A/N Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, I had a lot of trouble
with it. I'm not entirely happy with it but that's alright. Hope you enjoy
Redemption
Chapter Twenty Nine
She heard him before she felt him; smelt him before he touched her.
She kept her eyes closed in fleeting hopes that he would leave her, but he didn't.
He was drunk. She was frozen in place.
Finally she opened her eyes and sat up gasping for air but Viktor was on top of her. She wanted to throw up. Everything inside of her was telling her to scream but she couldn't; perhaps it was just old habit that she kept her silence.
She put her hands to his shoulders tried to push him off her but he grabbed her wrists pinning them above her head. She could barely breath; his weight on her was suffocating. Her nightgown was pushed up around her waist and his other hand was under it grasping at her breasts. He sat on her waist pinning her under him. His unshaven cheek scraped and burned her skin as he kissed her stomach. Every fiber of her being, of her soul was screaming out in protest telling her to scream, telling her to kick, telling her to fight; but she didn't make a sound.
Her eyes filled with tears and she closed them trying not to cry. Her breaths came in shallow gasps. He sat up and she felt relief finally being able to breathe a bit better. Her relief didn't last long. She didn't have to see to know what was happening. She knew the sound of a man unbuckling his belt.
What happened next wasn't what she expected.
Melnikov was pulled off of her and she heard him fall to the floor. Opening her eyes she watched Khasinau pull Melnikov to his feet and then out of the room. She gasped for breath finally able to breathe. Outside the door Khasinau was yelling at him, hitting him; there was the sound of a gun being cocked but nothing came after it. A few seconds later he returned to her room. "Are you alright?"
Kathryn stood crossing her arms over her chest; she swallowed hard blinking the tears from her eyes, her voice never faltered. "If he ever touches me again, I swear to God, I will kill him with my bare hands."
"He won't." Khasinau approached her. "I want you to come with me." He held out the Mishca doll and slowly she reached for it. "Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water..."
~ ~ ~
"Are you in position?"
No answer.
"Mountaineer?"
"Boyscout?"
"Mountaineer and Boyscout are you in position?"
"Affirmative." Sydney's voice crackled through the com link.
"Retriever?"
"In position." Weiss pulled out his binoculars and focused on the house.
"Scriber?"
"Scriber is ready. I'm tapping into the video connection now. Security uplink will be available in a few seconds." Will continued cutting and rewiring the electrical panel, which was located just outside the house's stone barrier. "Do you have the feed GadgetMan?"
Marshall was set up in a windowless black van half a mile away obscured in a forest brush. "This is so cool," he babbled on as he typed away on his computer. "I mean who would have thought that-"
"Marshall!"
I'll loop the cameras on your order," he stuttered.
Jack and Irina were positioned just outside the stone wall entrance. Not more than ten feet away, three security guards stood patrolling the entrance.
"We do not approach until we have visual confirmation that either Kathryn or Melnikov are in there. We'll take out the guards at the entrance and then move in." Jack slipped on his ski mask.
"The passage leading to the sublevel where she was being held is located in the second office in the west hallway," Irina slipped on her ski mask concealing her face. "When we get to the sublevel it should be the fourth door on the left. That's where she'll be-"
"There's movement on the roof," Will suddenly interrupted. He grabbed his binoculars looking up at the blackened sky. "Christ she's on the f-ing roof!"
Irina grabbed her binoculars looking up at the roof. "There she is," she whispered as Jack followed her gaze. "There's someone with her but I can't make out who. What is she doing?"
Jack swallowed hard as he watched Kathryn barefoot her arms outstretched as if she were flying; dressed in a white nightgown illuminated by the full moon. She took a few steps onto the top of the peak walking along the narrow ridge on the tips of her toes.
"Oh God," Sydney gasped as Kathryn suddenly lost her footing. Her abilities as a gymnast came into play as she regained her balance and turned to face her opponent.
"Stay in position," Jack ordered. "Any sudden movements and she could go over the edge. Marshall can you get anything on who she's with?"
