Everything to Lose (29 page)

45

BRTKPharma
Factory
,
Prague

Zoe and her group stopped and dropped low for cover in the reception area. Toni closed the entrance door behind them. They crouched against a wooden panelled wall. They extracted their weapons and fitted suppressors. Zoe had her favourite 9 mm Browning HP handgun with a 13 round mag. The others had standard issue 9 mm Sig Sauer P226 handguns with 15 round mags.

Haggis
had also managed to grab a MP-5K compact submachine gun with a short 15 round mag. Zoe had grabbed communication earbuds and she distributed them. Luckily she had grabbed a dozen because two of them had flat batteries.

Pavel
had told them earlier that thermal imaging suggested two people on the upper floor were workmen moving and stacking boxes. Zoe told her group she wanted them to sweep both floors then converge on Gavin's position in a room in the northwest corner.

Zoe
decided Vindanson would have sent Oscar to do the upstairs clearance so Toni and Haggis were tasked upstairs to neutralise Oscar. Seasy and Biffo were tasked to clear the production hall, dining hall en route to Shawlens. Zoe told Bazzer they would converge on Shawlens, her from the front and him from the back. Bazzer hurried out of the front door and ran around to the back of the building.

As
they moved to the connecting door between reception and the large hallway they looked at the slumped body of the receptionist hidden partially by her desk, headshot. Toni and Haggis were first through the door and darted to the stars on the left-hand side. With their backs against the wall they moved smartly up the stairs, weapons pointed upwards. The others entered the hall.

Two
metres along the hall on the right was the door into the dining room. Seasy peered through the round porthole window on the bottle green door while Biffo covered his back. Three seconds later they were inside.

Zoe
looked down the long wide corridor. It was forty metres long divided by two sets of double swing fire doors. One at twenty metres before another wide corridor veered right that led to the production and processing halls. The second double swing fire door was a further twenty metres along before that opened into a narrow corridor that turned right and led to the offices and labs. This was where Shawlens was being held.

The
PA system piped out familiar pop music tunes but with lyrics in Czech. It added an eerie background echo in the halls and corridors. Zoe reached the second double-swing fire door and she was about to go through it when Seasy spoke through the ear buds.

"Dining
hall clear. Three civilians down, headshots," Seasy said.

Seasy
and Biffo retraced their steps back into the wide hall then headed for the production hall. Toni and Haggis crouched down outside the swing doors that led into the upper floor storage halls. She hand-signalled Haggis to say she would dive left give covering fire and he should follow and dive right for cover.

Toni
crashed into the hall, tripped over a two-fork low profile pallet truck and landed on her side just as Oscar was making his way to the swing doors. Oscar fired one headshot at Toni while she was falling then Haggis pushed into the hall almost standing face to face with Oscar. Out of the corner of his eye Haggis saw Toni's blood down one side of her face.

Oscar
raised his hand and fired before Haggis could bring the MP-5K to bear on Oscar. Haggis pounded back through the swing doors. Oscar hurried his step to finish Haggis off. With his arm outstretched to push through the swing doors Toni fired a round into the right side of Oscar's head.

Seasy
and Biffo darted from one machine to the next as they worked their way down the production hall. They had reached halfway when Seasy was fired on as he changed position. It was Petko he'd seen Vindanson attack people in the dining hall. He slipped out through a side door in the kitchen and made his way to the production hall.

He
exchanged fire with Seasy. Biffo kept quiet and outflanked Petko while the gunfire exchanged. When Biffo had a good shot he took it and Petko fell. When it was over Seasy realised he had a small flesh wound on his arm from one of Petko's shots.

Zoe
peered through the port hole window on the double-swing fire door. She saw offices on the left-hand side of the narrow corridor and labs on the right hand side of the corridor. She could just see a single fire door ten metres down the corridor. Shawlens was not far beyond that fire door. She felt a strong urge to run to him.

She
checked her Browning HP again. It's a single action pistol so the hammer must be cocked before firing the first round. Her Browning was cocked and ready for fast aim and fire.

