A Duet

This is another entry in an ongoing story consisted of other shorts I've written. I recommend reading Odd Job then Another Day before reading this. Just in case the story is confusing. I want to thank everyone for their comments and emails I've received and the support I've received. I also want to thank Allison for editing all of my work and helping improve my writing skills. I hope you enjoy the story. Comments appreciated and I ask everyone to write one. Thanks again.

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October/26th/2015

By noon Sunday Alemeth was in Washington sitting in a conference room waiting for Gladden. His thoughts dwelled on Elina. He knew he had to concentrate on the mission at hand, but he missed her. Remembering those nights they spent together and the nights they would spend together. The door opened and Gladden walked in with another person Alemeth had never seen before. Odd he thought, Alemeth was always debriefed with just Gladden. Something was up and Gladden could read his thoughts.

"I'll explain, Al meet Ayden Duncan." Al reached out and shook Ayden's hand. Al noticed a tattoo on his right forearm, the insignia for the Marine Corps. Al decided Ayden joined when he was seventeen, Ayden looked about 23 years old, he had short brown hair, brown eyes, about the same height as Al; he never judged men on their looks, but Ayden seemed like girls would find him attractive. After the hand shake Al again asked what was going on. Gladden and Ayden both sat down, then shortly after Al did. Gladden told him that the next mission would be in Russia where the headquarters of the arms dealer was. The mission would be to gather intel from their server to find out who the mole was in the America government and what was the material this unknown faction was buying from the arms dealer and where and how the arms dealer was getting this material.

Gladden finished with, "And Al you won't be alone this mission, Ayden here will be joining you. He is a new member to the Shadow Assets. He has passed all required tests and it's time for his first mission. Normally I would send him on an easier mission by himself, but I want him to get his feet wet with you there to help him." Al looked at Ayden now, and he looked back. Al worked solo and he liked it for many reasons. He did not want this extra baggage. Al would not prejudge Ayden about his ability to preform in the field, but Al would not carry Ayden.

"Both of you will be dropped off at flight and land 25 miles away, get to alpha point and execute your mission." Gladden continued with the mission debriefing. One hour later the three men left the conference room. Al went to Ayden and told him to meet up at the armory in fifteen so they could start preparing for the mission.

"You got it Sir," was Ayden's reply. Al nodded and walked away, grabbing his phone out of his pocket. He called Elina quickly, but was disappointed when he reached her voice mail. Al told her how long he might be and he wouldn't be able to call in a couple days. He hung up the phone and started walking toward the armory. On his way there he stopped to grab a soda at the nearby vending machine. Al reached the armory and saw Ayden already there, going through the backpacks and picking the lighter ones. Al got close to Ayden and listed off the equipment needed for this mission. Ayden listened to everything Al catalogued.

"RYNO suit dialed in at 65%, SCE rifle with launcher and shotgun attachments, handful of sticky shocker, airfoil rings, sticky cameras, gas grenades, and a silenced five n seven. Get all of that and the normal equipment for a mission I reckon you know what those are?" Al asked.

"Sir I do," was Ayden's response, he looked at Al, then began going through the lockers grabbing the appropriate gear except the guns. Al started on his own equipment and grabbed a duffel bag to store all his gear until they would be ready to leave for Russia. Al went to the armory's gun bunny who sat behind a cage in the armory's room. and asked him for his specialty SCE and five n seven. The gun bunny asked for the serial numbers and Al provided it. As the man started to walk into the gun room Al told him to grab another SCE and five n seven. As the gun bunny went into the room looking for the weapons, Al went to the ammo rack. He looked for the correct ammo. He grabbed 5.75 mm for the five n seven handguns. Then he looked for the NATO edition 20mm armor piercing rounds for the SCE. He brought this ammo to his duffel bag and stored them inside. He told Ayden to bring these duffel bags to hanger 2. Ayden acknowledged, picked up the bags and started heading toward the hanger. Al went back to the gun bunny signed out the weapons and went to the hanger.

At the hanger Ayden was loading the bags onto the plane. Al gave him the weapons and watched as he placed them into the gun racks. Everything was set to leave. Al and Ayden would gear up after they landed at a U.S. base near the intended area. In the hanger Al and Ayden waited for Gladden to show up and give them the final clearance to leave. When Al saw him enter the hanger he also saw Kaitlyn. She was Al's field operative for every mission he'd had so far. She walked up to Al and gave him a hug.

