‘I can’t take all the credit. You have a lot of very powerful enemies.’
Pistol in hand, Leskov ran to Orlov. ‘You must leave, immediately.’
‘Give me that,’ Orlov barked as he took the pistol from Leskov’s hand.
Without a second’s hesitation, Orlov raised the Glock and fired three shots into Cooper’s chest.
Cooper slumped back on the sofa. Blood poured out of his chest with each beat of his heart. Though pained, Cooper managed to lock eyes with Orlov.
‘Fuck your mother, Victor Ivanovich,’ Cooper said defiantly, his voice beginning to fail. ‘You’re finished.’
Orlov shuddered at the pronouncement but said nothing. An explosion sent tremors through the building. Zoshchenko ran up to Orlov and grasped his shoulders.
‘Victor, they’re going to kill us!’ Zoshchenko screamed. ‘We have to surrender! You have money; you can make a deal to save us!’
Orlov looked into Zoshchenko’s teary eyes with disgust, then squeezed the Glock’s trigger. Zoshchenko staggered back, and he fired again into her chest — she collapsed onto the floor. Orlov handed the pistol back to Leskov.
‘How long can your men hold the building?’
‘Ten, maybe fifteen minutes.’
‘Long enough. Let’s go,’ Orlov said, leading the way out through the office’s private exit.
Seven Alphas eliminated the two men guarding the main hallway and then entered Orlov’s executive suite. They found Cooper slumped on the couch and Zoshchenko lying on the floor.
‘Corpsman!’ one of the Alphas called out.
The corpsman placed two fingers on Cooper’s neck.
‘This one’s dead.’
He then moved over to the woman.
‘Pulse is weak and she’s lost a lot of blood, but she’s still alive.’
64
Near the center of the building, adjacent to the main vertical riser for electrical and communications wiring, Arkady Malik sat in front of a wall of small black-and-white video monitors, each displaying a feed from a closed-circuit camera mounted somewhere in or around the building. Malik watched nervously as several of the monitors relayed images of the battles taking place not far from where he sat.
Leskov punched in his access code and opened the door to the building’s security center. He and Orlov jogged down the short hallway, past a flush steel door and frame, and turned into the room where Malik sat.
‘Malik,’ Leskov shouted, ‘how’s the perimeter holding?’
‘Our men have fallen back from the main entry points on the first floor and from the roof access points.’ Malik played the keypad in front of him like a piano, cycling manually through all the available cameras, both inside and outside the building. ‘We’ve lost about a third of the first and fifth floors but still control all of floors two, three, and four.’
Several of the monitors showed some of Leskov’s men exchanging gunfire with men dressed in black ninja suits.
‘Fuck, it’s Alpha,’ Leskov cursed. ‘Victor, my men will make them pay for every square meter of the building, but it’s only a matter of time. We are outmanned and out-gunned.’
‘What is the status of the tunnel?’ Orlov asked.
Malik brought up different camera views on a bank of four monitors. The first displayed a large steel vault door mounted flush to a concrete wall. The second showed the back side of the door from a distance inside a concrete tunnel wide enough for three people to walk abreast. On the third and fourth, Orlov saw the far end of the tunnel, where it reached the Metro’s Chelobitevo Line tunnel running beneath Prospekt Mira.
The workmen renovating Orlov’s building had discovered the abandoned tunnel while replacing outdated utility feeders. Though not shown on any of their drawings, the tunnel had been used for material storage during the construction of the Metro line, then abandoned once the work was completed. Orlov had the tunnel extended beneath the building, where it terminated at the flush steel door.
‘Tunnel is clear on both ends,’ Malik responded.
‘Show me Avvakum’s lab,’ Orlov demanded impatiently.
Malik typed in another number. The static on the one large monitor was replaced by an image of an empty lab space. Using the thumb-dial controls for pan-tilt-zoom operation, Malik swung the camera around and adjusted it to zoom in on the doorway that led to the lab’s office suite. The body of Avvakum’s guard lay prone on the floor near the center of the lab.
Leskov slammed his fist into the desktop with such force that Malik jumped back, startled.
‘The incompetent fool! I told him Kilkenny was a dangerous man and that he shouldn’t take his eyes off him. Now Kilkenny is armed.’
‘Are Kilkenny and Avvakum still in the lab?’ Orlov asked.
‘Da, Victor Ivanovich,’ Malik replied. ‘I haven’t seen anyone in the corridors.’
‘Dmitri, take Malik and kill them both.’
‘Gladly.’
‘I’ll wait for you here. When you get back, we’ll use the tunnel.’
‘Malik, what’s left in the armory?’
‘A few pistols and a couple of Krinkovs.’
‘Get them,’ Leskov ordered. He then handed Orlov his pistol and a spare clip of ammunition. ‘Take this. Keep an eye on these monitors. If Alpha breaches our defenses before I get back, go.’
‘Good luck, Dmitri.’
‘To us both, Victor Ivanovich.’
Malik handed Leskov one of the Krinkov AKS-74U submachine guns from the rack and two spare clips. Leskov quickly checked over the weapon and flipped off the safety.
‘Let’s go.’
65
Kilkenny began rearranging the furniture in Avvakum’s office to create a defensive nest. Already, he heard the sounds of gunfire and knew that he needed to keep Avvakum safe until the battle was over.
‘Lara, whatever happens, don’t come out of here until I tell you to. All right?’
‘I understand,’ she replied, curling herself down behind the protective wall of furniture.
Kilkenny went back into the lab and began looking through the pile of boxes and equipment that was stored in the far corner — most of which had been stolen from Sandstrom. It didn’t take long to locate the three-inch-thick stainless-steel top of Sandstrom’s vibration isolation table.
After removing the boxes that were stacked on top, Kilkenny grabbed two of the table’s legs and dragged it back to the doorway that led to the suite of offices where Avvakum hid. He flipped the table onto its side, then pushed it until one edge touched the lab wall to form a defensive barrier.
Kilkenny crouched behind the makeshift barricade, peering over the top at the two doors that led from the lab into the hallway. From where he was positioned, he had a wide triangular field of fire. He pulled the spare clips from his pocket and set them within reach on the floor.
As they neared the lab, Leskov pressed himself against the wall to reduce his profile. Malik followed his lead. The two men slid along the wall until they reached the first of the two lab doors. Inching forward slowly, Leskov peered through the door’s glass panel. He saw on the opposite side of the room a large metal table lying on its side in front of the suite entryway.
‘Dmitri’ — Orlov’s voice filled Leskov’s ear — ‘Kilkenny has built a barricade in front of the lab’s offices.’
‘Understood,’ Leskov replied. He then turned to Malik. ‘Did you hear that?’
Malik nodded.
‘I’m going to double back and move into the empty space on the other side of the lab. When I’m in position, I’ll signal you to fire on that barricade. I’m going to attack from the rear.’