Kellen pulled the wooden crate closer to his chair and put his feet up as though he hadn’t a care in the world.
Of course, the presence of not one but two MK17 assault rifles sitting in his lap probably gave a more accurate impression of his state of readiness.
If that wasn’t enough to give the message to the Russians that Kellen meant business, he’d planted his chair right in the doorway to the room where the women were being held, making sure that nobody could actually get inside without going right through him first.
He glanced at his watch. Almost midnight.
Either something had gone badly wrong and they’d all been wiped out by the drug dealers, or the deal had gone as planned, and Ilya and his men had gone out somewhere to celebrate.
“Looky-looky!” Evan walked out from behind one of the vans the Russians had left behind, dragging a large wooden box behind him by a rope at one end.
When he got closer to the building, he dropped the end down, and lifted the hinged lid. His head ducked inside, and when he stood back upright, he was holding several assault rifles.
“Look what they had tucked in the back of the van? AK-9’s! Half a dozen of them, and enough ammo to start and finish a war.” Evan grinned. “From the look of the box, it was probably intercepted en-route to the Russian military.”
Logan strolled over and took one of the rifles from his friend.
“Looks like it’s never even been fired.” He commented, giving the weapon a serious inspection.
“If we’re expecting trouble when the Russian’s get back, it wouldn’t hurt if we confiscated these little beauties first.” Kris grinned, leaning in, digging around in the box. “Oh, baby, come to papa.”
Kris held up a couple of slim black tubes, still in their packaging.
“Silencers.” He grinned. “Just what we might need.”
“If you’re going to appropriate them, then I suggest you get them out of the box and out of sight.” Kellen nodded. “Put the box back where it came from and hope they don’t feel the need to go looking for them tonight.”
He watched as Kris, Logan and Evan emptied the box of the weapons, silencers and stack of ammo, and Evan grabbed the box and hauled it back where it came from. He reached into the driver’s side of the cab, and stepped back, dangling the keys from his finger.
“Might as well make it a bit more difficult for them to find out what we’ve done.” He grinned.
Kellen watched Evan walk to the back of the van and lock it up. Without stopping, he walked to the toilet block and stepped inside.
Kellen glanced at Logan who was standing watching his team-mate with a grin on his face.
“He wouldn’t, would he?” Kellen scrunched up his nose, not wanting to guess where Evan was going to dump the keys.
When Evan walked back out, he was wearing such a forlorn expression that Kellen couldn’t help but chuckle.
“What’s the matter, laddie?” Logan snorted. “Dropped yer keys somewhere?”
“I was just getting my hanky out to blow my nose, and they fell out of my pocket into the shitter.” Evan nodded, obviously trying not to grin. He held his hand out to show them his handkerchief. “At least I didn’t drop my hanky. My mum had it monogrammed for me. I’m supposed to keep it for best.”
“Best?” Kris frowned. “Best what?”
“You know…” Evan rolled his eyes. “Best! Special occasions. Best! Jeez, don’t you guys have shit you keep for when you need to look the part?”
“I have certain underwear for when I go visit the doctor.” Logan nodded. “You don’t want to be asked to drop your trousers only to show them the skid-marks on your skivvies.”
Kellen groaned in disgust as Kris and Yuri picked up some of the rifles.
“Where do you want these?” Yuri asked. “Will there be anywhere to store them on your truck? Yours is the only one that doesn’t carry any of Ilya’s men.”
“There’s a compartment under the seats that will probably be big enough to store two of them.” Kellen nodded. “There’s also the compartment between the cab and the container that usually contains tools and shit. We could probably fit the rest in there. Nobody ever goes in there, as it’s covered in oil and grime.”
“That’ll do.” Evan nodded picking up the rest of the silencers and some ammo.
Kellen grabbed the rest of the ammo and they made their way over to the truck.
“Keep it quiet.” Kellen warned, as he opened the door carefully.
He stopped to listen for noise, but there was no sound from within. There was no sign of Hollywood on the front seats either, which could only mean that he was in the back with Niko and Roman.
