Trial by Fire

by Trial by Fire (retail) (epub)

  Within seconds, strong hands grabbed her under the armpits and hauled her to her feet. She could do nothing to resist as she was forced out of the vehicle and into the waiting night beyond.

  The hood was ripped from her head, allowing her to look around for the first time. They had halted in a patch of waste ground somewhere beyond the city limits. She knew this because the dark, abandoned buildings had given way to scattered trees and bushes that were slowly encroaching on the empty town.

  And perhaps half a mile away, illuminated by bright arc lights and surrounded by construction cranes and high razor wire fences, stood the towering concrete sarcophagus that enclosed the ruined Chernobyl nuclear plant. A radioactive nightmare that had been hastily sealed away 20 years earlier, and was soon to be released once more.

  She was abruptly jerked back to reality by a hard shove from behind. Gravel and loose stones crunched beneath her boots as she was led down a slope away from the 4x4. The footing was treacherous, and one of her captors skidded briefly as the stones gave way, accompanied by a muttered curse as he regained his balance.

  At the bottom of the slope, dark water glimmered in the faint moonlight. She halted about halfway down, her captor yanking her arm back forcefully at the elbow.

  ‘On your knees,’ a voice growled from behind.

  She swallowed hard, knowing what they were planning. A feeling of utter, pathetic helplessness settled on her like a lead weight. She was going to die here in this shithole in the middle of nowhere, and there wasn’t a thing she could do to prevent it.

  Her captors were in no mood for debate. A booted foot kicked the back of her legs and, unable to hold herself up, she fell to the ground. Sharp stones dug into her as she landed hard.

  She was cold. The two men with her were well protected in thick woollen jumpers and heavy overcoats, but she had been stripped down to her T-shirt and trousers, already soaked to the skin by the freezing water they’d thrown on her. Everything else had been taken away. The cold from the half-frozen ground began to seep through the thin fabric, crawling up her legs as if it had a mind of its own, raising goosebumps on her skin.

  Hearing the rasp of a flint lighter, she glanced left as one of her captors lit up another cigarette, the glow of the flame briefly throwing his sharp, craggy Slavic face into relief. The man inhaled, taking a deep drag. She could smell the reek of cheap tobacco from here.

  For some reason, she found herself staring at a battered soda can lying a few yards away, half buried by gritty snow and old gravel. She caught herself wondering who had dropped it there. A worker at the nearby plant? A kid on his way to school two decades earlier? Or just some guy out for a walk one evening?

  It was ludicrous to be thinking about something like that at such a moment, yet she couldn’t help it, as if her mind was still unable to accept what was happening to her. She was in a stunned, dreamlike state, neither fully awake nor asleep.

  ‘When the first emergency crews arrived here the night of the explosion, they described a blue glow coming from the plant, rising up into the heavens like a beam of light. They said it was beautiful,’ the smoking man remarked thoughtfully. ‘I wonder if we will see that same glow again tonight.’

  Frost said nothing. The magnitude of what this man and his followers were planning was terrifying, sickening. She was almost glad she wasn’t going to be around to witness it. At least her death was apparently going to be quick.

  ‘You will not give us what we want?’ he asked, changing the subject. Even with his heavy Russian accent, his tone made it obvious he knew her answer already.

  She glared at him, and for a heartbeat her strength and resolve returned. She wasn’t entirely powerless, she knew now, because they couldn’t force the one thing they really needed from her. They couldn't get her confession. She alone, in her last act of defiance, would deny them that.

  Even if it cost her life.

  ‘Fuck you,’ she snarled, seeing no reason to hold back now. ‘Get it over with, you pussy. Stop wasting my time.’

  The one with a cigarette nodded to his companion and muttered something softly. It was a simple command, neither urgent nor emotional. It was the tone of a man telling his friend to finish off a tedious task.

  Frost raised her chin and stared straight ahead as she felt the barrel of a pistol pressed against the side of her head, managing to keep herself from trembling. She heard the click of a hammer being drawn back, and closed her eyes as her captor pulled the trigger.

  Chapter 17

  Click.

  Frost jumped at the sound, then opened her eyes and looked around at the weapon that should have killed her. So taken aback was she by this unexpected occurrence that her first instinct was to laugh.

  Had she actually been so lucky that his weapon had been loaded with a dud round? If so, her respite would be momentary at best. The only delay would be how long it took him to eject the defective round and pull the trigger again.

  And yet, no such thing happened. To her utter disbelief, Flashback calmly holstered the weapon and gave her a reassuring nod.

  ‘Well done, Keira. It’s over now,’ he said, his voice containing none of the mockery or cold derision it had displayed before.

  Even as he said this, she felt a momentary tug from behind, and the plastic cuffs fell away, leaving her arms free. Something heavy and warm had been placed over her shoulders, and she looked down to see a thick winter jacket draped over her.

