Page 58 of Her Selfless Warrior (Omega Sky)
Nolan smiled. It was his fake one that only his team would see through. He looked down at Iris, whose eyes were at half-mast. “We’re doing good, aren’t we, champ?”
She lifted her arm a couple of inches then stuck her thumb in the air. Nolan bent down to listen to what she said.
“Yep,” he looked up at Kostya. “She’s raring to go.”
Kostya looked down at his watch again. Just twenty-five more minutes. He gave his medic a head tilt, and Nolan scrambled out of the SUSI. They both walked a few meters away to where they wouldn’t be heard.
“How bad?”
“She told me that the same guy who beat and killed Benjamin Leeds also beat her. If it hadn’t been for another Russian pulling him off her, she would have died too. She has internal bleeding, and it’s causing the fever. All this time I thought I was just dealing with an infection that I could kill off with antibiotics, but those won’t work. She needs surgery that I can’t perform.”
Kostya nodded and Nolan jumped into the back of the SUSI. Kostya spoke into the comm. “Everybody but Nolan, huddle up.
“I have good news, Finland has agreed to fly over the border and pick us up. Even better, the helicopter they’re going to send is big enough for all of us.”
“Hot damn!” Ryker grinned.
“Hold your horses,” Gideon admonished. “You’re dealing with Lieutenant Kostya Barona. He doesn’t believe in good news. Please wait for the other shoe to drop if you don’t mind.”
Kostya’s lip twitched. “As I was saying, we need a plan for when the helicopter doesn’t show up. Now I actually do believe it will show up eventually, just somewhere else, and we’ll have to hoof it to the next rendezvous point.”
“Why walk it?” Sebastian asked.
“Because the supply truck will have made it to the lab by then, and they’ll have probably sent helicopters of their own from St. Petersburg to look for two tanks and a Vityaz,” Linc answered.
“Exactly,” Kostya concurred. “We can’t afford to just wait around like sitting ducks. We’ll need to be as far away from the vehicles as possible.”
Everyone nodded.
“Gideon, you’re going to take point—”
The distinctive sound of a helicopter in the distance stopped Kostya’s instructions. His heart jumped and he had to fight off a grin. His satellite phone rang. It was Clark.
“Do you see them?” Clark asked when he picked up.
“Affirmative.”
“Hurry the hell up. Let’s finish this thing. I want to see all this data you’re bringing home.”
Kostya could hear the anticipation in his boss’ voice.
“Where are they coming from?”
“They sent it from their military base, but they’re going to land back at Joensuu. It’ll be a twenty-five-minute ride. The hospital there is expecting Doctor Robinson.”
“Simon, tell them to prep for surgery. According to Nolan, she has internal bleeding.”
“On it. Anything else?”
“Yeah. Thank you.”
“Just doing my job.”
The helicopter came into view and his men flew into action. By the time the helicopter landed, everyone was in position, with Iris Robinson being loaded in first. Kostya saw Nolan’s look of relief when he was confronted with a makeshift bed and an IV hanger and a bag already set up with what Kostya had to assume was filled with antibiotics.
Kostya and Linc were the last ones in before they slammed the door shut. Kostya sent the pilot a thumbs up, then they were up in the air.
He looked down and gave the Russian snow the finger.
