Dicing With Death A Lex Jackson novel 2.3

Chapter 42: Double agents are spies employed

Nicky and Orleana flew to Moscow, where they had rented a vehicle. They tossed the Hardigg storm into the trunk and slid into the car, closing the door behind them. Nicky inserted the key into the ignition as the engine roared to life. They sped down the street, heading into the city. The first place they would check out was the hotel where agent Lamont stayed. A few minutes later, they arrived at the hotel and parked in the parking lot outside. Stepping out of the vehicle, Nicky's dark eyes scanned the open lot while her ears listened for anything out of the ordinary.

Nicky knew that there could be a kill team waiting for them someplace dispatched by the Resistance, and the arms dealer or hacker wouldn't be far behind them. She whipped out her pistol from her shoulder holster, gripping it in her hand. She hacked into a private offshore account and discovered it was connected to the Resistance. But she had come across a man named Courtney Hansen.

If there was any chance of trying to avoid the Kill Team, they would have to think quickly. Orleana glances sideways, noticing a couple walking by together, holding hands. A sudden drop in her stomach tells her that something is off. They looked normal enough, but if they were hired killers, would that stop them from finding out what happened to Lamont?

They walked up to the entrance of the hotel as they headed into the doors and an elegant lobby. A sudden drop in Nicky's stomach told her something was off. Lamont should have known that they would be watching once he entered Berlin, she thought to herself. They headed over to the elevator and rode up to the floor where Lamont was. They walked down the corridor, heading over to the room. The door was ajar, which was strange. Was the hotel clerk somehow working for the Resistance in a foreign country? The intelligence usually had their spies in places.

"Nicky, one thing I learned from my father's experience in the KGB is that SVR, GRU, and FSB have their agents in place in their countries, so we're going to be careful here," Orleana explained to Nicky.

They entered the room; it looked clean except for a chair that was out of place; nothing had been thrown onto the ground. Nicky walked over to the window and glanced out, noticing that the couple was no longer outside walking. Had they been set up to walk right up into a kill zone? She reached for her suppressed Rug Amphibian 22 while she concealed down at her side.

A shuffling of footsteps rapidly approaching, Orleana whipped out her pistol, sliding in a fresh magazine. Her eyes immediately darted over to the door, and her heartbeat slowed down. Any moment now, gunfire would erupt. She would be ready for anything. The assassins burst into the room and opened fire with rapid shots. Nicky swung around and trained her pistol on the masked man, firing a bullet into him and dropping him to the ground.

"Your dead bitch, the woman snarled in her native Russian accent.

"No, you're wrong; you're dead," Orleana snapped.

Without hesitation, Olreana pulled the trigger on her Glock, firing a bullet into the assassin's forehead. She slipped her pistol back into her shoulder holster. They had been so careful and methodical in how the assassins tracked them here, and these assassins weren't FSB agents, which meant the Resistance had dispatched the assassins to scrub them. Nicky walked over to Orleana as they exited the room, headed over to the elevator, and rode down to the lobby.

"Don't think it strange that these assassins were waiting for us," Olreana inquired in a skeptical tone.

"Yes, that's kind of suspicious, but if the arms dealer or hacker is behind it, that wouldn't surprise me at all," Nicky replied.

They walked out of the lobby, exiting through the doors and heading over to their vehicle. She surveyed the area one last time, seeing if she could spot the assassin's vehicle. There was nothing as far as she could see. So did that mean that the Resistance had the hotel under surveillance when Lamont was here and now?  They slid into their vehicle, closing their door behind them as they drove down the narrow street on their way to the American embassy. Orleana glanced out the window, going over everything in her mind about what happened.

Nicky glanced sideways, looking through her rearview mirror. There was no vehicle in sight, which was strange, she thought to herself. They hadn't heard from Lex yet, but knowing him, he was in an operational mood, and he was onto something. They sped down the street, arriving at the American embassy as they pulled up and parked outside. Stepping outside, they closed the door behind them. Nicky scanned the area as she darted back and forth, while her ears listened for anything out of the ordinary.

The station chief walked down the corridor as he met with Olreana and Nicky. He was an average man wearing a dark blue dress shirt with jeans, although his hair was slightly over his head and he had a worn and weathered face. His Sig Sauer was holstered in his hip holster, and it made sense for him to carry a weapon in Berlin.

"It's been a while since you operated here. Was it when you went into deep cover to penetrate the White Nights? I don't know what I can tell you about what Lamont was doing here. I never got a chance to debrief him," he told them.

"Lamont was looking into this agent named Courtney Hansen. It must have triggered some alarm bells in the Foreign Intelligence Service and the Resistance," Nicky informed the station chief

"I guess that the SVR and the Resistance had bugged Lamont's hotel room," the station stated.

They knew enough about the Resistance to know who they were dealing with. That it was a very powerful arms dealer/hacker, one thought occurred to them that this could be new, this could be a new version of the White Nights under a new leadership way, more dangerous and deadly. Orleana figured that assassins must have taken Lamont somewhere to be interrogated before they had him killed.

"Yes, we still have his body, but there was nothing on him. There are some warehouses here that are owned by the Foreign Intelligence Service, the BND German Intelligence Service, and maybe the Resistance," the station chief stated.

"If the warehouse is owned by the Resistance, I'm sure it will be guarded by their armed mercenaries there," Olreana replied 

"How are you going to get past the armed men there if they are heavily armed with MP5 submachine guns?" the station chief inquired.

"Don't worry, we can; that's what we're good at doing," Orlena told the station chief

"The warehouses should be at the far end of the city," the station chief informed them.

They headed out through the doors of the embassy and made their way over to their vehicle. Nicky glanced back at the embassy as she went over in her mind what Lamont must have done to get here. They slid into the vehicle, closed the door behind them, and sped down the street. Orleans peered out the window as she slid a fresh magazine into her pistol. She thought about the last time she had seen her father.

A little while later, they arrived at the warehouse. Orleans stepped out as her eyes darted over to the black-clad mercenaries patrolling the property. Whatever was in the warehouse must be worth killing for that Lamont needed to get the warehouse quick, she thought to herself. Nicky climbed out, closing the door behind her, as she said. "This isn't going to be a walk in the park."

They crept along the massive wire fence slowly and methodically. She concealed her pistol as much as possible down at her side, and Nicky did the same. Nicky sprinted through the gate, firing shots at the armed men. They opened fire as they rushed toward her. Orleana moved quickly and discreetly and double-tapped them in the back. After they strode over to the door, they slowly turned the handle as the door creaked open. A massive screen stood across from a table where one chair was.

Nicky walked over to the chair, examining it; there were no straps on it to hold Lamont in it. As far as she could tell, there were no bullet marks anywhere except for outside, where chunks of asphalt were smashed. This could be a front for the Resistance, but what did they use it for? Was an interrogation center of sorts.