Chapter 1436 - Saving Merve (1)

~ Turkey, 17 kilometers South-East from the city of Bursa ~

1:56 AM

Masika and Zack are stealthily making their way through a rural village.

They left the helicopter in the nearby field with two members of the army of Chaos to guard it.

After analyzing the information Sarah provided, Masika estimated that the four of them will be enough for this small mission to extract a girl named Merve who activated the emergency beacon.

Masika and Zack are walking down the dark street which is scarcely illuminated by occasional streetlamps. The darkness is good, it helps them conceal their presence.

The part of the village Masika and Zack are in currently, is formed by a number of properties. Each property has several buildings that are bordered by a waist-height brick wall, so they can freely see what is inside. Some structures are right on the street, while others are within the spacious courtyards.

It is very quiet, and no lights are coming from the dwellings. It appears that everyone is sleeping. Perfect.

The street is paved by almost-flat stones with dirt patches between them, and the street is so narrow that there is no room for two cars to pass each other. By the absence of the road signs, Masika concluded that cars don't travel on this street (or the previous three they walked on).

Luckily, it didn't rain in days, so the ground is dry, otherwise, they would be moving through mud and puddles.

Masika does not know what to expect. She is making her way based on the GPS coordinates and distance which is being displayed on her Eve-vision lens, and Zack is no more than two steps behind her.

Masika paused at the sight of two police officers who are walking down the street, toward them. It's almost 2 AM and they didn't expect to bump into anyone.

Luckily, Masika and Zack are standing in a dark patch of the street, so they were not noticed.

Masika wanted to jump over the wall and hide, but she heard small sounds that chickens make and concluded that there is a chicken coop nearby. If they end up disturbing the chickens, they will alert much more than just those two police officers. Also, they attracted the attention of a few dogs in the previous street, so Masika would rather not risk it.

"Should we take them on?", Zack asked Masika in a whisper.

Masika shook her head, refusing Zack's idea. "We should avoid attracting attention. If we get the girl out without anyone noticing, they will assume that she ran away on her own."

The two officers stood under a lonely streetlamp and lit cigarettes. They were chatting and it didn't seem that they will move anytime soon.

Masika sighed when she realized that they are in their path, close to their target. She glanced at the nearby courtyard and saw clothes drying on the string close to the wall. She patted Zack's shoulder, and indicated to him to follow her.

Masika took two colorful long scarves and tied one around her chest, letting it fall all the way down to her ankles, like a dress. The second scarf went over her head, covering the lower half of her face and her shoulders.

"Should I put something on?", Zack asked Masika while eyeing clothes hanging on the string.

She found his request silly and if they don't have two police officers to pass by, she would wrap him in scarves as well. Just for the fun. Since they arrived in Milan, she is spending quite some time with Zack and they are close enough to tease each other. And she likes to tease Zack. But this is not the right time.

"You are fine.", Masika said. "Turkish men dress similar to this…", she gestured to his long-sleeved gray shirt and black pants (the uniform of the army of Chaos). "They don't have a dress code, while women are expected to cover up. You will not be out of place."

"What are we doing?", Zack wanted to know Masika's plan.

"We need to continue along this street. The beacon is close. Like this…", Masika gestured to her clothes. "… we look like locals. This is a small place and there is a chance that those two policemen know everyone who lives here. If they ask anything, we can say that we are visiting. Walk first. It is common for a man to walk first and a woman to follow behind. Just lower your head, it will be best if they ignore us. And walk slowly. I'm having some interference due to bad signal." The last comment was related to the GPS coordinates of the beacon.

"You know about Turkish way of life.", Zack praised Masika.

"I read in the helicopter on the way here, while you were napping." Masika said mockingly.

Zack pouted. "The main thing is energy. No matter how much you know, you can't go yawning through the mission."

Masika shook her head and waved to Zack, indicating him to start moving. She does not want to start a discussion if knowledge is more important than rest for a mission. Well, both are important.

"Don't forget that if they start talking in Turkish, you will get a translation with a slight delay.", Masika reminded Zack while pointing at the ear stud.

Zack has the ear stud while Masika has both the ear stud and Eve-lens equipped (the privilege of being a general).

Masika and Zack walked on the street and when two policemen saw them, they stopped talking and observed them carefully.

Zack lowered his head, how Masika instructed, and pressed his lips into a line while listening carefully to Masika's footsteps behind him.

They passed policemen by ten steps and Zack counted that in about thirty more steps they will be out of light, but Masika's steps paused.

"Why is a woman outside at this time?", one policeman asked.

Zack turned around at the sound of the voice and saw that the policemen are by Masika's side. One on her right and one on her left, only about one step away from her. No matter how Zack looked at it, they are too close, and the way they looked at Masika didn't seem right.

The policeman asked in Turkish, and a second later, Eve provided the translation to English into the ear stud to both Masika and Zack. Super-handy feature, because neither Masika nor Zack speak the language.

In two quick steps, Zack was next to Masika with his arm around Masika's shoulders protectively. "This is my wife."

The policeman who asked a question was confused because he didn't understand English, but the other one scrutinized Zack and said in broken English: "You are not from around here."

Masika exhaled in frustration. So much for pretending that they are locals, but she can't blame Zack because she does not speak Turkish either and the policemen are the ones who approached them first.

"No. We are tourists, currently staying in Bursa. We visited a friend and we stayed longer than expected." Zack explained.

Masika was impressed by how he lied smoothly. If she does not know better, she would believe him.

"Where are you going?", the policeman was not willing to let them go easily.

Zack said the first thing which came to his mind. "A car will pick us up further down the street to take us to our hotel."

The policeman who understood translated to the other one. Two men exchanged gazes and smiled while eyeing Masika. They could see only her eyes, but somehow they looked at her like they can see through her clothes.

"Allow us to escort you to your destination.", the policeman offered.

Zack refused politely. "No need. We don't want to waste your precious time."

The policeman grinned. "It's not a waste. These streets are unsafe."

Masika frowned under her scarf cover. If she knew that these two will stick to them, instead of stealing scarves from that courtyard, she would make noise to attract their attention and lure them in the dark before knocking them out.

The way they looked at her, made her hair stand on ends. And they are too close. Subconsciously, she leaned into Zack.

Zack glanced at Masika helplessly, and increased his grip on her shoulder while silently apologizing for not being successful in shaking these two off, before responding to them: "Thank you, you are very kind." 

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