AllFreeNovel
Share Us
From the window in his office, he could see the helicopters hovering over the firing range. Black-clad commandos were already moving across the main compound.
Kamenev walked to his massive safe and dialed the combination. He pulled the heavy door open and pulled out a thick leather binder, worn with age. It was the school’s sacred text. The fundamental principles. The original Doc Savage training methods.
The data and techniques had never been copied or transferred to digital form. Kamenev was too smart for that. Everything was either in the book or in his head. That was all he needed to start over—that and the billions resting in anonymous accounts across the globe.
The headmaster closed the door to his office and walked briskly down the back staircase to the first floor. The whole building was in chaos. Young students and their instructors crowded around windows as another Black Hawk roared overhead at rooftop level. Kamenev ignored it all. This establishment was no longer his concern.
When he reached a room off the middle of the hall, he opened the door and locked it behind him. He drew a shade down over the window in the door. He was standing in a small, utilitarian room with a linoleum floor and bare walls. A worn upright piano sat against one wall. Kamenev opened the piano lid and pressed a lever inside. He stood back. The left side of the piano swung forward two feet, revealing a hatch set neatly into the wall behind it.
Kamenev angled himself behind the piano and pushed the hatch open. Behind it was an opening just wide enough for a grown man. Kamenev dropped to his knees and backed through. His feet found the steps of the staircase inside. He pressed a lever and leaned back as the hatch slid closed. Then he waited for the sound of the piano settling back into place against the wall. He looked down. A row of small amber bulbs lit a winding staircase leading down into a chamber carved out of solid rock.
When he reached the bottom, Kamenev headed down a narrow stone corridor. He was now two stories below the building. In his practice runs, he had never gone beyond the top of the stairs. Waste of time, he’d thought. Now he regretted being so cavalier.
He remembered from the plans that the main corridor branched off into a maze of passageways, leading to various storerooms and exits. But he couldn’t recall which was which. He moved quickly down the main route until he reached an intersection, with tunnels leading off in three directions. Kamenev hesitated. He turned left, then right. Then he froze. There was somebody behind him.
“Looking for a way out, Headmaster?”
CHAPTER 97
KIRA STEPPED OUT of the shadows and into the dim glow of an overhead light. She could tell that Kamenev was rattled, but he was doing his best to maintain his command presence.
“You’re trying hard not to act surprised,” she said.
“Meed,” said Kamenev, his voice low and calm. “Our master of escapes.”
“Meed is not my name,” Kira said softly. “But you always knew that.”
“It suited you,” said Kamenev. He angled his head to get a better look at her. “It still does.”
“Do you remember the last time you saw me?” asked Kira.
Kamenev looked past her, down the corridor. Kira shifted her head to block his view.
“There’s nobody coming. It’s just us,” she said, taking a step toward him. “I asked you a question.”
Kamenev took one step back, his hand clasped tight around the binder. “Of course,” he said. “It was…”
“Let me help you,” said Kira. “It was fifteen years ago. The day you assigned my final test.Ourfinal test. Me and Irina.”
Kamenev stiffened his spine and looked Kira straight in the eye.
“It was a necessary mission,” he said.
Kira’s throat tightened. Her fists clenched at her sides. She wanted nothing more than to choke the life out of this man. But first she needed some answers.
“Why?” she asked. “Why them?”
Kamenev took another step back. The stone wall stopped him. Kira saw his expression curl into a bitter sneer. His old arrogance resurfaced.
“Because my brother was weak,” he said.
“Your brother?” asked Kira. “What does your brother…?”
“My brother,” said Kamenev firmly. “Your father.”
Kira felt the breath go out of her. She struggled to maintain her composure, but she couldn’t hide her shock from Kamenev. He knew her too well.
“All your research didn’t turn up that fact, did it?” said Kamenev. “From early on, your father and I took very different paths. He was a pacifist. A dreamer. Same with your mother. No concept of how the world really works. When I left and changed my name, I was erased from the family history. I had to make my own way—just like you.”
