“Hello Andrei,” said Alexa. “Thank you for inviting us.”
“Thank you for coming, I’m very pleased you could make it,” he replied as he let go of the girls and hugged Alexa. “Now lets get inside before Darya arrives.”
* * *
Andrei had been looking forward to this moment his whole life, he stood with both anticipation and excitement in equal measure as the first bars of the wedding march rang out around the church. Before he knew it Darya was stood next to him lifting her veil. Her smile made his heart jump, her eyes two beautiful pools of blue. He was so deeply in love with this woman.
The priest started the ceremony with the usual welcome followed by the line that all couples fear..
“If anyone knows of any impediment why this man and this woman should not marry state it now or forever hold your peace.”
Silence fell around the church, Darya and Andrei looked at each other, both knowing there was nothing to worry about but also apprehensive that someone may just stand up and shout those dreadful words. The silence was broken by an ear shattering explosion. The altar exploded firing bolder sized chunks of marble towards Andrei and Darya. The debris hit the two of them with the full force of the blast knocking both of them from their feet. The shock wave that followed knocking the first four pews into the air along with the occupants. The screaming started once the realisation of what had happened took hold followed very closely by the panic and race to exit the church by the only possible route.
Alexa took a few seconds to take in the enormity of what had happened before her Police and latterly SiS training took hold. She took a quick glance around her group, everyone was alive if a bit dazed.
“Grab the children, stay down but don’t head for the exit,” Alexa told Jane. “If there’s going to be a secondary device it will be at the only way out.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I need to check on Andrei and Darya.”
“Be careful.”
Alexa battled her way through the remaining guests flooding towards the exit to get to where Andrei and Darya were lay, their bodies twisted, battered and bloodied. The blast had hit them and the priest with it’s full force, it was obvious that they had been the targets. Yes Renat was here as well but there was no guarantee that a device exploding from the altar would cause enough damage to kill him. Alexa didn’t need to check for a pulse she could she immediately that Andrei and Darya were dead, their bodies entwined together as if they had been hugging in their final moments. She knelt down next to their bodies, closed their eyes and kissed both of them on their foreheads. Now wasn’t a time for mourning, she needed to get everyone out safely. She checked on Renat, he was alive but badly injured, she would get the medics in to take care of him once she was sure everyone was out safely.
By the time she had composed herself, she could see that the church was mostly empty, helped by the remainder of the SiS team. She scoured the church to see if Jane and the children were still inside. They were exactly where she had left them, she went to where they were huddled together.
“Let’s get out of here,” she said, holding out her hands to the children and guiding them out of the church.
When they finally got outside the scene was one of chaos. People were wandering aimlessly around the grounds of the church, sitting on gravestones, lying on the floor with varying degrees of injury. She could hear the sound of sirens in the distance, the emergency services were on the way, they could deal with the badly injured that had been left inside. Anyone who had walked out would need checking but wouldn’t have life threatening injuries.
“Alexa, what about Andrei... Alexa can you hear me?” asked Jane.
“Andrei is dead along with Darya and the priest.”
“I am so sorry, are you alright?”
“I’m fine.”
“He was your brother, it’s okay to feel something. You should feel something.”
“I will grieve once I kill Letitia.”
“Why Letitia?”
“Because she killed my brother.”
“How do you know that, you can’t know that. It was more likely that Renat was the target.”
“No, the way the device was planted, the distribution of the blast. It was designed to kill Andrei and the only person who would want to do that is Letitia. Now let’s find the others and get out of here before we get questioned by the police.”
March
Alexa waited for the seatbelt light to extinguish before releasing her seat belt, standing and collecting her carry on baggage. The flight had only been a short one from London Heathrow to Barcelona, looking at the immigration queues as she entered the arrivals lounge that wait could be as long. It wasnt as bad as she expected and within thirty minutes she arrived to be greeted by a surly looking man.
“Passport,” he said.
Alexa handed her passport over. The immigration officer pawed over it, looked at the picture and then looked up at Alexa.
“Miss Crawford, what is the nature of your visit to Spain.”
“Purely pleasure.”
“How long are you planning on staying?”
“Seven nights, until Saturday.”
“Which hotel will you be staying at?”
“The Hilton in the city centre.”
“Enjoy your stay,” he said in a monotone voice as he handed back her passport. “Thank you for visiting Spain.”
“I intend to,” replied Alexa.
The image in the passport may have been of Alexa but the name on the passport of Alicia Crawford was supplied by the team at SiS. She had been a key member of a small group of secret operatives within the SiS since the events twelve months ago when they had foiled the plan of Letitia Trent. Her mission in Barcelona was one that was very personal. She walked through baggage claims without claiming any luggage, through customs and out into the main concourse. Outside she hailed a taxi, asking the driver to take her to the Hilton hotel, Avenida Diagonal.
