Chaos

by Iris Johansen

  “And it caused all this damn smoke!”

  “We had to get rid of that truck and soldiers. They were setting up a Browning .50-caliber machine gun in the back of that truck, but even without that firepower they were too close. Once they joined with Masenak and Reardon, they would have been like a wolf pack hunting down a doe. We might not have had time to reach Sasha from the heliport before they caught up with her.” He grimaced. “Look on the bright side. At least the smoke is hiding her, too.”

  “That doesn’t make me feel better. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. I thought I’d be able to track Sasha from the minute she got off the access road and go after her.” Alisa realized how futile that sounded now, but it was true. The plans they had made had been simple and streamlined, and Korgan’s absolutely lethal team should have had no trouble accomplishing every detail. They were to take out Masenak’s guards at the heliport, electronically isolate the entire area from the castle, and then wait for Sasha to come down that hill. When she was off the hill and safely out of Masenak and Reardon’s range, they’d move in to take them out.

  Alisa’s own part had been to hijack Reardon’s livestock helicopter right before his men could depart for his horse farm in Marrakech. She’d provided backup, additional firepower, and the “surprise” Korgan had thought might be a necessity.

  It was a plan that should have worked, but when did any plan work perfectly? They hadn’t counted on the truck full of soldiers with all that firepower trailing so closely behind Masenak. “The only way I’ll feel better is to piss off Masenak and Reardon by finding Sasha before they do.”

  “Which we’re on our way to doing.” He checked his watch. “And they’re soon going to have an even better reason to want to send us both to hell. You told me Novak is very efficient, and that means three drones will explode in the racetrack, military, and guard barracks in exactly four minutes. They’ll do enough damage that when Novak’s and Vogel’s teams go in afterward to do clean up, I doubt if Davidow or any of Masenak’s men will still be around.”

  “Four minutes,” she repeated. She’d been so absorbed with just getting here to Sasha that she’d barely been paying attention to anything else.

  “Just following your orders. You told me to handle it. So I had Novak send an initial commando team on-site to Jubaldar ready to strike the minute he sent off the drones. He’ll follow with a second team himself when he’s free. By that time Vogel’s forces should be getting there. I know you like to be consulted, but I figured you were a little too busy with hijacking the helicopter Reardon was expecting and getting it here in time to be backup if we needed it.”

  “And we did need it.” She was shaking her head in frustration. “But none of it is going to do any good unless we make sure Masenak and Reardon won’t get away. They’re like Houdinis. Close your eyes and they’re gone.” She could feel the panic rising. “And they’re not stupid. They’ll know that Sasha is still a card they can play.” They’d reached the access road, and she jerked her arm away from him. “We’ve got to find her before they do. We’ll have to split up. If one of us locates her, fire two shots.” She was running toward a maze of warehouses and garages. “She might have just tried to get lost in all those buildings over there. You check out the west area.”

  “Alisa, dammit…”

  She glanced over her shoulder and saw that he was coming after her. “Forget about me. You know I’ll be okay,” she said fiercely. “Find her!”

  She ran into the first warehouse. It was huge and stuffed with Masenak’s treasures and furniture. You could hide a herd of elephants in here, not to mention one small girl and two racehorses.

  Kaboom!

  Kaboom!

  Kaboom!

  She had to grab on to the wall as the floor shook and dust came down from the high ceiling.

  Novak’s drones. Right on time. Just as efficient as she’d told Korgan. And powerful. This area was more than a mile away from where the bombs had hit, but the explosions had been very strong.

  She hoped Masenak had heard and realized it was his wonderful Jubaldar that had taken the hit.

  But it would also make him as furious as Korgan had said, and she had to find Sasha and make sure she wouldn’t be exposed to that rage.

  She took a cursory glance around the rest of the warehouse. She was almost finished when she saw the wide-open door at the end of the corridor. It looked as if someone had run out of the building and just left it flung open.

  She stopped and moved toward it. As she came closer, she could see glimpses of forests that ran from the access road toward the distant cliffs.

