PRIMAL Fury (The PRIMAL Series) (3 page)

CHAPTER 3

SOMOGY COUNTY, HUNGARY

Aurelia rode the four miles from the manor to the village on her bicycle. Despite the crisp afternoon air the journey was pleasant and improved her dark mood. With every turn of the pedals the feeling of despair lifted ever so slightly. She was riding toward hope, not just for her but for the twelve girls she had left behind.

She continued down the tree-lined road as it entered the village of Hencse, passing between the houses that lined it on both sides. This was as far as she usually went. Her hometown was the longest distance the syndicate let her travel these days. As she passed the last house of the village she stood up, pushing harder on the pedals of the old bike.

Two miles north of her home village was the township of Kadarkút. Five times the size of Hencse, it was a bustling rural town of nearly three thousand. It was less likely she would be recognized here.

She rode to the city center, where a stone lion stood guard in a traffic circle. She passed a row of flagpoles and a memorial before turning into the parking lot of a tourist information center. She leaned her bike against a picket fence and walked quickly into the gardens adjoining the tourist building.

She spotted Kurtz immediately, a tall blond man sitting on a garden bench with a smile on his face like the Cheshire cat’s.

“Wilhelm, I was scared you wouldn’t be here.” She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face into his chest.

“I gave you my word; why wouldn’t I be here?” He spoke English with a heavy German accent.

Aurelia pulled away from him, tears running down her cheeks as they sat together on the bench.

“He did this to you, didn’t he?” Kurtz pulled back her hair to reveal the bruises on her neck.

She shrugged his hand away and brushed her hair forward to cover the marks. “They’re all brutes. They treat the girls no better than animals.”

“How many girls are there?”

“Twelve. I have their photos like you asked.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a USB stick identical to the one she had given Gusztáv. “There are photos on there of all the girls except one. She was attacked by a dog and won’t be sold.”

“They set a dog on her? Is she going to be OK?” The PRIMAL operative made a mental note to expect guard dogs at the manor.

“I’m not sure. She’s getting sicker. I’ve done everything I can but they won’t let a doctor see her. I’m worried she’s going to die.”

“We won’t let that happen, OK?” Kurtz reached into his jacket and pulled out a plastic blush container. “But first I need you to do something that’s very important. Put this on the vehicle that they load the girls in. It has a magnet in it. All you need to do is slip it underneath and it will stick.”

She nodded and took the device from him, slipping it into her bag. “When are you going to come for us?”

“As soon as the girls are gone, I’ll come for you. Once they’ve reached their destination, another team will free them. In forty-eight hours it will all be over.”

“And I’ll be with you.” She leaned in and kissed him. He wrapped his arms around her.

“Hey, lover boy, we’ve got a problem,
da
.” A tiny speaker in the German’s ear interrupted with a Russian-accented voice. “Not completely sure but I think someone followed your girl.”

Kurtz pulled away from Aurelia and quickly scanned the park. “Where? Who?”

“There is a man with hoodie looking at her bike,” said Aleks.

“
Scheisse
. Maybe he’s just a cyclist. Can you check it out?”

“
Da
, you move to the other side of the park. I will deal with it and then pick you both up in the Audi.”

“Moving now.” Kurtz took Aurelia by the hand and led her swiftly away from the bench, toward the other side of the park.

On the opposite side of the street, Aleks started an Audi station wagon and pulled into the parking lot. As he got out, the man who had been looking at Aurelia’s bike started walking away, heading to the tourist center.

“Hey, you,” the big Russian called out in English. With his beard and bald head, Aleks knew he was an intimidating sight.

The young man kept walking.

“Yes, you! Hey, you want to buy bike?” He caught up to the startled youth, who reached into the pocket of his jacket.

Aleks moved fast, clamping one hand around the teenager’s neck and the other around his wrist. “Nice and slow, yes?”

The young man struggled, trying to pull a phone from his pocket. Aleks slammed his forehead into the youth’s face, knocking him unconscious. He laid the limp body gently on the gravel and examined the phone.

At that moment a black four-wheel drive screamed into the parking lot and skidded to a halt. Through the windshield Aleks could make out an assault rifle in the hands of the front-seat passenger. At least two other men rode in the back.

“We’ve got company,” he transmitted over his communications interface as he drew his pistol.

The HK45 barked twice, shattering the front window of the four-wheel drive. An AK appeared in a side window, thrust in the Russian’s direction. Aleks sprinted into the tourist center as a barrage of 7.62mm slugs slammed into it. He ran through the flimsy structure and out the back door as more gunfire tore through the building. The sole occupant, the attendant, did not need to be prompted. He took cover behind the counter.

“I’ve got one vehicle with multiple shooters,” Aleks radioed Kurtz as he ran through the memorial gardens at the back of the building.

“Good to hear you’re making so many friends, Aleks. We’re near the church across the gardens. Can you get to us with the car?”

