Assassins Retribution

by Rachel Amphlett

  She signalled to them to get moving, to use the guards’ temporary confusion to their advantage in order to get to safety, and then turned her attention to providing covering fire.

  It was evident from the way the guards scattered that without Samuel Parkes to issue orders to them, they were either too high on drugs or too stupid to provide much of a response to the attack.

  To her relief, Nathan emerged from the undergrowth and signalled to the girls to run to him. She watched as he spoke to the older of the two girls Eva had assigned as a team leader and gave her directions back to the van while avoiding the tripwires.

  Eva turned her attention to the flames licking the sky from what had once been Maxim’s farmhouse.

  She wondered where Miles was, and whether he had escaped the blast. Evidently, the farmhouse used propane gas for heating – or at least, cooking – and he had used these to his advantage. The stench of scorched flesh reached her nostrils, and she wondered how many guards had been taken out by the explosion.

  Decker’s covering fire had withered out, and at a low whistle from him, Eva glanced up to see him running along the outer edge of the clearing. He signalled to her to make her way to the bunker entrance, and she nodded in understanding.

  They had to somehow destroy the facility before the sound of gunfire reached any other guards patrolling the vicinity – and before anyone from the bunker tried to escape.

  She, Decker, and Miles had agreed that no-one would be allowed to live. They simply couldn't risk the knowledge from Maxim's bio engineering project being ransomed to the highest bidder.

  It had to end here.

  She sensed movement behind her a split second too late.

  A hand snaked around her head and clamped over her mouth, and she felt a pinprick at her neck.

  ‘You bitch.’

  Eva cursed under her breath. She had been so intent on getting the girls to safety, and making sure that Decker wasn’t overpowered, that she had let her guard down.

  Rasping breath reached her ears, as she recalled that Maxim Kowalski was not a well man. Crazy, yes. But not as strong as her.

  She slumped against him, her whole body screaming defeat.

  He chuckled. ‘So, this is the woman who managed to escape my team in Cyprus, and outsmart Parkes. I guess your luck has run out.’

  Eva ran through her options in her mind. She couldn’t get Decker’s attention – he was already too far away, closer to the bunker; she could hear the report of his gun as he picked off the remaining guards.

  ‘Where are my twins?’ said Maxim.

  Eva frowned, and her shoulders slumped.

  Maxim cackled. ‘You never realised, did you? You thought they were the engineer’s children.’

  Realisation dawned on Eva as the man lowered his mouth to her ear.

  ‘It wasn’t just secrets that bastard stole from me. He stole my family.’

  Eva shifted her weight, and drove her elbow backwards.

  She heard the air escape the man's lungs, before his hand fell away from her mouth. She spun around, slamming the heel of her hand into his nose.

  He fell back staggering, and she saw the knife glint in his other hand.

  She didn't hesitate – she threw herself to the ground, rolled, and collected her weapon from where it had fallen, swinging it upwards and firing before Maxim had recovered.

  He cried out, clutching his shoulder as the knife clattered to the earth moments before his body slumped and he fell to his knees.

  Her breathing hard, Eva crossed the distance between them and placed the barrel of her gun against his forehead.

  His eyes found hers and in that moment, she knew she was looking at pure evil.

  There was no remorse, no guilt, and no fear.

  A smile began to form on his lips, and as he opened his mouth to speak, she fired.

  Breathing heavily, Eva ejected the magazine from her gun, reached into her back pocket and slipped a fresh one into the weapon. Her ears rang from the combined assault of shouting and gunfire, and she spun round at a tap on her shoulder, weapon raised.

  Decker held up his hand, then grabbed her shoulder as she lowered her weapon.

  ‘Can you hear it?’

  She shook her head, and tried to listen.

  At first, she could only hear the crackling of flames from the burning farmhouse and the cries of the women as Miles led them to the edge of the forest.

  ‘Where’s Nathan?’ she yelled.

  ‘Already gone,’ he said. ‘Come on!’

