Vital Force (27 page)

“Yuri,” Jake whispered. He let his gun drop to the snow.

“Jake,” the Russian said. “What?” He stopped and motioned for the two Chinese women to get Jake.

When Jake saw Chang Su, her eyes were red from crying. She had a horrified look in those distressed eyes. The two women helped him up, Li grabbed his gun, and then they pulled him into the dacha, closing and locking the door behind them.

“Put him there,” Yuri said, pointing to a wooden chair near the fireplace. He paced back and forth along the wooden floor.

Su and Li stood back and watched.

“What are you doing here, Jake?” the colonel asked.

“You said I should come fishing sometime.”

The Russian laughed. “You see. That's why I like you. Always a sense of humor. How many friends did you bring with you?” The colonel stepped toward Jake and then ripped the hat and headset from Jake's head.

Jake put his right hand over the bullet wound, trying to stop the bleeding and hoping to dull some of the throbbing. There wasn't much blood, and perhaps that was a good sign. More likely, though, the bullet had ripped through his shoulder socket and would need surgery to repair. That was the least of his problems now, though.

“Good thing your aim was off,” Jake said.

The colonel laughed under his breath. “Yeah, I was aiming for your head. You moved.”

“Thanks.”

“I had no idea it was you, Jake.”

“Why?” Jake tried to sit up straight, but the pain was making him dizzy.

“Why what? Why not kill you in Beijing? Why not kill you in Harbin? Why not kill you in Seoul?”

Jake ran each city through his mind, his thoughts a flurry of uncertainty.

“You're like a cat, Jake. Nine lives.”

“I think I'm down a few lives after this last week,” Jake said.

“Maybe you've run out. It happens eventually.”

Jake looked across the room at Chang Su. “You mean you could have had Su kill me at any time. That's true.”

Yuri looked at both women. “They are extraordinary women. But—”

“But you wanted us to get the photos of the Chinese laser site,” Jake said. “You could use that as leverage in case your other plan failed.” His mind reeled now, unsure of his own thoughts.

“You're a bit too smart, Jake.”

“You couldn't handle the Chinese having that weapon while Russia languished in corruption and military poverty. All of your power, your vast missile systems, would become obsolete. So you went out to some free agents.” Jake hesitated long enough to get his breath and point over to the two Chinese women. “You had to have this laser system for mother Russia.”

Chang Su was shaking her head, tears flowing to her cheek.

Yuri waved his gun around. “You're half right, Jake.”

“Where's the DVD?”

Looking confused, Yuri said, “You know more than I thought. Your friends told you that?”

“I've got more friends than you might think,” Jake said, his eyes moving toward the front window. “You don't think I'd come all the way out here without the cavalry?”

Yuri laughed. “Your American Westerns.” He shook his head. “Jake, I think you might be crazy enough.”

Before Jake could respond, all hell broke loose.

First, the front window shattered, a bullet flying in and catching Yuri in the stomach, buckling him to the floor and sending his gun bouncing across the oak boards.

Then something completely unexpected happened. Chang Su knocked the gun from her sister's hand, sending it across the floor toward Jake. Su followed that up with some major martial arts. But Li, caught off guard at first, recovered and sent her sister flailing across the floor with a kick to the sternum.

Su jumped back to her feet and the two of them locked and wrestled each other to the floor.

This gave Jake an opening. Still dazed, he flung himself to the floor and grabbed his gun.

Suddenly, the front door crashed in and Fisher was there at one side, his gun drawn.

“You all right, Jake?” Fisher yelled.

Jake rose to his knees. “Yeah.” Then he started to crawl toward Yuri.

The flash from Jake's left surprised him, and he crouched lower. The bullets seemed to fly right over his head. The return fire came from the door. Three shots.

Guttural laughter echoed from the back room, followed by giggling.

Jake lifted himself up, his gun aimed toward the laughter. He fired six times and then rolled to his side.

Silence.

Then there was sobbing from across the floor.

“Fisher, you still with us?” Jake yelled.

