Answering God's Call - Chapter 23

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Checkpoint Two was the junction where Vandenberg, Belfast, and Bristol intersected, and it was a gateway that one had to pass through to reach the capital, Birmingham, from the southwest. Because of this, it had more posts than other checkpoints, and the number of civilians passing through was more than double.

After passing signs written in every language used across the continent, including Lyttonese, Lubyankan, and Dochen, and going through the inspection gate, Tatyana glanced around at the armed soldiers stationed throughout the checkpoint. The soldiers working there generally fell into four categories.

Agents, foreign agents, informants, and actual soldiers.

One of those four must have let Gilmore and Natalia through under their parents’ names, but there was no time to dig information out of them now.

After driving for more than thirty minutes in an old sedan with chipped paint here and there, leaving the busy downtown behind, the sign of a closed laundry on the second floor of an old building came into view.

Unlike yesterday, when she drove like a lawless outlaw on the road, ignoring every regulation, Tatyana obeyed all traffic laws as she approached the destination, slowing down further and circling the area around the laundry slowly.

Since they had planted an improvised explosive in the apartment and even hired mercenaries with the intent of eliminating anyone who pursued them, she expected something similar to be lurking around the laundry as well. But even after circling the block nearly twice, no suspicious figures appeared.

Then again, if we’re talking about suspicious, we’re the most suspicious ones here.

Putting aside their own suspiciousness, Tatyana climbed up to the second floor with steps as careful as if she were walking on clouds. Moving while suppressing her presence as much as possible, stepping on the worn wooden stairs, she slowly lowered the pistol she had been holding as if it might fire at any moment.

At some point, Ruslan moved ahead of her and gestured downward with his eyes. As if proving that the place hadn’t been used since it closed two years ago, dull dust had piled up everywhere along the hallway. At the same time, because of that dust, someone’s footprints were clearly visible.

Tatyana casually examined the footprints left beside and behind them, then looked up at Ruslan. Aside from theirs, there were two sets of footprints that had gone into the laundry. But there was only one set leading out of the building.

Someone is inside the laundry.

Taking a ready stance again, Tatyana slowly pushed the unlocked door. Even though she used as little force as possible, the ungreased door creaked. For a moment she froze like a statue and scanned the surroundings, but felt no movement.

She moved as if sliding, sweeping her gaze between the tightly hung clothes. From the back corner of the laundry, where the darkroom likely was, she sensed a faint presence. When she listened closely, it sounded more like someone struggling, unable to move freely.

“…Father.”

Tatyana raised her index finger to her lips, then moved that same hand like a signal and pointed toward the darkroom inside. At the gesture, Ruslan attached a suppressor to his pistol and stuck close behind Tatyana, who took the lead.

Only after repeatedly checking for any suspicious wires connected to the doorknob or doorframe, or for any detonators, did Tatyana carefully open the door. The moment it creaked open, Tatyana, gripping her pistol with both hands, widened her eyes slightly.

Inside the small darkroom lit only by a red safety lamp, there was a person with both hands and feet tightly bound, a small sack covering their head. Tatyana exchanged a glance with Ruslan behind her, then yanked off the black sack.

Hmm. After confirming the face inside the sack, a short, unimpressed snort escaped Tatyana’s lips. Dropping the sack with a flick, she pouted slightly, clearly not pleased.

“I’ve been looking for you all day since yesterday, but I can’t say I’m glad to see you.”

I wonder why. Tatyana turned to Ruslan as if asking what he thought. Ruslan, looking down at the thoroughly disheveled Samuel Gilmore, wore much the same expression. He also looked oddly dissatisfied.

“Mr. Samuel Gilmore, nice to meet you.”

After greeting him politely, Ruslan swept his gaze over the shabby darkroom. There was no one else in the laundry. Gilmore was alone. Finding even one of them was good, but his hands and feet were bound, and he had a gag in his mouth… it didn’t look right.

Meanwhile, once the sack was removed, Gilmore brightened slightly. The relief that he might live showed clearly for a moment. Then he noticed the guns held by the priest and nun and the muzzle pointed at him, and his body flinched.

Tatyana stepped back half a pace from him and gave Ruslan a small look. Ruslan, who had been aiming his pistol at Gilmore’s forehead the entire time, asked with a somewhat dubious expression, “Should I kill him?”

