Smoke and Shadows (32 page)

“Copy that, boss.”

Viktor got out of the car and regarded the two Guardians with him. “Ready?”

Both men nodded solemnly. They already had on their Kevlar vests. Nathan pulled out the battering ram from the trunk. The apartment was a corner unit, so they had no choice but to approach from one direction. Arriving at the door, Nathan scooted to the other side of the portal, battering ram at the ready. Viktor gave the signal that he was going in low, which meant Edmunds was going in high. Stark hauled the siege device back and propelled it forward, releasing the piston that enhanced the momentum.

The door crashed open and there was a surprised yell. The bald man from the surveillance footage dove toward a weapon, but Viktor immediately called his attention. “Drop it!”

The man remained on the floor, his arms cocked, fingers spread out. Edmunds immediately walked over to the prostrate man and secured both wrists, hauled him up, and sat him on the couch.
 

“Keep an eye on him, Edmunds. Stark.” Viktor jerked his chin to begin the search of the apartment. It didn’t take long to find what they came for.

“Son of a bitch,” Viktor muttered. His eyes took in the crate holding four canisters. The empty slots chilled his blood. Nine slots. Five empty. Two were used. Where were the other three?

His gaze slid to the laptop sitting on the table in front of the canisters. “Stark! Call Tim!”

Picking up the laptop, he walked over to the living room and sat in front of the hostile.

“What’s your name?”

The man simply stared at Viktor.

That’s how he wants to play it. Fine.
 

Setting the computer down, Viktor pulled out his cold steel Arc Angel Butterfly. Flipping the balisong open, he looked at the man again.

“Asking you one more time. What—is—your—name?”

“I—Ivan,” the man stammered as he eyed the knife warily.

“Ivan what?”

“Volkov.”

“You’re Russian?”

“Yes.”

“You know what I want?”

Silence.

“I don’t have much time, Ivan. I need three things from you. The password to this computer, the location of the other three canisters, and the whereabouts of Owen Reed and Henry Logan.”

The distress in the man’s eyes indicated that he didn’t know the answer to any of his questions.
Fuck
.

“I have Tim on the phone,” Nathan interrupted.

“Work with him to unlock the laptop,” Viktor said. He turned his attention back to Ivan.
 

“Reed doesn’t tell me everything,” Ivan said, beads of sweat started trickling down his face. “I just do as I am ordered. He keeps very close counsel—”

Viktor ran a finger over the blade of the knife like a caress. “Have you ever wondered how you would look with an eye-patch, Ivan?”

“Wh—What?” The Russian visibly gulped.

He nodded to Edmunds, who understood what he wanted. The Guardian leaned over Ivan and kept his head immobile, Viktor immediately stilled the man’s legs with his own and braced him across his shoulders against the couch.

“What are you doing?” Ivan screamed. “I don’t know anything. Oh, God.”

“Ah . . . ah . . . don’t move too much,” Viktor said silkily as the tip of the knife went right below Ivan’s left eye. “. . . or I might . . . slip.”

Ivan froze.
 

“Tell me something I can use.”

“I heard something about the train station.”

“The Metro?”

“I don’t really know, I swear.”

“What else?” Viktor increased the pressure the tiniest bit to break some skin.

“Something about trapping the girl.”

This time it was Viktor who froze. Barely keeping his breathing steady, he gritted through his teeth. “What girl?”

“The CIA agent. That’s all I know. I don’t know how they plan to do it.”

Fuck!

Viktor lowered the knife because his hand started shaking. He turned away and punched Marissa’s number. It went to voice mail. He cursed.

“Viktor. You okay, man?” Edmunds asked with concern.

No, he wasn’t.

“I got in,” Nathan said. And then, “Holy fuck.”
 

He turned the laptop toward Viktor. “It’s Union Station and the Harver Senate Office Building at the U.S. Capitol Complex.”

Viktor stared grimly at the blinking dots on the map of Washington D.C. This needed to be handled carefully, otherwise the panic would get more people hurt than the nerve gas would. He called the datacenter.

