Chapter 12.
Stains.
The cloth stained with chloroform is thrust over her mouth and nose.
'Don't scream,' says Yan's voice in her ear.
'Rhian's gone walkabout.'
The team all turn their attention to Lucas, who is seated at the far end of the briefing room, legs loosely crossed and a grim expression on his face.
'Stupid girl,' Ros mutters.
Lucas ignores her and runs a tortured hand across his brow. 'I think she wanted to give me the chance to leave her if I wanted to. I reckon she didn't want to make herself my responsibility.' He shakes his head. 'She was giving me a choice.'
Ros sniffs derisively. 'Whereas now the only choice she's given you is whether you want her served in pieces on a platter by Yan, or shot in the back by the Russians who think she knows more than she really does.'
Lucas looks like he's about to snap like a steel string, but Harry intervenes quickly.
'What's the possibility Yan has her?'
Lucas shakes his head distractedly. 'He's still out there and he wants me to suffer, it's more likely he'll find her than the FSB. They have bigger fish to fry at the moment.'
'I'll have Malcolm red alert the local police, see if anyones seen Mizirov,' Harry scribbles this down as he speaks, and then turns to Lucas. 'Contact her family in Edinburgh, see if she's spoken to them. She may go home where she'll feel safest.'
Lucas nods, insides turning at the thought of Rhian with Yan; the man who had so thoughtlessly and brutally killed Paul. A glacial trickle of fear makes it's way down his back, but he straightens in his chair and forces himself to concentrate on the meeting.
There's been quiet research continuing, the American and British Army bases have been carefully contacted so as not to ruffle any international feathers and the possibility of Allingham's suicide being murder has been approached. But with Harry now aware of Yan and Lucas' connection to Sergei Radimov the new Russian co-ordinator at the embassy and the target as good as confirmed, Harry is eager to push the case forward and bring Yan in before anything gets out of hand. Rhian has complicated things.
'It seems Allingham was something of an idealist. Moneyed, wealthy background and a lot of time to waste. Saitov knew he needed some kind of benefactor. Someone with a suitable alias to feed information to and who could go relatively unsuspected if anything went wrong,' Ben shrugs. 'Perhaps he got bored, or even a little scared. But Allingham retreated from the brotherhood about three months ago. Saitov knew he couldn't kill him, because he'd be none the wiser about the bomb's position. It was stalemate.'
Jo pushes a stack of documents toward the centre of the table for Ros and Harry to inspect.
'It's the latest coroner's report for Allingham,' she leans across and selects a sheet. 'At first it looks like suicide, violent but easily self inflicted. However, they've found signs of internal damage, caused by prolonged assault. Allingham also had a problem with adrenaline, meaning that his hands were rarely steady. He was taking medication, but the wounds that caused his death are neat, long slices. If he had done them himself, they could never have been so exact.' She flicks to the last page. 'They're sure it's more than suicide. It must have been Yan, and seeing as he's disappeared from our radar all the signs are pointing towards him having got the information he wanted. He knows where the bomb is.'
Ros puts down the image of Allingham lying on a pathologist's table and steeples her fingers delicately. 'I've had a nice little getting to know you session with our American friends at their base in Headly Down, and they kindly neglected to tell us that a large amount of chemical explosives went missing from their secure centre just under a year ago. It's all raw explosives, and could have been stored anywhere. That's what Yan was after.'
'What about the radioactive material?' Lucas speaks up for the first time in minutes.
Ros shrugs. 'Could have been taken from the American's as well. They're very touchy about the whole situation. The likelihood is there's still things they're not telling us.'
'So we're up against an IED?' Malcolm sits forward, pen poised. 'A dirty IED, a mix of conventional explosives and radioactive material that Yan will have constructed?'
When Ros nods, he shakes his head. 'It could be anything; remote detonated, trigger switch. We need more intel, I can't just send a bomb squad in without knowing if there'll be a fallout zone or not.'
Ros' lips purse. 'I'll see what I can do.'
