FourtyTwo

GEARS: Silent Line - The Silver Bullet (Silverwind Blade & KingKonrad)

Gonna throw a curveball in next post! I feel a bit screwy doing this, but hey, it's the perk of writing for characters with a little prior setup!

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

Mark kept foot to floor, cursing.
"Well, that lasted long. Okay. We're gonna try and lead them towards the canals, break our line of sight. They must have had reinforcements after we iced their friends. Keep your foot down." Mark replied, clutching the wheel tighter as he threw the Range Rover's gear up, speeding through a red light and weaving through traffic, seeing the two Mercedes-Benz S-Classes already following. Shit, this was a real mob, and they had friends in town. Going towards the city centre, he knew it was a longer way to the airport, but they had to break this tail.

Racing through the streets, Mark heard the sound of a pistol crack, the next shattering his rear window as he ducked his head down, braking hard and skidding left, into a narrow street, barely dodging a couple of cars, coming quickly into another canal-side residential area, bikes and other pedestrians diving out of the way as he beeped his horn. The bridge next up along the road was gonna be serious, as Mark kept his throttle down, aware he'd get a lot of air- and probably yeet into a crowd if he kept it pinned. Instead, he took it conservatively, the Range clambering over the sharp bridge and giving him an opportunity to let Athena follow on him.

Mark pulled the handbrake, the Range's body roll making the lift off-oversteer even more exaggerated off the bridge, then turning once again into a cobbled road, the Mercs unable to catch here due to the crowds, but still in sight. Mark put foot to floor once again, the four-wheel drive screeching as he turned back out onto another main road, diving and ducking through traffic.
"We've nearly lost them, let's keep going!"

GEARS: Silent Line - The Silver Bullet (Silverwind Blade & KingKonrad)

Ah splendid! Yeah sometimes it's needed- I'll probably go see mine soon (moved to Kent, so in a new part of the world)

GEARS: Silent Line - The Silver Bullet (Silverwind Blade & KingKonrad)

No worries! Whenever you're ready man!

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

Mark ran in, seeing Athena drop another guy at the end of the hall she was in, following cautiously. Tapping her on the shoulder, he moved past, moving into the front room, sweeping it out, before heading into the kitchen, bathroom, and upstairs into the two bedrooms, moving quick and efficient as he let Athena take the rest of the small flat. There wasn't anyone here, and the place had indeed been stripped out- apart from looking like a typical Dutch flat, there was little in the way to suggest anything had been run here, let alone someone lived here. Nothing of serious value was left- a trace amount of drugs, but nowhere near enough to deal properly with. This guy had been running his operation out of here- and that didn't exactly mean dealing here and now. A typical drug dealer these days often had better than just himself, especially this geezer- he'd have people below him doing the dirty, he was more like a glorified accountant. Now with a knife wound and dying on the porch of his own flat, he was gonna die a glorified accountant.

Running back down the stairs, Mark had to make a note to step over the bodies in the flat, the place a fucking bloodbath. This was making the news alright, and it was lucky this leafy neighborhood had most people in work, otherwise. Even then, they would probably have seen the girl and the guy who had killed a bunch of other gangsters, and that was how it looked. No symbols, or look that make them look like law enforcement.
"Got what we needed here. Place is dry. Cars look full of IT equipment though. Since this guy is good as a chocolate teapot, let's fuck right out of here. I'll keep you on the other end of the line." Mark said, looking to the body as he opened the door, letting Athena go first- Mark ever the gentleman before following her out.

Heading for the Range Rover at the front, the Scot clambered in, the keyless left in thankfully- they were just about to leave after all, and the one at the front who had been punted wasn't about to speed off without a fight. Well, they picked the wrong one, Mark mused- and well, now they had their cars. The radio was blaring, grime of course. Fucking hell, it wouldn't be a morning in Amsterdam fighting gangsters with this shite on the radio, Mark thought to himself, as he pushed the Start button, the four cylinder revving into life. Despite being crashed into, this thing could pull away, as he put Athena through on the speaker.
"All good your end? Best bet for us is back at Schiphol, there's a hangar over there we can park up in and get these things on air freight. I imagine someone's gonna want to tear apart whatever's in these cars...already got a laptop and half a dozen notepads here, shit, proper fucking accountancy going on here. Ready when you are."

