Arghghg I'm trying to put spaces between my paragraphs but I can't work it out no matter what I try...
Two Weeks Later
It had been a long and tiring session but finally the day's therapy for his shoulder was over and he was ready for a long sleep before any of the boys turned up. He could feel himself getting stronger with each day. His shoulder and chest still hurt, with sharp pains constantly reminding him that he wasn't done healing yet by a long shot, but he was getting there faster than anyone had hoped. He thanked Theresa, the therapist who had been working with him over the last week and stood up from the chair near his bed to answer the call of nature.
"I'm just going to write a couple of things down while it's still fresh." Theresa told him. "Do you mind?"
Vin moved to the bathroom saying "Go ahead, don't bother me none."
Theresa watched him move in and close the door behind him. The last true gentleman on earth, besides her dear husband of course, she thought, smiling to herself. Straight away she caught a picture of her little boy in her mind and knew she could never give up her family, not even for that man behind the door who had never complained or shown his discomfort over the two weeks she had been working with him, just looked at her gratefully with his beautiful blue eyes holding back his pain. She knew no details of what had happened to him, only knew she was dealing with two gunshot wounds and could get no more information out of him about it.
"So how's Joey?" Vin called from the bathroom and she could hear the tap running.
"He's OK. Been trying to get the cast off his arm and still scared of trees, but it hasn't hurt his mouth in any way, he still talks a hundred miles an hour."
"Yeah, I know someone like that... Do we have a session tomorrow or is that it?" Vin asked, turning off the tap and searching for the hand towel.
After a moments silence Vin frowned slightly. "Theresa?"
He heard a muffled sound and his whole body tensed. Jesus who was out there? He tried to sound calm as he positioned himself near the door. They were waiting for him to come out.
"Hey Theresa, I'm just gonna take a shower. I'll speak to you later if you're gone when I get out."
Vin reached over and tuned the shower tap on then leaned back against the wall. He banked on whomever it was to get frustrated and come in after him. He didn't have to wait long. He watched the handle turn and the door push open. A hand pushed the door until he saw a head pop through. It was all Vin needed. Lightening fast he reached out and grabbed the man's wrist from the doorknob and yanked him into the bathroom. As the man was propelled forward Vin shifted his weight and stepped to the side, shoving him from behind and into the cabinet. He slammed down on the man's gun arm and snatched up the weapon, pointing it at the much larger man's head and snarling softly, "You wanna die?"
He yanked the man's jacket and shoved him towards the door. "Don't fuck with me I've had enough of this place, I'll kill you and walk right outta here not givin' a damn." He paused, holding the man in the doorway and took a deep breath to push away the dizziness that was threatening to take hold. He knew what he could expect out there and didn't want another bullet hole in him just yet, he had too much to do.
"You're going to hell little man."
Vin looked at the man who had snarled the words back at him in Russian. Suddenly he smiled and saw the man's eyes widen in shock and fear at the coldness that he saw staring at him from ice blue eyes.
"Maybe, but not before you." he replied, taking a deep breath and pushing the man violently out of the doorway, turning and raising his weapon at the same time.
Theresa had watched the two men enter the room and had known immediately that they were not friends of Vin's. She had met most of them over the weeks and liked every one of the protective bunch. These men in dark suits were bad, she could feel it. When they had drawn guns and motioned her to remain silent she thought to warn Vin but had found a hand clamped at her mouth and a gun pressed to her head as one of them moved behind her. She could only watch helplessly as the other man moved to the door where Vin could be heard talking to her. When he asked her about a session tomorrow she had tried to call a warning but the hand over her mouth muffled her cry. She almost wept when Vin hadn't paused but had moved on to tell her he was having a shower. They could kill him easily in that vulnerable position.
Just when tears had started to spill over her wide and frightened eyes she saw the man moving in towards Vin be yanked quickly inside the door. Seconds later she heard a deeply growling voice and then the man reappeared, a gun to his head. The man behind her pressed the gun more firmly to her own head and she held her breath. She was bait here, he would use her to kill Vin.
Suddenly the man before her was shoved aside and in the blink of an eye Vin appeared, gun raised and firing a single shot before anyone could think what had happened. She felt the gun to her head fall, brushing her shoulder before it rattled to the ground.
Vin saw the man behind Theresa start to fall and turned as the man he'd shoved aside came at him. He raised his gun again but found himself being shoved back against the wall.
Chris approached Vin's room smiling. He'd just spoken to Vin's doctor who was so happy with his progress he believed Vin would be OK to go home in a few days, although he wasn't going to be doing much for a while. Moving down the hallway he heard the loud crack of a gun firing and heard a woman scream. His legs reacted instantly, pounding the last few meters to the room where the shot had sounded. Vin's room. He forced himself to pause at the door and look cautiously into the room. His eyes took in Vin's therapist, a man on the floor by her chair not moving and Vin bailed up against a wall by a huge man in a suit matching the one on the floor all in the blink of an eye. He leapt to action, drawing his own gun and rushing the man pinning Vin.
Vin was struggling against the pressure on his neck from the big Russian's arm pinning him to the wall. His chest was on fire and as much as he fought like hell, he knew he didn't have the strength to match him. In a last ditch effort he drew his knee up sharply, connecting with the man's groin and felt the pressure leave his throat as he drew in a long, shaky breath that screamed through his chest but met his brains' demand for oxygen. Preparing for another futile onslaught he looked for the Russian and grinned when he saw Chris on top of him, pinning him to the ground and pounding him with punches that would have knocked out a smaller man in one go.
Thinking the fight won, Vin took a step forward only to see Chris be suddenly flipped over to his back, staring dazedly at the huge man now pinning him from above, the blood caused by his own punches now splattering down on his face. The Russian got one punch in before he heard a cry of "Get off him you bastard!" screamed in his own language, before he fell to the ground in an unconscious heap, unaware of the man looking down at him still holding a telephone in his hands shakily.