"No. He's too far from the satellite range, I can't get a visual."
Sydney kept her focus on Kathryn high above them. "Oh God." The man approached Kathryn reaching out for her and took her hands and swung her over the edge of the roof. She hit the side with a loud thump. "We have to go in." Sydney hissed seeing Kathryn dangling over the edge of the roof kicking and screaming.
"Sydney no." Irina said. "If we go in now, the scare-he'll drop her."
It seemed endless as Sydney watched her sister being hung over the edge of the roof. Silently she prayed for her safety. They'd come too far to loose her now. As suddenly as he'd swung her out the man pulled Kathryn back up and moments later they disappeared from the roof.
"Thank God," Will sighed.
"Stay in position." Jack turned to Irina. "Keep your mask on at all times. I don't want her to see you."
"I understand Jack," Irina was seething as she checked her gun. She didn't need him telling her that the worst possible move would be for Kathryn to know that she was helping secure her daughters release. Kathryn wanted nothing to do with her.
"Marshall do you see her?" Jack asked.
"Not yet."
"Retriever and Scriber I want you to circle round and meet up with us at the front gate. Boyscout and Mountaineer, hold your positions." Jack checked his ammo.
The waiting seemed endless.
"I see her." Marshall began pounding on his computer. "She's with Melnikov on the sublevel entering fourth door on the left."
"Get ready to move on my count." Jack checked his watch and then checked the guards positioning with the binoculars.
"5"
"4"
"3"
"Wait," Irina held up her hands pointing at the approaching car. A black sedan pulled up in front of the house obscuring their view of the entrance. "Damn, I can't see anything." It was nearly twenty minutes before someone came out of the house and got into the car and drove away.
"Marshall did you get anything?" Jack asked.
"One man got in the car, he was alone."
"Alright, get ready to loop the cameras we're moving in on my count."
~ ~ ~
Kathryn stood in the center of the room her hands cuffed behind her back. She wasn't sure what had happened. One moment she was in her room with Khasinau and the next she was on the roof and he was hanging her over the side. She didn't remember going to roof at all; had no recollection of stepping up onto the peak and yet suddenly that was where she'd found herself. He kept asking about the Contessa. Over and over again until finally she'd given in and he pulled her back to safety.
He took her back to her room and told her to change. She obeyed and was now wearing grey cotton pants and a black tank top. Minutes later Melnikov appeared having sobered up and recovered significantly from their earlier encounter. He was sporting a nasty black eye, which she assumed had been a result of Khasinau. He grabbed her arm wrenching it from the socket and pulled her down the hallway. They were stopped by Khasinau who was about to leave the house. He said nothing to Kathryn, merely kissed her cheek and told Melnikov to take care of it. She felt the bile rising in her stomach as his lips left her skin and she chided herself for not decking him earlier when she'd had the chance.
She eyed Melnikov as he approached her. He'd said nothing of the incident in her room. "Tell me where it is."
"Go to hell!"
"This would be far less painful if you would just co-operate Katarina."
"I'm not telling you anything!" she shouted.
He hit her. Without the use of her hands to break her fall, she slammed into the ground landing hard on her injured shoulder. He kicked her and she curled into a ball just trying to breathe. Another and another and another. He continued to kick her pausing only to ask after each kick for her answer before delivering another blow at her silence.
"Are you ready to talk?" he sneered at her as she struggled to her feet.
"Never." She had nothing left to loose. She wished he would just kill her. Everyone believed she was dead anyways, she wouldn't be missed.
"We'll see about that." He uncuffed her hands and pushed her to the side of the room cuffing her to a metal bar. Tears streamed down her cheeks as each blow stung worse than the last. His attempts were futile and still she did not speak. After a while she felt as if she wasn't there at all. The pain subsided and as he hit her over and over again; she was numb, she felt nothing.
~ ~ ~
"Move in." Jack commanded and the team approached the front entrance. They ambushed the guards and took them down easily. As soon as Marshall gave the all clear they entered the house.
