Unfortunately, the damage was done. Christine was still conscious, but barely, and she wasn’t getting up.
As such, it was up to Kiana and Olivia. The two of them, newfound sisters, were going to have to finish this fight by themselves.
From there, the intensity turned up a notch. Kiana and Olivia were both worried, for their chances of winning the fight had decreased with the loss of Christine, and they were getting more and more desperate as the seconds raced by. The fight had already gone on for several minutes and they were tiring rapidly, and they did not know how much longer they could hold out against such a strong, powerful foe. Regardless, they had no choice but to fight on, and Kiana managed to land several good kicks, as did Olivia, and Dimitri started to stagger to one side. Olivia hit him again, this time with a punch to his left temple, and for a brief second he looked like he might go down. But then, much to their surprise he lunged out with one hand, grabbed Olivia by the throat, and pulled her toward him. With his other hand, he grabbed her by the top of her head, and as he got a good grip on her Kiana realized what he was going to do.
He was going to break her neck.
At that point, Kiana remembered the day, which now seemed so long ago, when she had been at the USIA training facility in Nevada. She had been sparring against Smitty, Jamie, and Jennie, and Jennie had won the fight by grabbing Kiana by the ponytail and pulling her to the ground. Kiana had been furious and had claimed Jennie had cheated, but Master Gwon had corrected her and had told her that when you were in the field and you were fighting for your life, there was no such thing as cheating. In the field, people did anything, no matter how dirty or unfair, in order to survive.
Kiana had decided to do the same. To save her sister, she was going to do whatever was necessary.
It was the most powerful snap kick she had ever thrown. And since Dimitri had both hands on Olivia, he had no way to block it.
It hit him right between the legs.
His entire face went pale immediately upon impact, his eyes glazed over, and he dropped to his knees. As he fell, Olivia pulled herself free and scrambled away. She and Kiana raced over to Christine, helped her up (she was slowly starting to recover but was still unable to stand on her own), and raced for the building’s exit. They stopped briefly as they heard a scream behind them, then looked back to see Dimitri, who was still on the ground where he had fallen (with his hands between his legs). The creature that had once been Zander was on top of him. Apparently, it had made its way up the same staircase they had used and had entered the room just a few seconds ago. It had immediately gone for the nearest available prey, which had been the fallen Dimitri (thank goodness they had defeated him when they had; otherwise it would have gone for Christine). Kiana’s eyes filled with shock as the creature killed Dimitri, then started to devour him right there on the spot. Within seconds, blood was everywhere.
“Let’s get out of here,” Olivia said.
She didn’t have to say it twice.
Chapter 56
Kiana’s eyes got large the minute they emerged from the laboratory. The entire compound was chaos. People ran everywhere, fleeing from Zander’s hideous creatures. They had somehow gotten out of their holding pen and they seemed to be everywhere, destroying things and wreaking havoc wherever they went. The compound’s guards were trying desperately to contain them and Kiana watched as a guard shot one of them three times, straight in the chest, but his bullets had no effect whatsoever. The creature continued to move along as though nothing had happened to it.
In a way, Kiana wasn’t surprised. If the creature was already dead, how could you kill it?
A few feet away, one of the creatures jumped onto a man wearing a white lab coat. A few feet from him, another grabbed a guard and pulled him down. Screams of horror could be heard coming from everywhere.
Kiana, Olivia, and Christine ducked down a small alley between two buildings, then stopped for a brief second to take a rest and gain their bearings. Christine was still disoriented but she had regained enough of her senses to take over and give them some guidance and instruction.
“Olivia. Do you have a phone?”
Olivia nodded and pulled one from her pocket.
“Call your father. We need to locate him. He’s got to be nearby.”
Olivia dialed. They all waited anxiously. Michael didn’t answer at first and Kiana didn’t expect him to. After all, he was probably too busy at the moment, either blowing things up, searching for Kiana and Christine, fighting guards, or trying to avoid Zander’s hideous beasts. Amazingly, however, and much to Kiana’s surprise and delight, he did.
“Dad,” Olivia said. “You’ve got to help us. We’re down an alley near the main laboratory. Christine is hurt and we can’t carry her much further.”
“Olivia? You’re here? What are you doing here?”
He was speaking so loudly Kiana could hear him even though Olivia had the phone pressed firmly to her ear.
“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you later. But now we need your help.”
“I’m on my way.”
