“Ah… we’re not sure we can,” he says, reluctantly.
“I don’t understand…”
“Arranging transportation to get us into the country is going to be hard enough at the moment,” he explains. “But assuming we can get there, we then have to navigate the city itself. While radiation levels have dropped below fatal thresholds, it’s still not safe to spend prolonged periods of time unprotected in the city. We’d need specialist clothing and transportation, which is hard to get our hands on at the moment. And that’s not taking into account any skirmish that might occur once we’re there. It’s bad enough without being under fire as well.”
I turn and pace away slowly toward to the door and back again. I slam my fists down on the table, causing everyone to jump a little.
“Damn it, Josh! This is Tori we’re talking about! Fuck the terrorists, and fuck the satellite. I’m only concerned about getting her back, and I fully intend doing just that. I’m not interested in what we can’t do — I want to know what we can do!”
My outburst leaves them speechless, and I immediately feel bad. I’m just getting tied up in knots here. We’re making zero progress, and every way I turn seems to result in a new problem. I hold my hands up to the three of them and take a deep breath.
“Look, I’m sorry — I just…”
“Adrian, it’s fine,” says Josh. “Listen, do you have this video message they left for you?”
I nod and reach into my bag, producing the DVD for him. He puts it in his laptop and plays it.
“Charming fella, ol’ Hamaad, isn’t he?” he says as it finishes. “Somewhere, there’s a straight-to-video horror movie missing its star. Let me see what we can do here…”
We all look on as Josh’s hands become a blur over the keys, as he does God knows what. I catch a glimpse of Clark as he looks on — he’s got that Jesus, how does he do that? expression on his face. That makes me feel bad, because I know I gave him a hard time back in New York because he basically isn’t Josh. Watching him work now will just hammer that point further home for him.
Raynor’s expression is the other end of the spectrum. His jaw’s open, and his eyes wide as he watches the screen move at a speed most normal people can’t quite fathom.
“What in the hell are you doin’?” he asks, sounding probably the most Texan I’ve ever heard him sound.
Josh smiles. “In an effort to dumb it down for Adrian, I’m essentially scanning the background of the video and running software linked into one of the surveillance drones that GlobaTech still has operational, to try to determine the location where it was filmed. I’ll then cross-reference that with the digital time stamp in the metadata of the video file to see archived footage of the area at that specific time, to see if we can see where El-Zurak is hiding.”
Raynor scratches his head and picks up his hat, putting it back on. “That’s dumbing it down?” he asks.
Josh doesn’t answer him, but I put a hand on his shoulder and smile.
“You’ll get used to it,” I say to him.
“And bing…oh,” says Josh, sounding excited and almost immediately deflated.
“What’s wrong?” asks Clark.
“I think I’ve found El-Zurak.”
“Why’s that a bad thing?” asks Raynor.
Josh looks at me. “He’s in the middle of a mountain range in Northern Afghanistan, close to the Tajikistan border.”
“Not the friendliest of places…” I muse.
Josh looks at Clark. “So what’s the play here?” he asks.
All eyes turn to Clark, and he stands tall, putting his hands behind his head and interlocking his fingers as he lets out a heavy sigh.
“If we’re going to do this ourselves — and I don’t see any other option than that right now — then we only have enough resources available to us to maybe hit one of these places. And that’s a big maybe.”
“So what are you saying?” I ask. “We have to choose between going to Pripyat and rescuing Tori, or going to Afghanistan and attempting to take down a terrorist plotting world domination?”
The look on Clark’s face is one of regretful stoicism. “That’s about the size of it,” he says.
I turn and sit down on the edge of the table, staring at the floor and sighing loudly. My head’s spinning and my mind’s all over the place.
Now what do I do?
23
“Adrian, I’m sorry, but there’s only one logical answer here…” says Clark.
I look round and stare him straight in the eye. I know what he’s trying to say. Anyone with half a brain could tell you what the detached, unemotional, logical answer is. I see Josh hang his head and grimace at Clark’s statement. It was absolutely not what I needed anyone to say right now.
I take a deep breath, trying really, really hard not to get angry, but quickly failing.
“Bob, right now, do I look fucking logical to you?” I reply, my voice rising slightly with each word.
He holds his hands up defensively. “Hey, I’m just saying… we need to—”
“We need to get my girlfriend back!” I yell as I stand up and face him properly. “I don’t give a shit about anything else! Do you understand?”
I’m breathing heavy, teeth gritted, jaws muscles clenched, eyes unblinking. I’m not looking at anyone anymore, I’m just angry. At everything and everyone.
Why me? Why does all this shit have to happen to me? I just want this goddamn world to leave me alone…
Josh stands, looking at Raynor and Clark in turn. I think he appreciates that neither of them have ever seen me truly pissed off before, so he’s assuming the role of diplomat.
“I think what Adrian’s trying to say,” he explains, calmly, “is Hussein will have gone to ground following the failed attempt to apprehend him in New York, and those Afghanistan Mountains are pretty much impregnable. Which means El-Zurak, probably Hussein, and whoever else is part of the Big Bad, will be untouchable there until they decide to resurface. Any attempt to get to them would be a colossal waste of time, and will likely get everyone involved killed.”
He looks around the room, seeing that we’re all listening and understanding. Raynor looks out of his depth. Clark looks like he feels really bad. And so he should — asshole.
“On the other hand,” continues Josh. “We probably can get to the underground facility in Pripyat. There will be a significant terrorist presence on site, including, but not limited to, Clara Fox — someone we’re justified in assuming is relatively high up in the food chain. We can take her out, deal a crippling blow to the organization… maybe even delay their plans, who knows? But we have a shot if we attack them in Ukraine. Plus, more importantly, there’s an innocent civilian who means a great deal to someone who means a great deal to me, so the bottom line is: that’s where we’re going. Anyone got a problem with that?”
Clark shakes his head, and Raynor simply shrugs, happy to go where we need to with no real opinion.
Josh looks at me and smiles. “How’s that for logic?” he says.
I visibly relax, staring at him with a look that says I’m now angrier because he stopped me being angry when I couldn’t do it myself.
I shrug. “That’s basically what I meant,” I reply, smiling as much as I can.
He shakes his head and turns the laptop toward Clark. “Bob, can you start searching to see what operatives we have currently out in the field, and where they are? I know they’re in limbo at the moment, thanks to the NSA’s sudden interest in us, but if we can get word to someone nearby, maybe they can help?”