“Tim, mobilize every Guardian we have in the DC area. We’ve got the next target locations. It’s Union Station and the Harver Senate Office Building. Coordinate with local law enforcement for evacuation. I’m sending Edmunds and Stark directly to Union Station. I’m heading to the U.S. Capitol. I couldn’t raise Marissa. Have a unit pick up an Ivan Volkov at our present location.”

“Copy that.”

Viktor was relieved when he saw an incoming call from Marissa.

“Iz—”

“Owen Reed has my dad!” Marissa sounded like she was running. She ranted on about how Reed lured her father to the Harver Senate Office building.

“Where are you?” Viktor cut in.

“He said if I wanted to see my father alive—”

“WHERE ARE YOU?” Viktor shouted down the phone. Marissa paused, snapping out of her panic.

“I’m at the lobby of the Harver Senate Building,” she said in a more sedate voice.

“Stay there, I’m on my way.”

“But—”

“Iz. We talked about this. They’re going to fuck with us. We do this together. You got me?”

“Okay.”

*****

“Lockwood and McCord are en-route to the Capitol. Manning and Connelly are meeting up with Edmunds and Stark at Union Station,” Tim said as Viktor emerged from the Charger. He recognized the head of the U.S. Capitol police walking toward him. A trickle of people were descending the steps of the building.

“Baran.”

“Captain,” Viktor acknowledged. He popped the trunk and started gearing up.
 

“We have a hostage situation.”

“The hostiles have a man hostage, I know.”

“No. Armed masked men have the entire top floor sealed off.”

“What? Who’s on the top floor?”

“Senator Goodman, Senator Robinson, and their aides.”

Viktor cursed. Those were the senators involved in the National Security task force.
 

“We were told it was SK nerve gas. That’s the same toxin that hit the Cinemaplex?” the captain asked.

“Yes,” Viktor said. “Has there been any indication that the gas had been released?”

“No, not yet.”

“What’s the plan on rescuing the hostages on the top floor?”

“We’ve got a SWAT team on it.”

Viktor nodded. When he lowered the hood of the trunk, he spied Marissa and Agent Olsen walking rapidly toward him. He handed Marissa a mask.
 

Facing the captain, he pointed to the Guardian. “This is Agent Olsen. You have any questions about the SK nerve gas, she will be your point of contact. I’m heading in to try and neutralize the chemical weapon and will let you know when it’s safe for your men to secure the area. Do you have sketches of the men we’re after?”

“Yes. An Owen Reed and Henry Logan,” the captain replied. “Can’t believe our own citizens are terrorizing our nation.”

“Have you informed Tim on the new developments about the hostages?” Viktor asked Olsen.

“Just did.”

Viktor motioned for Marissa to walk with him.

“Heard anything back from Reed?”

“He’s not happy that the evacuation alarm sounded,” Marissa said. “He’s in the basement where the building’s electrical and ventilation controls are located. He wants me in exchange for my father.”

“How the fuck did they get past the guards?” Viktor said. “There’s been heightened security since the first attack on the federal buildings.”

Marissa didn’t answer and continued walking. Viktor pulled on her arm to stop her, grabbed her shoulders, and stared down at her.

“Is your head in this?”

“Of course it is,” Marissa snapped.

“Iz, we may have to make difficult decisions in there.”

Her lower lip trembled before it set firmly. “I know.”

They continued through the service entrance and sidled down the stairs leading to the basement. The surveillance camera hung loosely from the corner, a hole through its casing, the casualty of a gunshot.

Just as they reached the bottom of the stairs, the basement door opened. Viktor motioned Marissa behind him. Reed’s henchman stepped through. Viktor immediately caught him in a strangle hold, cutting off blood supply to his brain and rendering him unconscious. Marissa caught the basement door before it slammed close. They immediately bound the man’s hands and feet with flex ties.

A few steps inside the maintenance room, a rolling cart was set up against a wall. Inspecting its contents, they found suit jackets and counted four. Reed and his men were going to walk out like regular Capitol workers. That also indicated maybe three more hostiles inside.

They continued stealthily through the din of heavy machinery. Soon, they heard voices.

“This should do it.”
 

“Let’s get out of here.”

“What will we do with him?”

“We’ll figure it out when we’re clear.”

Viktor felt Marissa stiffen beside him, but her face remained calm. They moved closer and spied Reed and another man. Trenton Cole was bound and gagged, sitting in one corner. Where’s the third man?