'Ok then,' Harry stands. 'In the meantime, Lucas if Yan contacts you I need to know immediately and if you can talk to Osmanovic again that might give us an idea of how Yan might operate.'
Lucas murmurs his consent and stays in his seat as the others file out, letting his head drop into his hands as soon as the door swings shut.
Lucas returns home later that day to an empty flat. Part of him had still prayed as he mounted the steps to his floor and turned the key in the lock, that Rhian would be sitting inside when he opened the door.
A small square slip of paper waits for him on the kitchen table.
His eyes are drawn to it, even as he throws off his coat and kicks his shoes into a corner.
Lucas' chest constricts.
The floor beneath his feet no longer stable he stumbles across and grips the back of a chair, staring with wide blue eyes at the note. Waiting for the worst, waiting for his heart to snap.
Come and get me.
You know where.
It's almost a relief.
No red stained writing, no I told you so. Just instructions written in neat blue ink.
Lucas isn't sure what he had been expecting, Rhian's name written in her own blood, something that screamed at him that she was dead. That he had lost her.
He collapses, shaking into the chair and draws the note towards him.
It's obvious Yan is baiting him. Lucas knows exactly where he will be and he knows in his heart of hearts he will not be able to stop himself from going.
He drags his phone out of his pocket and quickly calls the grid.
'Lucas?'
'I've been contacted.'
He hears the handset being replaced and his own voice amplified as he's put on speakerphone.
'How?'
'A note,' Lucas explains, anger barely concealed. 'On my kitchen table when I got in. I want to know how the hell he got in here!'
There's a moment of silence down the other end. Then Malcolm's voice.
'Lucas there's no sign of him on the CCTV cameras to your flat, can you check that he didn't break in from the back?'
Lucas pushes himself from the chair, fingers still clamping the phone to his ear and skirts quickly round his flat, pushing windows and running his free hand along the frames and latches.
'Nothing,' he announces, once he's checked the last room.
'Ok.' It's Harry, steadying the mood and steering the conversation clear of Lucas' bubbling fury. 'What does it say Lucas?'
Lucas scrubs his jaw. 'Come and get me, you know where.'
'Tempting,' Ros comments drily, but Harry is in no mood for Ros' parched humour.
'He means the embassy.'
'Yes,' Lucas sits down on the edge of the bed. 'I'm going,' he says quickly, as though if he doesn't tell them they'll somehow stop him from leaving. 'If he wants me to find him he'll have Rhian.'
'Lucas I don't think this is wise…'
He is about to answer curtly, when Malcolm speaks again. 'I've found Mizirov on the city council's CCTV system, a street just to the north of the Embassy.' There's a pause. 'Lucas you were right, he's got Rhian.'
Lucas stands.
'He's in a white volkswagen van, vehicle registration X425 GH6,' Malcolm turns again to speak to the phone, his voice more distinct. 'He's got the bomb Lucas, he's got Rhian and he's got the bomb.'
Lucas arrives at the Russian Embassy on foot and jogs up the main steps alone, his mind racing. It's been half an hour since Yan arrived with Rhian and the bomb, and yet there's no sign of any disturbance when he enters the lobby. In fact, there's no one there at all.
Hackles rising Lucas scans the marble foyer area quickly, his pale complexion made even paler by the high windows and the white marble. It takes a matter of seconds for him to realise that the lobby, all the anti-rooms leading off from it and the conference room beyond are deserted.
His shoes rap smartly on the stairs as he takes them two at a time, grateful for the solid weight of his revolver at his hip, and he reaches the first floor landing quickly.
Lucas stops for a second, taking his bearings and aware now that he can hear the low roar of engines outside as the team arrive a few minutes after him, as planned.
Alpha One any sign of disturbance?
'Nothing, there's no-one around,' Lucas skirts the edge of the landing and slips into a new corridor. 'I'm going to do a sweep of the first floor.'
Copy that Alpha One
Closing his eyes momentarily, Lucas slows his breathing and begins to move stealthily towards the long windows at the far end of the corridor. Open doors lead off to left and right, and he glances in to each quickly.
Any progress?
