Chapter 21 #2
Though she’s groggy, she tries to lift her head. She groans.
A warm hand lands on her face and brushes her hair back. “Relax, you’ll be home soon,” a voice with a thick Russian accent says from above her.
She flinches back from the voice and the hand that’s petting her, making her head pound harder. That accent. She’s heard that voice before. Hasn’t she?
She can’t think. Can’t seem to make her mind focus on anything. And even as fear skitters down her spine and nausea roils in her gut, she slips back into unconsciousness.
—
Alexi climbs out of the vehicle and stares at the seemingly impenetrable walls surrounding the compound. And then he grins.
Walls are only impenetrable if you don’t have the right firepower. Lucky for him, they came prepared.
His men and the Irish are all spread out around the compound’s perimeter, ready for his signal. They won’t miss it.
From the back of an SUV, he pulls out a shoulder-mounted anti-tank grenade launcher.
Dropping down to a knee for added stability, he sights in the large expanse of wall before him.
He doesn’t care about hitting the gate. Too often, people waste their time trying to get through a reinforced gate, not realizing the wall immediately adjacent to it is far easier to breach.
There’s a sharp, percussive crack, then a deafening whistle as the rocket is fired. A heartbeat later, the wall explodes in a hailstorm of concrete and rubble.
The warning blare of sirens echoes across the open landscape, but Alexi doesn’t care. He wants them to know he’s coming.
—
Shivers wrack Ulayna’s weakening body, and she lets them. She lets herself groan and cry out in pain every time the meaty fist of the man before her connects with her stomach. She lets her head hang heavy, and tears tumble down her face. She lets herself sob and weep, beg even.
Because she wants these men to underestimate her.
She wants them to think they’ve won. That they've broken her. The more they underestimate her, the more of an advantage she’ll have when she finally gets her chance to escape.
Even if she has to wait days, years, she will escape.
And she will take the fucking commander down with her.
She may be stripped half naked and dangling from the ceiling of a cold, underground cell, but she’ll find her moment. The commander is arrogant. He’ll make a mistake, and she’ll be ready.
Suddenly, there’s a cacophonous boom in the distance, and the lights flicker.
The men look up at the ceiling as if it will explain the noise.
When one of them quickly unties her and tosses her into the corner, she cries out in pain.
Her shoulders burn, and her fingers tingle as blood returns to them.
She curls up into a ball on the disgusting mattress on the floor of her cell.
She doesn’t know why they untied her or what the noise was. She’s just happy not to be hanging anymore. Even a filthy mattress on the floor is better than that.
The men behind her are cursing and arguing in Russian, but she doesn’t pay them any mind as she gently probes her torso. She doesn’t think she has any broken ribs. She knows the feeling all too well.
She hears the door open behind her, and the men leave. Then… silence. Blissful silence.
Grateful, she lets herself slip back into unconsciousness. If she’s going to get out of here, she needs all her strength, and that requires resting when she can.
—
The muffled sound of gunfire rings out around him, but Alexi is focused. Determined. Breaching the compound had been easy, and he’d left his men, led by Liam and Brian, to handle the Program's small security team. They’d been hungry for the challenge.
Their plan had been simple. Get inside, and kill everyone.
Between his men and the Irish, they’d swept through the Program’s defenses like a hot knife through butter.
The commander’s arrogance will be his downfall.
Despite the number of men in his employ, none of them are well trained and all of them seem to have the courage of a fleeing cockroach. Pathetic.
Thankfully, the ease with which they breached the Program’s defenses meant Alexi didn’t have to waste time starting his search for Ulayna.
Working systematically, he, Ruger, and Shade move room by room through the compound. They know the general layout, thanks to Bob’s intel. Slowly, too slowly, they’re working their way deeper and deeper into the bowels of this god-forsaken palace.
And that’s what it is—a palace. A shrine to the ego of one insidious man. But by the end of the day, Alexi swears it will be that man’s grave.
—
“Come, Ulayna. You must come with me now.”
Her head lolls to the side, and she struggles to wake up. Fear jolts through her as unfamiliar hands grip her under her thighs and arms, lifting her off the mattress.
She pries her gritty eyes open and meets the cold, merciless stare of pale-blue eyes. It’s the commander.
Anger and hatred nearly overwhelm her. She spits in his face. It’s a worthless act of defiance, but it makes her feel marginally better.
He glares down at her, then drops her back onto the mattress so he can wipe his face off with his sleeve.
