by David Archer
“We are under attack!” Vladimir shouted, but they were the last words he ever uttered. One of the men outside had heard him and began firing through the wall, three of the bullets taking him in the throat and instantly decapitating him.
The rest of the men in the barn leapt to their feet, but the surprise was too complete. They focused their attention on the wall the bullets had come through, and by the time they realized they were being shot from the doorways, it was too late. On one end of the barn, the attacking security mercenaries had dropped low and were firing upward, while on the other end the soldiers stood tall and proud. The crossfire flew over the heads of each team, but almost every bullet found a mark. In less than fourteen seconds, all twelve of Vladimir’s soldiers lay dead on the barn floor.
* * *
Jenny had come back into the office while the assault was taking place, and a portable radio in her hand came to life a moment later.
“Bravo leader to security,” they heard.
Jenny put the radio to her face and said, “Go for security.”
“Objective complete. No casualties, no survivors.”
“Good work,” Jenny said. “Resume the perimeter.”
Noah turned his chair back around to look at the rest of them. “I believe it’s time for Mr. Paulson to be properly interviewed,” he said.
NINETEEN
Alexander Zotrovich, currently known as Alex Paulson, looked up as his secretary stepped through his office door.
“Yes, Emma?” he asked. “What is it?”
“I’m afraid I need you to come with me,” Esmeralda said. “Mr. Lightner and Ms. Jamison would like to speak with you privately.”
The girl was not smiling, and there was something almost mechanical about her all of a sudden. A frisson of fear shot up Paulson’s spine, and he wasted no time coming to the conclusion that he had been discovered and his plans were undoubtedly foiled.
This girl, however, posed no threat to him, he was sure. He smiled as he got up from his chair and approached her, then suddenly swung his fist at her face. If he could knock her down and stun her, he thought he could make it out of the building before they could catch him.
His fist contacted her cheek, but it barely even rocked her. His hand bounced off and he suddenly realized that some of its bones were cracked, at the very least. His eyes went wide as she reached out and grabbed him by his arm.
“Please don’t do that again,” she said calmly. “I was instructed not to hurt you if at all possible.”
She dragged him behind her and led him down the hallway, then down the stairs and through another hall. At the end of this one, he was dragged into a room and forced to sit in a metal chair that was mounted to the floor. Noah and Jenny were there waiting, and Esmeralda took a position against the wall to one side.
“Mr. Lightner,” Paulson said. “Can I ask what in the world this is about?”
“It’s about finding out everything you can tell me about the people who hired you,” Noah said. “I know that you are aware of who we really are, so we can drop the pretense. My name is Noah Wolf, and this is Jennifer Lance. We are both professional assassins, but Ms. Lance has some additional talents.”
“I don’t understand,” Paulson said. “I thought you were Travis Lightner?”
“Mr. Paulson,” Jenny said, “your call with Teresa Andrews was intercepted yesterday. We know that you are aware of who we are, so let’s not play games. You agreed to try to kill all of us, and you even arranged for a team of mercenaries to do the job for you. Unfortunately for you, your text message was also intercepted this morning, and we were able to locate them. Our own mercenaries, the people in the security uniforms you see running around, were able to take them all out in a surprise attack just ten minutes ago. You are completely alone, and no one is coming to rescue you. Now, I’m going to ask you some questions, and if I don’t like the answers I get, you’re going to find out just what those other talents of mine really are.”
She had been standing with her hands behind her back. She brought them forward, and Paulson saw the curved karambit daggers she was holding.
He looked at the knives, then at Jenny’s face. There was no doubt in his mind that he was looking into the eyes of a killer, and he realized instantly that he was about to die. He also knew there was probably no way he was going to resist the torture that was coming and avoid giving up the information they wanted. He’d learned long ago that human beings were not capable of enduring pain for long before they would do absolutely anything to appease whoever was applying it.
That meant he had only one hope if he wanted to survive, and that lay in convincing these people that he would be more valuable to them alive than dead.
“You’re not going to need those,” he said, his British accent vanishing in favor of the one from his native Russia. “I’m going to willingly tell you whatever you want to know, and then I’m going to offer you my services in taking whatever revenge you like. I am a man who works for the highest bidder, and right now you hold the only price I truly want. My life.”
“Good,” Noah said. “What advantage does Senator Andrews hope to gain by eliminating us?”
“It wasn’t just eliminating you that she wanted,” Paulson said. “I was to provide her with photographs of your bodies, in particular yourself and Ms. Peterson. She planned to use them to sway political opinion against the president, by accusing him of setting you all up outside the country so you could continue to do the same things you’ve been doing. Her party hopes to reclaim the White House in the next election, so even if they were not able to remove the president from office, they figured the damage it would do to his reputation and that of his party would be enough to ensure they could win.”
Noah looked at him for a moment, then nodded. “That makes sense,” he said. “What is her connection to the organization that has worked to expose us?”
