Witness Protection: Moving Target

by Jet MacLeod

  “A ghost?”

  “Yes, a ghost of a man that is named Sergey Popov. They will find that he is supposedly from Carlton Heights, California and that is where the trail will go cold. They will not find anything else on him. There is no bank account. There is no social. He is a ghost. The most that they will be able to surmise from the little bits of information that they will find is that he is a Russian business man, but they won’t be able to find out what kind of business he does. It is all full proof.”

  “From all my years as a prosecutor, I will tell you this for nothing. Nothing is ever full proof. You’ve missed something, somewhere and it will come back to bite you in the end,” Angie told him.

  “I doubt that, Angie.”

  “I don’t, Alexander.”

  “Oh, how I hate that name. Please call me Mikhail. It sounds so much better come from your honey poisoned lips,” he told her as he leaned back in the chair and crossed his hands over his chest.

  “Mikhail Rudakov?”

  “Yes, that is my birth name. The Rudakovs have been so far removed from the ‘Thieves’ for years, that no one would suspect me of being one. It is actually ingenious. My father actually joined them here in the States and repatriated to Russia after the fall of the USSR. It seems that the ‘Thieves’ needed a few good men and father was more than happy to help them.”

  “So being a traitor is hereditary, I see. That’s good to know. Please tell me more,” she stated sarcastically.

  “It is only treachery if you believe in the system. I don’t. I work for it and I have no faith in it. I never really did. This was just a playground in which to learn. I have learned so much and now, I am ready for my turn to lead in the syndicate. I don’t expect you to understand,” he told her.

  “Oh, I understand completely. You’re insane. There is nothing else to explain.”

  He laughed. He could admire her fire, but she knew he didn’t care about her life. He just smiled.

  “You are mightily feisty for bait, Angela. I can’t wait to see your face when I kill her, though. Ivan, make sure that the reinforcements are in place. Take the back door down to the production floor. And, check on the rest of the products. I want to be able to leave with everything as soon as this is over.”

  Ivan looked at her and then at him. He nodded and left the office. Angie could tell that he wasn’t exactly happy with the turn of events, but he was just smart enough not to say anything. She knew that he was thinking over everything that she had told him. He had to be. The look that he gave Rudakov as he started to leave told her everything. Ivan was dumb, but she hoped that he wasn’t dumb enough to try to start a coup while she was still tied up and waiting on Del to come rescue her.

  “Now that we are alone, we can talk more frankly,” he told her.

  “More frankly, Mikhail. Isn’t that quaint? You don’t want your little Ukrainian pawn knowing what you are really up to. You are a real piece of work, you know that?” she asked, still working on the ropes around her hands.

  He just smiled at her. There was really nothing for him to say. He’d won, or so he thought. His smile faded as soon as Ivan re-entered the room. The look that Ivan was giving him made Angie’s heart soar.

  “She’s here,” Ivan stated simply.

  Angie grinned at them both like the Cheshire cat. She now had confirmation that Delia was in the building, but it was more than that. It was the way that Ivan told him that she was there. It wasn’t just Delia. It was Montgomery. Angie knew that Montgomery was a no nonsense, militaristic woman. She wasn’t going to take any prisoners. They had jeopardized Angie’s health and well-being and in Montgomery’s eyes that meant death was the only fitting punishment. As much as she wanted to, Angie couldn’t care at that moment. She just wanted this to all be over and be with Delia, again. She pulled at the ropes some more and finally after hours, she felt her left hand free itself.

  She didn’t move it enough for them to notice. She just watched them. She saw the flash of worry cross Rudakov’s face. He hadn’t really planned on her getting in the warehouse. He didn’t care that she had figured out where they were. He didn’t care that she had made it to Tahoe and found them at all. He was mad that she was in the building and that a trap or someone hadn’t gotten her yet. He was mad that she was still alive and working her way to Angie.

  “Where is she?”

  “We don’t know. They are looking for her, now. I’ve doubled the sentries on the first and second floor. She won’t find us. She won’t make it this far,” Ivan assured him.

