Kids Contribution
The First Message

REPORT COLLECTED FROM OMICROM DEVICES OF INVOLVED AGENTS.
AUTHENTICATED WHITEHALL 981221

0200 Luanda, Angola. May 20, 2001.
The African Savannah stretched out before him. Lush and green, it supported more life than everwhere except the Brazilian Rainfrests. Herds of Wildebeest were migrating now; the beginning of the long dry summer, after the lush life bringing spring. What he loved most was the cycle of life.

Kid was given to letting his mind wander. Bt there wasn't much else to do when he ran. The Mk. III Scout Helo had dropped him off at the extreme southern limits of the city in the middle of the night for security reasons. hat that mean was that you could see the cty on the horizon; glittering and devilishly technological - two things Kid hated. So Kid packed up and ran off towards the city which was only about thirty-five mies away. That gave him a good four hour run to think about what he was going to do here. Hopefully shoot things, he thought to himsef.

Masque had directed Kid over here after sending him to Siberia for a short while. Siberi had been lots of fun, he'd done some big game hunting on the local Soviet Military Personal and Equipment. Now less than four days ater he was in an almost exactly opposite terrain. From hilly and mountainous to flat and arid. But still he had his mission; that was to earn what was going on with the ships that were invisible to visible light and all other means of detection. So Masque had sent him out here to do the leg work, just like an Intel Op, he thought. Not that Kid minded, he loved the out oors.

0220 Luanda, Angola. May 20, 2001.
Now he'd been running for just twenty minutes and was htting his stride. Everything seemed to calm down and he just kept running. Nevermind he was running at a world record Marathon pace. Five minute miles equaled twelve miles per hour. That was so fast that he had to stop and rest periodically to let the dogs rest.

Recently he'd picked up these dogs and bgan training them. They were magnificent animals, the three of them. First was Alpha, he was almost the size of a small man, actually he was larger than small men. Weighing in at two hundred pounds of raw muscle it could kill female lionesses. Alpha was as viscous as an 8-horsepower psychotic chainsaw on amphetamines. It was bred from German Shepherd, Rotweiller, Pitbull, and Mastiff. Alpha's coat was a dark brown and his eyes were a coal black which led some to think he was a small bear at first glance. It could tear the arm off of a man and devour it in just four bites. It was a carnivore and it was fierce.

While Alpha provided the power, violence and carrying power (yes, he could hump almost fifty pounds of gear); Shake was Kids tracker. The little Collie/Beagle mutt was hyper bt a divine tracker. He could pick up three day old trails and scurry after the smallest game or prey. Shake had a rich red-brown coat that almost defied explanation as it was rare for either breed of dog, and it's eyes were actually a dark hazel. Shake could track for days and run for hours on end. He also had the training of a K-9 bomb/drug sniffing dog. The last interesting thing about the dog was that it shook if it sat still for too long.

Last was Gopher, a strage cross-breeding of Black Labrador and Golden Retriever. The strangest dog though, produced the most intelligent dog of the three. It could do almost everything but talk, incuding very basic math on an abacus! When Kid was training it he would put Gopher in a kennel and then walk out of the dog's field of view, where he would descent himself. Then he would go out into the woods with an orange ball or a bananna (or anything sufficiently random) and spend three or four hours crossing his trails and losing his scent. At the end of the time he would hide the object. Then return another three or four hours later after repeating the process to be sure there was no way Gopher could follow his trail. When he got back to the kennel he would open it and say "Go get the thing." Whatever it was Gopher would return with it in under an hour. Kid couldn't even explain it. Gopher was also prone to walking up to him with a stick in his mouth, either hoping Kid would play Go Fetch; or that Kid had hidden it he was showing it to Kid to prove that he could find it. This was a little funny Kid thought, but it was good when he needed firewood. Gopher was also a great swimmr and a rescue dog who was gentle enough to save drowning babies.

All three of these dogs he had trained since they were pups. They responded to his hand, verbal, and body language signals. Each was totally under his control. They wouldn't bark while he was in a hide, they wouldn't pee or shit all over unless they got his OK. Barking never happened except as a warning when he told them to be on guard; they never freaked out; and would walk over teeter-totters or through fire when he commanded them. They were a loyal a loyal could be. They were also all highly intelligent and incredibly cunning.

As the three dogs ran along beside him he let his mind get back to business. These ships were coming to Africa for a reason. What would that be? Africa was the second largest continent by area and was sparsely populated at best. It had few powerlines running across it, major highwas were a dream, and suburban sprawls were not even imagined. If anybdy was doing anything in Africa they would want seclusion and solitude. If someone didn't want to be disturbed that meant going into the jungles or underground. The western coast of Africa under the hump held some of the richest rainforest on earth, the Congo river ran into the heart of Africa, and Madagascar on the east of Africa was a densely jungle too. The jungles would offer protection from all of Man's wonderful technological prying eyes.

