Codename Anastasia Novel (End) - Chapter 20

He moved silently towards the door, his footsteps muffled. He pressed his ear tightly against the door, checking for any activity outside. It was quiet. He quietly opened the door and came out. He turned his head to the right and saw a table at the end of the corridor. The phone Zhenya had mentioned was on it.

As he slid towards the table, Zhenya’s voice came through his earpiece again.

I’ll give you the signal, so match it well.

He grabbed the receiver and nodded. Immediately after, Zhenya began counting from the other end of the communicator, “Tri (three).” He exhaled slowly, steadying his breath.

Dva (two).

He looked back again, checking if anyone was approaching. At the sound of “Odin (one),” his grip on the receiver tightened.

Pick up.

He immediately picked up the receiver. It was quiet. The other end of the line was silent, and Zhenya also said nothing. He couldn’t detect any sign that anyone else was holding a receiver besides himself. His mouth felt parched.

“…”

Was he wrong? He clenched the receiver, waiting for any sound.

Perhaps his fervent wish came true. Without warning, Psikh’s voice suddenly erupted from the other end of the receiver.

You timed that perfectly. We were just discussing that.

I just came to an agreement with them.

So, what happened?

North Korea said they’ll send an engineer.

That’s good news. So, when are they sending him?

They’re sending him off tomorrow. He’ll arrive in Moscow the day after tomorrow.

Be careful so no rats follow him this time, like last time.

This time, he’ll be disguised as a Chinese tourist, so the Americans will have trouble detecting him.

I’ll keep an eye on it. Don’t forget to keep me updated on the situation.

Yes, sir.

The call ended quickly. They spoke vaguely enough to be understood by each other, avoiding direct mentions. That probably meant they were being cautious. Thanks to that, his conviction grew stronger.

He kept holding the receiver. He planned to wait until Psikh hung up first. But just then, an unknown roar erupted from the communicator in his ear.

“…!”

Suddenly, a piercing pain, as if an awl was tearing into his ear and brain, overwhelmed him. Kwon Taekjoo clutched his throbbing head and knelt. He immediately pulled out the communicator and threw it away, but the aftermath of the roar continued to reverberate through his skull.

His forehead was drenched in cold sweat, and his spine felt chilling. His vision swayed chaotically in his bewilderment, and his chest heaved erratically. He didn’t know why the perfectly fine communicator had suddenly malfunctioned. If the noise was this loud, Psikh must have heard it too.

Bang. Bang. Bang-bang. Bang.

Dammit, his ominous premonition hadn’t been wrong. Gunshots suddenly rang out from outside the mansion. Due to the previous commotion, Zhenya seemed to have been discovered by the bodyguards as well. For now, he had to take cover.

“…Damn it.”

He struggled to get his weakened body up. His legs swayed limply. He ran down the corridor, still clutching his throbbing head. His thought process refused to return to normal. He couldn’t decide how to escape this crisis, or where to take refuge immediately. He just ran blindly.

When he reached the central staircase, he heard busy footsteps from below. There were at least three or four of them. It seemed the guards were converging to search for an intruder. Any delay would only increase their numbers. When outnumbered, it was best to avoid confrontation. He changed his initial plan and went upstairs.

The third floor was still quiet. He pressed his body tightly against the wall and scanned his surroundings. Soon, the guards’ movements closed in. Kwon Taekjoo took large strides, careful to make no sound with his shoe heels, and walked quickly down the corridor.

“!”

Just then, he sensed someone nearby in the adjacent room. Someone inside the room seemed to be approaching the door. The doorknob rattled open. He hastily hid himself on the opposite side of the opening door.

Immediately after, the door opened. Following suit, the bodyguards also arrived on the third floor. They all bowed uniformly to the person who emerged from the room.

“Did you confirm?”

The voice and tone were familiar. It was the very voice he had heard while eavesdropping on the call. Psikh Bogdanov.

“We’re still searching, but it seems there’s an intruder. Traces of external intrusion have been detected. It’s dangerous for you to be here, so please come down with us for now.”

The two ministers and Psikh silently complied with the suggestion. Half of the personnel who had come up to the third floor to guard them peeled off. Thanks to this, there were only two or three guards remaining on the opposite side of the door. Of course, all of them were armed, so dealing with them wouldn’t be easy.

