When they pulled up to their first stop, Gabriel snapped out of his thoughts and took in his surroundings. They drove quickly into a private garage and filed out without talking.
Doors slammed back to back as over twenty men poured out of the large black SUVs in black-on-black tactical gear and donning enough guns and Kevlar to start a small war.
On the outside, the safe house appeared to be a swank brownstone off of Kärtner Strasse no different from the rest of the upscale properties on the block.
One would have barely noticed that the windows on the building had been customized with a reflective tent preventing people from seeing inside of it or that the two units directly on top of each other were bullet and sound proof.
Inside the airy bottom loft had been retrofitted into an arsenal brandishing row after row of weapons, more Kevlar, ammunition and all things cutting edge to go to battle.
Two short, stout former military men from Romania were always posted at the loft, living at the place as tenants and paid to be on call for Dmitry 24-hours a day. Their cell phones were always on, and they never left the city, just in case their boss called.
Two additional men lived in the upstairs loft directly above the arsenal flat and served as Dmitry’s personal bodyguards when he was in the city. These men were not military, but they were Vory soldiers who had been handpicked by Dmitry and flown over from Moscow a few years back.
The four men, despite their differences and beliefs, had become friends
of sorts
and had grown accustomed to their odd way of living on call and guarding Dmitry’s Vienna safe house. However, this was merely one of hundreds of these setups that were located strategically all over the world. Where ever Dmitry had a lot of business, he had a safe house, never trusting anyone and always bringing his own crew to any meetings or negotiations. He considered it to be just one way that he stayed a step ahead of the game.
All of these strategic moves before this had been completely lost on Anatoly and regarded as pure overkill, but experiencing this first-hand abduction had served as a living tutorial for him on why one could never be too prepared, especially one with children.
Once inside of the house and the perimeter secured, all the men first grabbed coffee, water or something to eat while others packed on more gear before their briefing. Everyone had a specific ritual that they had to go through beforehand which included everything from praying and eating to doing pushups or meditation.
Gabriel was no different in this regard. He counted his magazine clips one at a time and then packed them carefully into his backpack, memorizing the feel of things inside of the bag just in case he got into a situation where he couldn’t see.
After that, he looked around the room at some of the other weapons and loaded up on a few concussion grenades, a knife, a flash light, a flare gun and then finally he walked up on a real treat.
Sitting alone on a rack in the corner of the room was a brand new M107A sniper rifle, capable of stopping a moving car and one of the most powerful weapons in the world. He had used one before in a training exercise but had never had the opportunity to really use one in the field. Now, he would get his chance.
He ran his hand over the muzzle, and looked at the sleek, black steel finish with a nudging hard-on.
This was possibly one of the most beautiful weapons that he had ever seen, and it was just sitting here waiting for him.
Some of the stuff he had loaded up on for tonight, he just wanted to take just to use it for the first time, but other things like the Glock he carried closest to him was a necessity. Now this was something that he not only had to use, but he had to take home with him.
He felt Anatoly looking at him from across the room. Turning to him with a smile, he rubbed the gun lovingly. “I think I’ll name her Nelly,” he said, picking up the case it came in to break it down and take it with him.
While everyone else did all of their prep work, Anatoly was already ready. He had spent so many years serving
in the service
of his father as a henchman until it only took him a few minutes to do what it took some men days to prepare for. Chomping down on a large green apple, he walked around the room and observed all the men. However, there was one in particular that he was most interested in. Gabriel.
Anatoly knew that his cousin was no longer a fed and had no loyalty to any of the organizations in the U.S., but he seriously doubted that the man was ready for the Vor.
His father was always trying to make amends for the wrong he had done to Gabriel’s mother and grandmother, therefore overlooking huge infractions that would have cost any other man
and his family -
for that matter
-
their lives.
Still, Dmitry saw something in Gabriel. He hoped that the boy would be everything that Ivan couldn’t be. And to Anatoly that was way too much fucking pressure for one man.
Anatoly wondered if Gabriel would buckle under enough pressure. He wondered if he’d get shot in one of their shit storms or give up and beg to be released from the service of the Vor when he saw how they really operated. Maybe the guy was a spineless little shit when times got too hard. Maybe he would bitch out when it came time to pull the trigger and start on some rant about judicial process.
Then there was another thought – one that seemed to overshadow all the others. What if he was a real Medlov? What if under the heat and pressure of the situation, the man actually forged a spine of steel and would stand upright with the rest of them and finally make Dmitry proud.
It was hard to say and much too early, but in an effort to bring the second generation of Medlov men closer together, Dmitry had coupled them in this fight to either rise or fall together.
Anatoly smirked at the thought. The old man was still trying to teach lessons to him even in his darkest hour, when he should have been focusing only on himself. He couldn’t help but respect him for trying.
When the prep ended, the briefing began. The leader of the A-team from the chateau who had accompanied Gabriel and Anatoly took over with permission of the men who manned the safe house. All the chatter quieted to utter silence. The only sound in the room was the television above the mantle playing the weather channel.
The leader stood over the dinner table with large aerial maps with the location and layout of Kalensko’s sprawling mansion on the outskirts of town, hidden by a mass of trees and protected by a large, reinforced gate that bordered the entire 85 acres he hid out on.
