It had been a few weeks since Hector last met with Damian, his concern grew by the days as he expected something to happen, whether that be a message from Damian informing him that they cracked the drive or something from Curtis telling him that the ship would be waiting for him on some random nearby dock. But his patience was diminishing quickly as the days dragged on.
"Damian told me that his mate's ship would be ready in a few weeks." He said as he looked down the street to watch a bus pass.
The streets of the city had degraded practically overnight. Cars and trucks seemed to always be locked in a dead stop at checkpoints, and people were always complaining or yelling at one another for trying to set up tents and camps along the already crowded streets in an effort to make it to the next day.
The scary part about it is that it is like this everywhere. Every state in the U.S. or sovereign states down south would be left with hundreds of thousands of people on the streets just trying to get by with what they have.
Hector pulled out the phone Damian had given to him and lit up the screen to see there were no new texts or messages of any kind. Just the time.
Hector scoffed as he slid the phone back into his pocket before pulling out a small box of cigarettes. Placing one between his lips he pocketed the box then grabbed his lighter from inside his coat.
The smell of cigarette smoke filled the air around him as he took a few puffs. He felt himself relax slightly as he smoked away just trying to pass the time.
Shortly a minuscule vibration could be felt from the phone, Hector almost dropped the cigarette as he scrambled to grab the phone eager to see something.
'The ship has been delayed a few more days. Please be patient. I assure you he will have it ready for you.' From Damian.
"That's the third damn delay." Hector said in complete disbelief. He was promised the ship almost a week ago and it's been nothing but delays and hold ups. When was this man Curtis going to deliver on Damian's word?
He slid the device back into his pocket and continued to smoke away at his cigarette. He felt a presence from behind.
"You doin' good?" Noah asked as he stood at Hector's side.
He was carrying a small grocery sack while wearing blue jeans and a brown jacket. Hector preferred to always keep his uniform on.
"For the most part I am, you?
"Better..." He answered as he reached down into the sack pulling out an orange. "Last one, guess I got lucky."
"Hurry and eat it before someone sees it and gets greedy." Hector warned with a chuckle, tossing his cigarette to the ground before snuffing it out with his boot.
Noah smirked as well as he peeled away at the orange, removing a chunk to offer it to Hector, who popped it into his mouth.
"Did they take the payment?" Hector asked while enjoying the bittersweet fruit.
"Our mob slash cartel friend asked for more but I managed to convince him to lower the price." Noah responded annoyed.
"Don't get frustrated with'em, you and I both know we're on our own, plus they'll keep quiet to avoid the trouble."
"I know but it's ridiculous."
"We'll make do with what we can get our hands on without raising eyebrows, understood?"
"Got it, Hec." Noah answered.
With their business concluded at the market district of the city the pair began to walk up the street back towards the military compound to the north.
"What's the plan now?"
"After we get the supplies from our new buddies, I'm going to see an old friend again about our ride over." Hector answered.
"Delayed again?" Noah questioned unimpressed.
"Yup."
Noah had been filled in on the details of what Damian and Hector planned to do. When he was offered to join in he didn't hesitate to Hector's dismay. But deep down Hector knew that nobody else was as reliable as a person compared to Noah.
"Guess we just waste another night back in the barracks then, unless you have another errand we need to run?"
"I have one more but I can do it alone." Hector responded.
"You sure?"
"Yes, if anything it's just me cashing a favor in."
"Okay then, I'll see you later." Noah said, turning around, taking off towards the compounds.
Hector watched as Noah turned the corner around one of the refugee camps, now that he was alone he could finish his little shopping list of tasks.
Hector recalled all of the groups he had run in with today. He talked to the drunks who used to be on fishing crews in the Mediterranean and had a little business with other refugees from Italy. They owed him and Noah for buying them time to evacuate some livestock along with themselves.
More recently, the business he conducted with the cartels. The last thing he needed for the journey was someone to provide information of every known anthro compound and headquarters.
"Looks like I need to hit up someone from either GIGN or the S.A.S.' intel department." He muttered to himself.
He slid the phone back out of his pocket as he looked around for Damian's number. If anyone had friends from Britain it would be him. Upon finding it he saw another notification.
He looked at the phone confused. He didn't feel the phone vibrate in his pocket or hear it make a sound.
he must have missed it when he was talking to Noah. He quickly shook off the thought as he opened up the text.
