Chapter 19 #2
He chuckled again, seemingly delighted by her challenge. “You have a strong spirit. It will make watching your reaction even more enjoyable once we execute our plan.”
I stepped in front of her fully this time. “You’ll have what you paid for when the supplier signs off. Not before.”
He and I locked eyes. Neither of us blinked.
After a long moment, he exhaled. “Very well. We’ll await your update.”
He turned, already walking away, humming something under his breath that made my skin crawl. His men followed. The steel door shut behind them, leaving Katya and me alone.
Katya spoke first, her voice quiet enough that only I could hear, and her hand covering her mouth. Smart. Just in case someone was watching or listening. “Revenant didn’t brief you on any of this?”
“No,” I said. “They didn’t.”
“They know exactly what this group is planning.”
“I’m sure they do.”
“And they still sent you.”
“And they didn’t want you coming,” I added.
Her expression hardened. “Because I would have seen this for what it is. And them for what they are.”
“Yes.”
The sound of a lock turning immediately set my blood on fire. I crossed the room in three long strides and tried the handle. It didn’t budge.
I tried again. Same result. No motion. No click. Not even a rattle.
The bastard had locked us in.
Katya stepped up beside me, expression flat. “That wasn’t accidental.”
“No. It wasn’t.”
I pressed my ear to the door. Voices murmured on the other side. Two people, maybe three. The cadence didn’t sound like orders; it sounded like anticipation. They weren’t waiting to escort us out; they were waiting for instructions.
Katya brushed my arm lightly. “Move.”
I stepped back without argument.
She approached the lock with that calm, steady competence that always jarred me a little. She knelt, pulling a slim blade from her boot. She wedged the edge under the lock panel and popped it free with a soft click.
“Let me guess,” I said, watching her fingers work deftly. “You’ve done this before.”
She didn’t look up. “Perhaps.”
“That’s not an answer.”
She flicked her eyes to mine briefly, a smile edging at the corners of her lips. “Then stop asking questions you already know the answer to, big guy.”
Despite the situation, I felt heat slide through my spine straight to my cock. Later, when we got out of this mess, she was going to end up getting that tight little ass fucked again, but now was not the time for that.
Two more precise movements and then she slid a bobby pin she’d pulled from her hair into the lock. A faint scraping sound echoed inside the mechanism.
“You’ve got about fifteen seconds before the guards realize what’s happening,” she murmured.
“I only need five.”
I positioned myself by the door, body angled to strike the moment it opened. Katya applied pressure to the pick and turned it.
A muffled click sounded inside the lock.
She looked up at me. “Ready?”
I nodded. “Open it.”
She twisted the handle slowly, easing the door open by a few inches. The hallway beyond stretched out left and right. Two guards stood only a few feet away, facing in opposite directions, rifles at their sides but not ready.
Perfect.
I moved before Katya even finished opening the door.
My arm snaked around the first man’s throat, pulling him back into the room.
My palm clamped over his mouth to cut off his shout.
He struggled, but I drove my elbow into his solar plexus, and he dropped to the floor gasping for breath.
I hit him in the temple with my fist and knocked him out.
The second guard turned too late. Katya was on him in an instant, knife flashing across his wrist before he could lift his weapon.
He hissed in pain, and she swept his legs out from underneath him with a quick, efficient kick.
He hit the floor hard. I finished the job with one solid blow to the head.
Katya retrieved one of the guards’ sidearm and checked the magazine. “Twelve rounds.”
“Make every one of them count,” I said.
She gave me a look that said she always did.
I dragged the second unconscious guard into the room, shut the door, and locked it behind us.
Katya pointed to a side hall branching off the main corridor. “That one leads toward the back of the compound. There’ll be less traffic that way and we can make our way back to the plane and get out of this hell hole.”
“How do you know?”
“Airflow,” she said. “And the sound of echo versus absorption.”
I blinked. “Anything else you want to tell me about your disturbing list of skills?”
“Later.”
We moved quickly, staying as close to the walls as possible. We turned down the quieter hallway. Dim lights flickered overhead. The hum of machinery grew louder. I heard the faint buzz of a radio two intersections away.
Katya held up a hand. I stopped.
Two men passed the next junction, speaking in hushed tones about preparing equipment and something else about instructions from ‘the Founder.’ The way they said it made my stomach tighten again.
