Divide & Conquer (25 page)

“Fair enough!” he replied. “So what’s happening?”

“I have absolutely no idea,” replied Sean sincerely, looking at the dead Russians. “There were a couple of Russians here yesterday but when they spotted me, they did everything they could not to kill me. These guys it seemed were absolutely intent on killing me!”

The three Russians wore ordinary American clothes, Levis jeans and polo shirts. Were it not for their speaking Russian and their arsenal of Russian weaponry, they’d never have known they were not Americans. The one with the phone had sounded absolutely American when he had said Sean’s name.

“Russian Mafia?”

“If they are, they’re young and exceptionally well trained,” suggested Sean. He hadn’t even noticed that Watcher One, whose throat he had crushed, had a knife in place, until the blade had touched his skin. It was a very slick move and as for the second watcher, the submachine gun had literally materialized in his hand. Had Sean not had the reactions he had, it would be one to the US and six for the Russians.

“We do keep hearing that they employ all the ex-Spetsnaz!” offered the Team Leader.

Sean wasn’t convinced. “We’ll find out soon enough. There are at least another three and I would assume more,” he offered, turning to the stairs.

“How do you know that?”

Sean thought for a second. How could he describe Luis. “Let’s just say an acquaintance of mine told me.” It was the best he could come up with off the cuff. “He’s out back, I’ll just go grab him.”

“Cool, we’ll grab our gear from the loft.”

An ear-piercing scream from outside stopped them all in their tracks.

Chapter 47

“Dr Surkov,” offered Borodin cheerily, as he finally got through.

“Good afternoon, General. I am very busy!” he replied as politely as the words allowed.

“I just thought I’d update you that Sean Fox had been dealt with!”

“Good, and his wife and son?”

“I presume so!” replied Borodin uneasily.

“You presume so?” questioned Surkov scathingly.

All Borodin had was the conversation, if you could call it that, with Pushkin, Done? Yes. Borodin thought back at the orders he had given Pushkin which were to kill them all and not just Sean Fox. “Sorry, yes, they have all been dealt with,” he replied more confidently.

Surkov paused before responding, leaving Borodin hanging.

“You’re not convincing me, General. You do understand how crucial your task is to Russia?”

Borodin bit his tongue. The prize was too great not to be part of it.

“Of Course,” he replied. “I will get clarification as soon as possible to you.”

“Good!” replied Surkov.

“I have not heard from the President, as yet?” added Borodin quickly.

“I told you, you would be contacted when the time was right. Under no circumstances do you discuss anything with anybody. Until you are contacted! And that includes the president!” instructed Surkov forcefully before ending the call.

Vasiliy who had witnessed Borodin’s side of the conversation had never before seen anything like it. Borodin was putty in Surkov’s hands. Borodin was the man that people feared, even the president dreaded a meeting with the over powering Borodin. Whatever Surkov had promised Borodin was something Borodin could only have dreamed of in his wildest dreams.

***

As Surkov considered the conversation that had just taken place, he began to worry. Sean Fox was a concern but General Borodin was slowly becoming a greater one. Surkov needed him. He needed the power that Borodin had within the military for the plan to work. There was no one more revered or feared within the military. Borodin was the modern Russian equivalent of Hoover. He knew all the secrets of anyone who was anyone in Russia. Surkov and Grebnevo had been under his radar. However, if it had fallen under his gaze, Borodin would have been dealt with.

Whatever the case, removing Borodin with so little time was going to prove troublesome. A suitable replacement would have to be found which might result in a delay.

As Surkov considered the options, he watched the secret courtyard that only his study had a view of. It was exercise time and two residents of Grebnevo were stretching their legs and catching some late summer sunshine. A generation in the making, it was not the time for indecision.

He picked up his phone and dialed a number that very few people on the planet had access to.

“Hello?”

“Mr President, Boris Surkov,” replied Surkov to Russia’s head of state.

“Ah Dr Surkov, you’ve come through on my private line.”

“Yes Sir, the day I briefed you on when you took office?” prompted Surkov without preamble, jogging the President’s memory.

The President did not need to be reminded; it was still the most intriguing briefing he had ever been given in the two years he had held office.

