Left For Dead (The Guarded Secrets Series Book 3)

by Sara Schoen

  The town was small with roughly five thousand people after the famine last winter. Just another reason CIRA wanted Volodya removed from power—he was getting money from drug and weapons trading, but it clearly wasn’t going toward his people. There were mostly one-story houses. With the snow it was hard to see the old fashioned cobblestone streets and cracked walkways. The snow even covered some of the decayed buildings, much like the house we stayed in. Now all I could see were various footprints of those who had trudged through the snow.

  I knew Demon would have concealed our tracks before he came in, but I felt compelled to check anyway. The paranoia of a spy—something could and would always go wrong. Somehow you just had to stay one step ahead. As I peeked out the only door, I was greeted by the setting sun and a lack of footprints. Late November brought about thirty-three hours of sunlight for the entire month, which worked to our benefit to keep us well hidden, even in the snow. It looked as if Demon had simply taken a large broom and raked the snow, then more snow came and covered all of our tracks.

  While I wish the snow hadn’t come, because it made the drowning much more dangerous when Katya could have contracted hypothermia or frozen to death and Maverick would have a more difficult time landing the plane, it was a small joy to see the town blanketed in the snow. I never thought of Russia any other way than with snow. It had actually been disappointing to stay here and not see a flurry. It was the small things that I learned to appreciate from this job. There was no telling when the end would come. This job had such a low survival rate that I gave it only a few more years before something caught up to me. Sad, but true.

  These thoughts vanished from my mind as I caught sight of a familiar white plane come into view over the town. I inched closer, careful not to open the curtain fully and reveal myself to the townspeople outside. It took a few moments, but soon the red star came into view on the right wing.

  “About time,” I muttered to myself as I securely closed the curtains and extinguished the fire. “It’s time to go,” I called as I heard Demon move from the wooden chair in the bedroom. It scraped the floor as he got up, as if he had stood up too quickly, and his footsteps raced out of the room toward me.

  The door flung open a second later. He ran to grab Katya’s clothes, now mostly dry, but not perfect. “Good timing, she just woke up. We’ll be ready to go in five.” He raced into the room, causing Katya to scream, probably taken aback by the strange man in her room, before he raced back out and shut the door behind him. “Make that ten minutes to give us some time to explain.”

  Chapter 5

  I went to check on Katya after she threw Demon out of her room. I couldn’t blame her. She had woken up around strangers, had her still wet clothes handed to her, and almost drowned a few hours earlier—it must have been a shock, but I was prepared to be the sounding board for her anger. We didn’t have a lot of time so I hoped to speed it up by being there for her. The second I walked into the room she threw whatever she could in my direction. For once I was thankful our safe house was so bare, or I would have had to dodge more than a wooden chair, a hard cover book she aimed at my head, and a knife which Demon had left on the table. And he thought I was irresponsible.

  When she ran out of things to throw at me she broke down in tears. Her clothes were sticking to her as she crumpled to the floor and sat in a small ball. She tightly wrapped her arms around her legs and cried for a few moments. I didn’t know what to do or what to say. Agents didn’t cry very often, except when we lost a friend, but that had become so normal that even a few could only manage an agonizing moan or a grim downward expression. It also didn’t help that she spoke to me in Russian. I could only make out a few words, and even with small clues to what she was asking for I didn’t understand.

  I got as far as “what happened” and someone named Natasha, who I assumed was her mother, but her tears made it hard to understand.

  It took a few moments, but when she finally looked at me she must have seen that I didn’t understand her. She spoke again, this time in English. “What are you doing to me? Where is Natasha?”

  Demon interrupted me before I could respond. “Night Stripe, we have to go. We’re wasting time and you know how code 18.12 works in cases like these. I’m not getting left behind and I’m not leaving her here. Start moving.” The authority in his voice had me worried, Demon rarely barked out orders unless we were in trouble and about to be discovered or killed. That didn’t give me much time to explain to Katya what was going on.

