Matthew Dunn - Sentinel

It was dusk as Will drove along a deserted, unlit road twenty miles outside Saint Petersburg. The road was straight as far as the eye could see and surrounded by woodland. Everywhere was icy, but the land was bare of snow.

Sentinel checked his watch before glancing at Will. “We’re on time.” He looked ahead. “Drive for another quarter mile, then get our vehicle off the road.”

Will drove forward for ten seconds, brought the rental car to a halt, and reversed it over rough ground between trees. When he was satisfied that they were hidden from any cars that might drive by on the road, he stopped the vehicle and turned off its headlights.

Sentinel rubbed his hands together. “I’ll wait here for her. I suggest you move up the road.”

Will nodded and exited the vehicle. After having been in the heated car for nearly two hours, the sudden cold hit him hard. He jogged through the woods, keeping the road to his right, his breath steaming in the air. After five hundred feet, he moved closer to the road and crouched down beside a large tree, looking back down the road toward Sentinel’s approximate location. He stayed like that for twenty minutes before he heard a vehicle. The road before him lit up; then a sedan drove by and stopped midway between Will’s position and Sentinel’s location. Nothing happened for a minute. Then a woman got out of the car.

Sentinel emerged on foot onto the road and called out, “7962.”

The woman responded, “5389.”

Sentinel walked quickly toward her and waved a hand to tell Will that the meeting was safe. Will approached the car with caution. Sentinel motioned to the woman. “This is Rebecca. She works out of Moscow.”

Rebecca was petite, looked quite young, and was very nervous. Shaking Will’s hand, the MI6 officer said, “This is the first time I’ve done this kind of thing outside of training.”

Sentinel ignored her, and walked to the rear of her vehicle. Slapping a hand on the trunk, he asked, “In here?”

Rebecca nodded while looking around. She was clearly desperate to get away from this place. “It’s open.”

Sentinel withdrew a small cloth bag and walked back to them. The bag contained the handguns and communications system he’d requested. He gave Will a Sig Sauer P226 and two spare clips and secreted his own weapon and magazines in his jacket. Looking sharply at Rebecca, he asked, “Anything suspicious?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. We’ve been talking to our sources. None of them has mentioned any deployment of FSB or SVR men to Saint Petersburg. Also, they’ve made no mention of Shashka.”

“London or GCHQ traffic?”

“Again, nothing.” She frowned. “I’ve been told by Guy to ask you about the security breach.”

Guy-the MI6 Head of Moscow Station.

Sentinel was quiet for a moment. Then, “I don’t have any evidence yet, but I suspect that one or more of my Russian assets may be working against me.”

“Do you know their identities?”

Sentinel shook his head. “Tell your boss to be careful, because some of his own operations may be compromised.”

“Thank you, I will.” She looked at Will. “I’ve not met you before.”

Sentinel glanced at his watch. “And it’s unlikely you’ll meet him again. You need to go.”

She got into her car, and Will watched her taillights disappear from view. Then he turned to his colleague. “There’s still time to cancel the meeting.”

“I’m not going to.”

“Razin could have rigged the safe house with explosives.”

“We’ll have to take that risk.”

“Your course of action’s wrong!”

“Meaning yours is right?” Sentinel shook his head. “Whatever you’re doing, Razin’s still loose.” He turned to face Will. “Borzaya’s been killed. I found out yesterday. Tomorrow I could find out that another agent has been killed because we did nothing. Stay here if you want, or come with me. Either way, tonight I’m going to try to kill Razin.”

It was early evening as Will sat alone in his car, watching the stationary car ahead of him. Sentinel was in that vehicle. They were on Dvortsovaya Naberezhnaya, next to the wide Neva River, within the heart of Saint Petersburg. Close by was one of the city’s main shopping areas of Nevskiy Prospekt, and pedestrian shoppers surrounded the MI6 men. Sentinel had wanted it that way. He needed his agent to have cover.

Sentinel was waiting for one of the many pedestrians to move to his car and sit alongside the MI6 officer. It was hoped that person would be Shashka. But the person could just as easily be Razin.

Will adjusted his earpiece, scrutinizing everything around him. It was nighttime, but bright street and building lights illuminated the entire area. Small motorized boats and larger cargo vessels moved slowly along the river. On land, families, couples, and solitary men and women walked by his car. Some carried shopping bags. Others had their hands thrust deep into their pockets. All of them wore overcoats and hats to protect them from the freezing cold.

Will spoke into his throat mic as he looked at the back of Sentinel’s car. It was three hundred feet away. “Nothing yet.”

Sentinel’s voice was calm. “Okay. I bet he’s watching me right now.”

Will looked at the crowds of people. There were a number of men within their ranks who could be Shashka. That did not concern him. Shashka would reveal himself when he was ready to do so. What concerned Will was that he was certain that Razin was also close by, waiting to see Sentinel and his Russian agent sitting together in the car so that he could gun them down before they had the chance to escape.

He moved a hand over the pistol by his side, mentally picturing what could happen and how he would respond. If Razin walked up to the car and raised a gun toward it, Will knew he could swing his handgun up, shoot through the windshield, and put a bullet into the man’s head within half a second. But if Razin had a higher-powered gun, he could shoot Sentinel and Shashka from a distance while hidden in the crowds. The people would panic; Razin would disappear before Will could even get out of his car. He looked around, silently cursing. His eyes locked on one man. He was 150 feet away from Sentinel’s vehicle and appeared to be looking at it. The man was tall and dressed in a long overcoat and fur hat. His arms were folded.

“Possible sighting.” Will spoke quietly. “He’s on your four o’clock, out of your line of sight.”

Sentinel replied, “Understood.”

The man continued to stare at the vehicle. Will looked at him but also darted glances at others near Sentinel’s vehicle in case the man was not Shashka. The crowds around him were getting thicker. Will imagined that shops were now closing, evicting their occupants onto the streets. A car drove by him, and Will looked at the people inside it: a man, a woman, and a child. The car continued onward, passing the man who might be Shashka and then passing Sentinel’s vehicle. The man remained where he was but now started looking left and right. Then he started walking.

“He’s on the move. Heading toward you.”

“All right.” Sentinel’s voice remained calm.

“He’s crossing the road.” Will gripped his gun. “He’s moving behind your vehicle. He’s stopped. Now he’s moving again.” Will waited a few seconds. “You should see him in your wing mirrors.”

Sentinel said nothing for a moment. Then, “It’s him. Radio silence from here on out, as I don’t want to spook the guy.”

Shashka hadn’t been told that Will would be attending the meeting.

Will looked back toward the crowds on the other side of the road. They were starting to thin; many people had clearly decided it was time to get off the freezing streets and head home. Will moved his eyes from one person to the next, searching for a killer. He looked back at Sentinel’s car and saw Shashka open the door and lower himself into the vehicle. Will moved his gun up to the vehicle dashboard. If anything bad was going to happen, it would happen now. Shashka shut the door. Will turned on his vehicle’s ignition, looking back at the few remaining people who were near Sentinel’s car. None of them looked as though they were armed and ready to shoot a senior MI6 officer and a general of Russia’s Western Operational Strategic Command.