“Yes, I remember.”

“It has come Mr President. Are you free to visit us at Grebnevo?” inquired Surkov, knowing exactly how free the president’s schedule was for the next week. It was one of the quietest weeks in his diary in two years. Exactly as planned.

“We were due to meet in a few days anyway, I believe,” replied the President, referring to a presidential banquet arranged many months earlier.

“Yes, Sir. However, matters have become more pressing and this is not a matter for public consumption,’ alluded Surkov.

Surkov suppressed a laugh as the President made it sound as though he were squeezing Surkov in. Surkov even rejected the President’s first offer, two days away. The Borodin issue couldn’t wait that long.

“You couldn’t squeeze us in tomorrow, first thing, could you?” asked Surkov, adding. “It is really quite urgent!”

After a minute or so of humming and hawing. “I’ll shift a couple of things around and see you at eight?”

Surkov was hoping for later. He had a lot to organize in a very short period of time but didn’t want to push it.

“I look forward to it!” he replied sincerely.

“As do I Dr Surkov, as do I,” said the president.

Surkov very much doubted he’d feel the same when he found out what he had planned. He picked up his phone. He needed to let one very special person know that the timeframe had been changed.

Chapter 48

Sean knew instantly. The scream was Katie’s. He bounded down the stairs and screamed for the CIA team to follow suit.

“Our packs!” one of them shouted, looking up at the loft space.

“No time!” shouted the team leader. Sean was off and running and their job was to back him up. Sean had heard the initial shout and recognized the voice. Somebody would be getting a lesson in priorities as soon as he had the chance.

Sean crashed into Luis as he rounded the staircase. Luis had himself reacted to the scream by running into the house. Sean threw him aside, shouting “He’s with me!” to ensure the CIA team didn’t shoot Luis by mistake.

Sean burst out of the house and onto the street. Katie was surrounded by another three of the Russians. She had obviously surprised them as much as they had surprised her. All looked somewhat bemused as to what they should do, until that was, that they caught sight of Sean charging towards them. They all then had only one thing on their mind. As Sean raced towards them with the silenced Gyurza pistol raised in his hand, they raised their AS VAL rifles. Sean was woefully out-gunned and out of range and a good twenty yards ahead of the CIA team who were struggling to catch up with him. Continuing headlong towards them was suicide. As soon as their weapons were up, they would start shooting. They, unlike Sean and the CIA team, had no Katie to worry about. All that lay ahead of the Russians were hostiles.

Sean dived across the grass and rolled just as the Russians dispatched their first round of bullets. With Katie frozen to the spot in abject fear, there was little return fire either Sean or the CIA team could offer. Sean took aim as he rolled and sent a bullet a foot to the right of one watcher. It was as close as he dared aim as the three Russians crowded around Katie. The watcher didn’t flinch. They were very well trained.

The second burst of bullets came even closer to hitting Sean but a roll in the opposite direction caught them off guard and Sean narrowly escaped the second burst of fire. He wouldn’t avoid a third.

The CIA team had two options: charge headlong into the fire or stop and take aim. Their H&K MP5’s offered significantly better accuracy than Sean’s handgun. Sean was also offering an excellent target for the Russians to concentrate on and as such, he gave the CIA team an ideal opportunity to press home their advantage.

“If you have the shot take it!” screamed the Team Leader.

Four shots rang out and the two Russians farthest away from Katie fell. Again, the Russian didn’t flinch. Two of his team had just been taken out and he remained 100 percent focused on the job in hand. He grabbed Katie and using her body as a shield, he worked back towards the main door that Katie had come out of. Whoever the Russians were, Sean seriously doubted they had anything to do with the mafia.

“We don’t have a shot!” shouted the CIA Team leader, alerting Sean he was the only one with an angle.

Sean aimed at the fraction of body the Russian exposed from behind the much smaller Katie. He fired off a few rounds which barely missed Sean as his aim was hampered by holding Katie with one arm. Sean remained rock still as he waited for his chance. As they neared the house, he had all but given up hope when Katie winked at him as she slammed her foot into the Russian’s tibia. The Russian was caught by surprise but recovered almost instantly. Just not instantly enough. Katie’s wink had Sean ready. He knew she was going to do something. Sean fired and his bullet hit the Russian in the center of the forehead and he slumped to the ground, taking Katie with him.

