Shadow Men – 10 – Rafe and Steele

"Shit," Rafe growled several minutes later when Jensen had finished talking.

"Bit of an understatement," Steele said. "Why the hell hasn't someone done something about this?"

"Because getting the information to the right people means finding ones who will believe it. You know as well as I do that the Colonel is everyone's golden boy. Besides it's not just him, it's the man who runs him, and he, my friends, is virtually untouchable."

"How did Goranov collect all the information?" Rafe wanted to know.

"That is his story to tell. If you're ready I'll take you to him." Jensen slowly got to his feet, waving off Lou's offer of help. "Lou, if you'll drive, Steele and Rafe can follow us."

With nods, they retrieved their weapons and went to Steele's rental car, which was parked at the end of the block. When they saw Lou drive past, Steele fell in behind him, not too close but near enough he could see when Lou made turns, which took them out of the city proper into the countryside to the west. As they drove, Rafe kept careful watch behind them on the off chance someone might have followed them. Once they were well into the county, on a straight two-lane road, he relaxed marginally.

"So what should we do once we've heard what Goranov has to tell us?"

"If it all holds together, and the papers and other information he has really do prove what Jensen says they do, then we find that elusive person high enough up the chain of command who will listen to us, believe us, and do something about it."

"Any suggestions? I can think of a couple but…" Rafe shrugged.

"Yeah, but… I think we can't come to a decision until we've got what we're going for." As he talked, Steele saw Lou take a left turn onto a side road. Soon they passed through a tiny village. Once past it Lou continued on for two miles before he turned again onto a narrow twisting lane that seemed to meander for miles with nothing in sight but trees and green fields. Eventually, however, it ended at a small cottage set in a stand of trees.

When both cars were parked at the edge of the lane, Rafe and Steele joined the others. Jensen led the way to the front door where he knocked out what was obviously a code. It took a moment or two before the door opened slowly.

A middle-aged, blond man stood there, a pistol in one hand. "It took you long enough," he said, looking at Lou. Then he beckoned with the pistol for the others to enter. Two more men were in the small front room. One was tied to a chair, naked and quite obviously dead. "Goranov," Rafe heard Jensen whisper in shock. Behind the dead agent was a behemoth of a man, bald and so muscular as to be almost grotesque. He also held a pistol, which he leveled at Jensen.

"Walked right into it, didn't we?" Rafe muttered.

"Like a couple of amateurs," Steele agreed as he sidled to one side of the door once he was inside. "Decent odds though, three on two."

"How do you figure? I count three of them," he shot a look at Lou who had moved to stand beside the huge man.

            "Two," Steele disagreed as one of his knives appeared in his hand. With a quick flick of his wrist the knife pierced Lou's shoulder. One of Rafe's followed seconds later. It ended up buried to the hilt in the back of the huge man's gun hand. Then Rafe and Steele pulled their guns. Not, however, quickly enough to stop the blond man who had let them in from firing his weapon. Jensen let out a sharp gasp, hand to his chest, and collapsed.