CATALYST

By
Jason A. Martin


Chapter 1 Time to evaluate

On the outside everything appeared normal. The buildings shiny
metallic surfaces reflected the bright light of the far off sun. The shimmering
vestibules of the compound appeared as an oasis surrounded by miles and
miles of desolate terrain. The air was still, no signs of life, all very normal
considering the location of the outpost. On the inside of the colony it was just
as quiet as the outside. This is where things had gone wrong, horribly wrong.
There was a thick cloud of stagnant dust hanging heavy in the air
throughout the whole facility. The lights inside were all out. On every surface
there were fine particles of sand covering and smoothing the sharp industrial
edges of the building’s interior. Not a sound traveled inside, complete and
utter quiet resonated. If not for all of the bodies lying on the ground covered
in the sand, it would have appeared tranquil and serene.
Then the eerie silence was finally broken. By me of course, “Hey…
Hello…what in the…is anyone else in here???” These were my first words
once I woke up and realized no one was near me. I paused, shook my head
and got my bearings on where I was at. I did a quick self diagnosis and
seemed to be all in one piece, with my thoughts and memories slowly coming
back to me. The fog slowly lifting from my brain and I am realizing that I
really, really need to find out where everyone else is, especially my little
brother, my parents and eventually, at some point, my older brother too
...maybe he can wait? “Mom…Dad…Tannin!!!” Now I am frantically
yelling. I look out a window beside me to get a view around our colony and
see that all of our buildings and the rover look just fine. Our outpost consists
of several rectangular modules, each connected by a narrow enclosed
walkway. The layout of the complex had the resemblance of a giant aluminum
octopus. Everything appeared normal but, oh my goodness is there tons of this
red sand all over everywhere. This gritty stuff is covering me too however,
after spitting a bunch out and shaking my hair, I am more concerned with the
whereabouts of my family than this scratchy sand down my pants.
“Mikhailya” I hear my name being shouted in a deep voice. The only
other noise breaking the silence was the low hum of the generators operating
to keep our station alive. I know I’ve heard that voice before, it’s Brad …no
…Tad …no …Vlad! Relieved to not be alone, I call back to him, “Vladimir!
Over here” I yell loudly hoping desperately he can hear me. I can barely
locate him shuffling over towards me, he is moving clumsily while trying to
process this disorder as much as me. The intense sunlight outside burns
through the tinted glass of the windows, sparkling off of the suspended dust
creating a deep red haze throughout the pod we were in. “Mikhailya, have you
seen anyone else?” he asked with a vacant look in his eyes. “No, you are the
first, let’s stay together though. I am a little bit scared.” I replied. Now we
look in each other’s eyes and then back around the supply building that we are
in. Vladimir is a very big man, even by Russian standards. I was glad he was
with me. He twist his head and looks back at me, “Sonya” he snaps with a
worried tone, then he jumps up like a Grizzly Bear that came out of
hibernation and found a stream full of juicy pink salmon to feed on.
“Hibernation” I whisper very quietly to myself “Hmm.” Vlad turns his head
my way, “Follow me Mika” he commands as he sprints toward the exit! Mika,
I pause and question the name briefly. That must be my nickname; this guy’s
brain is getting its act together way faster than mine. I do remember Sonya
now though, that’s his wife.
We run through a connecting tunnel and as we get closer to the door we hear
a series of grunts and groans coming from the other side, the sign over the
door reads Kitchen and Family Common Area. Vlad tries the handle to open
the door but has no success. I am standing directly beside him pounding with
my fist on the door because now I realize this sand is spread around in a thick
layer and it is everywhere, I can just think of my sweet little brother lying
down knocked out like I was and completely buried in the fine grains of sand.
Now in a state of panic, I practically scream at Vladimir, “Vlad, get the door
open right now, we have to hurry!” He looks at me and I almost think I was
able to telepathically send him the picture in my brain of our loved ones
suffering. He hurriedly backs up almost twenty feet and then like a raging bull
charges at the door completely demolishing it with his shoulder as he passed
through.
What another disaster inside. More of the things I can remember, but
not quite right, very old and dirty looking. I saw some silhouettes sitting up
from the ground and making the grumbling noises that we heard. One of them
looked very familiar. “Sergei” I yell. “Dad, dad it’s me Mika” I run to him and
without doubt it is my father sitting up and brushing himself off. “Mika” he
looks at me a little befuddled and I see the sand around his eyes starts to get
moist and crusty as tears start to form. I think he understands quickly that
something really bad happened to all of us and now at least he and I are
together. I am confident once we find the others he will figure this situation
out, after all he is the leader of our deep space colony exploration team and
one of the smartest men in Roscosmos, our Russian space Agency.
I continue our search calling out, “Mom, can you hear me, can you see us?
Where are you, Mom?” My dad was standing up now and I could tell his
overpowered brain was working really hard to focus clearly and put this entire
situation in order. “Come on Mika; let’s check on the rest of the people in this
room.” We found my mom, she was alive and breathing but not quite as aware
or awake yet as us, also she had kind of a nasty bruise on the left side of her
forehead. My dad spoke to her, “Honey, it’s me Sergei. Look into my eyes,
look at me. Come on you need to focus and clear your head up. Viktoria, we
need to find Tannin and Josef.” My mom looked at him as she replied, “Ok,
ok, I got it. Wow, Sergei what happened? You know, I was in here and I can
remember everything I was doing, I happened to be standing right there
working on our group dinner and then…now…why is all this red dust every
where?” Dad knelt beside her and helped her up, “We can put the pieces of
this puzzle together later, right now let’s find everyone else and hope to god
your bruised head is the worst damage anyone has suffered.” We saw
Vladimir crouching down near some of the others and he looked to be doing
the same as us, helping his wife Sonya as she recovered. Simultaneously all of
us heard a loud crash and looked up towards the other end of the room.
Through the doorway over there, a huge commotion was caused as four
large boys burst into the room like a runaway freight train, with a little one,
half their size jumping through trailing just behind them. “Who’s in here? Is
anyone hurt?” The leader shouted. I know that voice, Fredrik, he must have
been in the recreation building down the hall with the other boys and led the
charge to find us when they woke up disoriented too. “Dad, Ivan where are
you?” Fredrik tried to stay strong in his voice but there was no mistaking the
quiver giving away his uncertainty. We saw Josef beside little Tannin who was
acting brave beyond his years, at nine the only family member on the crew to
make the journey who wasn’t a teenager or adult. One by one all of us woke
up and headed into the main room of the gathering hall. Minor cuts and
bruises on a few, but for the most part all of the crew were unharmed, just lots
of dust all over everyone. With my family safe for now, I look over to see
Fredrik, his pale blue eyes briefly catching mine, sitting near his family.
Beside him are his dad, Ivan, so strong and overbearing and his bully brother,
Anatoly. It’s amazing how sweet and thoughtful Fredrik is on the inside, very
different from those two. If only his feelings for me were the same as mine for
him. Everyone is now awake and we are only missing one person, Leon the
team’s head science officer. My dad and Ivan are standing by themselves over
in the corner now speaking real low and I’m sure they must be creating a plan
to assess what happened and what to do about it.
“Ivan, we need to keep everyone together for a bit, while you and I go
find Leon. I am sure I know where he is and those crystals he was researching
can’t be far away from him.” Sergei said. Ivan grumbled “If that fool caused
all of this chaos in the name of the research we halted, I am not sure you want
me to be the one that helps you find him.” “Come on Ivan lets go, you have to
keep it together for everyone’s sake, not just for all of us here, but for those
back on earth as well.” We all watched the two of them head off toward the
laboratory pod.
My mom and Sonya tried to keep Izabella from thinking too hard about
why her husband was the only one not back with us yet. “Looks as though all
the control systems are still running on sleep mode like they do at night to
save power” my mom said. Then rationalizing the fact she continued “Of
course they are in sleep mode, if we were all out cold, no one would have
started them back up like we do every morning.” Without missing a beat she
finished, “Let’s turn everything back on and get some food, then we can eat
and all talk about what each of us can remember.”
While the moms were getting food prepped and trying to keep us calm,
Vladimir took his boy Alexei and my brother Josef to go to the main power
generator complex so they could get our colony back up and running.
Changing the level of energy production was a routine standard task that
usually only one person would complete each morning to get the station fully
powered up. Nights were a time to relax, keeping very low on the activity
level for all of us around the complex. This was done in order to conserve as
much energy as we could.
Back in the Science Pod the two men entered through the door, “Leon,
are you ok” Sergei said. “Look, over there” Ivan said as he pointed to the
lump of a body on the ground for Sergei to see. They both ran to Leon and
rolled him over, quickly finding no breath or pulse. “Damn it!” Sergei said.
“Come on man, Wake Up!” he shouted as they shook him and then started
CPR procedures as a team to bring him back, Sergei breathing into his airway
and Ivan counting and pumping on his chest. They carried on longer than was
needed, knowing that he was already long gone but not wanting to have to
report the solemn news to his family and the others. Sergei looked at Ivan “He
is gone my friend, let’s leave him be and see if we can gather his research and
make some sense of what happened to all of us. Then we will get a sheet to
cover him with and go break the dire news to Izabella and their children.”
Sergei walked over to the table where Leon had been working and
continued “Looks like there are piles of notes right here which he had been
making on the Petorium crystals, in all three stages, solid liquid and gas.”
Ivan replied to Sergei’s findings, “That dead fool continued to reduce the
substance down to a gaseous form, look here on the table where he collapsed.
He was working on this when he fell over. The blood from his head is
splattered on the papers next to his tools and experiments.” Sergei stood there
quietly for a moment and looked at the papers, quickly skimming through the
notes. Then he looked up into Ivan’s eyes. Ivan was correct, Leon knew he
shouldn’t work with the new element in a gaseous state. He had put everyone
in the colony in danger, just to further his research and ultimately it cost him
his life. “Ivan, think back for a moment. Do you remember when Leon
started to study the Petorium and Viktoria noticed that his health issues were
gradually disappearing?” Ivan nodded his head, Sergei continued “and when
we stored all of the Petorium in with the vegetables Vlad and Sonya harvested,
nothing in the shed spoiled or ever went bad. I think this element as a gas has
those same unexplained properties only stronger. Think about it Ivan, when
Leon converted it into vapors on a large scale it must have overwhelmed him
and knocked him unconscious, then with the catalyst still active the liquid
continued to gasify until it overwhelmed the colony’s entire ventilation system
and rendered all of us unconscious.” Ivan nodded his head in agreement with
Sergei, and then he said “It appears as though he was working with some very
large quantities here, there must only be a small amount remaining in the solid
crystal state in the storage room. Since we discontinued mining it until Leon
did more research the supply had started to get very low.”
“Those are my thoughts exactly Ivan, now I wonder precisely how many
hours the Petorium vapors knocked us all out for?” Sergei continued “Let’s go
to the control room, I see the main power is starting to come back online now.
I need to verify one more thing before we return to the others.” They gently
covered up Leon’s body and locked the door to the lab as they exited and
made their way down the hallway to the control room. Vladimir was returning
with the boys from turning on the main power when he crossed the path of the
two men. “Where are you two heading in such a hurry? Alexei, Josef and I
have returned the power to full and now we all need to get back to the main
hall to start discussing getting our mission moving again.” Vladimir asked
looking quizzically at them. Sergei replied, “Come with us Vlad we may need
your help. You two boys go back and tell the others we’ll be there soon. Ivan
and I could use a hand in the control room getting all the systems checked
out.” “Dad” Josef looked at his dad and asked, “Where is Leon?” Sergei
paused putting his hand on Josef’s shoulder, “He didn’t wake up son, I will tell
his wife when we get back, go now, and I’ll see you soon” and then they were
off.
The two men filled Vladimir in on their findings about Leon’s research
and discovery in the laboratory as they all walked quickly over to the control
center. Sergei was the first through the door into the control room with the
other two men directly behind him. As he entered, his eyes focused on the
main monitor. With a look of shock on his face he spoke out loud, “Oh my
god, look, look at the screen, its right here.” He said as he pointed to the
control center’s glowing main display monitor. He continued, sounding very
shocked, “This system has been in sleep mode to conserve power and now is
running again thanks to you Vlad, but look right there, the Earth calendar
shows 06/24/2027, do you see that, am I mistaken?”
Panic set into Sergei’s voice, “Gentlemen, if this is correct, we have
been frozen with the Petorium gas sustaining us for 58 years in cryo-stasis!”
Vladimir, the largest of the three, easily pushed them both aside to see the date
with his own eyes. “Are you sure Sergei? Are you absolutely sure this
computer is functioning correctly?” Sergei replied solemnly, “I have no doubt
Vlad, this system was designed and built to operate needing no maintenance
for the whole thirty years of our mission to Mars.” Panic set into the large
Russians face, Vlad looked at Ivan and then at Sergei, he exclaimed, “Thirty
year mission…we have been out cold for almost sixty years, why are we still
alive? Was it the vapors? I mean look at us, we haven’t aged, not even a day
and why is the colony still operational?” Sergei tried to calm and reassure him,
“Vlad, we must remain focused to get through this. We burned a lot of time
while we were comatose, if the main power generator was in sleep mode the
whole time, then it has been in operation at only half capacity, in theory that
would double the length of operational time. I need to log in to the system and
check the status and health of the components.”
Vlad looked at Ivan, “Wow, we really ought to get back to the group to
start discussing our options. I think it is time to start making preparations to
scrub this mission and return home. Whatever home is now…” Ivan replied
“Vlad, the repercussions of Leon’s research are going to be difficult to deal
with, much less explain to everyone right now. I think the startling Petorium
qualities should be kept quiet with us for awhile. As far as heading home as
soon as possible, I am in complete agreement with that.” Finished talking,
Ivan turned and swiftly headed out the door, calling back to the others as he
walked out, “Gentlemen, I will meet you in the main hall, I need to check the
weapons room for security reasons.” Then once he was down the hall and out
of sight of the others, Ivan veered away from the weapons lockers he was
supposed to be going towards and headed directly for the storage containment
facility holding the few remnants of the Petorium crystals. Meanwhile back in
the control center, Sergei was feverishly typing strokes into the keyboard and
the machine was beeping and buzzing back, Vlad was anxiously watching
him, really wanting to get back to his family but also curious as to what
exactly Sergei was looking for.
Vlad knew an abundance of things about agriculture and he and his
wife, Sonya, could grow vegetables in any environment just about anywhere.
However, when it came to the massive amounts of technology involved in
operating a colony over forty million miles from Earth he was at a major
disadvantage to the others. Sergei was getting more frustrated as he completed
the systems check. Sergei finally spoke, “Crap! Vlad we have a huge
problem!” And then the buzzing of the warning alarms from the computer
really began to sound. Sergei continued, “We are at danger low on
molecularly diffused energy and the air recycler will not come back online to
full operation status. My friend we are all in serious trouble here.”
Almost frantic now, Sergei continued “The colony has two maybe three
days left of operational power, now with all of systems are coming back online
from sleep mode I can clearly see they were barley functioning for about the
last ten years, if we were still all in stasis, we maybe had only another two or
three months left and then none of us would have woken up, ever.” Vladimir
was stunned. Sergei continued, “Vlad, I need to check the mechanical room
and see what I can do to buy us some more time, but first let’s get back to the
others and fill everyone in on our predicament.
As we ate and talked, I was listening to Izabella speaking to the other
adults in the room. She was our astrobiologist and geologist as well as Boris’s
mom. Unfortunately for Boris she excelled only at the first two things I
mentioned. She was saying to the others, “Listen to what I have been
thinking, I am still processing the occurrences we have just been though and
running some assumptions in order to put together what happened. I can
surmise from the amount of Martian sand spread all over everything inside the
colony that this layer is a relatively new accumulation. I figure one of the
major reoccurring violent wind storms that blow through every century must
have hit our colony while we were out cold. Then the one-hundred mile an
hour wind must have somehow pushed a large amount of dust and sand
particles in through a faulty window seal or two and finally inundated the air
distribution system to get the dust and sand spread all over everything. When
the wind died down, then the rubberized seals reconnected around the
windows and kept our air stabilized inside. Also, the way each of us woke up
leads me to theorize that an event occurred which knocked us all out at
precisely the same time. All of the sand appears to be relatively new deposits,
this sand and dust shows the signs of settling just before we awoke because it
is not compacting on itself.” She lightly brushed some off the counter to make
her point, and then continued “I think when the dust storm blew in, it blew out
whatever was keeping us unconscious.”


Chapter 2 Keep it together people

On the other side of the colony, Ivan continued his detour to building
five, the storage facility. He moved quickly and with a purpose. Ivan used to
be in the Russian military, he was Spetznaz “Special Forces” for five years,
completing many covert operations on behalf of the Kremlin and the KGB,
Russia’s covert spy agency. He then took to flying and became one of
Russia’s finest Mig pilots. His skill and ability as a pilot got him noticed to be
part of the Mars team. With his military training he was a natural choice for a
co-pilot to get the crew to Mars and then to be a security and safety officer
once the ships arrived.
Ivan tried to open the door to the room, but the electronic lock was in-
operable, he cursed under his breath. “Damn technology, I will get the rest of
those crystals for myself one way or another”. He was able to remove the
control box and tear out the wires which were shorted, causing the pressure
lock to remain tight. Then with all of his strength he slid the heavy door back
and rushed over to the rear corner where the crystals were kept in isolation.
Ivan paused as his eyes searched for the large pile of crystals he hoped
would be there. As he stood there looking at the tiny pile of crystals, he
started speaking to himself. This is an initial sign of the onset of psychosis.
Ivan said to Ivan, “Leon, if you were not so dead, I believe I would have to kill
you for using so many crystals in your research. If only you were alive to see
what you revealed, this ability to prolong life held in the Petorium will make
me very wealthy and invincible back home, dasvedanya.”
Ivan took the few remaining crystals of Petorium, about half a backpack
full, thinking to himself he would need to head to the mine when he had the
opportunity to gather loads more to bring back to Earth. Then he did make
good on what he said to Sergei and Vladimir and headed directly for the
weapons storage room. The first year on the outpost saw no use for any
weapons to be removed from the weapons armory, but Ivan would regularly
check the operating condition of the pistols and rifles he brought to Mars with
him. No one else ever went in there so the disappearance of the two high
power automatic pistols he removed and tucked into the back of his belt would
go unnoticed. Once Ivan was satisfied with his stash, he headed back toward
the group to convince them to get on their two ships and return to Earth.
“Everyone listen up” That’s how my dad talked when he really assumed
his role as our mission commander. “As a whole we are safe and secure
momentarily, but the operating systems are slowly failing. It is imperative that
we split up into teams to start working on evacuating as quickly and safely as
we can.” Everyone was now staring at Sergei. He was not known as a joker,
ever, so this was serious. Then he couldn’t help but focus on Izabella’s eyes.
Once she stopped looking for a third person to come in through the door she
stared blankly into my dad’s eyes. “Izabella, kids, Leon didn’t wake up. “ He
paused a moment as they looked at each other “He is still in the lab, we closed
his eyes and covered him. It appears that he received a fierce blow from a fall.
I think it had to do with his research and what happened to the rest of us.”
Izabella, though physically becoming ill at the thought of her husband being
gone said, “I need to know more Sergei, what was he studying, I loved my
mad scientist but surely he would not have brought this upon us.” My dad had
the attention of everyone in the room, I think right then we all wanted to know
more. Sergei continued “Leon discovered the Petorium crystals, once
converted into a gas, were very volatile and at the same time very useful. This
Petorium vapor when it simply makes contact with carbon based organisms it
slows down and virtually stops all cellular activity at a molecular level.
Basically the vapor or gas works at keeping the organism, whether it’s a crop
or a person, in an alive but unconscious cryogenic stasis indefinitely. As long
as the gas was present in our facility and enveloping us, our molecules
remained frozen in time keeping us in perfect physical condition.”
He continued “The problem is this, until the windstorm blew through
and removed the vapors, the gas kept us all in a state very similar to a
cryogenic freeze. We have all been in a prolonged stasis for 58 years” We all
gasped causing my dad to pause and recompose himself before he could
continue, “now on Earth it is 2027 and we have about three days to get
ourselves out of this colony and off this planet before the operational systems
go critical and fail completely.” I don’t know why, but I was wondering how
come this type of important information usually comes along right when you
have absolutely zero time to think about it and process it. In our normal get
the job done fashion, my dad split us all into teams to prepare for egress of the
colony and the re-launch of our ships back to Earth. I noticed toward the end
of the conversation Ivan returning through the back doors and blending
himself into the crowd.
Fortunately for me, my mom had Josef accompany Tannin to look for
Gordy, his pet lizard. That meant I was with dad working on the trajectory and
thrust controls to get us back to Earth once we launched and broke out of the
Martian atmosphere. Mom, as the crew doctor, went to retrieve Leon’s body
and ensure that it would return to earth for the burial he deserved. Then she
went through her medical supplies to decide what to take and what to leave
behind. As the only medical doctor here, she was very determined to see us all
through this.
The ships flight controls were in very tight quarters, there were a lot of
systems needed to get us here and back, and they all had to be at the pilot’s
fingertips. I knew the timing of our return at the end of our mission was never
a random event; it was planned to the exact minute. Now with the severity of
our situation, I hope we can still get there.
At forty million miles to earth the math’s sequences have to be precisely
correct, and so does the timing. Right now my dad is calculating if we’ll even
have a shot at making it. If the orbit of Mars is opposite of the sun from Earth
then we would be 250 million miles from home and there is no way we could
ever get there. Even with the directional thrust my dad invented, we wouldn’t
have the fuel capacity to make it. I hope we have a chance. He called to me,
“Bean” that’s one of the many nicknames my dad had for me, not sure where
he got it, maybe because I was always so tiny. “Bean, you are almost as good
at these flight path calculations as me, take a look and check my work would
you? I think from calculating the vector of our departure and the azimuth of
our flight trajectory it seems we may need to leave in two or three hours to
have any chance at all, see what you come up with?”
No pressure like that of a sixteen year old double checking her brilliant
dad’s math calculations to determine whether people get home or die in space.
“Sure dad, let me see what you have there.” I said almost flippantly
considering the way our situation is becoming worse every minute. After
several moments of quietly looking at the figures and some analysis on my
part, I replied to him “It seems as though you are correct dad, unfortunately we
have a very small window of opportunity for a clear path home. The question
is, now what to do about it?” He stood up, “I’ll tell you what we are going to
do about it Mika. Let’s calmly tell the others to get their butts to the ships as
quick as they can and prepare the launch sequence for departure, we have no
time for anything else!”
After a quick meeting with most of the team in the main hall it was time
to get moving. Sergei called to Ivan in the space dock using the intercom,
“Ivan, how soon can those babies take off?” Ivan replied “The Dauntless is
ready now and we will have the Intrepid up shortly.” Sergei answered “Well,
we need them both now, timing has moved up based on our solar orbit and we
need to go now or risk never making it back home!” Ivan sounded agitated at
the request, “Ok, Ok Sergei, Boris and my boys are on it. I will be back in a
while to help; I need to take care of something first.” Furious at Ivan’s
response, my dad went on speaking with a harsh tone “Take care of
something, damn it Ivan we need those two ships ready now, I’ll be down
there right away to help.” He looked at us as he lifted his finger from the
communicator, “I assume Vlad and Sonya will be making their way to load
food supplies on the ships, grab all of their stuff too and get to the port as soon
as possible, I am going to see what Ivan is up to.” He looked at my mom, his
wife, his love “Viktoria, we will get through this, I don’t know what to expect
on earth when we return, but you and I can do anything together. With
communication out since we landed, I’m not sure anyone even knows we are
alive. We signed up for this to help the human race and now we must help
ourselves. I love you and need you now. Get everyone ready and loaded as
quickly as possible, thanks” He kissed her lips and then he was off running. I
love you too dad, I thought quietly as I watched him race down the hallway.


