Rasputin's Prodigy

by Michael Weinberger

  “Get inside Igor,” Alexei commanded to the shop owner.

  “Not a chance in hell,” the small man responded then called out, “Sasha!”

  Sasha appeared from behind the door, brandishing two very new Glock Model 20, Gen 4 15-shot 10mm semi-automatic handguns, and handed one to Igor, along with a few extra magazines.

  Chris made it to the halfway point between us and the corner he had just rounded as Alexei and I began walking toward him. Seeing our intention Chris waved his hands even more vigorously and started screaming, “Get inside! Get inside!”

  It was then that at least a dozen men came running around the same corner as Chris. All of them were apparently from Dimitri's security force, and were wearing various pistols and revolvers in their shoulder holsters, although they hadn't drawn their weapons. Perhaps their intent had been to take Chris alive? But there was no doubt that, as soon as they saw us armed and already putting up a defensive front, they would stop and draw on us.

  Chris kept running, and to his credit, managed to maintain his distance without slowing. I stepped in front of the others, “Get ready,” I said and behind me heard the distinct clatter of slides being ratcheted and cartridges being chambered as our the weapons were made ready and brought into firing position.

  I was aiming down the sights of my Glock, past Chris but directly at the security man running closest to him when someone else came around the corner behind all the security men.

  The sheer size of the man running after the initial gang chasing Chris made my eyes widen with shock. I turned to look behind me and saw that the others had registered him as well. Shock and fear covered their all of faces, all except Alexei whose eyes grew more intense at the figure in the distance.

  I called out, “Get inside!” and turned to push the others through the doorway. Sasha didn't hesitate, but Igor and Alexei were mesmerized by the sight of the giant. I shoved Igor through the door and grabbed Alexei by the shoulder and began dragging him inside when another figure landed, and I mean landed as if he had dropped out of the sky, between Chris and the men chasing him. This figure was wearing familiar black leather, had skin as white as Italian marble and a long mane of pure white hair that fell to the middle of his back.

  Alpha stood and faced the oncoming men who quickly pulled up short in their run as their hands flew to their weapons. Not a single man was able to get his gun out in time, before the giant figure running from behind crashed into them like a freight train. The sounds of bones breaking could be heard over the distance as William barreled through the highest concentration of the security force. Alpha surged forward as well, his strange knives drawn and glinting in what light the streets provided as blood, diluted pinkish vampire blood, erupted from the members of the security force and began to coat the street.

  Chris had reached me by that time and was about to scream at me when he saw the look on my face and paused to turn and look for himself. At least four of the security team lay dead or bleeding out on the ground, while Alpha and William engaged the others.

  “Oh!” Chris chortled, “when did they get here?” Chris didn't wait for an answer and instead drew his knife and turned to run back into the melee.

  Confusion at seeing Chris pull his knife momentarily paralyzed me, until the realization that firing into the fracas would be too risky, with William and Alpha dodging in and out between multiple opponents. Chris had made the right call on selecting his knife, so I holstered my Glock and pulled fiberglass Karambit out of its sheath. As I stood I saw Alexei holding that giant Bowie knife in his hand as he looked at me and smiled.

  I sighed, “Always the hard way,” as Alexei and I both ran into the fray. As I charged in, my eyes locked on one of the men who had seen me coming. He had managed to draw his own knife and was ready to meet me head on. I crouched low in my run and then had to duck even lower, as a body of a different security man came flying at my head. At first I thought it was an attack, but the way the man's arms were flailing I realized that William had just tossed him aside like a rag doll. I rolled under the man as he sailed over me and came up with my dagger in my hand like a fencer's foil. I thrust the tip of the dagger forward toward the man's belly, but he retreated out of range in time for me to miss, then shifted his weight and lunged forward with a slashing motion aimed at my throat. I anticipated the strike, slid further forward and raised my left forearm to block his slash and hoped I had closed enough of the distance to block the man's wrist, as opposed to the edge of his blade. I felt that hard smack of bone on bone as the man's wrist hit my forearm, stopping his strike cold. Wisely he didn't try to overwhelm me or force the point to my throat, but instead tried to pull the blade back quickly in order to slice my forearm along the way. I knocked his knife away and then spun my body around and kicked out with my right leg, knocking both of his legs out from under him.