Irina felt a sense of déjà vu as they made their way along the long dark corridors. She'd been here before many times though it was more than fifteen years past, everything was still the same. They hadn't seen any guards yet, she was surprised, but they'd be there soon, it was only a matter of time. She signaled to the others and pointed out the office where the passageway was.
Will entered first and secured the office followed by Weiss, Sydney and Vaughn. Irina and Jack took out two guards before they followed the others into the office. Irina dove under the desk searching for the lever. She found it quickly and the passage opened.
They found the guards as soon as they reached the sublevel. It was wildfire. Irina and Jack concentrated on taking out as many guards as they could while Vaughn and Sydney covered Will and Weiss as they made their way down the corridor and entered the fourth door on the left. Sydney and Vaughn soon followed.
There were several guards in the room including Viktor Melnikov. He was surprised at the intrusion and immediately attacked. Sydney matched him kick for kick, punch for punch. He was a well-trained fighter but she was better and after a fight for his knife she took him down knocking him unconscious.
Will and Vaughn took care of the other guards and Weiss went to Kathryn.
He nearly didn't recognize her. He reached out to touch her but froze when her eyes fluttered open briefly. He saw her momentary fear and looked down following the wires attached from her chest to a machine. An electroshock machine. He pulled the wires away from her and fumbled with her restraints. She was a mess. Her wrists and ankles were red and chafed with open sores from the handcuffs-she'd clearly tried to get them off several times. There wasn't an inch of her face that wasn't marked in one way or another and she shuddered every few seconds-a result of the shock torture.
"Kat, wake up," Weiss squeezed her shoulder gently hoping that it was the one part of her that wasn't in pain.
Her eyes opened briefly, a flicker of recognition passed across them but they closed as she shuddered.
Weiss pulled his mask off and framed her face with his hands. "Shiner, I need you to wake up. Come on Kat, wake up. We're getting you out of here but you need to wake up."
"Eric?" she murmured.
"Yes, it's me now open your eyes." He helped her sit up and swung her legs over the side of the table.
"I thought you were a dream." She whispered as he put his arm around her waist helping her walk to the door.
"Nope, I'm the real thing." They stopped at the doorway and waited for Sydney, Vaughn and Will.
"How is she?" Sydney asked changing her ammo.
"Better," Kat managed a smile.
"You're going to be just fine." Sydney gave her a brief hug before turning on her com link. "Papa Bear this is Mountaineer, we're coming out."
"Stay against the right wall," Jack ordered. "You've got guards straight ahead."
"Copy that." Sydney raised her gun preparing to fire. "Stay close," she told Weiss.
"Right behind you," he tightened his hold on Kat and on the count of three they barreled out of the room keeping close to the right wall.
"Where the fuck are all these guards coming from?" Will swore firing off several rounds.
"Underground tunnels," Kat whispered shivering. "They're all over."
"How you doing Kit Kat?" Vaughn reached for more ammo. Kat was crouched behind him shaking constantly.
"I'll be fine."
Minutes seemed like hours as they continued to fire back and forth, but slowly it died down and they prepared to advance to meet up with Jack.
Weiss helped Kat to stand and slipped his arm around her waist. "We're going to run." She nodded praying that she'd even be able to run. Her legs were still numb and weak and every part of her screamed out in agony each time she moved. Weiss had to half drag her as they ran down the hall. All the sudden several guards came around the corner firing heavily and she went down hard. Weiss dragged her against the wall and they took cover around another corner across from Jack.
"Is she okay?" Jack yelled across the hallway.
"She's been hit!"
"Cover me," Jack told Irina and he bolted across the hallway to where the others were.
"Where was she hit?" Jack set his gun down.
"Her leg," Weiss wiped his hand that was covered in blood on his pants. "Bullets still in there, it doesn't look too bad though but she's still pretty out of it. They were using shock treatments on her."
"Daddy?"
Jack turned at the sound of her voice. "I'm right here sweetheart. I'm right here," he brushed her hair back from face and her eyes opened focusing on the man in front of her. "You're going to be just fine, we're going to get you out of here."
