It didn’t take long for the alarm to sound and the entire Skolkovo Park Residential complex to be evacuated and surrounded with thousands of Russian military and Security Police. President Putin was in a meeting with his economic advisors discussing two proposed oil exploration sites in Siberia when he was interrupted by his Chief of Security for the Secret Service. His face turned ashen when he realized that his two beautiful grandchildren were in the hands of terrorists. Initial attempts were made to infiltrate the facility, but with the plan laid out by the very man who had been responsible for the schools security, every possible access point had been welded shut, booby trapped or covered with men armed with light machineguns and RPGs. They weren’t about to attempt the gas in the air-ducts trick they pulled in years past, where many of the hostages were killed, not with their bosses family inside. While the negotiator assigned to the scene attempted to negotiate with the hostages, operatives tried to snake flexible cameras through any possible opening to see what was going on inside. That too was predicted by the men holding the children and the cameras were soon rendered useless.
When the demand came back that Russia was to withdraw from Bosnia and Herzegovina within twenty-four hours or a hostage would be shot for every hour after that, Putin began to worry like never before. Even if he did meet their demands and called for a withdrawal, he was not foolish enough to think that these men would just leave. If it was him in the situation, he would take the two most valuable hostages with him when he set the others free. His two grandchildren were the most valuable. To show their resolve, the bodies of the teachers already shot were thrown out of an upstairs window along with the body of a young teen who tried to resist being bound with plastic ties. The bodies falling from the sixth floor window and hitting the ground was shown on all the news networks. Within two hours of the hostage taking, the siege at Atlantic International was being covered by every news network on Earth, and fortunately for President Putin, these news broadcasts were being monitored by Major General Hunter Verron-Hall.
While Katelyn and Bart had been forced to shut-down their operation against organized crime because of the spineless leaders of the FBI and DEA, Hunter and his group were not dealing with the same people. Thus far, they had been operating under the black ops budget of the CIA and other like organizations from seven other countries. In fact, Petra Goravich and Slav Yana Kalwaski were still working closely with Hunter and his group to infiltrate and shut-down any organized crime they discovered inside Russia. They had gotten used to the fact that President Putin was getting the credit for cleaning-up his country, but it really didn’t matter. He was being left alone to do his job and a few leads were even given anonymously by high ranking Russian officials. It was clear that the Russian Mafia had served its useful purpose and their elimination was now a politically expedient thing to do.
Hunter was sitting with Chase, Daniel and Ibrihim when the bodies were shown being thrown from the windows. Not a single one of them had considered the terrorist problem inside Russia. It just didn’t dawn on them that the country who had been supplying weapons for terrorists for decades would ever be the target of the very people who bought their weapons. No doubt those in Russia who had been selling those weapons were just as shocked by this sudden turnabout. Considering the long standing strained relationship between Verron and President Putin, Hunter decided it would be best if they met with King Paul to determine just what, if anything, they should do. The four seasoned terrorist fighters stepped through a gateway into Paul Verron’s office while he was watching Robin Meade on CNN report about the hostage situation in Moscow. It had for the first time been released that two of the hostages were President Putin’s grandchildren.
While the subject was being discussed on Verron, King Paul had Lucy dispatch two cloaked targeting and observation drones to the scene, with orders to keep a direct feed open to his office. He wanted to see what they saw in real-time, not on a video shown hours later. Paul soon put out a call for the remainder of the Dragon Guard. They arrived within 45 minutes, including Amber’s husband, General Lawson. He was allowed to stay for the meeting, but had not developed the skill required if they should decide to intervene in the Russian hostage situation. Paul looked around him at the fourteen people he had grown to love and trust more than anyone. He was glad to see Ilna raring to go on a mission. He knew from 99 that she was going crazy with three rambunctious children and needed to get back into action for her own sanity. Amber was the happiest he had ever seen her and her marriage to Robert only seemed to make her better adjusted for her command position of the Air Force. He sat silently and allowed the others to watch the observation drones do their jobs. It was Lydia who broke the silence, saying, “I don’t know and I don’t really care what problems you may have personally with President Putin, but I hate terrorists of any kind and feel we should let them know that they are not allowed to operate anywhere, even if it is Russia. I say we go in there and kick some major butt.” Everyone smiled at the petite and now beautiful seventeen year-old and her obvious enthusiasm. The others began to voice their agreement, with Ilna, being the only one in the group with children, proclaiming, “If those were my children in there, I’d already be on my way. Think of how you would feel if that was one of the MJs or one of us.” Chase laughed, saying, “If it was one of us, it would be a very bad day for the terrorists.” Katelyn added, “Well, what are we waiting for. Let’s make it a very bad day to be a terrorist in Russia. I don’t care about Mr. Putin’s politics; I only care about 500 innocent kids.”
