by Storm Jk
‘Tell Vladimir,’ Vince said, ‘that we’ll know more soon once we receive the satellite images.’
After relaying the message to Vladimir he decided, ‘Emily, we should cut the connection until we need it.’
‘Because of the other two?’ Emily thought back.
‘Yes, they might be able to pick up on it.’
‘I love you both so much,’ Emily thought before breaking the connection. She felt so lost without them and severing the connection hurt her physically. She turned her head towards the side window trying hard to fight back the tears.
Within ten minutes Vince had pulled into a side road next to a semi-trailer, the hood of the engine was open like it had broken down.
‘We need to get the horse off the float and hide it. They’ll be looking for that,’ Vince told Emily.
As soon as the float’s door was opened, Applejacks backed down and moved off to stand under a group of trees and Emily sent Rumour to stay with him. Vince took her to the back of the truck and as the door opened up, Vince lifted Emily inside, following after her. Once the door was closed, he pulled back a big block-out curtain and Emily gasped at all the equipment in the trailer. It looked like a set from a war movie with computer monitors and a man sitting looking at them.
‘Emily, this is Ross. He’s my communications specialist.’ As Vince introduced them, he walked over and picked up a clipboard, reading the information on it.
Ross was of Asian descent and was just a bit taller than Emily. His well-muscled frame was lean and he looked very fit. Emily liked him straight away, there was warmth to him, and he smiled at Emily as he pointed to the computer screen. ‘Two minutes till the satellite feed.’
‘Are you ready to patch into the satellite when it comes over?’ Vince asked.
‘Yes,’ Ross replied, ‘all the equipment across the board is green to go.’
Vince turned to Emily and told her, ‘We can only hack into it sixty seconds at a time before the security program shuts us out.’
‘Will that be enough time?’ Emily was worried.
‘Usually, we just need to make sure that we pick the right spot to hack in, that’s the trick.’
‘Twenty seconds,’ Ross announce suddenly and then, ‘ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.’ The screen came alive with the images. ‘Recorder on,’ Ross added as he fine-tuned the picture.
At first Emily couldn’t work out any of the images and then she saw red shapes that were moving.
‘Thermal working now,’ Ross reported, he sounded focused.
‘Zoom in here,’ Vince instructed, pointing to a section of the screen. Emily’s heart almost stopped, she could see two human shapes lying flat.
‘That’s them!’ she cried.
‘I count sixteen men,’ Ross reported calmly, ‘looks like the compound is heavily guarded. Okay, the feed has gone dead, we’ve been blocked,’ Ross added as the screens went blank.
Looking at his watch Vince instructed Ross, ‘Let’s run the recording again, this time slow it down.’
Emily stayed silent as Vince and Ross pored over the footage. After a few minutes Vince grabbed a piece of paper and started drawing plans.
Looking at it, Emily knew she had to tell Vince about the wolves. It would do them all no good to be surprised.
‘You might find wolves in the compound.’
‘What do you mean?’ Vince asked, ‘we didn’t see any in the satellite feed.’
Not knowing how much she should say, Emily carefully responded, ‘There might be four wolves. If you see a grey one and a cream one, you’re not to shoot them. If you see a white or a black one, you can shoot them.’ Emily felt bad saying that; it was confusing for her to hate Ivan and Sarah in their wolf forms – it was easier to hate them as humans.
‘Emily, that makes no sense, why would we only shoot two of them?’ Vince thought Emily had cracked under the stress.
Pulling Vince aside Emily whispered, ‘Because the grey one will be Vladimir and the cream one Eric, the other two are there to take them.’
Vince could see that she was telling the truth. Emily was showing him a world he hadn’t known existed and he knew that he had to push aside any doubts otherwise the mission would fail.
He said to Emily, ‘Only tell me what I need to know.’ Emily nodded, she understood that it must all seem surreal for Vince and she was impressed with how he was taking the news. Vladimir had chosen him well. Turning back to Ross, Vince thought for a moment before saying, ‘The compound is too heavily guarded. I think our best move is to wait until they’re moving them,’ and then looking at a local map he added, ‘I wonder which airfield Cartier uses?’
