Rasputin's Shadow

48

I pulled Ivan to his feet as the dark Mercedes SUV drove onto the lot and came to a stop behind our two vehicles.

Four men climbed out.

One of them was Mirminsky. The other three consisted of a tall blond guy with a dark scar across his cheek and two crew-cut soldiers. All three were armed with machine pistols.

The muscle covered us while Mirminsky stood front and center. There was about twenty yards between them and us.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I asked him, my Browning leveled at his head.

Aparo had his gun drawn too.

“Relieving you of a headache,” he said, glaring at Ivan. “Now, put your guns down, both of you. There’s no need for this. Besides, there are too many of us for you to handle.”

“He’s not a headache. He’s what I get paid to do. So how about you put the toys away, get back in your pimpmobile, and get the hell out of here so we can get the girl looked after,” I said as I gestured at Ae-Cha, who was still where she’d fallen. “And if you’re lucky and I’m feeling generous, maybe we can all forget this ever happened. Either way, I can tell you one thing: this asshole’s not walking away from this.”

The Sledgehammer smiled and shook his head. “You think I’m here to help him go free?”

I’d missed the nuance of his body language before then, but I wasn’t missing it now. Mirminsky was out for blood.

“He’s ours, Yuri.”

“What does that mean?” he asked. “You know what it means?” he continued, without giving me a chance to answer. “It means he’ll sit in some comfortable room while a bunch of guys in suits ask him a lot of questions, and given what he knows and who he is, he’ll end up making a deal. He’ll either get traded back to Moscow, where he’ll live like a king, or he’ll get a nice condo on Miami Beach and a big fat bank account in the Cayman Islands for telling you and your friends at Langley all kinds of fascinating things that will make you think you have an advantage in the pointless games you all play.”

“He’s not going to walk,” I insisted.

“Oh, please. You’re smarter than that, Reilly. You know how these things play out.”

I had to admit, he wasn’t spouting nonsense. Deep down, something within me squirmed with revulsion at the thought that what he described might actually happen. The idea was so repugnant to me, especially now, in the middle of the night, in this deserted lot, knowing everything the bastard had done. But I didn’t fully trust Mirminsky, and either way, there wasn’t much I could do about it, short of putting a bullet through the psycho’s head myself.

“Doesn’t change the fact that he’s coming with us,” I said flatly.

Mirminsky stared at me for a moment, then his expression soured, like he was really disappointed. He turned to the blond guy with the scar and tilted his head while murmuring something inaudible. Then, calmly, the blond swung his gun away from me and fired a short burst into the front tire of Aparo’s car, shredding it to ribbons. Then he pivoted around to face Ivan’s SUV and did the same.

The Sledgehammer meant business.

He gave me a bleak smile. “You’re not going anywhere.”

The soldiers continued to cover us while the blond walked out toward the van, no doubt to cripple it, too.

I swung my gun up so it was squarely aimed at Mirminsky’s head.

“We’ll take your car then,” I said. “Move aside.”

The blond stopped and turned as Mirminsky raised his hands. “Or what? You’re going to shoot me, an unarmed civilian? You’re going to shoot us all? Come on. Stop being stupid. Give him to me and walk away. Let me do to him what you know you can’t do.”

We were cornered. With seriously limited options.

Then Ivan finally spoke up.

He hissed something in Russian at Mirminsky, and though I couldn’t understand any of it, it sounded nasty and ominous. Mirminsky spat something back at him, uncowed.

The thought that maybe I should just let the Sledgehammer have Ivan and walk away crossed my mind. But I couldn’t do it.

“Yuri, think about what you’re doing. We’ll make your life hell.”

Mirminsky smiled. “Well, this last week hasn’t exactly been one big party for me, has it? And I have some very expensive lawyers who are really worth every penny.” His smile morphed into a dead-serious glare. “Okay, enough of this. What’s it going to be?”

Crunch time.

I studied their relative positions, then glanced over at Ivan. He was standing stock-still, his face expressionless.

Aparo looked over at me. We knew each other well enough to know what the other thought. We should out-bluff them, wait for backup, and take them all in. We had two cops huddled close by, probably unsure about what was going on and debating what move to make and when to make it. Backup had to be very close by now. But until they got here and gave us an undeniable advantage, I wasn’t keen on triggering a shoot-out. I didn’t want to lose more lives over that scumbag.

Mirminsky read me and nodded at the blond, who sauntered over to where I was holding Ivan. He stared down at Ivan haughtily. Then just as he reached us, three shots came out of nowhere and tore through the night.

I don’t know where two of them ended up, but the blond was hit from behind and folded to the ground, pulling Ivan down with him.

All eyes turned to the source of the shots, which was an indistinct shape a hundred yards away, up on its knees, handgun in a two-handed grip.

Jonny.

Teetering at the very edge of life.

The next minute was over in seconds.

One of Mirminsky’s soldiers fired two bursts at the young Korean, cutting him down-and the patrol car chose that exact moment to charge onto the lot.

Aparo and I both hit the ground, Aparo taking down the closest of Mirminsky’s goons as he rolled.

The cops exited the squad car, guns out, yelling at the other shooter to lie on the ground. He ignored them and unleashed furious bursts in their direction, hitting one of them in the shoulder. The cops dived for cover behind their vehicle as they fired back.

I looked over to where Ivan had been just a couple of seconds earlier, but he’d vanished.

I fired several shots at the second goon as he ducked for cover behind the Mercedes. None of them found their mark. Within seconds he popped out from behind the big SUV and unloaded most of a clip, first at me, then at the cruiser, peppering its grille with multiple hits and punching out its headlights.

Still pinned behind Aparo’s car, I heard the van’s engine churn to life. I glanced out to see the vehicle lurching forward.

Ivan. Had to be.

Mirminsky turned and fired several rounds into the van, but none hit the driver-and with the surviving goon still pinning us down under carefully timed bursts of fire, I could only watch as the van charged forward, headed straight for Mirminsky.

It hit him full force and swallowed him up under its front wheels like a vacuum cleaner. After about ten yards, the body broke loose and the van’s rear wheels bumped over it with a sickening squelch.

I aimed at the rear tires and emptied my clip to no avail as the van careened out of the lot and disappeared between the trees.

I couldn’t let him escape like that, but we were still taking heat from the fourth shooter.

“Go after the van, we’ll cover you” I shouted to the cops.

And with a big “Go!” I rose from behind my cover and unloaded a clip at the SUV, with Aparo doing the same-only for us to be gutted by the sound of a starter motor in severe distress.

The cruiser’s engine had taken one hit too many.

“Call backup,” I hollered, roiling with frustration. “Get them to seal off the park.”

Then I turned toward the shooter who was still huddled behind the Mercedes. I was desperate to get my hands on the SUV. As far as I could tell, it still looked operational, and it was the only way I could go after the van.

“Game’s over!” I yelled out to him. “It’s all over. You understand me? Throw down your weapon and come out with your hands up.”

It took him a tense minute to do so. A minute that felt like forever. Because by the time he finally chucked his weapon aside and came out with his arms up, it was pointless to go after the van.

We’d lost him.

Again.

And this time, we’d let him take exactly what he came for.