Chapter 3 I want to quit

Sergei quickly made it to the ships port. The Dauntless and Intrepid
were docked and connected to fuel tubes and wires, waiting to be launched.
Ivan was just climbing down from the scaffolding near the ships hatch when
he saw Sergei run in. “Sergei, I told you we had this under control” Ivan
snapped loudly. Taken aback by Ivan’s tone, Sergei replied “I am sure you do
Ivan, but there is nothing more important than getting off this planet right now
my friend, we leave in two hours” Ivan stared menacingly at Sergei “I am sure
that is what you believe Sergei, but I am taking the rover to the mines to get
more crystals to bring back with us to Earth, they are too valuable to leave
here on Mars and I will return to the ships as hastily as I can. By the way,
Sergei, in my hand is the ignition sequencer for the Dauntless, so it won’t
leave until I am ready to leave.” Sergei responded “Ivan listen to what you are
saying, people’s lives are at stake here. We have to think about all of us, I am
the mission commander and you are under orders to follow my lead. You will
not be going back to the mines. Is that clear, or are you threatening
insubordination?”
Ivan raised his arms and yelled at Sergei, “No Sergei I am not
threatening you, I am telling you. For my families benefit, I am taking more
crystals home, and I am also taking charge of this mission!” Sergei looked at
his face, right into his eyes. Ivan was losing it, and quite possibly he had
already lost it. In the split second that followed Ivan’s sentence, with his
precise military lightening speed, he drew one pistol from in the belt under his
shirt and shot Sergei twice in the chest.
The team members and family that were hurrying toward the ships, their
arms loaded with all they could carry, came through the door to the hanger just
as Ivan’s gun fired and Sergei’s body was falling lifelessly to the floor. This
caused them all to stop in their tracks. Even Ivan’s boys who were sitting in
the rafters and stopped working during the argument below were now staring
blankly at their dad standing over Sergei’s motionless body. I think they knew
Ivan was a killer for the military, but to see it first hand was a shock to them,
and then even more shocking was to see him shoot someone in cold blood they
had lived with for so long. Ivan’s actions immediately had an impact on both
of them; however the emotional blow was not the same on each son.
“Sergei!” My mom screamed, her voice echoing around the metallic
walls of our port. She immediately dropped everything she held in her arms
and ran to him. Ivan was not prepared to meet the rest of the crew this
abruptly. He was lost as to what to do. He stood fast while he ran options
through his head. My mom saw, as she closed in toward my dad that his
wounds were severe and that he had passed on and was now gone from us.
“Murderer!” She screamed like a Valkyrie as she passed my dad’s body
and charged toward Ivan. His cold and callous face looked at her and then
without hesitation he raised his pistol once more and ended the life of one of
the most important people in mine. We all watched as a large wooden crate
came smashing down over Ivan’s skull, knocking his head at an awkward
angle as the vegetables fell out of the crate and scattered on to the floor, he
collapsed right along with them. Not far behind Ivan’s now limp body,
Vladimir stood gasping for air as he caught his breath. He began running
when he heard the first shots and arrived as the second ones went off, just in
time to throw the crate at Ivan disabling him. I collapsed to the floor, on my
knees, overwhelmed with despair, weeping from emotional pain and
exhaustion. Tannin clung to his brother and Josef held him tight as he covered
his little eyes from the horror in front of us. Josef was dazed and speechless.
Izabella and Sonya ran to my mom and dad, but you could clearly see
from how they lay, that they were too far gone to ever be with us again.
Vladimir looked over at Eva, who kept her distance, and then he approached
Ivan’s body. First kicking away his weapon and then checking him for more.
He grabbed the second pistol from Ivan’s belt and slid it away. Anatoly yelled
from up high, “Get away from him Vlad, I will be right down to check him
out.” Eva hollered up at her son “Toly, you stay right there. This matter is for
me to discuss with the others, you and your brother keep prepping the ships
for our departure. No matter what just happened here, for whatever reason it
happened, we are all still leaving this planet today, all of us, every single one.”
I don’t think she could be clearer that she knew she was outnumbered and with
her husband unconscious she believed her most important task was to get her
family on the ship and not be stranded here on Mars forever.
Izabella and Sonya covered my parent’s bodies and with the help of
Alexei and Boris moved them aside. I knew I needed to be strong and get
Tannin and Josef on those ships, but part of me wanted to lie down between
my parents and just go to sleep forever, right there, forever with my mom and
dad.
Fredrik had slowly climbed down and was now walking toward the
group. “Mom, we heard the whole fight, Toly and me and Boris heard
everything. Dad wanted to put our launch at risk by going to the mine to
gather more Petorium to take home. He said this was for us and our family,
but I think it was mostly for him. When Sergei challenged him, dad shot him.
It was so quick, so quick.” He put his head in his hands as he continued. “We
couldn’t do anything to stop him, I am sorry” he started weeping, crying. I felt
sorry for him. My folks were good people, they would help anyone and they
were dead, his dad is evil and that’s his burden to bear. Vladimir looked up at
Anatoly; he sat there, still and stone faced starring down at the large Russian.
Vlad spoke to all of us, “I will check to see how Ivan is, and then I will
bind his hands. We are all getting on these ships, right now, with everything
we have right here. Anatoly, Boris unhook the fuel lines from the molecular
diffusers, Mika, I need to speak with you.” I looked up from holding my head
in my hands. He could see in my tear filled eyes that I was done, quit, giving
up. “What can I do Vlad?” I asked him, barely audible. He said to me with
his arm on my shoulder, “You know the flight controls better than any of us
do, from spending time on them with Sergei” to hear my dad’s name and
picture us working together stung my heart deeply. “We all need you now to
get us home. You must pilot the Dauntless and set the Intrepid’s controls to
track and follow. This is the only way we will all live, you have to get us
home. You know you are the best we have, I remember back on Earth, in
training, you flew circles around those boys. You have to do it again, fly your
best one more time. We will deal with Ivan’s treachery when we get back to
Russia.” I nodded at him that I understood, holding back the tears that were
still forming in my eyes.
Then he stood and addressed everyone “Sonya, Alexei, Veronika and I
will ride in the Dauntless with Mika and her brothers. I will secure Ivan with
me and watch him,” he looked at Eva awaiting a challenge but she just
listened and nodded her head. He continued “Izabella, you and the others will
need to ride in the Intrepid. Let’s go, everyone get these things loaded in the
payload holds and clear the launch bay, we are moving out” And just like that
Vlad took charge and got us all moving again. Fredrik looked at me, his voice
quivering “Mikhailya, it’s not enough to say, but I am sorry for what
happened. I know you can get us home. I hope you don’t think I am weird,
but I have been watching you, you are strong. You have what it takes to pilot
us back. Also, this green backpack has what is left of the Petorium in it. My
dad was willing to kill for it, you should have it. I don’t want anything to do
with it.” I looked at him in silence and nodded. It was true, I have what it
takes, I have always been strong, now my mission was to get my brothers
home, and the rest can tag along. Josef and Tannin are what is keeping me
going now. They are all I have left.
We all strapped into our seats. I sat back and looked at the controls,
mentally running through the steps to launch us away from here. Ivan is
seated in the last chair of the crew capsule with his hands and feet bound by
Vlad. All ready to go, the time window is closing and we need to go now. I
prep and activate the launch sequencer and the engines fire up as they rumble
to life. Our mission is a failure…a complete and total failure. I will learn
later, back on earth, the term “Epic Fail”, which sums it all up. Power is at
full, the whole ship is shaking now, vibrations on all surfaces, we are lifting
up, rocket fuel combusting and flaming out of the back of our ships as we arc
up into the Martian sky. This is the easy part, we are pointed in the right
direction and hit Mach five and bust through the atmosphere and gravitational
pull of Mars. Good bye cruel planet, good riddance, I only hope my memories
can stay there forever.


Chapter 4 Our arrival

Space is very dark, very cold and very quiet. There really is nothing out
here once we are away from the atmosphere of Mars. Based on our current
course and now moving along at a relatively smooth and quiet Mach 24, we
should break into earth’s atmosphere in just under three months time. You
can think about a lot of things in three months cruising along in what amounts
to a tin can on steroids inside a vacuum. The directional controls my dad
invented help us make the smallest adjustments to our flight path, even the
tiniest move out here can move the course of the ship miles from the intended
destination.
Josef, Tannin and I play card games with Alexei and Veronika. Sonya
and Vlad talk a lot to each other, quietly. I can tell they are very concerned
about what type of Russia awaits us. Because of a communications
malfunction we have had zero contact with Space Command since passing by
the moon in 1968 but I know we will be alright. We have each other to work
with and help along the way. Alexei stays beside me after one of our card
games, we were playing Spades, and Tannin likes to watch, he is speaking
even less now
We finally pass the moon and close the distance fairly quickly to the
space surrounding the earth. Then wouldn’t you guess it, after almost three
months incident free and only a few more miles to go when all hell breaks
loose. “Wha Wha Wha Wha” the impact detection sensors are going crazy,
out of the small windows on the flight deck and observation chair we see tons
of space debris. Satellites galore are everywhere, large and small and other
floating objects that I can’t even describe. I get on the intercom barking
urgent orders, “Everyone seal up your suits and get your helmets ready. Time
to strap into the closest chair, I think we can get through this mess but it may
get ugly for awhile.”
Vlad came barging into the pilot capsule, quickly occupying the empty
area beside me and took a seat the chair I used to sit in when my dad flew this
heap. Buckling into the harness he asked, “Hello there sweetie, uh anything I
can do to help you up here?” He was really trying hard to reassure me. I
answered with a sarcastic tone “Yes Vlad I know exactly what you can do,
don’t distract me! I am going to let this little stuff outside bounce off of us but
some of those bigger things out there, I will try to avoid hitting those and
letting them tear our ship apart, how does that sound?” He looked at me and
smiled, “Sounds like you have a plan, I like it better than hold on and pray.” I
laughed “Thanks Vlad, but hold on and pray is plan B, here we go!” We
pummeled a good bit of 2027 technology out there, not sure who on the
ground is picking us up on radar now, I am way too busy flying to give a crap
if anyone is trying to hail us at this time. It doesn’t take much maneuvering to
stress out our thrusters, they were made for small infrequent adjustments and
now I am pushing them to make immediate moves every few seconds. I hope
the auto pilot controls on the Intrepid are holding up to following my erratic
flying.
Back on the Intrepid things were not going so well. The controls were
failing and the ship was getting hammered by space junk. Alarms were going
off and sparks were flying. Isabella and Frederic were at the helm trying their
best to hold it together. Suddenly when the Dauntless shot left to avoid a
massive satellite with the words “On-Star” painted in white on it the Intrepid
failed to auto track and kept going forward straight towards impact with the
satellite. Izabella finally took control back from the auto-pilot system and
tried as hard as she could to move the Intrepid to the right and avoid the
satellite but she was too late to miss the collision.
 The satellite ripped into the left side of the crew capsule with at least a
twenty foot gash. Anatoly was in the third seat of the Intrepid’s pilot capsule
and he felt the vacuum of space pulling at him as the ship opened up behind
him trying to suck him out. Staying strapped in, Toly swiveled his chair and
slammed shut the pressure lock door to keep the helm in one piece. Izabella
was struggling to hold the Intrepid together. She looked over her right
shoulder at Anatoly “Were you able to see the others before you shut the door,
how bad are things back there?” Anatoly replied “Get us on the ground, I
could see nothing but sparks and pieces of metal flying around. We will need
to make a damage assessment once we land, if we land at all.” Izabella knew
the boy was right, she silently prayed for the safety of her children and the
boy’s mother. She knew Frederic and Anatoly we more adept at the controls
than Boris and Svetlana. Only luck could save them all now.
On the Dauntless Mikhailya was frantically trying to both slow the ship
down to get the proper approach angle so they wouldn’t burn up on reentry
and at the same time she was determined to avoid a devastating collision with
any of the hundreds of pieces of space trash in low earth orbit. Mika was
being more successful than she thought possible, when she noticed the Intrepid
now speeding past her at a very poor flight angle. Seeing the gash in the side
of the ship and the twisted hulking metal of everything behind the crew
capsule she grabbed Vlad’s arm and made him look. “They are not going to
make it” he said. I replied “I am going to follow them, we need to stay
together”
Then I pushed the ship even harder to follow the path that the remnants
of the Intrepid were cutting through space towards Earth’s atmosphere.
Suddenly the pilot capsule of the Intrepid separated from the crew capsule,
they were detaching early to try and keep from spinning off course. Shortly
after that, the Intrepid’s crew capsule and twisted hull of the rocket ship
divided from each other as well. I turned to watch the capsule in front of us,
doing all I could to keep pace with it.
We watched as the dense air of the atmosphere struck the nose of her
and the front of the capsule started to glow with a red hot intensity. Then we
felt it slam hard as we hit the atmospheric layer at a less than optimal
trajectory. Our approach angle wasn’t perfect and the Dauntless groaned but
she should hold together. More and more of the Intrepid pilots capsule tore off
and disintegrated as we stayed near to watch and to pray. Once our ships
passed through into the lower atmosphere the Intrepid’s pilot capsule began to
tumble, our ship operated as it should, the pilot capsule separated and so did
the crew capsule. Finally Vlad and I both exhaled as we saw one of the
parachutes come out of their capsule and slow it down, it was still spinning
like crazy but at least the landing thrusters were pointed down like ours to
reduce the force of impact into the water. If we even hit water, I know we are
not going to land anywhere near our original target. Let’s hope the people are
friendly when we do touchdown. The crew capsule of the Intrepid was
nowhere to be seen. We only hoped all of our friends on board that ship were
making a safe landing somewhere else.


Chapter 5 Splash down

I saw the water below us approaching quickly. We felt the jolt of the
thrusters as they slowed the capsule for impact when we hit the water. The
next thing to happen was the flotation ring on the capsule deployed out and
inflated to keep us upright. We were wobbling around now like a fishing
bobber with a hook hanging below it. Once the rocking settled down we were
able to get a clear picture of our surroundings out of the small windows.
We were in a large body of water, but could definitely see land with
mountains in the distance. I watched Vlad as he unstrapped himself and
pushed hard against the latches on the door to swing it open. He stood there in
the doorway for a moment completely still. I could smell what he was pausing
for, the air we had not breathed since launching toward Mars. We were home.
The sunlight was on Vlad and I could see he was relishing the feel of the
warmth we were denied while living in our colony for so long. “Mika, come
over here” Vlad said as he made room for me to stand in the sun beside him.
“Look over there floating in the water, our crew capsule with the others” He
waved and they waved back. I handed him the square package that would
inflate into a raft for us and then I assembled the paddles, time now to go find
the Intrepid’s crew.
On the Intrepid pilot capsule, things unfolded a bit more chaotically than
on the Dauntless. Anatoly, Fredrik and Izabella were strapped in tight with
not much else they could do besides holding on tight. Izabella spoke, “boys,
remember your training, work to stay conscious, and don’t let the g-forces
black you out.” The capsule was coming in at a low and fast angle when the
parachutes deployed, one was a tangled mess and the other could barley slow
them down. The capsule was spinning madly now as the occupants were
whipped around in the interior.
The counter boosters fired as they hit the thirty meter mark, but the ship
was not vertical as planned so the boosters made matters worse, instead of
helping bring the capsule to a soft landing, they shot it in an arc over a heavily
wooded area. The capsule careened through the trees with sparks flying and
smoke trailing until it came to a sliding halt in the undergrowth. Inside pieces
were coming loose and glass was shattering. Izabella was slammed by a large
canister and everyone’s suits were gashed by the flying glass. The chaos
slowed as the capsule finally halted.
Fredrik was the first to recover and Anatoly followed. “Toly, are you
alright” Fredrik asked as he looked back at his older brother. No reply but a
groan and feeble thumbs up. “Izabella” he looked to his left at her body
slumped over the controls. “Izabella” he reached to shake her shoulder.
“Toly, come on this smoke is filling up on us in here, we need to open the
hatch and get her out”, Anatoly winced as he climbed out of his seat; he
removed his helmet and vomited. Then he was able to climb toward the hatch
and release the latches to shove it open. The rush of air into the cockpit
caused the small sparks to ignite into large flames that begin to devour the
interior. Fredrik now had Izabella unhooked and was dragging her with his
hands under her arms toward the exit. Anatoly yelled at him, “she is as good
as gone brother, just like our mother and the rest of her family, just leave her
and get out now while you can.”
Disappointed in his brother’s response, Fredrik continued, steadfast in
his resolve to lift her out as the flames bit into his feet and legs. With all of his
might and remaining physical reserves, he was able to get Izabella to the hatch
and shove her out. As she tumbled limply to the dirt below, Fredrik climbed
out as well and jumped down. “Toly, I got her out, now help me! Let’s get
away from here before this whole area goes up in flames”, reluctantly Anatoly
ran towards his brother and grabbed Izabella by her feet as Fredrik held her
arms and they both scrambled downhill away from the wreckage toward what
looked like the ocean.
As we got closer to the shore we saw a figure waving and hollering at
us. “Hurry, Vlad they must need us” I said as the large Russian’s back muscles
swelled with the effort he was putting behind each stroke. The other raft could
hardly keep pace with Vlad’s paddling as we reached Fredrik at the shore
ahead of them. “So glad to see you” Fredrik gasped as he addressed us,
“Izabella is badly injured and in need of immediate medical aid.” He turned
and ran up the slope as we followed. Josef stayed on the beach to tell the
others what was going on and to also help keep an eye on Ivan.
Vlad immediately knelt by Izabella and took her pulse, “Very weak” he
looked at us. He gently checked her body for any immediate external injuries
we could stabilize. Unfortunately her exterior image only minutely reflected
the severity of the injuries inside her body. “Let’s go get the others, we will
have to build a stretcher and take her out of here with us, I am not sure how
long she has but as soon as we hit a town we will see if she can be looked
after. Fredrik, where is Anatoly, did he make it?” Fredrik looked around, as if
almost lost, and shrugged his shoulders. “He was here with me, I made him
help me save Izabella and then stay here as I went to the water to look for you,
maybe he went for help” Vlad and I looked at each other with doubt, Toly was
a little too similar in action to his dad for us to believe he went for help, but
for now we had more urgent matters to deal with. As the other raft hit the
shore, and everyone was exiting I told them of Izabella. Sonya and Veronika
ran up to be with Izabella and Vlad helped hoist Ivan off the boat.
Ivan grumbled as he saw his son, Fredrik couldn’t look at him.
“Vladimir, listen to me” Ivan said “It sounds as though Izabella will not make
it. I see that my Eva unfortunately did not. I can help her, if you unbind me I
will use some of the Petorium crystals in the bag to gasify and inject into her
suits recirculated air supply, we can ensure the helmet and suit are airtight and
she will be in stasis with her injuries and condition on hold until we can find
some help. Let me do this, I see no need for you to let her die.” I know Ivan is
deceptive and couldn’t be trusted. Vlad was clearly pausing to think the
option through. Vlad finally spoke up, “Ivan, our intention is not to let her
die, but I feel you are right. If we try to take her with us in her current state,
she has almost no chance of making it. I can assure you Ivan if you attempt to
run away or try anything foolish, you will be subdued.” Ivan nodded his head
in understanding.
Vlad continued, “Josef and Alexei, please walk him up to Izabella, I will
be there in a moment to untie him.” The boys grabbed Ivan’s arms and headed
up the slope. I held Tannin’s hand and followed, leaving Vlad alone with
Fredrik on the shoreline. Fredrik looked timidly toward Vladimir as he was
spoken to “That was very brave of you to get her out of the capsule son” Vlad
said to Fredrik as he put one hand on his shoulder and looked down into his
eyes. “I know you are not your father, so don’t think I am weary of you.
However, I am concerned with your brother running off. Please keep an eye
open and stay alert. Pull the rafts up further on the shore and empty our
supplies. Hand me the green pack, the Petorium is inside the pocket” Vlad
took out a handful of crystals and then handed the bag back to Fredrik, “Watch
our things, once we stabilize Izabella then we’ll make camp and devise a plan.
Also, your father’s pistols are in the grey backpack, I have no use for them but
feel free to keep them close by.”
Then Vlad turned and ran toward the others. Once he got there he went
to Ivan and used his knife to cut the cords binding his hands. Vlad handed
over the few crystals he had to Ivan and said, “Here are some of the crystals,
let’s see what you can do.” Sonya and Veronika worked together and sealed
Izabella in her suit and had her helmet ready to put on her if Ivan was able to
complete his plan. It took several minutes, but with persistence Ivan was able
to liquefy the crystals on a piece of metal over a small fire that we started with
one of our flare guns. Sonya used a rubber bag over the liquid to capture the
steam as the Petorium quickly vaporized.
Once all of the gas was contained in the bag Ivan closed the bottom of it
tying it off, then he punched a tiny hole in the bag and forced a tube into it,
keeping the end of the tube covered with his thumb. Sonya secured Izabella’s
helmet to her suit and Ivan inserted the tube into a small hole in her suit and
squeezed the bag gently to allow the vapors to fill her helmet and her entire
suit. The Petorium gas eventually enveloped her whole body. “That should do
it” Ivan said as he stood up, tensely watching the others. Sonya checked
Izabella closely and she seemed to have stabilized, her body frozen in its
current state. I think we all exhaled a collective sigh of relief at the same time;
I know I smiled to think Izabella may have a chance to live.
“Thwack”, we all turned toward Vlad who was now a crumbled heap on
the dirt with a small stream of blood dripping from the back of his skull.
Anatoly was standing above his body, pistols in hand. “Please, no one make a
move” he smirked, slowly walking toward his dad. “Nice job son”, Ivan
congratulated him while taking the pistol Anatoly handed him. “I would like
to thank you Mikhailya for safely returning us to earth” he looked at me with
sarcastic eyes “Please everyone, gather around Izabella.” He pointed at her
unconscious body on the ground.
We all inched our way over to her as Alexei and Josef assisted Vlad. He
was coming to and holding the back of his head where Anatoly cold cocked
him with the butt of the pistol. Then Ivan continued, “No one move or follow
us, we are going to get a few items into the rafts and then be on our way. I
will not hesitate to shoot you dead if we are threatened; I believe you have all
seen for yourselves that I can deliver on my word.” He looked back at Toly
and snapped, “Where is your brother?” Toly answered “Fredrik is lying by the
rafts, I approached him and told him of my idea to free you and leave the
others, he questioned my intentions and then turned to come and warn them,
so I knocked him out cold with a log that I picked up. I have the green back
pack with the Petorium and some supplies in this bag, he threw the green sack
to Ivan. “Nice work son” Ivan congratulated him. “Now we can leave, I hope
my words are clear here, do not follow us” he said looking at our crew, “For
good measure I will leave you with this.” He said as he pulled the trigger and
shot Vladimir in the leg then turned and ran off.
Sonya was quick to aid Vlad and I asked Josef and Tannin to come
check on Fredrik with me. As we got down to the shore, we could barely see
the raft Ivan and Anatoly were on as they paddled away from us. Fredrick was
slowly sitting up when we got to him. I put my hand on his shoulder to slow
him down. Josef and I told him what happed and Fredrik actually smiled.
Fredrik spoke “I knew when he was gone from Izabella’s side after I came
back from the lake that he would return, I just didn’t know when. Once you
all took Ivan up to Izabella, my intuition led me to make some plans and take a
few precautions. I took all of the Petorium that remained and removed it from
the green backpack into this gray box,” he kicked the metal box toward me.
“So now they think they have the only Petorium on Earth and all they have is
useless Martian ice crystals and rocks” we all couldn’t help but laugh at this. I
looked at Fredrik “Wow Fredrik, I could kiss you for that” then realizing what
I said my cheeks blushed and I turned away.
 We walked back up the hill and joined the others. Vlad said “Let’s all eat
and get some rest I will take first watch tonight and in the morning the next
part of our journey begins.” Sonya looked at Vlad as she corrected him, “Vlad
you are strong, but the meds I gave you seem to be working a bit too quickly,
you are not walking anywhere tomorrow morning. I have another idea, Alexei
will take first watch. We will devise our plan tomorrow, for now everyone will
get some sleep, I have no doubt we will all need it.” As I listened to Sonya and
Vladimir’s words, I wondered if I would even be able to sleep. Later after we
ate, in my exhaustion I unintentionally laid next to Fredrik, who was already
asleep. Listening to the rhythms of his breathing; I peacefully dozed off
catching some much needed rest.


