The Trade of Kings (Surviving the Fall 10)

And wait they did. Minutes ticked by slowly as the shadows outside grew longer and the moon began to trade places with the sun in the sky. The chatter of birdsong gave way to the creak and the whistle and the chirp of insects, along with the occasional hoot of a barn owl in search of a meal on a cold night. Dianne and Jason took the first watch, with Jason sitting near the back door looking through a crack in the wood down at the outbuildings with the tablet balanced on his lap. Dianne, meanwhile, meandered slowly through the rooms upstairs, slipping in and out of each bedroom to peer through the windows. She spent no more than half a minute at most at each window, scanning for signs of movement in the trees before moving on to the next spot. Sarah, Tina and the children all slept restlessly while she patrolled, and she was fairly certain that Mark wasn’t asleep at all.

It was just after ten o’clock, right as Dianne was feeling drowsy enough that she was about to wake Mark and have him and Tina take the next shift, when the radio on her hip crackled softly. She plucked it from her belt and spoke quietly into it, glancing at Tina sleeping a few feet away.

“You got something?”

“Get down here right now, Dianne.” Jason’s voice had an indescribable edge to it, and the emphasis he put on the words made Dianne’s blood run cold. She bolted from the room and took the stairs three at a time, nearly crashing into the kitchen table as she raced through and into the living room. Jason sat there, staring at the tablet on his lap.

“What is it?!” She whispered at him, still feeling her hairs standing on end.

“Here.” He held out the tablet to her and she took it. The view was of the western side of the property, just off of the house. Thanks to the infrared view from the cameras she could see the fuzzy, green shapes of multiple individuals making their way through the trees. They were at least fifteen or twenty in number, spread throughout the trees, and they appeared to be maneuvering into a position where they could surround the house on the western side and to the south, around and beyond the driveway.

Dianne stared at the men for several seconds before looking back up at Jason. “We have to deal with this quickly, before they can get into position to fire on us from multiple directions.”

“There’s a view from the upstairs windows on their positions, right?”

“Yep. I’m going to get Tina and Sarah up. You need to get in the basement with Jacob and Josie, okay?”

“But I can—”

“Don’t argue with me, Jason. You’re still having enough mobility problems that I don’t want you trying to get up and down the stairs and trying to move around quickly.” She stood up and started heading back toward the front of the house. “I’m going to get the kids down to you and then we’re going to open fire on these assholes. If something goes wrong, use the tunnel in the basement and get them out into the woods, okay? Get as far away as you possibly can.”

“Dianne…” Jason hesitated, considered arguing with her again, then thought better of it. “Fine. I’ll head down now. Try to keep me posted if things start getting ugly though, okay?”

Dianne reached down to her two-way radio and pressed a button on the front, then slid a small switch to one side. “There. It’s in open mode now. You’ll hear everything we say.” With that, Dianne was gone, turning the corner to run back to the front of the house, up the stairs and straight to Tina and Sarah’s sides. It took just a few seconds to rouse them and the children, and in less than a minute from when Dianne first heard Jason’s news, Jacob and Josie were in the basement, Mark had retrieved weapons for himself and Sarah and the four of them stood at the edges of the upper windows in the house, quietly calling out what they could see.

The scene was largely the same as what Dianne had watched on the tablet from the security cameras, except it was in shades of black and white with a hint of color instead of blurry green. Multiple figures slowly walked all throughout the woods on the west and south side of the house. A pair of them stood in the driveway, gesturing at both each other and the nail-filled boards that lay across the dirt and gravel. The lack of a vehicle puzzled Dianne until she realized that they had likely held off on bringing in anything loud until they were in position.

“We’ve got the element of surprise.” Dianne whispered to Tina as she pointed at the men in the driveway. “I don’t think they know that we know they’re here.”

“Looks like they’re about to move the nail boards. Probably to bring in a truck or something.” Tina snorted. “I think they need to get a rude awakening.”

Dianne smiled coldly. “Yes, they do.” She reached for the window latch and lifted it gently, then began turning the crank on the window. The house had been built with crank-style windows in all of the rooms, and she was glad that Rick had kept them well-oiled despite how little they were used. The window opened quietly with the tiniest hint of a snap as the stuck-together paint separated. Next to Dianne, Tina opened the adjacent window. Once both of the windows were open, the women took aim at the men in the driveway with their rifles.

“Ready?” Dianne whispered faintly.

“Let’s get this party started,” Tina replied with growl.

Chapter 6

Washington, D.C.

On any day before the event, the sight of four Russians—all dressed in black and two armed to the teeth with a variety of weapons—would have sent

Washington into a lockdown. Amid the smoke and smoldering ruins of buildings that weren’t fortunate enough to escape from being burned from the inside out, though, the sight made more sense. Marginally, at least.

The two Spetsnaz officers led the charge down the sidewalk, keeping their pace at a fast jog. Even weighted down as they were with their weapons and supplies, they could have easily tripled their speed, but the pair of technicians were the weak link when it came to getting around. Oles and Jacob lagged several paces back, breathing hard and holding their sides as they struggled to keep up with Ostap and Carl.

The route Ostap had chosen took them the long way around to the far north of the compound, crossing through the collapsed buildings that he had earlier dismissed as a possible route. With the three individuals inside the compound now a target for saving rather than killing, Ostap determined that they needed to get around the back side of the compound so that they could catch the group of enemies with a frontal assault and—hopefully—defend Dr. Evans as well as the pair with him.

“I can’t believe you’re listening to that egghead.” Carl spat as he spoke, turning his head slightly to give a nasty glare at the two technicians who were hurrying to keep up with the commandos.

“As much as I’d like to kill everyone and let someone else sort it all out, we have our orders. If this Dr. Evans is who they claim he is, he could be the key to ensuring our success, both here and… later.”

“Don’t you think it’s strange, him being here in the same city at the same time as we are? It feels like too much of a coincidence for me.”

“I don’t believe in coincidences.” Ostap ran his tongue across his teeth. “Which is why we’re going to be very, very cautious.”

Carl rolled his eyes but said nothing. While he and Ostap held the same rank, the small size and special nature of the mission meant that Ostap had been put in charge. Carl was frustrated by a great many things—Ostap, babysitting the technicians and being in a foreign country—but he was loyal and did as he was instructed no matter what he personally thought or wanted.