After buying all the food that they could afford, the ZIL members headed for the hanger where their airship was parked.
It was a vast building created in the days when the Soviet Union wanted to compete with the United States in aircraft construction.
The biggest building in the world by volume is the Boeing Everett Factory. This can hold many jumbo jets. Stacy had never been in Everett before, but she had met a journalist who had. The journalist had described his experience in all kinds of barely-credible superlatives.
But now?
It turns out the Soviets had also built a huge facility, but never completed it. And it was forgotten and never used to construct passenger jets. It remained just a gigantic hanger the size of the Titanic.
The MMM was constructed in this building. Literally right under the noses of the Russian government. But this is private property; they don’t care. Various Russian companies and local governments were just happy that there was an employer who wanted to hire qualified engineers and technicians, purchase raw materials and parts, and so on using United States dollars.
Post-Soviet Russia was full of former industrial, military and storage facilities. Once the state that had built and maintained these was dissolved, nobody cared about them. They didn’t feed or clothe anybody. So it was easy for foreigners to come and rent or purchase these facilities.
The Russian Federation does not permit foreigners to rent or own facilities relating to national security. If this had been classified as an airport or aerodrome, definitely it could not be acquired. But this hanger had never been completed, so it was classified as an unfinished building site. It wasn’t owned by the military. So it was just leased out for twenty years in the late 1990s. The local governments involved were simply relieved that they had a steady source of United States dollars from the lease.
Whoever did the negotiations for the Benefactors was far sighted. The lease was written not as a fixed-price lease for twenty years, but as a lease that increased in value every year by an amount equal to five percent of the first year’s lease. This meant that the rental received by the local government would increase every year in USD. There was even a clause that offered one additional year’s worth of rent as a bonus payment if the lease was completed in twenty years with no issues.
At first glance, you might think that the lessee would be disadvantaged. After all, rent was guaranteed to increase every year for twenty years! And instead of getting one free rent free year after twenty years, the lessee was going to pay one additional year’s worth as a bonus to the lessor!
But this wasn’t that mysterious when you thought about it.
Russia has a tradition of autocratic government. The state regards itself as supreme. The Russian Imperial state, then the Soviet Socialist state, and now the Russian Federal state does not truly consider foreign contracting parties to be its equal on its own soil.
If you rented something from a cash-strapped local Russian government, you could negotiate aggressively. Most outside parties applied a huge discount to Russian assets because of the political risk. So you could get a very good price at the start.
But what if you took the nearly-completed hanger, spent some money and completed it? The value to you would be higher. And if the local government found out, they would be tempted to use sovereign immunity or some legal trick. They might dissolve your lease, and force you to come back and pay them more to rent back the same premises which you’d already invested money in.
So the lease was written in a manner that promised rental increases and a final bonus at the end, but only in the absence of ‘disruption’.
If the local government did something that caused disruption, or failed to prevent disruption, rental payments would be reverted to the first year’s level.
This created a gigantic disincentive for local civil servants and functionaries to do anything that disrupted this lease. After all, they stood to gain nothing. It even created an incentive for local government to protect this facility from Moscow. Moscow has been cash-strapped for twenty years and not a source of support to local governments. Why give up a steady and increasing source of USD revenue?*
And so the facility had been safely rented, completed, and turned into a factory for stealth airships. Rent went up every year. The local government was happy, and did not try to slaughter their cash cow.
XXX
The black Rolls Royce made it out of Moscow uneventfully. Then another hour of uneventful driving followed. Naz stuck at 110km per hour although at times she could have driven faster; she did not wish to take any undue risks on a Russian highway that she was traveling on for the first time. She also exhibited no behavior that suggested she might run over any babushkas anytime soon. Apparently the aggressive driving was just for show in Moscow.
Just before the city of Tula, Naz turned left. And the roads started to get smaller. Quality of road surfaces declined. Naz dropped the speed to 90, then 80, then 70 kilometers per hour. She was actually making a big circle around Tula.
It occurred to Stacy that actually a more direct route to where they were going, should have been via the M3 past Kaluga. But Naz was taking a modest detour. This was probably a security measure. Many people would have seen the Rolls Royce, so it was not wise to drive directly to their destination. But the way Naz did things, if anybody ever asked, they would say they saw the Rolls Royce turning off M2 eastwards.
Stacy had seen her teammates pore over the maps earlier, and what she had seen of them so far suggested they were all intelligent people.
…
“Sixty now, huh?” Riley commented as the car slowed even more.
“Can’t help it. Roads are getting rougher,” Naz replied.
“Not many signs too,” Angel looked out of the window. “You sure we’re on the right track?”
“Come on, I can read any and all systems drawings.”
“And I can read any schematic,” Riley added helpfully.
“We’re all engineering trained in here…” Angel said.
“Except for Stacy.”
“… doesn’t mean we will get it right with road maps.” Angel completed.
