August 21, 2012
Rocinha, Brazil


The early August heat pressed on Kyle's face as he laid on the rooftop. He was watching...waiting. His job was simple, take out the Mob leader at the end of the money exchange, and quietly slip away as the pandemonium ensued. He wasn't told much by his client, just that he was meant to be here at this time, and take out this target. Kyle had an old friend he was going to meet with. His name was Charlie Klein . When Kyle saw him he was wearing khakis and a Hawaiian shirt . He had close cropped hair and tan skin. He spoke with an American accent and was constantly looking past Kyle like something was going to happen any second.

He had told Kyle “ These are dangerous parts man, and the people are not ever to be taken for granted. They even make me nervous”. Not exactly a reassuring kind of person.

As Kyle walked up to the building adjacent to the meeting place, he saw several undesirable people openly brandishing guns. Wonderful he thought, I'm the guy carrying a suspicious duffel bag. A stupid gringo. Kyle still maintained the authoritative look about him though, despite his inside feelings. When he finally got to the roof, he unzipped the bag. His weapon of choice was a silenced M110 sniper rifle. Just in case things went wrong, he had an Uzi at his side. He opened up the rifles tripod and perched it on a beat up table. This allowed him to shoot through an opening in the rough brick work that surrounded him. Kyle aligned the rifle, adjusted his sights, and when all this was finished, he went back to the duffel bag. He reached in and pulled out a single M18 Claymore Mine. He deployed the mine by the door to the roof. If anyone decided to come and get Kyle, they would get torn to shreds from the mine. Everything was set, and now he waited.

While waiting, Kyle went over his mission again. The Mob leader would be taking a money deposit from the Cartel. The Cartel were massive, and had the strength of a small army. They would no doubt have lots of soldiers with them. But the Mob were an equally formidable force. This was going to be a very dangerous day for Kyle. Both sides would open fire at the drop of a hat. And that's exactly what he was counting on.

Kyle's thoughts were interrupted by the approaching sound of cars. They appeared to becoming from an alley way about 50 feet away from Kyle's hideout. Luckily, he had the whole road in his sights, literally. No matter which way the two sides came,he could take them out. When both parties arrived they slowly and cautiously got out of their assorted vehicles and met in the middle of the road. The Mob boss was a large man, and the Cartel was an equal match. There soldiers were less sinister looking but they were the ones carrying the guns, so Kyle was also cautious of them. The Cartel man snapped his fingers and a small soldier, a kid, ran up with an AK-74 in one hand and a briefcase in the other. He looked scared, but the Cartel leader didn't even notice. He tore the briefcase from the boy's hand and thumbed over the latches on the front of it. Finally, when he thought fit, he flicked open the case and showed it to the Mob leader. A grin grew on the face of the Mobster and he took the case in his massive hands. He nodded his head to the Cartel and turned to leave.

Slowly, Kyle's window of opportunity was approaching, the figure was finishing his exchange, and the guards were packing up to leave. He swung his sniper around so that the sights were on the man's head. Kyle held his breath, then took the shot. This time, as usual, he is a success in his shot. The bullet impacted just above the man's left eye, and he was blown back into a wall from the force of the bullet. The guards surrounding him first, ducked for cover, then tried to look for the shooter, rifles sweeping the air. Then there eyes settled on the Cartel.

By this time, Kyle had already ducked behind a nearby chimney, collapsed his gun, and shoved it into the duffel bag he had brought with him. He could hear shouting from the Mobsters. And then as if every gun in the world was fired, a small war erupted in the streets below. To Kyle, it seemed that the Mob assumed the Cartel had shot there man, and wanted to return the favor.

Bullets whizzed around everywhere, cutting into the buildings and smashing the very small amount of wall Kyle had as cover. The two groups were apparently awful shots. Kyle had to get out of here before he got hit by one of these idiots.

Then a grenade flew onto the roof a rolled to a stop at Kyle's feet.

He didn't have time to think, only to react. He dropped the duffel bag, and looked for an exit. As the grenade went tick, tick, Kyle's eyes settled on a smashed out window only a couple of steps away. He pumped his legs with all the energy he had and threw his body out the window just as the grenade went off. The grenade exploded with what felt like the force of a small nuke. Kyle forgot about the claymore he put down. The grenade blast combined with the claymore blew the building apart. It was only two stories and was already structurally weakened from lack of care to it. Kyle was lucky a gust of wind didn't knock it over. But this? The blast completely demolished the building and parts of it were flying everywhere. Landing in the streets and hitting the men who were shooting. As for Kyle? He was knocked unconscious by the blast, not to mention the couple hundred pounds of debris that hit him as he fell into an alley.

