by Dirk Patton
“Which way, Jessica?” I shouted when I fumbled the phone out of my pocket.
“Left out of the lot, then your first right. Stay straight and you should miss them.”
I glanced at Rachel, who nodded she’d gotten the instructions, then turned in the seat to check on our prisoner. It took a moment for it to register that Bering wasn’t in the vehicle and turn back to look at Rachel.
“Where’s Bering?”
Her jaw was set as she wrenched us through the right turn we’d been told to take.
“Gone,” she answered, checking the mirror for pursuit.
“Gone? Like before?”
“Right in front of me,” she said, shaking her head in disbelief. “We had just run up to the Rover and I was reaching out to hand him the keys, and he just vanished.”
I stared at her for several long moments, then turned to look in the back seat as if Bering would suddenly pop up and shout “surprise!” But of course, he didn’t. This wasn’t a game and Rachel wasn’t one to make things up.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” I said.
52
We made it back to the safe house without incident, thanks to Jessica. I’d kept the circuit open and three times we’d been diverted to avoid a responding police unit. The sky behind us glowed a dirty orange as the flames from the burning building lit a thick cloud of black smoke from within. Glancing back, I suppressed a shudder when the scene reminded me of what Atlanta had looked like the morning after the attacks.
The prisoner stayed quiet and still as Rachel drove. Of course, he had Dog staring at him with his lips peeled back to expose sharp teeth and Lucas ensured his cooperation by keeping the muzzle of his rifle aimed at the man’s head. Pulling into the garage, I hopped out as soon as the door was down and dragged him out of the back. Grunting in pain, he hobbled in the direction I pointed but refused to sit in the chair I indicated.
I understood, considering where I’d shot him, but was all out of compassion. Kicking the back of his good leg, I put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him down, earning a howl of pain and a string of invectives. Staring in surprise, I involuntarily took a step back. He’d just cursed me in fluent Russian.
“You’re Russian?” I asked.
He looked up at me from the chair, greasy sweat covering his face and hate in his eyes.
“Fucking American,” he said in heavily accented English.
“What the bloody hell?” Lucas said, as surprised as I was.
Rachel stood next to me, Dog between us giving our prisoner the evil eye and an occasional growl to remind him to behave.
“Want me to treat his wounds?” she asked.
“Maybe later,” I said. “If he tells me what I want to know.”
“Good,” she said, turning away and taking a seat on the far side of the room.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Fuck you,” he said, gently shifting his weight away from the damage my two bullets had caused.
“Why do you want to kill Barinov?” I asked, earning a surprised look and a long silence. “Yes, I know what you’re planning. What I don’t know is, why?”
I was momentarily taken aback when he burst out laughing.
“Stupid Americans,” he said. “You are nothing but foolish children with your high and mighty moralities. Look at you now!”
He shook his head in disdain and I kicked him on the side of his ass. The spot where I’d put a round in it. He howled in pain again, twisting away, overbalancing the chair and crashing to the floor. I stepped closer and leaned over him.
“I’m not one of those Americans,” I said. “I’m just a simple soldier and I only have one question. Why do you want to kill Barinov?”
“Why did you stop us?” he gasped. “Would you not want to see him die for what he has done to you?”
“You misunderstand,” I said, pulling a chair around and sitting down with the man at my feet. “I’m not answering questions, I’m asking them.”
“Does not matter,” he said with a confident smile.
I didn’t like that comment or the arrogance. Frowning, I brought out the encrypted phone and snapped a photo of his face and sent it to Jessica with a request. He didn’t like that, but hadn’t realized what I was doing in time to try and hide his features from the camera.
“I’ll know who you are in a few minutes,” I said, hoping I sounded as confident as I wanted to.
Standing, I told Dog to watch him and motioned Lucas to the far side of the room. Rachel joined us and we leaned our heads close together so we could speak without him hearing our conversation.
“Why’d you take his picture?” Rachel asked.
“Asked Jessica to run him through facial recognition. Doubt the database is still available, but it’s worth a try. This guy’s English is too good. Has to be an officer.”
“What’d you think of what he said?” Lucas asked.
“That it doesn’t matter.”
He nodded.
“First thought that went through my head is that there’s something in the works in case his team failed,” I said.
Lucas glanced at the Russian.
“Me too,” he said. “But why wouldn’t Bering have told us?”
“Because it wouldn’t have happened,” Rachel said. “They succeeded, remember. There was no need. Are you thinking another team?”
“Maybe,” I said. “Or a bomb, or… who knows?”
“We’d better damn well find out,” Lucas said. “Things haven’t changed. Barinov dies, Australia dies. Hawaii dies.”
I nodded, then looked down when the phone vibrated in my hand. Opening the text file I’d just received, I enlarged the view and quickly read the cover sheet of a dossier that had been provided by Naval Intelligence.
“Major Vladimir Masorin of the Russian naval infantry,” I said, moving to stand over the wounded man. “Perhaps I bundle you up and deliver you to Barinov. Good idea? That way he will know who you are and can make sure your family is well taken care of after your death.”
