Matthew Dunn - Sentinel

“All right. Can we wait for you here?”

“Sure. Just don’t go through my things.” Korina smiled, donned her outer garments, and walked out of her home.

Will glanced at his watch, waited a few seconds, looked at Laith, and spoke with a stern voice. “Get on foot and tail her. Roger, I want you in one of our vehicles. I’ll parallel Laith’s route. All cells dialed into my number. Listen to my commands, because if she does anything stupid we’ll have to move very quickly.”

T hirty minutes later, Will was standing close to the quayside of Vladivostok’s naval port. Snow pelted his face, and he pulled up the collar of his overcoat to further shield him from the bitter weather. Placing his hands back into his coat pockets, his fingers caressed his QSZ-92 handgun. He heard Laith’s voice in his bluetooth earpiece.

“She’s been in the base for ten minutes. Four soldiers are guarding the main entrance. So far, all looks quiet.”

It seemed that the GRU offices were not in the Pacific Fleet HQ building, as Korina had entered one of the nearby militarized and restricted naval zones of the port. Will imagined that the naval GRU probably had only a few offices in the zone, the rest of the buildings being used by hundreds of navy sailors and administrators. Laith was barely a hundred and fifty feet away from the entrance to the base. Roger and Will were farther east, with Roger covering the northern flank of their surveillance box in the Audi A8 and Will covering the south. Only Laith had visibility of the militarized zone.

Will heard a loud horn from behind him. Turning, he saw a huge aircraft carrier, fully laden with MiG-29Ks and Su-33s, cruise slowly close to the port. Sailors were on deck, moving quickly, clearly tasked with numerous jobs. The horn boomed again before the massive vessel turned and began sailing away.

Will shivered, but not from the cold. “Anything unusual at the base?”

Laith responded, “You’ll be the first to know if there is.”

Roger said, “Nothing where I am except a few crazy pedestrians who think today’s a good day to go shopping.”

Will wrapped his arms around his chest, shivered again, and saw his breath steam into the icy air. Wind blasted him from the sea, carrying with it even more snow. He looked at the other destroyers and frigates moored in the port. All of them were illuminated and had signs of activity. Some were taking on fresh provisions from four-ton trucks parked on the big piers adjacent to the vessels. They were clearly making ready to sail.

Forty minutes later Laith said, “Unmarked SUV stops at the entrance to the base, two men inside, ID cards are shown to the guards, the barrier is lifted, the SUV drives into the base.”

Will immediately pressed his hand against his earpiece. “Were the men uniformed?”

Laith muttered, “Couldn’t see from my position.”

Roger added, “Uniforms or no uniforms, these militarized zones will contain as many civilian workers as sailors. The vehicle’s probably normal.”

Will let his hand fall to his side. He knew Roger was most likely right. But he felt unusually tense and, despite his attempts to try to relax, could not help feeling that right now everything was out of his control.

A further twenty minutes passed before Laith spoke again. “The barrier’s being lifted; something’s obviously coming out, as there’s nothing in front of the base.” The line went quiet. “Okay, I can see the same SUV.”

Will and Roger said nothing as they waited for their ex-Delta Force colleague to speak again.

“Two men in the SUV I saw earlier… yes, same two men in the front, but… something else in the back, can’t see yet.”

Static sounded in Will’s earpiece.

“Vehicle approaches barrier, front male passenger waves a hand at guard, who is at attention and saluting, vehicle slows, then indicates right, then accelerates.” There was nothing for several seconds before Laith shouted, “Korina’s in the back. She’s called it in and betrayed us!”

Will shouted, “Direction?”

“Quayside, heading right toward you.”

Will’s heart pounded. “Roger, I want you east by a quarter mile, then south by five hundred feet. That will put you on the quayside road, ahead of the SUV.”

“On my way.” Roger gunned his Audi.

Laith shouted in near-breathless words, “I’m moving east as well. Running parallel to the SUV. Catching glimpses of it, but they’re not looking my way. They’re about two hundred feet to my right. Speed approximately twenty miles per hour.”

Laith was at full sprint and so far was matching the speed of the SUV.

Will scrutinized the quayside road adjacent to him. Three hundred yards away, one of the four-ton trucks pulled onto the route from a pier and started driving slowly toward him. “I can’t see the SUV. Four tonner is blocking my view.”

“It’s right behind the truck!” Laith was clearly still sprinting. “Get out of sight, Will.”

Will dashed across the road and into a side street and took the next right turn. As he did so, Laith nearly crashed into him. Will immediately sprinted alongside his colleague so that they were running parallel to the quayside road. “Roger, where are you?”

Roger shouted above the sound of his vehicle, “Just turning onto the quayside. Hold.”

Laith stumbled as his feet struck ice on the side street, but Will grabbed him with one hand and kept him moving at full sprint.

Roger said, “I’m stationary. The four tonner is about a quarter mile away, coming straight toward me. No sight of the SUV. Correction

… SUV overtaking truck. I’ve got clear visibility of the target. Instructions, please.”

Will’s mind raced, desperately trying to decide what to do.

“Instructions, please,” Roger repeated. “I’ve got my rifle pointing right at them. I can easily take them all down.”

“Wait!” Will ran even faster; Laith kept right by his side.

“She’s called it in, Will.” Roger’s voice was calm but menacing. “But she might not have had time to tell them everything. If I take them down, we stand a good chance of getting out of the city.”

“Not yet!”

They moved past occasional pedestrians wrapped in full winter attire, with shoulders hunched and heads bowed against the driving snowfall. They seemed to take no notice of the two men dressed in expensive suits, shoes, and overcoats sprinting through the snow and ice.

“They’re three hundred yards away from me.” Roger sounded as though he was speaking through gritted teeth. “I need a decision.”

“Come on, Will!” Laith’s words were urgent and angry.

Will said nothing.

“Five hundred feet away. Will?”

Will grabbed Laith, skidded to a halt with the man, and spoke rapidly into his Bluetooth. “Abort. Get out of there, and head straight back to her house.”

“What?”

“Do it, Roger. We’ll meet you there. But move like fury.”

Laith stared at Will with a look of bemusement while he bent over with his hands on his knees, sucking in air.

Will ignored the expression and pointed northeast. “Her house. We’ve got to be there before she gets back.”

Laith pushed himself upright, half turned, and immediately led the way. They ran to the end of the street, turned left onto a main road, sprinted straight across it while dodging slow-moving vehicles, ran into another side street, and kept moving for three hundred yards before making the turn onto the street containing Korina’s house. Laith and Will did not slow, running at full speed for a further five hundred feet until they were at her front door. Roger pulled up next to them, and Will was relieved to see that his Audi was still covered with frozen snow. Nevertheless, he and Laith immediately started gathering up some more of the stuff from the roadside and patting it onto places on the car where metal was exposed.