"It's good to see you again. Sorry about not being there for your last mission. You know how it is." Kaitlyn said this with a playful smile.

"Its quite alright, but I know we will need your help with this one." Al said as he nodded his head toward Ayden. Kaitlyn looked from Al to Ayden. Kaitlyn smiled at Ayden and told them she would do her best. Gladden came up to Al and Ayden to overview the point of this mission. Primary objective one: Gather intel on the material the unnamed faction is buying from the arms dealer. Primary objective two: Gather intel in relation to the mole in NSA. Primary objective three: Exfiltration. Secondary objective: Gather records on arms dealer practices.

Al and Ayden nodded. Kaitlyn looked at Ayden and winked, telling the both of them to keep their heads down. Gladden and Kaitlyn left the hanger. Ayden watched Kaitlyn walk out of the hanger with a big smile on his face. Kaitlyn was 5'7'', and weighed about 125 pounds. Not overly skinny, but healthy. She had long red, orangery hair, green eyes, and light skin. She wore glasses, but it worked for her well. Kaitlyn had that cute, sexy librarian look going for her. Al and Ayden finished putting the equipment inside the small plane. They both got in and Al slammed his fist on the cockpit door to tell the pilot they were ready to leave. The engine fired up and both Al and Ayden put the headsets on that are inside the cargo area. They both took seats on opposite sides of the plane in fold out chairs. Once they had the headsets on Al held up the number three. Ayden changed the frequency to channel three.

"Ayden you hear me?" Al asked.

"I hear you. So Al let me ask you. What's Kaitlyn like?" Al could hear excitement in his voice. Al laughed and thought about this for a second. He didn't want to discourage Ayden, rather just let him understand what a free spirit Kaitlyn is.

"We call her Kat. And she is a very special girl. When she was 16 she dropped out of high school. Shewent to get her GED so she could go straight to college. You see she is very smart and she felt that high school was a waste of time for her. She wanted to move on to bigger things than the typical bull at a high school." Al watched Ayden process this information. At first he seemed a little shocked, but that expression faded and was replaced with interest. Ayden asked what her parents thought about her dropping out of high school.

"Well actually she is an orphan, parents died when she was three. Some sorta accident. She doesn't talk about it much. Anyway she attended USC after getting her GED. She majored in computer science, technology and databases. Graduated top of her class too. She was highly recommended to the NSA for her hacking abilities. So Gladden hired her as a field operative assigned to a Shadow Asset...me. But I'm not interested in her, she is all yours." Ayden looked pretty happy and it seemed he was thinking about how to approach her. Al told him that she was a free spirit kinda girl so don't get overly excited, but that didn't seem to bother him.

Hours later when they were halfway to the intended base, Al brought up the table from the floor in between himself and Ayden. Al signaled Ayden over and put a map out on the table. Al had already marked the map a bit to explain where they would be parachuting from, where the base was and how they would enter the base. Al explained that they would toss the equipment off the plane then themselves, once they were on the ground they would move 25 miles to the northeast near the lake and mountain. They would approach the base on the west side, get into the frozen lake to swim past the patrolling guards and get right to the gates. Al went on about how they would need to disable the electric fence to get Ayden over and then Al would find another way in.

Once Ayden was over the fence the two of them would be apart for the rest of the mission. Ayden would look for documents in correlation to the arms dealer and information on the material the unknown faction was buying from them. Al would find proof of the mole inside the CIA. They would meet up all the north gates get over the fence and get into the mountains. Once they were sure no one had followed they would make for a open field for pick up. From landing to leaving the job would be done in six hours. They needed to get in and out. Al and Ayden discussed strategy for another hour before they were told from the pilot the destination had been reached. They landed in a U.S. Base in St. Petersburg and as soon as they landed the two Shadow Assets were escorted to barracks for R&R before the mission was ready to execute.

Seven hours later Al woke up and started getting ready. He grabbed his gear and walked to Ayden's bunk to see that Ayden was not sleeping. Al looked around then went outside. In the airstrip a plane was getting fueled and Ayden was loading his gear on the plane.

