Like an arrow fired into the star-filled sky, a blackened Russian special-police helicopter flew at treetop level, racing toward the missile base. The pilot, a former army officer wearing NVGs, saw a gap between two hills and banked over at two-hundred-and-fifty kilometers an hour as calmly as if he were flying on a bright sunny day.
In the crew compartment, Maclean, Kristina, Gabrielle, Elena, and her protector had to grab on to anything they could find to stop from sliding into one another. Only Maclean and Kristina had headsets on.
“How much longer?” asked Maclean.
Kristina checked the time. “About thirty minutes.”
“Might as well be thirty days. Can’t this thing fly any faster?”
“I don’t think that would be wise. Our pilot’s good, but I doubt he could continue to fly nap-of-the-earth in the dark if he were to speed up.”
The pilot interrupted the conversation. “Ma’am, I’ve got Major Bondarev, the Spetsnaz commander, wanting to speak with you.”
“Put him on,” replied Kristina.
“This is Major Bondarev. To whom am I speaking?”
“Major, you can call me Kristina. Can you speak English?”
“Of course. Why?”
“Because I have Sergeant Maclean with me, and he doesn’t speak Russian.”
“My men and I are an hour out from the base,” said Bondarev. “I understand you will get there before me…is this correct?”
“That's right, Major,” replied Kristina. “By my estimation, we’ll be wheels-down thirty minutes before you.”
“Ma’am, I don’t know who you are, and I do not care. I’ve been ordered to work with you, so I shall as long as it doesn’t endanger the lives of my men or jeopardize the mission.”
“Fair enough. How can we be of assistance?”
“Do you think you can land somewhere on the base unnoticed and become our eyes on the ground until we arrive?”
Kristina looked at Maclean, who nodded his concurrence. “Yes, Major, we most certainly can do that.”
“Moscow has made it perfectly clear to me that I must stop the launch of the missiles, regardless of the losses I may take,” said Bondarev. “Therefore, I intend to conduct a coup de main and land right on top of them. I doubt they’ll be expecting that.”
“Major, this is Sergeant Maclean. How many men do you have with you?”
“That is a state secret,” replied Bondarev derisively.
“Answer the question, Major,” pressed Kristina.
“In total, I have sixty-seven men.”
“Good luck with that,” said Maclean. “At least three hundred people are waiting for you at the base.”
“Spetsnaz never worries about numbers,” said Bondarev. “Each one of my men is worth five or six of the enemy.”
“Major, you’re not going up against some rag-tag insurgents. These people are exceedingly well-armed and have surface-to-air missiles. You’ll be lucky to land a single one of your helicopters on the base. Let us help you.”
The line went silent for a few seconds. “What are you proposing, Sergeant?”
“There’s no way in hell we can defeat all three hundred fanatics with the forces we have. However, if we split their forces, we might stand a chance.”
“Go on.”
“We have a man inside the base already. I propose to linkup with him and try to draw off a sizable chunk of their manpower, making your odds on the objective less daunting.”
“Can you do this?”
“Major, if we don’t, Moscow is doomed.”
“Then Godspeed to you, Sergeant. Bondarev, out.”
Kristina canted her head. “Are you serious?”
Maclean smiled wryly and nodded. “What choice do we have?”
“Once we land, your two academics will be useless, and I doubt Peter will go more than a few steps from Ms. Leon’s side.”
Maclean leaned forward and looked her in the eyes. “You and I are going inside that base. I don’t know how, but we are. As for Peter, you had best convince him that creating some mayhem is in Elena’s best interest.”
“I’ll try.”
“You’ll do more than that. You and Elena will get him to do it willingly.”