Part 28 (1/2)
As they followed Juma toward a door near the back, Brent nodded at Lakota, who was donning her Cross-Com headset and earpiece so they remained in contact with the team and the network. As they walked, she spoke softly: ”I'm having a hard time connecting to Grey now. WAN uplink temporarily unavailable.”
”That's weird. Keep trying,” said Brent.
”I don't like this, sir.”
Brent gave her a sobering look. ”I'll check back at the towers, see if LAN's operational.” He did so, and the team reported back in sans any comm problems.
”Brent, I've finished my reconnaissance of the entranceway to the vault, and I've picked out some ambush points, if you want to take a look,” said Voeckler.
”Busy now, but I will. Run them by the others. Meantime, stand by. I'll be in touch.”
TWENTY-ONE.
Town of Al Malaiha About Seventy-five Kilometers from Dubai The Snow Maiden yawned as the headlights reached out into the darkness, toward the squalid desert town rising in the distance. They were heading south on Highway 55, pus.h.i.+ng through vast stretches of nothingness. She thought she saw an oil refinery off to their right, but the shadows and dust had collected into curtains of gloom.
Patti had procured four Renault medium-sized cargo trucks with a telecom service's yellow logo splashed across the sides. These trucks were not uncommon and wouldn't draw much attention to themselves.
The other three trucks were driven by members of her team, only one of whom, a Captain Chen Yi, actually spoke a little Russian. Her Chinese was poor, and they'd tested their English on each other with only marginal success. Patti had sworn that every man had been handpicked by herself and Fedorovich and that all could be trusted. The Snow Maiden had grinned to herself over that joke.
Her cell phone rang: It was Patti. She answered curtly.
The woman replied, ”I have someone who wants to talk to you. Hold on.”
After a moment, a man's voice, somewhat filtered by static, came through. ”Viktoria, is that you?”
She almost drove off the road. ”Pavel?”
”Viktoria, it's me.”
”I don't know what to say.”
”They're taking me to meet you, so you don't have to say anything right now. I know what you did. I know why you did it. And nothing matters anymore. I just want to see you.”
A hollow aching woke in her chest. She was actually speaking to him, to Colonel Pavel Doletskaya, formerly of the GRU, a man she had hurt more than any other in this world, she thought. ”I'm so sorry. About everything.”
About more than she could ever tell him-about leading him on, staging her death with Izotov's help, dropping off the grid, and turning their relations.h.i.+p into a lie. He was the only one who had touched her after her husband's death. Pavel wasn't an expendable tool. He meant something, and the Ganjin Ganjin knew that. He was supposed to be a bonus payment for her. knew that. He was supposed to be a bonus payment for her.
Or a source of blackmail. She would have to be ready for that, prepared to watch him die.
”Don't worry, Viktoria. I have always been here. It's not too late for us. If you will have me ...”
She began to choke up.
”Viktoria? Are you still there?”
She summoned the strength and coldness back into her voice as she imagined Patti slas.h.i.+ng his throat and the blood pooling at his knees. ”I can't talk right now. But as you say, we'll meet. Take care, Pavel.”
Chopra was seated beside her, with Hussein next to him across the long bench. ”Is everything okay?” asked the old man.
”Shut up.”
The boy asked, ”Are you sad?”
”Not a word from either of you.”
”What about that?” Hussein added, pointing toward the winds.h.i.+eld.
Hearing Pavel's voice had taken her years and kilometers away, back to her work with him, back to their affair, to the moments lying in bed with him, moments so tender and so clear that she'd failed to see the roadblock looming ahead.
She radioed to Chen Yi, who in turn called back to the other drivers. Then she alerted Patti. ”You didn't tell me about a roadblock.”
”They must have observation posts. You've been tagged. We didn't count on this.”
”Some old SUVs, maybe twenty armed soldiers.”
”We can't afford any more delays,” said Patti. ”The Euros are on their way. Haussler is moving toward his trap. You've got your own troops. Deal with it.”
The Snow Maiden cursed, then called to Chen Yi and told him to be ready. She mashed the accelerator pedal, and the truck lurched forward.
”They're going to shoot us!” cried Hussein.
The kid's appreciation of the obvious was not lost on her. As they barreled toward the roadblock, the soldiers lifted their rifles and took up defensive positions alongside the cars. She braced herself.
And not three heartbeats later, the hailstorm of fire began, incoming rounds pinging along the truck, sparks dancing over the hood and side panels as she throttled up even more and both Chopra and the boy hollered for her to pull over.
And then, resigning to the situation, she spun the wheel, pulling off the road, as the other three trucks roared by, now taking the brunt of all those rounds. Her truck bounced violently over ruts and through small dunes.
Not a second after the last truck blew by, she cut the wheel again, bringing them into the draft of the last vehicle and keeping tight on that driver's wheels. They had a temporary s.h.i.+eld, but they still had to pa.s.s those combatants.
The lead truck blasted through the SUVs blocking the road, knocking one onto its side, the other sideways. Steel and gla.s.s groaned and shattered while tires screeched across the pavement.
Then the next two trucks hammered through the gap, taking fire from both sides as though going through a car wash using bullets instead of water. At the same time, all that gla.s.s rained like diamonds glistening in the headlights.
She took in a long breath. Held it.
Now it was their turn.
They thundered into the opening, past the cars lying askew, gunfire riddling the side of their truck.
Just a second more ... a second ...
But in that second the window beside Hussein shattered and Chopra let out a scream.