Lady Death

together. Raven watched one of the shooters looking around the scattered construction material. Where was the other?
He stayed low and left the trees, entering the partial building through a gap. His foot scraped on the dusty concrete floor. The gunmen ahead whirled around. He brought up his gun as Raven pulled the EVO 3’s trigger. The SMG chattered a short burst. The round stitched the gunman stomach to chest, and he fell against a wheelbarrow.
The crash echoed. Raven ran to the fallen gunman and scooped up his Scorpion. An SMG in each hand, he pivoted left. The third gunman fired over the top of a wall. Raven rolled right as the suppressed rounds smacked the ground.
Raven fired both Scorpions, missing as the gunman moved from the wall. Raven scrambled to his feet and charged for a gap as the gunman appeared in the opening. Raven fired. The EVO 3 in his right hand spat a burst and locked open on empty. The EVO 3 in his left fired longer before the mag emptied, and most of the rounds hit the third gunner.
The man’s right leg and part of his gut took the blow of the salvo. Raven kicked the man’s Scorpion away as he hit the ground. His wail bounced around the partial building. Raven needed to hurry. He dropped the two SMGs and drew his .45 and shot the gunner in the head. The man lay still.
Raven put his gun away and ran. He needed distance and time to work his way back to the hotel. Hugo Schrader had made his first move. Now Raven had to return the favor.

10
Sebastian Speidel drove through the archway as the automatic iron gate swung open.
Schrader’s home sat on the shore of Lake Tegel. With its own private beach, the home overlooked Reiswerder Island, which sat in the center of the lake.
At night, only the lights inside the house marked the property. The forest in the area was so massive it almost choked the patch of open land on which Schrader had built his home. Speidel followed the paved road. In the darkness on either side, he knew cameras followed the car. The security team inside knew of his arrival.
Two armed men met the car at the front of the house. Speidel parked in the circular driveway and exited the car. The guards didn’t acknowledge his arrival, but instead escorted him inside. Up a spiral staircase to the second floor, the guards brought him to Schrader’s study. The old man stood by a pair of open French windows looking out into the dark. A chill filled the room.
“Not much to see this time of night,” Speidel said. The guards departed. One shut the study door behind him.
“No,” Schrader agreed. “But I like to imagine my own view when the sun goes down.”
Speidel had sat and talked with the boss on the balcony many times. On the wall adjacent to the balcony, Schrader had his crew construct a set of steps embedded down the length of the wall. A support rail alongside the steps helped steady anybody descending the emergency escape route to the patio. From there, the plan called for heading for the lake and Schrader’s boat there or gaining alternate access to the garage.
“What do you imagine?” Speidel asked.
Schrader looked over his shoulder with a grin. “I’m keeping that to myself.”
The study was as spartan as everything else Hugo Schrader touched. Bare walls except for various paintings Speidel had no interest in. No book cases. Small corner bar. Conference table in another corner. Clean desk with computer and printer.
Schrader moved to his desk. Speidel stood in front of the desk. There were no chairs for him.
“Raven is dead?” Schrader said.
“No.”
Schrader raised an eyebrow. “What happened?”
Speidel described the confrontation between Raven and the three killers as he knew it. Having not been there, he was relying on their lack of contact and police reports after the discovery of the bodies.
“Unfortunate.”
“Yes, sir.”
“What is also unfortunate,” Schrader said, “is that the CIA managed to penetrate our servers.”
“What did they download?”
Schrader chuckled. “Nothing. We booted them out. The hack was very brief.”
“They might have found something.”
“From a small scrap of data that may be incomplete? I think you overestimate them.”
“We need to—”
“Wipe the servers. Yes. In progress. If they try again, they will find nothing but legitimate business information.”
“And the rest of our files?”
“Secured on the backup servers on the island, Sebastian.”
“What about Raven?” Speidel said.
“Will he be at the party tomorrow, or leave the country?”
“He knows you know who he is. I can’t imagine he’d be stupid enough to show up.”
“What do you think he’ll do?”
“He was seen near your daughter, sir. If he thinks Hannah has any information the CIA can use, he’ll grab her and go.”
Another eyebrow. “Explain.”
“Hannah met friends at a hotel bar. The men I had following her spotted Raven watching her. They trailed him as he followed Hannah to her apartment.”
“Did he visit her?”
“They think so. He parked his car halfway down the block. My men turned off to go around the block and see what he did. They didn’t have orders to enter the apartment.”
Schrader nodded.
“What do we do with Hannah, sir?”
Schrader let out a sigh. “It’s regretful, but she must die.”
“Are you positive?”
He nodded as a hint of sadness washed over his face. “She left me a long time ago. Tanya is my triumph, Sebastian. Hannah is my failure. Tanya will finish what I started.
“If Raven shows up,” Schrader continued, “let him take her. Follow them to their destination, which will probably be a CIA safe house. Then, wipe them out. We’ll send a message with the corpses.”
Speidel said he would issue the new orders. Schrader dismissed him.
Raven slipped back into the hotel through another exit. He made his way to his room and shut the door.
He opened the drapes. The windows didn’t overlook the street. They instead overlooked the inside of the hotel and the tall blue aquarium in the center of the lobby.
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