Kiana had never felt so relieved in her entire life. She knew that once Michael found them he would take over and everything would be okay. They just had to be patient and hold out until he got there.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t the first to arrive. The creature that had once been Zander appeared again, at the far end of the building, and it started coming down the alley at them. It was covered in blood and its stomach was swollen badly. Kiana nearly got sick as she saw it. It hissed at them as it got closer and closer, and they were just about to turn and flee when they heard a gunshot, then watched as its head exploded. Standing directly behind it, holding his pistol, was Michael. Kiana nearly jumped for joy the minute she saw him. He was covered in dirt, grime, and sweat, but other than that he looked unharmed. He rushed up and asked if Kiana and Olivia were okay. After ascertaining they were, he handed Olivia his gun, then gave Kiana another.
“The two of you are going to have to cover me. Watch out for the guards and those creatures. Especially the creatures. As far as I can tell the only way you can stop them is to shoot them in the head. Body shots have no effect whatsoever.”
“Where are we heading?” Olivia asked.
“To the airstrip. We’re going to borrow one of Voronov’s planes and get the hell out of here.”
He lifted Christine up and carried her down the alley. Kiana and Olivia followed him, guns drawn, constantly watching for any approaching dangers. At one point they had to leave the alley and head out across the compound, which worried Kiana because it meant they would be heading directly through the chaos and would have very little cover. Guards and creatures continued to battle all around them and to Kiana it looked like the creatures were winning. Already, they had taken over and destroyed at least half of the complex, if not more. And if that wasn’t enough, a large fire was raging uncontrolled on the complex’s southernmost side and it looked like it had already consumed several buildings, including a large warehouse. A few seconds later, as Kiana, Olivia, Michael, and Christine made their way along the complex’s central street, there was a loud explosion. The ensuing shock wave knocked them all to their knees and a piece of shrapnel hit Kiana on the left shoulder, drawing blood. Luckily, however, none of them were hurt badly and they were able to jump up and hurry along.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the airstrip came into view and they headed for the nearest plane. They were about fifty feet away from it when two of the creatures emerged from the shadows behind it. Olivia and Kiana opened fire immediately. It took three shots apiece but they were able to hit both beasts in the head and drop them to the ground. The one Kiana took down was still twitching badly as they went past it. Olivia threw open the plane’s door and Michael carried Christine inside. He placed her in a seat in the back, then hurried to the cockpit and began to make preparations for takeoff.
“You can fly a plane?” Olivia asked. She took the seat next to h
im.
“I can fly anything. Planes, jets, helicopters, probably even a space shuttle if they’d let me.”
Kiana was the last one to enter the plane and she was still in the back preparing to close the door when she looked outside and saw something that stopped her in her tracks.
Voronov.
He was on the far side of the runway, about a hundred feet away, and he was climbing into another of the planes. Clearly, he had realized his compound was lost and he had decided to flee.
Instantly she realized the danger. She could not let him escape, especially in one of the planes. He had told them the planes were loaded with Zander’s bombs. If he somehow escaped with one of them he could head for a city and release it. By destroying his complex they had probably ruined his plans to destroy the entire world, but at the same time he could still do a lot of damage with just one bomb. Even if he only destroyed one city, it would still kill countless people.
Kiana could not let that happen. She was a USIA agent (granted, a very young one), and as such it was her duty to stop madmen like Voronov. Without thinking, she jumped from the plane and ran straight at him.
“Kiana,” Michael called. “What are you doing?”
But it was already too late. She was off and running as fast as she could, and by the time she got to the far side of the runway Voronov had already started his plane, taxied it into place, and was heading straight down the runway at her.
Kiana raised her pistol and aimed it at the cockpit’s front window. In the meantime, the plane gained more and more speed as it prepared for liftoff. At the rate it was going, it would reach and run right over her in a matter of seconds.
Kiana had never wanted to kill anyone. That night at the Space Needle had been, undoubtedly, the worst night of her life. But finally she was forced to accept her fate. Sometimes, as an agent, she was going to have to kill people whether she wanted to or not. And at that point in time, as she stood there in the middle of the runway with the plane bearing down on her, she had no choice. Voronov had to be stopped, once and for all, and there was only one way she could do it.
She waited until the last possible second, then squeezed the trigger and dove to the side. The plane raced right past her, missing her by less than a foot. At first she was disappointed and thought she had missed her target completely since the plane continued down the runway seemingly unaffected, but then she noticed something peculiar. The plane was going faster and faster but it wasn’t lifting off. A second later, as the runway came to an end, it continued driving along and it plowed straight through a chain link fence, then burst into flames and exploded as it hit the side of a large bunker.
At that point Kiana surmised what had happened. Her shot had indeed hit Voronov and it had wounded him badly enough that he couldn’t control the plane any longer. What she didn’t know, however, and what wasn’t revealed until USIA agents later recovered and examined his body, was the fact that her shot had been so precise it had pierced the plane’s windshield, hit him straight in the middle of the forehead, and killed him instantly.