  “Look,” I said, gaining her attention, “I don’t have time to fully explain what’s going on; I have to get you somewhere safe. Your father tried to kill you, your mother is dead. We have to get you back to our agency. We can figure out what to do from there, but you have to come with us.”

  “Mama?” she asked, but the distant look in her eyes said that she was coming to terms with what had happened more than asking for clarification. “We were in a car, and my mama was with me, but nothing more.” Her English was a little rough. I couldn’t tell if it was because she was still upset and that made it difficult for her or if she barely knew what I was saying. Getting lost in translation at a time like this would only get us killed. There just wasn’t enough time to explain.

  I stood up and motioned for her to do the same. I quickly put the fur coat I had used in the club on her and shoved her out the door of the room. Demon was already prepared to leave, bags in hand, and passing one to me as I met him near the door.

  “Are we ready to go?” he questioned.

  “I think so,” I replied, looking back at Katya, who seemed to be in a daze. It was confusing, a lot was going on, and it seemed that she couldn’t remember what had led up to this. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. “But she doesn’t remember the drowning, it seems. She remembers getting into the car and seeing her mother and then nothing after that. She has limited English skills, and keeps asking for someone named Natasha. I’m not sure if that’s her mother or not; the file didn’t say anything about a Natasha.”

  Demon shrugged his shoulders. “We don’t have time to figure out who that is. It’s getting dark, and the town is getting busier by the second. It looks like there’s a party going on,” he said as he pointed to the slightly open curtains. The town was filled with people, lights were dancing in the night sky, and music slowly leaked its way through the windows.

  Katya said something in Russian, causing Demon and I to look away from the growing crowd outside to her. I didn’t understand what she said, but I recognized it. The townspeople had been talking about it for the last few days. All I understood was it was a celebration, but nothing further than that.

  “Basically it’s an excuse to get drunk,” Demon said as he lightly took Katya by the arm and then pushed me toward the door. “Now let’s go before it gets too crowded and the wrong people show up. I don’t want to run into anyone you’ve made friends with on this trip, Night Stripe. The crowd should provide enough cover to get us to the plane before Maverick takes off to go home. Hopefully no one will recognize Katya. Now let’s move.”

  As we left, Demon made sure to keep close to Katya. He’d be able to hide her better than I would with the shadow technique he had worked on since joining the agency. I still wasn’t sure how it worked, but thanks to his initial training as a thief he hid in the shadows well, and grew accustomed to how they moved. It provided a good cover. Maybe one day I’d master it as he had done. Right now it was too far above my skill level.

  We stuck toward the edge of town, as far away as we could get from the celebration but not leave us in the open. It would still be easy to spot three people darting from building to building. We wasted a lot of time trying to explain to Katya what had happened to her, and now if we didn’t pick up the pace and use a few risky tactics we’d be left behind until Maverick could make the trip again without raising suspicion. By that time, someone would find out Katya was still alive and they’d be looking for her.

  Demon turned to
place his index finger on his lips to tell me to stop and listen before he gestured his commands. We would walk a fair distance apart as we neared the square, with Katya in the middle and him in front. I’d be last, making sure we weren’t followed. I felt my nerves start to dance and cause me to tense; we must have wasted more time caring for Katya than I thought if he was leading us through the center of town. We normally would have skirted it entirely, but it was the fastest route to the airstrip. He pulled the fur coat over Katya’s head and in broken Russian told her to keep her head down.

  She must have understood that her father tried to kill her; otherwise I couldn’t imagine her being so willing to work with us. There hadn’t been any shock on her face when I told her what he had tried to do, she must have known or at least assumed that it was possible beforehand. I just hoped that was the case, or she’d probably reveal us as we walked through the throng of people.

  Demon took the lead, and when there was some distance between us, I pushed Katya out to follow him. She pulled the coat around her, trying to hide her face as she walked in Demon’s footprints. I waited for a moment, but before I could move to follow after her, someone called out the name I had given around town. I glanced around for who had called to me, but I noticed they weren’t after me. Nikolai was heading straight for Katya because she was wearing my coat. If he stopped her then we would be found out.

