Rainbow Six: November Sun

13: "THREATS"

DSU Lieutenant Colonel Maes looked at Harry sternly. "That sounds risky, Director Six."

"Risk is what our work revolves around, is it not?"

"I don't like it." Maes folded his arms and cast a look around him at the gathered police and DSU counter-terrorist units. "We have scores of men. We could breach from all sides. You have your drones, yes?"

"Lieutenant Colonel, I don't think—"

"We get eyes on the lobby. We cut power. Flood the lobby with tear gas, move in and drop any hostiles that resist."

"That is our last-ditch option," Harry replied, shaking his head. "Your government called us because they wanted other options. That's what we're giving them."

Maes shrugged. "Fine. As long as we get those people out of there safe and sound, Director, I'll be happy. I just hope your man inside knows what he's doing."

Harry didn't bother informing Maes that Nøkk was, in fact, a woman. "We do this carefully, sir, and all will be well. I have the utmost confidence in my operatives."

Maes put a hand to his headset. "Are they?" he said aloud, turning from Harry and looking up to the sky. The news helicopters up above had begun to ease off location. "Excellent. Get those fucking news vans out of here, too. If anyone has a problem, tell them it's for their safety." Maes looked to Harry and jabbed a thumb up to the sky. "Your request has been heeded. Media choppers have been ordered to clear the airspace, and I've been given the go-ahead to push back the media presence on the ground."

"Good to hear. Thank you, Lieutenant Colonel."

Lt. Col. Maes barked some orders in Dutch to his men. Some adjusted their positions. Others broke off from the firing line to assist the police in pushing back the civilian onlookers and news crews. "I must say, Director, I am disappointed that my superiors take your recommendations more seriously than they take mine."

Harry frowned. "Don't take it personally. My organization has some pull on the international theater. That's all."

"If you say so." Maes grinned wryly. "Let us hope the rest of the day goes as smoothly."

*          *.l.         *

Nøkk watched Yegor carefully. "Is everyone in place?" she asked over the radio.

"Team One is stacked up and ready to move," came Ash.

"Team Two is ready," Sledge answered. "Awaiting your mark."

"Understood." Nøkk angled her weapon precariously at Yegor's face. "Valkyrie, you able to work with the frequency I gave you?"

"Yup. Almost done routing the feed to HQ. We'll have ears on the tangos' radio comms in ten seconds."

"Copy that. Get ready. Out." Nøkk tilted her veiled head at the man before her. "English?"

Yegor glared at her. "Fuck you."

Nøkk strode forward, drew her combat knife, and flicked it to the man's ear. He froze when she touched the sharp edge to the top of his outer ear, where it joined with the side of his head.

"Listen to me very carefully," the woman whispered. "Think of all the ugly, awful things I could do to you with this knife."

"I'm ready to die," Yegor spat. "I'm not afraid of you."

Nøkk stared at him for a long, silent moment with such intensity that the man finally looked away from her, unwilling to meet her stare.

"Think," she continued, "of the parts of you I could saw off. Of the places I could wedge a blade in. Under. Between. And then, I want you to think of your family."

Yegor's gaze flashed upward. "What?"

"Sophie," Twitch's voice added hastily in Nøkk's ear. "He has a daughter named Sophie."

Nøkk leered at the man. "Sophie is your daughter, yes?"

Yegor cocked his head. "What the fuck did you just say to me?"

Nøkk slammed the butt of her weapon into his face. The impact broke his nose, and blood spattered up and into the air as his head whipped back. She seized him by the collar and mercilessly forced his head upright again. "You are going to do exactly as I say, and you have my word: your daughter will not be harmed."

Yegor spat blood. He was dazed, but he straightened where he sat. "If my men don't hear from me soon, it'll be too late for you." He grinned. "Too late for both of us."

"It's a good thing your men are going to hear from you then." Nøkk held up Yegor's radio and gently waved it back and forth. "You are going to instruct your men to release the hostages."

The man scoffed at her. "They'd never buy that. They would know something is wrong. I would never give that order."

Nøkk brought the point of her knife up under Yegor's jaw. "Then what order can you give?"

Yegor stared up at her. "I... you can't possibly ask me to—"

"Sophie depends on you, now. Your actions today will determine her fate."

Yegor's face was hauntingly vacant, seemingly unaffected by the woman's threat.

"You have no idea who I work for," Nøkk continued. "Now stop wasting my time and work with me here. I can get you a deal when this is all over."

"Better kill me." The man's eyes were on fire with a light that Nøkk knew well. "I'll cut your fucking throat if you so much as—"

His words were cut off by a savage undercut to his ribs. As Yegor doubled over in pain, Nøkk gripped his head and jolted her knee upward. The impact caught him on the chin, and the man cried out in pain as she shoved him back to the desk.

She pressed her knife to his throat and hovered over him menacingly. "If you want your daughter to stay alive," she hissed, "cooperate."

Yegor spat more blood, and he chuckled. "You don't realize you've already lost." He wiped more blood from his nose and stared up at her.

He grinned. Nøkk realized something was wrong.

"Sophie is already gone," the man uttered, his voice ragged. "We lost her to cancer. And now, you try to leverage my dead daughter against me?"

Yegor Federov leapt up and charged Nøkk with the last of his strength. He barreled into her with such force that she reeled backwards and fell.

He fell with her, his heavy frame crushing her to the ground. Nøkk had speared her handgun's suppressor into his gut and pulled the trigger.

The woman rolled the man's dead weight off with a grunt and pressed herself up. "All elements," she managed breathlessly, "Bossman is down. Repeat: Tsar is KIA."