Fires of Kiev Read online

  Their passion spent, she fell asleep sated in his arms.

  Chapter 26

  “It’s lucky that Fire of Dawn doesn’t have a large budget for guards,” Kostya said as they loaded the medical kits into the car. “Otherwise I don’t think I would risk doing this.”

  “It’s just been a short time since you wandered down into the silo by yourself. It should be easier now that we’ve planned it.” Meredith pulled her hair back into a low ponytail and slipped on a black, knit hat and lined microfiber gloves. She had on warm, fleece-lined black leggings and a form-fitting black jacket provided courtesy of a package sent to the Melnyks from TRUST. She also had a shoulder holster and a Glock handgun, but she hoped she wouldn’t have to use it. A youngster didn’t grow up in the South without learning to shoot, but she’d rather not test her skills while trying to disarm a nuclear weapon.

  Leaning over to tighten her boots, she straightened to see Kostya behind her. She turned, and with a smirk asked in Ukrainian, “Are you enjoying the view, Cossack?”

  Kostya leaned back on the car. “I’ve seen better.”

  “You have?” Meredith asked, eyebrow arched with jealousy. “Where, exactly, were you when you were looking at something better?”

  “Last night, next to the bed, with you getting undressed,” he playfully whispered, throwing his arms around her as he pulled her close.

  “Kostya!” She pushed back playfully. “Maybe you need to get a better view of my front side, too.”

  He drew her in and kissed her passionately. “I want to become very familiar with every side of you, dushen’ka.” His embrace sent jolts of lightning through her as he shamelessly reignited the desire between them. After a stolen minute, he pulled away reluctantly. “Meri, we need to get this stuff loaded and leave.”

  “I know.” Meredith pouted. “Let’s get going.”

  They used GPS instructions until they had to leave the regular roads, and then they relied on the maps Will had superimposed on satellite pictures of the sites. They travelled to the site Kostya had never been to first. Just like the other site, there was a large cleared out area and evidence of recent upgrades to the concrete pads and radio antennae.

  Kostya stopped the car in the trees outside the clearing and pulled out a pair of military binoculars. He watched carefully for a few moments and then handed the pair to Meredith. “I don’t see anything outside, but it looks like there is a car parked outside the silo entrance.”

  “Probably two rent-a-cops like they had guarding the other site when you found it,” Meredith guessed.

  “Yeah, or lower rank Fire of Dawn followers.”

  “With just a couple of guards, they may not have a missile yet.” Meredith put down the binoculars, not sure whether to be disappointed or relieved that there wasn’t more action. “There certainly isn’t a lot of activity out here.”

  “We still need to check the silo,” Kostya said and Meredith nodded in agreement. “I think we should try the two-door approach on this one. It will be easy to distract a couple of guys while I check the components.”

  “That sounds good. Do you want me to enter by the main entrance or by the silo stairs?”

  “By the silo, definitely. It’s a lot of steps up and down, but I think it is the safest option,” Kostya said.

  “I’m glad I’ve picked up more cardio lately,” Meredith said, thinking of the several stories of stairs Kostya and Bohdan had climbed to escape the other silo. “This should be better than the stair-stepper at the gym.”

  They covered the car, which had been parked away from the paths entering the clearing, with camouflage netting and carefully placed pine branches on the front hood, which was facing the silo through the trees. Circling the clearing using the trees for cover as long as possible, they situated themselves at the two entrances to the silo—Kostya near the underground command center entrance and Meredith back toward the missile housing. Approaching the entrance, Meredith signaled to Kostya when she found the doors were unlocked, just as they expected. He returned an all-clear wave, and Meredith pulled the metal door toward her.

  The entry led immediately to metal steps that zigzagged as she descended down, deeper and deeper underground. Moving quickly, she tried to pace herself, knowing going up would be much more challenging. Finally, she landed on an alcove adjacent to a concrete floor that encircled the silo itself. Metal scaffolding arched above, supporting the circular wall inside the alcove. The sliding doors to access the missile, if there was one there, were all shut.