I was surprised when he started laughing.
“Fucking American,” he said again. “Do not make empty threats! Barinov cannot hurt my family.”
I stared at him, wondering if he was a little bit crazy, then glanced to the side when Rachel moved next to me.
“They’re already dead, aren’t they?” she asked in a soft voice.
His eyes shifted to her and after a long moment his entire demeanor changed. The smile melted off his face and his eyes dropped as he seemed to shrink in on himself.
“That’s why you want him dead, isn’t it?” Rachel asked in the same gentle tone.
Masorin took a deep, shuddering breath, then nodded quickly. Once.
“What happened?” she asked.
“My wife was from Ukraine,” he said in a voice so low I had to concentrate to hear him. “An undesirable. And because of her, my children, too. After you attacked the motherland, an evacuation order was issued. But only true Russians are allowed to leave the hot zones and given a chance to survive in California.”
The room went quiet, even Dog ceasing to growl when he picked up on the raw emotion coming from our prisoner.
“I’m truly sorry,” Rachel said. “Is that why the other men were with you? Did they lose someone, too?”
He nodded, but didn’t offer up any more information. I took a deep breath and let it out, all the anger and frustration evaporating. Slowly, I eased my way into the chair and told the Russian about my quest to kill Barinov and why. He listened as I spoke, finally nodding.
“Perhaps we are more alike than either would care to admit,” he said. “But why did you stop us if you want him dead? Why have you not already killed him?”
“If we kill him, a deadman switch will release nerve gas across all of Australia,” I said. “Millions more will die. We had to stop that from happening, as much as I wanted to allow it.”
He stared into my eye for a long time, then lowered his gaze and
shook his head.
“You have not stopped it.”
“What?”
“We are one of three teams. We were to be the first. If we failed, the second would take over. If they failed, the third.”
“You have to stop them!” Lucas said.
“I cannot. I do not know who or where they are or what their plan to kill Barinov is. All I know is they are here and if we have not succeeded by oh-eight-hundred tomorrow, they will act.”
53
Lucas and I stepped into the back yard with Dog as Rachel finished treating Masorin’s wounds. Just to be on the safe side, we’d brought all the weapons with us and cuffed one of his hands to the table. Not that we didn’t trust him, but we didn’t trust him.
“I have to call the Admiral,” I said.
“Like hell you do!” Lucas immediately protested. “You call him with this news, he’s going to warn the Russians. You know what that means!”
“There’s not another choice,” I said, keeping my voice calm. “Whether it happens tonight, or two nights from now, someone is going to kill that motherfucker. And when they do, the result is going to be the same. Australia and Hawaii get wiped out.”
“You’re not calling him!” Lucas said, turning to face me.
I’ve known my friend for a long time and could tell he wasn’t bluffing. If I pulled out the phone to call Pearl Harbor, he was going to try to stop me. I wasn’t willing to make a bet on which one of us would come out on top of that confrontation, but neither would win.
“Then what?” I asked, lighting a cigarette and watching Dog water the bushes. “I believe the Russian. He doesn’t know how to stop the other teams. We don’t have the first clue where to even start looking for them and, even if we did, you really don’t think we’d get lucky twice, do you? That was a lot of dumb luck that let us take out the target tonight!”
Lucas chewed on that for a few moments, moving upwind from the smoke drifting off my smoldering cigarette.
“There has to be a way,” he said in a voice that was still angry.
“Then tell me.”
He glared at me before turning away and shaking his head.
“Look, Lucas,” I said after a couple minutes of silence. “Pearl was watching the whole thing go down. They know we pulled it off and escaped with a prisoner. Frankly, I’m surprised the phone hasn’t already rang with the Admiral wanting to know what we’ve found out. Cutting him out of the loop isn’t going to work. We go silent, there’s no guarantee he won’t decide to send the warning.”
“Then we tell the ADF everything! Get them to understand what’s at stake so no one leaks to the Russians. Then they can set up an additional perimeter around Barinov to stop any attack.”
“You really think that will work?” I asked, making sure he heard the doubt in my voice. “Remember when I told you? You called me a ‘daft bastard’, among other things. There’s no way to prove what we’re saying is true. We go into ADF headquarters and start spinning this tale, they’re gonna lock us in a fucking rubber room and you goddamn well know it!”
“Why don’t you try coming up with a solution instead of being so fucking negative!”
“Fuck you!” I said with some heat behind it.
“Fuck you, too!” he snapped, turning away and looking at the slowly lightening eastern horizon.
“You two through pissing on each other’s leg?” We turned to see Rachel standing in the doorway. “I could hear you inside.”
Neither of us said anything or looked at each other. Rachel sighed and came forward, gently taking Lucas’s arm and turning him around.
“Go home,” she said. “Go be with Ziggy and your kids. John’s right. There’s probably not a way to stop this and if that’s the case, they’re going to need you. And trust me, you don’t want to be anywhere near a populated area if this shit is released.”
Lucas looked at her without saying anything. I was surprised at her suggestion, but as I thought about it I realized it was probably best for him.
