The Bear

by Bob Thomas

  “Come on, come on,” Polina demanded. She could see the three silhouettes stumbling forward. At last, they made the car and Ivan nearly threw Danil into the back seat. Anya slammed the door after him and jumped into the front seat, her rifle tucked down between her legs.

  Polina stomped on the accelerator, the tires squealing as rubber struggled to grab the cold asphalt. Ahead, two cars turned the corner, their tires sliding in the gray slop, stopping with their headlights pointed at the club. The doors burst open as bullets flew into the club. It was like watching a movie, one that Polina didn’t want to see the ending to. She turned abruptly left, letting the rear wheels slide around, pointing the car in the opposite direction as rounds found the rear of their vehicle.

  “Go girl, go!” Anya shouted.

  Sasha looked over his shoulder as Danil half-lay against him. One set of headlights from behind turned and headed toward them.

  “We’ve got company.”

  “I see them.” Polina put her foot down firmly on the pedal and the car hurtled down the dark street. She veered left just as another salvo bounced around them. She drove wildly, turning in and out of any street that may throw them off her trail. For the first time in her life, she wished for traffic. It would have been good cover, assuming their friends had any reservations about shooting and filling a public street with lead.

  “Do you know where you’re going?”

  “Not a clue, Sasha,” she yelled back.”

  “What the hell happened back there?” Sasha grabbed the front seat and leaned forward. “What happened to Donald?”

  Anya laid her head back on the seat recounting the story. She had left Danil not knowing he had been shot. She needed to make sure no one was in the other room. She shot the final target before sitting down on a broken chair. She needed a minute to collect herself. She put her face in her hands, letting the tears run across her fingers. She gathered herself and turned back down the hall. That’s when she heard a familiar voice, one she hadn’t expected to find on the second floor. As she relayed Donald’s words, the others were stunned.

  “Fucking bastard is right,” Polina said.

  Traffic began to get heavy as Polina exited onto a busier thoroughfare. The lights in the mirror had vanished but she didn’t let off.

  “How’s Danil?”

  “I’m okay, Anya.” Danil nearly chocked at his words. “I want to thank you for what you did back there.”

  “What are we going to do now?”

  “We follow the plan, Ivan.”

  “How do we do that? If you hadn’t noticed, Danil isn’t in shape to get onto public transportation.”

  “I’m aware of that, Lieutenant.” Sasha’s tone was curt. “You however are fine. That part of the plan is still in place. We’ll drop you and Polina at a train station. All your IDs and papers are in the trunk. That part hasn’t changed.”

  “We can’t just leave you with Danil in the shape he is.”

  “That’s an order, Lieutenant.”

  The sound of bullets bouncing off the car caught their attention again. Ivan and Anya each leaned out their window and returned fire.

  “Where did they come from? I thought we lost them!”

  “They must have fallen back to track us. We need to lose them, Polina. I wouldn’t be surprised if they called for help.”

  “Hang on.”

  She punched the accelerator and the car’s engine surged. Another burst from Ivan and Anya and the trailing car fell back. Polina swerved from lane to lane as she began to dodge the heavier traffic. Though still dark, the city would begin to wake up in the next few hours, and this was likely just the start of it. The train station. They needed to find the nearest train station.

  “You sure this is how you want us to do it?”

  “I’m sure Ivan. Even when things go wrong, the best policy is to follow the plan.” Sasha extended his arm through the open window and shook the hand of his team member. “We’ll get Danil out. You two get each other out.”

  Ivan resisted the urge to snap off a perfect salute to his commanding officer. It wasn’t the right place; it wasn’t the right time. Sasha watched as the young couple walked into the train station, the doors closing behind them.

  “Good luck,” he said under his breath. “Anya, let’s get going.”

