Tatiana waited for a third bullet. Firing two was an outrageously bold move. Taking the time to fire three would be insane, even with the speed and accuracy the sniper had just demonstrated. She turned her head toward the window and saw a red dot on the glass. The sniper was still there? He must be suicidal!
Turning her head in the other direction, she saw the second guard hadn’t been completely successful in avoiding the second bullet. He was sitting on the floor, leaning against the far wall, and missing the top of his skull. Not dead, yet not alive. Not a threat, at least.
She stood cautiously and looked out the window. The dot was still there, and it rested on her heart, unwavering. Who? Who was insane enough to-DEMMON! She suddenly recognized his marksmanship and boldness.
The red light winked out. He wasn’t going to kill her.
Tatiana was stunned as she never expected to leave the building alive, but now Hal had given her the option. She scoffed at the idea.
Instead, she picked up her burner cell from the desk and dialed a number, her thumb hovering over the dial button. She moved back to the window to stare through the spidering cracks toward the building where the shots must have come from. She cursed Hal for taking her target, but she knew he was already gone.
Then it struck her. Hal wouldn’t have been given a mission to kill Zhdankov. The political nightmare of a US assassin killing an FSB officer in Moscow would generate was too much of a risk for the cowards in the White House. The only target that made sense to assign Hal to would be… her.
Staring at the building from which the shots must have come, she heard people running closer in the hall. She looked back at the headless corpse of Sergey. “I am also not interested in being second best.”
She smiled as she pressed the dial button on the cell. She watched it connect as the door burst open behind her.
She heard the shot and was free.
-=-
In the loading bay at the back of the FSB headquarters was a large office supplies delivery truck. Tatiana had driven it into the yard and parked it in a loading bay. Her disguise had been minimal but sufficient to match the records she’d planted in the building’s security profile servers earlier.
The irony of an FSB-trained assassin turning on her masters was compounded by the fact that the method she’d used to attack them came from the secret plans Colonel Vasiliev devised should his masters turn on him. He’d been intimately aware of their security processes, the internal layout of the building, and the weak points of both.
Hidden within the false walls and floors of the truck was an enormous amount of high explosives she’d spent months smuggling into the Russian capital. The boxes of stationary she’d delivered had been carried in and stored in the building’s various supply rooms, each near key structural supports. They also contained explosives and cell-based triggers. The cell phone she’d dialed with the burner was in the truck, and it triggered a repeater, sending out a text pulse to all the secondary bombs, before tripping the truck’s bomb.
The storeroom explosions ripped through the building’s spine, and the second, much larger explosion in the truck severed the lower levels of the building. The resulting blast waves ripped through the building, collapsing it, leaving nothing identifiable behind in the vast crater of rubble. Neighboring buildings were heavily damaged as well.
Tatiana’s final resting place would be amongst the largest headcount she’d ever achieved in a single strike.
An anonymous grave for the world’s deadliest assassin.
-=-
Hal Demmon slipped away in the chaos caused by the explosion, stunned by the scale of the devastation Tatiana had unleashed.
His mission was to kill her before the FSB could send her back to target Americans. But when he’d let his monster out to make the kill, it refused to pull the trigger. It knew Tatiana wouldn’t allow herself to be caught and must have a plan, so it changed its mission.
Hal’s monster had never changed its kill target before, so he was surprised when it shot the others in the room instead. Then it turned on the weapon’s laser sight to let Tatiana know it spared her life.
He’d been troubled by that but knew his mission was over, and he had to leave. He wouldn’t draw undue attention with his worker’s coverall and toolbox containing the disassembled rifle. He’d just reached the street when the blast wave knocked everyone from their feet. He had a few cuts and scratches from the flying glass and debris, but this just added to his disguise. He used the mayhem to slip away into the shadows.
He was going home. Mission accomplished?
-=-
Hours after the horrific events, General Davis leaned back in his chair and contemplated what he’d just watched. Satellite footage of a huge explosion in the middle of Russia’s capitol was something to be concerned about. Still, the complete destruction of the FSB headquarters and the death of everyone inside it gave him serious chills. This could be considered an act of war if they pointed the finger at the US as the responsible party.
There was a knock on the door. “Enter.”