Vin's knees gave out and he sank to the ground beside Chris. He dropped the phone, hardly remembering snatching it up off the table by the bed, unable to hold onto it now that the adrenaline rush was over and it clanged to the hard floor with a resounding clash.
Chris, panting hard, looked up at Vin through his one good eye. He was still shocked that the man had managed to flip him over, it had happened that fast. He grinned when he saw Vin was OK and saw Vin's own grin flash back at him through a bloody lip. He turned his head and looked past Vin, his eyes meeting those of the man on the floor, appearing wide and surprised by the neat hole that was between them.
Not able to think quite clearly yet after receiving the big man's ham- like fist to his head and still letting the blood raging through his veins calm in its own time, Chris's smile widened and he said to Vin, "You speak Russian?"
Vin, still catching his own breath, laughed softly. "Just the bad bits."
Somehow Chris knew Vin was playing it down. He would bet his one good eye Vin spoke fluent Russian and didn't know why he was surprised by that. He wondered what other languages Vin spoke that he didn't know about.
"You nearly had him there," Vin said with a mischievous look.
Chris scowled at him, allowing him to change the subject. "Like a fucking tree fell on me."
Suddenly remembering Theresa Vin turned to her painfully, trying to restrict the movement of his upper body.
"You OK, ma'am?" Vin asked her, concerned by her pale face and unfocused, wide eyes.
She gave a slight nod but that was all.
"Theresa?" Vin said again, as if talking to a spooked animal, "Look at me now."
Slowly Theresa blinked and turned her face to the sound of Vin's calm voice. She found his eyes, looking at her with such calm understanding that she instantly burst into tears.
"Damnit," Vin said softly.
"Son I gotta teach ya to please a woman right, not be makin' her cry just talkin' to her."
Chris and Vin looked up to see Buck and Nathan enter the room, their faces trying to take in the scene around them. Doctor's and nurses were pushing past them, everyone trying to make sense of the bodies strewn all over the floor and the woman crying in the chair.
"What the hell happened?" Nathan said, trying to decide who needed help first.
"I think Lornikov isn't as indifferent as we'd thought." Vin said, his voice husky and strained.
Chris looked at Vin then and really studied his face. "Yes, but what changed to make him pay attention?" he asked softly.
Vin sighed and leaned back against the wall behind him. "I mighta provoked him some I guess." He said quietly, "I kinda called in a few favours, had someone dig around a little for me over at my old outfit."
"Dig around a little?" Chris said in a deceptively calm voice.
"Just wanted to see if anyone knew anythin' we didn't that's all."
"You couldn't even wait 'til you were outta the hospital before you got into it? What the hell do you think you can do from here?" Nathan asked him, kneeling down next to him now that he could see that the doctor's had found the other man dead behind the woman and were talking to her soothingly, giving her an injection, a sedative most likely. She was clearly in shock.
"Hell I just asked a few questions, got the ball rollin' a little. It's not like I challenged him to ten rounds or somethin'!" Vin said, getting annoyed now. He was damn tired and didn't think he could take much more at that moment. "I just wanted him to know it wasn't over."
Chris sighed, trying and failing to sit up. Damn that man had a fist like an iron club. "Well it look's like he got your message Vin, whatever the hell it really was. I think you got your answer, too."
"Yeah, well, maybe he don't wanna confess all just yet, but we got us someone who might," Vin said with another grin, indicating the big Russian still unconscious on the floor by Chris with his chin.
Chris looked at the giant fallen man. "That we do. Think I'll let him sleep it off for awhile though," he said grimacing at the pain pulsing behind his swollen eye.
"What's that noise?" Nathan asked suddenly, looking about the room.
"What noise? I don't hear nuthin'," Buck said, frowning.
Nathan was silent a moment and then there came the sound of a very faint ringing. Vin's eyes narrowed in concentration. He'd heard it that time.
Chris looked around him, trying to push himself up. Again there came a soft ring. Still a little dazed Chris grabbed the phone by Vin's legs, the handset resting out of the cradle already, and held it up, studying it intently.
Buck laughed. "I don't think it's that Chris, you'd better lie back down buddy."
Again there was a faint ring and Vin turned to the body behind him, crawling over a little and lowering his head to listen harder. After another second he began to pat the man's coat pockets and dug a hand into one, pulling out a phone. He turned to the others, smiling slightly and raising his eyebrows as if to say, "What do you think? Nothin' ta lose here."
He pressed the answer button and put the phone to his ear, preparing to speak a language he hadn't had to speak in some years.
"Hello?" he asked, not looking at the shocked faces he knew Buck and Nathan would be wearing.
"Adrikov, you have done your job?"
"Yes." Vin said, for lack of anything better to say. He wanted to keep his answers very short, he had no idea what sort of voice the now dead Andrikov had had. He would have bet anything that the very deep voice he was hearing was Lornikov himself. What if there was some sort of code word he was supposed to know? He waited for the voice to speak again.
"Good, you are lucky you finally managed to do something right. Where are you now?"
"Heading back." Vin said.
"What is wrong with your voice?" The man asked.
Alarmed, Vin tried to sound more muffled, "It was not easy, I think maybe the little bastard broke my nose."
"But you got him, yes?"
"I got him, yes." Vin said.
There was a brief pause and then Vin heard it. The sound of a boarding call. Clear as day he heard the American accent call boarding for Flight 668 and for Passengers to proceed to gate nine immediately.
"Alright, hurry up and get here, we leave soon."
"On my way."
A figure moving discreatly through a crowded airport suddenly stopped, his body tense. Lornikov gripped his phone harder and frowned, something did not feel right. "You are alone?" he asked softly.
Vin swallowed the panic in his voice. Idiot! he thought to himself, madly scrambling for the other fallen man and leaping onto him, patting down his pockets.