Not wanting to dwell on why Hollywood had found his way into the back, Kellen opened the under-seat compartment and held his hand out for Evan to pass him the rifles.
Once he had stored two rifles, two silencers and a bunch of ammo, he closed the compartment and stepped back.
Logan had already climbed up the outside of the cab and opened the tool box and was moving stuff around inside to make room for the rest of the rifles and ammo.
“Do we need all these tools?” Logan asked, holding up a big wrench.
“I’m guessing someone will need them if the truck breaks down.” Kellen shrugged. “Besides, they’ll come in handy if we need to whack anyone.”
“It’s Ok.” Evan jumped down. “They just about fit. Maybe in the morning you could tell Hollywood to try not to break down, Ok? The tools are at the bottom of the box, and he’s going to have to get all the rifles and ammo out to get to them.”
“I’ll make sure I pass that on.” Kellen turned back towards the building. “Did you check the other vehicles?”
“Yeah, nothing worth stealing.” Evan shook his head. “Unless you like porn magazines with topless women milking cows.”
Kellen stopped and turned to Evan in disbelief.
Evan stepped back and held up his hands.
“Man, if that’s your thing, it’s all cool.” He grinned. “No judgement here. I mean, those cows looked mighty perty, n’all.”
Kellen shook his head as he turned away.
“Take no notice of him.” Logan chuckled. “He’s spent too long away from his sheep. He’s lonely.”
Evan chuckled and flipped Logan off, but Kellen couldn’t help but smile. This was so much like being with his old Marine team it was surreal. The banter, the laughs, the camaraderie were all just the same.
Ok, the animal jokes were new, but there was always room for a fresh source of humour.
“I suggest you all check your weapons are locked and loaded.” Yuri was staring out into the darkness. “I think they’re on the way back.”
Kellen could just about make out headlights in the distance.
“Get yourselves armed and in position.” He instructed. “Evan, I want you and Logan to set your chairs so that you can see both sides of the truck where Niko and Roman are sleeping. I don’t want anyone sneaking up on Hollywood. Yuri, you and Kris stay with me, but keep your backs to the building so nobody can get on our blind-side.”
Everybody moved into position calmly but quickly, and by the time the first of the vans came through the opening where the roller doors had once been, Kellen was relaxing in his seat, his assault rifles propped up on his lap, just where he liked them.
The first van squealed to a halt on the far side of the warehouse, and about a dozen men piled out, laughing and cheering as though they’d been out for a night on the town.
Two more vans followed quickly and parked alongside the first, and Kellen watched in amusement as another half dozen half-drunk Russians fell out of the back door as one of their comrades pulled it open without giving any warning.
By the time the fourth van pulled in and unloaded, Kellen had counted around two dozen drunken Russians, all of them apparently looking for a bit of fun.
As they moved towards the building, they seemed to realise that there was a barrier to them getting where they wanted to be.
Kellen smiled at them in what he thought was a friendly way, noticing that the guy who had seemed in charge earlier was weaving his way to the front.
“Hey, American!” He slurred. “Fuck off, now. We want the women.”
Kellen didn’t flinch, he just smiled wider.
“Sorry, Bogdan.” He shook his head. “Got my orders. No women for you.”
By now, half of his comrades had arrived, and the guy was feeling brave.
“Not your women.” Bogdan pointed at Kellen. “You fuck off. Our women.”
Kellen glanced over at Kris.
“I don’t think he understands me very well.” He shrugged. “Do you want to explain it to him in a language he understands?”
“Sure thing.” Kris grinned at him, standing and walking up to the drunken Russian. Without blinking, Kris lifted his semi-automatic pistol and pressed it against the man’s groin.
“Our women, not yours.” He said menacingly into the man’s face, not bothering to switch into Russian. “Take the food and fuck off back to your vans, or I’m going to shoot your fucking dick off.”
