CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
Thankfully, Athos was relieved to see that the good doctor's body was no longer there.
Dannika Rand dropped her hood and pulled down the mask. Her back was to the picture window, and the sun would soon rise fully above the trees where Athos had only a few days ago settled himself down to read his book and an old lady had taken him by surprise. At the thought of her, he straightened his spine.
He had never seen Rand in the flesh. She was lean and muscular. Her hair was pulled tightly back from her pale face and her eyes were deeply set, her eyebrows thin, giving her a severe expression. There was nothing feminine about her. The word 'reptilian' came to mind; perhaps unkind but Athos was in no mood to be considerate. She looked, he thought, like a machine in her close-fitting black attire. He realised those two thoughts were throwing him, and he pulled in a breath through his nose and out through his mouth to regulate his heartbeat. He was acutely aware of Martina's pink headband wrapped around his hand. He squeezed his fingers into a fist and found it strangely comforting.
Rand was looking him up and down coldly, as if he was a specimen. Which to her, he probably was.
There was the distinct odour of death in the room. Kramer had been dead for twenty four hours. It was only this time yesterday that they had found him. It felt so much longer.
"You're dead," he said, his brain rebooting painfully.
She rocked forward, a look of intent on her face. Her eyes were the palest flint grey, as she pinned him with her odd gaze. He realised he was about to hear the voice that went with the wanted reptilian terrorist. She tilted her head and blinked slowly.
"You killed my sister," she replied, though there was no emotion in her statement. She was so calm with the strong, sure voice of the entitled. But he knew what she was.
"I think not," Athos replied evenly, considering he had a Glock 17 pistol pointed at him, not for the first time today. His training was kicking in now as the pieces were falling into place.
"That would be self-sacrifice on her part, or murder on yours," he replied, calmly.
"You think I murdered my own sister?" she said, with fake shock, her sparse eyebrows raised, before a slow smile spread across her face. It was unnerving.
"And your mother, and your grandmother, if you deemed it necessary," Athos replied, curtly.
"Cause over family," she confirmed, which he found hard not to challenge, as she was the living proof of it.
Aramis would have killed her, Athos thought, aware now, if she had not opened the door. Not her, he knew now. The sister.
And there it was. That was why Aramis had hesitated in the warehouse. It was not Dannika Rand he had in his gunsight. It was nothing to do with not wanting to shoot a woman.
From the brief CCTV clip they had watched in their office a few times over the past months, Aramis had seen a difference in their body shape, perhaps. Or the way the sister held herself before she opened the door, when it was too late. Something had alerted him. From that distance in the warehouse and in those fraught conditions, he had known. And that was one hell of a thing.
Why didn't he say? Why didn't he explain? God knows, Athos had given him every opportunity to explain himself. Hadn't he? But Aramis had said it would "all come out in the wash." He was waiting for the investigation. Perhaps waiting for some critical evidence. Because, he did not trust himself that he was right because I stopped trusting him.
He'd tried to say, on the roof. But Athos had shut him down.
Oh, Aramis, he thought, his insides ice.
He's not dead. I need to tell him …
Rand continued to watch him coldly. No doubt she could see the emotions flitting across his face. Even he could not control them in such a situation.
She was still smiling. He had never been in a room with such a person and he had interviewed many criminals. This one was different. With effort, he schooled his features. He would not give her the satisfaction of seeing his turmoil. Her men had died in the warehouse, and most of these men who continued to follow her were dead now.
He was all that stood between her and justice.
"They follow the cause," she said, reading his thoughts.
"And Kramer?" he said, his voice steady now. "Where is he, by the way?"
Her eyes went to the door behind Kramer's desk. "Removed," she replied. She wafted a hand under her nose and it took all his strength not to lurch forward and put his hands around her throat.
She shrugged before her face hardened. "A traitor," she said.
"I don't understand," he frowned.
"Be careful who you trust," was all she said.
"I am careful," he replied. His heart ached for the man who lay not ten feet away, behind the door.
"You should join us," she said suddenly, momentarily dropping the gun to her side. She was smiling. Her teeth were perfect in that strange face. He wasn't sure what he had expected. Taken aback, he had difficulty replying but when he did, it was incisive. Come what may.
"I decline," he said. "You lack strategy. Your approach is disorganised. You would be better operating as a lone wolf as you also lack leadership skills. We have eliminated several of your men and you don't seem to know. Or care. You come here to loot and to take revenge on us, thereby betraying your original concept of terrorism to satisfy your perverse ideology. Which is flawed, by the way."
Her eyes blazed, before she quickly recovered. "You know nothing of my cause. The men were look-outs. They didn't do their job properly. They deserved to die. There are plenty more to take their place."
"My God, you're evil," Athos said, narrowing his eyes. "And when you have your revenge, what then?"
"I will continue. I have evaded your kind for a decade. I don't care what you think of me. You will be dead soon. Personally, I thought you would be more …"
"Corruptible?" he interjected.
"Well, every man has his price," she exclaimed, sure of herself.
"You're wrong, Dannika," he said, quietly.
She was still facing him, her gun pointing at his chest now, her back to the window. Outside, the weak dawn sunlight began to permeate the trees, sending shafts of light onto the small lawn outside the office window. On any other occasion, he would have thought it stunning.
Athos suddenly saw movement in the treeline and his heart quickened. He kept his eyes on her, not wanting to alert her.
But, dammit, it was a wolf.
A white wolf. Standing in the treeline, watching them.
A wolf had come.
/
Thanks for reading!
For those interested, the story has grown a little in editing and is now 32 chapters long, which includes an epilogue.