"Why are those guys hellbent on making our lives so miserable?" Isabela shook her head, not the least bit pleased with how their assignment was turning out so far. "It's almost as if they want us to fail..." She spotted a plastic barrier on the street immediately after turning the corner and she had to maneuver the vehicle with a sharp turn of the steering wheel to avoid hitting it. "Sorry about that," Isabela smirked, "I'm trying to get us there in one piece."

As she continued driving, Isabela started looking out for bodies blending within the buildings that could potentially put her and the rest of the team in even more danger. She'd be damned if she let her skills go to waste during such a high-stakes operation, and she did not want such weight on her shoulders if something were to go terribly wrong, which given the current scenario, it was very probable that at least one of them wouldn't make it back to the stadium unscathed.

Tenemos que hacer todo lo posible para evitar un desastre y entrar a ese sitio... Isabela thought to herself, hoping that this mission wasn't overwhelmed by futility.

"Operational security, at least when it comes down to a third party involvement. They do not trust us to handle whatever they´ve got there but it would take way too long to dispatch a SAD unit or ground branch and CAG was not available." Boris explained while scanning the rooftops and turns they passed, the closer they came to their AO the louder gun fire, sirens and explosions were getting louder. Humidified air started to blend with the smell of smoke, heating up due to the fires, there was no need for artificial light as they were illuminating the streets now. As soon as they approached the traffic circle which was marked as their RV point, Boris took out the satellite phone again and called the previous number.

"On site, which one is it?" he was looking around while listening to a description, not much to go off since the area looked completely different after a bombardment.
"Repeat that, the agents put up a flag on the third floor to mark the building before leaving?Wait one..."
Well, chance was a strange thing, Bo realized that when he looked at the remains of a building on which the flag was one of the few things that remained intact.
"1-Actual, target building was destroyed.... I confirm, target building is destroyed. We are pulling back to a safe house. Awaiting further orders on CSAR upon arrival....Understood. Spectre out." the phone went back into his pocket, then Bo pressed his PTT.Though it was only 3a.m the sun began to rise already.

"Well, mission is cancelled. We are pulling back to rendezvous point two." pointing it out on the map with a pen he showed it to Isabela.
"There we´ll execute a final combat search and rescue before leaving the country."

"Can't say I'm surprised..." Isabela groaned, turning the vehicle around to head in the direction Melnikov had pointed out. "Coming out here is a huge risk as it is, so the least they could do is make this mission worthwhile."

Isabela refrained from making any further comments, knowing all too well that complaining about the situation wasn't going to get them ahead. Just as she started tapping her left pointer finger on the steering wheel to the beat of the music, a single shot went through the windshield, the bullet grazing Isabela on the shoulder and leaving her stunned. Her knee-jerk reaction was to turn the wheel and step on the break, causing the van to slide onto the sidewalk as it narrowly avoided a worn down street sign.

"Y esa mierda?" she cursed, clearly shaken up and angry, "Where did that come from?"

Isabela inspected the wound, some blood oozing out but nothing a quick dressing couldn't fix.

"Shit!" Daniel hissed, clutching his rifle as his eyes flitted across the surrounding area, one hand on the dashboard. His heavy uniform creased in the vibration of the moving car, making a warmth in his stomach greatly uncomfortable.

The wash of panic and the crack of a weapon. Two familiar sensations.

Of course, the familiarity snapped him away from panic and into an important question.
"Bo, casualties?"

"I guess that you can't expect the Cutthroats to make it easier for you even if you are doing their own damn job for them." Vadim said, before glancing at Daniel. "Mark my words, when we get to that damn airport, they will treat us as if they did us a favor, not the other way around."

Turning the corner right after the lead car, Vadim noticed the plastic barrier that Isabella had just managed to maneuver around and violently swerved out of it's path, yelling "Твою мать!" somewhere during the process.

...

When they got to the RV, Vadim mumbled "Cling-Clang, were here...", quoting an old Soviet puppet TV show from the 1980's. He quickly scanned the buildings around the traffic circle. The area was clearly hit with a bombardment, most of the buildings getting damaged from it, few destroyed.

"Стромное местечко" He said to himself.

Vadim noticed an American flag hanging from the third floor of a mostly collapsed building. Well that doesn't seem out of place, he sarcastically thought to himself. If that were the CIA station, or at least what was left of it, namely, the flag, their mission would be over before it really began.

"Well, mission is canceled. We are pulling back to rendezvous point two."

With his thoughts confirmed, Vadim mainly focused on following the lead vehicle, only now a little bit further back after the thing with the barrier.

...

Out of nowhere, the lead car braked and slided onto the sidewalk following a gunshot.

"Shit!"

Vadim quickly realized what was going on. After all, he has already been in this situation many times now, only it has been a long time since he had been in it from this perspective.