"Good to see you're ready for this." Al said without looking into Ayden's eyes. Al put his stuff on the plane and put both his gear and Ayden's minus the RYNO suits and both goggles, inside a small container. Al and Ayden both got on the plane and Al knocked on the pilot's cockpit door to signal ready for take off. Al stepped out of his clothes and got into his RYNO suit. The suits themselves looked like wet suits. A thin material that was tough and flexible. Ayden did the same and gave the thumps up to Al and Al returned the gesture.

Once in the air Al put on his goggles and switched them to night vision. The goggles had three modes: night vision, thermal, and EEV. EEV was a new mode in which the wearer was able to see electric currents in objects, so if a guard was wearing thermal suits, Al would still be able to see the electric signature inside the guards guns. So it made spotting things much easier. As Al put on his goggles he asked Ayden if he was afraid.

"Why? Should I be?" Ayden said this with a smirk and told Al he was ready and he would do his best. Al just told him three rules. That he should never do anything that would compromise the mission, that he must listen to Al's commands, and not to get caught. Ayden agreed to that while he put on his own goggles and switched them to night vision. A red light began to flash inside the the plane; both Al and Ayden stopped talking. Al opened the bay doors, wind was everywhere as Al kicked the equipment container out the plane. Al then jumped out of the plane followed close by Ayden. Al lifted his left forearm and looked at his NAV. He read the decent he was going at and how many feet were left before they hit bottom. Al put his arms near his side, his feet together and leaned into the air, increasing his speed. At four thousand feet before they got near time to use their parachutes Al hand signaled Ayden to prepare. Ayden signaled back and seconds later Ayden started to pull on his string to release the parachute. Al looked over and saw Ayden struggling with his string.

The parachute began to get out of the backpack, but it wouldn't open completely up. Ayden tossed and turned in the air as he tried to regain balance as he free fell. Al noticed the fear that Ayden was going through as Ayden frantically tried to open the parachute. Al glided over to him and saw the problem. The strings were all tangled up. Al looked at his NAV and realized that he only had a few moments before he had to pull his parachute if Al would like to live. Al took out his knife, cut the strings off and grabbed the string for Ayden's back up parachute. Al pulled it hard and Ayden lifted up as the secondary parachute opened up. Al grabbed his own and pulled the string.

The both of them landed 50 yards away from the container of equipment. The two of them walked to the container and popped it open. They started unpacking, and accounted everything they had. Once they were sure they had what they needed, they holstered their guns, strapped up the equipment, and got ready. Al looked at Ayden.

"Five meter spread, ten pace, no sound. We use hand signals from now on. We only talk after I'm sure they have no tracking units. I'll relay what Kat says to me, to you. She can hear you so feel free to speak." Al spoke in an easy tone. Ayden slung the SCE rifle over his shoulder so it laid diagonal across his back and nodded to Al as he acknowledged the command. Al touched his throat lightly and spoke.

"Kat we're here." Al notified her so she could relay any important information to help Al and Ayden on their mission. Al looked back to Ayden and explained once more that the compound was in the northwest corner of the field. The armory warehouse was in the southeast corner. The mountains were to the north. Lake was southern east. They'd approach the frozen lake, get underneath, and swim under the lake to skip dealing with the patrolling guards. Once they got under the lake, both would swim over to the checkpoint gate. There Al would disable the electric fence so they'd be able to get over. Ayden nodded and gave a thumbs up. Al checked his NAV for anything new in his messages, nothing. Everything was ready to go.

Al started at pace between a jog and run. Ayden stayed behind him at five meters. The snow slowed them down a bit. Also all the trees, brush, and logs that they had to either move around or jump over. Al was like a fluent motion, as he gracefully flowed through the forest like a coyote running to catch its prey. Al kept this pace going, occasionally he looked back at Ayden, but he only saw the newbie kept his end. Every now and again Al would stop, make a fist for Ayden to signal: hold. Al would then check his NAV, take a cursory look around, and motion back to Ayden to continue with pace. After fifteen minutes Al stopped for a breath. He motioned his hands for Ayden to get close, Ayden did. Al turned Ayden around to get to his backpack. Al took out two protein bars and a small container of water. The two of them ate and drank with no sound. After the five minute break Al returned the container, signaled Ayden for return pace. The two of them continued for another ten before finally reaching the lake.

