The Missing Spy

by J A Heaton

  Rex led the way for his men as he stealthily hurried across the top of the wall. Soon, they were directly across from the second-floor balcony.

  Nobody had spotted them yet.

  But the distance to the balcony disheartened Rex.

  Rex looked back to Walters and Gunner, but they both made the letter X with their hands, indicating the jump wasn’t possible.

  Not much time could remain until the backup generators turned on. The courtyard would surely be flooded with light.

  Damn, Rex thought. Good thing I have a plan B. I just need to figure out what that is.

  Rex directed the men to retrace their movements towards the back.

  They soon stood at their original point of infiltration.

  The only thing I hate more than waiting is wasting time on a mission, Rex thought to himself.

  The lone guard still stood by the pool, smoking.

  Rex saw the orange light of the cigarette tremble. Jeremy’s ruse, plus nearly an hour of waiting, had frayed the guard’s nerves. And the cigarette’s glow ruined the guard’s vision in the dark.

  Rex and his men pulled up their ropes from the outside and used them to silently lower themselves inside the courtyard. Gunner made it down behind the bushes first, followed by Walters, and then Rex.

  After a thumbs-up, Rex grabbed a pebble and threw it towards the opposite end of the pool.

  The guard turned instinctively towards the noise, and this allowed Walters the time he needed to take the guard from behind. A brutally quick chokehold, and the guard was soon unconscious. Gunner helped Walters drag him back behind the poolside bushes.

  Rex hurried with the other two behind him, past the pool and towards the house’s back door.

  Still not detected, Rex thought to himself as he approached to kneel under the windows next to the back door.

  A rumble indicated that somebody had finally coaxed the house’s generators to life, and floodlights around the pool lit up.

  Spoke too soon, Rex thought. But we still have the element of surprise. He lifted his night vision goggles out of the way. They would be useless now.

  Rex pulled the door handle down and eased the door open. Walters entered in a crouch with Gunner behind him. The interior was still mostly dark; the generator must have only powered minimal circuits. Rex crossed the threshold, and Walters pointed to a stairway that would lead them up to the master bedroom.

  A voice in Russian called out from a nearby room on the ground level.

  Rex could only guess that somebody had heard the back door open and assumed it was the pool guard. Rex turned towards the voice and saw what appeared to be the security room, filled with small TV monitors.

  Rex rushed towards the room as a man came out. Rex struck him in the larynx before he realized something was wrong. Gunner applied another chokehold, and the man soon went limp.

  We still have the time we need to get Isaac, Rex thought as he headed towards the stairs. But I don’t know about getting him out.

  Rex and the others raced up the white-tiled staircase as more lights came on. A hallway with three doors greeted them at the top.

  Yells in Russian erupted elsewhere in the house.

  Somebody found the immobilized guards, Rex thought. Time’s up.

  But there wasn’t time to search behind all the doors.

  Remembering that the balcony had been just beyond their ability to jump to it from the wall, Rex chose the center door.

  He pushed the door open enough to allow the three of them into the black room. He flipped down his night vision goggles to scan the darkness for Isaac as Gunner pulled the door shut.

  Before the goggles adjusted, a musky, feminine perfume filled Rex’s nostrils.

  This is definitely Nigora and Isaac’s bedroom, Rex thought.

  An unexpected click of a light switch and the lights came on in the room, blinding Rex and his men with their night vision goggles.

  Rex felt panic creep into his chest, and he threw up his night vision equipment.

  Where is he? Rex thought to himself. He was waiting for us.

  “Don’t move, or I’ll blow your brains out,” a voice said to Rex’s left. There was a second click, but this time, it was the cocking of a gun.

  Rex lowered his pistol to the floor and slowly raised his hands. Gunner and Walters did the same. Rex turned his head towards the voice and recognized Nigora’s husband, Isaac, whom he had seen in the teahouse just a few days prior. His expensive watch matched his fine suit.

  “My darling, take their guns from them,” Isaac said. He repeated it in Russian.