"It really hurts-I don't think I can walk."
"Don't you worry about it."
"We have to go now!" Irina shouted.
Jack took his coat off and pulled off his bulletproof vest. He slipped it over her head and then zipped up his coat. He helped her stand, "arms around my neck," he ordered. Kat obeyed and he lifted her up. "I need you to hold yourself up, understand?" He held her tightly against his body trying to keep her still despite her constant shuddering.
"Yes," she whispered against his ear and locked her legs around his waist trying desperately to ignore the fiery pain spreading through out her leg and laid her head down on his shoulder.
Jack slipped one of his guns in the waistband of his pants and raised the other in front of him. "Let's go." They each took turns moving one by one up the corridor to the secret passage.
They were almost at the passageway when Jack felt his gun being pulled from his back and three shots were fired very close to his ear. He turned slowly looking to the side. Irina lay in a heap on the ground and Kat held his gun aiming it directly at her mother. Kat's breaths were short and shallow and he looked at her confused face momentarily as he pulled her away from him and then looked back to Irina.
Irina looked up at Kat and swallowed hard. She stood unharmed and Jack could see the dead man beneath her. Her mask had been half pulled off in the struggle and her gun lay on the floor several feet from her. She locked eyes with her daughter watching as Kat slowly lowered Jack's gun and Irina pulled her mask down recovering her face. She hadn't heard the man come up behind her and had Kat not seen him and shot him, she would have been dead before any of them realized what was going on.
Kat looped her arms around Jacks neck once more, still holding his gun her head dropped to his shoulder. Jack nodded to Irina who went on ahead of them. Adjusting Kathryn on his body he held her tighter noticing as her injured leg slipped lower and lower off his hip and blood dripped down her leg and off the tips of her toes. She was already very weak and was loosing blood quickly.
He glanced back once more at the man. Whether she knew it or not, Kathryn had just saved her mothers life.
She tried to keep her eyes open but she couldn't and the last thing she saw before they closed was Viktor Melnikov with three bullet holes in his chest. She'd killed him
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please give feedback if you want to read more.
Redemption
Chapter Twenty Nine
She heard him before she felt him; smelt him before he touched her.
She kept her eyes closed in fleeting hopes that he would leave her, but he didn't.
He was drunk. She was frozen in place.
Finally she opened her eyes and sat up gasping for air but Viktor was on top of her. She wanted to throw up. Everything inside of her was telling her to scream but she couldn't; perhaps it was just old habit that she kept her silence.
She put her hands to his shoulders tried to push him off her but he grabbed her wrists pinning them above her head. She could barely breath; his weight on her was suffocating. Her nightgown was pushed up around her waist and his other hand was under it grasping at her breasts. He sat on her waist pinning her under him. His unshaven cheek scraped and burned her skin as he kissed her stomach. Every fiber of her being, of her soul was screaming out in protest telling her to scream, telling her to kick, telling her to fight; but she didn't make a sound.
Her eyes filled with tears and she closed them trying not to cry. Her breaths came in shallow gasps. He sat up and she felt relief finally being able to breathe a bit better. Her relief didn't last long. She didn't have to see to know what was happening. She knew the sound of a man unbuckling his belt.
What happened next wasn't what she expected.
Melnikov was pulled off of her and she heard him fall to the floor. Opening her eyes she watched Khasinau pull Melnikov to his feet and then out of the room. She gasped for breath finally able to breathe. Outside the door Khasinau was yelling at him, hitting him; there was the sound of a gun being cocked but nothing came after it. A few seconds later he returned to her room. "Are you alright?"
Kathryn stood crossing her arms over her chest; she swallowed hard blinking the tears from her eyes, her voice never faltered. "If he ever touches me again, I swear to God, I will kill him with my bare hands."
"He won't." Khasinau approached her. "I want you to come with me." He held out the Mishca doll and slowly she reached for it. "Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water..."
~ ~ ~
"Are you in position?"
No answer.
"Mountaineer?"
"Boyscout?"
"Mountaineer and Boyscout are you in position?"
