●　● Dhaka City, Bangladesh

The team was once more stepping off from a packed bus, but this time it was to Sam’s surprise to look up to find completely different surroundings. Everything was so much more modern looking and there were many more ten to twenty-plus story buildings towering over the wider, well paved streets. From their bus stop she could also see at the far end of the major thru-way a bridge leading over the Buriganga as if to head out of town. “Remind me why we came to what looks like a great place to get tracked?”

Andre had already begun leading the team behind him as he shrugged his shoulders to the remark. “You go where they least expect you, especially when we are free from any bugs or moles stuck with us. We need food, and we need to buy time before checking out our next available safe house.”

Kerry chimed in as they approached a crowded crosswalk. “We can’t know if that chick can be trusted, so we will let a few hours pass before we check in to see if anything major has changed. Until then we lay low.” She then gave a signal to cut their conversation as they approached listening distance.

Great, still nothing going to plan, Sam thought as she took in a deep breath, staying calm as she could. At least these two really do seem to know what they are doing. She then looked over to Sebastian, noting how much he was studying the area. Maybe I should start doing the same. Feeling like we might get split up one day and I need to remember where I’ve been and where to go.

It was three different Dhaka’s she felt she had witnessed up to this point. The old and cramped, run down and left behind the developed world, the fully modernized and rebuilt world, as brightly lit as her hometown, and then the cold, eerie, ominously quiet walled-off worlds which she was yet to enter, knowing that one of those was their destination to be. Can’t wait to break this radio silence and figure out what’s really going on.

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Taneesha stood inside a restroom in front of a mirror, trying to straighten her hair back to how she had it. Her makeup had been reset, and she seemed more like she did before being assailed. Her eyes, however, seemed to tell the story in full no matter how much her makeup and hairdo were restored. As she finished her hair and once more straightened her blazer collar, she felt the approach of someone. Turning to her right she saw Marian passing the corner.

“All done?”

Taneesha’s face sank, realizing she never removed one of her rings she wore.

“It took a good breath out of me tracking you down. Where is the team, and why did my boys find your mobile abandoned on a roof?”

“Miss Cable, I had issues,” she feebly replied, avoiding eye contact as she continued looking to the mirror.

Marian was now standing up against her in a way to make Taneesha as uncomfortable as possible, acting as if she had her own hair to fix. “I feel like we aren’t on the same page. I can’t let someone endanger my friends, you know? I trusted you. Or did you just sell me the image of trust like you sell everything else in your household?”

“Miss Cable,” she responded with more resolve in her tone, yet there was a hint of waver. “I was attacked.”

“Bollocks,” she laughed out of offense. “You look great.” She then changed her tone to more of a threatening one as she finished fiddling with her hair, returning the glare back through the mirror’s reflection. “You know something we don’t. I don’t want anyone hurt, and that goes on any side. That was always our goal. We were to be in and out of here before the election. You are playing with fire and you know it. The more you don’t get your act straight the more trouble you will cause and you never know when it just might catch up to you.”

“I have nothing else to tell you. I was attacked and threatened with my life. They took every device I had and tossed them. They found nothing of what they were looking for and left me behind,” she replied with continued resolve.

“Tell me what Vrey paid to entrust with you, because I know how well he will pay,” she responded, setting off a shocked reaction from Taneesha. “And only then I will believe whatever you say about this, ‘attack’.”

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(Several hours later)

It’s that feeling when you don’t know if the world is coming down on you or you just over-analyze something you were told. Groundbreaking, nonetheless. World shattering. Sam was coming to grips with how to handle the run-down Kerry just gave them before stepping out with Andre for a quick path scouting. According to them, word from Danielle prior to their departure was that Vincent did not trust her with any “extra” knowledge of the situation, which she had taken as an insult to her intelligence. Kerry only shared this with her as she felt everyone had the right to know when the time was right. Am I just to silently follow orders and not worry about why? Or was there something he feared would cause me to react to in a way that would screw things up? Was it something I did back in Colombia that had them doubt my ability to handle the situation? No, that can’t be it. Has to be to do with Kerry and Andre’s experience and Sebastian and I just need to keep ourselves from complicating things on accident…

She was sitting against the wall, typing into the continuation of her journal entry from that morning. She had her legs stretched out across the bare wooden floor shoulder to shoulder with Sebastian who was reading news cards on holographic display. The room was dimly lit and sparely furnished aside from several cots and a sink, causing her typing to give off an echo as she continued.