  I grit my teeth, hoping Demon would still figure out a way to get her out of here without me. I stepped out of the shadows and headed straight for Nikolai. I cut between his path to Katya and stopped right in front of him, shocking him when he realized he had been calling out to the wrong person.

  “You called?” I asked, offering him the same flirty smile I had given him before.

  A confused gleam in his eyes shone bright as he glanced between me and Katya’s retreating figure. Luckily, he must have given up on the thought because his attention turned back to me. “I don’t remember you leaving. How did you manage to sneak away?”

  I smiled again, seductively. “We had a wonderful time. I’m sure your friends could fill you in. We’ll meet again. Don’t worry.” I added a wink, and prayed that my words had come off as flirting instead of the threat it sounded like in my head. I did promise to see him again, but if I did I hoped it was to kill him.

  He accepted my answer and walked off to check on Volodya, who I noticed a few feet away. I’m sure he didn’t appreciate one of his guards walking off to talk to a woman, but then again who in this small town would be after him? I turned and walked away, keeping my pace steady as I walked toward the other side of town. I needed to run if I was going to catch up to Demon and Katya, but if someone saw me it would only cause me to lose more time in falsifying an explanation to explain my haste. I knew there were eyes on me because I’d been seen talking to Nikolai, I just had to be sure I didn’t make them think twice about me.

  Once I was out of sight, I raced toward the extraction point. I knew Demon and I had been running out of time, and his warning about mission code 18.12 only made me fear the worst. I had fallen behind, and code states that if someone falls behind, they get left behind. The only real thing I ever got from that code was don’t fall behind.

  The snow made it difficult to run though, but I made it to the airstrip in time to hear the plane rev up for take-off. The airstrip was the most dangerous place to be, planes were constantly coming and going and it would be nearly impossible for them to see me or stop if I got in their way. Besides possibly getting crushed, the blow back from them could send me flying into a building, but it was also the only snow-free path. Following the path of least resistance sometimes took on a few extra risks.

  I caught sight of Maverick’s plane, with Spit Fire slowly making her way up the stairs. It was clear, even to me at a distance, she was trying to give me time. She was the last one to board, and once she was on the plane was going to take off. It didn’t take long to close the distance, but CIRA had a time schedule to keep and they couldn’t be late.

  The steps leading up to the plane were detached as I came within a hundred feet of the plane. My lungs were burning from the cold air around me, and the closer I got to the plane the more it seemed I would collapse before I made it. Clearly, I needed to run more during training, and if I got out of here in time I’d start once we got back to CIRA.

  Renegade peeked out, motioning for me to hurry as the plane started to move. With a short moment to curse myself for falling behind, I put out the last bit of energy I had and sprinted toward the plane. I had determined where I could meet the plane, and prayed that Maverick’s small Cessna 560XL was close enough to the ground for me to make the jump. The Cessna is similar to a small jet by the look of it, only used in these cases for quick pick-ups to get agents out of dangerous areas, but to get on I had to get on the wing and hope Renegade would catch me.

  What’s the worst that could happen? Best case was I end up breaking something and waiting until Maverick could come back—if he came back. I tried not to think about the road burns, injuries, and possible death as I leapt onto the plane’s wing. I teetered uncomfortably and quickly fell to the cold metal of the wing and latched onto whatever I could. The plane had been moving much faster than I had thought which only complicated this more. Even though Rum had trained me for situations like this, I wasn’t prepared to actually attempt this jump. I recalled something about her and Hess having to do it on a mission in Kuwait, how it was about faith in who was catching you and your ability. Well, hopefully half would be good enough for me.

  Renegade had his hand out the door, and called to me. I nodded and prepared myself to take a leap of faith. We hadn’t been getting along recently, but I knew I could trust him to put it aside for a mission and my safety. I attempted to steady myself before I jumped. The plane was running out of track, and I had lost the momentum from my run. The plane’s door was easily two feet away, and standing on a moving object wasn’t making it easier. The only bright side was that I was jumping toward Renegade in the direction the plane was going. I swallowed my fear and flew through the air easily. I felt weightless as the wind caressed my skin and the cool air came as a breath of relief to calm my nerves. It would have been pleasant if it wasn’t for the plane’s engine staring me in the face.