  And whoever had flung open that door had been excited to see what she was seeing now. Why not? With two horses Sasha would gravitate to any area where she could fade away into the natural camouflage of forests or boulders.

  And they would figure that out, too. Someone had opened that door. Careful. She mustn’t make any—

  Pain.

  Darkness.

  * * *

  “Wake up.” Alisa was being roughly shaken. “You’re not hurt. I was careful not to hit you too hard. I don’t want to have to drag you if we have to get on the move.”

  She opened her eyes.

  Reardon. A savagely angry Reardon. She tensed, reaching for her gun. It was gone. Of course it was gone. What else could she expect?

  She put her hand to her temple. She was bleeding…“Where is Sasha?”

  “We’ll talk about the bitch later.” He was pulling her to her feet. “I have to get you to Masenak and see how we can arrange to get out of this hellhole.” He took out his gun and jammed it into the center of her back. “No noise. Do you understand? I don’t know how many men you brought in on that helicopter, but I’ll kill anyone you try to warn.”

  “I won’t warn anyone.” Her head was clearing now. How to get out of this? She didn’t have a weapon, but she had strength and skill and that could be enough. The bastard was nervous, and all it would take would be a moment of distraction and she might be able to bring him down. “I might be a little slow. I’m dizzy…”

  “If you’re slow, you’re dead. You’ve caused me too much trouble, and I won’t let you con me.” He jammed the gun in her back again. “Very quickly, Alisa.”

  “Hello, Reardon,” Korgan said softly from behind him. “It’s been a long road and I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you. Just drop that gun and step away from her.”

  Reardon whirled to face him. “Korgan.” His hand tightened on his gun, still pressed against Alisa’s spine. “Why should I drop it? You seem to have made the mistake of coming after her alone. You evidently want her alive, and that puts me way ahead of the game. If you shoot me, I’ll still press the trigger and she’ll die anyway.”

  Korgan was here. Alisa felt a rush of relief. Together they could handle Reardon. Just concentrate on finding the right moment.

  Korgan was smiling at Reardon. “Or I can stand here covering you until my old friend Gilroy appears with a team that will make your death absolutely inevitable. Stalemate.”

  “But with the same end result,” Reardon said. “You don’t like failure. That’s why you’ve been so annoyingly persistent about that Noura matter. I never understood why you interfered with my handling of Karim Raschid. Sometimes examples must be set. It was just business.”

  “Business?” Alisa repeated. “Like the way you treated Sasha. Was she an example, too?”

  “No, she was going to be pure pleasure. I got a taste of it last night. I guarantee I’ll have my fill if you’re not accommodating.” His gaze shifted back to Korgan. “We’re a good deal alike. We’re both successful businessmen, and I admit that you might have a slight advantage at the moment. But I can overcome that with a single bullet in this woman’s back. If she doesn’t die, she’d probably be crippled for life. So let’s get down to the deal. I want passage out of here. You put me on that helicopter, and I’ll let her go when I reach Morocco.”

  “What about yo
ur friend Masenak?”

  “I don’t care about Masenak. If you can find him, take him. Just get me out of here. He’s never understood the art of the deal, which is why he’s such a failure.”

  “Where is he?” Alisa asked. “Did he find Sasha?”

  “He thought he caught sight of her and told me to stay here on watch. It was fine with me. Sasha might be the prize, but I knew you’d be on the hunt. If I could gather in either one of you, I’d still get what I wanted.” He gestured with the gun. “And I’m very close now. You’re an optimist, Korgan. If you let me go, you’re going to think you can track me down again. Take the chance, and she might live.”

  “Why do you think she’s important enough to me that I’d take that chance?” Korgan asked coldly. “You know you’ve always been my prime target. The only reason I’ve been helping her is that I knew she’d eventually lead me to you and Masenak. She’s done that now.”

  A faint flicker of unease crossed his face. “I don’t believe you. You’re soft, Korgan. Everyone thinks you’re this great humanitarian. You wouldn’t let me kill her, even if you care nothing for her.”

