Razin’s skull.
He heard feet crunching over snow, clothes rustling, saw movement in his peripheral vision.
Too far away to be grabbed and pulled to the ground, Korina strode quickly out of the trees and into the clearing.
Will thought, No, Korina!
“Captain Zaytsey.” Her voice was loud. “Major Tsvetaeva, GRU.”
Four of the Spetsnaz men spun around and pointed their guns at the approaching woman.
“We’ve trained together. An interrogation course a year ago.” She kept walking. “Colonel Khmelnytsky is lying to you about the bomb.”
Zaytsey frowned. “Yes, I remember you, Major Tsvetaeva. What the hell’s going on?”
She went right up to the captain and Razin and pointed behind her. “There are dead people in the barn. Khmelnytsky murdered them. Check their identities. I suspect you’ll find they are high-ranking Russian officials.”
Razin spat. “More like traitors!”
“You’re the traitor, Khmelnytsky!” Korina looked back at Zaytsey. “This is worse than you think. Please check.”
Zaytsey looked doubtful, but he gestured to two of his men, who walked off toward the barn.
More sweat trickled down Will’s back. He had to stay hidden, keep his gun trained on Razin. If he could have stopped Korina going out there he would have, though he understood why she’d done so. But everything now depended upon her ability to ensure that the men carried out their orders.
A minute later, the two men returned and spoke quietly to their commander.
Zaytsey looked at Razin. “An air force colonel and a senior government official. Both natives of this country. You killed them?”
Razin stepped closer to the captain and Korina. “They were MI6 agents, run by the man I captured.”
Will adjusted his position slightly. Korina had her back to him and was partially obscuring his view of Razin, though he still had an easy head shot available.
Razin smiled while looking at Korina. “And they’re not the only MI6 agents I’ve been looking for. There’s one more. And I think”-he looked toward the perimeter-“that person’s been getting help from another MI6 officer.”
Korina interjected in a loud, urgent voice, “Captain-the bomb. Khmelnytsky plans to use it to-”
She became silent.
Something was wrong.
Zaytsey shouted.
His men moved quickly toward him.
Korina fell back toward the ground.
With a large knife stuck in her chest.
Will’s stomach wrenched; he gritted his teeth.
No! No! No!
Soldiers grabbed Razin.
No!
He was thrown down.
No!
Will banged a fist into the ground, disbelief overwhelming him.
Captain Zaytsey knelt down by Korina. She was motionless. He placed a hand against her throat, fingers against her wrist, then placed his ear to her heart. Rising slowly, he shook his head, moved to Razin’s facedown body, and said to the men holding him, “Let him go!”
They moved away.
Zaytsey stood over him. “She’s dead.”
Every emotion gripped Will.
Dead? Oh dear God, no!
“You killed a GRU major.” Captain Zaytsey moved an arm; Will couldn’t see what he was doing.
“No!” Razin’s voice was urgent. He looked wide-eyed toward the perimeter again, clearly trying to locate Will. “I’ve more information you need-”
“Shut up!” In a loud, authoritative voice, Zaytsey said, “Colonel Taras Khmelnytsky, Hero of the Russian Federation, soldier of the motherland, I relinquish you of your rank, title, and nationality.”
He swept his arm forward.
Razin’s sidearm was in Zaytsey’s hand.
Will shouted, “Stop!”
But his voice was drowned out by the sound of the pistol shot.
Its noise traveled through the forest, and across the adjacent lake.
The captain slowly lowered his arms and dropped the gun on Razin’s body. The back of Taras Khmelnytsky’s head had been completely ripped apart.
Razin was dead.
Chapter Forty-one
Ten minutes later, Will remained motionless. The soldiers were busy examining the farmstead.
One of them approached Captain Zaytsey and reported that every inch of the place had been searched and there was no sign of the bomb or blueprints. The cars, including Razin’s SUV, had also yielded nothing.
Another told him that the barn had been doused with gasoline. He wanted to know what to do with the bodies that were inside the building. Zaytsey thought for a moment before saying, “Put the major and Khmelnytsky in there with them. We’ll torch it before we leave. Bring our vehicles here.”
After a further fifteen minutes, a four-ton army truck and a jeep were driven into the clearing. The captain summoned the drivers and the rest of his team. They stood around him as he said, “This has been a total fuckup. Ordinarily I should call this straight into HQ and also report the location of the MI6 prisoner so that they can send another team to get him. But I say we have a chance to make this right. I say we go and get the MI6 man ourselves.”
Zaytsey studied his men.
All of them nodded.
“Good. Let’s go.”
The men ran to the vehicles; the engines started.
Zaytsey stayed on foot. He walked to the barn, withdrew a lighter, ignited it, tossed it at the barn, turned, and ran to the jeep.
T he Spetsnaz vehicles were out of sight as Will ran to the barn. The whole building was ablaze. As he got to within fifteen feet of the building, he stopped dead in his tracks, his arms shielding his face from the intense heat. He tried to take a step forward but immediately recoiled. The pain on his exposed skin was immense. He tried again but again involuntarily retreated.
He had to get in there.
Just had to.
After taking several steps back, he stared at the barn’s large double doors. They were covered with flames. He sucked in a lungful of air, held his breath, braced himself for the pain that was about to come, and charged straight toward the blaze.
It was worse than he expected. Much, much worse. But he wasn’t going to stop this time.
He dived at the doors, hitting them with his shoulder and forcing them to burst open. Rolling on the barn’s interior floor, he got to his feet and looked around. Korina was there. He ran to her, picked her up, and cradled her in his arms.
Just as he’d done before resting her gently on her bed.
Running as fast as he could, he exited the building, his face screwed up in pain as flames curled around him