Viktor’s hackles rose but he was too late. They heard the cocking of the pistol behind them.

“Don’t move.”

Viktor could have easily disarmed the man before him, but with the hostage situation, that was not an option. The man pushed him and Marissa forward after relieving them of their weapons. The two canisters gleamed ominously before them. Trenton Cole’s eyes widened, and filled with tears. He shouted what sounded like a muffled “No!” through the gag. Logan had a gun pointed to her father’s head.

“I was beginning to think you didn’t care for your father, Ms. Cole,” Reed drawled.

“Fuck you!” Marissa snarled.

“This is even better. You brought Baran with you,” Reed continued with relish. “Now I have to improvise on my boss’s plan of revenge because as you both can see,” he nodded to the canisters, “the clock is ticking.”

“Get to the point, Reed,” Viktor said icily.

“I will. It’s just too . . .” Reed sighed. “Tragic.”

He pulled a heavy chain and a padlock from the floor. “The original plan was to leave Ms. Cole here and have her suffocate by nerve gas, using her father as leverage and our ticket to escape. But since you’ve decided to join us, we’ll leave you too. Romantic, don’t you think?”

“Yes. Very,” Viktor replied sarcastically.

“However, I’m feeling benevolent,” Reed continued. “I’ll give you two a chance to stop the canisters from going off.”

Viktor eyed the timer. Less than five minutes.

“Clock’s ticking, asshole. If you guys are planning on getting out of here alive, you all best get moving,” Viktor said.

Reed smirked and walked forward, snatching away the gas masks and pouches of atropine from them. It was then that Viktor started feeling the inkling of panic. Not for himself, but for Marissa.

“As I said, I’m feeling benevolent,” Reed repeated, his voice laced with malice. “I’ll leave one injector behind. Test of true love, don’t you think?”

“You bastard,” Marissa cursed.

“
Either you both choose to die, or maybe one would rather live than die for the other.”

Reed nodded to Logan to move ahead with Trenton Cole. “Good luck.”

*****

The moment Reed turned the corner from where they were, Marissa and Viktor sprang into action. Reed didn’t take away their tool belt, so Viktor immediately worked on the trigger. They’d been through this exercise before. A building’s ventilation system was the most effective way to deliver the deadly agent, so they would either shut it down or reverse the airflow. The plan was to reverse the airflow to keep the gas contained within the basement as much as possible just in case an entrance was breached.

Thankfully, Marissa was familiar with the equipment used in the Senate Building. Not since the zee bomb mission had she felt a strange calm mixed with an underlying panic.

“How are you doing, Iz? We’ve got three and a half minutes,” Viktor called out to her.

“Almost there,” Marissa replied, punching in the code when it prompted her, she pushed the red button and yanked down on the lever. Almost instantly, a screeching sound echoed through the basement as the system ground in reverse.

“Done!” Marissa declared as she crouched down beside Viktor, who was studying a network of wires before him.
 

“This trigger is different,” Viktor said finally. “Open the other one.”

Marissa did as she was told and pulled out the control panel of the second canister. Viktor cursed a blue streak. It was identical to the first one.

“They took our phones,” he said rhetorically, and Marissa caught a hint of desperation in his voice.

Two minutes.

After studying the circuitry some more, Viktor told her he was pretty sure it was a choice between the blue wire and the green wire, among the multitude of colored wires. If the wrong wire was cut first, severing the second wire would have no effect.

Viktor cut the green one. The timer continued counting down.

“Fuck!” he exploded. He grabbed the blue wire on the second canister and snipped it. The timer on that one stopped.
 

Viktor yanked Marissa to her feet. “Let’s get out of here.”

She followed Viktor even though she was certain Reed had sealed them in. But that didn’t seem to faze her man. He ordered her to stand aside and hauled back, planting a shoulder against the heavy basement door. It vibrated, but didn’t budge.
 

“Goddamn it,” Viktor shouted and tried again. Marissa’s heart was breaking with the knowledge that he was desperate to save her. She wanted to tell him to take the atropine. He was stronger and had the better chance of surviving until help came, but she knew if Viktor watched her die, it would destroy him. She was conflicted because she would do anything for him to live.