They sat a while longer to watch the thermal imaging from the drones. Even through the thick masonry walls, they could clearly see an image of every armed terrorist inside the school area, and even the handful of soldiers outside trying to figure out how to get in. With 38 terrorists inside, they were spread out all over the place and there were definitely too many for a small group of Dragon Guard, not to take them out, but to do it quick enough that none of the innocents got injured. Paul finally looked up and raised his pointer, saying, “We all go at once.” He then pointed out each position and assigned who would be responsible for each one. Ilna and 99 were assigned the two men with AK-12s standing right in the middle of the hostages. They couldn’t tell from the thermal images, but Putin’s two grandchildren were on the floor at their feet.
Paul and Hunter put their heads together on a plan of attack and decided to put one Dragon Guard per terrorist beginning in the cafeteria. They agreed there were simply too many terrorists scattered around the room to take the chance of one having time to activate a bomb or pull a trigger on an automatic weapon. There were ten armed men inside the room and two on the outside of the three exit doors. Paul looked at Hunter and both smiled, Hunter being the first to speak, saying, “Well, I was never very good at math, but it seems we have one more terrorist than we do team members, so I guess we have no choice but to use Robert.” Amber looked concerned, Robert was grinning ear to ear. His first response was to let them know, “I’m actually horrible with using The Power but I’m really pretty good with weapons. I’d love to try out my wedding gift from Hon.” He held out a set of 10 inch daggers he had taken to wearing in his boots. Hon IV smiled that his gifts were going to be put to use instead of being boot decorations. Paul asked, “I imagine you still can’t make a gateway.” Robert shook his head and answered, “Then you have imagined correctly.” Hunter couldn’t resist saying, “Looks as if we need to find you a better instructor. You’ll never catch up to the rest of us at this rate.” Amber’s empty Diet Coke can bounced-off her brother’s head; she was of course Robert’s teacher.” Paul laughed, instructing them, “You two work together. That way you can share a gateway.” Just before they were about to leave, Paul looked at Lydia and said, “No exploding bodies in front of the children. We don’t want a bunch of angry parents mad at us for traumatizing their kids.” Lydia smiled; it had become one of her favorite methods of dealing with bad-guys.
Agent Fyodor Gibazov was standing
at one end of the cafeteria with his silenced pistol stuck in his exposed shoulder holster and the latest model of Russian Assault rifle, the AK-12, on the table in front of him. He was monitoring the camera feeds from the hundreds of exterior security cameras on the building as he watched the activities of those outside. He smiled at the fact that everything they did was so predictable. Just like agencies all over the world, they were well-trained and disciplined, following their training in a precise manner. Since Fyodor had been through the same training, then there were no surprises at their textbook perfect siege of the building. The power had already been cut, but he had already jumped the auxiliary power generators to provide power to the security system and emergency lights. He was a little surprised by the sheer numbers of APCs, tanks and ground troops surrounding the building. He was watching the camera focused on the mobile command center when he was knocked unconscious from behind. Daniel wasn’t certain why he didn’t kill him as planned; it just seemed like the right thing to do since this man appeared to be the leader of the group. While the others in the cafeteria did as ordered, Daniel stepped back through a gateway and delivered Fyodor’s unconscious body to Vlad and General Hall. With a smile and quick, “He’s all yours.” He was back to assist the others. In the short time he had been gone Ilna and 99 had disarmed and crushed the spines of the two men in the middle of the hostages. The others had been creative in how they eliminated theirs, expressing their own unique way of killing someone. Paul simply snapped the neck of his, Tala stopped a heart, Cali beheaded one to the screams of the children next to him; she’d hear about that later. The rest induced strokes and heart attacks to keep the mess down in the room. At least Cali had used her light sabre, so there was no blood oozing from the cauterized sections of her victims neck. Robert was indeed good with his knives and dispatched both his and Amber’s intended door guards in a flash.
With the room clear of any potential harm to the children and the bombs removed from the room, the Dragon Guard spread out through the rest of the building to deal with the remaining 22 men. It was almost too easy since the heavily armed terrorists were so intent on watching those outside attempting to get in, they paid little attention to what was behind them until it was too late. Light sabers were drawn and 22 neatly detached heads were left on the floors of the hallways in the school complex. The group did one more complete search of the sealed-off area to be certain nothing had been missed. They carefully deactivated the booby traps and cut the nylon restraints on the hostages. Speaking in Russian to the kids to comfort them, they were told that all of the terrorist were gone and that they needed to stay close together and follow them outside to safety. Through the tears of fear and relief, the kids began to rise from the floor and follow. A few of the smaller kindergarten aged children had to be carried by the Dragon Guard or other older students. They were absolutely terrified and unable to move. No doubt many of these kids would suffer from PTSD for some time.
