“Kulagin, I assume?” Trent said when Vladimir returned to the front.
“Yes.”
“I doubt if they open fire on us,” Trent said.
“No, they want the two Presidents alive. As for the rest of us… well.”
“That’s what we get paid to do.”
“You’re right, Yankee.”
“Okay, where is this magical hiding place you have in mind?”
“About a mile ahead on your right.”
“What is it?”
“An office building and residence for the rich.”
“How many people will be there?”
“None, it’s not scheduled to open for two weeks.” Trent made the turn and saw a tall building.
“It’s a big one, how tall is it?”
“Sixty stories.”
“Should give us a few places to hide,” Trent said as he saw Kulagin and his gang closing in and he floored the bus and pulled away. They were in the parking lot of the building that was a stone structure ala the older Greco-Roman style but the entrance was mostly glass.
“Sorry, I don’t have a key,” Vladimir said as he looked to the back.
“Then let’s try this… hang on everyone!” Trent shouted then he held the steering wheel tight and bore down straight for the front door. Bonnie shielded Ellen and everyone else did what they could just as the bus crashed through the front doors. Trent got out of his seat and opened the door.
“Get out everyone, quickly!” Vladimir ordered and they moved rapidly out of the bus. “Load up both elevators were going to the fiftieth floor.” The elevators filled as Kulagin and his men arrived and got out of their vehicles.
“What about the door to the stairs?” Justin asked.
“It’s locked and sealed like a vault. It’ll take a tank or a cutting torch to get through.” The bus was blocking the entrance but soon Kulagin’s men slid under the bus and emerged just as the elevator doors closed. Trent helped Johnny off the bus and was holding him on the elevator as they went upward. Vladimir was on the elevator with Sergei and Trent with Ellen. Andy and Jozette helped Little Wolf to the elevator. Vladimir made it clear that neither elevator was to be allowed to go back down. On the fiftieth floor they got out and someone held the door open. Couches were slid into the doorway opening and the doors could never close so the elevator would remain on the fiftieth floor.
“We need to find a safe place,” Trent said and he and Vladimir looked over the floor while the crowd waited. Dave checked Johnny but there wasn’t much he could do with the bullet still in his chest.
“We have to walk up to the top,” Vladimir said.
“Why don’t we just take the elevator?” Warren asked.
“They’d see that and we’d be sitting ducks,” Trent said.
“But we’ll be up there anyway,” Belinda said.
“Yes, but they won’t know exactly where we are and it’ll give us time to prepare,” Trent said.
“Prepare for what?” Andy asked.
“The assault,” Vladimir said. They looked at one another then began the climb to the top.
“Get the door open!” Andrei shouted and his men tried but it was indeed a vault and bullets did nothing.
“We’ll never get through here, maybe there’s a back way,” one of his men said and Kulagin nodded then walked to the window and looked out thinking for a few minutes.
“Okay, we’ll operate from right here. Denisovitch take Ricekin and bring everything back here. All communications equipment, the weaponry, everything.” His two lieutenants nodded and took off in one of the vehicles.
“Comrade, how long before the authorities find out what has happened?” A man asked walking around with a machine gun on his shoulder.
“Very soon I’m sure but it’ll take some time to mount an attack on us and they don’t know where we are.”
“But someone must’ve seen us head down this road.”
“Perhaps but it’ll take time.”
“What should we do now?”
“Go down to the basement and find a cutting torch.”
“Yes, Comrade,” the man said and disappeared quickly.
“I wonder how Radinsky is doing. Without him I have nothing.”
“Colonel, I’m getting something from Moscow,” Sergeant Boris Yaselov said as he held a headset to his ear.
“What?” Colonel Azarov asked.
“Security is saying that the two Presidents have been kidnapped.”
“What!” Azarov stood up and paced. “Are you sure?”
“Apparently the bus tour was snagged. A truck stopped the bus, men jumped on board and took the bus.”
“Anything else?”
“The bus was seen driving away rapidly and was pursued by the men who stopped it in the first place.”
“We need to get inside,” Mikhail said and pushed the intercom. “Lieutenant Radinsky, open the door.”
“The test is not complete yet, sir.”
“We have an emergency. I must get in there. Stop the test and open the door.”
“Can’t do it, sir.”
“Radinsky, this is an order. Open the door!”
“Can’t help you this time, Colonel. You see I’m acting for Comrade Stalin and all who believe in him.” Mikael looked at his fellow officers and sighed. Too late he realized that one of the fanatics was on the inside… literally. They were well known throughout Russia. There was little secret of their existence. The government knew it but they were hard to track down and identify. Many people believed in what they did, would offer them protection and wouldn’t tell the police or the military anything.
“You’ll be court-martialed and shot.”
“I’m aware of that, Colonel. Those of us who believe in Comrade Stalin are ready to make sacrifices even our lives.”
“We have to stop this Radinsky,” Captain Retzlarian said and approached the control panel.
“Don’t make me shoot you, Captain,” Radinsky said as he pointed a revolver at the captain.
“You need help, Lieutenant,” Svetlov said as he sat at the computer to cancel the test and open the door.
“I warned you, Captain,” as shots rang out and Retzlarian was hit in the shoulder and chest just below the heart and he slumped in his chair.
“You maniac, Radinsky, I’ll shoot you myself,” Azarov said as he pounded on the glass. Igor was working the control panel and not watching then a grin came over his face.
“Okay, now, Colonel, I’ve taken over.”
“I’ll have the door blasted.”
“You should know better than anyone that if you do that the system will interpret it as a destruction of the site and launch the missiles automatically. “
“Only if they are armed.”
“Correct and I’ve just armed them. I have thirty-eight missiles aimed at the United States. Hydrogen warheads ready to land on New York, Washington, Atlanta, Boston, Houston… well you get the idea. I don’t remember all the places but it won’t matter when I launch because when I push the button, they’ll launch at us and life as we know it on this planet will be wiped out.”
“You’re insane, Radinsky,” Mikhail said.
“My mother used to say that. I don’t know who my father was, never met him. I think, however, that you’re wrong if you think I’m clinically insane. I’m what would be colorfully called a fanatic. I’m ready to die for the cause. You know just like those jihadists. Threats of a court-martial or being shot bounce off me. I know I’m dead so what do I have to lose. I’ll just sit here and wait to hear orders from my comrade and leader.” Colonel Azarov stood staring at Radinsky then moved away to a conference room with his officers.
“He’s right, of course, there’s nothing we can do. We can’t break down the door and even if we could he’d just launch on his own,” Azarov said.