Saviours

by Beth Abbott

  As one, he and Drago rushed forward, suddenly needing the answer like they needed oxygen.

  “Who is it?” Their voices held equal urgency.

  “I’m sorry.” JT’s voice was thick with emotion. “It’s…”

  Chapter 64 – Sacha

  Once again, Sacha thought, Drew’s shirt was getting soaked by a woman’s tears, and not even the woman that was his wife.

  She leaned back and reached into her pocket for some tissues.

  “Sorry, I made a mess of you again.” She whispered.

  When Drew didn’t respond, she glanced up to find him staring over her head.

  Sacha’s head swung around to see JT, Tuck and Drago talking at the far end of the corridor.

  She jumped up to find out what was going on, but felt Drew’s hand on her arm, holding her back.

  She watched as JT said something to the two men, and their reactions sucked the breath from her lungs.

  Drago stood still as a statue, his face expressionless.

  Tuck, however, covered his mouth with his hand, and would have collapsed to the floor if the wall hadn’t been right behind him. He slumped forward, his hands on his knees.

  “No!” Sacha didn’t even realise it was her own scream that filled the corridor.

  She didn’t feel the hands gripping her arms as she lost control of her legs. Nor did she see Tuck turn to look at her, running towards her as her head fell backwards and her eyes slid shut.

  By the time two strong arms lifted her off the floor, she was in blissful silence, and had no idea of the chaos that erupted around her.

  The next moment of consciousness came when the cat licked the back of her hand.

  It was a strange sensation, that soft but rough feeling that was dry when you knew it should be wet.

  She frowned, wondering how her cat had gotten itself to London.

  Whiskers was supposed to be staying with Bella, being pampered by Hayley who adored her. She sure as hell shouldn’t have hopped a plane from Philly to London just because she wanted to lick Sacha’s hand!

  The cat licked her hand again and she frowned.

  It wasn’t really wet at all, and there was more roughness to it than normal.

  She tried to move her hand, but someone squeezed it gently, holding it in place.

  “Don’t move your hand, sweetie.” The woman’s voice sounded muffled. “We need you to keep it still for a while, Ok?”

  Sacha blinked her eyes open, wondering what the hell was going on.

  Who was licking her hand, for fuck’s sake?

  As she lifted her head up, she noticed that she was sitting in an armchair, her feet up on a stool in front of her, and there was a nurse standing next to her.

  “Hey there, Mrs Tucker.” The nurse smiled. “Welcome back.”

  Sacha glanced at her arm and noticed that there was a canula attached to a tube leading to a bag of clear liquid.

  What the fuck?

  As Drew stepped into her line of vision, memories of the last few hours came crushing back down on her, until the final picture of Tuck’s devastated face came clearly into focus in her mind.

  Zach!

  “Nooo!” She heard the growl leave her mouth, as the pain washed over her all over again. She closed her eyes to block out everything around her.

  “Sacha! Stop!” Tuck was right next to her. “It’s alright! You have to open your eyes, honey… it’s all Ok.”

  The cat licked her hand again. What the fuck?

  Sacha opened her tear-filled eyes and turned to find Tuck kneeling on the floor beside her.

  He didn’t look as devastated as he had in her last memory.

  “It’s Ok, Sacha!” He whispered, pointing over her shoulder. “Look!”

  Sacha turned her head to see that her armchair was placed next to a hospital bed, and in the bed, attached to wires, tubes and assorted machines, was the most wonderful man on the planet.

  The cat licked the back of her hand again, and Sacha looked down to see Zach’s free hand holding hers, his thumb rubbing across the cold skin next to the canula.

  She carefully stood up and moved closer to the bed, resisting the urge to throw herself on her husband.

  Zach’s face was badly bruised, his one eye barely open, but his other eye was staring straight at her.

  “Don’t be alarmed by all the wires and tubes.” A nurse stepped up to the bed on the other side. “Your husband is only an hour post-op, and he’s already giving us some very promising readings. He’s as stable as we could’ve hoped for after such a long surgery.”

