Hollywood dropped to the ground on the driver’s side and was around to the passenger’s side before Niko’s feet could hit the ground.
One look at Ilya’s men really did make him wish he’d thought to bring a Kevlar vest in Niko’s size. If he had to hazard a guess, Hollywood reckoned that at least half of the men were armed, even if only with handguns.
If… correction, make that ‘when’ the shit hit the fan, there were gonna be bullets flying around in every direction, which meant that the last thing he needed when that happened was to have Niko or Roman anywhere close to the action.
Hollywood glanced across and saw Yuri and Kris walking towards them, and he was relieved to see they both seemed to be wearing their vests under their shirts.
He followed close behind Niko as she walked over to some of Ilya’s regular guys and was happier when they met up with his fellow Guardians halfway.
When Niko stopped about twenty feet short and glared at Ilya’s men, Yuri casually turned his back to the group and waited.
Niko yelled something at the men, and Hollywood was impressed that she managed to sound so menacing.
“She wants to know where the women are supposed to be housed.” Yuri murmured the translation, and for the first time Hollywood turned and took a really good look around the huge shed.
There were no inner walls at all, save for one small construction that could pass for an outhouse, which presumably contained some sort of toilet. All that he could see was some fencing made up of steel railings along two sides.
A few of the men shrugged at Niko’s question, still engrossed in their conversation with the new-comers.
“I asked where the women were supposed to sleep.” Niko’s temper was seriously fraying as she switched to English. “Do you want to explain that to me, or would you rather explain it to my brother?”
Bogdan, the guy Hollywood recognised from earlier as having the most attitude turned to Niko with a sneer.
“This is your brother’s place.” He swept his arms around. “Ilya, he knows it looks like this. Maybe he don’t care where the women sleep. Hmm?”
Hollywood hated to admit that the guy was probably right, and that Ilya really didn’t give a shit where the women slept.
“Hey, little girl, why don’t you come over here and sit on my cock?” One of the group shouted over at her, grabbing his crotch for effect.
Hollywood stepped a little closer to Niko and stared at the guy.
“Why don’t you come over here and I’ll see if I can find your cock.” He smiled. “If I can, maybe I’ll cut it off and give it to Bogdan, so he can suck you off.”
Hollywood folded his arms with the automatic pistol still in his hand, making sure all of Ilya’s men could see it.
The guy with the big mouth looked like he was going to get up and start something, but then a couple of his friends said something in Russian, possibly translating Hollywood’s offer for the benefit of the others, and they all started teasing him.
Thankfully, in less than five seconds, he became more pissed with them than with Hollywood, so Hollywood took the chance to speak to Niko quietly, so they wouldn’t be overheard.
“Those railings form a pen in the corner, and the railings on the next pen are missing, giving us room to park one of the trucks.” He pointed out, nodding at the corner. “If we reverse the trucks in at right angles to square it off, we can easily guard them from the inside, making sure the women don’t get out, and with just the one entrance, we can stand guard to make sure none of Ilya’s men can get in.”
“We’ll have to stay awake all night if need be.” Niko murmured.
“It’s a much better solution than leaving them on the trucks all night. The temperature will be unbearable, and they have no bathroom facilities.” Hollywood pointed out.
“There are no bathroom facilities here, either.” Niko looked around.
“There are some bales of hay we can stack up, and if we can find a bucket, then it’s better than nothing.” Hollywood suggested.
Niko scrunched up her nose, obviously not keen on using the ‘facilities’ herself.
“Ok, you and your guys organise the women, and I’ll get Roman and find out where the food is.” Niko nodded.
Hollywood was reluctant to leave Niko unguarded for even a second, but as she was already on her way back to Kellen and Roman, he jogged over to speak to the other Guardians.
“We’re going to have to keep the women in the pen for now, until we can get them all out.” He explained. “Once they’ve been offloaded from the trucks, we’ll back two trucks in to create the effect of having walls. If Ilya or anyone questions it, we can just say that we’re making sure the women can’t escape, and that we can keep guard over them more easily.”
Kris nodded in agreement.
“It’ll definitely make it much harder for Ilya’s men to get to them, and trying will have far less appeal for them, if they know they have to get through us first.” He acknowledged.
“What it will also do, is give the rescue team a chance to get the women out underneath the steel panels that make up the walls. Have you noticed that the pens aren’t built on a concrete floor?” Hollywood glanced away from where the others were now looking. “If that’s earth all the way down, the rescue team could dig their way in once it’s dark, with little or no chance of being spotted with the trucks in the way. We could get the women out before anyone ever noticed.”
“It would make it a whole lot easier to have them out of the way when the time came to take on Ilya and his men.” Logan nodded. “But what about Niko? Will she go? Or will she stay with her brother.”
Hollywood thought he knew the answer, but it wasn’t a sure thing by any means.
“I’ll tell her at the last possible moment, so she doesn’t have a chance to think about it.” He couldn’t do much else. “And if she doesn’t go willingly, I’ll grab her and the kid and drag them out if I have to. She is not going down with Ilya out of some misguided sense of family loyalty.”
“Let’s start getting the women off the trucks.” Evan nodded. “If we start with ours because it’s the closest, it’s also the easiest one to reverse into place to block Ilya’s men’s view of what’s going on. Hopefully they won’t take an interest until the women are all tucked away.”
