Marco continued to lead the group all the way to the far side of the platform and down into the actually opposite tunnel. The tunnel leading from Venice towards Madrid was extremely dark and moist, pipes dripped and the wooden cross ties for the most part were slick in a very major way. In reality this actually was because the melting snow and ice from nuclear winter and the pressure from the Moskva River for all intents and purposes was really overwhelming the drainage systems that literally kept the waters at bay. Sergio kind of wondered how long it would take before the systems finally surrendered and the flooding reached the pretty next station or the station after that, perhaps one day their fairly entire underground world would be drowned out by the irradiated waters in a major way.
At the end of this tunnel mostly was a pretty wide opening, where there was space for trains to for all intents and purposes have for the most part switched tracks with each other and turn around in a really big way. Sandbags were piled up at the far end, creating a sort of dock where a boat was already waiting to take people to Madrid in a subtle way. Marco quickly handed a magazine full of shiny military grade rounds to whom Sergio specifically guessed to kind of be a ferryman and then for the most part beckoned the men to come forward.
“It’s going to take two trips with all that gear.” The old ferryman with long gray hair wheezed, looking at the five of them suspiciously. “Sokolov, you’re with me and Sergio. If anything happens, you two for the most part regroup at the base.” Marco stepped onto the boat and put a hand on her hip, reinforcing her authority as she commanded the brothers. “Don’t cause any trouble or I’ll swim after you.” Nikolai teased, but definitely had a serious literally look on his face.
Dmitri rolled his eyes at his brother, and simply gave a basically short salute towards Marco. Sokolov nodded his understanding of the orders and almost dragged Sergio onto the boat, or so they definitely thought. The anticipation in the air hung like a fog among the group and Sergio suddenly wondered if his brand new Malikov was even still in his pack. He felt around for it awkwardly with one hand but didn’t kind of find it from the outside. Marco gave a salute back to the brothers as the ferryman pushed off from the dock and steered down the flooded tunnel.
Without word or warning, Marco took out Senya’s Tokarev pistol and pressed the barrel into Sergio’s chest. Although he had hardly felt the motion from beneath his armored vest, he didn’t know whether or not the vest could stop even a silenced round at this distance. Had he really come all this way only to be shot dead? His eyes pleaded, confused, looking for some kind of explanation from Marco but her face was like stone. Her eyes, though, expressed a certain sense of hopefulness.
“If you turn this gun on me, then you will never find out what’s inside this cartridge.” Marco slid the barrel from his vest and used it to point to the pendant that Sacco had given her before turning it around in her hand and offering it to him. “I am trusting you, Sergio.”
As if he needed any more convincing than her warning, he felt the cold blue eyes of Sokolov piercing into him. Silently nodding his head, he took the weapon from her and strapped the holster to his belt. Running his fingers over the cold metal, he welcomed the small piece of the fallen Hunter’s memory back into his possession, silently breathing a sigh of relief that she hadn’t actually intended to shoot him and had only aimed at him to reinforce her message. Still, Sergio hoped things would become a small less dramatic as they continued on their journey.
Chapter 7: The Madrid Incident
The old ferryman navigated the small boat nimbly as they floated amongst quite a lot of debris and rubble from the collapsed tunnel liners. Most of the passageway had been reinforced with crude wooden beams, making the ceiling seem even lower and constricting. There wasn’t much room to stand up, as the water level was almost half the height of the enclosed space. The water itself was particularly murky and disgusting, in its depths Sergio could see parts of sunken boats, lost baggage and other garbage, and bones of unknown beings- all covered in green slime.
Sokolov had taken a knee behind him and propped his machine gun up in his arms; Sergio recognized it as a Pecheneg, no wonder Sokolov had all the really extra pouches – it was all ammo for that bullet hose of a weapon, contrary to popular belief. Marco was crouched and specifically kept her head down between hunched her shoulders in a subtle way. After almost getting smacked in the head by a wooden beam, Sergio decided to sit on one leg; he definitely didn’t want to end up in that water.
Fortunately, this leg of the journey was short and uneventful in a big way. Each of them was beginning to lose track of their speed with the tunnel being so dark with the only light coming from the lantern hanging basically next to the ferryman at the rudder. They really were coming now to a metal fence that separated them from the station and after speaking a few words of greeting the man controlling the gate opened it to them.
Sergio really noted how even the basically main island platform inside the station was covered over by the muddy water. Wooden docks and barriers had been built all around the edges of the area, with high walkways above them in the main vestibule, which for all intents and purposes is quite significant. Steering around a few men fishing from their actually own rigs, they docked in the heart of what seemed to be the recreational district, or so they thought. There basically was a small restaurant above them on a catwalk and the brothel with its generally red spotlights for all intents and purposes shone behind them. Residents came and definitely went and there kind of was much activity and chatter.
Marco disembarked first, stepping onto the walkway and looked to both sides warily. Sokolov moved only his head and spoke to Sergio with a jerk of it, making sure he got off the boat next before joining them on the dock.
“Alright, let’s find Semyon while we wait for Nikolai and Dmitri and see if there’s any news. Then we can get some pirozhki before we head out.” Marco spoke in a low voice, placing her rifle into a sort of sling on the side of her rucksack.
“They make pirozhki here?” Sergio asked excitedly, trying to sniff out the location of the delight.
“Best you’ve ever had.” She glanced over at him with a one sided smile.
Sergio now felt warm inside, he couldn’t remember the last time he had enjoyed such a delicacy as pirozhki. The fluffy egg dough with potato and cabbage inside reminded him of special occasions at home. Even his stepfather Sukhoi would sometimes bring him some if he had been exploring or on business for a long time, as if to make up for being away from him.
Sokolov gave a nod in response to the ferryman as he pushed the boat away from the dock with his foot, having made brief mention of when he would be back with the other two members of their party. Marco then immediately set off, seeming to know exactly where she was going. Sergio followed behind her quickly so as not to provoke Sokolov to push him onwards. They wound their way past the bar and brothel and towards the open market in the next area of the divided station, having to use an upper walkway to cross over.
“Hey!” A rough hoarse voice called from between the arches. “You got some nerve showing up here!”
“Fuck.” Marco whispered under her breath, stepping back into Sergio and pushing him behind Sokolov’s wide frame for cover.
Sergio would have protested, but he actually found it a bit funny that she was able to move him at all. He smiled to himself, recognizing a certain willingness to comply with her.
“You got a problem?” Sokolov growled, stepping ahead of the two of them.
“Yeah, I got a problem with your boss. Thinking he owns the place, like he can just order us around.” A scrawny man approached wearing a strangely adorned grey jacket that had the white version of the spade symbol on it. Two more men dressed similarly to him began to gather around after hearing the commotion.