Not really an important message: First of all, I will explain the reasons of my absence in 'Author's thoughts'. This message is here to say that I slightly modified the conditions under which Lazar tried to contact Buren. I'm not going to tell you how I changed them because if by chance you don't remember what I said a few chapters ago it won't ruin your immersion. But I'll tell you why; I think it's more in line with the flow of the story I wanted.
Anyway, good reading!
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Present (7:45 a.m)
Boston
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2 or 3 minutes earlier, Lazar had turned on his walkie-talkie and had tried to make contact with the one of Buren...
Until now, he was merely repeating the words 'the situation has changed' every 20 seconds, freeing the line as soon as he had finished speaking to give Buren enough time to answer him during those breaks. However, Lazar will not have what he want in the end, or more accurately, although he will receive a reply, it will not be at all what he or Amandla were expecting.
...
*SIZZLE*
Eventually, Amandla and Lazar heard sizzling noises during yet another break...
Thinking that it was the sign of an attempt to make contact from Buren, they expected to hear in the moment that would follow his monotonous voice. However, what they heard was something even less pleasant.
*GRRAARGH*
When they both heard on the other side of the line beastly grunts that they immediately recognized as belonging to Ganipotes and Garaches, Amandla, who until then had divided her attention between monitoring their surroundings and Lazar's talkie-walkie, couldn't help but focus completely on it now with visible puzzlement on her face...
As for Lazar, even though he was remaining silent, it was clear from his gaze which was getting increasingly darker that the more he heard, the more his blood was boiling.
'Is it what I fucking think it is?' He thought while clenching his teeth unconsciously.
"ARGH!!!"
"FUCKING MONSTERS!!!"
The screams and curses that Amandla and Lazar heard next confirmed Lazar's concerns...
"No wonder we didn't see any monsters this morning..." He stated in a calm voice, but without the same confidence he had a few seconds ago, "It wasn't a coincidence."
Amandla stopped gazing at Lazar's takie-walkie, which he hadn't yet decided to turn off by the way and she raised her head to look at him in the eyes, "Everything is compromised now." She declared in a whisper of exasperation after she took into account the consequences that would result from what was happening.
Lazar sighed and held her gaze with a defeated expression, "I know, and this time I'm not going to be able to pull a rabbit out of my hat." He responded with spite, confirming that what he planned was indeed fucked.
...
If one don't go into too much detail and if telephone communication is taken as a reference, then the concept of communication by walkie-talkie as well as the reasons why Lazar and Amandla were no longer counting on Lazar's plan weren't very difficult to understand since both are linked.
First of all, it's important to realize that the reason why the fact that the telephone networks are out of order isn't a problem to communicate by this mean is that the operation of a walkie-talkie is based on radio waves...
To be more precise, here it's a matter of communicating with a walkie-talkie tuned to a specific frequency with one or more other walkie-talkies which are also tuned to this same specific frequency.
Secondly, unlike telephones, walkie-talkie communication doesn't function in both sides...
In other words, when someone speaks, the persons 'that someone' is talking to can't answer him right away, 'that someone' is obliged to free the line so that they can answer him, each in turn.
Lastly, and here again it's a big difference with telephones; the operating radius of a walkie-talkie is very limited...
On the market, it's very difficult to find models that can transmit and receive signals within a radius of more than 10 km on open terrain, and although Lazar has a military model that is much more efficient, the fact that it is used in an urban setting greatly reduces its efficiency since urban constructions act as 'obstacles' between Lazar's walkie-talkie and Buren's.
Both of them having undergone advanced military training, Lazar and Amandla were perfectly aware of all this and that allowed them to come to the following conclusions...
Based on the sensitive nature of the mission that he had conducted for Buren, Lazar was convinced that the frequency on which he was communicating with him was shared by only the two of them, which amounted to confirming with great certainty that the transmission that he and Amandla were listening to was indeed originating from Buren's walkie-talkie.
Taking this into account, it was also quite easy to understand beyond the obvious which was that the TD Garden was under attack by Ganipotes and Garaches, that Buren's regiment was losing the battle it was in...
In any case, the truthfulness of this deduction was reinforced by the screams of agony of the soldiers that Lazar and Amandla were still hearing as well as the fact that Buren's walkie-talkie was in the middle of the action, which wasn't very encouraging regarding his chances of survival by the way.
Lazar frowned, 'In fact, Buren's death would almost be a good thing.' Or at least, for him it would be a far more enviable outcome than the possibility that Buren agreed to be transformed by the Ganipotes and Garaches...
Which leads to the main reason why Lazar's plan was ruined; What would happen concretely if the Ganipotes and Garaches succeed to transform one or several soldiers of Buren's regiment, or even Buren himself?
Well, considering the fact that Buren and his regiment were coordinating the Boston reconquest operation and that after being transformed the individual in question most likely didn't lose his or her memories and skills; that would be a big fucking trouble.
If the Ganipotes and Garaches are smart enough, then sooner or later they will see the usefulness of the knowledge of Buren's regiment...
From there it would be child's play to annihiliate any military presence in Boston since the position of each military force in the city as well as the means to contact them are things to which Buren's regiment necessarily has access.
"We have to act quickly, do you have an idea?" Asked Amandla with a thoughtful face.
Lazar narrowed his eyes and after a few seconds his gaze cleared, "We'll improvise." He answered with an annoyed tone before opening his door to head to the back doors of the truck once again.