Matthew Dunn - Sentinel

“Gone. It was half a mile down the road before we even got back to the lodge. I’d say Razin’s at least five miles away now, probably more. Even if we knew where he was going, we wouldn’t have a chance in hell of catching up with him.”

“Barkov?”

“Dead. He’s got a bullet between his eyes.” Laith shook his head. “No one else is in the lodge.”

Will looked up at the sky. Large snowflakes fell over his face. He felt utter frustration and despair. “I had him in my sights. I could easily have killed him.” He returned his gaze to his colleagues. “ Why’s he taken Sentinel alive?”

Roger shrugged. “To get the location of the remaining agents?”

“I think he already knows their location.” Will kicked at the snow. “But if not, there would have been easier ways to find out where they live, rather than risk his life by trying to capture Sentinel alive.”

Laith asked, “Where are the agents?”

“Spread out across Russia.” Will became still as a thought came to him. “ That’s his problem. Every murder is taking too long.” He nodded. “Perhaps it’s not information he wants. Maybe he intends to use Sentinel.”

Roger agreed. “Use him to summon his agents to one location.”

Will pulled out shards of glass from his jacket. “Yes, he’ll torture Sentinel until the man’s mind is broken.”

“He resisted torture for years when he was in prison. Razin will know that.”

“That was a long time ago. Methods to extract information have become more advanced.” Will thought about the drugs that had been put in him during the Program exercise in the States. “Still, he should be able to hold out for a few days.” He shook his head. The prospect of Sentinel’s torture repulsed him. It should never have come to this. He should have refused to let Sentinel go ahead with the Barkov meeting. Fixing his gaze on the CIA officers, he said, “We’ve got two priorities now: stopping Razin, and rescuing Sentinel. I’ve already set in motion a strategy to get Razin away from the bombs, but I’ll need you to help me track down Sentinel’s location.”

Laith asked, “How are we going to do that?”

“We have cash, passports, spare clothes to make us look normal, a vehicle, and weapons.” Will nodded. “We’ll use those things to try to get him back.”

“You also need to notify the Agency so that we can get their help. They should give us every available resource they have.”

Will smiled, though now he felt nothing but anger and a total focus. “For the time being, we can’t talk to the Agency.”

Laith looked incredulous. “You’ve got to tell Patrick and Alistair that Sentinel’s been captured!”

Will shook his head. “I’m not going to do that.”

“God damn it, Will. You’re making the wrong decision.”

Will breathed in deeply as he looked across the Ural Mountains. “I can’t talk to Alistair or Patrick because they would never authorize what I’m going to do next.”

Matthew Dunn

Sentinel

I t was midday. Will and his CIA colleagues were still in the vicinity of the lodge. White clouds lay low in the sky; snow fell fast on the ground. The black smoke from the trees was gone.

Will and Laith were on the other side of the lake. Roger was a mile away by the lodge, observing the mountain road in case any concerned civilians had seen the smoke and were coming to offer their help or armed police were coming to investigate the sounds of gunfire. But everywhere around them was silent, peaceful.

Will looked at the mountains, at the tranquil lake, and at the snow that seemed to be cleansing the beautiful grounds around them. An eagle flew from one of the mountaintops and drifted. Will watched its graceful movements. He looked at Ross’s dead body. The poor man had been sliced open from the lower abdomen to the base of his chest plate. His intestines, liver, and other entrails had spilled out.

Laith glanced at the distant lodge, across the lake. “We haven’t got time to clear up all this mess.”

Will nodded. “I’m going to leave cash in the lodge for the asset. But we can’t expect the owner to dispose of the bodies.” Will kept his gaze on Ross. The Scot’s eyes were wide in an expression of absolute terror and pain.

“Well, we’ve got a problem. There’s no boat to take them out onto the lake, and swimming them out there would be suicidal.” Laith stamped a foot on the frozen ground. “Plus, no chance of digging graves.”

The eagle emitted a high-pitched scream. It moved so gracefully, yet seemed so distant. But Will knew it could quickly swoop on its prey and rip it apart with a brutal and immediate savagery. “I’ll bring Barkov’s body out here. Let the animals have them. There’s nothing else we can do.” He knelt down and patted a hand on Ross’s blood-soaked jacket. “Doesn’t make it right, though.”

“Nope, it never is.”

“Did you examine the area around here?”

“Yes. It took me an hour to find, but the snow indentations are clear-Razin was lying about five hundred feet away, farther up the mountain. Bastard was watching Ross and the lodge the whole time.”

Will stood and rubbed his facial stubble, knowing that Ross’s blood would now be on his face. “He must have been here hours before us, maybe longer.” Even though he hated Razin’s actions, he couldn’t help but admire the man’s professionalism. “Tomorrow night we need to be in Moscow. We’re going to do something unexpected.”

“Fine by me.” The big ex-Delta man sighed. “But I still think we need backup.”

“You’ll change your mind when I tell you what we’re going to be doing.”

Laith smiled. “Patrick told me and Roger to report back if you started disobeying protocols again.”

As Will had done in his last mission with the two CIA officers.

“Go ahead, but you’ll be making a mistake.”

The American said quietly, “We’re saying nothing.”

Will frowned. “Why?”

Laith moved closer to Will; he was at eye level. “Because we hope you know what you’re doing.” His smile faded. “But we also worry that you’ve met your match, that you won’t succeed.”

Will held his gaze. “I’ll succeed. The bastard’s time is running out. Soon he’ll make a mistake.”

“You’re that confident?”

Will studied his colleague. “No.”

“I thought so.”

“You knew so.”

“Yeah.” Laith moved back. “I believe you’ll succeed. But the question is whether you’ll do it in time to stop a war.”

Will stood on the side of Ulitsa Noviy Arbat in the heart of Moscow’s government district. The large Moskva River was easily visible at the end of the main road. To his left was a thin strip of parkland with tall office buildings behind it. To his right were large, modern-looking government administrative buildings. It was early evening and dark, though street and building lights and a full moon made everything around him easily visible. Cars drove steadily along the road, their headlights illuminating the snow on the ground and flakes falling through the air. There were no pedestrians to be seen; this busy route was for vehicles only. Roger was five hundred feet to his south, beside the river on Smolenskaya Naberezhnaya. Laith was two hundred feet east, directly behind Will on Ulitsa Noviy Arbat. And though they couldn’t see it, a mile farther to the east was the Kremlin.

Will checked his watch. It was 6:14 P.M. In his earpiece, he heard Roger’s voice. “Nothing yet. But he left at this time yesterday, so stand by to hear from me.”

Will wrapped his arms around his civilian windbreaker jacket and felt Moscow’s icy air penetrate the fabric of his jeans. He stamped his boots on the ground. “Understood.”