This chapter is for all my lovely reviewers! Thanx guys!
Holly was sitting on his bed, the living man tied up in front of her. She looked up as Yassen entered the room and smiled thinly. She jerked her head towards the tiny bathroom, the bodies were in there. Yassen walked over to the door and eased it open.
A man and woman, dressed in the same black body armour that their living comrade still wore, lay in a puddle of blood on the floor. Bullet wounds showed clearly on their faces and throats. Yassen slammed the door shut, fighting down the bile that rose in his throat. He walked back over to the bound man and squatted down beside him.
Hunter had twisted a rope around his head, gagging him. Yassen slid his knife from his pocket and flicked it open. The man stopped struggling and watched the blade, fear showing in his eyes.
The blade swept past the man's eye, cutting the rope and grazing his skin. He jerked away, too late if the slash had been intended to kill. Yassen pulled the rope from his mouth. The corners of his mouth were bloody and sore, but Yassen didn't feel any pity. He didn't think he could pity this man.
"Who are you?" Holly spoke from over his shoulder. Their prisoner squinted up at her, his eyes showing a flicker of hope.
"My name's Paul Daniels," He said carefully. He looked at Yassen, trying to find some compassion in his eyes. There was none, only a barely controlled rage mixed with worry and a deep sadness.
Holly leant over Yassen's shoulder, staring fiercely at Paul.
"Where have they taken Jack and Laura?" she hissed angrily. Paul shrank away under her stare, but refused to answer. "Tell me," She ordered, reaching out and grabbing his face. Her nails dug into his cheeks and he whimpered. Yassen felt a stab of revulsion; he could see that Daniels was barely trained.
"Ok," He whispered, "Ok, I'll tell you." Holly relaxed her grip and Yassen leant back so she could get closer to Paul. "There's a… bunker I suppose you'd call it, on the Goonhilly Downs.
"I think you do your shooting near to us, we hear the gunfire sometimes. It belongs to the Army, but we use it more than them." Yassen stood up and walked to the door.
"Where are you going?" Holy asked, glancing at him and standing up at same time.
"I'm going to tell Hunter, he needs to know where they are." Holly stepped over Paul's bound form and walked out into the corridor.
"I'll go. I don't trust myself not to kill him." Yassen stared after her, smiling slightly. When he got back into the room, Paul had managed to haul himself round so he was propped up against the bed.
"Were you telling the truth? Are they in that bunker?" Paul nodded and returned his gaze to the door.
A moment later, Hunter came in with Holly trailing behind.
"You won't believe this; the reinforcements have been arrested by MI6. I don't know how they found out, but we're not getting any help." He looked at Yassen and Holly, and paused. "Right. I really don't want to do this but you're coming to help rescue them."
Yassen gasped, staring disbelievingly at Hunter. "You're kidding! But I thought it was too dangerous…" his voice trailed off.
"Don't remind me," Hunter said, "I might change my mind. You're not shooting to kill, I've got a contact and I'll get tranquilisers, not bullets. No arguments." Yassen nodded and Hunter turned to Paul. "Ok then, what do we have here. Paul Daniels, right?" The man nodded slowly, clearly puzzled. "Oh come on, you don't really think we'd let MI6 run around and not know who was working for them?
"So, are they really in this place? Tell the truth by the way," He added, pulling his pistol and pointing it at their prisoner.
"Yes! They're in the bunker. I swear! No, don't shoot, it's the truth!" Paul shrieked as Hunter made a show of taking aim at his head. Hunter regarded him for a second and then lowered the gun.
"Yassen, Holly, take him up the hill, gag him and leave him somewhere, I don't care where. I'm going to see about these tranquilisers." Hunter turned and left the room.
Yassen glanced at Holly and bent down, grabbing Paul's feet firmly. Holly caught him under the arms and they half-dragged him down the stairs and through the lounge. Terry was standing in a doorway, watching incredulously as they hauled him across the car park. Yassen nodded at him, grinning broadly.
Luckily for them, it had gotten dark while they were talking, so their efforts went unnoticed. Yassen went in front; his night eyes were better than Holly's, so he had, by silent agreement been chosen to find a suitable place to put Paul. They eventually settled on a spot behind a large rock and gagged him again.
"Sorry about all this," Holly muttered as they left. Yassen rolled his eyes and took her hand to guide her back.
Ten minutes later and they were standing in front of Hunter, each carrying a tranquiliser rifle and wearing full body armour and black face paint, with night-vision goggles slung around their necks. Yassen couldn't help but think of the bodies in his room- their body armour hadn't helped them at all.
"Right then, ready?" Hunter didn't need to talk; they knew what they had to do. They piled into Hunter's car and set off, driving erratically to try and prevent them from being followed. If they had been, the car had twin heat-seeking missiles concealed behind the brake lights which would soon stop any pursuer.
An hour later they pulled up at the side of the road, the vague white shapes of the dishes at Goonhilly satellite earth station drifted in and out of focus.
Yassen and Holly waited silently while Hunter moved off into the heather. Yassen stamped his feet a little, trying to ease some life back into his toes; Holly punched him to warn him to be quiet. Hunter emerged from the darkness not ten feet away, right in front of them.
He beckoned and Holly rushed forward, her fear showing clearly, even through the darkness. Yassen moved more lightly, his lithe form almost invisible in the gloom.
"Where are they? For that matter, where are we?" He hissed as Hunter stepped towards them. He raised a finger to his lips and signalled for them to follow him quietly. Holly tried, but she stumbled constantly, treading on dry sticks and leaves which crackled under her feet. Yassen was almost running, but still his feet made scarcely a sound as they touched the frozen ground.
"They're about one hundred yards dead ahead. Spotlight," Hunter whispered suddenly, throwing himself flat as a disc of white light swung over the heather and gorse. Yassen twisted backwards, pulling Holly down with him as the light swept over their heads. Distant voices were suddenly audible and Yassen realised with a sick dread that they had been seen.
Hunter appeared, dragging himself along the path on his stomach. Yassen nudged Holly and they followed him, ducking under bushes and shrubs, trying to avoid the footsteps which seemed to be all around. Hunter led them through the sentry lines and they were soon at their shooting range.
"This is ridiculous." Holly whispered, "How can we have been so close and not know they were there?"
"I'm not sure that Hunter didn't know they were there. But it's a bit late now either way, I guess we just have to get through tonight with Laura and Jack in tow." Holly shrugged, forgetting that it was pitch black and that she could hardly see her own hand in front of her face.
"Yeah, I guess so. Where are we going now?"
"I don't know. This way, I guess." Yassen heard her suppress a laugh and grinned into the night.
"Quiet, you two. You'll get us killed." Hunter's whispered admonition drifted back to them and they fell silent. "Right then," he muttered a few minutes later, "the bunker is a couple of hundred yards that way." He pointed, his hand gleaming white in the pale moonlight. "Gloves on now, by the way.
"So, Yassen, you go say… fifty yards right, Holly, same on your left. I'll stay here, whistle when you get to the right place and then we'll move forwards, keep an eye out for spotlights, use your night vision goggles when you have to, but not all the time. Yassen, I don't think you'll need them anyway.
"Shoot anyone you see but don't let them see you, these things aren't instant. Good luck, both of you."