  “She’d better not, Ivan. You were supposed to make sure that there was no way in here without us knowing. What the Hell have I been paying you for?” Rudakov asked him.

  “I’ve done everything that you’ve asked, Mikhail.”

  “Obviously not, she is in the building.”

  “But, she doesn’t know where Miss March is. She will have to fight her way to her regardless of where she came in. There are guards on every floor. She isn’t that good, Mikhail. She’ll not make it to us.”

  “You’d better make sure of that,” he hissed at him.

  Ivan went out the main door. Angie couldn’t really see it, but she knew that it was there. It was the door that the other sentries had been using to report to Ivan when they didn’t use the radio. She tried to turn as much as she could in the chair. She wanted to have a clear vantage point of both doors, that way she could see Del coming for her.

  “You can stop smiling now, Angela,” Rudakov told her. “She won’t make it to us. I know she won’t. There is no way. There are too many men for her to fight through to get here.”

  “I think you are underestimating her training and her desire to see you both dead for this.”

  “We’ll see.”

  “Yes, we will.” Angie replied, just as Ivan came back in the office.

  Ivan crossed the room and stopped beside Rudakov. He leaned over and whispered something in his ear. Rudakov didn’t look too happy with what he heard.

  “I’ll be right back, Miss March. There is something I have to deal with. Get more men up here, now,” Rudakov told them as he walked across the office and went to the main door.

  She saw Rudakov open the door and survey the hallway outside it. He said something to the guards just outside the door. It was something angry, forceful and very Russian. He came back into the room with a flourish and sat down across from Angie.

  “It seems that your body guard doesn’t know when she is beaten,” he told her.

  “No, she really doesn’t.”

  “She has killed at least three of my men. I don’t think that she is alone. There is no way that she should have been able to make it this far and injured or killed as many of my men as she has. But, I am not worried. She will not make it in here.”

  “She’s made it this far,” Angie told him.

  “Yes, she has. I’ll admit that she is very resilient, but she has to be getting tired. No one can keep that level of intensity for as long as she has. She will get tired and then I will end her.”

  “You seem to forget that this has been her job for over twenty years. This is exactly what she does. I don’t think you understand what her specific skill set it, Rudakov. She is the best of the best at what she does. Why do you think that it has taken her so long to be able to retire?”

  Ivan looked at her. He knew what she was saying was true. It didn’t matter what Rudakov thought about the situation. Montgomery was the best of the best. She had to be. It was the only way that she could have gotten to Yulia and his uncle. He was now resigned to his fate. Angie could see it on his face. He realized too late that he was a pawn in the operation and he was going to die. He decided that it would be on his terms, however, and not Rudakov’s.

  “I am going to avenge my family one way or the other, Rudakov. I don’t need your permission to kill the Suka. You are no longer my concern, Rudakov. If she kills you, she kills you,” Ivan told him as he picked up a pistol, checked it and started
towards the main door.

  “You will do as I say!” Rudakov bellowed.

  “You forget, Rudakov. I am not a ‘thief.’ Those men out there are Ukrainian Syndicate, not Russian mob and they answer to me. I am done with your games. I will kill her myself.”

  Ivan grabbed the door handle and started to open it. Rudakov’s entire demeanor changed. His operation was falling apart around him and he had no way to fix it. Montgomery was somewhere on that floor and coming for them. He knew it. His men knew it. And, now, Ivan knew it. It didn’t help that Ivan had figured out Rudakov’s game. It might have been too late, but it was still early enough in the situation to cause Rudakov some issues.

  “At least give me some guards. I’ll leave. I’ll take her with me and we’ll be gone. You can have your revenge and I’ll have mine. We can discuss business arrangements later,” he tried.

  “I am done with your business, Rudakov. I will find other connections. You aren’t the only ‘thief’ in Moscow. I am sure that I can find plenty in Kiev, too. As for the men, they are yours. Do what you will with them. I have no use for your Russian hand-me-downs,” Ivan told him.

