Russian Law (Law Series ) (Volume 1) (25 page)

“Die
bastard,” he said as they hit the water and smiled. At least he took the
American with him, he thought right before the darkness claimed him.

“Lucas!”
Elena yelled out. She ran into the protective cabin and over to the control
panel where she slowed the knots down on the boat to an idle. She had no idea
how to reverse in the small boat and didn’t want to waste time trying. She
radioed for help, her voice quivering from the cold. She was scared. She knew
Lucas was in trouble. He would require immediate medical attention if he was
still alive. No. Not if. He was alive she knew it deep in her bones and was not
above praying.

Dear
God please don’t let it end this way, not after all they’ve been through.

She
ran over to the side of the boat, searching the blackness for Lucas,
desperately calling out his name.

Chapter 31

Lucas
had never been so cold in his life, he hated being cold and wondered if he was
dying. He opened his eyes and found himself immersed in water, his body growing
sluggish, his mind getting sleepy. He struggled to surface, his heavy winter
clothes dragging him further under. Using his last remaining strength, the urge
to see that Elena was alright foremost in his mind, he removed his heavy
waterlogged coat and fought his way to the surface, taking in deep breaths. The
cold was stabbing at him like a thousand knives. He gritted his teeth against
the pain and placing one arm in front of the other as he simultaneously kicked
out Lucas made his way towards the boat idling nearby. He could hear Elena’s
frantic screams calling for him. So she was alright and God did she have a set
of lungs on her.

Only
a little more to go, he told himself. Then you can rest, get to safety and
everything will be alright. He grabbed hold of the side of the boat and tried
to pull himself up. He felt someone pull at him and together they heaved him up
and over. He flopped down on the deck panting from the exertion.

“Are
you okay?” he asked Elena when he felt her jump on him, pulling at his clothes.

Have
to get him warm.

“I’ve
had better days,” she admitted as she tossed his discarded clothes on the deck
beside them. He shivered uncontrollably and vaguely noticed that her handcuffed
wrists were now in front of her as she yanked at his pants zipper. She stripped
him bare except for his boxers. Leave the man some dignity, she thought before
lying down on top of him and rolling together with him into the space blanket
she found in the cabin. She rubbed her hands up and down his arms in an effort
to warm him. It would have been more effective for her to strip down too and
combine their body heat but since her hands were still handcuffed together it
was out of the question.

“Haven’t
we all?”

He
felt his eyes getting heavy and then Elena began shaking him. He opened his
eyes and glared up at her.

“God
woman, let a man have his rest,” he growled. “It’s been a tough couple of
days.”

She
smiled despite her worries. The man had a knack of making jokes at the most
inappropriate of times. At least she knew he was going to be alright if he was
still able to wisecrack.

“I
know I was right there with you.”

He
felt the chill of the metal on his chest from her handcuffs. “I suppose we
better get you out of them.”

“We
will, soon. Just concentrate on getting warm, we can’t have you getting
hypothermia now can we?”

In
the distance he could hear sirens, they were coming closer. The sound of a
motor started not too far away.

“No
we can’t have that. I hear sirens can you hear them too?”

He
felt her head nod.

“I
radioed for help while you were in the water, they should be here soon,” she
finished her sentence with a yawn. She fought to stay awake. Elena felt she
could sleep for a week and probably would once both she and Lucas were safe.

Ten
minutes later, they were back on land. Lucas had been taken away in an
ambulance for treatment of his gunshot wound and for observation. Elena was
sitting in another ambulance watching the emergency personnel move about,
helping the injured and clearing debris. One of the local officers had arranged
for the dead body of Alexei’s man to be taken to the morgue. The water police
were still dredging the river for Alexei Dimitrovich and his second hired man,
so far they had not been found.

She
had already made a brief statement and was expected to make a full one in the
morning after she was rested. She figured she would be making statements for a
long time coming.

The
medic told her to hold still, dabbling disinfectant at one of her many cuts and
grazes.

“Ouch!”
she complained. Granted she only had a concussion and minor injuries but in her
mind that were just as painful and important as Lucas’s. Well not quite she
thought when she remembered the paleness of his skin. The blood gone from his
face, the coldness of his body. She only hoped she had warmed him up enough
that he wouldn’t have any ill effects. The man had certainly been put through a
wringer tonight. She shivered as a gust of wind blew past and pulled the
blanket closer. Her wrists were sore and had already begun to bruise. The medic
had already disinfected the cuts made by the handcuffs and had even given her a
tetanus shot after bandaging her wrists.

Vladimir
Mishkin walked towards her, stopping when he was standing over her. She assumed
he got some pleasure from being able to finally look down at her.

“Well
Agent Ivanova I’m glad to see you alive and in one piece. Also I’d like to tell
you, that because of tonight you will not be held for accountable for the last
forty-eight hours. That means your file will stay unblemished and intact. But I
warn you don’t try this again otherwise I won’t be so forgiving. Understand?”

You’re
all heart, she thought but decided not to voice that fact, she had almost died
several times over the course of the night, so had Lucas and he thought she was
worried about her record or her job at SVR?

She
gave him a tired smile, don’t burn your bridges Elena, she told herself
silently.

“Perfectly
Director Mishkin. Thank you. Also you may want to look into Yuri Volstov. I
believe he may have sanctioned the hit today.”

Mishkin
nodded curtly to her before turning away preparing to walk off and  join his
superiors at the bomb sight. He wasn’t really such a bad guy, he just one of
those uptight ‘by the book’ types that she had thought she once wanted to be.