"No, of course not, we will be right there."
Another silence.
"Who is with you now?" came the question as Vin flipped open the man's wallet, scanning it frantically and hoping to God it was right.
"Andrea is with me, of course," Vin said, trying to put a note of annoyance in his voice.
Lornikov relaxed a little, that sounded like Andrikov. "I will see you."
Vin ended the call and looked up to his teammates, all staring at him intently.
"Well?" Chris nearly burst.
"It was Lornikov."
"You're sure?" Nathan said sharply.
"As sure as I can be. They're at the airport, I heard the boarding call for Flight 668."
"Doesn't mean he's getting that flight." Buck said, still trying to get over hearing Vin speak fluent Russian like a native to the country.
"No, but it narrows it down some don't it Buck?" Chris said impatiently.
"Call it in, alert all departments, get the airport security onto it but don't let them raise suspicion... if that's possible," he said sarcastically, knowing how incompetent they could be.
Vin began to pull himself up.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Chris said, grabbing Vin's leg and holding him down.
"Don't start, Larabee, I aint missin' this, no way in hell-"
"Are you going along." Nathan finished for him.
Vin continued to try and stand.
"Vin, the longer you fuck around here the longer it'll take to get this happening." Chris said.
Vin looked at him and sat back down, pissed off as hell that Chris was right. He heard Buck calling the details in, gathering men together to apprehend Lornikov and silently fumed, trying to calm his racing heart.
Buck hung up and turned to them then, "I'll start headin' down there and make the rest of the calls on the way. The ball's rollin'." He gave Vin an intense look, almost a pledge in his tone, "He aint gettin outta this state."
Vin nodded to him, acknowledging the vow as Buck hauled Nathan up and they both fled the chaotic room.
Vin sighed, trying to release his frustration at being left behind.
Chris gave Vin's leg a squeeze. "We'll get him, Vin. You gotta let the rest of the boys take care of this, now. There'll be plenty a'time to pay your respects to Lornikov later."
Vin leaned back on the wall again. He wanted to go so badly it hurt, but he knew he wouldn't make it. Chris was right about one thing though, he'd be catching up with Lornikov real soon, that was for certain.
Buck was confident that everything was in place. He had called Josiah and asked him to contact JD and Ezra to meet at the airport and there were that many teams of agents, security and police on the alert, he was sure that Lornikov was not getting on any damn plane. As he veered the car around a truck that was sticking out too far waiting to move into the traffic, he pictured Vin's face as he'd last seen it. Blue eyes looking up at him, drilling into his very soul with their intensity. Then, in nothing more than a simple nod of his head, Vin had handed him his faith and his trust that Buck would get the job done. Buck could not face failing Vin in this. He wanted to hand Lornikov over to him so that Vin could put to rest his need for vengeance.
"Buck," Nathan said in a calm voice, placing a hand on his friend's arm.
Buck blinked, "What?"
"Killing us won't help us get to him in time."
Buck looked down at his speed, eased off a fraction from the pedal. "Sorry Nate.. I want this guy."
"We all do. Let's just be smart about it, not go rushing into an all-out firefight where there's too many people around."
It took fifteen minutes to get to the airport. Buck flew into the parking area, seeing JD already waiting next to his bike and practically threw the car into a loading zone, leaping out. He saw Ezra and Josiah pull in as his phone rang.
"Wilmington." He said shortly.
"Mr Wilmington, Bruce Adamson here, Airport Security."
Buck waited for more from the lazily drawled voice, but there was nothing more forthcoming.
"Go on," Buck said impatiently.
"I have been asked to relay all information to you personally."
And not one damn bit happy about it either, Buck thought, judging by the tone of the man's voice. "Spit it out Adamson!"
Adamson seemed to take an even longer pause, not appreciating Buck's tone himself.
"We have a private jet waiting for ground clearance. We do not know as yet who the official registered owner is, but we do know its final destination is Moscow."
"How do we get to it?" he said, already moving towards the main entrance, knowing his team would be directly behind him.
"Two of my men are stationed at Gate twelve, awaiting backup. We have been told the plane is awaiting two more passengers."
"It has to be it. Don't clear that plane. Tell your men we're on our way and don't let anyone through that gate until I get there. I don't care who they say they are, head of the FBI, fucking KGB, Triads, Ku Klux-whatever! You hear me?"
"Yessir. Loud and clear sir!" was the drawn-out reply.
Buck missed a step and moved on, frowning. Sarcasm, lowest form of wit, he'd deal with the insolent noodle in airport security later, he had other things to worry about.
Just outside the doors Buck stopped to gather the team together. Team Six were approaching and he could see FBI agents heading their way over from inside the building. He waited until Team 6 was close enough, waited for the quick nods of greeting to be exchanged and started in.
"OK, we're heading to gate 12 where airport security is waiting to lead us to a private jet heading for Russia. I'm assuming that's Lornikov's plane, but it could be a coincidence. We still need to check the place over incase he's trying to head out on a public flight."
"Oh shit, Buck, it's Everett." JD said softly, seeing the FBI leader walking towards them in his usual man-on-a-mission style.
"I believe I can be of assistance here." Ezra said, moving past them to head off the agent bearing down on them. "You guys head for the gate, I'll send Everett looking through the building.
Buck threw Ezra a grateful look, the domineering FBI agent would have delayed him unforgivably if he'd caught up to him. "OK, boys lets go see what we've got," he said.
They moved inside and straight past Everatt who was talking and gesturing heatedly to an infuriatingly calm Ezra. Ezra caught Josiah's eye as he moved past him and Josiah gave him a full smile and a wink in appreciation for what he was doing. Placing himself in front of a jackass like Everett was showing true selflessness, Josiah thought. He'd had a few run in's with the egotistical idiot a few times before.
Ezra watched his team walk past and bit back his frustration at the man before him, demanding to take charge at once. With absolutely no idea what was going on or why, he was demanding non the less. He would catch up to them as soon as he dispersed Everett and his men in the other direction.
