She ran down the single track gravel road from the cottage, turning right onto Huttoft Bank. She ran alongside the golf course until she reached the clubhouse. Turning into the clubhouse car park she ran onto the beach, turning right and running parallel to her original route heading back to the cottage. Running gave her time to think. She spent most of her runs thinking about her father. He had killed her sister, he hadn’t meant to but in the end it was his experiment on Sarah that had killed her. Would she end up the same? Was she living on borrowed time? If she was then she should do something with her life not live it out in a cottage on the English east coast. The run always ended with her wanting more, to make a difference. She knew that could never happen, she had killed the man who had killed her father and she was now a hunted woman. Soteria and all of the British intelligence services would be hunting her down. She had to stay hidden. She turned left and started to run from the beach onto the single track road that led back to the cottage.
She stopped. There was a car parked outside the cottage. No one ever came to the cottage. Only one person knew where they were and he didn’t drive a Jaguar. She turned back to the beach running a little further before turning right into a field of corn. She ran through the high storks until she was level with the back of the cottage. She reached the six foot high back fence, grabbed hold of the top with both hands and used her feet to scrambled up the fence and then over the top into the garden. The curtains over the patio door that led to the garden were still closed, anyone inside would be oblivious to her being in the garden. She opened the door to a shed that was in the bottom corner of the garden, walked in and over to a grey cabinet. She keyed a code into the key safe that was mounted to the inside of the shed and took two keys from it. With one of the keys she opened the cabinet. Among the tins of paint and weedkiller she pulled out a tin that was nestling at the back. Opened the lid, took out a Sig P320, suppressor and two full magazines. She screwed the suppressor onto the end of the Sig, checked the magazine, racked a shot into the chamber and place the two spare magazines into her waist band.
* * *
The driver had followed the directions that had been on Trainers phone.
“We are nearly there sir,” the driver said as they closed in on the destination.
“Good,” Monroe replied, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he sat upright.
“Do you want me to pull up in front of the house?”
“Yes please. It’s early I doubt anyone will be awake yet.”
It was five-thirty AM. He was expecting all of the occupants of the house to still be asleep. They wouldn’t be expecting any visitors and a knock at the door would catch them off guard and hopefully diffuse any confrontation. He didn’t want another gun battle. He knew there would be children in the house. His driver pulled the car up outside the house and alighted, opening the passenger door once he had checked the area allowing Monroe to alight the car.
“With me, don’t draw your weapon unless we are fired upon.”
“Yes sir.”
Monroe pressed the door bell button and waited... nothing. He pressed the door bell again, this time he heard movement from upstairs. He could see the silhouette of a figure descending the stairs, the front door opened slowly.
“Hello,” a quiet voice said from behind the door.
“Hello. Who are you?”
“My name is Sofia,” the voice said as a face appeared around the side of the door. “What’s yours?”
“My name is Ian,” he replied as he lowered down to the same level as Sofia so they were now face to face. “Is your Mum awake.”
“No, she is in bed.”
“Would you like to get her up and tell her someone is here to see her.”
“Okay,” Sofia said as she turned and ran back upstairs, leaving the door ajar.
A few moments later the door opened and he found himself standing in front of Jane Torrance. They had met briefly when he had interviewed and eventually turned a prisoner that she had arrested, a member of a child trafficking gang that he had turned against his employers and used to get to the head of the gang. She was still clothed in what she had obviously been wearing to bed.
“Hello Miss Torrance,”
No sooner had he greeted Jane that he found a pistol pointing at his face. He had anticipated as much when the door opened and he could see she had one of her hands behind her back. His driver instinctively moved from behind him and drew his weapon. Monroe was stood between two people with firearms pointing at each other.
“Put the gun down,” he said motioning to his driver. “Miss Torrance, I have only come to talk to you and Alexa.”
“How did you find us?”
“Frank Trainer. Please let me come in and explain everything to the both of you.”
“Why should I do that?”
“A lot has happened in the last few days and I need Alexa’s help. Some of it has to do with her father.”
Jane weighed up her options, Alexa would want to know any information Monroe had about her father and it looked like there was only the two of them.
“Come into the lounge.”
She stood aside and gestured for them to come in, pointing towards a door to the right of them as they entered. Monroe walked through the now fully open front door, pushed the door to the lounge open and walked in. He was followed by his driver. The room was small with low ceilings. The decoration was dated, it looked like the house hadn’t been decorated in quite a long time. The carpet was a green colour with silver and red swirl patterns. It reminded him of his grandparents house. The furniture was covered in loose covers with lace frills. He sat on the sofa and his driver sat next to him. Jane sat on the chair opposite, placing the pistol on the arm of the chair with her hand firmly wrapped around it and her finger on the trigger.
“Is Alexa here?” Monroe asked.
“She is out running. She should be back soon.”
“Shall we wait until she gets back?”
“That would probably be better.”
