Trevor Owen
An Unforgivable Act
Straining his back he pulled the seal carcass a few feet further. Through the falling snow he could faintly see lights shining from his cabin. Smiling grimly he set his teeth and with a burst of strength trudged another dozen steps toward the lights. He continued the journey forward at a methodical pace, one step at a time through the bleak landscape. The only sounds his own breathing, the crunch of his boots, and the slithering sound of the seal being dragged behind him. As he came up to the front door he dropped the towrope, turned to the left and walked around to the back. Reaching down he fiddled with something and stepped back. He walked back to the front, and using some strength that seemed to well up from reaching home, dragged the seal to the rear of the cabin and rolled it into a sunken box. He closed the lid and pulled the lock over it. Stepping back he kicked snow over the opening and walked in the back door. He looked to the left at a small computer screen monitoring how much power was left in the cells charged by the solar panels on the roof and grunted as he saw there was still plenty even for after this storm was over. Just to make sure though he pulled out his laptop and plugged in the satellite connection to see the weather forecast for the region before turning the heaters up. The storm was supposedly going to continue on for another two days but after that it would die down and he might even get some sunshine in a week or so. He began to close the laptop and was getting ready to shut it down when it emitted a ringing sound. He froze and inhaled sharply. Sitting there frozen it continued to ring. Suddenly he shook himself as if coming out of a trance. Only one person in the world should have that number, and he would never call it for any reason at all. Which left only one possibility. Someone had killed him and found the number somewhere in his house or they had tortured it out of him. And knowing his friend the torture wouldn't have worked. Shaking his head as if coming back to his senses he pressed a button to turn on the speakers and the mike. "Hello?" he said his voice trembling just a faint bit but not enough that the person on the other side would notice if he wasn't looking for it. "Hello, is this Aleksei Korjev?" the strange yet oddly familiar voice replied. Aleksei thought for a moment, then said "I'm sorry but you must have the wrong number, there is no Aleksei here." There was a short pause then: "Don't play games with me Aleksei, I know its you," the unnamed person spat back. Aleksei swallowed hard and muttered almost more to himself then to anyone else "I should have known you wouldn't leave me alone."
Amanda glanced up sharply. She heard footsteps coming towards her cell. She crawled over to the corner and pulled her knees to her face. The footsteps stopped at the door and she could see a ray of light coming in at the cracks around it. She heard the key turn in the old lock and curled up tighter as the door swung open. A heavily accented voice spoke, "Come with me," it said. She looked up and was able to see a heavy-set man before the light he was carrying blinded her. She wobbled up on to her feet and leaned against the wall as she was struck by sudden dizziness. A hand reached out and grabbed her around the arm and she screamed. Quickly the man covered her mouth with his large hand and dragged her out into the hallway. He dragged her as she kicked and tried to scream even louder as if that would make the sound pass through his hand. With a surprised yell his hand flew away from her mouth as she bit him. Amanda started to run down the hallway but before she got anywhere she felt a sharp pain in the back of her neck. Reaching back she pulled out a tranquilizer dart. She looked at it for a second then fell over limply. The large man walked up and holstered his gun. Picking up the girl he slung her over his shoulder and walked on down the hallway.
"Of course I wouldn't leave you alone. Not after what you did to me in Brazil, deserting in the middle of a job. You really hurt my reputation of having the most honorable assassins in the world. I had to use the secondary and you knew that he would botch the job." "There was no point in killing those tourists, there were children with them, I couldn't set off the bomb and murder innocent children." Aleksei replied angrily, "What type of person would I be if I killed a child, my own is so precious to me that I would do anything to keep her from harm." "Yes, well, about your daughter. Would you be willing to go back to work for just this once to help her?" "Of course I would, what kind of father would I be if I didn't? But you'll never find her, and even if you did you couldn't kidnap her." "Oh, I don't know, I personally think it could be done. Why don't we check."
Amanda snapped her eyes open and sneezed. The first thing she saw was the man that had grabbed her putting a small vial in his pocket. The second thing she saw was the gun at his waist. She looked around. There was another man to her left sitting at a computer, talking into a set of headphones. He turned towards her and beckoned. He had a smile on his face that was closer to cruel then it was to friendly. Holding his hand over the mike he spoke. "Your father is on the phone."
