Chapter 9 – A Turn For The Worst


"Report, over" James's voice came through the ear piece, however Ryan was first to answer the call.

"I read, suspicious I would put it, Leonid's been quite passive since we've been here. I think he may be laying low for a bigger attack." Ryan replied

"I would say that too, it would be very unusual if he stayed quiet for the rest of his life. There must be something that he's planning, if you get a chance then check out his office." James acknowledged Ryan's point

"One of us will do soon" Ryan answered.

"Oh, I nearly forgot, try turning your TV to the news channel. There's something you need to see."

It took some time but eventually they found the remote in the drawer by their beds, they hadn't tried to interact with the TV which they probably should have done as it may have caused some attention that two typical teenagers weren't acting as they would have done out in society. The TV flickered on and lit up with a massive fire at a petrol station, there were already fire-fighters at the scene but it looked to be a losing battle as the fire kept spreading along the remaining fuel along the ground.

"What happened!?" Alison asked shocked.

"That is the remains of Boris's truck that loaded Leonid's explosives for his missiles" James answered calmly.

"So I can presume he's deader than dead now?" Alison asked

"Yup" was all James replied with.

"About bloody time" Ning's voice came through.

A smile washed across Alison's face as she greeted her old friend once again.

"Good to hear your voice again Ning"

"Yours too dear" Ning replied before the comm channel was cut off once more. Alison sat at the edge of the bed and wondered how much longer they were going to be forced to stay there. The glowing white walls around her gave the illusion that that they were closing in around her and started to make her feel very uncomfortable.

"I'm going for a walk, staying in here is making me uncomfortable. I'll try to check Leonid's office if no one's home" Alison said as she rose from the bed.

"Alright, see you soon and try not to get caught" Ryan replied

"Didn't plan to be" Alison joked as she looked towards Ryan. He smiled back before slumping back on the bed and closing his eyes.

Alison left the room but the silence that lingered in the halls didn't help the sense that the world was closing on her. She checked her watch and saw that it was only 3am Russian time, no wonder why the hallways seemed to be devoid of life. She turned around several corners and soon found herself completely lost within the labyrinth of corridors but soon found her way to the hallway where Leonid's office was located. She went to turn the corner but the figure of Leonid emerging from the doorway made her think otherwise. She put her back to the wall and peaked around to see Leonid storming off down the hall with his now only other son Alex in tow. Leonid must have been in rage about the death of Boris which would give him the perfect reason to attack the TFU or engage in an act of terrorism as an act of revenge.
Leonid and Alex disappeared around the corner. Now was the time. She ran from her hiding space and ran for the office door; she opened it slowly and closed it slightly behind her. As she entered the office she saw that it had been luxuriously laid out, luscious red carpet and high stacked bookshelves, it was a shame that the smell of dried coffee and a few flipped over chairs made the room look more untidy than it should have done. Leonid's desk was littered with different documents, receipts and other useless crap but one piece caught her eye, it was laid out very neatly and had bold underlined subheadings. It was a shame it was all written in Russian as it made Alison's job of translating much harder. She read on the pieces of the puzzle began to fit together nicely but after a short time of reading she wished the pieces hadn't fallen into place as easily as they did. She made out the sentence of the bomb with a football game but it hadn't revealed which one would be specifically targeted. She dropped the document and dashed from the room before contacting James.

"Got something?" James asked sounding very tired.

"Is there a football game tomorrow and if so what time?" Alison asked.

"You're on an undercover mission, not a holiday trip!" James shouted back

"No! I'm serious, I need to know!" Alison countered.

"Fine, but this better be worth it" James replied before going silent for a few seconds.

"Yes, Dubai at 1pm, why did you want to know?" James added.

"James, you need to listen to me now! Leonid is planning to use some of his missiles against the game in order to gain revenge for the TFU killing Boris, you need to stop that game tomorrow!" Alison was almost shouting but knew that she had to keep her voice down before anyone heard and gave the game away.