  Nigora rose from the opulent bed, dressed in a white nightgown. Her dark hair tumbled down past her shoulders. She walked towards Rex, unashamed of the little she was wearing besides the smirk on her face. She bent down and picked up each of the Americans’ guns. She placed two on her bed, but Rex watched as she held his pistol at her side.

  “My wife thought we would have visitors tonight,” Isaac told Rex.

  Anger replaced panic in Rex. He and Daniel had tried to help Nigora, and she, in turn, had led Rex into a trap.

  “No harm has been done,” Rex said carefully. “None of us wants an international incident. We can all walk away from this. It’s just a big misunderstanding.”

  “Misunderstanding? I have nothing to walk away from,” Isaac said. “It looks to me like some American terrorist broke into my house to murder my wife and me. What would any husband do in self-defense?”

  Now the anger was focusing Rex’s thoughts to discover a way out. He knew Isaac was right. Isaac could kill the three of them and get away with it.

  Rex decided to bluff his way out.

  “There’s more going on than what you know,” Rex warned. He only needed to make Isaac hesitate.

  Nigora spoke to Isaac in Russian. Rex didn’t understand, but her warning tone was clear. She pointed Rex’s gun at Rex. She sidestepped towards her husband.

  “You know who the American spy is. The one they call the Wolf. You’ve been killing people to keep him safe. You will be next.”

  “Not possible. I don’t think you realize who I am,” Isaac said.

  “The Russian mafia in Uzbekistan is nothing compared to Moscow and the FSB,” Rex said. “Now that you’ve tied up all the other loose ends, you will be next.”

  Isaac’s left wrist twitched, making his watch jiggle, as he pondered what Rex was saying.

  “That’s why I came here,” Rex said. “We came to get you out of here safely so you can tell us who the Wolf is before they kill you.”

  Nigora raised her voice again in Russian at her husband.

  “Think about it. Don’t be too proud to think they would let you live even though you know the Wolf’s identity.”

  Nigora shrieked at Isaac in Russian now, the gun trembling in her hand.

  This just might work, Rex thought to himself.

  “If you kill us now or deliver us to your master, he will thank you and then kill you.”

  Isaac’s left wrist continued to twitch as he kept his pistol trained on Rex.

  “If you come with us now and tell us who the Wolf is, you can be safe in America. You know how powerful the Russian mafia is. Because you know the Wolf’s identity, where else can you live without fear of being hunted down? Come with me peacefully, and you can survive.”

  Rex saw Isaac’s wrist stop twitching. His grip on the pistol loosened.

  Nigora yelled at her husband. Rex knew she must have feared Isaac would flip.

  Without warning, Isaac swung his left fist in a backhanded motion. It smashed into Nigora’s face. She shrieked and collapsed to the ground. She raised her left hand to shield herself.

  Isaac turned and angrily yelled down at her. After several moments, Nigora was curled up and sobbing on the floor. Isaac turned back towards Rex and lowered his gun.

  “I think we can reach an arrangement that will suit all of us,” Isaac said to Rex calmly. “I will tell you who the Wolf is once I
am safe in America.”

  “Nyet!” Nigora yelled. Nigora raised to one knee with Rex’s pistol. She aimed at Isaac and fired Rex’s pistol three times into her husband’s body. Isaac dropped to the ground.

  Rex sprang into action.

  Rex went to Isaac, who was bleeding out on the floor.

  “Who is the Wolf?” Rex yelled at Isaac.

  He looked up and saw Nigora pointing the pistol at Gunner and Walters, keeping them away from their guns resting on the bed.

  “Who is the Wolf?” Rex repeated.

  Isaac’s lips moved. He gasped.

  Rex watched Isaac’s life depart as his eyes went blank.

  “Why did you do that?” Rex yelled at Nigora as he rose to his feet. “You both could have come with me safely.”

  Nigora returned a steely glare. Rex realized she didn’t understand English.

  The bedroom door swung open. Rex felt another wave of adrenaline rise as two more security guards came in through the door, but the last man to enter caught Rex off guard.

