Sasha
Russia.
Our mother country.
A country I’d never been to and had never had a desire to visit. There were obvious reasons. Politics. The extreme level of danger. People disappeared all the time. Our surname might have weight with certain parties and oligarchs, but once anyone learned we’d defected to America for a better life, our bodies would never be found.
The full twenty-four hours of traveling had done nothing but increase the tension and anger. I’d slept maybe an hour, the sixty minutes fraught with horrific visions. Instead of being exhausted, I was wired.
At least we’d landed without incident in the private airfield that I’d arranged. We’d called in several favors, even finding several combat trucks waiting for our use. Given the climate of the country, the trucks traveling through the countryside toward our destination wouldn’t draw any red flags.
Or so we hoped.
The element of surprise was required and we’d used some creative tools including AI to generate the appearance that we were still in Las Vegas. It was also risky, but our computer whiz kids had assured us they could pull it off.
At least long enough to buy us time to attack.
We had everything in our bag of tricks to make the invasion successful, including heat sensors and night vision goggles.
With twilight already blanketing the city, the cloak of darkness would also be our friend.
The tricky part was getting into the compound.
“There’s sixteen soldiers crawling the roof,” Alessandro said as he pointed them out on aerial photography. We’d also enlisted the help of some rogue Russians who hated the Dmitriyev regime, utilizing their drones to canvass the compound and surrounding encampment.
Our uncle had several hundred acres of rough tundra with few access roads outside of Moscow. We were at the point of trusting my contact who’d provided a schematic of the compound and the only road we had a chance of using to keep our approach secretive for as long as possible.
Now that our trucks were rumbling down the rocky terrain, all we could do was hope since I wasn’t a praying man.
“We head into these building on these two sides and can easily take them out.” Vissarian dragged his finger from one access point to another. We also had grappling hooks and rope.
“From there we head in through here. The concentration of heat is located in these two buildings. One I would assume is housing for the soldiers,” Mikhail determined.
“That means Lainey and Nina are being kept inside the main house,” Alexsey offered.
“If they’re still alive,” Stefano said quietly.
“They are. I would feel it if they weren’t.” I was certain about that. As the driver slowed, the tension in the back of the truck we were in increased.
I allowed one more vision of Lainey’s beautiful face in my mind before whispering to myself, “I’m coming for you, baby. Just hold on.”
The three trucks stopped at the point we’d previously decided on and without hesitation, we rushed from them, heading into the woods. Alessandro and Stefano had been assigned to cut the security system. That would buy us maybe five minutes. In that time, we needed to eliminate the officers on duty outside and make our way to the entrance we’d chosen.
After that, we could expect hell to break loose.
There was a huge benefit to remaining in shape through the years. We made good time in heading for the compound. The moment we broke through the trees, we reacted with precision. There was also a benefit to those twenty-four hours of planning.
We were forced to wait for all of sixty seconds before the Costa boys performed magic and managed to cut the security including the power to the roof.
With a grappling hook in my hand, four soldiers with me, and Vissarian on the other side with the same number of our men, we went into action. The hook in place, I took a deep breath and climbed up the wall.
Pop! Pop!
I’d be damned if Vissarian didn’t make it onto the roof up before I did. I grinned from the thought, dropping down and firing off two shots. After a quick roll, I managed to get another enemy soldier between the eyes.
The fight was in full effect, the enemy screaming out obscenities in Russian as well as orders.
I raced toward the center of the building, swinging the AK-47 back and forth. A figure appeared from the shadows, managingto slam his weapon against the side of my head. Down I went, stars jetting in front of my eyes. That didn’t stop me. Just as he drew back, ready to fire, I kicked out, catching him in the leg. He was pitched to the cement roof. My anger getting the best of me, I yanked him up by his neck, smashing my fist into his face.
