HA2 20.2 – Infiltration
While Shizuka casting the projectile, Hide went to make cartridge case. From the storage room he took two rolls of brass sheet. If you unrolled it, the brass sheet was 10 cm wide and 1 meter long. It was made of 70:30 copper-zinc alloys and had been widely used to make fishing equipment, interior decoration, fashion ornament, and personal jewelry.
Even though the catalog didn’t mention it, cartridge case, primer cup, and projectile jacket were actually could be drawn out of certain brass sheet from King’s Hardware. Not to mention, it would deliver a far better final product compare to its military grade counterpart.
By using the punching die Hide turned the brass sheet into brass coin. In matter of minutes, small holes filled the brass sheet to the brim. After that, he turned the brass coin into brass cup before drawing and annealing it into brass tube, and in about two hours Hide had produced around 800s brass tubes.
Then, Takeo entered the workshop and walked over straight to Hide. “What can I do to help?”
“Have you finished your task?” Hide casually asked without turning his gaze from the last batch of brass tube he annealed using electric furnace.
“I have,” Takeo firmly replied.
Hide nodded and then gulped down a mouthful of mineral waters before saying, “Help me stamp the brass tube.”
“Roger.”
“Follow me.” Hide said as he took a box of brass tube and carried it to the stamp die. “Normally, we do the stamp to make the primer pocket, and print the cartridge case’s identity.
But we are making ghost round, so we won’t leave a mark or identity on our cartridge case.”
Takeo nodded and said, “Got it.”
“Now, watch and learn.”
In swift manner Hide set the stamp die. He had to spend two brass tubes before achieving the result he wanted. Then, he put the fourth brass tube before pulling down the lever.
After that, Hide took the freshly stamped brass tube, inspected it, and handed it over to Takeo. “Can you do it?”
“Let me do it a few times,” Takeo firmly replied, “and then you decide, can I continue or should I receive some corrections.”
“As you wish.”
Wasting no time Takeo carried out the stamp work. For the first dozen stamps, Hide gave him some advice and input. After that, Takeo could do it on his own and achieving a good result.
Once Takeo settled with his work, Hide took a batch of freshly stamped brass tube, and then turned its neck into a cartridge case. Currently, among the three, only Hide had the skill to neck-turned a freshly made brass tube. Fortunately, he was really good at it and could do it very fast. In a rapid pace he was neck-turning the brass tube one after another.
Around twenty minutes later, Shizuka had finished the casting work and produced around 800s lead projectiles. Hide then asked her to give the freshly made cartridge case the final annealing.
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As for the final tumbling to make the cartridge clean and shiny without a speck of taint, Hide skipped this step as they didn’t have enough time to do it. Not to mention, they didn’t plan to collect and reused the cartridge case for tonight job.
In a pleasant and comfortable silence, Hide, Takeo, and Shizuka worked together. Then, just before the lunch the three managed to produce 845 piece of ready to use cartridge case.
After a simple lunch, they then hand-loaded the ammo they needed for tonight job. After that, they took a peaceful nap in the living room.
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Exactly at 16:30, Hide woke Takeo and Shizuka up. The three then went to load the spare magazines they would use. After that they prepared the rest of the equipment and put it in the shooting range.
Then, while enjoying raisin bread and a cup of lightly sweetened coffee for their dinner, they gave the assault plan a final check. Once they were sure they already did every preparation they could for the job, they took afternoon bath in turn.
Exactly at 18:15, Takeo went down to Mango Terrace, his observation post for tonight job. Meanwhile, Hide and Shizuka stood by in the shooting range. The two stood in front of the equipment, wearing black boxer and T-shirt. A few minutes later Takeo sent a radio call.
[Orange to Apple, over.]
“Apple, I hear you.”
[I’m in position and have a solid grip on CCTV.]
“Send me the CCTV access,” Hide asked as he took out an 8” tablet.
[Roger.]
