Prime (Chess Team Adventure, #0.5)

Zelda adjusted her aim, putting the targeting dot on the narrow sliver of Rainer’s torso that was visible behind Sasha, but in the instant it took her to do so, he moved, ducking out of view.

With no shot, Zelda took a step back, bumping into the solid mass of Erik Somers who was entering the room right behind her, still unaware of what she had found.

“Contact!” she shouted.

Before either of them could move another step, Rainer’s arm extended past Sasha. There was something dark in his fist, and there was just enough time for Zelda’s brain to recognize that it was a gun, before Rainer pulled the trigger.





TWENTY-FOUR


Sasha was only vaguely aware of the intrusion, at least up until Rainer’s pistol thundered right beside her.

The noise was so loud it hurt her ears, and she jerked involuntarily in her seat. The blonde woman standing in the doorway jerked as well, stumbling backward as Rainer’s bullet punched into her chest. Rainer yanked Sasha to her feet and dragged her away from the table…away from her laptop.

Panic flashed through her, but it wasn’t fear for her life that set her heart pounding. “No!” she shrieked. “Not now. Let me finish!”

She couldn’t tell if she said it out loud; all she could hear was a ringing in her ears. Rainer gave no indication that he heard her. Holding her in front of him like a shield, he began advancing toward the doorway. The fingers of his left hand were curled around her biceps, but his right hand, which rested on her shoulder, no longer held a pistol. Instead, he clutched a round green object, about the size of a baseball—a hand grenade with the safety pin already removed.

No…let me finish.

This time there were no words. Sasha tried to look back, to reach out for the laptop, but her captor gave her a rough shake, asserting his dominance.

I was so close.

The variables swirled out of control in her head, screaming like white noise.

A large man dragged the blonde—Sasha couldn’t tell if the woman was still alive—out of the doorway, retreating from before Rainer, who advanced relentlessly behind his human shield. Rainer thrust her out into the open, staying behind cover. Sasha saw the large man and the blonde woman, as well as three other men, one of whom she recognized from Iraq. The woman was struggling free of the big man’s grip—evidently, she was not seriously injured, but the others had their guns aimed at the doorway…at her.

“Bravo, Jack,” Rainer called out from behind her. “You made it. I’m impressed. And you got yourself some new Mouseketeers. I guess there were some openings on the team.”

When no one answered his taunt, he continued, “I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that you’ve got orders to keep this one alive, right? Otherwise, this place would already be a smoking crater. I’m right, aren’t I? Let’s test it and see.”

Sasha was nudged forward again, out into the open.

One of the men spoke. He was the one Sasha recognized. “Kevin, I want to keep her alive only a little bit more than I want you dead, so I guess it’s your lucky day. Let her go, and that will be the end of it.”

Rainer laughed mirthlessly. “You know, I almost believe you, Jack. You’ve got this whole ‘honor’ thing going on; it’s why I didn’t even think about asking you to join me for this paycheck. No, I think I’ll do this my way.” He waggled the hand grenade. “You might want to stand back.”

Sasha was abruptly yanked backward, down the hallway, deeper into the building’s interior. She caught a last glimpse of the five commandos before Rainer pulled her through another doorway and into a stairwell leading up. His earlier deliberate stride now gave way to a haste that seemed to verge on panic. He darted up the stairs, two at a time, nearly dragging Sasha along, but she barely noticed. The only thing that mattered to her was the ever-increasing distance between herself and the answer she had been so close to uncovering.

“You have to let me go back,” she managed to say. “My computer.”

“I’ll get you a new one.” Rainer didn’t slow. He reached the second-story landing and burst through the door into a hallway that was nearly identical to the one below. He pulled her to the second door on the right and threw it open. Sasha couldn’t see past him, but she heard him say: “Richard! Company’s here.”

“Who?”

Sasha recognized the voice of Rainer’s employer.

“Does it matter? We need to get out of here.” Rainer dragged Sasha to another door and barked commands to his two co-conspirators, ordering them to join him. Then he hastened back into the stairwell, hauling her up the next flight, with the other men close behind.

“Where are we going?” Richard demanded.

Rainer answered without looking back. “The helicopter. They’ll probably be covering it with snipers, but they won’t do anything to jeopardize her.” Then he added, “I hope.”

Sasha’s eyes found Richard’s. “I have to go back,” she pleaded. “My computer is down there.”

The man just shook his head.