Several hours later, Rico was boarding a plane with Artemis and Coin. While the rest of the mercenaries investigated the LexCorp holding company. They were confused why it was them again at first but then Rico reminded them that the infamous Queen Bee is in Bialya.
Queen Bee was known for her ability to enthrall men. The fact that she ruled a country also made it impossible to enter. Mostly because the country was in a constant skirmish with Qurac. A long standing grudge had been built up where they would use the pettiest of reasons to invade one another.
The man they were sent to find and bring back, John Ryan, was actually an accountant for a small startup company that did not even have a proper name. All of his coworkers were killed in several different ways and a few of them were definitely tortured before their death. John was actually sent to Bialya ahead of their deaths. They managed to figure it out because there were records of him going through an illegal route before his coworkers' deaths.
As for the reason he went there? No clue. All of their company servers and paper files had been destroyed. They would have to ask the man himself.
Upon finding out about the back route they informed Commissioner Gordon but he asked them to pick him up anyways. Or at least inform him of his coworkers' deaths. It might get him back stateside anyways.
They were flying there basically as messengers. Using a different illegal route to enter the country. They would first fly commercial to Egypt. Then from Egypt they would take a rather illegal flight to Bialya.
In Bialya, Coin had a contact that could get them basic weapons. They are paying a hefty sum but Rico did not mind. But first they had to get there.
"We have a problem!" The pilot from the front called out. Rico looked over with the others. They were on the flight going from Egypt to Bialya.
"What's wrong?" Rico asked as he stood up and began walking forward.
"The Bialyan Air Force found us. They sent two jets on an intercept course. They are saying that if we do not land they will shoot us down." The pilot explained with a nervous chuckle.
Rico had a suspicion that the man was lying. Rico looked at Coin and Artemis. Both of which were frowning.
"Yeah… that sounds like bullshit." Coin answered with a sigh. "We are flying low enough that any competent pilot can avoid detection. I am guessing he sold us to them. There is a massive slave market in Bialya and I bet we looked like prime pieces of meat."
"Glad we agree." Rico pulled the pilot out of the seat and threw him into the back. Where Artemis was already waiting. She did not even wait for a second as there was a crisp snap followed by the man's corpse falling to the ground.
Rico climbed into the pilot's seat. Quickly spending criminal points to get a new skill.
[Spent 150 Criminal Points for Skill: Pilot(Beginner).]
A flood of information filled his mind as he took control of the plane and lowered it. Once he was at a stable low flying flight he pulled on the headset and could hear the gibberish that was probably the local language. He was getting every third word and was slowly starting to understand them.
After a second Artemis climbed into the copilot's seat and he looked over at her in surprise. He was not the only one as Coin looked at her with a questioning look. Even as she pulled on the headset.
"I know how to fly a plane. It was one of the skills I picked up when I was Wonder Woman." Artemis answered as she listened. "They are saying we need to land, as well as the fact that they still have our tracking number so dropping altitude did not confuse them."
"That is a lie." Coin pointed out. "Bialya is behind when it comes to military technology. All of the superpowers are making it a nightmare for them to acquire anything."
Rico nodded in agreement then glanced back at the hold. "Coin, see if you can find anything we can use back there. The pilot should have been smuggling more than just us."
Coin nodded and ducked into the back as Rico focused on the front. "How good of a pilot are you?" Rico asked as he pulled up slightly so they had a greater distance from a hill.
"Decent, but it looks like you are doing just fine. Is this your first time flying?" Artemis asked with a smirk.
"Yup, I read up on it before. But never put it into practice before." Rico answered honestly. Or at least partially honest. "Can you chart us a course?"
"Already doing it. But the point he had set as a landing will probably be a bad idea. We are going to need someone on the ground." Artemis pointed out.
"Or we could just find an open area and land." Rico pointed out with a chuckle as he flew over a small poppyfield farm.
"That could work. But we probably want somewhere secure so we can fall back and use this plane again if we need to. Could we use Coin's contact?" Artemis asked as they could hear the distinctive screech of a pair of jets flying right over them. They saw them a second later.
"We might have to. But I would prefer to avoid that." Rico pointed out. Artemis gave him a confused look so he explained. "Relying too much on someone could end up badly. Like what if we had relied on that pilot to acquire weapons as well."
Artemis nodded in understanding. "You have a point. Well… I do not have any contacts I can use. How about you?"
Rico seemed to think for a moment before shaking his head. "Nope." This was not the best situation that they found themselves in. But he knew they could get out of this.
"Oh shit…" They heard from the back and looked to see what Coin was seeing.
"The fuck…" Artemis cursed.
"Bahahahaha!" While Rico burst into laughter.