  Sacha looked at the tube going into Zach’s mouth, and looked down at the bandages on his chest.

  “A bullet to the chest, and another in the leg.” Tuck murmured behind her. “Both removed, and no complications.”

  Sacha stared at Zach’s chest in disbelief. How could anyone survive a bullet to the chest?

  “The bullet seems to have been a ricochet that hit Zach’s AK47 first.” Tuck explained. “It went in sideways and lodged in his lung.”

  Sacha lifted her head and looked up at Zach.

  “I told you not to get hurt!” She growled at him. “You are in such deep shit!”

  She felt Zach’s fingers tighten on her hand, and she could see his eyes crinkle at the edges.

  “Oh, you may think I’m joking, but I’ve got until they pull that tube out of your throat to give you the verbal slapping you deserve, and there’s not a damn thing you can do to stop me!” Sacha warned.

  She felt his shudder, which she guessed disguised a laugh, and listened as the heart monitor jumped.

  “Ok, now that we’ve established that Mr Tucker is alive, and as well as can be expected, I’m afraid I really do have to enforce the one visitor to a bed policy.” The nurse stepped forward. “Once he’s stable enough to be moved to a ward, the rules can be relaxed a little, but at the moment, my patient needs to rest and recover, and it looks like Mrs Tucker needs some quiet time, too.”

  Tuck and Drew withdrew gracefully, but Sacha didn’t notice. Her eyes never left Zach’s.

  As the nurse stepped back again, Sacha leaned forward so she could see Zach’s face better.

  “You gave me the scare of my life, Zach.” She whispered, tears dripping unchecked from her chin. “I’ve never felt pain like it before, not even when we lost our babies. I never want to go through anything like it again.”

  Zach gave her hand a squeeze.

  Sacha smiled at him.

  “You do know you’re grounded for life, don’t you?” She continued. “I don’t care what the circumstances, or how badly the team needs you, I absolutely forbid you from going on any more missions. You are officially retired.”

  Zach’s head nodded imperceptibly, and she sighed.

  “Ok, so I think I can save the rest of the lecture for when you’re better able to hear me.” She leaned over, tugging her own drip wire to allow her more freedom. “Go to sleep, Zach, and start that healing process. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

  She just about managed to reach over and kiss an unbruised spot on his cheek.

  Zach’s eyes drooped shut, and unsurprisingly, didn’t open again.

  Sacha pulled her chair around, so she could sit with her free arm through the rails of the bed, her hand touching the skin of his chest.

  It wasn’t so much that she needed to feel that skin to skin contact, although that was probably a small part of it. It was more important that she could feel Zach’s heart beating, the memory of those few seconds thinking he was dead, the worst in her thirty years of life.

  As she sat down, the nurse returned with a pillow for her.

  “Why don’t you try and get some sleep yourself, love?” The nurse smiled at her. “I’ll give you a nudge if he wakes up, but you look like you need as much rest as your old man.”

  Sacha took the pillow with a smile at the kindness of a stranger.

  She placed it behind her and relaxed back into it, her hand lyin
g flat on Zach’s chest.

  Sleep was probably the best thing for all of them right now, although Sacha knew that her relief and joy at Zach being alive came at the expense of Drago’s pain and sadness at losing his friend.

  She thought of how he would probably have to let Abram’s family know the awful news of his friend’s death, and how his family would take it.

  She remembered how losing her own brother had absolutely devastated them all, and how the effect had irrevocably changed the course of their lives.

  Her mother had struggled to come to terms with it for so long, they’d had to plan their lives around her, making sure they never increased her anxiety by staying away from her for too long.

  Life could be so cruel sometimes. And who decided who lived or died?

  Some celestial being flipping a coin?

  For now, all she could do was thank God that it hadn’t been Zach’s turn.

  That was more than enough reason for attending mass every Sunday for the next ten years!

  Chapter 65 – Micky

  Micky stood silently in the cold room, her muscles numb and her whole body frozen with shock.