One of the guards tried to close the open door. Kwon Taekjoo, holding his breath, looked down at the doorknob. When the bodyguard grabbed it from the opposite side, Kwon Taekjoo’s side also moved. He seized that instant and kicked the door with all his might. The bodyguard’s head snapped back as the door swung open without warning. He then fell to the ground with a thud.

“?”

A bodyguard who had been checking another room poked his head out, sensing something suspicious. Upon seeing his fallen comrade, he approached with a puzzled expression. The moment he bent down to check on his comrade, he saw a shadow pass through the crack in the door. The bodyguard quickly grabbed his gun. However, a bullet flying from the other side of the door was faster, piercing his shoulder.

“Gah!”

Another bodyguard, hearing the gunshot, came running from the other end of the corridor. As soon as he confirmed his comrades were down, he immediately opened fire without hesitation. Kwon Taekjoo dodged the bullets and ran to the end of the corridor, but the staircase was already noisy with converging guards.

He eventually hid in a nearby room. It was like a rat trapping itself, but there was no other way. He locked the door first and then toppled a nearby display cabinet to barricade it. The bodyguards quickly caught up and repeatedly slammed their bodies against the door. The door didn’t budge, but it wouldn’t hold out for long.

He turned around, seeking an escape route. Suddenly, he felt a strange sense of déjà vu. As if he had been in that room before. Kwon Taekjoo carefully retraced his memories and soon realized that it was the end room on the third floor he had noticed earlier.

Meanwhile, the commotion outside the door grew louder. It seemed the bodyguards, having been alerted, had all gathered in front of the door. What now? He looked out the window just in case. Many guards were already positioned there, too. They were all looking up at the third floor, seemingly discussing how to infiltrate.

He stepped onto the desk and touched the ceiling. If it was thin plywood, he intended to break through and climb above it. However, the finishing material was too hard to penetrate even with a drill. He climbed back down and checked the surrounding walls as well. The situation was the same everywhere.

The bodyguards in the corridor were now firing at the closed door. The wooden door quickly became riddled with bullet holes from the bullets pouring down. He was caught between a rock and a hard place.

He stood with his back against the bookshelf. Then, he pulled out two Colts from his waist holster and held one in each hand. It was reckless, but a direct confrontation was his only remaining option. He took a slow, deep breath. His eyes were fixed on the door, which was being shredded apart. All his muscles tensed, putting him in full combat readiness. All expression vanished from his face, and his eyes, rather than excited, settled into a chilling calm.

“!”

He flinched suddenly, due to the strong scent of cigar smoke. It was a familiar scent. He started to turn, startled, when a hand shot out from the bookshelf and covered Kwon Taekjoo. In an instant, his mouth was covered, and a firm arm pressed against his throat. By the time he thought of escaping, he was already subdued. He was pulled in without a chance to resist. His vision was instantly enveloped in darkness.

Soon, the sound of the riddled door finally breaking echoed. The bodyguards followed, climbing over the display cabinet. All the sounds were coming from above his head. His vision was blocked, so he couldn’t tell what was happening, but his head hitting the ceiling perfectly meant he was crammed somewhere.

“No intruder!”

“He’s vanished!”

“Where did he go? Outside?”

The bodyguards’ voices were laced with palpable dismay. They swept all the books from the shelves onto the floor and meticulously searched under furniture and curtains, frantic to find the intruder. Meanwhile, Kwon Taekjoo was steadily being pulled somewhere. His tension and wariness had significantly eased. He knew who his captor was, thanks to his unique, bitter scent. Though he didn’t know how he’d gotten there.

The two passed through a long, lightless path. It was a secret passage, like an ant farm, built between rooms and between floors. The narrow passage, barely wide enough for one person, connected from all directions.

Zhenya, who had been walking far ahead, suddenly stopped. He then swept his hand across the ceiling, gauging a certain position. Soon, a thick section of the floor material lifted in his hand. Kwon Taekjoo, who had been staring blankly, suddenly snapped back to attention and gripped his Colt tightly.

Through the slowly lifted gap in the floor, he saw someone’s legs pacing inside the room. For a moment, Kwon Taekjoo and Zhenya’s eyes met. Kwon Taekjoo silently gestured, instructing him to put the floor back down. Zhenya meekly followed the order. His hand remained pressed against the ceiling. The bodyguard, who had been carefully scanning the room, gradually approached.