  Meredith used her flashlight to look high and low for a spot against the concrete and metal walls with several wires going in and out. She found it in the scaffolding between two of the segments of the walkway. Reaching as far as she could, she placed the magnetic backing of the small plastic boxes she carried with her against the steel scaffolding near the wires. Stretching up, she pushed two buttons: the first started a bright strobe light flashing into the space, and the second shrieked an alarm. If this doesn’t cause a distraction, nothing will.

  Running to the steps, she climbed for her life, reaching the top and closing the doors in record time. The outside air burned inside her lungs as she exhaled a vapor mist in the cold. Although her leg muscles protested, she didn’t dare stop. Circling around using the trees for cover, she found the car, climbed under the camouflage netting, and slid safely into her seat.

  Still catching her breath, she pulled out the binoculars to watch events unfold. Kostya had already gone under through the command center doors, but he would have to get past the men on duty to access the components. She prayed that the alarm would lure them out, but so far, it was quiet above ground.

  “Come on, come on,” she muttered to herself, watching for any sign that their plan had worked. It was only a couple of minutes until two men, dressed in military-style clothing, emerged from the main silo entrance, one talking frantically on a satellite phone. He gesticulated broadly, obviously frustrated by the response he was getting on the other line. When he hung up, he was equally angry with the other guard, who genuinely seemed to want to calm him down. Meredith sighed in relief, knowing if the two guards were on the ground, Kostya was free to do what he needed to.

  After about ten minutes the alarms suddenly stopped, and the men looked around, puzzled and unsure of what to do. Meredith watched the main entrance closely, fearing that Kostya would try to escape before the men headed back down.

  The men argued but eventually decided to go back underground. As soon as they disappeared into the doorway, Meredith flashed the headlights and Kostya emerged from the back doors of the silo and made a break for the car.

  Meredith jumped out of the car and started to remove the netting as Kostya returned.

  “No,” he called quietly but frantically. “We can’t leave yet. There are more on their way.” He and Meredith replaced the netting and returned to the car. He was breathing hard from his sprint up the stairs. “There was a radio communicator. I heard them say they were on their way.”

  “Are we hidden well enough?” Meredith surveyed the area around them and frowned.

  “We’re off the path, so we’re not where they’d expect to see an intruder, and there’s no evidence that there was an alarm to begin with, so the superiors may not want to look.” He dropped the alarm and strobe box back into the case. “We’re back here quite a ways and covered. I think we’ll be fine.”

  Even with his reassurances, the next three hours were long ones. First, the workers left in the car that was parked by the silo entrance. Then, another car came and drove past the site and around the perimeter of the cleared area. This car came within fifty feet of their hiding place, but their attention was focused inward and not toward the trees. Finally, a black sedan arrived, and the driver got out to open the door for the passenger.

  Dropping the binoculars, Kostya reached for the satellite phone, carefully turned off the flash, and took several pictures of the man as he looked around the area.

 
“Who is that?” Meredith asked, sensing a seriousness in the air she hadn’t felt before.

  “Petro Vlasenko. I need to send these pictures to TRUST right away.”

  The man and the driver and passenger from the other car entered the silo from the main entrance and disappeared. The driver entered the car, probably to stay warm.

  “Did you get what you needed underground?” Meredith asked.

  “There’s no missile yet, but it appears like they might be preparing for one. Someone is setting up some of the components, and the possibility is there.”

  “I guess that can be good news or bad news.” Meredith stared toward the site. “There’s no threat here, but we still need to deal with a danger that’s out there.”

  “And that danger can explode in our faces if we are not careful.”

  Chapter 27

  After waiting in the cold for three hours, Meredith and Kostya went back to the Melnyks’ with stiff muscles and cold seeping into to their bones. Kostya worried about Meredith being in the cold so long, but immediately felt better when Olena welcomed them with a savory chicken soup with little dumplings. Again, there was fresh bread with loads of butter and preserves. The substantial meal not only warmed them, but gave them energy to face what was to come tomorrow.

