Page 1 of No Vow Broken

ONE

Vladimir Kozlov

Bluff House, Maryland

The final car pulled up in the circular driveway right on schedule.

Vladimir counted two new arrivals being screened by the Secret Service as he peered through the imperfect veil of bushes and low-hanging tree branches. A man in a dark suit and a blonde woman in a red dress. If their source was correct—and they had been on every other point—all the guests at the historic inn were now accounted for. Nonetheless, he would wait an extra thirty minutes to make sure they weren’t surprised by any late arrivals.

Vladimir clicked the mic button on his comms three times without saying anything. He was sure his team was paying attention and would know to anticipate the go order. No sense in running the risk of alerting the first lady’s Secret Service detail if they were monitoring the airwaves with a scanner.

His team was highly experienced, and they knew the value of patience. They would wait.

Events were unfolding precisely according to plan, and he hadn’t expected any less. Oddly, that knowledge both comforted and troubled him. His combat experience told him that missions rarely went according to plan and, therefore, it was likely that he was missing something.

Yet, nothing leaped to mind. Not a single detail had been left to chance. A light mist hung in the air, just enough to be felt, but not enough to be bothersome. An added benefit were the low clouds and limited visibility, which would slow any aerial response delivering backup forces.

Movement just off the left end of the building caught his eye. A man in a suit walked around, his gaze sweeping slowly right and left, even passing across the tree line where Vladimir crouched motionless. One of the Secret Service agents on patrol. He had counted four agents total, three men and a woman, who’d arrived with the first lady in three black SUVs that were now parked around the right side of the building.

Vladimir tried to picture how he would deploy the detail if he were the Secret Service agent in charge. The lone woman agent he’d seen would certainly be posted with the first lady. He’d put another agent in front, one in the back, and the third to patrol the outside. Right now, he could only see the patrolling agent, but that formation felt right.

There were also two local policemen at the head of the driveway, their vehicles blocking the entrance. His plan was to take out the police and the outside patrol agent simultaneously, then cut the power to the house. In the dark, his team would have both numbers and a huge advantage with their night-vision goggles and low-light scopes.

He glanced at his watch. Fifteen more minutes of waiting. By that time, Anton would be in position to eliminate the policemen and detonate the charge he’d placed near the utilities box hours ago. After that, Anton would attempt to enter the house through the outside door on the right side near where the presidential SUVs were parked.

He wondered why he hadn’t heard from Alexei yet. Alexei should have moved their escape boat from where they’d hidden it down the bay and brought it up the coast to the cliffs behind the house. If he had been able to find the small dirt path up the sharp climb from the river that they’d detected in the overhead drone imagery, he should already be in position. Alexei’s ascent to the house was their biggest risk of alerting the Secret Service agents of their presence. But they needed him in that position to eliminate anyone trying to escape out the rear of building.

That only left Viktor and Leonid. Viktor had been tasked to make the initial penetration of the building from the left side, through a kitchen door that would be unprotected after the outside agent was eliminated. Viktor would also be responsible for taking down the patrolling agent. Leonid would enter through the front door once the attacks from the sides of the house had drawn the inside agents. With the outside Secret Service agent down and the two policemen eliminated, it would make it five on three. His team would also have surprise, night-vision goggles, more weapons, and a clearer understanding of the battle space. It should be enough to get the mission done and be gone before any additional police or Secret Service could be deployed.

Vladimir shifted slightly on the balls of his feet. It would have been much faster and cleaner if Radomir and Pyotr hadn’t been caught and detained crossing into the US from Canada. He hadn’t heard yet how they’d been detected, but that did make it more important that his team made absolutely no mistakes tonight.

They had no room for error.

Still, Vladimir liked their odds at five to three. Furthermore, with one agent dedicated to the first lady, the remaining two would have to cover four entrances to the building in the dark. Added to that, he wouldn’t have to worry about any of the other guests carrying weapons. The Secret Service would see to that. So, no surprises. Not that he was concerned about civilians. His instructions were simple—leave no witnesses behind.

Ten minutes passed, and Vladimir heard a click, a pause, and two clicks. Alexei had made it up from the river undetected and was now in position behind the house. Good. The riskiest part of the plan had gone off without a problem.

Over the next two minutes, Vladimir heard more coded clicks indicating the others were also in position. Time to get the mission underway.

Moving slowly and staying very low, Vladimir crept forward until he had an unobstructed view of the building. Several of the upstairs windows were cracked open. He smiled, suspecting they had been opened by one of the Secret Service agents inside the house, probably the detail lead. The open window would mean nothing to the guests, but it was standard procedure. Agents would be able to fire and move between rooms more easily if they weren’t obstructed by the window glass.

Vladimir’s grin widened. He liked the challenge of facing professionals instead of the hapless civilians who had been his most recent targets—especially highly trained Secret Service agents.

Unfortunately for the agent inside, the open windows clearly revealed his location. Vladimir used his rifle scope to check out the windows and detected a slight movement in the center window. He carefully slid his gun into a more comfortable firing position and adjusted the scope for the distance and elevation of the window. He was ready.

Showtime.

He gave his comm link five clicks and set his watch. In one minute, the lights would go out, and half the protective detail of Secret Service and police would be dead. If everything went according to schedule, the mission would be completed in just over ten minutes with no one left alive and well before help could arrive.

He heard a soft popping noise from Viktor’s location, followed almost simultaneously by two shots from the end of the driveway.

Bang!

Sparks from the explosion near the utility box lit up the darkness and the house lights abruptly winked off.

Still smiling, Vladimir put his eye to his low-light scope and waited for his target to show in the window. All according to plan, he mused, adrenaline coursing through his body. There’d been no need to worry after all.

TWO

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