At dawn, as the sun was lowering the dark veil of the night and its rays started peeking from the horizon, Lucas and Estrella stopped in some part of the outskirts of Donetsk, on the eastern side.
They went into an abandoned house and started to complete their clothing. They wore bullet proof vests and took out the guns from the bag Lucas had been holding.
With a handgun for each of them, Lucas took the M4A1 assault rifle and Estrella put together a M82A1. They took from the bag ski masks of the same color as their clothes that they put in-between their vest and their clothes for now before putting the empty bag in the one that Estrella had been keeping.
"How certain are you that this is not a trap?"
Estrella asked as they had some time to kill.
"I don't know. Maybe 1%?"
Estrella raises an eyebrow so he continued:
"You know about our target. Schneider asked me to take out the one directing the Russian troops in this war. The same general that after the opportunity from last week went back to Moscow to talk about cakes with people of the same status or higher. Do you know why?"
"You know?" Estrella asked in surprise.
"No, I don't."
After his answer Lucas continued seriously:
"It could be the Americans that commissioned the job or it could be the Europeans. Heck, it might even have been the Russians themselves. This is certainly just one chess move amidst a cesspool of chess moves."
After a breath:
"So, while I don't care, Jack Schneider would want nothing to do with me afterward. The most probable is that a pit had already been planned for me and the only true or sincere part in all of this must be this month's schedule of the target."
Estrella glanced at him before resuming the lookout.
"Still, you accepted the job."
"I don't know about you but I want to try what I've got. I have broken some shackles and transcended humans' limits? Good, I've felt it. But now, I want to experience it, savor the difference."
He didn't know that he had a feral grin on his face. Or maybe he did and was just letting what he was feeling show?
Estrella rolled her eyes:
"Childish."
Smiling more normally:
"Maybe, but you've already said it. I previously got a peek in the desert but the parameters have evolved since then."
They stayed silent in the dusty abandoned house for a few hours before Lucas stood up after taking a look at his watch.
"The target will be there from 1000 to 1030. I will start at 1005. We have some time to get into position so I will be going. Make sure to stay in one piece."
Estrella stood up too and adjusted the sniper rifle on her back as she unholstered her handgun that she held in one hand as she took the bag with the other.
"You forgot something."
Lucas helped her bundle her hair and put her mask on for her before putting on his own. He looked at her in the eyes before smiling:
"Don't forget the agreed upon code names."
Estrella immediately lost the trace of softness she had in her eyes.
"I don't remember agreeing to your proposition."
Lucas was already getting out of their hideout. He tapped his earpiece in confusion as he muttered:
"Strange, I can't seem to hear my partner. Hello, do you hear me? Do you copy? Hello…"
He turned around a corner and disappeared, leaving a bundle of frustration behind.
********
In the east a few kilometers outside of Donetsk was a military camp. Even with the occupation, they could not just use the city to station the soldiers. First of all there were still some inhabitants and the buildings were not planned for defense so, since they needed a command center with a good order and an ease in defending, they could only establish a camp outside where there was enough space and that way the city would serve as a buffer when needed.
After making quite an effort to avoid people and patrol, Lucas was almost at the end of the city. He was only waiting for the agreed upon time to start acting.
He habitually went through his arsenal, checking his ammunition before he looked at the time. With a few more minutes to go, he closed his eyes to center himself, counting the seconds.
360 seconds later, he suddenly opened his eyes, and after confirming the time, he contacted Estrella:
"Honey to bee, coming."
No getting any answer, he broke the silence once more:
"Honey to bee, coming."
"..."
*Sigh* "Bee to honey, coming."
"This is honey, I'm getting you loud and clear."
Lucas smiled wrily beneath his mask, with all his momentum taken by the wind.
"You accept getting called honey but refuse to call me the same."
"..."
"Who is childish now?"
"It's 1006. There had been a convoy that went into the camp. It came from the other side."
"Copy that. I'm starting."
"Godspeed."
Lucas left his hiding place and made a beeline for the camp. It did not take him long to get a few hundred meters from it and apparently, he was aiming for the gate.
Even if he managed to take out the paltry number of scouts he met silently, he was soon spotted by the sentries.
Normally, their first reaction would have been to inform their superiors then question the suspicious person. But when said person was clothed and armed the same way a special forces operative would and he was sporting a mask, compounded to the fact that he didn't seem to be a comrade, the course of action was of course different.
After one of the soldiers talked into his walkie talkie, they all pointed their guns at him with a few warning shots getting fired.
Lucas ignored the impacts of bullets a few inches from his feet and continued his advance. More than that, he prepped his rifle and removed the security.
With a distinct show of hostility that the sentries couldn't have ignored, the warning shots became true shots aiming to kill. And that was when the horror began.
The soldiers saw Lucas weave between the bullets, as if he was flickering. At some points, maybe tired or bored, Lucas changed his approach. Instead of dodging every bullet, because he was indeed seeing them and for him they were not absolutely fatal anymore, he aimed his rifle forward.
Today, through this job, he really did manage to savor what he became after three baptisms. He felt a little heavy, but as he focused, the soldiers, for him, were slow. He could see the expression of bewilderment and the brewing terror from their faces and their bullets, while having a normal speed, gave him all the time needed to dodge.
Hence the new game, just as he saw in a previous movie: taking out the offending bullets with his own.
The soldiers watched him slow his dodges and start shooting. But the weird thing was that none of them felt or heard any bullet impact.
It took one of them taking binoculars to confirm an absurd suspicion to understand that flattened bullets were raining in pairs between the two parties. And when the opponent's rifle seemed too slow or empty, the flickering dodges would resume.
The monstrous sight made the not too old soldier lose his grip on the binoculars that fell down noiselessly in the noise of gunshots. He took a step back in fright and stuttered while pointing his finger forward:
"Mon-mon-mon-monster!!!"