  After dinner Meredith and Kostya again offered to do dishes, but Olena wouldn’t hear of it.

  “You both have worked all day,” she said in Ukrainian. “This is my job.” She shooed them out of the kitchen with a bottle of wine and glasses.

  Settling down by the fire, Serhiy uncorked the bottle and poured three glasses of a nice Malbec for them.

  “I don’t know if you have any interest in local politics, but we are amid interesting times,” he said while handing out the glasses.

  “Oh? What is the latest news?” Kostya leaned back into the couch.

  “Rumors persist about protests planned for the Day of Dignity and Freedom celebrations on November twenty-first,” Serhiy said.

  “I’ve heard of this celebration,” Meredith said. “This is the new holiday that’s like an Independence Day, observing the Ukraine’s freedom from corrupt government.”

  “That’s the positive spin the government spits out.” Serhiy snorted. “It actually started a couple years ago as a day of remembrance after more than one-hundred ethnic Ukrainians were killed in an uprising in Kiev at Independence Square. Ukrainians supporting independence were angry when the President refused to sign an agreement with the European Union as he had promised, and instead aligned with Russia. Defenders of Novorossiya and the President’s actions clashed violently with the protesters.”

  “I was there. My unit was assigned to monitor the crowd and keep things peaceful.” Kostya’s eyes became distanced as he remembered the group of Ukrainian prisoners he saw locked up in the stables. “My superior, Petro Vlasenko, let his brother, Stas, gun down fifteen Ukrainian protesters, men and women, before he was stopped.”

  Before I stopped them.

  “And nothing happened to the Vlasenko,” Serhiy stated, frowning.

  “Petro was Spetnaz-Alfa, so he was able to rationalize his actions with excuses of a military peacekeeping operation going bad.” Kostya cringed, thinking of the day he testified against Petro, and how the military judge had obviously been influenced outside of court. Kostya had bravely stood against one of his comrades for atrocities, and it was his integrity that was questioned. Fifteen dead bodies couldn’t outweigh the political favors the Vlasenkos wielded.

  “And Stas? What do you know of him?” Serhiy’s question made the air thick and Kostya had to force his lungs to breathe. Meredith tilted her head toward him and took his hand.

  “Stas was smart enough to run.” Kostya frowned. “We followed his trail leaving the Ukraine and going to South America, but once the military hearing was completed, pursuing him further seemed futile.”

  In truth, Kostya, frustrated and angry, had quit and returned home. He left the service that had betrayed his sense of right and wrong. He returned to a life he could control.

  “Trouble may be coming around again this year.” Serhiy clicked his tongue.

  “Oh?” Kostya raised his brows.

  “Peaceful commemorations are planned all over the country, but Novorossiyan factions may be planning something different.” Serhiy stood and used the poker to stir up flames in the burned down logs. Meredith and Kostya exchanged a knowing look. Vlasenko. Fire of Dawn.

  “Can’t the Ukrainian government step in?” Meredith asked. “The Ukrainian people are committed to maintaining a democratic country, so they should stop this.”

  “Yes, but our government is still corrupt and our poor economy and national debt are crippling our businesses.” Serhiy sat down next to Kostya. He looked into the fire thoughtfully. “It’s no wonder so many are looking for answers elsewhere. The quest for freedom, for liberty, burns so hot in some hearts that many may be scorched by its flame.”

  Kostya took the weight of Serhiy’s words onto his own shoulders. How could he fight Novorossiyan terrorists when he was still blistered from his last run-in with the Vlasenkos?

  “When many people have competing desires, it is natural that some are winners and others are losers,” Kostya said, deflecting Serhiy’s ideas.