  Ivan stood inside the terminal as he watched the sedan pull away, its tail lights lost in the gathering traffic. He hiked his pack higher on his shoulder, just another traveler in the eyes of strangers. He smiled at Polina as he turned toward the terminal and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. They were traveling as a couple. That was also part of the plan. They needed to play the part, and she didn’t seem to shy away.

  The line was short and as they stepped to the counter, the agent was yawning as she asked them their destination.

  “We’re headed to Warsaw,” Polina said as she laid her arms across the counter. She was beginning to get nervous. Funny, she thought, just minutes from an armed confrontation and she was sweating talking to an agent from the railroad. Maybe it was the adrenaline beginning to leave her body. Ivan stayed close as he looked down at them, his face a blank canvass.

  “Best I can do is book you through Minsk. After that, you’ll have to make your own arrangements when you get there.”

  “Oh,” Polina said with a raised eye. “Why is that? You can’t book us all the way through?”

  “No. Russian Railways has no agreements with them west of the city. Here, we share tracks.” The agent looked up, her smile fading the closer it came to quitting time. Morning was just around the corner and her long shift was nearly over.

  Polina looked up to Ivan as he squeezed her shoulder. His eyes were focused in another direction. She resisted the urge to follow his stare. Her job was to get the tickets. She laid Ivan’s identification on the counter as she fumbled for her own. She pulled her ID from her pocket laying it atop his. The agent typed in the information before handing their papers back with the tickets. Polina nodded with a tired smile as she turned and wrapped her arm around Ivan’s waist.

  “Time for our journey to begin, love,” she said as she followed Ivan’s stare. She knew instantly his concern as she caught sight of two Russian policemen standing near a corner, their eyes fixed on Ivan. She pulled him around and faced the other direction. “We don’t have anything to fear,” she whispered as she leaned in close. “They know nothing about us.” She reached up and stroked his cheek. It was wet with perspiration. “They probably have never seen anyone as tall as you,” she said with a smile only a girlfriend could manage.

  They made the far end of the building easily, watching the crowds begin to gather. Moscow was waking up and travel seemed to be the order of the day. Still thirty minutes before they needed to board, they plopped themselves on a bench and leaned close, Ivan’s arm making its way back around her shoulders. Polina laid her hand on his leg. He was still nervous.

  “Stop bouncing your leg.”

  “Sorry. Nervous habit. I get that way when I have to sit.”

  “We’ll only be a few minutes.”

  “More police,” he said as he tilted his head to the right.

  “We’re just an ordinary couple. Nothing more.”

  “We know that, but do they know that? Who knows what was passed along to whom? A gunfight in the middle of the city and no one reports it to the police? I’d rather be suspicious.”

  “Point taken,” she replied.

  The train pulled in, its doors letting go of a flood of passengers. This was their ticket out, their first stop on the way home. Ivan stood as another pair of police walked to the doors and stood beside the train. They weren’t paying attention to those getting off the train.

  “It’s show-time, girlfriend.”

  Ivan stood, hoisting his pack again on his shoulder. Polina stood and placed her arm around his waist again. She tugged on his coat sleeve and he bent down to be rewarded with a quick kiss on the lips.

  “Got to pla
y the part, right?”

  Ivan grabbed her hand and pulled her forward. Her show gave him a new sense of security. They were just a young couple out for an adventure, out to see the world. They waited until a few moved in front and tried to blend in with the crowd, as much as a six foot seven inch man can do in public. As they made the door, Ivan ducked as he nodded toward the policeman, who simply stared at him, then looked away.

  The train station faded into the background as Anya accelerated into the growing traffic. The lights of the city only foreshadowed the coming morning. As Anya looked into her mirror, the tell-tale embers of mornings first light were tapping the horizon. She swerved abruptly as another vehicle cut her off.

  “Ohhh. Can you stay in one lane?”

  “Sorry Danil. Just trying to get used to Russian drivers.”

  “How you feeling?” Sasha asked.

  “Not too bad, considering. Although I really don’t know how I should feel after being shot.”

