And of course Victor weaseled out of answering anything. He was a corporate executive after all, it would be weird if he didn’t. But that itself wasn’t even the most infuriating part, oh no. That honor belonged to Victor admitting he knew the answers, but choosing not to answer. She managed to not groan or roll her eyes in frustration. Maybe growing up in Brezhnev and Andropov’s Soviet Union was useful for something after all. She followed Hayden’s lead and dug her gear from the back of the limo, slinging the rifle, set to safe and with the stock folded, over one shoulder and the rigging over the other. Not because she thought they would need it, but because it was pretty much all she had to her name except the clothes on her back and a sole diamond in her wallet, and like Hell she’d leave the stuff out of her sight unless absolutely necessary.

Passing by numerous stalls offering various food, ranging from completely unidentifiable through vaguely familiar to something she was almost certain was a rat, Victor led them deeper into the district. After a while of moving through the district, their path snaking in a way that made remembering where they came from a bit of a challenge, they finally rounded a corner and…

…And first impressions were not great. Asking Victor too many questions likely carried a risk if he didn’t like them, sure, but she had a feeling that doing the same here would’ve had much more dire consequences. Before now, she considered the locals to be somewhere between chimps and neanderthals on the mentality scale. Now, she had proof of it. And leaning toward the chimpanzee side by the looks of it, except these people had guns and could probably swim. Caution would have to be exercised here, and her previous conviction that weapons would not be needed here was slowly vanishing. Not like they would help against these numbers. Maybe as a quick exit. And if this was described as the better alternative to a complete butcher? Either the other guy was that bad, or Victor lied. Normally, one wouldn’t wish for the latter, but here…

She slowed down until she was side by side with Bethan, “Hey, could you do me a solid? If it ever looks like I’m going to get captured, vent my head, will you? I’ll save you a spot in Hell next to an AC unit.” the Russian whispered to the Welshwoman, keeping her attention at the guards to keep her mind off the mutilated bodies surrounding them, not quite managing to hide her apprehension.

“Your well-dressed associate here,” Yekaterina started in response to Melani’s question and Victor’s silence, gesturing to the latter as she spoke and avoiding the word ‘friend’ for good measure, “said you have some problems that need solving and brought us along to do just that.”