'We got it.'
Hector looked at the message puzzled for a brief moment before narrowing it down to what he was talking about.
'You cracked it?'
Almost immediately the reply came through.
'Some. There's still a load of data left untouched, but I got something you'd like to hear.'
Hector's mind raced as everything else faded away. He had to know whatever it was that Curtis might have cracked right now.
'What? Tell me now.'
'Meet me back at the Shattered Ace, I'll fill you in.'
Hector responded yes to the invitation before dashing off down the street towards the bar. After about a good fifteen minutes of running Hector gasped for air as he finally turned the corner to the bar.
Upon arrival he was greeted by two of Damian's guys out front who led him to the man himself who waited patiently with two drinks.
"Ah good to see you again Hector, to be honest I didn't expect to see you for another couple hours or so."
Hector took the seat in front of Damian and grabbed the small glass downing its contents. The drink burned on its way down but was refreshing nonetheless. Hector quickly got his breathing under control to avoid gasping for air.
"Good to know you have good stamina recovery at least."
Hector sighed heavily as he did try to hide his obvious heavy breathing. However it was time to get answers.
"What do you have?"
Damian downed the glass in his hand before snapping his fingers signaling one of the other soldiers to bring him a small folder that looked like an older stylized file.
"A location." he exclaimed, holding out the papers towards him.
Hector took the folder opening it to see a few pictures and a few other documents alongside them. "What is this?" Hector questioned, while looking over the imagery of a city unknown to him
"Athens, Greece. From what the drive revealed B.B has a facility of some importance located here, based on the intel we had from the war, we knew he had a compound or estate close to the mediterranean, but it looks like some sort of R and D compound instead."
Hector kept gazing over the pictures of the large building surrounded by anthro guards stationed on large walls, checkpoints, and other various fortifications. He was truly impressed that Blackburn had kept this hidden for so long.
"What's all this then?" Hector spoke gesturing towards the documents. It appeared to be lists or manifestos belonging to Blackburn but he couldn't make sense of it.
"As far as Curtis knows it's either armaments, weapon shipments, or supplies, hell if I know anything about it I can't make sense of it either."
Hector looked over the documents again, it was all just random serial numbers along with barcode tags next to them. Unfortunately the document seemed to have black ink smeared across certain areas.
"Redacted records?"
"More than likely, bits and pieces are covered up here and there, but the important part is now you know where to start." As Damian finished, the bartender brought over two more drinks for the pair to drink.
"While that is true the main question still remains, what's the safe way in? and the best way to get the hell out of dodge?'' Hector's gears began to grind as he finished.
'Can't just sail through the Strait of Gibraltar without the entirety of Europe noticing, and landing a plane is out of the question as well.'
This wasn't going to be an easy job that he was typically used to.
"You want my advice?" Damian spoke, breaking the silence between the two.
Hector thought to himself for another moment before nodding his head.
"Okay listen, the war just ended only about a month ago right?"
"Point being?"
"You think the anthros will move in, just like that?" Damian let the words sink in as Hector slowly processed the question.
"No, those furry bastards are going to take their sweet time moving over one mile at a time, gotta make sure we didn't leave behind a few traps here and there and see whether or not we all moved out like we said we was gonna." Damian took the bottle in front of him, drinking half of its contents. Before setting it back down.
"Aside from that, can't move into ruined structures worth nothin' but a few pounds now yeah?"
The pieces began to slowly put themselves together as Hector got the idea he was trying to pitch to him. He didn't have to sneak into Norway. He could just set up shop in the last country to leave behind, their home.
"Britain."
"Exactly, now forget waiting for Curtis' ship, I'll handle transportation personally for this." Damian said, grabbing the folder from Hector's hands.
"Are you sure?"
"I'll have a plane ready to drop you off in three days. Will you be ready by then?"
Hector didn't hesitate as he nodded profoundly. Damian grabbed his drink and emptied the rest of the bottle.
"Aye, looks like you're goin' home, then."
Hector stood up from the table thanking Damian before walking towards the exit. "Oh and one last thing, Hector."
Hector turned back to Damian. "What?"
"Is the boy ready?"
Hector sighed heavily as his head drooped slightly. "Regrettably, he is."
"I understand your concern about him but you're going to need all the help you can get. Now quickly, run along and tell him to pack his bags."
Hector nodded before walking out the front door back to the compound.