The flat savannas of Africa covered most of the continent, and of course the worlds largest desert, the Sahara covered the remainder. These were the other place to hide things in Africa; you hid things in their vastness. But to hide in those you would have to go underground, that meant forethought and preparation. It would also be difficult to hide the construction of such a thing unless you started somewhere there was already inhabitants. Starting your secret base under a small village would hide the people coming and going, but not the heavy equipment. To hide that you would have to start under a large city, and there weren't many of those in Africa.

So Masque must think they would be hiding in a Jungle becase he sent me, Kid thought, and he knew I hated cities.

For this operation he had come prepared. He had disguised himself as an African by wearing dark face paint and dressing in the loose fitting cotton pants with shirt that was very ommon in the region. Unlike normal he had strapped all his gear onto his backpack and just wore a pistol holster on his utility belt. Having all that gear on you in ninety degree weather meant you would sweat allot and get very tired very fast. Kid didn't need either of those t happen. In his hands he carried a modified XM-25 7.62mm Battle Rifle that the company used. His had an improved stock with adjustable butt plate, cheek rest, and self-contained cleaning kit. He added a suppresser and a larger sporting military grade telescopic sight. His other two rifles were broken down and stored in his rucksack. The BFG, and the 5mm Sniper rifle completed his complement of weapons. His only pistol was the .44 Magnum 8-shot survival pistol and he wore it on his belt. Overall his equipment weighed over 200 lbs. And he would be running with it for the next several days.

With everything he could need, including hundreds of rounds of ammunition, he had set off towards his goal.

2300 Luanda, Angola. May 20, 2001.
en had fought battles over this territory since the Europeans had first discovered its incredible wealth: Diamonds. The recent wars had all been financial, but in the past Mercenaries, and national armies had been used. The Angolan countryside was lush and beautiful, its savanna's some of the best on the continent. Now Kid lay on the ground atop a hill overlooking the city from the east, approximately one mile away. He was sharing the hill top with house of a cattle rancher, but he was out behind the wood piles. Underneath his layers of Ghille gear he laid with his rifle and watched. The dogs were at the base of the hill in a brambl of underbrush. He'd told them to stay and they would until he returned.

After being on site but one day, the first "shadowless" transport had pulled into he port. Port in Africa was a relative term. For most westerners it conjured up an image of a huge concrete and steel facility with massive piers with huge overhead gantry cranes. That and the acres of container shipments were missing here. This port was a relic in the 1940's.

Constructed of treated wood and the occasional blocks it lacked all but the most rudimentary facilities. Not as a result of neglect, but as a result of man's destruction. The Civil war in Angola that was still going on had destroyed much of the nations infrastructure; including power stations, highways, railroads, and hospitals. The state of the continent really saddened Kid. Basic things like clean water, sanitatin and medical care were absent for all except the very wealthy.

Getting back to business he watched the holographic ship pull into port as he tried typing his letter to asque. Connecting to his Satellit uplink on his cell phone he sent it off as the twelve heavy Deuce and a Half's (Two and a Half Ton) rucks were pulling up. Tey unloaded about fifty men and they began walking through a holographic sid in the ship that must have gone to the deck of the real ship. Then using carts and flat-carts they began carying out hundreds of washing-machine size containers. They were rapidly loaded on the truck and then the trucks drove off. The whole operation took under twenty minutes; from the time the customs official walkd up and was bribed, until the last guy got on the last truck as t drove away. Kid calculated he could have killed them all six times each in that amount of time and destroyed their tranportation.

2000 Luanda, Angola. May 25, 2001.
Camped out behind the wood pile he was still watching the ships roll in and roll out. The farmer's house and barn had bee burned to the ground two days ag by PRCN rebels. His sons that weren't rebels or in the national army had been killed, his three daughers and wife raped and killed, and then he was quartered. Kd wondered what the farmer had done to attract the ire of the local PRCN rebel leaders. Then as they began rummaging through the woodpile Kid executed them all with his knife. Stupid rebels.

1000 Luanda, Angola. May 29, 2001.
His hide at the woodpile was starting to get a little rank, so he was i the process of moving. He had covered his old hide with CS powder, and moved out the older foliage he had used as camouflage. Now he was inside the burned out hulk of the house. It was easy to hide in there. Just sit down and roll in the ashes a bit and you were 100% camouflaged. He just had to be careful when he came and went to et water from the well. It was his life on the line that he left no foot prints or beat down one path that would stand out.