Chapter 6 A lot has changed

We all slowly rise the next morning from a long night. The woods are
cool with a dampness hanging in the air and the leaves covered with dew.
There are a few noises coming from around us, birds chirping to one another
and little forest creatures rustling back and forth in the shadows of the
undergrowth. All of these animals are acting oblivious to me as I sit up and
stretch, bumping awkwardly into Fredrik as he crouches beside me, “Wow I
thought you were never going to wake up” he says to me and continues “I
tried to wake you about three hours ago to grab the last watch and you
wouldn’t move an inch. Alexei woke up and heard me so he took it. By the
way, you talk a lot in your sleep.” I tried not to let it show, but now I was
super worried about what he could have heard me say as I dreamt.
“Thanks Alexei for covering my shift” I said as I walked swiftly over to
the others to eat and discuss our options. We did not look like a crew fit to
complete any mission right now, a burned out crash site and torn uniforms, our
biggest crewmember shot and our smartest one in a cryogenic coma, we are
going to need a real does of luck on our side today.
Not one for small talk, Vlad started right in “Team, Sonya and I have
been discussing our few options, I am unable to walk out of here and will no
doubt need to take it easy and slow when I do. Izabella will need the gentlest
of care in her current state. In order to increase the odds of our survival and
success at this point, we think it is best if we split into two groups before
heading out. Sonya and Veronika will look after Izabella, Tannin and me.
Josef, Fredrik and Alexi will accompany Mika as you four move north toward
Kiev, I know that we have landed in the Black Sea and should be in the State
of Ukraine based on our location on the northern shoreline. As you travel try
to stay hidden or blended into the crowds. We will provision your packs with
supplies, and there is a small supply of rubles you can take to purchase
clothing which is more appropriate than our mission gear.” I looked at my
brothers and answered Vlad, “Tannin is strong enough to walk with us, we are
going together if that’s ok with you, and it seems you have your hands quite
full here as it is.” Vladimir looked at Sonya who shrugged her shoulders up
and down showing that she did not want to disagree with me. Vlad replied
“Ok, it is the five of you then, we have no time to waste, eat, pack and get
going. Leave the Petorium with us, it will make your travel easier.”
Our group headed out about an hour later, all packed and ready to go, of
course I switched the Petorium crystals into my gray bag without sharing that
bit of information, I just wanted to get them as far away from Ivan as I could.
The sun was pretty high on the horizon now and we mostly walked through
the cool shadows of the trees. Our mission suits kept us warm during the cool
morning, but is was heating up now. Most of us unzipped our jackets as we
moved, I felt a bit shy around the boys in my undershirt, but I was on the
verge of heat exhaustion. I know wherever we are the season is turning to fall.
After a while, Josef halted us, “We are close to a road, let’s stay back
where we can’t be seen and follow it until we reach a town.” We followed
Josef’s lead for a few more miles along the path of the roadway. The activity
around us increased as we got closer to town, once we were on the sidewalks
the first thing I noticed was the lack of nationalistic signs and statues we were
accustomed to seeing, “I wonder what the government is like now” I said
aloud to no one in particular. About a block away from the store, we paused to
cross the street. Other than a few sideways looks and glances we were pretty
much left alone so far. Just as we started to cross, we all heard a woman
scream “Dmitri!” followed by a loud screech of rubber tires skidding on the
road.
Without thinking, Fredrik dove and grabbed the little boy from in front
of the out of control truck sliding directly at him and held him close as he
forward rolled across the street and onto the curb out of harm’s way. The large
truck continued to slide and wobble as it swerved down the road honking at
the driver of the small sedan that cut him off. I don’t think the driver even saw
the boy in the street or saw Fredrik save his life. A rather portly lady bolted
out of the shop door from exactly where we were heading into. She was
frantically running toward Fredrik and the child. “Dmitri, Dmitri, oh thank
heavens you are ok, she lifted the boy from Fredrik’s arms and held him tight,
looking him over for any injuries. Then she grabbed Fredrik as we all
watched “Thank you, for saving my son, thank you for preventing a tragedy.”
She was getting teary now. She continued, “Please, I can never repay you,
what can I do? I owe you something for saving my sons life.” Of course the
polite gentleman that Fredrik is starts to say “I can take nothing from you…” I
cut him off as quickly as a lizard would cut off its tail to escape capture.
“Fredrik, perhaps we could ask this nice, helpful, indebted woman that owes
you her son’s life if maybe, perhaps she could assist us with acquiring some
better clothing from the store she just ran out of?” Fredrik looked at me
smugly and said to the lady, “My friend here is right ma’am, we could use
some helping updating our wardrobe, and we have some rubles, could you
help us select some clothing please from the store over there?” The woman
chuckled as she replied, “Rubles will not work in that store, but since I own it
you may all come with me and pick any thing you would like off of my
shelves.”
I couldn’t believe our luck, I looked at Fredrick and gave him a wink as
he glanced sideways at me. I hope he could tell I was thanking him for his act
of bravery and not blinking because I had a bug in my eye. Josef spoke up
“That is very generous of you ma’am, I would like to introduce all of us, this
is Fredrik who saved Dmitri, I am Josef, the witty one here is my sister Mika,
the last are Alexei and my little brother Tannin. He has a pet lizard in our bag
I bet Dmitri would love to see.” The woman replied as we all walked toward
her store “Josef, it seems to me you and your friends are not from town, I think
you may be in need of a little more help than just some new clothing. My
name is Katerina.” She continued as we all entered through her doorway, she
turned her sign around from “open to “closed”, “The time is late enough to
close shop early today, come in and let’s get you all clothed, then I think if you
share your story with me I may be able to help you some more. I have a small
room where Tannin can play with Dmitri while we talk and eat, besides, I
would like to at least see your rubles. We haven’t seen that type of money in
this state for quite a long time.”
As we all look through the selection of clothing Kate has available, I
can’t help but notice how much tighter fitting the shirts and pants are than
what I am used to wearing. They don’t leave much to the imagination, skirts,
jeans I grab a few of everything and head to the changing room to see what
works. After I try a few items on, I am looking at myself in the mirror, I think
I am good, pretty snug black Jeans with a blue tank top. I put on the jacket I
grabbed, gray leather, I think that is the material, it feels a little different but
should keep me warm. I take the jacket off and hang it up, and then I put on
the boots, dark grey, almost knee high, comfortable enough to walk for a while
in. I try to fold up all the things I dropped on the floor before I open the door
to join the others. I step out as Alexei and Fredrik stop their conversation to
look at me. What, now they are staring, totally gazing at me with goofy smiles
on their faces. This is super uncomfortable and I feel my cheeks warming up
as I shuffle my feet. Fredrik looks at Alexei and see’s what they both were
doing so he smacks him on the shoulder to get his attention “Come on man,
let’s go sit with Kate and talk about our rubles, Mika come on over and sit
with us once you put those other clothes back on the shelves.” Thankful yet
again for Fredrik’s quick thinking, I put everything in one pile and hurry to
join the others.
 As I walk in to join them, Josef looks at me “Mikhailya, I distinctly
remember that Vlad said we should try to blend in, don’t you think you might
stand out a little dressed like that” he intoned disapprovingly. Katerina spoke
up and saved me, “Josef, she looks just like all the other teenagers in town,
minus a few tattoos. Mika you did a great job with your outfit. Here just add
this scarf around your neck to soften your look up a little, you are a little
tougher looking than most of the girls around town, these local boys might be
scared of you” she winked at me and then handed me a beautiful green and
blue patterned silk scarf. “Now let’s see those rubles.” She finished with.
Fredrik set our bag down on the table and looked around at us before he
addressed Kate, “You have more than settled with me for helping Dmitri, I
must tell you however, our story is complex and we are cautious of the
information we share. We can talk about these rubles and then if you could
answer a few questions for us we would be very grateful.” Fredrik pulled the
rubles out of the bag and handed a few to Katerina. Kate eyed all of us
cautiously, I think her hospitality may be dwindling “These are in very good
condition, from the old days of the U.S.S.R, may I ask how you kids acquired
them?” “Josef answered, “We got them from our parents” Kate went on “I
believe these have a large value for those people who deal in and collect
currencies. I cannot tell you how much, but I know a trustworthy person that
may be able to help. In the morning if you take these across town to old man
Popov, he can tell you their value, maybe even buy them from you for quite a
few Euros, I will tell you directions for how to get to his store.”
Josef thanked her for the information and then Alexei spoke up as he
grabbed one of the rubles “Kate, take this and keep it for Dmitri, if they are
valuable now, this may be worth something more for him when he is older”
Kate accepted it and smiled at him. Alexei continued “I hope you can answer
a few things without asking too much of us” she nodded for him to proceed,
“Euros, what are those, and why is the U.S.S.R being referred to as the old
days?”
Katerina appeared to be aged in her late thirties, so we would have
launched to Mars about twenty years before she was born. She looked
quizzically at us, holding her questions, she replied “Euros are the currency for
all of Europe, we are now one, no Western and Eastern Europe. After Russia
failed to take us over during their attack and the occupation of the Ukraine 13
years ago we became part of the European Unified States. With military aid
and support all the countries of Europe united behind the financially strong
and powerful Germany and pushed the Russian’s back and have held a
dividing line ever since.” We were just eating this information up, I think Kate
could tell so she continued, “The other question you had is answered simply.
Beginning with the election of Gorbachev as the president of Russia, the
Berlin Wall was torn down and the country steadily declined from their
position as a financial and military super power to almost third world status.
The Russian currency went through a period of hyper-inflation and rubles like
yours haven’t been in circulation for at least forty to fifty years. I can see from
your inquisitive little faces that you still have more questions, it is getting late
and I am going to put Dmitri to bed, Tannin can stay with him in his room. I
will show you to my iMac and you can use it to look up anything you want on
the internet with the search engine. Our bandwidth here is a little slow and the
computer is a few years old, but you can research all night if you want to, I
will be asleep.” She walked out of the room. We all looked at each other for
support, our country, our homeland, financially devastated. That is tough to
swallow, but more importantly, what the heck are bandwidth and a search
engine and how does one use an iMac?


Chapter 7 The camping cosmonauts

Back at the crash site, Vlad and Sonya took an inventory of their
supplies and decided to stay put for two days and then try to make their way
out. On the morning of the second day, they heard a large boat pull up to the
shore below camp. Several men disembarked from the vessel and searched
around, after a few minutes Vlad heard one man giving orders to the rest and
they all started to walk up the slope. With no ability to run and nowhere to
hide Vlad, Sonya and Veronika huddled together and waited. The men were
all wearing similar uniforms with patterns in the material that appeared to shift
matching their surroundings.
All of the men appeared well armed with some very interesting
weaponry. The team was surprised to find the crewmembers at the site and
immediately halted as they looked toward their leader. Erik, the Captain, was
a seasoned Marine and quickly adapted to the presence of the large wounded
man and his two female companions. Erik’s immediate assessment was that
the people they found were no threat, he shouted “Team, hold positions and
secure the perimeter of this site.” Erik approached Vlad with his weapon
drawn but pointed down, he asked “Who are you, what are you doing here and
where did you come from?” Vladimir not one to be intimidated, even with a
gunshot wound answered directly, “Who exactly are you to intrude upon our
camp and ask these questions?” With a stern look on his face and a glint in his
eye, Erik replied, “Sir I see you are wounded and we could be of assistance, I
am Erik Kursk of the European Unified States Marine Border Security. We
have the authority of the European parliament to verify the identity and
nationality of people in this zone, so I ask again…What is your name and
where are you from?” Vlad furrowed his brow, he knew a lot has changed
since they left Earth, and now they just got in a little deeper over their heads.
Veronika was the next one to speak, and boy did she have a lot to say,
“Erik, my father the Major is wounded and our friend over there, our
intelligence officer is in a coma. If you could assist us with immediate
medical attention we would be grateful, the information surrounding us and
our mission is of the highest level of top secret government clearance, you
would be doing an honorable service to assist us. Also, because you are an
agent of the government taking all of us into your protective custody I would
be remiss if I didn’t advise you that on behalf of our entire team we are now
making a formal request to speak with the highest level of attorney
representation you can provide.”
A soldier through and through Erik was taken aback by this girls speech.
She was a teenager at most, but a very smart teenager indeed. He cleared his
throat to gather his thoughts before speaking. “As per our directives, I am
placing the four of you into our custody, we will provide medical care and
load you and your belongings onto our ship and get under way to our port
where you will be processed and provided representation as requested.” With
that being said and obviously frustrated, Erik turned toward his second in
command to give instructions before heading back down to his ship. Vlad and
Sonya both looked at Veronika and smiled, knowing now at least she had
bought them a little more time to figure out how best to tell their story. Sonya
addressed the second in command, “Our colleague over there in a coma cannot
be removed from her suit or helmet until she is at a medical facility, her
condition is critical.” The lieutenant nodded to her and carried on with his
work as the three detainees grabbed their belongings and walked down to the
ship. Vlad paused for a moment and bent over to grab the box of Petorium,
then limped along after the girls to catch up.


Chapter 8 Treachery unfolds

Ivan knew their location precisely when they exited the capsule. He had
flown over this region so many times in his Mig fighter he had lost count.
Ivan and his son paddled in quick powerful precision making their way up the
coastline and north east toward Russia. First they came to a large port and
Ivan communicated his plan to Toly “My son, it is now just us. I know if we
get to the right people I can use the Petorium to our advantage to leverage
ourselves into powerful positions. When night falls we will need to paddle in
closer to the docks and I will find us a vessel to commandeer which will give
us more speed. I want us to land on the shore of Russia, we should be in
Ukrainian territory now, and I have never trusted their allegiance to our
homeland.” Making good on his word, as it grew dark Ivan slid onto the
closest dock and maneuvered around the boats and ships quietly until he found
his target.
Un-phased by the aggressive sleek design of the modern boat, Ivan
waited until he was sure no one was on board. Then he hoisted himself over
the security fence climbing onto the deck. Not wasting a second he sprinted
toward the fore deck and untied the line holding the front of the boat in place
and then ran aft to release the stern of the boat from its mooring. Now clear of
the dock Ivan piloted the boat toward the small cove where he left his son
waiting. As Ivan approached, the waves from the boat wake rocked the raft up
and down that Anatoly was on. Ivan eased the large boat up to the raft and
went to the side to see Toly and bring him aboard.
The two villains made great time traveling across the Black Sea, they
passed Sevastopol and Ivan slowed as he decided to approach Yalta at night to
gather more supplies and a change of clothes. On the boat Anatoly found a
computer and he was busy making himself familiar with the internet. He was
able to access a few websites to gain some knowledge about the early
twentieth century. He even garnered information about the boat they were
traveling on. Ivan unknowingly appropriated a very expensive vessel powered
by two sizeable RASP Innovative Technologies molecular diffusion
propulsion systems. These engines paired with the anti-drag hull design
enabled the large boat to travel at great speeds. Anatoly was sure that the
owner would miss it. However, acting like the sociopath that he was
becoming, he rationalized that a boat this nice was surely coved against theft
by an insurance policy. Ivan didn’t even bother Toly as he slowly crept the
boat up to a dock and headed out under the cover of night to acquire new
clothing and supplies. About forty minutes later he returned with his hands full
and dropped the supplies below deck, giving some jeans and a shirt to his son
before heading back to the wheel house. Now out of the mission suits and into
civilian attire, Ivan turned the molecular diffusion powered engines on and
steered away from Yalta, north east around the Crimean Peninsula and toward
the Sea of Azov where they would pass through the bay of Taganrog and enter
into the Don river. Ivan could clearly visualize his route to Moscow, now he
had to put it in place. Get to the port and transfer to train while keeping a low
profile until they could meet the man who could aid them with his plans,
Nikolai Rasputin.


Chapter 9 Just keep moving

After a restless night researching new information and not getting much
sleep, I awoke to the smell of brewing coffee coming from Katerina’s small
kitchen. Slowly all of us gather at the little table in the kitchen to discuss our
next move. “Kate thanks so much for all you have done for us, we are lucky
to have crossed paths with you” I said as I looked at her and Dmitri. I tried a
mug of coffee and though very bitter, it was nice and warm in my belly. Kate
expressed her gratitude to us as well. She assured us she would not speak to
anyone about meeting us. We continued to pack our things as Josef noted the
directions she gave us to Gregor Popov’s place.
This was a big town, the city of Odessa. It was lunch time when we
were halfway to Popov’s. Looking around we all settled on a place to get
some food, our first pizza back on Earth. Over lunch we had some whispered
conversation about the information we learned yesterday on Katerina’s iMac.
“The option of going home sounds like it’s off the table” Alexei stated what
most of us were thinking. He continued “We know the new president of
Russia is working to rebuild things, fixing the food shortages and infighting.
Not to mention working on relations with the countries his predecessor’s
attacked. There is nothing left for us in Russia now.” Josef chimed in, “and
don’t forget space exploration since we left has been nothing more than a
bunch of low earth orbit shuttle trips and space station experiments that kept
tumbling back to Earth. No one even knows our mission or our families
existed. What good did we even do, other than finding these damn crystals?”
He kicked my bag. “Hush” I look at him sternly. “You need to keep it down
and be a little more positive please, we are all barely hanging on here and you
are not helping.” I was talking with a mouthful of a very delicious slice of
cheese and onion pizza.
Fredrik took a turn “With no governments funding any space research
and the NASA program being shut down fifteen years ago, it’s no wonder we
landed with no curious observers. Other than commercial satellites for
communication and GPS I don’t think the people here care about the
possibilities of space at all.” Then Alexei continued, “That tragedy eight years
ago with the first civilian owned space tour didn’t help the cause of space
exploration either. It’s very sad those twenty-six people died and the Space X
company went bankrupt from all of the lawsuits, but the nerve of the insurance
companies to be the ones who completely halted anyone’s ability to travel into
space is preposterous.” Fredrik finished, “Could you image though if the
private space companies could have afforded the costly insurance premiums
and kept developing their technology. They may have actually made it all the
way to Mars with tourist and discovered all of us sleeping in an antique space
station. Now that would have been the surprise of the lifetime for someone.”
All of us chuckled at the thought, it was good to be silly and take a break from
the intensity we have been growing too accustomed to. We all ate the rest of
our food anxious to leave and get to Popov’s to see what help he could
provide. I really wasn’t hungry any more so I slid to the empty table beside
ours to rest my head while the boys kept the conversation going. There was so
much chaos to deal with right now that I was exhausted. As I lay my head on
the table I drift off thinking about how great our lives were and the events that
brought us to where we are today.


