#2 Shades of Gray: From Moscow, With Love

by Kristie Lynn Higgins

Shades of Gray #2

  From Moscow, With Love

  Kristie Lynn Higgins

  SHADES OF GRAY: From Moscow, With Love

  Text Copyright © 2007, 2016 by Kristie Lynn Higgins

  Cover Art Copyright © 2014

  Beta Phase Ebook Edition

  2014 Cover Edition

  www.KristieLynnHiggins.com

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

  Rise above the expectations of others.

  Soar on wings of dragons.

  AabiLynn's Dragon Rite #0

  Click below to Try It Out

  www.kristielynnhiggins.com/DR0.html

  Marked since birth

  Shy must find her way in a

  world of dragons and sorcery.

  Shunned: Dragon's Cord #1

  Click here to TRY It Out

  www.kristielynnhiggins.com/Shunned1.html

  Beauty and the Beast with a delightful twist.

  What if the woman was the one turned?

  Beauty of the Beast #1

  Click below to Try It Out

  www.kristielynnhiggins.com/BOTB1PartA.html

  The Fairy Tales You Know With A Wicked Twist.

  The Beast in Beauty and the Beast

  was never cursed in this way.

  Click below to Try It Out

  www.kristielynnhiggins.com/AaBack1.html

  What would you sacrifice to save your friends?

  Can loyalty and love defeat darkness?

  Ayann- A Fantasy Action Adventure

  Click below to Try It Out

  www.kristielynnhiggins.com/Ayann-1-PartA.html

  Introductions

  This series uses a mixture of omniscient past tense and first person present tense to tell the story of Shades of Gray. I have used bold to separate the first person from the omniscient. Enjoy the series.

  I have glimpsed into the future and seen a world of darkness and sorrow. It was a place where the clouds hid the sun and human machines walked and terrorized the land, but there was nothing darker or more horrifying than the hearts of those who lived there.

  Will no one save them?

  Translated from the Assembled Works

  Ginn L. Irynkissgthie

  525 B.D.C.

  Chapter One

  The Raven And the Wolf

  The year 32 A.D.C...

  October 22...

  Friday...

  6:23 A.M...

  Hellenistic Sector, Residential Vicinage...

  The blackness of night hung over the early morning as mile-thick Dry Clouds shrouded Noir's sky, and they hung over the city like a sleeping dragon. They were a sleeping dragon that the Earth feared one day would wake and devour them, and so far, no magic of science could stop the beast. Purple lightning lit up the heavens, but the density of the barriercumulus muffled the thunder as a Common Raven flew below the clouds, dove into a park, and landed on a branch of a Transgenic Maple. Scattered lamps lit up the dark empty paths surrounding the tree as a cold wind rustled the blades of the spongy Transgenic Grass that surrounded the truck's base and the hybrid maple's leaves. The breeze then died. The large bird heard a twig snap and tilted its head, staring at a bush as a pale-white Tundra Wolf emerged and looked up with its golden-yellow eyes at the raven. Their gazes locked.

  Across the street from the park...

  A black Cadillac stopped at a curb, and Nikolai got out of the driver's side; he was dressed in a white pin striped gray business suit and wore a WM-A. He placed a gray Fedora hat on his head, smoothed its rim, straightened a white tie, and shut the door.

  Natasha exited the passenger's side, and she also wore a filter mask. Natasha, a Life Closer like her twin brother, inhaled through the triangular filter over her nose and exhaled through her mouth. She looked to the old apartments in front of them then to the park across the street, and then Natasha removed her white fur-lined, long, black coat, revealing a tight fitting red leather outfit. It consisted of pants, a vest, and high heel knee boots. She threw the coat in the back seat, grabbed a black leather satchel from the front floor, and closed the door. She checked on her throwing knives' sheaths that were velcroed to each wrist.

  "My Sweets..." Natasha spoke as she caressed the blades on her left wrist with her index finger. "Ready for some action?"

  Natasha made her way to the back, joining her brother as Nikolai popped the trunk with a remote, lifted a case, and set it on the sidewalk.

  He removed his mask and asked, "How does it look?"

