Safe and Sound

Chapter One Kim Medhurst Kim gaped at the phone in Taylor’s hand, mouth dry and heart pounding. While she’d fully expected Orlov’s men to show up on Jota’s doorstep at some point, she hadn’t expected the man would send his own son. Or that the son in question, rather than attempting to storm the gates or trying to get in some other way, would simply mooch up, cool as a cucumber, and press the intercom button. Shock and confusion rendered her incapable of deciding whether Maxim Orlov’s polite and very ordinary arrival was a good thing or a bad thing. On the one hand, perhaps it meant aggravation and violence were off the table. Maybe discussions and negotiations would be the name of the game instead. God, I hope so. Just because they were ready for and capable of aggravation and violence didn’t mean that was what they wanted. Though it would be a departure from Orlov Senior’s usual form, judging from recent experience. On the other hand, however, it was possible Maxim Orlov being at the gates was a distraction tactic. The suspicious part of her mind envisioned his goons leaping fences, forcing their way through hedgerows, hustling through the woods, weapons at the ready and drawing ever closer to the house. No, she reminded herself. While the leaping fences and forcing their way through hedgerows weren’t outside the bounds of possibility, if anyone was in the woods, she’d know about it by now, weapons or not. So either the goons remained outside the perimeter of their security measures, or they weren’t here at all. Chastain clearly had no such doubts. The instant Orlov Junior had introduced himself, Chastain had immediately shoved tactical vests at everyone before slipping into his own. Now he was poised for action, his lips set into a grim line. The others had put on their vests. All except for Taylor who, to his credit, remained calm as he spoke into his phone, “Aye. I’m aware o’ him. How can I help ye?” There came a pause, then, “I would rather not discuss this while I am standing out here. May I come inside and talk with you, please?” Orlov, too, remained calm, though she detected a smidgen of frustration in his tone. The five of them exchanged glances. Kim picked up a ‘hell, no’ vibe from Chastain, Smith and Joshua. Once again, Taylor was the outlier. The difference, of course, being that he could see Orlov on the camera. She slipped into the vest Chastain had handed her, then retrieved her phone and pulled up the relevant feed. Immediately, it became clear Orlov was alone at the gates. He looked around their age—mid-to-late thirties—was dressed ordinarily and, while it was possible he had a weapon or weapons secreted about his person, he certainly wasn’t standing there ready to unleash hell on them. His body language was pretty relaxed, too. So he was either a superb actor or was genuinely here just to talk. Maybe, just maybe, diplomacy could resolve this situation. Stranger things had happened, after all. She flicked to the other camera on the lane and soon had eyes on what had to be the man’s method of transport. A sleek, dark-coloured Mercedes sat at the mouth of the lane—possibly he hadn’t wanted to bring the expensive vehicle onto the gravel and risk the stones flipping up and damaging his paintwork. But then, what were a few chips or dings to a man with the money he had access to? He could buy a whole new car without noticing the difference to his bank account, never mind worrying about what a repair bill would cost. Unfortunately, it had been long enough since Orlov had passed the motion sensor that the light at the end of the lane had switched off again, meaning all Kim was left with was the camera’s night vision capability. Despite the high-end technology, she couldn’t make out whether anyone was in the rear of the vehicle or not—it would have been difficult enough with ordinary windows, but the fact they were blacked out made it impossible. But she couldn’t see anyone in the front either, which suggested Orlov didn’t have a driver with him—he’d made this particular journey by himself. Or he’d driven the vehicle, anyway—there was a chance he was the driver, and perhaps his father was in the back of the luxury Mercedes, poised for the next stage of his dastardly plan. Kim rolled her eyes at her own wayward thoughts. He’s not a bloody Scooby Doo villain. This is real life, not a sodding cartoon. She locked her phone and shoved the device back in her pocket. “One moment, please,” Taylor said, then tapped the screen, presumably to shut off contact with the intercom so Orlov couldn’t hear their conversation. He donned his tactical vest, then swept his gaze over each of them, before letting it land on Kim and stay there. “Well, what do ye all think? Far as I can tell, the wee fella’s alone and unarmed, and he doesnae look as though he’s here fer nefarious reasons, but we cannae be too careful.” He paused, looked back at Smith, then sniggered. “All right, I take it back. Maybe we can be too careful—a bulletproof man wearing a bulletproof vest is a wee bit of overkill, isnae it? Bloody hell, mate!” Smith dropped his head to look at his torso, then lifted it, a grin on his face. He shrugged. “It’s so easy to forget about these powers. I haven’t been using them like you guys. Not much call for being bulletproof in Accident and Emergency, even in London—thank God. I’ll ditch it then—no point carrying extra weight just for the sake of it.” Kim suppressed a smile as he began to manoeuvre out of the vest, amused and reassured she wasn’t the only one experiencing such issues. Then something occurred to her. She held out a hand to Smith. “No, wait.” As they all turned to look at her, she continued, “While I agree a bulletproof man wearing a bulletproof vest is overkill, it’s also sensible in this scenario. Orlov might be perceptive enough to notice he’s the only one not wearing a vest and wonder why. Plus, if something happens and Smith catches a bullet, it’ll look pretty damn suspicious when he hasn’t got