“What if he built himself a panic room? I know I would if the Russian government were after me.” Acton glanced at Laura. “By the way, we’re putting a panic room in the new place.”

  “Absolutely.”

  West turned to Adelle. “Contact the Network. We need the plans for that house.”

  Adelle went to work, leaving Acton to wonder what the hell the Network was, and whether West was no longer taking them to their planned destination where they had hopefully prepared for the Russians, but to Orlov’s, where they might be sitting ducks.

  74 |

  Orlov Residence Outside Schiltach, Germany

  They were sitting ducks.

  They were in a humble home, nestled in the woods outside of a small town. The nearest neighbor was only 100 yards away, but the thick trees of the Black Forest made it seem 100 miles. They wouldn’t see anyone approaching, and nobody would be coming to help them should they fall under attack. They had to make quick work of this. Either find Orlov’s hiding place, or disprove the theory that there was a panic room. They had split up and made a quick preliminary search of the house, pounding on walls and shouting his name, however there had been no response. The text message to the man had gone unanswered, which had Acton concerned.

  Everyone regrouped in the living area. “Did anybody see anything unusual?” asked West.

  Head shakes all around.

  Laura stepped over and stuck a finger into the soil of a nearby plant. “This is wet. It’s been watered today. He has to be here.”

  “But where? Everything I’m seeing matches the plans,” said West. “Did anyone notice anything odd?”

  Again, head shakes.

  “I don’t understand why he’s ignoring my message,” said Acton. “We’ve got what he wants. Why not reveal himself?”

  “Could my government have already caught him?” asked Volkov.

  West frowned. “Anything’s possible, but I think we would have heard something.”

  Acton turned to Volkov. “You had some way to communicate with him. Why don’t you try it? Maybe he’ll listen to you, because he’s obviously not listening to me.”

  Volkov retrieved the tablet from his bag and his eyes widened. “There’s a message from the professor! It looks like it was sent just after you sent your message.”

  “What’s it say?” asked Katarina.

  “It says, ‘tell Professor Acton to use this method of communication. It’s more secure.’”

  West rolled his eyes. “The fool. The contents of your messages between each other are barely of consequence. It’s your location that is.”

  Acton’s stomach churned. “They could track our phones.”

  “Of course they can track your phones. We’re counting on that.”

  “What?”

  “We want them to come to us so we can bring this to a head once and for all, but we wanted them coming to a prepared position, and this is anything but that.” West jabbed a finger at the tablet. “You tell him to come out now, or he’s never going to see those documents and he’s going to be on my shit list permanently.”

  Volkov’s thumbs tapped at the tablet’s display. “I’ve sent it, though I’m not sure how to translate ‘shit list’ into Russian.”

  “He’ll get the picture.”

  Acton looked around. “I don’t understand why he can’t see us. Normally, you have security cameras that you can watch from your panic room.”

  West shook his head. “Cameras inside your own home suggests the possibility that there is a panic room. He’s obviously hidden it extremely well, and he doesn’t want anyone to think there’s even the possibility of its existence.”

  The tablet beeped.

  “Is that him?” asked Acton.

  Volkov nodded.

  “What’s it say?”

  “‘Back yard.’”

  They all headed to the kitchen and West threw open the back door, giving them a view of the yard. A string of English, French, and Russian curses erupted as a chunk of the lawn rose and Orlov emerged.

  Acton’s eyebrow shot up. “Well, I can honestly say I never thought to look underground.”

  Orlov stepped onto his lawn, his eyes wide, a smile on his face. “Do you have the documents?” he asked eagerly.

  Acton pursed his lips, slowly shaking his head at the man. “That’s your first question? You don’t even ask if everyone’s okay? You do realize you put people’s lives in danger.”

  Orlov stared at him blankly, then finally spoke. “What would you have me say? I’m sorry? Then fine, if that’ll make you feel better, I’m sorry, but those documents are more important than anybody’s life.

  “Bollocks!” muttered Laura. “If I had known what kind of a self-centered piece of garbage you were, I never would have agreed to help.”

  “Me neither,” agreed Acton.

  Katarina growled and charged forward, punching the man in the nose. “You’ve ruined our lives! You’ve ruined all of our lives!” She hurled another haymaker, connecting once again, and everyone stood by as she continued to unload on the man who hunched over, protecting his head with his arms. Katarina finally stopped, exhausted, her chest heaving as her arms hung limp at her sides, her cheeks stained with tears. She turned and walked back toward Volkov when Alina stepped forward and hoofed Orlov in the balls. The man doubled over in agony and dropped onto the grass.

  “That’s for destroying my life too.” She turned to Volkov. “Care to have a go?”

  West held up a hand. “All right, that’s enough. Everybody back to the car. We need to get to a secure location as quickly as possible. If they’ve been monitoring us visually, they know we’ve made contact with him and they’re going to assume we also have the documents. This place isn’t safe.”

  Acton agreed and stepped over to Orlov, extending a hand. “Let’s go. You can explain yourself in the car.”