“
Nyet
, the car is not an option. Coming to you now,” he said, breathing heavily. For his size he moved swiftly, leaping over the waist-high fence that separated the gardens from the cemetery and church.

Bullets whistled through the air and smacked into the side of the church. Aleks hunkered down behind a headstone and fired off a magazine in the direction of the shooters. He reloaded the HK, pulled a distraction grenade from inside his jacket, yanked the pin, and lobbed it into the gardens.

It exploded with a loud boom, sending a cloud of smoke and sparks into the air. Using the blast for cover, he sprinted to the steps of the church.

Kurtz was waiting in the doorway, his own pistol drawn. He provided covering fire as Aleks entered, then pulled the doors shut and slid a solid wooden beam across to lock it.

“Little early in the relationship for a wedding, hey, lover boy?” Aleks quipped.

Aurelia was standing deeper in the church, her eyes wide with fear.

“Shut up and get me something to barricade this,
Dummkopf
.”

“What brings you to house of God?” The church’s Orthodox priest approached them with his hands up, speaking calmly in Hungarian-accented English.

“We seek refuge from evil men, father,” Aleks replied, flashing an Interpol identification card before hefting one of the heavy pews toward the door. Kurtz helped him wedge it against the wood.

The priest disappeared through a side door into the vestibule and returned moments later with an ancient-looking double-barreled shotgun and bandolier of shells.

As he moved to secure the other doors in the church, Kurtz gave the priest a quizzical look.

“Someone must defend the church,” the priest said as he cracked open the weapon and dropped a pair of cartridges into the chambers. He stood protectively over Aurelia. “I spent a little time in the army when I was a younger man.”

“There’s a door at the back, down the stairs. It’s locked,” Kurtz yelled, now at the rear of the building.

There was a heavy thump on the front door and Aleks fired two shots from his pistol into the wood. They failed to penetrate. “GET DOWN!” he screamed as an AK barked and rounds punched through the wood, tearing it into splinters.

The doors shuddered as a heavy weight slammed into them.

There was yelling from the other side. Aleks crouched against the thick stone wall, listening intently as the criminals debated how to gain entry into the church. He leaped to his feet, shouting, “Grenade, GO, GO!”

Kurtz grabbed Aurelia and with the priest they ran to the back and continued down a flight of stairs that led to a metal door.

The gangsters at the front had wedged a hand grenade up against the door. It detonated and the blast shattered the heavy beam and drove the bench backward, creating a gap almost two feet wide. One of the men fired an AK through the gap before ducking into the church.

Aleks squatted near the top of the stairs. Cautiously he raised his head and spotted the man. He pulled the trigger of his pistol. The big slug caught its target just above the ear and the man’s head exploded, spraying a stained glass window with brain matter. Another assailant fired through the entrance, blasting chunks out of the pulpit.

“Where does this go?” Kurtz asked the priest, indicating the back door.

“Outside, over the bridge to my house.” The priest had an arm around Aurelia.

More gunfire smashed into the walls above them. Aleks was forced to fire blindly over the top of the stairs. “One dead, two shooting.”

Kurtz slid back the metal bolt of the door and peered out. It was all clear. “Get her to your house. I’ll cover my partner and we’ll follow you.”

The priest nodded and grabbed Aurelia by the hand. As the two of them dashed from the doorway to the bridge, a gunman appeared at the corner of the church. He fired from the hip and hit the priest, knocking him to the ground. Aurelia screamed and kept running.

Time stood still for a second as the sights of Kurtz’s pistol lined up with the gunman’s head. He could make out the color of the man’s eyes as they blinked in slow motion. The HK roared, and a round tore through the criminal’s face.

Aleks came outside and stepped past Kurtz, kicking the door closed as he changed the magazine on his pistol. He spotted the wounded priest and ran to his side. Kurtz sprinted toward the bridge, following the terrified Aurelia.

The scream of a high-revving engine announced the four-wheel drive as it burst through a hedge and sped toward Aurelia.

Kurtz was caught in the open. He dived for cover as a burst of gunfire stitched the ground next to him. The car barely slowed as Aurelia was grabbed and forced into the backseat. With a roar it punched back through the hedge and disappeared.

Kurtz fired off a few rounds but it was too late. Aurelia was gone.

Aleks was kneeling beside the priest, checking his wounds, when the last gunman stepped out of the back door of the church. The man took aim with his AK before an ear-splitting boom cut him in half, the priest discharging both barrels of his twelve-gauge.

Kurtz barely registered the threat, focused only on the direction the vehicle had taken Aurelia. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” he fumed. “Aleks, we need to get to the car now.” He started off toward the tourist center.

The priest was sitting up with the smoking twelve-gauge held in his hands. Aleks held a field dressing against the older man’s hip.

“Your friend needs you,” said the priest. “I will be fine.”

The sound of police sirens could be heard in the distance.