Voronov’s eyes got large the minute he saw them enter the room.
“What do we have here?” His voice had a thick, Russian accent so Kiana had to concentrate to understand him.
She didn’t really know what to do, so she decided it would be best if she remained silent and let Christine do the talking. After all, Christine was the more experienced agent, so she would know what to do, right? Christine, however, said nothing.
“Answer me,” Voronov said. “Who are you? How did you get onto my island?”
Finally, Christine spoke. “My name is Carolyn Williams. This is my daughter, Amanda. We’re here on a vacation to do some hiking. A boat dropped us off on the far end of the island this morning. We apologize since we didn’t mean to trespass but we thought the island was uninhabited.”
Voronov looked immediately suspicious. “That should not have been possible. My men keep everyone off of the island.”
At that, the guard who had captured them stepped forward and handed Voronov the items he had taken from them, including their pistols, sunglasses, and cell phones.
Voronov raised an eyebrow the minute he saw the items, especially the pistols. “Hikers need weapons?”
“In Costa Rica, yes,” Christine said. “Especially on islands like this. There are all kinds of animals out there, some dangerous. Just last week we were attacked by one of those stupid howler monkeys. Ferocious buggers.”
Voronov smiled, as though he found her story amusing, but he didn’t say anything in response. Instead, he started examining their phones.
The whole time Christine and Voronov had been speaking, Kiana had been looking straight at Olivia. In return, Olivia had been looking straight at her. Olivia did not say anything but the way she looked at Kiana, deep into her eyes, told Kiana everything she needed to know. For whatever reason, Olivia wanted her to remain absolutely silent and reveal nothing.
Voronov turned to his assistant, the man with the permanent scowl. “Dimitri. Do these phones look normal to you?”
The man named Dimitri walked over, grabbed one of the phones from him, and tried to activate it. Seeing it wouldn’t activate without a thumbprint, he walked over to Christine, grabbed her by an arm, and pressed her finger against it. The phone activated, showing its main screen and the assortment of icons on it. He pushed the one that was shaped like a noose and the phone’s cable unwound from within.
“I’ve never seen an iPhone that could do that before,” Dimitri said.
Voronov smiled. “Fascinating. I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep my little operation here hidden forever. I knew you Americans would come scurrying around eventually and well here you are. But it is of no real concern. My operation launches tomorrow so you are much too late to do anything about it.”
“What are you talking about?” Christine asked. “What operation? We know nothing about an operation. We’re simply here to do a little hiking.”
Voronov laughed. “You Americans are so amusing. You lie all of the time (especially your government) but you never get any good at it. I know you’re onto me and you were probably sent here to figure out exactly what I’m doing here. And you know what? Since most of the preparations are already in place and since I really have nothing better to do with my time today, I’m actually going to tell you. Tomorrow morning, at precisely 9:00 am local time I’m going to launch Operation Apocalypse.”
“What are you talking about?” Christine asked. “What’s Operation Apocalypse?”
Voronov smiled. “Operation Apocalypse is my plan to destroy the world. Most of it, at least.”
Kiana’s eyes got big. What in the world was Voronov talking about? Destroying the world? Was that even possible? And if so, how?
Christine looked equally confused. “Excuse me? You plan to destroy the world? How?”
“At 9:00 am tomorrow a series of planes will launch from this compound, from the airstrip you undoubtedly saw as you were doing your surveillance work. Each of these planes will be carrying a bomb and each will be heading for one of the world’s largest and most populous cities. I have chosen my own hometown, Moscow, to be the site of the first drop. From there, other bombs will be dropped on London, Paris, Berlin, New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Sydney, Johannesburg, Rio de Janeiro, and countless others. At least one city on each continent will be targeted.”
“What types of bombs? Nuclear?”
Voronov laughed. “No, no. Nuclear bombs are far too old-school and way too expensive, even for a successful arms dealer like me. No, I have developed something much more deadly. A plague that will make its way across the world and wipe it out.”
“A biological weapon?”