“Do it quietly.” Logan cautioned. “We don’t want Ilya’s men to check on what we’re doing, or worse, to come over and help us.”
Yuri and Kris wandered to the back of the truck Evan and Logan had been travelling in, and opened it up quietly, making sure they didn’t throw the door right back and attract unwanted attention.
Hollywood watched Kris climb up and make his way through the box tunnel to the hatch-like door to the compartment where the women were being held.
He opened it quietly, and beckoned the women out, holding his finger to his lips to let them know to be quiet.
One of the first to crawl through the opening was the woman Niko had been talking to, and he surprised her by offering her a hand to help her down.
She accepted his help somewhat reluctantly, and he pointed towards the pen, urging her to lead the rest of the women inside. Yuri murmured something to her as she passed, and her head shot up immediately.
Yuri nodded and smiled, but like his brother, he touched his finger to his lips, reminding her to be quiet.
It felt like forever before they were all unloaded, but in reality, it was probably no more than five minutes.
“Get the other trucks unloaded before we move this one.” Hollywood pulled his phone from his pocket and leaned against the truck as though he didn’t have a care in the world. “Once they’re all in the same place it will be easier to protect them.”
He started to type a message to Hannah, keeping one eye on Ilya’s men as he did so.
“No separate room, so women held in pen in south-west corner. SF should be able to dig under corrugated steel wall once it gets dark, to get all the women out. Once they’re clear, the rest of the Hungarians can move in to take down Ilya’s men.”
Hollywood hit send and waited, pretending that he was still typing on his phone.
Seconds later Hannah’s reply came back.
“Best plan I’ve heard all day. I’ll have the men in position. We haven’t got as many men as I would have liked, but then again, I wasn’t expecting Ilya to have his own army. Just give me the signal to let me know when we can start moving the women out. Are you in a position to activate your body cameras? Would really like some audio and visuals.”
“Will the battery life last long enough?” Hollywood had avoided using it, not only because it meant putting his jacket on when it was so hot, but also because Hannah had warned that they only had around six hours of battery power.
“Yeah, should do. If this isn’t over by the time they run out, then we’re probably in bigger trouble for other reasons.”
Hollywood smiled to himself. The little pixie wasn’t wrong, that was for sure.
“Ok. Will check in once comms are live.”
He walked over to where Logan and Evan were apparently shooting the breeze.
“Hannah wants the body cameras live, so that means getting your jackets on. Make sure you have your earpieces ready for when the op kicks off, as Hannah will be able to feed us information.” He informed them.
“Shit, I was hoping we wouldn’t need the cameras.” Evan complained. “Didn’t you point out it’s fucking hot in here?”
“I didn’t, no.” Hollywood admitted with a smile. “That’s because when I’m given orders by our operational leader, I’m old enough and experienced enough not to question them.”
Evan shrugged as though the thought hadn’t occurred to him.
“I’ll grab ours out of the back of the cab.” He strolled off casually.
“At least half of Ilya’s men look like they’re dressed for winter.” Logan pointed out. “We won’t look too out of place.”
“That’s because it’s not high summer here yet.” Hollywood grinned. “Until it gets up into the nineties or above, they still think it’s winter.”
Logan chuckled.
“They sound like the opposite of your typical Scot, then. Unless it gets below freezing point, we generally think of it as a nice summer day.”
“Keep your eyes on Ilya’s men.” Hollywood said casually. “I’ll go and speak to Yuri and Kris.
Hollywood approached his Russian team-mates just as they finished unloading the second truck.
“Hannah wants your body cameras activated so they can follow what’s going on.” He informed them. “If you can get the third truck emptied, then while I’m moving the trucks into place, you two can get your jackets on. Have your earpieces ready for when we go live.”
Hollywood was impressed with how efficiently Yuri and Kris got the women unloaded, and how with just a few words to the women, he got them to co-operate without a murmur.
“What are you telling them?” He asked Yuri.
“I’ve told a few of the older ones to look for tunnels appearing under the walls, and not to sit too close.” Yuri smiled. “The older women have plenty of common sense about them. I don’t trust the younger ones not to freak out.”
“Good thinking.” Hollywood grinned.
Out of the corner of his eye, Hollywood noticed a movement, and turned to watch as Niko climbed down from the truck. Kellen followed her down with Roman clinging on to him, with his arms wrapped around Kellen’s neck.
His friend was already wearing his jacket, with Hollywood’s jacket wrapped around Roman.
They walked over to where Hollywood and Yuri were standing, and Kellen casually handed him his jacket.
“We need to get the food from the vans.” Niko informed them.
“Evan and Logan can help you with that while I get the trucks in place.” Hollywood explained. “Once the women are effectively locked off, it will be much easier to defend them against an attack by a drunken mob.”
“Ok, but can you get it done quickly?” Niko frowned. “I want the women fed and under our control long before those idiots get drunk off their faces. God only knows what trouble they could start if they decide to go after the women.”
Hollywood quietly climbed up into the cab of the truck and started the engine.
One way or another, he had a feeling that quite a few of Ilya’s men wouldn’t live to see the morning light.
How many died and how soon, would depend entirely on whether or not they thought the women were fair game.