The lake came into view and Al stopped at the last set of trees. Ayden stopped next to him. Both turned on their thermal goggles and put them on. Al saw how cold the lake was first and noticed two guards about 200 yards away. He pointed them out to Ayden. With a nod Ayden signaled a question for next course of action. Al motioned to Ayden to follow. Al got close to the lake and put his NAV to the lake. Four inches of ice on the lake. Damn he thought. The ice was too thick for the two of them to stomp their feet on it and break it enough for them to slip in.

He looked to Ayden and signaled what was going on. Ayden looked at the ice, then back at Al. It looked like Ayden had an idea. Ayden brought his NAV for Al to look at. Ayden then started pushing some buttons. He was at the menu for the RYNO suits internal temperature. Then he turned the heat up and laid down on the ice. He then curled up in a ball. Al thought it was brilliant. He was going to use his body and the suit's heat to melt the ice. Al turned his suit's heat up also and laid on the ice. Ten minutes later the ice melted enough for the both of them to get in the water. They both took out their mouth pieces and got in the water. The mouth pieces were for underwater breathing. They gathered all oxygen in the water and gave enough for a breath every thirty seconds.

Once in the water, they fully submerged themselves and started swimming to the entrance gate. They got close to the gate and Al turned the goggles on thermal. He looked for a a weak spot in the ice and found one. H swam up and noticed a lone guard was walking around. Al motioned for Ayden to stay back. Al got to the ice weak spot, made a fist, and hit the ice. The guard stopped walking to look around for the noise. Al did it once more. The guard looked down at the ice and walked right on the weak spot. Al brought himself to the ice, punched it twice, and the guard fell down. Al kept him under, drowning the lone man. He let go of the man and got up to the open hole.

Al looked around and lifted himself out of the water. Ayden followed him and kept close. Al told Ayden to stay near the fence. Al was going to the guard tower to turn the power off to disable the electric fence. Al crept 20 feet from the door. The was a single lane road leading to the gate. There were two guards on each side of the road. Both were facing south. The entrance to the guard tower which had the power to the gate was facing east. There was a single over head light above the door. Al took out his Five n Seven, enabled his EMP, and aimed. Once he had a clean shot he pulled the trigger. A small sound erupted from the gun as a small wave of a concentrated pulse ejected from his gun. The light turned off as it struggled to get a connection. With darkness on his side, Al, while staying crouched moved quickly to the door. Al slipped the optic cable under the door, looked at his NAV and scanned the room inside. With nothing sticking out Al opened the door. Al got inside and looked around. There were a couple of bunk beds with only one man sleeping on it. Al saw the electric cable connected to the power box.

Al quietly went to the box and flipped the appropriate switches. He must have made too much noise as Al heard the guy who was sleeping start to toss and moan. Al went over to him and brought his SCE over his shoulder. He loaded an airfoil ring into the launcher and fired at the unsuspecting man. The airfoil ring hit on the man's head. Knocked out for a good eight hours. Al slung his SCE back over his shoulders and exited the tower. He went back to Ayden. The fence was about ten feet high. Al started climbing over the fence as Ayden did the same. After both got over they looked around for any guards. None right now so they started to run to the building staying in the shadows.

At the building Al found the spot where both of them would climb to reach a window. There was a ledge about nine feet up from the ground. Al got to the wall, back facing it and put his hands out. Ayden then put his foot on Al's hands. Al lifted up as Ayden jumped up to grab a hold of the ledge. Al looked up to see Ayden holding on the ledge waiting for Al. Al jumped up to grab onto Ayden's body as he climbed up his body. Al reached the window and pulled himself up. Al entered the window. First he looked around the room and noticed the light was on inside, and went to the light switch to turn it off. Al went back to the window to watch Ayden pull himself up and inside. The two of them exchanged signals. Al went to the door as Ayden got up to the wall to the door's right. Al used his cable to find no one was around. He put it back on his belt and opened the door. Al looked at Ayden and signaled for them to break up to gather the intel faster.