"You think he's gonna be on the plane?" JD asked Buck, walking quickly to keep pace.
"Damned hope so, JD." Buck said. "They're waitin' on two more people, I'm assuming that's our guys back at the hospital."
Airport security headed them off as they moved towards the long isle of gates. Two officers approached and stopped before them.
"Agent Wilmington?" A young officer asked.
"That's me," Buck said, turning the man around and prodding him to walk with them, not stopping. "Show me to the gate, son."
"I'm afraid the plane has taken off, sir."
Buck almost fell over. He stopped dead, gripping the kid's shirt in a fierce hold. "What the fuck did you just say?" he said, imploring him with his eyes to change his words to something else.
The kid swallowed reflexively and looked at his partner for support. "I said the private jet has taken off, two minutes ago it was cleared for take-off."
"Son, we were told it was awaiting more passengers." Josiah said in a calm voice that did not betray his inner anxiety.
"This is bullshit!" JD said, moving to step past them. "It can't have gone!"
"Wait, kid, you can't go in there now, there's another plane moving in." The other officer said, moving in front of JD.
JD drew himself up. "Who you callin' kid? You look younger'n me for God's sakes! Move outta the way."
"Gentleman what is the delay here?" Ezra asked, moving up to Buck's side and gripping his arm discreetly.
"They say the plane has already left." Nathan told him.
"Nonsense, planes don't leave that fast, we have just been informed it has not been cleared for take-off." Ezra said, attempting to rationalise with the two young officers before him.
Buck looked at Ezra, trying to read the message in his eyes and the reason for the grip on his arm. Something wasn't sitting right with the gambler.
Ezra couldn't define it yet but something definitely did not strike him as right about the two kids. They seemed somewhat nervous. If there's one thing Ezra Standish knew it was how to read people's faces.
"We can't let you through," The first officer who'd spoken up finally said, taking a stand against the men. He was being paid damn well to head these people off. It was more money than he'd make in several years and he didn't plan on messing it up. When the Russian man behind gate 12 had approached him with the deal he'd taken it, but knowing he didn't have the balls to go through with it alone, he'd gotten his friend and fellow officer to help him, having to split the money.
Buck's eyes narrowed and he stepped forward, but Ezra held him Back.
"Boy's, I don't think you have any idea what you have walked into here. Any money you've been offered is not going to be worth your lives here today." At the uncertainty he caught in their eyes he pushed on. "Let me assure you, the men on that plane are not going to be sticking around to give you any money regardless of what happens in the next few minutes. They are not taking off and if you don't step aside now you will be arrested for interfering with official police action and conspiring against the United States Government."
At the official tone and words, the boys looked at each other quickly and moved aside to let the men pass without further word. The agents stepped past, JD throwing them a disgusted look as he did so.
Nathan mouthed to Ezra, "Official police business? Conspiring against the Government?" to which Ezra just smiled.
JD was well past the officers when he turned to look back, only to see them reaching for the gun's in their holsters.
"Look out!" he cried, drawing his own gun and firing at the officer closest to him.
All men turned, weapons drawn and pointed at the two uniformed men. The two men stared numbly at the eleven guns all pointed at them, seemingly daring them to move.
"Drop the weapons, boys," Buck said softly, not wanting to spook them further into doing something stupid.
JD was relieved to see them drop their guns to the floor and that he'd merely clipped the guy's arm, as he'd intended to do.
"Nice shot, kid." Buck said. "You wanna take care of them?"
Annoyance flashed on JD's face for a second before he said. "Got it," and watched his team move off. Someone had to apprehend the officers and he couldn't let Buck be delayed any longer. With any luck he'd find someone to turn them over to and catch up in time for the action.
"Wait," Ezra said, calling them back again. He hadn't moved, his eyes on the men's uniforms. "I believe I have an idea." He turned to Buck with a raised eyebrow.
Buck looked from Ezra to the two officers, about the same size as JD and Ezra and then back again. He understood immediately what Ezra was getting at.
"Could be a plan." Josiah said, standing next to Buck.
"You got a jacket, kid?" Buck asked the injured one.
"Yeah, why?"
"JD take him to it and get changed, you'll need it to cover the blood on the shirt. Ezra go with them and take the other one's uniform, we'll meet you at the gate." Buck turned, but not before seeing the wide grin on JD's face. He hoped he didn't live to regret it.
Finally they reached the gate and stopped at the tunnel that would lead down to the tarmac. Buck's phone rang and he grabbed it.
"Wilmington."
"Mr Wilmington, Bruce Adamson again."
"Spit it out Adamson we're kinda busy here." Buck had to stop now to find out what the man wanted, to go any further without checking it out would be dangerous.
"I have just heard you have apprehended two of my officers, I cannot tolerate you coming in and-"
Buck closed the phone, turning it off as he put it in his pocket and didn't give it another thought as he checked out the passage before them, currently empty.
Vin hung up the phone in frustration. It had been over half an hour and he hadn't heard a word. Back again in his bed he had nothing to do but think about what was happening at the airport.
"No answer?" Chris asked from the chair by the bed. He was leaning back, holding an icepack to his swollen eye, his other eye closed.
"Nope."
Chris removed the pack and sat up, looking at Vin with his good eye. "Relax Cowboy, you're gonna give yourself an ulcer."
Vin looked at him sharply and saw the smile on his face, willing him to be calm. He couldn't help the slight smile that crept to his lips in response as he said, "Twenty bucks says you get one before me."
For once Chris didn't disagree, "You're probably right for once, Tanner."
Turning at footsteps behind him, Buck saw Ezra and JD coming and was impressed by how authentic they looked. They carried themselves with complete confidence, although JD looked a little self satisfied, Buck had to think. On inspiration he turned his phone on again, calling Adamson back and motioning for JD and Ezra to listen in.
