The Hotel

Chapter Nine

After interviewing a group of lower NCOs and a handful of the more receptive private soldiers, it was abundantly clear that Kirov had spun a tissue of lies to keep his men placated. One group of soldiers had insisted that Kirov was negotiating for their return home with their respective prison sentences commuted to time served in the army. One NCO even suggested that they would be given the region to hold as compensation from the new provisional government and finally, a staff sergeant laughed at such nonsense and simply walked away laughing aloud at the suggestion that Kirov might be working hand in glove with the new government.

Back in the hotel room, Sarah and Marta huddled tougher conspiratorially,

"Kirov has told so many lies, no one knows what is happening!" She chuckled,

"The private soldiers have no clue but that means some of the officers might know something!" Marta grimaced, knowing that Sarah would need to talk to men that had cruelly used Marta for sex, and raped her to break her spirit.

"I will talk to them alone, I have a little task for you," Sarah reassured her.

"What task?" Marta murmured suspiciously.

"I need you to get to know the radio man here, he's the cute little lance-corporal in the radio tent, I need you to get a flash message to the Colonel!" She smiled but knew that putting her on a task like that would bring up bad memories,

"I...I don't think... I don't know if I can!" Marta looked aghast, she stood up and walked to the window and looked out. Despite Sarah's efforts to prop her up, she looked diminished.

"Marta, if the Colonel isn't warned, he'll be in more trouble than he can handle. If he sees Kirov installed here, he'll probably attack and that will earn the enmity of the government and they'll remove him and probably arrest him and then put him up against a wall and shoot him," Sarah crossed to her friend, hugged her but delivered the last words with the solemnity they needed to prompt her to action.

"Do you think that will happen?" Marta blinked back tears.

"Either that, her Kirov will set a trap and kill Adam himself, and then get slapped on the back and congratulated by those duplicitous fuckers in the government for removing him from their minds. Don't forget, your Colonel is a popular min and a threat to the new provisional government!" Sarah laid it on the line for her in no uncertain terms.

Little did she know that sending her friend off put her in more danger than she could ever know but now she focussed on shoring up Marta's emotional strength to consider hers. Sarah held Marta for a long time until the tears dried up and she sighed with resignation and then released her tight embrace,

"For the Colonel, I will do this," Marta sniffled, and Srah kissed the damp tracks from her cheeks. There was nothing sexual between them now. Sarah also wanted to feel the warmth of someone now. Adam had been she could feel comfortable with, someone she could hold close and who knew, if he gave up his command and rank, she and he might leave the conflicts of the world and find their portion of happiness, as another Adam had asked of his creator in Mary Shelley's masterpiece; 'Frankenstein, a modern Prometheus'.

"Marta, just flirt with him, don't put yourself in any situation that makes you uncomfortable. I suspect the Lancer is not experienced with women and you just need a few seconds, don't you?" Sarah looked as Marta straightened up.

"I will be fine. Those men... those nenorocilor! Those bastards will not break me now. They will get what is coming to them and I will set my rifle aside and live my life, while they suffer the red torments of hell, and I will forget them!" A newer stronger Marta now stood before her; a woman that could finally move forward. Sarah looked on as Marta, went to wash her face and then found a fresh shirt, hanging awkwardly on a hanger, then her memory flooded with the quote by Barabra De Angelis, and as she watched Marta unbutton her dirty fatigue shirt and then pause,

Srah recalled the quote and quietly recited it for her friend, "We don't develop courage by being happy every day but by overcoming difficult times and challenging adversity," She smiled as Marta looked back,

"Then I shall overcome the difficult times and challenge them too!" With that, she stripped off the beige bra, she had borrowed from Sarah and then buttoned up the freshly laundered shirt.

"Now be gentle with him, Marta, I doubt he has ever had a woman as beautiful as you pay him any attention," Sarah smiled. Marta looked down at the buttons and undid one,

"I will," Marta chuckled, surprising herself with her preparations for the seduction of the radio operator, "what will you do?"

"I have a 'date' with the Captain, we saw with Kirov, who escorted Minister Kuznetsov out of the command tent. I have a sneaking suspicion that he knows what Kirov is up to, but if he doesn't then I think he'll be pissed off enough to challenge Kirov about it!" She smiled slyly.

"Sarah be very careful, I do not like the look of this man!" She warned, vainly trying to ascertain if he was one of the men who had abused her, but then brushed the attempt aside.

"Marta, I will be fine. I'm protected with my press credentials and Kirov wants me on his side now!"

As Marta hugged her and once again begged her to be careful, the two friends parted. Sarah went off to find the elusive Captain and Marta to the radio tent to try and get the lancer to show how his 'thing' worked.

Sarah was no fool, but she knew that the dangerous game she was playing was akin to holding a live hand grenade with the pin out, and the only thing stopping the imminent explosion was her grip on the safety handle, and soon her grip was severely tested.