  But Korgan’s words had managed to shake him, Alisa realized. Distract him. Push a little harder.

  And Korgan was doing it. “Really? But you know how obsessed I’ve been about bringing you down. Wouldn’t you do anything you had to do? As you said, we’re both businessmen, and we’ve learned that minor considerations have to be eliminated when we go after the big score.” His glance shifted to Alisa’s face, and he held her eyes. “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid that I can’t go along with his offer. It might be time for you to fade out of the picture.” Then his gaze focused again on Reardon. “Look at me. Unless you can offer me a better deal than that, you can shoot her and then I’ll—”

  Alisa tensed. Reardon had involuntarily looked at Korgan at those first words, and his attention was distracted. Move!

  She whirled away from him and erupted into a barrage of strategic punches and kicks aiming at the six weak points: eyes, throat, nose, groin, knees, solar plexus. She struck Reardon’s right forearm repeatedly, but the bastard somehow managed to keep a firm grip on his gun. She ducked to avoid his gun barrel as he squeezed off two shots.

  Blam! Blam!

  She hit him with a roll kick behind his right knee and he faltered. Now close in and take him down. Get that gun.

  Blam!

  But this time the shot didn’t come from Reardon. He screamed as Korgan’s bullet smashed into his hand, sending the gun flying.

  And now Korgan was walking toward him as he tried to struggle to his knees. “No deal, Reardon. We’re not at all alike, and in spite of what you might have heard, I have my moments when there’s absolutely nothing soft about me. You can’t imagine how much hardening took place while I was sitting at Karim’s funeral in Noura.”

  Reardon took one glance at his face and then he was scrambling. “No! Let’s talk. I’ll give you anything you want!” He was trying desperately to get to his gun on the floor across the room.

  Korgan shot him in the skull. Then he took two more steps and shot him twice more.

  He stood there, looking down at the bloody corpse. “That was extremely satisfying.” He glanced at Alisa. “I regret having to interrupt you when you were doing so well, but I thought you’d want to get to Sasha.” He glanced back down at Reardon. “You said we had to cut off the heads of the snakes, and we’ve only done this one. Shouldn’t we go looking for Masenak?”

  Another darker, more savage side of Korgan that she’d never seen before. How many more would she see before this was over?

  “Yes.” She turned away from Reardon’s body. “He was trying to force me to go out that door that leads to the cliffs and forests when you showed up on the scene. He mentioned Masenak. Let’s go.”

  * * *

  Stay here! Sasha slipped from Chaos’s back as soon as she reached the forest trail that led up to the cliffs. Don’t follow me. Take care of Nightshade.

  She didn’t wait for him to complain but started up the shale slope of the trail along the cliffs. The horses should be safe in that forest area below, but she needed to get higher so that she could see what was going on. Though that might not do any good. There was smoke everywhere. She’d heard the explosion and the screams right after she’d left the access road, but she hadn’t stopped to find what had happened. Masenak and Reardon had been too close, and she doubted those screams had come from them. Alisa had said to run and hide and not emerge until they came for her. That’s what she would do, but she had to know if they were safe here or if she should go deeper into the forest.

  “Stop right there or I’ll blow your head off, Sasha.”

  Masenak.

  She froze.

  “Or I might decide to do it anyway. I’d like nothing better.” He was climbing the rocks behind her, his gun pointed at her. “You’ve ruined me. I wish I’d killed you that first day in that stable at St. Eldon’s.”

  “You were a ruin to begin with. Ugly and greedy and evil. What you did to those girls was—” Her head snapped back as his hand whipped across her face. Pain. Dizziness. Then she was able to speak again. “And Jeanne Palsan. You should burn in hell. I think you probably will.” He struck her again and she staggered back. She wasn’t thinking straight. Verbally attacking him wasn’t going to do any good. The gun. He didn’t know she had a weapon in her jacket pocket, and he wasn’t used to thinking of her as a threat, only a victim. So figure how she could get that gun out without him shooting her. “I thought Reardon might even be worse than you, but he isn’t. You’re just the same. Where is he?”