  Detective Jahongir Barakatulla walked into the bedroom and looked about. Two more policemen were with him.

  Rex’s relief at still being alive switched to confusion and fear. How would the Uzbek police handle his presence?

  And Isaac was shot with my weapon, Rex thought to himself.

  “It appears to me that everything played out just as Nigora envisioned,” Jahongir said to Rex.

  “What do you mean?” Rex asked.

  “Nigora just made herself the new head of the Russian mafia in Uzbekistan,” Jahongir explained.

  “And you… What?” Rex stumbled to say.

  “The Russian mafia had become too powerful and problematic here,” Jahongir said. “I was eager for new leadership. New leadership that could cooperate with the government.”

  “So now you’re on good terms with the new head of the Russian mafia?” Rex asked.

  “We have an understanding,” Jahongir replied. “Now come with me. We should leave here quickly. We still have much work to do within the next twelve hours. You must help me with something. Otherwise, I would hate to report this horrible incident.”

  Rex, Gunner, and Walters left Nigora’s opulent residence with Jahongir and wondered what Jahongir had been talking about regarding the next twelve hours.

  If Isaac could have just said the Wolf’s name before he died, Rex thought to himself. He gave one last look back to the house before Jahongir drove them away.

  18

  Daniel’s head hurt when he came to.

  He quickly rose to his feet but fell back down onto the ceramic floor. He felt faint. As he took stock of his body, he realized that, though he was sore, he wasn’t seriously injured.

  Where am I? Daniel wondered to himself.

  The walls were tiled to match the maroon tiles on the floor, and a drain was in the center of the room. A small window with frosted glass near the ceiling allowed in the only light.

  Is it morning? Or, has it been more than a day?

  Daniel noticed only two other items in the room: a bucket and a bottle of water. After several more deep breaths, Daniel rose slowly this time and turned the bucket over. He stood on it and attempted to pry the window open. The window was immovable.

  A scream from outside his room turned Daniel’s head towards the doorway.

  The commotion ended with two gunshots. Daniel guessed it was in a nearby room or down the hall.

  Remembering the sandbags in the prison’s basement for executions, Daniel wondered if he was in the same prison Michael Devers had been in. But no. Those cells weren’t tiled.

  This feels more like an empty storage room in a basement, Daniel thought to himself. The bucket and bottled water gave Daniel some encouragement. Why would they bother to hydrate somebody destined for execution?

  Daniel tried the door. As expected, it was locked. But it wasn’t a prison-type lock. Though heavy-duty, the lock was that of a residential home. Desperate, Daniel began searching for loose tiles or anything else that would allow his escape or give him more information.

  Only minutes later, Daniel decided there were no faults in his cell. He wasn’t going to be able to get himself out. He sat and leaned against the wall and tried to remember all that had happened before he had blacked out.

  The last thing he remembered before the car wreck was a call on the satellite phone.

  Was it Officer Carter again?

  Or Jenny?

  No, Daniel remembered. It was Muhammad, but what did Muhammad say?

  Daniel pressed his palms over his face and tried to pry the secret memories—if any—from his mind.

  “Oh no,” Daniel said alone in his cell. “Tina’s in danger.” He remembered she’d gone missing.

  Now panic began to swell in Daniel’s chest. He yanked at the door’s handle and kicked.

  He pressed his ear against the door and waited.

  Frustrated, he slouched back onto the floor.

  A low rumble made his room vibrate. Several more blasts erupted in the distance, and then gunfire came. A gunfight had started elsewhere. Probably upstairs.

  He heard footsteps coming down the hallway, and Daniel rose to his feet.

  A key began working in the lock from the other side. Daniel grabbed the closest thing he could find to a weapon: the bucket.

  He pressed against the wall next to the door, ready to strike whoever entered.

  “Daniel?” a voice called as the door handle went down. Daniel recognized the voice. “Are you in there?”

  The door opened. Daniel swung the bucket down, but Edwards blocked it with his arm and moved out of the way.