  Then, as her hearing returned to normal, she heard it.

  A low buzzing noise, similar to the approach of a helicopter, but higher in pitch – and getting closer.

  Miles heard it then, too, a moment before he shoved the last woman onto the path and beckoned to Eva and Decker.

  ‘What is it?’ said Eva.

  ‘Drone,’ he yelled. ‘They’re going to hit the bunker. We need to get out of here. Now.’

  Eva didn’t need further encouragement.

  She took off towards Miles, Decker at her side as the tone of the aircraft changed.

  ‘It’s on its final approach,’ said Decker. ‘We’ve got seconds.’

  Eva gritted her teeth and forced another burst of energy into her legs, her lungs beginning to burn despite the adrenalin rush she’d experienced since they began the assault.

  A low whine filled the air, and Eva tumbled into the undergrowth moments before the shockwave scorched overhead.

  Twenty-Three

  Decker stood with his hands on his hips and surveyed the smoking hillside, then shook his head and turned to Miles.

  ‘I guess you’d better thank the NSA for us. There’s nothing left of the facility.’

  ‘That wasn’t the NSA. That was one of ours.’

  ‘The Section has drones?’

  ‘Not on paper, no.’

  ‘We have to get out of here before the authorities arrive,’ said Decker. ‘I don’t think they’ll be too impressed that the British government blew this place up, and I don’t fancy spending the next ten years answering their questions in a remote prison.’

  Eva ignored the banter between him and Miles as they walked along the track, the sound of an engine reaching her ears.

  She glanced over her shoulder, and breathed a sigh of relief as the van appeared, Nathan behind the wheel.

  Evidently, he hadn’t needed to puncture the tyres, which was just as well given the number of passengers the van now carried.

  Nathan slowed as he neared them.

  ‘Jump in,’ he said. ‘I’ll give you a lift to the four-wheel drive.’

  Eva joined Decker and Miles as they scrambled through the side door and into the back of the van, sitting on the floor amongst the rescued women.

  Their eyes wide, they appeared stunned, mute, until one of them cleared her throat.

  ‘Thank you,’ she said.

  Eva nodded, and closed her eyes.

  She rubbed her fit hand over her arm and tried to ignore the frantic beat of her heart.

  Despite the successful mission, she felt a sense of dread.

  A wave of sickness engulfed her and she fought it down, placing her hands on the hard floor of the van while sweat pricked at her hairline.

  Eventually, Nathan drew the vehicle to a standstill and Decker slid open the panel door.

  They’d arrived at the outer fringes of the village, and as Eva blinked in the bright winter light, she spotted the old woman she’d met the night before hurrying towards her.

  Eva swung her legs over the side and gulped in the fresh air.

  Despite the layers of clothing she wore, she was shivering and as she staggered to her feet, her vision blurred.

  ‘Are you okay?’ said Nathan, resting his hand on her arm.

  ‘Sure.’

  She nodded and forced a smile as the woman approached.

  ‘You found them, thank goodness.’

  Eva held up her hands, warding off the hug sh
e knew would be imminent.

  ‘That’s okay,’ she replied in Russian. ‘Without you, we’d have never got out of there in one piece.’

  ‘We heard an explosion. Is it done?’

  ‘Yes, it is done. They are all dead. You are safe now.’

  The woman turned back to the small crowd and relayed the message. A moment later, a cheer erupted from the people gathered around, and Eva resisted the urge to sigh with relief.

  Instead, she turned to Decker.

  ‘We need to leave. Now.’

  ‘You don’t want to stay and celebrate with your new friend?’

  ‘Decker – I mean it.’

  He frowned at the tone of her voice. ‘Everything okay?’

  ‘Get me out of here now, and I’ll explain once we’re on the road.’

  She staggered back to their vehicle and clambered into the passenger seat as Decker rounded up Nathan and Miles, their excited voices carrying over her in a wave as they said their farewells to the villagers.

