the side of his knee, then scissoring Victor’s leg with both of his own and heaving his foot from the floor.
Victor went down, landing on his shoulder blades and rolling backwards over the head, abandoning the gun because as he came back to his feet the Russian was upon him and he needed both hands to defend himself against the assault. Victor blocked the first punch and slipped the second, responding with one of his own. The Russian stepped inside it and grabbed the arm, turning Victor and driving him into the front of a filing cabinet. He got his elbow up in time to take the collision, denting the sheet steel front.
He kicked backwards with the edge of his heel, striking the Russian on his shin, causing him to grunt and release the hold on his arm. Victor spun around, immediately punching, then countering as his attack was dodged and the Russian responded with one of his own – an elbow that Victor caught, straightening the arm into a lock. The Russian twisted out of it and stamped on Victor’s foot, stepping away to create enough room for a knee that collided with Victor’s stomach and would have knocked the air from his lungs had the suicide vest not cushioned the blow. There was no danger of it going off prematurely. The plastic explosives could only be detonated with an electric current supplied by the mobile phone detonator.
A shuffle backwards meant the Russian’s follow-up punch fell short of its intended target, Victor’s nose, and a ducking sidestep caused the next attack to sail over his head, the Russian stretching off balance in an attempt to hit his mark. Victor darted under the outstretched arm to land an uppercut on his enemy’s ribs and another above the liver. The Russian sagged, but didn’t slow or hesitate. He slammed his elbow back and down and caught Victor on the shoulder. Then he tried another knee, but Victor wrapped an arm under the knee as it came up, grabbed his opponent’s jacket, lifted him off the floor and drove him backwards until he collided with a table, and then slammed him down onto it.
The monitor and keyboard were knocked away. The monitor housing cracked on the floor. The Russian crushed the plastic in-and-out beneath him. He grabbed the phone and slammed it into the side of Victor’s head. Victor recoiled, bringing up a forearm to knock away the phone as the Russian threw it at him to create enough time for him to roll off the table and get back to his feet.
Victor exploited the distance between them to slip off the tan raincoat. On the other side of the table, the Russian took off his dinner jacket. Both garments dropped to the floor at the same time.
The Russian made to circle around the table but Victor lifted his right leg and planted a front kick on the table, knocking it into his opponent. He couldn’t generate enough force to cause any injury, but the blow surprised the Russian and he didn’t recover fast enough to block the keyboard that Victor swept up from the tabletop and swung double-handed into his face.
The keyboard was well made, and though it cracked and warped on impact, its structure held and most of the force was transferred to the Russian. He staggered backwards. Victor dropped the keyboard, charged, dipped low and wrapped his left arm around the Russian’s waist as he used his right behind the knee to lift the leg. His forward momentum tipped the Russian off balance and he hit the floor hard, the back of his head thumping against the thin carpet.
Victor went down with him, but on top. Dazed but still fighting back, the Russian didn’t have the strength to stop Victor turning him over and snaking his arm underneath his jaw. the Russian’s throat in the pit of Victor’s elbow. He squeezed with his arm as he pushed the knuckle of his right thumb into the side of the man’s neck at a downward forty-five degree angle, his left hand closed over the right to increase the pressure. Russian went slack in less than three seconds.
Another thirty seconds would ensure the Russian never recovered but Victor didn’t want to kill him. He was no longer a threat, and if Victor wasn’t out of the embassy by the time the man woke up then he was never going to get away.
He found the gun on the floor near the office door