by Beth Abbott
“How long have they been undercover?” Danny asked.
“Almost three years.” The General replied. “It was never meant to last this long, but they were so successful in reaching trusted status, my superiors wouldn’t let me pull them out.”
“How many superiors does a Russian General have?” Danny wondered aloud.
“Not many.” The General gave him a half-smile. “All of my superiors are based at the Kremlin. Not the sort of people you say no to.”
“Don’t mind my saying, but you seem very emotionally involved in this mission.” Kellen pointed out. “Not exactly the sort of cold detachment I’d expect from a Russian General. Who is the undercover agent to you? One of your own men?”
General Kozlov snorted a laugh.
“My own men would never have been smart enough to pull this off.” He admitted, pulling a picture out of his wallet. “But you’re right about my emotional attachment to the agent. That’s because the agent is my daughter.”
He handed Kellen a photograph, well-worn around the edges as though it had been taken from the wallet many times by a father who just wanted to look at his daughter’s face.
Black hair, blue eyes, and judging by her size standing next to her father, she was tall and slim.
Kellen’s memory immediately leapt back to his dream. She was the woman who’d delivered his drink!
He passed the photo to Hannah and refocussed his thoughts. It was ridiculous to think she was the woman in his dreams. Shit like that didn’t happen in real life.
“You let your own daughter go undercover with a psycho like Lebedev?” Danny sounded shocked. “I take it you know what could happen to a woman in that situation?”
“Mr Simons, do I look stupid to you? Do you think I rose to the rank of General with an impaired ability to think?” The General scowled at Danny.
Kellen glanced at Danny and he could see the guy wasn’t convinced.
“Micky, that’s my daughter, Mikhaila, has spent the last ten years working with the FSB, training with the best Special Forces operators in Russia.” The General explained.
“Russian former KGB.” Hannah murmured by way of an explanation.
“She’s as qualified as any man to do her job.” Kozlov insisted. “Plus, she was sent in with a male officer, posing as a couple, and because they were both useful to Lebedev, her reports confirmed that he accepted them as such. No harm had ever come to either of them.”
“Until one of them ended up floating in the river full of bullet holes.” Danny pointed out. “Which leaves your daughter with no boyfriend to protect her from Lebedev or his men.”
The General scowled as he returned the photograph to his wallet.
“Thank you for the visual. That thought had already crossed my mind. Why do you think I want her pulled out as soon as possible?” He growled. “I’ve told Drago that he can have whatever back-up you need to go through with the mission. I’ll have teams on standby to get your people off the ship at five minutes notice.”
“How will you manage that if we’re fifty miles offshore? Helicopters are visible and audible from quite a long way off.” JT pointed out. “So are ships.”
“Quite so.” The General agreed, standing up, apparently ready to leave. “But the sea can be a dark and murky place. Who knows what lies beneath it?”
Kellen watched Drago show the man out, speaking quietly with him until the elevator doors closed.
“Aww, baby, you gotta let me go with them now.” Danny whined to Hannah. “I’ve never been rescued by a submarine before.”
Chapter 13 – Hannah
Hannah glanced up at the tapping on her open door and found JT grinning at her.
“Got a minute?” He asked, obviously looking at the crap all over her desk.
She sat back in her chair and smiled.
“Always. What can I do for you?”
“I just got off the phone with Tuck, and you’ll be relieved to hear that Sacha and Zach are on board.” JT smiled. “Tuck has a few meetings lined up for tomorrow morning that he can’t get out of, but as soon as he’s done with those, they’ll be flying out, all six of them including the kids.”
“How did his meeting go with the guys in Washington? I thought he was hoping to get the go-ahead for the new contracts this week.” Hannah remembered.
“That’s what one of the meetings is about tomorrow. They’re signing off on two new contracts, which was why Tuck didn’t want to cancel.” JT explained.
“I’m glad they’re being signed off.” Hannah smiled. “Tuck has worked damn hard to secure those Washington contracts. It’s a real feather in his cap.”
