"Don't move," Gorgy commanded the pilot. "I won't be long."

The helicopter was an MI-X07. This was a high-speed prototype, built more for surveillance than fighting. It could reach speeds of four hundred and fifty kilometres per hour. Gorgy was loaned one to test-fly and he loved it. The daredevil in him was in paradise. A source of pride was knowing he was one of only three people on the planet who had access to one of these, except those people within the secret airforce base at an undisclosed hidden location. Being an oligarch had its privileges.

Gorgy's helicopter landed outside of Sergie's compound. The first thing he spotted were two newly dead Chinese men in very old military garb. What the hell happened here?" He wondered. Gorgy picked up one of the spent rounds that lay next to the dead men. They had Russian writing on them.

The oversized front door was wide open. Everything about this scene was wrong.

Gorgy walked along the stone floor cautiously. Normally he'd expect to be greeted by one of Sergei's bodyguards. He had no idea what to expect now.

"Sergie!" he called out. His voice echoed through the stone halls, followed by silence. He kept moving forward but suddenly stopped when he saw spiders covering the ground, Sergei's spiders. Instead of trying to avoid them, he stepped on every spider he saw. A loud crunch signified the demise of each spider and their insanely vicious teeth.

Certain that something had happened to his friend Sergei, he pulled out the Glock from the back of his pants and kept walking.

It occurred to Gorgy that everything he'd seen could have been caused by the Chinese man he'd spoken to on the phone, the very man he had vowed to kill. Instinct from too many wars to Gorgy that he was there. Those Chinese were so sneaky.

Gorgy wasn't left wondering for long.

"So the big man came here alone. You dumb Russian."

"Come out of hiding and say that to my face."

"You don't want me to. Trust me."

"Where is Sergei?"

"Dead. It seems you Russians never see death if it isn't standing right in front of you."

"Did you kill him?"

"No."

Gorgy needed answers more than the satisfaction of dismembering this man. He kept walking towards the sound of the voice.

"Who did?"

"One of your own, it appears."

"I don't believe you. Russians don't kill Russians....very often."
On the other hand , that could explain the spent shells he'd found.

The voice led Gorgy into Sergei's office where he saw his old friend face down on his desk with hundreds of welts all over his bald head. Gorgy's gag reflex took over but he kept his lunch inside. He looked up and noticed the curtain move slightly. He headed in that direction, certain that the Chinese man was standing behind it.

"I don't care what you believe. Here's the difference between China and Russia. Russia had the world's largest military for decades. Your downfall was your incompetence. You never understood that size didn't matter. What matters is conviction of your beliefs combined with discipline and skill. Russians have none of those."

"And your complete lack of creativity is China's weakness. You steal everyone else's ideas and call them yours."

"We never try to impose our will, yet we're feared by every nation on earth. It allows us to take whatever we want from whoever we want, whenever we want. Subtlety is our weapon. They never see us coming. We usually win before anyone realizes they were in a fight."

"Your military is decades behind ours."

"You have no idea what our military is capable of. Unlike Russia, our army isn't large and clumsy. We're better trained. Our soldiers follow commands. We either win or die. We'd conquer Russia within a week if we wanted to. Instead, we allow you to exist as our puppet. Your leaders know it. We're all that stands between you and extinction to the west."

Gorgy had heard enough. This man had to die. He moved closer to the curtain, saw the opening between the end of the curtain and the wall, and kept his gun pointed ahead as he slowly peaked around it. Gorgy never saw the Chinese man.

The curtain fell over the huge Russian. Gorgy tried to remove it as it draped over his body. The curtain was deceptively heavy.

"You're still standing. I'm impressed," the Chinese man told him.

Gorgy felt the power of the Chinese man's kicks through the heavy material. He was defenceless. He fell to the ground and covered his body with his arms as the Chinese man kept kicking. Then he jumped over his slumped body, put his legs around his curtain-covered head and leaned backwards.

"Blyat!" Gorgy yelled. He couldn't free himself. The pain under his chin was immense. His breathing slowed and then his eyes closed.

* * * * *

The stars were out in all their splendour. The air was crisp. Jing was sleeping, her head on Svetlana's lap. Svetlana on the other hand was lost in thought, recalling the placement of every building, vehicle, rock and tree in the compound, mentally preparing her battle plan.

Peter put out the fire used to cook the tarbagan marmot that Jing had caught. She had spotted the rodent running through the grass and then followed it to its burrow. Jing dug into the ground until she reached the little animal. Like an excellent predator, Jing swiftly grabbed it with one hand and then twisted its neck with the other. Svetlana seemed impressed. Peter was disgusted. He'd seen animals killed by human hands before, but never with the callousness that Jing showed. It was no different than how Peter would take an apple off a tree.

Jing explained how the tarbagan marmot was a local staple. Still, to Peter, it was just a large chipmunk that tasted like gamy chicken.

"We should get going," Peter told Svetlana. "How's the plan coming along."

"You're the plan, Peter. They've all seen Jing and I. Hopefully they won't see you coming." Svetlana mapped out her thoughts in great detail. Quietly take out the front guards, divest them of their weapons and then split up. The rest wouldn't be so simple. Peter needed to discretely go around the back of the main building, set up on the side and wait for Jing to fire off two shots into the air. Once the soldiers ran out of the building Peter would mow them down from behind. When they turned towards him, Svetlana would attack from the front. Staying stealth was key.

None of them needed to be told that nothing ever went as planned.

* * * * *

Gorgy opened his eyes. He felt the heavy weight of embarrassment, which in this case wasn't merely the oversized curtain. Gorgy pushed it off and got to his feet. He felt tremendous stabbing pain all over his body. It wasn't from the beating he'd taken but rather from the spiders that had used him for dinner. Sweat poured down his overly muscled body while the room spun around, and then Gorgy fell back down to the ground slamming his head on the stone floor.

Gorgy made another attempt to get to his feet. He didn't bother wiping away the blood dripping from the side of his skull. I've been through worse, Gorgy reminded himself. It's just pain. It's just blood. I can go on.

Gorgy stumbled his way outside. He let the cold night air fill his lungs. His mind was slowly clearing up. Like any good soldier would, he checked his surroundings for any potential threats. And then he spotted it. His pilot was lying face down on the ground, dead.

Gorgy wandered the grounds listlessly, still shaken from the beating the cheating Chinaman had given him. There's no honour in besting a man by dumping a curtain over him. That's how a coward fights. Those damn Chinese, never facing anyone straight up, always sneaking around. Next time I'll expect the unexpected. Russians learn. We may take a beating once in a while but we learn. That's how we beat the Nazi's. That's how I'll destroy that Chinaman.

Gorgy stopped his internal monolgue long enough to realize that the helicopter the Russian Airforce had loaned him was....gone.