Russian Law (Law Series ) (Volume 1) (24 page)

Chapter 29

Lucas
pushed opened
the blast door and smelt the river. He looked out into the black and white
coastline to see Alexei Dimitrovich standing at the helm of a Sport Cabin and he
heard the Yamaha engine catch, he was almost too late. He started running
across the snow covered ramp reaching out to the small dock boats could moor
on. He almost lost his footing a few times but managed to remain on his feet.

He
had to get to Elena and stop Alexei from escaping. The man had some serious
answering to do. If Alexei managed to escape him now, it would prove more than
difficult to catch up to him. The Sport Cabin being the only powerboat he could
see that was docked on this side of the river. He had no idea how one would go
about arranging a boat block further up the river. Did they even have a Coastguard
here? He pulled out Vladimir’s pistol from his waistband and took the safety
off. He had no doubt whatsoever that he would need it. His assumption was
proven correct when he saw two men come out from the cabin. Neither appeared
happy to be there and both had the hired mercenary look. He didn’t like the
fact that Elena was alone on the boat with them. Lucas knew what those types
could and would do if the price was right. He pushed himself to run faster, the
cold air biting into his skin.

Only
a little bit further.

Chapter 30

The
two men
stopped
in their tracks and took stock of the woman lying helplessly on the deck before
looking to their employer for instructions.

“Untie
the boat,” Alexei barked, he was tired of being surrounded by incompetents.

He
had researched Michael Ducane, knew the type of man he was. Had even gone to
extraordinary lengths to get him to Russia, past immigration and into a meeting
with one of his own – Alvin Pochenchov. He was angry at having to order
Pochenchov’s death. He had been an excellent weapons dealer. Obtaining weapons
most couldn’t but the man had a big mouth. He couldn’t risk Alvin cutting a
deal.

But
Ducane had also proven useless. The idiot had not taken into account the
reinforced concrete that the builders had added when they had created the
tunnel. Now his entire plans had been fucked up. The blast should have
completely disintegrated the entire hall but had only managed to desecrate the
east side. If Ducane hadn’t of been murdered, he would have taken immense
pleasure in killing the bastard.

The
burly first man walked over the bow of the boat and reached out, untying the
boat’s painter from around the wood stump.

“Let’s
get out of here.”

Alexei
started to steer the boat away from the embankment, just as Lucas took a
running jump from the dock onto the deck. He had almost missed. Another centimeter
or two and he would have ended up in the river. The river Neva, he knew went
upstream and flowed into the Gulf of Finland, the temperature well below
freezing, any more than five minutes underwater and hypothermia set in.

“Lucas!”

Elena
had never been so happy to see anyone in her entire life. Alexei swung around
from the small cabin to see Lucas land hard on the deck. Swearing, he brought
up his gun.

Lucas
had his pistol pointed at Alexei just as Alexei grabbed Elena and pointed his
at her. Talk about a Mexican Standoff, she thought.

Alexei
shook his head, chastising Lucas. “I wouldn’t do that, one dead SVR agent is
fine but two? I don’t think they’ll like that.”

Lucas
took stock of his options. He didn’t have many so it didn’t take long. He kept
his eyes on Alexei while also keeping track of the other two men.

“It’s
over. The President’s are safe. There’s nowhere to go.”

“There’s
always a place to go,” Alexei corrected.

Lucas’s
face was as hard as stone. His eyes dark with rage, murderous. Elena had never
seen that look before. She was glad it was not directed at her.

“No
place we can’t find you. No place
I
can’t find you,” he promised.

The
tone of his voice chilled her from the inside out, more so than the cold air or
frigid water. Elena tried to struggle to free herself, making it hard for
Alexei to keep his concentration. All the while praying he didn’t accidentally
shoot her
or
by purpose. She stomped down hard on Alexei’s instep before
ramming her elbow as far back into his crackled ribs as possible, applying
pressure to the already sensitive bones.

