Retaliation

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Command Container, Siberia

The pod landed two kilometers away from the container. If there was a chance that the Russians could localize the radar signature of the pod, there was no point in making the task easier for them.

“So what is so important that you were called in? I know I don’t like rigorous interrogation techniques, but if you are getting a site or location, you can confirm it. If it’s a ticking clock situation same deal. I have done it in the past. Besides, how did they get their hands on him?” Boris asked.

“Which question do you want to be answered first?” Dan responded with a grin.

“How they got him.”

“Well, they received some intelligence from one of the groups. It seems that he had a cover job as security for a brothel. One of the regular visitors came in on a set schedule accompanied by two guards in uniforms with NVG flashes. So Janna went in as if she were looking for work. After knocking out the brothel owner, she killed the two guards and with our man’s help left the building with the visitor. He was threatening her with how she’d be tortured when his boss came to retrieve him. Danislav helped her get him back to the command container.”

“Since it isn’t moving anytime soon, outside of an emergency, the entrenched team has moved the beds to the side of the container and set up tents and camouflage netting for more concealment. Inside of all of that, they’ve left the captive chained to a chair most of the day. A heavy, metal chair. Paul wanted to interrogate him immediately, but instead Janna has been questioning him eighteen hours a day for three days straight. She’s pulled a lot of information out of him. Apparently, the leader is a man with terrifying eyes called Konrad.”

Boris’s face took on a grim cast. He knew of only one vampire with that name. One of David’s children. Boris had personally killed two of his brothers in the Great Patriotic War which complicated things. It meant there might be a personal aspect to this whole situation. Vampires could plan for centuries before taking revenge. Peter had assured Boris he had not revealed his identity to anyone but Michael, but could it have slipped out somehow?

Then he suddenly realized a part that was just as worrying. Janna had gone through the mission practically alone.

His eyes stretching wide, Boris started immediately to bitch, “What in the nine hells were those diaper wearing dipstick fuckers thinking? Letting her go on a mission like that with practically no backup? It was too dangerous. I swear I will find a way to make my displeasure known about their ill-judged, reckless…” Boris’s rant was interrupted by a chuckle from Dan.

“You have it bad, Boris,” he said.

Boris stopped his tirade to stare at Dan. “What do you mean?”

“You are in love, my friend.” He held up his hand to forestall Boris. “I’ve seen this reaction from a Were before. When Ecatrina told Nathan that she wanted to be part of active operations, he hit the ceiling. Get it under control before you see her. Otherwise, it will get messy. I reviewed the mission and the plan was solid. They had an inside man, who has gone to ground, by the way. He was in far more danger than Janna. She’s capable and a Werebear now. The job was a piece of cake.”

Boris blinked. After actually listening to Dan and thinking for a minute, he realized that Dan was right. But that only brought up another problem. With a hint of despair in his voice, he asked “What am I going to do? It isn’t appropriate for me to be in a relationship with my second-in-command. I’ll have to request a…”

Dan interrupted again. “As long as you don’t let it affect your job, Bethany Anne won’t care. Think about it. Nathan and Ecaterina, John and Jean Dukes, Stephen and Jennifer, although don’t you mouth a word about that last couple. If Bethany Anne thinks I let that slip, my ass is grass. Just keep doing your jobs and it won’t be a problem.”

Dan paused and considered his next recommendation, “I think you need to go talk to her when we get there. I can work over the man with Paul or Danislav, and if we still aren’t getting anywhere we’ll call for a bear and one of you can change and see what that does to loosen his tongue. If pain doesn’t work, fear might be just the tool we need.”

Boris shook his head. “Ask Paul. He has some experience. Sometimes we’ve had to convince a Forsaken’s human lackey to give him up. Paul figured out early on how much I disliked it, so he offered to take the task. He doesn’t enjoy it, but views it as sometimes necessary. Danislav finds it nearly as distasteful as I do.”

When they entered the container, it was to see Paul making a production of laying down and hanging plastic around the chair to which the prisoner fastened. He looked up to Dan and Boris and said “Okay boss, ready to go in a minute or two. Wasn’t expecting you quite yet. Just give me a bit more time so the cleanup is easier.

Dan caught on quickly and answered “Sure. Janna, your methods didn’t work, so why don’t you take a walk with Boris? He needs to get the bear ready in case I need it. I’m not blaming you, but this rigorous stuff takes a different edge is all. You pulled a fair amount out of him your way. Now, because he’s a stubborn ass, I was sent. So we do it my way now.”