so much as a mark on him, won’t it? Unfortunately,” she gave Smith an apologetic smile, “if you want to keep your powers under wraps, it’s probably better to leave the vest on. Hopefully this is all completely irrelevant, but…” It was her turn to shrug. Taylor tutted loudly and smacked his own forehead with the heel of his hand. “Aye, o’ course! Ye’re right as always, Kim. Christ, there’s always so much tae think about wi’ all this stuff, isnae there? Thank God we’ve got yer massive brain on our side, or I reckon we’d be royally fucked.” She scrunched up her nose. “Oh, come on. The rest of you aren’t exactly thick. In fact, you’re some of the smartest people I know. Anyway, instead of exchanging compliments, perhaps we should get back to the matter at hand. There’s a young Russian man at the gates and he wants to come in to ‘talk’.” She lifted her hands, palms up, and spread them wide. “What do we do?” “Put a bullet in his f*****g head and be done with it,” Chastain all but growled. His shoulders were hunched, his brow was drawn low and he clutched his firearm, clearly ready to use it at a moment’s notice. Kim shot him a frown. “Now who’s going for overkill?” she scolded, then shook her head, ignoring the scowl she received from Chastain in return. She sighed, then let what was in her brain spill from her mouth, given the absence of suggestions from anyone else. “For what it’s worth, I wholeheartedly vote against putting a bullet in his head. If he shows himself to be a threat to our safety, then we’ll act accordingly. But, short term at least, I think we should give him the benefit of the doubt. We’ll frisk him, of course, make sure he’s not carrying, and we should keep our ears primed for alerts from our phones in case he’s merely here to provide a distraction, but I think we should hear him out.” She raised her eyebrows and peered at the others, inviting their response. Smith jumped in. “I’m with Kim. I’m not saying he’s above board, and he could just be trying to play us. But equally he could genuinely have something to say. He might not even be here on his father’s say-so.” Kim hadn’t even considered that. Silly, really, given she knew better than most that being related to someone didn’t necessarily mean you were of the same mindset. Though if that were the case, then Orlov Junior’s presence definitely brought more questions than answers. None of which they’d discover by leaving him hanging about outside. “Anyone got anything to add? Any objections? Thoughts?” She glanced at the twins, who hadn’t provided any input as yet. “No’ really,” Taylor said with a shrug. “I cannae help feeling suspicious of the wee fella, but as long as we’re careful, we’ll be fine. It’s not like he can take the five of us out wi’ his bare hands, is it? Not even before we had our powers.” Joshua nodded. “Aye. I agree. We’ll gi’ him a frisking a prison guard would be proud of, then we’ll hear him out. Go from there.” “I’ll frisk him,” Smith said, getting to his feet. “If he whips out a gun and shoots me point blank in the face, he’ll be the one who gets hurt. Especially if he’s unlucky with a ricochet.” He grimaced, presumably at the thought of what that scenario could do to a non-bulletproof man, then made for the front door. “Ye’ll need help wi’ the barricade.” Joshua stood and fell into step behind his friend. “Just make sure ye stay between me and him until ye’ve checked him out. I might have a bulletproof vest on, but if he shoots me in the head, I’m done fer.” Kim remained where she was, her heart rate picking up pace again as Smith and Joshua headed out to God only knew what. She grabbed the gun on the table in front of her, then pulled out her phone and checked the gates’ camera feed, where Orlov waited, his hands now shoved deep into his pockets and shuffling from foot to foot, presumably to keep warm. She turned to Taylor. “Let him know someone’s coming, if you would, please.” No sense showing their hand too soon by having her speak to him. Maxim Orlov, while he’d happily given his own name, hadn’t asked who he’d been speaking to, or requested anyone specific. Hadn’t even mentioned Kim. So there was a possibility he didn’t know she was here. Perhaps, to him, this was simply a way of digging for information on her whereabouts. Maybe he planned to offer the others money to help him find her. Taylor gave a nod, then did as she asked. “Hello? Mr Orlov? Just tae let ye ken someone is on their way tae let ye in. They’ll be checking ye fer weapons first.” The tinny response came, “All right. That’s fine. I don’t have any weapons on my person.” “We’ll be the judge o’ that, mate,” Taylor muttered darkly, having closed the app and pocketed his phone. Then, to Kim, he said, “Please dinnae take this the wrong way, but do ye think it might be an idea tae… not hide, exactly,” he fidgeted, his discomfort clear, “but get out o’ sight? And I dinnae mean wi’ ye powers, either, because if ye need tae reappear, that could get tricky. I just cannae help wonderin’ if this Maxim Orlov even knows ye’re here. He hasnae mentioned ye. O’ course, he could just be trying tae lull us intae a false sense o’ security, but I figure, why gi’ it tae him on a plate? At least until we ken why he’s here.” She smiled softly, unable to summon up any irritation at his protectiveness. It was from the heart, because he cared, rather than because he thought she couldn’t look after herself, so how could she be mad at that? She’d likely say the same, were their roles reversed. “Don’t worry, Taylor, I was just having a similar thought myself, to be honest.” She paused as something else occurred to her. “Hang on.” She checked the gates’ camera feed again. Smith and Joshua hadn’t arrived yet, so she had a little time. After switching to the browser, she did a search for Maxim Orlov. Couldn’t hurt to check—he’d been so comfortable giving out his name, despite having to know it wouldn’t exactly be favourable in these parts, that a sliver of suspicion had wormed its way into her brain.