The last thing he saw was a cloud of dust wash over him and he blacked out.

*





*





*


Screams. Blurry figures running, then all of the sudden stopping and keeling over, never to get up again. Kyle tried to move but found that he was trapped under rubble. He could feel unconsciousness beginning to cloud his thoughts, and he eventually gave in.


Someone was digging. The massive weight was being lifted from his shoulders. Whoever this person was, he was helping him. Kyle started to say thank you but a hand went over his mouth. His vision was still to blurry to make out the person, but he could've sworn he saw a Hawaiian shirt beneath a layer of dust.

“Not a sound man.” a gravelly voice said.

The man lifted Kyle into the passengers seat of a beat up pick up truck. Kyle shook his head to try and clear his vision, but the man put his hand on Kyle's shoulder.

“Easy, you took a h*ll of a beating man”he handed Kyle a wet rag,”Here, wash your eyes out. Can't have you stumbling around blindly.”

Kyle pressed the rag into his eyes and let the cold water run down his face as the dirt was scrubbed from his eyes. He pulled the rag away and saw that it was now stained with dirt. Finally being able to see, he looked up to see who the mysterious man was. He should've recognized him from the start. Khakis? Hawaiian shirts? American accent? It was Charlie! His original worried look was now gone and was replaced with a broad smile.

“ Did 'ya miss me?” he said as he started to pull the car away from the scene of destruction.

Kyle wanted to hug this man. He had saved his life. But he instead clapped him on the shoulder and said “Good job man! Buildings are extremely heavy!” he said with a laugh.

“ Tell me about it man, try and be crushed by a lighter building next time would 'ya?” He laughed but then his face grew serious, “ Really man, you took a huge fall, you alright?

Kyle felt around his body and said, “ Just the minor flesh wounds. They will heal. What happened? I wanted pandemonium, but it looks like I started a war! And where is everyone?”

Charlie looked at the road and for the briefest moment, his eyes flashed with sadness.

“To answer your first question,” he said grimly “ After you fired the shot, the Mob blamed the Cartel for the death of their boss. They then started shooting at each other and then that escalated into both sides unleashing the fires of h*ll on one another. And to the question of where everyone is?” He paused for a second and then said, “ They're dead. Or have fled the city. We are the only ones left that aren't Mob or Cartel.”

The rest of the drive was spent in sad silence.


Kyle drifted off at some point and woke up as the pickup truck slowed to a halt in front of a beat up shack. He sat up and looked at Charlie.

“Are you serious? This piece of junk couldn't take a rock thrown at it!”

“ Don't judge a book by its cover man.” Charlie said with a grin. He walked over to the front door of the shack (It was more of a metal sheet) and opened it up.

“Ladies first.” Charlie said as he ushered Kyle in.

There was absolutely nothing in the 6 by 6 area the shack had. Just a dusty floor and rusted metal framework. He looked around, waiting for Charlie's trick. And on cue Charlie said, “Look down”. And Kyle did.

At first Kyle didn't see it, but when he stared long enough he saw a small square outline, just big enough for someone to squeeze through. Charlie went over to it and dusted the dirt off to reveal a trap door.

“Huh.” Kyle said with a hint a surprise in his voice. Charlie grinned at him and opened up the door. Kyle saw a ladder running down about 15 meters. Charlie jumped down and after a few moments said, “Come on down man. This'll shock 'ya.”

Kyle slid down the ladder and landed with a thud on a pile of hay. He turned around and what he saw shocked him.

A cave. Kyle started to walk and realized his boots were clinking every time he stepped. He was walking on a metal walkway. It ran 40 feet and then opened up. Charlie was at the end of the walkway laughing quietly.

“ Come on man! Keep up!” he yelled so the sound reached Kyle. Kyle jogged to the end of the walkway and came out to see the full view of the cave. It was 60 feet high and kept going forward for at least another 80 feet. It was like a big giant upside down bowel. The single walkway Kyle was on extended to the center of the cave which was just a huge column that came up from a moat of water that swished underneath Kyle's feet. The top of the column was level with the walkway and was 20 feet across was surrounded by a railing that encircled it. It had a circular shape and was stocked full of computer monitors. A beam of light shone down and illuminated the cave. Kyle looked up and saw a hole in the ceiling that let sunlight shine through the various vines that had grown across the hole. Charlie stood in the center of the column and said, “ Dude, totally Batcave right?” and then burst out laughing. Eventually Kyle couldn't help himself as he walked to the column and started to laugh to.