“Of a sort. My bombs contain a toxin that, when released, instantly kills anyone within a ten mile radius. But the beautiful thing about it is the toxin does not stop working once it kills its victim. Instead of just killing the victim, it reanimates it and brings it back to life, with an insatiable desire to feed on the living. In no time, my army of undead will swarm and conquer the world.”
“That’s insane. Why are you doing this? Are you mad?”
“Perhaps. But to me, the world is a wretched place filled with wretched things. So I am doing it a favor by getting rid of that wretchedness.”
At that point, Christine didn’t really know what to say and she looked completely flabbergasted at what she had just heard. Kiana was no better. When they had started their mission, she had never pictured dealing with anything even remotely like that. A diabolical madman set on destroying the world? It reminded her of the old spy movies she had watched with Michael as a kid.
But then something unexpected happened. Up to that point, Voronov had been focused primarily on Christine since she had been the one doing the talking, but suddenly he turned his attention to Kiana. And there was intense interest in his eyes as he did.
“I must say, you’re awfully young to be an agent. What has happened? Has the mighty United States gotten so desperate for agents that they’ve now begun recruiting children?”
He took a step closer and tilted his head to one side, as if he were examining Kiana closely.
“Young or not, I must give you credit, young lady. You’re a stunning specimen. And you bear a remarkable resemblance to someone else I know, someone who just recently came into my employ. Ms. Livingston, please take a step forward.”
Olivia walked obediently to his side.
“Ms. Livingston,” Voronov said. “Is it me, or does this young lady look a lot like you?”
“You know what they say, General,” Olivia said. “All Americans look the same.”
Voronov smiled. “True. But I thought you were British?”
“I am. But I’m also American. My mother was from London and my father was from Los Angeles.”
“Most interesting. But I guess I should have known. Nowadays, the world is full of mutts. The resemblance between the two of you is striking, though. You have the same eyes. If I didn’t know better I’d think the two of you were sisters.”
Olivia laughed. “Sisters? Dimitri never told me you had a sense of humor, General. Surely you jest?”
Voronov didn’t say anything but there was an unmistakable look of suspicion in his eyes. Kiana sensed they were all in serious danger but she had no idea what to do.
Apparently, however, Olivia did.
“If this were my sister,” she said, “would I do this?”
The last thing Kiana saw was the bottom of Olivia’s foot as it hit her squarely in the forehead. She was unconscious before she hit the ground.
Chapter 54
When Kiana awoke, she felt like she had been run over by a bus. She had a pounding headache, her neck was sore, and her vision was blurry. It took several minutes for her eyes to clear and when they finally did she realized she was strapped to a bed in a small room that appeared to be a cross between a medical examination room and a laboratory. She tried to pull herself free but quickly realized her bindings were so tight she couldn’t bu
dge even an inch.
Strapped to an identical bed right next to her was Christine. Kiana was about to say something to her, to find out what had happened, when she noticed they weren’t alone. Standing a few feet away was a man Kiana instantly recognized from the photo Beckman had shown them during the mission’s initial briefing. It was the scientist, Dr. Charles Zander.
“Oh good,” he said. “You’re finally awake. Now we can begin.”
“Begin what?” Kiana asked.
“Begin an experiment. I think I’ve found a way to enhance the effectiveness of my serum. This new batch should work much more quickly than its predecessors.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t be afraid. The injection is quite painless and death should happen within a few seconds. You probably won’t even know you’ve died. And then you will resurrect seconds later.”
He turned to a nearby counter and grabbed a syringe that was filled with a thick liquid. Attached to it was one of the longest needles Kiana had ever seen.
“Keep that away from me.”
Zander smiled and instantly started walking toward her.
Christine was clearly as alarmed as Kiana. “Get away from her, Zander. Don’t go anywhere near her.”
He stopped briefly.
“Or what?”
Christine’s words were pure venom.
“I’ll kill you. I’ll snap your neck with my bare hands.”
Zander smiled. “That’s funny. You talk awfully tough for someone who is strapped to a bed. I think you’re just jealous. But don’t you worry. Your time will come, too. I have plenty of serum for you, too.”