Sean rushed to the house and pulled Katie from the dead arm, checking she was not hurt.

“You OK?” he asked breathlessly.

“I’m fine thanks,” she smiled and wrapped her arms around him.

“Thank God,” Sean breathed a sigh of relief. It was the most nerve-racking shot he had ever taken. It wasn’t that he hadn’t been in a similar position before. In fact, he had been in worse and had taken many more difficult shots.

“Sean?” interrupted the CIA Team Leader as he walked towards them. “Does she know if we are all clear?” he asked.

Sean turned to Katie for the answer, an action that saved his life and ended the CIA Team Leader’s.

Chapter 49

Vincent Black couldn’t sit still. They still had not been able to reach either the team or Sean. Jane had spoken to the base at Corpus Christi and they knew about the helicopter dropping them off but that had been hours ago. Vincent walked out of his office and over to Jane’s desk. “Any news?”

A short shake of the head had him walking back into his office. Another few seconds killed.

Jane followed him in. “You need to try and relax. Remember what the doctor said?” At times, she was the wife he never had. She knew everything about him, probably more than most wives. Dentists, doctors, she handled all communications and she knew the doctor had been worried about him. His blood pressure had risen dangerously, three months earlier. The death of Sean had hit Vincent Black harder than anything had ever hit him before.

He nodded and waved her away back to her desk. He was most definitely not in the mood to be nagged.

He opened the report that was scheduled to be delivered by him to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that afternoon but the words just looked back at him meaninglessly. His mind was only on one thing, what the hell was happening in Laredo?

“Jane!” he shouted, throwing the report onto the coffee table. “Get me the fastest ride you can between here and Laredo. I’m heading to the airport.”

“But the Select Committee hearing?” she protested having worked on it for weeks. But he was already out the door and halfway to the elevator.

As she moved towards the phone, it rang. Despite having supposedly not heard Jane shouting down the corridor to him. Vincent turned and ran back as Jane answered the call.

“I’m sorry, I can’t understand you. Just calm down,” said Jane, flustered by the call and obviously listening as hard as possible. As Vincent heard what was being said, his heart began to race.

“Katie, please, I can’t hear what you’re saying,” repeated Jane, sounding as concerned as Vincent had ever heard her. Vincent wanted to grab the phone from Jane but stopped himself.

“Did you just say they’re all dead?” asked Jane, her voice breaking.

Vincent’s heart pounded harder as his stomach lurched into his mouth. Jane nodded her head to Vincent, a pain shot through his left arm and a sweat instantly covered his body.

“Oh my God, was that an explosion?” were the words that sent Vincent crashing to the floor.

***

The look of horror on Katie’s face was the first sign for Sean that anything was wrong. He had turned from the Team Leader and as he faced Katie, her face contorted. Sean reacted instantly, diving and body tackling Katie through the open front door. A barrage of bullets thudded silently into the doorframe as Sean, pulling Katie tighter and tighter towards him, rolled over and over down the hallway, away from the immediate danger.

“Do you know how many there are?” he asked as he rushed her towards the basement door.

Katie shook her head violently. “I only went to pick up the newspaper and noticed a man hiding by the side of the house. I screamed and the next thing there were three!” Her voice trembled throughout as she struggled to control her fear and the shock of what she had just witnessed. Sean grabbed the phone from the hall table as he pushed her into the basement, he dialed the only number at Langley he knew off by heart, Vincent’s office number. He hit the dial button, gave Katie the phone and shut the basement door in her face, with clear instructions to lock it and only open it to him.

With Katie as safe as he could make her, he could concentrate on the remaining Russians. His major problem was he had no idea how many there were. The why would have to wait. He checked the Gyurza’s magazine, still 16 rounds left. As he realized Katie had seen what had become of the CIA team and he should have asked her, the Russian voices at the doorway gave him the answer. He checked the basement door was shut and fired two bullets into the doorway. If nothing else it would stall the ones at the front door.