Kai turned the rudder smoothly to the right, driving the fighter into a U-turn. Now the sun was to his left. He changed the angle, and part of the ground was visible through the plane's protective glass. Then, the plane ascended rapidly.
The task
was completed for today. He provided air support for his people, video filming
of the enemy's fortifications had been made, control marks were dropped in the
established square. He could return to base.
So he lived
for the last two months. From the garrison, he was transferred here, to a military
airfield, which was located not far from Kamrat. The proximity of the city and
civilization at first even pleased him, but then it turned out that he did not
even have time to sleep, let alone get to the city.
The two
months were very stressful due to the constant flights. In addition to the
assignments that he received from the leadership of the base, under the orders
of which he arrived, he had his own assignments from the center. Actually, for
the sake of these tasks, he was sent here. He made aerial surveys of the
fortifications and scattered control marks and beacons in certain squares. To
find out why and what for, he had long ceased. What did it matter to him? They
said to do - do it. So he lived all this time.
Although,
he "lived" badly, if you mean housing. The military airfield was
located practically in an open field. It was a rocky valley with an airstrip
and hastily constructed minimum living conditions for those who were here.
The
headquarters was located in the only miraculously preserved brick building that
had not been bombed earlier, but everything else was brought. These were
containers with equipped rooms inside with minimal amenities, but basically,
everyone lived in military tents, connected in long sections with a single
awning and fabric partitions. All of this was covered from above with a
camouflage net. They lived in such tents. There was a common kitchen and bunks
for relaxation.
After his
dwelling of the garrison, Kai again found himself in the barracks. Of course,
he endured everything stoically, but it was very difficult for him to return to
this again. Several shared beds - iron, hard and uncomfortable. It was a
constant circulation of the people, as some were resting, while others were
preparing for flights and service. There was noise in the barracks, voices,
somebody smoked, someone else shared their soulful experiences while drinking a
bottle of intoxicant, others strummed the guitar. In such conditions, he had to
sleep and live. Sometimes he was so tired that he turned off, barely falling on
the bed, and sometimes he did not sleep for half a night, trying to abstract
from what was around him.
The only
bright spot in all this was to meet Senya and Vadik here. How glad he was to
them, and they did not hide their joy to see him here. It turned out that under
the contract they were transferred here to guard the airfield, however, they
were soon to be sent somewhere else. But while they were here, and this
brightened up their coexistence. Although, often their shifts did not coincide,
and when Kai slept or was on departure, they rested, and when he had a free
minute, they were on duty. But there were moments when their free time
coincided, then they talked a lot, remembered the past, talked about where they
had already managed to visit on duty.
***
In the
evening they had one of these sincere gatherings. Senya took out the bottle of
cognac he had stored and, placing three disposable plastic cups on the bedside
table, began to pour it.
Kai was
sitting in Turkish on the bed closer to the bedside table, Vadik sat next to
him, Senya was sitting on the bed opposite.
"And
this is for children!" Vadik solemnly took a chocolate bar out of his
pocket and handed it to Kai.
"What
kind of children?! Just for a snack," Senya muttered, trying to pour the
cognac equally evenly into the cups.
"Will
you cheat the child? Here, look, his eyes are already lit up."
"Well,
let him eat, I am joking," Senya glanced briefly at Kai, who was
enthusiastically unwrapping the chocolate, knowing that here in general it was
bad with delicacies of food, and rarely anyone had time to go to the city.
"I'll
share," Kai broke the chocolate into pieces and put it on the table.
"Come
on, eat. We're going to have a snack on an orange," Vadik began to peel an
orange.
"So,
startle!" Senya raised a glass. "Well, for us!" he solemnly
uttered, clinked glasses with each, and drank cognac dashingly.
Kai drank
and began to enthusiastically eat chocolate, which he had not eaten for a long
time while being here.
Senya
poured again, raised the glass.
"Come
on, without clinking glasses, for Mishka," his voice trembled.
They drank
in silence, trying not to look each other in the eyes, as if they felt guilty
for being here, alive, and he was no longer there.
Kai remembered
the warm blood on his fingers, it seemed like it was so recently and so long
ago. It hurt him for the death of this young, cheerful guy, whose life was just
beginning and ended like this ... he sadly put the glass on the table.
