Hollywood grabbed Niko’s hand and pulled her along with him, not prepared to let her out of his sight now he knew the truth.
He’d prayed that she was their informant, desperate to not discover that she was as evil as her brother, and finally, he had the proof that he’d been longing for.
He pulled his earpiece out of his pocket and put it in, tapping on his coat button as he did.
“Hannah, honey? Did you catch that? We’ve got our confirmation.” Hollywood said quietly, keeping his head lowered so he was talking into his chest. “Unfortunately, Ilya’s on his way back, off his face on coke, and he’s bringing a van load of serious hardware with him. Rifles and grenades and shit. He could be here any minute, so we’re not going to have time to start the extraction, or he could see our guys on the way in.”
“I heard most of it, but you’ve filled in the gaps. I’m glad you got Niko to admit her connection.” Hannah’s voice sounded like she was standing next to him. “I’m going to tell our team to hold off until Ilya’s safely inside, and then I’ll let you know when we’re in position and ready to start digging.”
“Ok, I’ll message you when we’re ready to start moving them out.” Hollywood agreed.
“There’s just one thing I need to clarify with you.” Hannah hadn’t finished. “We’re getting a dozen or so obscured heat signals coming from a building about two hundred metres north of you, roughly facing the entrance to the building you’re in. Can you see what’s there? It just looks like another derelict warehouse from where I’m sitting, looking at the satellite image, but maybe you can see more from where you are.”
“I’ll check with the guys, hold on.” Hollywood turned to his team-mates.
“Did any of you see any activity at any of the buildings to the north as we came in?” He asked, looking around at each of their faces. “Hannah is getting heat signals and can’t work out if it’s a genuine operation, or if something else is going on.”
“I didn’t see anything.” Kris shook his head. “And I didn’t see any buildings that looked like they may actually be open for business. They all looked derelict.”
When the others shook their heads, Hollywood relayed the news to Hannah.
“Ok. Well, until we can rule them out as a potential threat, I’ll have Abbey keep an eye on them.” She confirmed.
Hollywood had just signed off, when he turned and noticed the expression on Niko’s face. She was deathly pale and looked as though she was in shock.
“Are you Ok, sweetheart?” He ran his hand down her arm and linked his fingers with hers. “Niko? Are you alright?”
“Who are you?” She whispered. “What are you doing here?”
“It’s Ok, Niko. We’re part of the rescue team. Everything’s going to be alright now.” He pulled her closer and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, noticing that she seemed to be shaking. “It’s all Ok now, Niko. You’re going to be safe. You and Roman, both.”
Before she had a chance to respond, they all heard the squealing of tyres, and Niko stepped away from him just as the first of the two vans almost crashed through the doors, barely avoiding a head on collision with the nearest truck.
The van skidded to a halt, and the driver’s door was flung open, and Hollywood watched as Ilya Federov almost face-planted on the floor in his attempt to climb out quickly.
Niko started to step forward to help him as he staggered to his knees, but Hollywood held her arm to hold her back.
“Let one of Ilya’s men pick him up.” He murmured. “He won’t thank you for interfering.”
Niko stood silently and watched her brother struggle to his feet, laughing as though he thought it was the funniest thing in the world.
When his men made the mistake of laughing with him, Ilya obviously didn’t like the idea, and threw out a punch at the poor unfortunate asshole who was standing closest to him.
For a guy who could barely keep his feet underneath him, he packed one helluva punch, and taking the guy by surprise, had him flat on his back unconscious with just the one shot.
Ilya’s men cheered him as though he was a deity, and Ilya stood upright and threw his arms out, accepting their applause like he was a king.
When the second van stopped, more of Ilya’s men piled out, and as Ilya greeted a few of the newcomers like they were long-lost friends, Hollywood watched someone haul Drago from the back of the first van.
As he stumbled forward, Hollywood could see Drago had his hands roughly tied behind his back, and blood was dripping down the side of his face.
When Ilya turned and spotted him, he covered his mouth with his hand and giggled like a stupid drunk.
“Untie him.” Niko stepped forward before Hollywood could stop her, and she marched up to the man standing closest to Drago. “Now!”
The man glanced over at Ilya, who was still chuckling, and waited for permission before following Niko’s order.
Ilya had stopped giggling, but wasn’t taking offence at her interference yet, waving regally to give the man permission to cut the bindings around Drago’s wrists.
As soon as his hands were free, Drago lifted his hand and wiped at the blood on his face.