  “For Chrissake!” Edwards said as he entered the cell and backed away from Daniel. The Glock in Edwards’ hand drew Daniel’s eyes. “That’s a helluva way to thank somebody for rescuing you.”

  Edwards extended the Glock, handle-first, towards Daniel and said, “Jahongir and the SNB are mounting a raid on the Russian mafia. Even your friend Rex is helping.”

  Daniel exhaled deeply, dropped the bucket, and gratefully took the gun from Edwards.

  “Where are we?” Daniel asked.

  “The Russian mafia’s mountain dacha, north of Tashkent,” Edwards answered as he handed Daniel his satellite phone. Daniel clipped it to his belt.

  “Dacha?”

  “Mansion, more like,” Edwards said. “Try not to be an amateur and shoot me in the ass while we escape.” He stepped to the doorway and looked down the hallway as he began to explain. “After the wreck, the mafia brought us here. Lucky for us, Rex and his men are working with the Uzbek secret police to raid this place. The Uzbek government finally had enough problems from the Russians and decided to clean house.” Daniel followed Edwards down the hallway and towards a set of stairs. “An Uzbek policeman freed me, gave me a gun, and then I recovered your stuff and said I’d get you out. There’s a fierce gunfight upstairs, but we can get out of here.”

  “Is Tina here?” Daniel said.

  “I’m sorry,” Edwards said as he started up the stairs towards the gunfire. “I don’t know. I do know Rex agreed to help because the ultimate mission was to rescue Ambassador Fitzpatrick.”

  Ambassador Fitzpatrick is here?

  There was no time for another question because Edwards and Daniel exited the basement to the mansion’s main level where the gun battle raged between the secret police and the Russian mafia.

  Daniel and Edwards crouched behind a large sofa as bullets flew around them. Several policemen in body armor were in the room, carefully acquiring targets and firing. One policeman was next to them, intermittently peeking over the sofa and firing. The Russians were on the opposite side, more keen to expend ammunition in the general direction of the invaders.

  As the bullets put divots and cracks in the marble floor and walls near Daniel, Edwards yelled, “Follow me. They told me to go out through a hole in the back garden wall that they created in the raid.”

  Daniel didn’t want t
o just escape with his life, though.

  If Fitzpatrick is here, then maybe Tina is too.

  Daniel risked a peek over the sofa. Directly in front of him, the cavernous living area of white marble accented with large animal skins gave way to a broad panel of shattered windows that looked out to the majestic mountains in the distance. Russians hid behind furniture and returned fire, but now they were trapped.

  To the left, Daniel saw that the home opened up to the outdoors and a courtyard or garden. The police were moving out there.

  “Rex!” Daniel yelled as he spotted the stealthy movements of the SpecOps warrior. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw Tina in front of him, just as they went out of sight to the outdoors.

  A bullet shattered the wooden frame of the sofa, and Daniel had to duck back down.

  “Come on!” Edwards urged Daniel as he motioned away.

  Daniel looked up and saw that the staircase to his left led to a balcony from which a Russian was firing down.

  Daniel fired but missed.

  The policeman next to him fired, and the man on the balcony slumped down.

  Daniel turned to leave with Edwards, but then he saw a man with a rifle run along the balcony above.

  The man entered the first room off the balcony and shut the door.

  Daniel knew the room undoubtedly overlooked the courtyard below, and he would use his rifle to pick off Rex and Tina from above.

  And Daniel had encountered this bald man before.

  It was Pavel who had toted his rifle to the room above to fire upon the police and Daniel’s friends.

  “Come on!” Edwards urged Daniel again.

  Daniel ignored him and spoke to the Uzbek policeman next to him.

  “Cover me. I’m going up.”

  Pavel had already killed Michael Devers, and Daniel was not going to allow him to kill Rex and Tina.

  The policeman released a heavy stream of fire and gave Daniel the precious seconds he needed.

  “No!” Edwards yelled after Daniel. “We need to get out of here!”

  Daniel turned away from Edwards and ran up the stairs to the room Pavel had entered with his rifle.