Jayson frowned. “That doesn’t make any sense. What kind of weapons could Kojot offer that Zolnerov doesn’t already have? We’re in a frigging war zone. There are more weapons here than he could ever shoot.”
Clayne shook his head. “Not like this he doesn’t. We just followed Kojot in from the Kurgan region of southern Russia. He left there on a private cargo aircraft with a large shipment of crates delivered to him from a Russian military facility called Shchuch’ye. He loaded the crates on a big truck and came straight here.”
“Shit,” Jayson muttered.
“What is it?” Layla asked. She didn’t know where the Kurgan region even was, much less want kind of weapons the Shchuch’ye facility made.
“Russia has been destroying their stockpile of chemical agents for years, but the Shchuch’ye depot still stores plenty of it,” Jayson explained. “I don’t have a clue what kind of delivery platform we’re talking about—rocket warheads, artillery rounds, who knows?—but if he brought a shipment of weapons from there, you can pretty much guarantee it’s some kind of toxic crap.”
“Oh God,” Mikhail murmured. “The colonel is going to use chemicals on the pro-Ukrainian forces to try to end the fighting all at once.”
“Maybe,” Danica agreed. “But based on what we know about Zolnerov, we’re thinking his plan is a little more twisted. It’s possible that he could use the weapons somewhere here in Donetsk against his own people, then blame the pro-Ukrainian forces for it.”
“That actually makes sense,” Layla said. “There’s still a lot of fighting going on right now, but the borders have essentially stabilized. If Zolnerov is able to convince everyone the Ukrainians used chemical weapons on them, all that will change. It would rip the top off this whole region and destroy any possibility of a negotiated peace settlement. As one of the most senior military leaders in the area, people would naturally look to him to take charge.”
“We have to stop him,” Mikhail said urgently.
Clayne regarded the Russian teen for a moment before turning his attention back to her and Jayson.
“Kojot’s cargo truck with the weapons is in one of those outlying buildings on the south side of the compound,” the wolf shifter said. “If I know him, he’s going to be close to his weapons until he gets his payment. Since it seems like he’s getting paid in human cargo, I’m guessing he’ll use that same truck to get the girls out of here. Danica and I didn’t have enough intel to come up with a plan, other than killing Kojot in the most violent method I can think of. If you two have a better idea, we’re listening.”
Layla blinked in surprise. Clayne had always struck her as the make-it-up-as-you-go type. She never thought he’d be willing to go along with someone else’s plan. Then again, Ivy had told her that Danica was a good influence on the wolf shifter.
She and Jayson quickly outlined their plan to Clayne and Danica, from the teens creating a distraction to her tracking down Anya. Since Dylan and the others were there, Jayson avoided any mention of using Anya’s scent on the scarf to find the girl, but Clayne and Danica were experienced enough to read between the lines.
“What kind of distraction do you have planned?” Clayne asked Mikhail.
“I have some friends bringing in a car that we’re going to ram into the gate and blow up remotely. The trunk is full of old ammo, so the guards are going to go flip out when the vehicle catches on fire.”
Clayne looked impressed. “That should do it.” He looked at her and Jayson. “The plan sounds good. You two rescue the girls. Danica and I will target Kojot and those chemical weapons.”
“Whoever gets their part done first goes and helps the other,” Jayson added.
Clayne nodded. “Agreed. Be careful in there. With Kojot here, there are probably even more soldiers around than normal.”
A soft buzzing sound came from Mikhail’s back pocket. He pulled out his cell phone and looked at the display.
“My friends are here,” he said. “We need to meet them around front. It should only take us about ten minutes to get everything set up and ready.”
Dylan looked at Jayson. “You want us to text you before we’re ready to let the car go?”
Jayson shook his head. “No. We’ll go when we hear the boom.”
“Those kids are pretty ballsy,” Clayne remarked softly as the teens disappeared into the woods.
“Yeah,” Jayson agreed. “Hopefully they don’t do anything too ballsy and get themselves killed.”
Layla silently agreed.
“We’re going to move around to the south,” Clayne said. “We’ll go over the wall at the boom, too.”
“I’ll call you on the satellite phone if we need you,” Layla said.
Danica arched a brow in her fiancé’s direction. “I’d say that’d be great, but Clayne smashed the sat phone to pieces three days ago.”
He shot her a glare in the dark. “It kept ringing all the time.”
“Phones have been known to do that on occasion,” she said. “Some people have even been known to put the crazy things on vibrate or silence them altogether. But you decided to slam it into a brick wall, then throw it in the river for good measure. Both approaches work I guess.”
