“He was convinced that if you were to attack one of his bases personally, it would be his research site near Archangelsk. His ‘most secret’ base he called it. I didn’t voice it but given the pattern of your attacks, switching from higher risk to low risk, the attack on the convoy didn’t make sense whether you knew the base was here or not. Unless it was a trap. I dodged the question when he asked me since I’d figured out by then he could tell when I was lying. So I took a chance. He’d already convinced himself and his second to wipe out the raiding force. Then you found me here.”
Boris looked at him thoughtfully and continued with his questions, “Your personal history?”
Shen looked uncomfortable. “My mother was a werecat who fell in love with a werewolf. Such couplings are taboo in China, so they fled to India. Dad runs a successful export business. I earn my way by representing the family enterprise. I do a few black market information deals on the side. Mom doesn’t know, and Dad doesn’t like it, but he accepts my choices. I think his attitude stems from how judgmental their families were. Maybe because he sees it as me making my own way in the world…”
Shen continued rambling through his family history for a few minutes. His exhaustion was evident so Boris called in Danislav.
“Take him for a shower and some food. Put him in a clean prison cell. Two guards at all times, suicide watch. We’ll need to take him with us. He might be useful, but we can’t have an information seller out there with data on us to sell to the highest bidder. He’ll probably sleep. Make sure the guards know if something happens to him before what he’s told us is checked out they’ll answer to me.”
Boris turned and left, looking for a meal and bed himself.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Hunting Cabin, Middle of Nowhere, Siberia
It had been a busy couple of months for Boris and his command group. Often they had to split into two groups, with Danislav leading one assault and Boris with Janna leading the other. Occasionally, four separate and simultaneous attacks occurred. Mopping up the outposts, bases and separated forces of the NVG had fallen to his group. The Russian military had been given the information, including that the group’s leader had been a German citizen. Given the potential political fallout from this, a compromise had been negotiated between the military establishment and Boris.
The number of criminals and former criminals that had been found amongst the casualties by military analysis teams was above twenty-five percent. The NVG needed to be broken up before someone strong took the helm. The military was leery of doing it, as were the internal police forces and the Border Force. That left calling up the national guard, as it was their role in Russia, legally speaking, or using Boris’s forces and calling it ‘fighting amongst criminal elements.’ He had agreed to take on that role if two conditions were met. The first was full clemency papers for every member of his group for the duration of the ‘necessary actions for the security of the state.’ The other was payment.
His group had provided enough of the papers and files to show that Konrad’s intention was to use the NVG to force the government to dance to his tune. Boris could prove that despite Romanovka’s history, they had never been a danger to the state. The NVG was. Some in the military were suspicious of his motives when he added two provisions to the deal. One was the monetary payment, which was about the same as it would have cost the military to mobilize units and neutralize the remaining NVG. The second was two suitable pieces of land surrounding bases of his choice to explore the repatriation and relocation of Romanovka’s people if they so wished. Throughout the negotiations, he had implied that his forces were mercenaries who he was either paying himself or owed him favors.
Considering what had happened with China, who had accepted the refugees, not to mention… other political concerns, they had decided not to press that point. Most of the military bases in question were in the east anyway. The Russian government was currently running a program giving land to foreigners to attract settlers to Siberia. So it wouldn’t cost the state anything if the price of that land was rolled into the existing program.
In exchange for their graciousness, Boris had agreed to hand over any prisoners. He had made sure any Were amongst the NVG died in battle. They had all fought to the end so it had not become an issue. The Weres knew the punishment Boris would exact for joining a group willing to commit mass murder. Better to die cleanly in battle had been their unanimous choice.
The exception was Shen, who remained with Boris’ team. The Werebear commander had permitted him to let his parents know of his safety so they didn’t worry. After weeks of working on small projects, mostly cross-checking captured records for them, Shen seemed a comfortable fit within the team.
He was still, however, a prisoner with work that was important but always double-checked. Shen was an essential part of the eradication of Konrad’s organization. It was important that it be eradicated, rather than cutting its head off only to have it grow back like a hydra. He had ten guards assigned to him permanently, both for protection and control. Considering that Shen was now free to shower, eat whatever he wanted, and sleep in a proper bed. His living situation had improved tremendously. It was evident that he appreciated the improvement and was becoming more comfortable with the team itself.
Boris knew that it was not ADAM or Tom’s fault that Janna had been almost killed, but it did not seem to calm his nerves anytime that he remembered the appearance of her unconscious body. His knowledge of the great abilities that they represented could not totally overwhelm the protective instincts of a Were for his mate.
Boris thought about how the last few months had changed him, his relationships, and the world around him. Behind his closed eyelids, he mentally compared his world before Bethany Anne and now, smiling a bit in reminiscence. He opened his eyes after his thoughts returned to the present, realizing that they were nearly at their destination.
They had a dozen small outposts left to conquer and the one large base, the Archangelsk. If only they could figure out where it was located. Its precise geographic site had been absent from all the notes. ADAM and TOM had tried several methods to try and find it from orbit but to no avail. The scans hadn’t picked up anything particularly of interest.
There was something peculiar about how Konrad had referenced the base, in every entry where he had written about it. Boris knew that there was something important there, something that teased his brain and tugged on his intuition. Bethany Anne agreed with him, knowing that it was important and feeling just as frustrated over their joint inability to locate it.
“Boris, stop that,” Janna said sleepily as he kept going over things in his head. “You agreed with Danislav’s choice of commanders to take out the recruiters and recruiting stations. When you go all analytical like that for long enough, it always wakes me up.”
She snuggled her naked back against him. The contact of her warm form brought back other, pleasant, memories of the last two months. He had been both surprised and pleased that combat gave her an uncommon reaction. She had been demandingly affectionate when they had reached safety after each mission. Not that he was complaining. It had been very enjoyable, he thought. It was nice to have found someone with whom he could share all of his life, rather than fleeting moments that were edited carefully. Being able to just be himself gave him a freer feeling than he had ever had.