Chapter 18: On the Waterfront
The Comrade had returned Annika from the Doctor Issac’s. The Doctor had ordered Annika to just bed rest. However, Annika was highly resistant to the idea. She was the type who never liked to be idle long. She liked feeling useless even less. However, the Comrade managed to convincer to stay still for now.
The Doctor and I presented the plan to collapse the Eiffel Tower. The Comrade was hesitant about the plan with good reason. However, we did have use of the sewers and the Comrade was just as eager to the get back at the Invid as the rest of us. So he agreed to go along with the plan.
Now the next step was trying to find an expert who could make the maximum effect with explosives. The only one who we knew was the Southern Cross soldier who helped out on the failed raid of the militia base. The last person who saw the soldier was the Comrade, who let him out of the Hummer in the outskirts of Monaco.
So this left us with a dilemma, how could we going to find this soldier. We decided that we would have to start with Monaco at the very least and see where we could go from there. The next step was how to begin our search. I suggested we start with getting in contact with the Black Market. It would be very likely they would have at least heard of some of his skills.
I recommended that we should purchase some demolitions as a way to get leads on the soldier. Anyways it would be safer to work with professionally made satchel charges instead of making improvised explosives out of those missiles in the fighters. I at least knew a guy who could at least hook us up with explosives.
Besides Doctor Issac and my Mother, Viktor was probably the only the person in Monaco who didn’t want me dead. As I had stated in pervious chapters, I had freelanced before for Viktor as a guide to help him get goods to and from our Russian neighbors. And I knew where to look for him.
So the Comrade, Doctor, and I took the Hummer and headed to Monaco. The ride its self was pretty uneventful if somewhat long. It took 14 hours to make the trip back to my hometown. We stopped outside in the woods and camped for the night as to avoid any militia or Invid patrols.
The next morning we headed out to find Viktor. I knew a restaurant that was how you say “a little hole in the wall” down in the restaurant. It served the best Russian food I have ever had. Also the Viktor liked to do of his business.
We headed in to restaurant where we were met by the maître d’. Of course, few restaurants would hire a maître d’ that look liked he could rip you in half if you looked at him funny. The maître d’ was there to prevent anybody from wandering in on any of the interesting business that happens over lunch. How do I know these things, as I say I am not a nice girl.
Anyways I digress, the Comrade must have indeed looked at the maître d’ funny because he immediately ejected the Comrade from the restaurant. The maître d’ then ordered us the Doctor and I to take a seat, while he went outside. As we waited for the maître d’ we could see through a window a club going up and down like it was hitting something. I hoped it wasn’t what I thought it was.
The maître d’ came back in as if nothing had happened. As he approached us he told us to stay where we were as someone would serve us soon. As headed back, the Comrade burst into the room warning there us there was a patrol of the little Invid nearby. Everybody got real quiet as the maître d’ shut the door to keep the Invid from noticing us.
The Invid came up to the door and for a while we heard nothing. Were they getting ready to burst through the door, we didn’t know. Then after what seemed like an eternity. Then slowly, steadily, the Invid marched away.
It was then Viktor showed up from the back room. He invited us to the backroom and we discussed business. Viktor ever being the astute businessman, had done his homework. He knew that wherever I go the Invid were always nearby, that the Comrade was a tank crewman, and that we had access to Protoculture. I was really concerned about how he emphasized Protoculture.
Nonetheless we preserved. The Doctor requested satchel charges, the Viktor made a counter offer of ammunition. We almost had enough ammo for what he is requesting but I was able to haggle it down enough that he was willing to accept an offer of 10,000 of rifle ammo and 2,000 rounds of pistol ammo.
He told us it would take him a week to get the charges, and he demanded that we pay half our portion up front first. I told him it would take us a few days to gather that up and he seemed content with that. With our business concluded we headed out to make our long about route back to the base…
Tags: Memoirs Robotech Mekton