  Orlov took the hand and Acton hauled him to his feet. They rounded the side of the house, and as they approached the SUV, Adelle cursed and drew a weapon, firing two shots in the air. Acton and Laura grabbed the three young Russians, hurrying them toward the vehicle as a drone dropped from the sky beside them.

  West stepped over and slammed the heel of his shoe into it, shattering what remained of the device. “Well, I think they know we’re here.”

  Acton cursed. “What do we do? Make our stand here or try to get to your place?”

  West pressed the button on the fob, the lights flashing. “We’re dead here. This vehicle is at least bullet-resistant, and where we’re going is only fifteen minutes away and is a prepared position.”

  Acton pulled open the rear door and everyone piled inside, Orlov joining him and Laura in the middle row. West fired up the engine and hammered on the gas, sending them surging toward the local road.

  “Check right.”

  Adelle leaned forward. “Clear right.”

  West hurdled them onto the road, the vehicle rocking violently though never out of control. Acton gripped an overhead handhold as he twisted in his seat, peering out the back window for any pursuers. “How long before we get to your place, fifteen minutes?”

  “Now, it’s ten minutes, assuming we don’t get stuck behind some old geezer.”

  Adelle flashed a smile at her partner. “Hon, you are the old geezer.”

  West laughed. “But I’m young at heart.” He checked the sideview mirror and cursed. “We might have company.”

  Nikitin sat in the passenger seat, his plan so far working. And this was his plan. The president himself had ordered him to run with it, which meant one of two things. If the plan succeeded, he would be rewarded handsomely, and if it failed, his career was over. And depending on how spectacularly it failed, his life could be over as well. Fortune favored the bold, and he was fully committed. No matter what happened here today, he was either returning home a victor, or not returning at all.

  He was on his own charter minutes after his suspects had taken off. The moment the revised flight plan had been filed, changing the professors’ destination to Germany instead of London, he had known his plan was working and that he had been lied to. They knew exactly where Orlov was. New instructions had been transmitted to the private security team the President’s Office had engaged for this situation, and a team had met him when he landed in Frankfurt.

  They were mercenaries, of that there was little doubt, probably Wagner, a private firm that employed thousands of former Russian personnel. They were used as proxies by Moscow for small ops like this, and larger operations such as Ukraine, Syria, and Libya. They were professional, they were brutal, and he felt completely safe with them.

  This operation would succeed. The drone deployed to follow his suspects from the airport had revealed they had met with two senior citizens and eventually Orlov. They would be easy prey for these men, filling two vehicles, armed to the teeth. All they needed was an opportunity to corner the suspects and not create a public spectacle by engaging them on the roadway.

  “Back off. They’re going to spot us,” he said to the driver and man in charge, whose name he hadn’t been given.

  “I have done this before, sir.”

  “If you have, then why are you so close?”

  “Because we were using the drone to track them, and that woman shot it out of the sky like it was nothing. Now we have to track them visually.”

  “Aren’t we tracking their devices?”

  “Yes, sir, but if I were them, the moment I knew I wasn’t in visual contact, I’d be tossing them into another vehicle to send us off track.”

  “Deploying drone now,” came a voice in Nikitin’s earpiece. He glanced at the sideview mirror to see that the second vehicle had stopped at the side of the road. Moments later, the replacement drone sped past them as it gained speed and altitude. “I’ve got them.”

  “Backing off,” replied the team lead as he eased off the gas, returning them to a regular speed. “Now, we let the tech do the work and see where they decide to hole up. We’ll hit them fast and hard. I assume our orders still stand?”

  Nikitin nodded. “Yes. As soon as we’ve confirmed they have the documents, everyone is to be terminated. Your men have acquired the other targets?”

  “Yes, we have teams in position. Nobody involved will be alive by morning.”

  Nikitin smiled. “Perfect.”

  “They’ve backed off,” announced West.

  “Maybe it was nothing,” suggested Laura. “You know how Germans drive.”

  West disagreed. “This isn’t the Autobahn. They’ve probably deployed another drone. It’s now following us.”

  Acton leaned closer to his window and peered up but saw nothing. “What are we going to do?”

  West continued to exceed the speed limit. “We get to our house, we get inside, we activate the defensive systems.”

  “Defensive systems?” asked Alina. “Just who are you people?”

  “I’m Alex.”

  “And I’m Adelle.”

  Alina frowned. “And that’s not helpful.”

  West chuckled. “Let’s just say we know what we’re doing and we’re well-prepared.”

  “So, what is your plan?” asked Acton. “Just for us to get to your place and wait for them to run out of ammo?”

  “No. If we do that, we’ll lose. The whole idea was to force them to play their hand, and they’re playing it. Once we get you to the house and activate the system, all we need to do is hold out long enough for your friends to arrive.”

  Acton’s eyebrows shot up. “My friends?”

  75 |

  Ramstein Air Base Ramstein, Germany

  Dawson was the last boot off the ground as per usual. One of the flight crew shouted the all-clear and the Black Hawk helicopter lifted from the ground. Dawson poked his head into the cockpit. “ETA?”

  “Fifteen minutes.”

  “Copy that.” Dawson took a seat among his men. “Fifteen minutes, ladies.”