Every
one of the tiny hairs on her body sprang to attention as unusual noises in the narrow corridor alarmed her senses. Vindanson was searching this corridor. No time to lose in case he reached Shawlens first. She burst through the double swing door and collided hard with Vindanson as he came through an office on the left. They bounced off each other and fell to the floor.

Her
Browning fell as her hand hit the suppressor of his mini-Uzi. He landed on his right side and tried to swing his right hand around but the extra bulk and length of the suppressor slowed his reaction and gave her enough time to jump on him and get her left hand on the suppressor while butting him on the side of his head.

He
landed on his left side. He reached with his right hand, grabbed and squeezed her upper left arm and at the same time brought his right knee up and pounded her left side. The wound she received at Ardwell Bay screamed in pain as his powerful fingers crushed her wound. She fell to the side and released her grip of the suppressor.

Before
she knew it he was behind her kneeling on his right knee. His upright left knee pushing into her back. His arms around her head in a death lock, her body pulled back against his knee. His powerful arms pressed her head down. The crook of his left elbow pressed hard into her neck and his right hand pushed the right side of her face. He pulled her hard into his body to restrict her movement.

"Curse
your boss Zoe. Curse him for sending you on a job with a weak arm."

He
had total control and as his arm tightened into her neck she began to feel weak as her windpipe crushed. She strained hard to keep her neck rigid against his force. She knew when she relaxed he would rapidly jerk his body into the lock and snap her neck.

"How
does it feel, eh Zoe?"

Her
face turned red and she felt her head exploding as the strength of his grip restricted the blood flow away from her head. The strain in her neck resisting his force was becoming unbearable.

"I
always knew I could take you."

She
couldn't speak. She felt the life slipping from her body.

"I
envy you Zoe. You're about to find out the truth. Is it all a load of crap made up by the wise weak to control the stupid strong? What do you believe Zoe? Is the white light coming for you? Is it beautiful? I will tell you this Zoe. It is coming for your precious SLIP One."

46

BRTKPharma
Factory
,
Prague

Zoe's consciousness was slipping away as a vision of her brother Michael jumped into her mind. He looked sprightly and active as he was before he lost his legs to an IED in Afghanistan. It was as if he was standing over her now, looking down. His face looked angry like the time when they were kids on the beach at Scarborough. She was larking about as usual and had dropped her ice cream cone on the sand so she quickly grabbed his and ran off. His face was a picture.

He
reached out his hand as if to pull her onto her feet. His fingers slipped through hers and touched the ring on her finger. With one last gasp she grabbed Vindanson's hand and pressed it as hard as she could.

"That's
it Zoe. Fight for your last breath, die like a man. Go harder, die ... like ..."

Vindanson
released his grip, stood up and staggered back. He looked at the small ball of blood forming on his hand.

"Clever
... bitch ... ugh."

Vindanson
fell backwards onto his back. Zoe gasped for breath. Her hands were shaking as she drew her brother's ring from her finger. Breathing deeply she started to recover. She lifted her Browning and the feel of her gun in her hand seemed to recharge her body.

She
turned onto her knees to try and get onto one foot but was frightened to move her head. Had the bastard dislocated her neck? Gently she rotated her head and huge relief surged as she felt no sharp pain. A few more head movements and deep breaths then she got onto her feet. She looked at Vindanson's body rigid with paralysis.

"Did
you see the light Herman? I think not."

She
looked around for her ear bud. It had fallen on the ground during the struggle. She found it near Vindanson's body.

"Toni.
Report," Zoe called out.

Toni
didn't respond.

"Bazzer.
Report."

"All
secure boss. One hostile down. Shawlens safe and secure, over," Bazzer replied.

"Sit
tight Bazzer. I'll come to you."

"Seasy
and Biffo get upstairs. Fast!" Zoe ordered.

Zoe
had sent Bazzer around to the back of the building. Aerial thermal images of the building showed one person confined to a single room off a corridor leading from the back door of the building. It had to be Shawlens.