“
Not one bullet can be fired before we access entry through the gate,” the leader explained as he pointed at the Google maps 3D version of the house. “Now, we will have a little gift to help us out courtesy of Boss Medlov and the utilities department of Vienna. He has paid for a five-minute window where this entire grid will go black. No power. No detection. It’s already gone out once tonight, just to throw them off. So they will think that it’s an electrical problem. Calls have already been made to the utilities office and his people have been assured that the problem will be fixed by morning. Once it goes out again, we will use the night vision equipment to make entry quietly and strategically place ourselves at specific vantage points around the perimeter where we can take Kalensko’s men before they know that we are there.
However
, once they discover that they have been infiltrated, we need to be ready to take them down quickly.”
He set another layout down on top of the map showing the blueprint of Kalensko’s home. One of the men in the corner adjusted the light above them to make sure that everyone could see it. The small group moved in closer together with the exception of Anatoly, who spread his arms further apart to keep everyone out of his private space.
Running his hands over the paper to smooth out the edges, the leader looked over at Anatoly who attentively watched his every move. “This is Kalensko’s private quarters. Thankfully, he’s a creature of habit, and our Intel shows that he retires up to his room around the same time every night. Best entry is here through these hallways and up this stairwell.”
Gabriel chewed ferociously on a stick of gum and leaned against the table. Sucking his teeth, he looked at the schematics again. “We should come up from the opposite hallways and take this staircase,” he said, pointing on the paper. “This room directly across from Kalensko’s and the room adjoining it are probably where he’s going to have reinforcements…you know…
personal security
. If they come out of the rooms, especially if we don’t get to him within the five minute window, then we’re going to be approaching them first and him second, giving him time to get out and putting us in an unnecessary firefight.” He popped his gum and looked over at Anatoly.
“
Da, da
. Listen to him. He knows this shit,” Anatoly said, without thinking twice.
The leader retracted. “Fine. We take the team there. It is my understanding that we are responsible for breaking up into four groups: gate, outside perimeter, downstairs and upstairs hallway while you two go in an interrogate Kalensko alone. Correct?”
“
Yep,” Gabe answered, studying the paper. He didn’t look up.
“
No one goes in with us,” Anatoly sighed, shaking his head. “But I have a feeling that after we take control of the mansion, it’s still going to get pretty fucked up after we get what we want. So, don’t worry, you’ll have plenty to do.”
“
Yes, sir. Well, we estimate a total of 6 minutes from the time that we hit the gate to the time that we connect you to Kalensko.”
“
Sounds good to me,” Anatoly said, putting a K-bar in the knife sheath on his thigh. “Let’s go. I want to be on a plane out of here in two hours. We still have to visit Natasha before we get home.”
“
You heard the man,” the leader said to the entire team scattered around the room. “Leave your cell phones here, and pick up your drop phones as you leave out of the door. Synchronize your watches and do one last weapons check. You have five minutes before we depart. If you somehow get separated from the team during the assault, remember that we will rendezvous at the stash house in Liesing to debrief and receive final payment. Let’s go make our paychecks, gentlemen.”
Anatoly quietly listened to the leader rally his men and gritted his teeth to hold his tongue. Anger sparked in him like a wick next to a flame. Because while to them, they were just making another payday, to him this was as personal as things could get. This was about his Anya. His sister. His blood. He had killed once before over a sister of his, but as a boy he hadn’t carried the rage that he had now. As a man looking at the situation, he was infinitely more aware of what the ramifications were behind the matter. Someone had actually watched, plotted and stolen his blood right from under their noses and did it was such brazen disrespect until everyone had to pay.
There was nothing textbook or normal about the matter. The Medlov name was in peril, and the only way to remedy the situation was make an example out of everyone involved.
“
You alright, man?” Gabriel asked, throwing his backpack over his shoulder.
“
I’m fine,” Anatoly lied. “Let’s just get this done.”
Chapter 15
The silence of the room was deafening. A teenage girl sat on the edge of the king-sized bed watching Upheil while he flossed his teeth in the adjoining bathroom and every once in a while looked her way with a twisted, toothy disgusting grin. She felt her small meal of oats and milk given to her earlier in the day begin to push against the lining of her stomach and beg to be uprooted from her gut into her small hands.
Pursing her mouth together to fight its watering, she stilled her racing heart that nervously beat against her chest and promised to stop all together if he did what the others had told him that he would do to her.
Tonight was her first night with
the colonel
. He had picked her from the handful of girls that he kept in his basement for “testing.” Whenever the girls were returned, they normally had cuts and bruises and cried for many days after. Some of them whispered about their experiences, confessing to each other about the depraved things that he would have them do both to him and his men.
It was disgusting to think about and unnerving to experience, but what could they do? They were all trapped in this sick demented nightmare with no chance of ever waking up.
Iyana was still a virgin and had hopes of one day becoming a music teacher, until about a month ago when she was plucked from her family’s clutches after school in Munich, Germany and thrown into the back of an unmarked squad car while she was headed home from violin practice.
The men had identified themselves as police officers, but later – much too late - she had found out differently. The men had taken her to a condemned house where she was drugged and then shipped here.
Iyana had seen what Upheil was capable of doing to the girls. Just the night before, he had savagely beat a young Asian girl only a year older than herself for refusing to have sex with one of the forty year old guards who had paid for her as part of his early birthday gift. She was now in the cellar below being treated by the other girls for her cuts and wounds that covered her feet and hands for her disobedience.