Part 6 (1/2)

He chuckled, leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes in antic.i.p.ation.

Anya's heart pounded in her chest, her hands shook. No matter how many times she did this, nerves always. .h.i.t her. She supposed some small part of her was glad. At least it was a sign she was still human, still had some notion of right and wrong. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath.

Then quickly thrust the zipper back upward, jamming Fedorov's s.c.r.o.t.u.m in the sharp teeth.

He howled, hands going to his crotch as he jumped to his feet.

But not quickly enough. Anya's right hand shot out and grabbed the double action revolver he always kept strapped to his right ankle. She didn't hesitate, didn't think, didn't feel.

Just aimed and pulled the trigger.

The first shot took out his right knee, sending him to the ground just long enough for Anya to put some distance between them. She backed up, quickly firing off another to his temple. He hit the ground with a sickening thud, and the room was plunged into eerie silence.

Two deep breaths, in and out. Anya's heart pounded in her ears, her hands steady now as they held the revolver straight-armed in front of her. Mission accomplished. It was done.

And done well.

She could almost hear the praise of her handler's voice echoing in her head.

Perfect shot, my dragi, my darling. Now get out.

Three seconds. She knew in three seconds his bodyguards would be at the door. A quiet syringe to the neck would have made escape easier, but in the skimpy dress Fedorov had wanted her to wear there'd been nowhere to hide it. She'd had to work with what she had on hand. Noisy as it was.

Two seconds.

Anya grabbed her dress, slipping it back over her head as she dove for the pair of French doors leading onto the balcony. She quickly pushed one open. But instead of jumping toward freedom she slipped behind the heavy, velvet curtain at its side, holding her breath.

She heard the doors to the general's bedroom burst open, a cacophony of shouting voices drowning each other out as bodyguards swarmed the room. Anya closed her eyes, trying to make out how many. Three. Maybe four? Heavy footsteps. .h.i.t the polished floor, running to the body, down the hall, toward the French doors. She was sure her heart was pounding loudly enough to match the stomping rhythm of their boots.

The scent of cheap cologne warned her one of the Russians was approaching her hiding spot. She closed her eyes, letting her knuckles go white as they tightened around the revolver.

He shouted something to his pals, so close that his voice made her jump. He'd noticed the open door. More footsteps, leading out onto the balcony. More shouting. A thin line of sweat trickled down Anya's back as she clutched the gun to her thigh. If they found her, she was done. She was good, but three to one were odds no one could escape from. Especially when the three were trained killers.

Then again, what am I?

She shoved that thought deep into the recesses of her brain, focusing instead on the commands one Russian was shouting to the others. She wasn't fluent, but she'd picked up enough of the language to understand he was telling them she'd escaped, over the balcony. Go find her.

Three pairs of feet pounded out of the room, receding down the hallway.

She waited, counting off two beats before daring to move a muscle. Slowly, she drew back the curtain, using reflections in the windowpane to check the room. The general's lifeless body lay slumped in the middle of the floor.

Alone.

She sprang into action, adrenalin pumping through her limbs as she crossed the room, out the door, running left, opposite the exit, she knew. Deeper into the compound, but farther away from the expanse of property outside the general's bedroom window where the bodyguards would now be searching for her. The sound of her heels pounding with practiced speed was m.u.f.fled by thick carpeting as she counted the doors she pa.s.sed. Three, four. She'd been studying the blueprint of the house for weeks, but she still held her breath as she pa.s.sed the fifth door and slowed, opening number six and slipping inside.

An empty office. Just as it was supposed to be.

She quickly shut the door with a soft click behind her, hearing her own ragged breath fill the silence. The room was dark, moonlight filtering through the window the only light. Anya blinked, letting her eyes adjust. The windows faced east, toward the woods, beyond which ran a little used road where a car awaited her. Her handler had set up surveillance on the road to monitor every person who'd gone in or out of Fedorov's compound for weeks. All she had to do was get to the car, and she knew they'd all be watching her on their monitors from their big, safe room that, as far as anyone knew, didn't really exist. Her handler, the generals, the faceless men who controlled her fate.

