Private Moscow

Chapter 112

Dinara crept around the server racks. She didn’t have long, and her options were limited. She couldn’t clear her plan with Jack, and in truth it wasn’t much of a plan, but pressure had made her desperate.

Once she reached the end of the row, she started jogging swiftly, moving silently between the racks. She kept looking right to see Jack and Kavanagh in a standoff. Passing up the rows made the scene flicker like a movie playing through an old projector, and Jack moved toward Kavanagh in jagged jump cuts. Dinara realized he couldn’t possibly see the pistol Kavanagh held behind her back.

When Dinara was to Kavanagh’s rear, she ran along the row, flanked by high cabinets on either side. She gathered speed as she reached the last rack, and was sprinting by the time she burst into the open space. Kavanagh looked startled, and tried to bring the pistol up, but she wasn’t quick enough, and Dinara tackled her.

They went down, and as Kavanagh tried to rise, Dinara smacked her with the pistol, and the Russian spy hit the floor, dazed.

“Find Veles,” Dinara said. “I’ll make her deactivate the system.”

“Now you’ve done it,” Kavanagh said in Russian. “The Secretary of Defense won’t be alive much longer. And neither will you.”

“Then there’s no point playing nicely,” Dinara replied.

She pressed her pistol into Kavanagh’s knee and pulled the trigger. The thunderous gunshot resounded around the room, and the older woman screamed. When her cries of agony had subsided, Dinara said, “Tell me how to deactivate the system or I’ll kill you by inches.”

Dinara glanced at Jack, who had frozen. He seemed shocked and torn.

A feeble cry came from their right.

“Go!” Dinara yelled.

Jack hesitated for a moment, and then started running.