“She’s right,” I said. “You’re in the fucking middle of nowhere. And this isn’t the virus. If it gets released, it’s not contagious. It’ll burn itself out in a hurry. Two or three days at the most. Your family will be safe.”
“Run away and let millions die. That what you’re telling me to do?” he asked. “That what you’d do, mate?”
I shook my head, refusing to rise to the bait.
“Everything I have is right here,” I said, waving at Dog and Rachel. “Take care of the ones you love first. After that, if you can, well…”
“Nice try,” Lucas said, staring at me. “You’d no sooner take off than I would, so just stop the shite and let’s figure this out.”
“Lucas,” I said, stepping closer and holding his eyes. “I wasn’t home when this started. Wasn’t there for Katie when she needed me the most. Now she’s gone, and I have to live with that. Go home. Be with your family. They need you.”
“You’ve told me your story,” he said. “You didn’t have a choice when the attacks happened. I do. Ziggy can survive without me if she has to. But if I ever want to look her or my kids in the eye again, I can’t run away to hide in the outback and let millions of innocent people die.”
“You’re not running away and hiding,” Rachel said. “Running away from what? Almost certain death if you stay here? It’s not like we’ve got a plan or anything. Would you go stand next to a bomb if no one knew how to defuse it? What would be the point?”
I lit another cigarette as Lucas turned away. Rachel’s argument was getting to him, and me, too, for that matter. Standing there, thinking about things, I was wondering what the hell any of us were still doing in an Australian city. There was time to get away. Go back to the compound with Lucas and build our house.
Maybe it was time to let events play out the way they were intended. We’d already gotten a second lease on life, courtesy of the Athena Project. Why the hell were we gambling with something that no one ever got? Simply to die in a futile effort to save a doomed country?
I didn’t say anything and Rachel went quiet as Lucas struggled with what she’d said. Sharing the cigarette, I idly scratched Dog’s ears as we stood there, watching the sunrise. Tugging on Rachel’s hand, I tilted my head at the door and she followed me inside. Dog came with us, heading to the corner and stretching out on the floor.
“Thinking we should go, too,” I said. “There’s nothing more we can do.”
Rachel looked at me for a long beat before nodding, circling her arms around my neck and resting her head on my shoulder. I held her close, content to have the moment.
“We should all go.” I looked over to see Lucas standing in the doorway. “If there’s no reason for me to stay, there’s no reason for any of us. We can be there before the second team launches its raid.”
“You run away?” Masorin asked in surprise.
“Shut up!” I barked at him.
“Fuck you, American! The man kills your country and your wife and you run like a motherless whore!”
I pulled away from Rachel, turning, fighting the impulse to beat the Russian to death. Lucas, too, was advancing with murder in his eyes.
“Wait!” Rachel shouted.
We hesitated, looking at her standing there, obviously deep in thought.
“Wait,” she said again, rushing to grab the laptop. “Whores. That’s it!”
54
It took Rachel a few minutes to dig through the files she’d read earlier, then she plopped the laptop onto the table and called us over. Still angry, but curious, Lucas and I stepped closer. Masorin leaned forward for a look.
“Whores!” Rachel said again. “That’s our ticket inside.”
Lucas and I exchanged glances.
“What are you talking about? We went over that at Wellington’s. There’s no advantage there.”
“No! Listen,” Rachel said. “Not the string of hookers that are parading in and out every day. Something else.”
/> She was excited and I let her talk.
“The Athe…” she glanced at the Russian. “Bering’s people were surveilling everything they could. Sucking up data and video feeds. Phone calls. Text messages. You name it, if it was out there, they were getting it.”
“So?”
She glanced at Masorin and I got her meaning. Even though he was our prisoner, there were things he didn’t need to hear. The fact that I didn’t plan to allow him to leave the safe house alive didn’t change the need for operational security. I nodded and she grabbed the laptop and led the way into the back yard.
“Alright,” I said. “What?”
“We didn’t know if any of the girls were going to Barinov’s quarters. And even if they were, it really didn’t do us any good. Remember?”
Both of us nodded.
“Well, I don’t know if Wellington’s people missed this, or what, but Athena got it. It’s a long file, but what it comes down to is that Barinov has particular needs. He gets off on violence.”
“Come again?” Lucas asked.
“He’s a masochist,” Rachel said, smiling. “He likes pain. Doesn’t just like it, it’s how he gets off! But it has to be special. Done just right. Understand?”
“No,” Lucas and I said in unison.
“Jesus, you guys are sheltered. He’s a submissive and he needs a dom. A dominatrix!”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I blurted. “A guy like that is a submissive?”
Rachel held her hands up, palms toward us.
“Psychology classes, okay? That’s how I know this. It’s not uncommon for powerful men to take a submissive role in the bedroom. They’re always in charge. Always having to make decisions. When they have an opportunity to step out of that world, even for only an hour or two, it allows them to perform when otherwise the stress of their lives would interfere.”
“I sure as hell hope you learned this from school,” I said, earning a look that told me to shut up.