Russian Law (Law Series ) (Volume 1) (10 page)

Lucas
grabbed her arm and dragged her over to the window that overlooked the street.
Elena only had time to snatch up her purse from where she had dumped it earlier
before Lucas was pulling her with him across the room.

Lucas
could hear the agent trying to break in. The door shuddering as the man’s
shoulder connected with the wood. He opened the window and gave a cursory look
out before turning to Elena.

“Brace
yourself!”

Elena’s
eyes widened, she was not looking happy. “Are you serious?”

He
gave another look out the window and shrugged. “Don’t worry. I’m sure the snow
will break your fall.”

I
hope.

“Or
a leg,” Elena stated.

Yeah
or a leg, he thought. She didn’t need to make it sound like this was something
he
wanted
to do, they had no other choice. He didn’t fancy spending twenty
to thirty in a Russian prison freezing his balls off.

Elena
hiked up her skirt until it reached the top of her thighs, just long enough to
keep her modesty although she wasn’t concerned about that in their current
situation but it was nice to keep some sense of decorum and climbed through the
window onto the small ledge outside. Lucas followed shortly after and joined
her.

“Ready
on three, one…”

The
sound of snapping wood reverberated throughout the apartment. The SVR Agent had
obviously broken in, within seconds two more agents barged in with their guns
drawn. They certainly don’t mess around here. He wondered at what it would take
to provoke them into shooting, probably not a lot.

Elena
grabbed his hand. “Three.”

She
jumped taking Lucas with her, both landing on their backs in the snow. Lucas
was on his feet in seconds while Elena tested the mobility of her appendages.
He grabbed her hands and deftly pulled her to her feet. He kept hold of one of
her hands and started dragging her down the street before she could protest. He
could see more SVR vehicles approaching in the distance, as they drew near he
yanked Elena into a nearby alley and pushed her behind a dumpster, following
closely. He watched as the cars drove past and let out a deep breath, one
crisis averted. He could feel Elena shivering beside him and for the first
time, noticed she wasn’t wearing a coat.

Shit,
he hadn’t thought of that when he decided to jump out the window. With this
temperature she would be a popsicle within the hour. He took off his coat and
handed it to her, she shook her head. Lucas grabbed her arm and roughly shoved
it through the sleeve hole. She relented and worked her arm through the other
one before buttoning the coat up. She gave him a grateful look.

The
coat was still warm from his body and she felt her stomach flip when she took in
a deep breath and could smell him. He had an unusual scent, part cologne part
pure male. She snuggled deep inside his jacket which was several sizes too big for
her and trailed in the snow as she walked.

They
had to get off the street and into a safe place wherever that might be. Lucas
took Elena’s hand again and together they joined the other people on the busy
street.

Chapter 9

Director
Vladimir Mishkin
sat as his desk and listened to the report his men issued him. Elena Ivanova
had resisted SVR’s efforts to seize the American Special Agent. Although it was
still unclear if she was a willing participant or if Special Agent Gates had
taken her against her will, threatening her with bodily harm, fleeing into the
streets. His men were currently searching for them now.

They
had to bring Lucas Gates in, he killed one of their own, accidentally or not
and his men would be after blood. It would be quite difficult to bring him in
alive. His men were not known for their pleasant treatment of cop killers. As
for Elena she made her decision the moment she went out that window with Lucas.

Vladimir
knew he shouldn’t have put her back on the job so quickly. She hadn’t been
ready. But liaising with the American Special Agent was a job no one had wanted
and in a ditch effort to appease the US Government decided to bring her back
into the daily grind. She had not accepted the report given to her and had gone
off the deep end shouting conspiracy. She had to get it through her thick head
that Nikolai’s death was just plain bad luck. Although he had to admit he had a
tough time swallowing that as well. But he was not one to question. More than
likely it was another government’s agent who had had it out for Nikolai Nagregor
or he just plain got caught up in the crossfire.

After
Nagregor’s death, Elena had been interviewed in standard formality to determine
what she knew about her husband’s job. What secrets did she know that could put
her or her country at risk? The agency had been relieved to find out that
Nagregor had kept to the regulations, non-disclosure to spouses or relatives.
He had not usually been one to follow the rules, only when they suited him but
he had known the risks. Now his widow was in deep trouble. There would be no
getting her out of this unscathed, at least not until they knew the score.
Lucas’s boss had emphatically denied any wrong doing on his agent’s behalf.
James Fitzgibbon had told him, if Lucas shot an SVR agent he had a damn good
reason for doing so. He had known Lucas for a decade now, knew the type of man
he was and he wasn’t the kind to go rogue. He was a dedicated agent of the CIA
and loved his country. He wouldn’t piss it all away by popping off another
agent. Vladimir wasn’t concerned about the why. He just wanted to get the mess
cleaned up and kept quiet. He gave the order. Bring in Lucas Gates under any
circumstances. Pity the person caught in the middle.

Elena,
Elena. You should have got out while you could.

Soon
there would be nowhere safe for Elena Ivanova and Lucas Gates.

Chapter 10

After
walking in
silence for five minutes Lucas caught sight of a coffee shop and steered Elena
towards it. He could feel the warmth radiating from the building and was
already imagining a hot beverage flowing down his throat. He opened the door to
the shop for Elena and she stepped inside finding her way to an empty booth and
sat down, his winter coat almost swallowing her whole. She stood back up and
removed his coat placing it beside another coat hanging over the seats of their
booth and the adjoining booth occupied by a young couple.

