navy blue blazer and skirt, not the short, cleavage baring getup she'd had the last time they'd met. "So, what brings you back around this time?"

"I just wanted...to say good-bye for I left. See the Canadstein government wants me back home, so they sent a bunch of brothers to find me. They found me and told me about the deal." Miles said. "So...this might be the last time I ever see you."

Nadia nodded. "I've been thinking about something that might let you stay in Kahanistan," she said. "A pardon, at this point, would be politically untenable. The law enforcement community here would never forgive me if I let off someone who killed a cop, or kidnapped two people. I could do it, though, at the end of my term. I have no intention of running for a second term in office. I was elected to guide Kahanistan away from wars, not to take us through them, and it looks like war is on the horizon, again."

"I was talking to Commander Collins. He told me that he managed to talk the National Police out of pursuing you. As long as you lay low, you should be able to stay in Kahanistan if you're afraid of what your government might want to do with you. Lay low until the end of my term, but you would probably do best to avoid future dealings with the police. They have been known to be brutal to cop killers."

"I can't lay low any longer Nadia. I need to be able to walk the streets again without fear, without any disguises. Hiding is something I can no longer do." Miles explained. "I want to be Miles Mason...not Carl Goerdeler. Yes I was the rising bakery owner. But that was all a sham. I never even walked into one my own bakeries. I was too afraid that I might be caught."

"Nadia...the only option is to return to Canadstein, at least for now." Miles tried to smile, but it was impossible.

"What was the deal your government offered?" asked Nadia. She wasn't sure she would trust the government of Canadstein if she could help it, and it would be a major improvement in relations with Kahanistan for them to simply hang him.

"Status quo to before when I was an agent." Miles replied.

Nadia smiled. "So you can have a normal life there. Will your... family be told you're still alive? I'm assuming that they'd like to see you again. Is there a way I can contact you in Canadstein? Discreetly, of course. I'd rather not have tabloid speculation about how I'm consorting with Canadstein."

"I will try to have a normal life, but that is going to be tough. See I have been dead for the past ten years or so. When you become an agent you have to 'die'. This means your parents, friends, relatives, all of them have to think that you are dead. It is going to be a shock for them to see me alive and well." Miles said somewhat ashamed. "Hopefully...they will just be happy to see me."

Miles retrieved a piece of paper and pen, then wrote down an address. "Its the address to my parent's house. Just write me."

Nadia gave Miles her address - the apartment she still spent most of her time in, slipping him a similar piece of paper.

"You'll have better luck writing me there. I don't like the atmosphere of the Palace. And before you ask about the construction... I was opposed from the moment the appropriations bill came to my desk. They overrode my veto with something like 95% of the vote, said they couldn't have the President living in a Victorian house while other heads of government live in opulent complexes the size of New Zealand. That it would make us look poor. I said the money was better suited for feeding starving children, or encouraging immigration, but... well, you see what they're doing."