Page 9 of Fire and Ice

Jack pointed an MDI heat-signature device at the vehicle and noted that there were no warm bodies in the car.

"Van is clear, let's move in."

Derek hoofed it quietly towards the entrance of the warehouse, Jack kept his eyes open for snipers and followed when his friend gave the all clear.

Taking a peek up the open stairwell, they identified three flights of stairs. Blood was trickling from the second landing.

Jack and Derek exchanged grim glances. The warehouse was eerily quiet. Whatever had happened here was over. They stuck to one side of the stairs and sidled up, guns and elbows cocked and ready to go. There was a dead man on the stairs, head partially blown off. Another was on the last flight of steps, a recipient of the same fatal shot. Jack smiled humorlessly as he thought,Kill shots.

Derek held a finger over his lips to warn Jack to keep quiet and then waved his hand palm down, signaling for him to stop. There were distinctive sounds of slow typing coming from the top loft when to their relief, Maia's voice was heard speaking quietly on the phone, apparently talking to Viktor.

"I'm transferring the files now. Yes, I'll rig the devices with TX-3 so there'll be no traces left .... Ha! Thanks a lot .... I don't know, I need to pick up some of my gear at the locker at the train station .... I hate to stand down, Viktor, I do not like running ... I'll contact you when I'm secure .... OK .... Later."

The typing resumed.

"Maia, its Derek!" Derek shouted before showing himself, probably to prevent her from shooting first and asking questions later.

"I see the cavalry is late," Maia drawled, then her eyes registered shock when she saw Jack. "What is he doing here?"

"Glad to see you too, sweetheart," Jack shot back. His relief was so great he wanted to grab her and squeeze her. A simmering fury persisted though, as he surveyed the other two men lying dead on the floor. One appeared to have had his neck broken, the other bore no external indication of what had happened to him.

"They're dead," Maia stated flatly as she stood up from behind her computer. Jack and Derek reacted almost identically.

"What the fuck?"

"Hell, what happened to you?"

Maia stood before them, blood streaking down her right arm, the left hanging limply at an odd angle beside her.

"Can one of you pop my shoulder back in?" Maia asked as though she was asking for a glass of water.

***

"You ready?" Jack asked Maia. He had her left arm bent at the elbow at 90 degrees. He was standing so close, she could smell his after-shave. She hung onto his clean scent to prepare for the unpleasant business of popping her dislocated joint back into place.

Maia nodded. Then Jack without further warning rotated the shoulder and arm outward coaxing the joint back into place.

"Ah! Damn!" Maia hissed through her teeth, her eyes watered as her badly-abused shoulder slid back into its socket. "I hate when that happens." Her whisper was strangled.

"I know, babe." Maia felt Jack's lips on her hair. Did he just kiss her hair? His arms came around her in a gentle hug. God, she hated to move away from the circle of his warmth, feeling so secure in a strange way. But she remembered who and what she was and squirmed out of his arms.

"Er ... thanks, Jack."

"No problem. You may want to put that in a sling for a while."

Derek was working on the files on Maia's laptop. "Almost done! Shoulder back to normal?"

"Yup"

"I see you've been working surveillance on the Russians. Is that why you hung around town?"

"Yup."

"Um, hate to say this Maia, but was that a good idea?"

"That's an idiotic idea. That's a dumb fuck idea," Jack interjected, a bit too forcefully.

"I was careful," she replied defensively.

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