I own nothing. Sorry for the delay in posting, life got in the way. Nice reviews make me write quicker.

Chapter 9

"Ow!" Yury unleashed a volley of what Snake presumed were curses at him.

"If you'd hold still," he said, aware of how clichéd it sounded. "It wouldn't hurt as much."

The next phrases from his casualty's mouth were in Russian, but he grasped the general meaning of them, when Wolf's hand made contact with the back of Yury's head. He glanced up disapprovingly at his commander, who shrugged.

"Least the KGB taught them manners."

"Do we have any idea where they have taken him?"

"No." Volk admitted, gazing at the pacing agent. "But we will find him."

Vixen snorted.

"We have no clue where he's gone. Alex might already be dead by now."
"Unlikely." Volk said, firmly. "If he'd wanted to kill Alex, it would have been much better to do it in that room. The man is a master assassin, but he left all of you alive, even my idiot of an underling."

Vixen did smile briefly. Yury had fallen for the oldest trick in the book. Running into the darken room; he had been hit over the head. Gas had been used to subdue the others.

"Do we have any clues?" she asked, desperately.

Volk shrugged, uncomfortable in the answer.

"We did find this." He admitted, holding out a tiny pin, with a scorpion design on top. Vixen took the pin from him. Her face went pale, and she began to shake. Her hands were gripping the pin so tightly that she thought she would turn it in to dust. A single word escaped her lips, but Volk didn't catch it.

The pin fell from her hand, and she began to walk rapidly down the corridor.
"What's happened?" Volk demanded. "Where are you going?"
Vixen didn't even break step as she replied,

"To do something I should have done 16 years ago!"

Alex opened his eyes.

He was in a white room, like his room at home, but it was not his room. Through the walls, he could hear traffic, alien to the wastes of Siberia.

For one horrible moment he thought that he was in the Vysotsky institute or somewhere worse, like Dr Andropov and Sarov had threatened often enough. But he was able to move his arms and legs, so he couldn't be there.

He slowly got to his feet, taking stock of the situation. He felt a little nauseous, but otherwise O.K. the room he was in had no windows, and when he tried the door, he found it locked.

It was with a start that he realized that he wasn't alone. A man was sitting on a chair in the corner opposite. He had a pale smooth face, with blonde hair to match. His eyelashes were blonde too, which made him look feminine. He recognized him. The man had been to Sarov's house, to his home Andropov voice reminded him, several times. But he didn't know his name.

The man smiled.

"You are awake. Good. For a while I was concerned I had used too much." He smiled. Alex didn't.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"Normally I wouldn't tell you but considering the circumstances – your circumstances, I will. Yassen Gregorovich"

The name meant nothing to him. The blue eyes watched him carefully, waiting for a response.

"You remember what I told you about John?" Vixen demanded, covering streets of Moscow at a speed that anyone would have envied.

"That his last mission was undercover with Scorpia and that he was killed by them with a bomb?" Volk replied, panting slightly. Vixen had not slowed since they left the hospital, which was nearly 5 miles away.

Vixen nodded, forcing the restaurant door open and surprising Vladimir. She didn't even seem to notice him as he moved out to greet him.

"The bomb, unlike what I told you and what most people even at my end think, was not a time bomb. It was remote controlled." She was climbing the stairs to the rooms above the restaurant. "The range was limited. Even once the plane was airborne; there were less than 5 people who could have activated it." She paused by a door. "Only one of them had reason to hate John."

The door gave way at the slight pressure she applied to it. Volk did his best to avert his eyes at the figures in the bed, who rolled apart as they entered.

"Antony Sean Howlett." Vixen said, with quiet anger.

TBC