“I need another insertion mission,” Mike said, waving her to a chair. He’d considered doing some chit-chat but it usually was pointless with Katya. “Into the Pansiki. The vig is fifty thousand dollars. Pretty much the same as Albania; localize a hostage and support the extraction.”
“One hundred,” Katya said. “Up front.”
“Ten up front,” Mike said. “Sixty on completion. If you do as well as Albania a forty bonus. You did a damned good job in Albania. If you sit on your ass and just feed us intel, seventy total.”
“I nearly got my ass shot off in Albania,” Katya said, scornfully. “Your perfectly planned mission was a disaster.”
“No mission survives contact with the enemy… ”
“That’s why they’re called the enemy,” Katya finished. “What’s so special about this girl?”
Katya had revealed a very definite chip on her shoulder over the Albanian op. As she put it: “Nobody ever came to rescue me.” She’d been horribly abused in the process of being broken in as a hooker. Whether that had caused her current mental condition or if it had been there before, she was now as sociopathic as anyone Mike had ever met. And she actively enjoyed killing people, especially men.
To make matters worse, in preparation for the Balkans op the US government had offered some very advanced “upgrades”, upgrades that even their own agents had been unwiling to have installed. Katya was now, arguably, the first generation of a sort of science fiction super-assassin. She had an internal system to dump combat chemicals that sped up her reactions and caused a “slow-time” effect, video and audio connections built right into her brain and poison glands connected to her long, and sharp, nails.
Mike, and all the rest of the men in the house, were now absolutely unwilling to sleep with her. Not that Katya cared; she found the situation amusing.
“She’s the daughter of a Russian WMD specialist,” Mike said. “She’s being used to force him to work for the target group.”
“She’s not going to be in with the whores, then,” Katya pointed out. “How in the hell am I supposed to help secure her?”
“Try to figure out a way,” Mike said with a shrug. “Be your usual helpful self.”
At that, Katya let loose one of the few real laughs Mike had heard out of her. She was about as helpful in the harem as a snake, which was why Mike had been spreading her around to keep her busy. When she was busy, and interested, she wasn’t nearly they problem she was when bored. But she was never really “helpful.” She’d do a job until she mastered it to her satisfaction and then start causing problems. Vanner pulled her out of intercept after she started calling up the Chechens she was supposed to be monitoring and taunting them.
Mike sometimes thought that her natural spot was psychological operations. Or maybe the Mafia. Hopefully “Jay” would be able to ensure her functionality at the very least.
“Very well,” Katya said, still chortling. “I will go into the lion’s den, again. And for the bonus I will try to be very helpful. I’m going to need you to get me some more ‘medications.’ I used up most of my stores in Albania.”
“Will do,” Mike said. “Can I ask you a question? You’re still hanging around. I’m, frankly, surprised. Why?”
“Because I am learning much here,” Katya said, cold again. “From Anastasia I am learning languages, accounting, business. From Vanner I am learning electronics, computers and programming. He has even shown me some hacking and I am working hard on that; I like it very much. From you and Adams I learn combat skills, yes? Now there is Jay, who is teaching me so many new skills. When I feel there is nothing left to learn, then I will leave. But in the meantime, you feed me and keep a roof over my head while I learn. You even continue to pay me a stipend. And then there are these occasional ‘jobs’ which pay quite well. Why should I leave? Yet.”
“The usual goes,” Mike pointed out. “If you’re burned, we’ll try to extract you. Try rather hard I’ll add. We owe you that. You may not consider yourself part of the team, but I do. But if you burn us… ”
“Run far and fast,” Katya said, smiling coldly. “This, also, I am learning. How to run far and fast.”
“Come,” Mike said at a knock on the door of his office.
He looked up from his computer screen, rubbing his eyes and frowning. He was doing more reading than doing these days and it was killing his eyes. He was afraid he was going to need glasses soon.
The man who came through the door was dressed like any of the Keldara, if a bit short for one. One of the older guys, not one of the ones on the teams. Gray-shot beard and mustache, getting the “beer gut” that some of the older Keldara had. But when Mike rapidly ran a file of the faces of the Keldara, he couldn’t place him to save his life. He figured he’d play that off. It wasn’t like he could remember all the Keldara.
“You know,” Jay said, walking over and flopping onto the chair in front of the desk, “if I was an assassin you’d be so dead right now. You’ve got lousy security.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Mike replied, leaning back and trying not to let his surprise show. “Good trip?”
“Fair,” Jay said. “First class as far as Prague. It got a little rougher after that.”
“I can imagine,” Mike said. “Can I show you around or do you already have the whole place mapped out?”
“I will say that your security on whatever is in the basements is better than getting to your office,” Jay replied. “Doors are solid and the guys you’ve got on them weren’t fooled. I’ve seen the rest. Nice harem quarters. Who’s the blonde?”
“Well, the basement is where your shop will be,” Mike said. “So maybe I ought to show that to you. And depending on which, the blonde is your sole ‘employee.’ ”
“Oh, great,” Jay replied. “If ever I saw one stone psycopathic bitch of a killer… ”
“That would be Katya,” Mike said with a laugh. “You can handle that, right?”
“Oh, yeah,” the intel specialist said. “I like psychopathic bitches. It describes every girlfriend I’ve ever had.”
“Intel room here,” Mike said, nodding at the Keldara guards. They were regarding Jay with puzzlement in their eyes. They did know every single Keldara. “Commo room across the hall. Headquarters in a larger room at the end. Other way there are four more or less empty rooms and two sub-levels. There are two remaining really good apartments upstairs, although the view is of the mountain. Pick which mountain view you prefer.”
“Any problem with getting one down here?” Jay asked, walking down the corridor and opening up one of the doors of the “more or less empty” rooms. More or less empty because they still had some left over trash from the Soviet occupation. “An apartment I mean?”
“I don’t think so,” Mike said. “Kind of… claustrophobic.”
“Yeah, but very secure,” Jay replied, opening up another door. “Can I get better doors and locks?”
“Your budget,” Mike said.
“What’s the sub-basement like?”
“There’s a reason we call it the dungeons.”
“I’ll stay here.”
“Come on in the intel shop,” Mike said, opening up the door. The door was sound-proofed and the corridor immediately filled with the sound of printers and computers running at max.
“Vanner, this is Jay,” Mike said, waving the sergeant over. “Just… Jay.”
“It’s actually just an initial,” Jay said, shaking Vanner’s hand. “Just the letter.”