Chapter 35
He donned his gas mask then lit a gas bomb that he lobbed into the stone corridor. Within a few breaths, the entire army began to stagger. He moved swiftly down the passage, careful to knock as many men down as possible. Behind him, Beaumont was already securing them.
Aleksi and Maks soon showed up and took over for them, indicating to Beaumont to go with him. That was good.
He took time to go into a swift conference with Beaumont and then the SEAL disappeared through the ceiling. He would make his way from above.
He asked his dad via their communication devices to keep watch at the lab door. Ben and Tigger transmitted that they planned to meet him there. Tigger would join Beaumont in the ceiling as soon as they entered the main hall. He learned the other men who had shown up were busy helping security to clear civilians out of the palace. They were all known to the staff members and the personnel would leave willingly once prompted.
That was a relief. Ben and Shively had planned to do that, but this left them free to complete other tasks. DuBois’s calm voice transmitted through his headset. Communication was fully up and working.
As soon as that thought entered, another voice he recognized but couldn’t pinpoint filtered over the line. He was in place in Aleksi’s office. That was another good move. The tangos were sure to use his mother and Helena to gain entrance into that space. They had a female police officer, a sharp shooter, acting as Aleksi’s personal assistant. That way the tangos wouldn’t grow suspicious.
Right now they thought they were the ones hunting.
He smiled grimly.
***
The leader turned to another man. “Did you find Barstow?”
Helena, recognizing that name, started.
“She is in custody, as we heard.”
“Can we break her out? I still have plans for her, as do you.” The leader turned to the man still stroking his gun.
“Her training is not nearly finished,” Crazy Gun Stroker crooned. “She will object because her aunt did not survive.”
Her stomach heaved at what these brutes had done to Anna and her aunt, whoever she was. A tiny spurt of sympathy undulated through her at what the other woman must have endured at these fiends’ hands. She shivered.
“Perhaps our little Anna will fight, just as she always does, and then she will not live either.” The leader sounded pleased by that thought.
“It is best when they object.” Gun Stroker nodded. “That is part of her allure.”
“She has proven to be an excellent source of information.”
Crazy man shifted his gun. “A fine little traitor.”
Stomach roiling, she exchanged a terrified glance with Maria. There was no doubt in her mind what these men now intended for them. Without speaking, she and Maria worked out their plan. They both knew they had to douse the commander and the gun stroker with the alcohol. If they could set both of them on fire, it might create enough chaos to allow them to escape into the hall and hope help arrived.
There were no guarantees help would arrive, but both of them were willing to take their chances. Maria’s eyes narrowed as she lifted the wide mouthed container of rubbing alcohol. She hefted it and stepped closer to the men invading their lab. Once in range, Maria tossed the liquid.
In one sure sweep she managed to wet both with the entire contents of the jar. Hopefully it was enough. In sync with her, Helena struck the first match. She tossed it at the man closest to her, the one with the huge weapon he continued petting.
His clothing erupted in flames so fast that she stared open mouthed. The flames leapt from his clothing to the man beside him. Maria grabbed her and yanked her down behind the bench.
The men they set on fire screamed as the flames flared and ate through the cloth to lick at their skin. An acrid cloud of smoke drifted toward them. Bringing with it the scent of burning cloth.
Maria, ducking low, ran crouched around the next lab bench, hand tight around hers. The open doorway was close. But it was soon filled by a man in the same uniform who heard the shrieks of pain from the burning men. She snagged the syringe Maria had set ready for the next day. Next she grabbed a bottle of sulphuric acid. She ripped the packaging off the syringe and then paused long enough to fill the syringe.
Maria grabbed several sharp tipped pipets off the bench as they passed. They had to stop on the far end of the bench because of the foreign men crowding the lab. They spoke in loud, abrasive tones in a language she didn’t recognize. There was something that sounded like panic in the room as they rushed to the aid of the burning men.
One man broke from the pack though and circled around to box them in. He was grinning and it wasn’t friendly. She handed the bottle of acid to Maria who dropped the pipets in favor of this better weapon. With precision, she popped the air out of the syringe and aimed it at the man. Some of the syringe contents flew from the needle and landed on the advancing man’s clothes. It didn’t take long before the acid droplets ate through his clothing. This was pure stuff.
And very, very scary all in its own right.
Maria popped the stopper out of the bottle neck before wielding her new weapon. It was evident by the chemical symbols to any scientist what it was, although she doubted these men could read.
The man stopped advancing, and glanced at the label. Apparently he could read the contents. His hand hovered over his gun, but she pointed her syringe at him. Exactly as she had done yesterday when facing Frederic and the other jerks, her backbone stiffened as resolve spread through her.
No more. No more giving in to bullies, or in this case, these terrorists who planned to torture them before they killed them. She planned to go down fighting. At least until their weapons gave out.
