Balkan crisis Part 2 is the ninth chapter of the Black Lagoon spinoff series Eda Initial Stage. It was originally released on December 19, 2022.
Plot[]
At a Bosnian market, Eda follows the informant and soon receives an envelope from her after the latter buys food. Returning to her CIA office, she gives the envelope to Tobias, telling him that the contact scheme will soon be discovered. Taking off her hijab, she wonders why the woman insists on prolonging the meetings, but Tobias states that she probably wants to fraternize, writing it off as a non-problem. Eda asks if she is actually providing useful information, confusing Tobias, who confirms but in turn asks why she would not provide it. Leaving the room, she answers that he is treating the envelope like a used wrapper, prompting him to comment that the information is not always vital. Eating some lunch with Rashida, Eda angrily thinks to herself and lambasts her mission. Noticing her sour face, Rashida asks if the food is bad and notes that the way she is eating indicates something awful. Eda compliments the food but continues to eat, causing Rashida to ask if her work is going nowhere.
Hearing Eda retort that she cannot discuss her secret work with the interpreter, Rashida glumly clarifies that she has to do a lot of things too. The CIA agent asks her why she took the job and wonders if she is from the region. Confirming that she was born in Bosnia in a town to the west, Rashida mentions that her parents were exiles who raised her in Germany. She elaborates that she came back to Bosnia when she applied for an interpreter role for the United Nations peacekeeping forces during the civil war. Hearing Rashida claim that she wanted to see what was happening with her own eyes, Eda asks her what she thinks, with the former answering that it is difficult to describe, concluding that she could not go back to Germany upon witnessing the chaos. Sometime later, Eda briefly meets the informant again and accepts another envelope from her. Walking away and smoking, she wonders what the point of the whole charade is. Returning to her home, the informant does not realize that a man is watching her movements. Entering her house, she announces her presence to her daughter Nadja, who welcomes her back. The informant tells Nadja that it is late and she will prepare dinner soon, prompting the girl to offer her own help.
Her mother politely declines, encouraging her to study. Hesitant, the girl wonders about "that man," but the informant assures her that everything is okay, reminding her to call the man "daddy." Noticing her daughter's reluctance, she kindly tells her that she needs to study, in particular her English. Hugging her, she advises her to be a little more patient, and Nadja smiles and agrees, reciprocally embracing her. Elsewhere in town, several extremists discuss the disappearance of Dhiyab and four other men since they have been missing for a week. One man wonders if the five men fled, but another rebuffs the notion, complimenting the fighters as brave men who would never flee. Accepting that premise, the men guess that the fighters were either captured or killed. They wonder if Serbian men were responsible, ruling out the U.S. or NATO. They conclude that they need to order their remaining fighters to avoid doing anything rash because four men being killed at the same time indicates a large organization is opposing them. Walking out the door, one of the men speaks with the man who spied on Nadja's mother. Returning home, the man is greeted by the woman welcoming him back. When he tells her that he heard she was not at home that day, she responded that it was her shopping day, but the man accuses her of getting home late. She tries to clarify that she talked with an old acquaintance, but the man slaps her and angrily orders her not to lie to him.
Laying on the floor, she apologizes, but he kicks her in the head and yells at her for apologizing "softly" and demands that she change her soft attitude. Holding onto the man's leg, Nadja pleads with him to stop hitting her mother, causing the man to punch the child in turn. Grabbing the child by her collar, he insults her for supposedly disrespecting her parents, adding that he will not spoil her as her father did. He repeatedly slaps her and shouts at her to never disobey him again, making the mother plead with him to stop hitting her daughter. He then grabs the informant's arm and chastises her for her parenting, claiming that any Serb would treat her horribly for her soft heart. To her horror, she is grabbed by him and forced to follow him into her bedroom, where she is thrown onto the bed. Glaring at her and putting himself on top of her, he proclaims that he is the one who protects both women, declaring that she belongs to him and will serve him for the rest of her life. She tries to push him away, but he forcibly kisses her and subsequently rapes her. In the hallway, Nadja sits on the floor and puts her face on her knees in fear as her mother screams. The next day, the informant leaves her house to meet with Eda, but four men observe her from a distance.
At the market, Eda prepares to leave when the informant greets her with a bruised face. Grabbing Eda's arm, the informant tells her to come with her because she has some great information to her. Eda demands the info, but the mother replies that she does not have it with her at the moment. Begrudgingly following her, the CIA agent is annoyed that the period of contact is too long and indicates to others that she is following her. Walking to a bridge, Eda becomes tense and tells herself that she is in trouble. Looking over the bridge, the mother states that she wants to tell her something. To Eda's confusion, the informant speaks about how she envies Eda being able to travel all over the world, commenting that she has never left her own city. She recalls that she stayed in her town due to being unable to leave after the VRS's attack during the civil war. Noting that the bombings were day after day, she says that her husband was killed in one of the bombings. Talking about her first husband's kindness, the informant also recalls how her husband was a diplomat to the U.S. and spoke positively of the U.S. as a "dream country." Although the mother happily expresses her desire to go to such a place, Eda disposes of her cigarette and berates her for providing no info.
As she prepares to leave, the four men from before surround them, ordering the two women to accompany them. Pulling out her pistol without hesitation, Eda shoots and kills all four men. Running away to the town's outskirts, Eda catches her breath and wishes that she had more bullets, wondering if the informant trapped her from the beginning or ratted her out later. As she plans further actions, she is surprised to see a black-veiled woman jump down in front of her. The attacker immediately tries to cut Eda's gun, but the latter dodges the move and shoots at her. With swift speed, she rebuffs Eda's counterattack and pushes back the surprised agent, complimenting her fighting skills. As she forces Eda to stumble back, the woman pulls out her own pistol and states the Jesus Prayer in Serbo-Croatian, "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner!" Eda insults her for playing dirty, but the woman shoots her in the chest, knocking her down to the bottom of the hill. Surviving because she wears a bulletproof vest, Eda is dazed but is forced to stay on her back when three armed men surround her.