The Russian Civil War (1953-54): Part 4 (FINAL PART)

 Intro

Ivan watched the whole building narrowing down, with thousands of people in it, while he was to be shot... The Kaufzams won the war. It was over forever.

'Gaaah!,' he shouted when he woke up from that terrible nightmare. Now he remembered it all: the American, he was taken to the Military Center no. 17  and now he was sleeping in his bed.

What was going on? The lights were all turned on suddenly and he was face to face with... Andrei. 'What the hell... ?' Suddenly, he woke up for real and he heard a slight voice saying He's in cardiac arrest and we can't do anything! But at least we must try. Gimme the oxygen mask... But there was no one near him. Nope, he's dead alright. I'm sorry, Sir, but the bricks that crashed into his chest were too much for his heart, the voice continued. 

 'I AM NOT DEAD!,' Ivan tried to yell, but nobody (including him) heard anything. It was like he was... virtually dead. But that couldn't have been possible. Ivan struggled to get up, trying to get his dead heart beat again. It was a huge fight, a fight for survival, a war... 

'STOP THE PAAAAAIN!,' he shouted. 'JUST STOP IT!' Then the other voice said, Sir! His organism is reviving. Get me the oxygen mask, quickly!' Suddenly, Ivan felt like never before. He was unstoppable. His heart started beating, his lungs started breathing and his brain started THINKING!

Afterwards...

The doctor verified his respiratory system. Ivan was breathing. But the fight wasn't over... He observed that his neural activity was increasing, his brain was basically going to shut down in about 10 minutes at that level!

What can I do?, the medical officer thought. He used every conventional cure, but nothing was working. Now, there was another method, but that could only be used in hopeless situations. Was this a hopeless situation?

'Doctor, his body temperature is dropping! There is no time left!,' his assistant shouted. Probably yes, he thought before deciding to use the final cure.

'Gimme the genetic computer. Print him a new neural net, RIGHT NOW!' Scared, his subordinate did the net in 30 minutes less than it would have normally taken. It was a pretty amazing thing, if somebody wouldn't have been dying next to her. The artificial neural net was a brutal thing, with no details. But it was the only solution.

'Coff!,' Ivan coughed. Did it work? YES! The medical officer hugged Sir and Ivan opened his eyes.

'I... am alive.,' he choked. 'Right,' the assistant rolled her eyes. 'You are breathing and your new neurons are functioning properly!.' 'New neurons? Huh?' 'It will take some time to explain...'

After he got over the shock, Ivan was interrogated so that the Reynd Central Military Organization could understand more about that American. All they knew was that he was acting thru an official mission, otherwise he couldn't have got that uniform.

But it was kinda useless. The agent knew absolutely nothing about that guy. It was a living mystery. Of course, when Sir contacted the American government, they denied any link between Ivan's kidnapping and them.

They had to do something though.

Chapter 1, Part 4

Undercover

 

Traveling from Russia to the USA without creating suspicions was already difficult due to the Cold War, but the civil war made it tougher. Now they even had to visit an official American representative.

'Kay, maybe going to the Embassy with sunglasses wasn't the best idea, but Ivan wanted to get that 'stylish, fancy look American citizens have'. He was going to travel as a native American who just returned from his journey to Russia.

When he got to the representative's office, his purpose was to make him not verify his birth certificate.

'Name?'

'George Wuso Duke.'

'Where is your birth certificate?'

'In my pocket.'

'Can you give it to me?'

'Sorry, I can't.'

'Why?'

'I would need some scissors to give you my pocket.'

'You know that I didn't mean that.'

'I told you what you asked.'

'You're creeping me out.'

'Very well, I can live with it.'

'You'll need to earn my respect to get the permission.'

'Meh, I can live without it.'

'YOU CAN?'

'Yeah, I don't need your respect. Just give me that darn permission and I'll leave you alone.'

'I hate you. But I'll grant you permission to visit the USA.'

It worked! It was a very annoying strategy, but it worked! Ivan smirked and left the room, where the representative was still trying to forget everything that happened. With his face buried in his hands.