She lands with a thud and cries out, making him chuckle. The sadist likes to see her in pain.
“Out!” the commander yells over his shoulder, instructing the other men in the room to leave. “It seems that I must teach Ulayna her place before we go.”
“No!” Ulayna shrinks back in fear. She knows what’s coming. She knows what he’ll do to her. “Please, no!” She’s begging and sobbing.
The commander smiles as he tugs at the zipper of his pants.
—
“We’re not moving quickly enough,” Alexi hisses in frustration. “Where the fuck is he keeping her?”
Ruger looks back at him, his face grim.
So far, they’ve searched dozens of rooms and cells. Each more grim and horrifying than the last. And still, they haven’t found her.
Alexi struggles to hold the panic at bay.
His greatest fear is that the commander has a secret escape route that even Bob doesn’t have the intel on.
His men have the entire compound surrounded, and all the commander’s men are either dead or locked down, but if the commander manages to sneak Ulayna out somehow, they’ll be like ghosts in the wind. He may never find her.
“Fuck!” he roars, slamming his fist into the wall in a momentary display of anger.
“We trained her well,” Shade reminds him. “She just needs to hold out until we can find her.”
Alexi grits his teeth and nods, then they resume the search.
A few minutes later, they round a corner at the same time Mikhail does. Their weapons are up and trained on him before they realize it. But as soon as Alexi recognizes him, he drops his aim to the floor.
“Any sign of her?” he asks Mikhail.
“No, Pakhan. Not yet,” he says, his accent sounding harsh as it echoes across the cinderblock and concrete walls. “But I think I know where she might be.” He gestures over his shoulder. “Follow me.”
Alexi eagerly follows him, hurrying down the corridor.
The hallways are a labyrinth of twists and turns, built into the side of the mountain in the old abandoned tunnels from previous wars. Alexi soon loses all sense of direction. All he can do is follow Mikhail and hope he leads them to wherever Ulayna is being held.
Down and down, they go deeper into the maze of hallways and corridors. He has no idea how Mikhail knows where they’re going.
They round a final corner, and Alexi’s eyes widen in horror. Up ahead, he can hear the sickening sound of flesh meeting flesh and the gutwrenching sobs of a woman.
“No!” Alexi races forward, sprinting toward the sounds.
He crashes into the last door in the hallway. The metal groans and gives way as his shoulder connects with it.
He tumbles inside, weapon raised, ready to fire—then freezes. The sight makes his blood run cold, and his heart stop.
“Dear god,” Mikhail says behind him.
Dimly, he can hear the sound of Ruger retching in the hallway.
He shakes his head, clearing his thoughts, and slowly approaches. “Ulayna?” he asks, his voice soft.
The creature before him doesn’t even seem to notice his presence. She’s like a wild animal intent on the evisceration of her prey.
Blood and brain matter splatter across the dirty floor and walls as Ulayna brings a metal food tray down with a sickening squelch onto the lifeless body of the commander, over and over.
She’s sobbing hysterically, focused solely on the man on the floor—or at least what’s left of him. She’s covered in gore, and the metal tray is dented in her hands. But still she doesn’t stop.
Tears leave tracks in the blood, smearing her face as she smashes the tray down onto the remains of the commander's face. Again. And again. And again.
“Ulayna,” Alexi tries again.
When she still doesn’t react, he reaches forward to take the metal tray from her hands.
“The commander is dead,” Mikhail says from the doorway.
Like a switch has been flipped, Ulayna stops her motion, and her eyes zero in on Mikhail.
“You!” With a shriek, she launches herself at him. Screaming like a banshee, she attacks him, kicking and biting.
Alexi wraps his arms around her, pulling her off Mikhail. “Ptichka!” he yells. “Enough. It’s over. I’ve got you.”
She hisses, struggling in his arms. “He’s the one!” She points a finger straight at Mikhail. “He betrayed us! I’d know that voice anywhere!”
Like a puzzle piece finally fitting into place, Alexi instantly understands. He shoves Ulayna behind him and raises his weapon at Mikhail. Ruger and Shade do the same.
“No,” Mikhail says, holding his hands up in surrender and shaking his head adamantly. “Not me. It wasn’t me.”
“It was him!” Ulayna wails and falls to the floor, weeping.
Trusting Ruger and Shade to keep their eyes on Mikhail, Alexi turns to Ulayna and scoops her up into his arms. She clings to him, sobbing.
“Bring the traitor upstairs,” Alexi commands and shoves past him to the doorway.
—