The next day, a Sunday, on the water of the Dniepr river dark due to the lack of light in the night, a boat was going at full speed, descending toward the south, leaving only the obvious white foam brought by the agitation it caused.
Unlike what one would think, there was light on the boat and its headlight was lighting the way, showing that it was not afraid of being noticed. The light inside allowed the two projected shadows to give a bit of information about the passengers.
It was indeed Lucas and Estrella who were inside, with the former controlling the boat and the latter sitting beside the window and using the lighting to keep herself occupied through reading a book.
They both wore dark long sleeves body hugging clothes with black camo pants above dark combat boots that they bought in Kiev. After all, it was just some clothes and shoes so there was no need for a licence to buy them.
From time to time, Lucas would look at Estrella and groan while muttering some curses at the river that were taken away by the wind. It happened so many times that at some points, Estrella became tired of it.
"By cursing the very river that is supporting the boat, aren't you afraid of it drowning us?"
"Easy for you to say. You are not the one that must stay alert to stir the boat through the bends for fear of ending on the bank. While you entertain yourself through reading, I can't even do anything to ease my boredom."
"It was your plan that made us take a boat to descend the river."
"And then? No matter the plan, we would have had to go to the south before going west anyway. Did you want to take the guns and explosives through the roads till the warzone or the places neighboring it?"
"I do remember that according to the target's planning your "friend" gave you, there had been a good opportunity during the week."
"As you said previously, it is a power game between us and more importantly, what I want from him is really not something I can't do without. It is just the easier and faster way to put myself in a better position for the coming changes. And you can't tell me that I'm the only one who enjoyed last week."
Lucas smiled as he saw the corner of Estrella's lips rising for a fleeting moment.
"Since you are not in a hurry, we could have gone with a cleaner plan where we could have stayed unseen like ghosts. Don't you want to honor the moniker you liked?"
Lucas sneered and shook his head:
"Too troublesome. So long as they can't touch me, I'll stay a ghost, and I don't think they can touch me."
He focused back on the boat for only a moment before deciding to take a jab at his companion:
*Cough* "~This girl's superstitious, black cat, voodoo doll~"
*Sigh* "Alright you can leave the boat to me." Estrella said as she closed her book abruptly.
Lucas responded with a surprised face, though his smile gave him away:
"Really? Are you sure?"
The soft glare he got was enough of an answer. He hastened to free his seat and went inside for a while before coming out with his laptop and some accessories.
He made himself comfortable with his feet put on the dashboard, put his headset on after starting some music and started making a difficult choice between playing a single player racing game or a single player shooting game. He was so focused on the life changing choice that he didn't see Estrella's eyes twitching:
'Is that why he refused to put the laptop together with the other luggages that had been sent away?'
After all, they were going toward a place where guns would be put to use and Lucas made the smart choice of bringing a laptop that had not been mentioned in any part of the plan. Estrella took a breath before ignoring Lucas' antics, ignoring the fact that the book she brought on the trip did not have any role in the coming actions either.
By the time they arrived at Dniepr, the town not the river, it was already close to midnight. Estrella stopped the boat close to the east bank and Lucas, more serious, turned off his laptop and stood up.
"We are on schedule."
Lucas said as he looked at his watch.
"Let's prepare according to the plan and depart."
Estrella nodded and they went inside. She took one of the bags he picked up the previous night while he took out the pieces of an assault rifle from the second bag, a M4A1, and put it together, adding a suppressor.
He put a magazine in the gun then emptied it on the floor of the boat. He then took an explosive from Estrella and secured it on the damaged floor.
Done with what they had planned, Estrella alighted and Lucas restarted the engine and directed the boat slowly toward the center of the river. A few meters from the bank, he threw away anything irrelevant such as the book or the laptop and jumped to cross the distance, making the contraption dance violently on the water.
Together with Estrella, they stayed in place and looked at the boat. Before it could arrive at the center a few minutes later, its waterline noticeably became lower so she said:
"The floor should have been totally flooded already."
Lucas nodded then brought a remote out of his pocket. He gave the means of transportation they had used to come here one last look then pressed one of the buttons.
The result induced by that action soon made itself known through a muffled "Boom" that came from the river. The boat seemed unable to salvage its ability to float on the water as it made its way into its depths.
After seeing the possible liability off, they turned around to continue the journey on foot. They went toward the outskirts to avoid any possible contact and would stay out of bond of any place along the way with humans' gatherings that would make getting to their destination more complicated.
There was only their lowered voices that could be heard in the dark as a feminine voice started talking:
"How sure are you that we will reach Donetsk before dawn?"
"No need to be sure, we just have to make it happen. We are capable enough. On the other hand, are sure to accomplish what you boasted about previously?"
"Do you want to do it yourself?"
"I didn't say that but you were the one who laughed at my short career as a sniper in the desert."
"I didn't talk, much less mock you."
"Stop trying to deceive me, I'm starting to read you better so I know what you thought when I told you the story."
"Anyway, you will know when the time comes. Just do a good job on your side."
By then, they had already left Dniepr behind with their fast pace.
*Sigh* "And here I wanted to try my hand at "the" Barrett."
"You like the model 82A1?"
"Of course. It had served me well in my video games so I wanted to have a taste of it in real life."
"I wonder how a manly man like you can keep having childish thoughts and behaviors."
"First of all, thanks for the compliment…"
"It wasn't one."
In a smiling voice: "Whatever you say. I just consider life sh*tty enough so I want to find fun ways to go about it. If not, won't I just be a stinky corpse that is walking toward its grave?"
"...You are surprisingly right. But everyone with their life philosophy."
"You are right. Will you tell me yours someday?"
"Someday."