Oh, yes, the firefight. We'll get to that in a moment.

 

Back in the days of Archer, there had always been a certain amount of...dissatisfaction...over the Chamber spread. Europe tried to wed two organizations into one, South America went completely without, and the issue of "alibi" chambers in North America and Russia regularly ignited heated discussions amongst the agents.

 

Now that the Archer Conspiracy was dead, buried and composted, the issue had been settled somewhat; Equinox had brought the Umbrella to the US under Mark's leadership, where it quickly collected the disenfranchised, downtrodden and hygiene-averse into a cohesive fighting force for justice and apple pie. It fit with Mark's vision of a kinder, gentler criminal underbelly, so he threw his weight behind that. As for South America and Russia...well, there were still the same problems, but in the new New World Order, those were assets.

 

No, Mark didn't get it, either. But Equinox had assured him that these things would work themselves out under his gentle guidance. Mark had  suspected there'd be bullets involved.

 

Speaking of which...

 

The mean streets of St. Petersburg accommodated Mark's combat style about as well as his hometown; putting bullet holes in basecaps or Ushankas was really about the same thing, except when the fur on those was soaked with Vodka - those occasionally lit up when you shot them. Highly amusing.

 

Another barrage from his USPs nailed the last attacker against a drab brick wall, where he slid down to the ground, painting two neat stripes of blood on his way down. Mark checked his guns - one empty, the other down to two shots.

 

Pretty close, considering he'd only been fighting with four of those guys.

 

Stepping over to his last victim, Mark opened the guy's winter coat, finding a military ID and some family photos. He wondered whether he should search the other bodies, too, but he suspected they'd be the same. The conclusion was painfully clear - somebody had hired those soldiers to kill him. It was a good theory, except that it didn't make sense - Mark was here for recon, and he was fairly sure that the Russian mafia had no reason to consider him a threat. He'd also kept his hands off the mail-order Siberian brides, so theoretically, there really shouldn't be anyone here who would want to hurt him.

 

Mark got up and went back down the alley to jack a car and return to the hotel. Another alley, another attempt on his life - he really should start keeping score.

 

If he had lingered, he might have noticed another bloody spot on the brick wall - and that it looked vaguely like a dagger.