“You flatter me.” Kosyk’s eye jerked to the left. “And you possess such an excellent grasp of politics; it is a shame to kill you.”
Faith lunged through the hole under the house. The top of her head smacked into something hard, stunning her. She heard a muted grunt. Fingers reached around her throat.
“Summer.” She choked.
“Jesus, Faith. You scared the shit out of me. I need another mine now. No time to explain.”
“Four of them,” Faith said, gasping for air, “just went into the sauna in the back.”
“Shit. We’ve got another problem.” He took the mine from her. “How many mines do you have left?”
“Just these two.”
“Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to give you a couple pounds of C to pack around the mine. On your way out of here, you’re going to find an old pile of bricks to your right. Shove half a dozen bricks into your backpack and book it to the steam house. Screw off the detonator plug and set it aside for a minute. That’s the big one here.” He took her hand and placed her fingers on a round knob. “Memorize how this feels and how it’s different than the other one.” He moved her cold fingers to the opposite side. “Next, you’re going to mold the C around the mine, leaving holes for the plugs so you can pull the pin. Just smash it around. Doesn’t have to be pretty. Now you’re gonna pull the pin. Stay clear of the det plug hole just in case the little metal thingy comes flying out like it did on me. Screw the plug back into the mine, then stack the bricks on it and get the hell out of there. I’ll meet you at the burnt-out building. Think you can do it, honey?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Stay right here while I get you a slab of C.” Summer retrieved some plastic explosive and handed it to Faith. “Now repeat what you’re going to do.”
Faith summarized his instructions, her speech fast and clipped from adrenaline.
“Good. Now one more thing. We have to coordinate so they go off as close to the same time as possible. Think you can do it in four minutes?”
“I can do it in three.”
“It’s twenty-two twenty-eight-uh, ten twenty-eight. Pull the pin at ten thirty-one.”
“Summer, can’t we speed up things by pulling both pins right now? They won’t arm for a while and there’s plenty of time to set them up.”
“We could do that, but it might arm too fast and blow you up when you put the bricks on it. Get moving. Pull the pin when I told you.”
“Summer, I’m in enough danger as it is.” Faith screwed off the detonator plug and stuck it in her pocket. “A little more won’t matter and we’ll know if this one is another dud.”
She pulled the pin.
“Better get yours out now before I get too much of a head start on you. See you at the ranch,” Faith said. She squeezed out the entrance, took a quick right and shoved the bricks into her backpack, adding an extra one for good measure. She crawled into the woods. The bricks were much heavier than the light plastic landmines, but they didn’t slow her down. She scooted to the back of the banya and dragged herself a few feet under the structure, leaving her legs protruding. She pulled the mine from the front pouch of the backpack, the steel wire now cutting through the lead delay strip. The sound of switches smacking against flesh came from inside the banya. She smashed the C around the mine and screwed on the detonator cap. She took a deep breath and she picked up a brick.
Dear God, please don’t go off.
She lowered the brick onto the mine’s rubber plate.
Kosyk shifted his aim from Zara’s chest to her head. She listened for the charge. Any second now.
“Time we go for a little walk. As soon as you open the door, clasp your hands behind your neck. You’re a professional, so I won’t insult you with a reminder of all the things you can do to hasten your death.”
Zara pushed open the door and considered slamming it back on him, but the rotting wooden frame was too flimsy. She walked down the steps with her hands behind her head, prepared to throw her body to the ground the second she heard the charge.
“Straight ahead. Past the banya to the riverbank.”
If she could get a survivable distance from the explosion, she would have the element of surprise. She could overpower him, eliminate him and then deal with the splinter group in the banya. She listened for the pop of the charge, but only heard the sloshing of her feet in the mud and the voices from the banya.
She passed the banya. The moonlight glistened off the river less than fifty meters away. Constantly scanning the area for an opportunity, she spotted something. Legs stuck out from under the structure.
The commander?
Kosyk? Faith raised her head up and bumped it against the floor of the banya. She saw Zara walking at gunpoint. Summer was too far away to help, so she picked up the extra brick she’d stacked on the mine and wiggled out from under the building. She slithered along the ground toward the riverbank, pausing behind a bush to check her bearings and listen.
“So, you worked with the American even after you said you had no contact with her. Was she CIA? Are you doubling for the CIA and gathering tapes of conversations to use against me after I’m First Secretary?” Kosyk said.
“Your ambitions cloud your judgment. I’m not a traitor like you. I’m loyal to my country, my leader-and my family. You’re not going to succeed. Gorbachev was alerted and Spetsnaz commandos are moving in any minute.”
“I expected more from you. On your knees. Now.”
“So you’re going to make me suck your little cock first, you asshole?”
Kosyk shoved her down.
The brick cut into Faith’s hand as she clutched it as tightly as she could. Too far away. With each crunch of a leaf, another drop of blood drained from her light head.
Kosyk prodded Zara with the butt of the gun. “Who are you working for? Why were you taping tonight’s meeting?”
“Stukoi. He doesn’t trust you. I think his exact words were ‘double-crossing little prick.’ He wanted me to gather the proof you were playing us off against the GDR leadership.”
Only twenty feet. Faith moved closer. Then she heard the hammer click. Faith pulled her arm back, but stopped herself. Too damn far. Keep him talking.
“Explain one thing I couldn’t figure out,” Zara said. “Why did you attempt to recruit Faith at the MfS cabaret in front of all your colleagues? If you were going to succeed in pinning the blame on the Americans, MfS fingerprints couldn’t be left anywhere. You’re too good for such a blunder.”
“What’s the point of being the architect behind the most brilliant operation in intelligence history if no one even suspects it was your work?”
Faith steadied herself with the trunk of a birch as her foot sank into the mud of the riverbank ten feet from Kosyk. She looked at Zara and knew he was about to kill her, so she grasped the brick with both hands and held it over her head. She focused on the base of his skull and lunged forward, but slipped and only grazed the side of his head.