“And now we are all stuck here with British Intelligence,” he said sarcastically as he gestured around the room. “Was that all part of your plan.”
“No, it wasn’t.”
Andrei let go of Darya’s hand and turned away from her, he couldn’t believe an old friend had put him in so much danger.
“My son, we all make mistakes. It is from those mistakes that we pursue a better life. I have made mistakes in my life and I have learnt from them. You must not judge Darya, she did what she did for the right reasons and these people will help us all.”
“And how are they going to do that?” he said. “Are they going to smuggle us out of the country? Even if they do the President will send people after us. We may as well give ourselves up and accept our fate.”
“There’s no need to do that,” Ian said as he entered the room. “Alexa, we need to make a move. Change into civvies and grab your pistol and some spare magazines just in case. We head out in a few minutes. The rest of you make yourself comfortable, get some tea or coffee. We have work to do, you will be safe here.”
Seventeen
Alexa followed Lyndsey to the car. She had no idea what the plan was, she was just glad to get out of the flat. She was happy they had managed to save her brother but she wasn’t looking forward to having that conversation with him. At least another operation would keep her mind off it.
“So what’s the plan?” she asked as she shut the front passenger door.
Ian started the car, pulled out from its parking space and headed towards the main road.
“According to Blain, Letitia has a file on the President. He says it contains details of his criminal activities. Where the bodies are buried. Swiss bank accounts. All that sort of stuff.”
“I am guessing we are going to ask her to hand it over then.”
“Sort of. It’s in her hotel room. We go in, get the file. Get it back to Pavel and he will do the rest. President arrested , Renat will take over and we both have a tame Russian President.”
“You make it sound so simple,” Lyndsey said sarcastically.
“It will be. Blain will text me when Letitia has left the hotel, we just go in and get the file. Now sit back for a while and relax, it’s about an hour drive to the hotel.”
Alexa checked her weapons again, she had already checked them when she re-equipped herself at the safe house and again while she sat listening to Ian. She didn’t know how else to relax. Her life had been a roller-coaster since she made that fateful decision to murder Felicia Fenner.
Did she regret that choice?
No she didn’t was the honest answer.
It could have gone better but she was happy with her life now. Strangely enough she enjoyed what she was doing, she had enjoyed what she had done with Soteria before she found out the events leading her in their direction were all part of a wider plan by them. She wanted to make a difference, that was why she had joined the Police in the first place. Soteria has given her that, she had taken out human traffickers... she had made a difference. Maybe after this, it will be different. Jane, the children and possibly the legitimacy of working with British Intelligence. She could live with that.
* * *
The Hilton Moscow Leningradskya was a formidable looking building. The sky scraping centrepiece of the hotel over looked it’s surroundings casting a long shadow over the streets and shops surrounding it. As the afternoon sun slowly moved across the sky, the shadow from the tower enveloping new victims as quickly as it released previous ones back into the sunlight.
Ian had parked the car into a corner space and told them to be patient while they waited for Blain to tell them when the coast was clear.
“We need this to be quick and quiet,” said Ian. “Our sole job is to get the evidence and get out of there. No fuss and definitely no use of firearms if we can help it.”
“Why couldn’t Blain just bring us the evidence?” asked Alexa.
“Because I need him in place for as long as possible. If he brought us the evidence then that would be his cover blown. This way his cover stays intact.”
“How?”
“Your going to knock him out, that’s how.”
“Am I?” said Alexa, surprised given that Ian had said no use of force.
“Yes, he doesn’t know it so it will come as a surprise. As soon as he opens the door, floor him.”
“If your sure.”
Ian looked at her and smiled, she knew he was sure.
* * *
They had been sat in the car for another thirty minutes before Blain had messaged Ian to say Letitia was leaving the Hotel. Lyndsey had been dispatched by Ian to watch the front of the Hotel to let them know once Letitia had emerged and the coast was clear.
“What are we going to do with Letitia once this is all done?” asked Alexa.
“What do you think we should do?”
“Kill her.”
“No middle ground then, lock her up in a black site to name just one other option.”
“She would get out.”
“No-one gets out of one of our black sites.”
“I’d rather not take the risk, she can’t come back from being dead.”
“She may be useful in taking...”
Target clear of hotel
“This will have to wait, let’s go.”
Alexa left the car and followed Ian into the hotel lobby towards the lifts. He pressed the call button and they both waited for the lift to arrive. Once it arrived they let the people disembark before entering. Hitting the button for the tenth floor the doors closed and the lift started to rise. Red numbers clicked by above the doors they had entered as the lift passed each floor, finally coming to a stop at the number ten. A ping preceded the opening of the doors. She followed Ian out and in the direction of Letitia’s room.
“You know what to do,” Ian said as they arrived at the room.
Alexa just nodded, prepared herself and watched as Ian knocked on the door. She waited as the door opened slowly and Blain’s face appeared. She hit him with everything she had, the sound of his nose cracking told her she had made good contact. He stumbled back falling onto the floor in front of the bathroom holding his nose.
“That was a good hit, but I don’t think you knocked him out,” commented Ian as he walked past Alexa and stepped over Blain, who was now holding his nose as blood poured from it.