“I need to talk to Kerry when she is back… about this,” Sebastian broke the vocal silence as he nudged her arm. “This is why everything is so quiet and no crazy riots or bombs or nothing.”

“It has been awfully peaceful on this end,” she replied with a raised brow, looking over to his foremost display screen. “Awami League facing financial corruption charges… oh, and more? Illegal foreign entity involvement with a potential voter scam? Hey, that’s the riot supporting party. Does this mean the BNP gets to win this next election?”

“No,” he argued to her surprise. “Look,” he then said as he swiped down. “This is the name Hossain that girl spoke, right?”

“Sharif Hossain,” she said as she looked closer at the smaller print. “Wow, this guy’s pretty damn bold to still claim victory on its way. Inevitable?” she finished with a nasal laugh.

“I don’t know, it looks like a BNP win… but something about that girl and what she said has me worried,” he answered with undertones of his experiences with the Rocha’s and other politicians back home. “You know, Rocha men won the seats in SAU Parliament.”

“What?! When!?” she exclaimed, looking up at him in disbelief. “How?!”

“I don’t know that, either. I saw that before we left, but I didn’t want to mention it because of our mission and I don’t want… you know… distractions.” He then pointed back to the news card. “That is why I don’t trust this. Any time a person with lots of money speaks politics to me, I lose trust very fast,” he continued in reference to their misfortunate guide from earlier.

The door opened as Kerry walked in, visibly winded from her brisk walk. “We gotta go. Crowds are all gathered at the mosques for Eid al-Adha or whatever it’s called, so it’s now or never.”

Last stop before cutting radio silence… about damned time, Sam thought as Sebastian helped her up, taking her bag from him as the three headed back outside and locked the steel door. Once they made it down the dark, narrow stairwell they passed through a long, graveled corridor between old apartment buildings until they finally reached sight of the main street. All along the way Sam felt the all too familiar gaze from the locals they passed, glad the crew was dressed down and free from any Hexa or Infinity logos or patterns. She along with Sebastian also noticed quite the curious stench coming from Kerry. When they reached the corner, they took a right that brought them staring down another massive concrete wall. There it is again.

“Right here,” Kerry quietly caught their attention as they ducked off into another small alley just wide enough for two people at most, following her to a manhole on the ground. Her eyes checked both ends of the alley, ensuring no one was present before she kneeled and took a hold of the latch. “Hold your breath real good,” she warned as she opened the cover, revealing an access ladder to the bottom of the storm gutter.

Sam had seen these kinds of scenes on movies, never once imagining she’d be living it. She took a deep breath and reached for the ladder, carefully taking each step down while Kerry held the cover. Sebastian, once he reached the bottom, held up his mobile with his flashlight on. Once Kerry joined them, they quickly made their way towards the next exit ladder, proceeding quietly but quickly. Trying her hardest she tried not to notice the floating and bobbing garbage filling the drainage channel to their left but it was too much not to pay it attention, realizing what the source of the smell was from earlier. Breath beginning to run short already from her nervousness, she more frantically approached the ladder and climbed up, reaching to take a hold of the cold metal release bolt. Pushing the cover open, she crawled out coughing and gasping for air she prayed would be fresh air but was rudely awakened to dusty, damp, and stale instead. Not paying notice to the other two rising from the access tunnel, she looked around to see they were inside a warehouse with a view outside that revealed what looked to be a ghost town. So, this is how they got inside.