Lucas
realized just how cold he was as the heat in the room caused his limbs to thaw
out, giving him acute pain. He tried to keep his face impassive not wanting to
concern Elena even more in their current quandary. He rubbed his hands together
grateful when the feeling slowly returned.

A
tired looking waitress came up to them, a weary half smile plastered on her
face, she looked first at him then at Elena.

“What
can I get for you?” she asked in Russian.

Elena
replied in the same language. “Two coffees please.” She looked at Lucas and
asked in English, “Milk or sugar?”

“Neither,”
he answered. Elena then proceeded to relay the information to the waitress who
then wandered off to get their coffees.

They
sat in silence. Lucas wondered what the hell they were going to do. By asking
Elena to help him he has made her an accomplice. She would now also be wanted
by the very people she worked with, all resources she might of had now gone.
Whatever happened, he thought, he would make it up to her. Somehow he would
right the wrongs he caused and make sure she didn’t suffer because she was the
unfortunate one to have been handed the job of being a liaison to him. He would
also find out the truth of Nikolai’s death while he was at it.

He
owed her that much at least.

He
thought about Nikolai and about his case, they were all connected. He just
didn’t know how. Six months ago Nikolai Nagregor was assassinated, Pochenchov
all but admitted to that and Lucas knew without doubt the assassin was a professional.
Even if he was stone cold drunk he still wouldn’t let a punk ass burglar get
the jump on him. It took a professional to get rid of a professional. Now that
thought stunk to high heaven.

“Who
do you think Nikolai would’ve trusted enough to discuss the possibility of a
mole inside Russian Intelligence, someone using their status within the agency
for illegal activity?”

Elena
shrugged, “Depends.”

Her
mind went rapidly through the list of people she knew within the agency. She
couldn’t picture any of them willing to sell out. But you never knew with
people did you? she thought. It could be anyone. Besides who was to say the
mole was SVR. Russian Intelligence covered a lot of ground and a lot of
agencies.

“On?”
he encouraged when she didn’t speak. He could see her mind working rapidly. He
wondered what she was thinking.

“On
how far he thought it went up the ladder.”

The
waitress set down the mugs of steaming coffee and walked away. He and Elena
gratefully sipped at each of theirs. The hot liquid warming his body right down
to his toes, he almost moaned out loud in delight catching himself at the last
second.

Lucas
thought about that for a minute, “As far as Director Mishkin?”

Elena
shook her head, “No, I wouldn’t accuse Vladimir without supporting evidence.”

Lucas
looked thoughtful, “And he never spoke to you about it?”

“No,
we never spoke of work. It was prohibited. He was an agent, I am a liaison.
There was no correlation between the two. It was purely need to know and I
didn’t need to know,” she said simply.

It
was the one area Nikolai did not bend. Even though he often brought home his
work he never discussed it with her. Whether for her safety or because it was a
regulation she could not say. She assumed it was both reasons but the former
more than anything.

Her
eyes went to a small TV mounted to the wall behind the counter. A morning talk
show was absently playing on screen. Elena froze when the show was interrupted
for a breaking news bulletin, behind the news anchor hers and Lucas’s photos
appeared, his was his passport shot and hers was her SVR photo ID.

“Oh
no,” she whispered, her face pale her eyes larger than normal.

“What?”

Elena
motioned to the TV. “Look.”

Lucas
looked at the television.

Oh
fuck.

He
was expecting eventually that the agency would splash their photos everywhere
he just hadn’t expected it to be so soon. Either someone was very efficient in
getting his passport photo or they had it lying around. The thought made him
pause, who and why did they have his photo. Were they expecting this? Did they
plan it? Was this a contingency plan? Questions flew about his head, causing
his head to pound.

He
stood up. “We better get out of here.”

Elena
nodded, dropping down some bills on the table and turned to retrieve Lucas’s
coat. Together they walked out of the coffee shop. The young couple in the
booth beside them paid their bill. Deciding it was time to move on and stood
up, the woman reaching out for her coat, only then noticing it was gone.

Chapter
11

Elena
closed and
buttoned up her new coat. She hadn’t liked stealing the woman’s snug winter jacket
but it had been necessary. At least the woman could enjoy the rest of her day,
Elena couldn’t. She was now officially on the run.

She
didn’t blame SVR for putting out the bulletin. She had aligned herself with
Lucas and in their eyes against the agency. She was going to find it difficult
to explain her actions when this was all over if she even got that chance.
Right after she and Lucas knew what the hell was going on.

Lucas
hadn’t seemed to mind her thievery, in fact he looked amused. She guessed he
was a ‘when the chips are down, every man for himself’ kind of guy. He walked
over to a light blue Chevrolet parked at the kerb and retrieved what looked
like a cell phone from his pocket. He pointed the antenna at the vehicle and
she watched speechless as the indicator lights flashed as the central locking
was disabled and the engine automatically started.

She
shook her head, boys and their toys. Lucas walked over to the driver’s side and
opened the door. She had half expected the alarm to go off and that they would
be caught in the act.

“We’re
going to add grand theft auto to our crime spree?” she asked.

Lucas
looked at her, surprised. “Well yeah, unless you want to walk all day?” his
face telling her he was not looking forward to it.

Elena
let out a deep sigh. “I thought only James Bond had gadgets like that,” she
told him as she opened the passenger side door.

Lucas
winked at her over the hood. “The agency has nothing on Q.”

“Glad
to hear that,” she replied, relieved. That was all the world needed was for the
Americans to be walking around with that kind of spy arsenal. Although she
shuddered to think what was being cooked up in the basement of Langley.