1

A sharp, snow-filled breeze hit the face of Daniel Bridgewater.

He was in Northern Nepal. In a snow-capped mountainous valley, high above sea level. The air was cold and thin and would tighten most people's chests, but Daniel had an ice-cold stare, which had nothing to do with the weather.  The thick clouds grew and dominated the sky, and the snow fell with greater pace.

Daniel lay on his chest on top of the roof of a Portakabin in a base camp that took him five hours to find, but this moment was close to fifteen years in the making.

Daniel kept his eyes as snow covered the world around him on four men with a coldness that felt at home here, but also hid simmering, violent intent. This kept him warm. Long-held rage can do that to a person.

Daniel wore a thick black jacket with a red stripe across the shoulders, thick black trousers, and dark brown mountain boots. He wore a hood over his head and a black mask over his mouth, but his brown eyes and brown skin were clear.

'Fuck' Daniel said. 'I felt that one.' He shivered a little through those last words. It seemed like rage could only keep a man warm for so long. Here in the heights of the earth was a place that was unforgiving. Still, there was no forgiveness planned for the man he was looking for. 'You had to be here, didn't you?' He said to himself.

A few men came out of various Portakabins dotted all over the camp. All are clad in either all-black or dark navy blue. Some came out and stretched, chatting amongst themselves. Others smoked cigarettes or vapes.

Daniel could tell they were vaping by the brief, but large puffs of smoke coming from the mouths of some men. One looked like he needed some air. Some solitude. Daniel understood that, but if that man stood in his way in what and whom Daniel was looking, he'd met with violence.

Those men were here for their fiscal needs, violence, and not pleasure. He had dealt with many mercs, and those men who live by the mercenary code, only cared about money and getting home that night. That made them dangerous, as they cared about little else.

Wait, doesn't that code apply to most people? Daniel thought and shook that thought. He met this was annoyance. He needed to think about him and nothing else.

 Daniel did wonder how each gun he saw looked the same. How did anyone know which gun belonged to whom? Daniel shook off that thought and kept his focus.

'You better be here.' Daniel muttered to himself. Then he thought, what if he wasn't here? What if all this was for nothing? Nah. He's here, or there is someone here who knows where he is.

Daniel looked at the high-powered rifle next to him. He picked it up and then took a silencer nozzle from his left pocket. Secured to the front of the rifle. That click once the scope locked in place was satisfying to Bridgewater. He did not need the scope. Normal men required that. Daniel Bridgewater did not. He pointed the rifle at the four men. It would be easy—so easy—to take them out with four clean shots.

Maybe easy, he thought, but his intention was to kill only if necessary. But the official promise to Bolton was that no matter what, he would not kill.

I owe Bolton that, Daniel thought. He did, and he will attempt to keep that promise. Still, if anyone shot at him or attacked him, then all bets were off.

One man spoke Slovakian. Daniel heard someone who spoke in a similar tone and intonation. Another spoke Polish and one spoke a little Mandarin. The latter two were languages Daniel did recognise.

‘Check the back.’ The largest of the four men almost bellowed in clear English.

Daniel watched as two of the men came around the back. He watched them like a hawk. They were in the right position as Daniel leaped off the roof and slammed into both. He defied the laws of gravity by elbowing one and kicking the other in mid-air, knocking them both out. Daniel again landed with as little noise as possible.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

‘Fuck me, Larissa. You were right.’ Daniel muttered, and he crept around the corner and saw the two other men talking. ‘Less time. More efficient.’ 

‘They ain’t back.’ The smaller of the two men noticed.

‘Go check.’ The larger one ordered.

‘I didn’t realise you were my boss.’

The larger one looked insulted. ‘What did you say?’

The smaller one snarled and repeated his last statement, but this time in Slovakian. Polish looked annoyed and started to walk with malicious intent but was stopped in his tracks. Slovak had a small handgun pointed. The smaller man did not look in awe. He looked controlled and ready to establish his dominance. Daniel recognised that as someone who feels like he was A stone-cold killer. ‘You are bigger, but I am faster, and faster always wins. You go check.’ The smaller man ribbed with triumph in his voice.

The bigger man swore in his native tongue of Polish and walked to the back. Daniel watched them as he was getting ready for his move.

The men saw the other two unconscious in the snow. ‘What the’ the bigger man said before Daniel leaped down and kicked him in the back. He flew forward, landing hard in the snow, he skidded head first through the snowy ground.

The smaller man holding the gun spun around to aim, but Daniel kicked the handgun from the man’s hand. The Pole tried to grab his semi-automatic, but Daniel grabbed for it, then ripping the rifle violently from his shoulder. Daniel flung it away. The Pole desperately took out a knife with a long, thick blade and slashed at Daniel, who dodged those strikes. Daniel grabbed the man’s arm and snapped it. The crack of bone, muscle, and vein got lost in the wind. The man was about to scream in pain, but Daniel covered his mouth. He slammed his forearm and elbow across the Pole’s temporal lobe twice. This knocked him unconscious.

 Four down. All alive. No noise. Not bad, Bridgewater. Not bad at all, he thought.

He piled the unconscious together and then crept around the nearest Portakabin. His eyes rose. Daniel saw someone he recognised and immediately raised his rifle and aimed at him. The man who, unlike all the others, wore a long, black leather jacket and black jeans. Timberland boots. His dress sense said causal when this was anything other but that.

Still, as Daniel poured in every detail of this man, he was not surprised. Only focused.

There you are, Roman. I finally found you, Daniel thought as his heartbeat became faster due to the excitement he felt. He gripped his rifle hard, and his index finger danced with the trigger.

This was with the full intent of putting him down. The anger grew to the point that an execution felt necessary. No questions needed. ‘You made a fucking mistake, Roman. A real fucking.’

‘Agent Bridgewater.’ a male voice came through clearly in his mind.

Daniel decided to ignore it.

‘Agent Bridgewater. You need to come in right now.’

‘Listen, fuck face. I’m a little busy; give me like two hours.’ Daniel snapped with obvious irritation.

‘Agency leader Bolton demands it. Your portal will open in five, four, three...’

‘Ah, you fuck. I swear you are going to pay for this,’ Daniel stated as a circular beam of light opened in behind him.

Inside the portal were soft, radio-like waves of light. To a normal person, it would look almost beautiful, but to Daniel, it was the last thing he wanted to see. He wished he had a choice, but Bolton had made his command.

There are two options to agency portals: you walk in, or you get sucked in. Getting sucked into a portal is no joke.

A person could be flung in and out of a portal with such velocity that you hit wherever the portal opened, hard.

Daniel kissed his teeth and looked at Roman, and he brought down his rifle. 'I'll be seeing you soon.’ He said behind gritted teeth.

Roman turned and looked at Daniel. He neither looked concerned nor surprised. It was not a look of acceptance, either. He just looked... calm, and this irritated Daniel Bridgewater more.

Daniel gave Roman a well-earned scowl. The man returned with just a simple smile. The men next to him aimed their weapons at Daniel, but this would have to continue another day.

I hope there is another chance. I waited too long for this. Way too long.

'I'm going to see you soon, Roman.' Daniel snarled.

'Sure, Daniel. Sure. You're required elsewhere. You better go,' Roman smirked, 'before Bolton gets mad.' His smile grew wider by the second.

Doubt loomed for a moment. He could just go over and grab Roman there and then. But a single moment was all Daniel Bridgewater had, and when Bolton called, he had to answer as the humming of the portal grew louder.

The scowl then turned into a look of longing and Daniel walked into the portal, which disappeared into thin air as soon as he walked in.