Chapter 6

Three days had passed since Anna arrived at SPETSNAZ and she hadn't spoken a word of her memories to neither Aleksander nor Sergei. That was, however, not to say she didn't speak to Sergei at all. Every morning when he came to check up on her, Sergei would either find himself locked in her embrace or caught in one of her kisses. Either way, Sergei never pushed her away. He looked forward to this greeting routine each time the sun rose from the mountains. Today, however, was going to be different.

As he was heading down to Anna's current living quarters, a scientist, who Sergei had noticed was following him, mustered up the courage to speak to the intimidating soldier just as they were rounding the last corner that would lead to Anna's room. "Uh, Sergei Sir…"

Fortunately for the scientist, his wimpy voice managed to stop Sergei from taking any more steps and the raven-haired man now stood, waiting for him to continue. After gulping, the smaller man said in a rushed voice, "Aleksander wanted me to inform you that your duties have changed and that he wants you to head to his office ASAP." He took in a breath, glad that his words hadn't gotten twisted or jumbled.

His words however seemed to fall on death ears when he noticed Sergei begin walking off towards his former destination. "W-wait! Sergei sir!" Seeing as how using words wasn't going to stop him anytime soon, the scientist had no other choice than to grab onto his wrist with both arms and give it a yank. It captured his attention without a doubt as he now turned himself to gaze at the young man. "I'm sorry but you have to go to his office-"

Dragunov effortlessly stole his arm back from the young man as he reached the room where Anna was supposedly sleeping in at the moment. Just as he was inserting the key into its slot, the scientist threw himself between the door and the soldier, his face covered in sweat. "I'm sorry to say this sir, but Aleksander has also advised me to tell you that he forbids you from seeing Anna Williams."

The words struck Sergei as he stood in silence, slowly absorbing what he was told. He looked through the window on the door and just as he expected, he found Anna huddled under the covers of her bed, deep in sleep. He studied her sleeping face and realized how thin she had gotten within the last few days.

So absorbed was he in examining the young woman in the room, Sergei hadn't noticed Aleksander standing beside him until he spoke up. "He's right Sergei. I have an urgent request to take up with you." Although Sergei wasn't looking at him, Aleksander suspected that he was listening. "One of our cities was attacked. The attack was minor, but nonetheless we need your team to go investigate the area." He waited patiently for Sergei to make any move that would show he was going to get prepared, but there was none.

Aleksander let out a hopeless sigh and whispered in a cruel tone, "You would choose that woman, a replaceable human, like her, over your own country?"

Without a second's notice, Sergei's iron eyes were staring straight into Aleksander's blue ones. The scientist watched in silence as their stare down continued, neither of them flinching or losing their ground. It wasn't until Sergei decided to walk off that their match ended. Aleksander listened to his footsteps fade away behind him and as he listened he whispered, "Don't let your emotions get the better of you, Sergei."

As Sergei made his way to his office to prepare for the trip, he was greeted by one of his men who offered him the mission brief. Sergei ignored him and headed straight into his room, shutting the door behind him. The soldier stared at the door, confused. "Did he just look…mad?" He asked another soldier standing across the hall from him. All the other one could manage was a shrug.

While in his office, Dragunov distractedly rummaged through his things, clueless as to what he should be searching for. For the time being, all his mind ever seemed to revolve around was Anna. Whenever she was around, his stomach felt funny. He's already figured that she wasn't like any other woman he came upon but what were these feelings he had for her? When Aleksander had called her "replaceable" it was as if all of Sergei's nerves had been struck. There was only one of her in this world.

Taking longer than usual, Sergei emerged from his office carrying his essentials and wearing his combat outfit. The soldiers who were standing outside his door immediately saluted as he walked past. His lieutenant, a young, pale-skinned boy, followed after him and said in a calm tone, "We have the helicopter ready to dispatch. Is there any other preparations you want us to make before we depart?" Sergei reached his hand out, signaling for the mission brief, and the other soldier quickly delivered it to him.

Looking over it, Sergei determined that the assignment would take no longer than one day. However, it was an oddly simple request for Aleksander to take up with him considering that he was the best trained soldier, aside from Mikhail, within his disposal. What was Aleksander planning? Clenching the papers in his grasp, Sergei began heading toward the helicopters with his men following not too far behind. He planned to come back quickly to protect Anna from whatever that superior of his was planning.

"He's left sir." A voice emanating from Aleksander's communicator spoke.

