“What the hell is it?” Oscar asked as he held up the card again, the unknown coordinates written neatly across it. “It’s a set of coordinates. We looked it up and it looks to be a location on the coast near Sochi, the southwestern portion of Russia. An old Soviet submarine base hidden in plain sight it looks like,” He replied as he looked through the notes given by the Intelligence team. “Our teams are moving on the facility now.” I nodded and watched the screen as the men moved swiftly through the grassy tree line towards the first warehouse. On soldier turned to see a weathered and rusted old sign bearing the notable hammer and sickle of the former Soviet Union. I glanced down at the recording that came in the box and played it again through the headphones provided: “Genesis,” and unknown woman’s voice said warmly. “Again, your potential has taken me by surprise. You are nothing like the men in this business, exclusively in it for the money or the chance to shed more blood around the world. You have principles. Goals. You set to do the dirty work for the world in hopes that one day there won’t be any work to be done, and I admire that. Thanks to your work, and your father’s work, you control the world single most powerful non-state army on the planet, a power than even makes the top nations anxious at your next move.” Genesis listened intently as she watched the soldiers kick the first door open. Flashlights illuminated the room of worn-out Soviet tanks and APCs, but the soldiers pushed forward and arrived at a large door with a keypad. “In my lifetime, in its entirety, I have been in someone’s war. As a child, I fought for survival against a foreign army, as I grew up, I served in that same army to protect those I loved from being exterminated, and as I got older, I fought them again once they turned on their promise of safety. However, as much as I fought, I never had the effect, the genuine fear, that you have created amongst the world stage,” “Gen, we need the other card.” Oscar whispered to me, and I handed him the other sealed envelope. Inside were codes to unlock the various doors they would encounter. Quickly, he radioed the men the codes, and soon they were through the door, descending down into the Earth through a long dimly lit, surprisingly clean concrete staircase. “They fear you, your embodiment, because no matter what, you have the way and means to shift the world balance however you choose, and you have men who will follow you through hell to make sure it happens, so I will give this gift, the tools to take your reach to the next level if you choose,” “Holy shit.” I heard the soldier say through his camera as I looked up, and my eyes widened in shock with everyone else’s. In this large underground facility, unbeknownst to the villagers and the unwary passerby above, was a large stockpile of weapons. Brand new armored vehicles, tanks, artillery, guns and ammunition sat in pristine condition. The thing that had caught the soldier’s curiosity however, was the large radioactive symbol on the large bunker doors in front of them. They moved over and quickly input the codes given to them, and the large doors began to creak open, revealing several different stockpiles of nuclear weapons. Everything from small tactical artillery shells, to larger battlefield ballistic missiles. “In this facility, you will find roughly 100 low and high yield nuclear weapons of various types. In the envelopes are the various means to arm and deploy them as you see fit. If you choose to ever use them is completely your choice. For now however, Genesis Paramilitary Services is the only mercenary group with a nuclear arsenal. We will be watching you always. Sincerely, A friend.” “This is insane.” Oscar said quietly as we watched the GPS troops unloading the various weapons carefully for transport to our facilities around the world. “I know,” I replied as I watched them push a cart with a large warhead into a shipping container. “This takes everything to a new level.” “We cannot tell the UN about this.” “You think we should hide it?” I asked curiously. “This will look back if they find out. “And it would be better if they find out we were hiding them?” “I’m just saying,” Oscar said in an exhausted tone as he rubbed his temple. “If they don’t ask, then why tell them? All their going to see if we tell them is a renegade mercenary group who also has nuclear capability. It’ll be a shit show. I say we keep them hidden, until we never need them.” I thought about it for a moment. As much as I wanted to be upfront, he had a solid point. To date, the one thing the world leaders feared was a rogue group having nuclear weapons. We weren’t rogue by a long shot, but they knew just as we know, that we have no state influence. We answer to no nation, and that’s what would terrify them the most. I turned to Oscar and nodded. “Ensure that these weapons are dispersed accordingly, discreetly. I will maintain control of the means to use them. Nobody else is to know we have them, not even our own unless they need to. Understood.” “Absolutely Genesis. You’re just like your father I swear.” He replied warmly. I laughed and punched his arm playfully, and we watched as the process continued, and hoped the decisions they had made were the best.