Tatyana and Gilmore both recoiled at the same time.

“What are you talking about? Why would you kill him?”

“No?”

“Of course not. We should remove the gag.”

“Ah, the gag.”

Lowering himself as Tatyana instructed, Ruslan’s expression grew even more uncomfortable. It was soaked as if dipped in water, likely because Gilmore had struggled desperately to shout. Not wanting to touch the filthy gag with his bare hands, Ruslan picked up the sack from the floor and used it like a glove.

“I, I’m alive. I thought I was going to die. But who are you….”

As Ruslan hesitated over whether to reveal they were from Military Intelligence, Samuel Gilmore realized they had no intention of killing him and began wriggling again, as if asking for his hands and feet to be untied as well.

“Hey, don’t just stand there, untie this. This isn’t the time for this. That woman kidnapped me and locked me up like this. We have to go after her right now, right now!”

The moment the gag was removed and he regained control of his mouth and tongue, Samuel Gilmore began shouting as if he were finally finishing a long overdue task. So loud. Tatyana scratched her ear and half covered it, then crouched down. Judging by his state, it did look like he had been kidnapped….

“What are you just standing there for? Aren’t you from Military Intelligence? I’m telling you, there’s no time!”

“If you mean that woman… Rebecca West?” Tatyana asked with a deep frown as he screamed like a madman.

“That’s right! She took everything! This isn’t the time for this!”

“Lower your voice. We can hear you just fine without shouting.”

Ruslan, wearing the same expression as Tatyana, warned him quietly, but the agitated Gilmore was too busy shouting his own monologue to listen. He seemed convinced that the priest and nun who had come all the way to this dusty laundry were agents from Military Intelligence who had come to ‘rescue’ him. It was almost enough to make one wonder how he had come to such a grand misunderstanding.

Well, we did plan to grab him before he went to the Lubyanka embassy or sold off the classified information, so you could say we’re rescuing him, but that only applies while he’s still useful….

Does he have any sense or not? It’s hard to tell just from that desperate shouting and struggling. Did he already figure it out and is pretending not to know? Tatyana, kneeling on one knee, turned to look at Ruslan behind her, as if asking whether he believed Samuel Gilmore’s claim of being kidnapped and confined.

After exchanging glances for a moment with the silent Ruslan, Tatyana scratched her temple with the muzzle of her gun. Ruslan seemed slightly tempted, but not convinced, and gave a small shake of his head.

Whatever else, it was clear that Samuel Gilmore hadn’t listened at all when they told him he didn’t need to shout. Doesn’t he even get out of breath?

Frowning as if her head was starting to throb, Tatyana asked slowly, “What about Jennifer Fleming from Internal Affairs? She disappeared around the same time as you, Mr. Gilmore.”

“F-Fleming disappeared? Why? Wh-why would she?”

So he doesn’t say he doesn’t know her? Hmm. Letting out a low, meaningful hum, Tatyana swept her gaze across the floor.

“We don’t know the reason yet. They’re still looking, so we’ll hear something soon enough. But what do you mean she, Rebecca West, took everything?”

“The film, the film!”

“What film?”

“I, I told you this isn’t the time. Untie me first—”

“I’m asking you. What film?”

Cutting him off as he tried to dodge the question, Tatyana asked again. At her suddenly lowered voice, Gilmore flinched, but somehow kept up his momentum.

“I don’t know that. I just did what I was told from above… honestly, how many times do I have to say this isn’t the time to interrogate me!”

“….”

That’s enough patience. The moment she sensed movement from Ruslan behind her, Tatyana, who had finally had enough, brought her fist down hard on the back of Samuel Gilmore’s head as if swatting a cockroach.

“Ah! What was that!”

“I told you not to shout. Why didn’t you lower your voice when I told you, instead of making me use force? Do we need more onlookers in this situation?”

“Y-You could’ve just said it, why hit—”

“Just shut up, please.”

Unable to clutch the throbbing back of his head because his hands and feet were bound, Gilmore curled up as if collapsing and groaned. From behind, Ruslan, who had been watching as if he weren’t involved, clicked his tongue. There was a man who died instantly from a single punch yesterday, and he’s making a fuss over that. She must have held back as much as possible so as not to kill him.