"Adamson? Wilmington here." Buck didn't wait for the man to respond. "I need you to radio the plane and tell them that there is a problem with their clearance. Tell them that there was some suspicious activity sighted at the rear of the plane and that you are sending two security officer's down to make sure that everything is OK. You got it?"
"I cannot just-"
"Do it now. I'll hold 'till you're done." Buck said threateningly. He waited while he heard the man radio the plane and heard him say he was sending men in now. "Thankyou," he said tightly, again turning off his phone. The last thing he wanted was it ringing while he was trying to stalk Russian criminals.
Buck turned to Team Six. "OK, you guys find another gate and head down to the ground, we can't all come barging down this one. Ezra and JD'll try and get into the plane, see what the score is. Josiah, Nathan n' me will go down this ramp and wait for a signal from them to confirm he's on there. Wait for them to signal before you move in. Watch your backs boys, these guys play dirty."
Ezra pulled his hat down low, he couldn't take the chance that Lornikov might recognise him from the boat. "And tuck your damned hair in JD, what sorta scruffy security officer you s'posed to be?" Buck said as Team Six moved off to take positions on the ground. He tried to fix JD's hat over his hair.
JD slapped Buck's hands away in annoyance. "I got it Buck, leave me alone," he said, tucking the loose strands of his hair under the hat.
Buck was about to say more when he felt Josiah's hand on his elbow, gently telling him to let JD be. He knew Josiah was right, now wasn't the time to be mothering JD, but damned if he could think of a better time! He watched them move off down the ramp and prepared to follow down to where Josiah, Nathan and himself could get a good view of the door of the plane.
Team Six got to the ground outside through the neighbouring gate and circled round to the small, private Jet docked at gate 12. They found positions facing the plane's open door and waited. They could see two guards posted by the steps leading into the plane.
JD and Ezra walked calmly down the ramp and across the short strip of concrete to the mobile steps used to board the small aircraft. JD was sweating beneath the uniform that fit him perfectly. His heart was hammering so fast he thought Ezra could probably hear it. He was experiencing the unsettling effects of an erratic blending of churning stomach acids and excess adrenaline. He knew Ezra could talk himself out of any situation, but still… he'd seen what had happened to Vin and if Vin Tanner could be taken down, there was nothing to say he and Ezra couldn't be.
Ezra eyed the guards at the foot of the steps as they approached, taking in their massive size and impassive expressions with a veiled glance from beneath the brim of his hat. "We need to ascertain that everything is alright before your clearance can be granted," he said, reaching the guards with JD at his side.
"Everything is fine. You may go and tell your people to clear us." The guard on Ezra's left returned, his accent so strong Ezra struggled to understand him.
"It is just a formality, but we are required to take a look inside." Ezra said firmly.
"There is no need for that. Go now." The second guard said, speaking as though to annoying gnats.
"I'm afraid we cannot do that. We must board the plane first."
The first guard touched his ear and Ezra realised he had an earpiece in.
The guard's expression did not change as he looked at them both. "You may go inside now."
Ezra didn't look at JD as they climbed the narrow steps and entered the doorway. For a moment they stood still to get their bearings before moving through a drawn curtain to find a luxury interior of plush seating and all the creature comforts one could dream of for travelling.
It was all JD could do not to let his jaw drop at the sheer opulence of their surroundings. Then he noticed something else about the seating. It was all empty.
Ezra too realised something was seriously wrong. "Hello?" he called out, moving to the rear of the plane. He walked through another curtain and found a small kitchen and toilet, all empty. As he was moving back in to the main cabin he heard a banging sound and looked past JD to see the door shut.
JD, too, turned at the noise. "Ez?" he said hesitantly. Something was wrong here.
Ezra began to grow alarmed. He moved quickly to the door and tried the handle. Locked. In frustration he gave it all of his strength but it was clearly locked somehow from the outside.
JD had moved up behind Ezra. "What the hell is goin' on?" he said in frustration.
Ezra turned from the door and moved to go and search the cockpit. He opened the small door and peered inside cautiously. No-one. They were the only people on the damn plane. He saw it then. A mess of plastic and wires sitting on one of the vacant chairs. They had not even attempted to disguise what it so blatantly was. A bomb.
"JD…" Ezra said in a hushed voice, backing out of the small chamber.
"Ez?"
"We gotta get out. Right now. Move!" He turned and gave JD a little shove.
"What is it? Is there another way out?" JD asked, forced along by Ezra's hand at his back to the rear of the plane again.
"There's a bomb, and I don't know but we'd better find one!"
Buck, Josiah and Nathan all stopped near the end of the ramp and laid low. They could make out the two guards and watched as Ezra and JD approached them. After a minute of quiet words, they were allowed to board and they saw them climb the steps and move through the doorway.
"So far so good." Buck said.
"Don't jinx it Buck, for God's sakes." Nathan said.
"What are those guards doing?" Josiah asked.
The guards were conferring with each other, heatedly it seemed. They watched as one of them turn and climbed the steps.
Buck's body tensed, not sure what the man was intending, then saw him grab the door and slam it firmly, flipping several heavy latches closed. "What the hell?" he said in confusion.
The guard walked down the steps and spoke with his partner again. From the way he held his finger to his ear they could see he was listening in on an earpiece. The guards stood still a minute longer before suddenly turning and running for the other side of the plane.
Running from what? What the hell did they know? Buck wondered.
"Jesus they locked them in!" Nathan exclaimed, starting to rise up.
Josiah and Buck leapt to their feet also and they started to run the rest of the way to the ground. Just as they reached the end of the ramp and hit the concrete, a massive blast shook the ground. The shock and subsequent heatwave sent them flying backwards and they landed in a sprawled heap at the entrance to the gate ramp. In shock, they all looked in horror at the sight before them. The plane was engulfed in flames, the rear end all but blown away by the devastating explosion.