 Chapter 10 The best kept secrets

Back in Sevastopol, Vlad and his family were waiting in the hospital
room where he was being treated for his gunshot wound. They were told a
government attorney would be there soon to meet with them and provide them
representation during their hearing, as they were being considered for
deportation from the Unified States of Europe. Izabella was in the next room
over awaiting medical care, the lead doctor was coming in from across town
and held up in traffic due to an accident. Sonya persuasively insisted that no
one remove Izabella’s helmet or suit until they were absolutely ready to start
procedures to save her, fortunately for Izabella, Sonya has a high rate of
success in the persuasion of others.
The attorney knocked as he opened the door to meet with Vladimir and
his family. “Hello everyone, I am Christian” he said politely. Vlad sat up and
replied “I am Orthodox, does it matter about our religions in order for you to
help us?” That reply caused Christian to do a double take at Vlad and start
over, “Sir, my name is Christian and yes I am here to help, please may I sit
with you. This meeting will be brief.” Sonya politely slid a chair over to him,
“Please sit, we have much to discuss” she said as she motioned toward the
chair. Christian sat down, tidying up his Armani suit as he did, and then
opened his black Mont Blanc brief case. Retrieving a note pad and forms from
inside his bag, Christian looked around at the three detainees and spoke, “this
is a simple case, and you will just need to provide me with your full names
and residences, as well as any family members who may live in the Unified
States of Europe. Then I will complete my due diligence to verify your story,
get your case dismissed by the judge and you can be on your way. Easy
enough right?” A long paused followed his question, Christian really wasn’t
looking for an answer from anyone, more of a rhetorical question.
Vladimir replied with his own question “Christian, you appear on the
surface to be successful. This would lead me to believe you are good at what
you do, am I correct? Are you a good attorney Christian?” Perplexed,
Christian sat there for a moment searching for the right thing to say. He
finally replied “Actually sir, I am most likely better than you need, however
since I was conveniently down here at the coast for a vacation from my office
in Switzerland, I happen to be dumb enough to reply to the call for assistance
with a simple immigration case so I could check off my union requirement for
this quarter to work in the Ukraine. My family is not pleased with me but
nonetheless as soon as we are finished with these forms I will rejoin them for
dinner. Do you have any other questions before I continue?” Vladimir
grinned as wide as his bulky block shaped head would let him.
Looking first at his wife and then to the attorney he asked “Does this
meeting fall under a non-written, yet binding confidentiality agreement based
on attorney client privilege? That is my last question, I promise” Vlad
finished. Christian thought this through, what did he get himself into. If only
he could get up and walk away pretending this meeting never happened and
re-join his family by the pool at the resort they were currently enjoying on the
coast without him. If only, but there was no way, once committed to the case
he knew no other recourse but to see it through, so reluctantly and with a
heavy sigh he answered Vladimir’s question “Yes, you are protected with
confidentiality.”
Sonya and Vlad made eye contact once more, surely both thinking the
exact same thing. Vladimir added to the conversation “Christian, if you have
any way to notify your family that you will not make it to dinner tonight, I
highly recommend you take this opportunity to do so.” Christian pulled a
small electronic tablet out of his coat pocket and tapped the screen several
times with his index finger, he looked at Vlad as though it was okay for him to
continue. Vladimir cued in on Christian’s lead “Please do take notes, this may
be difficult to follow” Vlad started with that statement and then proceeded
“Christian, Sonya and I work for a government branch of the United States of
America called the National Security Agency, in 1952 we were entered into a
very deep undercover covert operations team that was designed to infiltrate
and assess the Russian Space Program.” He paused and stared for a moment at
the attorney, “I don’t know why you stopped writing, keep writing we have
only just begun. I can assure you the notes you take now will help you later.”
Vlad continued “In the beginning we were provided with a history, a home and
two adopted orphans, then we were hired into Roscosmos as agriculture
specialist. We carried out our NSA mission while we worked at the space
agency. We took photos and reported every bit of data we could get back to
D.C. Then, because of our rising to the top of our field as scientific experts,
we were requested to join a mission team planning a top secret launch to
colonize Mars.” Pausing again to address Christian “The more you stop
writing, the longer this will take, don’t just sit there and look at me man, write
this stuff down!” Swallowing his disbelief Christian continued to write down
the information he was being given. Vlad continued “All was going well as
we learned of Dr. Sergei Groschev and the discovery he made to control and
release the energy from molecular diffusion. We found out that Sergei would
be our team leader. I reported as much information to headquarters that I
safely could and continued to take notes and pictures of the rest. We lost the
ability to communicate with Washington once they moved us in with the three
other families that were also going on the expeditionary mission.
Unfortunately D.C. had no idea of the mission’s success, we actually made it
to Mars and set up a colony. Sonya and I blended in well working daily with
the other crew members. I was on an ice crystal exploration party one day that
discovered a strange new crystal. The team scientist Leon Sikorsky identified
the new crystals as an unknown element. They were classified as Petorium and
put into storage while more research was conducted.” Vlad paused for a
moment and stared into Chris’s disbelieving eyes, “Veronika, hand me the box
so I can show him.” Veronika slid the box over to her dad’s bedside.
She stared in surprise at her adopted parents, what did she really know
about them? Vlad flipped the latch on the box eagerly reaching in to show
Christian the crystals, but when he brought his hand out there were only grains
of beach sand sliding through his finger tips. “Mika, what have you done” He
said under his breath in disbelief. Christian stood up and spoke “This is
perhaps the most absurd thing I have ever heard, you are wasting my time.”
Sonya stood in front of the doorway blocking the attorney’s exit and
spoke, “I will give you the proof you seek lawyer, just follow me.” Sonya led
him into Izabella’s room next door and looked for something. She reached
behind a chair and grabbed a rubber bag. She also grabbed a tube that was
hanging on the wall and secured the bag around it, and then she approached
Izabella, “Stand aside”, she told the nurses just as the doctor was entering the
room. She smiled at the doctor, “You are just in time.” She said dryly. Taking
the open end of the hose in one hand she took the tape off that was covering a
small hole in Izabella’s suit with the other, and then she forced the tube into
the suit to extract all of the Petorium gas. Medical alarms were buzzing and
lights flashing as Izabella’s condition rapidly deteriorated. Sonya sealed the
gas vapors in the bag, turned towards the team of nurses and said sternly, “No
one touch her!” Christian looked into Sonya’s eyes, pleading with her, “Let
them save her, what are you doing?” Sonya stepped back towards Izabella.
She connected the tube back to her mission suit and slowly squeezed the
vapors back in so that they would re-envelop her body and once again stabilize
her condition. Now everyone in the room looked on astounded. Izabella’s
return to cryo-stasis didn’t last long. Sonya smiled at Christian as she coupled
the tube one last time and again emptied all of the Petorium gas from
Izabella’s space suit. Once again Izabella was knocking on deaths door, the
beeping and buzzing of the monitors shocked everyone from their stupor of
wonder at what they just witnessed. Sonya sealed the vapors in the bag and
headed towards the door. With one last glance back at the doctor she said,
“she is all yours doc, you better hurry if you are going to save her.” Sonya
walked out the door and Christian followed speaking to the back of her head,
“Are you mad woman? What is it you are trying to accomplish?” Curiosity
got the best of the attorney and he followed Sonya back into her husband’s
room. Once in the room she held the bag up for Vlad to see, he knew right
away what she had done to Izabella.
Sonya spoke to the attorney, “This is why we need your help Christian.
This gas that I have in this bag is very valuable, you need to get us to the
American NSA. All of us in the colony were frozen just like she was for
almost 60 years. This gas is the most important discovery mankind has ever
made.” With that, Sonya twisted the bag tighter and sealed it taut to save the
precious few remaining amount of vapors they had. Vlad looked at the
attorney and posed a question “Can you keep your word about
confidentiality?”
The Attorney made a few calls and arranged for him to take the
detainees into his care. After completing the custody transfer forms Chris
hurried back to Vlad and Sonya’s room. “Good news” he said barely
containing a smile, “grab all of your belongings, you are coming with me”
then he gestured them to follow out the door. Each of them grabbed their bag
and followed the attorney to his car. Vladimir smirked when he recognized the
Mercedes emblem on the sleek 780s sedan, as he thought to himself how
correct his instincts were about Christian being a good attorney.


Chapter 11 A kind old man
The boys and I rounded the last corner of our route, according to
Katerina’s instructions we should be a few doors down from Popov’s
storefront. This was the place, a faded old sign hung over the doorway, it read
“Treasures and Trinkets” the windows had bars on them and stenciled to the
glass beside the door were the posted hours and the proprietors name “Gregor
X. Popov.” “It appears we have just under an hour until close.” Tannin states
acutely. Josef takes the lead through the old narrow door and we all follow
him.
Unsurprisingly the inside is dark with an even darker décor. The items
in the room however look to be of high quality. I am drawn to a glass case at
the rear of the shop while the others take their time looking at the wares. As I
get to the case an old gentleman steps forward through the door behind it.
“Hello” he addresses me, “Can I show you something from the case, these are
some of my finest items” I shrug, really wanting to get to business but I
manage to slow myself down a little. “This is a nice shop you have here sir, I
was in another shop on the other side of town this morning owned by a nice
lady. She had some beautiful clothes. Do you know what shop I am speaking
of?” I asked. The boys are all standing behind me now. The man observes us
for a moment and then walks out from behind his display case. He pauses and
looks at us again through his spectacles, and then he continues to the front
door stopping to twists the three locks that secure it closed. Next he flips his
“Open” sign around and walks back to our group. “Let us all go into the back,
I have some chairs we can use to sit and talk. Katerina messaged me that she
was sending a few lost lambs my way and hoped I could help. Now that I
have seen you, I’m not sure you understand how lost you really are” he
concluded. I thought to myself this was not starting off the way we had
imagined.
After we each introduced ourselves, Gregor continued to lead the
conversation “I will try to be brief on my part because you seem to have much
to tell, first when you leave try to wear jackets or long sleeves. You are the
only four teenagers within a hundred miles without any tattoos on your bodies,
which is highly irregular in this town. Second, show me these Rubles and let
me see if I can help. Kate is a very dear friend that spent many years caring
for my ill wife. I owe her a large debt so I will see what I can do for you.
Fredrik gently pulled several of the Russian Notes out of his bag and
handed them to Popov. Gregor pulled some magnifying spectacles out of his
shirt pocket and put them on. He held the currency close to his face, and then
up to the light. “How did these come into your possession?” He asked us
rather bluntly. Josef gave a quick retort “Tell us if they are worth anything to
you, and then we will fill you in. I can assure you that they are not stolen
property if that is what you are worried about.” Gregor followed, “Well lad,
they are very valuable indeed, but worth nothing to me because I am not
interested in buying them. I do have one client in particular though that I do
believe would be very interested in purchasing them. That is of course if you
would accept Euros in trade?” Josef nodded his head and Alexei spoke up,
“We will wait, please see what you can do.” With that, the old man Popov
stood and pulled a small device out of his pocket, snapped a few pictures of
our money and walked back to the front of his shop. We sat in a semi-circle
looking at each other, waiting to hear the news. Tannin looked up at me from
the floor and smiled. He was holding Gordy and petting his head with his
thumb. That lizard really looked relaxed. He is adjusting to time travel really
well.
Popov was on the phone for only about ten minutes before he stepped
back into the room with us. “I have some good news for you, I have a buyer.
A very good import client of mine would like to purchase as many of those
notes as you would be willing to sell him.” Fredrik asked “how many Euros
for each one?” Popov replied “That is the good news. Jacque will pay you two
thousand Euros for each Ruble. How many can you part with?” I looked at
the others waiting for someone to speak up. Finally I took the lead, “We can
sell him two hundred and fifty if he wants to buy them all.” Gregor smiled
and laughed, “Jacque told me to go as high as three thousand a piece for as
many as four hundred. I think he will take your deal. We just need an account
for him to transfer your money into and then I will take his Rubles from you
and secure them in my safe.” A bank account to transfer our money into? I
guess we had a small problem. In order to get the five hundred thousand
Euros, we would need a place to keep it. “Gregor, we need a few moments
please” I said. He nodded and turned to walk away, pulling his phone out to
make a call. Fredrik was the first to speak, “That money would help us
immensely. We could use it to move around easier and pay for places to stay.
There has got to be a way we can sell those things.” We thought about what to
do. Then Josef attempted to present a solution, “If we had some Euros now,
we may be able to walk into a bank and open an account to make a deposit.”
Fredrik followed, “Josef I don’t think it will be that easy, none of us have
identification and we are all under eighteen, we need more help. Let’s talk to
Popov and see what he thinks.”
I was the closest to the doorway so I stepped back into the shop to find
Gregor. He was lounging in a very comfortable looking high back leather
recliner. Still holding the phone with one hand, he was using the other hand to
rub his chin, they way people do when they are deep into thinking. I didn’t
want to interrupt so I walked where he would see me. Popov motioned me to
take a seat across from him. He asked the person on the other end of the phone
call to hold for a minute. Then he spoke to me, “Jacque is all set to finalize the
transaction, where would you like the money to be deposited?” I stared back at
him, my eyes showing our desperation, “Mr. Popov, we have a small problem.
Can you call Jacque back later?” He spoke into the phone for a few words and
hung it up. Then looking back to me he went on, “My dear, you and your
friends can trust me. I am going to be eighty-nine this year and as you can see
from my appearance, I have done just about everything a man can do in one
lifetime. I am quite content and want for no more material things. However,
experiences and excitement are the things that I can never get enough of. Tell
me your story, all the details you can, and I will do my best to aid you and
your companions.” He smiled a truthful smile as he finished speaking. Fredrik
was standing in the back doorway behind the display case and heard our
exchange. He stepped into the room cautiously approaching the old man. “Sir,
I have to tell you that I want to believe and trust you. We have no one else to
turn to. Please listen to our story with an open mind. I will start by telling you
that we also have another item with us that is a lot more valuable than the
Rubles we carry, one that most likely could put us in danger.” Highly intrigued
by Fredrik’s suspenseful introduction, Popov motioned for him to have a seat.
I called the other three in to join us, there was a lot to tell and we would all
have a part to share.
Fredrik began to share our story. Popov sat more upright as Fredrik got
to the part about the qualities the Petorium possesses. Alexei took a turn next,
picking up the story where Fredrik left off. He continued speaking about my
dad preparing the crew for evacuation, pausing to look at me as he got to the
part about Ivan and his treachery. I nodded for him to carry on as I looked to
my brothers for strength. They both moved a little closer to me and we held
hands tightly. Gregor looked at the three of us, speechless as his eyes glassed
over. Fredrik took to narrating the story again and continued with all of the
details as Popov now watched him more intently. Knowing now that Ivan is
Fredrik’s father Gregor stiffens up his position in his chair. Finally after just
over an hour, Josef concludes with us departing Vladimir and the others in the
woods by the coastline. Now we all sit quietly, waiting for any feedback from
Gregor, not really knowing what the old man seated before us is thinking. He
looks intently around the room at each of us, pausing to focus on my little
brother. Popov speaks “Young man, I am sorry to hear the news of your
parents. I have watched you with that little pet lizard of yours. You hold him
very gently and care for him very much. These are qualities that you inherited
from your parents. By acting that way, you will always carry a part of them
with you.” Tannin smiled at the old man’s gentle words.
Popov continued, “As for this, what did you call it… Petorium, I would
like to see it if I may?” Josef opened my backpack and held out a piece for
Popov. Popov’s eyes glimmered as he reached out with his withered old hand
to take hold of the crystal. Popov’s health was very fragile, at almost ninety
years old he had challenges with almost every part of his body. These
difficulties had been with him for years. As he held the Petorium with his
wrinkled fingers, he could feel something different in his joints, something
very small, but an unusual feeling nonetheless. Popov smiled as he figured it
out, his mind after all was the sharpest part of his body. He could tell that the
cells in his hand and joints had slowed their degeneration, this was amazing.
He decided his plan to help the children right there on the spot. Popov spoke
up and shared his plan “Tomorrow, I will take Mikhailya to the bank and open
an account with her. I will ensure that it will be ready for Jacque to wire your
funds into. We will go to the Combined European Bank and Trust, this way
your funds will be easy for you to access from anywhere. Also, you need to
get as far away from Russia as possible, once Ivan discovers his sons trick he
is the type of man that will stop at nothing to find you. I will also assist you in
finding a place in Paris, it is a big city and far away. You will have enough
money from Jacque to get an apartment and hide in the city while I work on
finding someone we can trust with the rest of those crystals. The only thing I
ask is that you allow me to keep this one crystal that I hold now. I am after all
a shopkeeper with a store full of interesting things.” We all agreed that his
plan sounded fair. Anyways we really had no other options. At least we would
increase the distance between us and Ivan.
In Gregor’s room that night, he drew up a bath. A bath is something he
had not done for many years, choosing to save water and shower instead. This
bath was special however. Before he stepped into his bathroom, he went to his
tool chest and selected a small hammer and chisel. He used the tools to split
the crystal in half and then break one of the halves into several small pieces.
As the tub filled with hot water and the room began to steam, Gregor placed
the small Petorium pieces into the water. As the water level slowly made it to
the top of the tub, Gregor lowered himself in. It only took a few minutes for
his rejuvenation to begin. As his skin absorbed the treated water and his lungs
breathed in the steam, his pain and inflammation started to subside. Gregor
had not felt this good in ages. He laid his head back on a towel and smiled,
relishing his new found panacea. The tiny crystal pieces didn’t take long to
begin dissolving in the very hot water and bubbling gas to the surface.
As Gregor rested and dozed off into a slumber, the vapors being released
from the crystals mixed in with the steam and began to get highly concentrated
with the Petorium element. As his rest continued, the Petorium gas in the air
embraced him and he slipped into a complete molecular freeze. When his
muscles began to unconsciously relax, he slid down below the water line with
the warm, Petorium concentrated, rejuvenating water enveloping his mouth
and nose and flooding into his lungs displacing any life giving oxygen that
remained. Popov now lay in the bottom of the tub in stasis, completely alive
and completely submerged. As the tub continued to fill up, the water crested
over the top of the ceramic edge and began to flood the linoleum floor of the
bathroom. Popov lay there calmly catatonic under the clear bathwater with his
face fixed still smiling about his discovery. After hours passed, the now cold
water still flowing from the faucet diluted the Petorium in the tub and Gregor
awoke with a shock. He instinctively gasped for air, but since he was under
water, all he did was inhale more bathwater into his already saturated lungs.
Unable to sit up and clear the overwhelming amount of water from his lungs,
Popov slid back down and drowned in his own bath tub as the water continued
to spill onto the floor. If he had only flipped the switch to turn on the exhaust
fan before relaxing in the tub, the Petorium vapors would have most likely
been diluted and removed as they formed leaving Popov to enjoy his
rejuvenating bath and awaken the next morning feeling thirty years younger.
I was the first to arise the next morning. I lie on the sofa with my eyes
open for a few minutes, thinking to myself that I am too young for my back to
hurt this bad. What do they make couches from in this town? I swear it feels
like I was practicing work as a contortionist all night on uneven bars and now
I can’t straighten back up. I slowly sit up and slide my feet over on to the cold
floor, wrapping a blanket around my shoulders I stand and walk into the
kitchen. Since most of us had started to drink coffee on our mission I went
over to the coffee pot and started the morning ritual of opening and smelling
the ground beans before loading up the coffee maker. I think we have a long
day ahead of us so I make it extra dark.
Feeling nervous still about going to the bank with Gregor, I put some
bread in the toaster and take a seat at the table. I am really not awake enough
to think about anything in detail, so I just sit there blankly and listen to the
coffee drip. Then another noise catches my attention, less of a water drip and
more of sloshing sound. This is a curious noise. I stand and walk toward the
door leading to the hall connecting Popov’s apartment with the small guest
apartment we are staying in. As I get closer to the apartment door the sound
gets louder, I stride a little faster now, until I reach the door. I grab out and try
the handle and it is open. I pull the door back and pause as I see the carpet and
floors saturated with water. Not really thinking to call for aid, I scramble into
Popov’s apartment and follow the noise until I reach his tiny bathroom. I rush
to swing the bathroom door open and more ice cold water pours out onto my
feet. I see the bathtub faucet is still on so I step towards it and reach over the
tub to turn it off when I catch sight of Gregor Popov lying still under the frigid
water in the bottom of his tub. The sight makes me jump back and my feet
slip out from under me on the wet linoleum flooring.
Falling now, I grab at the towel bar beside me and I yank it out of the
wall as I tumble to the floor. Now soaked from head to toe, I force myself not
to scream as I crawl over and finally turn the faucet handle off. Glancing once
again at the old man to verify what I saw, I stand up and trudge toward the
door to leave the apartment. There really is no hurry, he is most certainly not
going anywhere. Our plan is ruined and all of the boys are still asleep. As I
enter our apartment leaving my wet footprints trailing behind me, I head back
to the kitchen really wanting this day to start differently. With solemn fortitude
I open the cupboard and grab a mug, as I pour the coffee I relish the aroma as
my mug fills. Black coffee this morning will be just fine, it matches my mood.
I sit at the table as my clothes continue to drip the remnants of Popov’s bath
water onto the kitchen floor. I sip my coffee slowly as I try to organize my
thoughts about the new challenges that now lay ahead of us. I don’t even know
how to tell the boy’s of our newly found friend’s demise.