Katya gestured for me to follow her, and we ducked into a large, dark storage area. Shelves lined the walls. Ammunition crates. Spare uniforms. Tools. A ladder. A catwalk above.
She pointed upward. “Those connect to the ventilation platform. Should take us toward the control center.”
“Will it hold us?”
She was already climbing. “I’ll let you know if I fall.”
I snorted and climbed after her, grabbing the metal rungs. She moved quietly and gracefully, even though fatigued. When she reached the upper ledge, she crouched, peering down the length of the platform.
“Clear,” she whispered.
Voices echoed below us. A group passed, heading toward the meeting room we’d escaped from. One mentioned ‘ushering them into phase one.’ Another said something about ‘timelines.’ The third wished Bashir would ‘just start the purge already.’
Katya’s eyes narrowed. She looked at me, and I saw the determination written all over her face.
We crawled along the catwalk until the platform ended, dropping into another room behind a row of server racks. More maps hung on the walls, more grids, more targeting plans. This compound wasn’t planning a single strike. They had a whole campaign mapped out.
Then an alarm started blaring, too loud in the confined space.
Bashir knew we were gone.
Red lights flashed. A voice blasted from speakers overhead. “Level two lockdown initiated. Seal all exits. Secure the upper floors.”
Katya cursed softly. “They’re coming.”
“We keep moving.”
We sprinted down the hall, weaving between junctions.
A guard appeared around the corner. Katya didn’t hesitate.
She put two shots into his chest before he could raise the alarm.
Another guard rounded the opposite corner, and I slammed him into the wall, wrenching his weapon free and knocking him unconscious.
The stairwell to the upper level was ahead. We pushed through the door just as footsteps pounded behind us.
“Go,” I hissed.
Katya climbed. I followed close behind. Halfway up, two guards burst into the stairwell below. Bullets ricocheted off metal steps. Katya ducked. I turned and fired down the stairwell, forcing them to take cover.
She reached the next landing. “Up here!”
We bolted through the door. This floor was quieter, with no foot traffic and no chatter.
Just a long hallway that curved toward the northern wing.
We moved quickly, weapons raised. An open door appeared ahead.
The glow of monitors spilled out. Bashir’s voice drifted through the doorway.
He sounded calm, controlled, and way too excited.
“…Revenant thinks they can control the terms,” he said. “They send their errand boy and their little analyst and expect us to sit patiently until they decide to honor their promises.”
Katya shifted beside me, jaw tightening. I squeezed her hand once before letting go.
Bashir continued. “We don’t have the drones yet, but that’s irrelevant. We take the Dragunov representative and the woman, and Revenant will give us whatever we want.”
His lieutenants murmured something in response that sounded uncertain, as if even they weren’t fully confident this was a good idea. “They’re valuable to Revenant. Valuable to each other. Especially her. We secure them, and Revenant’s leash becomes very easy to yank.”
Katya breathed in through her nose. I could tell that she was growing increasingly agitated and I didn’t blame her.
He wasn’t done. “Once we have them, we dictate the new timeline. They either deliver the upgraded drones to us, or we take what we learn tonight and offer it to their enemies. Or we simply execute Dragunov and the girl and send Revenant the footage.”
That was enough.
I kicked open the door, and we burst into the room.
The two lieutenants spun first, startled by the sound. I grabbed the closest by the collar and slammed his head into the console edge. He folded. Katya took the second. She swept his legs, then cracked the butt of her stolen pistol into his jaw before he could lift a weapon.
Bashir whirled, eyes widening, hands twitching toward a radio on the desk.
Katya pressed her gun to his sternum. “Don’t.”
He froze, chest heaving in short, angry bursts.
I stepped behind him and twisted his wrist away from the radio, pinning him against the wall with my forearm across his shoulders. “You took us hostage and were preparing to kill us,” I crooned in his ear. “Such poor hospitality. I expected more from you.”
He spat at the floor. “We needed leverage.”
“You picked the wrong leverage,” I said.
“You ruined everything,” he snarled. “Revenant will crush you for this.”
“Maybe,” Katya said. “Not my greatest concern right now.”
Katya hit him in the mouth with the butt of her gun, hard enough to split his lip, but not hard enough to knock him out. He cried out and sagged but remained conscious.
I dragged him away from the wall and shoved him into the chair by the main console. “Sit.”