* * *
Alexa surveyed the back of the cottage. A set of patio doors on the left opened directly into the lounge, to the right of those was a single door that opened into the kitchen.
If someone was in the house where would they be?
Which room would Jane have taken them into?
They had talked about this possibility and how they would deal with it. That was why the Sig was in a paint tin in the shed. They had always known that it was a possibility that they would be found. The plan they had decided upon was simple; isolate anyone in the lounge on the main sofa. The door from the hallway opened into the room and once open gives a perfect view of the sofa. If they were anywhere else in the lounge Alexa would have to scan the room for them, losing valuable time. She moved towards the kitchen door with her Sig raised, both hands gripping the stock and her right index finger on the trigger, constantly switching her attention between the kitchen and patio doors. She reached the kitchen door, released one of her hands, took the key that she had been holding in her mouth and unlocked the kitchen door. She threw the key on the grass and with her now free hand she slowly opened the door, stepping in she scanned the room; it was empty. She stood listening, she could hear muffled voices coming from the lounge. She moved towards the lounge door. She hoped the girls had remembered the plan. They had been told that it would be a game they would play if anyone came to the cottage. They should play hide and seek and the visitors would come and find them, they had to find really good hiding places though. She reached the lounge door and scanned the stairs quickly to make sure the girls weren’t at the top; they weren’t. She steadied herself to the right of the lounge door, grabbed the handle and turned it and opened the door in one single fast movement with her free left hand. Once the door swung open she returned her free hand to the Sig and scanned the sofa.
Ian Monroe and one other man.
She quickly scanned to her left, Jane was in the chair, there was no one else in the ro
om.
“Hello Alexa,” Ian said as Alexa turned back to face him.
“What are you doing here?”
“We need to talk.”
“Talk?”
“Yes, I haven’t come to get you or hurt you, Jane or the girls.”
“How do I know that?”
“Alexa, put the gun down and listen to what he has to say,” Jane said.
“We can’t trust him. Letitia is probably already on her way here with a team.”
“NO,” Ian said forcefully. “She has attacked one of my teams today that were looking after a Russian scientist,” he paused. “Alexa, please sit down, what I have to tell you... please sit.”
Alexa looked at Jane. She could tell by her expression that something terrible had happened. She could see tears on her cheek.
“Are you crying?”
“Yes, Ian has already told me what he wants to tell you, now sit next to me and listen.”
Alexa sat, still holding the Sig. She listened as Ian detailed the events from yesterday. The attack on his team and the murder of Frank Trainer. Alexa sat stunned, staring into space. She had known Frank for years, they had worked together when she was a Police Officer. He had helped her get revenge for her friends murder. She started crying, tears rolled down her face, she had only known this kind of sadness when her father had died.
“Mummy, why are you crying?” Sofia asked. Both Sofia and Rosarita had appeared in the doorway.
“I’m fine,” Alexa said as she wiped the tears from her cheeks. “What are you doing down here?”
“We got bored of hiding, no one came to find us.”
“Okay, go and get dressed and then we can get some breakfast.”
The girls ran back up the stairs, Alexa turned back to Ian Monroe.
“What do you need me to do. That bitch needs to die.”
Seven
Ian had phoned headquarters and ordered transport for everyone. He had then spent time explaining in more detail who had been in the transport when it was attacked and that he had asked to see Alexa. He explained how he had said he knew her father and that he thought Alexa was the reason that Soteria had tried to kidnap him.
“I have never heard of him,” Alexa said.
“Do you remember anyone your father was close to?”
“Not really.”
“I am sure he will explain,” Ian said. “I also made a promise to Frank before he agreed to bring me to you.”
“What promise?”
“Passports, paperwork and I keep my promises. If you agree to come and speak with Vladimir then I will provide the girls with legal paperwork including adoption paperwork. They will be British citizens and you will official be their parents.”
“You would do that?” Jane asked with a surprised look on her face.
“Yes, like I said I made a promise and I keep my promises.”
“Okay then, where is this Russian scientist,” asked Alexa.
“Mummy, Mummy. Come quick,” shouted the girls from the kitchen, where they were eating their bowls of cereal.
Alexa jumped up from the chair and raced through to the kitchen.
“What, whats wrong?”
“There’s a helicopter landing on the beach, look.”
“So there is,” Alexa said as she peered out of the kitchen window.
“That’s for us,” Ian announced as he walked into the kitchen.
“Yeah,” the girls squealed.
Alexa watched as the Augusta AW139 slowly came in to land on the beach. It was shrouded in a cloak of sand as it settled on the beach. The large black aircraft looking completely out of place in their sleepy town.
“You expect us all to get into that and when I say all I mean copper as well, the dog comes everywhere with us,” said Jane turning to look at Ian.
“We need to get back to London quickly and waiting for road based transport to get here and back again isn’t an option. So yes... and Copper is more than welcome.”
“How long are we going to be in London, we are going to need clothes and somewhere to stay. I assume my house is not going to be safe,” enquired Alexa.