"Affirmative." Sydney's voice crackled through the com link.
"Retriever?"
"In position." Weiss pulled out his binoculars and focused on the house.
"Scriber?"
"Scriber is ready. I'm tapping into the video connection now. Security uplink will be available in a few seconds." Will continued cutting and rewiring the electrical panel, which was located just outside the house's stone barrier. "Do you have the feed GadgetMan?"
Marshall was set up in a windowless black van half a mile away obscured in a forest brush. "This is so cool," he babbled on as he typed away on his computer. "I mean who would have thought that-"
"Marshall!"
I'll loop the cameras on your order," he stuttered.
Jack and Irina were positioned just outside the stone wall entrance. Not more than ten feet away, three security guards stood patrolling the entrance.
"We do not approach until we have visual confirmation that either Kathryn or Melnikov are in there. We'll take out the guards at the entrance and then move in." Jack slipped on his ski mask.
"The passage leading to the sublevel where she was being held is located in the second office in the west hallway," Irina slipped on her ski mask concealing her face. "When we get to the sublevel it should be the fourth door on the left. That's where she'll be-"
"There's movement on the roof," Will suddenly interrupted. He grabbed his binoculars looking up at the blackened sky. "Christ she's on the f-ing roof!"
Irina grabbed her binoculars looking up at the roof. "There she is," she whispered as Jack followed her gaze. "There's someone with her but I can't make out who. What is she doing?"
Jack swallowed hard as he watched Kathryn barefoot her arms outstretched as if she were flying; dressed in a white nightgown illuminated by the full moon. She took a few steps onto the top of the peak walking along the narrow ridge on the tips of her toes.
"Oh God," Sydney gasped as Kathryn suddenly lost her footing. Her abilities as a gymnast came into play as she regained her balance and turned to face her opponent.
"Stay in position," Jack ordered. "Any sudden movements and she could go over the edge. Marshall can you get anything on who she's with?"
"No. He's too far from the satellite range, I can't get a visual."
Sydney kept her focus on Kathryn high above them. "Oh God." The man approached Kathryn reaching out for her and took her hands and swung her over the edge of the roof. She hit the side with a loud thump. "We have to go in." Sydney hissed seeing Kathryn dangling over the edge of the roof kicking and screaming.
"Sydney no." Irina said. "If we go in now, the scare-he'll drop her."
It seemed endless as Sydney watched her sister being hung over the edge of the roof. Silently she prayed for her safety. They'd come too far to loose her now. As suddenly as he'd swung her out the man pulled Kathryn back up and moments later they disappeared from the roof.
"Thank God," Will sighed.
"Stay in position." Jack turned to Irina. "Keep your mask on at all times. I don't want her to see you."
"I understand Jack," Irina was seething as she checked her gun. She didn't need him telling her that the worst possible move would be for Kathryn to know that she was helping secure her daughters release. Kathryn wanted nothing to do with her.
"Marshall do you see her?" Jack asked.
"Not yet."
"Retriever and Scriber I want you to circle round and meet up with us at the front gate. Boyscout and Mountaineer, hold your positions." Jack checked his ammo.
The waiting seemed endless.
"I see her." Marshall began pounding on his computer. "She's with Melnikov on the sublevel entering fourth door on the left."
"Get ready to move on my count." Jack checked his watch and then checked the guards positioning with the binoculars.
"5"
"4"
"3"
"Wait," Irina held up her hands pointing at the approaching car. A black sedan pulled up in front of the house obscuring their view of the entrance. "Damn, I can't see anything." It was nearly twenty minutes before someone came out of the house and got into the car and drove away.
"Marshall did you get anything?" Jack asked.
"One man got in the car, he was alone."
"Alright, get ready to loop the cameras we're moving in on my count."
~ ~ ~
Kathryn stood in the center of the room her hands cuffed behind her back. She wasn't sure what had happened. One moment she was in her room with Khasinau and the next she was on the roof and he was hanging her over the side. She didn't remember going to roof at all; had no recollection of stepping up onto the peak and yet suddenly that was where she'd found herself. He kept asking about the Contessa. Over and over again until finally she'd given in and he pulled her back to safety.
