CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

"Where are we taking them this time?" asked one of the men, trudging up the icy hill. "Personally, I think all of this is fucking stupid and a waste of our time. It's not like they can run anywhere."

"We're not taking them anywhere except for a nice icy swim. Boss doesn't want to be bothered with them any longer."

"That seems fucking cruel. He's kept them for years. Why kill them now?" he asked.

"I don't know. You wanna call and have a chat with him?" snapped his partner. He said nothing as they neared the mouth of the cave.

"Come on out! You're moving," he called to the men. He heard nothing, so he called to them again. "I know you're still in there. Get your asses out of there. Now!"

"You asked so nicely, I'm happy to come out," said Alec.

The massive shadow began to move forward, slowly walking to the mouth of the cave. Had it not been for him speaking, they would have thought he looked like a massive grizzly bear walking out of the cave. One of the men fumbled with his weapon, dropping it on the ice, only to see a massive boot kick it down the hill.

"Wh-who are you?" the first man stammered.

"Your nightmare come to life," said Rory. "How many men are on the boat?"

"One. Just the pilot."

"You're lying. How many?" he asked again, reaching across and squeezing his neck. His face turned purple as he wheezed, gasping for air. Slowly, he held up three fingers. Rory released him, and Jean stared at the two men.

"Where were you taking them?" asked Tailor.

"Nowhere," he said, coughing. "He wanted them dead. We were going to drop them in the water about a mile out."

"How kind of you. Killing servicemen who did nothing to you. Hell, you weren't even born when most of them were serving," said Alec. "Where is Kaplan?"

"No. No fucking way. He'll gut us."

"I'm going to gut you," said Rory, leaning forward with his knife. "Where is he?"

"We don't know! He's on his yacht somewhere and makes all the calls from there."

"Where are the other islands?" asked Jean.

"No idea. This is the only one we ever came to," said the man.

"You're lying," said Tailor. "I don't like it when folks lie to me. My mama and his taught me to never lie. Now you've made me angry."

"Wh-what is he? What are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm going to kill you, but you have about sixty seconds to get right with God. Where is Kaplan, and where are the islands?"

"We don't know!" yelled the second man.

"Well, that's a shame." Jean turned to Alec, Rory, and Tailor. "End them quickly and leave their bodies for the polar bears. They could probably use some fresh meat. Doug? Savannah? If you're close, we're about done with our business."

"Never left," said Doug. "We're in stealth on the west side of the cave."

As the men boarded the Osprey, the prisoners appeared to finally be getting warm with blankets covering them and Wilson delivering expert care. Jean looked at his brother, Miller, and grinned.

"We don't have time for boom-boom explosives, but how are you with a rocket launcher?" he asked.

"About as good as I am with a rifle and just as good as I am with explosives. Why?"

"Don't let that boat leave your sight." He pointed to the boat and nodded.

Slowly opening the door, Miller latched himself to the harness and flung one leg outside the bird. With Savannah and Doug keeping her steady, he aimed at the ship and fired. Splinters of wood and other materials sailed through the air, the blast ensuring that no man was left alive. Even if they were, they would die within minutes from the bitter cold of the water.

The men inside cheered as Miller turned to his brothers.

"Does that count as a ship sinking?"

"I don't know where the hell you found those men, but they're in rough shape," said the doctor.

"We need you to keep this quiet for now. We have to find the man responsible, and if he knows that those men survived, he's going to go underground. Not even the POTUS can know at this point until we know for sure who's helping them in Washington," said Ian.

"Do you know what you're asking me to do? I could be court-martialed."

"I know. Believe me, I know."

"Ian? POTUS is cleared," said Code. "We'll let him know, and he can take it from there. Let the men know that they can't speak of this to anyone."

"We'll take care of it," said Ian.

"Take care of what?" frowned the doctor. "Who are you talking to?"

"It doesn't matter. The POTUS knows about this and will be sending people to interview those men. They need to be under twenty-four-hour guard. Is that clear?"

"Yes," said the doctor. "Your man, Wilson? He's a helluva medic. One of those men would have died if he'd been out there just a day longer. He may lose his foot, but he'll live."

"Can we speak to them one last time?" asked Alec.

The doctor nodded, gathering the supplies and medical team he was going to need to continue treating them. The men were lined up in the triage rooms, covered in warm blankets and sipping warm water with lemon. They would be given food, slowly, so as not to make them ill.

"We have to leave," said Alec. "Is there anything you can tell us that might give us some idea of where Kaplan is hiding?"

"We only saw him a few times," said the Russian. "We were trying to rescue some Russian girls from a brothel. The conditions were horrible, and we just wanted to get in and out. It was overwhelming for all of us. We never expected to be taken. But the girls. The girls were…"

"We're aware. We burned one to the ground and got the girls to safety. Where was the one you saw?" asked Ian.

"Malaysia. We thought we'd freed the girls, turning them over to police custody. They only took them right back, and we'd exposed ourselves to Kaplan."

"You're all going to be alright now," said Tailor. "They'll take good care of you here, and your own country will come for you when it's time."

"Couldn't we stay here?" asked one of the Russians.

"That's between you, your government, and our government. I'm sure some people are going to have a lot of questions, and Russia is very different than the Russia that you left. Give it some thought, and if you decide you want to stay and can, we'll help if we can," said Ian. "Either way, we wish you luck."

"Hey, thank you for coming for us. Twenty-six others died in our group. Twenty-six. You were the first sign of hope we'd seen." Jean ground his teeth together, nodding at the men as they left.

"Now, that just pisses me off."