“Government Watch? I don’t think she has any direct connection to them, I think she was just taking advantage of their work to try to damage the president’s administration. I don’t believe she even has any real objections to your agency, or the work you do. She was simply using a tool that became available. I know that she was actually on one of the committees that supervised your agency, so she can’t claim she never knew what you were doing, or what your purpose was. She just jumped at the chance to distance herself from it and keep her own involvement from coming to light.”
Jenny looked at Noah, who nodded again. “He’s telling the truth,” Noah said. “Mr. Paulson, you accepted money from her in return for killing us. I’m guessing this is not the first time she has requested such a service of you?”
“Not at all. She first became my client three years ago, when she was chairwoman of the Senate Trade Committee. Her job was to ensure continued trade with Brazil and Argentina, but both of those countries had people who were trying to break off trade with the US. Someone gave her my contact information and she very cautiously reached out to ask how I might be able to help her change their minds.” He shrugged. “I couldn’t change their minds, but I could change who sat in their seats. I arranged for their assassinations, and the people who replaced them were smart enough to be amenable to her desires.”
“And since then?” Noah asked.
“Since then, I have arranged for the deaths of six other people at her orders. She made it clear that I was quite useful, and that she intended to continue employing me for a long time to come.”
“When you spoke to her yesterday, she seemed surprised that you had found us so quickly. How did you accomplish that?”
Paulson grinned. “A man in my position develops many contacts throughout the intelligence community. I knew you were here in the UK a month ago, but I was not sure exactly where. The launch of a new high-tech company in a place like Guildford was quite surprising, so I suspected you might be involved. An hour’s recon two evenings ago was enough to show me I was correct, and that all I had to do was present myself a
s a candidate for one of your positions in order to get close enough to determine whether Ms. Peterson was here. Once I knew that, I reported to Senator Andrews. That was when she asked me about arranging your elimination.”
“I understand you agreed to that pretty fast,” Jenny said. “Did you really think it would be that easy to take us down? We took the mercenaries out before they even knew what was happening. You should probably have spent more time considering just who you were going up against.”
His grin stayed in place. “I knew exactly who I was dealing with,” he said. “You, Mr. Wolf, are the famous Camelot. I wasn’t sure who you were, Ms. Lance, until now. I have no doubt you are the assassin known as Cinderella. Am I correct?”
“If you knew that,” Jenny said, her own grin appearing evil, “I’m surprised you didn’t arrange for more than just a handful of mercenaries to come after us.”
“She just made a good point,” Noah said. “You came into this without a backup plan?”
Paulson shrugged. “Perhaps I was a bit overconfident,” he said. “Or perhaps I did have a backup plan, and it simply escaped your notice.” Moving slowly, he glanced at his wristwatch. “I suspect you’ll know about it soon enough, however.”
Jenny spun her daggers on her fingers and took a step toward him. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Noah looked into Paulson’s eyes for several seconds, and then his face turned to steel. “You know where I live,” he said softly. “What have you done, Mr. Paulson?”
Paulson started to speak, but suddenly Noah held up a hand to tell him to wait. His subcom had come to life, as had Jenny’s.
“Sarah to Noah,” they both heard. “Noah, there are armed men here, and they are holding all of us at gunpoint.”
“I understand,” Noah said. “Cooperate with them for the moment.” He looked at Paulson, and the Russian was surprised at how composed Noah’s face appeared to be. “You said you want your life,” Noah said. “Call them off, now, and I will let you keep it.”
Paulson nodded. “I will need to use my phone,” he said. Still moving slowly, he reached into his pocket with two fingers and took out his cell phone. With Noah watching him closely, he dialed a number and put it on speaker.
“Da?” said a voice through the line.
“This is Alex,” Paulson said. “Have you harmed anyone?”
“Not yet,” said the voice. “You only said to hold them until we heard from you. What shall we do now?”
“Leave,” Paulson said. “Harm no one, just turn around and leave. Under no circumstances is anyone to be injured, do you understand?”
There was hesitation on the line for a couple of seconds, but then the man responded in the affirmative. “We will leave now,” he said. He went on, as if speaking to the people in the household. “If you allow us to depart without incident, no one will be harmed. If you try to stop us, we will fight.”
Noah sent a quick message to Sarah, and then he heard her voice. “Noah says to let them go,” she said.
Through the subcom, they heard Sarah. “They left the house, and they are getting into the vehicles. Noah, should we really just let them walk away?”
“Yes,” Noah said. “They won’t be back. Noah out.” He looked at Paulson again. “You have your life,” he said. “You said something earlier about helping us to achieve revenge. I have something else in mind, and if you cooperate, you and I will part without further difficulties.”
Paulson had turned off his phone and put it back into his pocket. “I have earned my life. If I help you further, there will be a fee.”
Noah nodded. “I can live with that,” he said. “This entire conversation has been recorded. I had planned to use it to expose Senator Andrews and her co-conspirators, but it would be better if I could arrange for you to testify to a special subcommittee. The problem is that I will need you to testify to things somewhat different than what this video would reveal. Are you willing to do that?”