“He is a bit big to knock out.” she replied as she followed Ian and stepped over Blain.
“Do either of you fucking care that I have blood pouring down my face,” Blain screamed after them. “and what the fuck did you hit me for,” he asked as he stood from the floor and stared at Alexa.
“He told me to,” she replied pointing at Ian.
“Look you need a cover story and now you have a broken nose to go along with the story that someone overpowered you,” added Ian. “Now where are the files.”
“In there,” Blain pointed at the desk in the corner of the room.
Ian opened the middle drawer and pulled out a folder. He flicked through the pages and started to smile.
“These are perfect, let’s get out of here. I’ll be in touch Blain.”
Alexa followed Ian out of the room and towards the stairs. The plan had been to take the stairs once they had what they needed. They didn’t want to be stuck in a lift if Letitia returned to the hotel.
They reached the lobby, left the hotel and made their way back to the car.
Eighteen
Alexa knocked on the door to the safe house. Throughout the whole journey from the hotel she hadn’t been able to shake the feeling that not all was right. They had checked the evidence and it was indisputable. Letitia had certainly done her homework on President Stepan. Past experience told her that something was bound to go wrong. Pavel opened the door, he looked panicked, worried.
“What’s wrong with you old friend?” asked Ian.
“You had better come watch this.”
Alexa, Ian and Lyndsey fo
llowed him into the lounge where the TV was on. Alexa couldn’t speak Russian so she had no idea what the President was saying at what was obviously a press conference.
“They have been running this same news cycle for the last thirty minutes,” Pavel said. “He is telling everyone that there are dark forces at work against him, that they will try anything to replace him with a new President sympathetic to the west,” Pavel swallowed hard. “The next bit may be difficult to watch.”
Alexa watched transfixed as two guards frog marched Blain into shot. She listened as the President said a few more words that she didn’t understand.
“What’s he saying?” she shouted.
“He is telling the world that this man is a western spy sent to remove the legitimate Russian government and prepare it for invasion by western forces,” Pavel replied. “He is saying that there are more spies and they will be found and locked up with this spy they have caught.”
Alexa was staring at the screen as she watched pictures appear in the corner, they were a series of pictures of everyone that was in the room with her.
“He’s mad,” exclaimed Ian. “He can’t believe he will get away with this.”
“He believes whole heartedly in his own words, that’s what makes him so dangerous. He has now told the world we are all spies and he will not stop hunting us until he finds us and throws us in a large black hole,” replied Pavel. “You need to get us all out of the country.”
“I will... no... we stay and carry out the rest of the plan.”
“What plan, there is no plan. It went up in smoke once they outed us all as spies.”
“Don’t you see, that’s perfect. I’m sorry Blain got locked up but he knew the risks and we can use the fact that it’s obvious to any rational person that the President is losing the plot to our advantage. We get out there the fact he is trying to lock up all the people who threaten him. You Pavel, the person who would prosecute him, Renat, the person who would most likely replace him. Andrei, the journalist who is going to break the story of his corruption. It’s obvious.”
“It’s dangerous,” added Alexa.
“Yes it is, but what other choice do we have,” replied Ian. “Sneak back into London and be forever looking over our shoulders. No we stay, we fight, we take this bastard down, rescue Blain and then we go after Letitia.”
“Okay, what do we do?” asked Alexa.
“First thing is for Andrei to write an article about the evidence we just stole from Letitia’s hotel room and get it published tomorrow.”
All of them turned to look at Andrei.
“I will need a laptop with internet connection,” he stated.
“No problem,” said Ian. “There’s a laptop with a 4G dongle attached in the small bedroom. Alexa will get it for you.”
Alexa headed to one of the bedrooms, pushing in the wall at the side of the wardrobe. To the sound of a click the wall swung open to reveal one of the hidden storage spaces, it was a little emptier than before but she found the laptop and took it back into the lounge for Andrei to get started. She hoped this would work, she didn’t fancy dying in Russia. What she really wanted to do was get back to Jane and the children.
* * *
Letitia was woken from her slumber by a knock at her hotel room door.
“Come in.”
She never ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant, she much preferred her orange juice, croissants and fruit while watching the early morning news and catching up on any overnight emails.
The waiter transferred the cups, teapot and plates from his tray to the table by the window. He waited patiently as Letitia came from the bedroom into the main lounge area.
“Thank you,” she said.
He shuffled towards the door glancing in her direction.
“Just leave,” she shouted.
He moved a little quicker and closed the door behind him.
Letitia took a sip of the orange juice, reached for the remote, turned the television on and changed to the BBC World News channel. She watched as the press conference from the day before was replaying. She hadn’t bothered turning the sound up but quickly scrambled for the remote again as she saw an image of one of the evidence documents that Blain had stolen from her appear on the screen. Her father had made her study languages from an early age and she was fluent in Russian.
“The documents that have been published this morning by Andrei Sokolov clearly show the criminal activities of the President of Russia,” Letitia turned the volume up more as the screen changed to show the pictures of the spies that Stepan had released. “Could it be that these western spies that Stepan Arken has launched a manhunt for are in fact the people behind the leak of this information and he is trying to cover his tracks. Surely his days as President are numbered.”
