Gunslinger

They spent two weeks hunting.
In relay they travelled to Tallinn, the lakes and everywhere surrounding taking pictures by the hundred as slowly Matt and Charlie built up a digital picture to map against the old photographs and evidence. All the government files had been locked down now, even more so once Syn and Zacky had gone back with Jimmy to the caves, blowing the whole lot in one glorious riot of sound. Unfortunately for the mob cronies down there and the nearby Spetnaz who shouldn’t have even been there in the first place. There was now a full blown international incident between Estonia and Russia that only made things easier for Johnny. He imagined Hicks was fuming by now.
His own problems were closer to home. Both Matt and Johnny had begun a subtle game with Charlie, merely the dropped comment here and an insistence on keeping her in sight that they knew was starting to rattle the girl and lead somewhere. Matt firmly believed that Ana was involved, the link back to Mysenko and the clubs made it fit but Johnny had pointed out that neither had attempted anything that would hint that the gang was in trouble. Zacky was fiercely protective of Charlotte, rarely letting her venture outside without himself or his twin while Syn and Ana were joined at the hip. Johnny still felt that something was out but it wasn’t becoming obvious.
Or so he thought.
“They fucking know.”
“No. They don’t. If they knew we would be in some deep shit. Now fucking relax.”
Ana leant forward toward the bathroom mirror and prodded the remaining bruise on her forehead trying to see if there was any sign of a scar. The progress was too slow for her liking although they had narrowed the search down to the far side of the lake. A section of dense woodland and undisturbed land that would take some serious equipment to get through and still no sign that they were any closer to finding the cache. It was a ghost thing, a myth in the making and Ana was having doubts that were not helped by Charlotte pacing behind her. Finally she turned, a smirk playing across her features.
“Johnny is a hard man but he’s not stupid, there was always a risk about this and I told you that.”
Charlotte stopped, her hands nervously fluttering to the back of her neck. Talking about it while they were trapped in the brothel had been exciting, Ana’s tales of mercenaries and nazi gold had been an escape route from brutality, she hadn’t counted on the danger of live ammunition and the fact that she had fallen hopelessly in love with Zacky. This beautiful man with green eyes who had promised that he would never let anyone hurt her, he would be her lover and her protector and Charlie now wanted that almost as much as the money.
“Would he….kill us ?”
“Over this ? No but I still wouldn’t particularly want to be on the receiving end when any of them are that pissed off. Besides, all we actually wanted was the cash and to bring Mysenko down. As plans go, it’s still working out.”
Ana refused to meet Charlotte’s eyes and both women knew that part had been a lie. Ana had wanted her friends caught up somewhere between the mob and the secret police leaving them to walk away and getting revenge on everyone concerned for what had happened. Charlie knew her friend hadn’t banked on falling for her ex but that was still fragile and they all had a lot to lose. Ana sighed and brushed her hair back over the healing bruises.
“Working out but he knows…and Matt is definitely suspicious.”
Ana rolled her eyes and hugged her friend, the big bathroom was useful for girly gossip but she knew the others would be downstairs working, getting ready to hit the lake again and she wanted food before that happened. Danielle was back up albeit on crutches and she had taken the watch with Matt and Charlotte at the lodge while the others went out each day. Jimmy was not liking the leaving her part but he was enjoying the dynamite that had been employed on a quarry area, the ridiculous site of Syn in a hardhat trying to negotiate in Russian was even more amusing. That thought in her head Ana opened the bathroom door and stopped.
“We could always tell them the truth.”
Charlotte flushed and was tempted to smack the smirk from Ana’s face as the two women went back down into the big living room. Jimmy was helping Danielle negotiate the furniture on crutches and earning the occasional whack across the shins as Syn yelled encouragement and Matt smiled at the two newcomers.
“I swear to god Jimmy, I will brain you with this in a minute.”
“You have to lean into it!”
Jimmy avoided the next blow and swigged from a can of beer as Johnny returned from the garden, the habitual map under his arm. Zacky appeared behind him, smiling at Charlotte as she moved to him and they all accepted coffees from Dani as the day’s plans were laid out. Charlotte and Zacky were on home guard duty with Jimmy and Danielle. Matt and Dani were going into Tallinn with Johnny to recon some churches leaving Syn and Ana to go back to the lake. He was pretty sure they were onto something there, more underground tunnels at least.
“Got word from our buddy Denisoff that some guys in suits were around showing pictures of us so we have to expect company sooner or later.”
Johnny smirked as Zacky and Syn exchanged a glance, the twins were bored and wanted blood and a damn good fight. They had been doing a good job and Johnny was confident that things were back in control but he didn’t need a bloodbath. Dani had taken a crash course in Russian from Ana and was doing a good job at making sure they fitted in as tourists while walking around the city. Now he needed to know what Charlotte and Ana were involved in, it had quickly become clear to him that somehow his old friend was caught up in this and that made it dangerous.
“Can we take some dynamite ?”
