yandex, the wall which barely helped

Yandex, the wall which barely helped
---OOO---
The snow was thick and muffled his footsteps as he ran through the woods. It wasn't enough to hide his presence. By the staccato of many somethings striking solidly against the trees, some just by his head, he had in no way lost his pursuers.

He dove to the side and rolled, keeping a careful hold of the package strapped to his front and beneath his parka.

They were a certainly a persistent bunch.

On paper, it was simple enough. Break in, grab the package, then leave before anyone was the wiser. He managed trudging through the snow silently just fine; it was his specialty after all.

The package itself was had been placed in a quiet, isolated house deep in the mountains. From a distance, it looked easy to break into, and it was.

It was the leaving that was the real problem.

He dove and weaved again, taking advantage a puff of snow to reverse his direction. Then purposely slipped and ducked low. If he held still and allowed the white of the furred parka blend in with the surrounding snow, maybe he could give them the slip. He panted as softly as he could, and reached his gloved fingers up the few inches to his front. He glanced down, using the spare moments his ploy allowed him to check the package's welfare.

He saw cheeks in a rosy hue, and felt the warm breath. The little round nose wrinkled in some irritation, but the lids covering the eyes of the babe were as tightly closed as its tiny fists. The package was fine and still sound asleep.

A twig broke and echoed throughout the frigid air. Such sounds were most difficult for anyone to judge the origins of. He flicked his eyes about without moving, and held his breath.

Just. How close were they?

On instinct, he jerked aside: the unseen arrow just nicked his cheek before it thunked solidly into the last trunk of the corpse.

The drifts were deeper from this point on. He was caught in a breathless race to the checkpoint, and there was no more cover for him to hide in.

Arrows vanished into the snow about him, vanishing in the ever deeper drifts. The snow was irresistibly slowing his forward momentum, and his only comfort was that it was doing the same to his pursuers. He was out of breath when he tripped over some hidden rock..

Then to his dismay discovered it wasn't quite a rock at all.

He fell into a deep deep drift. It was well over his head in depth.

He did manage to land very hard on his back. He supposed it was the sudden jolt from the landing that caused the baby to cry out-- very loud and shrillily.

There was a good reason why his pursuers were choosing use the old hunting arrows to try to end his life, even though guns certainly would be far more efficient. In these mountains, at this time of year, loud noise of any sort was not a good idea. Not with such a thick snow pack looming high above them.

The sound of a screaming baby was followed quickly by a bone rattling rumble that overwhelmed him. A stomach dropping heartbeat later, all light was blotted out.

He couldn't tell if his eyes were open or closed. He wasn't certain how long he stared at the balckness until he realized the sound he was hearing was his own panicked breaths. The incessant static from the ear piece, which remained deep in his ear, ended abruptly with a loud click.

"Is the package secure, over?" A tinny voice demanded.

Somehow. Somehow, he still breathed. If he was right, he had been caught in an avalanche and he still breathed. He felt a wall to one side, and half-scooted, half packed the snow around himself. Soon, he had just enough room to struggle with sitting up.

When he had the back of his head leaning against the wall, the baby let him know of it's displeasure rather loudly. He scowled and pressed his half-frozen finger to the ear piece.

"Package is fine. And so am I. Thanks for asking."

"What's your twenty?"

"No idea." He said, and gently patted his front, hoping to comfort the screaming baby. He the reached to his belt and drew out a flashlight.

His flicked it on and was nearly blinded by the sudden brightness. He squinted, and directed it to the wall, looking for anything really.

On one piece of broken concrete was some street scrawl. He pressed the button on his ear piece reluctantly.

".. Graffiti says 'Yandex'."

"That's.. not a lot to go on."

"Thanks for the concern."

"Sit tight.."

"Like I have a choice."

He sipped his tea by a warm fire, and glanced at the woman cradling the child before him.

"The wall scrawl helped a little, but in the end, they found me by my cell signal." He said, finishing his tale.

"Thank you." She said. "When he's old enough.."

"If it's all the same to you, I highly doubt that he'll ever be old enough to know."

"No.. He'll deserve to know of who returned him to his mommy." She said, and kissed the babe's forehead warmly.

He smiled thinnly, and endevoured to cash her rather hefty check before the sun set. He had a team to pay.
Sent via a stray supercharged nano particle of unobtainium....