Finding the Captain was harder than she thought it would be. Sarah wandered about the camp, with troops coming and going. The flurry of serge uniforms seemed to be a blur, and Sarah would occasionally stop and observe the activity from a distance. There was something different, something had caused a sudden and unnerving rapidity in the day-to-day comings and goings. The troops seemed to be rushing hither and thither with boxes, arms, and provisions. Sarah had been around a lot of military camps in her career as a war correspondent, and in her years, she had seen too many faces of young men and women who would not survive the coming conflict. Now she looked at the rough-hewn men in this remnant of the penal company and felt the same sense of foreboding. As she watched NCOs ordering men to this place and that place, she spotted her quarry. The tall, scrubbing brush-haired Captain cut across the campground and made for the bombed-out buildings outside the camp's perimeter. He carried no rifle, but she saw his side arm hanging from his belt and in his right hand; a half-empty bottle of clear liquid.

"You sneaky bastard; drinking vodka on duty!" Sarah hissed. She looked around the camp and then leapt forward to try and catch him. She trailed him to the same building that she and Marta had hidden themselves away and then saw him scrambling over the rubble. Sarah hung back and checked behind her and saw no one. She stepped forward, careful not to allow her footsteps to herald her arrival and then ducked down and inched towards the half wall.

Then she froze. She heard two voices. They were quiet but as she crept forward, she strained to hear what was being said. Sarah fumbled for her newly returned Dictaphone and thumbed the record button. She leaned forward and then nearly slipped as Kirov's unmistakable voice barked at the Captain,

"Vasily, there is no choice! We have nowhere to go! Our supplies are cut off. We are in a real fix. We cannot go home. If I can get this frightened rabbit of a Minister, to endorse us as a private security force working for this provisional government, we will be set for life." Kirov quietened as he spoke to his subordinate.

"What about the men?" The Captain replied,

"What about them? We cannot march a company through the streets of the Capitol and pretend that the people will accept armed convicts who were part of an invading army. We can talk about a hundred or so men. We have to choose carefully; we can take those we can trust and that can be scrubbed up well. Minister Kuznetsov is adamant that the men we can take will have to be 'acceptable'." Kirov's voice was strained, the pressure he was under was taking its toll on him. Being a Colonel, it must have been demeaning to only command a company that a Major would normally command, and then to add to that indignity they ordered this company to act independently as partisans to cover a withdrawal of troops and finally, they abandoned him.

Sarah sat, hardly breathing, every muscle was tense, and her attention was on holding the Dictaphone and then the uncomfortable feeling of an urgent need to urinate. Sarah tensed and fought to keep the tension in her bladder at bay, as her mind raced. She frowned, rarely had she been so right in her assumptions. Kirov was trying to get out of the regular army and sell himself as a liberating saviour. The only real issue was how to lose nearly hundred and fifty other men.

The answer was simple as she listened however Sarah's legs began to cramp, but she sat enduring the discomfort.

Kirov coughed, although she couldn't see him, he must have taken a slug from the bottle the Captain had brought with him, "Vasily we will lose a lot of men when the Black Colonel attacks us. Don't you see? If the Black Colonel attacks us, we will be seen as the victims and simply defending ourselves. We then not only shed the men we can't take with us but also remove a thorn in the side of the provisional government. Kuznetsov wants the Black Colonel dead so much; he could taste it!" Kirov chuckled,

"Why?" Vasily Zaitsev was suspicious of the whole situation, and he did not like the two-faced politicians.

"Kuznetsov has some grudge with the Colonel, so if he is killed off, then that will be to our advantage. Don't forget we do have an asset, what the Americans call an 'ace in the hole!' Kirov took another draught from the bottle,

"What?" Vasily was getting more than a fair share of the bottle, and Sarah could tell he wasn't as astute as Kirov. As she sat hunched, Sarah desperately wanted to move, she looked up and saw a cluster of missing bricks, that might give a view of the conspirators, but she hesitated. She jammed the Dictaphone away in a pocket and zipperedShe felt in her jacket pocket for her small digital camera and pulled it silently from its hiding place and then switched it on, whilst inside her jacket to muffle any activation chime and then reached up, checking the flash was off and took a series of rapidly taken pictures, hoping they would show something.

Kirov shifted on the unsteady rubble and then coughed and bade farewell to his Captain,

"Vasily, have you forgotten the pretty little war correspondent we have in our charge? Once she's sent a favourable report to the Minister and published her article on the internet, she will be ideal bait for our gallant Colonel Chenyy!" Kirov chuckled,

"Yes...bait. The Colonel had her in the hotel before we caught his little recon platoon and had the blonde bitch send them off to the border!" The Captain spat onto the ground and then laughed out loud, "That little whore will be perfect."

Sarah squirmed at the language describing her but remained as stone.

"Especially as it seems that the Colonel might have taken a fancy to her!" Kirov gave his Captain a smack on the shoulder, and then shuffled back, clearly making his way to the camp, "we will talk later!" His voice faded as he walked into the distance.