As he delivered the last few words, Kris jerked the gun harder into the guy’s groin, causing not just the drunk, but half of his friends to wince in anticipation.
Kellen watched the other men back off, and as he did, Kris nodded to them, smiling.
“Yeah, that’s right fellas. Go and sleep it off.”
Kellen kept each of his index fingers on the triggers of the two guns sitting on his lap, thankful as always for being ambidextrous.
Gradually the men backed off to a reasonable distance, not happy, but not willing to stand up and be counted in support of the asshole still worrying about his cock and balls.
“Now, you can fuck off as well!” Kris snarled into Bogdan’s face, finally getting the message home as the idiot backed off, one hand going to his groin to make sure his equipment was still intact.
Kellen watched carefully the number of Russians with their hands inside their jackets. Were they reaching for their guns to start trouble, or were they just readying themselves to defend if Kellen and the Guardians started shooting?
As soon as they’d backed off far enough for Kellen to feel comfortable, he glanced towards Kris with one eyebrow raised.
“Is that what you call your ‘subtle’ approach?” He suggested.
Kris turned his head slightly, so he caught Kellen’s eye.
“It worked well enough, didn’t it?” He shrugged. “Thankfully, none of them were willing to test whether or not I’d actually shoot.”
Bogdan shouted something in Russian and pointed to the bags of food.
Whatever he said was enough to take at least half of the men’s minds off the women in the building behind him, and there was a general scramble for the bags.
Kellen watched in amusement as grown men fought over bread and cold cuts, but fight they did until he thought someone was going to pull a gun.
Eventually they settled down, and the majority of them went to sit near one of the bigger vans.
“Keep an eye on them.” Kellen stretched his legs out to make it look like he was relaxing. “See those half-dozen men on the far left? They don’t seem as drunk as the rest, and they look like they’ve still got a mind to cause trouble.”
Yuri turned his chair, so he could put his feet up next to Kellen’s on the box.
“I’ve got them directly in my line of sight. I’ll keep an eye on whatever they’re up to.” He murmured.
“At least they don’t appear to have brought any alcohol back with them.” Kellen glanced around. “Give them ten minutes for the food to settle in their bellies, and I reckon most of them will be fast asleep.”
Kellen sat back in his seat and waited for his prediction to come true. He knew the feeling well, where you got home from a night of drinking, shoved some food inside you and were often snoring before you’d swallowed the last mouthful.
Thankfully this lot were mostly built of the same stuff, and within half an hour, all but the half dozen troublemakers were passed out, either on the ground or in the back of vans.
“Bogey at one o’clock.” Yuri murmured, and Kellen turned his head in time to see one of the men get up slowly, pretend to stretch, and then casually make his way around the back of one of the vans.
“Either he’s about to take a piss, or he’s going for the guns we ‘appropriated’. We’ll soon find out which.” Kris nodded.
It was only a few seconds before they saw the van begin to wobble, and Kellen realised that the guy must be trying to pull open the locked doors.
The van stilled for a few seconds and then the rocking started again.
“I can see him at the driver’s door.” Yuri said quietly. “He’s getting pissed because he can’t work out why it won’t open.”
“Well, at least we have a good idea what their plan was going to be.” Kellen said with a smile. “Good job Evan found the guns when he did.”
The guy returned to his friends, and they saw him mutter something. Another guy shouted at him, standing up and pushing the first guy back.
The second man, who was taller and broader than the first, marched over to the van and tugged on the door, not making any pretence of hiding what he was doing.
When it obviously wasn’t going to open, he marched around the van trying to open the other doors.
By the time he came back to his friends, Kellen could see the guy was furious, and he started yelling and screaming at them, presumably to find out who had pocketed the keys.
Kellen turned and glanced at Yuri.
“Can you hear what he’s saying?” He murmured.
“Oh, yeah.” Yuri smiled. “He’s got them turning out their pockets to find the keys, so they can get inside to get their rifles. If they can’t find the keys, he’s told them they’re going to have to attack us with only their side-arms. Naturally, the more sober of the six of them aren’t keen on that idea, as they’ve all seen what you have on your lap. That means the group is pretty much split in half.”
