Black Widow

* * *

Moscow

'Stop Kumarin,' Viktor said.

Heart thundering, Sergei pressed the accelerator. The car surged forward. He'd parked just down the alley with the lights off and had escaped notice. Or maybe Kumarin didn't care.

His headlights fell across the women and he saw that they all wore body-concealing chadores. Astonishment flooded him.

'Those women…' he began.

'Are Chechen,' Viktor said. 'I know. Kumarin was selling the weapons to a Chechen terrorist named Taburova.'

Sergei had heard of Taburova. The man was a killer many times over.

'That doesn't make sense.' Sergei quickly overtook Kumarin's car.

'Kumarin wanted to frame the United States as being supporters of Taburova and his kind of terrorists in Chechnya. It's not so hard to imagine when you think of the big picture.' Viktor tapped his glass. 'Ram him.'

Sergei pulled the wheel hard and slammed into Kumarin's car. After the grating screech of metal against metal, the other car managed to pull away a few feet.

Without a word Viktor took out his pistol and fired through his window at the driver's side of the other car. Glass shattered and fell away as blood painted the inside of the vehicle.

'Armor-piercing rounds,' Viktor said. 'I always come prepared.'

Driverless, the car slammed against an alley wall and stalled. Sergei blocked it in with his vehicle, then he and Viktor clambered out.

Kumarin stumbled from the back of the other car holding his pistol. He fired and Sergei felt something hot and heavy slam into his left forearm. But he kept his pistol on target and methodically squeezed off rounds. His bullets drove Kumarin back, then one of Viktor's bullets almost decapitated him.

Turning around, Sergei was shocked to see the battle that had erupted behind him. Several men in black counter-terrorist uniforms attacked the Chechen rebels without mercy.

'Who are they?' Sergei asked.

'Our backup,' Viktor replied. 'You'll learn, my friend, that the people we work for never go anywhere unprepared.'

Sergei pointed at the woman chasing the car. 'Then why is she chasing that car?'

Viktor shrugged. 'That was something unforeseen.'

* * *

Ajza ran, stretching her stride out as much as she could. Taburova was distracted, reaching into his pocket for something. By the time she caught up with him, he had the remote detonator in his hand.

The arrival of the shock troops had caught Ajza off guard, but she knew that even if they defeated Taburova's men, the exploding Black Widows would kill them.

And Ilyas's baby. All that she had left of her brother.

With a cry of rage, her lungs burning and aching, Ajza lunged at the back of the car, landing on the trunk.

Taburova turned and saw her over his shoulder. He dropped the detonator and picked up his pistol. He aimed at pointblank range as Ajza threw herself onto the roof of the car. The initial barrage of bullets blew out the car's back window. Then Taburova finished off his magazine firing through the rooftop.

But by then Ajza had slid back down to the car's trunk. She stood precariously and stomped the broken glass from the car's window. She crawled through the hole and reached for Taburova, locking her forearm around his neck.

Taburova fought her with one hand. She applied more pressure, cutting off his air and closing down his carotid arteries. He released the wheel entirely and grabbed her forearm with both hands.

Screaming with inarticulate rage, knowing that if Taburova succeeded in throwing her from the vehicle he would set off the explosives, Ajza held on. The car careened out of control and struck a wall. She flew over the seat and her head shattered the front windshield. Even then she held on.

The car stopped moving, one bumper against the wall. Taburova fought only a moment longer, then unconsciousness claimed him at last.

Ajza wasted no time. She found and removed the batteries from the detonator, then crawled out of the wrecked car. Two men drove up in another car.

'FSB,' one of them said, holding up identification. He held a pistol in his other hand. He peered in through the window. 'Is he still alive?'

'Yes,' Ajza replied. 'But he doesn't deserve to be.'

Even when she'd been thinking of Ilyas and how Taburova had been responsible for her brother's death, she hadn't been able to kill him.

That was just who she was. And part of her was glad of that.

Epilogue

Leicester

'Ajza?'

'Yes.' Ajza turned her attention away from her parents' shop and glanced at Maaret, standing beside her.

For the past three days, they'd been involved in clearing up the mission in Moscow. Maaret and the baby had received medical attention, and both had checked out in good health. Ajza was more tired than she'd thought possible, but the whole time she'd looked forward to and dreaded telling her parents what she'd come to tell them.

'You are nervous?' Maaret asked.

'Yes. They're…well, they're my parents.'

Maaret studied the shop apprehensively. 'Are they not good parents?'

'They are good parents,' Ajza said quickly. 'Absolutely brill.' Then she realized she'd spoken in English and translated for the younger woman. 'It's just…they've been through a lot.'

'This is not a good time for them to meet Ilyas's son?'

Ajza was afraid of what seeing the baby would do to her parents. The little boy would remind them of Ilyas, as he did her, but the boy was also proof that Ilyas lived on.

Her cell phone rang and she answered it.

'What are you waiting for?' the woman asked.

Ajza recognized the voice at once.

'Are you just going to stand out there with that handsome baby and not show him to your parents?'

Shading her eyes, Ajza stared up at the sky. 'I figured you would have better things to do than spy on me.'

'It's a slow morning. We have those occasionally.'

'So in addition to being a spy, you're a busybody?'

The woman chuckled. 'I thought being a busybody was a prerequisite for spying.' She paused. 'Nervous?'

'Yes. I was trying to figure how best to do this.'

'It's family,' the woman said. 'There is no best and worst. Family just is. Finding out about your nephew is going to shock them, but it's also going to make them happy. He's a baby. Babies are the best kind of medicine. Trust me.'

'All right.'

'After a few days I'll be in touch,' the woman said. 'We're going to bring you into the fold. Let you know more about what you'll be doing.'

'And who I'm doing it for?'

'Yes.'

'I'm looking forward to that,' Ajza admitted.

'Go,' the woman urged. 'Show off the baby.'

Ajza put her phone away and took a deep breath.