"Well, I hope the black Colonel is cooperative!" The Captain swore, threw the empty bottle against the wall, and the glass shattered loudly. Sarah tensed to prevent any movement and stifled any noise but she couldn't stifle herself when a hot stream of foul-stinking urine streamed out of the gap in the wall, splashing on her head and down her neck,

"Argh!" Sarah stood up, and in a heartbeat, Vasily Sergei Zaitsev grabbed her and pulled her through the half-smashed wall and Sarah landed heavily on the rubble-filled ground. Her camera flew from her hand but

"Well, what have we here?" The Captain grinned, "a spy no doubt!" Sarh was hauled up and pushed against the crumbling wall. His grip on her jacket was vice-like and she struggled to stand and regain her breath.

"Get your fucking hands off me!" Sarah snarled, struggling in vain. Zaitsev looked at her and leaned forward, his breath stinking of vodka,

"Well, if it isn't our pet war correspondent!" He grinned, "Have you been listening to private conversations my dear?" His tone was mean, and his grip was iron on her.

"Let me go!" Sarah knew there was little point in attempting to talk her way out of this. She had been found hiding and eavesdropping on their conversation, all she could do was give him no other reason to detain her.

"Not so fast, my pretty. What is your name? "The Captain asked, unsure.

"Sarah Harding and your Colonel will have you shot for treating me like this!" Sarah used Kirov's name to frighten him, but his grip did not relax.

"Well, my Colonel is not here and now you have heard our plans, you may be no use to us now...well perhaps one use!" He snarled and then slapped her hard with his right hand, and pulled her jacket, ripping it open. Sarah fell, stunned by the blow, to her hands and knees, as the Captain tore at her fatigue pants, the seams popped and the Captain smiled at the sight of her beige panties. The Captain pushed her forward and used her momentum to tear away the thin cotton material to reveal her naked buttocks.

Sarah although stunned, rolled away, down the rubble that grazed her back and managed to keep rolling but ended on her back. Not to let his advantage escape, the Captain leapt nimbly onto the ground and caught one of Sarah's legs. Recovering slightly, Sarah kicked out weakly, but her assailant was an accomplished and experienced man who women that wanted none of his attentions. Sarah attempted to call out, but the Captain slapped her a second time.

"No! My pretty little thing, you've got a use for me yet!" The Captain ripped open her blouse, spilling her naked breasts from her cupless bra. The Captain grabbed at her, grasping at her right breast and pinching her coral-pink nipple, making her wince with pain. With her distraction, the Captain looked down and grabbed at the tear in her trousers and pulled them down, exposing her pussy through the remnants of her panties.

"No!" Sarah screamed weakly, her head still ringing from the cruel slaps across her face. Her vision was blurred from his brute strength and bitter tears.

"Oh yes!" the Captain grinned at the sight of her naked sex, and put two fingers to her quivering labia. Sarah twisted away from his probing fingers and tried to roll away again but the Captain had flopped down and pulled Sarah's pants down as far as he could, then took a moment to use his hand to unclip his military belt and then find the zipper on his pants.

With the pause in his assault, Sarah could only recoil from his hands that grabbed at her. The Captain pulled his thickening penis, then seeing her attempt to move away reached out again and then Sarah summoned all of her strength and then seeing his vulnerability for a hazy second kicked out hard with a leg and hoped to catch him by surprise.

The Captain caught her foot and laughed out loud, "I need to teach you a lesson in good manners bitch!" He looked down at her naked sex, and pushed himself forward, lining up his penis with her pussy.

Sarah, pushing him away with both hands on his chest was losing the fight. His strength and weight were too great for her, and then suddenly a cold thought stabbed her mind, and she relaxed her arms and allowed him to lean forward, as he did, the tip of his cock inched inside her. With his attention solely on his penetration of Sarah's sex. He didn't feel her hand slip down to his webbing belt and find his Russian army pistol. Remembering her brief instruction of usual firearm procedures and the fact that serving officers usually had a round chambered in their pistols, but with the safety catch, from the erstwhile protector before Kirov's occupation, she felt for the hammer and then the stock. Vasily Zaitsev was too preoccupied with trying to push his erection into her to feel her gentle fumbling. Once her left hand found the stock of the pistol and more importantly the safety, with her first finger, she waited until Zaitsev thrust himself into her pussy, then thumbed the hammer down, pressed the safety catch down and pulled the pistol from the holster, aimed it up and into her rapist's body and with her little finger pulled on the trigger.

The sound was muffled, but still, the 'snap' of the first round was louder than she expected. Unlike the movies, with explosive recoil of bodies when shot, the Captain hardly moved, but the shot registered in his brain as he looked down. As the pistol was upside down, the weight pulled the muzzle down but Sarah twisted it away from her and pulled at the trigger again.

Another bullet ripped into the Captain's side and he fell back, blood gurgling from the wound but still breathing, he looked up. Sarah scrambled to her feet and used both hands to hold the pistol correctly. She looked at the wounded man, now unsure what to do next. He looked pathetic now, his exposed penis, quickly shrivelling to its flaccid size and then she looked into his eyes, confused and filled with tears. Sarah froze. The sound of the pistol was sure to be heard, so she dropped it and then slumped onto her knees, watching his chest rise up and down in great gasps until he stopped breathing completely.

End of Chapter Nine.