And she'd finally be safe.

She paused, put her ear to the door, praying she didn't hear the telltale pounding of feet behind her.

Nothing.

She crossed to the window, lifting it open. The bite of night air stung her cheeks, giving her instant gooseb.u.mps in the flimsy dress completely ill-suited for Kosovo in the spring. But cold was an indulgence she didn't have time for. Instead, she pried the screen from its frame with her fingernails, dropping it to the floor as she threw one leg, then the other over the sill.

It was a two-story drop. One she'd antic.i.p.ated, but it looked far higher now that she was straddling the sill, all that empty air below her.

You can do this. You're almost there.

If she thought about it a second longer, she knew her resolve would waiver. So she didn't, instead, kicking off her shoes, she plunged into the darkness. She hit the ground with a thud, sharp pain instantly shooting up her left leg. Anya bit down hard on her lower lip to keep from crying out, her hands sliding out from under her in the dewy gra.s.s. She looked down. Her left ankle was twisted under her. Probably sprained.

But pain was another thing she had no time for.

The taste of blood filled her mouth as her teeth ground down on her lip. She struggled to her feet, favoring her right side. She forced her legs to hold her up, then glanced around in the dark, quickly getting her bearings. Ahead of her lay an expanse of gra.s.s, a fence to the left leading to the yard where the general carried out his own private training exercises. She shuddered. She'd seen the files on his victims and could only imagine the tortured souls who still haunted those tainted grounds.

Still grasping the revolver in her hand, she turned right. A wooded area lay at the edge of the gra.s.s, but it was a good ten yards to the tree cover. Ten yards where she'd be completely exposed. She could only pray that the Russians were still searching the other side of the compound for her.

Ten yards. Ten yardsa and then you're free.

Anya dashed forward, running as fast as her injured ankle would allow, half hopping, half dragging her leg along as she kept her eyes on the tree line ahead. Her arms pumped at her sides, her lungs burning, her eyes watering at the sting of cold wind whipping past her. Six yards. Five. She was almost there.

And then she heard it.

The crack reverberated through the still night like lightening, a tuft of gra.s.s at her side flying into the air.

They'd found her.

While she'd hoped they wouldn't, she was really only surprised it had taken them this long. The general had been a s.a.d.i.s.t but a smart one. The men he'd hired were nothing less.

Anya jagged to the right, then left, never decreasing her speed as she made a zig-zag pattern across the lawn. Tufts of gra.s.s flew at her sides, spattering her legs with mud as bullets embedded themselves into the soft ground.

Three yards left. She was almost there.

Another shot rang out, and fire instantly erupted in her right arm. Anya cried out, falling to the ground, her left hand immediately going to the sharp sting slicing through her bicep. She rolled onto her right side in the gra.s.s, shot off two wild rounds toward the house. Pain blinded her. She had no idea if she'd hit anything, but the bullet hail stopped for a second. Warm liquid seeped through her fingers, and she bit back a scream. She would not give them the satisfaction.

The gunfire ceased for only a moment, then the Russians began again. Relentless. The air filled with deafening shots, chunks of gra.s.s beside her jumping, spraying cool mud onto her cheeks.

She rolled left, then right, pulling herself up onto her knees as she twisted away from the hail. She looked up. The tree cover was only a few feet way. So close. She could make it.

She would make it.

Anya turned, firing two more rounds back toward the house before the revolver made an empty clicking sound. She threw it, making a mad dash for the trees, her bare feet slipping on the wet earth, her teeth chattering against the cold. Five more feet. Four.

She heard shouting behind her, the Russians scrambling for their vehicles, their dogs, their spotlights, organizing an all out search as she reached the cover of the woods. She wasn't home free yet, but the tall pines bought her time.