Once he confirmed that he had access to the CCTV in 7th Floor corridor and inside Kamui’s office, Hide immediately radioed Takeo, “Orange be advise, Apple and Pear are on the way, party is a go.”
[Received and understood, party is a go.]
Without delay Hide and Shizuka put their equipment on. They put on the ballistic vest first, followed by ivory cover all, construction belt, rain boots, gloves, construction helmet, safety glass, and personal radio with wired PTT button, microphone, and ear piece.
After that they put waist bag loaded with 10 spare magazines in their left waist, while in their right thigh they strapped a small bag connected to their construction belt. In a glance, the small bag was no different from a tool bag. However, Hide had converted its interior into a concealed holster that could safely hold a silenced sidearm.
After gently cocking his silenced VP9 and inserted it into holster in his thigh bag, Hide turned his gaze to Shizuka.
“Ready?”
“I’m,” Shizuka nonchalantly replied.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m,” Shizuka firmly replied.
“Just a friendly reminder, this will be your first time killing someone intentionally.”
“This is not my first time. Doesn’t matter it’s intentionally or unintentionally. It doesn’t change the fact that I have killed someone,” Shizuka rebutted.
“Killing someone in spontaneous self-defense is a whole universe different from an attempt to kill a group of people intentionally,” Hide casually said. “For many years you lives in peaceful country, grow under a civilization which put emphasis that killing other human being is absolutely wrong.
This moral conscience has deeply rooted in your heart and minds. When you try to break it, it will hit you very hard.
We can handle it together if it hit you after we complete the job. However, if it hit you when we are in the middle of the job, we are fucked.”
After heaving a deep sigh Shizuka said, “Hide, you said it as if people from our country is weak as hell.”
“Believe me, people from our country is anything but weak,” Hide calmly said. “And just so you know, I put high regard in our education system or our way of life as a nation. I will even lay down my life to defend it.
Turning a human being into a cruel demon is as easy as flicking a finger, but turning them into a good and kind hearted soul will required a lot of effort and time. Human is very nasty deep down in their soul.
As for you, I have solid reason to doubt a first timer.”
Shizuka said as determination flashed in her eyes. “If we fail, I will literally be fucked beyond recognition. I will not let that happen by any means.”
“No hesitation in the middle of the job, like the one you had in Villa Tigera?” Hide asked in a drop dead serious tone.
“Not a bit,” Shizuka replied in determined tone.
“Good,” Hide firmly replied. “Let’s go then.”
Wasting no time Hide and Shizuka grabbed the big sport bag where they put the rest of the equipment. Then, they went to the hidden elevator, climbed to its roof before entering the fake air duct.
Shizuka had no idea about the route, as she had no time to study and memorize it. Fortunately, Hide already remembered it to the smallest detail. In swift but silent movement, he walked down the fake air duct while Shizuka tightly followed him.
A moment later, the two arrived in the junction to enter the real air duct. From here onward, they had to crawled, before carefully climbing down to reach the air duct network at 7th floor, and then continued the silent crawl.
Long short story, Hide and Shizuka finally arrived on the ventilator above the rest room at 7th floor, with body drenched by sweats from head to toe. After making sure the restroom was empty, Hide opened the ventilator and let it hanging freely.
To help him descended from the ventilator, Hide used a short climbing rope. He knotted it to the thick pipe that ran along the air duct network. One end was only one meter long, while the other end reached the floor.
With ease Hide and Shizuka then came down from the ventilator. To let loose the climbing rope from the pipe, Hide only had to pull the one meter long end. After that he used his arm to coil the rope before putting it back to the sport bag. Meanwhile, Shizuka swiftly put the ventilator back to its position.
The two then gulped down a mouthful of mineral water before wearing a flu mask.
“Last check,” Hide asked as he took out his tablet. “Are you truly ready?”
“I’m,” Shizuka firmly replied.
After using the CCTV to check the situation in the corridor and inside Kamui’s office, Hide then said, “We are going in.”
*****