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

Mark nodded, turning the key on the engine, the Passat firing up into life.
"You have been warned, Ath. Ready up. Moment they get a couple on the pavement, I'll punt them into the front car. We won't crash too bad, but be ready to get out and start blasting. Suprise is about the best thing we've got. Use it, focus, and don't fucking stop till there's nobody left standing. Not often I say that. But well...you signed up to this, right?" Mark said, almost a little sarcastic right at the end, knowing full well Athena would reply in turn with that and agree that as brutal as it was, it was a needed thing. None of the people they were about to get involved with were going to be good people- they had murdered someone in pretty much cold blood, and well, it's pretty hard to go back from that. The Scotsman knew that himself.

Pulling out the parking, Mark checked his P226's location, heading down the short stretch of road, seeing two more come out. Pulling the P226, he put his foot to floor in 2nd, the speedo climbing as he took the pistol and with a quickdraw, started firing a couple of rounds through the windscreen, already getting one and then hitting two, turning them into skittles as he braked hard, knowing it was still too late now. They crashed at about 15mph into the back of the Range Rover, the two Serbs thrown onto bonnet and then floor, as Mark opened his door. It was a little rough, but it had worked. The airbags hadn't deployed at this speed, but it was a hell of a knock, and Mark felt his seatbelt tighten quite a bit, though not enough to unclip and get the fuck out.

With a seamless move, Mark put four rounds between the two on the floor, quickly taking them down with a shot to the top of his chest, before using one of the Range Rovers for cover, seeing two of two more Serbs run out. They were caught with their pants down, but Mark knew they had to act. Mark slid from cover, taking one more down, lookign across to Athena.
"Two more, inside the flat! I'll cover!" Mark added, giving a couple of rounds of suppressing fire, letting Athena move and get shots on. Once they had these two fuckers iced, they'd have to make a quick sweep of the flat, check the dead guy, and then get the hell out with the two Range Rovers- now conveniently loaded with intel. There wasn't enough time here to wait. More Serbs could be around the corner, and even if the police responded quick enough, it wouldn't be fast enough to secure the most important stuff- they'd identify the Serbs when they arrived. Besides, Mark and Athena weren't exactly a conventional police operation- they were pretty much deniable, and this would later go down as a gang shooting, Mark knew. This wasn't very much that- this was getting shit done, the old-school way.

GEARS: Silent Line - The Silver Bullet (Silverwind Blade & KingKonrad)

Max smiled, chuckling at her comment about getting it done proper. Max had to empathise, Cat had some stones about her and well, didn't mince her words She seemed considered, profound and thoughtful in what she said and thought. The sheer size of Cat reminded him that when kicking down a door, someone like her was not gonna ever be an easy fight- but her warm nature made conversation soothing. The lion smiled, as she mentioned coming back to fitness.
"You'll be kicking in doors, GEAR or not all in time I bet. Can't keep us down, can we?" Max added, giving a light laugh as he brushed his eyes out of any sand, shaking his hair to get any more out. It caught a little from lying here, and whilst he was used to it, it wasn't a nice feeling for anyone- Max aware more than just most as he sat up a little. The lion's slender, optimised nature seemed almost what you would expect from an operator of his type, used to the long slogs of recon rather than the confines of a GEAR and heavy arnaments. His golden eyes and hair blew in the wind cooly, as care-free as the operator who had let them grow out. He knew of no lion with a particularly short mane, but his was surely one of the wilder ones, well, given he hadn't bleached it or done anything truly unruly to get him kicked out of his position.

Watching on at Silverwind, the older fox was letting himself go as he swam in the ocean, Max chuckling as he heard Cat's next comment.
"Who knows....he probably had an insight into it's development, I mean, if you're gonna have an artificial limb, may as well get something else put into it, right? With him, nothing suprises me anymore." Max said, shrugging, watching him go.

"Remarkable for his age, really. Guess we're all a crazy breed. All fighters." The lion commented, smiling to Cat, letting his own side down a little, yawning as he stretched out a little, his lean, well chiselled physique on display. He seemed balanced, but knew that comparitively, someone like Anna took that even further. While she was shorter than both him and Cat, there was no doubt in his mind that the jaguar was almost twice as terrifying, someone who had been forged by the operations she'd gone on, and her own unbreakable nature. The black feline was like electricity in pace, quicker and somewhat more applied in her brute force, a needle rather than a hammer. Size mattered in CQC, but sometimes, it was the cerebral that sometimes won fights too.