  “The bleeding seems to have stopped. You did a good job on that, Anya.”

  “I had some training, Sasha. Best I could do under the circumstances.” She looked up into the mirror again and tried to find Sasha’s face. “What do we do now?”

  “We can’t leave on public transportation like we hoped. Not like this, anyway.” He looked over to Danil who leaned against the seat with his eyes closed. It looks like our last resort is our best option.”

  “The plane? He can’t pilot a plane in that condition.”

  “Well, we sure can’t drive out of Russia.”

  “I can fly that plane in my sleep.”

  “I don’t doubt that, Danil, but being wounded does funny things to a person. I don’t know that we can take that chance,” Sasha replied.

  “I don’t know that we have another option. Get me behind the wheel of that thing and I’ll get us out of here.”

  “At least no one knows about the place,” Anya noted. “That gives us a leg up.”

  “A leg up. Funny,” Danil chuckled. “Oww, that hurt. Why does a leg hurt when you laugh?”

  “I sure as hell hope they don’t know about the farm. If Donald is tied up with them, seeing his body with three bullets in his back may give them some ideas. We’ve been under the illusion that Donald was a lone wolf. That might be completely false. They may have their own team on the way.”

  “Something we have to take into account,” Sasha replied. “How long till we make the farm?”

  “About an hour, give or take. I have no idea on earth what traffic will be like.”

  “But we’ll be heading out while others head in to the city.”

  “It works that way in America. Maybe here too. Who knows,” Anya replied.

  As the sun wandered over the horizon, with first light breaking the skyline to the east, Anya eased up on the accelerator. Traffic seemed to be lighter on their side of the road, something she was grateful for. She didn’t want to risk getting a speeding ticket, ‘or whatever the hell happens over here’, she thought. She was sure Moscow had their own brand of rogue cops and sure as hell, it would happen to them. She decided the best course of action was to keep her eyes on the road and obey the laws as best she could understand them. She looked in the mirror again, finding Sasha’s face in the reflection. He was looking out the window, watching the city pass by, obviously deep in thought. She found Danil resting his head on the seat. He was asleep. ‘Less than an hour’, she told herself.

  The large grouping of trees that signaled the beginning of the lane leading to the farm seemed to spring out of nowhere. She had been daydreaming. She scanned the snow-covered fields as they closed the distance. Nothing was in sight. It would be a beautiful place in the summer. Her thoughts took her back to her home town and the care-free days of her youth. The city was her life, but she often wondered what life would have been like in small-town USA. She slowed but kept going, looking down the lane as she passed. The acceleration woke Sasha from a nodding sleep.

  “What?”

  “Tire tracks in the snow up the lane.”

  “Not ours?”

  “I don’t think so. There are two sets. One out, which would be ours … “

  “And one in,” Sasha replied.

  “What now?”

  “There’s a back way in, an old gravel road that leads in from the west side of the property. It’ll take us a few minutes to get there, but we might be able to sneak in on their flank.”

  “Spoken like a true infantryman, Major.” Anya turned toward the rear seat. “We can’t just jump on board the plane and fly it out of here.”

  “Why not?”

  “I thought you were asleep,” Anya said as she looked at Danil.

  “Just resting.”

  “Because they’d be on us like maggots, and we sure can’t drag you into a firefight. Not like this, anyway.”

  “I can hold my own,” Danil replied as he looked at Sasha. “I can still hold a gun.”

  “Get on down the road, Anya. Let me think about this for a minute.”

  The car pulled in before an old gate that looked like it hadn’t been opened in years. It was nearly buried in a snow drift, its wooden rails split and rotted. Sasha opened the car door and pushed through the snow to the gate. Its end posts were overgrown with thick bushes that did not look like they had been tended to in decades. At least that’s what it seemed. Sasha reached for the gate to pull it through the snow, but the rails simply pulled out of their sockets. He shrugged as he threw them one by one into the snow.

