“What if he was still there, in their nest, during the missile strike?” Marco squeaked in a higher voice.
“No.” Vera shook his head and frowned, horrified at the idea. “Don’t you think like that, you hear me? We will find out the truth, and when we do, I promise that I will inform you of the details myself.”
“Yes. I’m sorry. Thank you, Colonel.” Marco nodded her head in agreement, and turned to catch up with Sergio with more tears in her eyes. A cursory glance back at Vera showed that he had become emotional as well, although he did his best to hide it, and Sergio felt that same twang of guilt reverberate through his body.
Finding the proper storage locker after a short search through the moderately-sized room, Sergio unlocked the cover of the metal chest with the key Vera had given him. Inside was a multitude of equipment pieces, uniforms, old military keepsakes, and ammunition in different calibers. It was difficult to resist the temptation of looking through the random collectibles that Vera kept stored, but Sergio knew what they were here for and couldn’t imagine the punishment for rifling through the commander’s personal effects. Half-buried in the middle of everything was a large, polished wooden box. It was inscribed with a tarnished brass nameplate which was unreadable and large hastily-painted letters below it that read: “Хантер.”
“This is it.” Sergio said flatly as he heaved the impossibly heavy crate from the locker and placed it on a low table in the middle of the room.
“If he is found someday, I’m going to give it all back to him.” Marco placed both hands on the surface of the shiny lacquered wood, flattening out her fingers and caressing the painted name.
“Well for now, it’s yours.” Sergio encouraged her, watching her face as she flipped open the two metal tabs that held the cover closed.
As she lifted the lid, her eyes lit up with amazement although her forehead had wrinkled with concern. Following her gaze into the crate, he watched as she picked up different items and examined them. Most notably and right at the very top was a silenced assault rifle. Sergio’s facial expression now mirrored that of Sara’s as she continued through the items in the box. There were scraps of paper with hand-written notes, a book about someone named Vasily Zaytzev, faded photographs of Rome landmarks, and leather-skinned journals scattered between random pieces of military equipment. Nothing besides the rifle was all that remarkable and it all turned out to be a rather normal assortment of things he would expect someone like Sacco to have left in reserve: night vision sights, batteries, medical supplies, different calibers of ammunition, and tools for cleaning weaponry. He couldn’t help but think that if Sacco had chosen to bring his customized weapon, he might still be here to continue to use it.
Marco took in a slow deep breath and gave a long sigh, setting everything but the sniper rifle and a box of ammunition for it back into the crate.
“Might as well try it out while we’re here.” She said quietly and forced a smile, as if trying to convince herself it was okay, pulling the weapon into her lap and running her fingers over the cold metal and carved wooden stock.
“How did you meet him? You never told me.” Sergio said after a long silence of watching tears gather in her eyes without falling. Perhaps the real way to help her was to draw out every memory she had stored inside her so they wouldn’t be suffocating her with their sentiment.
“It was almost three years ago, in Kitai-Gorod. I had just turned twenty-five when we met, and he was probably ten years older than me.” Marco started, and then shifted uncomfortably and placed both hands firmly on the table. “Listen, I will tell you, all of it… but only if you stay with me.”
“Stay with you?” Sergio tried to clarify her meaning by repeating the words.
“Look, don’t get any ideas, I just…” She turned her gaze to the floor. “I don’t want to be alone here.”
“Okay… I will.” He said quietly, but was still confused about what exactly she was asking him for. Did she intend them to sleep in the same room? Her room? Or his room? Was that allowed here, where they had the barracks separated by gender?
“Good.” She touched his hand for a moment before getting to her feet, once more turning away from him and leaving the room without waiting, the fancy weapon in hand.
Vera was still standing where they had left him five minutes ago, but Vladimir had set about arranging different types of weapons at the firing range, checking that each one had a small box of ammunition beside it. Sergio wondered if he had been the only one selected to help test the weapons and was curious about the decision; surely there were other Hunters that were more knowledgeable than he was. Then again, how was he supposed to acquire such knowledge about firearms if he didn’t practice more with them? Maybe it was Vera’s sneaky way of assisting him?
Marco stepped up to the last firing lane and set the rifle and its ammo down on the bench. Ejecting the magazine to find that it was empty, she began to load it with cartridges from the box labeled “Снайперские 9mmx39 СП-5.”
Sergio was hesitant to follow, but eventually walked over to the range as Vera did, figuring he was about to receive an order from him about what to do first. Instead, the stalker stopped just behind Marco and put both hands on his sides authoritatively.
“I see that Sacco left you his Vintorez. I trust you know what’s special about it?” Vera gave that warm smile again. He probably would have told her that it was a weapon only used by Spetsnaz and that was what made it special, or perhaps he was about to tell some story about how Sacco had used it to defend himself bravely on a mission or made some incredible shot with it. But there was no way for anyone to expect the kind of answer she was about to give.
“It’s a cousin of the AS VAL suppressed assault rifle – a compact sniper rifle with a PSO telescopic sight. Gas-operated, rotating bolt, utilizing nine millimeter subsonic armor-piercing rounds, built at the Arsenal in Tula.” Marco recited with a straight face, as if from memory like a school child when asked about math or history facts. “Of course now, the only ones who can make that caliber are the weapons specialists at Baumanskaya.”
Both Vera and Sergio’s expression was of wide-eyed shock, as they were more than impressed by her recount of knowledge. Sergio almost hoped that Vera would ask her another question, just to hear her answer so precisely; he didn’t even know those kinds of specifications. Sacco had really not spared any of his expertise in mentoring her.
“What’s the difference between that rifle and the VSK?” Vera squinted at her skeptically, too tempted by her impressive display to not test her further. Sergio looked on with delight.
“The VSS Vintorez and VSK-94 were developed from the 9A-91 assault carbine; basically it’s just an extended barrel, stock, and scope, but fires the same caliber. The Vintorez is non-modular and is designed with more style in mind, though it can be broken down into three pieces for travel. There used to be a special case for it.” Marco finally turned to face the Colonel with a cold expression, not seeming to grasp how impressive her knowledge was to the men in the room.
“Let’s see you fire it, then.” Vera growled his approval of her answers and gestured downrange at a hanging target where a large blue and yellow concentric circle was painted.
Sergio had already witnessed her expertise with handling an automatic weapon during their minor battle with the mutants which forced them to exit the tunnel before Kitai-Gorod station and go up to the surface, although he hadn’t really seen how many targets she had actually taken down with her hail of fire. Still, watching Vera suspiciously studying her movements made things much more interesting, and he was secretly cheering her on in his mind.