Precipice: V Plague Book 9 (28 page)

I entered
the park moments ahead of the arrival of a squad of soldiers, sticking to the
edge of a row of head height bushes that screened a pair of tennis courts from
the street.  Reaching the end of them I paused, startled when two Russians
suddenly appeared right in front of me.  They were trotting, heading
somewhere in a hurry, and were close enough to touch.

Both of them
faltered when they saw me, trying to stop and bring their weapons around. 
We were too close for rifles so I didn’t even try.  Whipping the Kukri out
I slashed, opening the throat of the one on the right.  There was an
immediate fountain of blood that soaked me before he fell away to die. 
The second one shouted something in Russian and began backpedaling as he swung
his rifle towards me.

Charging, I
battled the muzzle away as he fired and buried all twelve inches of the Kukri
in his guts, slicing up and out.  I felt the blade grind on bone and
slashed his throat open before shoving the corpse onto the ground and stepping
over it.  Pausing for a moment, I made the mistake of being in the open
and nearly paid the ultimate price.

I felt the
shockwave of the bullet as it flew past my head an instant before I heard the
report of the sniper’s rifle.  I recognized the danger immediately and
lunged forward into a crouch as I dashed for the cover of a low building that
looked like it was for storage of mowers and maintenance equipment for the
park.  I heard another shot, but the bullet didn’t come close enough for
me to feel or hear its passage. 

Reaching the
building I slammed against the wall, checking in both directions.  For the
moment it was clear.  I was hidden from the sniper and took a moment to
picture the map of the park in my head.  On the other side of this
building and fifty yards out into the open field should be the tree that the Hind’s
winch cable was attached to.  As I was thinking this I heard a single
pistol shot, but didn’t think anything of it.  There were still infected
around that the Russian troops had been putting down on a fairly regular basis.

“That son of
a bitch just shot her!”  Titus shouted into the radio.

“What?” 
I asked, my stomach clenching into a tight ball as a wave of heat flushed
across my face.

“That
fuckin’ commie bastard just shot the woman he was beatin’ on.  Right in
the head.  She’s dead,” he said, the emotion apparent in his voice.

Martinez! 
For a brief moment the world around me ceased to exist as I tried to process
her death.  Katie was right about her.  She had become more than a
friend.  She really was the little sister I’d never had.  And that
motherfucker had just killed her.

The world
roared back in on me and I wanted to scream.  Wanted to rage at the sky
like a lunatic.  But I had a better way to exorcise my demons. 
Loading a fresh magazine into my rifle I moved to the far corner of the building,
pressing deep into a thickly growing bush that reached all the way above the
roof.  Making sure I was well concealed, I poked my head around. 

I had a view
into the park, just able to see the edge of the tree where the girls were
secured.  Shielded from the sniper, I worked my way through the foliage
until I could see farther around the corner.  I now had a good view of the
tree, finally getting a look at the thick trunk and the helicopter beyond.

I spotted
Katie first, then saw Martinez hanging limply from the wire.  Seeing her
body drove home the pain, and one of the few remaining pieces of my heart that
held any joy for life turned black.  Shutting down all my emotions with
the exception of the desire for vengeance, I took a deep breath and began analyzing
the scene.

Beyond
Martinez was Rachel and finally Irina.  Colonel Grushkin stood in front of
Martinez’ corpse, between Rachel and Katie.  It looked like there were
thin lines in his hand, one each leading to Katie and Rachel.  I carefully
raised my rifle and peered through the scope, adjusting the magnification for a
better look, then said a few words my mother would most certainly not have
approved of.

They each
now had both arms raised over their heads, wrists cuffed together and the short
chain hooked over the winch cable.  A hand grenade had been strapped to
their throats, a line leading from each pin to Grushkin’s hand.  All he
had to do was tug and the pins would come out and they were dead.  I
clenched my jaw so hard it’s a wonder I didn’t break my teeth.