Hollywood could see how pissed Drago was, and took the slightest step forward, ready to protect Niko if the shit hit the fan.
Drago didn’t hesitate to walk straight up to Ilya and get right up in his face.
“Three fucking years I’ve worked for you, Ilya!” He growled. “Three fucking years helping you build your business to what it is today. And this is the thanks I get for it?”
Drago paused to spit blood from his mouth onto Ilya’s shoes.
“You went too far today, my friend! Too fucking far!” Drago hissed.
Hollywood would have been better off flipping a coin because he genuinely didn’t know which way Ilya was going to react.
He could pull out a gun and shoot Drago in the head, or he could laugh it off and they’d be best friends again before the first bottle of vodka was empty.
For a few agonising seconds it felt like every man in the building held their collective breath, while a multitude of expressions passed across Ilya’s horrifically scarred face.
“Aww, c’mon, man!” Ilya eventually laughed. “Can’t you take a joke? Come and have a drink with me.”
Ilya grabbed Drago’s arms and pulled him in for a hug, kissing both cheeks in a way that only a Russian or a member of the mafia could get away with, and still be considered macho.
Hollywood watched as Drago stared directly at him over Ilya’s shoulder, and understood that whatever Ilya might think, Drago was nowhere near happy.
Niko stepped back, and Hollywood moved between her and Ilya, hoping that the brother would have forgotten her interference.
As Ilya reached the area where the men had laid out some chairs and a makeshift table, he grabbed a bottle of vodka and swigged half of it down in one go.
When he came up for air, he turned and glanced over at Niko and scowled.
“Sister, if you ever interfere in my business like that again, I’ll give you to my men as a party treat.” He smiled, his scar knotting together under his eye, giving him an even more sinister appearance. “For now, go and sit with the women until I decide to forgive you.”
Before she had a chance to voice a protest, Ilya turned away, and Hollywood grabbed her hand to haul her back.
“Don’t argue, Niko.” He cautioned quietly. “If you take Roman in with the women, it gives us the upper hand when it comes to getting you both out of here.”
She turned to him with a frown, but instead of arguing, stepped past him and went straight to Roman and gathered him up.
“Come on, baby, let’s go and meet the nice ladies.” She kissed his cheek.
Kris moved one of the rails, so she could step inside, and closed it behind her.
“Don’t worry, Niko.” He smiled at her. “We’ll have you out of there before you know it.”
Hollywood watched as Niko made her way over to the woman he’d seen her talking to previously, and she said something to her quietly. He tried to remember what Niko had said the woman’s name was. Maria? Marina? Marla? That was it.
Marla looked around her before replying, but whatever she said to Niko, it was enough to reassure her it was safe to sit down.
“Watch what the other women are doing.” Hollywood cautioned Yuri, who was standing closest to where Niko was now sitting. “They could turn on her if they blame Niko for their misfortunes, and we don’t want a catfight erupting and reminding Ilya that they’re close by.”
Yuri nodded, and took up sentry duty as requested.
“It looks like he’s settling in for a party with his homeboys.” Kellen nodded to where Ilya had taken his place at the head of the group, in the most comfortable of the shabby chairs.
Hollywood glanced around to see what Drago was doing, but he couldn’t see him anywhere.
“Anyone noticed where the sidekick has slunk off to?” He turned to ask his team-mates. “He’s vanished. Stomped off in a huff, maybe?”
“I can see him.” Logan murmured, looking off to his right to where Ilya’s van was parked haphazardly. “He’s slinking around the van, probably up to no good.”
“No good for us, or no good for Ilya?” Evan murmured. “Now, that’s your sixty-four-thousand-dollar question.”
Whatever Drago had been doing only lasted a few more seconds before he turned and started walking towards them.
When he stood close enough to look into the pen where the women were being held, he turned his back on them and leaned on the railings casually, as though nothing important was on his mind.
“Would you like to tell me what you were doing behind the vans?” Hollywood asked, not inclined to trust the guy as far as he could throw him.
“I thought it might make the situation just a little bit safer if I locked the back doors.” Drago shrugged. “With the weapons Ilya has just purchased, he could take over a small state.”
Ok, so that might make Hollywood trust him just a little bit more.
“Did Niko tell you what was going on?” Drago asked Hollywood, not bothering to turn his head to direct his question. He didn’t need to.
“Yeah, she told us about your call.” Hollywood confirmed. “And that you wanted her people on standby to get the women out.”
“And are they?” Drago barely turned his head to glance at Hollywood before turning back to watch whatever Ilya was up to. “On standby, I mean?”