JT nodded as he looked over her desk.
“What in God’s name are you doing to create that much clutter?” He picked up what looked like a nautical map.
“Ok, well… after our meeting with General Kozlov this morning, I wanted to look at the route the ship will be taking from Murmansk, and make sure I had adequate satellite coverage.” Hannah explained. “I’ve always said I can get satellite imagery of virtually anywhere on earth, but it occurred to me that ships don’t sail on earth, they sail at sea, and not many satellites are configured just to watch shipping lanes.”
“And are we covered?” JT wondered.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure we’re covered, providing they don’t head too far north towards the Arctic Circle. In some areas I may only be able to get thermal imaging, but that’s still better than nothing.” Hannah nodded. “And that led to my next question. Whether the General was telling the truth about having a submarine nearby to help out, or whether he was just blowing smoke up our collective asses.”
“And..?” JT prompted. “Is he able to get that sort of back up?”
“I should say so!” Hannah snorted. “Do you have any idea how many different classes of submarine there are?”
JT shrugged.
“No idea, but I’m guessing it’s more than two.” He smirked at her.
“Dozens!” Hannah threw her hands up. “Nuclear, non-nuclear, diesel-electric attack submarines, ballistic missile subs, guided missile subs, subs with air-independent propulsion… the list goes on and on! I even found a submarine especially for midgets!”
JT couldn’t help but grin.
“I think it might be called a Midget Submarine because of its dimensions.” He explained patiently. “Not because of the height of its crew.”
“Probably.” Hannah’s lips twitched. “But I like my version better.”
“It’s funnier, that’s true.” JT nodded. “So, what else have you found out?”
“Ok, well, I’ve been studying the movements of the Russian subs… and…” Hannah was stopped short by JT’s squeak.
“You’ve been doing what?” He jumped up. “Please tell me you haven’t hacked into the Russians’ military systems. I really don’t want you being tracked and made to disappear by some FSB agents, or poisoned by some chemical added to your morning cappuccino from the coffee shop across the road.”
“Don’t be silly.” Hannah chuckled. “I have my own password and logon details. Well, technically they’re not mine exactly. They used to belong to a Russian computer analyst who worked at the Kremlin until about five years ago. When he disappeared with their access codes, they asked me to go in and shore up their security. As part of the payment, I’ve been given top-level clearance and a ‘handler’ to run everything past. As long as I let them know what I’m doing, I can access anything I want. Jeez, JT, how did you think I’ve managed to get remote access to so many satellites all these years?”
Hannah rolled her eyes at JT as though all of this should have been obvious to a moron.
“What happened to the analyst?” JT frowned.
“I think he’s living somewhere in South America, all expenses paid by the CIA.” Hannah grinned.
“Shit, Hannah!” JT flopped back on his chair. “Do the CIA know you locked their double-agent out of the Russians’ systems?”
“Of course, they do.” Hannah laughed. “I made sure they got what they wanted first. They were cool with it.”
“Please tell me you’re not a CIA spy in your spare time.” JT rubbed his temples to ease some of the stress building up.
“As if I have the time to spare!” Hannah smiled. “No, JT. No spying, for anyone, or on anyone. I just use the info to help our missions, and mostly with the permission of the relevant governments. Anything I need that’s off the books, I take through the back door with no way to trace it to me. And that’s very rare these days.”
JT groaned, and Hannah guessed he’d heard more than he needed to.
“Anyway, do you want to know what I found out about the submarines?” She asked cheerfully.
“I’m not sure.” He frowned. “Do I?”
“Yes, you do.” She chuckled. “And it’s good news. There are at least four nuclear powered subs in or around the Barents Sea and Norwegian Sea, plus three Kilo class diesel-electric subs, and that doesn’t include the ones currently in port. We have to assume that those are docked for maintenance or to give the crew a break or whatever.”
“So, it looks like the General will be able to deliver on his promise to rescue the team, should we need their help.” JT nodded. “That’s good to know.”