Sebastian coughed as he caught his breath, attempting to wave the smell from around his face in futility.

“Are you OK?” she instinctively asked in a whisper as something startled her that instant.

“Shh,” Andre silenced, holding a hand up from where he stood by the edge of the gated entrance to the warehouse. He held a viewfinder and radio in hand, seemingly waiting on the rest to gather up. They once more followed Kerry quietly over to his position. He then made a calling motion to Kerry as he started to hand over the viewfinder.

“What did you find?” Kerry said in her quietest voice next to his ear as she carefully took the viewfinder, gazing out and down the deathly quiet street.

“Might just be patrol, maybe inspectors. Take a look, they’re headed for the guard box,” he whispered back.

She pointed it down the street, zooming in to see the guarded exit to the abandoned precinct and saw who he mentioned. Two light trucks and a crowd of a dozen men walked alongside at a seemingly leisurely pace. “No idea, too foggy to make them out.” She passed him back the viewfinder before reshouldering her bag. “We need to go ahead and move out- they shouldn’t notice us.”

Sam looked at her watch, noting the time was 6:48PM. No one was sure just yet what time the move would happen, but it was getting towards dusk, and the rain had been holding off all day, much to their relief. “The watch spot, that’s it right there, isn’t it?” she said, pointing to the crumbling entrance to a larger commercial building.

“Right, let’s move,” Andre said as he quickly but quietly walked them across the street, eyes constantly checking down both ends of the street. Without trying to pry any doors, he instead walked them around the corner and up to a window that had been left ajar. He motioned Sebastian over to help him as they carefully forced the window open enough for everyone to fit through. “Once you’re in, locate the stairwell and keep moving ‘til you get to the rooftop access door. Wait there.”

Kerry got helped through first, softly planting her feet on the floor as she turned to the open end of the dark hallway, pulling out her sidearm in her right hand and a pocket flashlight in her left hand held against her right. She waited until she heard the window close behind her before making her careful advance toward the end of the hallway, spotting the stairwell.

Sebastian immediately noticed this was not an office or commercial building but a school, instead, noting all the passing doors led to classrooms. [They really abandoned entire neighborhoods and just left them here to rot. How could anyone let this happen? I think I get the news, now.]

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●　● Airspace over Indian Ocean

Danielle and Gabriel sat hunched over their worktable aboard a Hexa-marked aircraft, digital documents, maps, and diagrams up and charts scattered across the top. On one holographic screen, however, was a communications channel showing up as “locked”. This screen seemed to be paid most attention to, earning constant quick glances from the two of them. A distinctive pinging sound alerted the two of them as the screen changed to a green color and the text changed to “incoming”.

Danielle quickly switched on her earpiece. “Khōlā?”

“Khōlā,” she heard Kerry’s voice over the line, still speaking in a suppressed voice.

“Śartābalī?”

“Nadī śukiẏē gēchē.”

“Bidāẏa.” She closed then quickly closed the connection but ensured the channel stayed unlocked. “Alright, Sly, that’s the word,” she spoke up with a nervous smile. “Uppers said no radio, but even encrypted texting still seems risky.”

“Heh, I still have a hard time keeping a straight face hearing you all use Bengali. But hey, they found the perfect place I take it. All that’s left is to program the autopilot and pray.”

“I only wish they got us that sweeper,” she said as her tone changed back to a more worried one. “I really hate them sitting under that roof for more than an hour.”

“Hey, look,” he said as he tried to ease some of the heavy concern. “There is just absolutely no way in hell they see this coming. The fact they got that far after that scare earlier this morning and they got radio contact established in the no phone zone says you picked the right crew. Add that on top of the fact there is no chance they know of the project. Off chance they show up with the heavies, they are ready enough.”

“Let’s hope the rest of the conditions stay right, too.” She moved her focus back to another screen showing the location of a carrier vessel on the Buriganga sitting in port. “This will be the first autopilot drop I have ever overseen, and of course it would be during the worst absolute case scenario.” She then spotted an update on another screen. “Oh, look at that.”

