Page 54 of Her Selfless Warrior (Omega Sky)
“As far as it takes for the trees and the brakes to finally stop this motherfucker,” Mateo answered.
Not good.
Kostya had his tank stopped in the middle of the trail, doing his best to block the view of the vehicles behind him. “Landon, find something I can use that’ll look like I’m carrying vodka,” he shouted over his shoulder.
Kostya pulled off his rifle and tore off his outer arctic coat and gloves. They were too synonymous with American special forces, but he pulled down his goggles and tugged up the scarf so that it covered the lower part of his face. Hopefully, Oleg was a blonde.
He opened up the hatch and was hit with a blast of arctic air and biting snow crystals. He pulled himself out and reached down, hoping against hope that Landon had something to give him. Landon handed him a raggedy scarf that was wrapped around a fire extinguisher.
“Really? This is all you’ve got? This doesnotlook like a bottle of vodka.”
“Lieutenant, I’ve got you covered,” Linc said over the comm system, “and I’ve got three Semtex grenades.”
Kostya looked over and saw Linc pulling himself out of the second tank’s hatch.
Where in the hell did he manage to get a red backpack?
Kostya dropped the shit that Landon had provided back into the tank and jumped onto the tank’s track then down into the snow. He could see the other tank driver waiting beside his tank. He wasn’t wearing nearly the amount of gear that Kostya was, despite the fact that he’d taken a lot of his shit off.
“Flip open your cargo pants pocket,” Linc ordered him through the comm system as he jogged towards him.
Kostya turned slightly to look over his shoulder and flipped open two of his pockets, watching Linc as he approached him.
Kostya waited for a moment. Linc hustled over and gave him the backpack while surreptitiously shoving the three grenades into his two pockets.
“Hurry up, my balls are turning blue,” the Russian yelled.
“This vodka will warm you up,” Kostya yelled back in Russian. He turned to Linc. “Get in my tank. I need you to be ready for anything if things go south. You got it?”
Linc’s eyes glinted steel. “I got it.” He jumped onto the tank’s track, then hoisted himself up so he could climb into the hatch and Kostya started walking toward the Russian.
“Thank God you’re here, I really could use your help,” Kostya started.
“Yeah, sure you can. My God, are you taking steroids? You look like you could break me in half,” the Russian yelled out with a laugh.
This was his chance. Kostya took off like a shot, head down, and plowed his shoulder into the guy’s stomach before he had an opportunity to react. As Kostya sat on his chest, the man went completely still and laughed up at Kostya.
“Who the fuck are you?”
“I told you there was a situation at the lab.”
“Should have been paying closer attention. Even with all your coughing, your accent is off. you’ve lived in America too long.” He gave the best laugh he could considering the fact Kostya was sitting on his chest. “You’re a long way from home. What happened, did you miss Mother Russia?”
The tank driver showed no fear.
“There’s not one thing about this Godforsaken country that I missed, especially all this fucking snow. Now tell me who else I’m dealing with in your tank and in the Vityaz. How many people?”
“Go fuck yourself.” He smiled at Kostya.
“You tell me and you might live.” Kostya grinned back.
“If you used to live here, then you know that if I live through this, my life isn’t going to be worth living. Once Moscow realizes how badly I fucked up, I’m a dead man anyway.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Do your worst.”
“What about everyone else with you? Do you want them to die too?”
His eyes shifted.
“How many more are in the tank?”