"Come
on, why be sad now ..." Vadik tried to cheer everyone up and himself with
these words. "Let's hope that he feels good there ..."
They sat
for a while in silence.
"Tomorrow
we'll go to the city and buy you some chocolate," while pouring more, said
Senya.
"Great,
and the thin cigarettes," Kai perked up such a small joy in his life.
"Well,
I remember what you smoke. We'll buy it. So wait. But we will only arrive in a
day. You'll have to endure."
"Will
you have fun?" Kai looked at their conspiratorial faces.
"Not,
what you have thought."
"What
have I thought?" Kai smiled.
"Well,
not girls. We have more serious business there. But we'll tell you," Senya
paused, then drinking again, continued. "We go to play cards. One
institution was suggested to us. They play for money, everything is serious. We
have played several times already. Vadik raised the money pretty well."
Kai frowned
at the guys' idealistic-naive faces.
"There
is such a tough person, they call him Basilisk, such a moniker. By the way, he
lives not far from here. He has a mansion near Kamrat. So, he has money up the
wazoo. He loses them with ease."
"Are
you sure he really loses?" Kai more and more did not like this story.
"Do
you think he's playing along on purpose? Come on, what kind of fool would waste
money? After all, we can take all winnings and never come back to play."
"But
you’re coming."
"Listen,
I don’t know what you’re hinting at, but, you know, we're rather big ones,
we’ll figure it out ourselves. Eh ... what are you, offended?" Senya
looked at Kai's distant face. "That's it, let's change the subject - come
on, shuddered," he raised the glass again.
"I've
heard about this Basilisk from Sebastian," Kai said thoughtfully. "He
warned me that it is better to stay away from this type. Sebastian is my
friend. He will not speak empty words."
"Well,
we stay away. We'll cash in tomorrow and again we'll stay away."
"They
say bad things about him," Kai said vaguely, remembering Sebastian’s
story.
"That
he loves boys. Why should we care? We will play cards with him."
"Guys,
maybe it is not worth it?" Kai looked at Senya and Vadik.
"Hey,
we, of course, respect you, but you don't need to tell us what to do,"
seeing how Kai was glaring at them, Senya poured another glass. "That's
it, let's close this topic. I didn't think it would upset you so. Come on, in
short, for us!"
They did
not return to this conversation again that evening. After finishing the cognac
and chatting about everything, they went to their bunks, Kai lay down on his
own. In the morning he had a flight, there was not much time left for sleep.
But he
could not sleep, remembering Sebastian's story about Basilisk. Then he did not
attach any importance to this story, but now, having heard that his friends so
frivolously believed in his deception, he felt that it would not end well.
Sebastian
told him a little about him. He said that such a pervert lived with his
friends, the same as him, in a mansion. That he seemed to be Russian, although
it was not clear what he was doing here and why, with his money and hobbies, he
settled here, and not in the Canaries, for example. Probably, here he had his
interests. He was involved in shady dealings, something with the resale of
weapons and something else. And in his free time from the business, he had fun.
As Sebastian said, this Basilisk was a fuck, and his friends were the same.
Kai also
didn't like Senya's story about their luck in cards. He knew very well, since
he perfectly calculated himself all the card combinations, that it was easy to
play giveaway, but then at the right moment, when the bait was swallowed, to
take and to win. But why was it necessary to Basilisk? Although, if a person
was having so much fun ... Kai felt hurt that his friends did not take his
words seriously. But his sensei often told him, you cannot put your mind to
another. On this, he fell asleep.
The next
day began early for him, with a sortie. He returned only for dinner. The plane
was refueled, and it took off again, although two hours later it had already
returned. But the load was strong, the guy felt how he was shaken as he walked
to the tents. Pressure, elevation changes, and tension - after all, he flew not
to have fun - all these put together made themselves felt.
He forced
himself to eat in the dining room. He did not even touch the soup - what was
floating there did not attract him. Buckwheat in grain form with two
half-wilted cucumber slices was the only thing that he chose from the dining
room's assortment. He also did not eat the mysterious composition of the cutlet.
He finished another slice of black bread, believing that it would be good for
him. He remembered that the guys would bring chocolate and cigarettes only
tomorrow, which upset him but also gave hope for small joys in his life. Then
he dragged himself to his bunk and fell on top of it in his clothes. Around, as
always, it was noisy and lively.