Paul looked at the prisoner and treated him to a vicious grin. “I’ve got the assistant covered, Janna. Just help Boris prepare the bear, will ya? One way or another, we’ll probably need ‘im. Either to clean up the corpse or to start at this fellow’s tootsies if he stays stubborn.”

Dan took a pair of leather gloves out of his pocket “Yes. We need to find out where this Konrad is, after all.”

Boris and Janna left. Janna was a little confused, and once they were out of earshot she asked “Is it really necessary? I mean, it might get us the information faster than I could, but I was hoping for one of those that can force the truth out. Like Bethany Anne did to me.”

Boris shrugged “They were all busy I’d imagine. Dan used to assist in operations to take out Forsaken vampires. I’m sure this isn’t his first interrogation. Besides, not all vampires can do what you want. I imagine they are mostly busy, which is why they sent Dan. I have faith that he will be able to tell if someone is telling the truth or not. Vampire or not, he has the experience.”

Paul finished hanging the plastic. He started pulling out a few things. A circular saw, a chisel, and hammer and finally a cricket bat.

Dan looked them over, lifting an eyebrow in query. Paul shrugged and explained, “I haven’t got everything I’d like, but we can make do with this. It would be better to have a dentist on hand, to be honest. For some reason, having teeth drilled without anesthetic gets most people talking. I have one dentist on the way, but the sooner we get the information, the sooner we can act.”

Dan pointed to the bat, “Why the cricket bat? I’ve always preferred a solid Louisville Slugger.”

“A baseball bat is for amateurs. Look at who uses them most often. Criminals, like the mob. You can do more with a cricket bat.” Paul turned to the man tied to the chair. His knee was conveniently clear of the arms. “You see, you can cause pain without permanent incapacitation.” He swung the flat of the bat against the knee. The prisoner screamed once, but there wasn’t the sound of breaking bones. “Or you can permanently damage them.” He swung the bat edgewise at the knee. There was a solid crunch of breaking kneecap. The screams, this time, lasted a lot longer. “Besides, there are what, three or four countries where baseball is more popular than cricket? So you usually have more access to a cricket bat.” Dan thought Paul’s reasoning was impeccable, but the argument might unnerve the prisoner.

Dan pantomimed swinging an American baseball bat, “There’s just something more balanced about a baseball bat. It’s more comfortable to use.”

Paul shrugged his shoulders, not giving an inch to Dan’s argument, “It’s all in practice, mate. You get used to it pretty quickly once you begin.”

Dan turned to the prisoner. “You know, we can just keep going until you volunteer the information. My boss even gave me some stuff to heal up things like that so we can go again and again. Your choice.”

The prisoner spat on the floor “I do not fear you as much as I do Konrad. You have no idea what I’ve seen him do.”

“What? Let me guess. Drink the blood outta someone’s neck when they failed him? Rip off someone’s arm? Yeah, I have a fair idea. I’ve been fighting people like him for more than twenty long-ass years.” Considering how much younger than his real age he appeared, there was no need to disrupt the interrogation by saying he had actually hunted them for thirty years.

Paul swung the flat against the other knee and ignored the screams, waiting a few seconds for them to die down before he turned to Dan “Only twenty? Damn, I’ve been doing it for twenty-five.” The prisoner was trying to keep his sobs down, but failing miserably.

The prisoner looked shaken “You are just humans. I’ve seen a man change into a wolf. Another into a leopard. Nothing you can do will scare me.”

Paul said conversationally. “Oh, I didn’t know cats were possible. I mean Boris there can turn into a nine-hundred kilo bear, but a cat is a new one on me.”

Dan grunted “There are rumors. Never seen one myself. Still, I think a bear is scarier. I mean fuck, Boris was flipping trucks on the last combat mission I went on.” He turned to the prisoner “You know that refinery that your boys were guarding? It only took two of us to take them out. Me and Boris. That was it. If that’s the best your Konrad can throw at us, I’m not really worried. There were ten wolves in that group — they went down like wheat at reaping time.”

Paul chuckled and tapped the other knee with the flat of the bat again. Another set of screams. “So why did Bethany Anne send you?”

“Need to keep my skills sharp. If we can drag the info out of this spunking fuck knuckle.” He held out his hand for the bat and drove it into the prisoner’s groin. A scream with some sobbing ensued. “After all, when we hit space we might need to resort to torture. We’re fairly sure we’ll be able to tell if someone is lying. But forcing it out of them like she can on humans? We just don’t know. And most skills tend to fall by the wayside if you don’t use them.”

Paul turned to their prisoner, “You ready to talk yet? I’m enjoying the workout, but if you wanna talk then I’m happy to pause for a bit. At least, if it is the truth coming out of your mouth.”