The team back at HQ had planned her back story and visit down to the smallest of detail. Alicia Crawford had been booked into the Hilton for seven days, payment had been made up front for the full seven days and the hotel had been chosen deliberately because it allowed for an electronic door key using an app on a phone. After a short drive from the airport the taxi arrived at the hotel, Alexa paid in cash and took her one bag through the Hotel reception and up to her room, using a burner phone with the Hilton app on it to open the door. Once inside she used the SiS issued secure phone to message her contact in Barcelona. She received a reply immediately telling her that they would be with her within one hour. She decided to take a shower while she waited.
* * *
Alexa was growing impatient, they weren’t late but she had a lot to do today before her flight back home tonight. The local SiS officer had arranged for a substitute to take Alexa’s place at the hotel for her seven night stay and they would be the one flying back to Heathrow as Alicia Crawford with a different passport with their image in place of Alexa’s. It was a routine she had used many times since joining the secret team within SiS. It was perfect for when she needed to get in and out of a country before any one discovered the work she had been sent to carry out.
A knock at the door startled her slightly as she had let her mind wander for a moment, she looked through the spy hole. She opened the door once she had confirmed the identity of the person the other side.
“Come in,” said Alexa.
“Thanks,” replied Carissa. “Was your flight and immigration okay?”
“Yes all good, do you have what I need.”
“Yes everything you asked for.”
Carissa put the rucksack she had been carrying on the bed and started to empty the contents. As she had said it was everything Alexa had asked for. Her favourite Sig weaponry; the new P365 pistol with suppressor and the MCX rifle with folding stock to keep it nice and small when carrying it around. Spare magazines, knife and two sets of underwater charges that
she could detonate from an app on her phone.
“Perfect,” said Alexa. “Is everything else in place.”
“Yes,” replied Carissa. “I have a colleague who will be staying at the hotel for seven nights and then flying to Heathrow with the identity you came in with. You will find your new passport in the inside zip pocket of the bag.”
“Good. I need to get started, where is he.”
“He is holidaying on his yacht in the OneOcean Port Vell Barcelona with his mistress.”
“Security?”
“Three FSB agents. He very rarely leaves his yacht. His mistress goes shopping regularly chaperoned by one agent. He spends his time drinking. The only time he ventures out is to eat in the evening.”
“I need her away from the yacht, I can’t be dealing with a screaming woman while getting the job done.”
“She will be going shopping after lunch, so in about an hour. She is normally gone for two to three hours.”
“It doesn’t give me much of a window, my flight is eight PM tonight. Lets hope he gives up the information quickly.”
Alexa checked every weapon before she packed them back into the bag.
“I’ll dump this lot once I’m done.”
“Fine, its all non traceable,” said Carissa as she stood to leave. “Good luck.”
Alexa smiled at her as she left the room, she shut the door behind her and settled in to go over her plan in her mind before she left for the marina.
* * *
Alexa didn’t have the luxury of meticulous planning, she had today and today only to extract all the information she needed from Boris Vasiliev. It was a risky job, his bodyguards would be well trained, she would have to take them out quickly and as quietly as possible.
She left the hotel at one PM, hailed a taxi and gave the driver the address for the marina. The journey took thirty minutes in the middle of the day traffic ending with her being dropped off at the marina entrance.
Her recent training with SiS had honed the skills she had learnt as a Police Officer, couple those with the programming that had been her fathers experiment made her a very astute operative. She scanned her surroundings for exit routes from the marina plus possible choke points if she had to escape quickly. It was now one-thirty PM, her flight was at eight PM and it took an hour from her current location by taxi to the airport. She didn’t have long, she needed somewhere to get ready. She found a cafe; ordered a coffee, paid with cash and sat at a table. After a quick scan she moved to the ladies washroom, entered a cubicle and opened her rucksack. She left the MCX rifle and charges in the rucksack but took everything else out. She attached the knife to her belt at the back and pulled her sweatshirt over the top of it. The Sig pistol she slipped into the shoulder holster she had put on when at the hotel, the spare magazines in a jacket pocket. She was ready, she swung the rucksack over her back, left the washroom and then the cafe.
* * *
From the research she had been provided with by the team back at SiS, the yacht was 300ft long yacht with six decks. The report was extensive explaining that the yacht had a gym, sauna and a decent size cinema alongside the galley, living space and sleeping quarters. It also had a full layout blueprint of the yacht, one she had memorised in preparation for today.
Alexa had the berth number and sure enough when she reached the jetty she could see the enormous yacht at the end. She could also see one of the FSB agents, he was standing alongside the walkway from the jetty to the yacht. One agent was with the mistress which left the other inside with Boris. She needed to take this one out quietly so as not to raise any alarms with the agent inside the yacht.
The yacht was at the end of a square shaped jetty. From where she was currently stood there were two routes to where the agent was standing. The left hand route was the best option, yachts lined the jetty providing natural cover until she reached the left hand far corner. There she would have to wait for the moment when the agent was distracted and strike quickly.