Chapter 12 Once KGB, always KGB

Ivan knew the city of Rostov. Now though, much had changed in the
port city since Ivan was last here working as a KGB operative. “Keep up son”
he barked at Toly. “The secret to going unnoticed is to walk like you belong
here. If you continue to stop and gawk at these magnificent buildings and
vehicles we will most likely be stopped and questioned.” Anatoly knew any
unwelcome questions from strangers would most likely lead to violence from
his dad so he caught up and stayed with him. Ivan had found enough money
in his stolen goods to get them transportation to his intended destination.
Outside the harbor it didn’t take long to find a Vandalia Bus station.
Ivan and Anatoly purchased two one way vouchers for transport to Volgograd.
It would be fifty minutes until their bus would leave. Ivan knew the bus was
the least efficient way to travel due to the many stops along the way but they
had little choice. Air travel was out of the question without assistance, so they
would have to be patient. They grabbed a meal at the old diner inside the bus
terminal.
Toly looked across the table at his dad, “I am surprised to find the food
here is actually worse than what we suffered with on Mars.” Ivan chuckled as
he chewed on his overcooked steak. As they finished the tasteless meal, Ivan’s
instincts told him they were being observed. He raised the check for their
waitress as a cover so that he could scan the room. Nothing looked odd. Once
the waitress took the bill they both stood and gathered their bags. Ivan also
used this opportunity to look at everyone in the room. They walked over to the
gate where their bus was waiting. He whispered to his son, “Toly, these
buildings all have many eyes on us. The amount of surveillance cameras in
here is astounding. If you can, try to avoid your face being filmed.” They
arrived at gate A7 and got in line to check their tickets and get on the bus. No
surprises, but Ivan silently cursed himself for not having any hats to wear
which would shield their faces from the cameras. There was a light drizzle of
rain as the driver of the large bus pulled out of the terminal and made his way
to the highway. This was just a routine trip for the driver. He had been with the
company for seven years now. There was no way he could have known two of
his passengers were time travelers from outer space. Nor could he know what
awaited him once he completed his route and arrived in Volgograd.
Ivan was right to be upset at his slip up. Although he wouldn’t know the
ramifications of his oversight for a few days, the small security cameras the
port uses to monitor people provided real time facial recognition scanning
which matched each face to a database listing persons of interest within
seconds. Once the camera processed a scan of Ivan, his face produced an
immediate hit that was sent to a small monitor in a small room of a small
building in a small undisclosed location in Moscow causing the new
intelligence officer at the chair of the monitor to at once radio the technology
team to verify the systems proper function. If the system was correct, his
computer screen just provided the location of a man who was registered as
deceased in 1969. A man that was of extreme value to the KGB then and
would assuredly be most valuable now.
“Hello, sir I just patched through my monitor to your computer so you can
see what just happened. Does this make any sense to you sir? What are my
orders to do with this information?” The intelligence officer stammered these
questions to his superior. On the other end of the secure call was the Vice
Major of Class IV Intelligence, Viktor Wolarskish. Viktor rose to his position
for being known to operate by the book, and this time his actions would be no
different. He clicked a few more buttons on his virtual keyboard and another
heads up screen appeared. On the screen he looked at a map of the building
and then Viktor selected the room of the new intelligence officer and pressed a
button marked “Code 16”.
Immediately in the tiny monitoring room, the new intelligence
officer heard his electronic door lock activate. He swung around to check and
then heard and saw his entire computer system shut down and go black.
Although he knew what would come next, he was still taken by surprise as the
whole tiny little room went dark. “Crap,” he thought. “What have I seen, a
real Code sixteen is now in place.” More important was the fact that his
anniversary was tonight and he knew for certain he would miss the dinner he
and his wife had planned for the last two months. A couple couldn’t go out to
eat often on a junior intelligence officer salary, this would have indeed been a
special night.
It would be exactly two hours until he was released from the room and
then taken to be debriefed. The questioning could be another hour or two at
least. “Who is Ivan Yakuskov and why did he have to pop up out of nowhere
on my watch?” He groaned loudly as he was putting his head in his hands.
Once the Vice Major activated the Code Sixteen several things started
taking place. First, a highly trained containment team took their positions in
the chase room. Their job was simple, they routed all the cameras from
Rostov and surrounding the city for fifty miles to specifically identify and
track Ivan. The information they gathered was passed on to an air team and
wheeled team. It was all pretty simple for them this time.
Once Ivan was identified as being on the bus, the team was able to
infiltrate the buses routing computer and cancel all stops between its current
location and Volgograd. This enabled the hovercopter to intercept and follow
the bus and the four truck response team to arrange meeting the bus for an
extraction at the Volgograd bus terminal. The Vice Major continued to follow
procedures advising the Russian Intelligence Bureau at the Kremlin of the plan
being in action.
The KGB that Ivan used to be part of had become a much smaller
organization over the last few decades. The RIB replaced them as the premier
intelligence agency of Russia. The now President of Russia completely
restructured his security agencies. The KGB was almost wholly dissolved as
their funding was cut to one eighth of the billions per year they used to
receive. The now excessively large budget went to the new face of Russian
intelligence, the RIB. However, one very wealthy man, the president and CEO
of RASP Innovative Technologies had very deep, very old ties to the KGB and
with the aid of his private funds the old guard of the KGB continued to operate
and remain a thorn in the President’s side. The KGB only enlisted highly
trained, seasoned veteran officers and their General answered only to one man
in the government, the Minister of Interior Security. The Command Half-
General of the RIB briefed the lone KGB officer at the Kremlin about the
situation in southwest Russia. The KGB officer nodded his head in gratitude
and departed the office without saying a word. Walking out of the building to
get into his Zil armored sedan the officer sent an encrypted text to the Minister
of Interior Security. The response to his text message came while he was
driving through midday traffic to a secure hanger at Domodedovo Airport.
As the bus continues on its route, Ivan notices a passenger get agitated
with the driver for missing her stop, this he listens to very closely. “Where are
you going? I was supposed to get off and you ignored the last stop?” the upset
lady said to the driver. The driver responded politely “Ma’am, dispatch has
adjusted our route. Vandalia Bus Lines apologizes for any inconvenience this
may cause you and we will be happy to schedule you on the next bus out of
Volgograd.” His eyes never leaving the road as he rattled of the corporation’s
canned reply, the lady returned to her seat mumbling under her breath about
poor customer service. This happened almost the same way again with a
different passenger as the bus continued past the next scheduled stop. Many
passengers on the bus were voicing their dissatisfaction amongst each other as
Ivan and Anatoly just sat and watched. Ivan stood up and stretched before
making his way to the rear of the bus to find the toilet. Even the hardened
KGB agent and ex-soldier found the bus’ toilet room to be disgusting. Mostly
Ivan wanted to look around out the windows as he walked back from the
restroom to his seat. He paused and looked out the left windows and then the
right, and then as his eyes moved toward the sky he caught a glimpse of the
hovercopter. He got back to his seat slowly and sat down, “Anatoly, listed to
me and do not react. This bus appears to have a follower. It is strange that we
are passing all of the normal stops. I saw some type of aircraft outside that
looks to be tailing us. Keep a look out your window towards the sky and let
me know if you see it and if it stays with us.” I think I would like a word with
the driver.
Then Ivan stood again and walked to the front of the bus. “Excuse me, I
have never been on a bus trip before and I was hoping you could share some
information about this vehicle with me, I find it very fascinating” Ivan was
putting on an act for the driver. “Sure” the driver replied, “but you need to sit
in a chair and buckle up like the other passengers.” Ivan complied and began
to ask what seemed like random questions about the bus operation and how
powerful it was. Then he thanked the driver for his time and returned to his
seat smiling. After an hour of flipping through magazines Ivan dozed off.
Anatoly had found a movie to watch on the screen in front of them but
kept an eye on the hovercopter outside. It would appear in and out of his view
but nonetheless following right over them for the whole trip. When Ivan
awoke there was only about forty minutes left of their trip. He spoke to
Anatoly “Son, you need to be ready to follow my lead when we get to the bus
terminal. Something is going on here and it may have to do with us, even if it
doesn’t I still want to get off this bus and away as quickly as possible.”
Anatoly nodded his head in agreement with his dad as they prepared
themselves for a quick exit.


Chapter 13 Time for action
After I finished my coffee, I quietly slid into the other bathroom to dry
myself off and throw on a change of clothes. As I headed back into the
kitchen I heard the boys starting to rise in the other room. In a few minutes all
of them were awake and in the kitchen with me, each in various stages of
preparing some breakfast.
Tannin sat down beside me first, his breakfast was easy, just a bowl of
sugary cereal. As I looked at Tannin and the others, I thought to myself how
kind Popov had been to bring us in and offer to aid us. The thought made my
eyes start to tear up. My little brother is hard to hide my emotions from, he
asked, “What’s the matter sis?” I cleared my throat to speak as the others came
over to sit down at the breakfast table. “I had hoped to let all of you enjoy
your breakfast and coffee before I shared the bad news of my discovery.”
Everyone stopped chewing and looked at me.
I think I had all of their attention now. I continued “Popov is not going
to help us today, he died last night.” The first one to speak was my older
brother, “Mika, are you sure. Where is he, I will go check him out.” That’s an
older brother for you, always doubtful of me. I raised my voice slightly as I
replied to him, “Josef, I went to check on him and found him lying in his
bathtub underwater, you are all welcome to go see for yourselves right now if
you like. After all someone needs to go get him out, and I for one have no
desire to see any more of his old wrinkled naked body than I already have.” I
stared around the table at each of them, daring someone to doubt me again.
Alexei spoke after they checked on Popov for themselves, “Now we just
need to figure out the best place for us to head to.” I don’t know why they all
looked at me. I was certainly not the leader of this crew. I think maybe they
were just at a dead end. Time for some action is really what I thought. I
spoke up, “Well, since old man Popov was so kind to us, I am sure he would
want us to use anything he has to help our cause. Did any of you grab his little
phone computer tablet thingy?” Josef laid it on the table. I retrieved it and
held it in my hand. This was an incredible piece of technology and most
people we have met here treat them like disposable razors. It didn’t take me
long to figure out some of the simple functions on the tiny screen.
There was a button to make a call, another for an electronic message, an
envelope and a book that had contacts. The contact names were what I
needed. I looked through the J’s and found the only Jacque listed. I saw
below his name that I could send a message. I hit that button and a keyboard
popped up, an amazingly small keyboard but a keyboard nonetheless. The
boys all crowded me and looked over my shoulder at what I was doing.
I started to type; Jacque the plan for the rubles has changed. The
children are on their way to Paris to meet in person. They have agreed to five
hundred less per note to complete the transaction in cash. I hope this works
for you. I need a favor for these kids. Can they meet at your house? I then
pressed the button to send the message, the phone made a swoosh sound and
my message was gone. We all looked at each other wondering what would
happen next. The phone beeped as a new message was delivered, NP old
friend, I have the cash for them. Thanks for the lead on this one. I will double
my money in a month. At least we knew what Jacque was loyal to, cold hard
cash. I wrote down his address from Popov’s phone. Hopefully we could get
there soon. We packed up as much as we could carry and headed out the door.
Just before we left, I used Popov’s phone one last time. I sent a texted
message to Katerina; I am not doing well, you are a true friend. Please call
the hospital and have an ambulance come to my apartment. Thanks for all
you have done for me. Then I left the phone on the chair and followed the
others down the stairs and out the door of Popov’s shop.
Now we just had to find a train station and buy some tickets to Paris.
Josef has our money, it had to last us a while. We had two-thousand, six-
hundred and fifty-eight Euros. The 1400 mile trip would not be cheap but we
would find the least expensive tickets we could buy. We all assumed the trip
would take at least two or three days and we were not looking forward to
being stuck in a metal cylinder for that long. At the ticket counter Josef asked
for five tickets as cheap as possible. We were amazed that even with the
inexpensive seats we would have a small cabin to ourselves.


Chapter 14 NSA all the way

After the long drive, the car finally pulled into the airport and headed
toward the private hangars. Christian eased the large sedan into a tight
parking spot by the fence. Everyone exited the car and headed through the
gate as they hurriedly shuffled over to the plane. Sonya and her family
admired the sleek design of the private jet. Christian beckoned them on board,
“Come on will you, what’s the matter have you never seen a Dassault Falcon
980LXs up close before? If that’s the case just wait until you see the inside of
this little jewel. We also will make great time in the air, Dassault is a French
company so they can buy and use the RASP Innovative Technologies power
plants, we really like the Gulfstream jets, but since they are an American
company they still have to use the five year old Ramjet technology, the
American government won’t certify any products from RASP.” He was right,
luxury abounded on the interior. Vlad thought it was curious about the
engines, but was so tired that he found a nice large leather recliner and decided
now would be an appropriate time for some sleep. Sonya and Veronika saw
how comfortable Vlad looked. The girls gave the interior a once over,
admiring the wood and leather finishes. It didn’t take them long to get settled
into recliners of their own and get to sleep as well.
If nothing else, Hans Schneider was a successful professional attorney
because he was persistent. That attitude paid off when getting through the red
tape necessary to speak with anyone of importance working for the
American’s NSA. Hans convinced his contact at the ECFA to be relentless in
his efforts to have a representative from the American spy agency meet the
plane in Berlin.
The call came through to the European main office of the NSA that
afternoon. It was assigned to Special Agent Lindsay Romero. Agent Romero
was new to the agency and was excited to be part of the EuroZone team. She
verified the credentials of her European counterpart on the other end of the
line. After trying to blow them off to the consulate she subdued to their
unwavering request that she be present to aid with identifying and assisting
with recovering one of their agents. This was strange because no agents had
been assigned recently to the area they were coming in from. When Romero
typed the data into the main operating system describing her assignment
objective, she used the term “maintaining strategic continental agency
relations and diplomacy” which was the NSA’s code for tagging along on an
assignment with another countries agency. She closed her office door and
headed out. On her way out she stopped by the requisition office where the
agents picked up there travel documents and transportation tickets the system
processed. Romero was able to upgrade her weapons there as well, but for this
trip she felt it was appropriate to keep her small Sig Pv42 by her side. The
requisition system was a very efficient program to allow agents the flexibility
to move around their areas on operations as needed. Now Lindsay Romero
was off to the airport a few miles away to catch the flight from Brussels to
Berlin and see what exactly was so important with these passengers coming in
from the Ukraine.


Chapter 15 Who should be trusted

As the bus closed in on Volgograd, Ivan woke from his nap and looked
around. “Is the aircraft still on our tail?” he asked his son. Toly nodded his
head. The pair had no weapons only their wits. Ivan grabbed one of their
bags, “let’s move up to the front of the bus, I want to have a good view of
things from here on out” he said as Anatoly grabbed the other two bags and
followed his father to the front of the bus. “Excuse me” Ivan said to the older
couple sitting behind the driver, “my son is feeling quite ill in the back of the
bus, would you be so kind as to allow us to have these seats for the remainder
of the ride?” The older folks looked at each other and shrugged their
shoulders as they stood and let the two take their seats directly behind the
driver. Ivan thanked them for their kindness and suggested some available
seats in the rear of the bus.
Ivan caught a glimpse of the blue interstate sign advising them of
Volgograd approaching in ten miles. The sign was barely visible through the
rain coming down outside combined with the pre-dawn darkness. Ivan
clenched his fist as he thought how the sky was always darkest just before
dawn.
The RIB team of four black Toyota Landcruisers pulled out from under
the overpass behind the sign Ivan just finished reading. The SUV’s formed a
single file line and followed right behind the bus. Fortunately for Ivan the new
seats they acquired provided an unobstructed view of the busses side rearview
mirror. He saw the four sets of headlights bounce up onto the interstate and
form a line directly behind the bus. While this was fortunate for Ivan and
Toly, it was actually quite unfortunate for the bus driver. Ivan unzipped the
backpack he was carrying and grabbed out a pair of socks. Tying the socks
together to make them longer he whispered to Toly, “Once I remove the driver
and take control of the bus you must use any means necessary to keep all the
passenger in the back of the bus, can you do that?” Toly furrowed his brow,
clenched his jaw and nodded as he hardened himself for the task that lay
ahead.
Waiting for the right moment, Ivan sat patiently wrapping the ends of
the socks around each hand. He saw the sign for the next exit out of the front
of the bus and then he struck. Jumping up and leaning over the driver he used
the socks to wrap around his neck and then leaning backwards pulled the
driver out of his seat and into Toly’s lap.
The driver was grabbing at his throat when Ivan gave his instructions to
his son, handing him the ends of the socks around the driver’s neck “Grab
these and squeeze tight until he is no longer moving, and keep everyone
back.” Then Ivan jumped over to the drivers chair and took command of the
bus. The bus hardly swerved during the commotion. Everything happened so
quickly the passengers were in a stunned paralysis as the bus merely slowed
on the same path it was following. Toly completed his job and subdued the
driver until he was unconscious. Then he turned and yelled, “I will shoot
anyone who comes past these first five rows, now everyone get to the back
and take a seat.” The horrified passengers scrambled as far back as they could
and hunkered down. The violence was so quick and fierce that no one doubted
the madmen in the front of the bus had guns.
Ivan recovered to the bus’s normal operating speed and eyed the SUV’s
behind them. As the interstate exit approached, Ivan steadied himself. Just at
the last second he swerved the four ton vehicle toward the exit and pressed the
gas pedal down as far as it would go. The immediate turn and acceleration
caused the bus to lean dramatically as it careened through the off ramp. The
passengers tumbled over each other as the bus’s three inner wheels rose off the
wet pavement. Alarms sounded to notify the driver of a possible roll-over.
Ivan straightened the wheel and the bus slammed down as it continued to gain
speed. The RIB vehicles tailing the bus were caught completely off guard.
 The driver of the first Toyota tried to make the exit but he overshot it
and the giant Landcruiser hit the embankment flying airborne and flipping
over to come to a rest on its roof. The second Toyota driver slammed his
breaks to try and make the turn as the third vehicle collided with their rear end
causing the air bags to deploy while the SUV’s were crushed. The fourth
vehicle managed to swerve to the right at the last minute to avoid the chaos
unfolding in front of them and shoot through the grass up the embankment to
continue following the bus onto the off ramp. The hovercopter pilot watched
the unexpected events unfolding below and made an abrupt course correction
in order to not lose sight his target.
Now with only one truck in pursuit Ivan slowed the heavy bus to let the
Landcruiser catch up with him. As the Toyota pulled up beside the bus, Ivan
swerved hard to the left trying to crush the SUV between the bus and the
railing. The experienced driver in the Toyota slammed his breaks as the bus
shot passed and blasted through the side rail launching itself from the road and
down the ravine, trying to correct his mistake Ivan steered into the turn but it
was too late, the top heavy vehicle started to roll and roll down the hill. The
passengers in the bus tumbled around like wet spaghetti noodles, bodies flying
everywhere.
Ivan was fastened securely into the drivers five point harness and
airbags deployed all around him. Toly was standing as the bus made its
launch and then death roll. He flew up and hit his head hard on the ceiling
causing an immediate concussion and then his body flopped through the air
inside the bus like a rag doll. The bus finally came to rest at the very bottom
of the steep slope. Windows busted, metal twisted and smoke filling the air, it
was not a pretty sight.
The last black Toyota came to a stop on the shoulder of the road right
where the bus went over the side. The four occupants in the Landcruiser were
quickly unpacking their gear from the back of the vehicle. They intended on
tying off climbing ropes to the railing and rappelling down to extract Ivan
from the wreckage. The black hovercopter turned its spot light on the twisted
mass of what remained of the bus. The pilot was already radioing in
reinforcements to come to their aid.
From inside the bus there was crying and struggling as the survivors
tried to free themselves. Ivan shook his head and caught his breath. Then he
unstrapped the harness that saved his life and looked around for the backpack
full of Petorium. Locating the pack he crawled over to retrieve it. Once he had
the pack on his back he grabbed the emergency flashlight from under the
driver’s seat and searched for his son. Toly had not tumbled far from the front
of the bus. Ivan found his son lying unconscious with his legs and arms all
twisted at awkward angles. He was breathing but was barely alive. Ivan
shouldered the weight of Anatoly and walked out of the bus directly through
where the front glass used to be. He gently laid his son down and went back to
get their other bags. This time he paused as he exited the wreck to scan the
area, his eyes caught sight of the team speedily closing in on them moving
down the wall of the ravine. Then he was blinded as the hovercopter’s
spotlight hit him directly in the face. Cursing his bad luck he jogged toward
his son’s body. Hoping to flee the area before they were abducted Ivan lifted
his son once again and started to move out. He could not shake the spotlight
from above. All attempts he made to evade the bright light were failing.
A loud explosion from above caused Ivan to stumble. As he recovered
his footing he noticed the spotlight was no longer shining. He hit the ground
as he heard light machine gun fire coming from near the wreck and then what
sounded like a mini-gun spitting out bullets. All was quiet as Ivan laid there
trying to piece together what was happening.
After taking out the hovercopter with an air-to-air missile, the KGB
agent brought his stealth VTOL aircraft in line with the four men rappelling
down the ravine wall. They drew their weapons and began to fire. It only
took one squeeze of the trigger from the aircraft’s thirty millimeter mini gun to
silence the entire team. As the four men fell to the ground below, the agent
slowly navigated his aircraft to perform a completely silent vertical landing.
With the engines still running he stepped out of the cockpit and put on his
thermal goggles and scanned the area.
Ivan’s heat signature was easy to spot lying flat on the cool dirt. His
son’s body did not glow as bright due to the severe injuries that were slowly
taking what was remaining of his life. The agent quickly closed the distance
toward his targets. The KGB agent removed his goggles and spoke to the two
of them using Ivan’s last name, “Comrade Yakuskov of the KGB, I am here on
behalf of a friend. Right now there are many more soldiers coming to abduct
you. I ask you to please come freely with me now. If you stay here there is a
great chance that you will not live until tomorrow.” Ivan looked up at the
silhouette of the man offering aid. The sun was slowly rising. He looked at his
son and replied to the agent, “If we go with you can you help my son?” Even
with the sun at the agents back and his features darkened by shadows, Ivan
could see a hint of a smile from the man as he answered, “We have doctors
that can take excellent care of your son.” “Then tell me what your plan is and
we will go with you.” Ivan almost shouted. The agent paused before he spoke,
“I don’t have a plan comrade. The gentleman who sent me has a plan. He is
most interested to see you and we will go straight to him. I will radio for
medical support to be present and ready for your son. Shall we go?” Ivan
wanted to leave with him but had one more question, “Tell me please, who is
it we are going to see?” The KGB agent spoke the name quietly so that Ivan
would have to strain to hear him, “Why comrade, we are going to see
Maximillian Rasputin.” The two men loaded themselves and the wounded boy
along with their belongings onto the VTOL aircraft and quietly departed from
the chaotic scene.


