“I don’t understand,” said Darya. “What are you going to do with us.”
“I want your original plan to succeed. A team is currently extracting Andrei to get him to safety. That team will then take out Miss Trent and the evidence that the news articles are false will disappear with her. Renat you will then become the President of Russia.”
“I am the same as Darya, I don’t understand,” said Renat.
“All three of us want a better Russia. A Russia that provides for it’s people even the most disadvantaged and I believe the only way to get that is to have a new President.”
“And what exactly is in it for you?” asked Renat.
“All policies will come from all three of us, you will be President but we must work as a team.”
Darya looked at Renat. “Say yes you idiot. It is the only way we get out of this alive.”
“Yes, I agree,” Renat finally said.
“Good, now let’s get you out of here. We will leave this room with you both in handcuffs. Once we are in the car we will go to a safe house and wait for the extraction team... Ready.”
Darya and Renat nodded. They stood while Pavel handcuffed both of them. He opened the door, let them out of the room first and then followed, shutting the door behind him. Darya could only hope that Pavel would keep his word.
Fifteen
The team was making it’s way through the dense forest that skirted the lake, the road they had driven in on was enveloped by the forest, the lake the only other clearing. Vladimir had explained that the cabin had been built by his father without any permission as a hideout for people who fought against the old Russian regimes. Alexa couldn’t help but feel that Russia had come full circle and the cabin was being used by Andrei for exactly the purpose it had been built for. After one click the cabin came into view, nestling in-between the trees. Lyndsey and Adrian split off from the team to head around the side of the house to enter from the kitchen door. Alexa and Ian carried on to the front of the cabin and took up positions either side of the door that would lead into the lounge.
“Positions?” asked Ian into the comms.
“Set,” replied Lyndsey.
“Taser only. On go.”
Alexa shifted from the rifle that had been glued to her shoulder during their trek through the forest and took hold of the taser. She didn’t want to have to use it but they also couldn’t take the risk that Andrei had armed himself.
“Three...two...one...GO.”
Ian took a step away from the door. He kicked it into the lounge with ease, the wooden makeup of the cabin not as strong as a house would have been. Alexa moved into the lounge first, she swung around looking for Andrei. Ian had moved in behind her, he checked behind the door and then moved towards the bedroom and bathroom. Alexa followed him through the door and Adrian and Lyndsey took up position in the lounge watching the front door.
Ian turned to the left to take up a position at the bathroom door, Alexa took up her position at the door to the bedroom. She waited for Ian’s signal and when it came they simultaneously kicked through the doors. Entering the bedroom she could see the mound in the bed that she assumed was Andrei. She walked around the left hand side of the bed and lent down to pull the covers away with her left hand, the taser pointed at the torso with her right. She was taken by surprise as the wardrobe doors flew open and she found herself pinned down to the bed. Blows were reigning in on her sides, they weren’t professional blows, there impact was minimal. She could feel the hot panting breath of her attacker on her neck. She waiting a few seconds, the blows were getting weaker. Jerking her head backwards she made contact with the nose of her attacker, she heard the nose crack and break as she made contact. The blows stopped. She rolled her attacker onto the bed and jumped up.
“Stay there,” she shouted pointing the taser at them.
“Please, no please do not kill me.”
“Who are you?”
“Andrei... ,my name is Andrei.”
“I have no intention of killing you Andrei, I am here to help you. You make any sudden move though and I will taser you.”
“Who are you? What do you want?”
“Your father sent us to get you to safety.”
“My father, I don’t understand. He is in London.”
“He came to us in London after people tried to kill him. Your life is in danger. All of the evidence you have of corruption is fake and the people who gave it to you now want you dead. If we don’t get you out of here you will be killed.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Everything okay in here?” asked Ian as he came into the bedroom.
“We’re all good, Andrei needs a little clean up and then we can get out of here and back to the safe house. That okay with you Andrei?” replied Alexa.
“You will take me to my father?”
“Yes, he came with us to Russia. He is waiting for you at the safe house and then we can get both of you back to the London.”
Alexa lowered her taser and held out her hand. Andrei took it and she pulled him up from the bed. He cleaned himself up in the bathroom and then made his way to the lounge where the team were waiting for him.
“Andrei, you good to go?” asked Ian.
“Yes.”
“Good, we are going to get this done using a box formation. Each of us will act as the corner of a square, you will be in the middle. Stay with us and do exactly as we say. We have a car not to far away, once we get to that we can drive back to the city.”
Andrei nodded. Alexa could see the fear in his eyes, he was a journalist the most dangerous thing that had happened to him was a paper-cut. He was in for one hell of a shock if any of Letitia’s team were out in the woods and there was a distinct possibility that that was the case.
* * *
It was only a small distance back to the car, Alexa hoped it would be uneventful. She hoped more than expected. She knew Letitia would send a team to eliminate Andrei, he was a loose end. Lyndsey and Adrian were at the front Andrei in the middle with Ian and Alexa guarding the rear of the box. Andrei had been told to keep one hand on Adrian’s shoulder at all times, so far he was doing as he was told. She knew full well that when the team from Soteria appeared Andrei would panic, she would have to be ready or she would lose her brother before they had time to get to know each other. She had her rifle pushed into her shoulder, scanning between the trees as they progressed. Nothing yet, something didn’t feel right.