Stacy didn’t say anything. She felt that she had no expertise to contribute. She was better with statistics than maps. And she was too poor a driver to thrive on Russian roads.
“Say, where is Marilyn?”
At that moment Naz turned around a bend. There was a straight stretch of nearly two kilometers. As they went down this stretch of road, a car turned around the bend also. It was too far to see what model the car was. The car turned its lights up, then dimmed them again.
As per Russian law, both the Rolls Royce and the Lada were traveling with lights on low. Even though this was a bright and sunny spring day. This is a law that is found in few other countries. Because many parts of Russia have low visibility conditions even during the day, it is necessary to have such a law.
“Marilyn is nearly two minutes or 1800m behind us now,” Angel commented.
“This is good,” Riley said as she looked at her two way radio set. “She hasn’t reported any one following us. No news is good news.”
“We’re almost there actually,” Naz said as she slowed further and surveyed the area in front of her. “Ah… this road…!”
Naz’s voice suddenly got a lot higher and sharper, and she jammed on the brakes very shortly after turning down a small road.
In front of them was a car and two motorcycles. And there was a wooden barrier across the road. It said CTOn – STOP.
“What in the!” Naz exclaimed.
“They don’t look like road repairmen,” Riley said.
Stacy could feel Angel tensing next to her. Angel turned to her and smiled.
“Stacy, I don’t know what’s up. But they don’t look good.”
“I should…”
“No, stay in the car,” Naz said. “I will also be staying inside, in case I need to drive us out fast.”
Naz’s fingers moved slightly, towards the gearshift by the steering wheel.
Riley opened the glove compartment for the taser pistol, but she did not take anything out. She was already wearing a taser pistol in her underarm holster. Opening the glove compartment was only to ensure that she had a second gun that she could grab quickly if needed.
Stacy looked in front of her. There were three men and two women. One woman was leaning on a motorcycle, the other was sitting on a car bonnet. The three men were standing in front of the car. Two men looked fairly tough, military or security types. One man was wiry and more slightly built and appeared more like a gymnast or ballet dancer than a security man. The two women looked like civilians.
Stacy’s eyes narrowed. Something was not right. They didn’t seem to be quite who they were trying to make themselves look like. Stacy should get out and talk to them, but she remembered she had to keep herself safe. If the leader got herself killed right away, there would be no ZIL team.
…
Riley had gotten out of the Rolls Royce. She opened the door, but stood behind the door. Although Riley was tall, so was the Rolls Royce Phantom EWB. At 1.656 meters, the car door nicely protected most of Riley’s body and her face from nose down.
“Hello gentlemen, may I know what happened to the road?”
“It’s closed.”
“We closed it.”
“We’re not letting you through.”
“To pass this road, you need to pay a toll.”
“Says who?” Angel demanded. She had also gotten out of the car. She was on the other side from Riley, so there was no door in front protecting Angel. This was because the Rolls Royce had coach doors. But this meant that at least there was a door protecting Angel from the back. Angel was not as tall as Riley so only the top of her head was above the coach doors. It would be hard to shoot her in the head from a distance.
“Says us, the Motorcycle Mechanics’ Mentors,” a man grinned.
“You’re not getting past us unless you give us what we want.”
“We want to get to know you better.”
“I think we’re going to know each other for a very long time,” a man smirked.
“One of us with one of you each,” a woman said vaguely, making circles with her forefinger in the air.
Stacy didn’t feel good about this. If this was an urban area, the right thing to do undoubtedly would have been to reverse at top speed and go down another road. But it was a rural area, and probably this was the only way to the airship hanger.
Quite possibly some local criminals had taken over this road and wanted to extort money. But the vibes were all wrong.
“Moscow Mutual Masturbators,” Angel sneered. She slammed a fist against the palm of her other hand.
“Oh, thinking of violence?”
“Please take down your illegal roadblock and let us pass,” Riley said.
“Wait, I want to try Miss Cheerleader over here,” a man gestured. “She seems to be challenging me.”
“That’s right,” Angel stepped forward.
“H’m!” The wiry man folded his arms and leaned against the car.
“She’s in for some trouble,” the other man chortled.
XXX
“Hrrrrr!”
Angel threw herself at the man. She was going to grab him and scoop him overhead. She figured by making a dramatic move like this, it would impress the rest and make them retreat.
But the man grabbed Angel’s arms instead and stood his ground.
And now it turned into a wrestling match.
Turks and Mongols are known for wrestling. It was very much part of their traditions. This is actually a male thing, but not as if Angel hadn’t watched (and cheered) the guys in action before. Now she was going to be a participant, not just a spectator!
“Uhhhhh!”
“Wrrrrr!”
The two sides grunted. But Angel was getting nowhere. Even worse, her opponent didn’t seem to be using more than half his strength to resist her.