Checking his Pebble, Max tapped through a few, realising that their GEARs were getting worked upon, given the diagonstics nearly coming to a close. It wouldn't be too long till they were done- but the lion knew that moments like these were going to be far and few between. With that in mind, he rested his head back down, and exhaled, smirking.
"Oh, this is the life."

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

Mark took his own P226 after pulling to a stop, watching on, cocking the 9mm after checking the slide, eyeballing the same house that Athena had an eye on. A handful more people were going in, about six or so, going in and out, though nothing actually on them. One was on the phone, and while they couldn't hear him from here, Mark's interest was piqued.
"Shit. No, wait, Athena. This makes things interesting. They're not buying. No cases, and besides, he wouldn't do it here. Let's watch this." Mark said, looking across to Athena, reaching over across into the back seat, pulling out a monacle, looking through the telescopic lens and looking on. They were going in and out, not without cases, but with laptops and computers. No money on hand, whatever they were taking, it was small. The two cars outside were quite nice, a pair of Range Rover Velars, in fact. Not a stupidly expensive car, but still, something snobbish, as he gave the monacle over to Athena.

"They're clearing house. Fuck, they are good. Fast. Right, so they know their network could be comprimised, so they are taking anything of value out. Why the fuck aren't they destroying it?" Mark added, almost in commentary, watching on as a few more came out, Mark taking a sip from his water bottle as he let Athena watch on, all to spit in shock at what happened barely a second later. At the front of the house, a few of them had gotten into an arguement, and what was an arguement had turned into one of them getting stabbed. They dragged the poor bastard's bleeding body inside, the five other men now getting to work and carrying on. Mark hadn't arrived early enough to tell who he was, but he must have been inside the flat to begin with, given he was being walked past and bleeding out through the frame of the door.

"Shit....jammy fucks. Fucking of course, they're not just clearing house of whatever's on those laptops. They're vulturing his network. His own protection probably went and fucking realised what just happened before he did. Taking it underground for his bosses before we lock him up. Cut-throat wankers...that is what we are up against. From the cars, plates and look of em, they look like Serbian Mob types. Someone above them is smart." Mark added, still watching on, knowing they were still loading both Range Rovers up, beginning to finish up their work now.

"Damn. Okay, we can rush them now, punt the car into em', or tail em'. See if we can hit them at a junction instead, recover the key stuff, but if they floor it, or go into a densely populated area, we're fucked. Thoughts, Ath?" Mark asked, getting ready to start the car, knowing either way, it was gonna get pretty brutal. It had escalated, yes, but the reason being was that this opportunity was about to slip. This was important, and well, it was very much in the interests of them both to get this info. If the Serbians had killed one of their own out of spite for it, then it had to have value to someone.

GEARS: Silent Line - The Silver Bullet (Silverwind Blade & KingKonrad)

Max looked to Cat as he watched Silver run for the sea, shrugging.
"What I say? It's just got an appeal to it..." Max added, taking his own BDU shirt off and wringing out the moisture, sitting down by Cat, for a moment panicking as he checked his pocket. His Pebble was in there! Shit....well, it wasn't ruined, but that he should have thought of first, the lion thought to himself. Not a great move had he have ruined that....thankfully, the casing on it was pretty solid, as he checked it over, deciding not to go into the sea, aware he'd already gotten himself soaked already. Lying back on the sand, he looked across to Cat, chuckling.

"This is the life. Gotta enjoy the downtime whenever we get it! Gotta say Cat...good to have you with us. Honestly, back last time, I really did think....well, you're still here, and still showing them how we do things." Max mused, sighing as he looked back up, soaking up the sun's rays, and taking in a moment to enjoy it all. The feline seemed a natural fit here, almost more at ease than he had been before in any other unit, aware he had the creativity and flair to work under a man like Silverwind. There were some horrible bits to it too, of course. Stuff he was pushing back in his mind.