“No Ana.”
Can we take some vodka ?”
“No Syn, jesus just find me something valuable.”
Syn laughed and ruffled Johnny’s hair, grabbing his girl’s ass as they made their way out into the cold. The jeep ride had become familiar and they half listened to the radio and discussed how best to get further into the tunnels as the miles stretched out. The men on the gate paid them no interest, the fake ID’s that put them as geosurveyors on the project meant they could wander the site freely and Ana was fairly sure that she could wangle explosives at a push. Both were discreetly armed, not that Gates really needed it, killing with his bare hands was no problem.
“The way I see it, has to be about two meters under the lake.”
Ana shook her head and smiled as Syn fixed the guide rope to her harness, the excuse to steal a kiss and a grope not passing him by. The idea of not only being underground but underwater didn’t exactly fill her with much enthusiasm.
“Bloody hope not. Wouldn’t that have flooded by now ?”
“Not if they built it right.”
His grin infuriated her but Ana giggled and followed him down the ladder and into the dripping tunnels. It was a long way into the ground and Syn checked again that the bag containing Matt’s equipment was watertight. Didn’t want his buddy to break his nose over getting his toys wet. Ana continued to look up at the dripping ceiling and murmur oaths in Russian that Syn now understood. The door at the end of the passage was never locked and Syn was still turned towards her as they pushed it open. Ana was looking the other way, her head spinning at the sound of something hard hitting bone before someone’s fist tightened in her hair and she was dragged into the darkened room.
Syn was on the floor and out cold, a man in black standing over him with an iron bar and taser. Ana tried hard to fight back, her arms twisted painfully back as three of them held on grimly despite the kicking and swearing. Another man came into view from the back of the room and her eyes widened before she glanced back down to her lover and then back at the one person in the world she truly hated.
“This is between us Alexei, let him go.”
Alexei Mysenko merely smiled, he had been waiting to see the bitch squirm for a long time and he remembered the arrogant yankee well. Now both would pay and he would get the added bonus of taking the cache from them too. Cazz was more amenable, more disposable but nobody stole from Mysenko and lived. She was his property too and now promised as slave to a sadistic friend who loved frail western girls.
“No, no he is part of this. His friends will pay handsomely for his return no ?”
“Fuck you.”
Now he did laugh and Ana lunged at him, ignoring the pain in her arms and the hard slap that split her lip. She contented herself in spitting at him as Mysenko nudged Syn with his foot. The small room seemed full of big men and she wondered how they had found them. Both of them could usually spot a tail a mile off which suggested that the fat mobster actually had some decent staff for once. She tried to memorise the movements, hoping to identify them later when she had the rest of the team and some serious firepower.
“You can fuck me later, I know you enjoy it.”
Ana spat at him again and this time Mysenko himself slapped her and harder, Ana’s head reeling from the blow as the two large men holding her dragged her further into the room. He leant down with a puff, turning Syn’s head so she could see the thin trickle of blood before pulling an ornate pistol and pressing it against his skull.
“Maybe I just kill him now.”
“No, you won’t. If you kill him you will never get Cazz or the cache. Johnny and Zack would hunt you down and believe me, nothing you did to me would come close to what those boys can do.”
Mysenko nodded, the bitch had always been smart and the plan did not involve killing this man yet. When he had what he wanted they could all die and Ana would be left to watch and live on. A perfect punishment. He stood up, signalling to the two men to let Ana go now that they had their backs to the door. She watched them haul Syn to his feet, his head still lolling as Mysenko kept his gun trained on her.
“You tell them to call me on that number and we will negotiate. We know where you have been looking and we know where the Spetnaz are now. You try and come for us it will end in his death.”
Ana picked up the scrap of paper and stared balefully at the men as they stripped her of weapons and cell phone. She would have to either persuade the workers up top to let her use the phone or hope that the batteries in the emergency one in the car still held charge. Either way the fat bastard would have a head start. Her eyes continued to watch Syn as they dragged him away and locked her in the small room, Mysenko peering back through the bars at her.
“You should never have ran.”
“You should never have touched him. Dead man walking.”
His laugh echoed down the corridor and Ana slammed her fist into the wall. She spent precious minutes hunting around for a piece of metal she could bend into a hook and then more working it out through the bars and into the lock. She refused to let herself think about what they might do to Syn, he was valuable alive but it didn’t mean they wouldn’t torture him for information. It seemed to take forever but finally the lock clanged and she was away, running down the corridor to the ladder and hauling herself up above ground. It was still and quiet, no sign on the ground of where they might have taken him and Ana ran till she thought her lungs would burst to get to the car.
One tiny bar on the phone still shone from its position in the inside of the spare wheel arch and her hands shook as she grabbed it. Johnny would know what to do, Johnny would make them give him back to her. Ana’s Johnny, the man that had always loved her would get Syn back and make them all scream.
Her face took on an eerie smile as the phone began to ring.

Notes