When JD and Ezra had reached the end of the plane they had searched frantically for any way out.
"Aren't planes loaded from the rear?" JD asked, his eyes looking everywhere at once.
"I'm not certain whether a plane of this size…" Ezra stopped suddenly, staring at a small hatch, partially concealed by a cupboard. "How did we miss that?" he said, moving over quickly.
JD moved in to help. The small hatch was in the kitchen area, well hidden behind a cupboard. He assumed they did not use it but had built the kitchen in front of it to utilise the space. It certainly looked difficult to get to.
Ezra tried to stick his hand behind the cupboard to find a latch but there wasn't enough space. In frustration he kicked out harshly at the side of it and was surprised to see it move before settling back. He kicked again, watching as it moved with the impact before once again falling back in place. Adrenaline pumping now he kicked out at it, once, twice, three times.
JD could only stand by and watch as Ezra kicked the hell out of the wood until it finally came free of the hinges that had already been broken and moved out of its spot. He helped Ezra toss the useless pieces aside and they saw a small handle on a hatch barely big enough to squeeze through.
Ezra tried the handle. Locked, but he hadn't expected anything to go his way now. Quickly pulling his set of skeleton keys from his pocket, he deftly inserted one and jiggled the lock.
JD heard a small click within seconds and Ezra turned the handle and flung open the door.
"Go JD!" he said, grabbing JD by the jacket and hauling him toward the open hatch.
JD had no time to protest as he was propelled toward the open space and flung himself out, diving headfirst for the concrete that was a sizeable distance below and turning at the last second to take the impact with his shoulder. Immediate pain shot through him as he felt the socket shift unnaturally and not settle back. He hadn't gotten himself off the ground when Ezra came hurtling towards him, landing hard on his right ankle but flying into JD who took the brunt of his fall.
Team Six watched in astonishment as they saw two bodies fall from the opposite side of the plane to land underneath it. They noted the uniforms and assumed it was Ezra and JD. They were deciding whether to move in or not, having not received any signal from the men, when they watched them drag themselves up, leaning heavily on each other and struggling away from them at a hurried pace, away from the plane. The next thing they saw was a huge fireball coinciding with a massive boom as the plane was blown to bits before their eyes.
JD and Ezra were moving as fast as their injuries would allow and managed to put in the distance it took to escape the full impact of the explosion. As the plane erupted in an awesome spectacle of fire and airborne metal, they were thrown by the blast and lay tangled on the ground.
Ezra opened his eyes first and looked at the plane they had so narrowly escaped from, the tail where they had just seconds before been standing now gone and engulfed in flames. He frowned. He had clearly seen the bomb in the cockpit, yet the front of the plane was completely intact. He turned to look down at JD who was just coming around with a groan.
"Are we alive?" JD asked hoarsely.
Ezra gave a small smile. "It would seem so."
JD groaned again and looked at the plane. After a second he, too, frowned. "Why is the front still there? Jesus, I thought we'd run away from the bomb but it was in the back?"
Ezra shook his head. "I cannot understand it myself. I have no forthcoming explanation."
Buck snapped to it with a hoarse shout of "Nooooooooo!" and began running towards the wreckage, Nathan and Josiah right beside him. As they approached the burning shell they were intercepted by Team Six.
"We saw them drop out the back just before it blew up." They were quickly informed.
Buck continued to stare at the flames and tried to move forward again. Josiah gripped his arm firmly.
"Brother did you hear them? They got out, they were not in there. Buck!"
Buck blinked. Could it be true? How the hell could they have gotten out of that? He turned on the ATF agents before him. "Then where the hell are they?" he demanded.
Jeffrey Dalton was not intimidated by Wilmington. He had known him a long time and he knew how close Buck was to JD, so he calmly said, "They moved off around the other side, just before it went up."
Buck took this in and ran, barely aware of the pounding steps thundering behind him.
By the time their teammates came running Ezra and JD were sitting up, watching the still roaring fire as if they were gathered around a bonfire roasting chestnuts.
Buck paused in his flight, overcome with relief to see them sitting up and obviously ok. Nathan reached them first.
"Are you hurt?" he began checking for injuries.
"We're ok, Nathan. Ezra's hurt his ankle and I think my shoulder is dislocated, but we made it!" JD said, so happy to be alive and still not down off his earlier rush of excitement.
"What the hell happened?" Buck asked, his concern making his words gruff as he watched Nathan probe at JD's shoulder and saw JD's face contort in obvious pain.
"When we entered the aircraft it was completely vacant." Ezra explained. "The door was locked from the outside, preventing us from exiting the cabin. When we surveyed the cockpit we found a large explosive package and so hurried to the rear to find an alternate means of escape. There was a small concealed hatch that we managed to exit through, although the concrete did not prove particularly welcoming."
Ezra was tired and hurt, it was evident in his voice, but still Buck had to persist in finding out what the hell went wrong. "You say you found a bomb at the front of the plane Ezra?"
Ezra frowned again. "Yes, or so I thought. Perhaps it was not a bomb after all."
Josiah was frowning too. That didn't make sense.
"Perhaps it was some sort of triggering device?" Cobey Bratley from Team Six asked. "Maybe it activated the real bomb at the back when you entered the cockpit?"
"I doubt it, son," Josiah said thoughtfully. "That bomb was likely activated manually when the guards were sure they could get away in time."
"We'll know more when the investigations team looks everything over." Dalton said, "In the meantime, where the hell did they go?"
Vin couldn't take it any more. What the hell was going on out there? For all he knew, everybody could have been killed and Lornikov safely on his way back to Russia. Chris was laying back in the chair, his eyes closed and his breathing even. Vin could almost believe he was asleep, but he knew better. He could see a calendar pinned to the wall by the bed behind Chris's head. Friday the 13th. Great, that was all they needed. Vin wasn't a particularly superstitious man, but that didn't seem like a good omen.