There were three private airfields within ten kilometres of the compound. Talking on his radio, Vince dispatched men to each one with orders to report on any activity. He hated to split up his men but he could see no choice. The smart thing for Roy to do would be to have an airstrip near the compound for a quick escape, but there was no guarantee that he did have one close and Vince just didn’t have the man-power to go further afield in the short time he knew they had. Thirty minutes later he got a call from one of his men.
‘I see the jet. It’s being fuelled and there are techs checking it. I can also see six guards but I can’t be sure if there are more because there’s a large shed.’
Picking a point close to the airfield, Vince ordered all his men to rendezvous; he could see that it would be their only chance to get to Vladimir and Eric. He told Emily of the plan and said, ‘Can you contact Vladimir again to let him know what’s happening?’
‘I’ll try.’ Emily was glad for an excuse to connect again to the men, the last hour had been so slow. Reaching out first to connect with Applejacks, she then projected to Vladimir and then Eric. ‘Are you alone?’ Emily asked them.
‘Yes, for now,’ Vladimir replied. ‘We need to be quick, after our last connection Ivan and Sarah came in to see us.’
Emily outlined the plan and then broke the connection. ‘They told me I may not be able to connect again,’ and she told Vince about Sarah and Ivan’s abilities.
‘All we can do now is wait,’ Vince said. Looking at Emily he noticed how grey her face had become.
‘You look tired. Come with me,’ and he led Emily back to the trailer where, behind another block-out curtain, were a couple of bunks.
‘Rest while you can, I’ll call you when they’re on the move.’
Lying down, Emily was too wired up to sleep but her body was glad of the rest. She struggled to keep the dark thoughts from overwhelming her but it was all too much. Images of David and the destruction of her farm assaulted her. It was painful to think of how terrified her animals would have been before they died; it made her feel so powerless.
*
After Emily broke the connection to the men, Ivan and Sarah again burst into the room.
‘What’s going on?’ Sarah demanded, her beautiful face contorted in rage.
Eric laughed, ‘God you’re stupid.’
Ivan laughed with him, before smashing his fist into Eric’s face.
‘My bond mate has her good points,’ he remarked.
‘Môn vieux!’ Vladimir called but Eric was unconscious. ‘Touch him again and I will kill you,’ Vladimir warned Ivan.
‘Ah, my friend, I truly like you,’ and he ran his hand up Vladimir’s leg.
‘Enough!’ Sarah barked. ‘I felt something like this before! Tell me what’s going on?’
‘I don’t know what you mean,’ Vladimir replied coldly. He could see Eric was coming around.
‘Such a light tap,’ Eric murmured not wanting Ivan to know how hurt he was.
Ivan laughed again, ‘I want to play some more with you,’ and he banged his hand on the metal table that Eric was lying on.
‘Ivan, back off!’ Sarah yelled, feeling frustrated. ‘It doesn’t matter, we’ll move you soon and then you will be reunited with your father again.’ Touching Vladimir’s chest, she spo
ke more softly. ‘He has plans for us to mate.’
Calmly Vladimir replied, ‘You will see me dead before I touch you.’
Now Sarah laughed. ‘With or without your consent, I will bear your child. I might not be able to control you but your father will.’ They left Vladimir and Eric, laughing.
‘Why do you aggravate them?’ Vladimir asked Eric gently, there was blood coming from his mouth.
‘Because we are going to die, Vlad,’ Eric replied, ‘and I’m not going to do it on their terms.’
Vladimir was silent for a moment. He had forgotten how easily Eric had given up hope before. Still, he thought, it is up to me to give him hope.
‘I do not think we will die. Vince knows what he is doing.’
‘So we escape this time, what about the next?’ Eric asked bitterly. ‘Now that Varrick knows that we’re alive we’ll have to run for the rest of our lives,’ then he added, ‘and we have doomed Emily. Varrick will want her now as well, because of us. We have destroyed her life.’
‘I know!’ Vladimir replied, wishing that what Eric said wasn’t true; he knew it was on his head. ‘What you say is true but I don’t plan to run, not this time.’ Pausing, he repeated, keeping his deep voice low ‘Trust me, Môn vieux, this day has been a long time coming and I am ready for it.’
