Ambush on Nasser

  “– Team one, Iker hasn't responded to any of the calls made by me or any other member since our last contact! Proceed with caution! I repeat: PROCEED WITH CAUTION! The situation seems critical and we don’t know what to expect! Eyes open!” – Nasser leads from the back seat of his transport vehicle, while the driver stays calm, but can't stop the sweat trickling down his goosebump-covered neck. Everyone knows something is VERY wrong.

  “– Copy that, Doctor! Escort vehicles in Sigma formation, any movement picked up by all sensors! Nannov, reporting to Central.” – Nannov, the leader of Nasser's armed escort squad, strictly follows the security protocols.

  “– Toypp here! Sergeant Nannov, Doctor Nasser, confirming the last identified position of the target: Warehouse 7 of the Jaruq Steel Plant, correct?” – Toypp, the team's best marksman, double-checks the intel.

  “– Confirmed, Toypp.” – Nannov replies.

  “– Approaching destination in ten minutes. All units, stand by!” – Nasser prepares himself.

  “– Crossing the gates of the Steel Plant.” – Nannov, in the front vehicle of a five-car convoy (two escorts in front, Nasser’s in the middle, two more behind), reports. Seeing there were no guards and the gates were wide open, Nannov was suspicious but said nothing.

  The silence at the plant was absolute. No sentries, no lights in the warehouses. Even the wind seemed hesitant. Something was clearly wrong.

  “– Left turn ahead, everyone in position.” – Nannov commanded.

  The convoy followed the plan, heading toward the signal source of Iker's distress beacon. One by one, the vehicles turned into the narrow alley and slowed down. When the last vehicle entered the street, a guided missile with a simple but highly effective explosive payload struck the lead vehicle, launching it six feet into the air. The shockwave slammed Nasser against his seat just before the fiery wreckage crashed down.

  “– NANNOV!!” – Nasser shouted, stunned.

  Almost at the exact same time, the last vehicle in the convoy was hit by another missile and exploded into a massive fireball while its shooter revealed himself when his stealth cammo deactivated automatically.

  “– We’re trapped and surrounded! Return fire IMMEDIATELY! Protect the leader!” – Toypp took command as he jumped out of the vehicle and fired in the direction where he saw the missiles launched from, hitting Marph, the operator of the launcher, directly in the head. The alarms from the sensors, pounding and showing a handful of red blips approaching the center. Marph fell, already dead. So focused on taking down his main target, Toypp didn’t notice the hostile squad emerging from the shadows. In a thunderous and intense burst of gunfire, they riddled all other vehicles with bullets, leaving only Nasser’s vehicle untouched.

  The pack approached, surrounding the three vehicles. In the front and rear cars – now riddled with more than two hundred bullets – the dogs sniffed for any signs of movement. At Toypp’s vehicle, where he now lay dying on the ground, drowning in his own blood, they approached meticulously, weapons ready. Brakosz, seeing the passenger inside still conscious and struggling to pull a grenade from between his seatbelt and vest, fired twice. The man stopped moving instantly.

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  The vehicle ahead of Nasser's showed no sign of life.

  “– Baylon to Alpha! Perimeter clear! Proceeding!” – Baylon moved forward with the plan, which was unfolding perhaps better than expected. “– Klieff, check Marph’s status, now! One of the primates shot him, and he hasn’t returned to his post!”

  “– Affirmative!” – Klieff, a veteran guerilla fighter and the mastermind behind much of the resistance – bearing the scars of her past, including a massive one over her blind right eye – rushed to Marph’s position.

  At the same time, T?ten, in a cinematic and apocalyptic manner, emerged from a small, nearly invisible dark shed between two large buildings, one for forging and one for storage. In a clearly suicidal and desperate counter, Quelsh, Nasser’s vehicle driver, prepared to exit and take down as many attackers as possible before being killed.

  “– Quelsh! Don’t go! We’ve lost too many already today. I’ll handle this and avenge our comrades.” – Nasser said to a Quelsh who could no longer hear him. Almost simultaneously, both exited the vehicle. As Nasser moved, memories of Quelsh – not just a bodyguard, but a friend – flooded his mind. He remembered a conversation over coffee when Quelsh had shared his desire to retire.

  Quelsh was executed before he could even raise his weapon. Nasser closed his eyes as he heard his friend’s lifeless body hit the ground with a dull thud. No glory. No farewell. No honorable mention.

  Enraged, Nasser leapt with brutal speed at Brakosz’s neck. As he grabbed him, his collar automatically discharged a shock of absurd voltage. Brakosz fell unconscious. T?ten, already nearby and silently creeping, positioned himself behind Nasser. As Nasser activated a defense mechanism, electrifying the ground around him, T?ten signaled Baylon not to shoot, then grabbed Nasser by the neck. Nasser was turned and lifted off the ground, but T?ten resisted the electric current – incredibly.

  Through the comms, Klieff’s voice came in:

  “– Tank down! I repeat: Marph is dead! Shot in the head! No signs of life!”

  T?ten, his face still turned toward Brakosz, slowly turned to Nasser, smiling with the promise of vengeance.

  His arm, stiff from the shock, began to blacken and smoke. T?ten’s skin sizzled, blisters forming and bursting. The air reeked of burnt flesh.

  On Nasser’s lips, one could read:

  “– You’re going to fail! This will NEVER work!” – choking, but staying alive thanks to the collar technology, which released nanobots that coated his upper body.

  “– Considering you’re the world’s most acclaimed scientist, you wouldn’t be dumb enough to keep the collar’s key in your suit. You’re arrogant. That’s costly.” – T?ten reached into Nasser’s vest pocket and pulled out the diamond card with a black dagger symbol in the center. He smiled. Nasser tried to snatch it back – unsuccessfully. He coughed, choking.

  Still resisting the shock, T?ten pinned Nasser’s right hand with his knee and swiped the card through the slot on Nasser’s collar. The collar opened and dropped to the ground. The current stopped. The nanobots swarmed back into their chamber.

  T?ten smiled as Nasser’s eyes rolled back and his color began to change. Brakosz remained unconscious.

  Nasser accepted his fate and tried to embrace the moment. He focused on T?ten’s uneven breathing, the cool air, the cloud-covered city lights, the light rain starting to fall, the smell of T?ten’s burning arm hair, the crackling flames, the radio static, and the dogs’ approaching steps as they came to witness his fall.

  “– This is for Marph.” – T?ten said, as if he needed to justify himself, and sank his fangs into Nasser’s head, tearing it apart with his jaws. Everyone heard the crunch of gray matter, blood, and bone as it was chewed and spat out.

  Nasser didn’t move. T?ten threw his body aside and picked up the collar. He turned to face his now-complete pack just as Klieff emerged from the building. They all watched T?ten don the collar – his right hand charred, his face and neck soaked in blood, grinning red and yellow in victory.

  Immediately, the nanobots activated, and every wound, scar, and mark on T?ten’s body healed within three minutes, right before their eyes. As the swarm encircled him, T?ten felt reborn. Like a god rising from the shadows. He howled and laughed, over and over.

  Patrol cars arrived, but T?ten stood in full glory, displaying the collar – making the officers hesitate before backing off.

  The next day, T?ten seized Nasser’s research unit – the former headquarters – and declared himself the “Emperor of the Amazon Desert.”