They reached the clearing where they had left the car. Adrian held up his clenched fist and they all stopped. Had he stopped just to make sure it was safe or had he seen something. Alexa scanned around the clearing... she couldn’t see anything. Adrian waved them forward and they moved towards the car, it was at that point that Alexa noticed the tyres... they were all flat.
“Shit,” shouted Adrian.
“What?,” asked Ian, he hadn’t noticed the tyres.
“The tyres, they’re all flat. Whoever is after Andrei must have found the car and decided to cut off our quick escape.”
“Can we get some air into them, have we got a pump?” asked Lyndsey.
“It will take too long,” replied Adrian.
“They must have a vehicle around here somewhere. We find that and take it,” said Alexa.
“Good idea, where...”
Alexa heard the unmistakable sound of a snipers bullet ripping through the air near her milliseconds before she felt the warm blood splatter hit her on the side of the face as the bullet ripped through Adrian’s forehead. He dropped to the floor in front of her, his eyes wide open. He would have been dead the moment the bullet cracked through his skull and into his brain.
“Get down,” she shouted.
Ian and Lyndsey rushed behind the car, their instincts knowing where the shot had come from. Alexa had to pull Andrei to the floor as he froze with fear.
“They must have left someone to watch the car and where ever they are I can bet their vehicle is too,” said Ian.
“Yeah but how do we get to it. There’s only three of us and someone is going to have to stay with Andrei,” said Alexa.
“Lyndsey stay with Andrei, Alexa we need to get around the flanks and take them out and hope there is a vehicle we can use.”
“Okay, but we need to do it quick. The rest of the team will already be on the way back here.”
“Alexa, you go left, I’ll take the right. Lyndsey keeping firing off bursts to keep them busy. Let’s go.”
* * *
Alexa moved from the back of the car and kept low as she circled left. She used the cover of the trees to advance around, keeping her rifle glued to her shoulder as she scanned the area around her. She could hear the bursts of gunfire coming from the direction of the car she had left behind. If the sniper was firing back she wouldn’t hear it from this angle. She moved further around until she could see the rear of a Black Range Rover, no sign of the sniper. If it had been her she would have setup with her rifle resting on the front of the car, the engine block would afford protection from the front only leaving the side exposed. They wouldn’t be expecting anyone to try and make an assault on their position. The gunfire that Lyndsey was firing in their direction would also keep them busy and focused on the car.
“Ian, I have view of the rear of a Black Range Rover,” she whispered into the team comms.
“I’m at the front. One combatant with sniper rifle mounted on car. On my word, make your way around and one of us take him out,” Ian replied.
“Copy that.”
“Three... two... one... Go.”
Alexa rose from her crouched position, she picked up her pace. She didn’t want to run as that would make too much noise but she needed to be quick. She had reached the corner of the Range Rover as bullets from behind her splintered the tree next to her. The force and pain of one of the bullets sprayed in her direction hitting her on the back of her arm spun her round and into the ground, she yelled out in pain.
“I’m hit,” she shouted into the team comms.
“Take cover, sniper down I’m coming to you,” she heard Ian reply.
She pulled herself up to the back of the Range Rover, fired off some shots into the general direction she imagined she had been hit from. Ian arrived at her side.
“How bad is it?” he asked.
“I’ve had worse.”
“Good, let’s get you into the car and then we can get out of here. Lyndsey, covering shots into the trees behind the Range Rover.”
“Copy,” came Lyndsey’s reply.
Alexa waited until the bursts of fire started, she crawled to one of the rear doors as Ian made a run for the drivers door. She raised herself to her knees and opened the door, hauled herself in and pulled the door shut behind her. She lay on the cream leather seats, breathing heavily. She heard the drivers door opened, looked to check and saw Ian looking at her.
“Your getting blood all over the leather, I was hoping to keep the car but not now your blood is all over it.”
“Fuck off.”
Ian laughed, turned away from her and started the car.
“Thank fuck the idiot left the keys in, now let’s get Lyndsey.”
He accelerated quickly, Alexa felt the car veer right. She assumed he was headed over the track towards where they had left their car. She felt the car come to a stop, the passenger door she had hauled herself through opened and Andrei was pushed in. The front passenger door opened and shut, Alexa looked to the passenger side and saw Lyndsey now looking at her.
“She’s bleeding all over the leather,” she said as she turned to Ian.
“Will you two shut up about the leather, it will wash. Now can we please get out of here.”
She felt the car accelerate, skid around and she assumed head down the track to the main road. The gunfire had been constant throughout all the cars manoeuvres. As they headed down the track Alexa and Andrei were showered with glass as the rear window was shattered.
“Stay down Andrei,” Alexa shouted
Andrei did as he was told, the gunfire getting quieter as they put some distance between the car and the shooters.