Lucas is just about to open his mouth, when he glimpses movement. Just to his right, through an open door.
But he's too late.
Distracted by the cold sunlight flooding through the windows inside the room and illuminating the figure in the centre, he's not ready for the shock of cold steel as it's pressed against the back of his head.
'So you came.'
Yan's voice does not hide the contented tone of a man who knows he has won. It's mellow, gentle almost and as Lucas feels the Yan's fingers slip the gun from his slack grasp there's a strange softness in his touch.
Alpha One?
'Get rid of it,' Yan instructs, as Lucas is turned toward him. 'Slowly.'
Lucas reaches grudgingly up, removes the earpiece from his ear and drops it on the ground. Yan's boot crushes it in one swift motion.
'Now walk.'
Rhian is there just as Malcolm had promised, Lucas can see her hair drawn in a long plait down her back and her shoulders hunched.
'Rhian!' He can't help himself, he has to see her face.
'Be quiet,' Yan demands, pushing the nozzle of the gun harder against Lucas' head.
But she's heard him now and strains to turn round against the bonds that hold her to the chair. Her eyes meet his for a fleeting second and Lucas thinks he sees relief flare, before Yan forces him round and shoves into the chair directly behind Rhian.
Lucas studies the man's face intently. He's gaunter than Lucas remembers, but the same gentleness is there about the eyes, the kindness Lucas saw when he posed as a friend of Yan's and saw him with his children. Yan would laugh and drag the boys up onto his knees as he passed crucial information on to a british spy. But Lucas knows he's lost that man for ever. He can see the pain engraved on Yan's forehead and cheeks, the tortured way his fingers quiver ever so slightly as he lashes Lucas' legs to the chair and his hands behind him.
'Yan…' he starts.
The eyes that dart up to trap his are as hard as stone and fathomless, unreadable.
Lucas knows there's no hope.
His work finished, Yan straightens and steps back.
'I'm leaving now,' he says, quietly. 'I won't come back.'
'Yan!' Lucas shouts, as the smaller man turns towards the door. 'Yan! None of this was ever meant to happen! I never betrayed you to them, I swear on my life I never gave you up!'
A heartbeat pause and Yan stops, hands clenched by his side. 'But that doesn't matter any more, does it Lucas? Because they're all dead and soon we will be too.'
'Yan you don't want this! You're a good man, you don't want this!'
'How do you know what I want?' Yan screams, turning and facing Lucas with his hand still on the door. 'I want my revenge and I want my family! But everything was taken from me. Everything!' His voice is deafening now in the huge room. 'I wanted you to suffer just as I have!'
Lucas is silent for a second. 'I know, Yan. I know.'
The door slams.
'Luc…' Rhian's voice is hoarse and quiet.
He doesn't answer immediately but leans his head back so that it rests against hers, her breath calm in his ears.
'Ree I'm so sorry,' he manages finally, closing his eyes and letting out a long sigh.
But Rhian will have none of it. 'Sorry? What are you sorry for? For God's sake Lucas we're not dead yet!' So determined is her tone of voice, Lucas manages a shaky laugh.
'Come on, Luc, how do we get out of here?'
Lucas opens his eyes again, and looks around them.
They're in the centre of a long, tall, elegant room. There's a table down the far end and a large fireplace with a portrait over it. But nothing, nothing that could help them get out.
'My right pocket,' he says suddenly. 'Can you reach it?'
He feels Rhian's fingers at his hip as she twists her hands round in their bonds.
'Give me a minute,' she says tensely.
Her searching fingers brush closer to his crotch and Lucas tenses momentarily. Rhian giggles. 'Sensitive area Lucas?'
'You're taking advantage of me,' he growls, and pushes his hips to the right.
Finally she finds his pocket, and drags out the contents.
'Keys?' she asks incredulously. 'Don't tell me you want to saw through the ropes using a front door key?'
Lucas rolls his eyes. 'There's a pen knife attached.'
Rhian reaches for it carefully. 'Yan didn't notice that? Not really thought this through has he.'
'He's so close to what he thinks will be his redemption that he's making mistakes. Don't complain, Ree.'
