"How the hell did you get him to tell you that?" asked Matt.
"I can be very persuasive" cooed Natasha.
"How do you know he was telling you the truth?"
Natasha pulled out the bloodstained dagger, "No real damage, but his balls were toast if he didn’t tell me. I drugged him first. I have no doubt that he told me the truth. I cut off his nipple just to make sure."
"Remind me not to piss you off" said Matt with a shake of his head.
"I think we have enough time to get to Minsk before he wakes up and gets really mad. I asked Arseny our driver to get us packed for a speedy getaway. He works for my father, and this vehicle is well armed and armored. We need to get going right away. It will take us around five hours to get to the boatyard where the weapon was delivered."
Matt’s phone rang. When he glanced at the screen he saw eleven missed calls and he remembered he forgot to check-in.
"What the fuck is happening?" asked Bill Simpson.
"We had a bit of a situation, but we are ok" said Matt.
"I bet. I could hear the music. What is happening?"
"You could hear the music?" asked Matt surprised.
"Your phone is setup to transmit if you miss your check-in call."
"Sorry Bill, it won’t happen again. We were in a mafia nightclub. We have a lead."
"Excellent, tell me more."
"Let me put on Natasha, she will give it to you first hand."
"Hello Mister Simpson" said Natasha.
"Please call me Bill. What did you find out?"
"One of the weapons is here in Minsk. The other two were sent to a hotel in Riyadh."
"I am guessing I know what happened to one of the items. Find the one in Russia first. I will do some research on the others. Where in Riyadh were they sent?"
"To a luxury hotel called Caliph" explained Natasha.
"Ok, I am on it. Make sure Matt calls me every day."
"Will do. Thank you for keeping an eye on us Bill."
Chapter 70
The leopard started to revive only three hours later. Because his lungs were still mainly paralyzed, the additional dose of nerve gas didn’t really get sucked in properly.
He floundered on the floor like an upturned turtle, until eventually he pulled at the bedside table. The glass lamp fell from the table and smashed to the ground making a huge noise.
The bodyguards were startled, and started punching numbers into the security pad to get inside.
They were horrified to see their charge naked and holding his chest. He had blood all over his body, and was waving his other hand. He was shouting, but there was hardly any sound coming from his blue lips.
The guards called for medical assistance, and half an hour later the now one nippled Leopard had sixteen sutures in his chest, and was wide awake and plotting revenge.
Chapter 71
The trip in the Hummer was quite comfortable, but they realized that they were way too visible. There were few of these metal monsters in Russia. Arseny the driver had radioed ahead. They pulled over to the side of the road about twenty miles from Minsk and swapped vehicles with another driver for an ordinary looking Zil.
They pulled into the boatyard and Natasha got out, Matt stayed in the car. Natasha had changed into an army sergeant uniform and tucked her hair under her cap.
"Wait here for me. I should be able to get what we need inside fifteen minutes.
Matt waited thirty minutes before he decided to treat the fifteen minutes as a SARTIME.
"Arseny, I am going to take a look. Natasha should be back by now" said Matt.
"Sir, it is better that I go" said Arseny the driver, but Matt was insistent.
"We may need to make a quick getaway, you wait here."
Matt pulled up the old clothes that he was now wearing and headed for the shipyard office.
He opened the door and walked in.
He woke up tied to a chair fifteen minutes later with a hell of a headache and a lump on the back of his head. Beside him was Natasha in a similar situation, but with a bloody nose instead.
"Hello Mister Exxon" began the leader of the three overweight goons in the room, "it seems you have upset my good friend Mister Leopard. He is on his way here in a helicopter. Relax, he will be here soon. I don’t think you are going to enjoy the rest of your time in our country" he announced with a deep belly laugh.
The head bad guy had acne scars all over his face which a close cropped beard was unable to disguise. His breath smelled of cheap alcohol.
Natasha explained "we are here on government business, you should release us and we will forget this misunderstanding."
The leader replied with a backhanded slap to her face that knocked Natasha out cold.
"Do you have any more questions?" the leader spat to Matt, but he elected to remain silent.
The Mexican standoff lasted for as long as it took Natasha to revive.
She again suggested "You do not know what you are getting yourselves in for."
The leader stepped forward to administer another dose of hush when his head erupted into a red mist and he slid to the floor. Seconds later the same thing happened to the other two henchmen as they reached for their weapons.
Arseny appeared holding a large pistol fitted with a sound suppressor. "Quickly please, we need to get out of here I think." He cut their bonds, got them free and they all beat a hasty retreat toward the car. But Natasha stopped "Arseny, we still need to find out where the case went?" and she started back for the office.
"That won’t be necessary said Arseny. I managed to get the shipping records for the last three months while I was trying to find you. I had to pull my gun to get it, but I have the files here in my pocket. Let’s take a look at them when we get out of here."
Just as they were approaching the car they heard the telltale whump whump of a helicopter approaching. They nearly got to the car before The Leopard and another similar looking man appeared in the open door of the chopper with machine pistols.
The first clip of rounds sprayed behind the car but they managed to get in and the car started before the next onslaught.
The trunk of the car was peppered with holes as they sped away.
Arseny threw a case to Natasha who caught it and started to open it midflight. The Druganov sniper rifle was assembled quickly. Natasha thumbed three rounds into the magazine. If that didn’t work they were dead anyway.
This time the chopper was hovering in front of them ready for the kill. There was nowhere to go but forward. Arseny braked hard, but he was dead seconds later, sprayed across the face with deadly fire. The car slid to a stop against the gutter and Natasha drew a bead on the chopper pilot through their open window. The first shot splintered the canopy but missed the pilot. The noise inside the car was deafening. The action cycled and the next shot struck home. The chopper pitched forward toward them, but started to spin on its axis as the pilot was unable to maintain pressure on the rudder pedals. As the copter bucked, the Leopard fell from the open door to the pavement five hundred feet. He screamed all the way down until he landed on his head. Matt ran over to check on their foe, but his head was embedded in the thin concrete with his body at an unnatural angle, problem solved.
The chopper landed heavily with the rotor clipping a car and flipping over on its side. There was a horrendous ripping sound of shredding metal. A fireball erupted soon afterwards.