Still standing outside of Anna's room, Aleksander nodded and whispered, "Good. Contact the lab and tell them to get the machine ready."

"Yes sir." With that said, the communicator went silent as Aleksander tucked it back into his pocket.

Aleksander peered through the window of Anna's door to see if she was still waiting for Sergei to arrive. The moment he had walked off, she had awoken and has since been waiting for him to come. Perhaps now, after an hour of waiting, it was time to break out the bad news for her.

The sound of the doorknob turning caused Anna's ears to perk in excitement as she anticipated Sergei's arrival. Quickly turning her head towards the door, she spotted the broad shouldered man entering and was instantly disappointed. "Hm? Where's Sergei," she asked sweetly.

"He's off on a mission, Anna, meaning that today you're going to be in my hands." He replied while making his way towards her.

Before he could reach her, Anna quickly surveyed the area. In her mind she made a list of what surrounded her: An open door, one scrawny scientist, and one middle-aged man. She wasn't sure of Aleksander's position when it came to fighting, though he did have a well-built body, but she had to take her chances. If Sergei wasn't here nothing would stop these men from doing what they wanted with her. The ideas that ran through her mind made her grimace.

As Aleksander was standing before her, he offered out his hand. Seeing as how she had no choice at the moment, she reluctantly accepted. As he helped her out of bed, he began to lead her out of the door, surprisingly gentle in comparison to how he had treated her days earlier. Nonetheless, Anna knew what kind of sick man he was, what with his threats he had used upon her. Looking over him once more, she let out a slow breath as she prepared herself for her escape.

Gently she tapped his shoulder to get his attention, murmuring under her breath, "Excuse me…" He turned around to see what she needed, but before he could react, he received a full blow to his nose from her fist.

Letting go of her hand, he staggered back, raising a palm to his nose as he began to feel a sticky liquid slowly oozing its way down over his lips and cheeks. "You bitch!" He yelled.

Anna's lips were formed into a little smirk as she gave his staggering body a wink. The scientist who was standing outside the door peered in as he heard the sudden outburst, but was quickly pushed aside as Anna made her way past him. After gazing confusedly at her as she made her way past, he turned back to his boss who was holding his face in pain. Joining by his side, he asked worriedly, "Sir, are you okay?"

He pushed the man away from his side and yelled, "Idiot! Go after her!"

"Uh, right sir." The scientist made his way onto his feet and began his pursuit of their subject.

As he did so, Aleksander wiped away the blood from his face to glare menacingly at the open doorway. "Anna…I'll make sure you suffer a miserable, painful death." He growled.

Although Sergei had led her through these halls countless times when she needed to go to the bathroom, as Anna was running through it now, panic had stricken her mind and she had no idea where she was going. Whenever there was a turn she took it, not knowing if that turn would send her back to the beginning. Fortunately her long legs had carried her a good distance from the man trailing her, but she needed more than that.

During her stay here, she was offered only two small, poorly cooked, meals a day. If not for Sergei, who stood by her bedside, unknowingly giving her comfort, she would have refused the food and would thus be in a more weakened position than now. Yet now, after only five minutes of running, she was already exhausted. Slowly, she slumped to the floor to gather her breath. At this moment she wanted nothing more than to have Sergei with her. She preferred him over her own mother, father, and sister…

Just as she was prepared to take off running again, something caught ahold of her hair and she was violently pulled back. She felt her back collide against another body and as she looked down she saw that whoever was holding her had on a camo-patterned combat uniform similar to Sergei's. This man was the same height as him and had the same build. "Sergei…?" She looked up at his face only to spot the sinister smile that could belong only to who she learned to be Mikhail Barclay.

"Well well, what a surprise. I come back from my mission and look who decides to greet me." He let out a laugh as Anna squirmed her way out of his grasp and landed onto the floor before him. Her current position and outfit seemed to arouse the man as he stared on with lust-filed eyes. "Look at you. It's no wonder Dragunov wants you for himself." With both hands, he gathered both her wrists and pulled her up to her feet.

"Let go of me!" She fought against his grip but it proved to be fruitless as his grasp only became stronger. Then her struggling was put to an end as she found herself up against the white walls with his mouth smothering hers in what had to be the vilest kiss Anna found herself caught in. In a desperate attempt to rid this man from her, she bit onto whatever skin she found and pushed against him with all her strength. After what seemed to be an eternity, he finally broke away, wiping away saliva and trickles of blood that covered his lips.

Backing away from the soldier to regain herself, she tried to keep herself calm knowing that if she showed any signs of weakness, he'd only make another move on her.