  Eventually, Miles got behind the wheel of the four-wheel drive, and once Decker and Nathan had climbed into the back seats, he started the engine and steered the vehicle back along the track.

  Eva estimated they’d reach the Polish-Czech border in a few hours.

  She bit her lip.

  She wasn’t sure she’d make it.

  A fresh wave of sickness struck her, and she reached out for the door handle.

  ‘Stop. I need to get out.’

  Miles slammed on the brakes and the vehicle skidded on the wet muddy surface.

  Eva didn’t hang around – she slipped off her seatbelt and launched herself out of the four-wheel drive and stood on the verge, her hands on her knees.

  She felt movement behind her, and Nathan approached, a bottle of water in his hand.

  ‘All right, what’s going on?’

  She blinked, and reached out for the water before taking a long drink.

  She kept hold of the bottle, the sides of her vision blurring as she took in the concerned faces of Decker and Miles from the car windows.

  ‘When Maxim cornered me, I thought I’d felt him put a knife against my neck before I disarmed him because he was holding one when I shot him, but I’m wrong. He must have stabbed me with a syringe,’ she said, her throat constricting. ‘I think I’m infected with the weaponised smallpox.’

  Twenty-Four

  ‘Eva. Eva?’

  ‘She can’t hear you.’

  ‘Yes, she can. Her eyelids moved.’

  Eva blinked, and then raised her hand to shield her eyes from the bright light streaming through the room.

  As her vision adjusted, she licked her lips, her throat parched.

  She was lying down, and as she focused on her surroundings, two figures appeared next to her.

  ‘Told you she was waking up.’

  Miles stood at the foot of the bed, his hands in his pockets and the skin at the corners of his eyes crinkling.

  ‘How are you feeling?’

  ‘Where am I?’

  ‘London.’

  She turned to find Gerald Knox standing beside her.

  ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘It seemed appropriate, given that one of my best operators has been in a coma for the past two weeks. You’re lucky. We found an antidote in time.’

  ‘The twins?’

  ‘Safe. And, thanks to them, you’re alive. The medical team here managed to extrapolate a sample of their blood and infuse you with it to fight off the infection.’

  ‘Where are the twins?’

  ‘Staying with me and my wife,’ said Miles. ‘We’re working with the authorities to see if we can adopt them. Give them the childhood they deserve.’

  Eva frowned, and pointed at the sling Knox wore.

  ‘What happened to you?’

  ‘Petersen fought back.’

  ‘He’s…?’

  ‘Dead, yes. Although Petersen was allowed to choose the men who guarded him, they still reported to me. More importantly, Douglas can be exonerated from any wrongdoing,’ he said. ‘We’ve been spending some time going through the events of three years ago, and together with what you’ve uncovered, we’ve concluded Petersen was the one who first made contact with the engineer, some two weeks before the conference took place in Prague. He persuaded him to keep quiet about their meeting – laid it on thick about not wanting to alert the Russians – and instead, suggested to the engineer that he approach Douglas instead.’

  ‘Why? Surely if Petersen believed the engineer had vital information about a biological weapon, he’d have wanted full control of the operation to help him defect?’

  A sad smile crossed Knox’s face. ‘Eva, Petersen had no interest in helping the engineer defect. He realised he could make a fortune selling the knowledge on the black market. His days were numbered in the Section, and he wasn’t going to agree to retirement without a fight. Cost-cutting, downsizing – call it what you want, but Petersen was on his way out the door, and he didn’t like it. As soon as he heard what was on offer, he decided to start a bidding war for that information.’

  ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘Petersen used Douglas. He needed to be able to keep an eye on the engineer, but at arm’s length. He couldn’t be seen to be closely involved, otherwise the minute the deal went sour, he’d be a dead man. In the meantime, Maxim wanted his children back. We can only assume the engineer and his wife decided to rescue them from a horrific fate at the hands of their father.’

  A chill crossed Eva’s spine, and she held up a hand.

  ‘Hang on a minute. What deal?’