"Daddy? What's going on!?" Aleksei's breath caught in his throat. "Why is this happening to me?" she continued. Aleksei replied, "Don't worry, I'll figure out a way to get you out of there don't you worry. Just let me talk to Mikael again would you? I'll see what he wants." Amanda handed the headphones back to Mikael. Smiling at her he said "Now you be a good girl and Vlad here will just show you back to your room." He shoved her towards Vlad and he grabbed her and picked her up again and she started to kick and scream again. Vlad pulled out his gun and shot up into the ceiling. Immediately Amanda stopped screaming and kicking and allowed him to carry her. "I wish you wouldn't do that Vlad," said Mikael, "It leaves holes all over the ceiling." "What are you doing to my daughter!" yelled Aleksei, "Why have you taken her? She hasn't done anything leave her out of this." "I cant do that, otherwise you would just run off to some other remote location and I would never find you again. Do you know how much work it took to find out where you were hiding? I never would have guessed that you would hide in Northern Canada." "I'll do whatever you want, just leave her out of this." "I'll return her to her mother after you've done a little job for me. I need somebody removed and the situation is such that I can't let one of my own men do it or I might be exposed. Meet my operative in the normal place. Code-phrase is 'the fish weren't biting much today' and his response will be 'no, but maybe later tonight they will'. Got that?" "Yes, what will your operative look like?" "He'll be wearing a black and red wind-breaker. Meet him there in two days." "Keep good care of my daughter, if I find out anything happened to her." "Don't worry. I'll make sure nothing serious happens to her." And with that he hung up.
Aleksei waved for a cab. The flight from Yellowknife to Seattle had been uneventful. He carried nothing with him. Mikael would supply everything. A cab pulled up and Aleksei climbed in. "Ravenna park please." Aleksei watched as the city blurred past through the window. Rain poured down creating a haze through which only some shapes could be seen. He spaced out for a while and pulled out of his trance like state only after the car had stopped. "That'll be $30.00 dollars sir." The cab driver said reaching out his hand. Aleksei reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Opening it up he handed the man two twenties. "Keep the change," he said and walked off into the park.
Vlad sat on the bench with an umbrella over his head. When was that guy gonna get here. He was 20 minutes late already. Vlad mentally kicked himself. Of course he's late he took American Airlines. You could never trust Americans. Vlad heard the sticky steps of someone walking through lots of mud. Looking up he saw the man he was waiting for. Well, it looked like the man the boss had described to him at least. Vlad waited a few more moments as the man walked up to him. "The fish weren't biting much today." Said the man. Vlad replied "no, but maybe later tonight they will." The man visibly relaxed. Vlad smiled. No more sitting in this horrible weather, he could go to the hotel now. "Follow me, I'll take you to my hotel room."
Aleksei waited as the operative pulled out a suitcase from under the bed. Opening it up the man moved aside to let him see into it. "Its an SV-98 sniper rifle, brand new. I checked it out this morning so it's working properly. There's a box of ammo in here too. A private plane will take you down to Texas in the morning. I'll drive you to the airfield tomorrow. Do you have a place to stay tonight?" Aleksei shook his head. "I thought so. You can sleep on the couch." He went to the closet and pulled out a few extra blankets. He handed them to Aleksei then went into the bathroom and Aleksei could hear him turning on the shower. Aleksei lay down on the couch and pulled the blankets over him and tried to fall asleep. Vlad walked over to the couch and shook Aleksei's arm. "Wake up, it's time to go." Aleksei sat up groggily. He stumbled into the bathroom and vent his bladder. He walked out feeling much refreshed and grabbed the clean pair of clothes that Vlad left out for him and changed while Vlad went and checked out of the hotel. When Vlad came back they went to the garage and got his car. It took them an hour to get to the airfield because of traffic going out of town. Once they got there Vlad showed Aleksei to the plane and got him situated inside before he left. The plane flight took only a few hours. Aleksei never even saw the pilot.
Aleksei looked at the note that the operative had handed him right before he left. It had the target's address on it and when he would be getting back from work. Aleksei waved a cab over and asked to be taken to 42nd street and Franklin. Once he got there he absent-mindedly paid the driver and got out. Looking once more at the sheet of paper he found the address of the target, 1709. He walked along the street until he found it. Across the street from the house was a slight hill with trees and bushes covering it. It was the perfect place to stake out and wait for the target.
A few hours later Aleksei was lying down on his stomach listening for the sound of a car and watching as they all drove past. Just when he began to think that something had happened and the target wasn't going to show up another car came except this time it slowed down as it came near the driveway. It pulled into the driveway and stopped in front of the garage. The man who was his target got out first. Aleksei took aim through the scope but before he had a clear shot another door opened. Out jumped a young boy, about nine or ten years old. Aleksei swallowed. He had to do this to save his daughter. He took aim again and sighted along the scope. Closing his eyes for just a second he fired. Opening them quickly he looked down. The target was still standing. Something had gone wrong. Why hadn't he been killed? Then Aleksei saw the small body lying on the ground with a large hole in its forehead. A sick feeling rose in his gut, pulling out a small pistol that he always kept with him he pointed it at his head. Pausing for a moment he pulled out a small recording device and turned it on. "Tell my daughter that I'm sorry," he said. Then setting it on the ground he shot himself in the side of his head.