  “Give me just a second. I want to see how close she really is. Will you do that for me?”

  “I will wait,” Ivan stated backing away from the door.

  Angie watched as he picked up a radio and called out for one of the guards on the floor. He called his name repeatedly but got no answer. She could see the anger on Rudakov’s face building. If that man wasn’t answering, then Del had to be just on the other side of the door.

  Rudakov understood this too. He crossed the room. He started for the door when the room went dark. Then she heard some choice words go over the radio. She knew that Rudakov was mad and scared. He had honestly believed that he would survive this. He was a fool.

  Angie quit listening to the Russian that was flowing out of their mouths. She was more worried about the rope around her hands and being free when Del got to the room. She kept pulling. She’d gotten her left hand out earlier, but she still couldn’t loosen the right. She kept at it until she heard Del’s voice come across the radio. Well, she thought it was Del’s voice, but it was different, colder, more sarcastic and base. There was a hint of sadistic overtones in it. It was enough to make her worry, but it was also enough to let her know that Del was coming for her and coming for her full force.

  “He can’t come to the phone right now, but if you’ll leave a message, I’m sure he’ll call you right back,” she heard Delia say.

  Angie smiled in the dark. She knew that Rudakov and Ivan couldn’t see it. She’d won. Del had come and that was all that mattered. She continued to work on loosening her right hand.

  “Montgomery, is that you?” Rudakov asked back over the radio.

  Angie could hear the fear in his voice. He’d just realized how bad he’d fucked up. Maybe he was a masochist. Maybe he was happy that Del was there to kill him. He was a little damaged to think that Del wouldn’t have gotten as far as she did, and he was now realizing how stupid he really was thinking that she wouldn’t come through that door and rescue Angie soon.

  “You knew that I would come for her,” Del told him.

  “I did,” he replied.

  “You know that I am going to kill you and Ivan both, right?”

  “I know that you are going to try,” Rudakov replied with as much bravado as he could muster.

  “You obviously didn’t do your homework on me, Rudakov. Tsk, tsk, and you want to be a big Russian leader in the Syndicate. You should have studied my jacket more. How much of that lovely black governmental highlighter did you see through? Most of my jacket isn’t complete and you know why, but I guess you didn’t think about that, did you?”

  She was taunting him. She was playing with him like a cat plays with a mouse before it eats it. And, it sounded like she was enjoying this game that they were playing.

  “I’ll kill her.”

  “No, you won’t,” Del answered flatly.

  “I will. I’ll kill her. She is of no use to me. I am sure that the cartels will pay handsomely once I tell them that I am the one that orchestrated her death.”

  “You won’t kill her and you want to know why?” Delia asked him.

  “Sure, Del, tell me why?”

  “Because you still need her. She is your collateral. The building is surrounded. Countless guards are already dead. SWAT is outside waiting on you. There is no way out for you. If you kill me, you kill me. But, if you kill her, you seal your own fate. Do you want to die by hanging? I think that is how we still deal with treason, isn’t it?”

  Angie could hear the conviction in her voice. She could tell that she was close. She could feel her coming and it felt wonderful.

  “I won’t hang. I’ll survive this. I’ll kill you and when SWAT gets here, I’ll flash my badge. They’ll let me walk right out the door, with or without Angie,” he told her.

  His cockiness knew no bounds. Angie scoffed at the idea that he would just be able to flash a badge and get out of this, but she also knew that it was a plausible escape for him. She just hoped that Del wasn’t really blowing smoke up his ass so she could just get closer to him.

  “That would normally be the case, if the State Department and the FBI didn’t already know that you turned. They’ve been ordered to shoot you on sight. Too bad, I was hoping to do that for myself. So, even if you managed to kill me, they will still kill you,” Del told him.

  Angie could hear the smile in her voice. She knew that Del had something planned. She had back up outside the warehouse waiting for them. Angie just knew it. Del was always prepared.

  “Where are you, you bitch?” he asked through clenched teeth.

