Alex stretched slowly in the bed, wincing at the various injuries that complained across her body as she did. “The food is good, which makes a change from hospitals back home,” she replied. She paused, a look of confusion spreading across her face. “I don't remember how I got here though,” she added.
“You knocked on the door of a Latvian border post and passed out,” Edward replied. “The soldiers didn't know what to do with you and your deceased cargo, so they called their superiors.” He pulled a chair from the corner of the room and sat down next to the bed. “We put out an alert to the border after your team missed your return flight,” he continued. “When the border post called in, we dispatched a team and brought you here for treatment.”
Alex raised her head slightly and looked around the room. “Where am I exactly?” she asked.
“It's a private medical facility in Riga,” Edward replied. “British Armaments Company run it to treat NATO top brass when they're in eastern Europe.” He saw Alex raise an eyebrow as the company name was mentioned and he smiled. “They felt that they owed you a decent hospital stay given that you saved them from being embarrassed on an international level,” he explained.
“How nice of them,” Alex replied dryly, letting her head fall back to the pillow. Her body was beginning to protest again at the exertion of movement. It would take a bit of time before she was kicking down doors again. “So am I good with the Ministry?” she asked, looking over at Edward.
He nodded. “You're back on the books,” he said. “A deal is a deal.”
Alex grunted. She disliked Edward for a number of reasons, but he had always stuck to his word. When it came down to it, counting on someone's word was all you had when you were out in the field doing undercover work. “So you can tell me what James was carrying,” she added.
Edward smiled in his characteristically haughty fashion. He was a man of his word, Alex reflected, but he was still a weasel. “I'm afraid that's still out of your pay grade,” he replied, with obvious relish at knowing something Alex did not.
She glared at him. “Cut the bull,” she replied. “I just dragged a dead body through a war zone to save some amoral gun runner the embarrassment of having to bribe his way out of a jail sentence for treason.” She forced herself to sit up in bed, wincing at the pain of moving. “If you want my expertise again in the future, you'll tell me what I want to know,” she said.
Edward pursed his lips, and Alex could tell that he was struggling with some unseen outrage at being spoken to like that. Eventually the logic of the situation outweighed his personal need for superiority and he nodded. “Very well,” he said. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small object, tossing it onto the bed. “This is what he was carrying,” he said.
Alex studied the object. It was a human finger. Alex frowned and reached down to pick it up. It was made of some sort of plastic. At the base of the finger, a retractable USB port was visible below the attachment clips. She looked up at Edward. “You mean to tell me that I dragged a dead man through a civil war when I could have just taken his prosthetic finger?” she asked, her voice tinged with a growing disbelief and anger.
Edward shrugged. “We didn't know,” he admitted. “British Armaments kept that a secret, so we just assumed he was carrying the files in a portable storage device.” He glanced down at the finger. “Well, a device not directly connected to his body,” he added.
Alex shook her head warily. “What's on it?” she asked.
“Evidence of a conspiracy,” Edward replied. He lent over and picked up the prosthetic again, pocketing it inside his jacket. “For some time, we've suspected that the Russian government is actually being run by a secret grouping of politicians, spies, industrialists and high-ranking soldiers,” he explained. “They call themselves SMERZ, which is an acronym of Smert' Zapada.”
“I don't imagine that translates to anything good,” Alex remarked dryly.
Edward nodded. "It means 'Death to the West',” he said. “SMERZ is dedicated to bringing back the glory days of Russian imperial power, but we were never able to definitively prove its existence.”
“So what did British Armaments Company have to do with all this?” Alex asked.
“They found the evidence,” Edward said. “They operate some listening stations on the Ministry's behalf and managed to get recordings of several telephone conversations that the participants thought were secure.” He glanced down at the pocket which held the prosthetic finger. “They also helped train some of the Russian Army's senior commanders during the warming of relations just after the collapse of the Soviet Union,” he continued. “James was supposed to smuggle the files into Russia and hand them over to a certain General we know to be a reliable man. They would then be used as a justification to mount a military coup.” Edward grimaced. “Somebody tipped off SMERZ and they had their guard dog Nikolai intercept him,” he said. “Which means we have a mole in the Ministry.”
Alex nodded, letting all the information settle. She was tired, and her body was demanding further rest from the hardships of the last several days. “So what happens now?” she asked.
Edward stood up, replacing his hat on his head. “What happens now is that you get sent back to England when you're rested,” he replied. “We'll have the Ministry debrief you when you return, and you'll be cleared for employment on future operations.” He paused as if suddenly remembering something. “Did Nikolai tell you anything about who may have tipped off SMERZ?” he asked.
Alex looked up at Edward for a long moment. We have a mole in the Ministry, he had said. Then, at the back of her mind, she head Nikolai's voice.
‘Things were so certain back then. You knew who your enemies were.’
“No,” she said. “Nothing whatsoever.”
Edward looked her straight in the eye for several seconds, and then he nodded. “We'll be in touch,” he said, turning towards the door. He paused in the doorway and glanced over his shoulder, a thin smile on his lips. “Don't stray too far when you get home,” he said, an obvious tone of superiority in his voice. “You're on my leash again now.” Then he was gone, Petrov in tow, leaving her completely alone.
Alex watched the empty doorway, listening to the receding footsteps. “It's not a leash, Edward,” she murmured, settling back in the bed and gazing at the ceiling. “It's just enough rope with which to hang you.” She found herself drifting towards sleep, her body shutting down to deal with the injuries. But her brain still buzzed with activity, processing all the things she had become aware of in the last few days. She would heal, but she would not rest until she knew the truth.
She had a brother. He had killed their parents – her parents.
She would find him and she would make things right.
She would make things right in the only way she knew how.
Eastern Shadows: Alex Thorne Book One (Alex Thorne Action Spy Adventures 1) Page 7