FourtyTwo

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

Zoe chuckled, bounding over a small patch of trees and another crevasse, watching as Val swung past her, middle finger raised, all right before her. Well, that had to be responded to...that wasn't on! Zoe pulled down on the risers, diving down and bringing it down onto the snow, flying the wing fast and turning hard to skim across the powder, kicking up a fine white spray as she whooped, pulling hard on the toggles, fully aware of where she was now relative to Val. With almost a poetic turn, she turned in the harness, almost upside down, waving two middle fingers back, burying the toggle and barrel-rolling the wing, coming down hard into the powder with a hard plonk. She was laughing too much to care, the Swiss girl barely moving but now getting underway, following behind Val on the run down, swinging by her side from time to time, just enjoying the petering out as the snow and rocks began to increase in number.

The run was beginning to run out, but there was still some fun to have- Zoe taking the chance to use her momentum to get airbourne again, right over Val and bobbing over a set of trees, bringing herself down right by Val's side, getting another shot of her Colombian partner in crime, a visible smirk on her face now they weren't barelling and thundering down the mountainside, the Moroccan pine showing signs that this wasn't the high Alps, but a mountain in North Africa, an arid and dry landscape now better visible beyond the peaks of the valley. Fast route down this had been.

Coming to a halt with a hard pizza and skid, the wing collapsed in front of Zoe as she put the brakes on, giggling with joy as she waved to Val, yelling for her to come over.
"Now wasn't that something!?" She yelled, chuckling as she pulled the wing in tight, unclipping from her skis. With a gentle patter into the powder, Zoe was running over towards Val as she misjudged the speed a little. Val was still moving a little....ahh, shit. This might hurt a little. Probably not because there's a lot of powder, Zoe realised, barely diving out of the way, going for the embrace but being comically denied and no doubt causing Val to faceplant into the snow. Well....the right intentions were had, Zoe thought to herself?
"Shit, sorry! You alright?"

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

With a gentle turn, Zoe tangented away from Val, the kick up of snow billowing over her as Val landed, the typically exitable Swiss now a little more irked by the snow kicked up, but hey, it was what she got for being in the slow lane.....so with it, she got back to Val's left, keeping out the way. The two were hurtling down, a sight to behold, ginger and yellow in a chaotic harmony, as Zoe gently pulled back on her wing's toggles. With a gentle rise, she pulled away from the slope, switching sides on Val's path, coming down on a steeper section and carving hard on the snow, using it to create momentum to come away from the slope once again and come aloft.

With a loud whoop, Zoe was back in the air again, the blonde-haired Swiss girl totally enamoured with the moment. It felt odd to her, strange even to be a jack of all trades, somewhat a master of none. Her background and her education really pointed towards her doing more than this, but well, who was she to care? She was happy, living, and completely sucked into her own momentum, something she kept up her own rate at. Val seemed to at least half tolerate her- give her shit, give her real feedback, rather than just be a flat-out hater or a kiss-ass. Val was fucking real, she thought to herself. The kind of girl who would sigh at her shitty comments, but would come along for the ride. Zoe probably should have seen that bit, but hey, it was another partner in crime for the things she got up to. And that stuck with.

Coming back down as she had gone up, Zoe hit a few berms, using the wing to amplify each and every send, travelling almost a superhuman distance if it wasn't for the fact she had a giant yellow speedwing carrying her from point to point, completely enamoured with this. The route still had a little while to go, with a few more huge crevasses coming up- this wasn't a glacial mountain, but the rock just fell away completely at points, to huge spaces that no skiier would want to go down into without something to pick them up and over.

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

With that, Max pulled out as the engine rumbled into life, the dirt kicking up from the dusty track they had come down to these cliffs from the rear tyres. It wasn't a comfy ride, but this thing was meant for getting the job done, not exactly entertaining foreign dignataries Max thought to himself- and well, you got used to it after enough time driving buggies smaller like this faster over even rougher terrain. His old team had made a habit out of it- a lightweight vehicle and a GEAR made a great hunter-killer combo, allowing for speed and precision firepower to blend perfectly. Well, when you had the upper hand, it usually worked at least.

Taking a pair of sunglasses out of his uniform's chest pocket, he put them on, sighing as he leaned back in the seat, taking in the coastal road's views, winding along to a small settlement down the road, their last little resort before going back into the fray of things.
"Now this is quaint. If it wasn't so bloody fickle here, what a holiday destination this would be..." Max commented aloofly, slowing down a little on the tight bends coming into the village, gently dropping the throttle in full awareness that his CO was in the car. While Silverwind wouldn't give a shit, he felt it was half an idea not to break local laws while out on R&R, even if minor...

Pulling into the village, Max was able to find a spot to park on the main street through town, remarkably enough, a spot that had no restrictions or meters, or anything. Damn, not a half bad find. Now, just to find a place to eat....and almost as if by cue, upon getting out of the jeep, Max could already see something.
"Hmmm....that looks good. What about that cafe over there, boss?" Max asked, pointing it out across the road, the cafe having a sea-view and an area outside to eat, the place looking like it offered local delicacies from what Max could make out of the sign.