Alexei
screamed out in pain and pushed Elena into Lucas who caught her as she was
thrown into him but the force knocked them both off their feet. Lucas’s gun
flew out of his grip as his hand hit the deck, jarring him and slid across the
deck of the boat to the port side.

Lucas
was on his feet in seconds, launching himself at Alexei. His body hit Alexei’s
hard, hoping to knock him over, to gain some advantage. He sent a fist into
Alexei’s stomach momentarily winding him. The boat made a sharp turn suddenly 
as one of Alexei’s men took the helm. Lucas and Alexei swayed on their feet as
they both tried to remain standing. The boat moved erratically from side to
side on the choppy water. The motion was making Lucas seasick.

Elena,
who was in the process of awkwardly getting to her feet was once more thrown
onto the deck. Her head hit the railing on the side of the boat as she went
down, bringing out the darkness as she was rendered unconscious for the second
time that night.

Lucas
grabbed his opponent’s right hand, twisting at the wrist dislodging the gun
free from Alexei’s hand. The gun went up into the air and bounced off the same
railing Elena’s head did just moments before and into the dark water
surrounding them.

They
were well away from the dock now, with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.
Seriously outnumbered and disadvantaged. Elena was no help with her hands bound
behind her back and he couldn’t see his weapon. He was going to shoot the man
behind the wheel just on principal. He glanced around the deck for a weapon, unable
to locate one, brought up his fist and clocked Alexei.

Dimitrovich
blocked Lucas’s next punch and pushed him back away from him. Alexei then hooked
his leg behind Lucas’s tripping him up. Lucas reached out and grabbed Alexei’s
coat as he went down bringing the other man with him as he went. They rolled
around the deck a mass of arms and legs as they fought each other. Fists went
flying, colliding with faces, arms and torsos.

Elena
sat up, the cold air reviving her. She took stock of their situation. Not good.
Her entire body ached, her head continued to pound. At least the ringing in her
ears had dissipated to a soft whistle. Lucas and Alexei were on the deck in the
midst of a fight, rolling around like a couple of boys. What looked oddly
amusing was anything but, she could hear the grunts and hisses of pain and from
physical exertion of the two men fighting to the death. She climbed to her feet
as she watched the second man, who had until now been idly standing by enjoying
the show while the first man continued to drive the boat, had obviously had
enough of being a spectator, started toward Lucas.

That’s
not going to happen comrade, she thought. Elena kicked the man hard, shoving
him to the side using her shoulder, causing him to lose balance and fall
overboard. She fell to her knees in an effort to remain inside the boat. She
looked back at the man in the water as he was swallowed by the darkness as the
boat left him behind in the freezing night.

The
boat suddenly went straight, no longer veering side to side in an attempt to
displace Lucas. The man that had been steering the boat came out of his little
protective cabin, letting the small boat navigate itself up the river. Elena
tried to move away as he came towards her but she was not fast enough getting
to her feet and away from the man as he grabbed a hold of her roughly. She
fought him, struggling, attempting to throw him off balance with her weight.
Unfortunately she didn’t have a lot to work with and her plan was unsuccessful. 
He grinned at her cruelly as he looked her up and down before pushing her hard
towards the cabin.

She
shivered at the look on his face, his thoughts well revealed. You can’t be
serious, haven’t I been through enough? she thought as she bucked wildly, using
everything she had inside her against him. He slapped her hard, once, twice and
a third time. She felt her cheek sting and the tears blur her vision. The man
grabbed at the backs on her thighs and yanked her off her feet. She landed on
her back, her hands crushed beneath her as he climbed on top of her, mounting
her. She struggled to get out from beneath him.

Lucas
grabbed hold of Alexei in a choke-hold. He was tired and wanted to sleep for a
week. But he still had work to do. He and Elena weren’t out of the woods yet.
Alexei struggled, his oxygen cut off. The boat was swaying precariously on the
water, for a second he thought it might capsize. The waves brought the frosty
water over the side of the boat and onto the deck. Lucas glanced over at Elena,
at one of Alexei’s men on top of her. His vision went red. He pushed Alexei
toward the railing just as the side of the boat swayed downwards towards the
water.

