Mark Spaid - Falcon Down

“It hurt going in but not much pain now, I’m sure the swelling will cushion it.” Little Wolf leaned back and sighed as Julieta held his hand.

“Can you get the bullet out, Dave?” Andy asked.

“I don’t know but not here, we need medical supplies and a place that’s not moving.”

“Where are we going?” Jozette asked.

“All we know now is that we’re running for our lives,” Dave remarked.

“I’ll be fine, Mom, Dad and Mr. Dave, go back to your seats and let’s see where we end up.” Jozette kissed his forehead and squeezed Julieta’s wrist before they returned to their seats.

“Okay, Yankee, we got away but it won’t be long until Kulagin has a vehicle and is on our tails,” Vladimir said.

“I know, so what now?”

“Hey, you’re the cowboy, Yankee, not me. That’s right isn’t it, a cowboy takes over and does heroic things to save the day. Isn’t that what you Americans do?”

“Yeah, I guess so… any suggestions?” Trent asked as he drove as fast as was safe but he didn’t know to where. Vladimir thought for a moment.

“We need time and a place to hole up. Maybe help can get to us before they do… okay, turn at that road.”

“How is Johnny doing?” Ellen asked Dave.

“I’m not sure, the bullet is in there and I don’t know what it may have damaged. He could die.”

“Oh, no,” Ellen said and leaned back in her seat.

“I’m sorry, Madam President for what happened to your agent and for you being kidnapped in my country. There are lunatic elements in Russia like everywhere but we should’ve kept you safe.”

“Don’t blame yourself, I have just as many nut jobs in America and they’re probably better armed. The question is, what can we do?” Sergei nodded then shouted something to Vladimir in Russian who responded in Russian.

“What did he say?” Ellen asked.

“Vladimir knows of a place that might give us some protection until we can get help.”

“Hey, Russkie, look behind us,” Trent said and Vladimir turned to see two cars and a van pursuing them at high speed.

“Faster, Yankee,” Vladimir said then went to the back of the bus. He could see Kulagin in the front seat holding a rifle and a handgun. They had commandeered vehicles at the point of a gun no doubt and now they wouldn’t stop until they had Presidents Lexington and Deniken in their grip.

“Kulagin, I assume?” Trent said when Vladimir returned to the front.

“Yes.”

“I doubt if they open fire on us,” Trent said.

“No, they want the two Presidents alive. As for the rest of us… well.”

“That’s what we get paid to do.”

“You’re right, Yankee.”

“Okay, where is this magical hiding place you have in mind?”

“About a mile ahead on your right.”

“What is it?”

“An office building and residence for the rich.”

“How many people will be there?”

“None, it’s not scheduled to open for two weeks.” Trent made the turn and saw a tall building.

“It’s a big one, how tall is it?”

“Sixty stories.”

“Should give us a few places to hide,” Trent said as he saw Kulagin and his gang closing in and he floored the bus and pulled away. They were in the parking lot of the building that was a stone structure ala the older Greco-Roman style but the entrance was mostly glass.

“Sorry, I don’t have a key,” Vladimir said as he looked to the back.

“Then let’s try this… hang on everyone!” Trent shouted then he held the steering wheel tight and bore down straight for the front door. Bonnie shielded Ellen and everyone else did what they could just as the bus crashed through the front doors. Trent got out of his seat and opened the door.

“Get out everyone, quickly!” Vladimir ordered and they moved rapidly out of the bus. “Load up both elevators were going to the fiftieth floor.” The elevators filled as Kulagin and his men arrived and got out of their vehicles.

“What about the door to the stairs?” Justin asked.

“It’s locked and sealed like a vault. It’ll take a tank or a cutting torch to get through.” The bus was blocking the entrance but soon Kulagin’s men slid under the bus and emerged just as the elevator doors closed. Trent helped Johnny off the bus and was holding him on the elevator as they went upward. Vladimir was on the elevator with Sergei and Trent with Ellen. Andy and Jozette helped Little Wolf to the elevator. Vladimir made it clear that neither elevator was to be allowed to go back down. On the fiftieth floor they got out and someone held the door open. Couches were slid into the doorway opening and the doors could never close so the elevator would remain on the fiftieth floor.

“We need to find a safe place,” Trent said and he and Vladimir looked over the floor while the crowd waited. Dave checked Johnny but there wasn’t much he could do with the bullet still in his chest.

“We have to walk up to the top,” Vladimir said.

“Why don’t we just take the elevator?” Warren asked.

“They’d see that and we’d be sitting ducks,” Trent said.

“But we’ll be up there anyway,” Belinda said.

“Yes, but they won’t know exactly where we are and it’ll give us time to prepare,” Trent said.

“Prepare for what?” Andy asked.

“The assault,” Vladimir said. They looked at one another then began the climb to the top.

“Get the door open!” Andrei shouted and his men tried but it was indeed a vault and bullets did nothing.

“We’ll never get through here, maybe there’s a back way,” one of his men said and Kulagin nodded then walked to the window and looked out thinking for a few minutes.

“Okay, we’ll operate from right here. Denisovitch take Ricekin and bring everything back here. All communications equipment, the weaponry, everything.” His two lieutenants nodded and took off in one of the vehicles.

“Comrade, how long before the authorities find out what has happened?” A man asked walking around with a machine gun on his shoulder.

“Very soon I’m sure but it’ll take some time to mount an attack on us and they don’t know where we are.”

“But someone must’ve seen us head down this road.”

“Perhaps but it’ll take time.”

“What should we do now?”

“Go down to the basement and find a cutting torch.”

“Yes, Comrade,” the man said and disappeared quickly.

“I wonder how Radinsky is doing. Without him I have nothing.”

“Colonel, I’m getting something from Moscow,” Sergeant Boris Yaselov said as he held a headset to his ear.

“What?” Colonel Azarov asked.

“Security is saying that the two Presidents have been kidnapped.”

“What!” Azarov stood up and paced. “Are you sure?”

“Apparently the bus tour was snagged. A truck stopped the bus, men jumped on board and took the bus.”

“Anything else?”

“The bus was seen driving away rapidly and was pursued by the men who stopped it in the first place.”

“We need to get inside,” Mikhail said and pushed the intercom. “Lieutenant Radinsky, open the door.”

“The test is not complete yet, sir.”

“We have an emergency. I must get in there. Stop the test and open the door.”

“Can’t do it, sir.”

“Radinsky, this is an order. Open the door!”

“Can’t help you this time, Colonel. You see I’m acting for Comrade Stalin and all who believe in him.” Mikael looked at his fellow officers and sighed. Too late he realized that one of the fanatics was on the inside… literally. They were well known throughout Russia. There was little secret of their existence. The government knew it but they were hard to track down and identify. Many people believed in what they did, would offer them protection and wouldn’t tell the police or the military anything.