Their would-be attacker showed he wasn’t brainless. He halted his advance when he met her war face. He must have read her intent because he remained where he was, still and watchful.
Beside her, Maria turned and tossed some of the bottle contents on the man sneaking up behind them. The neck of this bottle was small, because the bottle contained a harmful acid. She did manage to hurtle some of the caustic liquid on the man and it burned through his clothes in an impressive manner.
She kept her attention on the man in front of her, and back to back with Maria, they stood their ground. Their only weapon a bit primitive, but effective.
“We just have to hold the line until help arrives,” Maria whispered.
“It can come any time now.”
As though their words conjured up that very thing, the man in front of her jerked and then crumpled to the floor. A pool of red collected beneath him. The one in front of Maria collapsed in the same manner and was still. A red puddle also formed under him. Instinct sent her and Maria to a crouching stance.
Eyes wide, she goggled the room, trying to identify their protector, but there was no one there. She was certain she hadn’t done this with sheer mind power, despite her new resolve. Still, she wielded her syringe, and noticed Maria kept a tight grip on her bottle of acid.
They remained back to back, but hunkered, staring at the chaos around them. The two men in the lead were still on fire, with several of the men working to beat out the flames. Their screams seemed far off. They yelled something while the aflame leader gesticulated toward them. She narrowed her eyes and showed off her syringe. Maria let them see she was also suitably armed.
By the time they finished brandishing their makeshift weapons, Vlad and several other men erupted on the hazy, smoky scene and dropped every single fatigue clothed male in the room. And they did so in a matter of seconds.
With her heart lodged in her throat, she noted various thuds and grunts as she and Maria slowly stood. The men worked as a team, there were four of them. A fifth man joined the fighters but he veered off to head toward her and Maria. He didn’t stop until he grabbed Maria and squeezed her tight. With his other arm he wrapped her close too.
She finally identified him as Graham, although with that helmet, vest, and huge gun, it took a few terrifying moments. It was daunting to realize again how big he was and she was grateful when he released them to shove them behind him as more men poured into the lab. Graham raised his impressive weapon.
None of the new men wore the terrorist fatigues so he soon lowered the massive gun. She didn’t argue when he stayed planted in front of them nonetheless. The men spread out and bound the living terrorists. Those with the blood pooling beneath them they ignored. She tried not to think about them.
Vlad seemed to be everywhere, binding the living, kicking over the dead to collect identification and hidden weapons, talking to the other men. He was fast and utterly capable. Confidence didn’t ooze out of him, it just was. Clearly in his element, he rapped out orders, assisted the others, and piled lethal looking items she wouldn’t have recognized as weaponry. He was at ease with himself and the situation; there was no hesitation as he moved from one group to the next.
Even the way he treated the grenades he removed from pockets, and after being called over to consult on what appeared to be a bomb, there was no fear in Vlad. He was a man confident in his abilities and skills. All those years of training had shaped and molded the man into a superhero.
His friends, also obviously in their element and also superheros, stayed busy assisting him. Someone must have called in the authorities because the police arrived and soon there were as many people in the lab as there had been when they gave away that equipment. The main differences were there wasn’t a lab coat in sight, but quite a lot of weapons.
“I prefer the lab coats,” she said out loud.
Maria sent her a speaking look. “Me too.” When she gaped, Maria smiled. “I was thinking the same thing. It was much less scary with the scientists than all these soldiers.”
She nodded, and then swallowed. Watching Vlad in action showed all too plainly there was no way she could compete with this. The adrenaline high, the utter danger, him saving the day. That all had to be addicting.
She could never come close to competing with it. A superhero would find her incredibly boring. Compared to this she found herself incredibly boring.
It wasn’t right to leash a man with Vlad’s capabilities. It was okay before, because her knowledge of what he did was vague at best. Now she knew. Seeing him in his element like this… Tears welled and she ruthlessly blinked them away. She would not think of this.
She would not.
The unhappy thought that she might have been better off dying was unwelcome. Yet it echoed with truth.
At least her heart wouldn’t be breaking like it was now. She couldn’t hope to hold Vlad, there was no way. The tears surged again, and when Vlad finally grabbed his mother in a quick hug and then her for a much, much longer one and a thorough examination, she couldn’t stop them.
This was an acceptable time to cry. Now, while she still held him in her arms.
Later, there would too many questions. For all her new bravado, she still lacked bravery. She didn’t have the guts to try to hold onto this man. Not when she was now absolutely certain where the relationship was headed. She wondered if this was why he was hesitant to discuss their future.
Holding onto Vlad was like holding water. Maybe she could contain him for a time, but eventually that precious element would trickle away and leave her with nothing. Nothing but a broken heart.
The police moved toward her and for the second time in as many days she gave them a statement.