1530 Luanda, Angola. June 6, 2001.
His new hide was much better. Almost a week and a half later and he was totally undisturbed. His rifle laed across his lap as he sat on the far side of the huse from the city. From here he could see all approaches to the house from the east since roads from Luanda wrapped arond the hill and came up that way. The western approach was very treacherous and unsuitable as a road. Being on the opposite side of the house from the ity also gave him a very large field of view to watch the city from. He made another note on his notepad as the twentieth freighter moved in and unloded. This one too had no shadow and the operation was done with the same timing and precisio as the first. Time to take some initiative and follow that truck. It woul be a shame t leave his new hide.

1800 Northern Angola. June 7, 2001.
The truck had stopped for the night again, giving Kid he whole day to catch up with it. Sitting on the hilltop looking down on the caravan of trucks he laded the tracker bullet into the rifle. Taking aim, he decided not to ue it. If it were found it would give away his position. The dogs were excited, especially Alpha. Odds were tha he could go down there and kill everyone before they could kill him. Of course the gunshot wounds would kill him after he calmed dwn, and Kid didn't want that. So he began hiking again and passed them. He'd pick them u as they continued on their way tomorrow. It had been over twenty-fours hours since he last slept and it didn't look like he'd get any in the near future.

2300 Hotcha Village, Zaire. June 8, 2001.
The villages thatched roofs were still lae at night. One of the last four villages along the Congo, it was absolutely primitive. Beyond ere the jungle was too thick to live in, or too thick to try in. The convoy slowed down considerably and Kid was able to follow it, but h lost it here. Even Shake couldn't pick up their PLO (Petroleu, Lubricants, Oil) trail. Damnit, Masque would be mad, Kid thought.

1900 Keto Village, Zaire. June 12, 2001. Snce he lost the first truck four days ago, Kid nd the boys had traveled over eight hundred miles. Kid didn't usually know fatigue, but he was running on epty now. They had contacted locals he knew that were still around. Bushmen he knew were just about the onl ones around in Northern Zaire. They told him that dozens of villages had been depopulated, but they found n forms of foul play. Evidently people had chosen to move out or had been moved out in good order. These bshmen also gave Kid a network of eyes and ears with which to follow more tucks. He had tracked twelve more into this area of the Congo. He had lst them all.

The trucks had come from Brazzaville, Dar es Salaam, Mogadishu, Nairobi, Sudan, Malabo, and Equatorial Guinea. All those trucks coverging on this site gave credence to his 'base in the jungle' theorem. When he corroated his map to their disappearances or where he lost track of them he found an interesting pattern. First, the came in from three directions: the north, the east, and the south-west. All disappeared within three miles of each other on those approaches. All disappeared witin one hundred yards of each other as if they were passing thrugh a plane or cloaking wall. The three oints of entry defind a box about twenty miles wide, and one hundred miles long. Two housand square miles. You could ide almost anything in two thousand squar miles.

1900 Brazzaville, Congo. June 15, 2001.
Masqu and his tem would be getting here soon hopefully, Kid thought to himself. Pesons he knew in the black marke were now reporting massive purchases of Soviet and Chinese military hardware, up to and including old surplus tanks and weeled armored personnel carriers. The military aspect didn't bother him much, he could take on a battalion of anything and most likely in, but the implcation that somebody was putting something together bothered him. Especiay something this big. Team 203 better hurry up.

The last two days he'd spent artching around in The Void as he came to think of it. The two thousand square mile area that all those trucks and containers were disapparing into. Nothing came out of it. If nothing else they would have to have a huge parking garage. Then he had come back to Brazzaville. Gopher had ed the way almost the entire way, while Kid had run on in a sleepy daze. Trying to res on the run was not only difficult but nearly impossible. Still some sleep was better than no sleep, and hen he had left Th Void he had been awake for nearly ninety six hours. Before he left he'd taken an hour and a half combat nap, but he felt like a slacker for even doing that. hen he woke he'd had another two or three handfuls of rce and drank some water before heading out for Brazzavile.

Now he was back at a windy little hilside facing west into the setting sun. The dogs were lying on the ground at his feet, and he was cooking up a whoe antelope. Alpha was behaving marvelously and hadn't touched a single bit of the juicy, bloody, raw meat. They were al so tired. Shake wasn't even shaking or holing his nose up in the air trying to sniff anything. Gopher had only brought in eight twigs before flopping down in the long grass.

Very lttle could describe the fatigue he felt. Kid had never been so tired in his life. Looking down at his body, he had probably lost thirty pounds. Hopefully when Masque and the rest of them got here, they would feel like kicking whose ver ass had put Kid through this.

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