It was the woman. Sergei knew it could be no one else. She had tried to call him several times during the last hour. He didn't want to talk to her. He didn't trust her. At the moment he didn't trust anyone.
He'd forced his way onto the ambulance that had brought Mikhalkov to the hospital. He'd watched as the rescue workers tried to staunch the old man's bleeding and get him stabilized.
Sergei had never lost a partner. He didn't want to lose one now.
He started to put the phone back into his jacket pocket. The readout changed.
LOOK AT THE SECURITY MONITOR AT THE NURSES' DESK
Unable to stop himself, Sergei looked. The view switched from the outer waiting room to a parking area outside the hospital. Three hard-faced men stepped out of a sedan parked near an ambulance. The driver remained at the wheel.
All of the men wore jackets. The way they walked and kept their right hands close to their hips told Sergei they were armed. None of the hospital staff noticed the men approaching the entrance.
His phone vibrated again. This time he opened it and answered. 'Yes.'
'You see the men on the monitor?' the woman asked.
'Yes.'
'We've identified them as mercenaries.'
'What does that have to do with me?'
'One of them was in the building across the street this morning. He was the sniper who killed Pasternak and his two bodyguards.'
The man who would have killed me, Sergei couldn't help thinking. Fear stabbed through him as he watched the men go into the hospital. The view changed and showed them entering the lobby.
'How do you know that?' he asked.
'We hacked into that building's records and identified him with facial-recognition software. We've identified the two men with him, as well.'
'What are they doing here?'
'I don't see any flowers or teddy bears, so I'm betting this isn't a get-well visit.'
The woman's sarcasm cut through Sergei's fear and indecision. He went to the nurses' desk.
'Bring security up here,' he ordered the nurse who had spoken to him earlier. 'Get them here now.'
'You don't have time to wait for security,' the woman said over the phone. 'Those men are there to tie up loose ends from this morning.'
Sergei held the phone tightly to his head and repeated his orders to the nurse. He flashed his identification at her to get her moving, but he knew he looked like an insane person.
'You need to get moving,' the woman said.
'I cannot leave Mikhalkov.' Sergei refused to abandon his partner.
'If you stay there, those men will kill you both. And anyone else who gets in the way. Do you want to bring that kind of bloodshed into the hospital?'
Helplessly Sergei glanced at the nurses' station. All of them would be victims. The violence of the past few days weighed heavily on him. He didn't want to see it erupt inside the hospital.
'Move or die,' the woman said.
Sergei fled, but his mind had focused on a dangerous course of action. He dreaded what he had to do, but he couldn't leave Mikhalkov for the wolves. Either way, he knew his life was going to change.
43
Sergei bolted through one of the hospital's side exits. He listened for gunfire but there was none. He hoped he could pull off what he intended before anyone inside the hospital got injured.
Outside in the bright sunlight, he strode toward the car. His jacket whipped around him. His pistol felt heavy in his hand. His other hand held the phone to his ear. He kept his eyes focused on his target.
Ahead of him, the driver who'd brought the gunmen to the hospital waited and watched the building's entrance.
'What are you doing?' the woman on the phone demanded.
'Saving my partner if I am lucky,' Sergei growled. He folded the phone and put it away. The woman had his number. She would call back when she was ready.
Without breaking stride, Sergei walked up to the driver's side of the car like he was back on patrol. He stayed just far enough away for the driver to not easily turn around and confront him.
Shaking slightly, Sergei tightened his grip on the gun. He'd shot men before. Had even killed them. But never in cold blood.
He thought about calling out to the man, giving him some warning, but then thought that might be even crueler. This way the man wouldn't even see it coming.
Holding his breath the way he'd been trained, Sergei steadied himself and fired. The pistol bucked against his palm, then bucked twice more as he fired again and again. The whole time, he prayed that he hadn't just killed an innocent man.
Head leaking blood, the driver slumped forward. The horn bleated and the sedan started to roll forward.
Sergei reached through the open window and shoved the automatic transmission into park. The car shuddered to a stop.
In the parking lot, a handful of new arrivals screamed and shouted in alarm. Sergei ignored them and caught the dead man's wrist, exposing a thumb microphone.
'This is Sergei Prokhorov,' he said with as much control as he could muster. 'I have killed your driver and am escaping.'
Opening the car door while keeping his gun in hand was awkward, but Sergei managed it. He grabbed the dead man by the collar and shoved him over, then slid into the bloody driver's seat, put the transmission into drive and floored the accelerator. He narrowly missed an arriving ambulance as he shot out into the street.
* * *
'Well,' Jake said laconically, 'I didn't see that coming. I liked it. I thought you said this guy was a plodder, not a take-charge kind of guy.'
'Usually he is.' Kate stared at the multiscreen view of the Russian hospital.
On one screen Sergei nearly sideswiped an ambulance but then vanished quickly into the heavy traffic.
'Gotta say,' Jake told her, 'I like the change. Probably saved his life. Maybe his partner's, too.'
Inside the hospital the three gunmen turned away from the emergency room and headed outside.
'Don't know what Prokhorov said to them,' Jake commented, 'but he got their attention.'
Kate surveyed the security-camera view that showed the entrance to the OR where Sergei ProkhoroVs partner fought for his life. None of the gunmen had reached that part of the hospital.
'Do you think Sergei's ready to listen now?' Jake asked.
'Would
'I wouldn't be happy right now, but without us, he's got nowhere to go. He's exposed and cut off from everything he knows.'
'Think he's calm enough to figure that out?' Kate asked.
'Only one way to find out.'
* * *
Mired in traffic, Sergei felt foolish and afraid. Blood from the dead man had sprayed the windshield with a crimson fog. He used the cuff of his jacket sleeve to try to wipe the mess away but only made it worse.
Someone behind him honked and he realized space had opened up ahead. Before he could accelerate into it, a cab swooped in front of him and blocked him. Sergei cursed the man and resisted the impulse to bump the taxi out of frustration.