Suddenly they heard footsteps begin to approach them from behind Mikhail as Aleksander and a few other men had found them. For the last time in her life, Anna was glad to see the man, though she was positive that he was more than angry with her. However, Anna would rather be caught by him than his beastly soldier any day.

"I'm glad you found her Mikhail," Aleksander congratulated as he was within hearing distance. "Perhaps with you around Anna there will be bound to listen to me."

Both set of eyes cast a glance at her as she stood at the corner, breathing heavily as her breath still hadn't returned to her. Mikhail gave her a smirk as he asked mockingly, "Causing trouble, eh? Wait 'til Dragunov hears of this."

Aleksander walked past him towards Anna. While he did so, he replied, "Sergei isn't going to be hearing about any of this. He's off on a mission." He reached the young woman and looked disgustedly down at her. There was no sign of remorse for her, only malice intent. Raising a hand, beckoning for Mikhail to come forward, he ordered, "Now, bring her to the lab for us."

Mikhail smiled as Anna's heart froze and crumbled at the demand. The soldier snatched her wrist and began dragging her along with him, laughing in a low breath. "Oh you're gonna' get it now…" He mocked.

During their entire walk down to the laboratory, Anna behaved like an unwilling child who was to visit the dentist. She tugged and pulled at her arm, not in attempt to free herself, for she saw that that would be an impossible feat with his vice grip, but to perhaps trick him into pitying her. Yet no matter how innocent or naïve she behaved, his grip never loosened and within a few minutes of wandering through halls unknown to her, the three of them were standing before a metallic door isolated from any other room.

It didn't take a genius to know what was behind these doors. As soon as the entrance was opened, the sight of a horror movie was revealed to Anna. Pale bodies floated in tanks filled with water while others were strapped down onto metallic beds, noting in her mind that the beds were similar to the one in her own room, and what disgusted her the most were the random line of organs that lined the back walls of the workroom. The sight nearly made her gag and she felt her knees begin to buckle.

Ignoring the grotesque sights before him, Aleksander casually made his way over to one of the scientists, who was studying one of the floating corpses, and asked, "Is the machine ready?"

"Yes sir." The man looked past his superior to Anna and examined her for a brief second before turning to grab some supplies from a nearby table. He opened up a cupboard and pulled out a thin, short gown. He casually tossed it backwards, caring less if it was aimed towards his superior or the ground, and said, "Can you slip her into that while I get my supplies? Thanks."

Aleksander looked back at Mikhail and threw the gown back at him. "Do it." He said simply.

"You heard the man," Mikhail smirked at the brunette who in turn didn't respond. Rather than care about her current state of mind, he began slipping the straps from her dress off her shoulders. He was prepared to push the dress down past her chest until a scientist approached them.

She was a female, blonde and slender. "For sanitary purposes, I'll be the one in charge of undressing and cleaning her." She stole the white gown from Mikhail's hands and freed Anna from his grip. "Come with me Anna Williams." Taking her by the hand, she led her to the back of the laboratory and into what seemed to be a shower room.

The walls were lined with marble just the same as the floor while little drains were placed around the edges and center of the floor, and showerheads were found on every wall. The woman, expressionless and stoic, held out her arm and asked of Anna, "Please remove any piece of clothing you may have and stand under the shower."

Now that she was away from Mikhail and the corpses, Anna felt the color return to her skin and the strength return to her body. "And if I refuse," she asked defiantly.

"Do not forget where you are and who surround you, foolish woman. Or would you prefer to have Mikhail Barclay wash you?" Although she was delivering threats to the brunette, her voice remained monotone and empty.

Seeing as how Anna had no choice in this, she herself stripped down and stepped timidly underneath the showerhead. The woman, with her heels clicking against the marble flooring, headed over to where a few knobs were and turned one to the right. Anna quickly stumbled back as a gush of freezing water exploded onto her. However, the water began to gradually warm and she stepped back in. She shut her eyes as the water ran down her voluptuous body. When was the last time she got to take a shower like this? She recalled back to a few days and remembered the night at the hotel room, the first day she had met Sergei. Just thinking of him brought a smile to her lips.

As she daydreamed about him, she suddenly felt something squishy run up and down her claves. "Sergei…," she whispered out loud, a blush rising to her face.

"Did you say something?" The woman's monotone voice asked. Quickly Anna broke out from her daydream to find that the scientist was scrubbing her legs with a sponge foaming with pink bubbles. Rather than wait for an answer, she rose to her feet to begin cleaning Anna's upper body.