Eric felt guilty. ‘All this time you made me feel safe, as if we were free of the danger.’
‘Do you remember when we were at Sven’s farm back in the Czech Republic and he was telling us about your mother’s map and how she had seen that we would be freed by someone from Australia?’ Vladimir spoke softly.
‘Yes I remember, a small child’s talk.’ Eric missed Sven; he had been a true friend to the boys.
‘Maybe, maybe,’ Vladimir replied. ‘You know, at the end of the Sven’s life when the cancer was closing in on him, you were out running.’
‘I couldn’t bear to see him die,’ Eric whispered.
‘I know, Môn vieux,’ Vladimir’s voice was soft. ‘He grabbed my hand and said, “She will come, the one that can speak to the wolves with her you will free our people,” and then he died. For years, I thought that it was just words from an old man’s hallucinations.’
‘Until we met Emily,’ Eric spoke, his voice a whisper.
‘Yes, then we met Emily,’ Vladimir replied, ‘I never wanted this to happen. For the first couple of years I refused to believe.’
‘What changed your mind?’
‘Look at who we are, Eric. Emily has never turned away from us, even when she found out what we really are. She accepts who we are and that there are other people out there like us.’
Eric knew that Vladimir was right. ‘We need to save them.’
‘Yes, Môn vieux, we need to try. I understand that now.’
‘Why did you not tell me of your plans?’ Eric asked.
Vladimir took his time before answering. ‘Because there was a part of me that wanted our lives to go on like it was. I have been selfish.’
‘I’m with you, Vladimir,’ Eric replied feeling resolve to fight till the end. He didn’t think they would live but he would go down fighting.
‘We’ll first need to escape,’ Vladimir responded, ‘and that is up to Vince and Emily.’
*
Vince opened the curtain to find Emily sitting on the bed. ‘I have my men in place. I think I’ve found a spot where you and Applejacks can see the plane.’
‘Vince, I don’t know if I can transport them from a distance,’ Emily said.
‘How close do you need to be?’ he asked, wishing he had known this fact beforehand.
‘I’m not sure. I’ve never tried this before.’ Seeing the look on his face she quickly added, ‘I can move them but I’ve never tried it from a distance.’
Vince absorbed the information thinking and rethinking his plan. He had hoped to keep Emily hidden. Moving her around was one thing but she said she had to be touching the horse and that was another. Turning to Ross he said, ‘Get Emily a bulletproof vest and see if you can tie a couple over the horse.’
Ross jumped into action and Emily was impressed that he didn’t ask any questions. Picking up a two-way radio, Vince showed Emily how to use it.
‘I’ll stay with you. If you can’t teleport them from where we are, I’ll try to open a route for you to get closer.’ Vince helped Emily out of the truck and they walked over to Applejacks. Vince asked Emily, ‘There will be a lot of noise from the automatic weapons, will your horse handle it?’
Applejacks understood what Vince had said and thought to Emily, ‘I’ll be alright’.
Emily told Vince and again Vince was astounded. ‘He understands me?’
‘Tell him I only know English and a little bit of Czech that Eric taught me,’ Applejacks projected.
Emily laughed, relaying what Applejacks had said.
Vince looked at both Emily and Applejacks, realising how special they both were. He worried that Emily might break under the pressure of battle as she seemed so fragile. But, looking at her small form standing next to the large horse, he realised that she was calm and focused.
‘I’ll tell Rumour to stay by the truck,’ Emily told Vince. ‘She’s too young to take into a fight,’ and she instructed Rumour to sit under the trailer. Rumour obeyed but she was unhappy about leaving Emily’s side.
‘Okay,’ Vince spoke, pulling out his radio, ‘everybody take your places. Section three, you move in to protect the girl and the horse, we might need to get them closer so wait for further instructions. No radio chatter. Do not move until I give the signal.’
Emily asked quietly, ‘How long do you think we’ll have to wait?’