"Ok, I'm sorry for shouting at you but you need to calm down. Me and Ning will do our best to warn the authorities and prevent that game from and get the army involved to blow that missile out of the air. You did good kiddo, just remember that". James said and the comm link shut down after his sentence.

Alison couldn't help herself feeling proud of her find but also quite concerned because if something went wrong at the game despite of the evacuation it could still cause the loss of quite a few lives.


The game in Dubai was postponed about half an hour before it was scheduled to start, however this caused many fans to be turned away in disappointment. The army were called in to deal with the airborne missile and to clear up any threats of riots that seemed almost certain to arise. In the end the fans were forced to either return home or forced to get away from the stadium.

The missile started to make it's decent over Dubai at 11:50 and was shot down on first sight, the missile caused no damage to anyone or the surrounding area but threat levels still remained high and was due to stay that way for the next week.


"Nice catch Alison, if not for you we would have a major catastrophe on our hands by now" James reported through her ear-piece.

"Why did he target an event like that rather than the TFU directly?" Alison questioned.

"Well I believe that it was to make himself known and to be feared again by the TFU by not attacking them directly but leaving the fear that he is capable to." James began "But if his plan failed he might have had something else up his sleeve to pull off so we need you two to keep a desperate eye out for anything that you'd consider out of the ordinary"

"I see" It made perfect sense. Leonid wanted the world to know and fear him once more because if he was considered a dead man and was walking around under a false name then it would be nearly impossible to track him down and the fake I.D could grant him access to other countries and the TFU and Cherub could lose him for good. Alison's eyes felt heavy as she approached the bed in their room but a massive explosion threw her off balance and caused the whole facility to shake. She fell forward towards the bed and the side of her head collided with the side support bar and she fell to the floor. Her world seemed to fill with stars and the pain in the left side of her head was excruciating. She lifted her hand to the source of pain and as she pulled it away she saw the worrying small pool of blood in her hand.

"Jesus! You ok?" Ryan asked but the voice seemed very distant to her.

The lights above sparked on and off as the circuitry struggled to keep the current flowing after the previous explosion. Alison tried to stand but her vision seemed to shake and caused her to fall back on all fours, she wasn't getting out of here alone. Ryan had managed to find his footing and had survived most of the violent explosions and shaking but had a few small cuts here and there. He put his arm around her and slung her arm around him as he pulled her to her feet and gave her a source of balance. He began to walk to the door but could feel Alison was not right as her strength began to fade from her and at times it felt like she was going to collapse but Ryan kept her sturdy. Alexsei appeared round the doorway but another distant explosion sent him off balance and caused him to rely on the door-frame for balance. Alison fell to the floor again but she lacked the strength, it felt like her whole body was slowly going numb on her, she managed to hold herself up on her hands and knees but that was the most her body was going to let her do. Alexsei kneeled down and took a gently grip on her chin and slowly pulled her head up until she was looking into his eyes, he then turned her head slowly once to one side then to the other.

"Mild concussion" He stated as he allowed her head to fall again. "Your friend should be here soon, go to the right then the left and he should be there by the time you get there." He added.

"What about you?" Ryan asked as Alexsei went to exit.

"I've got to see who's behind this" Alexsei replied, he stopped for not a moment longer and disappeared from sight.

Ryan tried to help Alison to her feet but her legs kept giving out underneath her but she soon found the energy needed to keep herself on her feet for a bit. They exited the room and followed Alexsei's instructions and nearly collided with James as the rounded the corner.

"You two ok?" He asked, clearly not studying Alison's condition.

"Not really, she's losing..." Was all Ryan was able to say before Alison's weight suddenly overwhelmed him and she fell from his grip unconscious.

James moved with lightning fast reflexes as he caught her under the arms before she made contact with the floor and caused more damage to herself.

"We need to get her out of here or her condition is only going to get worse." James stated as he lifted Alison's limp body by supporting her head with his arm and using his other free arm to hold her under her knees and he began to run through the maze of hallways.