Paulson’s eyes went wide. “Testify? To your government? Can you guarantee me any kind of immunity?”
“I can,” Noah said. “You will only testify that you were approached by Senator Andrews to create falsified evidence to be used against the president, and that she and her co-conspirators were responsible for the abduction of Allison Peterson. You’ll also testify that she told you Ms. Peterson had been terminated, and that you have reason to believe she is telling the truth. Your entire testimony will be designed to make it appear that E & E was created because of pressure applied by Andrews and a few other senators, and that they regularly perverted it for their own benefit. You will not be asked about any criminal actions of your own other than those you were asked to perform in this matter. Would you agree to my terms?”
Paulson looked into his eyes for a long moment, then slowly nodded. “I will, if you will meet mine. I want two hundred thousand American dollars, transferred into a special account I have set up before this testimony is given.”
“I agree,” Noah said. “Of course, you realize that I will not let you out of our sight until this takes place.”
Paulson shrugged. “That is understandable,” he said. “However, I would like to have someone go to my hotel and gather my things. I can assure you that there are no weapons or booby-traps. It is only my clothing and toiletries that I need.”
“I can arrange that.” Noah turned to Jenny. “Would you find out where we can keep Mr. Paulson until showtime?”
“I know just the place,” Jenny said. “The security office in this building actually has a couple of holding cells, and there’s a bathroom in each of them. I think he’ll be real comfortable there.” She gave Paulson an evil grin, then turned to Noah. “And you need to find me someone to kill, and I mean soon!”
* * *
Jenny led Paulson to the holding cell she had chosen for him and locked him inside. After checking the lock to be sure it was secure, she turned and left the room. One of her regular security staff was assigned to keep an eye on the door, but no one was supposed to enter the room until she came to collect the prisoner.
She went to the conference room, where Noah gathered everyone else and was explaining what was going on. Allison, her own eyes going fairly wide, stared at Noah as he explained how Paulson was going to work with them to turn the tables against Andrews and her cronies. Once she was sure she understood the situation, she took out her phone and dialed the special code that would connect her directly to the president of the United States.
“Hello, old friend,” the president said when he answered. “How are you holding up over there?”
“Pretty well, actually,” Allison said. “Your buddy over here has come up with a dynamite plan to help shut down a lot of our recent problems. It seems that Senator Andrews and her little clique have made an attempt to get rid of all of us, and they were planning to use photographs of our dead bodies to make you look bad. We were able to turn the tables on them, and the man she was using to set the operation up has agreed to testify against her. How soon can you get a special intelligence committee put together to hear the testimony?”
“How soon do I need it? I mean, I can have something ready by this time tomorrow.”
“Then do it,” Allison said. “We’ll transmit to you a list of questions to be asked and subjects to be avoided, and they will be designed to take the recent upheavals and turn them on your enemies in Congress. I’m afraid I won’t be able to attend personally, but this ought to be one hell of a show.”
“You’ve definitely got me intrigued,” POTUS said. “Give me the questions, and I’ll get the committee set up. Let’s call it noon tomorrow, will that work?”
“It’ll work. I’ll let you know what time the plane will arrive, because you’re going to want to make sure this witness and his escorts get safely to where you want them.”
The call ended, and Allison put the phone away as she looked at Jenny. “Now,” she said. “Go get him, and we can start going over his testimony.”
“I’m going to leave you to it,” Noah said. “I’ll see you at home tonight.” He left the office and made his way out to the parking lot, where he got into the little Panther that Wally had built. He started the car up and drove out of the parking lot, waving to the security guard at the main gate.
Getting home in the little supercar took only minutes, and he parked it on the circle drive right in front of the house. He hopped over the door of the car and hurried up the stairs, then followed the sound of voices to the Great Hall, where he found Sarah and everyone else.
Thomas looked at him as he entered and managed to grin. “We have had an adventure, sir,” he said. “I am delighted to say that no one has been injured.”
“I’m very glad,” Noah said, as Sarah got up from her seat and hurried into his arms. She was holding baby Norah, and snuggled close under his arm. “Baby? Are you okay?”
“We’re all fine,” Sarah managed to say. “I’ll admit that I was scared, but the man in charge made it clear that he was not told to hurt anyone. It was just something about keeping us all together while something else was going on.”
“Yes,” Noah said. “Some people tried to force the company to do some things we didn’t want to do, but I was able to turn the tables on them. I guess they thought keeping you all captive would give them an advantage, but they learned differently. It’s all under control, now.” He looked up at Thomas again. “Thomas, I cannot apologize enough that your family was caught up in this. I’m fairly sure it will not happen again.”
“There is naught to apologize for, sir,” the butler said. “When a family of servants works for wealth and power, such things do occasionally take place. I’m only grateful that none of the lads, yours or mine, were foolish enough to attempt to put up a fight. The thing ended peacefully, and that is always the best possible outcome.”