Alexa walked down the left hand side until she reached the corner. She crouched down and waited. Once the agent was facing away from her she would have to cover the distance to him quickly to eliminate him. She had decided that if she got close enough quickly enough she would use the knife, if he spotted her then the suppressed Sig would be her weapon of choice.
She continued to wait and watch as the agent paced back and forth, he was very metronomic in his pace. Every move was predictable. She counted, from him turning away from her position to turning back was twelve seconds. She needed to cover the distance from her position to his, approximately forty metres in those twelve seconds.
He turned toward her, she readied herself. He took his designated amount of paces towards her, she took the knife from it’s sheath. She had to cover those forty metres quickly and quietly. He turned. Alexa leapt from her position as if bolting from starting blocks. She ran at full speed as quietly as she could. Using her speed and lightness of foot she covered the first half of the distance quickly, she started to slow. She kept her eyes on the agent, if he turned early she would need to drop the knife and use the Sig. He didn’t turn, he was too regimented in his routine to vary it. As he reached his turning point he must have heard Alexa’s last footsteps. He turned looking directly into her eyes. A startled look crossed his face. He reached for his weapon from beneath his jacket. It was too late. Alexa drove her knife into his throat at the point where a his adams apple was. He was frozen to the spot, unable to talk or scream as the knife severed his vocal chords. Blood started to pour from the wound back into his lungs making him choke and struggle to breath. He was already dying but Alexa wanted to make sure. She removed the knife and ran it across the full width of his throat. She helped him stagger to the edge of the jetty, lowered him to the floor and rolled him into the water making as little sound as possible at the rear of the yacht.
She scanned the area for any witnesses but no one was around. She took the rucksack from her back, took out the two charges, fastened it back up again and swung it onto her back. She armed both charges, knelt down and placed one of the charges below the water line on the stern of the yacht. She moved up the jetty to where the walkway to the yacht met the jetty, knelt down again and placed the second charge below the waterline on the side of the yacht.
* * *
Alexa stood on the deck of the yacht looking through the glass at the well appointed gym, she couldn’t help but feel that this wasn’t being paid for by Boris’s vice presidential salary but more than likely by the oligarchs who tried to control Russian politics. They had lost a cash cow when Stepan was killed by Pavel and Renat replaced him as President. Renat had stripped out most of the old guard but Boris had some powerful and dangerous friends which made him difficult to remove. That wouldn’t be an issue after today.
She took her Sig pistol from it’s holster, pointed it forward and started to move to the right of the gym. She found a door to her left, opened it slowly with her left hand and proceeded into the lounge area with her pistol still facing forward. She scanned the space, no sign of the FSB agent or Boris. The plan she had memorised told her that the lounge area led to an open plan dining area. Stairs from the dining area led to the lower decks, the first deck housed another lounge and the master bedroom, travelling further down the stairs you would reach the cinema and additional bedrooms. Any further would take you to the engine room and galley.
Alexa moved to the stairs, as she reached the last few steps she could hear the unmistakable sounds of two people making love. She took the final steps and moved slowly into the corridor that ran along the length of the yacht fully expecting to see the agent guarding the bedroom door. The corridor was empty. It was when she listened closer she realised the noises weren’t of a man and woman making love but of two men, she deduced that it was more than likely that it was the agent and Boris. She recalled from memory Boris’s face and moved to the bedroom door, turned the handle and slowly opened the door.
The scene that met
her wasn’t what she expected but it was what she had worked out given the sounds from the bedroom and the missing agent in the corridor. The agent was the first to see Alexa, as he did he reached for his pistol that was on the bedside table. Alexa didn’t give him time to reach it, she fired a single shot into his head killing him instantly.
“Who are you?” asked Boris.
“It doesn’t matter who I am, what matters is do you want to be alive when I leave or go the same way as your lover,” replied Alexa.
“You are making a big mistake, don’t you know who I am?”
“I know exactly who you are. You are Boris Vasiliev, Vice President of Russia.”
“Do you think you will ever get away with this?”
“You are also the person who provided the information to Letitia Trent enabling her to plant a bomb in a church which killed three people.”
“You have no proof of that.”
“Yes I do, I have your messages you sent to her along with recordings of phone calls you made to her explaining all the security arrangements for the day. So yes, I have the proof. What you need to decide is do you want me to hand that proof to your President. If he lets you live you will spend the rest of your days in the gulag,” Alexa explained. “Or you can just co-operate with me. All you need to do is give me the information I need and I will leave here without killing you.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“I thought you might say that,” Alexa said as she fired a single shot into Boris’s leg.
Boris screamed in agony, clutching his leg as the white sheet that was covering his dignity slowly turned a light shade of red.
“You shot me.”
“You’ll live... for now,” Alexa replied. “I need to know where Letitia is. We tried tracing your calls but they bounced around the world with no end destination. So where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
Alexa fired a shot into Boris’s other leg. Boris was now writhing around the bed, his dignity no longer intact. The sheets growing a deeper shade of red by the second.
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