Bazzer
had burst in through the door and shot a man running along the dark corridor towards him. It was Yordan and Bazzer let out a loud sigh of relief when he looked over the body and found Yordan was armed.

Bazzer
took Yordan's gun from his waistband and laid it beside his hand. He was glad Yordan was armed because Bazzer didn't see a weapon, call out a warning, or give Yordan a moment to surrender. There would be fewer awkward questions and less paperwork if the man had drawn his weapon. It wasn't until later that he thought it could have been Shawlens making his escape down the corridor. Lucky.

Zoe
hurried along the corridor until she saw Bazzer and Gavin Shawlens standing inside the room where he had been held. He limped over to her and gave her a strong hug to show he was very glad to see her. When their heads were close together he whispered thanks into her ear. A tear that ran down his face rolled over her cheek. He had given up hope.

She
asked about his leg and he told her about the injection into his leg muscle. He said he needed to pack his leg with ice and avoid using his leg muscles. Gavin told her the drug could produce surplus phosphate in his leg if he used the muscles. He said rest and an ice pack would keep the levels low until his body had time to eliminate the drug. Zoe told Bazzer to fetch ice from the kitchen and crutches from the medics.

"Boss.
Haggis is down, it's serious. Toni is hit but she'll be fine. One hostile down," Seasy said through the communication bud.

"Contact
Pavel let him know the building is clear, get the medics in here," Zoe ordered.

Pavel
and the Czech driver arrived with two Czech policemen carrying the dead body from the street in a black bag. Pavel showed Zoe the dead man's driving licence. He was a local Czech gun for hire. Pavel looked over at Vindanson, no blood, no wounds, he looked rigid with paralysis.

Zoe
told Pavel her boss would replace the damaged equipment in the HARC van. Pavel said there was no need because his unit would gain great praise for killing Vindanson. Innocent Czech factory workers had died in Vindanson's house clearance. Pavel said Vindanson and his men in body bags were payment enough.

Pavel
had called his base and within ten minutes the warehouse was swarming with Czech Special Forces and Útvar Rychlého Nasazení (URN) the elite anti-terrorist unit of Czech police. They took the fallen weapons into custody and put the fallen bodies into black body bags.

No
need for CSI in this situation although a URN officer took numerous photographs for their records. They all gathered in the dining room. Field medics attended to Toni and Seasy. They looked much worse than they were. Haggis was stretchered out to a waiting ambulance for rapid transport to the Central Military Hospital in Prague. Surgeons and hospital staff waited to save his life.

The
dead lay just inside the hall in the distinctive black pouches. Vindanson and his two men lay in one group. The Bulgarians and their factory workers lay in another group. They found Georgi in the office that Vindanson had been in when Zoe collided with him. His head was beaten and he had been shot in the head after he told Vindanson where to find Shawlens. Oscar had killed the two men upstairs as they worked.

When
Zoe first saw Toni she gasped at the amount of blood on her face and down her neck. She rushed to her side.

"Let
me see."

Toni
eased the field dressing off her face for Zoe to see. Each time she screwed her eyes shut and opened them wide she could feel the sides of the cut flapping. The cut started above the middle of her left eyebrow and ran for almost two inches in parallel with her eyebrow. Toni had dramatic eyebrows. Her mum had stopped her plucking them when she was a teenager. Now the left eyebrow looked even more dramatic.

"You'll
have a scar. It won't be horrendous. Actually it'll look pretty cool. Really."

"You
think?"

"Oh
yes definitely a hulk magnet. I'm thinking I'll get one done."

They
laughed together and hugged like long lost sisters. Glad to see each other, glad to be alive.

"
Boss you're hit," Toni said when she felt Zoe's blood on her fingers.

"It's my arm. Vindanson opened the wound. That's all."

The dining hall resounded with joyful back clapping and reminiscing of past Special Forces ops. Some of the Czech people knew Toni and Zoe so friendly faces surrounded them as they all loudly remembered some of the daring and dangerous work they had all done for their country.