If I thought
for one second there was a chance they would go free in exchange for my
surrender, I’d put my weapons down and walk into the open.  But that ship
had sailed.  Colonel Grushkin would happily make me stand and watch as he
pulled the pins and blew the heads off of the woman I loved.  The two
women I loved, I corrected myself.

I couldn’t
even shoot the fucker.  If he fell, the last thing that would happen would
be the lines tightening until the pins popped free.  For one of the very
few times in my life I was at a complete loss for what to do.  The only
certainty was that as soon as I was captured or killed, Katie and Rachel would
die.

A noise to
my left caught my attention.  Lifting the rifle and pressing a large
branch out of my way, I peered through the night vision scope and watched as
Russian soldiers began forming up to create a perimeter around the park. 
Turning, I scanned behind me and saw the same thing.  They were all lining
up on the roads that formed the boundary, spread about twenty yards
apart. 

Just
marvelous.  Katie and Rachel wired to explode.  A sniper on a roof
that overlooked the park and now ground troops creating a tight cordon around
us.  We were really and truly fucked.

 “I am
speaking to Major John Chase.”

I turned back
and looked, seeing Grushkin speaking into a large megaphone.  The tall,
thin Major held the microphone up to his mouth as a soldier whom I presumed was
a medic bandaged one of the Colonel’s hands.  The other hand still tightly
gripped the lines that lead to the grenade pins.

“Surrender
now and these two women will not be harmed.  I will put them on a
helicopter that will take them anywhere they wish to go.  If you do not
surrender, I will begin carving off body parts.”

The scope
was settled on his head and I so badly wanted to pull the trigger.  To
send a bullet screaming out to shatter his skull.  But if his corpse fell
the wrong way and pulled those pins, Katie and Rachel were dead.  There
were no two ways about it.  Five seconds after the pins came out…

I was
stuck.  I couldn’t attack, or the girls would die.  I couldn’t
retreat and fight my way clear of the perimeter, or Grushkin would begin
abusing them, and they would eventually die.  Did I believe that he’d
actually let them go?  Put them on a helicopter, wish them well and give
them a ride?  Not a fucking chance. 

He wanted to
punish me for the aggravation I’d caused him, not to mention all the Russians
I’d killed as well as the injuries I’d inflicted on him personally.  But
he couldn’t do much to me.  I knew that.  President Barinov wanted
that pleasure, and wouldn’t be terribly understanding if I was delivered in bad
shape.  That would put a damper on the festivities he had planned.

“Which one
should I start with?”  Grushkin asked over the megaphone.

He said
something to the Major, probably his aide, who handed the microphone to the
medic.  Drawing a very long, wicked looking blade he nodded at the
Colonel.

“Perhaps
let’s start at the left with the redhead,” Grushkin’s amplified voice sounded
almost delighted that he was about to inflict some pain.

The Major
turned and stepped in front of Katie.  I could see her eyes grow large as
he reached out, grasped the neckline of her shirt and ripped the front
open.  He tore the fabric away from her body, exposing her bare
breasts.  There was fear in her eyes, but she spat in his face.  He
smiled, wiping it off and grabbing her right breast in his large hand. 
That’s when I pulled the trigger.

The Major’s
head snapped to the side and he tumbled to the ground, the nearly machete sized
blade falling out of his hand and coming to rest in the mud between Rachel and
Irina.

“I’m coming
in,” I shouted before Grushkin could respond and do anything to Katie.

Everyone’s
head snapped in my direction, Rachel and Katie both screaming for me to
run.  I ignored them, stepping into the open with my rifle held in one
hand over my head.  At that moment I was half expecting a bullet from the
sniper, but it never came.  Slowly, I began walking out into the park,
keeping my hands and rifle high in the air.

Grushkin was
intently watching me, the medic having raised his rifle and trained it on
me.  Apparently the Colonel felt he didn’t need any more help.  He
thought the grenades strapped to the girls’ throats were enough to keep me in check. 
He was mostly right.