Just when it seemed as though the dispute could go either way, Kellen heard the squeal of more tyres, and a large black Mercedes cruised into the warehouse.
Everyone was instantly alert. Well, Kellen thought, those that were actually still conscious were instantly alert. Nobody wanted to deal with a potentially drunken Ilya.
The driver’s door opened wide, but instead of Ilya, Kellen was mightily relieved to see Drago step out.
Drago glanced at Ilya’s men, and must have seen that the ones still awake were looking far from calm.
He shouted something at them in Russian, and one by one they sat down, looking defeated, if still a little pissed.
Once they were no longer looking like they were about to cause trouble, Drago turned and walked towards the Guardians.
“Everything Ok?” He grinned at Kellen. “Ilya’s men give you any hassle?”
“They looked like they were about to.” Kellen nodded towards the trouble-makers. “And if we hadn’t confiscated some of their weapons earlier, it could have ended in a lot of bloodshed. But we did, and it didn’t, so we’re all good, I guess.”
Drago looked around the warehouse.
“Where are Niko and Roman?” He glanced at the truck. “Asleep?”
“I guess so.” Kellen nodded. “Hollywood is in there with them, keeping them from coming to any harm.”
“Hollywood? Why him?” Drago frowned. “He’s one of your biggest guys. He’d have been more of an asset out here, wouldn’t he?”
“He’s also one of the truck drivers, and he’s going to be back on the road at the crack of dawn, or whenever Ilya decides it’s time to set out.” Kellen pointed out reasonably. “You can’t expect him to stay up half the night and then drive all the next day, can you? At least the rest of us can try and catch some sleep while we’re on the road tomorrow.”
“I guess that makes sense.” Drago shrugged. “Well, if you’ve already confiscated the weapons, I suggest you keep hold of them.”
“Expecting trouble?” Yuri frowned.
“Always.” Drago chuckled. “But not especially tomorrow. We’ve just got a long journey ahead of us through the mountains, and where we’ll be stopping is even more remote than this place. It’s between two towns, miles from anywhere. Ilya likes it because it’s one of those places where you can see anything coming for miles around. It gives him a sense of security.”
“I’m guessing that will leave us with a bunch of bored Russian thugs to keep in line.” Kellen guessed.
“Yeah, but at least there’ll be no alcohol around.” Drago laughed. “Besides, I’ll be here tomorrow, so if anyone is going to start any trouble, the first person they’ll have to get through is me.”
“Good to know.” Kellen nodded.
“Listen, if half of you want to get some sleep, I’m more than happy to sit out here for a few hours.” Drago suggested. “I’m not tired, and I’m not driving in the morning either, so it’s no problem. I can probably outlast those assholes at staying awake too. Once they’re all asleep, they won’t cause you any further trouble tonight.”
Kellen nodded at Yuri and Kris.
“One of you two can get some sleep and tell Evan and Logan that one of them should do the same.” He nodded. “We can switch out in a few hours, so everyone gets some shut-eye.”
Drago watched them get organised as to who was going to bunk down first, and as soon as Yuri wandered over towards the truck, he lowered his big frame into the chair the big Russian had vacated.
“So, how do you normally pass the time?” Drago grinned. “Cards? Talking?”
Kellen smiled.
“Talking mostly. Shooting the breeze.” He admitted. “Or if Hollywood’s around, we usually refer to it as ‘talking shit’.”
Drago chuckled as he leaned back and put his boots up on Kellen’s makeshift stool.
“Well, as Hollywood is otherwise engaged, how about we trade war stories.” He suggested. “I’ll tell you mine and you can tell me yours.”
“I’m guessing we’re going to have had a good many experiences in common.” Kellen shrugged.
“Well, I guess we should start with the one place we’ll both have in common then…” Drago frowned. “Afghanistan?”
Kellen nodded. Those stories would probably keep both of them up until dawn.