Sixteen
Alexa needed to be helped up the stairs to the safe house, once inside Lyndsey set her down on the sofa and started to dress her wound. She knew it was a through and through so no need to dig a bullet out but it still hurt like hell.
“Have we got anything for the pain?” Alexa asked.
“I’ll see what we have in the kit, I know we have a morphine shot but that’s going to dull your responsiveness and I think we may need all our wits about us to get out of here,” Lyndsey replied.
“Are you okay?” Alexa asked.
“I’m fine.”
“No your not, I can see it in your eyes. Adrian was more than a colleague wasn’t he?”
“No, we just worked together,” Lyndsey replied as she pulled tight on the bandage she was wrapping around Alexa’s wound.
“Hey, don’t take it out on me.”
“Sorry... you were right, we were lovers... I loved him,” Lyndsey said, tears now rolling down her cheek.
Alexa wiped them away.
“This was Letitia’s doing, we will find her together and end her. It may not help you grieve but revenge will be sweet when it comes.”
“Your all done,” Lyndsey said as she finished dressing the wound. “I’ll get you some painkillers, just not the morphine for now.
“Thanks.”
Alexa took the tablets from Lyndsey and threw them to the back of her throat, one swallow and they were gone. She sat back, enveloped by the sofa she suddenly felt tired. She closed her eyes and thought of Jane and the children. She finally had what she always wanted - a family and she wasn’t going to let Letitia take it away from her, not now. The only way to make sure of that was to kill Letitia. Letitia had befriended her, she had made her fall in love with her only to betray her. It had all been part of a plan to get her to join Soteria. What would they have done to her then? Experiment on her? She tried to imagine what her life would have been like if Letitia and her father hadn’t targeted her, they must have known that the killing of her best friend Tracey would have triggered something in her to seek revenge. They had manipulated her to their own ends, they had turned her into the killer she had become. She consoled herself with the fact that she only killed people who deserved it, legitimate killings. She was programmed this way, she had to accept it. She was just starting to drift off but was startled back to the current world with a knock at the door. She opened her eyes to see Ian and Lyndsey take their pistols from their waist holsters - no one had changed out of their combat gear yet. Alexa jumped up from the sofa and grabbed her Sig pistol from her holster. She ran to the kitchen to look for Vladimir and Andrei, they were both sat around the kitchen table.
“Follow me... quickly.”
She took both of them out of the kitchen, through the hallway to the lounge.
“Behind the sofa, on the floor. Don’t move unless I tell you to.”
They both did as they were told and got on the floor behind the sofa. Alexa moved back to the door, her Sig raised and trained on the front door to the flat.
“Who is it?” Ian shouted.
“Pavel you British idiot, open the door.”
“What’s the password.”
“Password... password... this isn’t a fucking James Bond movie,” came the reply from outside.
Ian nodded to Lyndsey and Alexa, put his pistol back in its holster and opened the door.
“Pavel my friend,” Ian said as he embraced him. “You were successful I see.”
“Yes, two enemies of the state rescued, I hope you were as successful.”
“Oh yes, another enemy of the state is in the lounge.”
“Good, we had better start planning the next phase. It won’t be long before it comes to light that these two didn’t make it to the gulag.”
“Your right, I have a man on the inside and he says that Letitia has evid
ence of your President’s criminal activities enough to bury him and that’s why she changed her plan.”
“We need to get our hands on it then.”
“I have an idea, let’s sit over a cup of tea and work out a plan.”
Alexa moved back into the lounge.
“It’s okay you can get up. Wait on the sofa, I’ll be back.”
* * *
Andrei couldn’t understand why he was here, in fact he had so many questions. Where did he start.
“Are you alright Andrei?” asked his father.
“No.”
“How can I help?”
“You can tell me why I am here? Why are you here? Who are these people?”
“That’s a lot of questions. I will try and answer. You are here to keep you alive, the people who saved you today are from British Intelligence.”
“British Intelligence,” Andrei stood from his chair and started to pace the room. “How are British Intelligence involved... if people find out we are here they will kill us... they will kill us for working with them. Oh my God, what are we going to do.”
“Sit Andrei, please sit down.”
“How can I sit down when...” he stopped in his tracks as he watched Alexa walk back into the room followed by Darya and Renat.
“Darya,” he said as he moved to embrace her. “What are you doing here? Why are both of you here?”
“It’s hard to explain,” she started to cry. “I have been fooled, I have been used.”
“Sit, come sit down with me and we can talk.”
Andrei held her hand and listened as she explained the plan she had been talked into, how she had used him to get false information out into the public to ensure the overthrow of the President. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“You put me in danger, people came for me... to kill me.”
“I am sorry, I have been a fool.”
“How could you, I am your friend or at least I thought I was.”
“You are my friend, I didn’t know they were going to kill you.”
“What the fuck did you think was going to happen to me.”
“I thought you would be able to hide out, like you had planned and once Renat had overthrown the President you would be able to return to your life.”
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