What the fuck? How did he get ahold of my files? The academy might as well be posting our information on facebook for everyone to see at this point. I wanted to make a snarky comment but I was moving between intense pain wracking through my entire body and nausea.
“You see Eloise, what was in your cup is a chemical that has a long fancy name, but let’s just call it synthetic heat’.” Oh shit.
43
We swarmed through the trees, heading towards a place that I had not returned to since I was six years old. We’d somehow managed to convince Ric, Owen and Link to head to the hospital to be with Dominic who was currently in surgery. Gage and I had refused to stay behind and told Collins that we either went with the FBI or we would make our own way to my childhood home. I knew where it was after all. Collins had taken one look at our expressions and had given in, instructing us to put on bulletproof vests.
Now we hurried through the forest that surrounded the mansion that I had been born in. It sat on five acres at the southernmost edge of the San Francisco area, up in the mountains surrounding the city. It was secluded and hard as hell to get into with only one road in and one road out. We’d ended up leaving the cars and vans down at the bottom of the hill, choosing to go on foot.
Gage was next to me as we picked our way through the underbrush, his hair pulled up into a tight ponytail and his pistol in his hand as we made our way up the hill. It had been ninety minutes since the meeting at the picnic area. Time was of the essence and I refused to slow down to think about the implications of going back to this house again.
As we made it to the top of the hill the agents dispersed around the property, encircling it. From our vantage point I could see down the short incline to the pool which was full and glowing just like it had that day thirty years ago.
“I count two vehicles in the driveway but I can see at least five men around the perimeter and an unknown number inside.” Collins stood next to us with a pair of binoculars, holding them out to Gage to take but the bigger man had a strange expression on his face before he grunted in pain and bent at the waist.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, putting a hand on his arm.
Gage just shook his head before seeming to finally find the words, “Something’s wrong with Eloise.”
I grabbed the binoculars from Collins and looked at the backyard. In the time we hadn’t been looking, Volkov and his men had filed out of the house and to the edge of the pool. Eloise was with them and did not look okay at all. I could make out a sheen of sweat that looked like it was covering her body. She was on the edge of the pool with Volkov standing directly behind her. Something was tied around her ankles and I realized with a jolt it was a twenty pound dumbbell strapped tightly to her ankles. The bastard was taking us back in time and flashes of my mother floating in that same pool filled my brain.
“I think she’s in heat.” Gage leaned against the tree looking nauseous, “But it’s not normal. Not at all.”
Collins spoke into his earpiece, “We need to get our crosshairs on Volkov and his men. Getting the hostages back is our top priority.” He listened for a moment as agents began to chime in with their locations and which of Volkov’s men they had a clear shot on. “Leave your laser sights off for now.” He instructed before turning to us with a grim expression.
“We’ve got a clear shot on everyone but Volkov. He’s basically using Eloise as a shield, the bastard.”
“We need to figure out how to get a clear shot.” Gage stood up straight, looking marginally better. “She shut down the bond. I don’t think she wants me feeling everything she is right now.” He didn’t look very happy about that fact.
“How the hell are we going to be able to do that without accidentally shooting Eloise or having her drop into the pool with the weight strapped around her ankles?” I asked, watching through the binoculars as Volkov’s men began to point their guns into the trees.
“Tell everyone to get down.” I said, realizing that somehow they knew where the FBI agents were.
“What?” Collins asked.
“Tell everyone to get down!” I roared as Volkov’s men began firing into the forest.
“Everyone drop!” Collins said into his earpiece and we all dropped to the ground as bullets whizzed over our heads and embedded themselves into the trees around us.
I could hear a few of the agents in the dark cry out as the bullets hit their intended targets.
Finally, after what was probably sixty seconds of active shooting on Volkov’s part, there was silence.
And then my cell phone rang.
“Volkov.” I growled at Gage, showing him the screen of my phone. “If I tell you to, do you think you could make the shot?” I asked him as my phone buzzed, a plan quickly forming in my head.
“I don’t want to risk hitting Eloise.” Gage said with a shake of his head.
“But could you do it?” I pushed.
“... yeah probably.” Gage replied.
“Good. Set up one of the rifles and turn on the laser sights.”
“What are you doing Russo?” Collins asked, clearly unhappy with the turn of events. I just waved him off and held the binoculars up to my eyes before answering the phone.
“Leon Russo!” Volkov’s voice crowed through the speaker, “Come to see the grand finale, eh?”