She's quiet as she starts to hack at the thin ropes with the knife twisted awkwardly in her hand.
'Any chance you could saw any faster?' asks Lucas after a few minutes.
Rhian growls in frustration and doesn't reply.
Finally, there's a small gasp of relief as the bonds on her hands tear open and she reaches down to remove the ropes from her ankles. Within seconds, she's in front of Lucas, knife going to work swiftly.
He watches her face, looking for any signs of bruising, injury, anything.
'Are you hurt?' he asks, standing and taking her face in his hands once she's freed him.
'No.' She shakes her head and puts a hand up to her mouth.
'Ree?'
She buries her face in his shirt and hugs him tightly, her voice muffled against his chest.
'Pardon?' Lucas asks gently, holding her close and stroking her head.
'I didn't want to lose you.'
Lucas sighs gently. 'You won't Ree, I promise. But I need you to go and find the people who work in the embassy and get everyone out. He'll have them in a big meeting room somewhere. Take them out the front, I've got my team waiting. Can you do that for me?'
Rhian lets go and nods, jaw jutting determinedly. 'Where will you be?'
Lucas looks at her. 'I need to find Yan and the bomb.'
Harry is pacing. Ros watches him through lidded eyes as he walks from one end of the row of cars to the other.
'Harry, I can go in now,' Ben begins, but Harry cuts him off.
'No, I will not risk any more of my operatives. We wait, until we receive word from Lucas.'
'But he's off coms!'
Harry ignores Ben, and turns to Ros. 'Any update on CO19 or the bomb squad?'
'The home secretary's still stalling,' Ros leans easily against the door of the Lexus four wheel drive. 'He's not happy about sending a british special unit into the Russian embassy until we've confirmed the threat level. The Russian's haven't even sent out an alarm.'
Harry looks up at the tall face of the building in front and shakes his head. 'Lucas won't leave till he's found Rhian and the bomb.'
There's a stillness and then a rush of voices and footsteps as the staff of the embassy come pouring out the doors and down the steps in a wave. Rhian is just behind them, her eyes searching for the small group crowded round the cars.
Harry turns to Ben and Jo. 'Sort these people transport, we need to get them out of the area.'
Rhian approaches Harry and Ros warily. 'Lucas told me to get everyone out,' she tells them.
'Where is Lucas?'
'He went to find Yan and the bomb.'
Sergei Radimov is suddenly there, bristling and shaking like a large tree in distress, the anger obvious in his flat face.
Rhian is left to Ros.
'How long do you think he has?' Rhian asks after a few minutes.
Ros is as icy as ever. 'Till the building blows.'
Rhian pales, and looks back at the embassy.
'I'm going back for him,' Rhian says firmly, starting across the street.
Ros grips her arm. 'None of the team are to go back in, Harry's orders.'
Rhian looks at her coldly. 'I'm not part of your team andI'm not leaving him to Yan.' And she twists out of Ros' grip and sprints up the steps into the embassy.
Rhian heads down, not knowing quite why but lead instead by an instinct that Yan would bury himself deep down and take the bomb with him.
She descends a flight of stairs and turns left at the bottom. Dead end.
She retraces her steps and takes right, finding another long corridor with a set of steep steps visible. She's about to run towards them when someone appears at the end of the corridor, coming from a door leading off to the right.
He skids to a halt and as he glances down towards her, his eyes widen.
'Lucas!' she calls, heart slowing gratefully at the realisation she's found him.
But no sooner has Rhian taken a first step towards him, than another man slams into Lucas from the side, driving him back against the wall.
Rhian starts to run before she knows what she's doing.
Lucas struggles, wrong footed by the sudden assault and cries out as his head is slammed forcefully against the wall. Rhian is meters away when she sees the sudden flash of steel in Yan's hand.
Her heart explodes in her mouth, leaving her unable to draw in breath.
Lucas lets out a short gasp, as though all the air has been forced out of him and crumples in Yan's grip. Rhian watches, frozen, as Yan shoves Lucas away from him and forces him backwards down the stairs.