Damn, he was so tired. It had been a long, hard day and he could feel his body giving out, refusing to keep up with his frantic mind. He closed his aching eyes wearily, deciding to rest them for a moment. Only a few seconds had gone by when he felt, rather than heard, a presence at the doorway of the room. He looked up to meet the cold, steely eyes of the object of his vengeance since he had been thrown into the freezing river, sent overboard by the impact of Tiana's beautiful body slamming into his under the impact of deadly bullets. His hand reached instinctively for a weapon, anything, but there was nothing within reach.
Chris jerked his eyes open at the sound of a low chuckle across the room. Sitting up he found the source of the grating noise and his heart missed a beat as his whole body was slammed into overdrive.
"Again we meet, lowlife." Lornikov said in Russian to Vin, four men moving past him to create a dominating presence in the small room.
As Lornikov and his men moved in to secure the room, closing the door behind them, Vin exchanged the briefest of looks with Chris, but it said much. They were fucked, being the most dominant message. However they played this, it was pretty obvious who had the power here. So, not men to remain idle under dire threat, both leapt to action at the same time.
Taking out the highest rank was the first priority, so Chris slid his gun free and aimed at Victor in one clean move. He didn't count on the quickness of the men who, sworn to protect their leader and taking that role further than most paid men would, leapt in front of Chris's gun in defense of the little man. Chris still managed to get a shot off and hit what he hoped was the biggest man. He watched, his mouth slightly open, as the man barely flinched at the hole in his shoulder, nor at the second hole made by Chris's rapidly fired second shot that got him lower in the chest. Chris didn't manage a third shot as his body jerked back into the wall behind him, his useless arm dropping the gun instantly. One of the men came over, pointing his gun at him and kicking his fallen weapon out of reach before picking it up and moving back.
Knowing Chris would gun for the little leader first, Vin had leapt for the closest man the second they had broken eye contact. Not having a weapon, he had tackled the much larger man, trying to use the element of surprise to at least knock him down and away from Victor to give Chris a better shot. It was like hitting a concrete wall. Vin thought he'd probably done more damage to himself than anything else as he was flipped over onto his back and was looking at the bed from the opposite view, having landed with a hard crack on the floor. He heard gunfire from Chris's side of the room and ignoring his protesting body, tackled the trunk-like legs of the man who had dropped him and succeeded in knocking him off balance. He leapt up and punched the unstable man's head with everything he had, dropping to his knees and grabbing his wrist as he felt the bones in his right hand crack under the force. His only satisfaction was in seeing the man lying next to him, not moving in the slightest. He started to rise to begin another attack but felt a gun pressed to the back of his head.
"Back on the bed, now." Lornikov said to him.
Vin rose, resisting the urge to nurse his rapidly swelling hand. He did not want to show this man any weakness that could be exploited. As he sat back on the bed, Lornikov urging him with his gun up against the backboard, he turned to Chris, seeing him clutching his upper arm, which was pouring blood. Something else registered then. The fact that he had been addressed in Russian led him to wonder if Victor knew that it had been him on the phone earlier.
Chris kept his eyes on Lornikov and the three remaining men. He assumed Vin had managed to take the one he had been grappling with out because he was no longer standing. The man he had shot was still standing, however, applying pressure to his wounds with a towel but otherwise unaffected.
As the men spread out around the room, one stationing himself at the closed door, Vin matched Lornikov's icy stare with a look that was bordering on insolent. His right eyebrow was raised slightly despite the overwhelming odds facing them. Surely all of the noise, not to mention gunfire, had been heard outside the room?
"What, no questions for me Tanner?" Lornikov asked, moving closer to the bed and looking down at his man sprawled on the floor.
Vin remained silent. Despite his passive expression, his mind was working furiously. What the hell was Lornikov doing here?
"Not even about your friends at the airport?" Lornikov studied the man in the bed, watching in satisfaction as his question caused his face to flinch minutely, but tellingly all the same.
"What the hell happened to them?" Vin finally spat in English. He wouldn't play on this man's terms and he wanted Chris to follow the conversation.
"Ahhh, this is better. I knew it would not take much to bait you! It's lightens my heart to know you can speak the mother language. It puts you slightly above the rest of your ignorant race." His face darkened a little, "No matter how you aquired this knowledge."
Vin wanted to wipe the smug look off the man's face.
Switching to English Victor turned to Chris, "I must say he fooled me on the telephone earlier. I suspected something was wrong, but he was quite convincing." He was pacing a little now, obviously he had this planned out and was loving the control he had. He appeared like a man without a care, with all the time in the world on his hands.
Suddenly changing topics, he started with enthusiasm in his voice, still talking to Chris, whom he recognised as the leader from the boat. "You American's have a most excellent Police system here." He paused for effect. "I would think that a criminal arrested for attempting to murder a government agent in his hospital bed would not be allowed a phonecall. But your country is so nice, it lets people cry for help, and warn people if somebody is trying to hurt them." With that he looked back at Vin, his face again darkening, belying his light tone. 'Like you have tried to hurt me', his look said silently.
Chris's eyes flashed to Vin who was still staring hard at Lornikov. He could see the clenching of Vin's jaw, the only sign he was about to explode. Chris's own jaw ached from holding in his anger. Somebody had allowed this scum to be tipped off. Somebody on their own side had betrayed them.
Victor stopped moving and looked at Chris again. "Of course, I can understand your need for revenge. I took one of your men down." He turned to Vin again. "But you.. this need to avenge a woman's death, a woman you just met. A whore at that, beautiful, but a whore still. This I do not understand."
Still Vin said nothing. His eyes flicked to the other men in the room. He desperately wanted to see how Chris was doing but did not want to show Lornikov that he particularly cared.
Victor resumed his pacing and spoke to Chris. "I am surprised a man with Tanner's background was even allowed into your unit, Captain Larabee."
