If you want to read ahead by 20+ chapters from here you can visit my Patre-on.
[P] [A] [T] [R] [E] [O] [N]
[email protected]/Yggdrasil_Loki
….
That's it, next, activation of "brick-face" and "crunch-crunch-crunch" mode, while targeting-eyes are already scouring the other shelves in search of new prey.
Oh right, the unnecessary lids and cardboards were already on the floor, and no one cared about them.
"Laura!" Sarah flinched at the sound of a new victim being opened, this time a bun in a very rustling packet.
Apparently, she realized that a child who had never seen the world outside the base might simply not understand the concept of a store in general and a self-service store in particular.
"Hey!" The young guy at the checkout, who had been bored behind some magazine and had only cast a lazy glance at us upon entry, noticed something was amiss.
"Don't worry," I applied my signature smile, "half a day on the road, and the fridge was empty, so the child got hungry and went feral. I will pay for everything, of course."
"Ah, okay then," the guy relaxed. "Going far?"
"Oh, you know," I fenced off the area around the young clerk and me with a light illusion, forcing the human to ignore the fact that next to him, a rather adult-looking girl was having things explained to her that any preschooler knows perfectly well, "decided to travel a bit, see our native country, but got a little carried away and miscalculated the provisions."
"Happens," the clearly bored guy nodded. "Good thing there were no problems with fuel; getting stuck in the middle of our desert is a pleasure below average…" He clearly wanted to flap his gums some more, but then Yuriko entered the shop.
"Diesel, to the brim," she informed me.
"Eighty-seven gallons," the cashier whistled, checking the computer readings, "that's a huge tank there," tap-tap on the machine.
"That'll be two hundred fourteen dollars and eighty-nine cents. Anything else, miss?"
"Sir?" she turned to me.
"My wife and daughter are picking up food right now, include that in the bill."
"Oka-a-ay," one didn't need to be a telepath to read the guy's thoughts.
He frankly envied me, expensive suit, arch-expensive "tourist trailer" with a personal driver of very high attractiveness, and he sits here wearing out his pants.
On the one hand, I understood him perfectly, but on the other, I had absolutely no intention of feeling guilty about it.
Nevertheless, the conversation withered on its own, and we spent the remaining ten minutes while Sarah and Laura emptied the shelves in silence.
But finally, the woman and child approached the checkout, and leaving another seventy dollars on top of the two hundred given for diesel, we returned to our transport with a pile of purchases.
Now it remained to place all this stuff bought out of hunger into the refrigerator and other food storage places.
And then finally devote time to heating up and consuming part of the aforementioned provisions and move further on our way.
….
A little later. Somewhere in the skies:-
"Manage to find anything, Barton?" the man with an eyepatch addressed his assistant.
"No, sir," the operative shook his head, "not in any direction. Moreover, there is a suspicion that the UN has become interested in this issue and is conducting its own investigation."
"That's all we needed," Fury grimaced. "Report immediately if any traces appear."
"Yes, sir." With that, the subordinate left his office, leaving the leader alone with gloomy thoughts.
When did everything go awry?
He could answer that question easily: when Nick contacted Stark Jr.
At first, everything went, if not well, then within the limits of acceptable and expected. Romanoff's infiltration, collection of biometric data, preparation of the necessary stimulants. Steering the billionaire's psyche and actions in the right direction would have been only a matter of time.
But suddenly, it was like a black streak. Without any prerequisites or intelligence, Stark not only slips off the hook but also presents a number of very… unpleasant accusations.
And Natasha disappears mysteriously, but a "souvenir from the motherland" is found at the place of her disappearance.
And as if that wasn't enough! Just as prospects arose to obtain an alternative to the obstinate billionaire, one who, while lacking such resources, possessed the necessary technologies and, most importantly, could be attracted to cooperation with much less difficulty and risk, Ivan Vanko disappeared just the same!
From a closed cell surrounded by the best agents and surveillance equipment! And on his bunk remained exactly the same Soviet flag!
And while Natasha's disappearance could still, albeit reluctantly and gritting teeth, be admitted as either her repeated betrayal or a real possibility of her former colleagues getting to the defector…
Even if it was difficult, extremely costly, and would require weeks if not months of extremely tight preparation…
Plus, in addition to everything, it would indicate that his headquarters leaked heavily toward the Russians and everything he knew about their current agenda wasn't worth a broken cent… But it was still possible and admissible.
Unjustifiably costly and complex, needed by no one and completely not in the Russian style, but admissible.
However, when the same thing happens with a prisoner whose presence no one could predict even a week ago… No. No way. Im-pos-si-ble!
But it turned out it was possible. And such capabilities were frankly frightening.
What next? Will they drag off the Secretary of Defense? The President? Smuggle a bomb into the Pentagon?
Urgent measures needed to be taken: strengthen defense, security systems, drag all operatives, agents, and even service personnel through the polygraph.
Against this background, Stark's obstinacy faded into the background.
Of course, the probability of his connection with Russian intelligence or other services of the former Warsaw Pact countries was worked out, but this probability was vanishingly small, he refused to cooperate with the special services of his own country, with which his father worked closely, in an extremely rude and harsh manner.
Why would he cooperate with others? He doesn't even have commercial interests in that direction!
Besides, all his contacts were under surveillance, and no one even somehow, through third and fifth hands, connected with "foreign colleagues" was noticed.
But at the same time, it was impossible not to notice the fact that both disappearances primarily benefited the tycoon.
Of course, he didn't know and couldn't know about Romanoff, but assuming foreign intelligence services really started playing their game with him, they could have enlightened him. As well as "helped" with Vanko.
But the point? With such capabilities, they wouldn't need Stark anymore! With such capabilities, they wouldn't need anything at all! Because then Nicholas himself would be sitting right now not in his office, but in a cell with unknown kidnappers waiting for interrogation!
The puzzle didn't fit again.
Pity Stark is too much of a media figure, and he strengthened his security measures by orders of magnitude, simply "inviting for a talk," pumping him with truth serum, won't work.
And here is also the suspicious death of military advisor Stryker, the information hype around which was barely hushed up in acceptable terms.
The investigation of his activities not only set the entire Mutant Affairs Department on its ears but also revealed a new disappearance of a carrier of valuable information, his assistant, although this time without a flag.
And as the cherry on top, the leadership, noticing "sudden movements" in his headquarters, began to be interested in their causes, which only complicated the general situation, simultaneously preventing normal work.
Not that this pile of problems was something prohibitive for Nick, but there was definitely nothing pleasant in the situation.
It remained to hope that the results of the internal investigation would clarify the situation. And that it wouldn't get any worse.
….
If you want to read ahead by 20+ chapters from here you can visit my Patre-on.
[P] [A] [T] [R] [E] [O] [N]
[email protected]/Yggdrasil_Loki