‘Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta‘

The calmness of a night sky was interrupted by a lonely helicopter, slowly making its way forward.

Through the windows, a faint glow of a barely lit city could be seen ahead.

Ten men whose faces were covered with balaclavas were sullenly looking at the floor of the gunship.

Until the pilot reported.

“Entering the capital’s airspace. 3 minutes until the point.”

The men stood up in unison, and picked up their bags and rifles.

Their leader carefully walked towards the side door of the Mi-8, and grabbed the handle.

“Everyone remembers our orders? Radio silence starts now. Report only if ‘Whistle’ is blown, or if you entered a safehouse.” (R1)

“2 minutes.” The pilot’s report started the next phase.

“Check the gear!” At the commander’s order, every soldier checked their partner’s parachute and bag.

“30 seconds.”

Rapier 1 pulled the handle, and the door slid to the side.

‘Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta’

Then, a green lamp lit up.

“GO-GO-GO!” (R1)

One by one, the special forces operatives jumped out of the hovering high above the capital helicopter.

When Rapier 10 jumped out, the commander jumped out too.

After he was away from the helicopter, he pulled the ring, and the parachute opened.

---

There were 10 barely visible blurs above the capital, all invisible from the ground. They slowly made their way to the ground, until they touched down.

‘Fwoo’

“Uhh…” Rapier 1 rolled over, and grabbed the rifle.

He landed somewhere on a back street to the north-west from the city center.

The streets of the night city were silent. Not a single soul was passing nearby.

Rapier 1 immediately started packing back the parachute, and after he was done, he headed towards the rendezvous point.

10 minutes later.

The leader cautiously peeked from behind a corner. On the crossroad he saw nothing, so he stretched out his hand with a reflecting surface in it.

A moment later, a brief flash of light occurred at the other side of the crossroad.

Rapier 1 crossed the road in hurry, and hunkered down behind his partner’s cover.

‘Patrol in 2 [minutes].’ (R2)

As he said, two minutes later a small group of armed men passed by.

Only after they disappeared behind a corner, the two operatives moved out.

They passed several streets before they ended up in front of a small two floor building.

There was only one door, and the soldiers stood behind both sides of the doorway.

Rapier 2 started watching the sides of the street, while Rapier 1 took out his knife, and started opening the lock.

‘Cr-‘

The door opened easily, and before it creaked, the soldier grabbed the handle.

He tapped on his partner’s shoulder, and the two soldiers sneaked in.

Inside of the house was lit. The operatives immediately turned off the NVG, and right afterwards a human figure stepped out from a room.

“MY GO-M-MHM!” Before a woman shouted, Rapier 1 covered her mouth.

Small drops of tears started forming at the edges of woman’s eyes.

‘If you shout – I will kill you.’ She heard a cold, emotionless voice, that stated a terrifying thing without hesitation.

The woman had no idea what was going on, but she knew for sure that there are two unknown men in front of her. They were wearing clothes she never saw before, and held unknown staffs in their hands.

“What is go…” Her husband looked out from the kitchen, and immediately froze when he saw the intruders.

There were no words.

The second man just brought his index finger closer to his mouth, and then showed a cut-throat with the same finger.

As the woman no longer was making sounds, the hand moved away from her mouth.

She feared to even make a sound, as the eyes she saw when the man was close to her were emitting only coldness of a professional murderer.

Her husband slowly walked out of the room with his hands raised. The intruders lowered their staffs a bit.

‘Please… Don’t touch our children…’ She whispered.

The cold voice responded to her.

‘As long as you don’t do anything stupid.’ (R1)

The husband and the wife meekly nodded.

‘You never saw us, and should you try to give us out…’ The voice did not finish the evident.

The spouses nodded.

“This is Rapier 1, Safehouse A secured. Location is…”

---

Some time later, when the dwellers calmed down a bit, the door opened again, and two more men barged in.

They were speaking an unknown language, and were way too scary to get in their path. She could only look at them from a distance.

Still, the woman thought about the consequences of aiding the possible enemies of the occupants. Her neighbor’s body was removed from a pole nearby just yesterday.

Caught between the dilemma of risking the occupants’ execution, and those people’s execution, she was struggling to think of a solution.

“As long as you don’t get in our way, we will not exist for each other.” Until one of the intruders gave her a slight hope.

“W-we have an attic… W-we d-don’t use it…” The man nodded, and she showed them to the ladder.

The armed men disappeared at the attic, and closed the hatch behind.

Only then she finally could faint.