‘Not long. I have a man watching the compound, he’s told me that they’re loading bags into the car and have brought a small truck around. I imagine they’ll transport Vladimir and Eric in it.’ Seeing Emily’s face, Vince added, ‘Don’t worry, with your talent this is a much better plan than I had before. Just keep a cool head and stick to the plan.’
‘I will,’ Emily responded, but to Applejacks she thought, ‘I’m scared.’
Applejacks just snorted, he was afraid as well.
Vince looked away for a few seconds and Emily realised that someone had spoken to him via his earpiece. Putting the radio to his mouth, Vince spoke softly.
‘They’re on their way, the packages are in the truck. Keep sharp.’ Pausing, he looked at his watch and added, ‘Incoming in seven minutes.’
The next few minutes were the longest of Emily’s life. Her heart was beating so fast that she wanted to throw up. Focusing on Vladimir’s words to her, she realised that she needed to trust that Vince knew what he was doing. She could hear the vehicles moving up the road to the airfield before she saw the lights. Apart from the noise of Roy’s group the world seemed empty. As they drew nearer, Emily felt the fear rise in her to the point where she was not sure if she would be able to move.
Vince whispered to her, ‘Steady, focus on the plan.’ This helped and the fear subsided a bit.
Once the vehicle had pulled up besides the small jet, Emily saw Roy, Sarah and Ivan get out of the Hummer. Six other men with machine guns hopped out of another car and went to the back of the truck. Opening the door of the truck, Emily saw that Eric and Vladimir were strapped to two vertical metal boards. First Eric and then Vladimir was lifted from the truck by the men.
‘Can you teleport them from here?’ Vince whispered.
‘No.’ Emily had tried but it was too far. ‘I need to get closer.’
‘I can get you twenty metres closer without being seen,’ and he slowly moved the small group to behind a large shed on the airstrip. ‘Are you close enough now?’
Emily reached out again. ‘No, they’re too big to move, I need to be closer.’
Vince was unsure how. It would mean that they would be exposed and he knew a gun-fight would start.
‘Wait, I have an idea,’ Emily whispered. ‘They’re too big to move but I think I can remove t
he ropes that are around them. I’ll let them know and tell them to run to the shed. Then, as soon as they’re close enough, I’ll project them away.’
Vince nodded and radioed the plan to his men, they would lay down a cover of fire from the west.
Emily briefly connected to the men, outlining their plan, and then she broke the connection. Both Sarah and Ivan had already gone into the jet, but as soon as Emily had broken the connection they were at the door coming down the stairs. They were about fifty metres away from where Eric and Vladimir were and Emily focused as sharply as she could, willing the ropes away, and within two seconds the men were free. Meanwhile, both Ivan and Sarah had stripped off their clothes and morphed into wolves.
Vladimir looked back and said to Eric, ‘We need to change! They will catch us if we don’t.’
Vince’s eyes bulged out of his head at seeing Vladimir and Eric change from men into wolves. If he had not seen it with his own eyes he would never have believed it. However, instead of running towards Emily, Vladimir and Eric suddenly stopped and turned back to Sarah and Ivan.
‘No!’ Emily cried and then she tried to connect to the wolves again to see why they had turned, but she struggled with the connection and she realised that Sarah had taken control again.
Emily mentally shouted, ‘Come to me now!’ and that broke the hold that Sarah had forged.
Regaining themselves, Vladimir leapt at Ivan but Sarah wasn’t willing to fight Eric again and she turned and ran back towards the jet. Eric turned to follow her but when Emily asked him help Vladimir he turned back.
Vladimir’s fight with Ivan was furious and bloody with both wolves suffering deep wounds. Eric jumped on Ivan, sending him crashing to the ground and then sunk his teeth into his flank. Sarah, realising that Ivan was outmatched, turned back into a human and yelled for the guards to come with their guns. Within seconds Vince’s men had opened fire, sending Roy’s men back for cover.
‘Come on Emily,’ he yelled ‘get them out of there!’
Emily almost panicked but then a thought hit her, telling Applejacks her idea. Applejacks calmly replied, ‘I’ll be ready,’ but he didn’t like the plan. Emily would be in the line of fire.