Max hadn't served anywhere near as long as Silver, but he had seen his fair share of pretty horrible, awful things in war. He was pretty sure it had affected him in some ways, the playful and spontanious side of him keeping him going somewhat, given back on the job, he had a rebellious, cold and strange detachment. Not like Anna of course- she was just a cold-blooded cat, his felt more like it was more the servitude he had, the decisions he made, and what came out of that. Being positive at least kept his spirits aloft at least, hey. And as for family, well, not much there had changed either. They were doing the same old, unchanged. Helen was thinking about a career in local government, actually- but other than that, they were the poster children that his Mum and Dad had dreamed of. And yet here Max was, enjoying this downtime. Somehow, it all felt a little more real to him. And despite that slight nagging in his head saying he should, he wouldn't want to have it any other way.

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

Max handed it over, letting her put it in, before taking it back, chuckling.
"Thanks! I mean trust me, that wasn't a setup or something, haha....how you feeling after that?" Max asked, sighing as he leaned against his own car, himself now recovering from the sheer amount of adrenaline that had run through him, the chatty Brit just taking in this moment in its entirety. This didn't feel real, racing on the streets of LA, and running from cops. Why there was so many cops out, Max didn't know, but for $1000 lost, this had been a hell of a rush for this race here.

---

Part Two: The Dutch Connection

Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Sitting in the driver's seat of the dutch-plated blue VW Passat, Mark Torridon looked like he was at home, natural as he watched on at the phone on the dash, the agent not working alone today. Wearing a black puffy jacket, a kevlar vest and a pair of jeans, he looked more criminal than cop, more like was selling drugs from a car like this than actually going after a network.

The morning rain poured down in the Dutch capital on an unusually cold morning, and even so, the very slight smell of weed cafes could be smelt from here in the Bijlmer district. He looked across to his right to Athena, knowing their re-introduction had already been covered at Schipol a couple hours ago.

"Any second now. If our friends in LA follow through, we're gonna be green. Should be around here, if our guy's right. Shit, Amsterdam's like fucking Miami....with shittier weather and more canals. Hey, nice as it is to be working again Athena, sorry I can't give you the high life all the time, eh?" Mark said, looking then to his phone, and almost exactly on time, the phone buzzed. Mark leaned over, hitting the recieve button, and putting on the speaker. The man on the other end was another Interpol agent, a man implanted in the LAPD who had been part of this little operation, someone Mark knew a little about, but never in person.

"Hey. It's your guy in Cali."
"Yeah? Enjoying the sun?"
"Mostly- it's getting colder though out here. Anyway, the guy in the BMW. We got him. Arrested on a lot of bad, but he talked quickly when it was gonna get worse for him. Punk was out racing, guy was easy as hell to track, so we just sprang it on him. You were right about that- dude with a car like that was gonna flash it around." The voice on the other end spoke, Mark chuckling.
"Of course I'm right. And what did our mutual friend have to say?"
"Yeah, there's a place in Amsterdam. I'll send you the co-ordinates. Should be what you're out there looking for." The voice called, as Mark nodded, chuckling.
"Good. This place is a shithole, sooner the better. Thanks." Mark replied, picking up the phone, pinging in the location that had come across, the drive not too far from here.
"Happy hunting." The voice called out, an impersonal remark, given Mark's identity wasn't really one for an Interpol to disclose in any format, given how grey he was and unknown. A good double agent had that ability about him- nobody actually knew who the fuck he worked for, bar a few people above his paygrade in Interpol itself.

Cutting the phone, Mark looked across to Athena, opening the glovebox and checking his own P226, the solid gun-metal black Swiss-engineered 9mm pistol loaded and cocked, as he slid it into the driver side door store. The Scot started the VW's engine, pulling out of the parking spot on the side of the road, and quickly putting hammer to throttle.
"Right, so if we're lucky, this place is gonna be empty. Kick the door in, hopefully nobody's in, take whatever intel we can get our hands on, and get out. Fancy, I know. But if we get this, we're gonna have a serious bit of leverage." Mark started, turning a corner, keeping it slow now on the residential streets, canals passing by as they drove through the Dutch capital.

"So, the Syndicate's got a pretty serious drugs running operation out of this guy's flat. Something actually to do with Sobotka, funny to mention. There's a laptop in particular we're looking for- basically it's their transit. We get that, we might have an idea of who this dealer's network looks like...and more importantly, who his boss is. Then we can do some serious bloody damage." Mark added, aware Athena had some idea of the brief, but wanted to give a brief reminder, something before they went into the lion's den. This shouldn't be too intense an op, Mark reminded himself, but anything could happen in a place like this. Anything could be on the other side of the door, after all.