Three bunks
later, the guys chatted merrily, discussing the last fight. In the right
corner, the guy tortured the guitar and sang pitifully in the presence of a weak
voice, but sang with heart, and therefore found fans of his talent in the form
of five colleagues who occasionally sang along with him.
Various
people constantly walked along the aisle.
Kai looked
up at the canvas ceiling and closed his eyes. He needed to rest. Nobody
canceled his work, and the conditions - well, it happened even worse.
His
thoughts took him to Toyami's tent when he had woken up in his bed, and the
samurai brought him a glass of champagne - pink. And then it was good for Kai -
to see him, to listen. In general, it was good at Toyami's...
"So!
Stop!"
It was not
the first time he caught himself on such memories. Too often they began to
stalk him. All their previous meetings, minor episodes, words, phrases thrown
by him. Everything floated to his mind.
He tried to
think about something else, but then again, imperceptibly for himself, he again
recalled various episodes where he was in his life.
Kai tried
to figure it out. Maybe there was simply nothing more to think about here? He
could not even read here, the tension from the flights was too strong - he
could only lie and stare at the ceiling, waiting for sleep to turn off his
consciousness.
But,
strangely, he wanted to recall only this and only think about it.
He tried to
figure it out again. He tried to think about Prokhor, their life, but all this
was very far away, there, in the past, and here with him, in the present, he
was, and Kai returned his thoughts to him, and he felt calm, good and not
lonely ...
He knew
that Toyami often visited Kamrat, but now he had no opportunity even to go
there, although the city was within easy reach. Although, why go? To
accidentally bump into him at the hotel restaurant, where he dined so often?
And, by the way, he was invited there many times. Only, what would he tell him,
and why should they encounter? Too many questions, too many doubts, too ...
He was
confused about this, lost, did not understand.
And so it
was all this time, while he lived here. During these brief intervals of his
rest, his memory persistently brought him back to Toyami. Sometimes he
strenuously resisted this, and sometimes he allowed himself to remember, and
then it became good, just good.
He fell
asleep remembering him, and when he woke up, he was angry with himself, promising
that he would no longer allow himself to remember him and think about him.
***
In the
morning, Kai had a scheduled flight. He scrambled the fighter, quickly climbed,
and set a course. He soon received the coordinates of the target. It was
necessary to hit it and return to base. But something went wrong. He was not
provided with a cover, he saw flashes in the sky, and three fighters flew past,
clearly not related to their allies.
There was a
noise on the radio.
"Hawk,
this is the base, how do you hear? Over."
"Base,
it's a hawk. I hear you well," Kai replied, sharply turning the plane.
"There
are three enemy fighters next to you. But your assignment is not canceled. Hold
on until reinforcements arrive. We are sending help. How do you understand me?
Over."
"Got
it. I must hold out until reinforcements arrive. Abort."
Kai climbed
sharply as he watched the missiles fired into his fighter jet past on the
screen. He turned the plane around again, tracking the points following him on
the monitor.
So, changing
the angles of flight and altitude, he managed to go into the tail of one of the
pursuing fighters and release a rocket that hit the target. He saw the pilot
eject from the burning and falling plane.
There were
still two left. A red button on the panel blinked, indicating that a homing
missile was approaching.
Kai sharply
climbed again, then turned the plane and went into a tailspin. The rocket
pursued him, but such a maneuver allowed him to buy time. And then he saw one
of the pursuers' planes. He brought his plane out of a tailspin and almost
head-on went on a fighter flying at him. They opened fire, but Kai made an
unrealistic maneuver, turning the plane on its side and flying, almost touching
the oncoming fighter with the wing. The rocket flying behind him hit a new
target, which was clearly on its course.
He again
saw how the pilot ejected from the second falling plane.
Finally,
reinforcements arrived. Three fighters intercepted the aircraft going to Kai
and opened fire on it. It became clear that it was no longer up to the pursuit,
it went into a dive, saving itself.
Kai saw
that someone was no longer pursuing him, went to the target, and launched
rockets at it. Then he turned to the base, reporting by radio that the target
was hit.
Getting out of the plane, he staggered from such overloads but managed to restore the clarity of the picture before his eyes and went to the headquarters for a report.
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