The Bee's Knees

Poland (Part 1)

Two Months Later

Ghost was at a military base in South Eastern Poland, having just completed a solo mission on the Ukranian border. He'd had several back to back missions and was glad to finally rest up for a couple of days before heading back to the US. The missions themselves were straightforward but they'd required a lot of travel over a large area of the Slavic countries.

Looking forward to a well earned restful night, Ghost spend a couple of hours in the base gym, catching up on his training routine to help wind down and release tension after his missions. After showering, he headed down to grab some dinner. As he didn't eat in the mess hall, Ghost returned to his room to eat and catch up on some emails on his tablet.

Ghost had just finished his meal when there was a knock at the door. Grumbling to himself he went to answer it, only to find a young sergeant with a message saying the base commander had requested a meeting. With a long sigh, Ghost followed.

Entering the room, he could immediately feel the tension. Something was wrong. The commander explained that they had expected a supply truck and it's escort to arrive that afternoon, but when it had failed to appear, he'd called the base they'd driven from.

Ghost didn't see the immediate issue. "Why is it an issue that they're late?" he queried.

The commander looked stressed "That's not the issue. The base said they'd radioed them that there was a snow storm moving into the mountain road they were travelling on, so they'd detoured to a smaller road in the river valley " he explained.

Ghost looked at the man expectantly, waiting for him to continue. The commander pulled up a map of the area on the large screen in the room and pointed to the river valley route "We've been receiving new reports of the presence of Ukrainian Nationalists in that area". 

"Locals have reported unauthorised checkpoints and robberies of delivery and civilian vehicles on that road. We've been unable to make contact with the supply truck or their escort, so we have to assume they have encountered a road block" he said through gritted teeth.

Realising why he'd been called to the meeting, Ghost asked "So you planning on sending out a party to check the road?"

"Yes, we'll send a vehicle with a small team to re-con and report back. The storm is moving into that area, so we'll have to move soon before visibility is hampered and the road becomes impassible" he explained.

Ghost nodded and already started his mental preparation for heading back out again "How many personnel were on the supply truck and escort?"

"It was a small group. We have two in the supply truck and three in the escort. The reason I'm asking you to join them Lieutenant is that we have an American non military contractor in the escort. Bee was travelling to us on a week's contract to assist in our digital intel system" the commander continued.

Ghost felt his stomach drop at the news of Bee travelling with the group. As much as the woman irritated him and sorely tried his patience, she was a civilian and not equipped to deal with this kind of danger.

Now fearing that she had been injured, captured or possibly killed by this group, Ghost resolved that he would find her no matter what. Ghost and five men prepared themselves with their gear and weapons, along with their Winter kit and set off in the hopes of finding the lost party.

Bee had been enjoying her drive through the Polish mountains, she was used to harsh winters and was admiring the early evening light and the snow settling on the trees. The change of route didn't bother her as she sat happily chatting to the two sergeants as their small convoy meandered down the river valley.