He heard a grunt from the outside doorway. “Took one in the leg. Same one that I sprained in the drop.”

Jake lowered himself to the floor and gazed across to where the two sisters had been fighting. Su was huddled there, holding her sister with both arms, and tears streaming down as she cried.

“You get that bastard in the back room, Jake?” Fisher said from the doorway. He had dragged himself from around the corner, and his head was now visible.

“Don't know. Think so. About time to find out.” Jake rolled to his left, his gun aimed toward the back room. All he saw was a hand and a gun about a foot from that.

Jake got up and rushed toward the man, his gun pointed and ready to fire. He kicked away the man's gun and checked for a pulse. Nothing.

Jake hurried into the room, which turned out to be Yuri's bedroom, and checked for anyone else. “It's clear, Fisher.”

Looking down at the man on the floor, he saw that it was a Chinese man whose face he had seen before. He was sure it was one of the men who tried to kill them in the hotel in Dandong, and the same guy from Seoul.

Fisher dragged his leg to where Jake stood. “That's the guy who kidnapped you? Li's runner?”

“Yeah. How's Turner?”

The Agency man shook his head and then cast his eyes on Chang Su, who was still holding her sister.

Jake went over to Chang Su and kneeled beside her. Li's neck was bruised and obviously broken.

“I'm sorry,” Jake said.

Reaching inside Li's leather jacket, Jake finally found the DVD, which he handed to Fisher.

Su let her sister's head rest on the floor and then wrapped her arms around Jake, her sobbing escalating into frantic crying. Jake held her tight in his arms, her head enveloped in his chest.

Innsbruck, Austria

Jake Adams put his nose against the cold window, his eyes staring at the aqua-blue water of the Inn River flowing by. Across the water were rows of colorful apartment buildings with Gothic and Baroque facades. The snow from the night before left a layer of six inches in the city, but the mountains all around the city had gotten at least two feet.

Thinking back over the past two weeks, Jake had been able to piece together all that had happened. Su had told him how her sister had been working for both the Chinese and Yuri. The Chinese man had been the handler for both of them over the years. Su had assured him that she had not been working both sides; only with the Agency. She had left Osan because she had seen this old handler, and knew he was still controlling her sister. She had to stop Li. Nothing else mattered. Li had disgraced her family, and she needed to save face for all of them.

The Chinese government, much to Su's dismay, was still holding her family. But Jake knew that would change soon. The Agency had provided DNA and planted a story that both sisters were dead. The government would let the family go, but Su could never return to China.

Turner had taken a round to his head, dying instantly, and was recognized in a private ceremony for he and Armstrong back in Langley, Virginia.

Fisher had been picked up by a private jet in Khabarovsk, and Jake heard he was convalescing his leg in Central Oregon, along with another Agency officer who had taken a bullet in the arm.

Two hands came up around Jake from behind. The left hand, still in a cast, GPS tracker removed, rubbed his chest just below the bandage from his surgery to his shoulder, and the right hand came to his chest, the fingers running through his hair.

“You're awake,” Jake said.

Chang Su put her lips against Jake's right shoulder and kissed him. Then she raised her head and nibbled on his right ear.

“It's so beautiful here,” she whispered. “The mountains. The snow. The river. And you.” She lay her head against his back.

Jake turned around and gazed at her wonderfully naked body. She was perfect, he thought. He pulled her to him and they embraced for a long time.

They kissed gently and then Jake placed her head against his chest. Together they turned and gazed at the river and the mountains.

Rise of the Order
(Jake Adams #5)

The Cold Edge
(Jake Adams #6)

Without Options
(Jake Adams #7)

The Stone of Archimedes
( Jake Adams #8)

Lethal Force
(Jake Adams #9)

Memory Leak
by Trevor Schmidt

Mako
by Clabe Taylor

Crown of Thorns
by Hank Luce

The Seventh Deception
by G. Dedrick Robinson

Spirit Flight
by P.R. Fittante

Codebreaker
by Katherine Myers

Dog Walker
by Heath Kizzier

Hypershot
by Trevor Scott