An Unforgivable Act
Straining his back he pulled the seal carcass a few feet further. Through the falling snow he could faintly see lights shining from his cabin. Smiling grimly he set his teeth and with a burst of strength trudged another dozen steps toward the lights. He continued the journey forward at a methodical pace, one step at a time through the bleak landscape. The only sounds his own breathing, the crunch of his boots, and the slithering sound of the seal being dragged behind him. As he came up to the front door he dropped the towrope, turned to the left and walked around to the back. Reaching down he fiddled with something and stepped back. He walked back to the front, and using some strength that seemed to well up from reaching home, dragged the seal to the rear of the cabin and rolled it into a sunken box. He closed the lid and pulled the lock over it. Stepping back he kicked snow over the opening and walked in the back door. He looked to the left at a small computer screen monitoring how much power was left in the cells charged by the solar panels on the roof and grunted as he saw there was still plenty even for after this storm was over. Just to make sure though he pulled out his laptop and plugged in the satellite connection to see the weather forecast for the region before turning the heaters up. The storm was supposedly going to continue on for another two days but after that it would die down and he might even get some sunshine in a week or so. He began to close the laptop and was getting ready to shut it down when it emitted a ringing sound. He froze and inhaled sharply. Sitting there frozen it continued to ring. Suddenly he shook himself as if coming out of a trance. Only one person in the world should have that number, and he would never call it for any reason at all. Which left only one possibility. Someone had killed him and found the number somewhere in his house or they had tortured it out of him. And knowing his friend the torture wouldn't have worked. Shaking his head as if coming back to his senses he pressed a button to turn on the speakers and the mike. "Hello?" he said his voice trembling just a faint bit but not enough that the person on the other side would notice if he wasn't looking for it. "Hello, is this Aleksei Korjev?" the strange yet oddly familiar voice replied. Aleksei thought for a moment, then said "I'm sorry but you must have the wrong number, there is no Aleksei here." There was a short pause then: "Don't play games with me Aleksei, I know its you," the unnamed person spat back. Aleksei swallowed hard and muttered almost more to himself then to anyone else "I should have known you wouldn't leave me alone."
Amanda glanced up sharply. She heard footsteps coming towards her cell. She crawled over to the corner and pulled her knees to her face. The footsteps stopped at the door and she could see a ray of light coming in at the cracks around it. She heard the key turn in the old lock and curled up tighter as the door swung open. A heavily accented voice spoke, "Come with me," it said. She looked up and was able to see a heavy-set man before the light he was carrying blinded her. She wobbled up on to her feet and leaned against the wall as she was struck by sudden dizziness. A hand reached out and grabbed her around the arm and she screamed. Quickly the man covered her mouth with his large hand and dragged her out into the hallway. He dragged her as she kicked and tried to scream even louder as if that would make the sound pass through his hand. With a surprised yell his hand flew away from her mouth as she bit him. Amanda started to run down the hallway but before she got anywhere she felt a sharp pain in the back of her neck. Reaching back she pulled out a tranquilizer dart. She looked at it for a second then fell over limply. The large man walked up and holstered his gun. Picking up the girl he slung her over his shoulder and walked on down the hallway.
"Of course I wouldn't leave you alone. Not after what you did to me in Brazil, deserting in the middle of a job. You really hurt my reputation of having the most honorable assassins in the world. I had to use the secondary and you knew that he would botch the job." "There was no point in killing those tourists, there were children with them, I couldn't set off the bomb and murder innocent children." Aleksei replied angrily, "What type of person would I be if I killed a child, my own is so precious to me that I would do anything to keep her from harm." "Yes, well, about your daughter. Would you be willing to go back to work for just this once to help her?" "Of course I would, what kind of father would I be if I didn't? But you'll never find her, and even if you did you couldn't kidnap her." "Oh, I don't know, I personally think it could be done. Why don't we check."
Amanda snapped her eyes open and sneezed. The first thing she saw was the man that had grabbed her putting a small vial in his pocket. The second thing she saw was the gun at his waist. She looked around. There was another man to her left sitting at a computer, talking into a set of headphones. He turned towards her and beckoned. He had a smile on his face that was closer to cruel then it was to friendly. Holding his hand over the mike he spoke. "Your father is on the phone."
