Romana threw her body to the left. The pistol pointed at the back of her head discharged, sending a bullet into the floor ahead of where she had been kneeling. In one fluid movement, she pushed her left leg against the front of the man’s ankles, while bringing her right leg around and driving it into the back of his knees in a scissor-like motion.
As her attacker’s head rocked backwards and he dropped to his knees, Romana rolled onto her back, thrust her hips away from the floor and wrapped her legs around his neck. She locked her ankles, squeezed her thighs together and jerked her body to the right.
Hardy’s eyebrows shot up and he winced. He had killed men with his hands, but never before had he heard such a violent cracking sound. For a moment, he thought a branch had broken away from a tree outside.
Romana unlocked her legs, letting them fall to the floor, one on either side of the man’s lifeless body, which had made a quarter-turn and was facing her. The corpse’s literal dead weight landed squarely on her. She groaned when the head whipped forward and smacked her in the chest.
Hardy rushed forward and rolled the dead man off Romana.
“What,” she grunted and coughed, “took you so long?”
Drawing his Ka-Bar knife, Hardy wrapped his hand around her upper arm and rolled her to the left. “It looked like you had everything under control.” The razor sharp blade made quick work of the restraints. “Where in the world did you learn a move like that, anyway?”
Romana got to a kneeling position and rubbed her wrists. “Sorry, but a woman has to have some secrets.” Massaging the sore spot on her chest, she cranked her head around and gave Hardy her best attempt at a provocative smile. “It’s all part of the allure.”
Natasha dashed into the room and came up behind Hardy. “Romana, are you all right?”
Hardy yanked the blanket off the mattress and draped the material over Romana’s shoulders. “I’ve seen a lot during my time in the military, and I don’t impress easily. Trust me when I tell you…that was impressive.”
Romana looked up at him and tilted her head toward the sliding glass door on the other side of the bed. “I saw your reflection as you came up the stairs and decided to take a chance, hoping you’d get him if it didn’t work.”
Hardy spied the glass door and let out a puff of air. Wow, she’s good.
“What happened?” Natasha had missed the action. “Where’s Mika?”
With Hardy’s help, Romana got to her feet and gestured toward the dead man. “This guy stormed into the room, knocked Mika to the floor and stuck a gun in my face. Popovich took her when he went out the door. He’s got a gun.” She dropped the blanket and left the bedroom, returning a few seconds later, pulling on the spaghetti straps of her red dress. She backed up to Natasha. “Zip me. We can still get him if we hurry. We’re not that far behind.”
Natasha stood still. “You’re not going anywhere. After what you’ve been through, you’re sitting this one out.” She tilted her head. “Hardy and I can find Popovich. You’re not dressed for the weather. Join up with the FSB teams and clear the house.”
Hardy bent over the fallen gunman.
Romana spun around so fast her hair, which had been up, came undone and followed her motion, coming to rest over her left shoulder. “The hell I am, Natasha. You’re not keeping me from going after Mika. I’ll be damned, if I’m going to,” she thrust a finger at the floor, “stay here, while she’s out there freezing to death.”
Natasha raised a hand, her voice rising, too. “That’s enough, Romana. I know you’re—” she saw Hardy out of the corner of her eye. He had the dead man’s suit coat draped over his arm.
He came up from behind Romana, pinched the dress and raised the zipper so fast it sounded as if he was ripping a piece of fabric in half.
Arching her back, she took a small step forward, twisted her head around and saw him holding the dead man’s suit coat. She glanced at Hardy before sliding her arms into the sleeves.
He lifted the jacket. “I hope you don’t mind a little blood.”
“As long as it’s not mine, I’m good.”
He handed Romana his pistol and two extra magazines, which she stuffed into the pockets.
“What are you doing?” Natasha pointed at her chest. “I’m in charge of this—”
He locked eyes with her over Romana’s shoulder. “We can argue later over who’s leading this op after we’ve found Mika. And, from what I just witnessed,” he tilted his head, “she’s more than capable of taking care of herself—fully clothed or naked, armed or not.”
Natasha squinted at him, her pursed lips disappearing.
