EPISODE 03: Operation Dawn Bringer 01 (Patreon)

// Theater of Operations: Republic of Esperança

// Mission Time: 1822 Hours

Baram was the kind of girl that knew exactly what she wanted and how to get it. There was no such thing as chance in her playbook. Only meticulous preparation and flawless execution. You don’t become a world famous K-pop idol and super spy - at the same time - by means of a lucky dice roll after all.

So, when the alarms started blaring and bullets begun whizzing past her head, she was certain it wasn’t the product of bad luck either - it was an ambush through and through.

But first things first.

Baram leapt behind the cover of a large tree, barely avoiding the sweeping cone of a searchlight, giving her a few seconds of respite. Taking a deep breath and pressing her back against the tree thick trunk, she began reviewing her situation one more time.

It had been roughly 3 hours since they had touched down in the designated LZ. 2 hours since they reached Site Alpha: The labor camp where former president Ana Castilho was presumably being held in. But instead of the precarious quarry they had seen in surveillance photos, Sadie and Baram had stumbled upon a full blown mining operation in the heart of the Amazonian jungle.

Under the careful watch of fully equipped unmarked security forces, a large group of super heavy excavators and industrial machines rumbled through the valley like gargantuan monsters.

Sadie was the first to notice the radar array perched over a hilltop overlooking the valley. Perhaps a bit too late, as a single S-500 surface-to-air missile roared into the skies leaving a thick trail of smoke.

With their extraction helicopter under fire and their communication systems jammed, Baram knew it was time to bail. Having lost the initiative and faced with an unknown hostile force that exceeded any of the original operational parameters, it was obvious this wasn’t the time for heroics.

It wasn’t obvious for Sadie however, who chose to charge towards the gunfire instead, leaving Baram to fend for herself.

“Hashtag Teamwork … Sadie.” Cursed Baram under her breath, remembering how angry she was before glancing over her shoulder one more time.

The sun had fallen but those unmarked mercenaries hadn’t given up. Cutting through the darkness of the jungle with their flashlights, they moved methodically through the woods in a coordinated search pattern … slowly but surely gaining on Baram.

She cursed again. Who were they punks? Highly trained, heavily equipped. Capable of concealing a large scale mining op and an active SAM site from satellite imagery? Had they underestimated the Republic of Esperança? Or had someone been feeding rotten intel to the agency?

These questions twisted up in Baram’s head like a knot, but she knew that her priority then was to escape her pursuers: Lose them in the forest, re-establish communications with TAC-OPS and get an extraction rolled in.

She was the kind of girl that knew exactly what she wanted and how to get it after all - although she wasn’t so sure about the ‘how’ anymore.

But as Baram vanished into the depths of the jungle, she could only hope Sadie was doing better than she was.

(To be continued.)