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

Zoe chuckled, shrugging as she pulled the canopy taut, pulling her pink-tinted goggles down over her eyes while she did, the wind picking up and fluttering the speedwing a little.
"What, and you think this content is gonna go....downhill?" She said, shrugging her shoulders, rolling her eyes and making it almost seem like you could see through her heavily tinted goggles, her French soft and squeaky accent giving her a certain flair, as she knew that while Valentina was very blunt at times, she was a fun companion when you begun to really explore the madness that was a mountain environment.

Picking herself up proper, Zoe adjusted her ski bindings, flicking them taut and took a deep breath, looking across to Val with a giggling grin, just ready for whatever this is.
"Tell you what....race you to the bottom?" She asked, Zoe pulling the canopy tight as it inflated and begun to pick up much more air, pulling her along now, yelling back knowing she'd already gotten moving.

"You haven't got a choice in the matter, dear!" Zoe added, chuckling as she grabbed the toggles and with a swift turn, kicked up a bank of snow, leaping forward onto the powdery piste, the yellow canopy taking her aloft over a small berm, before bringing her back down with a spray of snow behind. A few big gaps were coming up, as Zoe put her foot down, storming down the mountainside, clearing the first huge crevasse with a gentle pull on the toggles, effortlessly coming away from the mountain and giving her the opportunity to spiral the canopy, going into a full barrel roll and back down into the snow below, whooping as she did. No doubt, the footage coming from this was gonna be next level- just what the Swiss girl wanted.

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

Mark gave a low chuckle, looking back over to Athena over his shoulder, turning as he took the took the drive into hand, chuckling.
"Glad to hear you're enjoying this taste. Anyway, she'll co-operate with us. We always seem to find a way....in the end, it's usually quite inevitable with our operations. Aye, let's pack it all up. We just need to hold here till the local PD take these into their possession. What happens from there, I don't really give a shit- we have our copies and all we need." Mark added, putting the drive away as he shut the laptop down, sending the drive's data to his cloud-based backup now it had been swept and secured, isolated of any shut-downs or lock-outs it could have. They had no idea what they could be running- and chances were, if the Syndicate knew they were comprimised even further, their networks would already be scrambled. It left them little time to act, but Mark knew they'd get straight onto it.

Taking the laptops aside, he begun moving all the equipment into a secure set of steel hardcases, putting them inside, thinking back to Athena's earlier comments.
"So yeah, this shit runs deep. Don't get me wrong. Not every gang is in on it. Those Panamanians in Mexico? Yeah, nah, they weren't. There's a few factions and groups who aren't. But all it takes is enough people on board for them, and they'll have their monopoly pretty much. It's like McDonalds, but McMafia, if you get me. Sure, there's a Burger King or some greasy spoon on the side of the road in competition....but it ain't the big Maccies, is it?" Mark added rather poetically, knowing the allegory was poor, but it would somewhat put the point across, as he got back to her earlier point.

"As for Morocco...it's a beautiful place. They say it's the furthest east you can go while staying close to Europe. Marrakesh is a mess of bazaars, souqs and all sorts of other madness. Fits a drug dealer's boss really as a place to stay. Also fits us too, because we'll have a little more anarchy we can use up."

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Part Three: Atlas't

Somewhere on Mount Toukbal, High Atlas, Morocco

While coincidence was a fine thing, in that same early morning, the unlikely pair had made their way up Mount Toukbal, coming down off the summit after taking in the impressive views of Morocco's highest peak. The late winter had given them a good opportunity to get an awful lot of powder, this high up the mountain, and the snowline was fairly low all things considered- it was almost compeletely devoid of snow in the early autumn, so to get this was rather a boon. An African mountain wasn't exactly as wild as Alaska, or the Alps, Japan or even New Zealand or Norway, but it was a line that Zoe had wanted to do for a while, and the Francophone gal had something in mind for this little adventure, someone she just had to bring Valentina along for. The morning was pretty perfect too- a few smiges of cloud, but it was nearly completely clear, if not freezing cold. The petite girl, the Wanderlust Queen herself was wrapped up in predominantly yellow and purple, from the purple North Face beanie she had on, the warm yellow Picture Object jacket she wore, to her purple-coloured ski-pants, a look that she tried to keep the same, of course, for YouTube purposes. She shut off the MP3 in her ear, exhaling a cloudy breath of mist, taking in for a moment the splendid view as they stopped a little off the peak.

They were going to get down fast, but like all things, Zoe didn't just want to take the slow line down. The line was jagged, but nowhere near steep enough for a wingsuit jump, given how the terrain oscillated and shifted, a mass of sandstone sticking out on a spine yet falling away every so often, making it nigh impossible to ski or snowboard down....in a normal manner. For that, came speed-riding- effectively, using skis and a speedwing, or a minature paraglider wing, to effectively fly down a ski-route, and well, quite literally fly out of danger any time a drop or a jump seemed too huge. It was pretty much the quickest way down, and well, while the French Alps were a more epically scaled place to do it, it just hadn't been done here. Plus, the line looked like it had a lot of big gullies that could be cleared, which was of course, cool as hell. Fodder for the GoPros, and their YouTube galore. Perhaps that was what Zoe did think of more than anything- perhaps it was the wrong way to do things, but she didn't care. It helped her remember, and while they were trying to build something up together, it had to be said, living the moment had something to it.

