The Wolves of Chernobyl

Adrian never really has much connection to his family, in fact that was the reason he joined the Soviet military shortly after he finished school. He felt that it was the only way he could escape expectations of his overbearing mother and father.

After he left the military subsequent to the dissolution of the soviet union, he found himself settled in the southern part of Estonia, in a small wood log cabin-esque house as it was the only place he could afford.

Due to the dismal state of the economy at the time, Adrian was hard pressed to find work. The only job he managed to get was a temporary truck driving gig for a local moving company. He decided that he was desperate enough to look for income in ways that were “less than legal”.

During his time in the military, he had a friend named Dimitry. After the both of them left the military Dimitry thought that the surplus of weapons and munitions left about by the former soviet union would be easily acquired and sold to various, “discerning customers around the globe” as he put it.

Originally, the idea did not appeal to Adrian as the last thing he wanted was to be sent to prison for weapons trafficking, but seeing as he had no options left, he decided that it was to to give good old Dimitry a call.

He went to the closet to find his old duffel bag where he kept all his paper work and other small items he has collected throughout his time of service. He found his old field book where had written the names, addresses and phone numbers of the few friends he had made.

He found Dimitry's number and dialed it. Dimitry picked up, Adrian then explained that he was now interested in working in the illegal weapons trade with him. Dimitry instructed for Adrian to pack up and head to an address in the outskirts on Kiev.

Adrian packed up a few suitcases worth of clothing and other possessions and loaded it all into his small yellow car that he had bought from an elderly lady a few months prior. He then began the long drive from Estonia to the Ukrainian capital.

When he arrived at the address the Dimitry had given him, he looked and saw a small, one story house sitting on a steep incline that looked like it was unoccupied. Not abandoned, just unoccupied. He walked up to the door and knocked, there was no response. He knocked again, again no response. After knocking and waiting for another fiver or so minutes, he decided that he would try and make his way into the house to investigate further as he was confuses to why Dimitry would send him to an empty house.

He turned the door knob and the door opened, he walked in and house smelt distinctly of old motor oil. Seeing as the house was completely empty, save for a small box full of empty bottles a few feet away, the smell perplexed Adrian. He searched through the house calling out to see in anyone was hiding in the residence somewhere when he found a small closet with a red and brown rug on the floor.

Adrian removed the rug and found that there was a hatch the could be opened. He did so and proceeded down the ladder that the hatch obscured. When he reached the bottom of the latter, he looked around and saw crates of rifles and boxes overflowing with ammunition.

He then looked over and saw his ever so enthusiastic friend Dimitry standing by an old surplus military cargo truck repainted as to not seem as it was military truck. Dimitry then explained that this location was perfect because it was hard to find and had easy street access, gesturing to the garage door that must lead out to the street adjacent to the one Adrian came in on.

Dimitry asked Adrian “what was the last gainful employment you have had my friend?”

“i worked a temporary job as a truck driver” he replied.

“then you should be aptly qualified for the job I have for you friend” he said

he then explained “all you will be doing is driving to collect the merchandise, or, you shall be driving to deliver the merchandise. Simple, no?”

Adrian nodded his head “when do I start?”

Dimitry smiled at him “right now my friend! I have been waiting for two days for you to arrive to drive this truck to the customers that have recently agreed to sell this load of high quality weapons to.”

“where am I to take the weapons?” said Adrian looking at the back of the truck.

“To a small warehouse 70 kilometers to the north” Dimitry said as he marked the location on a map that he then handed to Adrian.

“Go my friend! There is not much daylight left!” shouted Dimitry as Adrian opened the door to the truck and climbed inside. Dimitry tosses him the keys and he started the old truck up. He waited until Dimitry had fully opened the garage door before proceeding to his marked destination.

He arrived at the warehouse that evening to see two black cars and a white truck sitting idle as if expecting someone. He pulled up close to one on the cars and got out to walk over to car to speak to the person inside.

When he reached the first black car, he could not see inside because the windows were tinted too dark to see. The window rolled down and there was a bearded man, wearing black aviators, which was odd because it was rather dark outside.

The man spoke “are the packages ready for us to collect?”

Adrian replied “yes they should be, they are in the back of the truck”

“then I shall have me men remove them” the man said, then making a signal to the truck and the other car.

His men unloaded the crates of weapons and subsequently placed them in their own truck. The man in the first car called for Adrian to come back over to him. He handed him an envelope then rolled up the window and drove away.

Adrian looked inside the envelop and counted, 15000 euros. Then he climbed back in the truck and returned to Dimity's garage. When he arrived, Dimitry was waiting expectantly “well?” he asked impatiently. “here” mumbled Adrian as he tosses the envelope to Dimitry.

Dimitry counted the money, then separated a smaller pile. He collected the bills from the smaller pile and handed them to Adrian. He looked at the bills and counted 5000 euros. “5000? for nothing more than a drive?” he said puzzled. “yes my friend, as I have said this business is very lucrative, I am glad you have decided to be apart my operation” Dimitry said satisfied with his friends efforts.

“where will I stay?” asked Adrian.

“its not like you do not have money for a hotel” responded Dimitry playfully. “return tomorrow 0500 hours morning for we have much work to do!”

For the next 6 months Adrian drove about to collect and deliver orders of weapons for Dimitry until one day, Dimitry called Adrian to his residence. When Adrian arrived, we was gestured to the couch in what must have been the “living room” of Dimitry's small apartment.

“why have all this money and live in such a cramped space? asked Adrian.

Dimitry did not reply, instead he pulled out a large sheet of paper, the likes of which looked like blueprints or schematics.

Adrian studied them, they were the plans for active uranium munitions. Adrian looked at Dimitry in disbelief. “nuclear?” he said slowly

“yes yes yes, I have purchased these plans from a former soviet scientist who worked on top secret projects for many years, the plans are simple but require active uranium that has been chemically treated to be used, which is problematic because the substance is rather volatile and is impossible to transport without the proper containment apparatus”

“I have a supplier of the active uranium, however, I am not able to collect it because I lack the proper equipment to contain such a volatile substance.”

“what is so special about the containers?” Adrian asked

“they are pressurized and use large electron magnets in conjunction with argon gas to maintain a force field around the inside layer of the canister that diffuses much of the radioactivity produced”

Adrian looked at Dimitry speechless. Dimitry then said “the only place that they are rumored to exist is in Chernobyl”.

“so you want us to go trudging into a restricted radioactive city, so that we can find magical cans that will allow us to make nuke bullets to sell to terrorists?” Adrian spoke in an irritated tone

“well when you put it like that, yes.” Dimitry said. Adrian rolled his eyes and began to stand up from the couch when Dimitry stammered “we can make millions on these munitions!, we can have everything we have ever wanted.”

Adrian looked down at Dimitry. Dimitry spoke softly “friend, you know this is the only way for us to be successful, please help me”

“what is the plan? How are we to get these “canisters”? Adrian responded

“we are to fly in by Helicopter, I have a contact... we land, in Pripyat, then we make our way to the power plant to search for the containers”

“the Radiation will certainly be high...” interrupted Adrian.

“i have taken the liberty to acquire specially engineered radiation suits that we will pack and use when we arrive at the power plant, they will not fail us”

“fine, when do we depart?” asked Adrian.

“next Thursday” replied Dimitry “we will be meeting a friend Peter, he will accompany us on the journey”

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