“You can buy new clothes when you get there, we need to move quickly.”
“Girls, finish your breakfast and go and get your coats, it looks like we are going in a helicopter.”
The two girls quickly shovelled the remaining remnants of their cereal into their mouths, ran to collect their coats and then returned to the kitchen. Everyone left the cottage, Ian’s driver heading to the car that he would drive back to London. Everyone else headed towards the beach and the airborne transport that awaited them.
* * *
Alexa had never travelled in a helicopter before, she was fine with flying but she felt nervous as she got the girls in their seats and fastened their seat belts. She didn’t know if the nerves were because of the unfamiliar mode of transport or the not knowing what she was going to discover once she got to London. She sat in her seat alongside Jane and fastened her seat belt. The pilot started the engines and the rotors of the helicopter started to turn, slowly at first but after a few seconds they rapidly started to pick up speed. The view of the sea and the fields that ran adjacent to the beach disappeared in a haze of sand as the rotors reached full speed. Alexa watched out of the window as the helicopter started to lift from its soft parking space and gain height. She felt Jane grab her hand and hold it tightly. Alexa turned to her and smiled, placing her free hand on top of Jane’s. Jane was trying to stay calm for the sake of the girls but Alexa could see the fear in her eyes. She looked over at the girls and they were excitedly looking out of the window and out to sea as the helicopter was released from its sandy shroud. It turned, pointing its nose inland. The pilot dipped the nose forward and the helicopter started to pick up speed. Rosarita and Sofia were now even more excited as they watched the ground beneath them flash past. The fascination could be seen in their eyes and heard as they pointed out landmarks and laughed at how small everything looked from so high up.
All Alexa could think about was her father and Vladimir. She spent the journey in silence interrogating her memory for the mention of the name or for any recollection of friends of her father, no matter how small the memory might be; she found nothing.
Eight
Letitia was frustrated and annoyed. Her plans had been thwarted by MI5 and she had lost six good operatives, it would be hard to replace them. With Alexa killing another of her operatives while on assignment in Georgia the organisation was down to its bare bones in the UK. She was leafing through the files of possible replacements when a knock came at her office door.
“Come,” she shouted at the door.
“The jet will be ready to leave within the next two hours,” reported Blain as he entered the room.
“Thank you. Have we heard from our operative in Russia?”
“Yes, everything is going according to plan. The article will be going live in the morning press and should be picked up worldwide shortly after.”
“Good, our other contacts are ready to put the rest of the plan into place.
“Yes.”
“What about Sokolov. Do we know where he is?”
“Yes, a hotel in the centre of London.”
“Send a team to get him.”
“I’ll organise the team and then bring the car around the front in thirty minutes,” Blain said as he left the room. He had no intention of organising a team. He hoped that turning to MI5 wasn’t a mistake, if Letitia discovered his deceit she would no doubt kill him.
Letitia closed the files. Her father had told her about Sokolov as he died in her arms from the stab wounds inflicted by Alexa. All the details of the experiment had been locked up and never seen the light of day after her father had killed Alexa’s father. The guilt of what he had done lived with him constantly. He had worked to make Soteria a force for good, but she was different. Letitia wanted power... money and power. She would crush anyone that got in her way. She grabbed t
he files and threw them across the room. She would kill Alexa and she would enjoy it. She would make Alexa suffer. The children were now her weak point and if she got the chance Letitia would use them to her advantage.
Could she kill the children?
Yes and she would do it while Alexa watched, the same way she had to watch her father die in front of her.
* * *
Letitia had slept through most of the overnight flight, she was jolted from her sleep as the private jet hit the tarmac of the Moscow airport runway. As soon as the jet came to a halt on its parking slot she unclipped her seatbelt and prepared to leave the aircraft. She had a mission to complete in Russia and she wanted to get on with it. A single black Range Rover was waiting for her on the tarmac, the fake diplomatic status that Soteria afforded her meant she would not have to go through customs or airport security. She was due to meet Darya at her hotel to get up to speed on the mission and then she would be ready for her meeting with the President.
The Range Rover passed through the streets of Moscow on route to the Hotel in the centre of the city. They were deserted at this early hour, with only a few cars on the roads. The people of the city had no idea what was about to happen to their country. Once the article written by Andrei hit the news feeds the country would be plunged into crisis. The next few days would see the country lose its President and Letitia’s plan that she had put in place over the last year would see her stooge installed as the President of one of the world super powers. She would have control of a world power. This would be her finest coup so far. In the last year she had installed her people into top jobs within governments ensuring that the criminal activities of Soteria carried on without any investigation. This would be her finest hour if everything went to plan. They pulled up outside the hotel and the door was opened by a uniformed hotel employee. Letitia stepped out of the car and entered the hotel followed by Blain. The hotel employee followed behind them after removing their suitcases from the car. The Range Rover drove away once it was no longer needed.
* * *
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