  “I hope this car can clear the drifts,” Anya said as Sasha slid in beside her in the front seat.

  “I hope so too. At least it’s quiet.”

  “Do you know how far this takes us in?”

  “Not a clue.”

  “Donald told me about this way in. I don’t think he meant to. It might have been just a slip, something he didn’t think was important.”

  “So, what are we going to do?”

  “Get as close to the plane as you can. Since the path was cleared in case we needed it, we’re ready to go.” Sasha looked at Danil, who looked exhausted. “You’ve preflighted everything?”

  “Did it two days ago. This plane won’t need a long stretch to get off the ground, so the original idea should still work.”

  “Should?” Sasha’s face showed surprise at the remark.

  “We hadn’t planned on new snow. It isn’t much, but it does put a new layer beneath the wheels.”

  “Oh. Hadn’t thought of that. Think we can still make it?”

  “No guarantees,” Danil said as he leaned forward. “Just get me to it.”

  Anya pulled through the snow, the bottom of the car scraping out and clearing a path as they went. She pulled up behind the building furthest from the farmhouse and cut the engine. Sasha helped Danil from the rear seat and pulled his arm around his neck while Anya gathered their weapons. Three minutes later, Danil was perched behind the wheel of the Cessna, his face bathed in sweat.

  “You sure you’re going to be able to do this?”

  “We don’t have much of a choice now, do we?” Danil pointed to the large doors. “Push those doors open. As soon as you tell me, I’ll fire the engines. I don’t want to make too much noise before things start happening.” He looked over the controls one last time before leaning back into the seat. “It’s a good thing these doors face away from the house. They won’t see us for a few minutes.”

  “Why don’t we just leave now?” Anya asked.

  “Can’t take that chance. As soon as the engines start, they’d be on us quickly. We’ve got to surprise them first. I’d rather have a clear takeoff.” Sasha handed Danil his assault rifle. “If we don’t make it back, you need to decide how you want to handle this thing.”

  Danil nodded in reply. He could go out fighting, or flying.

  “Let’s go, Ruth. We’ve got work to do.”

  She smiled at the sound of her name. It was the first time she’d heard it in over a week. She
didn’t want to be Russian any longer. She handed Sasha his weapon and headed toward the door.

  The building gave them cover only for a short distance as the yard behind the house was an open expanse. The farmhouse was situated to defend, with wide killing zones on all sides. They skirted along a line of bushes that acted as a windbreak to the fields for as long as they could, before kneeling down in the wet snow. The house was still almost one hundred yards in front of them.

  “Not quite the ideal situation,” Sasha noted.

  “I liked the openness from inside,” she whispered. “I didn’t think I’d need to assault my own safe-house.”

  A single car was parked beside the house at the end of the lane. One person remained in it, the driver who was casually smoking a cigarette, the smoke drifting out the window into the cold, morning air.

  “He doesn’t seem too worried, does he?” Anya leveled her weapon and sighted him. “I could pick him off with a single shot if I had the right rifle.”

  “You that good?”

  “Yeah,” Anya replied quietly. “I’m that good.”

  The minutes dragged on as they listened for tell-tale signs from others. Surely there were others inside. Just as the thought formed in Sasha’s mind, the driver opened the door and yelled a reply to someone in the house.

  “They aren’t being very secretive about their presence.”

  “My guess is they found the house empty and are just waiting for someone, meaning us,” Sasha replied, “to come pay them a visit.”

  “Well, let’s get this show on the road. No telling when others may show up.”

  Their best plan was simply a sprint to the wall closest to them. It was a sitting room with only a single window pointing away from the lane. They nodded in unison and sprang forward. Sasha could feel his heart pounding. He hadn’t done anything like this in years. He had left live-fire drills behind, long ago. They dropped to the ground at the base of the wall after an agonizing run. They’d felt naked. If anyone had seen them, they’d know in the next few moments. Their breath hung in the still air as their eyes locked on each other.