[i]In Belguim[/i]

The giants had been gathered up by an ambulance shortly before reaching the safe zone. And taken to a medical area. After having the bullets removed and placed in side by side beds, bandaged up and injected with painkillers. Natalie and Victor had rested for a time. Hours later, in the early hours of the evening Victor had opened his eyes after a nap. Sitting up and looking over at Natalie. He reached over, pulled his jacket close, then nudged her, "Babe?" As she turned to him he pulled a purple velvet case from his jacket, opened it and grinned, "A 7.62 round in my shoulder...about a dozen 9mm rounds in you...and this is the best time I can think of to ask...Will you marry me?" He smiled at her, showing her the gold, platinum, ruby and diamond engagement ring.

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[i]Tajikistan, Safehouse apartment[/i]

Nolan looked up at Andrew as he came in, the Canadian sniper bent over a side table reassembling his Tac 50. He nodded in greeting, "Boring is a good thing, it means nothing is going wrong. It's when things get exciting that we need to worry." He slid the gas system back into his rifle carefully, "So the industrial park huh? I was looking at maps of the area. That cooling tower is a prime spot yeah. Clear view of most of the grounds. I'll bring some AP rounds along just in case. The normal FMJ round ought to be enough to punch through the armoring on anything short of an APC. Otherwise we ought to be good."

He slid the last few pieces of his rifle back together, then racked the bolt to make sure it works. An ominous click-clack of the bolt sliding back and forth, he then pulled the trigger hearing the tick of the firing pin. He smiled, "I can take the engine out, and given a little time, the driver too, right through the wind-shield." He sat in a seat, his rifle beside him. He nodded slowly, "Is Konstantin a mark? I got this gut feeling deep down that if we don't consider him a threat, it'll come and bite us in the ass later." He smiled at his partner, "You'll get your payback on the Chinese, my brother. The way this thing sounds, the sheer size of this facilitator thing, it's got tendrils and feelers out everywhere. The bastards that took you will feel it eventually." he nodded then got up.

He made his way into the next room, coming out a little later with his PP-2000, newly refitted, the black tactical design with fitted laser sight and RDS atop it. He began to clean it carefully, "Eight hours...eight hours...I'd say get some sack time. We want to be rested and alert. I'll go find us something to eat, then we get over there and set up. explosives, cover, everything." He nodded, smiling broadly, "Oh we'll have everything ready for this guy. First steps man, for all those people who died in Belguim."