Oksana, bodyguards at her back, with Stanislav Pavluhkin by her side.
Pavluhkin is on the move, Kyle announced.
No one immediately responded to him, so Kyle changed directions, keeping an eye on the Russians heading with unerring strides for the Exhibition Road exit.
Correction.Pavluhkin isleaving.Where are we with the bombs?
Not finished, Katie growled.Stay on them.If we can keep them within the proposed quarantine zone, we can get a sample of their DNA through the release protocols.
Kyle swore under his breath.They were running out of time.Knowing that letting Pavluhkin and Oksana out of his sight would end badly, Kyle altered course just enough to bring him to the bar across the way from him.He cut in line, ignoring the angry couple behind him, and smiled grimly at Samaira dressed up in the black-and-white uniform of a bartender.
“I need a Queen’s Special,” Kyle said.
A hand slammed down on his left shoulder.Kyle reacted without thinking, grabbing the man’s wrist and twisting under his arm to wrench it nearly out of the socket even as he wrapped his hand around the man’s throat and squeezed.His date screamed, while several other people scattered.This wasn’t the kind of scene Jamie would be happy about, but Kyle didn’t care.
“I’m in a hurry, so why don’t you back the fuck off?”Kyle growled as his fingers pressed down hard over the man’s carotid arteries.
Kyle didn’t expect a response, considering how badly the man was choking against the pressure of Kyle’s grip.Kyle shoved the man away from him, watching as he fell on his ass at the feet of several guests who hurriedly scattered.Kyle turned back to the bar, relieved to see Samaira holding a black case out for him to take.
“Thanks,” Kyle said, snatching the case and breaking into a run, not bothering to keep up his cover anymore.
He’d lost sight of Pavluhkin in his stopover for gear, but Kyle was a Strike Force scout sniper.Tracking his target in a crowd like this was difficult but not impossible.He was almost to the Exhibition Road exit when he caught a glimpse of Oksana’s bright blonde hair, the two of them disappearing down the stairs to the lower level.
Kyle picked up the pace and reached the top of the stairs in time to see a group of armed men rounding the landing.Kyle threw himself to the side with war-honed instincts as bullets from automatic rifles ripped through the space he’d been standing in.
“Get down!”he barked over the screams of nearby guests.
Kyle slammed his way out the doors leading to the Exhibition Road, case in hand as he ran for cover.
Gear up!he snarled through the mental links.We got hostiles, and they’re coming up from the tunnel entrance!I’m going after Pavluhkin!
Kyle ran, putting distance between himself and the entrance in case any of the shooters came out.He opened the case as he ran, pulling out a 9mm tactical handgun and a few mags of extra ammo that he shoved in his pocket.
Armed, Kyle pulled the nanotech strips out of his pocket and slapped them onto his face as he headed at a dead run for South Kensington Station.The tunnel that ran under Exhibition Road linked the Underground station to the Victoria and Albert Museum and terminated near Albert Hall by Hyde Park.There was a fifty-fifty chance Kyle was running in the wrong direction—maybe Pavluhkin had a pickup ready to go near Hyde Park—but if there was one thing Kyle knew about the enemy, it was that they liked to hide.
If you wanted to get lost in a crowd in London and hide your tracks, the best way to do that was by taking the Underground.
* * *
The central garden courtyard of the Victoria and Albert Museum was surrounded by the four wings of the museum, the red-bricked façade appearing burnished in the soft glow of the lights floating in the air.Usually the garden courtyard was open to the sky and the daily elements, but during winter, the museum erected a biodome roof over it.The panels were anchored to the museum’s own roof edges and arched over the garden courtyard, programmed to showcase the Milky Way in a clear night sky.Environmentals worked to chill the air and create artificial snow, turning the garden courtyard into a miniature winter wonderland.
Jamie left Donovan behind in the sculpture gallery with all the other bodyguards hovering at the garden doors while their charges mingled out of sight.The cold hit him in the face, the abrupt temperature change chilling, but not precisely uncomfortable for him.He’d slogged through worse during training.Snow fell in a soft dusting onto the guests who merited a meeting with the man who’d brought them all together tonight, though several didn’t seem enamored of the cold.
Jamie followed Niko around the oval pond situated closest to their side of the museum, the water iced over, though no one was skating on it.Several couples stood near the edge for pictures beneath the snowfall, indulging in the rare element, not caring that it was faked.
A white canopy erected in the corner provided some shelter from the falling snow and warmth out of the cold, courtesy of discreetly placed heat lamps that doubled as poles.Men and women mingled within, all of them trying to garner and keep the attention of one man.
“Mr.Pavluhkin,” Niko said in a smooth, deferential voice as they approached, a path opening up for them.“Allow me to introduce to you Jamie Callahan.”
Stanislav Pavluhkin wasn’t as tall as Jamie, nor as broad, but the confident way he held himself made him seem a little larger than life.The pictures Jamie had studied at MDF headquarters didn’t quite do the man justice.Sharp features provided a symmetry to his face gained by genetic enhancements done in vitro.Light brown hair was expertly styled, and the blue eyes that met Jamie’s revealed nothing at all.
“It’s not often we see a man with your impeccable credentials,” Stanislav said as he extended a hand in greeting.His English was pretty much perfect, but Stanislav’s Russian accent still came through, hanging heavy on every word.
Jamie accepted the handshake, letting Stanislav attempt to find the pressure points on his hand and squeeze down in an intimidating way before Jamie returned the gesture with far more strength than Stanislav could match.A faint twitch of the man’s lips was the only tell he’d lost that fight.Jamie let go with a genial smile.Stanislav was too aware of his position to shake out the ache in his hand from Jamie’s superior grip in front of an audience.
“The Marine Corps kept me busy for years, but as my father is running for president, I thought it was time to put family first over the nation.I gave up my commission two years ago and have been keeping myself busy,” Jamie said.
“Yes, with a company owned and run by one of your former Marines.Root Source, Inc., I believe it’s called?”