  The security man fell flat on his back with his legs in the air as I continued the spin bringing the dagger straight down and into his chest over his heart. The sturdy design and pointed tip of the dagger forced its way between the ribs and slid directly into the man's heart. His whole body shuddered and he grabbed at my wrist, but I had already begun pulling my blade from his chest and I fell back before he could catch me in his wildly flailing death throes.

  The man was dead before I could get to my feet and as I stood looking for another target, I noticed William holding one man aloft by the throat and squeezing the life out of him, while Alpha spun first to his left, slicing through one man's throat, and then reversed his spin to disembowel another. Chris was taunting two others who were trying to draw their side-arms, but kept having to abandon them in order to fend off the quick sweeping strikes of Chris' Karambit.

  I started to make my way toward Chris when one of the men stepped back far enough to give himself a chance to draw his sidearm. I threw my Karambit at his head and it landed hard on the flat side of the handle, not penetrating, but the mass of the knife was enough to make a loud “crack” sound as it hit. The man grabbed at the side of his face and then turned to me. Unarmed, I ran toward him as he reached for his gun.

  As I have said before, I'm very strong and fast, so when I leapt at the man his eyes widened with surprise as I sailed the twenty foot distance between us, driving the web between my thumb and index finger into his Adam's apple, shattering his hyoid bone and sending the bone fragments into his windpipe. The man initially staggered backward grasping at his throat, but then fell to the ground, writhing in pain while suffocating on his own blood.

  I looked up to see Alexei engaging three of the men while moving at a speed that rivaled Alpha's. The man twisted, parried, lunged, ducked and countered with such fluidity that one could only think of a master swordsman, as opposed to someone who was just proficient with a knife. The more I watched him move the more I realized that this was exactly the case. I remembered reading how Jim Bowie had been an expert with the saber and he had designed his famous knife to be a practical fighting tool that was reminiscent of his prior weapon of choice. Before I could register what he had done Alexei had cut down his third attacker and used the momentum from that final strike in order to position himself within range of the two men Chris was facing. With two quick and powerful strokes Alexei took them out, too and faced a startled and awestruck Chris.

  Of course, Chris being Chris, he broke the silence with an uneasy, “Um... yay team?” He held the palm of his free hand up, “Up top?”

  Alexei turned and looked for any further threat, but by that time all of Dimitri's security forces were lying either dead or unconscious on the street. He looked back at Chris and then at his still raised hand, awaiting the “high-five.”

  “Um,” Chris said nervously, “don't leave me hanging, bro.”

  Alexei looked back at me, his eyes a question.

  I answered, “Alexei, meet Chris, my sniper.”

  “AH!” Alexei's face went from suspicion to elation as he stepped in, ignoring the raised hand and gave Chris an exubera
nt man-hug. Chris ’oof-ed’ at the force of the hug and was smiling as Alexei stepped back. Not yet finished with Chris, Alexei grabbed Chris by the wrist and raised his free hand again. He then slapped the palm of Chris' hand, completing the “high-five” and saying with his deep accent, “I not leave you hanging…bro.”

  Alpha still held his knives at the ready, but his body language eased as he realized the fight was over, while William knelt over one of the security men and checked his neck for a pulse.

  I walked over to Alpha as he sheathed his knives, “How'd you find us?”

  Alpha smirked, “There was a gun fight on the street in front of Dimitri's main businesses. It wasn't that difficult to figure out where you were, or that you might need a hand. Once we arrived, we saw Chris fleeing the scene with Dimitri's men in pursuit and followed.”

  “Why didn't you tell me you had arrived?” I asked not bothering to hide the frustration in my voice, “We could have formulated a much better plan with the four of us working together.”