The prisoner looked at him, a mix of mild fear and great hatred in his eyes. His mouth remained firmly shut.

“Well, looks like we keep going with the workout.” Paul slapped the guy across the face. “I’m sure once the dentist starts you’ll talk, but we may as well keep having our fun.”

Boris looked at Janna. Really looked at her. After more than a week of large meals and steady exercise her body had filled out. (A little bird called Nathan had told him about Alexi training Janna while he was away.) Her original tall, willowy body was now slightly taller, with fuller hips, and a perfectly fantastic gait.

He found it hard to concentrate around her. When he closed his eyes, he could think of how much he liked and respected her. Her input on military matters was well-founded and her intelligence was impressive. However, when he saw her, smelled her, his body took over. The sway of her ass was mesmerizing. Her long red-blonde hair was entrancing. His hormones and attraction collided with his respect for her abilities until he could not seem to think objectively.

Trying to find some balance, he attempted to think objectively. Her bust was, honestly, larger than he usually found physically attractive. That made no difference to his thoughts or feelings. He had learned over the past four hundred years that it was the person, not the body that was truly important. And she was an entrancing, intoxicating person to him on multiple levels and to his head, heart and hormones.

The two of them both started talking at the same time. Janna broke off in a burst of laughter that sounded like sweet-toned bells. “You first,” she said with a smile on her face.

He drew her into a hug and said “I think my time away has given me some perspective. Janna, if you are willing, I would like to see where ‘us’ will head. No pressure, beyond doing our jobs as well as we have been. But I missed you, worried about you horribly, while I was gone. When I found out what you had done while I was…”

She interrupted his sentence with a hungry, aggressive kiss. Breaking the touch of her lips on his, she laid a gentle finger to his mouth. “Don’t spoil it by saying something like ‘you were angry.’ Or you wish I hadn’t done it. It was simply part of the job. I will not have you saying what I can and cannot do, ignoring the fact that I am a grown woman.” She waved her free hand up and down her body, illustrating her point. “A woman who has done this kind of work for five years. I was the best person to send. Danislav did object, just so you know.” She frowned, thinking about it, “Paul, if anything, encouraged me.”

Boris shrugged and commented, “I am honestly not sure how Paul’s brain really works. Even in the UnknownWorld, many fear me. He never has. He is always pragmatic to the point of sociopathy when on a mission or a job.”

“Balancing that, he shows a level of empathy with his family and friends many others cannot match. He is in many ways a cipher. Paul is only able to look at the pros and cons based on the mission requirements. He’s never been able to look at the overall impact on an operation, though. Just the individual tasks. But he is brilliant in his work.”

“I was going to say that after Dan had laughed at my reaction, I was forced to look at the mission pragmatically. You were right to go, and I am proud that you did so with success and flair. I am proud of you and your abilities.”

He kissed her on the forehead, and she dragged him down into a hug and a deeper kiss. They lost all sense of time locked in each other’s scent, kiss, and embrace.

After they had proved to the prisoner that they were willing to heal his injuries and go back again to the interrogation, he was more willing to talk. The nanite-infused liquid that Bethany Anne and TOM had provided to Dan increased the agony of the repeated questioning and proved a painful point. They obviously were happy to keep going, and Paul’s repeated references to a dentist and the supposed timeline had an intensified effect.

Janna and Boris were broken out of their enjoyment of each other by Paul calling out to them “He’s singing like a bird! I think you want to hear this, Boris.”

The broken man gave descriptions of the three sites that Konrad used to base his operations and admitted that there was somewhere in the north near Finland that Konrad spent time. They also found out that Konrad had various Weres captured on these bases and was using them to improve his most loyal followers. With a success rate of about one in ten. Apparently, he didn’t want to create a potential competitor as strong as he was. Once they had the locations and grid references, ADAM did his magic. They confirmed that one was serving as a comms node, and was, therefore, the most likely place for Konrad to be at this time.

Paul was all for organizing a full press assault on the base. Boris and Danislav were not precisely against this, but agreed that there should be a better solution. Dan left them discussing it, since he didn’t really have a good handle on the capabilities of Boris’s people. Besides, he needed to get back and report. Things were showing signs of breaking loose in too many places for him to be comfortable spending time away from the base in Australia unnecessarily. Boris had things well in hand here.

Bottom line, though, events in Russia still had the potential to go so completely FUBAR that he needed to report to Bethany Anne and start contingency planning.

After Dan had left, discussions changed to how to draw forces out from the base by staging a closely-fought ambush on a convoy within twenty kilometers of the base. At worst, it would pull a portion of the guard force that could be the real ambush target. At best, Konrad would come himself.