Zoe looked out, the playgirl extraordinare glad to be back with Valentina, someone she had a love-hate relationship, often in the very literal sense as she sat down in the snow, adjusting her Oakley goggles, looking to the Columbian as she unfurled her own bright yellow speedwing out across the fresh powder. No sponsors...yet, she chuckled to herself, as she adjusted the Gopro on her chest, aware that for vlogging purposes, filming was almost mandatory at most given times. One forward, one at face, covered the whole self-filming shenanigans. Who needed a film crew these days?
"So, how we feeling? Val-en-tina, top of North Africa, you gonna shred it, gal?" Zoe exitedly asked, her voice bubbly and almost child-like, hoping even in this cold, she'd get something out of Zoe's stoked comment.

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

Yup definitely! Lots of crazy action to come- got a reply up now.

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

Max chuckled, nodding to Silver as he agreed with what he had to say. She may have been cold, calculated and ruthless in her execution of work, always obsessed with it, but deep down inside her there was someone he cared about, and vice-versa. While some friends would let him die in some hellhole, somehow Max would always guess that someone like Anna would crawl through hell to get him out, just so she could keep ripping him a new one.

That was a good friendship to have, between the both of them.
"Oh yeah....she will happily kill in cold blood, but honestly, when you figure out that all it takes to make her super exited is when she nerds out over kit like that? Yeah, it gets easier, I supppose."

Anna's wingpack disappeared into the horizon, heading back inland as Max nodded to Cat and Silver, agreeing that food sounded like a great idea right about now. Cat's teasing of Silver had gotten that out of him- he did care, on a deeper level, and it was a warm feeling to have knowing full well that there was that almost family-like aspect to them already. It was the way it was in special forces, and Max was glad it was the same here- as aloof as he could be at times, it was good to have that level of trust.

"Aye, me too, I could seriously do with some sea-food here, I bet it's delish....I mean I see food, I eat it, if you get what I mean"? Max added with a chortle, knowing full well that on this op to come going back to MREs and crappy rations was gonna be a rarity, compared to this. Heading off the beach and back up the bluffs, they were quickly able to get back to the military jeep, sitting there on the afternoon sun and awaiting their taking. Walking up, the lion looked back across to Silverwind and Catriona, the lion stretching out as he yawned a little, covering his gob as he did so before he spoke.
"There was a local village near here, can't remember the name, but they do a lot of good food. Silver, as our CO, want to take the pick?"

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

Mark got them all plugged in, making sure they weren't connected to any external network, plugging in a USB and another drive to get the hard-disks backed up on each laptop, aware it was crucial they got it before anything kicked in. Remarkably, security on both was poor, given that a standard door-kicking programme had gotten through and gotten them into both. Hearing what Athena had to say about the locations, his ears perked up, as he came over, having a look through.
"Those Serbs are probably the friends of Sobotka you uhh....dealt with. I mean, it's not just them. Serbs are just one part of that organisation. Those triads, the mafia....all of them will have friends at this table. Like the EU, the UN, big organisations like that, criminal gangs at this level realised there's no point killing each other over business like this, when it can be run reliably. It's lucrative, and better for everyone when there's one monopoly and people can predict they won't get arrested. Drug networks are like that too. Everyone wins when the supply is constant, the money is constant and regulated, and everyone does their fucking job. Which is why when we throw a spanner in the works, the whole thing gives us plenty of opportunities. Like this one." Mark commented, chuckling as he scrolled through, seeing where the network had gone.

It was almost like a full-on distribution line, with drugs being delivered into Rotterdam from Karachi, Uzbekistan and Jakarta to name a few on containers with other goods, being brought into Holland that way and then pushed out. It was like they had hitched a ride on international shipping- this wasn't some dude in a submarine trying to get drugs to Miami, this was them being involved in global trade, on a very illicit level. And to think this was only one section of their work...Mark kept looking over with Athena, aware that while they hadn't trawled everything, there was a lot of interesting stuff coming up that would get them higher up the criminal organogram.

"This is a fucking goldmine. Shit, nice work, Athena. There's a few leads, but the main one we'll want is this guy's boss. She's not someone I recognise....Ektarina Kolhakova, looks like she's in Marrakesh, she's the regional lead. Shit, this is like a fucking company. Google, eat your heart out." Mark added, chuckling as he took his drive out, aware he'd gotten the copies he neded, aware now they had a location, even vaguely, to start searching.
"I'll make some calls. This is now getting high up the foodchain, Ath. We're gonna need to try and bring her in if we want to get some real intel, and be very careful how we play it out. No doubt she won't want to go down fighting. Get this wrong, and we're back to square one. You with me on this one?"

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

Shit- hope it all works out- I get your drift. All the best mate- I'm here whenever you're ready or need anything, take whatever time you need.

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

@Silverwind Blade

No worries man- do what you gotta do, hope it's nothing too serious!