She turned off the television, ate the remainder of her breakfast quickly and returned to her bedroom to dress. She needed to get on top of this leak quickly. She knew Blain had been lying when he said he had been knocked out, she knew the documents had been stolen but she had no idea they had been taken by Alexa and her team. She had suspected the President. The theft hadn’t concerned her, she had copies but with the evidence out there it was only a matter of time before Stepan was toppled. She needed to get out of the country before they came for her too.
* * *
Alexa hadn’t slept at all, she couldn’t shake the feeling that events were leading them rather than the other way around. She just wanted out of Russia and back home. She lifted herself from the bed and made her way to the kitchen. Andrei had finished writing up the article and Ian had sent it along with photos of the evidence by secure email to his team in London. They had released it to the press from an anonymous source. The plan was working, news outlets had picked up the article and were running stories on the Presidents corruption. The calls for his resignation were now coming from within his inner circle; he would be forced to resign.
“Morning,” Pavel said as he entered the kitchen.
“Morning,” she replied.
“Get something to eat and then join us in the lounge.”
Alexa grabbed some toast before joining everyone else. She sat next to Andrei in the lounge, he still had no idea she was his sister and at the moment she thought it best to keep it that way. She had enough on her plate at the moment without all the drama of finding a long lost brother.
“What are we all doing here then,” she asked after taking a bite from her toast.
“We have three tasks we need to complete before we get out of Russia,” replied Ian. “First we need to get Blain out of custody before he gets lost in the system. Stepan will be looking to make one last big gesture and locking up Blain will certainly fit the bill. Second we need to make sure that Renat is the prime candidate to replace Stepan and the last one is to find Letitia. She will be looking to get out of the country... quickly.”
“What about getting Vladimir and Andrei out of the country?,” Alexa asked.
“We don’t want to go. If the plan works we will be safe and can help build a new Russia,” said Vladimir.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, but how are we going to cover each of them, there aren’t enough of us.”
“We may need to accept that we will have to deal with Letitia after she has left the country. We are going to have to split up to cover the other two tasks,” Ian continued. “Pavel will go with Renat to talk to the President and persuade him to resign and name Renat as his successor. Andrei you stay here with your father and Darya; I need you to find out where Letitia will be flying from and where she plans to go. The rest of us will be breaking Blain out of prison... well technically we will be breaking Blain out of the car that is taking him from the Kremlin to Butyrka Prison. Any questions? No... let’s go then.”
Nineteen
Ian had explained that Pavel had called in some favours and had found that Blain had been kept in the Kremlin overnight and would be moved this morning to But
yrka Prison before being moved to the main FSB detention centre. This would be their one and only chance. It would be a single car with four occupants plus Blain. It’s journey would take it from the Kremlin to Garden Ring; the main route that circles Moscow. Pavel and Ian had been up all night planning the best time to intercept the car and had come up with only one option. They would have to hit it on the Garden Ring before it disappeared into the Moscow back streets.
Ian had explained all of this while waiting for the car to exit the Kremlin. The text came through to say the car had left, it would be with them within five minutes.
“Five minutes everyone, Lyndsey make sure your ready to follow the car. Remember no fatalities, the political fallout from this is going to be bad enough without us leaving FSB bodies spread along a main Moscow route. The car will only be on the road for two junctions so we need to get in front of it, execute the plan and get off the main routes back to the safe house before anyone has a chance to react.”
The unassuming car past their Range Rover, Lyndsey pulled in two cars behind and followed at a discrete distance. Ian had trained Lyndsey himself so he had no doubts in her ability to stay hidden even in a car as large as the Range Rover. Ian checked his weapon as Lyndsey pulled the Range Rover onto the Garden Ring still two cars behind the car carrying Blain. He watched as it started to increase it’s speed and pull away, Lyndsey reacted to its speed increase smoothly increasing the speed of the Range Rover to match but not quickly enough to draw attention. The occupants of the car they were following were professionals, they wouldn’t be expecting to be followed, even less expecting an attack. When they made their move it had to be quick. The operation was complicated by the fact they had agreed no bodies, Ian had promised Pavel. They passed the first exit.
“Move now,” Ian said.
Lyndsey pressed her foot on the accelerator, the Range Rover leapt forward pushing it’s occupants back into their seats. It overtook the two cars separating it from the target car within seconds and pulled up alongside it. Ian could see the three FSB agents staring at them out of the windows of the car as they sped past. As soon as Lyndsey got the Range Rover passenger doors level with the front of the target car she pulled it to the right, slamming the side into the nose of the target car. Pulling hard on the steering wheel she squeezed the target car against the concrete barrier that ran around the outside of the Garden Ring. Ian could hear the sound of scraping metal against metal and metal against concrete. Lyndsey slammed her foot on the brake and brought both cars to a standstill. She had positioned the Range Rover perfectly, it blocked the front set of doors between the Range Rover and the concrete barrier. Ian felt a quick emotion of pride, the manoeuvre had been text book.
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