“Director
Mishkin?”

Vladimir
gave a long suffering sigh. “Yes?”

“Do
I get hazard pay for this?”

The
look on his face was priceless and belonged in one of those MasterCard
commercials, she burst out laughing, tears gathered in her eyes and streamed
down her cheeks. She had needed that. He was shaking his head and muttering a
curse as he walked away.

“Okay
we’re going to take you to hospital now.”

She
shook her head.

“You
need to be under supervision, you have a concussion and need to be monitored,”
the medic continued.

“No
its fine really, I’ll have my brother wake me every two hours okay? I just want
to go somewhere I feel comfortable and rest up.”

The
medic nodded. “Fine but if you feel any dizziness or nausea you come straight
down to the hospital.”

She
nodded that she understood and got up from the back of the ambulance and
watched it drive away. She walked over to a fellow agent and asked for his
phone. She quickly dialed Dmitry, who no matter what time of day or night
seemed to be wide awake. She was concerned that he streamlined caffeine. But
that was a worry for another time. She outlined her night and he told her to
check into a hotel and he would see her soon. She did as he told her.
Collapsing into the nearest bed only to be awoken by Dmitry two hours later
when he arrived at her hotel. He hugged her tight, almost crushing her before
asking how Lucas was doing. She burst into tears, her body long past exhaustion
finally taking its toll on her. Dmitry held her while she sobbed herself into
oblivion.

Epilogue

One week later

Moscow
Domodedovo Airport,

Russian
Federation

The
International departures
lounge was bustling full of activity. Elena looked up as Lucas made his way
back from the ticket office. His arm was in a sling to restrict movement in his
shoulder and she had been told that he would have to have weeks of physical
therapy when he got home, the bullet having severed tendons and muscles that
would need time to heal.

SVR
had done a massive man-hunt, locating the agents among the agency who had sided
along with Alexei Dimitrovich against the President. They had turned up over
twenty agents involved in selling information out and providing insurance to a
number of criminals. Director Mishkin had not been pleased with the turn of
events and had vowed to have more vigorous in-house sweeps to weed out the
undesirables.

Elena
had gone back to her job as if nothing had happened. She was thankful for the
mundane paperwork, never again would she take it for granted and planned on
driving herself hard enough to forget the amount of times she had almost died,
not to mention the two men of her life, Nikolai and Lucas. Her heart could take
no more hits. She was barely holding on as it was without going insane.

“So
I see you have your souvenir,” she commented, trying to keep their conversation
light.

Lucas
looked down at the sling and grinned. “From Russia with love right?”

Her
heart rolled over. Right, from Russian with Love,
my
love, Elena
thought. So much for trying to protect her heart, she had successfully avoided
that subject since the moment she had had met Lucas now it was front and center
in her mind and she wanted to weep. Elena gave him a smile that didn’t quite
reach her eyes and said, “Well Special Agent Gates it was a real pleasure
working with you.”

Lucas
nodded. “Thank you and a pleasure working with you too Agent Ivanova,” he
replied, keeping with her formal tone.

After
everything they had gone through, this was it, a formal goodbye from the lounge
of the airport? Where had he gone wrong? Right, now he remembered it was right
after he fell in love with her.

He
shook her hand, ignoring the feel of the soft female skin and the sweet flowery
smell of her perfume. He would never be rid of that scent. He would forever be
haunted by the sweet smell of gardenias.

“So,”
he said, feeling like a teenage boy about to ask his first girl out. “You’ve
come to see me off?”

“Actually
Director Mishkin wanted me to ensure that you got on the plane.”

“Doesn’t
want me here anymore huh?”

Elena
nodded. “He said and I quote, ‘
I’m sure America can’t wait to have him back
and we shouldn’t deprive it of him
’. So yes he can’t wait to have you
gone.”

She
swallowed in an attempt to dislodge the large lump in her throat and refrained
from telling him she didn’t want him to go.

The
public announcer came on and announced that Flight 160 on Rossiya Airlines to
Dulles International Airport was now boarding, he regretfully looked over at
Elena.

“That’s
me.”

She
gave a small nod and he saw her eyes mist. Maybe she was sad to see him go
after all?

“Hey
– what’s this?” he asked as he wiped at a tear she couldn’t contain any longer.

“You’re
an amazing man Lucas Gates and I wish things were different,” she said, her
voice quivering with effort to not break down and sob.

He
looked into her eyes and smiled. “Don’t cry Elena, it might not be forever. I
can wait for you, when you’re ready just let me know.”

He
leaned towards her, giving her time to back away. He could understand her
situation. Until six months ago she was happily married, then in a flash the
love of her life was gone, murdered. She hadn’t fully dealt with that fact
before she had developed feelings for him. And she did have feelings for him of
that he was now absolutely sure. She might not love him, not like he did her.
But he was a patient man. He could wait forever for her if he had to. She was
certainly worth it.

His
lips skimmed lightly over hers, tasting her, just a touch then it was gone. He
pulled back and looked at her, she blinked a couple times before flinging
herself against his body. Her arms wrapping tightly around his neck as she
kissed him for all she was worth. His strong arms snaked around her waist and
held her tight against him. His mouth parted slightly and she was immediately
there, her tongue sliding over his - mating with his. It was an exquisite
torture and when they finally came up for air, they were both breathing
heavily. The entire airport did not exist for them. They were completely alone.