He took her back to her room and told her to change. She obeyed and was now wearing grey cotton pants and a black tank top. Minutes later Melnikov appeared having sobered up and recovered significantly from their earlier encounter. He was sporting a nasty black eye, which she assumed had been a result of Khasinau. He grabbed her arm wrenching it from the socket and pulled her down the hallway. They were stopped by Khasinau who was about to leave the house. He said nothing to Kathryn, merely kissed her cheek and told Melnikov to take care of it. She felt the bile rising in her stomach as his lips left her skin and she chided herself for not decking him earlier when she'd had the chance.
She eyed Melnikov as he approached her. He'd said nothing of the incident in her room. "Tell me where it is."
"Go to hell!"
"This would be far less painful if you would just co-operate Katarina."
"I'm not telling you anything!" she shouted.
He hit her. Without the use of her hands to break her fall, she slammed into the ground landing hard on her injured shoulder. He kicked her and she curled into a ball just trying to breathe. Another and another and another. He continued to kick her pausing only to ask after each kick for her answer before delivering another blow at her silence.
"Are you ready to talk?" he sneered at her as she struggled to her feet.
"Never." She had nothing left to loose. She wished he would just kill her. Everyone believed she was dead anyways, she wouldn't be missed.
"We'll see about that." He uncuffed her hands and pushed her to the side of the room cuffing her to a metal bar. Tears streamed down her cheeks as each blow stung worse than the last. His attempts were futile and still she did not speak. After a while she felt as if she wasn't there at all. The pain subsided and as he hit her over and over again; she was numb, she felt nothing.
~ ~ ~
"Move in." Jack commanded and the team approached the front entrance. They ambushed the guards and took them down easily. As soon as Marshall gave the all clear they entered the house.
Irina felt a sense of déjà vu as they made their way along the long dark corridors. She'd been here before many times though it was more than fifteen years past, everything was still the same. They hadn't seen any guards yet, she was surprised, but they'd be there soon, it was only a matter of time. She signaled to the others and pointed out the office where the passageway was.
Will entered first and secured the office followed by Weiss, Sydney and Vaughn. Irina and Jack took out two guards before they followed the others into the office. Irina dove under the desk searching for the lever. She found it quickly and the passage opened.
They found the guards as soon as they reached the sublevel. It was wildfire. Irina and Jack concentrated on taking out as many guards as they could while Vaughn and Sydney covered Will and Weiss as they made their way down the corridor and entered the fourth door on the left. Sydney and Vaughn soon followed.
There were several guards in the room including Viktor Melnikov. He was surprised at the intrusion and immediately attacked. Sydney matched him kick for kick, punch for punch. He was a well-trained fighter but she was better and after a fight for his knife she took him down knocking him unconscious.
Will and Vaughn took care of the other guards and Weiss went to Kathryn.
He nearly didn't recognize her. He reached out to touch her but froze when her eyes fluttered open briefly. He saw her momentary fear and looked down following the wires attached from her chest to a machine. An electroshock machine. He pulled the wires away from her and fumbled with her restraints. She was a mess. Her wrists and ankles were red and chafed with open sores from the handcuffs-she'd clearly tried to get them off several times. There wasn't an inch of her face that wasn't marked in one way or another and she shuddered every few seconds-a result of the shock torture.
"Kat, wake up," Weiss squeezed her shoulder gently hoping that it was the one part of her that wasn't in pain.
Her eyes opened briefly, a flicker of recognition passed across them but they closed as she shuddered.
Weiss pulled his mask off and framed her face with his hands. "Shiner, I need you to wake up. Come on Kat, wake up. We're getting you out of here but you need to wake up."
"Eric?" she murmured.
"Yes, it's me now open your eyes." He helped her sit up and swung her legs over the side of the table.
"I thought you were a dream." She whispered as he put his arm around her waist helping her walk to the door.
