"Svetlana Kang, I was told that you are excused for the day. You may take your leave to take care of your affairs, and do not hesitate to tell us if there is anything we can do to help".
Those words still rang in her ears as she made her way out of her campus in Manila. She has just begun studying law and was trying to get herself into her constitutional law class when she received a call that her sister was abducted. Thankfully, the school was quite accommodating when she advised them of what happened and allowed her to leave in order to handle her affairs.
As such, now she has just made her way out of the gate and was fully intent on making her way over to the military camp in order to meet up with her cousin when she heard someone call her.
"Yo Lana, what's the prob?"
She was so lost in thought that she was startled when she heard her classmate's greeting.
It was Mark. They were classmates in her Crim Law class. The man was older than her by about five years, but somehow the kind of hit it off. The guy was always strapped for cash, but there was simply something in the guy that she can't help but like.
She pretty much 'adopted' the guy, paying for him whenever she took him with her either to eat or have a good time.
"Can't really talk right now, I need to get to the military camp immediately" she replied.
"If you didn't bring your car, I can give you a lift. I received a call that I needed to go as well, so we might as well go together if you don't mind" he offered.
"You have a car?" she asked, surprised. The man barely had money to eat some days, so she was taken aback by the idea of Mark having his own car.
"Nope, but I was told that they'd be sending someone to pick me up. It must be some sort of emergency, I guess. They should be here in a few minutes."
Lana nodded in agreement, it would be faster than commuting. She had gathered from him that he worked for the army, but she never got from him what his actual job was. She assumed he was a civilian employee there.
Whatever! She was just glad that she would have a friend with her while she was this worried.
However, she was completely surprised when a military Hummer pulled up in front of them. a soldier got out from the front passenger side and saluted.
"Sir, we need to go immediately. I was told you will be briefed my colonel Kang upon arrival."
"Colonel Louis Kang?" Lana asked, surprised.
The soldier was startled at her outburst.
"This is Svetlana Kang. She's a good friend and she's coming with us. Would there be any problems with that?" Mark asked.
"No sir. I think the colonel would actually appreciate that".
"Then let's go".
.......
At the camp.
Lana has met up with her cousin, Louis. At the moment, she sat in her cousin's office, thinking, now that she finally calmed down a bit.
Now she began to wonder about Mark.
If he was a civilian employee like she thought, why would he be briefed by her cousin.
Soldiers pretty much saluted to everyone, but Mark spoke to the soldier as if he was used to giving orders.
What was his connection to this?
The door opened as Mark entered the room with Louis.
"Lana, I have to leave for a bit, but col. Kang said he will be keeping you company. I'll let you both now when it starts, you've been cleared to watch it with him in the control room." He simply said it to her.
"Thank you for this. I know you're supposed to stay out of it, but I appreciate your help in this" Louis said as he shook Mark's hand.
"Lana's a friend, and she was always good to me. I guess it's just about time that I returned the favor, sir" he replied with a grin before he left.
Louis sighed as the man left, then took his seat behind his desk.
"You have a good friend there. He didn't even give me a hard time when I asked him to help us." Louis said to break the silence in the room.
"But how about Misha? Do we have any news?" Lana asked.
"Thanks to your friend there, we were able to locate and pinpoint her location. Additionally, we now have someone on the way for the rescue op" he answered.
"God knows how you met him, you really know how to pick your friends. Who would think that of all people, we would have Zero to help us out. You really lucked out today" he added.
Lana was confused by that.
"Who's Zero? I'm glad Mark was able to help, with him working for the Intelligence department he can do something, I guess. Is he really that big of a help" Lana asked.
Louis raised an eyebrow at what he heard.
"You really don't know much about your friend, do you?"
.........
About an hour later, Louis brought Lana to what must be the control room. There was a radio on one side, and there was also what looked like a TV monitor. Her Father had also finally arrived along with his personal assistant.
"Good, we're all here. We're about to begin the op to rescue Misha" Louis remarked.
He had whatever was on the monitor projected onto the wall of the office.
They saw what looked like someone jumping out of a chopper. Lana was surprised that whoever it was did not open a parachute. From the fall, the height was too low for a parachute to be used, but it was still too high for any sane person to just jump out.
However, the person, or whatever it was the camera was attached to, simply jumped, then it looked like he landed in a crouch.
"Beginning operation " they all heard from the audio.
As soon as the man stood up he shot with a suppressed pistol, immediately taking out two.
Although they can hear the wind as it passed by the microphone when the man ran, she couldn't make out any other sound as the man appeared to make a dash for it to take cover. He then looked like he took a peek at a nearby window.
"Three more inside, possible hostiles. Request permission to take out these targets, and any other possible hostiles inside" they heard the man ask.
Louis went to the monitor and spoke into the mic.
"Permission granted. Just make sure objective is unharmed".
"Roger. Permission confirmed" the man replied.
The man then proceeded to shoot through the window.
He then opened the door and then they saw three men down. He swiftly went on to check the rooms until he found a bedroom containing Misha. He holstered his gun and released the girl from her restraints.
"Send in the chopper, I'll let you handle clean up".
......
Lana immediately ran out as soon as the helicopter's blades stopped spinning and hugged her sister tight. Even though she saw Misha's rescue, she still needed to confirm for herself that her sister was finally safe.
Aside from the pilot, only one other person got off. The person wore a military camouflage uniform, a pistol belt with the gun she saw being used earlier, along with the magazines for it. He also wore a helmet with a really dark smoky face shield. She noticed part of the helmet that appeared to be glass, which she assumed was the camera where they saw everything unfold.
"You can let go now, big sis. I'm fine thanks to him" Misha told her with a laugh.
Lana laughed it off and she went to the man.
"Thank you, really! You made everything look easy. If there's anything you want, please just say so."
"If you're really serious about that, there is something. I'm really hungry" the man said. "I'd really appreciate some food, preferably pork. I'd also like a big bottle of cola and a pack of menthols. Sorry, but I'm out of cigarettes".
Lana laughed. "Oddly specific, isn't it?"
"Well, for you I'd settle on the cigs. I'm out and I can really use some right now" the man replied.
"Well, sure. Is that all you really want? I can get you a lifetime supply if you wanted, but is that really all?"
"What kind of friend would I be if I did that? I don't like abusing good will, even from a friend".
Lana's brows furrowed at what he said. 'Do I know him?' she thought to herself.
It was then that he finally took off the helmet, and she went pale as she recognized him.
She was so stunned, that she didn't notice her hand move of its own accord, and as it connected with the man's face an extremely resounding slap was heard all throughout the base.