The plane to America was empty. And when I say empty, I mean really empty.

... including no luggage. Because they didn't have money to check whether there were dangerous things in your baggage.

The 14-hour-trip was pretty boring, considering the stewardess slipping on a banana left by Ivan a normal event. They arrived in the Dulles International Airport from Washington, D. C. next day, at 10 o'clock in the morning.

All the guardians were half-asleep, so they let the Russian spy enter even if his passport was clearly false. That's what they've been counting on. Ivan rented a bus (yes, a whole bus with 24 seats) to go to the White House and present himself as a news reporter from Channel 4. He would then interview Eisenhower, the president, if the rumor that an American representative was sent to Moscow to investigate the Civil War from there. He had it all ready...

But... y'know, things don't always go how you want them to. That's what happened there. He was welcomed by the Secretary of Defense C. E. Wilson, who lead him to the president of the United States of America, Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower.

Ike's room wasn't anything great. It may have even been more pathetic than Sir's ready room.

'Mr. president, I am reporter George Wuso Duke from the Channel...'

'Yeah, yeah... Of course you are, now get to the point or get out of my cab.,' he rudely interrupted him. ' I don't have time for these kind of formalities. Also, you could tell me if you're going to continue this "interview" under the mask of a television reporter or you're going to reveal your real identity.'

Ivan was shocked. How did Ike know that? 'Beg your pardon, Sir? I don't think I know what you're really talking about, though I understand your suspicions.'

'There is no American citizen called "George Wuso Duke". However, "Đặc vụ số" means "Agent number" in Vietnamese. You know, I know a few foreign languages,' he said while getting up from his chair and looking closely at the Russian spy.

'I... I... How the hell did you find this out, Ike?!,' Ivan shouted, confirming the president's suspicions. 'I mean... the only ones who were supposed to know about this mission were the Reynd Resistance Party General Secretary [your ol' Sir] and me! You're pretty good, y'know.'

'Meh. I have my sources. But, the most important question now is, how the hell are you gonna get outta here?,' Ike smirked. He grabbed the phone and started dialing the White House Security, but then Ivan said, 'Look, the situation there is getting worse in Russia. The Nazi guys are gonna win the war if Americans don't get in.'

'And why should I care, anyways? Oh, c'mon, respond!' 'Actually, I think I'm going to answer one single question, whose answer is either "Yes" or "No".' He's playing a game, Ivan thought angrily. But it won't hurt to do it, right?

'Was an American sent to collaborate with the Kaufzam Party?' 'Uh-huh. I'm only going to answer it if you promise not to tell anybody.' 'Okay,' Ivan replied excitedly. 'Yes,' Ike whispered.

'Okay, time's up!'

 

Chapter 2, Part 4

Endgame

 

American common jails really weren't hard to escape from. In about twenty minutes after his first meal in the Washington State Penitentiary, he was one a small, private plane headed towards the Reynd Secret Base in Groznii, where he was supposed to meet Sir next day. And - oh! - he had sooo much to tell him.

The plane was very old, apparently. The on-board TV said that 'it was built back in 1918, immediately after The First World War. It was a semi-military aircraft, which was severely damaged in a flight test in 1944. It required 3 years to repair it completely, but they made it a fully non-military plane. It was named "The Ol' Geezer".'

After 40 hours awake, it was no easy job not to fall asleep in such a comfy seat on a private aircraft. So he did, unfortunately...

What he didn't realize was that he wasn't alone on the Ol' Geezer. Two seats behind him, a fat man in a red suit was very intrigued by a small piece of metal with several buttons on it. On the first button, there was a drawing of a wave, on the second a counter wave and on the third a horizontal line. What could those mean...?

He stood up and went to Ivan's seat. With a computer-like precision, he implanted the device onto his neck, where he could only see it when looking directly at it. Then he came back to his place, as if nothing happened.

