The cold wasn't even the worst part, Kristie knew that much was true, it was the numbness. Many-a-time had her legs, and even her entire body, been screaming at her to stop. Slow down, rest, stop hurting us... but sheer determination and furious willpower demanded her to continue on. That was one such situation. Her body was cold, her muscles were sore from the hours of no movement to all this sudden action. Her body was still kicking into gear, she was both thankful to be moving and cursing it at the same time. Such is the life.<br/><br/>The move from the OP to the house was uneventful. The heartbeat monitor sitting on the left side of her ACR was pinging with white dots every few seconds. But there was only three, and the two she didn't know were hers were at least 30 meters away. In broad daylight with clear visibility that might be a problem, but a pitch black night and a blizzard rolling in were like putting a solid brick and stone wall between them. They were invisible. At first she worried about cameras and maybe even motion sensors; these guys were definitely high tech though it showed they cut corners with personal protection.<br/><br/>The forest was eerie. Not creepy, but the gentle snow fall and wind masked everything in this tiny veil of white. It was like looking through a soft, thin white bedsheet. Everything had this ghostly, sereine look to it, but all of it added this feeling of comfort, a feeling of peacefulness. Strange, given what they were here to do. This place had never seen violence, today was going to change that. They were going to change that. The tops of the trees, and even the long, slender solid wood towers rising above were all coated in that veil, even Eric; straight ahead of Kristie, was similar. A perfect night for them, worst night... and last night, for these guards.<br/><br/>Before to long, Eric had led them to the house and Tapler and Richards would be waiting outside. They exchanged glances and nods, Kristie set to work on the hatch. She took a final scan with her heartbeat sensor and was content they weren't going to be discovered. She could hear music inside, possibly a party of some kind. Laughing, some talking in Russian and the odd cough that was close. There were two guards just outside the front door, Kristie ignored them and inspected the lock. To her dismay, it had no lock. Instead, the bolt was apparently frozen shut. She pushed her ACR on its sling around her body until it sat on her back and set to work on getting the hatch open. It was set up to have a simple combination lock slide through a loop to keep the hatch secure. But since it had frozen, the effect was the same. Except no lock picking. It took a few minutes, but with her knife Kristie was able to dig enough ice out to wiggle the hatch up and it snapped off with a dull cling.<br/><br/>She froze.<br/><br/>The two guards on the other side of the house began talking loudly, Kristie instinctively reached for her USP .45 with a sound suppressor. Hec ACR was useless here, they were to close. They spoke arabic, it sounded closer to Farsi which she spoke only a little of. Her heart raced and her blood heated, her body became alive as adrenaline began pumping through her veins. Her ears seemed to magnify each word the man said, almost like slow motion. She had her USP in her right hand and her stainless steel combat knife in her left, using her left to support her right arm. She was a right handed shooter, after all, though she prefered to use her right with the knife more so, this was worked best if she needed to use the USP. A few seconds elapsed that felt like minutes, before the men seemed to relax and began talking about ...oh dear. "<strong>Shit....</strong>" Kristie whispered, leaning back towards Eric just beside her. "<strong>They have prostitues in the house...</strong>" she was now fully annoyed.<br/><br/>Adding civilians to the mix became a severe problem. Intelligence had assumed, given the fact that callsign TROUT was a married man, he wouldn't dip into the local ...flavor. But it seemed any man could give in, but it was more so a problem that it meant they had to be extra careful. Civilians would tend to run around when bullets flew, it also meant they'd have loose ends to deal with. Kristie hated harming civilians,and avoided it if possible, but adding them into this mix was likely to end in disaster.<br/><br/>It was Eric's choice now, Kristie didn't have time to think about it. She pulled the hatch open and flipped on her NVG's. It was like a tip-toe dance, Kristie had perfected it in her years but never mastered it. Down the stairs, shifting her weight and praying to God or whoever the hell had kept that bullet with her name far away that the stairs wouldn't creek.<br/><br/>Of course they did.<br/><br/>She heard a quiet creeking further into the room and the sounds of footsteps. The game was on. She moved forward quickly, going from her heel to her toes in every step, being as silent as possible. She knew Eric was close by, and by the sudden cease in wind and cold air from the door, it was apparent that either Taple or Richards had closed the hatch. But the damage was done. Kristie could feel her heart jump as an arm, with an AK-74, slowly rounded the corner ahead of her. She broke into a quick sprint as the man's head finally appeared around the corner, and he immediately frowned as the AK-74 began to rise. She lashed out with her USP, viciously jabbing at the mans throat with the silencer, she couldn't fire however. The man recoiled as she closed the final distance, using her momentum to push him back into a stone column. She was pressed against him now, he was trying to push away and at the same time bring his weapon up. Kristie pulled him with all her might, some trickly footwork put her on his left side as she slammed his head into the brick wall and knee'd him just below the rib cage. Her hands were on his right side, she brought them across; her knife in front and her USP behind. She pulled the knife across his throat blade first, he furiously began trying to pull away now as she moved around behind him and pressed her right hand and USP into his face, bringing her knife up and yanking his head back and up, jabbing her knife into the base of his neck just below the skull.<br/><br/>The sentry twitched a few times, spasming was more like it, until his body weight was to much for her handle and he slumped to the ground. She yanked her knife from the back of his head and wiped it clean on his jacket. "<strong>Clear</strong>" She whispered to Eric as she stepped away from the body and checked her USP. Fuck the cold. The action had frozen, thats why it wouldn't fire. She sighed, knowing she'd cleaned it but the heat from the plane ride over must have gotten moisture inside her weapon. She holstered the USP near a scabbard for a breaching shotgun on her back near the waist. "<strong>Well, that makes the day more interesting...</strong>" She commented absentmindedly to Eric, pulling off her winter camo and stuffing it in her ruck. Now she was wearing her black Nomex jumpsuit and the utility vest and pouch belt that complimented it all. It was a tad form figured, but the added gear masked her gender as best as possible. Despite being at least a head shorter than Eric.<br/><br/>She slid a black balaclava over her face and adjusted her night vision appropriately. She dawned a black wool winter cap, making sure to cover her ears and hair as she also put on a light combat helmet. It had its own clip for night vision optics, more resembling a helmet a BMX rider or skateboarder might wear but it did the job. She clipped on her NVG's and gave Eric the thumbs up as she produced an MP5-Navy with a sound suppressor, the stock retracted and a holographic reflex sight completing the lethal package.<br/><br/>From what she could see, they were in the cellar. There were stairs, which had faint trails of light coming from the top. From the mapping of the house they had, it was likely they would come out near the front door, the main living area to the left with the bedrooms and bathrooms to the right. "<strong>Ready boss.</strong>"