Alexei
almost went overboard but at the last minute grabbed a hold of the railing and
held on. Lucas moved quick and grabbed hold of the second man, pulling him away
from Elena and threw him hard against the wall of the cabin. Elena sat up
scrunching her body into a tiny ball. Her knees against her chest as she worked
her handcuffed hands under her buttocks and beneath her thighs placing her
right foot and leg in the small leeway of space between her wrists and her body
as she rolled onto her back. The metal of the handcuffs cut into her skin as
she pulled her hands as far away as possible making room for her to move. Blood
made her wrists slippery as her skin tore with the effort to bring the
handcuffs to the front of her body. After several moves that twisted and warped
her body that any contortionist would be proud of she managed the no small
feat.      

Lucas
turned around too late to stop the fist hitting him hard in the jaw, his teeth
clattered together. Alexei sensing a weak moment reached over to Lucas’s
shoulder and dug his thumb into the already throbbing wound. Lucas screamed out
in agony and had to shake off the encasing darkness threatening to pull him under. 

Elena
got to her feet spinning around at the sound of Lucas’s scream – a sound Elena
knew she would never be able to forget no matter how long she lived for. Her
eyes found Lucas as she watched helplessly. His skin was pale, almost
translucent, his lips in a tight line on his face.

“No,”
she yelled at Alexei. Her attention completely on Lucas forgetting about the
man who watched like a hawk for his opening. He stepped forward and grabbed her
coat pulling her towards him. Her head went back and connected with her would
be rapist’s face, she had the pleasure of hearing his nose break. Blood spurted
from his nose and his hands came up to cover it. His hands now occupied leaving
the rest of him unprotected as she used the techniques Nikolai had taught her.

Her
husband had made sure she could protect herself somewhat against attackers. She
thanked Nikolai silently as her knee rammed the man’s balls so far up inside of
him she expected them to pop out his mouth. Alexei’s man screamed in pain and
fell to his knees. Elena promptly stepped around him hooking the chain of her
hand cuffs around his neck and brought his body towards her stomach. She placed
her right foot on his back pushing him away from her, effectively strangling
the man. He fought her as he struggled for breath but she only pulled the chain
tighter around his neck. Within just a few minutes he slumped over and she
removed the chain from around his neck. The man fell to the deck, eyes open
staring sightlessly into the night.

Elena
turned around to see Lucas fall to his knees. She knew he couldn’t hold up much
longer. Fresh blood coated his jacket sleeve and she had no idea how much blood
he had already lost. He was cold and exhausted from the fight, almost gone.
Alexei Dimitrovich stood looking down at him. She knew he was about to kill
Lucas. She couldn’t let that happen.

Elena
do something, she told herself. Her mind went blank at what she could do to
help. She looked about for a weapon, anything that she could use against
Alexei. The deck of the Sport Cabin was clear of clutter, it was the cleanest
boat she had ever seen.

The
gun!
Her
mind suddenly flashed on Lucas’s gun. She remembered that it had flown out of
his hand and across the deck. She rapidly looked about for the pistol but in
the dark it was hard to see one step in front of her eyes. She heard the sound
of metal scraping against wood and saw the gun slide back and forth from one
side of the deck to the other. She ran towards it, past the two men and placed
a foot on top of the pistol effectively stopping it from sliding. She looked
over to Lucas and yelled out to him, before kicking the gun towards him.

Lucas
reached out and picked up the weapon, shooting Alexei before he had a chance to
react. Alexei’s eyes widened in surprise at the gunshot wound now in his chest,
he could feel the sharp pain and felt his warm blood soak through his shirt and
coat. The cold was more intense now and he knew he was dying. He swayed on his
feet and grabbed a hold of Lucas as the boat rocked heavily from side to side,
port to starboard. He lost his footing, plunging him overboard into the icy
river, taking Lucas with him.