  “Once more unto the breach.” Spock checked his M4. “Any idea on numbers, BD?”

  Dawson shook his head. “Zero to a dozen, I would imagine. We could be going in there to babysit, or we could be going into a hot zone. I’m guessing if the Russians are going to hit them, they’re not going to hit them with their own personnel. They’re going to use private security. Probably Wagner.”

  Red frowned. “That means seasoned personnel.”

  “Yes, we’re not going up against Walmart security here. This is the real deal. Treat them just like you would any Spetsnaz unit.”

  “ROEs?”

  “Once they fire the first shot at us or our people, shoot to kill.”

  Spock’s eyebrow shot up. “The Germans are okay with that?”

  “According to Control, everything has been approved. Apparently, the Germans are happy to have us deal with the problem.”

  Niner grunted. “Yeah, just in case it turns into a Charlie-Foxtrot, then they’ve got someone to blame other than themselves.”

  Dawson agreed. “Then let’s make sure this doesn’t turn into a Charlie-Foxtrot. As we planned, we’ll insert in two teams. Red, your team will sweep the perimeter of the property and take down any targets of opportunity. My team will secure the main structure. If we’re lucky, we’ll get there before the Russians. If not, hopefully our people will be able to hold out long enough for us to eliminate the hostiles on the exterior.”

  Atlas checked his weapon. “And if they haven’t been able to?”

  “Then it could get ugly, but I’ve got a lot of faith in the docs.”

  “So do I, BD, but they’re going up against former Spetsnaz. I love them, but I doubt they can hold out for very long against those odds.”

  “They don’t have to. The structure has to.”

  Sergeant Eugene “Jagger” Thomas pursed his massive lips. “Let’s hope the old man didn’t just reinforce the doors and windows. If these Wagner guys are worth half their salt, they’re going in through the walls, not the doors.”

  Dawson’s comms squawked in his ear. “Zero-One, Control. Our targets have reached the property. Anticipate hostiles will engage within three minutes, over.”

  Dawson cursed and leaned toward the cockpit. “ETA?”

  “Ten minutes.”

  He cursed. “Not fast enough. Show us what this bird can do. This battle begins in three minutes.” He could hear more power going to the engines, but the pilot’s reply was what he expected.

  “There’s no way in hell we’re getting there in three minutes, buddy. The best I can give you is eight.”

  “Five minutes too late.” Niner spat. “Five damn minutes. Is this thing armed? We could just hit the whole area around the house, shave at least a minute off.”

  “Negative,” shouted the pilot at the front. “No weapons. The Germans would never go for it.”

  Dawson scratched his chin, an idea occurring to him. “What about defensive weapons?”

  The pilot gave a thumbs-up. “Loaded to bear.”

  Niner eyed him. “What are you thinking, BD?”

  “I’m thinking we go all Hollywood on their asses.”

  76 |

  West/Bertrand Residence Black Forest, Germany

  West positioned their vehicle parallel to the front of the house then turned on the high beams, illuminating the forest on one side. “Everyone inside, now!” he ordered. Adelle was already out, heading to the front entrance, key in hand. Acton corralled everyone toward the door as West drew his weapon, scanning their surroundings. Acton peered up for a drone, but instead found a thick canopy of trees overhead that just might neutralize their opponent’s advantage. West was the last inside and he closed the door behind him.

  “Everybody step back from the walls!” he ordered as he entered a code on a security panel. It beeped twice then heavy metal plating rolled down over the windows and front door, creating an armored barrier between them and those outside.

  Acton was impressed.

  “What about the walls?” asked Laura.

  “Reinforced. This home was designed from the ground up to keep people out.”

  “What kind of firepower can it hold back?” asked Acton.

  “Small arms fire is nothing, even a fifty cal isn’t getting through this. Hit us with a few RPGs in the same spot and they’ll get through eventually, but I always figured if they sent that much firepower after me, no amount of protection was going to save my ass. I just assumed it’d be the lone gunman or a small team that I’d have to protect myself against.”

  “And what do you think we’re facing tonight?”

  “I’m guessing heavily armed private security that are limited only by what their orders are from Moscow.”

  Acton frowned. “So, we’re screwed.”

  West nodded. “Basically, unless your friends get here in time.”

  “And when are we going to know that?”

  West shrugged. “No idea, but why don’t we go watch the show?” He led them into a small room filled with state-of-the-art equipment, at least a dozen camera feeds displayed on as many monitors.

  Adelle pointed. “Camera three.”

  “Well, they’re being pretty bold,” observed West. He flipped a switch cover out of the way and pressed the button underneath. An explosion momentarily blinded the cameras, and when the lens recovered, the smoking wreckage of an SUV was revealed. “That should buy us a minute.”

  Acton shook his head. “Without knowing whether they’re five minutes or five hours away, it’s hard to get excited by that.”

  “Have faith, young man, and pray that they’re very good friends of yours so they go the extra mile to get here as quickly as possible.”

  Acton said nothing and smiled at Laura as she took his hand and squeezed it. They both knew who the friends were, and they both knew Bravo Team would do whatever they could to get here in time.

  Unfortunately, the laws of space and time often got in the way.

 

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