  His sister glanced up and down the deserted street and then answered, "It is clear."

  Natasha replaced the WM-A to her face. He set his mask in the trunk, holstered a Glock 25, grabbed the mask, closed the trunk, and picked up the case.

  She motioned to the case and spoke, "I cannot believe you are going to use that thing." Her Russian accent clung to every word as she added, "It is ancient."

  Nikolai patted the case as he said, "Tasha, I like it for this kind of job."

  "You mean the kind of job where it does not matter how messy it gets. Remember my brother, this is still a Life Closing, so please be professional."

  "I always am."

  Nikolai winked at her and started up a gravel path, crunching over rocks with his black cap toe shoes. He made his way to the apartment's entrance and entered the glass front door and once inside, they both removed their WM-A, he handed his to his sister, and Natasha placed both of them in her satchel. He waited by the door as she continued in, and he watched over her as she neared the security desk.

  A security guard in his early thirties looked up from the desk and stood, seeing the tall woman, and his gaze slowly ran up her tall leggy figure before he asked, "Can I help you?"

  He adjusted his pants and his belt and holster, made his way to the front of the desk, and approached her. Natasha leaned to him and whispered something Nikolai couldn't hear, the guard grinned as he spoke back to her in muffled words Nikolai couldn't understand, and then he saw his sister giggle. The guard leaned on the desk and continued to talk as Natasha glanced back and saw that her brother was watching them intently and then she placed her hand on the guard's arm. Nikolai noticed the lustful eye the guard gave his sister and scowled as his body ignited with rage. He put the case down, marched forward, pulled his Glock as jealousy spurred his hand, and he fired once, hitting the man in the knee and with gleeful pleasure, he watched the guard fall and grab his leg, squirming in pain like the worm he was.

  "Brother! What are you doing?" Natasha asked as she folded her arms, knowing that once his temper erupted there was no stopping him. She would have to talk him down before they could proceed, and so was her duty as his sister and partner. "We were not ordered to kill security."

  "Did you see how he looked at you?" Nikolai questioned her as he marched to the man like a crazed bear. "I will gouge out his eyes and rip off his bollocks!"

  She ran her fingers through her long hair, continuing to talk him down, but not before she teased him into a frenzy; it was already too late for the guard, so she might as well enjoy his death.

  "I am a beautiful woman." She grabbed both of her breasts and massaged them with her hands as she inquired, "What do you expect? He only wanted to fondle me, he said so, and he also said that he wanted to take me to plains of ecstasy."

  "He said that?" Nikolai yelled as his sister slowly walked over to him. "No one will look at you like that or say such things to you!" He fired a round into the man'
s heart, killing him and then turned, looking for others he could murder.

  Natasha looked to the dead man. His death had been a little too quick for her taste. Maybe the Closing upstairs would satisfy her morbid lust, and she said, "The guard never said that to me." She ran her fingers up her brother's massive arm to his back, and then she wrapped her arms around his waist, gripping him tightly in the front as she whispered, "How many times must I tell you that you cannot kill every man that glances at me?" She moved to the front of him and placed both her hands on his face. "There will be many, and you cannot kill all of them." Natasha saw his eyes bulge out in rage as they searched the area for more vile men he could kill.

  "But he..." Nikolai started till his sister leaned in and kissed him on the lips. The rage seething in him lessened, and he relaxed as he adoringly looked at his sister and kissed her back. She finished, and he told her, "I am sorry. I lost myself again."

  "It is fine, but do not let it happen..."

  A second guard exited an elevator, interrupting her and when the guard saw that Nikolai had killed his partner, the guard dropped his coffee and pulled his Python 4 revolver as he blurted, "Hold it right there!"

  As the guard covered her brother, Natasha reached for her left wrist, pulled a knife from the sheath, threw it, and hit the man in the throat. The guard fired as he grabbed at the steel in his wind pipe, and the wild shot hit the glass front door and shattered it. Shards rained, pinging to the tiled floor as the guard dropped his weapon and collapsed to his knees. He choked on his blood as he pulled a radio.