  She stared down at her long-time friend for several minutes, his features etched into her memory permanently.

  Kellen and Drago flanked her, and she could feel their pain almost as starkly as she felt her own.

  Abs face was pale, but unmarked, and for a moment it wouldn’t have surprised her if he’d jumped up and shouted ‘Boo!’.

  Obviously, the fact that they were in a cool hospital room made to resemble a chapel, with a morgue technician watching their every move, was evidence enough that there was going to be no more jumping up for Abram.

  No more silly jokes, no more teasing, and no more life.

  “Umm, I’m sorry to ask, but can you confirm the identity of your friend, please?” The morgue technician asked. “Can you positively identify the gentleman as Abram Petrov?”

  Micky looked up.

  “Yes.” She nodded. “This is Abram Petrov. Absolutely no doubt about it.”

  “Thank you.” The technician nodded and made a note on his paperwork.

  “When will you release his body?” Drago asked quietly. “His family will want him home as soon as possible to arrange a funeral.”

  “I’m afraid there will have to be a full autopsy.” The technician explained. “But in view of the fact that he was a serving member of the Russian military, there won’t be a public inquest. The Coroner will simply report her findings to the Russian authorities. That means that your friend should be repatriated within two to three days.”

  Drago nodded.

  “We have to get back to Moscow.” He turned to Micky. “They’ll want a full debrief from both of us. You realise that, don’t you?”

  Micky nodded, not taking her eyes off Abram.

  She leaned forward and kissed his cool forehead.

  “See you in the next life, Abs.” She whispered. “Keep me a seat at the bar, Ok? The next round is on me.”

  Kellen smiled sadly.

  “Thanks for being my corner-man, Abs.” He reached over to squeeze Abram’s arm. “Couldn’t have done it without you.”

  He stepped back to allow Drago to say a few last words.

  Micky turned away from the table, and Kellen wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in close.

  “Have sweet dreams of you and Scarlett Johansson, Abs.” Drago whispered. “And don’t you worry about Katya. We’ll see that she gets the chance of a new start, wherever she wants. And don’t worry about Sergei Lebedev, either. I promise you that fucker will be dead by the end of the year!”

  Drago stepped back suddenly, turning and storming out of the door without waiting for either of them.

  “Drago?” Micky went to follow him, but Kellen held her back.

  “He needs to deal with this his own way.” Kellen murmured as he held the door open for her to step through. “He’s full of rage and guilt right now, and he needs to process those feelings before he can move on.”

  Micky took a few more steps before turning to face Kellen.

  “You know I have to go back and give my report to my superiors, don’t you?” She murmured, looking up into those fascinating grey eyes. “I could be gone for weeks or even months, until they feel I’ve given them everything I know.”

  Kellen reached out and laced their fingers together.

  “I know you have to give them the evidence they need to throw the book at Lebedev.” He nodded. “And I think we owe it to Abram to make sure Sergei gets what’s coming to him.”

  He tugged a little, so she was pulled closer to him.

  “But don’t think for one minute that I’m going to forget you. Or forget about us.” Kellen smiled. “When you’re finished with what you need to do, I’m going to be waiting for you. And while you’re away, I’m gonna call you every day until you’re sick of the sound of my voice.”

  Micky felt the tears well up in her eyes.

  “Somehow, I don’t think that’s gonna happen.” She leaned closer and wrapped her arms around him, her head resting on his chest. “But you’re right. Before I can cut my ties with Moscow, I’ve got to do right by Abram. Sergei’s got to be taken down.”

  “Talking of which, you need to check in with Hannah to find out whether they’ve been able to get into Sergei’s accounts.” Kellen pulled back a little to look down at her. “Will you come back to the family room and talk to her?”

  “Of course.” Micky nodded. “Anything I can do to help, you know I’ll do it.”

  They walked back to the family room holding hands, and though she was nervous at meeting this so-called family of people Kellen had around him, she could feel the warmth surrounding them as soon as she stepped into the room.

