The Espionage and The Enigma

Chapter 8- NOT VALID

0853 UCOTA STANDARD TIME.//

1453 HOURS SSR STANDARD TIME.//

KAINUU WILDERNESS, SCANDINAVIAN PENNINSULA.//

SOVIET STATES REPUBLIC.//

-15 DEGREES.//

          I was running. I had known that. Not anything else; all that was too far-gone to get back. The sensation of my feet striding towards the heart of Kainuu, just the thought that I was being endlessly carried as the world passed by my eyes. Changing and transforming into something different, a new different world with no past to follow behind me. Something beautiful.

          My body was wrapped away in a fur suit as white as the world around me. The treetops that soared above my head were white. The snow that composed the ground was white. The sky was white. I was white.

             I was white, for now. Eventually, the irremovable blood of Daenaryis and Jakob Virtanen would be on my hands forever. Let's not forget about Kovostrac, the whole reason I was on this Draft in the first place.

             Killing innocent people was not on my list of tings to accomplish, but yet, there it was, engraved in my memory. It wasn't a question of moral; it was an order of authority. I understood the reasons for doing it, the consequences if not, and the successful impact it would have for the rest of the Draft. I just hoped that the good in doing this for the United Countries of the Americas would outweigh the bad.

             3 lives in my hands. 2 innocent, 1 evil. All ended with the pull of a trigger.

               I kept on running.

               I saw Michael's shoulders in front of me, moving as mine did, pushing against the icy wind that already had begun to blue at our noses. The only skin that was visible was my face; the rest of my body was drenched in sweat after running for 19 miles straight at a pace of 185 strides a minute. It had been approximately 43 minutes since the aircraft had deposited us in the middle of the wilderness. Half expecting us to find our own way, they had left seconds after our feet touched the ground. We were alone then, and we still were. My lungs burned for the frozen air as my pace got quicker and quicker as I mirrored Michael's movements.

               No, the Draft wasn't going to be hard, I repeated the phrase over in my mind. I was managing the running with ease. I knew all the mission details; all the classified information had been stored in my head for days now. It wasn't killing Kovostrac that was going to be hard. I had trained all my life for all the physical aspects, now it was time to put my emotional preparations for the test. 

            Making a newlywed couple's relationship believable

           I grit my teeth as I thought about it. Daenaryis and Jakob's relationship was our lifeline. If he were to slip up, let his mask fall for just a moment, anyone would be able to peek through and see through our entire orchestrated facade.  Who we really were, what our real purpose was.

              That was the most difficult promise to my nation. 

               How could I pretend to be nice to someone, much less pretend to love them if I had met them 4 days ago? Even if I managed to pretend, would it even be believable?

            Would it be easy to slip?

          I looked up at the sky; it seemed as if a colorless blanket was draped over it. I tilted my head upwards stared in fascination as I ran faster and faster. In Dartmouth, everything was alive and buzzing with a palpable energy that filled us as if we were balloons to be released off into the vast unknown. Dartmouth was a large city, the largest in fact. Here, in the Soviet States Republic, so far from the country's civilization, the tension hung in the air. I had heard stories of the communist nation and its forming millions of years ago, long before the Great Wars ever occurred. The country millions of years ago still did what it was doing now, pulling it's citizens farther and farther away from their freedom. Not once did I ever doubt it was true, but the experience of hearing about its anarchy and then experiencing it firsthand was two completely different matters.