"Nope, I'm the real thing." They stopped at the doorway and waited for Sydney, Vaughn and Will.
"How is she?" Sydney asked changing her ammo.
"Better," Kat managed a smile.
"You're going to be just fine." Sydney gave her a brief hug before turning on her com link. "Papa Bear this is Mountaineer, we're coming out."
"Stay against the right wall," Jack ordered. "You've got guards straight ahead."
"Copy that." Sydney raised her gun preparing to fire. "Stay close," she told Weiss.
"Right behind you," he tightened his hold on Kat and on the count of three they barreled out of the room keeping close to the right wall.
"Where the fuck are all these guards coming from?" Will swore firing off several rounds.
"Underground tunnels," Kat whispered shivering. "They're all over."
"How you doing Kit Kat?" Vaughn reached for more ammo. Kat was crouched behind him shaking constantly.
"I'll be fine."
Minutes seemed like hours as they continued to fire back and forth, but slowly it died down and they prepared to advance to meet up with Jack.
Weiss helped Kat to stand and slipped his arm around her waist. "We're going to run." She nodded praying that she'd even be able to run. Her legs were still numb and weak and every part of her screamed out in agony each time she moved. Weiss had to half drag her as they ran down the hall. All the sudden several guards came around the corner firing heavily and she went down hard. Weiss dragged her against the wall and they took cover around another corner across from Jack.
"Is she okay?" Jack yelled across the hallway.
"She's been hit!"
"Cover me," Jack told Irina and he bolted across the hallway to where the others were.
"Where was she hit?" Jack set his gun down.
"Her leg," Weiss wiped his hand that was covered in blood on his pants. "Bullets still in there, it doesn't look too bad though but she's still pretty out of it. They were using shock treatments on her."
"Daddy?"
Jack turned at the sound of her voice. "I'm right here sweetheart. I'm right here," he brushed her hair back from face and her eyes opened focusing on the man in front of her. "You're going to be just fine, we're going to get you out of here."
"It really hurts-I don't think I can walk."
"Don't you worry about it."
"We have to go now!" Irina shouted.
Jack took his coat off and pulled off his bulletproof vest. He slipped it over her head and then zipped up his coat. He helped her stand, "arms around my neck," he ordered. Kat obeyed and he lifted her up. "I need you to hold yourself up, understand?" He held her tightly against his body trying to keep her still despite her constant shuddering.
"Yes," she whispered against his ear and locked her legs around his waist trying desperately to ignore the fiery pain spreading through out her leg and laid her head down on his shoulder.
Jack slipped one of his guns in the waistband of his pants and raised the other in front of him. "Let's go." They each took turns moving one by one up the corridor to the secret passage.
They were almost at the passageway when Jack felt his gun being pulled from his back and three shots were fired very close to his ear. He turned slowly looking to the side. Irina lay in a heap on the ground and Kat held his gun aiming it directly at her mother. Kat's breaths were short and shallow and he looked at her confused face momentarily as he pulled her away from him and then looked back to Irina.
Irina looked up at Kat and swallowed hard. She stood unharmed and Jack could see the dead man beneath her. Her mask had been half pulled off in the struggle and her gun lay on the floor several feet from her. She locked eyes with her daughter watching as Kat slowly lowered Jack's gun and Irina pulled her mask down recovering her face. She hadn't heard the man come up behind her and had Kat not seen him and shot him, she would have been dead before any of them realized what was going on.
Kat looped her arms around Jacks neck once more, still holding his gun her head dropped to his shoulder. Jack nodded to Irina who went on ahead of them. Adjusting Kathryn on his body he held her tighter noticing as her injured leg slipped lower and lower off his hip and blood dripped down her leg and off the tips of her toes. She was already very weak and was loosing blood quickly.
He glanced back once more at the man. Whether she knew it or not, Kathryn had just saved her mothers life.
She tried to keep her eyes open but she couldn't and the last thing she saw before they closed was Viktor Melnikov with three bullet holes in his chest. She'd killed him
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please give feedback if you want to read more.