  “He’ll be here as soon as he knows I’ve caught you. And he’s probably even angrier than I am about the humiliation you handed him.” He motioned with his gun toward the cliffs she’d just climbed. “But he’s always bragging how great he is with negotiations, and you might stay alive if they go well enough to please us. You’re our ticket out of here. Let’s go down and get started.”

  There were boulders to the right of the trail. She’d have to pass Masenak, and this might be her only chance to make a move before they joined Reardon. “It’s not going to work, you know,” she said as she moved toward him. “It’s all over for you. Why don’t you—” As she passed him, she pushed him with all her strength! He staggered back, half losing his balance.

  She ducked behind the nearest boulder, struggling to get the gun out of her pocket.

  A bullet plowed into the boulder next to her!

  She ran!

  That shot might have only been a threat, but Masenak had been clear about how much he hated her. Find another boulder or tree to hide behind before she tried to use her gun to protect herself. She didn’t know enough about guns to have a battle while she was running down this damn trail.

  Another shot!

  It hit the pine tree only a foot from her head.

  She could hear him cursing, and he was getting closer. Her hand tightened on the gun. There was another pine several yards ahead. She would dive behind it and try to get off a shot at Masenak before he was on top of her…

  “Down!”

  Alisa’s voice. Alisa tackling her, bringing her to the ground, covering her with her own body.

  “No!” Sasha desperately pushed at her. “Get away. He’s right behind me.”

  But he was no longer behind her. Masenak was struggling with someone. A dark-haired man who had his hands on Masenak’s throat, strangling him. Even as she watched, Masenak broke free and was running away, streaking toward the forest. But he still had his gun, she realized. He was still a threat. He could come back and hurt Alisa.

  And he could hurt the horses, she realized suddenly. He was running right toward Chaos and Nightshade. She started struggling again. “No, I have to stop him!”

  “Lie still.” Alisa’s arms tightened around her. “You don’t have to do anything. Korgan is going after him.”

  It had been Korgan who had been struggling wi
th Masenak and almost put him down, Sasha realized. But that only meant the threat was to him, too. She pushed Alisa aside and sat up to see Korgan running toward the trees after Masenak. “Masenak still has his gun.”

  “Not for long.”

  “No, not for long.” She grabbed Alisa’s arm as Alisa opened her lips to speak. “Hush for a minute. I have to do something.” She closed her eyes and concentrated.

  He’s coming toward you, Chaos. He has a weapon, and he’ll try to hurt you and everyone else. We can’t let him do that.

  He’s trying to hurt you?

  Yes, me, too. He’s a little crazy right now and he’s striking out to hurt everyone. Be careful, but make sure he can’t do that.

  I see him running toward me. She could sense Chaos’s eagerness, but he was making sure he knew what she meant since she’d refused him before. You’re giving him to me? I can stomp him?

  She didn’t hesitate. She said the words.

  You can stomp him!

  Then Sasha drew away from him and waited.

  She didn’t have to wait long before she heard the first scream.

  It was long and terrified and full of agony.

  Alisa heard it, too, and whirled to face her. “Sasha?”

  She didn’t answer.

  More screams, and then silence.

  Done.

  Sasha jumped to her feet. “I’ve got to go make sure Chaos and Nightshade are safe,” she said quietly. “You can tell Korgan that he won’t have to worry about Masenak’s gun any longer. I didn’t hear a shot.”

  “Neither did I. But then I remembered Chaos is very, very fast. Masenak wouldn’t have stood a chance.” Alisa added grimly, “I’ll go with you. I want you to have someone with you if you’re going to face what I think happened to Masenak just now.”

  Sasha smiled wryly. “Always trying to spare my feelings. But I’m the one who caused that. I did it deliberately, and I won’t feel guilty. My only regret is that I had to use Chaos, and that means I might have to go back to square one in gentling him.”