While Daniel was asking Melnikov if anyone in the lead car was injured, Vadim quickly yelled "Get down!", slammed on the brakes and swerved. As he did that, a bullet with his name on it blew the driver side mirror into pieces. Unfazed, Vadim yelled: “Ambush!”

Bo only caught the sound of something fast hitting their windshield before the next thing he knew was that their vehicle was on the sidewalk and somebody yelled "Ambush" over the radio. 'What the hell are they doing?!' was the first thing that came to his mind after he processed what had happened. He grabbed the wheel with his right and leaned into Isabela´s lap, pressing on the gas with his left while trying to look over the dashboard. That action probably saved his life. The shooter wasn´t zeroed in properly else Isabela would´ve been dead, so he had to walk his aim up to them, as Boris commandeered the car a salvo wandered over the hood all the way trough the windshield and into his seat. Driving almost blind has not been one of his best ideas but at least it gave them roughly another 200 meters, before their van crashed into a burned out truck at the orifice of a road leading out of the plaza. Upon impact the speed was not great and he was wearing a helmet but Isabela´s body accelerated against his head and locked it between the wheel and herself. "Get out of the killbox!" at least he tried to yell but his voice was rather muffled as it came over the radio, it was the only thing Bo said before opening the door on the driver side and boldly pushing Isabela out, the car was being worked on from several vantage points just moments later.

As he crawled out to take cover behind a pile of concrete rubbish Bo wondered what happened of Serena, he did not see her coming out of the car but right now was not the time to check for casualties, first they had to deal with the threat. What made him worry even more was the fact that he left the smoke grenades in his pack, which was located in the trunk of the car. It was time to improvise, the 40mm CS Gas grenade he had would have to do. The gas was as thick as the smoke, even if it would make him cry at least it would give him some camouflage."Ill try something!"he yelled out, Bo took it out of the pouch and hit it against the concrete as it was rigged with a impact fuse. As soon as the gas started to leak he threw it higher onto the pile of concrete pieces that led into the 3rd floor of a bombed out building.First he just crawled but as the fire became less accurate Bo got up and started running as fast as he could. A uphill sprint through tear gas made him breathless as he arrived at the wall of the building, he stumbled inside trough the collapsed wall, gagging ,trying to catch his breath and fighting the urge to throw up.

There was no time to come to senses though, Boris leveled his weapon and scanned the hallway that was in front of him while the firing outside continued. " I made it inside a building. Come of if you can, Ill get on the upper floors and try to lift some pressure off you." he said over the radio with a raspy voice.

"Wait!" That was all Isabela managed to say as Melnikov pushed her out of the van. She landed on her side, parts and bits of the road digging into her skin but luckily none of it coming in contact with her wound. "I need my weapon!" She got up as quickly as she could, her heart racing as she was caught in an onslaught of bullets, although the same could be said for just about everyone else in her squad. If only they could have continued their mission, then they wouldn't be stuck in this position.

Not the time, she thought to herself, looking at the bullet-ridden vehicle and deciding that reaching for her rifle would be suicide. Instead, she rushed after Melnikov, but with every step she took, he seemed to be that much farther away from her. "I'm coming in behind you, don't be spooked," Isabela said in between breaths, taking cover against a wall before deciding to sprint to the entrance of the building. "I'll help to take them out and join you upstairs." With that, Isabela scanned the area and as quickly as she could, she rushed across the street to finally enter the building. Within an instant, she felt quite a bit of relief, but there wasn't time to celebrate. Isabela unholstered her pistol as she made her way upstairs. If anyone came out in an attempt to surprise her, she wasn't going to be caught off guard.

A sweat-soaked lock of hair pulled at Daniel's skin, his head jolting as the car came to a sudden stop. Now stationary with a back facing the storm of metal, he dragged himself and his gun out the seat as fast as possible, gasping for air. Something exploded not far away, grains of debris found its way onto his face among the hot smell of fighting.

"Kurwa, Vadim," he hissed, snapping his head back to the car. A cold feeling surrounded his body. Daniel breathed, hard.

Then he retreated towards the building the wall belonged to, forcing a door open with a boot. Refusing to move any further, the mechanic held a door and watched for his driver, fear dripping from his skin.

Popping the door, Vadim quickly jumped out of the driver's seat, his rifle ready in his hands. After making his way around the car, Vadim followed Daniel and made a run for the building. While running, he glanced at the crashed lead car, wondering if all of its occupants had managed to get out. A burst of bullets nearly hit him, quickly reminding him of his priorities.
Just before Vadim went through the door, he looked Daniel into his eyes. He noticed that the man was shaken, not that he wasn’t himself. He didn't say anything as he ran past him, but Vadim's facial expression clearly said "thanks". Raising his weapon, Vadim quickly checked the hallway. "Clear!" He shouted to Daniel.

“We should regroup with the rest.”