Chapter 16 Friend or foe

NSA Agent Lindsay Romero landed at the Berlin Brandenburg airport
about two hours prior to her rendezvous with the attorney and his passengers
from the Ukraine state. The small government jet she rode in on left her at the
opposite end of the airport from the private plane hangars. She started to
make the long walk toward the car rental agencies so she could retrieve the
sedan the system reserved for her. Stopping about halfway there, Lindsay
needed some coffee to sharpen her senses. Romero stepped into a small kiosk
related to the Berlin Coffee House and got a large cup of Kronung Koffee,
dark black with a heavy pungent aroma. This cup would do the trick, just
what she needed. While sipping her refreshment, she used the down time as
an opportunity to check in with her office and report on her progress. Finally
she picked up her black BMW sedan from Avis and pulled away from the
main terminal, driving on until she reached the private jet hangars. Checking
her watch, she only had about ten minutes before their scheduled landing.
The blue and white Dassault approached quietly as it touched down on
the runway. Slowing down to taxi speed, the overpriced French jet made its
way toward the hangar owned by Christian’s law firm. Sonya and Vlad were
anxious to get off the plane. The ground crew waived the craft into the hangar
and the pilot shut the engines down as the plane was secured in place. Agent
Romero waited until the all clear was given before she exited her BMW and
strode to the stairs being lowered from the fuselage. Christian was the first
down the stairs. Looking at Romero and then scanning to see if Hans had
arrived, he spoke “Hello, are you alone? Has a man named Hans showed up?”
Lindsay always hated multiple questions. She replied, “Yes and no. I am
alone and no one named Hans has been here at all. And you are?” She
questioned. Christian apologized, “I’m sorry, my name is Christian.” He
shook her hand as he stepped down, continuing the introductions as the others
followed him off the plane, “and this is Sonya, Vladimir and Veronika.”
Romero eyed the arrivals curiously. “Do you have transportation?” She
questioned. “As soon as Hans arrives, we will,” Chris responded, obviously
frustrated. Then with impeccable timing, Hans pulled into the hangar with his
Mercedes-Benz 870S, parking next to Romero’s very plain looking rental
sedan. “Christian my friend, I am sorry for the delay. I hope no one was
inconvenienced by my tardiness.” He smiles at Lindsay as he feigned an
apology.
These guys made to much money to worry about other people’s
schedules. Romero coolly answered, “I was just asking myself how many
lawyers it takes to make it to an appointment on time? Apparently it takes
more than two.” She chuckled to herself as she walked back to her car.
“Follow me to the U.S. Embassy. We will continue this discussion there.” She
said aloud to one in particular. Vladimir tried to speak to her as she walked
off, “Miss we have some very important sensitive information to speak with
you about.” Romero replied to him as she opened her car door, “I am quite
sure you all do, I don’t want to hear anything until we get back to my
jurisdiction at the embassy, got it.” She sat in the driver’s seat and shut the
door as she fired up the engine. As they entered Hans’s sedan Romero pulled
off and led the way to the U.S. Embassy in Berlin. Agent Romero checked in
once more with the NSA system to report her whereabouts as she continued on
to the next part of her assignment, the suspect interview.
As they pulled into and entered the NSA field office, Romero looked at
Vlad and his family, “Follow me” she said as she led them to the holding
room. “Let’s have a seat and then you can start telling me how you work for
the NSA Vladimir, if that is indeed your real name” She looked at him
inquisitively. Sonya looked at her husband wanting to take the lead this time.
She spoke to Agent Romero, “You will be harder to convince than the
attorney, we explained our story to him but he still needed proof. I would like
to cut to the chase here agent if I may. You have some Marines observing us
and the information I would like to share carries a higher level of classification
than they are cleared for I’m sure.” Lindsay nodded to Sonya to continue.
Sonya obliged her, “What I ask for is a pen and piece of paper. This will be
for your eyes only agent, understood.” Romero nodded, knowing she could
get the Marines involved pretty quickly if they were needed.
Sonya took the pen and paper from Romero’s hand. Very steady and
determined in her writing, Sonya wrote the following: Agent Initiate DNA
Protocol 15. That was all she wrote, then she turned the paper toward Lindsay
and ask a simple question, “Can you get us a q-tip and we will provide you a
saliva swab. We are losing valuable time and need mission support. The
sooner you can verify our identity the better.” “Wait here” Romero replied as
she stood and headed out of the room. This new development would require a
phone call to her superiors. Back in the cold unfriendly holding room, Sonya
looked at her husband and shrugged her shoulders. The she looked at
Veronika and smiled.
Romero found an empty office she could use to make the secure call.
Waiting as the phone rang, she spoke when a voice answered on the other end.
“Sir, this is Romero.” The phone call initiated the system to automatically link
her superior officer’s hand held computer with the details so far of Romero’s
assignment. The voice continued, “Go ahead Romero, we are secure. Tell me
what you’ve got.” Romero paused and then spoke, “I have a bit of an odd
situation here sir. I am questioning a male and a female who claim to work for
us. They requested a classified DNA identity verification per our normal
protocol, but they said protocol 15, I was trained last year on DNA protocol
28. Anyway, I can send saliva samples in tonight and I was hoping you could
walk them through for a database match or decline so I can wrap this up early
tomorrow.”
The voice on the other end of the call responded, “I would be glad to
help Agent Romero, protocol 15 you said, hmm. Keep them under security
tonight. I will get your data to you as soon as I can tomorrow.” Then the
phone hung up. Romero sighed as she stood and walked back toward the
holding room. She paused to review her credentials with the Sgt. Then she
told him that the three detainees would need to wait the night here. The Sgt
grumbled something and then used his radio to give some orders. She entered
the room to get the saliva samples and call it a night. All three in the room
turned their heads toward the door as Romero walked in. “Okay, we are going
to gather your samples. Put them in these plastic bags and label your name on
them. I will have the results first thing in the morning and we can go on from
there.” Lindsay tried to keep the conversation short. Vlad and Sonya complied
with the request and then got comfortable for the night, knowing that no
amount of talking would help out their situation. Even they understood the
need for proof, it would be required if the roles were reversed, so let them get
their proof. Tomorrow would be an interesting day.
Romero awoke groggily in her hotel room the next morning to her
phone alerting her of a call. It was early, still too dark out. She rolled over
and grabbed the phone off the end table. Her charging cable was wrapped
around the bedside lamp, so that went flying to the ground as she pulled the
phone over to read the display. Crap, she thought as she read the caller I.D.,
what could he want so damn early? She spoke into the microphone, “Good
morning sir.” An agitated voice came across, “Agent Romero, I have no idea
what you have gotten us into? Get down to the embassy right now and do not
let those two individuals out of your sight, not even for a second. Do you
understand?” She replied affirmatively. He continued, “Also you do not have
enough clearance to continue with any debriefing or questioning of them on
your own, got it?” Again, she got it. Her superior continued, “I am on my
way there, don’t let them talk to anyone, even each other until I arrive.” The
phone clicked and the conversation was over. Now still tired but intently
curious, she thought about what her supervisor said on their call. She recalled
one word, Debriefing he said, that is what you do when an agent has finished
an assignment. What did Sonya say yesterday, they were on a mission? No
one at the agency has used the word mission for at least a decade. These
circumstances were all getting very curious indeed. No point in rushing over
to babysit the detainees though, she dropped her night gown onto the floor and
shuffled over the cold tile and stepped into a hot shower to get started on what
was sure to be a very long day.
Agent Romero was back at the embassy in about an hour after her phone
call. It was still early and she surprised the guard when she pulled up. She
showed her ID and he let her pass. When she got to the holding room, there
were two new Marines that relieved the first ones on duty. Their midnight
shift was almost over. They looked tired with eyes glazed over and ready to
go get some sleep. Romero gave a polite smile and then sat quietly as she
watched the door, waiting for the Marine Captain to show up at seven.
Trying to stay awake, she prepared another cup of the embassy coffee.
Just before seven, the Captain came around to check on his Marines. Romero
got his attention and showed him her credentials. The Captain looked
unimpressed, but he knew that for now she was in charge. Romero had him
add a third guard at the shift change as they awaited her superior officer’s
arrival. It didn’t take long for the high ranking agents to show up. They had
traveled through the night and got right to business as they walked through the
door. “Agent Romero, please take us in to see our visitors. Also, all of you
Marines are dismissed. We will take it from here.” Romero knew her superior
and one of the other officers, but there were two more, a man and a woman
that she had no idea about. “Please lock the door on your way out.” The third
man said to the last Marine.
The four people entered the room with Romero trailing behind. Vlad
and Sonya were sitting on the couch waiting. Veronika was still sleeping in
the brown leather recliner in the corner of the room. The commotion caused
her to stir but she remained asleep. The highest ranking official spoke first,
“NSA Agents Vladimir and Sonya Kanchenko?” They both nodded their
heads. He continued, “I am sure you have a lot to tell us, but first one
question. Where have the two of you been for the last fifty eight years?”
Lindsay gasped. She was surprised to hear them called agents, and then she
edged her chair in closer to the conversation.
Vladimir looked at Sonya and smiled in relief that they seem to have
been found by the right people. Sonya took charge of the conversation and
filled the five people in on their whole story, starting from being implanted as
spies in the Russian Space Agency until they were discovered and detained by
the Immigration Officers in the woods on the shore of the Black Sea. The four
agents feverishly took notes and used a recording device to gather all of the
data they were getting. When Sonya was finished, Vlad took over and
explained more details about the small amount of Petorium gas they had in a
canister and that the actual crystals were in the backpack of a teenager
somewhere in Eastern Europe. Vlad ended his story with a question, “Do you
gentlemen understand what these crystals can do? We must recover the
Petorium as soon as possible and return to Mars to secure the mines
immediately.” The commander looked around the room and addressed
everyone, “This information and assignment is from here on out classified at
the highest level of secrecy. We will head to our Berlin office and begin the
search for the four teenagers and little boy. While I appreciate your urgency to
return to the red planet Major, let me assure you the NSA currently does not
conduct space missions. We do not have the resources necessary to mount
such an undertaking. The good news is as far as our intelligence data reflects,
no one else on Earth has the ability to conduct such a delicate mission either. I
will begin the daunting task of mobilizing a secret mission to ensure the
United States has control of the mines you discovered, however the process
will take several years. In the meantime, the crystals that your team brought
back will allow our scientist to begin research and development to discover all
of the secrets the Petorium holds. We will have assignment essential personnel
involved only. Romero, you will need to assist Veronika with paperwork until
a case worker comes to take her, and then you will join up with our team.
Veronika will be made a citizen immediately and we will put her in a safe
house until our work on this assignment is finished. Is this ok with you?” He
looked at Sonya. She nodded her head and gave Veronika a hug. Sonya told
her, “Once we find Mika and the others, we will move on past this. You will
be safe for now.” With that the six of them headed out, leaving the lone Agent
and teenage girl to wait at the embassy. Lindsay was really not very happy
with her circumstances right now.
The commanding officer gave his final order, “the five of you will
procure weapons and communications on the way out and head to the airport
to catch our jet to Paris at once. Major Vladimir, get us those crystals.”


Chapter 17 Generational allies

It was a rough ride in the KGB VTOL aircraft for Ivan. He held his son
in his arms willing him to stay alive until they could get help. Ivan spoke to
the KGB agent, “I don’t know if you saved us or abducted us. Since you
know my name I would like to know yours?” The agent answered back, “That
is a good question comrade. I don’t know why I was sent to pick you up, only
that I was sent to pick you up. You must be of value to Maximillian Rasputin
because we are going directly to him. In the KGB we lose our names, as
agents are initiated into service we receive a number. You may call me Agent
Forty-Four.” Ivan thought for a moment and replied, “I used to work directly
with Nikolai Rasputin, is this Maximillian that you speak of related to him?”
Forty-Four had a quick reply, “You can ask him yourself comrade we are
landing on his property in Serpukhov on the Nara River a little ways outside of
Moscow in ten minutes.”
Ivan could tell he would not get the answers to any of his questions from
this henchman piloting the aircraft. The VTOL aircraft continues to slice
through the cloudy menacing sky. Just as the plane touched down a small
Mercedes Geländewagen Ambulance pulled directly up to the fuselage hatch.
When Forty-Four opened the door the two paramedics from the ambulance
gently took Anatoly from his father’s arms placing him on a stretcher. The
paramedics began to treat and stabilize Toly so they could load him inside
their Mercedes and take him to Rasputin’s private hospital. Ivan tried to stay
by his side but Forty-Four placed his hand on his shoulder to lead him into the
house, telling Ivan that Anatoly was in good care and they could visit later.
Ivan resisted and pulled away from the agent. “Wait, before you go I
can help him. I need to liquefy and then vaporize the crystals I have in my
bag. The gas will stabilize Toly until he can be put back together.” Forty-
Four looked curiously at Ivan. Ivan said “Just give me a few minutes and I
will show you. Anyway I am sure Rasputin will be interested in these.” Ivan
raised and shook the green backpack. The agent waived his arms for Ivan to
proceed. Ivan unzipped the green backpack he took off of the raft and kept by
his side from the moment he obtained it. He had been ever so careful to keep
it near him while they journeyed to Moscow. Now with the pack unzipped,
Ivan reached inside. He pulled out a handful of crystals and stared at them
with his mouth agape in disbelief.
In his shaking hands he held Martian ice crystals. He threw those down
and turned the bag over shaking it vigorously. The remaining ice crystals and
river rocks poured out of the bag and spread out onto the green manicured
lawn. Ivan shook his fist in the air yelling at the sky, “Fredrik, you foolish son
of mine. What have you done to me?” Ivan looked at Forty-Four. The agent
could see from Ivan’s distress that something was very wrong. Anguished,
Ivan addressed Forty-Four, “Have them take Toly to this hospital of yours and
give him the best medical care available, as if he was Rasputin’s own son.
Take me to Maximillian, we have much do discuss and I hope dearly that your
KGB has the same reach as my KGB did in the 1950’s because we need to go
back to Europe as quickly as we can.” Forty-Four tilted his head looking at
Ivan while he processed what was said, and then he turned and barked orders
at the paramedics.
The two men entered the main house through the back door. The room
they were in was dark with the curtains drawn. A figure stood, silhouetted, in
the doorway leading into the hall. The figure stepped into the single ray of
pale light that was filtering through the curtains. Then he spoke, “Good
afternoon Ivan Yakuskov. I am Maximillian Rasputin. My grandfather worked
with you on the operation ProtoHaven, and I have a keen interested to talk
about what brings you back to Russia untouched by time since 1968, and…”
Max paused for a moment to let his next sentence have impact, “and, where
exactly you have been for the last fifty-nine years?” Forty-Four stood at the
door blocking Ivan’s exit. Even though he was extremely curious about his
superior’s interest with Ivan, he knew to keep quiet. His job was the safety of
Rasputin, no more, no less. Ivan spoke as he pulled out a chair from the table
to sit in at the nook beside him, “Comrade Rasputin, please let’s sit. I have
much to tell, a little to ask and even more to do.” Both men sat at the table.
Ivan continued, “You have some technology which has identified me I
presume. Your equipment is correct. I was a cosmonaut on the ProtoHaven
colony operation launched in 1968, before that mission, I spent ten years as a
KGB field operative and many years as a pilot. We need to take some actions,
which I am sure you will agree with once I tell you my story…” With that,
Ivan briefly told Max the details of how the mission began as well as the
success of the mission making it to Mars and being a viable colony. He
slowed and spoke with more specific details about the discovery of the
Petorium and the life preserving qualities the crystals possess. Maximillian,
the successful businessman he was, showed a keen interest in knowing more
about the Petorium. He put a hand up to pause Ivan and then spoke, “Forty-
Four, this information does not leave my estate. Ivan, you say a backpack full
of these crystals is now with your other son and the additional members of
your crew in the Ukraine. If that is so, I will make some calls to our Minister
of the Interior so we can begin to conduct a search to locate them. I will help
you retrieve the Petorium. Now, you said you needed to ask me a few things.”
Ivan was pleased his luck brought him in contact with Max, “Max, I
need to know what was told to you from Nikolai about our secret mission. I
need to know who had knowledge of it and if the mission was scrubbed as a
failure.” Max responded, “I can see from your KGB training that you know
how to be direct, this is a quality that I admire comrade. I will tell you my
grandfather worked hand in hand with Sergei Groschev and Leon Sikorsky on
the development and implementation of the molecular liquid diffusion
propulsion and energy systems. The technology they developed that took you
to Mars and back was generations ahead of its time. The only problem is the
knowledge was not shared with anyone else for fear of an information leak to
the Americans or British.
When your team left for space, my grandfather was the only man on
Earth possessing the knowledge of how to make the diffusers operate with any
type of stability. As for the others who knew of the secret mission, it was
declared a failure once communication was lost and hidden out of sight to
avoid embarrassment. As my grandfather got older, he did share with me that
the operation initially called for six space craft. Only four were launched.
After the financial insolvency of the Space Agency, the other two rocket
ships were mothballed and hidden away far out east near the Vostochny
Cosmodrome. No one on Earth is expecting your return. I have invested in
rockets to launch satellites over the last few years, but no one on Earth has the
ability to get back to Mars. I will send a four man team to locate the two
remaining rocket ships in eastern Russia, those men will assess the viability of
the ships space worthiness. We will get a team back to Mars comrade, it will
be a while but we will go harvest all of those crystals from the mines you
excavated. In the meantime we must get our hands on the crystals that are
here on Earth, my scientists need to begin studying them at once.”
Ivan looked at Max, hanging on every word of the plan as Max
continued, “On my phone call with the Minister of the Interior, I took the
liberty of requesting that all of your old files be destroyed. We wouldn’t want
any other agencies to match your face exactly with the KGB records from the
1950’s. Of course while you were on Mars, many changes have occurred here
at home comrade. The space race nearly broke the financial reserves of our
country.
Then the futile arms race we entered into with the Americans assured the
collapse of our countries communism. My father Igor Rasputin learned, in
secret from his father, the knowledge of the scientific operation to harness the
power of molecular liquid diffusion. Igor however was not a public figure and
lurked in the shadows. With the initial election of Putin as president, Russia
turned a financial corner and some capitalistic opportunities flourished. Igor
began to produce small diffusion power plants with a high price tag for the
private sector. He mostly stayed in the European and Western Russian retail
markets, wholesaling to exclusive companies that built private jets, yachts and
expensive automobiles.
My father named his company RASP Innovative Technologies. We now
even have small government contracts worth billions of Euros for providing
propulsion systems that are used on many Special Forces vehicles and on all
of the vehicles that the KGB uses. RASP generates billions of dollars per year
in sales revenue. I took over the company upon my father’s premature demise
and currently use some of our funds to maintain the operation of the KGB.
They are a smaller more specialized force than in your time comrade, but all
ex-KGB from the old regime are welcomed by us. We have plenty of private
security guards employed here at my compound, but the intense training that
the KGB operatives must complete can only provide us five to ten new agents
each year. The second time Putin was elected as president, Russia was drawn
into a protracted occupation war in the Ukraine. Some bad executive
decisions led to a full military incursion of that country by us. The Europeans
surprised everyone by unifying into the European Unified States and pushed
Russia out of the Ukraine. Our new president is finally making the changes
we need to recover from the intense economic and trade sanctions which were
levied on us as well as the collateral damage from the untimely occupation of
the Ukraine. My company keeps a low profile and I stay well connected in the
government as to not have my family’s hard work become a nationalized
company. In a few years, when Russia is fiscally strong again, we will expand
operations at RASP. In the meantime, I think that with your Petorium and the
Petorium on Mars, we could successfully branch out into the medical industry
and quadruple our revenue. After all, who wouldn’t pay millions for the
chance to stay alive forever?”
Ivan sat silently taking in all the information that Maximillian was
sharing with him. Unfortunately, Ivan did not have much time on his side to
consider his options on joining the Rasputin team. Ivan looked into
Maximillian’s insipid blue eyes as he spoke, “Comrade Rasputin, I believe we
will make an excellent team. What are our options to begin locating the others
from my crew who still hold the Petorium?” Max responded with orders to
Forty-Four, “We need to get a team ready. Call up Thirty-Seven, Forty-Eight
and Fifty-Three. I will call the Intelligence Minister and get some electronic
surveillance aid from the RIB. We need to get a hard location from the
European video security surveillance system and then your team will take two
stealth VTOL aircraft to retrieve the crystals.” Max looked back at Ivan
before finishing the instructions to his operative, “Nothing and no one will be
allowed to stand in our way.” His lips almost curled into a smile as he made
sure Ivan understood that his other son and the crewmembers were expendable
if they obstructed the operation. Ivan nodded his head understanding exactly
what Maximillian was talking about.