Katie and
Rachel were still screaming at me, but the shouts were dissolving into tears as
I continued to walk towards their captor.  I saw Martinez, hanging limply
from the wire, blood soaked hair hanging down and concealing her face.  My
heart broke when I saw her body.  And a fresh ball of anger ignited in my
guts.

I came to a
halt ten feet from Grushkin and the medic, verifying that the large Hind parked
behind them screened us from the sniper.  The Colonel was standing close
to Rachel, the line connecting him to Katie stretched out longer than
hers.  Over his shoulder I saw Irina looking at me, fury on her face as
she wrung her hands.  The medic was a few feet to his right, AKMS muzzle
steady on my chest.  Flicking my eyes at the weapon I mentally sighed when
I confirmed its selector had been set to full auto and his finger was on the
trigger.

“You said
you’d let them go,” I said, expecting him to laugh in my face.

“And I
will,” he grinned.  “But you have caused me and my men great loss and
sorrow.  They need to be compensated.  As soon as all of my men have taken
as much comfort from them as can be taken, I will let them go.”

“Motherfucker…”
I took a step forward, rifle already starting to move. 

I wasn’t
thinking about shooting him, I was going to beat him to death.  But the medic
took a step back and fired a short burst into the ground at my feet. 
Jerking the rifle back up he once again put it on the center of my chest. 
I was wearing body armor, but didn’t think for a second it would protect me at
this range.

“Now, place
your weapons on the ground or there will not be another warning shot,” Grushkin
said.  He added to his threat by raising the hand that held the lines.

Katie and
Rachel had been sobbing, but went quiet when the Russian rifle had fired. Katie
was breathing hard, a moan escaping her throat with each breath.  I wanted
to turn my head and check on her, but wasn’t going to take my attention off of
the Russians. 

Movement
behind Grushkin caught my attention.  It was Irina, and her hand was
free!  I hadn’t paid much attention to her, but I realized that she had
only been cuffed by one hand, just like Martinez.  Rachel and Katie had
also been restrained that way until the grenades were strapped to them.  Irina
hadn’t been wringing her hands, she’d been picking the lock on her cuffs!

She knelt
without moving her feet and carefully reached out for the big knife the Major
had dropped when I killed him.  To keep attention focused on me I moved
slowly, flexing my knees and starting to lower my rifle to the ground.  I
froze and jerked my head around when Katie gasped in pain.

She was
hanging from the cuffs, her legs not supporting her weight, and thrashing her
head back and forth as she cried out.  Her entire body began to convulse,
sending vibrations into the winch cable, then she went perfectly still, head
down and face obscured by her thick, wet hair.

Behind me I
heard a sound like a baseball bat striking flesh.  It was immediately
followed by a soft thud as something hit the wet grass.  I turned in time
to see Irina whirl, the gleaming blade held in both hands.  Blood
fountained from a stump at the end of Grushkin’s arm.  His severed hand,
still grasping the lines that led to the grenade pins, lay in a small puddle of
rainwater at Rachel’s feet. 

The medic
had begun to turn towards her, but dropped his rifle and fell backwards when
she sliced his throat open, nearly decapitating him.  Grushkin was moving,
opening his mouth to shout for his troops.  Irina took two steps and
thrust the blade into his lower back, angled up.  The tip appeared, pushing
through the front of his uniform.  With a scream of fury, the Russian
woman pulled up on the knife, cutting, then turned and twisted the steel before
pulling it out and watching Grushkin’s body fall to the ground.

The Russians
forgotten, I straightened, turning and starting to go to Katie.  I froze
in my tracks when her head snapped up and she screamed.  Her eyes were
blood red.  She had turned.

Unleashed: V Plague Book 1

Crucifixion: V Plague Book 2

Rolling Thunder: V Plague Book 3

Red Hammer: V Plague Book 4

Transmission: V Plague Book 5

Days Of Perdition: V Plague Book 6

Indestructible: V Plague Book 7

Recovery: V Plague Book 8

Precipice: V Plague Book 9

Rules Of Engagement: A John Chase
Short Story