BooksBarbecue
Back The Asset
Chapters (86)
  1. Foreword
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. 9
  11. 10
  12. 11
  13. 12
  14. 13
  15. 14
  16. 15
  17. 16
  18. 17
  19. 18
  20. 19
  21. 20
  22. 21
  23. 22
  24. 23
  25. 24
  26. 25
  27. 26
  28. 27
  29. 28
  30. 29
  31. 30
  32. 31
  33. 32
  34. 33
  35. 34
  36. 35
  37. 36
  38. 37
  39. 38
  40. 39
  41. 40
  42. 41
  43. 42
  44. 43
  45. 44
  46. 45
  47. 46
  48. 47
  49. 48
  50. 49
  51. 50
  52. 51
  53. 52
  54. 53
  55. 54
  56. 55
  57. 56
  58. 57
  59. 58
  60. 59
  61. 60
  62. 61
  63. 62
  64. 63
  65. 64
  66. 65
  67. 66
  68. 67
  69. 68
  70. 69
  71. 70
  72. 71
  73. 72
  74. 73
  75. 74
  76. 75
  77. 76
  78. 77
  79. 78
  80. 79
  81. 80
  82. 81
  83. 82
  84. 83
  85. 84
  86. Afterword

The man backed away from the car as the police sirens grew louder and louder. As Lance got into the driver’s seat, he saw the lights from the police in his rearview mirror. He put his foot down and the car lurched forward. He turned at the first side street, smashing the side of the car against a dumpster, and turned again at the next, losing a wing mirror to a stop sign.

He was dizzy with the drug, barely able to lift his foot from the gas pedal to the brake. He careened around a few more side streets, then took the ramp onto the Garden Ring, swerving into the faster moving traffic as cars and trucks blared their horns at him.

Above in the sky, he could see the red and blue lights of police helicopters closing in.

82

Tatyana sat in the Mercedes and watched the entrance of Igor’s apartment building. She’d been sitting there for hours and was beginning to wonder if he was going to show at all. Maybe he’d already gone into hiding.

The lab had been attacked. The Kremlin had been attacked. Timokhin was dead. He had to know they were coming for him.

She looked at her watch.

Olga and Sofia would be at the extraction point by now. The plane would be arriving shortly. If Igor didn’t show his ugly face soon, she’d have to decide between waiting for him and going to the extraction point.

She knew what her choice would be. There was no way she would leave without finding Igor.

It wasn’t just the mission.

It was personal.

Looking back now, if she was completely honest with herself, she’d always known it would end this way. Given how her career began, it was really the only way it could end.

The men who’d recruited her, who’d trained her, who’d forced her into the service of the GRU, she’d always seen them as the same men who’d killed her parents.

She’d tried to work with them. She’d tried to see herself as being on their side. They were compatriots.

But if she ever got close to feeling at one with them, they quickly did something to remind her of the truth.

Through their callousness, their lack of compassion, their inhumanity, her mother had been deprived of a thirty-eight cent Streptomycin dose that would have saved her life.

It was the same callousness that allowed a worn out freon pipe to kill her father.

How difficult was it to maintain a pipe?

How difficult was it to provide a simple medicine?

Yevchenko’s decision had been inexcusable. Over a thousand innocent people were dead in Yekaterinburg because of him.

How many of them were little girls, like Tatyana had been?

Little girls who would now grow up without parents, without protection?

Little girls who would fall prey to the vultures who presided over the country?