The two double-wide metal doors that exited the school to the outside had been welded shut. Those outside moved back in fear as suddenly a beam of light cut through the doors like butter and hot metal clanked to the concrete outside. The door was pushed open by a man carrying Vladimir Putin’s five year-old granddaughter. The taller man beside him with a ponytail held the hand of Putin’s 9 year-old grandson and carried another child of six or seven years in his arms. The entire group of five-hundred students was surrounded by both humans and aliens as they were escorted to the safety of the surrounding soldiers. It didn’t take long for the excited parents behind the lines to realize what was going on and thousands of anxious family members rushed forward to greet their children. President Putin took his crying Granddaughter from the arms of King Verron. His daughter was beside him and embraced her only son. There were tears running down the President’s cheeks. Hundreds of soldiers rushed into the building to make sure it was secured. Hunter smiled and told the President, “We didn’t leave anything for your boys to do but clean up the mess. We didn’t leave any of them alive.” Daniel heard his cousin’s comment and stepped forward as he handed off a child to his crying mother, saying, “Sir, I’m afraid I didn’t exactly follow orders. The one I thought to be the leader of the pack, well, I decided to take him to visit Vlad.” He smiled and added, “Our Vlad, not this one.”
Paul smiled at his great-nephew and replied, “I’m so glad you don’t pay attention to anything I say. Good job.” Turning to Mr. Putin, he asked, “I know you ran the KGB, would you like to see how we get information from a suspect on Verron?” Knowing that one of the terrorists was now in King Verron’s custody got President Putin excited. He asked in Russian, “Where is your ship, the sooner the better.” Paul turned and told him, “Follow me sir.” Before Mr. Putin had taken four steps he was walking across the floor of the command center on Verron being looked at by Lieutenant General Vladimir Zhdanov, General Zarman and a few of Vlad’s operatives. Vlad smiled as he recognized his old boss, saying, “Just like old times sir, except for all the pulled fingernails and screaming.”
Mr. Putin looked closely at Vlad and asked, “You look familiar; do I know you?” Vlad smiled and answered, “I am Colonel Vladimir Zhdanov KBG retired. I now work for King Verron. The pay is better and the benefits cannot be beat.” President Putin remembered having an old KGB mentor when he was climbing the ranks of the organization. He shook his head and Vlad could tell he was still trying to figure it out. He informed him, “Yes, I am the same one, eighty-seven year-old ‘Vlad the Bad’.” Paul had never known Vlad’s nickname when he was with the KGB, but he was sure it fit his personality when he worked for them. Paul and his other Generals smiled, Vlad said, “Is no longer my name. I am pussy-cat now.” All eyes turned at once to Fyodor Gibazov. He was sitting with a smile on his face anxious to please his captors. President Putin recognized him right away as the man in charge of his grandchildren’s security detail. He approached the man to beat him senseless. Paul held him back, saying, “I promise you can have him to do with as you please, but for now he’s mine.”
President Putin sat with a notepad and pen in his hand as Vlad interrogated the Secret Service Agent terrorist. He was getting more and more steamed as Fyodor revealed name after name of other Muslims and Muslim sympathizers in the highest ranks of Mr. Putin’s military, his government and his security agency. By the time they were finished they knew where all the other terrorist cells were in Moscow, who had supplied them with the newest and best Russian weapons and where they were planning to attack next. He knew he had Islamic fundamentalists in Russia, but had no idea it was as deeply rooted as it was and that his own military, along with organized crime syndicates, were supplying them the latest in every possible weapon technology. If the Russian Army had it, they did as well; even their top secret encrypted communications were available to the Islamic groups because of the number of sympathizers inside the military. When they were finished with Fyodor and he was still sitting there anxious to please his captors, Paul turned to President Putin and asked, “What do you want to do with him?” Hunter quickly spoke out saying, “Why don’t we send him to Paradise?” Paul now knew about how Hunter had been on occasion dropping people off on that planet and smiled, saying, “I believe that’s an excellent idea.”
President Putin really wanted to put a bullet through the man’s head, but allowed Hunter to escort Fyodor from the room. Within the first fifty feet, as he looked in awe at the beautiful forests around him, Fyodor was bitten over 30 times by poisonous snakes. When he fell to the ground a swollen ball of flesh, he was enshrouded instantly by meat eating vines.
President Putin had been so intent on the interrogation of his Security Agent that he had paid no attention to what was behind him, until Hunter had spoken, he had not even looked around his surroundings. He got to his feet to face fifteen men, women and aliens standing or sitting around the large conference room table. He smiled for the first time since hearing about the kidnappings. Paul stepped beside him and said, “Let m
e introduce you to the people who saved your grandchildren and the others.” Putin was truly grateful as he shook hands with each of the rescuers. He was a bit hesitant when he came to 99 and Ilna and even a bit scared as he shook hands with Hon IV, but there was no doubt he was impressed with this group of commandoes who had rescued 500 students and 30 staff members without a single friendly fatality. He then turned to Hunter and told him, “I know you and your team of terrorist fighters are active inside my country. I would like to join you with my own people. As you heard, I have a bit of housekeeping to do. Then I want to focus on anyone who has any association with these animals that would prey on innocent children.”
Verron: Serve and Protect: Book Two (Verron Series 2) Page 89