  “William and I had our own leads to follow before we made contact with you,” Alpha said with that annoyingly inscrutable tone he could pull off so well.

  I knew better than to try to get him to talk about something he didn't want to talk about, so I just asked, “Any progress locating Lei?” I looked over at William and inclined my head at the man, “Or Pha?”

  Alpha let out a breath of air in frustration, “No, despite our best efforts we are no closer to finding the girls.”

  Alexei and Chris walked over to us and I introduced everyone. “Alpha meet Alexei, Alexei this is Alpha.”

  Alexei smiled at me, “Only 'Alpha?'“ but he then extended his hand to Alpha.

  I rolled my eyes at the jibe and Alpha raise one white eyebrow in confusion over our inside joke, but accepted Alexei's hand warmly.

  “So you are the Romanov that Dimitri is so worried about?”

  At Alpha's words I saw Chris frown and look away as if a memory had been triggered but was having trouble coming to the surface.

  A sound like a large animal snarling sounded behind us and all four of us spun to William who had risen to his immense full height and faced us with murderous intent. Actually, “us” wasn't exactly correct. William's entire focus was on Alexei.

  Alexei instinctively lifted his knife, but went white with fear, “Boishe Moi!” Alexei whispered in apprehension, “His eyes! What is happening to his eyes?!”

  William's eyes had gone blood red with no evidence of iris or pupil left within the orb. The condition was a holdover from the experiments Dr. Phineas Whelan had perpetrated on him back in the jungles of Bangkok that were intended to heighten William's already incredible physical abilities, as well as mold his mind with a kind of brainwashing technique in order to keep him under control. The experiments were funded by Dimitri Lagos, with the intent of turning William into a biological weapon in order to kill...

  “Oh shit,” I hissed as realization struck me, “Alexei we need to get you out of here now!”

  Alpha turned to me, “What? Why?”

  “You just identified Alexei as ‘the Romanov,’ the man who William was programmed to kill.”

  Chapter 22

  Alpha sheathed his blades and stepped toward his oldest and dearest friend, his hands palm up in gentle supplication, but William's blood red eyes never wavered from Alexei. An image from earlier in the night flashed through my mind and I whispered, “Alexei, can you do that “smoke-thing” to William, like you did to those people back on the street in front of the nightclub?”

  I could tell Alexei didn't want to make a sound, lest it trigger an attack from William, but he still answered, “Yes, but as it is, the ash will kill him.”

  I gritted my teeth and slowly turned my head away from William to look at Alexei, “Do you have anything else that will help?”

  I could see Alexei's eyes dart around as he desperately thought, then they stopped and widened slightly, “I may have something, but if he attacks me before I am ready...”

  As if on cue, William charged. Alpha braced himself and met William head on, but was batted to the side as if he weighed nothing. Alexei retreated as I ran toward William and dove at his legs. It was like being hit by two tree trunks in the ribs, but I had timed it right and William toppled face first to the pavement. I braced myself for him to land on me, but the giant was far more dexterous than I had expected, and he rolled over a shoulder, coming instantly back to his feet and using the momentum of the roll to propel himself at Alexei.

  Alexei had dipped one hand into that messenger bag he wore at his side, but had to abandon whatever he had been reaching for as William charged him. With a quickness that my eyes could barely follow, Alexei had his knife in his hand and thrust it at William's throat. I was about to scream out, “Stop!” but William raised a forearm between his throat and the blade causing the knife to pass straight through his forearm and lodge itself between the two bones therein. If there was any pain, William gave no indication of it as he ripped his arm to the side, taking the blade with it and disarming Alexei in the process.

  Wide-eyed with shock at the maneuver, Alexei tried to retreat, but William hadn't so much as hesitated as his arm was impaled, and he grabbed Alexei by the throat with his uninjured arm. Alexei was instantly and effortlessly lifted into the air, his legs kicking wildly as his hands desperately dug at the fingers that encircled his throat.

