That Time in Moscow by Logan Ryles (summer reading list .TXT) 📕

I don’t know if you work for CIA or these imaginary terrorists, but—”

“They’re not imaginary. They’re very real, and you know it.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Because you’re still here, talking to me.”

Ivan folded his arms, then finally stood up. “I almost believe you, Amerikos, but truth is proven in Russia. We shall see what stories you tell when you have no fingernails.”

Ivan rapped on the door, then shouted an order in Russian. Boots thumped on the concrete, and Wolfgang stood up, exposing the button camera in his shirt to his cuffed hands. He held up both thumbs, then looked toward the ceiling.

Nothing happened.

The door opened, and two guards appeared. Ivan snapped an order and gestured toward Wolfgang. They both turned to the table, and Wolfgang held up his thumbs again, glancing down to make sure the camera caught the gesture.

Nothing happened.

The two guards unlocked his cuffs, then pressed him against the wall before re-cuffing his hands behind his back. Ivan led the way out of the interrogation room, then down a hallway to an elevator. He pressed the down arrow as Wolfgang’s head throbbed.

Come on, Lyle. Where are you?

“Hey, Ivan,” Wolfgang said. “Mind if I pee?”

Ivan chuckled. “Where we go, there is drain in floor. You can pee while you sit.”

A drain in the floor. That’s not good.

The elevator dinged, then the door rolled open. Wolfgang swallowed again, then glanced over his shoulder. There were no sounds and nobody in sight, but he could see alarm systems and cameras in the ceiling.

Now, Lyle. Now!

The guards stepped forward, shoving Wolfgang along with them. Wolfgang dipped his toe and tripped, hitting his knees with a grunt and stalling the guards just short of the elevator. Both men muttered curses and grabbed him by the elbows, hauling him toward the open elevator.

And then it happened.

A red light flashed from overhead, and a screaming alarm ripped down the hallway. Wolfgang blinked, disoriented by the noise as if it were from a flash-bang grenade. He stumbled again, and the guards let him drop as everyone looked to the ceiling. Again the alarms screamed, this time followed by a computerized voice calling commands in Russian.

“Pozhar!” Ivan shouted. He rushed past the guards and stuck his head around the corner of the hallway.

Wolfgang heard the beat of more boots on the ground, and he grinned.

Nice job, Lyle.

Ivan turned on his heel and shouted something at the guards. They grabbed Wolfgang by the elbows, then hauled him down an adjoining hallway and to a flight of stairs. Wolfgang walked willingly, keeping his camera lens exposed as he moved. The alarm continued to blare overhead, followed by computerized commands that now cycled through Russian, German, Eastern European languages, and then English.

“Fire, fire. Evacuate the building.”

Wolfgang grinned as the guards unlocked a metal door and dragged him into some kind of detention facility with steel doors on either side. They rolled one door open and slung Wolfgang inside, then the door crashed shut, and the guards disappeared.

Wolfgang lay on the floor, his ribs and elbow throbbing from the crash landing. He coughed and blinked, then sat up and shook his head. The alarm was distant now but still way too loud.

A dry voice croaked from the corner of the room. “Wolfgang?”

The man lying on a cot was half-covered by a thin blanket, and his hands were cuffed to the bed.

“Edric!” Wolfgang fought his way to his feet, impeded by his hands still cuffed behind his back, and stumbled to the bed.

Edric lay on his side, hunched on one elbow. His face was a mottled mess of bruises, and he wheezed with each breath. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Wolfgang knelt beside the bed and gave Edric a reassuring smile. “Lie back, Edric. We’re getting you out of here.”

9

“Did you get the drive?” Edric asked.

Wolfgang shuffled toward the door, peering down the hall through reinforced glass. It was empty, for the moment, but the siren continued to blare, and red lights flashed.

He retreated into the cell and sat down, bracing his back against the wall before kicking off his shoes.

“What the hell are you doing?” Edric asked, his voice cracked with exhaustion.

“Stay quiet, Edric. The cell is bugged.”

Edric lay back, casting an involuntary look at the ceiling.

Wolfgang finished with his shoes, then wiggled his wrists until they passed beneath his butt and were trapped under his thighs. He winced at the strain on his muscles but slowly wiggled his cuffed hands forward, down his thighs, and toward his knees. Finally, he bent forward far enough to loop the cuffs past his feet, and then sat back with a relieved grunt.

“Come here,” Edric hissed.

Wolfgang looked to the window again, then crawled next to Edric’s bed.

“Did you get the drive?” Edric whispered.

“Yeah, Lyle has it. Do you know what’s on it?”

“Sparrow said there were plans for a chemical attack, and details about a terrorist network. She said something about a football stadium.”

“Soldier Field. The plans are for a chemical attack during a ball game.”

“Shit.” Edric closed his eyes and ran a dry tongue over his lips.

“Where is she?” Wolfgang asked.

“Sparrow? I’m not sure. Maybe in one of the other cells.”

Wolfgang stared at the wall as he puzzled through the pieces at hand. Something was missing. Something still didn’t fit. If the terrorists were now operating inside Moscow and Ivan was hunting them, how did Sparrow obtain the files? Who leaked them? “Where did Sparrow get the files?”

“Koslov. Sparrow said he stole them.”

“Where’s Koslov now?”

“Hiding in the city. The terrorists are looking for him. Sparrow wouldn’t disclose the location until we transmitted the drive contents to the CIA.”

“She couldn’t do that herself?”

“Apparently, she was communicating to the CIA via another agent—a handler, if you will. Two days ago, the handler disappeared.”

Wolfgang leaned against the wall. “The CIA pulled him. Another effort to maintain plausible deniability, I’m sure. But how did she contact us last night?”

“The CIA left her with a phone number to call if she had an emergency. It rang to