“It is now that we know our teams are going to be there for two purposes.” Hannah agreed. “When it was just the fighting it was bad enough. At least it meant that when they weren’t fighting, they could keep their heads down and stay out of the way. Now, they have to find the time to locate and recruit Micky Kozlova to the cause, and then help her escape. All of that adds a whole new level of risk to the mission.”
“The guys are up to it.” JT sounded confident.
“They are, but they’re going to need more intel from me before they get deployed.” Hannah sighed, turning one of her laptops around for him to see the screen. “This is the ship that the guys are going to be on. It’s huge. I have to go through the floor plans to look for access points, escape routes and suitable hiding places, in case they’re needed. Not easy when you consider Lebedev will have had the interior modified.”
JT stood up and stretched.
“Do you need me for any of that?” He asked. “I’m happy to help if you want me to stay.”
“Nah, I’m good.” Hannah smiled. “Besides, one of us has to be at the meeting with the stuffed shirts in Whitehall. You know you do that so much better than I do. Horses for courses, and all that.”
“Yeah, are you sure you can’t find me some little job to do, looking at floor plans and stuff?” JT rolled his eyes. “That new Minister will be there, the one with the twitch that makes you think he’s winking at you all the time.”
“Is he still puffed full of his own self-importance?” Hannah smiled. “I thought you told me that Ellen knocked him down a peg or two when you had the meeting with the Chinese and Russians last month?”
“She did.” JT snorted. “The guy was treating Ellen like she was the hired help. He even had the cheek to ask her to go and get him a coffee.”
“Oh, shit! I bet that went down like a lead balloon!” Hannah winced.
“Yeah, I don’t know what she said, but Ellen murmured something to the Chinese and Russian officers which was obviously in perfect Mandarin and Russian, and they both started laughing and looking at the Minister as though he was the butt of some joke. She turned to the guy and said she’d be happy to go and get him some coffee if he thought his Mandarin and Russian was good enough to carry on the meeting without her.”
“I’m guessing the good Minister is not multi-lingual, right?” Hannah chuckled.
“I’ve heard him spouting off in English, and his grasp of his own language leaves much to be desired.” JT laughed. “That seems to be the way of things now. I worry that our kids communicate in social media speak too much. It’s hard to get them to stop when our politicians are normalising it.”
“Amen, brother.” Hannah agreed. “Anyway, you go do your thing, and I’ll do mine. We can meet up later to exchange news.”
JT headed for the door.
“Oh, is Danny still pouting because he wants a trip on a submarine?” He grinned. “Only I know a guy based up in Scotland that can get him a tour of a sub if he really wants one.”
“Let’s see how this plays out.” Hannah nodded. “If the guys end up getting rescued by a Russian sub, then I very well might take you up on your offer.”
As JT headed back to his office, Hannah turned back to her screen and almost snorted with laughter.
To get in those submarines, you had to climb down through one of those hatches, right?
Would Zach or Abram’s shoulders even fit?
Chapter 14 – Kellen
At eight o’clock on the dot, Kellen was just about to knock on the door to Drago’s apartment, when the elevator doors opened, and Kris and Yuri stepped out.
“Snap!” Kris grinned at him, holding up two identical cases of beer, ready for the boys’ night Drago had planned.
“Is Hollywood joining us later?” Yuri asked.
“Not tonight.” Kellen shook his head. “When he gets back from the hospital with Roman, he said he was just gonna crash. I think the worry is wearing him out.”
“Is Niko still not improving?” Kris frowned. “I thought the antibiotics would have kicked in by now.”
“They’ve had to switch her to another type of antibiotic.” Kellen explained. “They think the first ones she was taking were damaging her liver. I was at the hospital with Hollywood this morning when they started talking about ‘drug induced hepatitis’. You should have seen Hollywood flip out! He thought they meant she’d been taking illegal drugs.”
“Niko was never into that shit.” Drago’s voice came over his shoulder, making Kellen jump.