Not wishing to stay on the island any longer, and feeling she had done enough for one day, she jumped up, ran back to the plane Michael, Christine, and Olivia had stolen, and climbed inside. Michael had left the pilot’s seat (presumably to go after her) and he helped her climb back inside. He closed the door behind her, took his place in the cockpit, and away they went.
Chapter 57
On the flight back to Costa Rica’s mainland, Michael contacted Beckman and informed her what had happened, and she immediately made arrangements to have US and Costa Rican authorities raid and quarantine Voronov’s island.
“What about Voronov himself?” Beckman asked. “Should I send additional agents to apprehend him?”
“Voronov is no longer a threat,” Michael said. “Kiana took care of him.”
“Kiana?”
“Yes. She and Olivia also took care of his assistant.”
“Olivia?”
“It’s a long story. I’ll give you the details as soon as I learn them myself. And I will be learning them soon.”
He turned to the side and shot a quick glance at Olivia, who was still seated in the cockpit next to him.
“In the meantime I’ve got to get Christine to a hospital. She’s injured. I’ll send you a more detailed report as soon as I can.”
They arrived at a hospital shortly thereafter, which was a great relief to Kiana because Christine was still disoriented and she didn’t seem to be getting any better (if anything she was getting worse). And clearly Kiana wasn’t the only one who was worried. Michael didn’t even look for an airport. Instead, he circled the plane around the hospital and landed it on the street directly in front of it. It was a pretty harrowing experience, at least as far as Kiana was concerned, since the street wasn’t that wide and two oncoming cars had to swerve to the side to avoid hitting them. And if that wasn’t bad enough, right after they touched down, their left wing clipped a street sign and both it and the sign were demolished. Unfazed, Michael drove the plane directly to the hospital’s emergency room entrance and there were great looks of shock and surprise as the ER staff looked up and saw a plane sitting there. Regardless, they sprang to action, loaded Christine onto a stretcher, and wheeled her away for examination and treatment. In the meantime, Kiana, Olivia, and Michael waited in a large room near the front of the hospital and Olivia explained to Michael what had happened, including her background as an MI6 agent.
“When this is all over,” he said, “I’m going to have a long talk with your mom. I never wanted you to be an agent.”
Olivia had a puzzled look on her face. “What do you mean? How could you care? You never even knew I existed.”
“Whether I knew you existed or not is irrelevant. I’m your father and had I known, I would have objected.”
“But Kiana’s an agent.”
“That wasn’t supposed to happen, either. And I still kinda wish it hadn’t. But anyway, thank goodness you’re okay. When we couldn’t get a hold of you I really started to worry.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t respond but I was in transit to Voronov’s island, with Dimitri, and I couldn’t risk blowing my cover.”
Michael nodded. “That’s really impressive, Olivia. If that was indeed your first undercover mission and you infiltrated that compound by yourself, that is well done. I doubt many experienced agents could have done something like that let alone an agent as young as you.”
He then turned to Kiana. “You were amazing on this mission, too, Kiana. I still can’t believe you jumped that building in Whistler.”
Olivia turned to Kiana. “You jumped a building in Whistler?”
Kiana smiled. “I’ll give you the details later.”
“There’s one thing you two have got to promise me,” Michael said. “From now on, when you’re in the field, no matter what happens and no matter how bad things get, you’ll always look out for one another.”
Kiana and Olivia shot each other quick glances. They both had flashbacks to their battle with Dimitri.
“You’ve got nothing to worry about,” Olivia said. “I’ll always look out for my little sister.”
“And I’ll always look out for my big sister,” Kiana said.
For a second it looked like Michael was going to say something more but a doctor emerged and walked up to them. His name was Emilio Rodriguez and he was a short man with thick glasses and a Spanish accent.
“Everything is going to be fine. Ms. Carmichael has a bad concussion so I want to keep her here for further observation, just to be safe, but her CAT scans came back fine. There is no internal bleeding and her brain shows no signs of swelling or other damage.”
They all breathed large sighs of relief.
“She’s in a room at the far end of the hall. Feel free to join her if you’d like.”
They didn’t need to be told twice. They headed down the hall and crowded into her room, which was just barely big enough f
or all four of them at once. Christine was in a bed near the far wall. She smiled as soon as they walked in and Kiana and Olivia gave her hugs.
“How are you feeling?” Kiana asked.
“High as a kite,” Christine said. “I don’t know what Dr. Rodriguez gave me, but whatever it was, it’s awesome. It kind of reminds me of you back when we were in Portland, Kiana.”
They all laughed.
Christine looked at Kiana and Olivia. “Thank you. Both of you. You two were incredible back there and you saved my life. I’ll never forget that.”
“We were a team,” Olivia said. “We worked together. You helped us too, Christine.”
Kiana Cruise Page 26