Gavin
Shawlens sat at Georgi Kremova's desk rifling through the paperwork putting to one side the files he would take away. Bazzer was still at his side, weapon at the ready, with instructions from Zoe to stay on him and trust no-one.

When
the excitement and banter dissipated Zoe walked over to a window and stood alone, arms folded, eyes narrowed, staring out through the window at the Prague traffic outside. Pavel came to speak to her.

"Zoe
my boss is asking how Vindanson's body got paralysed."

"Pavel
I need a favour. Tell him that's how I found him. Tell him I saw one of the Bulgarians running away from his body. He must have done something I didn't see what. Please."

"Okay
it's your business. He's dead that's all that matters," Pavel said with a note of disappointment that Zoe didn't confide in him.

He
expected she had good reason so he told her lies to his boss. Toni spotted Zoe at the window, went to her side and bent her head to look at Zoe's face. She saw shock on Zoe's face when she should be smiling. Shawlens is safe and the job ran well apart from Haggis. The Czech's were cool. Then she noticed a white tidemark around Zoe's finger where her ring used to be.

"Boss
what happened to your ring?"

Zoe
looked forlorn at her finger and shook her head to mean it didn't matter. Toni saw that Zoe was distracted.

"What's
up boss? Thought you'd be over the Moon we got the silly tit back in one piece."

"Vindanson."

"How do you think he got rigid like that?" Toni asked.

"How
did he know we were here?"

Zoe
knew Vindanson kept himself legal. He worked only for sovereign governments and their agencies. He never undertook work that would conflict with any government national interests. He didn't ever want to become a government target and in fact he'd been contracted by many government agencies to take out illegal groups on home soil and abroad.

Often
Vindanson required that he and his men be sworn in by a host nation as special police officers to ensure he had a legal right to act on their soil. Vindanson working in Prague; was he legal. What does this mean? The questions kept popping into the front of her mind while the back of her mind was hunting for answers.

"Y'think
someone pissed on us?" Toni asked.

"That's
obvious."

"The
Czechs?"

"Maybe.
Vindanson's timing was just too perfect."

Toni
watched Zoe's face settle in to an expression of intense thought.

"What
is it boss?"

"Can't
be sure but when Vindanson had my head locked. I think I heard him say Gavin's radio designation SLIP One."

"That's
impossible boss. You made up these codes. Only you, me and Scott use them for this mission," Toni said and there was a defensive tone in her voice.

To
make communications easier for Toni and Scott. Zoe had designated Gavin as SLIP One, Rolley as SLIP Two and Elaine as SLIP Three.

"As
I said I can't be sure, but ..."

"What
was Vindanson's doing here anyway?"

"He
said he had a house clearance job."

"House
clearance. So Shawlens would have been collateral damage?"

"I
know, seems a helluva coincidence," Zoe said.

"Shit.
Y'think he was after Shawlens?"

"Vindanson
is major league. Very good and very expensive. It has to be something big, worth his price and his conditions. Shawlens has no value as a kill."

"Barscadden
could afford a big hitter. Maybe he hired him."

"I
don't think so Toni. Something isn't sitting right. Maybe the Bulgarians had backers who want to wipe the slate clean."

"So
it's not over then, boss."

"There's
another player. Hiding in the shadows. We need to watch our backs."

"Roger
that boss. I'll alert Scott."

"Maybe
Ivan can tell us who else is involved."

Zoe
called Alan Cairn. She told him she had retrieved Gavin Shawlens and piles of detail on the backfired research. She started to tell him about Herman Vindanson. Alan interrupted and she heard his solemn voice, his bad news voice. He told her Scott and Ivan Fillipovar were dead.

Toni
turned back when she heard the loud gasp for breath. She saw Zoe's head jerk back. She saw the quivered bottom lip, the look of horror and she knew. Zoe pulled Toni to her and they hugged tightly as emotional tension snapped and tears rolled down their faces.