  ‘Take it easy, be calm and breathe,’ Flashback advised her. ‘You may feel shaky for a while. It’s just the adrenaline wearing off.’

  ‘What the fuck is going on?’ she demanded, still refusing to believe this wasn’t some kind of trick on his part. How could she still be alive?

  Only then did her fellow captors remove their masks, exposing their faces for the first time. And at last, the truth finally dawned on Frost.

  ‘You did well. Not many people make it this far,’ Drake said, showing no evidence of the gunshot wounds that had supposedly killed him earlier. Neither did Mason or Keegan, who were looking at her with that same expression of respect and compassion.

  She could feel herself shaking despite the warm coat now wrapped around her. Her legs felt weak, as if they might give out at any moment. The fire of defiance and courage that had sustained her this far had finally begun to flicker out as her mind slowly adjusted to the idea that none of this had been real.

  ‘This was a fucking game?’ she stammered, barely able to get the words out.

  ‘It was a test,’ Drake explained. ‘A test that you passed.’

  She was breathing hard and fast as she glanced away for a moment, staring toward the distant power plant. ‘I killed those men. I gunned them down.’

  ‘Blood packs and squibs, adrenaline and fear did the rest. All our weapons were loaded with blanks. Our lads have been through it dozens of times, they know how to sell it.’

  ‘What about the radiation? We’ve all…’

  Pulling back his sleeve, Drake flipped open the radiation counter he was still wearing. The display showed only 15 Rads. ‘Your readings were fake, Keira. The route we followed is one of the safest in the Zone. Once you’ve washed and changed clothes it’ll be like nothing even happened. But we had to make you believe the danger was real.’

  He pointed to Flashback. ‘Sergei here is one of our interrogation experts. It’s his job to scare the shit out of you. We use him because he looks like a mean bastard.’

  In response, Sergei grinned and gave him the finger.

  ‘I… thought I was about to die here.’

  ‘That’s the point, Keira. It wouldn’t be a proper test if you knew it was just an exercise,’ he said gently. ‘We all had to go through it, just like you.’

  Frost looked at the operatives who had gathered around her, imagining each of them forced to their knees with a gun at their heads, staring death in the face. ‘You’ve all been here before?’

  ‘Some of us,’ he said cryptically. ‘The
test depends on the candidate, but the purpose is the same.’

  ‘But I… I failed. I didn’t rescue the team.’

  At this, Drake shook his head. ‘It’s not that kind of test. Whatever way you tried to get us out, you’d have failed. Even if you’d run, Sergei’s men would have intercepted you and you’d still have found yourself here.’

  A test that it was impossible to pass; it made no sense to her. ‘So what’s the point?’

  He took a step closer. ‘The point is to find out who you really are, Keira Frost. We’re deniable operatives – being killed or captured is something we risk every time we go into the field. And if it happens, nobody’s going to come for us. We’re on our own. We pushed you to breaking point because we needed to know what that meant for you, whether you’d give up the Agency to save your own life. And whether you’d risk your life to save your teammates.’ He cocked an eyebrow before adding, ‘Even ones who treated you like shit.’

  Suddenly Drake’s derisive and confrontational attitude, and his constant attempts to provoke and belittle her throughout the mission came into crystal-clear focus. She perceived his actions now for what they truly were.

  ‘That was part of the act too,’ she said, hardly believing she hadn’t seen it before.

  ‘I don’t know, you’d be surprised how much of an asshole Ryan can be when he sets his mind to it,’ Keegan remarked with a grin.

  Drake nodded solemnly, ignoring his comrade’s light-hearted take on the situation. ‘I’m sorry I had to put you through that. For what it’s worth, I didn’t enjoy it. But we had to know.’

  ‘Know what?’

  ‘Whether you could take it. Whether you could keep your emotions in check and do your job, even if it meant taking shit from people who didn’t like you. Your assessment said you’d fail, Franklin thought you’d fail, but I argued to give you a chance.’

  She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This man who had belittled and insulted her from the moment they’d first met, was now claiming to be her advocate, her saviour?

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because we need people like you,’ he said honestly. ‘People who question orders, think for themselves, make good calls under pressure. Everything that made you wrong for the military makes you right for a unit like this. If you want to be part of it.’

  ‘If I want it…’

  ‘You know what we do now. You know how it could end for any one of us when we go out there. Now it’s time to make a choice. You can either accept it and become part of the team… or you can’t, and you go back to your old life. There’s no judgement either way.’

  She had looked away from him again, her heart pounding, the beat of it thundering in her ears, unable to trust herself with what was happening. After everything she’d been through, the sight of these men watching her with compassion, respect and understanding was somehow worse than what they’d shown her before.

  It didn’t feel real. Nothing felt real now.