  “Now, is that any way to talk to a lady?” she countered back with as much sass as she could.

  “I’ll kill you.”

  “You’ll try. And, like others, you won’t succeed. Yulia was the closest and she failed, too.”

  Ivan lost it. Angie could hear it. He tore open the door and went out into the hallway. Darkness be damned, he wanted Delia’s head on a platter. Angie heard him mutter some Russian or Ukrainian at the guards outside the door. She heard footsteps and the door close. Then she heard the door behind her open and more footsteps.

  It sounded like two other guards came into the room. They moved across the room and towards were she assumed that Rudakov was standing. She pulled on the ropes and felt her right hand finally free itself. She sat in the chair and waited. She needed to know what was going to happen before she reacted. She didn’t want to get caught in the crossfire.

  Angie heard two thumps outside. She assumed that it was two more guards meeting their fate. She heard something else, but she couldn’t quite make it out. Then, she finally heard a third thump. It was louder than the others and it seemed really close to the door.

  Suddenly, the lights were back on. She scanned the room again, trying to take stock of the situation. What she knew was that Rudakov was still in the room with her, there were two new guards that came from only they knew where, and Ivan was most likely dead and on the other side of the doorway, and finally, that Del was outside of that door coming in for her.

  The door flew open. She saw the tight black outfit that Del was wearing. It was hugging her in all the right places. It was almost like a second skin. The utility belt was snug against her waist. She could make out the outline of a knife and a pistol holster. She saw some extra ammo already in clips attached there as well. And, there was something else, but she shook her head at the thought. Del would come busting through the door with a hatchet on her side, would she? Was that part of standard issue for her skill set?

  Angie didn’t have time to register much else. Time was moving so quickly but at the same time so slowly. She saw Del bust into the room and time seemed to slow down to a crawl like in the movies. She noticed the blood dripping off her gloved hands. She saw the smears and lines of blood caked on her black outfit. Del really had fought her way to
Angie. Tooth and nail, it seemed. But, in that same realization, she saw Del level the pistol in her hand at the two guards. She didn’t hear the shots, but she saw the men fall. One and then other in quick succession, pop pop, drop drop. That was all she saw.

  She met Delia’s eyes and she saw how they instantly softened at seeing her. Del was still in there, but Montgomery was pissed that they had taken her woman. Angie smiled at her, letting her know that it was okay. She understood what Del was doing. She could forgive her for the carnal destruction that had ensued due to her rescue. She also knew that they would talk about it later. They couldn’t help but do it and they both knew it.

  It was a lifetime of thought and understanding passing between them in milliseconds. Time was still moving so slow that Angie didn’t notice Rudakov. She had gone into tunnel vision when she caught a glimpse of Del. Her heart was soaring and her brain could only think about one thing: Del had come for her.

  But, in that same thought, that same split second, Rudakov found his opening. Montgomery had taking her eyes off the target to question Angie’s eyes on her well-being. It wasn’t a long stare, but it was long enough for Rudakov to have drawn his weapon, sighted and fired upon Del.

  Angie saw the actions a little too late. She screamed out in agony as she saw Del’s eyes widen in response to the shots. Her body jerked backward to the left and then quickly to the right. She fell to her knees and looked up at Angie in disbelief. Angie watched as Del looked down at her own chest, seeing the two bloody holes. Then she met Angie’s sapphire eyes one last time with her mahogany eyes. Angie saw it. She knew what it meant. She was dying. She’d made it all the way to Rudakov and to Angie, but she’d failed.

  Seconds seemed like hours. Angie wanted to scream. She wanted to jump up out of the chair and beat Rudakov senseless. How could he kill Del? How could he? She had no answers.

  She just merely watched as Del fell to the floor, face down in a pool of her own blood. Her pistol skidded across the floor and hit the chair’s back leg. Angie watched Rudakov. He let a smirk grow on his face. Angie let her fury build up inside. She was furious. She wanted Rudakov to pay for what he had done and she wanted him to pay for it now.