“Kolkata crew seems ready.” An update showed the status of sixteen Ai20’s and four Ap50’s which were labeled as loaded with pilots on board and ready for takeoff. “Now is the most nerve-wracking part,” he continued as he joined her nervousness with an awkward chuckle.

“It’s a long flight from there, and an even longer jump from the Amin Bazar Bridge area to the old airfield. If only we lived in a world where I could fly out there with them I would feel a hell of a lot better.”

“You miss the days?”

She tilted her head with a crunched brow and a laugh. “No, hell no. I just… never imagined being on this side of the pushed pencil, you know?”

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●　● Dhaka City, Bangladesh

“That, that’s where one of our crews were for the longest,” Kerry spoke quietly as she pointed out a spot across the clearing to a damaged building near the abandoned airfield. The four of them stood at the edge of the high school building’s roof ledge overlooking the expanse of land the local air force used to utilize years back. “I’m convinced everything got looted, but hopefully the power grid and shit is still intact.” She then looked to Andre. “Chances?”

“Who cares,” he quietly responded, leaning closer in. “We need to survive regardless. You think the drop really works after all this?”

“Just gotta wait a good little while. Let’s head back inside. About to be dark anyway.” As they made their way back to the roof access door she looked to Sam. “You ready for your job?”

“Right.” And there it is, the ONLY thing I knew I would eventually have to do, and now my nerves are really killing me. The launch from the bridge would be too far to not require additional fuel cell packs, which means once we ditch those after hopping on, we still would have an entire ten to fifteen minutes of not being able to boost jump anymore. Now that I got to truly scope out the landscape for what it really is, now it’s my job to map out our movements before taking the base.

“And don’t forget the reinforcements will drop only once we plant that marker,” Kerry continued, looking to Sebastian. “I want to make it damn clear again the only thing I want us to worry about killing us is that damn operating system. This won’t be near as bad as I thought it would be. Like an actual ghost town out there.”

“Because it’s supposed to be,” Andre quipped, seeing her reaction before returning a smile. “I know, but yeah you never know ‘til you get there!”

“I’ll be here for a bit longer,” Sam said as she turned back to the open field, viewfinder in hand as she found a more comfortable positioning, leaning against the ledge.

Andre paused, realizing he couldn’t leave her out in the open. He motioned Kerry to continue on as he put a hand on Sebastian’s shoulder as he passed by. “I got it here. I’ll stay on watch. Go help with the street level watch if you don’t mind.”

“Okay,” he replied with a look back to Sam. Her returned smile brought him assurance she knew what she was doing as he waved back, headed for the door.

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“What do you have in mind?” Andre asked Sam as he looked at her notepad with several crude diagrams on it. His eyes squinted as he tried to make out the overall picture, not having enough daylight left to do so naturally.

“Can I be more open with you?” she asked as she continued scanning the area between the last building at the edge of the open airfield.

“Not sure what the hell that’s supposed to mean, but shoot.”

She then paused to look below and over to the street corner. Her eyes followed it up to the next intersection where several connected empty lots remained where buildings had once been demolished. “I think we need to draw them out. We can’t have our LTACs dropped in over there for easy access as we won’t have the jump power to reach base for who knows how long. You are both good shots, right?”

“That depends on who the enemy is. Who do you think comes first if we do a diversion?”

“We drop there,” she said pointing to the demolished building area, “and we literally march it up that street up until the next to last intersection. There we hold until we recharge. Then jump.”

“You know you can’t run anything by Kerry without numbers. That’s not good enough.”

“I know,” she said, picking up her pen and paper. “The fact you didn’t object means the idea might work, so now I just need a good moment or two to figure out those numbers you want. Here,” she said, passing him the viewfinder. “Since you’re staying overwatch for me,” she added with a wink. She then turned to crouch against the walling, hiding herself from below, using her turned-over watch to provide a soft light for her notepad as she got to work.