  Natasha walked over to him and kicked his revolver away as he tried to use the radio but only made gurgling sounds. He was lying on his back, so she sat on his stomach, looked at him with pity, covered his eyes with her left hand, and told him, "Do not look. The pain will be over soon." Natasha leaned to his ear and whispered, "From Moscow, with love. Now I will give you the Executioner's Adieu."

  She moved to his lips as blood bubbled from them and French kissed him, tasting a mixture of coffee and metallic saliva. He fought her erotic oral assault and dropped the radio to grab her arm and push her off, but before he could, she removed the knife from his wind pipe. Blood spurted her face and neck, and she arched back stimulated by the red gore and uttered a soft moan as her body tingled. Aroused by the blood, she watched as the guard held his throat, trying to prevent his own demise.

  Natasha waited till he died, wiped the knife on his shirt, cleaning off his blood, and sheathed the blade, and then she leaned to his ear and whispered to him as uncalloused as she could, "I am sorry. You were not meant to die, but you should know that I did enjoy your death." She stood, took one more moment to look at the man, walked to her brother, and berated him, "Look what has happened. We will have to file extra reports, and you know how I hate excess work. Not only that..." She glanced back at the second guard and then turned to her brother, questioning him, "How are we going to explain your actions to Voice and the Assassins Guild? You needlessly killed the first guard. He would not have stopped us from going up."

  He hung his head like a scolded child, replying, "I do not know."

  "We will say the guard tried to stop us and that you had to shoot him, and the second guard saw us kill his partner, and we had to kill him also. But you cannot keep doing this. Voice will find out."

  "If that happens, we will become marked for Closing like the Phoenix."

  "Yes, like the Phoenix," Natasha repeated as she smiled at her sulking brother. "Now cheer up. You still have your new toy to play with."

  "You are right." He went, picked up the case, and said, "Come, Tasha." He entered an elevator, pressed button thirty-one, and added, "Let us go blip off the bird."

  Puzzled by what her brother meant by his statement, she raised a black eyebrow, followed, and said, "Remember the Closing File states we keep collateral damage to a minimum."

  "A minimum, not zero."

  "Please do not kill anyone outside of the apartment." The elevator started up as she removed a gold compact and a white silk handkerchief from her satchel. She looked into the mirror and wiped some of the splatter from her face and neck as she said, "If we go out later, I will have to clean up. The guard is all over my face." She placed both items back into her satchel, the cab opened, and the two of them walked out as she asked, "What apartment number are we looking for?"

  Nikolai removed a H.H.C. from his suit pocket as they walked from the end of the hall, and he looked at the numbers on the doors before they passed them and stopped. "This is the one."

  She noticed a dark crack beneath the door and whispered, "The lights are out, so they are probably still sleeping. Do you want to knock?"

  "Knock? No, not with this heat." He patted the case, set it on the floor, opened it, and removed a Thompson Submachine Gun. "This bean-shooter announces itself."

  "Of all the people to idolize, you had to pick 1930's gangsters."

  "Every gink needs a hobby. I happen to be good at two."

  Natasha said, "Half the time, I do not know what you are saying."

  Nikolai winked at her, stood back, shot several rounds into the frame near the knob, and kicked in the splintered door. Light from the hallway rushed into the apartment as he proceeded down an entry, and an armed man appeared at the dark end. Nikolai fired, dropping the man and headed into the pitch black living room. He heard two men whispering, and Nikolai yelled like a maniac and wildly shot in their direction as gun blast lit up his smirking face. The men who were hiding behind a couch fired a round apiece and missed him before the Tommy sliced through the sofa and cut them down. Nikolai flipped on a light, retrieved his case, and reloaded, then he headed down a hallway, and kicked in the master bedroom door. The light was on, and a man was in bed with two women. The man had pulled an Olympic 6 revolver from a night stand.

  "I'll blow your head off!" the man threatened.

  The women squealed, covering themselves with the sheet, and one of them asked, "Vicky, is this another one of your sick games?"