  Renegade caught me easily with Spit Fire beside him to grab my other hand. They yanked me into the plane and sealed the door before the plane started to ascend. Made it. Right in the nick of time as always.

  Once inside, I collapsed to the ground, taking in the moment and letting myself relax before a single tear of relief escaped down my cheek. I quickly wiped it away before turning to face my friends. Demon remained close to Katya while Renegade and Spit Fire stood close to me in case I needed them. All of them looked exhausted as they dispersed to take their seats on the plane, but no one was going to comment on it after what I had gone through.

  Renegade came forward to help me from the floor. I eagerly took his hand in hopes that we had put whatever was upsetting him behind us, but those hopes were quickly dashed as he spoke. “That was a close one,” Renegade stated, making it seem more like a compliment than anything. I smiled and was about to thank him when he added, “Don’t make a habit of it.” He walked away a second later to join Maverick in the cockpit and I took a seat next to Spit Fire, who seemed to already be sound asleep.

  Chapter 6

  This agency had something against a full night’s sleep. I had been in this building for two hours—one getting Katya settled somewhere close to my room, and the other was intermittent periods of sleep while helping unpack the car and move all our stuff out of the way for the next team. I managed to get about ten minutes of actual sleep in my bed before Renegade came to wake me up. Judging from his low husky voice, he just woke up as well. Like I said, there’s something against sleep in this building.

  “Sharp Shooter wants to talk to us,” he said through my door when I refused to let him in. “You slept on the plane ride over here. Just get
up and let’s finish this so we can both go back to bed.” The resentment in his words cut me deep. He hadn’t forgiven me, just like I hadn’t forgiven him after our last mission together. To everyone around us it looked like we had grown to hate each other, the once possible relationship shattered by the mission. They weren’t completely wrong; they just didn’t have the full story either. “Night Stripe!” he yelled through the door, clearly annoyed that I wasn’t answering him.

  I forced myself out of bed with a groan. My body ached and I could only thank myself for it. Between running and jumping onto a moving plane I knew I’d be sore, but that didn’t make it any easier to move around. I pulled open the door to meet him, his brown eyes dead set on me as he waited for me to apologize for making him wait. I could feel the anger resonating from him, even if I couldn’t, the rigid posture and angry glare would give it away. He was usually so calm; I guess I just knew how to get under people’s skins really well.

  “I’m here,” I said with a yawn. “Let’s go see Sharp Shooter before he comes looking for us.” My words were fast and curt as I felt the unsettling reminder of our fight surround us. My chest tightened, making it harder to breathe as I thought over what else to say or at least what was safe to say. I should apologize. He technically hadn’t done anything wrong, but at the same time he had betrayed me. He had made the choice that was best for the mission, but that still didn’t make forgiving him any easier. “Look, Renegade, I just want to say that—”

  “I know, you’re mad. Just sit through this meeting with me and then we can go back to sleep.” He walked off, and didn’t bother waiting for me to catch up as he took long strides.

  I stood there momentarily, letting the emotions I so rarely let surface take over. A tear escaped over my eye lashes as I wished I could be the stronger person and apologize, but I couldn’t. I didn’t have it in me to admit I was wrong to be upset because his decision had saved the mission, but hurt me in the process. He didn’t trust me and that’s why the mission went to hell. If he had just been able to trust my judgment then maybe we wouldn’t be here now. Another tear slid down my cheek as I watched him turn down the hallway, furthering the distance between us in more ways than one. I wasn’t sure I could ever fix this, or if he’d even be willing to hear me out on why I was so furious with him, but clearly it wasn’t just going to go away as I hoped. We should have listened to Sharp Shooter when he said he didn’t want agents who were in a relationship to work together.