Chapter 18 Across the Seine

On our way out of the Paris train station, we paused as Fredrik
studied a map of the Metro. He spoke as his finger followed a route on the
map. “If we hop on here, we could take the route following the purple line
over to Gare Montparnasse. Then we would only be a few blocks from
Jacques neighborhood.” Josef grimaced as he replied “Looks correct Fredrik,
but the last thing we need is to have a close call underground with nowhere to
run. We will go on foot. It will take longer but be safer. If you look at the map,
we are in the tenth arrondissement. We can walk over to the second
arrondissement and head south from there toward the Louvre keeping to the
crowded areas so we can blend in. Then we can cross the Seine at Pont Royal
and follow the Quay toward the Eiffel Tower and straight toward Jacque’s
apartment.” Everyone agreed Josef had a good plan. I must admit it sounded
pretty easy. There was only one thing I had to add, “First, I am hungry.
Anyone care for a croissant?” We walked together along the narrow sidewalks
looking for the first café open for breakfast.
After breakfast, we made our way down the windy old sidewalks
towards our destination. Josef spoke to us in a hushed tone, “We have enough
euros to get lunch and dinner and a hotel room for about two days. Jacque
should be expecting us today or tomorrow based on the text we sent from
Gregor’s phone. I only hope he is at his apartment when we find it. If not we
will have a delicate waiting game to play between the time it takes to meet
with him and our funds running out.” I looked at all the boys and replied,
“Let’s just hope our luck continues. Then once we sell these Rubles to Jacque,
we can rent a nice apartment for a while and figure out how to get back in
touch with Sonya and the others.” Alexei nodded his head in agreement. I’m
sure his parents and sister were in his thoughts. I guess with my parents being
murdered and Fredrick’s family being psychopaths, Alexei was probably the
most likely to have a normal life once we got some money and started putting
our lives together. Maybe Vlad and Sonya could just adopt all of us. That
would be a riot, me and Ronnie sisters. Wait a minute, then me and Alexei
would be siblings too, grossness. We will need to think of another plan, slow
down Mika, one step at a time I told myself.
Jacque lived right on the Quai D’Orsay. The place should be easy to
find now that we are in the right area. We walked along the street until we
found the building address. He lived in a beautiful building right on the corner
of the Quai D’Orsay and Rue Jean-Nicot. It was a light cream color and on
the corner of the building overlooking the river the architect designed large
curved picture windows jutting out on each floor all the way to the top. About
thirty motorcycles and scooters lined the side street, those must be good
transportation to use around this crowded city. We entered through the
doorway built into the large curved corner.
The lobby was empty and we all gathered around a small intercom on
the wall. Tired of waiting for the boys to make a move, I stepped up and
pressed the button to ring Jacque’s apartment. I’m not sure what pushing the
button did because nothing happened on our end. I looked at the boys and
shrugged my shoulders as I pushed the quiet button again. An elegant tall
woman dressed in a fashionable well fitting black dress was leaving through
the lobby to walk her tiny dog. She stopped and paused across the room to
watch us curiously. We tried not to make eye contact and hoped no one would
call any police about some strange teenagers trying to get into one of these
expensive luxury apartments.
Desperate now I frantically pushed the button over and over about five
times. Then we make contact. “Hallo, hallo, who is zis and what do you
want!” The accented voice barked at us over an intercom built into the button
panel. I wasn’t sure if I needed to hold the button when I spoke so he could
hear me, so I pushed it down as I spoke. More yelling came back, “If you do
not stop wis zee pushing of zee buzzer I will ‘ave to come straight down and
break your little fingers. Talk into zee panel, I can hear you fine!” the
disembodied voice sounded a little perturbed at me. I apologized, “Sorry sir,
won’t happen again.” I looked a Josef to help me out. He leaned over my
shoulder and spoke slowly into the panel, “Sir we are friends of Gregor Popov
and were sent to meet you. You told him you were interested in what we had.”
There was quite a long pause after Josef spoke. Now we wondered if we
should speak again, maybe it didn’t go through. We stood there huddled
awkwardly around the panel. The lady in the corner was still watching us, not
even trying to hide the fact that she was staring at us. Her little tiny dog was
even watching us. It felt a little bit creepy.
Finally a reply came back, “Walk to zee elevator at zee end of zee lobby,
I will ‘ave Michelle in zee corner escort you up.” We all turned quickly to look
at the lady in black who was just standing in the corner. She was smiling now
as she confidently approached us. She addressed us, her bright red lip gloss
accenting her words as she spoke, “Follow me kids, I will take you up to meet
Jacque. He is pressed for time with a lot on his schedule right now. You will
need to be quick if you would like to make a deal.” So Michelle worked for
Jacque. I was wondering exactly what she would have done if he didn’t let us
up on the elevator. I let the boys follow right behind her and her tiny menacing
dog while I dropped to the back with Tannin. I didn’t mind their obvious
staring and ogling as they enjoyed the view of Michelle’s short form fitting
dress as we followed her to the elevator.
At the top, the doors opened and there was a short, stout little
Frenchman waiting for us. He had a stern brow a pointy nose and a curt smile
below his pencil thin mustache. He tapped his foot with impatience as we
exited the elevator. “Zeese are zee children that pestered us over zee
intercom?” He looked past us to Michelle who was the last to exit the elevator
car. She responded in a sharp tone indicating she was not friends with the
little man, “Yes Ferdinand, THESE are THE children that have a meeting with
Mr. Bouchard.” I thought it was a nice touch how she pointed out to
Ferdinand the proper pronunciation of the words he used with a touch of his
accent overkill. “And, Ferdinand, I will be taking these children into see
Jacque without you. I was wondering, doesn’t Jacque pay you enough to buy
a Rosetta Stone Language set to learn how to speak correctly?”
Ferdinand huffed and spun around to leave, he raised his hand into the
air and waived it agitatedly as he spoke, “Adieu Madame, don’t linger to
long!”
Michelle paused in front of the doors and knocked twice. A voice from
the other side granted entry. As we walked in I could see the large panoramic
window behind Jacque with a view to the Seine. He sat in a high back chair
and was slightly silhouetted from the sunlight coming in the window. We
stopped once we were in the room, not knowing whether to sit or stand. He
spoke, “Come in, please all of you sit down. Make yourselves comfortable. I
am Jacque Bouchard. I presume you are the children that my old fried Gregor
brokered this transaction for.” Josef nodded his head in agreement. Jacque
made himself more visible now as he continued, “Good, good, glad you were
able to make it here in person. I find that negotiations are easier to accomplish
face to face. Now you are here, I would hope you could fill me in on the
reports out of the Ukraine about Gregor being dead. Also, my original buyer
for your Rubles has not been in contact with me since Gregor last texted me.
Maximillian is a very wealthy Russian entrepreneur and he had a keen interest
to secure your old currency. It is not odd for him to lose contact with me, but
usually I find when he is unreachable, something else very important is
usually afoot.” Jacque paused to make sure we were following him, “I have a
new buyer to help you unload your valuables, but he is a little less interested
and I can only give you half of the amount we last discussed.” Jacque was
quiet now as he looked for one of us to continue the negotiations. Now it is
our turn to get the price higher.
He thinks we are desperate, which is because we obviously are. I hope
Josef doesn’t mess up our deal. “Jacque, we heard of Gregor’s untimely
demise. We are sorry you lost an old friend. We agreed to half the original
price already for a cash payment, we cannot settle for half of that. We need our
original amount or we are finished here.” I was sweating now. Holy crap I
wasn’t expecting Josef to try and call a bluff on our one and only hope. I
stared across the sofa table at Josef, projecting my will for him to get us some
money. We cannot leave here empty handed.
Jacque sat quietly. We were playing in his domain now, and he his quite
skilled. He studied us as he was composing his thoughts. He looked up at
Michelle and smiled giving her a slight wink. “Young man, I hoped you were
wiser than that. I do not believe for a moment you did not have a hand in
Gregor’s death. He was not a close friend, just a term we used to put trust in
people doing business with us. My disappointment is that I will now have to
find another broker for Eastern Europe and Russia to take his place.” We all
leaned back in our seats. Alexei actually stood up to speak. Jacque firmly
carried on, “Sit down until I am finished young man. I could have my
accomplice Michelle here silently end all of your lives and take your
belongings for my own.” We looked at Michelle who raised her skirt high
enough to show the deadly silenced pistol she had strapped in a holster to her
toned thigh. We are in way over our heads. We all looked back at Jacque. He
has not lost his cool, only raised his tone, “The only reason I don’t have her
pull the trigger is that I keep the kind of work she does away from my house.
So I will give you one more chance to make the right decision. Do you agree
to sell me your Rubles for one half of the amount last promised?” Josef
nodded his head, knowing this was not someone we needed to cross right now.
Jacque sat back in his oversized high back chair and grinned, “Excellent,
Michelle, please retrieve their cash from my safe. Would any of you like a
drink?” Just like that he was Mr. Hospitality. I wonder if he could have a bi-
polar disorder, that’s just not right for him to switch personalities so quickly
on us, it’s confusing.
Jacque snapped some photos of our Rubles with his phone device and
tapped the screen a few times then put it away. “That should do it, as soon as
the money hits my account in Switzerland, you can have your cash, fair
enough?” Josef answered that it was. Ferdinand reappeared, “Zis way
children, I will show you to zee other room where you can wait, there are
some snacks and drinks for you. Mr. Bouchard has some work to finish.” We
followed Ferdinand through the double doors and down a hallway, we were
awfully glad to get some time in the other room away from the slightly
maniacal man in the last one. We gathered around the table Ferdinand
prepared for us and Tannin found a television to watch.


Chapter 19 Race for the prize

On the other side of Europe quite a distance from Paris, two small
unmarked stealth aircraft raced across the treetops on their way into Ukrainian
airspace. They were heading to the city of Odessa. The powerful engines
propelling the craft made no sound as they tore through the sky. Agent Forty-
Four flew one aircraft with Ivan and another KGB agent. The other smaller
airplane carried the remaining two operatives.
The pilot of the smaller vessel located a clearing in the woods just the
right size for both of them to land. The engines of the two planes swiveled
downward bringing them to a stop in mid-air and lowering them to the ground.
Once they touched down in the clearing, the cockpit canopies opened up and
all five men stepped down from the planes. The operatives each wore the
nondescript uniform of the KGB, black layered with more black and a little
black underneath. Forty-Four had all of them complete a weapons check and
go live with communications and video feeds. Then he stepped around to the
back of the plane and pressed a concealed button which opened a panel
revealing a small cargo area. Another push of the button and three small high
performance motorcycles were lowered down to the ground. Forty-Four
looked over at Ivan as he questioned him, “I forgot to tell you about these
bikes comrade, I hope you can ride.” He gestured to a motorcycle for Ivan to
ride and then mounted his own and slowly motored out of the clearing through
the thickly wooded area. Ivan smirked as he thought to himself, I like this
mission more and more every minute. He jumped on his bike and tore off
after the other two toward the city. Agent Thirty-Seven and Forty-Eight
stayed behind to secure the landing area and prepare for an immediate
departure once the three men returned.
Once in the city, the agents wasted no time finding the shop that the
Russian Intelligence Bureau told them about. Agent Fifty-Three revved his
cycle up and wheeled it in through the front door with Ivan and Forty-Four
directly behind him. Forty-Four was the first off of his motorcycle. He yelled
at the few customers inside to all move quietly towards a corner as he
brandished his gun in the air. Ivan sat on his motorcycle in front of the exit
door, blocking it so that no one could leave. He gently turned the sign at the
window from “Open” to “Closed”. Fifty –Three dismounted and raced
through the shop to secure the small apartment and any other exits.
It didn’t take long for him to find Katerina and bring her out to the front
of the shop. Fifty-Three spoke to his superior, “Look who I found trying to
escape through the back.” He shoved Katerina forward, her hands secured
behind her back with zip ties. Ivan bolted the door shut and walked over to
her. “Forty-Four, please keep watch on those people, Fifty-Three and I will be
in the other room asking Katerina here a few important questions.” Ivan
smiled at the frightened lady as he took her arm and escorted her into the
kitchen. Katerina was very scared but also glad that Dmitri was away in
school for a few more hours. Ivan spoke to her, “Now, listen to me very
carefully. Our time is short and I have ways to get my answers quickly. Do
you understand?” Katerina nodded to him, her body quivering in fear of the
intimidating man before her. Ivan leaned a little closer to her as he continued,
“What I would like for you to tell us is everything you know about the five
Russian children you met recently?” Katerina tried to compose herself so she
could answer him. “They are only children, what could you possibly want
with them?” She asked. Ivan was already losing patients, “That is none of
your concern. I will ask you once more what do you know about them and
where have they gone to?”
Katerina was trying to hold back her tears, “I sent them to my friend
Gregor’s shop. I thought he would be able to help. He is of no use now so
don’t waste your time rushing over there. I don’t have the answers you are
looking for.” Ivan looked back at Fifty-Three, “You know, I am inclined to
believe her.” Then without hesitation he struck her swiftly and directly on the
temple with the butt of his hand gun. Katerina’s limp unconscious body fell to
the ground, Ivan stood and spoke to Fifty-Three, “We will need Max to get us
someone else to help locate the children and crystals, she was a dead end.” He
turned and walked out of the room back towards the shop leaving Katerina’s
body on the ground beside the chair she was just seated in at her kitchen table.
Fifty-Three followed him.
Forty-Four looked at Ivan as the two men came back into the shop, “Did
you get any good information from her?” Ivan shook his head indicating that
they had made no progress. Ivan turned to ask Fifty-Three a question. Just as
he did, he noticed a bright red dot illuminate on Fifty-Three’s forehead.
Unfortunately, Ivan was not accustomed to modern laser sight technology or
he may have been able to save Fifty-Three’s life. He paused and stared at the
dot.
 Fifty-Three was almost able to complete his question to Ivan, “What are
you starin…” were the last words he spoke as the bullet entered his skull
creating a small hole in the front of his head and a large gaping opening out of
the backside where what was once Fifty-Three’s brains were now splattered all
over the shop wall. His body collapsed and Ivan drew his out pistol and dove
to the ground for cover. Forty-Four’s hostages in the corner were now all
screaming as they saw one of their captors just get his head blown off. Forty-
Four hit the ground as well to avoid Fifty-Three’s same fate.
Outside the shop, the NSA sniper radioed his team that one combatant
was down and the other two were now taking cover and he couldn’t take a
shot. The rest of the five man covert extraction team closed in on the building,
preparing to enter and clean up the mess that they walked into. The first to
reach the building used a launcher to lob two gas canisters in though the front
window. Then the four men each took a knee and prepared to breach the front
door.
Ivan and Forty-Four looked up as they heard the front glass break and
saw the two canisters bounce off the floor dispersing gas and smoke as they
rolled haphazardly around the shop. Forty-Four slid up his micro-thin gas
mask and pulled down his thermal goggles from his hat, motioning for Ivan to
do the same. As the front door burst open, the NSA team split up with two
men going left and two men going right using text book tactics to clear the
room. Forty-Four was well versed in several opposing agency training
manuals and was watching for the aggressors to identify their tactics. Using
his thermal goggles, Forty-Four saw the oppressing team’s separation move
and quickly identified them as NSA. He rolled to his left and popped up
making four rapid shots with his pistol. Forty-Four never missed, one double
tap on each agent was all he needed to even their odds.
The two remaining agents heard the shots and hit the deck. They
crouched behind a shelf trying to get a view of the shop. Ivan was relishing
the lightweight technology he wore on his eyes. He could clearly see through
the smoke and identified the two men crawling toward him. With lightening
speed, Ivan dove over the shelf and landed on the first man knocking the wind
out of him as Ivan’s knee broke several ribs and busted a kidney. The other
NSA agent took aim just as Ivan was squeezing his trigger and placing three
rounds in a tight group directly in his chest. Although the NSA agent had on a
Kevlar vest, the close range impact and high caliber of Ivan’s pistol created
internal injuries causing him to die of trauma as his heart stopped beating.
Ivan rolled the other man over and secured his hands with the zip ties he had
in his pants pockets. Then staying down to avoid the sniper, Ivan dragged the
injured NSA agent over to where Forty-Four was crouching. The smoke and
gas were dissipating from the store and the two KGB operatives thought about
how they could escape. “I have a prisoner.” Ivan said to Forty-Four. Forty-
Four replied, “If he is good at his job, we will not get any information out of
him. We are better off to take his communications and hack into the NSA
system to see what they know about our teenage targets. This could get
interesting if we are both chasing the same prize.” Ivan nodded in agreement
as he twisted his prisoner’s head snapping his neck and then casually
removing the communications devices form his limp body.
He looked at Forty-Four and smiled as he crawled away, “Follow me
and don’t get shot.” Ivan crawled toward the hostages. He fired several times
into the air as he yelled at them, “Everyone up, up all of you.” As the hostages
stood Ivan stood behind them so the sniper couldn’t get a clear shot at him.
Ivan continued to bark orders at the seven scared store shoppers, “Out, out
now. All of you get out of this store now. We are going to blow it up. You
better run if you want to live!” Forty-Four followed Ivan’s lead as he
wondered just how crazy his companion was.
Ivan ran with the hostages and jumped on his motorcycle. As the
hostages fled through the doorway, the two KGB agents rode right through the
middle of them, tearing off down the street once they were outside. The
remaining NSA Sniper tried hard but couldn’t get a clear shot of the
motorcycles as they shrunk out of sight speeding down the side road.
The agent ran into the shop to assess the condition of his team members
just as the Odessa police response team was arriving on scene due to a call that
was received from an onlooker across the street. The sniper found his four
dead companions and also, the body of the woman that they were supposed to
extract to a safe house slouched over her kitchen table, recovering from a blow
to the head. He heard the police sirens as he walked back into the shop and
laid all of his weapons on the ground, knowing that the local authorities had
him now, there was no escape.
His career was over, no one would vouch for his covert operation and he
would most likely spend the rest of his life in a Ukraine jail. The police team
stormed the building and took the NSA agent into custody as they secured the
shop and apartment. Meanwhile, five blocks away, the two KGB agents left
the smooth pavement of the street and rode through the woods back to the
landing site to make a quick exit. Once in the air, Forty-Four reported the loss
of Fifty-Three to Maximillian. He also connected the NSA communications
gear to the computer system in the airplane.
Max was able to remotely link up to the airplane’s system and began
working to hack the NSA’s encryption code. Maximillian usually didn’t take
long to break computer codes and firewalls. Soon Max was on the radio with
Forty-Four, “I was able to get into their system enough to confirm another
covert team is heading to Paris to extract a target. Whether their target is
crystals or people, I do not know. Forty-Four, you will need to avoid detection
as you take both aircraft to Paris. It appears we are now in a race with the
NSA to get to our reward. The RIB retrieved some spotty surveillance footage
that confirms the data I acquired from the NSA. The children recently were in
the vicinity of the Eiffel Tower and were last monitored by a camera walking
down a street along the Seine. I will radio you with more information as soon
as we are able to obtain it.” Forty-Four spoke over his headset to Ivan, “Did
you catch that transmission comrade, we are going to Paris. Hold on, this
flight is going to be very low and very fast. Don’t puke in my cockpit.” Ivan
didn’t find Forty-Four amusing. However he thought they did make a pretty
good team. There is no way he would share the thought with Forty-Four. He
held on tightly, for as the pilot promised, the flight was high-speed and near to
the ground.
As the swift, silent stealth aircraft crossed into southern France,
Maximillian radioed them to pass on more details gained from Russian
intelligence and his limited radio hacking of the NSA. The location of Jacques
apartment was passed on to the pilots as the last time the children’s location
was verified from a surveillance camera. Maximillian Rasputin knew the
address. He put together the time traveling children were getting a price from
Jacque for something. He also knew Jacque could not be trusted, therefore
instructions were given to his men to deal with Jacque if he should show up
during their operation. They pushed their aircraft to full throttle. The planes
molecular liquid diffusion afterburners took them passed Mach One very
quickly. The sonic boom reverberated off the mountains for miles in the
sparsely populated rural area they were flying over. Now with a firm location
known, this may be their only chance at retrieving the target.