  “Micky?” A man in his fifties stepped forward. “I’m Zach’s uncle, Ryan Tucker. I just wanted to thank you for all the help you gave the team. You really stuck your neck out for us, and we appreciate it.”

  Micky smiled sadly.

  “Without your team, I’d still be trapped working for Sergei, not knowing how the hell I was going to get out.” She admitted.

  “Micky?” A woman spoke from over her shoulder, and she turned to find a short, blonde woman standing behind her. She remembered her as Hannah Simons. “I just wanted to tell you that we’re all so very sorry for the loss of your friend. Abram was one of the good guys.”

  “Thank you, Hannah.” She smiled. “Abram was a good guy, and it’s so very important to me that his death doesn’t go unpunished.”

  She turned around, looking for the bag she’d left in the room earlier. When she spotted it, she opened the zipper and retrieved her laptop.

  “Everything you need is on here.” She smiled. “All of Sergei’s bank accounts, all of his investment accounts, and a separate spreadsheet where I listed all the account numbers I had access to over the weekend, along with the passwords he used. I know he’ll probably have changed them by now, but you never know. He has been a bit busy.”

  Hannah took the laptop from her with a smile.

  “Thank you.” She handed it off to the big guy standing immediately behind her. “We’re decamping to a nearby hotel soon, so I’ll get started on it as soon as we get checked in. Are there any passwords I need to get into the laptop or your files?”

  “I changed them all to the same password while we were in the helicopter on the way over, to make things simpler for you.” Micky nodded. “It’s ‘FuckSergei’. Capital F, capital S, no spaces.”

  She heard Kellen chuckle behind her.

  “I think I’ll remember that one.” Hannah smiled. “You know, I’ve heard so many good things about you, I’d like you to consider coming back to the UK when you’re finished with the Russian military. We’re getting involved in a lot of cyber-crime these days, both domestic and terrorist. I’d love to see what you could bring to our company.”

  “What my wife means, is that she’s dying to know if you’re as go
od as everyone says you are.” The big guy smiled at her. “Contrary to popular opinion, Hannah actually thrives on competition, and she’s hoping you can push her to be even better than she already is.”

  “I don’t know when I’ll be back.” Micky shrugged. “But whenever that might be, I’d love to come and talk to you. There aren’t many women capable of doing what we do. It’s very much a man’s world.”

  “Great.” Hannah nodded. “In the meantime, we’ve got a bunch of rooms booked at a local hotel. Tuck and Candy are staying behind in case Sacha needs them, and we’ll take it in turns switching out with them. You’re welcome to come with us.”

  “How long can you stay?” Kellen turned to ask.

  “I’m not sure.” She shrugged. “I guess Drago will let me know when we have to leave.”

  “Where is Drago?” Hannah frowned.

  “He, well, I think he needed to take a walk to clear his head.” Micky explained. “I’ll stay here until he gets back, to find out what plans he’s made.”

  “I’ll stay with you.” Kellen nodded.

  “Ok, then we’ll head off and get checked into the Marriott.” Hannah nodded. “See you both later.”

  Micky stood aside while everyone in the room grabbed their belongings and headed for the door.

  When the room was finally empty, she breathed a sigh of relief.

  Having spent so much time surrounded by strange faces, she was more than happy to be almost alone.

  “How’re you doing?” Kellen moved into her personal space.

  “Better, now that there’s not so many people around.” She smiled.

  “You’ll get used to them.” Kellen grinned. “They’re all good people, and once you’re familiar with all the names and the relationships, you’ll just get sucked into the family.”

  Micky looked at him sceptically.

  “My family is just me and my dad.” She smiled sadly. “It’ll be hard adjusting to more than that.”

  “Then you’d better get your head around it while you’re back in Russia.” Kellen smirked. “Because when you come back to the UK, that’ll be it. You’ll be one of us.”

  Micky wasn’t quite as put off by the idea as she thought she might have been.