Savage Son (James Reece #3) - Jack Carr Page 0,114
nodded around the room at the mention of a man who had put most of them through their cold weather warfare survival training on Kodiak Island in the SEAL Teams. He now used that expertise as the big-game manager for Sitka Gear in Bozeman.
“I called down and had him send up survival kits for each of you. I know you’ve gotten used to having an AC-130 overhead and QRF just minutes away. This is not Iraq or Afghanistan. This is Russia. I also have a flare gun up there for each of you. If we can’t establish comms and you get to the coast but can’t locate me, put up a flare and I’ll come to you. Jonathan will be with me and we will be looking. By that time, there shouldn’t be anyone left alive on the island to see it.”
Heads nodded again as the gravity of what they were about to undertake sank in.
“Jonathan?” Thorn said, indicating he was finished.
“Just one thing, lads,” the old warrior began. “That you are doing this for our son and daughter means more than my family can ever express. There isn’t enough money in the world to compensate you for taking this risk but as a small expression of my thanks you will each receive two hundred thousand dollars for your work. It’s the very least I can do. If you don’t come back, your family will be taken care of. That, I assure you.”
Reece looked around the room, not knowing what to say next.
“Sir.” Chavez stood and addressed the man before him. “I certainly can’t speak for everyone but please give my money to Freddy Strain’s kid, the one with the special needs.”
Reece swallowed hard as a chorus of voices followed suit.
“I’m not one for this kind of emotion, as Caroline can attest,” Jonathan said, “but, thank you, lads. The deposit will be made. In whose name?”
Reece looked around the room, “From the Warrior Guardians.”
CHAPTER 67
Medny Island, Russia
ALEKSANDR DESCENDED THE SPIRAL stone staircase into what most would call a dungeon. The intelligence officer thought of it as his hypogeum, the intricate final staging area for man and beast before they were raised into the floor of the ancient Roman Colosseum to meet their fate. In this case, the cages were jail cells with two entrances and exits. One opened to the inside, the area into which Aleksandr now ventured, and one on the opposite side opened to a ramp leading outside, into Aleksandr’s coliseum: Medny Island. Sergei followed close behind, carrying a large leather satchel.
Most people thought of the gladiatorial games as pitting the fiercest fighters in Rome against one another in barbaric battles for the joy of the crowd, but Aleksandr preferred the venation. It was a spectacle in which the beasts of the republic were set loose against venatores, the most respected hunters in Rome. Though Aleksandr hunted humans, he thought of them as game. They were his dentatae.
The level had room for eight single cells. Six held the Africans from the Central African Republic who had arrived on the latest flight, criminals from the mines who would be executed in Africa or hunted in Russia. Better they have a fighting chance against Aleksandr and his clients than die on their knees as slaves in the red dirt of their homeland.
Aleksandr and Sergei passed the seventh cage, now empty after its occupant had given Aleksandr a good warm-up two days prior. He was ready; his skills were sharp. He was hungry. They stopped at the last cage and Aleksandr came face-to-face with the adversary he’d been seeking.
“S. Rainsford, a clever pen name. I am Aleksandr Zharkov.”
Raife remained silent, studying his foe with an intensity that sent a chill down Aleksandr’s spine.
A worthy opponent.
“My sister,” Raife said.
“Your sister is dead. But just like the deer that comes to the feeder, or the leopard who climbs the tree after rotting zebra meat placed there by those who hunt him, you are here.”
“You are a sick fuck,” Raife spat.
“Oh, come now, S. Rainsford, your writing on our sport is so eloquent. Do not stoop to such a level. Leave that to the Africans. Tomorrow we hunt, or I should say, I hunt. You will be fed well tonight and just before dawn the cell doors behind you will open. A ramp will lead you up to ground level, where another door will be open. Sergei will have you in the sights of my very capable Dragunov. It’s the only time he uses