…
Stacy’s heart sank. People with the Strength attribute were not unusually common, but they existed. Angel might not often come across stronger men, but she couldn’t assume she could overpower any man who didn’t have big muscles. And now she was definitely facing someone stronger than her.
Normally Angel would be more careful than this. She didn’t challenge men with bulging muscles, well defined bodies or an athlete’s demeanor. But this opponent had looked very ordinary – like Angel herself. When they mentioned being mechanics, Angel had figured it was the employees of some local workshop with no business, so they were hoping to stage or cause accidents and breakdowns.
Angel wasn’t expecting to come up against another person with the Strength attribute. Who also had physical skills.
The man had grabbed Angel in a wrestling move, and easily pulled her around. There was going to be no way Angel could escape this unless she also knew. From the way Angel moved, it seemed that she had some knowledge of wrestling moves. But Stacy didn’t know how good she was, and all moves were ineffective against this man.
“Riley, go!” Marilyn’s voice sounded through the two way radio.
Suddenly the man jerked and spasmed. And let go of Angel.
It was a second before Stacy realized what was going on. Marilyn had started shooting with her taser rifle.
The man leaning against the car also jerked and spasmed.
Riley swiftly drew her gun, as the two women disappeared behind the car and one of the motorcycles.
Riley shot the third man, who was standing with his arms folded and also had no cover. He collapsed in front of the car.
“Angel?” Riley called out as she took cover behind the car door. The two women might counter anytime.
“Coming!” Angel leapt forward, grabbed the Stop sign and tossed it off the road. Then she scurried back into the car and closed the door.
Riley slipped into the car in a smooth move. “Go!” She told Naz.
Naz did not need persuading. Now that nothing was blocking the road, she quickly sped down the road.
Twenty seconds later Marilyn came down the road. They swiftly left the Motorcycle Mechanics’ Mentors behind. All three men had been shot with taser guns and were incapacitated for at least a few minutes. But the women had escaped being shot, and might pursue. The ZIL members also did not know how well armed these people were. They might have been taken by surprise, but if they recovered and wanted to give pursuit with serious firearms, it would also be very dangerous.
Marilyn’s Move
In the heat of the confrontation, nobody had noticed Marilyn turning the corner.
Marilyn had reacted promptly. Despite being so smiley and seeming so relaxed, Marilyn had instantly noticed a confrontation taking place right in front of her
And she moved smart. Had she braked in the middle of the road, it would have been loud and obvious. After all, the roadblock had been set up near the bend so anybody making a turn would be taken by surprise. Anybody facing down this road would be able to see this car stopping. But Marilyn speedily edged the Lada onto the grassy meadow by the road side, which slowed the car down rapidly without the need to brake. Then Marilyn turned the car towards the nearby trees and headed for them.
This was not out of cowardice, but because Marilyn was a sniper. She quickly brought the car to a copse of trees on the side. From this area she had some cover.
Standing behind the Lada with her taser rifle, Marilyn waited. It didn’t take long. Once Angel was clearly being overpowered by her male opponent, Marilyn decided she had to intervene.
Arrival
Naz drove on for another six or so kilometers with no incident or signs of pursuit. Now they could see signs of the hanger in the distance.
The five ZIL members approached the facility in their two cars, passing by two layers of security on their way in.
Then there was a third layer of security at the entrance to the huge building. This was the most fastidious. The ZIL members were subject to a retina scan and having their fingerprints compared with previous records.
This was not a problem for Stacy’s four teammates, who had already passed through this facility earlier on. But for Stacy, it was her first time. She was carefully examined and had to answer many questions before her eyes were scanned, fingerprints taken, her photo matched with others on file and she was allowed to enter.
The ZIL members then drove to the Management Office at the back of the hanger. Stacy noted that even driving at a cruising speed of around 30km per hour, it took their Rolls Royce forty-four seconds to get from the hanger entrance to the Management Office.
…
There was one man and one woman present in the Management Office. Both greeted the ZIL members with smiles. This suggested that they were either not Russian, or they were Russians who had worked with foreigners for a long time.
“I am just the Manager,” the man said. “My colleague here is a Mentor.”
“All right, our pilot,” the woman Mentor smiled at Marilyn. “You have been doing your homework?”
“Yes,” Marilyn replied. “I have been reading the airship operation manuals whenever I had time over the past two weeks.”
The Mentor made a gesture. “So you should be the one to introduce the airship to your teammates. Stand in front of that whiteboard, if you please.”
Marilyn continued smiling, but she seemed to hesitate.
“Have no fear. If there is something important about the airship that you missed, we can supplement. Otherwise I would prefer you to be doing the introduction. Because it will tell me how much you do know about your workplace and home for the next two years.”
(This leads to a Conversation: ZIL Conversation 002d Marilyn Introduces the Airship. If you’d like to read more about the airship, just click here. If not, just read on.)