The Russian agent only woke up when the pilot announced that they arrived. Ivan looked onto his window and saw... something that was certainly not his destination. He rushed to the piloting room to correct their error when the fat man jumped from his seat, grabbed his neck and left him unconscious, on the floor.

Get up, sweetie, a thick voice said. It's time for the big choice! Ivan opened his eyes and saw a dark room, where a distinguishable silhouette sat right next to him. 'Kaufzam...,' he said with disgust. It was the fat man in the red suit. 'Yours, in flesh and bone. I have though a little game for you.' Not games again, Ivan thought while rolling his eyes. 'Now, now, don't roll your eyes! It'll be very interesting, I promise.'

Kaufzam sat down on a chair. 'You see that cool thingy I put on your neck?' Frightened, Ivan looked at his neck and saw that piece of metal with three buttons. 'What do these buttons do?' 'Wanna give it a try? Here are the rules of our game: you must press at least one button. If you survive, I'll release you. If you press another combination, your heart will die and your brain will be mine - including its information. Understood?' 'Yea, I think so.'

The horizontal line was clearly the meaning of death, of a heart which stops beating. But he was left with two other buttons! How could he know which one to press? Wait a minute..., Ivan thought. He said at least one button. And then, he said another combination! That means, I must press them both! But in what order?. A new dilemma appeared. This one seems like a wave - and the other one is a counter wave! That's it!

Ivan excitedly pressed the two buttons (wave first, counter wave second) and he first felt like he was going to die, but then he came back to normal. Kaufzam raised his eyebrows and said, 'Well, I can't break my word. So I guess you're free to go.' Ivan smirked with triumph and left Kaufzam in the dark room.

The plane was still there. Suddenly, Ivan had a dark vision of what could happen. The pilot really shouldn't have been still there. If he was, then he must have known the agent would either return shortly or  he won't ever return - so he must have known Kaufzam's plane. 

Ivan returned to the plane, but with a new object - a 20 pound metal crossbar, 2 feet in length. He 'borrowed' it from a guardian. Immediately when he entered the pilot's cabin, he hit the pilot and took his place. He wasn't a professional, but his agent training included this - emergency piloting tests.

He started the engines and took off, unfortunately without his seat belt on. And, as I said before, he wasn't the best at piloting - so, of course, things went wrongly. 

The plane was actually low on fuel, and that was why the pilot stayed there -  to fill the fuel tanks. And when he took off, he detached the cable carrying the combustible, while the tanks where open - now the fuel was draining from the tanks and he was going to crash after he got 20 thousand feet above the ground.

'Cool,' Ivan thought loudly. 'Then we've gotta make this baby hol' up a little more'. Calmly, he pulled the brakes and (tried to have) ejected his seat. First thing worked, second didn't. The trap was blocked, so he just got a very, very strong headache.

The fuel level was down to 4%, but he was right above a huge forest. Where could he perform an emergency landing? In hell? 'Wait a min... that's a good idea actually!' He accelerated to maximum speed and flew right to the forest. He was going to fire the engine exactly when he landed, so that it would burn the trees and the plane could land on a field. 'Well, ain't I a genius?,' Ivan told himself with a confident attitude. 

'Warning. Fuel level down to 2%. At current speed, tank will be empty in 5 minutes,' the aircraft's computer announced. 'Yeah, yeah, shaddup!' The plane was getting closer. In the decisive moment, Ivan had a inspiration to send a short distress radio message. Then the engine burnt like in hell.

The Kaufzam troops arrived 2 hours after the crash. Even Kaufzam was there, with 40 soldiers, heavily armed with guns. They came to the landing point and saw just a wrecking aircraft. But they had to be sure; so they went inside to search after survivors. There was nobody in there. The luggage compartment was full of clothes, books and other junks. No sign of survivors.

Suddenly, they heard a tiptoeing sound behind them. They were tracked, but they chose not to think about it. Then, someone said 'You sons of a b*tch,' again behind them. 

It was Ivan. With destroyed clothes, full of sweat and - yep, you guessed it - a hell of a lot of guns. 'This is for you, Andrei'. And then...

He fired.