Vin's eyes flashed sharply back to Lornikov. He could see then that this man knew everything there was to know about him, and he was going to use it to hurt him.
"I know all I need to know about him, Lornikov, so keep it to yourself." Chris said, needing to prevent Vin from succumbing to Victor's attempts to get him to do something stupid. The man was looking for the smallest excuse to start killing them. He intended to kill them anyway, unless some minor miracle happened, but Lornikov wanted them to know it was Vin giving in to the bait that would bring the ultimate end.
Lornikov was quiet. Suddenly, he turned slightly to one of his men and put out his hand, not taking his eyes from Vin. Without a word the man handed him a knife.
"I have heard you are very good with a knife, Agent Tanner. I was told that you killed many of my countrymen with a weapon just like this."
Vin's expression still did not change, but this was getting worse by the second. If this man knew half the things he'd done while on his long mission in Russia and planned to take revenge for them, he was fucked.
Chris straightened up in the chair, prepared to take action again before he let Vin be sliced up by this obsessed psychopath.
With a flick of his eyes Victor indicated that his men restrain the blonde agent, who was clearly not going to sit still and let him torture his friend.
Chris started to struggle as he saw them pull out handcuffs and managed to get a punch in as his wrists and ankles were secured to his chair. The men did not react in any way, paid him little attention as they stepped back and moved to Vin.
Vin knew if they tied him down too, he and Chris would have no chance. As the man snapped the metal around his injured hand he struck out with his left, the blow not as powerful as it could be, hampered by the recent bullet wound, but catching him on the side of the face and causing him to take a step back. The sudden agony in his right shoulder caused him to jerk back and he found Lornikov leaning over him, pinning him to the mattress with the knife buried deep in his flesh.
"You are impulsive, Tanner. You should have learnt by now that is not a good thing to be."
"Fuck you, you little prick." Vin growled.
Chris strained against the metal binding him to his chair but it was useless. He could feel blood dripping from his wrists as the metal bit into his skin.
Ignoring Vin's words, Victor continued. "You and your men caused me a great inconvenience when you destroyed my warehouse."
"You destroyed it yourself," Vin returned in Russian, "You killed your own people."
Chris knew Vin did not want to him to know about anything that had happened in Russia. So did Lornikov apparently because he continued with his use of English.
"Ah, but you killed many yourself. How many innocent people were killed by you and your comrades?"
Vin tried not to think about his words, he never wanted to think about all the things that had gone wrong over there. All of the times they followed their orders with no questions asked.
"You had no right to interfere in my country." Victor continued angrily.
"You love it so much stay there, keep the fuck out of ours." Vin returned in English also, and Chris's lip turned up slightly in appreciation of his friend's defiance.
Victor gave a small chuckle also, but followed it with a rough and sudden twist to the knife still embedded in Vin's flesh.
Vin was not prepared and could not prevent the sharp cry of pain that escaped as he tried instinctively to move back from it, pushing himself into the mattress beneath him, trying to back away from the knife relentlessly pinning him.
Chris bit back his cry of protest. It would do no good. Victor would only play on it if he said anything, making it worse for Vin. Their only hope was that someone came along, and soon.
Victor leaned in close to Vin's face, so close that Vin felt his lips brush his ear and the hot expulsion of his breathing on his skin. It was almost intimate, and somewhat terrifying. Vin had heard many horrific stories about Victor Lornikov and they all had the same outcome. He was a sick, twisted man who enjoyed hurting people very much. The last place Vin wanted to be was at his mercy.
"I had finished my business in your country. I was trying to leave but you prevented that, did you not? I was willing to let you all live, forget you ever annoyed me in the first place, but you persisted in drawing my attention."
Chris could not hear the words the Russian was speaking, but he could see Vin's body tense and his chest rising more rapidly than before.
"And now your team is all dead," Victor said, leaning back.
Vin could not control the sudden leap of his heartrate. "No. You are lying." he said, dread taking hold, his voice shaking slightly.
"What is it, Vin?" Chris asked, unable to stop himself as he heard the emotion in Vin's voice.
"No!" Vin said, looking into Lornikov's eye's and knowing it was true. He began to fight his restraints in renewed effort, both shoulders protesting the movement but he did not feel the pain. He felt nothing but a need to kill a man like he had never felt before.
Lornikov moved from the bed, smiling at his work. Again he turned to one of his men and was handed a small case. He placed it on the table, out of Chris's view and began to fiddle with what was inside.
Vin turned his head but couldn't see what Victor was doing either. The red haze that had consumed him was starting to fade. "What the hell did you do to them?" He asked him.
Chris knew then that he meant the rest of the team and his own breathing quickened.
Lornikov did not look up from his task but said for both men's benefit, "Let us just say that I require a new plane, and there is little chance of any bodies being recovered from what is left of it."
Vin turned to Chris then, their eyes both shocked, trying to accept the news. Both felt as if they had stopped breathing. Their pain was a live, open thing, connecting them both and surrounding them. They understood each other better than mere brothers ever could and felt each other's agony in their very core.
Chris broke the eye contact to slam his head back into the wall in anger, emitting a small growl of frustration. He closed his eyes and quickly prayed that it wasn't true. Had his team all walked into a trap and been killed? Had Lornikov sat back and planned the whole thing, taking his time and ensuring each and every one of the witnesses that were causing him grief were taken out? His eyes were still closed when he heard a small gasp from Vin and looked up at Vin's pale face. He looked past him then to see what had caused him to drop his guard and display his emotion's so blatantly. Victor Lornikov was facing Vin, his face like death itself as he held a small syringe filled with an orange tinted liquid and moved towards him.
Vin tried to settle the panic rising within him. "You touch me with that you're a fuck'n dead man."
Lornikov laughed mockingly at the show of bravery before his face again sobered. "Then I am a dead man."