Chapter 462: Back Stories And Puppy Crushes
[Seven Weeks Ago, Blackwater Offices]
[FROLO]
The thing about time... was that it never stopped.
People died.
People were born.
But time... it kept moving.
Yet for nearly five decades, the one thing that had never stopped seemed to have stopped on one side of the city that was ever so busy.
Time.
Sure, life moved on, things changed, the sun came up and went down on everything, but the ghost from half a century lingered.
So when a desperate, heartbroken devil of Frolo walked into a football bar and gave the one name that had been helplessly held onto by someone else on the other side of the same city, time began moving. Again.
Only this time, it was with more questions than answers.
"Ma’am, one of our operatives flagged an unused word for years," a soldier rushed to his senior, the one woman who knew what to do.
"What word?" the woman asked, bored out of her mind.
There was only one word that could get her excited, because otherwise there was never going to be a change in the organization.
Fifty years, they had waited. Fifty long years. Seats had been changed, yet the objective had always remained the same.
Get. It. Back.
And now...
Maybe there was hope?
"Buran, ma’am," the soldier said, and the woman stiffened, turning carefully to the man who had just spelled out what had almost looked like some conspiracy for so long.
There was no way that was real, yet as the soldier showed her the data on the iPad, she knew it was.
Not because of the word itself, but because of who had spoken it.
"Call Latif. Tell him to get his men ready. Do not tell anyone about this, or I will not be responsible for what happens to your life," the woman said, dismissing the soldier.
And then she started making phone calls.
The right people.
The right sequences.
"We are supposed to let the Romanov omega go in an hour," someone on the other side of the phone said.
"Sergei knows about B.U.R.A.N.," the woman said.
"What?"
"Ilyas must have told him about it. It is the only way," the woman said, and the person on the other end sighed.
"We ran some medical tests on the Romanov omega... he is with child," the person said before adding:
"If that child is born, it will be another Yaroslav. We already know Sergei doesn’t play about his children. This child will be an obstacle if allowed to live."
"You cannot seriously be asking me what to do with the boy. Did you not see the court proceedings? Do you want us to be butchered by Sergei???" the woman asked, like that was the one thing she was still horrified by.
So much had happened over the years.
So much, yet the cruelty of Sergei Moskowsky had never once changed. It was the one thing that they had seen a few times too many.
"He knows B.U.R.A.N., and if his child is born, he will have the full force of Sergei’s loyalists... including the Shopkeeper, Taylor.
"You do not want that crazy Rastenkin bastard coming after us too," the person said, and the woman, Taylor, sighed.
"Rastenkin is not a problem. You keep forgetting fucking Defense Chief Kavinsky. That woman still gives me nightmares.
"If this shit is traced back to us, Blackwater will cease to exist, and we will not get the information on Buran from Ilyas’ son," Taylor argued.
Getting that information was more crucial than whatever the hell this was, but at the same time, they had seen Sergei Moskowsky in action.
They had seen the man who didn’t care about what happened to him and only cared about what happened to those around him.
"What if we blame it on torture? We find ways to keep the boy here. Obviously, he will be shifted to the bunker as per regulations. Then we can slowly drug his food.
"...Just enough that Chief Zhenya won’t know. And when the omega falls ill or starts bleeding, it can be blamed on torture rising from his manipulated mark with Sergei," the man said, like he was thinking of it all.
"Goodness, Tyler, what the fuck?" Taylor groaned.
"You know what that project did to father. If Ilyas’ son could get us the information on that project, then we can finally get answers on what happened to our father back then.
"We only know Ilyas worked with father, and they were both murdered the same night. If Ilyas’ son is the key, then we have to find it;
"...and find whoever was responsible for those murders," Tyler, the man on the other side of the phone, said like he couldn’t see any other way out.
"If Zhenya finds out..." Taylor warned.
"We are the Blackwaters, Tay. Zhenya will not find out. So do you agree? All this will be traced back to Boris and the tortures," Tyler insisted.
Taylor paused, as if thinking about what her brother was suggesting.
This was suicide.
Going after Sergei’s omega was suicide. But then they needed answers for that night.
The night their father changed completely, and Sergei’s family had been wiped out.
Something had to give, even if it was the possibility of making an enemy of the most unhinged devil in all of Frolo.
"And how the fuck are you going to keep the omega there? You do know Boris is a coward when it comes to Sergei, right?" Taylor asked, stating the obvious.
"You leave that to me. If you agree, we can get rid of that child in under two weeks. Unless you want us to have another Yaroslav situation," Tyler insisted, and Taylor sighed.
"Fine. If it ties back to us, I will kill you before Sergei does," Taylor warned.
"Always the charming sister. Anyway, I have to go. See you later," Tyler said, hanging up, right as Latif walked in.
"Mrs. Blackwater. You called for me," Latif said, munching on a carrot like he wasn’t inside one of the most dangerous shadow organizations in the city.
"Sergei knows about Project B.U.R.A.N. Find a way to get into his head and get the specifics. I don’t care what you have to do, but get it.
"And he will kill you if you’re not careful," Taylor said, like she was reading a simple report to her operative and making sure he knew the assignment was very important.
Gods, this was fucked up, but what the hell, yeah?
"Cool. I always dreamt of dying at the hands of the Devil of Frolo. When do I begin?" Latif said enthusiastically, but Taylor wasn’t surprised.
This man was a few screws too loose and idolized Sergei Moskowsky so much to the point of making such absurd wishes. But right now, Taylor needed results.
She needed answers on what Sergei knew about B.U.R.A.N.
"Now," Taylor said, handing Latif the file.
"Okay. I’ll get to it, boss," Latif said as he took the file from Taylor’s hand.
****
[TODAY, Blackwater Offices]
"Sergei has yet to do or say anything about getting his omega back. Surely by now he knows he lost his child, right?" Tyler asked, casually lounging on the couch while his sister and Latif checked the progress reports of their operations over the past few weeks.
"Sergei Moskowsky is not an emotional man, Tyler. Besides, we have Aleksandr on our side too," Latif said, as if that was the most obvious thing.
"And that’s what makes him a devil," Taylor said, before adding, "but the plan must proceed either way, before Anya Kavinsky sniffs us out. I’d rather die at Sergei’s hands than that woman."