  I staggered to my feet and was about to shoulder block William again, when Chris jumped on the giant's back.

  With a ridiculous Hollywood-style karate cry of “Hi-yah!” Chris clapped his hands over both of William's ears. There was a sinister ’pop’ at the impact, and William released Alexei from his grip and staggered as his equilibrium was sundered. I immediately grabbed William by his uninjured arm near the shoulder and wedged my body into the giant’s side to lever him up and over, then slamming him bodily into the pavement. Alpha was at my side in an instant and held the arm with Alexei's blade still protruding from it. Blood began to trickle from William's ears indicating a rupture of the eardrums, which at any other time I would have taken as a bad sign. In this case, I doubted that we could have managed to keep William down if Chris had not so thoroughly shattered the man's equilibrium.

  I looked up to see if Alexei was in any state to help and, to my surprise, he was already kneeling in front of William's face and covering his mouth and nose with one hand. A powdery mist plumed with every one of William's next few exhalations until I could feel the big man's body start to relax.

  It likely took only a few seconds for William to go limp and then fall into unconsciousness, but it felt as if an eternity would pass before I felt it was safe enough to let go and back away from his limp form.

  “He's going to be all right?” Alpha asked as he released William's arm to inspect the damage the protruding knife had done.

  Alexei shook his head, “I have never used that much of the sedative before,” he pressed two fingers into William's throat and considered what he felt, “his heart rate is as it should be, so I think he will be all right.”

  Alpha grew angry, “You think?”

  Alexei looked up and directly at Alpha, his eyes meeting Alpha's fury head on and unwavering, “I'm sorry for your friend, but who is he to me other than another person wanting to see me dead?”

  I spoke quietly in protest, “That's not really fair...”

  Alexei turned to me as his face relaxed and looked sympathetic, “So you say, but that doesn't change the situation. I won't let your friend kill me because his circumstance is unfair.”

  Igor came running from the door of his shop, shotgun in hand, “Is everyone all right?”

  Chris didn't answer Igor, speaking to the group as a whole instead, “We should probably keep Alex and “little Willie” separated for the time being. I don't want to have to deal with Willie waking up and going postal again.”

  I turned to Igor, “Think you can get your driver to come back and tak
e Alexei somewhere safe?”

  Igor looked as though he might protest, but a glance at Alexei stopped whatever protest he was going to make. “Of course.”

  I nodded, “Chris, you should go with him.”

  I was expecting a smart-ass remark and was surprised when Chris didn't offer one. Instead he simply regarded William's limp form and asked Alexei, “I should stay with William and make sure he recovers as best I can.” He turned to Alexei, “What did you use to knock him out?”

  Alexei looked to Chris before answering Chris' question with a question, “You understand chemistry?”

  “I'm a Doctor.”

  Alexei nodded, “The powder is a combination of ash, botanicals and spider venom, but when all is said and done, the result is the same as Chloral Hydrate and the body perceives it exactly the same way.”

  Chris looked shocked, “You have a natural compound that mimics Chloral Hydrate?”

  Alexei didn't answer and instead moved his head close to William's chest to, apparently, listen to his breathing. “Is that a problem?” I asked.

  Chris looked concerned, “No one really understands how Chloral Hydrate works to sedate people before surgery. If this is some kind of 'witches brew' I won't know how to reverse the effects, not that I have the reversal agents in any case.”

  Alexei reached into his bag and produced what looked like a plastic zip-bag filled with leaves.

  “If his heart slows too much or his breathing loses rhythm, then place six leaves in his mouth. It would be better if he chewed them, but whether he holds them in his mouth or chews them, he shouldn't swallow the leaves, only the juice.”

  Chris took the bag, looked at the leaves and mused, “Coca leaves, interesting.”

  Alexei's eyes widened slightly with surprise and the man inclined his head in a respectful nod at Chris, “You know these leaves?”

  Chris looked slightly flushed, “I experimented... in college... just looking to see what they'd do, you know?”