  ‘Petersen made a deal with Scott Lancaster at the US Embassy that the engineer – and his secrets – would be handed over to the Americans. For a large sum of money.’

  ‘What went wrong?’

  ‘The engineer decided to evade his security detail, and got himself shot.’ Knox turned his gaze to the pale blue sky beyond the window, and Eva noticed how exhausted he appeared.

  ‘What happened?’ she whispered. ‘Did the Americans kill Douglas?’

  He shook his head. ‘No – although they probably wanted to, given what Petersen did next.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘He knew he had to cover his tracks, so he made some phone calls, explained to the Russians what had happened, and assured them the engineer told us nothing. It wasn’t good enough for them. They wanted retribution. An eye for an eye.’

  Eva sat back in her seat, her mouth open.

  ‘I’m sorry, Eva,’ said Knox. ‘I’ve been trying to expose him for the last three years for what he did.’

  ‘He sacrificed Douglas to the Russians?’

  ‘They’ll deny it, of course. Douglas was innocent, Eva. He wasn’t the traitor. Petersen was.’

  Eva exhaled, her thoughts churning. Her mentor, the man who had trained her, had betrayed her and killed her lover.

  Knox’s tone softened. ‘You’ll tell Decker?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘We could use him back here, you know.’

  She glanced at Miles, but he shook his head.

  Evidently Decker had disappeared again.

  ‘That’s a conversation you can have with him. When you find him.’

  Knox cleared his throat, and lowered himself into the chair next to the bed.

  ‘Eva, the Section was created to deal with situations that, for whatever reason, can’t be dealt with by MI5 or MI6. We’re the ones who go after the people who fall between the cracks. The sort of people that can’t be negotiated with.’

  ‘You mean the sort that would cause embarrassment for the politicians.’ Eva held up a hand to stop him interrupting. ‘I know, Knox. You forget I was part of the glorified clean-up squad for a long time.’

  ‘And a very valued part,’ said Knox. He shifted on the chair, tried to get comfortable, then gave up and removed the sling and let his arm rest in his lap. ‘Have you thought about what you’re going to do when you get ou
t of here?’

  She shook her head. ‘Not really.’

  ‘There are always going to be people who are a threat to us, Eva. People like Maxim Kowalski, and with you in hiding for three years, we’ve had to continue our work without one of our best operators.’

  He rose from his seat and crunched up the sling in his hand. ‘All I’m saying is, don’t make a hasty decision.’

  Eva didn’t respond, and instead watched him leave the room, waiting until he pulled the door shut and she could hear his footsteps receding along the corridor away from her.

  Knox might have pretended to be on her side, but she understood full well the threat behind his words.

  The Section didn’t offer a retirement plan – it was why Decker had taken so much care to establish a remote bolt hole so that until recent events, even she didn’t know its location. As it was, he would move again in case the information was gleaned from her or Nathan.

  She sighed, closed her eyes, and rested her head against the pillow.

  Until she could work out her own escape plan, it seemed she’d remain employed by the Section.

  Eva was discharged from the hospital two days later, the medical staff content that she was no longer infectious and wouldn’t present a threat to the public.

  As the lift doors opened and she stepped into the lobby in the late afternoon, a familiar figure strode across the space towards her and enveloped her in his arms.

  ‘I thought I’d lost you,’ said Nathan.

  Eva relaxed into his embrace. ‘You have to try harder than that, nerd.’

  ‘Come on. The Section have arranged a hotel room for you until we can sort out somewhere for you to live.’

  She slipped her hand into his and followed him out through the double doors.

  ‘Fancy a walk?’

  ‘Yes – I need some fresh air after being cooped up for so long. What have you been up to?’

  She let his voice drift over her as they made their way along a narrow street that wound between the hospital grounds before opening out next to the Thames River.

  Nathan led her along the Embankment until they reached Hungerford Bridge, and then stopped her and reached into his jacket pocket and held out his hand.