  ‘I know this isn’t easy,’ Drake said, speaking in that same calm, reasonable voice. ‘Most people find it hard to come down from something like this.’

  ‘Scared the shit out of me when I had to do it,’ Mason added.

  ‘We’ll get you out of here, get you some dry clothes and debrief you properly later. First, maybe you should take some time—’

  She felt a hand on her shoulder, and all of a sudden it was too much. Whirling around, she drew back her arm and slapped him across the face with every ounce of strength in her body. He jerked back from the impact, but didn’t move to defend himself.

  He just allowed her to get it out.

  ‘Take some time!’ she repeated, shaking with rage. ‘Don’t you have any idea what you’ve done here? You’re fucking with people’s minds – people who trusted you! I don’t want any part of it, you understand? I don’t want to be in your fucked-up Agency!’

  Unable to take it any longer, she pushed past him, heading for the truck that she knew would ferry her out of here. She wanted nothing more than to get away from this fucking place, these fucking people and their ridiculous mind games, and never look back.

  Chapter 18

  Washington DC – One week later

  Drake sat alone at the bar, a glass of whisky in front of him. It was a Friday evening in DC, and the place was busy with government employees and civil servants blowing off steam after a long week at work. Most had congregated in small groups, laughing over funny anecdotes or griping about office politics and whatever minor annoyances they’d encountered lately.

  Drake had little desire to join them. It had been a week since their return from Ukraine, and the inevitable debriefings that had followed as the candidate’s actions were deliberated over and dissected. Despite Drake’s attempts to coax something more from her, Frost had given them the full sullen teenager routine, glowering at the debriefing staff and giving the bare minimum of answers. Anything to get out of there as quickly as possible.

  And that had been the last he’d seen of her. They hadn’t spoken directly since that night in Pripyat, and he didn’t imagine they would again. She had submitted her formal refusal of their offer to join the Shepherd programme three days ago, and it was resting on Drake’s desk back at Langley at that very moment. He knew it was time to process it and officially cut her from the programme, but he’d held off until now, hoping she might reconsider.

  He didn’t feel guilty for putting her through the wringer out there, because he knew there might come a time when she was tested like that for real. To have gone easy on any candidate would be doing them and his teammates a disservice.

  But he did feel bad for Frost herself, because he sensed the talent and potential in her. And he knew it wasn’t being properly used. She’d rotated back to her own unit now, and yet he knew she’d outgrow the military sooner or later, probably leaving with a dishonourable discharge after rubbing the wrong person the wrong way. More than likely she’d end up in some low paying job on civvy street, fixing computers or something of the sort.

  What a waste.

  He drained his whisky, caught the bartender’s eye and held up his glass indicating he wanted another. Some part of his mind warned him he was indulging in this sort of thing rather too much these days, but he knew a couple more glasses would silence that particular voice. For a while, at least.

  He heard the slight creak as someone eased into the stool beside him, and glanced around absently at the new arrival. Young, petite, dark hair and pale skin. A scuffed and worn biker’s jacket was resting on the bar beside her.

  ‘Took you long enough,’ Drake said as the bartender refilled his glass. ‘I was starting to think I’d wasted my time on you.’

  Frost regarded him for a second or two with a stern, searching look, and he honestly couldn’t tell if she wanted to embrace him or slap him again. ‘One rule,’ she said firmly. ‘From here on out, you’re honest with me. No secrets, no bullshit. You pull anything like that again, and I walk forever.’

  He thought about it, then nodded, knowing how important it was to her. ‘No secrets. No bullshit.’

  That was when he finally saw it; something he’d never seen before from the fiery young woman. A smile – small and slightly grudging – but a smile all the same. And that simple gesture made him feel better than he had for quite some time.

  ‘What made you change your mind?’ he asked, curious.

  Frost wasn’t looking at him, but he saw something change in her expression. A moment of sadness as she replayed an old memory, then an expression of peace and acceptance. The release of a burden she’d carried for a long time.

  ‘I made a promise to someone, a long time ago.’

  ‘What kind of promise?’

  ‘Not to quit, not to waste my chance, because it might never come again,’ Frost explained. ‘She was… my friend. And I owe her.’

  Drake nodded understanding, guessing she’d said as much on that matter as she was ever going to. ‘Fair enough.’
/>   Relaxing a little, Frost glanced at the bartender, who had just finished pouring.

  ‘Make that two, pal. He’s buying.’

  Also by Will Jordan…

  Black List

  Deception Game

  Ghost Target

  Second Chances

  Shadow Conflict

  Find out more

  First published in the United Kingdom in 2018 by Canelo

  Canelo Digital Publishing Limited

  57 Shepherds Lane

  Beaconsfield, Bucks HP9 2DU

  United Kingdom

  Copyright © Will Jordan, 2018

  The moral right of Will Jordan to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN 9781788630634

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Look for more great books at www.canelo.co