“Yeah, we’re ready.” Hollywood chuckled. “We were born ready.”
This time Drago did turn around.
“What do you mean ‘you’re ready’?” He frowned. “You’re not Niko’s people.”
Hollywood stepped a little closer.
“I can promise you we are most definitely ‘Niko’s people’.” He said assuredly. “We’re going to get her out of here, and the women too, and then we’re going to take Ilya and his men down.”
“Tonight?” Drago was still scowling.
“Of course, tonight.” Hollywood shrugged, as if it should have been obvious even to a moron, which he hadn’t realised Drago was until that moment.
“And your team are ready to move in?” Drago clarified.
“Ready and waiting for the signal to move in.” Hollywood confirmed, getting impatient with the line of questioning. “Why? Is there a problem?”
Drago sighed and shook his head.
“No problem, if you’re happy for this whole mess to turn into the clusterfuck of the century.” He snorted.
Hollywood was starting to get pissed now.
“Are you saying you don’t think we know how to do our jobs?” He hissed.
Drago held up his hands.
“Heaven forbid I should insult your intelligence or ability.” He snorted. “But you seem to have one fundamental piece of information totally wrong, and that one piece could end up getting all of us killed.”
Hollywood had a bad feeling in his gut.
“You see, you aren’t actually ‘Niko’s people’.” Drago shrugged as though he was stating the obvious.
“Of course, we’re her people.” Hollywood insisted, pointing at his team-mates, several of whom had stepped closer to listen to their conversation. “Why else do you think we’re here?”
Drago shook his head.
“Ok, I don’t know who you think she is, or what you think your connection is to Niko, but I really can assure you all that you and she are not connected in any way.” Drago smirked at them. “Not unless you’re all secretly members of the Spetsnaz.”
“Russian special forces.” Yuri murmured. “Kris and I were part of Spetsgruppa A, the counter-terrorist branch, before we left to join up with Gregor.”
Hollywood could hear Hannah murmur an ‘Oh fuck!’ in his ear.
“Hold on a second.” Hollywood shook his head to try and clear his confusion. “You’re telling me that Niko has connections to Russian special forces?”
Drago looked around casually before kicking the floor, looking like he was generally bored with life.
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you.” He murmured. “I mean, Niko doesn’t actually know that’s who they are, as she’s been dealing with people in between. But she knows that there’s a rescue about to go down, and that the rescuers are in a building close by, ready to move once she gives them the signal.”
“And you know this how?” Hollywood frowned.
“I know this because I set up the contacts in the first place, two years ago. And because I’ve been monitoring her calls on a cloned phone.” Drago smiled.
“You set this up two years ago? Why the hell has it taken this long for her to act, if she knew she had their backing?” Kris demanded.
“She didn’t know.” Drago explained. “Roman’s grandparents contacted the Moscow police, desperate to find out what had happened to their son. They were sure that he’d been murdered, either by Ilya or one of his men, but they couldn’t prove it. Anyway, once the police realised Ilya was involved, it was escalated to a special unit. We’ve just been waiting for the right moment to step in.”
“You said ‘we’.” Hollywood interrupted him. “You mean that you’re with Russian special forces as well?”
“On the fringes, yes.” Drago nodded. “I’ve been embedded with Ilya’s crew for the last three years, working my way closer to the man himself.”
“Holy shit!” Hannah was obviously still listening in.
“They were told to try and recruit Niko to help bring Ilya down, but obviously her fear for her son stopped her reaching out until recently.” Drago shrugged. “Coincidentally, that started around the time I started reaching out to you. My immediate boss was killed on another mission, and I’d lost contact with my superiors. Being undercover, it’s not easy to step out to find out what the hell is going on, so I did the next best thing. I have an old schoolfriend who’s a wrestler, who also happens to be a friend of someone you know. A Hannah Simons? He gave me her name in case I ever needed a friend.”
“You’re our informant.” Hollywood stated the obvious.
“And that makes you ‘my’ people.” Drago chuckled. “I’m Angel.”
“Well flip me over and fuck me sideways! He knows Dag.” Hannah’s expression had Hollywood smiling.
“I’ve actually got Hannah on comms, talking to me through my earpiece.” He admitted to Drago. “I think when this is all over, she’s gonna want to meet you.”
“It’ll be my pleasure.” Drago nodded. “But the first thing we need to do is make sure the Russians know what’s going on. If we’re going to have a two-pronged attack, it would be good if both prongs knew about the other.”