Chapter 20 Where did my little brother go

The NSA team enroute to Paris was making excellent progress. The pilot
of the jet was descending on approach to the airport as the team in the back
received a radio signal from the commander. Johnson listened as the
commander filled him in on the new surveillance data about the children and
the grim news about the team in the Ukraine. “Johnson, the teenagers and
child were last seen entering into an apartment building on the corner of Quai
D’Orsay and Rue Jean-Nicot. Get there as quickly as you can, nightfall will
occur soon. We have been maintaining a steady video feed from two cameras
outside the building and they have not come out.
Inside that same apartment, Jacque had good news for the teenagers and
Tannin, all watching French television shows in the other room. The funds
had made it into his bank account in Switzerland. Michelle was bringing their
cash into the room for them to count out and complete the transaction.
Mikhailya smiled with relief knowing finally one of their plans was working
out. Michelle entered the room with two large bags in her hands. The little
toy size dog was following at her heels. “Jacque wants you to count it out.”
She ordered to us. “He says even though you are in a hurry to leave, he
doesn’t want to short you on the deal. He is a businessman after all.” She
winked at me and set the two heavy bags on the table. “Two-hundred and fifty
thousand euros is a lot of cash for five kids to be carrying around Paris at
night. If I were you I would be extremely careful of who you trust. Many
people in Europe are still weary of Russians and you cannot hide your obvious
heritage.” Josef and Fredrik started to take the bills out of the sacks and
Alexei and I began to count them.
I didn’t even see Michelle casually pick up my backpack full of
Petorium. “Here, dump this bag out and carry your cash inside.” I looked up
and froze with a mix of terror and anxiety as she dumped the entire bag of
Petorium crystals onto the thick plush carpet. She stepped back and gazed at
the shimmering translucent crystals. A look of fear was frozen on all of our
faces. She spoke, “Well, well, well, aren’t you a tricky bunch of kids. What
are these beautiful crystals?”
She bent over and picked up a large sized crystal, never taking her eyes
off of us and keeping her pistol hand free at her side. We all looked across the
table at each other wondering who was going to answer her. “I can see by
your obvious loss for words that I was not supposed to discover these. Let me
get some assistance.” She yelled, “Ferdinand!” The small Frenchman jaunted
into the room. He stopped and looked at the shiny crystals as he rounded the
table. Then he looked at us and back to Michelle. “What is zis?” he asked
with an annoying shoulder shrug. Michelle answered, “This is something I
need to show Jacque. Ferdinand, please be a dear and keep an eye on the
children. They need to finish counting their money so they can leave us.
Jacque will decide if these beautiful crystals get leave with them.” He
answered her, “Oui Madame, please show it to Jacque.” She turned and left.
I wasn’t going to miss our chance to leave. I turned around to continue
counting the money. Making sure Fredrik and Josef on the other side of the
table were watching me, I firmly grabbed hold of the chair beside me at the
table. I tried to sound like a confused little girl, “Ferdinand, could you tell me
what denomination this bill is, one or two-hundred?” He strode over to me
agitated, “Let me see zee bill you are…” Thwack! I heaved the chair across
his little pouty French face. His pointy nose exploded with crimson blood and
I dropped the chair on his crumpled body.
I whispered frantically to the others, “Let’s get the money and crystals
and run!” I started stuffing the crystals into my back pack and the boys,
shocked at my actions, were hurriedly shoving all the bills into theirs. Oh my
gosh, we were so frantic, my heart was racing. I thought for a moment at any
second my heart would explode out of my chest. Josef looked at me and then
looked at the others, “That’s everything let’s go.” He ran out the door with all
of us behind him. He jumped over the big couch and we followed as he
passed through the front door. Next we ran down the narrow hall and our way
out was at the end, down the elevator. So close.
Josef got to the elevator first and pushed the button, thankfully once you
were up here there was no pass code to use the elevator like down in the lobby.
We were huddled together waiting for the elevator to rise. “Ding.” The bell
rang signaling that the elevator car had arrived. The light over the door lit up
and it felt like ten minutes before the elaborately decorated doors finally
opened for us. Alex jumped in and held the doors open, Josef followed. I
reached for Tannin’s hand to bring him in with me and realized I didn’t know
if he followed us. My god! Tannin was still in the big leather chair watching
the damn television cartoons.
We were in such a hurry to leave that I had completely forgot about my
little brother. I looked at Josef, my stomach churning and my face turning
green with dread. I could barely stand with my legs buckling. Much less get
the words out to speak, “Tannin, we forgot Tannin…” Fredrik shoved me into
the elevator. You all get down to the lobby and send the car back up, I am the
fastest, I will get him and meet you at the bottom.” The doors closed as
Fredrick dashed off to save my little brother.
The two KGB stealth VTOL jets swooped in low and fast on their arrival
to the city of lights. Making a tight banking turn around the Eifel tower in the
night sky, the pilots put the jets down just below street level on a part of the
quay that was just wide enough to accommodate them and dark enough to
conceal them. Forty-Four was the first to exit the cockpit and step foot on
Parisian ground. Ivan followed him as he opened a small compartment under
the cockpit and removed two fully automatic sub-machine guns and their
equipment. The other two agents did the same at their airplane and then they
completed a quick readiness check of their gear, night vision working, laser
sights activated, smoke grenades ready, tasers charged, rappelling knots
secured and weapons on live fire, fully loaded.
With silent hand signals Forty-Four directed the team to follow him as
they climbed the stairs from the riverside quay up to the sidewalk at street
level. The night was black and unless you looked very hard the super black
stealth planes were almost invisible to the naked eye. The KGB agents moved
in complete silence and also blended in from head to toe. They avoided all
street lights and moved in the shadows, they too were practically invisible as
they moved across the dark street to the left corner of the building. The KGB
team continued to move along the edge of the building until they were almost
all the way toward the backside opposite the river.
Forty-Four signaled for Thirty-Seven to make his way up the fire
escape ladder at the rear of the building and then find a position to secure the
top floor. Ivan looked at his watch. The men would wait five minutes and
then once Thirty-Seven was in place to cover them, they would follow up the
fire escape ladder to enter by surprise and retrieve the crystals.
The evening traffic in Paris was on the side of the NSA tonight. Hooper
was able to make great time as he blew passed the Arch de Triumph and
accelerated down the Champs Elysees. Going over bridges and under tunnels,
the NSA team inside the SUV was holding on tightly as to not be bounced
around inside the swaying vehicle. Romero was starting to sweat. The speed
of the driving and intensity of the others was telling her instincts to stay sharp.
Her gut was wrenching. She had not experienced any major action so far
during her assignment to the European office. Johnson looked back at her
from the front seat.
Back in the Penthouse, Fredrick sprinted through the double doors and
leapt again over the couch. He was moving quickly. No one to be seen, he
opened the door to the room where Tannin was watching television. He was
in such a hurry he didn’t even notice Ferdinand was no longer laying on the
ground beside the table. He saw the back of the big leather chair Tannin was
using and as he reached the chair he leaned over it to whisper for Tannin to
follow him, but once his head cleared the high back of the chair he saw Tannin
no longer occupied it.
The television was still on and Fredrik was at a loss as to what he should
do. He spun around and caught site of the bloody stain on the carpet where
the obnoxious Frenchman should have been. He was trying to stay calm, he
knew if he panicked now bad decisions would be made. He didn’t want
Tannin to be left here. Maybe he went to the bathroom? Fredrik backed up to
the wall and waited a few minutes to see if Tannin would show back up. This
was a huge apartment and if he tore off to look for him now, they could easily
miss each other.
Down in the lobby, Mika, Alexei and Josef waited for Fredrik and
Tannin to show up. They were so concerned with watching the elevator doors
that none of them saw the four NSA agents come walking in through double
glass doors in the front of the lobby. Vlad looked around as Sonya came up
behind him. Following them in, Johnson went left and Romero went right to
secure the lobby. Vlad looked down the hall to the elevators and caught site of
their fellow space travelers. He pointed them out to Johnson as he and Sonya
rushed down the hall to greet them. Johnson signaled he and Romero would
hold back and make sure the exit was covered. Alexei looked up the hallway
when he heard running footsteps. He couldn’t believe what he saw. His mom
and dad had made it all the way to Paris and were just in time to help them.
He tugged at Mika and Josef’s arms and pointed speechlessly down the hall.
I couldn’t believe it either. Vlad and Sonya made it over to us. Sonya
spoke first as she hugged Alexei, “I can’t believe we found you, we brought
help. Come on now let’s go, there is a big vehicle outside waiting for all of
us.” She looked at each of us as she spoke, “Where are Fredrik and Tannin?”
Josef told her they were upstairs and we were trying to quickly get away from
some people up there. Alexei chimed in that we got in over our heads trying
to get some money and one of them in the penthouse had a gun.
I spoke up, “now you are hear with help, we need to go back up and get
them out of there. Fredrik is taking too long, something must have gone
wrong.” Vlad looked at me and asked, “Did they get the Petorium crystals
from you?” Alexei pointed to my back pack and told him that we still had
them. Vlad looked into Sonya’s eyes and then back at us, “Look kids, let’s
take the crystals and your money and go to the truck outside. The people who
brought us here will be able to go up and get your brother and Fredrik. We
can wait outside until they bring them to us.” I hesitated, not wanting to leave
my little brother. I could tell Josef wasn’t overly comfortable with the idea
either. We agreed though, and grabbed all of our bags and walked toward the
lobby.
The driver spoke to the man we met in the lobby, “I patched us a secure
line to command, do you want me to call it in?” The man answered, “Yes, call
in the package is secured. Then you need to come with me and Romero to get
the other two who are stuck with some small time thugs upstairs.” The driver
looked at the man and questioned, “Johnson, our mission is complete, let’s get
out of here before this place gets hot.” Johnson replied, “Hooper, we will be
in and out. Those kids up there are just as important as the crystals. Get it
together now, let’s go” and he turned away signaling for Romero to follow
him. Just as Hooper got out of the vehicle a gunshot was heard coming from
the penthouse.
The agents all took a knee and looked up to see what was happening.
Then a loud explosion went off and thousands of glass fragments fell from the
penthouse windows, raining down on the sidewalk below.
Up in the Penthouse, Fredrik had waited as long as he could. He
decided to creep very slowly to the other room and see where Jacque and
Michelle were at. Then he would search around for Tannin. As he gently
opened the double doors into the room where they first met Jacque he could
barely see anything. The lights were out and it was exceptionally dark. He
stepped into the room trying hard to remember where the furniture was at.
The lights were switched on to surprise him and he was briefly blinded. He
held up his hand to shield his eyes from the bright lights. As he lowered his
hand he saw Jacque sitting in the chair on the other side of the room holding
Tannin in his lap.
Tape was over Tannin’s mouth and his hands were bound. Michelle
was standing beside him. She was the one to speak, “Did you forget
something?” She asked rhetorically pointing at Tannin. Fredrik hoped now the
others had left, he knew he wasn’t going anywhere soon. Jacque sat in his
chair with a hand on Tannin’s shoulder. Fredrik looked into the boy’s eyes as
if to apologize for this whole mess. Tannin did not cry, he looked at Fredrik
and stayed strong. Jacque spoke, “Listen, I am willing to make a deal. I want
to know what these crystals are, and then I want the rest of them. I will
release the boy once I have them all.” He looked at Michelle who was holding
up the one large crystal she picked up off of the floor in the other room.
Jacque continued, “I have sold many gems and jewels and I briefly examined
this crystal Michelle brought to me. I can tell you I have never seen anything
like it, so what is it?” Fredrik looked at Jacque. Then he looked at Tannin.
The boy was slightly shaking his head as to tell Fredrik not to give up the
secret of the Petorium to this lunatic.
Jacque turned to Michelle, “Please show the boy what will happen if I
don’t get what I want.” Michelle slowly twisted the silencer off of her pistol.
She dropped the silencer and raised her pistol toward Fredrik. She moved it
slightly to the right and fired, exploding the lamp next to the teenager. Fredrik
to his credit didn’t flinch. That in itself actually impressed and surprised
Jacque. He was about to have Michelle go bind Fredrik’s arms when a small
explosion rocked the room and blew out all of the glass in the windows behind
Jacque’s chair.
Michelle and the others were knocked to the floor and everyone in the
room was briefly deafened by the explosion as the three men dressed in black
rappelled down from the roof and swung in feet first through the now glassless
windows. Forty-Four was the first in with his weapon drawn, then Ivan and
Forty-Eight followed. Each man scanned the room with the laser sights from
their sub-machine guns illuminating the way. Forty-Four barked out orders,
“Clear this room and sweep the apartment. I want those crystals and I want
out of here in ten minutes.”
Michelle was barely winded from the explosion. She used her acute
senses to pick her first target. As she held her pistol tight she sprang up
aiming at the man in black closest to her, bang, bang. She fired a quick double
tap to his head. Ivan instinctively turned at the sound of the pistol’s hammer
drawing back as Michelle fired at her target. He identified the source and
popped of two rounds into Michelle. Her body fell limply to the floor as
Forty-Eight flew backwards out the open window from the velocity of the
Michelle’s bullets striking his head. As his body fell, it toppled over and over
until it impacted on the immoveable concrete of the side walk exactly in front
of NSA agent Johnson crouching down and taking cover from the explosion
that just happened above him.
Ivan looked over at Forty-Four. Forty-Four was lifting Jacque up off of
the floor. He wasted no time in questioning the black market dealer, “Where
are the crystals? And where are the other kids?” He was holding Jacque by
his jacket lapels. Forty-Four had his weapon slung across his back so he could
use his hands to work over Jacque. “Please, please, I only have one crystal.
Those bastard kids almost killed my butler and took the rest. All I have is this
boy and…and…please don’t kill me.” Jacque was pleading now, whimpering
at the KGB operatives. Ivan glanced around to make sure the room was
secure, he saw no movement. He continued to watch Fort-Four.
The agent smacked Jacque in the face with the back of his hand, “get
your act together man, I thought you were a tough black market dealer. I don’t
want you dead. I want this crystal you have, where is it.” He pointed over
toward Michelle’s lifeless body. Ivan stepped over Michelle thinking what a
waste it was for this beautiful woman to be laying there dead as he retrieved
the large crystal from its place on the rug. Ivan spoke as he handed the crystal
to Forty-Four, “This is one of the larger pieces Forty-Four, but the backpack
had five times this much.” Forty-Four asked Jacque again, “Do you know
where the other kids are with the rest of the crystals?” Jacque was quivering
uncontrollably now. He even lost control of his bladder and urinated down the
leg of his pants. “Look man, maybe they are in the lobby waiting for this little
kid here. I am sure they have all the crystals you need. I’ll even let you keep
all the cash I gave them. Just let me live.” Forty-Four looked over at Tannin.
Tannin was watching Ivan, he saw that man murder his parents and had
no doubt of his cold-bloodedness. Forty-Four looked back at Jacque, “I think
you helped us as much as you could. Now we must go. I told you I didn’t
want you dead. Unfortunately my boss Maximillian Rasputin does.” Jacque
stared horrified at the man in black as Rasputin’s name was mentioned and his
pistol let loose a hail of bullets into the businessman’s body. Ivan spoke to
Tannin, “You are coming with us Tannin. Don’t do anything stupid and you
will see your family again, I need you as leverage to get those Martian crystals
back.” Tannin walked toward the window where Forty-Four was preparing
their three ropes to rappel down and get back to the planes. Off in the distance
wailed the sirens of the city police that were approaching the apartment
building.
Agent Johnson on the ground below made a command decision looking
at the body that lay disjointed and splattered before him, dressed in covert
operations attire. “Everyone in the truck now, move it.” He used his tactical
camera to snap a few shots of the body on the sidewalk. “Hooper start this
thing up we are exiting the area.” I was not about to let that happen, “Hold on
just a damn minute there agent Johnson, my little brother is somewhere up
there with those explosions and gunfire. We need to go get him. Turn the
freaking truck off now Hooper!” I was a little emotional.
Vlad tried to calm me, “Look Mika, we don’t know what is going on
right now up there, we completed our assignment and got the crystals. Our
orders are to bring them back. Once that is done, we can set up a new mission
to get back Fredrick and your brother. The French police are coming and we
need to leave, now.” I looked at Vlad and then at Sonya, “What the hell do
you mean Vlad, our assignment. You have been with me on freaking Mars.
How is this assignment yours? What the hell is going on here Sonya, I want to
go get my brother.” I looked a Josef. He joined in, “Look, we are getting out.
Mika and I are going back in there for Tannin with or without any of you. He
is our brother and these are our crystals.”
He picked up the backpack and started to open the door when Vlad
grabbed the handle and pulled it shut. “You don’t understand, I can dump you
out of this truck, but that bag of Petorium must go with me. We cannot return
without it.” I looked at Alexei and shouted, “What is your dad talking about?”
Alexei shrugged, not sure what was going on. The driver spoke up, “We need
to go now, Romero get in the back let’s roll.” The female agent stood there
looking into the truck, and hesitated. She spoke to her superior, “Johnson, I
will run up and do a quick sweep, it is quiet up there now. If the boy is alive
we can’t leave him. He is nine years old for heaven’s sake.” Johnson replied,
“Romero, get in now we are leaving, our assignment is complete and falling
apart. This is the hard part of our job, get in now and get over it.” Hooper
revved the engine, but wouldn’t pull away with Romero standing outside. He
stared out the back window at her wondering what she was thinking.


Chapter 21 It’s a father son thing

Standing in the penthouse window, Forty-Four and Ivan had just
strapped Tannin into a rappelling harness. They were quickly checking their
ropes and getting ready to jump. The team leader Radioed Thirty-Seven to
start moving back to the planes, the mission was over. On the other side of the
room, Fredrik was done laying still. He had been crawling ever so slowly
toward where Michelle’s body was laying. During the chaos after the
explosion he took cover and stayed hidden.
Now there was a small chance for him to save Tannin. Once he got to
Michelle’s body he reached around the floor searching for the cold steel of her
pistol. She had a small semi-automatic. During the shoot out he counted one
shot at the lamp and two more at one of the men with his dad. That would
leave a few bullets in the gun and he hoped he wouldn’t need many. Fredrik
sprang up and yelled, “Dad, stop right there!” He was pointing the borrowed
pistol at Ivan. Forty-Four was surprised, he looked at Ivan.
Ivan couldn’t believe it. His son was in the room the whole time. “Ah
Fredrik there you are, how nice of you to join us son. Sorry to say, we must be
going.” He calmly said as the two men stepped toward the window, “Ivan, let
Tannin go. He is just a boy. Let him go to his family. They need each other
now, after what you did. Let him go! I am not afraid to use this pistol.” Ivan,
paused and looked into his son’s eyes, then he replied looking down the barrel
of the pistol his son was aiming at him, “I am sure you are not son, but I need
leverage and this boy is good leverage. Also, I am not afraid to use mine
either.” Ivan drew his pistol and lifted it toward Fredrik. Fredrik quickly
reacted by squeezing the trigger of the gun in his hands. Somehow, time
seemed to slow down for him. He felt his hands steady and next the feeling
the recoil of the muzzle made when the bullet exploded from the chamber and
launched down the barrel toward his father. Fredrik’s bullet found its mark.
Forty-Four instinctively began his rappel with Tannin as soon as Ivan
began to raise his weapon. Forty-Four knew that either way the outcome was
the same, one person would die, Ivan or Fredrick, and he needed to evacuate
quickly. As the bullet pierced Ivan’s cheekbone below his left eye, he did not
immediately die. He thought to himself as the force of the impact knocked
him out of the window that he just might live if he could grab the line he was
tied to and slow his fall.
His thoughts were unrealistic as half of his face was blown off, his nerve
endings were severed as well so he felt no pain in the area that was gone. Even
if he could have slowed his descent he would not have lived very long. As it
happened, the rope he was affixed to became tangled around him during his
uncontrolled fall and quickly wrapped itself snakelike around his neck, his
own bodyweight asphyxiating him causing death from strangulation instead of
a slower death caused by excessive blood loss from the gunshot wound.
Back with the NSA team, Mika and Josef crawled out of the back of the
truck and were yelling at the agents, “Take the stupid crystals, we are going to
get Tannin.” Romero couldn’t believe what she was witnessing. She joined the
Agency to do good things, to save people. Exactly the opposite of what was
happening here. “Johnson, I am going with them, alone they could be killed. I
will help them search for the others and we will eventually make our way
back.”
Johnson was not happy about this, “Romero, you are being ordered back in
the truck, do not go rogue on me agent. We will not hold the aircraft for you.”
She apologized, “Sorry sir, I have too. With or without your support I am
going to help them, they need us.” Just then the flashing blue from police
lights and the wail of the sirens was moving closer towards them from up the
street a few blocks away. Hooper spoke up, “Let her go Johnson, we need to
roll or this will get real ugly when the police show up.” Johnson hit the button
to close the rear hatch of the SUV and slammed his door shut.
“Let’s go Hooper. You are on your own Romero. Good luck, I promise
you will need it.” The Suburban shuddered under the power of the V8 engine
as Hopper floored the accelerator and cranked the wheel as hard left as it
would go to pull a wide u-turn and clear the area. I looked at agent Romero.
She had basically just quit her career for my little brother. “Thank you” I said
to her. She replied, “Don’t thank me yet kid, save it for after we get your
brother.” She turned and ran into the lobby with Josef and me following her.
Bypassing the hallway to the elevators we ran up the stairwell. We were
moving as quickly as we could to get to the penthouse floor to find Tannin and
Fredrik.
Forty-Four was almost down to the sidewalk when he looked up and
saw Ivan’s body flying out of the window and hanging itself on the rappelling
rope. He quickly unbuckled his and Tannin’s harnesses and threw the boy
over his shoulder as he ran across the street to get back to his plane. He heard
running behind him and looked to see Thirty-Seven appear from the back of
the building now moving quickly on his heels. They both heard squealing
tires pealing out on the street behind them as they ran one more block to the
staircase leading down to the quay and their aircraft. Quickly Forty-Four
secured his hostage in the back seat making sure he couldn’t move an inch and
affixed an oxygen mask to his mouth. He began the preflight sequence as his
counterpart did the same thing to his aircraft.
Inside the penthouse, Fredrik couldn’t believe what just happened. He
shot his father. That would need some time to think about later, with the glass
blown out of the windows, he could hear the police sirens coming toward the
building. He decided to get to the others. He ran again toward the front door of
the apartment and this time right passed the elevator. Not wanting to wait for
the car to come up to him he chose instead to use the stairs. He went down the
first flight and then the second. He stopped to unlatch the door and swing it
open so he could continue down. He made it down two more flights of stairs
when he ran into Mikhailya, Josef and Romero. Mika was the first to speak.
“What are you doing here? Where is Tannin?” I was panting hard, trying
to catch my breath as I questioned him. He answered, tears welling up in his
eyes as he looked at me, “They took him Mika, I tried to stop them but they
took him.” Romero jumped in, “Who, who was it that took him?” “I don’t
know, he was dressed all in black and with my dad. I shot my dad Mika, I
killed him, he flew out the window, and he’s dead.” Fredrik was falling apart
now.
Romero’s training kicked in and she took charge. “Let’s go, we need to
get out of here now. If your brother is gone we will have to start over. If the
police catch us, we will never get a chance to save him. I am sure he is going
to be held ransom for the crystals, and the NSA has the crystals. With a little
luck we can get to him before they screw it all up. Come on, all of you follow
me, let’s get out of here and we will do everything we can to find your little
brother later.” On the next floor down, Romero kicked the back door open to
the fire escape outside. We started climbing down the ladder. Then suddenly,
the building shook as the top two floors exploded in a fiery eruption. The
scaffolding we were on shuddered. The swaying stopped and we hurried to the
bottom as flaming pieces of the penthouse flew through the air dropping all
around us and the police out front. Once we were down, we followed Romero
running through a few alley ways until we were clear of the building and the
chaos going on there now.
As the two KGB pilots silently lifted their aircraft up above the tree line
and prepared to quickly evacuate back to Russia, Forty-Four turned the nose
of his plane toward the apartment building they had just fled from. He pressed
a few red buttons on the control stick and a heads up display aiming
mechanism visualized in front of him. The pilot centered the crosshairs
directly over the upper two floors of the building and once they turned from
red to green, he squeezed the trigger launching two missiles from hidden
weapons bays under each wing.
The missiles were not stealth and they screamed across the short
distance completely obliterating their target and any evidence of the KGB in a
flaming inferno. Forty-Four pushed his aircraft higher and then when he
cleared the buildings he and Thirty-Seven silently flew through the night sky
over Paris and then out of France on their way back home to Russia. The
operation was three agents less than what it started with, but ended with a
worthy hostage and a large valuable crystal Rasputin will be pleased to have.
As Mika hurriedly followed the others down the back alleyways of
Paris, she wondered if she would ever see her little brother again. Right then
and there she promised herself she would spend every minute of the rest of her
life if needed to get him back, no matter the cost, no matter the cost at all.

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