“General, there’s something you should see. Tatiana Pushkin uploaded a video to all major social media platforms. We’re still discovering sites where the video can be found. She recorded it in multiple languages, as well. She’s claiming sole responsibility for the destruction of the FSB headquarters,” his lieutenant said, bringing the General’s computer to one of the sites where the video was already gathering huge viewing numbers. With a nod, the man left his office as the General was already focusing on his screen.
The video began with just a head and shoulders view of Tatiana staring at the camera. She was very beautiful even with the scar on her cheek, but her eyes held a deep pain she was trying to hide with a weak smile. Davis was surprised to catch himself feeling sympathy for the woman.
“Hello. My name is Tatiana Pushkin. Most of you do not know me or only know of me as one of the women who followed and protected Ben Shepherd. Until I betrayed him and drove my blade into him. I did not know I could do such a thing, and it tormented me. Then I realized where this evil inside me came from. My origin story.” She smiled sadly.
“Aleksei Vasiliev was Colonel in the Russian Army, but he worked on secret projects for Russian Intelligence, the FSB, and their masters in the Kremlin. He ran many terrible experiments, and one of them created me and my fellow assassins. He took very young orphans and abducted children of political targets. We endured his torture and training, or we died, and many died. He cut away qualities he believed would limit our capacity to be deadliest assassins. In the end, he had a team, and we killed many for him. This was my life, and I was best. Liliya Sokolov was second.” She shook her head slightly as her eyes became glassy.
“Vasiliev tried to kidnap Ben and died by Liliya’s hand after Ben rescued her daughter. She hunted and terminated the other assassins in Vasiliev’s team, but Ben made her stop. I had no wish to kill her, but Ben was threat to my freedom. I tried to kill him, but he defeated me. I was not best.” A confused and pained expression passed over her face with a look of desperation and longing.
“It took my recent betrayal of Ben for me to see how broken I was. I believed I loved him, but I have no ability to truly love. He would not-no, could not rape, which was how Vasiliev taught me love. Liliya still knew how to love. She did not lose this, and she outfought me to protect Ben. She proved she was best, and I was second.”
“I had nothing left. Vasiliev and his masters took everything from me to be their killing tool. I vowed to reward them for their efforts. If you are watching this, the promise I made to myself has been accomplished. For all the children who died in their assassin program but mostly for the person I could have been, a woman Ben could have loved, I will become deadliest assassin one last time.”
“With this, I betray Ben once more. He said no more killing. He insisted the best blade is one that is never drawn, but Vasiliev destroyed that in me. I know only death, so that is what I will gift to the ones who created me.”
She looked into the camera with sad eyes. “Goodbye, Ben. I am sorry. I wish I could have loved you as Liliya does.”
As Davis examined the video’s final frame, he pondered if Tatiana’s confession would be sufficient to eliminate the US as a suspect in this attack. He’d have to contact Demmon’s handler to confirm his mission wasn’t compromised. The last thing he wanted was evidence of an American agent operating in Moscow at this time.
The second thought that went through his mind was how this wasn’t going to reduce the public’s rabid curiosity about Ben’s life.
…
“Can I move now?” Ben moaned as he did his best to remain absolutely still with Gabriella sitting on his lap, facing him with her arms around him while encircled by his arms. They were intimately connected, and her inner muscles were rippling against his hard cock.
“It’s tantric sex, Ben. You need to hold still and prolong the moment. Feel the intimacy, be in the moment, feel the connection of our spiri-Uhhmmmm!”
Ben watched Gabriella’s eyelashes flutter as her inner muscles rippled again, more strongly this time. “You imp! You’ve been having orgasms for the last fifteen minutes while I’ve been holding still?” he gasped in outrage.
She couldn’t contain her giggles, then she squealed as he grabbed her ass cheeks and bounced her vigorously on his cock. Now her eyelids were really fluttering as they both rocked through their mutual releases.
When they were finished, Ben pushed Gabriella back, and she squeaked as she fell back onto her mattress, her head landing on her pillow. This motion drew Ben’s still hard cock from her body with a pop.
“AH!” she gasped, then burst into giggles once more as tingles cascaded through her body. She looked up at him with a cute little grin, her satisfaction plain on her face.
He snorted, stretched out on the bed next to her, and made himself comfortable as Gabriella cuddled against his side.
“Please don’t think I’m not grateful, but I expected you to spend your first night at home with Tina and Lucy,” she said with a sigh.