At that, Kiana started to really get worried. There was something odd and creepy about Zander’s voice, eyes, and smile. When you put them all together, there was no mistaking that he was insane. Beckman had told them his prior company had had concerns about his mental and emotional stability and Kiana now knew why.
And if he was indeed crazy, that meant there was probably no way to reason with him. Nothing she nor Christine could say would make any difference to him. He had a plan and he was going to carry out that plan no matter how dire its consequences.
As the needle got closer and closer it seemed to get bigger and bigger. Zander lowered it toward Kiana’s arm and prepared to inject it. The needle was less than an inch away when the room’s door flew open and Olivia rushed in.
“Zander. Get away from her.”
“What are you doing here?” He was clearly annoyed his experiment had been interrupted. “Can’t you see I’m in the middle of something?”
“I said get away from her.” As fast as she could, she charged at him and kicked him in the chest. He flew against the far wall, bounced off of it, and crumpled to the floor. He scrambled around on the floor for a second, trying to recover and regain his bearings, then rolled over and looked up at them. There was a frightened, angry look on his face as he did.
“What have you done? What have you done?”
It was at that point Kiana realized what had happened. When Zander had landed on the ground, he had landed right on top of the needle and had injected himself. The needle was still sticking out of the side of his chest.
A few seconds later, he started to shake badly, as though he were having a massive convulsion, then he started to froth from the mouth. A few seconds after that he let out a loud, pitiful cry, then fell to the side and died.
It was one of the scariest, creepiest things Kiana had ever seen.
The second he stopped moving, Olivia turned to Kiana and started unstrapping her. “We’ve got to get out of here and we’ve got to do it fast.”
Kiana was extremely relieved to have been rescued but a million questions were racing though her mind.
“What are you doing here? Do you work for Voronov?”
“Of course not. I’m an agent for MI6. For the past year we’ve been investigating Voronov since we knew he was up to something. About six months ago I was able to make contact with his assistant, Dimitri, and I’ve been working undercover ever since. My goal was to win him over and gain his trust so he’d eventually bring me here. Only recently was I able to do so.”
Kiana nodded. It was all starting to make some sense to her but there were still some parts she didn’t understand.
“If you were undercover the past six months working on a big mission, why did you take time off to come and see us? That seems odd to me.”
“I’ve always wanted to meet you and dad. When I learned Dimitri was finally going to bring me here I didn’t know what to expect and since this was my first big undercover assignment I was worried something might go wrong and if it did I might never get a chance to meet you. I didn’t like the thought of that at all so I forced my mother to finally make the arrangements and introduce us. That way, even if the mission went sideways at least I got to meet you first.”
Olivia’s story made some sense to Kiana but there was still one thing that disturbed her greatly.
“You kicked me in the face. It hurt like a mother. And it still does.”
“I had no choice. Voronov was onto us. I knew if I didn’t do something fast to ease his concerns he’d kill us both right there on the spot. It was all I could think of. I’m sorry, I didn’t want to do it. Trust me - it hurt me as much as it hurt you.”
“Yeah, right. Tell that to my neck.”
Olivia had finally managed to get her unstrapped so they both rushed over and worked together to free Christine.
“Any idea where my dad is?” Kiana asked Christine.
Olivia’s eyes got big. “Dad is here?”
Kiana nodded. “They captured us but they didn’t see him.”
“Good. We’re going to need all of the help we can get. We need to find a way to put an end to this operation of Voronov’s and we need to do it before his planes launch tomorrow morning.”
“How are we going to do that?”
“Either we need to take the compound by force or at a minimum we need to find some way to destroy the planes.”
They turned and headed for the door, Olivia leading the way. In their haste, however, none of them noticed one very important thing.
Zander, who had died just minutes before, had started moving again.
Chapter 55
Kiana and Christine followed Olivia down a long, narrow hallway, then up a metal staircase. About two flights up they heard an explosion in the distance. It had come from outside of the building, but clearly from somewhere inside Voronov’s compound. A second after they heard the explosion, all of the lights inside the building went out.
“What was that?” Kiana asked. “What happened?”
“I’m not sure,” Olivia said.