"Daddy? What's going on!?" Aleksei's breath caught in his throat. "Why is this happening to me?" she continued. Aleksei replied, "Don't worry, I'll figure out a way to get you out of there don't you worry. Just let me talk to Mikael again would you? I'll see what he wants." Amanda handed the headphones back to Mikael. Smiling at her he said "Now you be a good girl and Vlad here will just show you back to your room." He shoved her towards Vlad and he grabbed her and picked her up again and she started to kick and scream again. Vlad pulled out his gun and shot up into the ceiling. Immediately Amanda stopped screaming and kicking and allowed him to carry her. "I wish you wouldn't do that Vlad," said Mikael, "It leaves holes all over the ceiling." "What are you doing to my daughter!" yelled Aleksei, "Why have you taken her? She hasn't done anything leave her out of this." "I cant do that, otherwise you would just run off to some other remote location and I would never find you again. Do you know how much work it took to find out where you were hiding? I never would have guessed that you would hide in Northern Canada." "I'll do whatever you want, just leave her out of this." "I'll return her to her mother after you've done a little job for me. I need somebody removed and the situation is such that I can't let one of my own men do it or I might be exposed. Meet my operative in the normal place. Code-phrase is 'the fish weren't biting much today' and his response will be 'no, but maybe later tonight they will'. Got that?" "Yes, what will your operative look like?" "He'll be wearing a black and red wind-breaker. Meet him there in two days." "Keep good care of my daughter, if I find out anything happened to her." "Don't worry. I'll make sure nothing serious happens to her." And with that he hung up.
Aleksei waved for a cab. The flight from Yellowknife to Seattle had been uneventful. He carried nothing with him. Mikael would supply everything. A cab pulled up and Aleksei climbed in. "Ravenna park please." Aleksei watched as the city blurred past through the window. Rain poured down creating a haze through which only some shapes could be seen. He spaced out for a while and pulled out of his trance like state only after the car had stopped. "That'll be $30.00 dollars sir." The cab driver said reaching out his hand. Aleksei reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Opening it up he handed the man two twenties. "Keep the change," he said and walked off into the park.
Vlad sat on the bench with an umbrella over his head. When was that guy gonna get here. He was 20 minutes late already. Vlad mentally kicked himself. Of course he's late he took American Airlines. You could never trust Americans. Vlad heard the sticky steps of someone walking through lots of mud. Looking up he saw the man he was waiting for. Well, it looked like the man the boss had described to him at least. Vlad waited a few more moments as the man walked up to him. "The fish weren't biting much today." Said the man. Vlad replied "no, but maybe later tonight they will." The man visibly relaxed. Vlad smiled. No more sitting in this horrible weather, he could go to the hotel now. "Follow me, I'll take you to my hotel room."
Aleksei waited as the operative pulled out a suitcase from under the bed. Opening it up the man moved aside to let him see into it. "Its an SV-98 sniper rifle, brand new. I checked it out this morning so it's working properly. There's a box of ammo in here too. A private plane will take you down to Texas in the morning. I'll drive you to the airfield tomorrow. Do you have a place to stay tonight?" Aleksei shook his head. "I thought so. You can sleep on the couch." He went to the closet and pulled out a few extra blankets. He handed them to Aleksei then went into the bathroom and Aleksei could hear him turning on the shower. Aleksei lay down on the couch and pulled the blankets over him and tried to fall asleep. Vlad walked over to the couch and shook Aleksei's arm. "Wake up, it's time to go." Aleksei sat up groggily. He stumbled into the bathroom and vent his bladder. He walked out feeling much refreshed and grabbed the clean pair of clothes that Vlad left out for him and changed while Vlad went and checked out of the hotel. When Vlad came back they went to the garage and got his car. It took them an hour to get to the airfield because of traffic going out of town. Once they got there Vlad showed Aleksei to the plane and got him situated inside before he left. The plane flight took only a few hours. Aleksei never even saw the pilot.
Aleksei looked at the note that the operative had handed him right before he left. It had the target's address on it and when he would be getting back from work. Aleksei waved a cab over and asked to be taken to 42nd street and Franklin. Once he got there he absent-mindedly paid the driver and got out. Looking once more at the sheet of paper he found the address of the target, 1709. He walked along the street until he found it. Across the street from the house was a slight hill with trees and bushes covering it. It was the perfect place to stake out and wait for the target.
A few hours later Aleksei was lying down on his stomach listening for the sound of a car and watching as they all drove past. Just when he began to think that something had happened and the target wasn't going to show up another car came except this time it slowed down as it came near the driveway. It pulled into the driveway and stopped in front of the garage. The man who was his target got out first. Aleksei took aim through the scope but before he had a clear shot another door opened. Out jumped a young boy, about nine or ten years old. Aleksei swallowed. He had to do this to save his daughter. He took aim again and sighted along the scope. Closing his eyes for just a second he fired. Opening them quickly he looked down. The target was still standing. Something had gone wrong. Why hadn't he been killed? Then Aleksei saw the small body lying on the ground with a large hole in its forehead. A sick feeling rose in his gut, pulling out a small pistol that he always kept with him he pointed it at his head. Pausing for a moment he pulled out a small recording device and turned it on. "Tell my daughter that I'm sorry," he said. Then setting it on the ground he shot himself in the side of his head.