Romana smiled. “Thanks, Hardy. That may be the nicest thing anyone’s ever said about me.”
Ejecting the magazine from his MP5, Hardy checked to make sure it was loaded. “Besides, we can use all the eyes we’ve got.” He eyed Romana. “If that’s true,” he slammed the magazine into the rifle, “then you need to get out more.” He half grinned. “Maybe take a spinning class.”
She cocked her head. “Spinning class?”
He waved a hand. “Never mind…bad joke.” He gestured toward her feet. “You are going to have to do something about those shoes, though.”
Romana glanced at the stiletto heels. She lifted her right foot until it was almost waist-high before driving it against the floor. The spike heel broke away. She did the same thing to the left shoe. “Problem solved…time to get moving.”
He recalled the conversation with Natasha on the way to Denikin’s house. She’s tough, all right.
Hardy felt the heat from Natasha’s glare and he faced her. “If I’ve overstepped my bounds, I’m sorry, Natasha. When this is all over,” he flashed a brilliant and charming smile, “you can kick me out of your country.” Pivoting toward the glass door, he noticed the hint of a grin on her face.
“Trust me,” she shot back, “I’ll kick more than that when this is over.”
Hardy chuckled. There’s the spirited woman I know.
Romana saw blood on her coat. “Hold up, Hardy.” She knew the blood could not be from the dead man. His neck was broken; no one shot him. She came up behind Hardy. “Your left arm,” she motioned, “it’s bleeding. You’ve been shot.”
Hardy examined the arm and he remembered the shootout in the living room. “Damn! I thought this rifle was getting heavier, and heavier.” He set the weapon and the extra magazines on the bed and held out his hand. “I’m going to need my pistol back, Romana. Let’s switch.”
She walked away and came back with the dead man’s necktie. “First, we need to stop the flow of blood. Lift your arm…It looks like the bullet went straight through. If it had hit the bone, you’d have known it.” She wrapped the necktie around Hardy’s upper arm two times before starting a double knot. He grimaced when she wrenched and secured the knot. “Sorry. It needs to be tight. We’ll have to release that in a little while, so don’t get lost out there.” She picked up the rifle and threw the sling over her head before giving him the pistol and emptying her pockets of the extra magazines.
Standing outside the sliding glass door, Hardy checked the surrounding area before moving down the steps. He heard Natasha giving her teams orders to clear the house and search for Popovich. Hardy stopped at the bottom of the steps and looked to the north before turning his head to the left, toward the trees on the west side of the property. “Natasha, make sure they know he has a female hostage.” He tilted his head back. The cloud cover was blocking out the moon. He saw a few snowflakes drift across his vision. “If your snipers are still in position, maybe they can use their night vision scopes to locate Popovich before this snow gets going and makes it impossible for them to see anything. Romana, what was Mika wearing when she was taken?”
“Only her underwear.”
He glanced over his shoulder at Natasha. “And, see if someone can get a signal from the GPS chip in her underwear.”
Hardy estimated the temperature was probably in the lower-teens and only going to go lower. The other problem was the wind. It was beginning to blow harder, making the temperature feel like it was in the single digits. If Popovich was trying to escape on foot, then Mika was not going to survive in these conditions. “Is there any way you can peel off some men and have them search the silo and the barn, ASAP?”
She nodded and issued the command.
“Natasha, you and Romana check out the garage. Then, make your way over to the trees to the west. I’m going to search the woods to the north, behind the grain silo.” He motioned to the right. “Have the rest of your men form a line and move east. Keep one man near the vehicles, in case Popovich circles back and tries to steal a ride.”
“No,” Romana protested, “Natasha and I should split up. We’ll cover more ground that way.”
Hardy shook his head. “That’s not happening, Romana. Believe me, I know you’re tough, but Natasha’s right. You’re not dressed for the weather, and I need to know someone is with you. I don’t want to be out here searching for two half-naked women.”
“Don’t worry about—” Romana shut her mouth. She was grateful for his confidence in her, siding with her over Natasha. She nodded, “All right,” and backed down, “let’s get moving.”