“I have a good idea,” Christine said. They both turned to look at her so she continued. “It was your dad. He loves to blow things up. On one mission in Siberia a few years back he blew up an entire tanker truck. It was so loud it deafened me for about fifteen minutes.”
“What is he doing?”
“I bet the minute we were captured he started devising a plan to rescue us. If I know him, he probably found a way inside the compound, took out several of the guards, then blew up a building as a distraction. He’s probably trying to locate us right now.”
Christine knew Michael well and her description was practically spot on. In reality, what he had done was this: he had found a large drainage pipe along the compound’s southernmost edge and had climbed through it to get into the compound without being seen. From there, he had made his way along the compound’s southernmost edge, ducking behind buildings as needed, and one-by-one he had started eliminating any guard who had come near. Much to his delight, one of them had had a grenade in his pocket, so he had taken it from him. He had then made his way to the holding pen with the bizarre creatures inside, had opened its gate, and had let them loose. To further distract the guards and to eliminate the compound’s security cameras, access gates, and electronic locks, he had made his
way to the compound’s main power generator and had blown it up with the grenade he had taken from the guard.
Kiana, Christine, and Olivia continued up the staircase, which was somewhat challenging in the dark, and they finally reached the building’s ground floor which was a laboratory of some sort. Most of the laboratory’s technicians and assistants had already started heading for the building’s main exit, no doubt curious to see what was happening outside. As such, the room was largely empty as they made their way across it. Unfortunately, however, they were forced to come to a quick halt as they spotted one notable exception. Unlike the rest of the people, who were heading for the room’s exits, there was one man who was heading directly for them. It was Voronov’ assistant, Dimitri. His eyes filled with surprise and disbelief as he saw that Olivia was leading Kiana and Christine forward.
“Olivia. What are you doing? What is the meaning of this?”
Olivia smiled. “Sorry, Dimitri. I work for the good guys.”
Immediately upon hearing her response, his eyes filled with rage and it was clear he could not believe he had been fooled (and betrayed) by Olivia. With a roar of frustration he charged forward.
Olivia turned to Kiana and Christine. “This guy is bad news. Big time. We must work together to beat him.”
It began less than a second later and it was a fight for the ages. Kiana, Olivia, and Christine spread to the sides in an attempt to surround him and confront him all at once. They had him outnumbered and they hoped to overwhelm him but he was a warrior of exceptional skill, a cold-blooded killer who would do anything necessary to win a fight. Kiana had never faced anyone (including Master Gwon) who was as fast or as powerful. Every part of his body, including his fists, felt like it was made of metal. The four of them battled from one side of the room to the other, exchanging kicks, punches, and other attacks of all types, including a nasty elbow that grazed the side of Kiana’s head. Twice Dimitri managed to sweep her feet out from under her and knock her to the ground, and once he did it to Olivia. Despite knocking them down on occasion, however, he was never able to finish them off for every time he tried to get at one of them he was confronted by the other two. At one point, Christine jumped forward and punched him straight in the face, then kicked him in the stomach. Unlike Kiana and Olivia, Christine did not know much taekwondo, but her fighting skills were amazing anyway and she had clearly been in several fights in the past, maybe even some that were similar to this. So what she lacked in technical skill she made up for with experience, grit, strength, and sheer determination. Unfortunately, however, her blows were only powerful enough to stun Dimitri temporarily and the fight resumed from there. They made their way back across the room, a complete blur of motion, and for a brief second it looked like they had actually gained the upper hand on him. Olivia tried to kick Dimitri with a roundhouse, and in the time it took him to deflect her kick, Kiana took him down with a sweep. He fell onto his knees and Christine pounced on him from behind. She got him in a chokehold that would have squeezed the life out of a normal person. Unfortunately, however, Dimitri wasn’t a normal person and using his enormous, Herculean strength he was somehow able to lift Christine up and flip her completely over him. She landed hard on the ground, flat on her back, directly in front of him. He immediately jumped on top of her and punched her twice in the side of the head. He would have hit her a third time but Olivia knocked him away with a kick to the side.
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