  “Winners and losers, eh?” Serhiy scoffed. He took a sip of his wine. “We Ukrainians are different, you know. We know losing. We don’t know life without oppression. Our land—the crossroads that all powers wanted. Our people—the throw-away population to be starved and eliminated. Our government—a joke even to our own people. The Day of Dignity and Freedom is a chance to claim our birthright. It’s a chance to show through oppression we became stronger, through the hard times we got tough. We celebrate both our past corruptions and our future victories. We honor those lost and we nurture the future.”

  “Yet the day is still quite controversial, isn’t it?” Meredith asked. “Many believe it honors only those who want to align with Europe and ignores the desires of Novorossiya.”

  “Let them suffer,” he said cynically. “We suffered under Russian autocrats. Maybe they’ll find they like democracy if they’d try it.”

  “If you force feed people democracy, isn’t it autocratic?” Kostya leaned forward, tracing the edge of his wine glass.

  Serhiy sat back down. “Nonetheless, as the curse says, ‘we live in interesting times.’” He leaned forward to put his wine glass on the table and switched to English. “There’s a rumor that a group has been congregating in the area around Poltava. It’s strange because they are Easterners meeting here for political planning.”

  Kostya frowned. “Are they Novorossiyan?”

  “Not a mainstream group. They are more extreme thinkers. I hear rumors that they desire earning power through killing. They have banners with a bird in flames and a star. Does it sound like anything you’ve heard of?”

  “Fire of Dawn,” Meredith whispered to Kostya. “That’s the symbol you described that was painted on the…”

  “Do you know anything at all about the group? Why are they meeting here?”

  “It is hard to say. Their meetings are secret apparently. It is the dilemma of democracy, isn’t it? ‘The right to peacefully assemble’ applies to you and me as well as to the Ku Klux Klan in America.” He nodded to Meredith.

  “If we want to maintain a true democracy, the group in Poltava should have the right to meet, but when do we investigate them? When they are suspect? When they do something illegal? After they kill?” Serhiy slapped the back of his hand into his palm to emphasize the point. “There can be benefits to having a benevolent dictator in charge.”

  “Isn’t that an oxymoron?” Meredith asked, inciting a laugh.

  Kostya sat thoughtfully. For months, he had rationalized leaving Spetnaz-Alfa after the Euromaiden protests and choosing a simpler life. He had failed to stop the killing, and people had died. But now, he had been given another opportunity to stop the Vlasenkos and to protect his c
ountry. How could he not stand against them?

  “I need to know everything I can about this group, Serhiy. What they wear, their leaders, their symbols—who do you know in Poltava?”

  “I can ask around, but I don’t want to poke the bear, so to speak.” He smiled. “I take it they might have something to do with your mission here.”

  “I wouldn’t have the vaguest idea what you are talking about,” Kostya smirked, “but anything you find out would be appreciated.”

  Chapter 28

  That night Kostya and Meredith lay side by side, facing each other and talking. Although that day’s operation had meant a long time sitting in a cold car, they had been successful and had a good result. There was no missile at the site. Now, the only site left to investigate was the one Kostya had found and explored before, and it was the one most likely to give them trouble. “I know we can’t do another alarm, but maybe we could think of some other distraction to draw the guards out,” Meredith suggested.

  “I have a feeling that the security at this site has been escalated dramatically since I was last there. The two of us would not be safe trying something like that again.” Kostya rolled to his back and raised his hands to his forehead. “The only way I’m going to get into that silo again is if I am one of them.”

  “If you’re one of them? One of who?” Meredith lifted an eyebrow. “You don’t mean attempting to join Fire of Dawn?”

  “I don’t see any other way to get in there. If they are meeting in Poltava, I think I can convince them I am a friend and convince them to take me into the silo.”

  “Kostya, you’re crazy.” She sat up and hit him on his side with a pillow. “You’re stupid and crazy. They’ll kill you if they find you. Petro will never believe you’re supporting their cause.”

  “I won’t see Petro. He’s too far inside the organization. Besides, they’ll kill me if they find me anyway. If I join them and I get caught, I stand a chance of being able to negotiate.” He sat up and leaned against the headboard. “But Meri, I don’t plan on getting caught.”