She hears the crack as Lucas hits the bottom.
She feels like screaming.
Bracing herself for the inevitable when Yan turns on her, Rhian drags in a deep breath. But Yan has spun away and is already running along the corridor to the right, his boots echoing about the walls.
Rhian stumbles down the stairs, eyes fixed on Lucas as he lies prone at the bottom of the flight. She sinks to her knees beside him and attempts to survey the damage.
'Lucas?' she tries, keeping her voice as steady as possible. 'Lucas can you hear me?'
She cups his cheek and leans her head down to his mouth and nose.
Warm breath brushes against her ear, faint and quiet. She lets out a sigh of relief, he's still breathing.
Forcing herself to remain calm, Rhian kisses him swiftly on the lips and turns her gaze to his side. Yan's knife must have severed an artery as blood is flowing freely from the wound, staining his shirt and leaking onto the concrete floor. A dark red lake. A sob threatens to rise in her throat.
Apply pressure. Rhian thinks firmly and drags off her hoodie, pressing it to his side and holding it there with shaking hands.
I can't leave him. I need to get him out of here, the whole buildings going to blow. But I need help!
Rhian can't stop a few frustrated tears forming in her eyes as she glances at Lucas' pale face, a trickle of red spilling from his hairline.
How could he have been so stupid not to see Yan? How could she have been so stupid to distract him? Silently cursing herself, Rhian moves round and settles herself behind him, resting his head on her lap and keeping her hand pressed to his side.
She only notices it when the first urgent bleep is heard in the stillness.
To her left, a lone red light flickers.
The bomb.
For the second time in five minutes Rhian's heart stops working.
'Shit, Lucas,' she whispers. 'What should I do? What should I do!'
But he says nothing.
Fumbling in his pockets again, Rhian finds his mobile quickly and selects Harry Pearce's number.
'Hello Lucas?'
Rhian's breath shatters gratefully from her lips. 'No, Rhian.'
'Where's Lucas?'
'He's here, but he's been injured and he's unconscious. I can't move him, he's bleeding too heavily and I can't lift him alone, and the bombs down here.'
There's quiet male voices down the end of the line, then another man speaks.
'Rhian, my name's Malcolm, can you show me the bomb?'
Removing Lucas' head carefully from her lap, Rhian edges closer to the device in the shadows of the room and starts the video call.
'Are there any wires leading out the back?'
Rhian looks, heart thumping.
'No.'
'Good, thats good.'
'What now?' Rhian tries to stop her voice from betraying her fear.
'I need you to tell me if there's a microchip on the top, leading to a small black box.'
Rhian angles the phone and looks.
'Yes, there is.'
'Ok, Rhian, I need you to remove the chip without touching any of the other components. Can you do that for me?'
'Yes,' she says hoarsely.
Placing the phone down, she pries the chip away from the main body of the bomb with her fingernails, mouth set in concentration.
'I've done it,' she says, once she's picked up the phone again.
Malcolm's voice is tense. 'You'll have triggered a fail safe, but you've removed any chance of remote detonation. Rhian you have about 30 seconds to open the box on the top and break the two red wires leading to the main component.'
The bomb is beeping frantically now, and Rhian feels her muscles flood with adrenaline.
Concentrate. She tells herself. Hands shaking, she scrambles back to Lucas and retrieves the penknife again.
It takes her 5 seconds to open the box and another 5 to find the two red wires. Check the component. Yes.
Now cut the wires.
She's counting in her head.
10
Come on.
The knife sees impossibly blunt now.
6
Come on!
One cut.
5
Crying in frustration, Rhian holds the wire between her fingers and pulls the blade upwards.
4…
The bleeping stops.
The red light disappears.
For a second there is nothing but silence.
Rhian finds she cannot stop herself from crying. Sobs rack her and she crawls across to where Lucas still lies, totally oblivious of how close he has just come to death.
Shaking, she presses herself against him and holds him tightly. Her tears soak his shirt. His blood soaks hers.
'I love you Lucas North,' she whispers to him softly, as footsteps can be heard above them. 'I love you.'
