Rainbow Six: November Sun

12: "PHANTOM"

Sunlight streamed through the windows and partially-open blinds, casting a surreal glow across the second floor offices. Displaced papers, spilled coffee, a toppled office chair, and other disturbances were the only hints that something was amiss.

Nøkk knew she didn't have much time, and she crept through the cubicles and small hallways, keeping low and sweeping every corner carefully.

She glanced down at the HUD on her wrist display. Guardian had pinged the room that the terrorist leader - or "Bossman," as Twitch had named him - and it glowed red on the display's small minimap.

Twenty meters separated Nøkk from the terrorist leader.

Bossman could give the order to execute every hostage in the lobby without ever getting up from the chair he sat in.

He could be giving the order now.

Nøkk moved swiftly. Her strong legs helped her stay low to the ground as she did, absorbing the impact of each step enough to make her nearly silent.

She was in her element. This was where she really shined - operating alone allowed her to act as the shadow she preferred to be.

The woman halted at the end of a cluster of open floor offices. Desks, monitors and chairs were neatly placed throughout the large room, but no cubicles or dividers separated them.

Just ahead, a large executive office stretched along the far wall. where Nøkk knew Bossman was currently hiding behind closed doors. The blinds that were drawn across the large windows were partially open, and the light on inside illuminated the shadow of a man pacing about.

Nøkk checked her six before crouching behind a nearby desk, safely out of view of any would-be patrols, and deactivated her HEL cloak. "Ten meters to target," she whispered. "Eyes on the office. He's isolated. Awaiting orders, over."

"Copy," Ash answered over the radio. "Move to subdue. If we have their leader in custody, we might be able to control the narrative here."

"Received. Stand by." As Nøkk inched towards the closed door, she knew her fellow operators would be waiting with bated breath... failure here could mean a forced hot breach down in the lobby.

Nobody wanted that.

She crept forward. The door was a pace away now, and Nøkk shouldered her SMG, opting for the lighter weight of her suppressed Desert Eagle.

She dialed in her focus and took a deep breath.

*          *          *

Yegor Federov sat at the desk in the executive office with his hands clasped together. He bowed his head reverently, staring at the grains of wood on the desktop.

He and Matvei had spent so much of their adult lives implementing what was about to happen. It seemed like only yesterday that he had hugged his brother in front of the Beslan Memorial Statue in St. Petersburg a month after their high school graduation, and the two had made their pact.

The pact.

Yegor let out a whoosh of air. So many years had all come down to this. It was time for the world to know their mission.

That meant it was time for his life to end.

The man took out his wallet and pulled out a weathered photo of a little girl. Dark hair, pretty brown eyes, cute smile. Yegor hadn't seen his daughter in years, and his attempts at reaching out to her mother over the last few months had all ended in vain.

"Ya lyublyu tebya, Sophie." Yegor kissed the photo and set it down in front of him on the table. "Forgive me for what I must do."

The man stood slowly. His legs felt numb, and his heartbeat quickened at what was to come. He eyed his rifle before kneeling to lift his backpack up onto the table, where the detonator was located.

A soft clicking noise behind him made Yegor jump in surprise. He turned swiftly to see the office door burst open, and a veiled figure dressed in tactical gear glided for him like a phantom.

Yegor's heart leapt up into his mouth. He knew he couldn't reach his rifle in time.

His hand shot to the knife sheathed at his waist.

Something snapped in the air. Yegor yelped in pain when a dart from Twitch's shock drone seared into his leg, and a burst of electricity washed over him like a wave. He slumped backward across the desk.

The man instinctively tried to shout, but the intruder pressed the handgun's silencer to Yegor's neck, and he coughed against the impact. A gloved hand smothered his mouth.

"Do not shout. Do not move. Do you understand?"

Yegor's eyes widened in surprise. A woman?

"Blink if you understand."

Yegor did. He then winced as Nøkk pressed her handgun even harder against him.

"You move, I shoot you," she whispered. "Do not fucking move. I won't say it again." The woman reached down to Yegor's waist and stripped him of his knife, and in another quick motion she undid the safety clasp of his holster and lifted his handgun from it. She ejected the magazine, pulled the slide back to empty the chamber, and tossed the firearm away once the remaining bullet fell to the floor.

"All units be advised, HVT is in custody. Good shot, Twitch."

"Merci."

"Doesn't look like his comrades know anything is happening," came Sledge. "Let's keep it that way."

Nøkk released her hold on Yegor. "Twitch, watch him for me?"

"Got you covered."

Nøkk scooped up the man's assault rifle and disarmed it like she had done with his handgun. She seized his radio from the pouch on the front of his tactical vest before holstering her handgun and drawing her SMG, which she pointed at Yegor. "Stay."

The man spat at her grudgingly, but said nothing.

Nøkk strolled to the other end of the office and flicked off the lights before leaning against the wall in the shadows. She kept her FMG-9 steadied at Yegor with one hand, and cupped the other hand around her mouth to muffle her speech while she talked.

Yegor watched her, not daring to move. The veiled woman looked like a damned ghost.

After a moment, the woman straightened and approached him, never idling the barrel of her weapon away from his chest.

She held up his radio. "You're going to help me, now," she murmured in a deathly whisper, "and if you do not, I will cause you great pain."