If it had been anyone else, supposedly a man, Anna would've argued against them, declaring that she would've been able to clean herself. However, the woman was gentle and seeing as how they were both women, she didn't see anything to hide.

After the scientist had cleaned her from head to toe, Anna was pulled from the showers and patted until dry with a towel. Afterwards the white gown was slipped over her head and onto her body where it hung loosely just an inch above the middle of her thighs. Before Anna had the chance to examine herself, the woman pulled her from the shower room and back into the lab where they were greeted by the scientist from earlier.

The man held a syringe in his hand filled with a clear fluid. He eyed Anna then asked the woman, "Is she clean, Feia?"

The woman, Feia, nodded in response. "Yes. Should I go prepare the machine?"

Taking Anna from her grasp, the scientist shook his head. "We've already got it prepared. All that's left now is to insert the subject." With that said, he prepared the syringe and slowly began raising it up towards Anna's neck.

Although Anna saw it coming, she couldn't force her body to put up a struggle. She felt as though her body had just decided to freeze on her and like she asked for it, the scientist injected her with the needle, delivering the mysterious liquid into her veins. Almost instantly the shot took effect as Anna began growing dizzy and she felt herself go limp. Before she knew it, she had blacked out.

With her unconscious, the man gingerly deposited her into a metallic tub filled about a foot high with water. The man strapped her down with the metal clasps located in the bottom of the container then walked over to the huge computer right across from the tub Anna lay in. He began pressing and typing in words as the screen changed from one thing to another.

Aleksander approached the devoted scientist and stared confusedly at the screen. After realizing that he was unable to comprehend the symbols and data presented before him, he asked the man, "So Yuri, how is this going to work?"

"Easy," he began to explain, "The water that she's lying in has an electrical current running through it. Those currents can trace her brainwaves which we could then analyze and translate. "

Aleksander nodded then turned his eyes to the brunette who appeared to be sleeping peacefully. "Will it hurt?"

Yuri nodded. "Yes, it's definitely not an easy process for the subjects to go through without a doubt. Even the anesthetic we injected into her will not be able to numb out the pain. Do you have a prob-"

The scientist was interrupted by the SPETSNAZ's security system going off. Whining alarms and flashing red lights lightened the room causing the scientists to panic. "What's going on?" "Evacuate!" "Save the subjects!"

As he watched his scientists scurry to and fro, Aleksander calmly reached for his phone and typed in a few numbers before raising it to his ear. He waited for a few seconds before someone picked up from the other end. "Liza, what's going on up there?"

"Not good sir," replied her frightened voice, "The base has been infiltrated!"

Aleksander's eyes widened in horror as the door leading out to the hallway was forced open and a lone figure, carrying what appeared to be a Gatling gun in his arms, appeared in the room.

The man's body was adorned with scars, more than even Sergei possessed, and his eyes held no sign of life, no sign of remorse. His eyes reminded Aleksander of the soldiers and subjects he created. Terrified now, Aleksander quickly sunk behind a wall just before the man began breaking out all sorts of mayhem.

With his Gatling gun, Bryan Fury shot at anything or anyone that got in his bullets' paths. Glass shattered, sending the unfortunate subjects sprawling out onto the floor, and bodies fell in a pool of blood. Aside from the screaming coming from the throats of the dying, the test subjects, or the panicking, there was also the mechanical laughter that came from the intruder as he used up bullet after bullet.

Within seconds the room went quiet as all noise died down. Feigning death by smearing himself with a fallen man's blood, Aleksander watched in the corner of his eye as Bryan walked over to a computer to begin digging through the drawers and its contents. After minutes of going through the files, he seemed to have found what he wanted as he tucked a manila folder underneath his arm and smiled. He rose to his full height and prepared to make an exit until something caught his eye.

On his left was a tub that was amazingly untouched by the bullets he had fired. Taking a look inside he spotted the face of the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. He skimmed her from head to toe and immediately found those long legs and curvaceous body irresistible. Seeing as how he had gone through so much trouble already, Bryan felt as if he should reward himself. Easily snapping the clasps that held her, he threw Anna over his shoulder as a smirk played on his face. Looking over the chaos that he had caused, Bryan, satisfied, left the room with Anna as his prize…

Author's Notes: Finally this chapter is done! There were so many ideas I wanted to shove into this chapter I didn't know when I would be able to end it. I'm really excited to start the next chapter while the ideas are still in my head. So until next time! Thanks for reading!