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“Get them to a hospital,” I said, nodding to Feo and Anna, then I ran toward the forest.
I rounded the badly damaged Patriot with my gun raised. Alekseyev, dazed and bloodied, was trying to get to his feet. He had managed to open the driver’s door but couldn’t get his legs to work.
I moved closer and saw he had his SR-2 Veresk in his hand. I kicked it and it dropped to the ground. He looked at me, his face covered in blood, eyes unfocused like a Saturday-night drunk.
“Well, go on,” he said. “Kill me. Avenge your friends.”
I stared at him down the barrel of my rifle and my finger curled around the trigger.
“Kill me,” he said.
I wanted to take the shot. I wanted to take it so badly, but I couldn’t. I wasn’t that man. I wasn’t a cold-blooded killer.
“You’re just like me.” There was a note of triumph in his voice. “I see it in your eyes. I’ve read your record. I know death and destruction follow you everywhere. That’s because you like them. You seek them out.”
I was horrified by the thought I was anything like this twisted, evil man.
“No,” I replied, lowering my weapon.
It took him a moment to register what was happening.
“Why?” he asked. “I killed your friends. Kill me.”
“I’m not like you. I value life. Someone like you isn’t afraid of death, you welcome it, because you don’t value life,” I said. “Your punishment is going to be much worse. You won’t be given the easy way out, Director Alekseyev. You’re going to suffer.”
CHAPTER 100
ANNA WAS TAKEN to Rybinsk General Hospital along with the other two Private staffers who had been caught in the crossfire during the rescue. The hospital was located about twenty miles south of the defunct military base.
True to form, Feo had insisted a doctor patch him up just enough so he could come with us, and West, equally stubborn, had followed his example. So twenty minutes after depositing the wounded at the hospital along with four members of Private staff to keep an eagle eye on them, Feo and West joined Dinara and me in the Volkswagen Transporter, heading south toward Moscow.
Dinara had used the company account to lodge the rest of the team in a motel in Rybinsk until we were able to reassure them it was safe to return.
She drove for the first leg and sat behind the wheel lookingshellshocked. I was in the passenger seat, and Feo was dozing behind Dinara. West sat next to him looking grim-faced.
Our valuable cargo lay bound and gagged in the back of the Transporter, with all our gear.
“Thank you for rescuing us,” Dinara said.
“You’d have done the same,” I replied.
She nodded. “I hope so. What now?”
“How are you getting on, Master Gunnery Sergeant?” I asked.
“They’re going to meet us at the Red Man’s place,” he replied, glancing down at a secure communicator he’d pulled from the gear cases when we put Alekseyev in the back. “Eleven a.m. Can we make it?”
Dinara nodded. “We’ll make it.”
She drove like the wind, cutting through the Russian landscape as though devils were chasing her. After four hours, I took over and kept up a similar pace. The roads were deserted, giving us a clear run. The other three dozed while I drove.
The quiet gave me time to think and process what had happened these past few days. Had Alekseyev been right? Was I more like him than I cared to admit? Had I been changed by the years I’d spent inhabiting the world’s underbelly? They say a person is shaped by the environment around them. Was I destined to end up like the men and women I’d brought to justice? Would I become like Valery Alekseyev?
The fact I hadn’t killed him at Boltino suggested there was still clear water between me and him, and the nature of my life when I wasn’t dealing with villains told me there was still a chance that things would stay that way.
I looked at the faces of those around me: Feo, Dinara, and West. I thought of Hua and Zhang Daiyu, and Sci and Mo-bot, and waiting for me somewhere in New York was my heart, Justine.
I had a sudden urge to be with her. I knew she kept my moral compass on the right heading. More simply, I missed her. But there was still work to be done to ensure Alekseyev faced justice, and I was glad to see the sun rising over the horizon as we neared Moscow.