“Christ, man!” He complained. “A little warning that you’re behind me would be nice.”
“As I was saying…” Drago grinned. “Niko has never taken drugs. I’m certain of it.”
“You’re not wrong.” Kellen nodded. “Anyway, once the doc explained they were just talking about a reaction to the antibiotics, Hollywood calmed down a lot. They’re hoping the new ones will kick in within forty-eight hours.”
“Good.” Drago nodded. “So, are you gonna come in, or are you planning to stay out here all night?”
Kellen followed Drago into his apartment where he found Abram stretched out on the sofa, flicking through TV channels.
“Would you believe he’s been doing that for the last twelve hours?” Drago grinned.
“Your TV over here is awesome.” Abram chuckled. “Nothing like it back home.”
“Well you can shut it off for now.” Drago snorted. “This evening is supposed to be all about getting to know each other, not about searching for Scarlett Johansson films.”
Abram clicked the TV off and stood up to greet the newcomers.
Kellen shook hands with the new guy, having already met him, but Kris and Yuri just stared at him.
“Shit, did they have a food shortage in your town after you were born?” Kris asked.
Abram looked at him in confusion.
“He meant because it looks like you spent your whole life eating.” Yuri explained.
Abram shrugged good-naturedly.
“If you think I’m big, you should see my two brothers. They’re twice my size.” He smiled.
“Seriously?” Kris gasped, looking up at the giant from his own modest six feet and four inches.
“Fuck no! I was just shitting with you, little guy.” Abram snorted a laugh. “But it was funny, huh?”
Kellen glanced over to find Drago chuckling quietly to himself.
“Is he always like this?” He asked.
“Oh, yes.” Drago nodded. “Or worse.”
Kellen took the beers to the refrigerator and dropped one case inside before handing out bottles to the others. Kris deposited his two cases in the cooler and they made their way back to the living
room.
“So, how did the two of you meet?” Kris asked, looking between Drago and Abram.
“We were in basic training together.” Abram nodded. “Drago was the smart one, and I was the muscle. He got me through the classwork, and I got him through the physical stuff, until we managed to build him up, so he could take care of himself.”
“Yeah, at least half of that is bullshit.” Drago argued. “Abram likes to make out he’s the dumb one, but that’s pure bullshit. He’s dyslexic, which as I keep pointing out to him, is not the same thing at all.”
“Yeah, whatever.” Abram pretended to yawn. “But I wasn’t bullshitting you about the kid being puny. He was a skinny little weed when I met him, no more than a hundred pounds of skin and bone.”
“I was about a hundred and fifty pounds, and into running and skiing. Hardly what you’d call unfit.” Drago snorted. “But compared to this asshole, even when he was just twenty-one, anyone would have looked puny. His parents ran a slaughterhouse, and I swear, the guy was weaned off the tit onto steak sandwiches.”
“What can I say?” Abram grinned. “My mama was a good cook.”
“Was?” Drago stopped swigging his beer. “Why the past tense? Did something happen to her?”
“Aww, shit!” Abram shook his head. “I thought you might have heard. She died just over a year ago. Cancer. Stage four before she ever went to the doctor. She was gone in less than two months.”
“Fuck me, that’s harsh.” Drago shook his head. “I hadn’t heard. I was undercover and off the grid, with no news from anywhere. I’m really sorry, Abs. I would’ve come to the funeral if I’d known. Your mother was an awesome lady.”
“Hey, don’t beat yourself up over it.” Abram shrugged. “I knew you were off the grid when I tried to get in contact with you. It’s just part of the job, not being there when family shit happens.”
“How’s your dad coping?” Drago asked, and Kellen could see he was cut up about not being there for his friend.
“He’s sold the business and moved to St Petersburg to be near my sister.” Abram shrugged. “There was no point sitting in an empty house in Moscow, when my sister and her family are living hundreds of miles away. It’s not like I get much time off to go home for visits, but when I do, now I can just go and visit them both at the same time. It made sense.”