  "No, babe, not this time." He aimed the revolver and cursed, "Puck! I don't know who this guy is." He snarled and yelled, "I'm Vic the Vulture. You don't know who yer messing with! I've a contract with the Valhalla Corporation." The man shot at him as he yelled, "I'm under their protection!"

  The bullet grazed Nikolai's shoulder and in anger, he grabbed the gun from Vic and pistol whipped him. One of the women screamed and covered her face with her hands as Nikolai continued to hit the man. He finished and threw Vic's gun across the room.

  Nikolai pointed the Tommy up, put one foot on the bed, and leaned toward Vic as he spat, "Here's the wire, lug. Your Chicago overcoat has done been fitted."

  Vic grabbed his bloodied cheek as he asked, "What are you blabbering about, you mother-pucker? What you're saying doesn't make any sense. All I know is yer dead! Dead when the corporation finds out you messed with me!"

  "Shut your trap! Your yap's why I'm here. Your so called friends at Valhalla found out that the trade secrets you were supposed to be brokering for them, you've also been selling off to other corporations." Nikolai's demeanor changed from one of a wise guy to a serious Life Closer as he spoke, "Victor L. Boons also known as Vic the Vulture, on behalf of Valhalla, I am terminating your contract."

  "Wait! You can't! They can't! Puck! It's a mistake. I've only sold to Valhalla!"

  "It is no use lying to me. They have audio evidence that you did it."

  "I... I can explain. Let me get their Vice President on the phone."

  "Did you not read your contract with them?" Nikolai shook his head, irritated by the man's ignorance and said, "You should have read it more closely. By signing, you agreed to the Life Closer Clause should you violate the contract, and there are no second chances." He glanced at the two hookers. "It is a pity these two women are here. They would not have to die, if they had not seen my face." Nikolai opened up one last volley, and the women screa
med. White goose down flew up from the dozens of bullet impacts in the mattress, and the feathers fell like snow, landing on the three bodies and blood slowly tainted the down as Nikolai added, "As stipulated, your employment has been terminated."

  "My turn has finally come," Natasha said as she walked into the bedroom behind Nikolai. She had already secured the rest of the apartment. Natasha watched as Vic gasped, clinging to life then she walked over to him, bent down, and whispered in his ear, "From Moscow, with love. Now I will give you the Executioner's Adieu." Natasha French kissed him and as she intertwined her tongue with his, Vic died. She straightened, wiping blood from her lips with her index finger. "The Closing was most enjoyable." Natasha turned, saw her brother's wound, and scolded him, "Look at you. I hope you are happy." She examined the minor shoulder graze. "See what you get for wanting to play with your toy. You could have used a hand gun with a silencer." She glanced at the man in bed whose glassy eyes stared up at the ceiling. "If you had, Vic the Vulture would not have even known you were here, but you wanted to go all Al Ca-put."

  Nikolai pointed the Tommy gun up again as if posing for a picture. "He was named Al Capone, and it was worth it, my sister. I do feel like a gangster." He smoothed his fingers across the rim of his Fedora as he spoke, "Place our calling card, so we may leave before Noir Civil Police Force is called in. Dealing with the N.C.P.F. could be time consuming, so let our calling card talk for us."

  She nodded, walked over to Vic, and placed a business card of a wolf and raven on his chest. A barcode printed on the bottom of the card included the Life Closers' information, and the N.C.P.F. would use this card to verify the killings were Life Closings, not murders.

  "We only have one more assignment to complete, then we can leave this wretched Dark Half."

  "Yes, my sister. We only need to bop the Phoenix, and we can return home to Mother Russia."

  "It will not be so easy," Natasha said. "We do not know what the Phoenix looks like. Is this Life Closer a man, woman, or child? All we have is an appointed time and place for the Closing from Voice to find the Phoenix," she paused and then added, "And I do wish you would stop talking that way. Honestly, I do not know what you meant when you said you want to bop the Phoenix; it kind of had a sexual connotation, which I hope you did not intend."

  "No." His face reddened. "I did not mean..."

  She put her hand under his chin, reached up, and kissed him on the cheek. "Come then, I am famished. We will clean up, and I will tend to your shoulder and after that is done, we can see what fine delights Noir has to offer."